Which...blender?

So my foray into the world of the Innocent Smoothie gains pace, as I carefully begin to consider which gadget I should buy.

My friends at Innocent Smoothie ( at least I would like to think they would be my friends if they knew I existed - I share their sence of humour!) suggest 3 items, a juicer, a blender and a squeezer although this could turn out to be some sizeable investment.

So, on skimming through the recipes for the 10th time, it turns out that to start with you could just get away with a blender and they suggest one with a glass jug.

I have browsed t'internet, but like to touch and feel things, so had a look round Tesco, but all their blenders were 'out of stock', but it seemed they all had plastic jugs. So I went into a Cooks Gadget shop at Freeport ( this trip will provide me with endless blogs, we had a BLAST) to consult a 'professional'.

'Is the type of jug a key component when considering the type of blender I should buy?' I asked.

At this point the sales assistant got hiccups, which then made it very difficult for me to take anything she was going say seriously at all.

'Pardon hic?'

'Well ,does it really matter if the jug is glass or plastic?'

( serious face on) hic, the thing with a glass jug.... hic...is that if you drop it, it will .....hic....probably shatter, whereas...hic...a plastic jug will merely....hic...fracture.

No, REALLY?

Fiona - help!

Yey, I did it!

Have a look underneath 'My Profile'

Thanks Kirsty X

This Is Cool.

http://dna.imagini.net/friends/

I've seen the widget you can produce from this site on other people's blogs, but I can't seem to make it work on mine ( Help?)

Basically you chose the pictures that best fit your opinion and it comes up with a little reflection all about you. I rather liked mine and wanted to share it with the world, but I can't - your loss!

I have messed about with my html (?) and made my blog more suitable for visually impaired people, it seems, but don't ask me how.

I guess it's now good for all the other 'old' people I know - See Matt's blog and work out your own retribution for him, if you love me.

Two in One Day.

I recieved this on an email today, one of those 'send it to everyone you know' ones, so I thought I'd cheat and blog it, but I think on re-reading it, that it's quite controversial in it's sentiment.

So tell me, what do you think?

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bringthe relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent has been answered and now it's time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you are here for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

My Top 10 ( see previous Blog - hurrah!)

In no particular order, and slightly different from my original list:

Only by Grace
Holy, Holy ( not the hymn)
King of Kings
How Great Thou Art
Blessed Be Your Name
May the Words of My Mouth
In Christ Alone
Jesus Be The Centre
I am Alive ( Kids Worship - Hillsong)
I've Got You Lord ( Doug Horley)

...and as you can see the B is fixed, which going by the comments on the previous posting, might be a disappointment to some folks!

Openly nicking an idea from Matt White.

-efore I start this-log proper, I have to mention that the - key on my key-oard is stuck down.

So Matt and I were working away when he posed this question:

What are your top 10 Worship songs sung in the Army? ( Or something like that) He was doing some research for Roots so it was all very a-ove -oard.

I struggled-ut Matt came up with 12.

On the way home it occured to me that I hadn't listed any Kids Worship Songs and I'm really ashamed a-out that.

So yeah -what are YOUR top 10 Worship Songs sung in the SA?

I'll list mine in another -log to shamelessly keep my ratios up !

Rites of Passage.

Well Joe turned 13 this week and we took him out for a curry - he asked, we didn't force him. It was great. The food was yummy and the company was superb. Thanks Joe!

Elyse went on the back of the motor bike this evening for the first time ( Honda 600 for those of you who know about this stuff) She LOVED it.Keith does the driving, not me....oh no! I haven't even been pillion yet

Thomas introduced me to this website, well this particular game really and for my bloggin' friends who really enjoy procrastinating...welcome to Paradise :)

http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/line-rider/rider.htm

Have fun!

His Way is Best?

Yes, in the huge expanse of Eternity, when all the questions are answered, it is.

But this morning in the meeting, I had the sensation of being in my place in time and recalling situations past,present and yes,oddly, future events when I really can't see that His Way has been/ is / will be Best. Then again - WHO am I to judge this stuff?

This pondering is all the fault of Phil Laeger's arrangement of the chorus, 'I'm in His Hands',(seems to be everywhere at the moment, which is odd, as it's not 'new') which highlights the phrase like this :

'His Way is Best( pause)you see, I'm in his hands.'

rather than the traditional version which I feel kind if hides that challenge thrown out by Mr Laeger's version:

' His way is best, you see, I'm in his hands.'

