Between drinking a Coke tonight (VERY rare occurrence for me) and watching the Rays game, which was the nail biter of the season so far, 12 innings, I'm a jittery wreck. I got sick eating pancakes for breakfast and incredible cake made by Fat Fred's Famous Barbecue for lunch at a party and Panera potato soup for mid-afternoon snack. Then it was out to Mr. Pizza for my dad's Father's Day, and I had spaghetti. By then I needed a Coke to settle my stomach, you know, another zap of sugar. Wow, I need a vacation from FOOD!

My friend's 9 year old daughter attended Cake Camp last week. I'll tell you what, just when you think there is nothing new under the sun. She posted the cutest pictures on Facebook each day. My favorites were the Lion Cake and the Bathtub Cake, LOL! And her 11 year old daughter had made Turtle Cheesecake at home a little before Cake Camp. This is a serious Home of CAKE! And this friend and I are going out for ice cream soon, that's the plan. Sugar poison all the way.

Today was a Saturday full to the brim. Turns out that at the 50th Anniversary party, my good friends from church were there, which I knew they would be. But what I didn't know, and they whispered to me, it was their 56th wedding anniversary today. Thus, the Panera potato soup. Then of course there is Father's Day (skip Macy's the day before Father's Day, it was worse than Christmas, NO parking places left) which meant we went to Mr. Pizza tonight since Mr. P. is closed on Sunday. I bought my dad a book at Borders, because Borders is issuing their fabulous 40% Off coupons lately. NO idea what to get my dad. So, after one minute of browsing the store, I spotted a book titled DEWEY. It had the cutest cat on the front, about as cute as Earl Grey. Have you heard about DEWEY? I hadn't. But it's about a precious little kitten someone dumped in the library book return box in the dead of winter. At night. In the morning a librarian found the near frozen kitten, complete with frostbitten paws. Well, my heart was shattered right then and there.

So, this true story takes place in a small town in Iowa. My dad is from a small town in Illinois, close enough. My dad loves dogs, close enough...besides, his two little daughters were cat lovers in the extreme and, after all, it is Father's Day. Somehow, this kitten single-pawedly changes the whole library, people and entire town...for the way better. I can't wait to read this book. I think the first thing the frozen kitty does is rub up against all the librarians legs. You know, like, You had me at Hello.

Then, in check-out, you know those cute little items they litter along the line, to keep you company while you wait? Well, I look down and there is an Audrey Hepburn bookmark from the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's, and she has her kitty draped across her shoulder. Sold. That wiped out my 40% Off savings, like the candy bar did another time.

I wish I could see my dad's face when he opens his gift, because this is not the usual. I hope he will read it. I felt like it was a little God-gift, to "stumble" half sugar crazed on this book, which, BTW, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. And I found it on an end cap in the middle of the store, in the said one minute. Beats the gallon jug of hot sauce I gave him one year, which is more than enough to last 10 lifetimes, more than a cat even.

Oh yeah, Mr. Pizza FINALLY has their famous Chocolate Cherry Cake, so I ordered one piece, everyone take a bite. That distributed to everyone taking a bite and KEM taking 10 bites. Then back at the ranch I had a note on the stove to deal with pancakes, spinach and eggs. Three days is my limit for leftovers, so I had to freeze the last of the pancakes. Once I open a box of spinach, 2 - 3 days -- do something. So pick through and sautee, ready for tomorrow. And eggs, the carton was ready to expire, so Sweet Tulsa's egg boiling method was utilized tonight.

All in all, a very industrious day. I can use one of those once in a while. Too bad most of my industry involved pulling my fork to my lips.

Cherri-O,
KEM P.S. The Rays won...somehow...I did pray.

Don't you love it when you buy something in one store and then drive down the street to the next store and the same exact thing you just bought is suddenly $4 cheaper.

Yeah, it happened to me tonight. I wanted to treat myself to fancy new tweezers. So I did at Target. Then I thought, I'm checking out Walgreens on my way home. So now I have two fancy pairs of tweezers and have spent a small fortune in the process.

