A Good Quote

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

-John Wesley

Back to School

Even as I write this post I can hear the boys upstairs getting ready for school.

And even though I had to get up before 9:00 for the first time in 11 days, I am thrilled that school is back in session.

We did have a good time over spring break.

We didn't go out of town or do anything huge but we did do several fun things including:

Birthday Party at Laser Quest

Saw Horton Hears a Who

Played outside a lot

Went for several walks/ bike rides

Went to the neighborhood park

Watched movies -August Rush

Played with Nintendo DSes

Played a lot of World of Warcraft (T's toon hit level 70)

Watched WWE Wrestlemania

We had a lot of fun, and hopefully the summer will be awesome too, but for now I am very glad that I still have 2 months and 12 days until the summer break starts.

Hooray for morning naps and lunches out with Chris (after all, when else do we get dates?).

-Della

Story of the Three Trees

You may have seen this story before, but it is a good story and makes a good Sunday Post.

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Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill, and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one," and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do.

The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose, and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped.

At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill.

When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Thomas S. Monson and the Utah Jazz.

The following blog was not written by me, but instead by my brother Mike (the one in Iraq).

He e-mailed this to me and I found it totally blog-worthy.

Enjoy.

-

Notes from last nights Jazz /Clippers game as found on Yahoo:

Chris Kaman got a technical foul for shouting at the officials on hisway to the bench after picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter.

Quinton Ross missed his third straight game with a sore left foot.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson, 80, stopped on the way to his seat inthe third quarter and said a couple words to a surprised Sloan and theteam during a timeout.

The Clippers signed former Univ. of Arizona standout Marcus Williams from the Austin Toros of the NBADL and released veteran Aaron Williams.

-

This brings many thoughts/questions to my mind.

1. I wonder what he said.

2. I hope he was cheering for the Jazz.

3. I wonder if this means that Sloan is a mormon (what a great rumor to start)

4. Do you think the prophet yells at the refs and boos the bad calls?

5. Does the prophet have a permanent court side pass at the EnergySolutions Arena?

6. Does the prophet pray for the Jazz to win like I do?

7. Is it eclisiastical bias for the prophet to recieve inspiration forthe Jazz and will this negativly effect members of the church who areLaker fans?

8. Do you think he told Sloan, "Verily verily, thus sayeth the Lord, put Williams and Boozer back in the game."?

9. Do you think he told Sloan, "Wo be unto you, thus sayeth the Lord,that if the Jazz do not repent, humble themselves, and listen to everyword that cometh from the voice of Coach Sloan they shall in no way achieve the play offs. But verily I say unto you if they do these things, they shall achieve an NBA Championship and a good endorsement deal from Nike, Subway and Deseret Bank."?

10. Am I about to be struck by lightning for writing this email?

My Jazz, update

The Utah Jazz have the number one home record in the NBA at 31-4.

They are still number one in their division with a total record of 47-25.

They haven't yet clinched their playoff spot, but so far are the number 4th seed.

Root for them when they play the LA Clippers tonight.

Again I sigh and remember that the second biggest downside of leaving Utah, (after moving so far from family), was giving up our recently aquired season tickets.

At least I can say I was a season ticket holder.

But it's okay, we are where we are supposed to be, and there were a lot more upsides to moving than downsides. -Just my family, and (sniff) my Jazz.

We do get NBA Season Pass from Dish Network so we can see all of the games anyway. And of course we were able to go to DC and watch them kill the Wizards.

Go Jazz!

-

Quick quiz: Can you name all 5 of the players in the above picture? (No cheating).

-

Update: Jazz won 121-101.

New standings: 48-25

Puzzle

I haven't done a brain teaser in a little while, so here is a good one.

This is really not as hard as it looks.

The gang of four that once ran the biggest protection racket in the east eventually got out of jail.

Almost immediately, they began operating again in the same neighborhood.

They had previously divided it into four territories: north, south, east and west.

Because each mobster had always kept his operations in the same area, the police nicknamed them Mr. North, Mr. South, Mr. East and Mr. West.

Now the police received a reliable tip that this time each mobster was operating in a new territory.

None of the new victims was willing to identify the mobsters from photos the police showed them, but three facts became clear, and that was enough for the FBI to work out which mobster was operating where.