There's no opportunity to have a moment of holy doubt about it, before just taking it for granted.

I guess on another day, this arrangement would be and has been very affirming. My faith in, and my personal experience of God reassures me that it's true, His way IS best. I'd be all over the place if I didn't have that....and yet....?

That's a BIG number.

I have just used the phrase 'I'm not going to be a million miles away from home to be honest', which elicited a positive response from the person to whom I was speaking ( they are coming to pick up my car to fix the resultant dent ftom a recent prang I had doing 1mph in a car park - BLUSH)

So anyway, I then pondered the phrase. Delicious to have the time to do that when you're on holiday, isn't it? What it means is that I am going to be fairly close to home. So why didn't I say,'I'm only going to be two miles away from home ' instead.

I have said, in the past,'I'm not a million miles away from being ready' i.e. I'll be ready in a couple of minutes ,and ,'Well, for goodness sake, it's hardly a million miles away is it!' i.e. no I'm not going to give you a lift to the pictures.

Why do we use such a massive number to mean something so small?

I googled - a million miles- to see how actually far it was, and didn't get much help and haven't really got the time this morning to spend on research as I, quite literally, have a million tonnes of ironing to do.I did find out that some guy seems to have taken 17 years to have notched up a million miles in the same car and it's now going into a museum.

It was a Saab!

PS Kirsty how am I doing on the blogging table - I MUST have moved up a couple a spaces :)

A Grand Day Out.

Can thoroughly recommend this place as a 'something for everyone' place.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/bedgebury

It's only about an hour and a 1/2 away ( from where I live ), dependant on traffic on M25 and A21, costs £6 per car to get in and the rest of the day is your own.

I was excited about going for a number of reasons:
Getting out in the fresh air
Making a day of a day
Letting the children off their leashes - we took a friend for Joe too.
Using my Sat Nav.

All went well until we got to with a sneeze of the place and James Navman decided throw a wobbly, bit like C3PO when he has his memory wiped. Suddenly he was advising us to turn left when it was obvious that we had to turn right, there was a signpost, and then he denied all knowledge of the road we were on, throwing question marks at me and figuratively shrugging his shoulders and relinquishing responsibilty.GOOD!!

We got there after taking a 'U turn at the next available moment' a couple of times and guessing which way to go, so all in all I was NOT pleased with James and didn't say thanks when I put him back in the bag.

( I know it's not real, but I like to anthropomorphise)

So he didn't take kindly to that and didn't tell me anything when we left the place - he had the right hump!

Anyway, check ou the link, - it's a cool place and the A21 is NOT a figment of my imagination - it's real :)

Look at the time!!

Well, it is the last day of the holiday weekend and the beginning of a week off for me, so K went to bed ages ago as he has to go to work in the morning and I thought - I'll just have a final Easter Weekend blog and it's now 12:40 am!

I've been having a great time catching up on all my blog buddies and found some new ones too - well old friends that I didn't know blogged, so that was good.

Had a massive Brunch type brekkie this morning and did a few jobs around the house, then met up with some friends for a wander round the woods. This was a real last minute arrangement really, so a lovely way to round off the weekend. Watched the Gunners on the tele - well I only watched the second half - someone had to stay out in the garden with the kids and have a little snooze, get a bit of a tan etc. Then ate way too much pizza.

I finally beat Joe at Chess when we got home. We played two games, I got whooped in the first one, but the second lasted 1 1/2 hours and I WON!!

I still don't have a strategy as such and Joe has quite an aggressive one, but I'm learning.

Finally, we have been watching Bear Grylls on the tele lately - he's a survival specialist and provides handy hints in the the event of you getting dropped out of a plane over ...well any large uninhabitable place onf Earth and Elyse came up with a handy hint for him..

She wanted some blue tack to stick a note up in the bathroom about something and couldn't find any, so was really please to discover that wet cardboard is just as good and how Bear Grylls would find that really handy if he wanted to stick up a notice in the Everglades - for example 'No Alligators Allowed'

The note is still stuck onto the tiles above the sink from last evening, so she MIGHT be on to something.

No Chocolate B-log.

Who didn't get an egg? - ME!

