Tag Archives: family

Share Your World 2014 Week 51

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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Here we are batting clean up in the last inning of 2014. Cee has asked us 5 of the last 10 questions for the year and really next week’s questions only half count in 2014 since half the week will officially be 2015.

Here are this week’s questions:

Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why? 

I would prefer not to need snowy winters. The first big snowfall feels like a treat. The eight feels like a torture. However I do realize that one of the reasons our fair state remains so lush is because of those snows. So I guess I’ll take the good with the bad and just keep shoveling or snowblowing as the case were.

So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?

My umbrella is in my van which by the way is mostly unhelpful because by the time I get it I am usually quite wet. Maybe I should change that.

Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?

Hello! Peanut butter and spaghetti sauce guy here. Mix mine please. 🙂

What is set as the background on your computer?

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Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I was very grateful to get a day with my son! We had a wonderful time. I am looking forward to preaching this Sunday at Cornerstone Church. My message is entitled “Paying the Asking Price.”

Check out Cee’s other contributors at

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/12/29/share-your-world-2014-week-51/

Share Your World 2014 Week 50

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

I will be taking Christmas Day off from blogging this year but check back in with me on Boxing Day (Dec. 26th) for a new story about the Laska Steps.

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It is hard to believe we are almost through 2014 and into a whole new year of sharing. Then again I have been saying “It’s almost Christmas” since January; So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that we are here.

You can see how others have shared there world at Christmas by going to…

Share Your World – 2014 Week 50

Here are Cee’s four question plus a bonus

Do you have a signature dish? If not is their one in your family?

My family owned a restaurant in Winchendon MA from 1946 until 1990. I was a cook at the Old Travellers  for several years; So I suppose that means I have several signature dishes most of which belonged to my grandfather. I don’t make them much any more even though I have Gramp’s recipe box. I  pulled his recipe for homemade rolls out at Thanksgiving. They were an epic fail. These days I go for dishes that are short on ingredients and fast in the making. I do have this Kielbasa casserole I make a lot super yummy and only four ingredients!

Do you have a favorite board game?

I don’t play board games much anymore. I guess I am a little stodgy. But I used to love Clue.

Is there a household chore that you enjoy?

I really love making beds… and sweeping… and ironing. Just call me CinderAlan.

 What is one thing you will never care about?

I will never care what color socks I wear with my suit or whether or not I can wear socks with sandals. I will never care what color shoes I wear with my suit either. Most days I am glad to get out of the house with shoes on. Speaking to that I actually I have a friend who is a teacher. He got to school the other day and took off his coat only to realize he was only wearing a tee-shirt. I think as a society we may be moving a touch too fast.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful I got to lead Christmas concerts at the Gardner VNA and at the Lifeskills Day Habilitation Program. I am also grateful we had four teams caroling in eight locations last Friday night reaching some of the loneliest people in our area with Christmas love.

This next week I am looking forward to spending a few hours with my son who is home visiting from PA.

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One of our Carolling Teams

Share Your World 2014 Week 49

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

Really week 49?!? Unbelievable. What they say is true; The older you get the faster time flies.

Here we are once again sharing our world with each other. Come join the bandwagon and share your world with this community of bloggers found at:

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/12/15/share-your-world-2014-week-49/

It’s easy and fun. All you have to do is answer four simple questions and copy and paste to Cee’s post in the comments section. Here are the questions and my answers…

What is your preferred hot drink: coffee, tea, water, hot chocolate, or other?

Everyone who knows Pastor Wrinkles knows how much he likes coffee! But at this season I have also been known to sip a salted  caramel hot chocolate.

What was your favorite toy as a child  . . .  and now?

I remember this dinosaur set I used to play with. I must have really liked it because I remember my grandmother buying one for her house and I am assuming Grams didn’t have that deep an interest in paleontology. Now my favorite toy has to be a toss-up between my tablet and my piano.

Candy factories of the entire world have become one and will now be making only one kind of candy. Which kind, if you were calling the shots?

It’s not even a question. Twix and if you must know it is right Twix.

Would you want $100,000 right now or $120,000 in a year (tax Free)?

In my world 20,000.00 is a lot of money. I’ll wait!

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that our Special Touch gathering on Saturday went so well (see pictures in my Special Touch post coming soon). This week I am looking forward to doing a Christmas concert at the Gardner Visiting Nurses Center and going caroling with 60 people from our congregation!

See now that wasn’t so hard was it?

Share Your World 2014 Week 48

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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It’s that wonderful time of the week again where I get to share a little bit of my world with you all thanks to Cee!

To share in a bigger community go to

Share Your World – 2014 Week 48

Now, here are this week’s Share Your World questions!

What is your favorite toppings on pizza?

I want to learn more about …

What are three places you’ve enjoyed visiting?

Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake or the cupcake first?

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

A Share Your World Mini Story

by JE Lillie

It was late. My, mind was a little foggy as I read her questions and I was certain I would never make it through them without falling asleep. I took another swig of coffee and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box, my favorite Canadian bacon and pineapple.  It was a desperate attempt to wake myself up so that I could spend the time I needed to learn more about the blogging world and how to become a success in the forum I felt God had told me to work in.. When the coffee and pizza didn’t work to snap me out of my somnolence I turned to the cupcakes and licked all the sugary frosting off the tops. I can always leave the cake but buttercream frosting is almost as much fun as coffee, and everyone who knows me knows how much I like my coffee!

