Sleep positions and your personality

Professor Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, has analyzed six common sleeping positions - and found that each is linked to a particular personality type.

"We are all aware of our body language when we are awake but this is the first time we have been able to see what our subconscious posture says about us.

"What's interesting is that the profile behind the posture is often very different from what we would expect."

The Fetus: Those who curl up in the fetus position are described as tough on the outside but sensitive at heart. They may be shy when they first meet somebody, but soon relax.

This is the most common sleeping position, adopted by 41% of the 1,000 people who took part in the survey. More than twice as many women as men tend to adopt this position.

Log (15%): Lying on your side with both arms down by your side. These sleepers are easy going, social people who like being part of the in-crowd, and who are trusting of strangers. However, they may be gullible.

The yearner (13%): People who sleep on their side with both arms out in front are said to have an open nature, but can be suspicious, cynical. They are slow to make up their minds, but once they have taken a decision, they are unlikely ever to change it.

Soldier (8%): Lying on your back with both arms pinned to your sides. People who sleep in this position are generally quiet and reserved. They don't like a fuss, but set themselves and others high standards.

Freefall (7%): Lying on your front with your hands around the pillow, and your head turned to one side. Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations.

Starfish (5%): Lying on your back with both arms up around the pillow. These sleepers make good friends because they are always ready to listen to others, and offer help when needed. They generally don't like to be the center of attention.


Personally I am somewhat of a mix between the Starfish and Soldier and both of those accurately describe aspects of my personality, though I occasionally will find myself in the Fetus position...

People being stupid news item of the week

Just Released From Lockup, Man Tries Carjacking

Frank Singleton could almost write the book on how to turn a misdemeanor into a felony without ever leaving the jail's parking lot.

"This is one of the stupid criminals," Sheriff's Office spokesman Paul Miller said. Singleton, 21, of West Palm Beach, got released from the county lockup Tuesday after being arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

He immediately ran out into the visitor's parking lot and, in an apparent effort to get away as quickly as possible, tried to carjack a 2006 Nissan 350Z, Miller said.

The woman who was driving it, Justine Lapierre, was just getting out of her car when Singleton ran at her saying, "I want your car," Miller said.

He pushed Lapierre out of the way, grabbed the keys and jumped into the Nissan. But it was a manual transmission and Singleton couldn't operate it, Miller said.

Hearing the commotion, Sheriff's Office Pastor Leo Krug walked up and, holding his handgun by his side, ordered the barely free Singleton to the ground so a deputy could handcuff him. Singleton was booked on a carjacking charge.

"I don't think he wanted to go back to jail," Miller said. "I think he really wanted to get away and was looking for a car." When the detective was making the arrest, he asked Singleton why he did this. "I didn't feel like walking," Singleton said.

I had to share this one as well....

Chicago's "Dumbest Thief"
18-year-old Ruben Zarate, entered a muffler shop in the 2600 block of North Laramie Avenue yesterday and declared a robbery. He allegedly waved a gun around and demanded money, according to police.

When he was told the money was in a safe and that the manager who knew how to open it was not there, the suspect had a brilliant idea; at least he thought it was brilliant. He gave the shop employees his cell phone number and asked them to call him when the manager arrived so he could open the safe for him.

He left and the employees opted to call 911. Authorities stationed plain clothes officers in the shop and called the would-be robber back. Zarate, showed up again, and waved his gun around again, but this time was shot in the leg by an officer.

He had surgery at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and is said to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Zarate, of the 5100 block of West Schubert Avenue, was charged with three counts of attempted armed robbery and one count of aggravated assault to a police officer, the latter for allegedly pointing a gun at the officer, said the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. One officer with 20 years on the force, said this is one of the more “unusual” cases he’s seen.

Notebook Blogging #8

The state of morality in our nation and the world is appalling. Everyday people do not have principles they are willing to stick to and the leaders of the various forms of government are sadly not much better. I don't get frustrated very easily but honestly, the state of morality, or lack of it, in the world's population really gets me hot. For that matter, the leadership in government and even the church for the most part is ridiculously depressing. Rather than go into a rant, which happens often when I am on the above subjects, I am just going to say the morality and overall attitude of my classmates leaves something to be desired.

Technically we have 15 students in the class. I say technically because only on a handful of occasions has the full 15 member class been present. There is a core group of about 10 people who regularly are in class, of those 7 or 8 are for the most part on time. The rest come and go like the wind, one day they will be there for 2 hours, the next they will not show up and the day after that they will stay for the entire class! There is no method to their scheduling, it is almost like they come when they really want to show up.

This attitude to class attendance and the apparent reflection of laziness on their part is mildly irritating to say the least. I guess I should not care about it, but I just don't understand how people can have such a lackadaisical attitude. I am an action type person, sure, I enjoy laying around watching 4 days worth of basketball games once a year, but if I have a job that needs to get done, especially one that involves manual labor, I am going to bust my tail and get the job done.

