Look what I found...

...for a dollar at Goodwill.


The Game of Life. It's in great shape.


Dh has one from 1960. I haven't looked them over carefully to compare. It'll be interesting to see the differences.

Here are the two together.

Our Goodwill had reduced its children's section to a mere corner of the store. It used to be around half of the store. It looks like they are not putting more children's items out, but just selling their current stock. (I really hope you have or will talk to your congressmen about this!)

Ending the Panic

http://www.aproundtable.org/davidzanottiblog/blog.cfm?ID=290&AUTHOR_ID=8

Ending The Panic By Mr. David Zanotti

America is not a nation of need. It is a nation of opportunity. Last month Americans did two things that smart people do in down times. They saved their money at an annual rate not seen since 1959 and they made some really smart purchases taking advantage of the deflation of retail prices.

Americans are not the flat-headed personalities that political pollsters try to make us believe. Americans know their government is out of control. Congress is a playground full of bullies and brats. Americans have seen this before and are steering clear of the playground and finding safe places to get on with life.

People are not buying the crisis. They are not folding. They are getting up every morning and going to work. They are saving money again. They are not ready to buy cars yet but watch what happens next month. You will see garden and seed sales hit big numbers. People will start planting gardens again. It won’t save the economy but its one more symbolic protest. In down times Americans know how to shift gears, save a few dollars, and fight back.

The voters are taking it on the chin right now. We the people made some bad choices and have lost a ton of money. There is one group of people who played the bully in all of this; who could have helped but let us get mugged instead. The US Congress set America up for this beat down. Democrats and Republicans alike looked the other way as investment banks and Wall Street pimped the housing market and wiped out the economy. Congress refuses to come to terms with what they did. The Obama people will not even talk about it. Where is the legislative remedy to end the abuses of Freddie, Fannie, and the investment and banking firms?

Even worse, Congress is still playing the bully. They are trying to take over health care and jam global warming cap and trade tax increases down our throats. They are playing off our pain to forward their political agendas. Cap and trade taxes won’t save us. Nationalizing health care will not turn this economy around. The Congressional ego is so out of control that some members actually believe they can run this economy from Capitol Hill. They have learned nothing from the current meltdown.

There is an election coming in just 17 months. Every member of the US House will be up for re-election. The pain won’t disappear by then. The portfolios won’t be fully recovered. The scars will barely be healed. There is a day of reckoning coming. In the meantime, We the People, have to slam the brakes on this out of control Congress. We have to stop the political panic machine.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009, 08:08 AM

Background

I just noticed that I chose the same background that Amy did. I guess we have similar tastes. :)

Ketchup

Here's the latest recipe from the pile.

Tomato Ketchup
2 3/4 cups home canned tomato puree or 2 cans (10 3/4 oz.) plain tomato puree
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 to 1/4 tsp stevia powder (green)
1/2 tsp ocean sea salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 tbs apple cider vinegar (raw) or freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan.
2. Stir over moderate heat a few minutes until mixture bubbles.
3. Reduce heat to low and cover with a lid in a tilted position, allowing steam to escape.
4. Continue cooking and stir occasionally for 30 to 45 minutes or to thicken as desired.
5. Pour into a pint jar and cool to room temperature.
6. Cover and refrigerate. Use within 2 weeks. May also be frozen.

Note: Homemade tomato puree needs to be a thick as store-bought applesauce. If yours is too thin simmer over low heat to reduce it to thicker consistency.

Since I haven't had ketchup for over two years, I thought this tasted pretty good. DH thought it needed more salt, so I might add a little more next time. Overall, I'm happy with it.

I cut the recipe in half. I used what I had left of a can of tomato puree which wasn't enough, so I added tomato paste I had left to it. I also used lemon juice instead of vinegar.

The Good News by R.C. Sproul Jr.

http://www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/2009/2/1125_The_Good_News

Seek Ye First

The Good News by R.C. Sproul Jr.

I’ve got great news — I just saved a bundle on my car insurance. This pop-cultural punchline might just expose a real problem we have in our Christian sub-culture: we don’t know what the good news is.