These are the facts:

1. Mr. East is not operating the North.

2. The North territory is not being operated by Mr. South.

3. The South territory is not being operated by Mr. East.

Can you tell who is operating in each territory?

Backyard Wildlife

The view from my back porch is totally cool.

While I live in a very normal neighborhood with cookie cutter houses creatively arranged and decorated to look as different as possible, I also get the joy of having a pond in my backyard.

Ok, it's not totally mine, I share it with about 6 other houses. But because I don't have a neighbor directly behind me, it makes my yard seem so much more open.

Here in VA Beach the water table is so high that any time you dig a hole it fills with water. So any time a new neighborhood is built, they pull dirt from specific places to create small mounds to build the houses on and magically ponds appear where they took the dirt from.

We got lucky enough to have one of these man made ponds in our backyard.

They do plan this though, and build ducts between the man made ponds and natural ones, so we have fish in our pond. We have spent many a happy hour playing catch and release in the backyard. (No, not football).

We have caught bluegill, catfish, and bass all from our back lawn. We even caught a bluegill minnow which now resides in our aquarium.

Today is a beautiful day and we are enjoying temps right around 70*. When I stepped out to check the temp today I noticed that our pond turtles were enjoying the sun themselves on top of one of the ducts.

(Don't mind the time stamp on the pics, it's wrong).

When I crept up to take pictures of Tami and Thomas Turtle I caught the attention of a couple of ducks, who gambled, and won, that I would feed them rather than hurt them. (Though I did have very nice thoughts of red curry duck breast, yum!)

These 2 followed me right up to the back steps where I sat and fed them bread (wheat, not white).

(Yes, this is my right ear and my stocking feet).

They literally ate the bread right off of my feet.

How often do you get to feed ducks right on your back porch? It was super cool, until Toby, my ever lovin' Jack Russell Terrier, started barking from inside the house and scared them off.

We have also had geese, herrons, storks, muskrats, and more than one kind of snake in our backyard. But they tend not to stick around when we let the dogs out.

It makes me sad that we are only renting here, but since this type of pond is so common here, it is very likely that we might get something similiar when we buy a house next year.

That is something I am looking forward to very much.

Thanks for reading.

-Della

Happy Birthday Mark!

Hooray Mark!

Today is Mark's 7th birthday.

I can't believe he is only one year away from getting baptized.

He is in first grade this year and is an awesome reader.

Can I be old enough to have kids this old?

New Template

Yes, you are in the right place.

It just looks different.

I found a great blogspot for really great templates. It is called One Cute Blog, (http://onecuteblog.blogspot.com).

One Cute Blog has a whole bunch of awesome templates and the instructions for applying them to your blog.

Then after I got the template I adjusted my font sizes, and colors.

So let me know if you like it. If you don't I can always adjust. I do want to keep my bloggers happy.

BTW, I found this link to One Cute Blog on another great blog I have found recently, Pikes Pickles (pikespickles.blogspot.com).

Beautiful Picture

This is a picture of Sunset at the North Pole.

You can't see this anywhere else on earth.

The kids are home on spring break and it is complicating my schedule. I usually post in the morning, but I have been posting late because my schedule is off. Hopefully we'll get back in the swing of things next week.

I have a feeling it may be a long summer.

At least I have the beach to look forward to. ;P

Happy Birthday CJ! oops, I mean Chris!

Ten years ago today I gave birth to my first child, CJ. For his birthday this year he wanted a nintendo ds, a party at laser quest, and to be called Chris from now on.

If I can just remember to call him Chris he will be 3 for 3.

Since Mark's birthday is Wednesday and it is much more cost effective to have one party at laser quest than two, we combined their parties today and had a blast at laser quest.

One of the fun parts of partying at laser quest is that the birthday children get toilet papered.

They use a leaf blower with a roll of tp on the end and blow toilet paper all over the special kid(s).

This was the selling point that got CJ, I mean Chris, and Mark to pick laser quest for their party. Noone else vandalizes the birthday kids. (That we know of anyway).

Now, if I may I turn your attention to the video screen above the bathroom style decorated children listing the top 5 scores of the day, you will notice that Stellarina had the number 1 and number 5 highest scores of the day. And, of course, Stellarina is me.

