Happy Birthday, Gerard!!!!!

My wonderful husband turns 56 today and I wanted to surprise him with something special that he really wanted, so I went ahead and ordered the NHL Center Ice package from Direct TV. He was very surprised and grateful because hockey is his favorite sport and he is a die hard Boston Bruins fan. They are doing very well this year and this will include the playoff games, which at this point, looks like the Bruins will be in. I actually ordered it for him two days before Thanksgiving so he could enjoy it right away. I thought it would take a few days to actually get it, but that same night we had it! He was so excited. I also found the gift pack of four different flavors of hot chocolate that he really likes and was looking for in Rite-Aid. I'm glad he didn't see it. Right now, he is one big happy guy! We'll probably have a pie too to celebrate.

Mom's Six Tips To Winning Scrabble

Today is the 9th anniversary of my mother's death so I am thinking about her a lot lately. One of the memories I have is of playing games often with her. We both enjoyed games a lot! She was the "Scrabble Queen." Even when she'd win, she wasn't satisfied unless she had over 300 points. I still have some of the scores in my Scrabble set. She shared her strategies with me and I was able to become more competitive. She'd always win so as a kid, the most fun for me was at the end of the game when we overturned all the letters on the board and then dumped them back in the box trying not to flip any over.

The other night when I played on www.pogo.com, I won with 315! (PlSwts is my screen name, feel free to add me as a "friend" if you play on there.) It was like I had her back for awhile.

So, anyhow, I thought I'd share mom's tips with you so here they are:

1) Make longer words early in the game if possible. This helps use the whole board.

2) Use the higher letters on the special double or triple letter squares. Avoid trading these in unless it's very near the end of the game.

3) Always watch for possible words to capture by adding an "S" or an "ING" or "ED" or "ER."

4) Try to avoid making a word that sets up an available triple word square for your opponent unless you have a word you can play on your very next turn, but even then it's better to let your opponent set up the space for you.

5) Don't hold on to words on your rack waiting for a spot to play them more than 1 or 2 turns.

6) It's better to play than trade in letters early.

That's about it. Now get out that Scrabble game and enjoy playing with someone trying these tips and see if your score doesn't improve!

Thanks To Our November Commenters!

Wow! We thank all our November commenters for their participation on this blog. This is the most commentators we've had since we started blogging. We enjoy your comments and hope you find things of interest here. This list also includes those who commented on my other blog, My Funny Dad, Harry last month. Ruthi, Mike and Daisy also left comments on our PNN blog at http://karen.pnn.com (Zemeks Updates). If you haven't visited that one yet, it's a whole different look and format broken down by specific categories.

If you made a comment on here during November, you should be listed. If you aren't it is just an oversight on my part and not intentional. Please let me know if you should be listed and I will add you on.

Commenters on both our blogspot blogs:

Mountain Woman at Red Pine Mountain
Marrid 66 at 4 Cats Make Me Crazy and Here On Columbia Ave
Jude at Mature But Not Senile
Wildcatsthree/Chris at Our Dog Log and Ramblings Around The Water Cooler"
Page McManus at The Road I'm Traveling
Beaded Tail
Danny Thornton at Mortgage and More
Anne at Small Town Mommie


Commenters on This blog:

Daisy (a cat)Daisy, the Curly Cat
Windmill at WindMill on the Hill
Robin at Heart of Wisdom
Nhil at Simple Married Life
Sue at Stay At Home Mom
JD at I Do Things So You Don't Have To
Ruthi at A Carpenter Wife's Tool Box and Ruthi's Breathing Space
Liza at A Simple Life
Sandee at Comedy Plus
Sharon (Furkidsmom) at Friends Furever
Kim at Life With kim
Matt Oxley at Raging Rev
Jaya
Lynne Campbell at Seeking His Face In Everything and Homespun Ramblings
Banji at Lesson In Life
Melissa at Learning Activities For Children
Tracey at I Am Me
Melissa Erickson at Your Fun Family and The Erickson Zoo
Chris at Living Well-Naturally
Lucky Girl at The Peanut Butter Blog
Tahtimbo at Everyday Living
Wendy Lopaz-Redaon at From the Eyes of My Heart
Lisa at Lisgold
Clara at Coming Back to Life
RogJD at Life With Rog
Tammy at A Little Girl Talk and Mom Knows Everything
Annie at A Nice Place In The Sun
Ana at chica-pumuckl and Chica & Pumuckl Blogger Designs
Romey at The Lighter Side
Gmil & Tlc at Mabell's Everlasting Wisdom of The Heart
Tony at Tony at Seeking Things Above
Jodi at Jodi's Journey
Mom With the Brownies at Mom With Brownies
Tracey at I Am Me
The Snack Hound
Jenn at My Kids Are My World
Toni at It Is Nap Time
Modern Mom
Alan Gay and Straight
Kreez at Intricate Thoughts
Grace at We Live To Tell God's Amazing Grace
Josie at Nerdy Parenting
Erin