It is just very frustrating when we are trying to get things done and 1/3 of the class is usually absent and of the 2/3rds who do show up, about half of them would be content to sit around and talk on their cell phones when we need to be sticking headers in the openings! Do you just feel the frustration dripping off my words? :p It is a good group of guys, they just sometimes remind me of chickens in a pen, content to stand around with their mouths open on a hot day and the only way you are going to move them is if you start yelling and moving the pen and even then they sometimes don't move....Chickens, especially ones you raise to eat are some of the dumbest birds but I digress, I'll save that subject for another post.

My classmate's laziness does not just extend to our class as I found out the other day. As part of the requirements for our class you also have to take a math and English class, unless you test out, which I easily did. You don't have to be a mathematician or an English major, of which I am neither, to be in construction, imagine that! Not everyone in my class tested out of the math and/or English classes so some people are taking those in addition in construction/building code.

Anyway two of my classmates were talking about an English assignment they had to do, one classmate could not understand what they were supposed to do and the other was saying he was just going to pay someone to do it for him! Curious, I asked what they had to do and they showed me the assignment. It involved pretending you had your own business and were presenting a proposal for services to the government. Sounds easy right? It is the type of assignment you can hit right out of the park. Instant A+

I asked the guy who said he was going to pay someone to do it for him if he did not understand it. I was like "Dude that is a cupcake assignment" His reply was yes he knew how to do it, he just did not want to! I asked why not and he said he would rather pay someone to do the work because he just did not want to take the time to do it. He then offered to pay me to do the assignment! I told him $100 bucks, he said sure, paid me and I did it.... :p J/K!

I have to admit I was slightly tempted to, not because I wanted to help him cheat or because I wanted the easy money, rather, because of past work experiance, I seriously can write proposals like the assignment called for in my sleep. My competitive nature was already thinking how I could make this the greatest proposal the teacher had ever seen....

Even though my classmate's attitudes can sometimes be a pain, at the same time it is sad and I feel sorry for the guys. That type of mentality is just so foreign to me, I honestly can't comprehend it. I also feel their mentality is a reflection of us as a nation. No one wants to work hard and accomplish something with a feeling of satisfaction at a job well done. We want instant gratification, and we are willing to do whatever we can, even compromising our principles to get it.

Oh and sorry this is so long guys, like I have said before, sometimes I sit down to write and it just keeps on going on and on... :p

And the guy who wins a cd is......

On Friday I made a post regarding people of the male gender and commenting. Every guy who commented had his name written on a piece of paper and I stuck them in a hat and drew a name. The winner was: Tim

So congrats to Tim, I have no idea who you are, but thanks for the comment. :p If you click on my name in the sidebar to the right you will go to my profile and from there you can send me an email with your cd choice and where to send it.

The Top Song the Year I was born was Livin' On a Prayer by Bon Jovi

Wow! Bon Jovi has been performing a long time!

Last week I actually had a good reason for not posting. I was sick. I managed to get the bug that Anna and Matthew had a couple of weeks ago. This bug has a pretty long incubation period. I took to my bed on Wednesday night and no one saw me again until yesterday morning.
Just kidding! I did hear that the house was a bit quieter when I was sick. My fever was gone by Saturday morning, but I still stayed home from orchestra. Goodbye perfect attendance record! I hate being sick. I don't like feeling bad but on top of that I get lonely. By Friday, I was making frequent trips to the kitchen to get my temperature checked just so I could see people. My fever spiking Friday night put an end to that.... my family just doesn't want to get near people with 102 fevers. I don't understand it....

I was able to watch a few movies I had been wanting to see, including Nicholas Nickleby. I didn't remember it being so depressing. All of Dicken's books have a certain amount of sad and depressing topics in them but in Nicholas Nickleby all the sadness seemed to pile up. I did have a pretty high fever when I watched it. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I also read The Five Red Herrings By Dorothy Sayers. I was disappointed with it. It seemed too long, like she could have wrapped it up much quicker. Instead it felt like the characters went around and around the same stuff over and over again. There was also some swearing, which surprised me. The author was supposed to be a noted Christian scholar.