Outrageous :(

Anyway - went to breakfast at the hall. Some very virtuous types went to the 7:30 Sunrise Service on the common, but not us this year anyway. K once had a very bad experience with a horse on the common one year and the memory still looms large. He might blog about it one day - he keeps threatening to start one!. We were advised that there were no horses this year, so Keith is not the only one who remembers.

It was good to share with people we don't normally have breakfast with as well as the ones we normally do share with.This time last year we were in Florida, sharing breakfast round a pool.

The morning meeting was based on rolling the stone away and my dad had built a huge tomb with a stone to roll away and with some great sound effects it was quite authentic.

What really blessed me though actually happened after the meeting had finished ( apologies to Mjs Mike and Wendy Caffull who lead really great meetings, thank you!) Some of the children were really excited about going into the 'tomb' to have a look around and came out again laughing, as they do.I just had this great feeling of how excited they were to esentially experience the death and ressurection of Jesus - not that it would have crossed their minds. Thoughts of baptism crossed my mind though - then went away again!

We had my mum and dad for lunch and it was good to spend some quality time with them - when we could get a word in.

Played Elyse at Drafts a couple of times and Joe at Chess 3 times - he beat me everytime. I have no strategy that's the problem, I just 'play'. However, I feel really driven now to nail this and so when Joe gets in from Youth Fellowship I'm going to challenge him to a dua - I mean game. Not that I'm obsessed or anything.

Easter, as we touched on in the meeting this evening, really is a time for remembering.

The hymns evoke an emotional response, like a smell - they can transport you back to a previous Easter. I think it's because unlike Christmas, the songs are only sung on one day - not spread out like Christmas Carols, so it's intense.

This year,I was transported back to Ipswich Citadel, sitting next to or rather snuggled up to my grandma who had been a professional singer in her day and remember feeling the hymns vibrating through me as she belted them out. I can recall where we used to sit in the balcony, while mum and dad were in the band and songsters - I was only about 2 or 3 at the time, as we moved away to London when I was four, nearly five.

Anyway, back to the real world.

He is Risen. That's for real, for ever and for keeps and maybe one day my children will be transported back to this Easter Day and remember the tomb that grandad built, and with the experience of years feel that it was an inportant part of their faith journey to have experienced the before and after.

Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus!

Chocolate B-log II

Easter Saturday - always a funny day in my opinion. Should we still be sombre? Is it ok to clean the car today and hang out some washing?

So anyway, I did clean the car with the help of T and E and I did do some washing and I did a bit of ironing too.A riviting day don't you think?

However, this afternoon Keith and I went to the pictures to see Amazing Grace.

I'll cover the 'went' bit first. We had the chance to chat which was great and continued with our predestination thoughts, prompted oddly enough by Harry Potter. ( Goblet of Fire, there's a plan and it all goes according to it, orchestrated by a baddie, until the end when one of the characters dies - honestly, the most emotional ending to an HP so far, I even cried reading the book)

Here's the thing - yes God created us with freewill, BUT He does have a plan, and His plan will 'out' because it's His and so, Jesus HAD to die to redeem the world and so for those few day, certain people had to do certain things - the disciples had to go get the donkey, Jesus had planned certain things he would say,Judas had to tip off the authorities, Barabas had to be set free, so Jesus could go on to be crucified etc.

I was wondering if, for that few days during that most opportune of times ( lots of people, maximum impact, great transport network in place, so news could get around - thank you Richard), the key players didn't actually have a choice?

The film was really good by the way - lots of political history put into context for me( sometimes couldn't help throwing in a few Blackadder lines of our own) and great declarations of faith in the script. Lovely setting, costumes and humour alongside the harrowing theme.

Sobbed at the end because slavery is still a reality and my heart is very tender about this at the mo.

Chocolate B-log. My Easter Reflections

Maundy Thursday - attended a Passover Meal at the Corps presided over by Messianic Jews who also gave us the opportunity for some dancing. It was very interesting and they are so passionate that the Jewish Nation recognise Jesus - a massive prayer for them and brilliant how they interwove the redemption of Jesus into the redemption history of the Jews. ( Great Shepherds Pie too!)


So today is Good Friday and we joined with the Churches together in Romford for an Ecumenical Walk of Witness around the town, stopping at various churches for times of worship and reflection.

