i've decided blogging is an excellent alternative...

...to loading up people's email boxes with forwards they don't really have time to read. so, here's a blog entry you may not have time to read... your choice :):


Absolute Truths from the Movies
1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York are within the price range of most people, whether they are employed or not.
2. At least one out of every pair of identical twins is born evil.
3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry which wire to cut.
4. During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
5. If you are blonde and pretty, it's possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at age 22.
6. Radiation causes interesting mutations, not to your future children, but to you, right then and there.
7. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
8. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
9. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will soon be thrown through it.
10. Most dogs are immortal.
11. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
12. Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say "Enter password now".
13. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
14. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
15. All grocery bags contain at least one loaf of French bread.
16. It's easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
17. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
18. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
19. Honest and hardworking policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before retirement.
20. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts; your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
21. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
22. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone else on the street will know all the steps.
23. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
24. The White House can be seen from any window in D.C.
25. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their arch-enemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man-eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.
26. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their opposite.
27. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment.

i found it on the internet, so it must be true....

i can honestly say that i have never been mistaken for any of these women.... i know you're shocked.



mike, on the other hand is constantly being asked for his autograph over here... now we know why...

very thai...

just wanted to let y'all know we've been unaffected by the political situation here... there is slightly more military presence in the city & at check points along the highway, but nothing else... for more info on current events in thailand, go to:

FOXNews.com - CountryWatch

thanks for all your notes of concern for us!

happy dog

an inside look at when ginger got her bone & was very happy.

very thai 5

yes, this is another shameless plug for visiting us in chiang mai....
pictured: doi inthanon, waterfalls, orchids, thai-style manicure/pedicure, buddhist temple, river cruise, (& most tempting of all) random building construction

God speaks to me.

maize hutton is a very talented woman who creates beautiful, smile-inducing things from the stuff most of us would find ordinary or even cast away... her original product, the "mommy tag", is a sweet tribute to moms crafted from silver that she recycles from old film (along with all her silver jewelry creations). i've been admiring her work, & following her daily creations, finds, & thoughts on her blog at maizehutton.com since finding the site several weeks ago.

wednesday afternoon, i stopped at my PO box to find a package waiting for me with maize hutton written stylishly in the upper left... i tore it open & promptly started crying in the chiang mai post office parking lot. you can see the contents in the squares above, but i'm afraid they probably don't totally explain my emotional outburst :). while i LOVE gifts to begin with, have an affection for old books, & melt over anything shiny & personalized, i really need to share more of the story (& you're probably wondering why a lady who makes jewelry for celebrities sent me a package, anyway - not that i totally know the answer to that question**)...

i've struggled on & off as a Christian with "performance" issues.... after first learning about a God who knows me totally & loves me without condition, i slowly forgot about His unconditional acceptance of me & worried a lot more about "doing things" to please Him, rather than "being" His child. as a result, i've often felt distant from Him... not really feeling His love or hearing His voice...
lately, i've felt God "wooing" me back to Him - in the midst of feeling a bit burnt out from serving a God who i often saw as a drill sargeant rather than a loving Father - i've heard His voice (through a few good books, including the Bible, and some trusted friends) reminding me to rest... to "be" His child & to stop trying to "do" things for Him. it's been a hard transition... learning to rest in Him when i found a lot of my significance in the things i was doing for Him.
at the suggestion of a friend, i've been asking Him for confirmation of His love & to hear His voice more clearly again.
so, as you can imagine, the package was very special.... the handmade necklace reminding me of His special, individual love for me (also a visual reminder of the love He showed me in giving me a wonderful husband)... and the book (a 3rd grade sunday school reader titled simply, God Speaks to Me) reminding me to be His child & that He does, indeed, still want to speak to me.

how is God speaking to you? i pray you'd have ears to listen & eyes to see just how He is showing you His love today.

-caryn

**apparently, when i commented on maize's blog, she clicked on the link to my blog (where she found mike's name & learned a bit about us)... other than her being an amazing woman with huge heart, i don't really know why she chose to bless me with this wonderful package... but i do know that i heard God's voice inside that padded envelope.


"God works in mysterious ways and through others when you least expect it." -maize hutton

(from her reply to my thank you email, in which i explained a bit about my story & why her gift meant so much)

thanks again, maize!

very thai 4

during their visit, my mom, grandmother, & i had lots of fun riding in a tuk-tuk, shopping at the night bazaar, and eating way too much khantoke dinner while being entertained by traditional thai dancers.

create

"problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity."
-unknown

the above is from a lovely website with free printable paper creations you "make" yourself... they've done all the beautiful work.. all you need are glue & scissors.
http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

here are some other websites & blogs that have been inspiring me lately:
http://www.papress.com/designityourself/index.html great tips if you want to "design" anything... business cards, t-shirts, etc.
http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ fun times on the farm... yummy recipes
http://www.maizehutton.com/ check out the "diy" & "blog" sections
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=learn-cat&id=cat242&navLevel=2&rsc=mslnav you don't have to like her to appreciate her genious :)

enjoy!

Just an FYI about the garden...

If you looked at the pictures below this post... you would see 3 cucumber plants growing in our garden...and that is it! I have planted seeds in the rest of the garden twice now, but nothing comes up...and you may notice that the cucumber is a strange color of yellow and it is growing a diamond ring!

My theory...last year the entire yard was covered in a foot of "water" from who knows where with free oil slicks and everything...that's it. That is my theory.

also blooming

in 8 pots scattered around the house & on balconies... tomatoes!!
on the bench out front... mint, tarragon, & nasturtuim....
in front of the garden: a pot that came apart in my hands & nearly claimed a few toes; now it's doing time as garden whimsy...

my ring

here's my first silver creation... made while my mom & grandmother were visiting...


here's the proof i did it (i don't quite have the stamp-engraving method down, eh?)...

my 30th

for those of you who couldn't be with us...

we went to dinner with our friends, david & christy... then came back to our place for christy's french chocolate cake! the perfect cake, i'm convinced... 1 tablespoon of flour and unmentionable amounts of chocolate & butter...




i'm experimenting with the video feature on blogger... you have to press the little play button (the carrot thingy above ">")... let me know how it works for you!

Tired and Busy?

Caryn came across this book called, "When I Relax I Feel Guilty" by Tim Hansel. This guy started Summit Expeditions, now called Summit Adventures. Anyway, I think it is a very appropriate book for out culture...and for me. Here is an excerpt I read this morning:

Tim Hansel writes, "Some of us need to read the following letter written by an anonymous friar in a monastery in Nebraska late in his life. We probably not only need to read it, but we need to allow it to seep down into the marrow of our tired and serious bones.

'If I had my life to live over again, I'd try to make more mistakes next time.

I would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this trip.

I know of very few things I would take seriously.

I would take more trips. I would be crazier.

I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets.

I would do more walking and looking.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would have more actual troubles, and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who lives life prophylactically and sensibly hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again I'd have more of them.

In fact, I'd try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many ahead each day. I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, aspirin, and a parachute.

If I had to do it over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.

I would play hookey more.

I wouldn't make such good grades, except by accident.

I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I'd pick more daises.'"