What's Been Happening and Where is Marcy???

Today is the day for a rhyme

And I've learned that I must take the time

To make this world a little brighter

And hopefully our burdens a little lighter.

The praying for others does not cease

Even when on my forehead worries crease

For I wish you all sweet peace

And from problems a prompt release.

If we our troubles all up to Him

Then we can sing nothing but a happy hymn

For even our most troublesome day

Will turn out so much better if we PRAY.

Now this post all all a messy jumble

And made me do a little mumble

As pictures went a tumble.

For those of you who have failed to be overwhelmed with snow pictures, I render a few from our backyard on snow day here in Georgia.  Just like us, Tinkabelle was amazed at those big flakes...

Here is the view from the other side of our back patio.  You can see our snow covered water barrel on the ground where the workmen took it and left it, along with the concrete blocks they removed and left in the front yard (all without even asking, sad to say) for whatever purpose when they were repairing our water main pipe...

Sadie Mae and Tinkabelle right before their trip out into the snow with shiny eyes (guess I should have removed the red eye here)....

Another view of the first picture....

Lovely falling flakes and the shed and our garden to the right of it, all decorated with snow....

Sadie Mae plowed out into the snow, more adventurous than Tinkabelle who had to see what would happen to Sadie Mae first....

Now here comes part of the goofiness, the jokes are in the middle and it took me a   l  o  n  g , long time to fix this up because it copied and pasted with about 17 blank spaces between every third or fourth word!!!  As I was finishing, I discovered that it ended up in the middle of my post and then I had to just "let it go" as there is no way to drag all those other pictures to the top.  If you like your laughs at the end then skip to the bottom then come back here...

"A 1st grade school teacher had twenty-six students in her class. She presented each child with the first half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the second half. It's hard to believe that these were actually done by 1st graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading, keep in mind that these are 6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic! (don't peek till you get there!!!)

1.  Don't change horses.......until they stop running.

2.  Strike while the.............bug is close.

3.  It's always darkest before......Daylight Saving Time.

4.  Never underestimate the power of.....termites.

5.  You can lead a horse to water but.....How?

6.  Don't bite the hand that......looks dirty.

7.  No news is.....impossible.

8.  A miss is as good as a....Mr.

9.  You can't teach an old dog new.......math.

10.  If you lie down with dogs, you'll.......stink in the morning.

11.  Love all, trust.......me.

12.  The pen is mightier than the.......pigs.

13.  An idle mind is.....the best way to relax.

14.  Where there's smoke there's.......pollution.

15.  Happy the bride who.....gets all the presents.

16.  A penny saved is......not much.

17.  Two's company, three's......the Musketeers.

18.  Don't put off till tomorrow what......you put on to go to bed.

19.  Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and.......you have to blow your nose.

20.  There are none so blind as.......Stevie Wonder.

21.  Children should be seen and not.....spanked or grounded.

22.  If at first you don't succeed.....get new batteries.

23.  You get out of something only what you.......see in the picture on the box.

24.  When the blind lead the blind.....get out of the way.

25.  A bird in the hand....... is going to poop on you.

And the WINNER



is . . . (now you can wait if you want because this also is goofy and the answer is after the end of these pictures)!!

Here comes some of the news around here....

This looks like what may have happened to Tinka (this dog even looks a little like her), but our cats' front claws are gone, so it could have been a wild animal in the backyard or her sticking her nose under the fence and it wouldn't fit.  We don 't know but the poor baby had three bloody scrapes on top of her nose.  We cleaned them and put some neosporin on them (which she promptly licked off).  So far it is slowly healing and looks fine and so is she (no swelling, no appetite loss and still playful)...

Except for not being three marks and not being vertical, this looks like her nose (also except more healed now)...

Now, for more excitement.  Here's where we had to take Michael a week ago and beside it (that anughty coffee) is the reason.  Not only did his defibrillator go off and shock him but the next day he was wracked with cramps down his back and his legs.  His muscles were cramped from dehydration (lots of coffee takes out water, causes his heart to race and the defribrillator to eventually go off)  ...

If he had been drinking lots of water and eating bananas, it certainly would have lessened any of these things, but his beloved and deadly coffee would still have caused his heart to race...

Now my Michael is being very cautious and not drinking coffee at all and also finally drinking plain water along with volumes of Propel.  Sad to say, though, the doctor once again upped his medications, not allowing him to see if these changes would adjust anything or everything....

This is what I found when I typed in "BAD COFFEE"....

Our Sadie Mae loves to roll around in the dirt outside, so she is our little 'pig' and it recently (the same time as Tinka's problem) got her a case of dirty ears and lots of head shaking which was 'cured' with hydrogen peroxide followed by neosporin.  Amazingly these dogs only go out for 10-15 minute spurts, yet look at all the trouble they can get into...

Here's another out of sync picture, but this does look like the ER where we waited for over four hours as they did tests and X-rays on Michael and had him all hooked up to monitors..