Back to Target tomorrow.

For the record, a regular milkshake does not quench headaches. It has to have malt in it. That's what I found out tonight when I ordered a chocolate shake with my burger at Evos instead of going to the really good ice cream parlor for a malt.

Mike is home after going to Denver and beyond the past three days. Today in the airport in Denver Mike hears, Mike Mader, what are you doing here? And there, of all things, is his friend he sees every Tuesday night at fantasy baseball (Strato). Mike said, Jim, what are you doing here? Jim was going to Pebble Beach for the US Open Championship. Mike was coming home from a business trade show. What's that saying, It's a small world? It's getting so small it's nearly claustrophobic.

Today I went in Crate and Barrel to look at these neat acrylic stackable letter trays. I have hopes of cleaning the home office and getting it organized and keeping it organized. I've looked at these neat acrylic letter trays many times. And I just can't bring myself to fork over that much money for them. Will they NEVER go on sale?? Anyway, it's nice when this happens, when I say NO! to myself, shows a smidge of restraint. I love my friend, of Cobra Smile fame, once she wanted to buy organic ground beef but her hand couldn't quite make the motion to reach out and pick up the package, 'cause it was just so expensive. That's how I felt today. My body cooperated with my mind.

Okay, I'm going to go put my headache to bed. Tomorrow is busy and it just got busier having to do a return at Target.

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone. CDW, if you are reading this, ONE week to go :))) I can hardly believe it myself as a lot has to transpire between my sitting here right now at the computer and one week from now sitting at the wedding. YIKES!!!

KEM

Celia, my hairdresser, put white paint on my hair today. The effect is sorta like highlights all over the top and front. I'm very leery of this, but something had to be done. Not a lot of fun to get your hair colored and less than two weeks later the roots are showing. Well, this is not chunky or streaky highlights, like I said, it's sorta all over, the idea being it will help the white roots blend in better. Next think you know, I'll be platinum blond. That's what a lady at Mike's church says, she's going platinum in two years. As it stands she is in her early 70's and has jet black hair. She looks gorgeous, I mean PERFECT, EVERY time. Her hair is in a short sleek bob. She dresses for the Best Dressed List. Her house is spotless. In fact, she was a beauty queen in New Jersey, back in the day. In fact, there was a second lady in Mike's choir who was also a New Jersey beauty queen back in the day, if you can believe that. The two ladies, I think their competitive spirit was still alive and well. Anyway, the lady in question, I have NEVER seen even a hint of white in her roots. No, no. I asked, Who colors your hair? She said, I do. I'm thinking, How frequently? Because, like I said, there is no white. At all. But I think she does have white hair under the dye because why else would she be planning ahead to platinum blond in two years?

Ugh, this gettin' old stuff is a little weird and a heck of a lot of trouble. And money.

Guess who has a headache? But I went to the mall and had fun. Then I thought, It's late but I'm going by the malt shop. Too late. Malts make my headaches go away in one easy fell swoop.

My friend has the best response for when someone says something dreadful to you. You say, ever so smoothly, I'm sure you didn't mean that as unkindly as it sounded. Well. Wish I'd known this my whole life. As it stands, I've known it for a couple of years. And I have yet to actually utter it aloud in the appropriate situation. But I dream about it. And I drool over the times I COULD have utilized it had I only known this order of words existed.

Same friend gives the Cobra Smile when necessary. She taught first grade and could rein her students in line by calmly telling them which end was up, all the while the Cobra Smile fastened to her face. To do the Cobra Smile you tighten your lips straight across your face, with just a hint of the corners turned up. Let your teeth show. Then you hiss your command with those cobra lips frozen in place. Talk about effective. Oh, you gotta love my friend, she's the most original person I know. I should video her doing the Cobra Smile. She could illustrate the smile while saying, I'm sure you didn't mean that as unkindly as it sounded. Oh, yes.