Commenters on "My Funny Dad, Harry" blog:

Cats at Of Cats
Emily Canibano at Sky Yoga Studio
Kathy at Is 8 Enough
Polly at Random Ramblings
Mommie at Saving Baby Girl
Signe at Signe Says
Liza at Moms Check NYO
Health Nut Wannabee Mom
TC at My Love For Animals
Tashabud at Tasha's Take
Thess at Women-ish
Rebecca at Cat Lovers Site
Genny at Wonderful Things In Life

I use this list to do Entrecard drops as well so that way I make sure to visit your blogs on a regular basis--(even when Entrecard is having issues).

Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore--The Gray Areas

The Bible is very clear on some things but not so clear on others. When things are not spelled out such as what job to take, who should we marry, where should we live, which activities should we sign up our kids to participate in, there are principles to lead us. I personally believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God; consequently, I seek to live according to its principles and commands to bring glory to God.

The Bible gives many specific commands, but for those gray areas where it is not so clear, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to perceive the things of God. He gives us insight and helps us to discern between right and wrong, good and bad. Therefore, it is a must that we not only trust Jesus as Savior but surrender to His will and ask Him to fill us with his Holy Spirit so we can be lead by the Spirit and not our selfish desires.

The fruit of the spirit or characteristics of the spirit that indicate we are filled with the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23 NIV). In the following weeks, I will share what I have learned from this study about each.

Our Best Reads For November

Karen's Best: My best was actually Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore; however, since that actually was over a period of three months and I am summarizing each chapter on here on Sundays, for my favorite November read I would say it is Breakfast At Sally's by Richard LeMieux

This is an excellent book about being homeless, written by a homeless person. He was once a very successful, wealthy business man who even had traveled abroad but when his business failed, he lost everything. His wife left him and his grown children didn't want anything to do with him. All he had was his van, some clothes, an old typewriter and his dog, Willow.

It's an inside look into the homeless way of life and their community. I will never look at the homeless in the same way again after reading this book because it showed how it could happen to anyone and how much a little help from someone can make a difference. Richard also suffered from depression and fortunately got some help. What stood out to me was the willingness of the homeless people to help out one another. Richard said the other homeless people became like a family to him.

It's a very interesting book about the 18 months this man spent living in his van which he was fortunate to have. Reading this certainly made me thankful for the things I have. The day I missed my bus one rainy, cold morning and had to wait an extra 20 minutes, I thought about the poor homeless people who slept outside the whole night and who would be outside today, looking for a place they could hang out for awhile just to warm up.

Gerard says: This book is about Richard Lemieux who was living the good life and then all of a sudden became homeless. Very interesting look at the world of homeless people. Lots of characters in this book which helps a lot, I think. Easy to read. Best parts for me were the homeless playing baseball and when Richard refused to sell his dog at any price even though he had no money left. Richard is writing another book and I am inclined to read it too. I recommend this book to anyone.

Gerard's Best is Measure of the Heart by Mary Ellen Geist (10 stars). What a wonderful book about Mary Ellen Geist who gives up her high paying job as a reporter, her lifestyle and all she knows to move back with her mom to take care of her dad who has Alzheimer's. This book has it all--humor, sadness, touching moments. You get into it quickly and at points it is hard to put down. I enjoyed this this book! I give it 10 stars!

Karen says: This nonfiction book is about a daughter who quits her job to move back home to help her mother care for her father who has Alzheimer's. Reading this is an enjoyable way to learn about Alzheimer's, what to expect and how to deal with it. It gives many resources for support for those who have Alzheimer's and their caregivers. I found it very interesting that the dad responded to music and could remember all the words to songs but couldn’t remember the right name of objects or people. He couldn’t read a book or newspaper, but he could read words written on a music staff such as song lyrics. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a relationship with someone with Alzheimer's or who just wants to learn more about this disease.

This daughter's role as caregiver to her father was similar to my experience in caring for my dad, although fortunately mine did not have Alzheimer's. The book I wrote My Funny Dad, Harry, shares my experience of being my aging dad's primary caregiver. He had diabetes and was practically deaf. I could certainly relate to what she was going through.

Six Things I Learned This Week-Part 11

Did you know only male turkeys gobble? The female ones cluck. I just found this out Saturday at our Sunday School get-together for the 5th and 6th graders at church. That's when I made my turkey.