It wasn't easy getting to the first church as Keith had decided it would be quicker to walk and we seemed to take a very scenic route, and also had left 10 minutes after we had agreed to, ( K asked me to add that bit in) arriving as the worship had begun - This Is Our God The Servant King. I was moved immediately - I mean emotionally, I wasn't asked to change seats or anything.

We had to sit in the balcony of the Baptist church so felt quite removed from the proceedings, but had a great view of the screen on which was projected the scene from The Passion where Jesus is bought before Pilate. I was nervous initially as I didn't know how the children would deal with it, y'know, seeing Jesus in that battered state.(They still haven't mentioned it,but I have a feeling that bedtime tonight might provide a good discussion opportunity)

Anyway, what hit me today was the humanity of Jesus and the way that, in this film, Pilate tried to intellectually get his head round this battered problem standing before him. In some movies, Pilate is portrayed as a weak man , but here he seems to be given the opportunity to show some discernment.He really wanted to understand, but how could he?

Jesus answered the questions as only the Son of God as a man could. What words could actually describe why he was there when then people didn't have the objectivity of hindsight that we have. We ask 'How could they not know?' and in the light of Isaiah prophecies, really how could they not know, how can they still not know? But they didn't and ironically, that is how it had to be.( Big thoughts on predestination which were bought up in discussions with some friends later, see**)

From there we walked to the Catholic Church and listened to a song sung by 'Mary' and I amazed to experience the grief of a mum - humanity again.

I really felt for the two boys at the front of the church who were chosen to be a tableau, particularly Stefan who was asked to hold the crown of thorns above Jesus head...for ages.

We then walked, with SA Band accompaniment to the High C of E Church in the market place and had to walk through the market to get there. Life was going on around us, some people looked up, some people moaned that we weren't buying anything, saying anything, giving anything out etc. and I did think that perhaps we should have had 'something' to give to people, but now I think what we gave them was our witness, ourselves, a moment to wonder what we were doing maybe?

From there, a chance to witness at the top of the market place and sing my fave Easter Song - 'When I Survey The Wonderous Cross' and look around to see that the group of people had got really quite big. We were standing in a circle looking in towards the cross....should we have been looking out I wonder, making some contact with the people in the town, inviting, challenging?

Our final stop was at the Methodist Church where I found myself sitting right at the front by the cross they had placed there. The church was packed so some of us were facing the rest of the the congregation. By this time, Thomas was really moaning, thirsy, hungry, tired etc and sniffing really loudly and I was distracted by this and began to find things 'funny'.

I had been really blessed all morning, but during the singing of 'Were you there when they crucified my Lord?', got one of those giggles that just won't go, until given full vent. It was during the 'OOooohhh' bit of the chorus and I really had to struggle to get control. I have to lay some of the blame at my good friend Fiona ( hah gotcha, now write your own blog!) who had just given me one of her 'looks', that could have meant a number of things and I chose for it to mean the wrong thing, which is probably what she really meant anyway!

Problem was, I was spotted, by some of our youth and given a really hard time on the way back to the hall - good for them though, I'm all up for accountability, as long as I can have a go at them for chatting in the evening meeting!

They said that my feeble efforts at gaining control had made them laugh. Ho hum, sorry for being human!

**So, an oppportunity to chat over tea and Hot Cross Buns - are they still Hot when they're cold?
Which is where the BIG discussion took place. I'm not going to go into it here though - this blog's long enough.

More tomorrow!

Hyphenated Words.

Do hyphenated words count as one word or two? The reason I ask is that I was playing that 'make up a story'game, y'know where each person in the circle continues the story, one - word - at - a - time.

There were a lot of technicalities, as I was playing with a group of children and their sence of justice knows no bounds except when it's their go and then anything goes. They can even use the word 'pooh' totally out of context and not get told off by each other, and the grown ups do that thing where we project into each others mind - If You Ignore It They Will Know We Are Cross And Stop Being Silly. Can I tell you now, I don't know why we do that because it really doesn't work and why can't we project the answers to more diffcult problems into each other minds, because that would be much more useful.

But am I allowed to say 'upside - down'? NO!!
...because it's two words.

Well I don't think it is - what say you?

Bloggin' Targets

Honestly,blogging is supposed to be an enjoyable leisure type past time, but now I'm on a target of more than once a week!!

That's all folks!