Last, but certainly not least among our "adventures", we discovered we had a leak in the main pipe from our front yard to the house!!  PLEASE learn from me and get at least three estimates before letting someone do the job.  Being stressed with a still problematic septic system and then some major leaks in the main pipe made me jump in and say yes instead of waiting.  I feel we were ripped off deeply on this, but it is fixed at least...

26.  Better late than......... pregnant."


Meanwhile I/we got lured into a thing called Farmville on Facebook which has kept our minds off the financial woes and medical issues, so it takes up alot of time but has kept us happy.

~~~Dear Lord, thank You for the blessings of friends and things that can ease our minds when we are stressed.

Want to know 4 Secrets?

Today's Internet entertainment/education is brought to you by four restaurant secrets.  I have been fortunate enough to have been in many restaurants in many places, so as you look at these restaurants, please let me know which one you would chose to go to for a night out if money was no object.

I can't believe that I almost forgot

For to rhyme words I must take a shot

As you take a gaze upon each spot

Below and rate it hot or not.

This is good for my brain I can feel it work

So try it yourself and try not to smirk

Or worry that maybe you'll twitch and you'll jerk

For I'm still doing it still and haven't gone beserk.

This one looks pretty elegant, doesn't it?....

A guy would never have to worry about his date walking out on him at this restaurant, unless she was a really great swimmer (bet their 'catch of the day' is REALLY fresh)....

This nice little quaint French restaurant reminded me of the ones we saw in Catalan, Spain which is a tourist spot and has signs transalted into hysterical English, like "If you like dogs that are hot to eat, please to come here to eat..."

This is somewhere not in the U.S. but it looked interesting and fancy schmancy...

Even though this restaurant is somewhere in the Arab Republic, it really reminds me of a restaurant that Mario and I went to in Poland, only there were booths all along both sides...

This is a restaurant overlooking the water but it looks as if it could be on a ship...

This one would be fun (and we both like oriental food)but Michael is afraid of heights so I would have to go alone!...

The neat thing about this restaurant is that you wouldn't have to dress up, you could probably even come in your pajamas, but if the food's good, I'm in....

Now here's some elegance (think this is in China) and it looks like there would be plenty of seating...

This one is sooooo romantic...it looks like a great place for romance or to take a good book and have a great reading time...

Michael will get the heebie jeebies just looking at this one in Germany but I'll bet it's wonderful...wish I could have gone to it when we (Mario and I and the children) lived in Germany.  Even though I don't have a special fear of heights (just a respect) I would never lean out the windows here whereas my son and late husband probably would have ....

Now here are the secrests you have all been waiting for....


"4 Must-Know Restaurants Secrets!
By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding

Eat This, Not That

by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition
.

If being an anonymous blip on a giant corporation’s assembly line makes you feel like a character in some bleak sci-fi movie, we’ve got good news. There are plenty of ways to fight back—to enjoy all the convenience of modern restaurants and all the foods you still like to eat without paying extra money every 6 months for a new pair of pants.



You see, all major restaurant chains—from the fast-food purveyors to the sandwich shops and coffee bars to the sit-down dinner joints with their vaguely Italian/Mexican/Chinese/whatever themes—operate with the same set of secrets, secrets they don’t want their customers to know. And if you know these secrets, well, guess what? The power to eat what you want and still stay slim is in your hands. Lucky you!



This list of sneaky secrets, straight from the book Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Survival Guide will help you start taking back control! And, even better, we’ve created an Eat This, Not That! iPhone app—it’s like having your own personal nutritionist at your fingertips!



Secret #1: Don’t get “supersized”

Sure, it feels like you’re getting a bargain because you’re getting proportionately more food for proportionately less money. But a “value meal” is only a value for two sets of people: the corporations that make the food and the corporations that make liposuction machines and heart stents. Because food is so inexpensive for manufacturers to produce on a large scale, your average fast-food emporium makes a hefty profit whenever you supersize your meal—even though you’re getting an average of 73 percent more calories for only 17 percent more money. But you’re not actually buying more food. You’re buying more calories. And that’s not something you want more of.



Secret #2: Remember, the waiter is a salesperson

A 2005 study published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services found that you’re more likely to order a side dish when the server verbally prompts you. (“Do you want fries with that?”) Restaurants know this, and now you know it, too. When the waiter makes a suggestion, remember his job is not to make you happy. His job is to extract money from your wallet and insert fat in its place.



Secret #3: Don’t get too excited

You eat out all the time. A 2008 study in the International Food Research Journal found that people are less likely to make healthy restaurant choices when they feel that they’re dining out for a “special occasion.” And as we said, dining out used to be special. But before you head out to your next meal, really take stock of how many times you’ve eaten out this week. If you’re eating every meal at home and dining out truly is a once-a-week splurge, then don’t worry about it so much. But if you’re like most of us, eating out is probably more like a once-a-day splurge. And if that’s the case, remember, there’s nothing special here. Eat smart today because you’ll have to do it again tomorrow.



Bonus tip: Download our free Eat This, Not That! guide to shopping once and eating for a week—and save calories, time, and money!



Secret #4: Start small

Here’s the good news: No one is going to stop you from ordering seconds. So be like any good businessperson, and start small. Here’s exactly how expensive it really is whenever you go for the “bargain”:



7-Eleven: Gulp to Double Gulp Coca-Cola Classic: 37 cents extra buys 450 more calories.

Cinnabon: Minibon to Classic Cinnabon: 48 more cents buys 370 more calories.

Movie theater: Small to medium unbuttered popcorn: 71 additional cents buys you 500 more calories.

Convenience store: Regular to “The Big One” Snickers: 33 more cents packs on 230 more calories.

McDonald’s: Quarter Pounder with Cheese to Medium Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal: An additional $1.41 gets you 660 more calories.

Subway: 6-inch to 12-inch Tuna Sub: $1.53 more buys 420 more calories.

Wendy’s: Classic Double with Cheese to Classic Double with Cheese Old Fashioned Combo Meal: $1.57 extra buys you 600 more calories.

Baskin Robbins: Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Kids’ Scoop, to Double Scoop: For another $1.62, you’ve added 390 calories.

The bottom line on all this? For just a hair more than 8 bucks, you’ve bought yourself an additional 3,620 calories. If you ate each of these once a week, and you were to switch to the smaller size each time—again, still all your favorite foods, just in a more reasonable size—you’d save about $417 a year. It’s not going to buy you a new car, but it could put you on a plane to the Bahamas. But far more important than that is what it will mean to your waistline, because in saving that $417, you’ll also save 188,240 calories in a year—enough to shave a whopping 54 pounds of flab off your body! (Hey, take the 400 bucks and buy some new pants!)"

I even found some restaurant jokes for you....

SIGNS YOU’RE AT A BAD RESTAURANT:

The parking lot has a space marked “RESERVED—HEALTH INSPECTOR”


Their top breakfast special is Honey-Nut Oakios cereal with prune bran and a Geritol power shake on the side.


The main fare at noon is whale-meat sandwiches, and the name of the place is “Thar-She-Blows Lunchmart”


You complain about your dinner, and the waiter asks if you’d like to speak to the house lawyer.

*********

"I should have known better when I saw a sign in the window of the diner that said 'New! — Breakfast Burrito — Now with real Burro!'..."