The best (only) thing about being sick last week was that the NCAA Basketball tournament started on Thursday. (I agree with William..... the play-in game doesn't count) I was able to watch the Duke game that night and a few more highlights. Friday, my mom left William in charge of the little boys and took the girls shopping. That meant I could lay on the couch in the den and watch as much basketball as I wanted. Yay! I have never been able to do that. If I had not been sick, I would have been teaching Friday afternoon and I would have missed all the games. I also canceled my Saturday lessons.....that was fun. I got to watch more basketball on Saturday and Sunday. In fact, I watched so much of the NCAA tournament over the weekend, that Monday afternoon I was feeling deprived. I really missed it. :(

It was weird to miss Easter Sunday. I was better but my ear was still clogged and Matthew's nose was still running so I stayed home with him. That was the worse thing about this whole virus. My head was soooo clogged. I could not hear out of my ear for three days! It was horrible!!!
I am pretty much 100 percent. I just have to stay away from dairy for a few weeks, so my ears don't get clogged again.
I also went to the family thing yesterday. I didn't have to drive, I read on the way up there and then coming home I went to sleep. It was the weather........kinda raining and just ugh.

Today's weather was beautiful! I am really excited that spring is here. I think I am going to go have a cup of tea before I go to bed.

Good Night!

~*~Sarah~*~

Easter Eggs

Every Easter we head up to my Aunt's for an Easter cookout. This year Will's chauffeur and rescue service was in full swing as I drove my grandparents to the event. My grandparents live about an hour away so I drove to their house and then I drove their car from there.

I really like to drive, windows down, music blaring, singing along as the wind whips your hair, the open road before you, I love driving. I like it so much, I even like driving in traffic! Last year on the road trip driving in NY and NJ was awesome. Anyway driving an hour to pick up my grandparents then driving another almost 2 hours west was something I did not mind at all. What I did mind was their car.

My grandparents have a Lincoln Town Car, "Nice!" you might think. No so, it is not nice, the thing drives like a marshmallow or maybe a big balloon would be a more accurate description. Either way I can not stand driving it, it feels like you have no control, it does not hang tight to the curves, and with it's crazy suspension system you don't feel exactly attached to the road.

Because I was heading from their house I was not sure of the exact way to get to my Aunt's but I figured I could just ask my grandparents. Except once on the road my grandparents promptly fell asleep, which was the main reason I was driving them, older people seem to fall asleep a lot. Needless to say, somewhere around Greensboro I missed my exit. My grandparents then picked that moment to awake from their slumber. Since they used to live in that area they said it was fine we would just go another way.

This "other way" took us around curvy back country roads in search of a mysterious road which would lead us to another road which in turn would lead us to our destination. For about ten minutes we drove around with my grandmother periodically saying she did not recognize this side of Greensboro while my granddad ignored her. That, or he just did not hear her as he is slightly deaf....Eventually we made it to my Aunt's where we then stood around the grill and shivered in the 40 degree weather as we talked about basketball. Ah family gatherings! :D

Later in the day I was drafted as an egg placer for the upcoming Easter egg hunt. I feel my hiding places were the best as they used the surrounding colors for camouflage. Sarah's edit: the following picture (the pink flowers one) is actually of an egg that I hid. But I did get the idea from William. He does, however, neglect telling the whole story. While he took his time and hid his dozen eggs artistically, Anna and I were left with the other hundred. Hmmm. I never realized how much fun it is to edit somebody's post. Ok....I'm done. :) Will's edit of Sarah's edit: Actually the picture is of the egg I hid, Sarah tried to hide it in that bush but it kept falling on the ground. Some examples:

Our youngest cousin there, Ross, decided for some reason Nick and I would be great candidates to play with, it started with balloons and I received this strange headpiece:

I guess finding someone to play with was rather exciting to Ross because he then decided to attack people with the balloons. The balloons ended up getting popped, duh, and Ross not to be detoured decided to attack with a nearby spoon which is where this picture came from:

There were several more pictures involving Ross and the spoon but they were all a little too graphic for the blog since it is after all PG. Poor Nick was laughing so hard it was all he could do to defend himself against the onslaught from the spoon. Seriously!

Basketball and Negatives

The greatest sporting tournament next to the world cup started this past Thursday. Over four days, 48 wonderful games (the play-in game does not count, be quiet ESPN) of college basketball were played. Having played basketball since my youth and growing up in the unseasonably warm state of NC, a hotbed for college basketball, you could say I am somewhat of a basketball fan.I am not a fanatic, but I do truly love a good game and in the last four days there were some great ones. Western Kentucky over Drake and both of Davidson's games particularly the win over Georgetown were the best in my mind.

Through a brilliant twist of March magic all of last week I was on spring break, giving me an amazing amount of free time which I wisely spent watching basketball games. (I doubt I will ever be in such a circumstance again. :p ) The four days were not all spent in mindless watching of basketball however, I also spent the last four days bringing back memories from my childhood.

I recently discovered that our scanner can scan and convert negatives into high res jpegs. In the days before digital cameras ruled the world, whenever you had your film developed you came away with a nice stack of shiny prints and a little stack of negatives that made everyone look like Martians. I am sure everyone has a stacks of these negatives lying around. The great thing about negatives is they are the original source for the image which means when you scan it you get a crystal clear image from the past. Granted over time negatives lose some of their original color and can have some minor flaws but over all, it is much better than scanning prints of the same images.

