Seven Favorite Movies

Just a "quickie" to get back into this, since I seem to have gone on an unintended hiatus from all of my blogs....no rhyme or reason to the order here, just listing them as I think of 'em...and I'll probably later think of some that would have been in the top seven if I'd thought of them at the time.

1. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid...what's NOT to love about this movie? It's action-packed, hilarious, and emotional...not to mention it has Paul Newman and Robert Redford...and that great cliff scene...good stuff...
2. Citizen Kane...I'll admit, a few years ago, I wouldn't have picked this one. But my son fell in love with it when he was like 12, and I have to admit, it is one great movie.
3. Star Wars...the original one. Nothing will ever compare to that first moment, as a teenager, when I heard, then saw, Darth Vader on the BIG screen...yes, special effects have come a long way since then, but at the time it was almost breath-taking! Plus, it's just a great movie, lots of fun with some great lines I've been repeating ever since.
4. Indiana Jones...my favorites are probably Raiders of the Lost Ark and the latest one..because I was one of the skeptics, who thought Harrison had just gotten TOO old to be Indy...I was SO very wrong!
5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...as a kid, AND an adult, these CS Lewis books have been favorites that I've read over and over...they did an admirable job making the movie live up to the book.
6. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy...ALL of these movies lived up to the spirit of the books, and then some!! I could watch them again and again and never get tired of it.
7. Top Gun...Tom Cruise...Val Kilmer...fast planes...just good fun!!

Seven Things on My Stairs

I recently read a post from a woman who talked about all the stuff on her stairs, which gave me the idea for this list. I admit that there are currently (and almost always) MORE than seven things on my stairs. They seem to just be a collecting spot for STUFF and no matter how often you clear them, more stuff collects almost immediately. Whether it's stuff from the basement or car that I set there intending to take upstairs, or stuff from upstairs that needs to go down to the basement, I can just never seem to keep them clear for just walking on!!

So...the stuff on my stairs...or some of it, anyway...
1. Coffee cups...these are from when I'm running late, and I drink the last bit of coffee on my way down to the car, then think better of leaving the cup in the car, so I set it down on the stairs instead.
2. Books...always, always books.
3. Mail.
4. Small postal scale...don't even remember why I put that there.
5. Notebook that I need to return to someone.
6. Pens...I think these must belong to one of my sons, they're not ordinary pens, they're some of those weird "shaped" pens that look cool, but you can't actually write with them...not easily.
7. Ironically, a stair basket...for putting stuff in that usually collects on the stairs. The stair basket is often empty even when the stairs are not...

Seven Most Popular Resolutions

Whether or not you "make" resolutions, there is something about the fresh start of a new year that beckons us to "try, try again." So even if we have become jaded by our past failures to the point of refusing to make any formal resolutions, most of us, if we're willing to admit it, at least have some secret "desires," "goals" that we'd LIKE to accomplish in the coming year. If you DON'T have any goals...well, what do you hope to hit if you're not shooting at anything?

These are sort of an unofficial "compilation" of what seem to be seven of the most popular resolutions that people make for New Years. I looked at the "Top Ten" of about 5 different sites I found, and picked what I determined, in a completely non-scientific method, to be the top seven on average. Please note that these are NOT my resolutions!! I have added my comments and thoughts after each resolution.

1. Lose Weight--traditionally, I've always been underweight if anything, so this has never really made the list for me. The old metabolism is definitely slowing down now, but I think I'm still okay for this year. I think this is also probably one of the top two "quickly broken" resolutions...the other one being #2.
2. Exercise more...this one SHOULD be on my list, but I admit, it's not.
3. Quit smoking/drinking--I've never smoked, and I don't drink (alcohol that is--I'd hate to actually stop drinking anything!), so this one won't make MY list..but if you smoke, I encourage you to move this one up to the #1 spot!! Get a nice picture of the lungs of someone with lung cancer and post it around your house for a little motivation... If you drink, at least make sure that it's in moderation and that you never, ever, ever get behind the wheel after even ONE...
4. Spend more time with family & friends...well, I've never listed this as a "resolution," but I think it's an area we can all improve on, no matter how well we already do it! Relationships should matter more to us than anything!
5. Get out of debt/Make more money/stick to a budget...lots of variations on this one, but the goal in all of them is to have enough money and handle the money we have correctly. Definitely needs to be in MY top list!! I have no credit card debt, but the tons of medical bills last year have done massive damage to my financial position (and it wasn't that good to begin with!)
6. Get a Better Job (or a Raise)--I love my job, and it is a perfect fit for my skills--the raise would be nice, but I work for public transit so that's not likely. So, unless God has other plans, this one won't be on my list.
7. Help others/Volunteer--an admirable goal, certainly. I must admit this one's not on my list either, but not because I'm not interested in doing it--I guess it's more than I don't think of this as something to start doing, but just as a way of life; certainly, I could improve in this area, because I think it always helps us when we take our eyes OFF ourselves for a while...

