Looks like the cat’s out of the bag about Thursday Thirteen.  There is lots to do to get everything switched over.  Look for more information coming very soon.

Click HERE to read about it.  And it isn’t just me - THIS is my partner.

1.  I’m thankful the presentation I had to do this past Monday is OVER!  It turned out fine, and the evaluations that the teachers did on the session were almost all positive.  

2.  The plumbers finished their work on our new house - for now.  There will be more to do a little further along.  The electricians will finish their work next week.

3.  The fireplace was put in the house on Friday.  It’s a wood-burning “stove” but it looks like a fireplace.  It is really beautiful, and I can envision the many evenings we will spend relaxing in front of that fireplace.

4.  I am thankful that my son-in-law came through his minor surgery just fine and is now recuperating and feeling better.

5.  I’m glad that Sunshine is over the croup.  She had a pretty bad cough there for a couple days.

6.  I’m thankful that my job is flexible enough that I was able to stay home with Sunshine on Thursday so her mommy could be with her daddy when he had his operation.  What a special time of being with both Sunshine and Sweet Stuff.  It was fun driving Sweet Stuff to school Thursday morning and watching her walk so confidently into that building!

7.  I’m thankful my mother had a good birthday on Monday and that most of my siblings were able to be with her on her birthday.  I hope I get to visit her within the next couple weeks.

Here it is - another Saturday morning.  I love the weekends.  Friday nights are my favorite time every week because the whole weekend lies before me.  Although I love my job, I also love not being at my job.

There are lots of things going on today - not just with the new house and doing things around the old house - but in the blogging world, too.  Lots of excitement and handling various tasks.  Look for an announcement later today or tomorrow - nothing personal - it’s about blogging.

I have several plans for the day - all just terribly exciting!  Not.  I’ll go by the church and do a quick sweeping/vaccuming/general straightening up, then by the grocery store for a few staple items. 

I’m making a pot of chili for dinner - and then working on blogging plans in between all the other things.

If you make your way to THE MEDIAN SIB today, I wish you a wonderful Saturday.

A couple weeks ago, immediately after hearing of Anna Nicole Smith’s death, I read a thoughtful post by Baldilocks in which she writes about someone who said that after hearing the sad news of her death, they wished they had prayed for Anna Nicole.  One could see her world spiraling out of control.  The loss of her son immediately after the birth of her daughter, all the people clamoring for a piece of her celebrity and money.  Was there anyone who loved her for herself and not for what they could get from her?

The recent news about Britney Spears - her panty-less flashing of press cameras, shaving her head, hard partying with friends, questionable parenting skills, and rapid-fire in and out of rehab - have left me feeling the same way about Britney.  She appears to be out of control, and it looks like nothing short of something drastic will bring her back to common sense.  She’s just a kid - thrust into a 24/7 spotlight of attention.  I sure hope she finds her way back to integrity, humility and care for her children.

Maybe we all should be praying for her - before, God forbid, she ends up like ANS.

This cartoon is classic.  As the saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”  The dems don’t understand that they can’t expect people to believe their rhetoric about how they “respect and honor” American soldiers while at the same time speaking words and actions that actually help the terrorists and cause more deaths and injuries to our troops.

Tiara-tip to Darleen.

A million cheers for the senior citizens in this story who refused to let a group of 3 punks take their money, harm them or interfere with their vacation.

Elderly Tourist Kills Mugger With Bare Hands

By MARIANELA JIMENEZ

AP

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Feb. 23) - An American senior citizen killed an alleged mugger with his bare hands, and his traveling companions aboard a tour bus fended of two other assailants in the Atlantic coast city of Limon, police said.

A retired member of the U.S. military aged about 70 put suspect Warner Segura in a head lock and broke his clavicle after the 20-year-old and two other men armed with a knife and gun held up their tour bus, Luis Hernandez, the police chief of Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose, said Thursday. Segura was later declared dead, apparently from asphyxiation.

The two other men fled when the 12 senior citizens started defending themselves during the Wednesday attack. Afterward, the tourists drove Segura to the Red Cross where he was declared dead. The Red Cross also treated one of the tourists for an anxiety attack, Hernandez said.

