What a wonderful lazy Sunday afternoon it has been! There was a scheduled potluck tonight at church, but because so many people had mentioning going out of town, they canceled it. At first I was a little disappointed, because … well I love a good potluck and this one was Italian in theme. But, now that I’m halfway out of my first nap I am seeing the benefits. I could be in there concocting a special casserole and I get to be here on the couch instead!

Another benefit of the day is having a daughter old enough to drive to Braums to get sundaes for everyone! (mine was hot caramel). YUM. Matt’s mom and her hub John were here yesterday, John made his famous and my favorite penne pasta with sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, tons of garlic, artichokes, fresh herbs, and fresh tomatoes right at the end… oh yeah, and tons of fresh grated parmigiano regiano cheese too. I had leftovers for lunch today and it was even better than yesterday. I made my garlic bread so we’re safe today from all those werewolves…

This week flew by like the past few. I think the routine of school makes time go by faster somehow. Izzy had a good week in school again and is still lovin’ pre-k. I can’t tell you how happy it makes my heart to know that she is thoroughly enjoying herself. Seriously.

I had lunch with Laura at Old Germany one day, it was delish and I enjoyed catching up with her life. Friday I took Iz to Bear. Afterwards we stopped and ate quickly with mom at Panera. You can tell I’m doing excellent at my diet by all the food talk huh? There’s always next week.

I mentioned in my previous post the movie “the ultimate gift.” I forgot to mention that it is a fox faith movie. I went to that website foxfaithmovies.com sometime ago and put a lot of the movies listed there on my blockbuster queue. I have enjoyed them so much.

Praying for …

• Izzy’s healing.
• Parker
• Heather
• Luke
• Abbie
• Kari
• Collin
• Susan’s granddaughter Oksana, and Susan
• Darla, one of my oldest bffs from way back who is a minister’s wife and stranded in a place she is not happy.
• Betty, who hasn’t been feeling well.
• Michelle, Joe & Kayla as Joe is deployed next week.
• Zenaida’s friend Vic who is in ICU after terrible motorcycle accident.

I’m so thankful that I KNOW that God answers prayers! Please leave any prayer requests you might have in my comments and I’ll add you on. If I forgot you (like I did Darla last week) just remind me and remember I’m still half asleep :o). But, I want to pray for you and think prayer is very powerful and necessary.

I’m so thankful for…

• God’s love & forgiveness!
• health
• joy
• Izzy’s teachers and prayer warriors
• my family
• good friends
• YOU!

My sweet friend Judi isn’t doing weekend reflections anymore. She has offered this to me if I wish to do it. I am going to put a mr. linky here for week in review if you want to share your review of your week with the bloggy group.

I really liked this movie!!!!

*****
Tricia and Nancy asked what this movie was about… The guy you see on the dvd is the main character. His grandfather was an extremely wealthy man and has died. His sons are all very wealthy and greedy. He leaves his grandson an ultimate gift that he must complete tasks to receive. He has lived a very privileged life and his grandfather uses different tests to show him lessons in life. The first test is that he must go to Texas. He thinks he is going to simply pick up a gift, but soon realizes that he has to do work, manual labor! There are many tests and gifts that are learned and completed until he recieves the ULTIMATE GIFT!

Loving Annie has tagged me for this meme.

And the first thing you have to do is post the rules of it before you do anything else… So, here they are:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

A ~ appreciative! I am so appreciative of many things from God’s love to good friends. I always reflect on how blessed I am and try to look for the blessings in life when things appear bleak. I remember that I walk by faith, not by sight; which means I live on the promises of God.

N ~ nice? this is hard (and I still have another N - yikes!) … I always try to be nice, that’s for sure. Try is the operative word.

N ~ naughty? That’s the word Amanda came up with when I asked for an N word to describe me! I said, “I’m not naughty.” In true three year old fashion! But, I suppose I am a little naughty and like swimming upstream sometimes.

Thanks for the tag Annie. That got my brain working!

The three people I tag for this meme are Nancy, Momma, and Carrie!

Now a tag from Jodi!

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think- if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. **
- http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ***
- http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! *
- http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments. **********
- http://chattiekat.com/

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. *****
- http://chipsquips.com/”

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. **
- http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/

7. Give link credit where credit is due. ********
- http://www.sfsignal.com/

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post. *****
- http://scifichick.com/

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it’s nice to know who is reading! ******
- http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

10. Make a blogger template unique: change the background colour, or add a background picture to your header. *
- http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/

11. Write positively even if the situation is seemingly negative — spread joy and not gloom. You can do it!**
- http://www.aliceteh.com/

12. When you find something that interests you, write about it. Sharing yourself with others is one of the best things about blogging.**
- http://jhthomas.blogspot.com/

13. Start draft posts to capture ideas for future posts, so you don’t lose track of them.
- http://charmingdelightful.blogspot.com/

14. Be helpful to new bloggers. Remember when you first started blogging and didn’t know how to post a link? Or was that just me?***
- http://islandlife808.com

15. If you have a question about blogging, don’t be shy, go ahead and ask. There are so many bloggers happy to give you help if you need it.*
-http://www.arewethereyetmom.com

16. Remember that blogging is a community - don’t be afraid to comment on the blogs you read. Reach out and make new friends, you’ll be glad you did!
- http://debmomof3.blogspot.com

17. Try to blog daily, this is the only way to build up a “cyber following”*
-http://mylifeasmamajodi.com

18. Check that box on your profile so your bloggy buddies can reply by email to your comments, it makes life so much easier… and by all means PLEASE make your profile public so when you click on your name it doesn’t say profile not available. There’s no way to reply to you or visit you when you aren’t public!
http://mylifeasannie.blogspot.com

I tag Amanda, Julie, JennaG, Mandalyn, CoachJ, Susan, Marcia, Kim, Janeen and Ann.