The confusion, from one perspective, is understandable. God is good. God is gracious. We move from grace to grace, receiving gifts from Him all the time. God is in turn sovereign. He controls all things. When He tells us, therefore, that all things work together for good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28), we can learn that it’s all good news. His coming, that’s good news. His dying, that’s good news. His ascending, that’s good news. His sending the Spirit, that’s good news. The Spirit applying all these things to His people, that’s good news. Even the trials we go through here and now, they are good news as well. We are, after all, to count it all joy.

That everything is good news, however, does not mean that everything is the good news. The authors of their respective gospels were not merely publishing everything they came upon. While each had their own peculiar focus, each of them together, on the other hand, were seeking to make known the good news. These four men, however, were not the first. Two other men before them labored diligently to make known the good news. One of those two was called the greatest man born of a woman by the Lord (Luke 7:28). The other was the Lord of glory Himself. If we would understand the Gospels, we would be wise to understand that the good news they were reporting was the good news proclaimed not just about Jesus, but by Jesus. The good news is that the kingdom has come. This is the message of Jesus: the kingdom of God is here.

On the other hand, the bad news is that the kingdom has come. The life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of Christ is to us who have been called, the very aroma of life. To those who are still outside the kingdom, it is the stench of death. It is the same kingdom either way, but for the seed of the woman (Christians) it is blessing, and for the seed of the serpent it is cursing. That this one kingdom can mean one thing for one group and the opposite for another can help explain how we have come to conflate some terms over time. That is, the difference between seeing the coming of the kingdom as an event of joy or of dread is found in one simple distinction — do we trust in the finished work of Christ alone or not? The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent began in the same place, as enemies of the kingdom. We are all by nature children of wrath. But it is as we are gifted with repentance and believe that we move from darkness to light, that we are adopted into the very family of God. That’s good news. Better still, the king who has adopted us, He is now king indeed. That’s very good news.

Our gospel is a truncated shell of this great reality if the good news is merely that we don’t have to go to hell. It gets only slightly better if it means that our souls go to heaven. The fullness of the gospel is found in the fullness of the kingdom. Jesus is about the business of remaking all things. He is, after all, the first-born of the new creation. He is remaking all the created order that groans under the burden of our sin. He is remaking all the political order, as all kings everywhere learn to kiss the Son, lest He be angry (Ps. 2). He is remaking the church, His bride, removing from us corporately every blot and blemish. And He is remaking every one of us, reshaping us pots into vessels of grace.

We are a part of this good news precisely because He came and lived a life of perfect obedience in our place. We are a part of this precisely because He suffered the wrath of the Father that is due to us for our sins. We are a part of this because He has given us each a new heart that responds to His calling with repentance and faith. We bring nothing to the table but our need. Jesus has done it all. We are His workmanship, judged innocent by His death, judged righteous by His life.

There is still more good news. We are not merely by the good news of His atonement made citizens of that kingdom we are called to seek. We are not merely judged righteous by His righteousness that we were called to seek. We are by the same Spirit made kings and queens with Him. We are not just subjects but rulers. We are seated even now with Him in the heavenly places. Our calling is to believe these promises. Our calling is to be of good cheer, for He has already overcome the world (John 16:33). We do not wait for His kingdom to come, for it is here. Instead, we strive to make it ever more visible, as we make all things subject to His glorious reign.

Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is founder of the Highlands Study Center in Mendota, Virginia, 
and is author of Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept.
Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. explains how the kingdom is advanced in our everyday lives and gives us a picture of how all things in life fit into the battle between God and the Devil in his column Seek Ye First.
© Tabletalk magazinePermissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you do not make more than 500 physical copies. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred (where applicable). If no such link exists, simply link to www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Any exceptions to the above must be formally approved by Tabletalk.Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul.

© Tabletalk magazine.Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: tabletalk@ligonier.org.Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.

pictures

We didn't get very many good ones. I'm not sure why most of them were blurry, but here are a few.

Here's Haelley bowling. Sorry it's sideways, but cute nonetheless. :)

Visiting

We were able to visit some special people over the last few days--Friends in Z'ville, family in Indiana.

I'm tired of driving, but we had a great time. More blogging with possible pics later. :)