Better be thinking about eating some pancakes and going to bed. I hope it's not the Log Cabin Now With No Fructose Corn Syrup Pancake Syrup that gives me my headaches. Because it occurred to me that I haven't had a headache in quite a while and I haven't had pancakes in quite a while, too. Hmm.

KEM LOVES SUMMER

I wish it weren't 2:04 AM and I still have a sink full of dirty dishes, which I first have to unload the clean dishes out of the dishwasher.

I wish I were the kind of person who didn't take people's insults to heart so.

I wish my hair wasn't turning white and black and gray.

Cheery, huh?

I'm not sure, but I think I was way better off before the computer age.

The other day I was in the bathroom and Mike comes by, because I called him over about something, and he says, Don't panic. What would you do if someone said, Don't panic, and you had no clue as to why? The first and only option would seem to be, PANIC!!!

I have to watch that movie again, You Can't Take It With You, before I send it back to NetFlix. Yeah, maybe tomorrow night.

At Bible study tonight my friend, who is very funny and has 4 kids crammed into very tight places, said, I have ONE room clean in my house. I laughed and said, You are one room ahead of me. Sigh.

I'm going to go eat a soy chocolate pudding cup. Now that playing for the wedding is over, and all the froth that went with that, I'm in down in the dumps. But we had rain today. I woke up just in time to hear it, and it was a downpour that lasted for a while. Talk about refreshing. Well, I'm worried about CDW, she will REALLY be down in the dumps after her daughter's wedding, she's put so much of herself into it. I've invited her to the cabin in the woods in Montreat. That's our dream, girl time in a cabin in the woods. Good food, books and movies.

Kabin KEM

You know the end of the world is coming, but you don't know when the end of the world is coming. Not exactly. But it's sooner rather than later, at least sooner than yesterday. So you live your life because life goes on, but you live it with one eye to the idea that consideration should be taken that the end could be near, very near.

Any scoffers out there, take heed. God has shed his mercy on us daily for a very long time. But His wrath is building for the sin and unjustness in the world. And His final judgment is going to make all previous catastrophes look like picnics in the park.

Just food for thought. I don't have prophecy for the last days figured out, but at the very least, if believers are not removed before the unleashing of God's fury, we would do well to prepare our hearts to stand strong.

For the misguided who believe that anyone who trusts in any god is safe and sound, I suggest they call on God the Creator's mercy for enlightenment. To see the truth is not a boastful thing, it is a gift from God's generous hand. We all start off spiritually dead and blind and only God quickens to life and sight. So, I humbly beseech all of us to think about what is wiser, to shape our own truth or to align ourselves with our one and only Maker? Pray for mercy because, again, our salvation is of God and not our own reasoning. But through mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit, we are able finally to believe the truth. Be open, be honest, be expectant, for this is the fertile soil of the heart in which God plants and cultivates His Word and brings forth a great harvest.

And what the saved need to nurse back to health is a compassion for those without Christ. Somehow in the chaos of modern life, and thinking everyone has heard the Gospel, well, we lose sight of Christ's parting directive to tell the truth, His truth, to the nations. And to the next door neighbors. I think the only effective witnesses for Christ are those who put in their time on their knees.

Because life is serious,
KEM

The most ordinary of days. I'm not complaining.

For the cutest ecards check out http://www.jacquielawson.com/. Charming over the moon. I mainly am sticking this in my blog so I can find it later. I have no method or filing or organizing wonderful tidbits of information. It's a REAL problem.

Also, GoldBond Ultimate Softening Skin Therapy Lotion is supposed to cure rough feet.

I feel a general sense of depression and hopelessness amongst people over this wretched oil leak in the Gulf. Seeing pictures of birds slicked down in oily muck is not helping matters. I mean, it's good to be aware, but it's not a happy sight. Is the problem not being fixed because someone doesn't want it to be fixed? Interestingly, Tony Perkins of FRC said, weeping, that the Gulf oil leak is like a picture of the moral decay in USA. It's dangerous, evil, destructive and spreading at an alarming rate. As long as preachers aren't preaching against sin, we can expect more of the same.

Just a reality check here,
KEM