Seven Things I've Enjoyed Doing this Christmas

It's Christmas time, one of my favorite times of the year, even if I DO hate the cold...

It's easy to get so caught up in all the "preparation" for Christmas that we never take time to actually enjoy the holiday itself...I'm sometimes guilty of that, no question...shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking all become the "important" stuff and suddenly it's Christmas Day and it's all just been one big blur and now it's OVER.
So it's important to take some time to ENJOY the season, not just "get ready" for it. To that end, these are some things I've done to really experience Christmas this year:
1. Our Choir Presentation--we did a presentation called "Peace on Earth" and I won't say it was my favorite, cause it wasn't, but I just love being a part of this. It's not just the final product, either--I actually enjoy the preparation part, learning the songs, singing them to myself over and over and reflecting on what they really say. I really don't sing well at all, but I am fortunate to be a part of the opportunity to just lift our voices in praise.
2. The Hanging of the Green service--this is one of my favorite services we have all year; we spend the service decorating the sanctuary--lots of different people get to participate, from kids to senior adults, and as each decoration goes up, we hear stories about how it came to be used in association with Christmas. And by the time it's over, our sanctuary looks like Christmas!!
3. The Living Christmas Tree--this is the second year my friends and I have gone to this, and I just love it. It is a production put on by another area church, but it's so big they do it at the University of Tennessee Basketball Arena! The "centerpiece" of the presentation is a HUGE Christmas tree structure that the choir actually climbs up into, so that the whole choir essentially forms a "living" tree shape. The presentation itself is usually a whole musical production--this year it was called "One Solitary Life" and showed in drama and song, the entire life of Christ. It was a good reminder that we celebrate Christmas, not just because of a baby born in a manger, but because of the life that baby lived, the death He suffered, and the victory He achieved for all of us! "He is Risen" should be the proclamation of Christmas as well as Easter.
4. Christmas Parties--I've gone to three this year, if you include the dinner and lightseeing trip with my friends (which I do...count it, that is). It's just a fun time to relax and enjoy the company of friends...even if we did have to spend one of them watching our Vols LOSE to LSU!
5. Surprises--I love surprises...when they involved being the recipient of something unexpected, it's sometimes hard for me to be a gracious "accepter" instead of just a giver...
This year has been a difficult one, financially, and some friends stepped in and played "Santa," providing something for my kids that I simply could not have done on my own. That means more to me than anything anyone could ever give me for myself...
6. Quiet moments--Sometimes, we just need to quit rushing and SIT. One of my absolute favorite things to do at Christmas is go into the living room late at night and turn off all the lights except for the Christmas tree, then just sit and look at the tree, the nativities (I have a bunch...) and enjoy the moment.
7. Christmas Eve--okay, so this hasn't happened yet, but I know I WILL do it (unless God has other plans) the same way as I've done it every year of my life. Our family will gather, eat dinner and then we will all sing Christmas songs--each person, starting with the youngest, gets to pick a song they want to hear and we all sing along. We're terrible singers, but it is one of the best moments of the whole year, because it is family time--we sing, we share memories, we just enjoy each other. It far surpasses the Christmas morning gift-opening as my favorite part of the season!