So while I did spend an average of 10 hours a day watching basketball over the last four days, at the same time I was watching the games I also scanned close to 300 negatives into wonderful high res images which had been lost to the sands of time, or at least not seen by human eyes for a good long time! A few samples:

That is me with the hose ...

Sarah and I

This one needs a little fix up but it turned out ok considering it is over 30 years old. I just had to show it because of the jacket :p

Basketball !!! :)

This last week Nick and My Dad plus the whole Varsity, JV, and MS, basketball teams have all been at the East Coast Home school Basketball Championship. Friday night was the finals. JV, lost by 11 points and came in second. MS, lost also and came in 4th. Varsity, won first place in overtime by two points!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO happy for them! The whole team played awesome together! Nick called Friday night and they were jumping around and screaming all over the place, they were SO happy !!!!:) Great job guys! What a great way to end the 2007 - 2008 basketball season!

~Anna~

Thanks to Sarah for the pictures!

Nothing

is more valuable, not your dvds, your cds, your TV,
not your computer, your vehicle, your pets,
not your house, your job, your friends,
not power, position, fame, money,
not your reputation not your
family, kids, husband/wife,
not even your very life,
is more important
than the God
who gave
his life
for it
all.

People being stupid news item of the week

RIALTO, Calif., March 18 (UPI) -- Police in Rialto, Calif., have arrested three men who appeared in a YouTube video that showed viewers how to "scam" free food from a fast-food restaurant.

Robert Echeverria, 32, Ian Anthony Roman, 18, and Brian Fawcett, 18, were charged with felony second-degree commercial burglary after they videotaped themselves lying to employees at a Rialto Del Taco to get free food in a YouTube video entitled "How to Scam Del Taco," the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise reported Tuesday.

Police said the video depicts Echeverria calling the fast-food restaurant and claiming to be a local business leader whose previous order was filled incorrectly. He convinced the manager to give him seven tacos, a large order of fries, two sodas and two quesadillas with extra chicken -- a $15 haul. Authorities said Roman picked the food up under the guise of being the fictional businessman's son.

The suspects, who police identified as gang members, could each face seven years in prison if convicted.

Want a CD?

Even though we get around 60 visitors a day to the blog I have noticed there usually are only a few people who comment. So either visitors don't have anything to add or they just like to lurk. I don't really care if people comment or not, I am still somewhat surprised we get even 60 visitors a day! I think I know maybe 10 or 15 people personally who visit the blog and the rest..... I have no idea who you are. :p I was thinking about comments and magic cookie points and then the thought occurred to me there is a bit of a gender slant going on for comments. Except for occasional comments by Jeremy, Enil, my cousins and some guy named Uncle Jim, all the comments seem to come from people of the female gender.

I have no idea why that is, maybe my blogging does not appeal to male readership, which would be strange as I am myself a guy. Maybe guys just don't comment on blogs often unless they really have something to say, that whole "woman use twice as many words as men" idea. Anyway, I have to think that out of 60 people a day more than 3 or 4 of you are guys. So in order to find out, I am going to give away a cd.

For every guy that comments I will stick your name in a hat and next week I will pick someone to get a cd of their choice. So if you are a guy reading this, comment! If only one guy comments then hey, you have a 1:1 chance of getting a CD! :D If no guys comment.... I guess everyone who reads the blog is a female. :p Oh and the honor system is being used here people, if you don't have a blogger account and comment I have no way of knowing if you are a real guy or a female pretending. If you are reading this Sarah G. this means no comments from "Joe" ;)

Early Easter

I am sure everyone knows this Sunday is Easter, which is the earliest it has been since 1913. I was wondering around online and came across this article that does a good job explaining why Easter is so early this year in case anyone else was wondering.....

Ah I missed one o' me favorite holidays!

A belated St Patricks day greetin' to everyone!

Since heading north was not going to happen I decided to head south to Florida, since as everyone knows it is the place to go on "Spring Break" So early Saturday morning I departed for palm trees and warm sand for a few days. That is the reason the blog was pretty much silent. I mean, why get on the computer when you can be on the beach!!