~~~Lord, thank You for the blessings of restaurants where we can be delighted with new tastes that we would otherwise never know.

I know I can do this!

Well, this was supposed to be last Wednesday's post, but that didn't happen.  So this will now be called Marvelous Monday's post.

What has been happening is tons of more rain, in fact, there has been more rain recorded in the state of Georgia than has ever occurred in the history of weather reporting!!  Which means we are back to square one with our septic problems...rats!  Looks like our income tax return will be going towards an improved system but meanwhile we visit our local grocery store for restroom needs and showers are happening at Michael's workplace, although I can still do the dishes by throwing out the water, so that's a blessing...too bad my clothes washing effort didn't work.......although...I have been tempted to try a smaller load (shhh, don't tell Michael!)

Let's change this sad story to a picture or two.

Here's one of Michael and I taken in late December when we went to Fernbank museum...it looks as if I am falling into him with my eyes closed...well, a girl's gotta get sleep whenever she can!...

Remember me mentioning that there were still some nativities back in Arizona (sad to say, I only found three)?  Well, here's one I found when we were there this past November...

This is just a neat one I thought I'd share with you because it is just a wire silhouette...

You may be asking yourselves where the neat internet information is that Marcy usually supplies us with?  Well, it is bye bye for today as I need to get this post out and I need to go to the store!!!!!!!



Time for some smiles...

Assembly Line

Students in the adult French class I teach include quite a few health-care professionals. During one class, I was coughing so badly a doctor in the class raised her hand. "If you like, I could give you a prescription for that," she offered. Another hand shot up. "I could fill it for you," said a pharmacist's assistant. Not to be outdone, a paramedic added, "And I can take you there to pick it up!"
 

Unattractive

We brought our newborn son, Adam, to the pediatrician for his first checkup. As he finished, the doctor told us, "You have a cute baby."

Smiling, I said, "I bet you say that to all new parents."

"No," he replied, "just to those whose babies really are good-looking."

"So what do you say to the others?" I asked.

"He looks just like you."
 

Old McDonald

While waiting in line at the Department of Vehicle Services for my new license plate, I heard the clerk shout out, "E I E I O." "Here," the woman standing next to me answered.

Curious, I asked if she was married to a farmer, or maybe taught preschool.

"Neither," she replied. "My name is McDonald."

~~~Thank You Lord for the blessings of patience, please grant us LOTS of it (and I will avoid the temptation to say 'right now".)