Random Musings
I have nothing brilliant to post today. Not that “brilliant” is a word used to describe my blog, but anyway…
Before I go on I have to mention the shootings yesterday. My heart goes out to the people affected by this tragedy, which I’m guessing is just about all of us. But the families and friends are foremost in my prayers. What a senseless loss.
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My new car came with a three month trial of Sirius satellite. When I’m listening to satellite the stereo says who the artist is and the title of the song. I find myself looking at it to see if it’s scrolling the words like a karaoke machine. Wouldn’t that be cool?? Except for then I’d probably spend more time watching the stereo than the road so maybe that’s not such a great idea.
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Is it just me or does anyone else find the word “hoodia” to be hysterical. Every time I hear it in a commercial I am compelled to say it out loud and then I giggle. It’s the simple things in life, you know.
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A month or so ago Todd and I drove up to Martin Guitar in Nazareth, PA, to pick up the love of his life – his new guitar. For some reason I’m not jealous of “Arwyn” like I am Jill (the GPS). Which has caused me to notice a disturbing trend. It seems as though we name everything. I’m starting to think we develop unhealthy relationships with inanimate objects.
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Because Martin is a tourist stop they have brochures for the local attractions. Since we like to RV I picked up all the campground brochures I could find. One in particular made me gasp in shock before I dissolved into laughter. All I saw when I first picked it up was “Family Camping the Natural Way”. It was a NUDIST CAMPGROUND! “Family camping?” Whatever.
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I’ve survived my first nor’easter. We had lots of rain, tons of wind and a bunch of snow. In the middle of April! The schools were delayed for two hours yesterday which was nice. We all got to sleep in until 8:00. But I’m really looking forward to spring. I’m ready for capris and sandals weather.
I do feel for the many people who have really suffered from this storm. The flooding, the 17″ of snow, the loss of electricity. So much to deal with.
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Current Reading
I am currently reading A Voice in the Wind, book #1 of the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. It is truly a stellar novel and Ms. Rivers never fails to impress me. While she writes inspirational fiction, her books are edgy and raw, holding nothing back.
This series takes place thirty years or so after the death of Christ (I think historically it was 70 AD) during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. We take a ride from Jerusalem to Germania to Rome to Ephesus and follow the lives of four main characters:
Hadassah – A Jewish Christian, she’s the only survivor of her family and eventually becomes a slave to a spoiled Roman girl. She hides her Christianity because, while Jews are not loved by the Romans, Christians are despised and sent to the lions for sport.
Atretes – A Germanic warrior, he unwillingly is made the clan chief when his father is killed during a battle with Romans. Shortly after, he’s captured and sent to train as a gladiator.
Marcus – A young Roman man who embraces the modern notion that if it feels good do it. Nothing else matters but one’s own pleasures. He’s forever at odds with his parents, especially his father, who hold to the older moral traditions.
Julia – Younger sister to Marcus and the spoiled Roman girl who is given Hadassah as her maid.
This was not a pretty time and Ms. Rivers doesn’t hide the ugliness. She paints a very real and vivid picture of what life was like. But the characters are fascinating and the tales she weaves are mesmerizing. I’ve had the set for three years or so and I can’t figure out why I waited so long to start it.
Jenster, I consider anything that makes me laugh as much as you do to be brilliant. :-)I had XM in my last car, and now I have Sirius in my new car. I like XM better…it seems to be better organized. I love being able to see who sings what. Another gadget that uses that same screen as the Sirius radio is the camera mounted in the rear car door so I can see what it is I’m crashing into. Well, hopefully not. :-)Hoodia? What’s a hoodia? Something to do with blowfish?Isn’t it interesting that most of the people who are nudists shouldn’t be?A friend of mine let me borrow her copy of “Voice”. She said it was a difficult start but she couldn’t put it down once she got into it. Francine Rivers is amazing. You’re right…she pulls no punches. I cried thru the last third of “And The Shofar Blew”. She is incredible. Right now I’m back & forth between “The 5 Love Languages” and Shar Maclaren’s new book “Loving Liza Jane”. And yes, so far, I’m loving “Liza Jane”, as well as the love languages book. :-)Check your email later…I’m sending you something. 🙂 Thanks for the daily giggles!!!Katy
When I heard about hoodia I did a whole post on it. I did online research. How can you NOT look up what it is when you hear Hoodia said aloud the first time?As for Francine Rivers I have her western romances before she started writing inspiriationals. They are some of my most beloved keepers because they are westerns and I have a weakness for a good western. One of my favorites of hers is REDEEMING LOVE. Great book.
I have Sirius, but only listen to it on my computer. I have the doohicky that you can put in the car – but I’ll be darned if I can figure it out. Hoodia makes me giggle too. Every time I hear a commercial I ask Mr. Farmer if I should get me some Hoodia … it sounds naughty to me. teeheehee. We name things too – trees, kitchen tools … you aren’t soo off there — or we both are! :O)
Yup… hoodia is one of those words. And we have enough crazy drivers already – so no scrolling titles. LOL!
XM radio sounds like fun… I would so love to see the artists I am so bad at things like that.The shootings are awful, it really takes to heart that “You were never promised tomorrow” Its horrible this has happened, its sick really.I pray for the family and friends
I totally laugh every time I hear “hoodia!”
The fact that you thought to post about how funny a word ‘hoodia’ is shows just how brilliant you are! LOLMy car has a CD/MP3 player that scrolls the name of the song (if the CD is coded with that info) and I really like it. Wish all of my CDs did that. It can be a distraction though – so I know what you mean!
Katy – I totally lied! I have XM. LOL But the stereo has an mp3 adapter and we all have iPods so I’m not going to pay for the XM after the free trial.Hoodia and the Blowfish? LOLOL!Todd says the same thing about nudists. :o)Have you read “Voice” and the rest? I finished it last night at about 11:30 and it was all I could do not to pick up the next book. It’s very good. I’m going to have to check out Shar’s books.Rosie – I can’t believe I missed that blog! I may have to go check out your archives.I’ve only read a few of Francine Rivers books, the first one being “The Scarlet Thread”. “Redeeming Love” is one of my all time favorites, even if it did make me blubber.Frannie – Hoodia does sound kind of naughty, doesn’t it. I may have to find a way to work it into my pillow talk.I’m glad to know we’re not alone in naming everything.Liz – You’re right. Scrolling lyrics would be disasterous!Random – Things like the shootings make me want to keep my kids and my husband in the house with me all the time.Burg – I’m so glad to know it’s not just me.Jen – I think you and Katy have a different definition of “brilliant” than I do. LOLMy stereo also has a CD/mp3 player, but I don’t think it gives me the songs. I think I got jipped!
aHH martin guitars- it’s the only kind my family will buy!
My kids would definitely fit in at the nudist campground!
You make me laugh with all of this! Nudist camping huh?
The more I blubber, the better the book! I haven’t read any of the books in the series yet…I started “Voice”, but didn’t get very far. That first chapter is a tough read. But I know how fabulous Francine Rivers’ books are, so I know it’s going to be wonderful. I loved “The Scarlet Thread”, but I did end up skipping over a lot of the journal part and reading only the present-day part. Stick to your guns about not paying for XM, but a word of caution: you just might get hooked. It’s really cool. We like the Christian music, comedy & MLB stations, hubby likes the PGA station, and I like the “Decades”–music from the different decades (40s, 50s, etc.). Sirius is pretty cool, but I’m having trouble figuring out how the stations are organized.