Ok well actually I was not going on vacation, I was working with my dad and we never quite made it to Florida, stopping about 30 minutes away in Georgia. Rather than have crowds of people around me on a warm beach I had clouds of nasty little gnat type flying insects. These of course decided I, as well as everyone else on the job were perfect candidates for the menu special of the week, Bonhumancarni - 10 magic cookie points if you figure out what that means. :p

I am not kidding about the bugs, there literally were these grayish clouds floating around people's heads. I look almost like I have chicken pox on my neck, arms and hands. Next to the hot weather in the south, which I have discussed numerous times, I dislike the bugs. The amount of bugs actually has something to do with the weather never getting all that cold enough to kill the suckers but I like to look at them as two separate irritants....And yes I know about bug spray, it never seems to really help me all that much, I guess you can say the juice is worth the squeeze, or maybe it should be, the blood is worth the bite, for bugs when it comes to me. Anyway, except for the little flying demons the trip was good, and I have some pretty funny stories which I would post but they are of the type that unless you have been on a job they probably would make no sense so I will just post some pictures, since everyone knows a picture can tell a thousand words..... oh and that is not me on the swing :p

A Totally Random Post. :)

For the past couple of minutes I have been looking at shoes online.

I kinda have a shoes fetish :)

But I do need to get some more tennis shoes, the pair that I have are falling apart. I mean they are literately falling apart. There are holes in the soles on both shoes.... the shoelaces are in pieces..... ummmm you get the point.
I really want to get a pair of Converse after William showed me how cool they were. (William has 5 pairs...I think) The funny thing is.... Converse were around when I was little and my Grandmother always wanted me to get a pair. Once a year for my Birthday, she would take me shoe shopping. I'm not sure why I didn't like them. Maybe my Grandmother wanted me to get a color I didn't like.

Sooo, while I was looking at tennis shoes online....I had to go look at the sandals especially when there is a category called Bright Colors. I told you.... I have a shoe fetish. :)
I found the coolest shoes. I would never buy them because I'm not sure that I have anything that matches, and oh I don't spend 100.00 on a pair of shoes. :) Here is a picture.

And while I'm at it here are some converse that I like. Ummm well... here is one pair that I like.... American Idol is on.....so I'm off to watch that.

~Sarah~

Notes From Anna......

Thank you for my happy birthday wishes! I had a great birthday except for the fact that I could not talk, I had a fever, and I felt like I was part of the couch! I did not realize how much I love to talk until Wednesday when I was in bed and needed water. I did not feel like walking all the way down stairs, so I opened my mouth to call my Mother and all that came out was a whisper! After whispering for five minute and no one coming, I started banging on the wall! That worked, I got my water and learned that if you can't talk, bang on the wall! I have felt fine for the past two days, but my pore little brother has it now! He has had a fever between 100 - 103 all day!Pore little bunny!:) Please pray he will be better and no one else will come down with it!

On a happer note, Will, Sarah, and Nick got me my favorite movie for my birthday!

And an itunes gift card!

My great friend Emily got me these really cool bangles for my birthday!! Aren't they awesome? Thanks Emily I love them!!:)

Got to go watch the Duke game!:)

People being stupid news item of the week

A fence too far for burglar

A burglar in Hungary climbed over a fence to rob a house only to be confronted by a sword-wielding Olympic fencing ace.

Virgine Ujlaky, 23, was practicing her swordplay when she saw Pal Nagy, 43, clambering in through a window of her house in a posh suburb of Budapest.

But within seconds and a few swift slashes of the sword the crook was pinned against the wall, with the blade against his throat as the swordswoman reached for the phone and called police.

They arrested the villan 20 minutes later, who had to be treated by paramedics for shock.

Ujlaky said: "I wasn't scared when I saw him. It was good practice as I have a competition coming up this week."

Notebook Blogging #7

Sorry "notebook blogging" is getting out late today, after class I decided I wanted to have some fun with drywall so I went to my apartment and fixed some holes in the walls and ceiling. This could be a whole topic in itself, but the quick version is, the apartment above me had some pipe issues and they had to go through my apartment's ceiling to get them, which of course left holes that I figured should be fixed. In case you have not experienced fixing holes in walls I recommend you "accidentally" slam a door open and fix the resulting hole, it is great fun. Or you could just use duct tape like a good friend of my does ;)

Because of the weather our house has been moving right along, no one has gotten injured except a guy named Steve who hit his pinkie with a hammer...everyone kids him about that. I was in charge of cutting all the joists for one side of the house and I have to say good tools really do make a difference. The circular saws we have in class are simply amazing. Even though we have a circular saw as soon as I can, I am buying the one we use in class.

When we finished the sub-floor Mr. T. got up on it and did a little dance number, oh the times I wish I had a video camera! This past week we actually had this thing called the "cultural fair" which I guess is supposed to introduce us to different cultures....All I did was eat great food :p Oh and watched Mr. T. dance. Turns out his little dance move he did on the sub-floor was just a warm up for the dancing he did with his group, "The Crazy eights".

