Thursday Thirteen -- Places I went today

1. We've cut back on school for the next few weeks, but I still left the house today later than planned. My first stop was the post office.



2. On to the library.




3. I filled up my gas tank. (Gas seems quite a bit cheaper here than most places, and I'm thankful for that!)




4. Petsmart. I always get a little tense as I head into Petsmart, but one look at a happy dog, and I relaxed. The employees were really nice too, although they no longer carry what I wanted.



5. Next stop was Target. By this time, it was sprinkling. I didn't have much luck here either.




6. I went to the mall. Roanoke has two good sized malls, which still surprises me. There are some great stores, and it was my first time at this mall. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything on my list, so I left empty handed!

7. I ran a private little errand close by.

8. I went to a store that shall remain a secret, since I was doing some Christmas shopping!



9. I'm vaguely familiar with www.booksamillion.com, although I typically use other online booksellers. I've wanted to check out this store for months. It's in an odd location, pretty old, and the outside is not well maintained. It was DEAD inside too. It's too bad; there was a lot of floor space, books were nicely arranged.



10. I had a coupon for Hamricks and bought myself another pair of sweat pants. I've never heard of this store, I believe it's a decent sized, privately owned chain with several stores in the mid-Atlantic. Their prices are great, and the clothes quality is similar to what I buy at Kohl's.



11. By now, it's waaaay too late. I was planning to be home by now, am still an hour away, and I have no plans for dinner. I rush to Kroger. While this is one of my new "gem" stores (meaning it has a fancy deli, haha), they are out of french bread and have no chicken tenders in the deli. I really do NOT want to stop and buy KFC, blech!



12. It's 6:00, dark, and traffic is still messy. I head down the street to my favorite Kroger and have success. Everyone will eat late, but at least they WILL eat.



13. I didn't have time to stop at Walmart or the cleaners. So I just went home.



I didn't get ALL of my shopping done, but it helped. A lot!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Random Observations About This Place

1. Late sunrise. We are not in the path of any mountains (and believe me, out here they are mere hills), but it doesn't get light until quite late. This was 7:30 this morning, very pretty pink tinged clouds.



2. High cloud cover. In Colorado, you know when it's cloudy. The clouds are either giant and puffy in the bright blue sky, or they sit, hanging, dark and low, threatening to dump rain and snow. Technically, it's cloudier here, but it's a very high cloud cover. You'll notice the white sky in lots of my photos. It's still very bright, hot, and leaves shadows as if it were sunny.



3. Predictable weather pattern. The humidity is high early in the day, often 70+%, drops in the early afternoon to 40%. While it sometimes rains lightly in the afternoon, most of our rain has come at night. While this is a record hot and dry year here, I find the night rains oh-so-convenient. :)


4. Twisty roads. I am the one driving to town typically, with Robert in the passenger seat. I've discovered this is a very good thing, as I'm a Barf Queen, and the road is curvy and hilly. Every week or so, I forget, and Robert drives. Makes me feel a little green just thinking about it. (In true pathetic form, I used to get queasy when he'd back down his parents' driveway.)



5. "Unfettered" highways? Most of these highways have no speed limit; our neighbor calls them "unfettered." There are two speed signs: "Reduced Speed Ahead" apparently means to slow down to 35, that there will be several houses. When the houses end, the next sign says: "End 35 mile speed."

Most people seem to go 50--and right down the center of the double yellow line--but it's not like the roads are crowded.



6. GPS = "Get Possibly Somewhere." I've already posted that GPS is iffy, at best. Fortunately, I've been blessed with a good sense of direction. (Robert will probably die laughing if he reads that.)

(Okay, really I like my GPS, it's just not super dependable here.)


7. I love my front porch. It's big, 40' wide, 8' deep. It's covered and faces north. It's been a wonderful respite from the heat, and I can peek through the trees and see the occasional car pass by. It's definitely one of my favorite places to sit.



8. There is no Mexican food here. I've also yet to see flank steak (by that or any other name), and the guy at Walmart was baffled when I asked for the refrigerated pasta section. Mushrooms are not sold loose, only in packages; vegetables are more expensive. But the produce section carries okra, collard greens, turnip greens and mustard greens, things I've never seen fresh before. (I've eaten one of those greens before, and it tasted quite like it had been cooked with an old shoe, thank you very much.) There's also an amazing selection of canned goods.


And "pork fatback," whatever exactly that might be.


And the grocery stores carry wine. They don't in Colorado, and even though I'm not a wine drinker, I find this convenient. Betcha've never seen this wine before.


They carry a red version too.