At Jodi's Journey I learned that the Humane Society of the United States released their 8 month long investigation about puppy mills. Petland Incorporated is the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills!. Click on Jodi's Journey above to take you to her blog for the entire post and find out how you can help.


Here's a relatively new directory for blogs where I just registered mine for free this week: browseblogs.com. I found this bit of information at Jewelled Ramblings when doing my Entrecard drops.


I came across a very interesting post about improving your memory at Rising Thinker. Two things I found very fascinating that I didn't know are (1) It's better to memorize on an empty stomach, and (2) When you first wake up every morning, you should move your eyes from side to side to get both sides of your brain going.

Daisy the Curly Cat's mom told me how she makes the videos of Daisy with movie maker on the computer. I didn't know I could put several short video clips together to make one, but now I know! I am experimenting and made my first one which I'll post here sometime next week. From "Start", choose "run" and type in "moviemk" then browse to upload the clips or pictures you want to work with and then save them to your computer. Here's my first attempt:


Gerard showed me an article from the November 26 USA TODAY Life section about Pilots-N-Paws. Men and women who are pilots give up their own time to fly dogs that are on death row to other places where they may be adopted or to no-kill shelters. We think that is wonderful and thank them for saving these dogs from being euthanized. To see a video about this, here is the link to the USA TODAY site where you can view it: Click here to view Pilots Dog Rescue Video.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Karen Says: This is a picture of me and the turkey I made. When my mom got tired of cooking in her old age and since I am not a cook, I suggested on year that we eat out for Thanksgiving. A nice restaurant nearby that my mom liked had a buffet for Thanksgiving so I persuaded her to go there with me. My dad was on a strict diet because of his diabetes and eating was not a big deal to him so he didn't come with us. We discovered it was really nice not having to fuss with the cooking and the clean up so since then, we kept on going out for Thanksgiving. When I married Gerard, he joined us in this and today we are going to Best Buy to finally use our Gift Cards for a 32" HDTV for our basement, the zoo maybe, Hometown Buffet, and then watch the end of the Titans-Lions football game (I picked Tennessee to beat the 10 point spread). The animals get special treats today and it is free for everyone.

We have much to be thankful for. We have everything we need and I can't even think of anything else that I really want! It's been a very good year for us and now it's time I get started on our Christmas letter so I can get it mailed to friends and family on a timely basis.

I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers and am especially thankful to all who are following my little blog. My shirt says "Remember your blessings, forget your troubles." (It's one my mom bought for me, I miss her so much because we were very close.)

Gerard Says: Thankful Every Day!
Today is Thanksgiving and what I'm most thankful for is my all-time Sweets--Karen. She loves me so much, I'm overwhelmed by it!! I don't always deserve it!! An example--this week I had to work an extra hour at work to make up for being off today and tomorrow. So, what did my Mrs. Wonderful do? She got out of her routine and drove her own car to the bus stop in the morning so I was able to just come home and stay home. She drove herself home and then pulled my car in the drive after she pulled into the garage. Is that awesome or what?? So, Happy Thanksgiving, Karen! You're the best!! Love you so!! 000xx00xx000xxx

(Normally, Karen walks or runs to the bus stop in the morning and then I meet her with the car at the bus stop when she comes home.)

Oh, if you haven't taken the personality quiz that's the post before this one to find out what game you are, please do. I'd like to see how many different games we can represent and I like finding out more about my readers this way too!

What Board Game Best Matches Your Personal Talents?

I like games so just had to take this quiz. It said I am "brilliant and shrewd" but I don't think that's really true. Wish it were! I'd love to hear what game you are so copy your results into your comment.

I am Chess

This quiz says: I am brilliant and shrewd. I can often predict what people will do in the future. I thrive in complex situations. I deal with contradictions well. I can have many streams of thoughts going on in my mind at once. I keep track of things well. I am very patient. I have lots of endurance, even when my energy dwindles.

What Board Game Are You? Click Here to find out

I like Chess. My mom's best friend's son taught me how to play and he played with me even though I was quite a bit younger than he was. He's the person who taught me how to throw a football too. I used to have a really cool plastic chess set with big pieces that looked like Chinese people but I let a friend have it as a going away gift when she moved away. I wish I had kept it now though because I've never seen another set like it anywhere.

When I was in the youth group and we had a outing at the beach, I remember I took a little magnetic Chess set along because I didn't like swimming and didn't plan on going into the water. Mostly the boys played with me and they were surprised at how good I was.

GERARD IS BOGGLE: It said You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person.
You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done.
You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions.
You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes.
You're constantly inspired.