Next week I have spring break, which means I will have an amazing amount of time on my hands. Back in December when I was looking at the schedule the thought crossed my mind that I would go on a road trip up north on spring break but that is not an option at the moment. My grandmother actually has been wanting to go to Boston to visit her sister but she is going to be flying up. Stuck in a car with me did not interest her too much, besides she got her plane ticket free. I have a feeling my mother has plans to use my "skills" around the house, if that is the case, just a heads up, there may or may not be any blog posts next week. :p

Three years of being sick....

Today is my sister Anna's birthday, unfortunately for Anna, for the third year in a row she happens to be sick on her birthday! How sad is that? Anna is the resident "paparazzi" and always is in need of fresh batteries. So if anyone wants to send her a gift, those are a good idea, just remember to make sure they are of the AA variety. ;) Because Anna is always taking pictures I could not find a good one that actually included her so I will just post one I took of her and her current "love" :D

In one of the concerts on Saturday she had a duet. I was going to post the whole thing but it is rather long so I am just posting the last 3 minutes.

Oh and I forgot to mention when I posted on Sunday that is was my brother Sam's birthday! So in late honor of that, here is a picture that is few years old of him being cool B)

No I am not in the military.....or turkey hunting!!!

Today I decided I would wear camo pants....

Notice the brilliant woodland pattern!

I left for class before anyone else was up and when I arrived home was immediately questioned on my attire. It was actually very funny, it went something like this:

I walk in the door....
My mother asks why I look like I am in the military
I get a drink of water...
Sarah comes in the room and asks if I really wore "that" today
I get something to eat...
Samuel comes in and asks why I am dressed as a soldier
I continue eating...
Anna asks some variation of the "why are you in camo" question
I finish eating and head to my room,
when I am coming back down the stairs....
Molly sees me and right off asks why I am dressed like someone from the military!!!

Have I missed something? Is wearing camo now frowned upon in my family? I was in class and walking among crowds of people and the only question I got was "Are you fixing to go turkey hunting?" :p I get home and in 15 minutes get five questions as to why I am wearing camo!! Such is life with my wonderful family.... :D

Daylight savings yet again steals my sleep

People who know me may or may not have heard me give my little rant on springing forward or falling back with our clocks. I will save everyone's ears from hearing the whole thing but the point of it is, DST has really no purpose and should be done away with. The popular reasoning for it lately has been to save on energy but a recent study done by a professor of environmental economics at U.C. Santa Barbara has said it might actually cost us more when we reset our clocks... Sorry it is just one of those things that make me tick. :p

It is also slightly irritating because since we had concerts until late last night and also had some friends spend the night we did not get to bed exactly early if you know what I mean. :D That extra hour comes in handy....Nevertheless, I fought off Sleepy Rufus in time to get ready and arrive on time at church where we sang a song that I love, "There Is A Higher Throne"

There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known
Where faithful ones from every tongue
Will one day come
Before the Son we'll stand
Made faultless through the Lamb
Believing hearts find promised grace
Salvation comes

Hear heaven's voices sing
Their thunderous anthem rings
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
Forevermore

And there we'll find our home
Our life before the throne
We'll honour Him in perfect song
Where we belong
He'll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King
We'll reign with him.

Hear heaven's voices sing
Their thunderous anthem rings
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
For evermore

The song is based on Revelation 7 and standing there singing made me think of Revelation, which is split into two parts, earthly scenes and heavenly scenes. There is somewhat of a debate on the earthly scenes and how they are going to happen, if they have already happened...etc which when you think about it is slightly silly. Yes the earthly scenes are worth reading and studying but they are not really important in comparison to the heavenly scenes of the exalted Christ on the throne! The throne, where all worship, all adoration, all praise goes in honor of The King.

If you have read the blog you probably know music is something I really enjoy. Those who know me personally know I play around on the piano and the guitar, neither of which sounds too hot and as for singing, an American Idol I am not. But you don't need to be a concert master or Pavarotti to worship God, no matter our talents, we are all made to praise The King and bring honor to the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Even though my gift of worship is small, He finds it acceptable. Ah, it is hard for me to put words to my emotions and I know this blog post can never adequately convey my feelings on the subject. I will just say, for me, it is a feeling unlike any other worshiping our Creator. I hope everyone has a good week. Anna wants me to get a video up of her part in one of the concerts last night so be on a lookout for it sometime this week.

Stuck in the Mud...... or how my week was. :)

I have decided (ok been told) that I have not been posting enough on the blog. To make up for it, here is an extremely loooong post about my week. -Edit by Will- Well, in Sarah standards :fun:


Monday:
The weather was quite nice. I went outside with Matthew and Sam. Ok... Anna and Molly were outside too. We couldn't think of anything to play, so, we just stood around like trees. The Matthew had the brilliant idea to play Hide-in-go-seek.
It did not end well......Anna is still limping.