9. No garbage disposal. Blech. This means I have to dump out that sink strainer frequently. I actually have to touch it with my fingers. I don't care how clean it is, it's never clean enough that I want to touch it. I think this is what "they" mean by "country life."


10. Faster cooking. At a higher altitude, water boils at a lower temperature and everything takes longer to cook. I've really noticed how much more quickly things cook here, not just water, but even baking in the oven. Food stays hotter longer too, and my coffee reheats faster in the microwave.


11. Dust in and out. Red clay dust is a reality. It looks scarier than it is; we've not had a problem with it in the house. But it does not come out of clothes, even using (septic safe) bleach.

On the flip side, I don't know if it's the higher humidity, or the wood floors/berber carpet, but inside the house does not get dusty. I could have dusted every day in Colorado; here, I can dust once a week just because I should. I can't imagine how long it would take to be able to write your name in it.


12. Butterflies are everywhere. We've seen several different kinds frequently. The most common are big and blue with black edges. Monarchs are popular too. Trevor found it on the ground, and we thought it was dead. Robert picked it up, and it rode on his hand all the way home. He put it on a flower here and we watched it fly away.



13. From the very beginning, this has been the smoothest move. Ever. Yes, a few little bumps but nothing that could be considered truly challenging. We know this is a time of adjustment, but the hardest part is past, and we can see the longer road ahead. We have prayed so long for wisdom, for clarity, for direction, for strength. While wisdom might be futile in our case (haha), it's been amazing, amazing to see God so visibly.

And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:28

Thursday Thirteen - Local Ministries

Colorado Springs is home to more than 100 nonprofit Christian organizations. While there are dozens of smaller ones, here are a few you might recognize.



1. Compassion International. This Christian ministry began 55 years ago to help Korean war orphans. Today, Compassion reaches 800,000 children in 24 countries. We toured the facility two years ago with our local hs group, which prompted us to sponsor a child. Compassion is also a top scorer on Charity Navigator, a well known charity watchdog group.



2. Focus on the Family. One of the top tourist attractions in Colorado Springs, this 49 acre campus includes three large buildings, and the Welcome Center houses a 10,000 sf bookstore that's open to the public. When the kids were younger, we'd often visit Whit's End, an indoor children's playland.

3. The Navigators. This stunning location is headquarters for a staff of 4,000 that serve in more than 100 countries. It's also home to NavPress Publishing. Trevor attended day camp here last year, and Holly's riding instructor established Eagle Lake Horse Camp in 1994, another ministry of The Navigators.


4. Young Life. Active in all 50 states and 53 countries, last year, YL reached over 120,000 middle school, high school, and college aged kids through its weekly club meetings.




5. International Bible Society. IBS has translated and published Bibles in more than 600 languages. It ships an average of 150 tons of material from this warehouse each month. It has a great little store too, with a wonderful selection of NIV Bibles. We even bought a Spanish New Testament here a few years ago!




6. Cook Communications. While best known for Sunday School Curriculum, I often read books published by this group.



7. Christian Booksellers Association. CBA exists to support, encourage and unite retailers of Christian merchandise.




8. Every Home for Christ has presented more than 2 billion booklets in 192 countries since its inception 50 years ago. Its goal is to share the gospel to every home in the world. I thought it was really cool that employees, during construction of this new building, placed scripture in the unfinished walls, writing on the beams. The construction workers were held to strict behavior standards at the jobsite. The business worked diligently with the neighborhood to create a building that caused as little interruption as possible, including lowering the height of the building and moving a planned driveway to a busier street.



9. Association of Christian Schools International. Headquartered here, ACSI supports 5500 evangelical Christian schools in 105 countries, representing 1,180,000 students.




10. Christian and Missionary Alliance. The headquarters of this denomination, which emphasizes foreign missions. C&MA has 500,000 members with involvement in 81 countries.



11. The World Prayer Center. Built in 1998 by Pastor Ted Haggard, The World Prayer Center exists to pray for the nations of the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.



12. BASE Institute. Founder Bob Cornuke has authored several books detailing his many expeditions around the world searching for lost locations in the Bible. I've read a couple of his books and really liked them.




13. Andrew Wommack Ministries. Television. Radio. Seminars. Bible College. Andrew Wommack potentially reaches 380 million people around the world.




Nestled at the foot of Pikes Peak, with gorgeous scenery, fabulous weather, and great neighbors (like me!), it's easy to see the appeal. This is the view from Compassion.

* * * *

And I can say that this post took me forever to write! The time stamp is when I started . . . Yawn.

Thursday Thirteen - things Robert's done to our house

These are thirteen of my favorite things.