After I filled out the questions from Share Your World I turned my attention to blogs about travel. I have loved my journeys through Ireland, the Netherlands and the Midwest. Perhaps I will be writing more about these in the future.. For now though I am thankful for being able to rest these last couple of weeks and I am looking forward to a week of concerts coming up in the Christmas season. I imagine you will all be hearing more about these in the days to come!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Gone But Not Forgotten

Posted on by under Photography

This week the Daily Post has challenged photographers to bring up pictures of things that are GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

You can see how others interpreted the theme at:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/gone-but-not-forgotten/

Here are my thoughts concerning the matter.

“Think about your day yesterday. Did you build your priorities around the truth of repayment at the resurrection? Or were you, like so many well-intentioned believers I know, operating on the assumption that work for God now equals compensation from  God now?

If so you are seeing only the glare of the temporary where Jesus hopes you’ll see the galaxies of eternity.” Bruce Wilkinson,  A Life God Rewards

Pastor Wrinkles wild and crazy days as a youth pastor are gone but not forgotten. Someday I may even receive a reward in Heaven for being willing to wear this costume at a youth convention in front of 1100 teenagers.

Pastor Wrinkles’ wild and crazy days as a youth pastor are gone but not forgotten. Someday I may even receive a reward in Heaven for being willing to wear this costume at a youth convention in front of 1100 teenagers.

Dr. Seuss said, “Don’t be sad that it is over be glad that it happened.” For me that is true of so many things.

It is different now but I still cherish the years I have known this lady.

 

Wicked Sorry! But I Know How Tough You Are

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

The Daily Post has asked, “If your furniture, appliances, and other inanimate objects at home had feelings and emotions, to which item would you owe the biggest apology?”

See who else has been offended at

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/wronged-objects/

Now on to my written apology:

Dear Mr. Floor,

I wish to apologize for my behavior over these last several months. Please know what was done was not done with premeditation or malice  of forethought in any way shape or form.

Really I didn’t know that dog urine stripped varnish and he really is just a puppy and the other two were just following suit. And to be fair I did thoroughly clean up the mess using lots of that pet spray. What’s that you say? Oh that strips varnish too? Who knew?

Please know that I had only your best interests at heart when I sealed the hole the squirrels had gnawed through the shingling. I certainly didn’t want them chewing through your fine wooden outfits anywhere else in the house. I did try to make sure they were all out before I sealed the hole. How was I to know Mrs. Squirrel was stuck inside? I am sure you won’t smell like this forever, and really everyone blames me anyway. You are in the clear on this one even if you do stink.

As to the carpets I know they are old and perhaps I do not vacuum them enough but did you really have to cause my vacuum cleaner to burst into flames on Thanksgiving weekend?

I hope this letter will go the distance of restoring peace between us Mr. Floor. Let’s just say I won’t be putting together the new vacuum I bought until I have a satisfactory reply from you.

 

Sincerely,

JE Lillie

P.S. I know it has been my habit to walk all over you. In the future this will probably not change. I hope that does not offend too much.

My Safer Extremities

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

The Daily Post has asked us to describe the last time our lives mimicked the quote, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens

If you would like to see how others have answered that question go to:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/an-extreme-tale/

It is amazing to me that I can think of the worst times of my life so easily and it seems more than a little bit odd that I have a hard time remembering the best times. I am not sure what that says about me and perhaps it cues a desire to change my inner thought processes.

The mixing of those moments though is indeed hard to whittle out of the block of wood that has become my past.Maybe I am still too stunned by some of my recent worst times to see much good in them, though God knows I have tried. Maybe too, it seems almost inappropriate to say that certain of my worst moments could have any redeeming qualities at all; So maybe the difficulty is not so much in finding a moment that holds the best and the worst but in finding one that feels safe enough to speak openly about.

I am reaching for a moment in my distant past now (25 years or better). I was a newlywed. How could it get any better? We had married and moved in with my parents for a two month stint before our apartment opened up in Phoenixville PA.

It was the weekend before the New Year, 1988. The Uhaul was rented and loaded with all of our earthly belongings. My Father-in-law drove the van and Tina and I drove our car. What should have been a six-hour drive turned into twelve hours when we got lost on the NJ Turnpike and overshot our exit.

I noticed as we came down the I76 out of Philadelphia that the lock had come undone to the moving van and the back doors were threatening to spill open. Anybody who has ever tried to pull over on that particular road heading out of Philly will understand my pain; But pull over we did. We managed to fix the door only to become separated from each other as we made our way past the Allen Town Extension. These were the days before Mapquest or GPS systems.My father-in-law had never been to the campus. But we serve a God of miracles. We somehow found each other at the light before the turnoff to the college and upon arrival my father-in-law did not insist his daughter get back in the van to take her away from her new whackadoo husband.

We walked into our new apartment. The walls were a neon blue. The rug was a thick shag in the brightest of oranges. Someone else’s couch lined our wall. A window pane had been knocked out of the bedroom and someone had stolen the shower head right out of the shower. Then my wife noticed we had no oven and what amounted to a hot plate to cook off of.

My mother-in-law gripped her daughter’s hand as she looked up dubiously at the walls and said, “It’s amazing what soap and water can do Honey.”

By the following day we had a new shower head and the window had been fixed. The tenant who had stored his couch in our apartment came to get it and we were completely settled into our new place (well as settled as you can get when your walls are blue and your carpet is orange). My in-laws had said a tearful good-bye and Tina and I had begun the first chapter of our lives together. The best of times and the worst of times.