The tourists left on their Carnival cruise ship after the incident and Hernandez said authorities do not plan to press any charges against them.

“They were in their right to defend themselves after being held up,” he said.

Hernandez said Segura had previous charges against him for assaults.

In a media statement, Miami, Fla.-based Carnival Cruise Lines said the Wednesday incident occurred during an outing at a Limon beach which a group of a dozen passengers had arranged on their own.

“According to witnesses, while sightseeing at a local beach, the group of guests were approached by three assailants, one of whom was armed,” the statement said.

“The victims struggled with the armed perpetrator, and were able to disarm him. During this process, the gunman’s two accomplices fled the scene. In the course of disarming and restraining the assailant, he died from apparent asphyxiation.”

Neither the Costa Rican police nor Carnival identified the man involved in the struggle with the mugger.

The cruise line said the guests were questioned by local law enforcement and then returned to the ship. The ship’s departure from Limon was slightly delayed to await their return.

“All of the guests involved, who had booked the cruise together as a group, have opted to continue with their vacation plans. Carnival is providing full support and assistance to the guests,” according to the statement.

The ship, The Carnival Liberty, continued on its scheduled itinerary, with a port call scheduled in Colon, Panama.

 And a million cheers for the authorities who said that OF COURSE these folks had the right to protect themselves.  Enjoy your cruise, folks!

Who should win Nashville Star this season?  I have to say that Zac Hacker should win based on his original song.  “If I Wasn’t For The Whiskey - Daddy Would Have Been a Good Man.”  What an incredible song!  He’s got a raspy voice and he put his whole soul into his singing.  David has a nice voice.  He sings well, but he just doesn’t have that unique quality that makes a star.  Angela may win - she has a great voice AND a unique voice.  However, my money is on Zac.

Appetizer
Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?

On my nose where I fainted and fell face first onto a concrete floor about 8 years ago.  It didn’t break my nose, amazingly enough, but I got a bad cut on the bridge of my hose - and the scar is still there.

Soup
What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?

Two pregnancies resulting in two healthy babies.  And now those two healthy babies are two healthy and well-adjusted adults.  In today’s world, that’s a miracle.

Salad
Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.

Soledad O’Brien.  She’s just plain annoying.  I have no clue how she got that job because she is awful at it.  I also have no clue how she keeps that job.  I would never watch her, but RT loves CNN, and so I’m stuck with her when RT has the remote.

Main Course
What was a funny word you said as a child (such as “pasketti” for “spaghetti”)?

Other than calling “afgans” “Africans”, I can’t think of any.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have always thought _______ was ______.  

I have always thought that dancing was the best way to get me in a good mood.

The Warren Jeffs’ story that has been in the news off and on lately gets stranger.  Apparently young girls weren’t the only ones who were treated as objects to be used, abused and disposed of by the sicko leaders.  Now we have 18-year old Johnny Jessop suing Jeffs for information about Jessop’s mother.  There are a lot of sick adults in the world, and they seem driven to draw children into their worlds of darkness. 

SALT LAKE CITY (Feb. 21) - Saying he was kicked out of his home and his fundamentalist church, an 18-year-old man sued Tuesday to force polygamist leader Warren Jeffs to help him reconnect with his family.

Attorneys for Johnny Jessop, 18, asked a state judge to order Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to tell Jessop how to find his 62-year-old mother, Elsie. Jessop has not spoken to his mother in more than 18 months, attorney Roger Hoole said.

Jessop is among what may be dozens of so-called “Lost Boys” who say they were kicked out of the FLDS church in the past four years by Jeffs for being disobedient or because they were seen as competition to older men seeking young brides.

The FLDS practices polygamy and arranged marriages. The faith has an estimated 10,000 members, mostly in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Jessop grew up in Hildale, Hoole said.

FLDS members consider themselves “fundamentalist Mormons,” although the mainstream church disavows any connection. They also consider Jeffs a prophet of God with dominion over their salvation.