Seven Things To Be Thankful For

Now, here's a hard list...naming just seven things to be thankful for. I could list 7,000 things and still not be anywhere near finished.
1. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ--the salvation I have because of Him, the blessings I have because of him, the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life.
2. The letter that I have from my Father that I get to read every day and remember how much He loves me...The Bible.
3. My family--I am the youngest of 5 "kids" (the oldest kid is now 56 years old...), and, while my Dad passed away almost 3 years ago, my mother is still here and in good health and we have LOADS of extended family...and we all enjoy each others' company. Today we had about 25 for Thanksgiving, not even that big a crowd for us.
4. My kids...I have two teenage boys, and they are just about the most awesome kids on the planet!
5. Health...though I have had some health struggles this year, still I am grateful that I can still get up and make it to work every day (well, MOST days), I can still take the stairs instead of the elevator, I can still take care of myself and my kids.
6. Books...I love to read, lots of different things, and I think we too often take for granted all the great literature we have at our disposal.
7. Music...although I can't sing well, I love music and I love to sing, and I am glad that we have a choir director that loves having even the untalented because he knows it's not about the quality of the choir voices, it's about the quality of the worship....
oh, and also: pie; clothes; a warm, cozy bed; laughter; FOOTBALL, basketball, soccer, baseball, and other sports; friends; teachers; American soldiers, past and present; missionaries; photography; computers (except when I get the BSOD, I'm hardly ever thankful for that); dishes and silverware (cause if I had to eat off the floor with my hands, well, I just don't know how grateful I'd really be about that); cats and dogs and marmosets and lemurs and tigers and giraffes and even monkeys, although NOT the evil flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz...I am definitely NOT thankful for them, because they scare the bejeebers out of me; VeggieTales; great movies, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Sting, Citizen Kane, even "newer" ones like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc; COLORS (just think, God could've made everything in halftone, or only produced Web Safe colors, and THAT would be borrriinnngggg; feet and lips, because where would you be without those (except NOT feet touching lips, that's just GROSS); bananas, CHERRIES, and blackberries; spinach and artichokes, even if they're together (unless there's like, a whole artichoke in your spinach, don't think that would be very tasty); Diet Dr. Pepper, IBC Cherry Limeade; Fire; Lights (can you imagine still having to do everything by candlelight or lantern? although we would probably all get to bed earlier at night...), candy corn, potato chips, cell phones, except for when people call me and I don't want to talk right then, or when I WANT to call someone and the thing won't work, or when I get the bill for the stupid thing; my JOB and almost all of the people I work for (if you work with me and you're reading this, YOU figure out which ones I mean...); the awesome little toys that I always get in my stocking...

Seven Places I've Never Gone...in my own Hometown

We go on vacation to see all the exciting things in other places, and we wonder aloud when our friends or family who live there say they've never been to some of the places the tourists all flock to. Then someone comes to visit US, and we find that we are just as guilty of ignoring the vacation in our own backyard.
So, the next time you need a break but can't quite afford the time or expense of a vacation, just take a day and pretend you've taken a trip, then go visit the sites that are all around you. What would some of those sites be for you?

My list of possible hometown vacation destinations:
1) Gatlinburg Ski resort--I've been to Gatlinburg for other things (only when I have no choice), but two major things keep me from skiing there: The Crowds, and the fact that I can't ski.
2) Three Rivers Rambler--this is a riverboat that travels down the Tennessee and has several "special" outings throughout the year, including a Christmas river ride. I think it also includes a meal on board. This is actually high on my list of things to do.
3) Downtown haunted walking tour--don't remember the name for this event, but it happens, of course, around Halloween every year. It is a walking tour around some of the more historic sites around the downtown area, replete with the tales about the spirits that allegedly haunt the area.
4) James White's Fort--at one point, I worked within easy walking distance of this site; it's still just a 5 minute bus ride away...but somehow I just never make it. James White was one of the city founders.
5) The Dogwood Trails--each Spring, the city hosts a Dogwood Festival which includes a number of trails in each area of town. The trails are all marked with painted dogwoods along the road, so you can drive the route without even a map. The nice thing is that these trails don't just take you to the great big, expensive "Home Beautiful" kind of homes--there are a variety of different areas, some are older neighborhoods and some are newer, but they are all beautiful at that time of year. I HAVE driven down some of the trails, but would like to visit every trail one year.
6) Hiking trails and waterfalls--We live close to the Great Smoky Mountains, where thousands of folks come just to hike and see some of the beautiful waterfalls...again, I HAVE done some of these but I'd love to add some new ones to my "completed" list (although I'll have to get the knees working a bit better...former soccer goalies don't make good old people!)
7) The Sunsphere--remnant of the World's Fair, the Sunsphere is one of the more popular landmarks downtown. I was there during the Fair, but in recent years it had been closed and in a bit of disrepair; it was re-opened to the public not long ago, and I keep meaning to go but just haven't made it yet.

Seven Excuses for Not Posting Blogs

1. I was too tired last night (and, evidently, the night before, and the night before that, and...)
2. I couldn't think of a good list (never seemed to stop me before!)
3. I've been too busy (true, but no more so than the last 17 years--the length of time I've been a parent!)
4. The computer ate my blog entry...well, it sounds better than the CAT eating my homework.
5. I got sucked into the black hole of READING blogs and ran out of time to post my own.
6. The Feds seized my computer after I hacked into.....um, never mind. (KIDDING! Just Kidding, really! I can barely get into my OWN computer sometimes...)
7. I just forget to sit down and do it...now, THAT's the truth!