Tuesday:
It was a gloomy day. My bible study was cancelled due the high probability of Tornadoes. (Did you know that Tornadoes does not have the small word Toes at the end unlike the word Potatoes which does have the small word toes at the end of the word.) Any who.... I thought everybody was just afraid of a little rain, until I spent an hour with my family huddled in the bathroom, afraid that the roof was going to blow off. (We had a Tornado watch and a Tornado warning at the same time!)


Wednesday:
There was beautiful weather again. Taught six piano lessons.....had to remind some of my students how to count.

Thursday :
Getting bored yet?? More Beautiful weather..... I managed to have hysterics while playing one of the saddest Chopin Nocturnes at my piano lesson. I had to leave out a three measure trill, I was laughing so hard. :)

Today, Friday:
Woke up at 6:30. Helped Sam with violin for an hour. Then it was Matthew's turn. After that I managed to practice the violin for two hours before I had to leave the house to teach violin. Taught violin lessons from 12-4. As I was leaving the last students house, it was raining so badly that the mom said that I could back out on the little muddy spot on her lawn. So I did..... the only thing is... I was backing down a hill, that was fine. Going back up the hill was another story......I didn't want to leave a giant hole but my wheels were spinning. So, I did what anyone else would have done. I burst into tears and called my Dad. Just Kidding!! :) I turned on the 4 wheel drive on my truck and made it up the hill. I think all their mud was still in the same place. See it does pay to drive a truck. :)

Now I have to go and make sure my concert clothes are clean. Tomorrow I have three dress rehearsals and two orchestra concerts.

~Sarah~

The Man Cold!

I think the title says it all...... :)

People being stupid news item of the week

Police needled at emergency call to help with sewing

A woman in a rush to get to a garden party in New Zealand called 111 to ask for help with her sewing. The woman, who has not been identified, called police in Rotorua yesterday pleading for help to thread her needle.

Police northern communications told the Herald the woman claimed she needed urgent assistance so she could get to a garden party. No one was sent as the local police lacked the necessary skill, the spokesman said.

Police and other emergency services receive thousands of nuisance and hoax calls each year including heavy breathers, people wanting taxis and those upset that their takeaway meals were bad.

Last year, a bride in Christchurch, panicked by a large oil stain on her wedding dress, dialed 111 in a desperate plea for help.

Other calls have included:
* A man rang to say there were two hedgehogs fighting on his lawn.
* A woman called to get police to make her boyfriend ask for her hand in marriage.
* A man rang to say there was a cow at his letterbox - and he was scared.

This made me think of that lady who called the police because her burger was not made correctly.

Playing it safe can be risky part two....

No notebook blogger today, the weather has been great this week so class has mainly been outside so we have not had breaks like we do while inside which means I have not had the time to write anything in my notebook. Besides I have more I want to say on risk anyway... if you have not read the first part just scroll down a bit. Like I said at the end of part one, our slowness to act when an opportunity presents itself comes from our uncertainty of a situation and the fact that we like to be in control. We say we trust God, but then an opportunity comes along which may change our whole life and all of a sudden it is like "Whoa! God what is going on here?" We have a choice, either grab that bucking bull of an opportunity and trust God to protect you from getting gored, ( sorry I just had to use that) or wait and say "Lord, riding that bull is going to hurt, I think I am going to wait for a calmer bull". Have you ever caught yourself praying for things to be easier, for everything to just fall into place so you don't have to worry? I know I have, life would be so much simpler.

Except well, life is not supposed to be a cakewalk, it is supposed to be filled with trials, it is how we grow as Christians and human beings. That bull of an opportunity may very well have been placed in front of us for the specific purpose of helping us grow spiritually. God wants us to trust Him, and how better to help that trust grow than to put opportunities in front of us that will enable us to grow in Him. Sure, we still grow as Christians by just reading our Bible and learning more about who our Creator is and everything He has done for us. But until we are faced with an opportunity or a situation that will allow us to whole heartedly surrender all trust to God we can never reach our full potential and bring God the glory He deserves.

Take Gideon, he has his army camped out ready to attack the Midianites. The Lord knowing us humans are quick to puff ourselves up decides he is going to present an opportunity for Gideon's trust in the Him to grow. God tells Gideon to send home troops and 31,700 of his 32,000 troops head back. Now if that had been me and I was about to attack enemy forces who were as "numerous as locusts" I would have wanted every man who could hold a spear with me. If I was standing out there in Gideon's sandals as I watched 99% of my army march away I would be thinking to myself, "Hey Lord, I know you are sovereign over all , but I don't feel so good with only 300 men!". We are never probably going be in that sort of dramatic position but that does not mean God does not put opportunities in our path that will involve a similar choice of trusting God. We climb on that bull and ride for all it's worth or we don't, maybe regret it for the rest of our life, and possibly miss seeing God perform something miraculous. BTW if you don't know the story of Gideon, him and his 300 men destroyed the Midianite army killing over 100,000.