Jeffs, 51, is in jail on two felony counts of rape as an accomplice for his suspected role in a 2001 marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her older cousin. On the run for nearly two years, Jeffs was arrested last year in a traffic stop in Nevada.

He has led the church since 2004, and dissidents describe him as a heartless ruler who has fractured dozens of families, sending fathers and husbands away and reassigning their wives and children to other men.

Now living in Salt Lake, Jessop was forced out of his family five years ago, Hoole said. Essentially homeless, the youth ran into some minor legal trouble and was ordered several times by courts to return home.

Under threat of church punishment, though, his family turned him away, and Jessop ended up in Salt Lake City as a ward of a nonprofit organization that helps boys who say they were pushed out of the church, Hoole said.

For several years, Jessop maintained telephone contact with his mother, but that ended nearly two years ago, Hoole said.

Jessop believes that Jeffs ordered his mother to cut ties with him and that the leader knows where Jessop can find his mother, Hoole said. The young man says that he has written two letter to Jeffs, begging him to allow the family to reconnect, but that Jeffs has not responded.

Jeffs’ attorney Wally Bugden also has not responded to requests for help, Hoole said.

A message left by The Associated Press after business hours at Bugden’s office was not immediately returned Tuesday.

“The child/parent relationship is a protected relationship under the law,” said Hoole. “We need a court order that will force Warren Jeffs to tell Johnny where Elsie is. Then the lawsuit can go away.”

It was unclear whether Jessop might have sought help from other authorities in finding his mother.

Jessop is not seeking damages, Hoole said. No court date has been set.

Jessop tells us that he was “kicked out” of the Jeffs’ group 5 years ago.  That means he was only 13 years old at the time.  A child.  Whether he was kicked out for misbehavior or because Jeffs saw boys his age as “threats” to his acquisition of the young girls as wives for older men, it is simply WRONG.

However, Jessop’s mother is also WRONG.  What mother would kick out her own son because some whack-job like Jeffs told her to?  Just looking at a photo of the man is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies.  And where is Jessop’s father?

It seems that anybody can come up with any kind of perversion, call it a religion, and there are people who will join in.  There are way too many sheep in this world - blindly following whoever has their attention at the moment.

Thirteen Things I’d Like To Write in the Sand

Once when I was getting over a heartbreak I went to the beach for a few days by myself, and I wrote the name of the person who had broken my heart in the sand.  Then I watched as the waves washed away the letters - symbolically washing that experience from my mind.   I liked the symbolism of it.  So this week I have listed thirteen things I’d like to write in the sand and then have the waves wash them away.  I’ve also included quotes about each hurtful habit or attitude.

(1) Unkindness  (Be kind to unkind people — they need it the most. ~anonymous) 

(2)  War  (War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their own free choice — is often the means of their regeneration. ~Mill, John Stuart)

(3)  Selfishness  (Love is what is left in a relationship after all the selfishness is taken out. ~Richardson, Nick)

(4)  Foolish Pride  (The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride.  ~Proverb)

(5) Gluttony (Gluttony is the source of all our infirmities and the fountain of all our diseases. As fire extinguished by an excess of fuel, so is the natural health of the body destroyed by an intemperate diet. ~Burton)

(6) Regret  (A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. ~ Barrymore, John)

(7) Worry  (Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson)

(8) Impatience  (A populace never rebels from passion for attack, but from impatience of suffering.  ~Burke, Edmund)

(9) Unloving attitude (Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.  ~Chesterton, Gilbert K.)

(10) Terrorism  (In every child who is born under no matter what circumstances and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again, and in him, too, once more, and each of us, our terrific responsibility toward human life: toward the utmost idea of goodness, of the horror of terrorism, and of God. ~James Agee)

(11) Disorganization  (The fact is, the old clichés work for us in abstract terms, but they never work out in real life quite the same way. Life is messy; clichés are clean and tidy.  ~Hugh Macleod)

(12) Clutter (Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow. ~Og Mandino)

(13) Superficiality (Do not judge men by mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy. ~Edward Chapin)