JAWS...

"...there's no way to tell the age of a living shark - a dead shark's spinal cord has rings that can be counted, much in the same way the rings of a tree can give away its age."

Who knew? I didn't until today!

http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/01/31/Real-life-Jaws-spotted-off-Hamptons/4031359642955/?spt=mps&or=1

Dolphins Save

Amazing! I knew the dolphin was an amazing creature, but who knew they were capable of having the thoughtfulness to try and save one of their own that was suffering:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/whales-dolphins/dolphins-create-raft-for-one-of-their-own-230130.htm

To Err...

Now I don't know if the guy is a pope, or it's just his last name - BUT I have only heard this quote quoted partially:

"Good-nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive, divine."
~Alexander Pope

He should be sainted for this wonderful truism. Forgiveness IS DIVINE!

ARGO

On this date in 1980 - Six Americans who had fled the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

And in 2012, Ben Affleck directed the amazing re-telling of this incident in the movie, ARGO.

Green

Coca-Cola was originally green!

Dirt...

People have been paying a lot of money to eat DIRT!!!

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/japanese-eatery-serves-110-dirt-meals-183947338--abc-news-Recipes.html

The English Language

         Let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger, neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
         English muffins were not invented in England or french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
         We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose?
          If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
          In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
          How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and wise guy are opposites? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
         When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on .
          When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
          Now I know why I flunked my English class. It's not my fault; the silly language doesn't quite know whether it's coming or going.

by: Richard Lederer

Death

"Everyday above ground is a good day."

Don't know who said this, but I liked it when I came across it and had to share it as something I learned.

Once

You only live once?
FALSE, you live everyday;
you only die once.

Funny

The difference between the cuteness of gaga and gag is one little letter!

That explains a lot when it comes to how the gaga'ing of a baby can often make one gag if you're not in the least bit maternal.

OR if you're like me; I dislike Lady Gaga; she makes me gag!

Lame Dream

So I went to serve on this day of service in remembrance of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and an African-American speaker/comedian, Aaron Freeman, spoke on the day and what it commemorated as well as shed some very interesting light on Dr. King's dream I would never have considered. He said that the Dr.'s dream was lame. You read that correctly. Mr. Freeman said Dr. King's dream was LAME. He said, "think about it. Dr. King's dream, at the time, did not include women, Hispanics, gays, etc. And that's LAME!" He even went on to insult the audience by saying all of our dreams would appear to be lame when looked back on in retrospect... I guess there's some truth to that... dreams are often fulfilled and when they are there's this sense of, "That's it? That's all there was? What's next?"

That. Is. Lame.

Planting Seeds

"The tree is already in the seed; it just has to be planted in the right soil in order to grow into what it is intended to be." Anonymous

Form...Less

Formless means without formal order! Why didn't I know this?

Bed Bugs...

Chicago is #1 on the list of cities with the highest incidents of beg bugs!! AGH!!! Now I REALLY WISH I DIDN'T LIVE IN CHICAGO!!!

Broken Hearted Blessings

So I was talking to a friend and I was crying about my broken heart... the one I feel has resided in my chest cavity since I decided I desired my own true love and children and have gone without for what feels like forever.

Often times, people with good intentions ask me, "Why aren't you married?" Most times I don't have a good enough (to the person asking) answer and often respond with, "It's just not what God has allowed at this time..." Then these, well-meaning people state,"...but you're soooo awesome," and, "OOOH, I know just the perfect person for you..."

A lot of times, these men that are "perfect" for me are not interested in God or don't even go to church. This is a HUGE factor for me in choosing a life-partner. My conviction is that I MUST be with a man that God chooses for me that I WILL find/God directs me to, IN my church family circle... this has meant I have gone without a husband for over 17 years in my church. Don't get me wrong, I have had 3 boyfriends that have attended my church; it's where we met... but they didn't result in anything past 8 months... SO, in this conversation where I was stating that should I even get married in the next 6 months (highly unlikely) and got pregnant on my honeymoon - I would still be an old mom, even IF I was able to get pregnant at my advanced age. I know, I know, there is Sarah and Abraham as a Biblical example - BUT we are way beyond living and bearing children as nonagenarians, etc.