Every opportunity is a gift from God, what we do with them is our gift to God. Ephesians 5:16 says "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days". There is a saying "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die", you want the reward but not the pain. When I am presented an opportunity, I want to make the most of it, as I am sure everyone reading this does. But I also tend to want my opportunity wrapped up with a nice bow and all I have to do is unwrap it and say "Thank you, God" Most opportunities typically don't present themselves to us that way and they sometimes come at the most inopportune times at least to our thinking.

But God is in control, He is sovereign over everything. He has plans for us, plans for good not disaster if we only trust Him. Being a Christian does not necessarily reduce our circumstantial uncertainty; spiritual uncertainty yes, unlike non-believers we know where we are headed after this life, but for our circumstances, we need to trust Him. When an opportunity comes along we don't want to be like the man with the one talent in Matthew who decides to play it safe and not become involved in a risk/reward situation. Circumstantial opportunities have risk, but they also have a reward if we only trust the Lord.

Personally, jumping on that opportunity "bull" is something that has always been hard for me, some of that is me just me being human but some of that is just because of the way I am wired. Or maybe I should say was wired, there are so many little decisions as well as some major ones that have occurred in my life in the last year or so. Some have turned out better than I thought they ever could, others not quite so much...But every single one has involved trusting God a little more, getting me more out of my comfort zone to where He wants me to be.

Ok I think I will stop typing now.... sorry this one topic turned into two rather long posts, all I started out to do was comment on a quote I read but somehow as I typed my brain went into overdrive somewhat. :o Hopefully nobody's brain exploded. I also don't want anyone to read this and go out and do something risky for the sake of randomly going after an opportunity! We have to remember there are good and bad opportunities but with the Holy Spirit's help we can have the discernment to see the difference between good and bad opportunities and to get on that potentially risky bull when it is the right thing to do.

Playing it safe can be risky....

I was reading the other day and I came across this quote by Mark Twain that I thought was pretty good....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Opportunities are around us everyday but so often we (we being the human population) miss that opportunity because it might change something in our lives. Chasing that opportunity, making it a reality usually takes us out of our comfort zone and more often than not will involve some risk. Humans for the most part don't like risk, we like to know what is around the bend on the tracks we ride on. We like to be in control of our lives, we don't like being in a position where things spring at us unexpectedly that may mess up our carefully calculated plans.

Obviously unexpected things are going to happen even when you plan, aka an alternator turning to slag or running out of gas, or me missing my exit and spending 20 minutes driving around NJ trying to get back to where I can get to my hotel or even having issues with appliances, that is just part of life. Sure you try to avoid issues like those but there is not much more you can do, besides they make life exciting. :p

Going after an opportunity on the other hand, one that possibly might involve taking a risk with a potential negative impact in some aspect of our lives is an opportunity we might not jump at right away. We don't like that potential negative, we would rather stick with the status quo rather than doing something that could hurt us, even though the opportunity could benefit us in the long run. There is a balance of course, some people take risks because they like the rush they get from unknown. They take needless risks at the sake of themselves and the detriment of their families. For most people though, jumping at opportunities that might mean risk or a change in our lives is something even Christians try to avoid. Why is this?

This is something I know I do, when an opportunity presents itself, I like to sit back and run through scenarios in my head. I am somewhat analytical and when something important is involved I can sit there and analyze for so long that the opportunity is long gone by the time I make a decision, besides the fact that I can give myself a major headache! This slowness to act comes from our fear of uncertainty which is a result of us relying on our own judgment, rather than trusting God's...... I have more to say but brother has told me in the past that I knock people over the head with my "walls of text" So I will cut this post into two parts so as to save at least one person's head. :p

Tuesday's thoughts....From Anna

So on Valentine's day my Father brought home the movie Becoming Jane. Since my Mother had no wish to watch it, (she had heard it was very sad) we did not watch it until yesterday!
In case you did not know Becoming Jane is about Jane Austen's life. It is a movie I am NEVER watching again for this one reason:

SHE DID NOT MARRY TOM!!!!!!:(

Oh, I am getting sad just thinking about it ! Both Sarah, Molly and I hated the end of the movie.I felt like sobbing! Two days later I am still sad about it! If you have not watched the movie don't, unless you like really really sad movies!

On a happier note my 15^th birthday is 8 days away!! YAY! Also, yesterday I realized that someone wrote my birthday on the wrong day of the week! I was rather unhappy until I realized it was me!! What was I thinking?

Before I forget, please visit this very cool apron website Apronista. They are giving away one of the cutest aprons I have ever seen!!

Hope y'all have a great day!