1. When we moved here five years ago, this house was terribly dated, with lots of dark wallpaper with tiny print right out of the '70s. The entry hall, which is narrow already, had dark chair railing topped with dark maroon swiss-dotted wallpaper. To open and lighten it up, Robert replaced it all with a very light patterned paper. He also replaced the dark brown closet doors with mirrored doors.


2. He removed a cabinet above the stove and installed the microwave. He did this in our last house too, and I appreciate the extra counter space.


3. He replaced the banged up kitchen sink with cast iron. (Yes, I have a dishrack, but we've hidden it away until the house sells. The coffeepot gets hidden away for showings too.)


4. And like in the last house, he installed undercabinet lighting for me. The lights run over three sides of the counters, with two different switches.


5. There's another wall on the left side of the fridge here. Proving his point, "This new refrigerator WILL SO fit!," Robert later repaired the wall, and if you didn't know the cutout was there, you'd, well, never know it was there.


6. He replaced all the light switches in the house with either dimmers or rockers.


7. He replaced all of the country blue bathroom counter tops.

This main floor powder room had blue and orange striped wallpaper, identical to the dining room. Eeek!!


The kids' bathroom had one sink but plenty of room for another. When he replaced the counter top, he installed a second sink, and rewired the lights, replacing the fixtures.


8. He installed glass doors above the tubs instead of using shower curtains. (This was also something he did in our old house.) The "rain" pattern on these means you can never see the water stains. You can see the kids' door in the picture above, and ours in the picture below.

9. In a moment of boredom a few years ago, he tore out a row of our bath tile and replaced it with a contrasting color.


10. In another moment of boredom, he decorated our closet. He put up border wallpaper, installed canned lighting with a dimmer switch, and shopped for all the decorations.


11. He planted hundreds of new plants and flowers outside. He poured 1000 lbs. of concrete to make a waterfall. There's also outdoor garden lighting all along the backyard that I didn't get a picture of.

12. He replaced all the uneven wooden vertical retaining walls. The walls in front are now brick; the longer walls in back are horizontal railroad ties.


13. He put up several brackets across our front porch for hanging flower baskets. He even maintains them. :)
I am SO grateful to have a husband who can do this. We never could have afforded the tens of thousands of dollars that we would have to pay someone for all the things that Robert has done. Thank you, honey! You ARE my hero!!!

Thursday Thirteen - Things I Did Today

I'm really stretching it here, as it was a very boring day.

1. We began our school morning with a movie, "Retracing the Tracks of Hannibal." The kids found it, well, pretty boring.


2. We finished reading Pinocchio. Pinocchio was not a sympathetic character. I'm glad we read the book, but I was expecting to like him quite a bit more than I did. Perhaps the version had something to do with that? (Debbie, which one did you read? Our translation is by E. Harden, illustrations by Roberto Innocenti.)

3. After reading a short biography of Gladys Aylward, we looked at online photos of "golden lilies" (bound Chinese feet). I've long been fascinated by the role of women in Asian cultures, and Holly's seen some of these pictures before. They were new to Trevor, and even though I've seen them, still -- WOW.

4. I began writing next week's schedule. I enjoy planning out the upcoming week.

5. I watered the grass seed outside. I keep expecting it to be cold (maybe because the weather reports SAY it will), but it's been 60s for the past few days.

6. We saw Charlotte's Web at the $1 movies, which is now the $1.50 movies. It was very good. Trevor caught me just as I fell asleep (didn't sleep great last night), so I only missed about 10 seconds of the movie.


7. On a quest for a football jersey to fit over Trevor's new pads, we went to Steve & Barry's and Goodwill. Both were unsuccessful.8. I'm desperately trying to find something to order from amazon. For $.01 more, I get free shipping. But I want my purchase choice to be perfect . . . What would YOU choose?

9. I made Emily's Greek soup for dinner, along with homemade blueberry muffins. Since I didn't have blueberries, I chopped up frozen blackberries, and it turned out GREAT!


10. We watched Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? tonight. I was. Sometimes I'm not.

11. I talked to Robert on the phone for quite a while about nothing (because I had nothing to say, imagine THAT). He's visiting his mom, and it's just quite boring here without him. Even when we first met, we never did anything exciting, and yet I was never bored when he was around. That hasn't changed.


12. I continued reading Family Under the Bridge to Trevor. This is a feat worth mentioning, since I'd returned it to the library, checked it out again a week later, and we are continuing to read. It would help if I were reading it to him with any regularity . . . maybe this time.


13. I watched the Chefography special on Mario Batali tonight. Food Network is running chef biographies ("Chefographies") all week, and Mario's my favorite Iron Chef.



Whew!!! I didn't think I could come up with thirteen! I think I'm in the running for the most boring person in the world today.