So, the fact remains, that I will probably never bear my own child. This is a painful fact for me to swallow... I have tried to console myself with saying things to myself like, "phew, I don't gotta give birth so I won't have to mess up my body now!" OR, "I am in touch with my selfishness and don't need that burden and loss of sleep." BUT the truth is I can't seem to truly believe those lies I tell myself so the sacrifice of my dreams for God's will for my life, doesn't hurt as much... and then this friend who was patiently listening used this scripture I have heard A MILLION times:

 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26-27

Then he said, "you see, you have "hated" your own FUTURE children and own life to do the will of God." That probably sounds horrible to some of you reading this, BUT it set me free! That's what the truth does... for some unknown reason that scripture never helped until this point in my life. I saw that because I made the trade for the eternal I appear to hate my own life and the choices I could have made WITHOUT God's direction - but I have decided to be God's disciple and follow Him... I can't without having made these decisions as painful as they have been and seem...

Faulkner's Time

While watching the TV show The Walking Dead I heard this and thought it thought-provoking:

"I like what, uh, a father said to son when he give him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me, I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it." William Faulkner

Strawberries...

Unfortunately, because of all the chemicals that are put on strawberries in the fields they are grown in, they are not as good for you as you thought! Organic is the best way to go with berries of any kind. Because of the thin skin of berries the pesticides go right into the berry making it impossible to clean it off. Think before you pop one in your mouth - is this berry worth it?

Choose to Recycle

I am all for recycling because I was raised in the eco-conscious California. AND I have heard that there are no original ideas, but I was told that we do NOT have any original thoughts - we just recycle them over and over and a lot of times the negative ones are the ones that get recycled. So the negative thoughts I know I have rehashed/recycled over and over are from decades of self defeating thoughts - now must be discarded because they are no longer original, and they are out of date/style and need to be gotten rid of (like those nasty florescent clothes from the 80s) and replaced with new ones. Everything is a choice. I must choose to reduce, re-use, and recycle better and more choice thoughts.

As the Bible states, "...take each thought captive and make it obedient..." and "...be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind..."

Make those unoriginal thoughts obedient to the trash heap they will be thrown onto and burned (like those clothes from the 80s)! AND like a phoenix which rises from the ashes, so will new, positive, godly, faithful thoughts rise and dominant your thoughts... the choice is yours.

Mariposa

I know butterflies orginate from caterpillars... but when a girlfriend and her family shared their testimony at church today, what she shared about being both a caterpillar and a butterfly, really blew my mind simply because I hadn't thought of it in the light she shed upon it...

She said she once was a squishy caterpillar... this can be equated as a fallible human, filled with weakness and sin - but NOW she views herself as a beautiful butterfly because she was TRANSFORMED from a squishy caterpillar to a free-flying-full-of-faith-forgiven butterfly. What she also shared was that the butterfly and the caterpillar share absolutely NOTHING in common except that you can't become a butterfly without being a caterpillar (i.e. going through ugly phases) first. Also, she never wants to go back to being a caterpillar - and who would when your transformation means you can fly!?

King/Dom

I love words and I have learned some really cool things in a Sunday morning Bible Bootcamp I have been attending for a few weeks:

Kingdom means:

King over a Domain!

God is King and we are His subjects and citizens of his Kingdom with all the rights and access to His Kingdom that the privilege of citizenship provides.

Abuse...

Abuse... the actual meaning of the word:

AB = abnormal

USE = kind of self explanatory... means USE...

Put it together and what do you get from ABUSE = abnormal use!

When we ABUSE anything we are ABNORMALLY USING it!

Perspective

I have been learning a lot about perspective and well this photo says it all:

Not Everyday...

Nine days in and as I seek the "hey, you DO learn something new everyday,"moment to document, I am discovering I do NOT learn something new everyday... well, not in the way of an "AHA! moment!" OR how when I get the ones that feel like when they do come and I declare," YOU DO LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY!" HMMMM... well, I will continue to look for something new and exciting to document... because I LOVE learning and seeking wisdom.

Gettin' the Boot

So the shift plate in my car broke today and when the tow truck driver drove me and my ailing car to the shop he told me why cars get booted and how and what happens after they are booted.

A car only gets booted when the owner has too many outstanding parking tickets, etc.

Then there are people that, as a job, drive around all day in a specially equipped car that finds these deep-in-ticket-debt cars anywhere and everywhere and then boot them.

After that, the man that towed my car said he gets a call to then go and pick up these cars and then he tows them to the impound yard!

Moral of the story from what I learned: "Let NO debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another..." Romans 13:8

Nice...

When I was at the gym I learned, "it is better to work out moderately over a longer period of time than to work out too intensely for a short period of time."

I was a beast today. I did my first one hour work out of the year - and I did it moderately. YAY me!! :o)

13

I'm not superstitious... anymore, but I was afraid of this new year because it is 2013. I used to LOVE scary movies and the day Friday the 13th - somehow, something shifted and I have become suspicious of the number 13... well, I had until I learned today that Biblically 12 means completion and 13 means new beginnings. I am excited for the new beginnings this year will bring... regardless of my former trepidation of the number 13.

Bond

James Bond was an orphan. Apparently, orphans turn out to be the best agents that can be had in MI6.

H2O

"Water, water everywhere - not a drop to drink!"

A friend said this when we were out and discussing life over drinks. She was referring to her wardrobe. You know you've had those moments when you open your FULL closet and can't seem to find a thing to wear. Since I had never heard this saying before, I thought it brilliant and noticed how it could be applied to many different situations: job opportunities, relationships, etc. We look for what is often right in front of our faces, and yet seem to miss it when it's that close.

You Will...

You WILL get what you talk yourself into...
positive or negative it will come to fruition!

Why? How?

Today I learned that it is better to say, "HOW?" instead of, "WHY?" HOW and why? Read on...

For instance, stop why-ning with questions like, "Why haven't I had a meaningful relationship that has resulted in marriage?" OR "Why do I have such challenging roommates?" and turn these questions into, "HOW do I get a better relationship that goes the distance?" OR "How do I find better roommates or a better housing situation?"

That's the WHY and HOW of the whys and hows! WOW! You really do learn something new everyday!

The first day of 2013

January 1st, 2013 fell on a Tuesday.

I learned that sometimes I don't remember the new thing I learned - and in that case I will write what I am grateful for: NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

OH, and I learned that my friend, Amy G. studied in Bordeaux, France for six months!!

*********************************************************************************

I have decided to back track and come in here and update this already because I want those that decide to join me on this journey to get the full picture of why I am doing this blog. As my dear friend said in the comment below, "she gets nervous when she forgets," so do I. I don't want to forget what I learn. We do often have those semi-aha moments when we say, "you do learn something new everyday." Because of this, and because I get nervous when I forget what feels like such juicy, Heaven sent messages of insight and help, I want to document them for posterity's sake.

As I age I find it gets harder to remember the good and is so easy to focus on the negative/bad. 2012 ended with so much tragedy with various shootings in our nation that it really took a toll on my psyche. I started feeling like I live in a world of hopelessness and despair that can't be touched. Looking at that thought made me realize I was focusing on the wrong things. Even though tragic events affect us all, some directly and a lot of us indirectly, I had to decide to look elsewhere. I decided to "look up." This is a phrase another Amy friend of mine and I started almost 20 years ago... I will decide daily to "look up" to Heaven and look around me for all the good that is and can be found. As the Bible states, "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." James 1:17 With this fact of faith in mind and heart, I will proceed on this journey with the faith that what I document will benefit my heart and my readers.

Thank you for stopping by. I am grateful for any and all comments and feedback!