Sorry, but I can't help but take a moment to brag. There are not that many games that I am really good at. But laser tag is one of them.

When it comes to laser quest I talk trash in verbage that is unheard of from me at almost ay other time. But I don't just talk, I deliver.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. The birthday party.

CJ, I mean Chris, and Mark each got a nintendo ds. They both were able to invite friends, and I think everyone had a great time.

They are currently using pictochat on their new dses to chat with each other and R and J from different rooms in the house.

So far so good. Now we just have to get through the next 6 days of spring break...

Could it be?

Have you seen this "new" discovery of the ONLY photo ever taken of the Prophet Joseph Smith?

The Reorganized Church only recently uncovered it in their archives and asked our church to help authenticate it.

The church has stated that it is "Almost certainly authentic". All existing "photos" of the prophet are artist conceptions, most of which were taken from models made from the death mask after Joseph had died.

This photo is reportedly taken of him at the time of his incarceration in the Liberty Jail.

This is one of those things that I can't believe at first. This could easily be fabricated.

But...

There is something in his eyes that draws me. I think I can see the pain and weight he carried, but another light, that he knew so much more than we do and had hope for more.

I am tending to believe this. Whether this is Joseph Smith or not, I love this photo.

Happy Easter

Sorry I am posting late today.

Life is happening. You all know how that goes, but I wasn't able to get to my computer till late. I hope everyone has a happy easter, is able to spent time with those you love, and that you all can remember Christ and the victory over death that we celebrate with chocolate and plastic eggs. I love you all, Della

Great quote

Today's quote from from Timmy's dad in the Fairly Odd Parents Movie on Nickelodeon.

"The kids will have a great time doing that! And if they don't, who cares?!"

Let me add that that is not always my attitude, but once in a while, uh, yeah.

I thought it was funny anyway.

BTW, Fairly Odd Parents is a good, fun cartoon, that I totally approve of, and enjoy regularly myself.

Product Pick

I am loving Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper.

I like to drink soda now and then, but I don't like drinking sugar.

As a result I have spent many long and arduous hours researching good diet sodas. I especially like diet sodas that don't taste so dietey.

When I saw the commercial for this one my mouth watered. I bought it the first chance I got and I have been enjoying it ever since.

I'll probably never stray permanently from diet cherry pepsi, my all time favorite diet soda. But this is great for a little variety.

I even bought some for my kids so they would have a tasty sugar free alternative to the full sugar sodas they always want. Not that I let them drink sodas all the time, but when they do they don't need all that sugar.

Oh, and they only get caffeine early in the day. After 6:00 caffeine is a no no.

Anyway, this soda is great.

It costs the same as any other soda. I have found it on sale for $1.25 per 2 liter and as low as $2.50-3.00 for 12 packs. I think full price is about $4.00-5.00 for 12 packs, but I don't buy soda unless it's on sale.

Downsides: Well, the same as any soda. You should always be careful about how much caffeine, carbonation and nutrasweet you take in.

But I am fully enjoying this. And there is no way I would have lost over 25 pounds in the last 7 months if I was drinking full sugar soda.

I hope you enjoy it too.

Prince Caspian is coming!

When I was about 4 years old my brother had a set of books in a box set that had a picture of a lion on it. I was fascinated by this picture but my brother wouldn't tell me what the books were about.

As soon as I could read I read these books. They were the first chapter books I ever read and they are probably the doorway that led me to love reading, much the same way that the wardrobe was the doorway that led the Pevensie children to the world of Narnia.

I have reread them over and over during the last 25 years, (though now I get through each book a lot quicker than I used to).

I loved the movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, partly because I have been waiting for someone to make it and do it well. I knew it was just a matter of time.

Now the second movie, Prince Caspian, is coming out. I will be there on opening day, waiting to see all the images that C.S. Lewis wrote about, that have been conjured up in my imagination for years, in live action on the screen.

Here is a link to the film trailer so you can get excited too.

>>>>The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian trailers and video clips on Yahoo! Movies<<<<

Jazz Update

My Utah Jazz are rocking the court this season. With a record of 45-24, they are first in the NorthWest division and have already locked in a spot in the playoffs.

The competition is hot with a few teams that are really causing a stir.

The Boston Celtics are number one in the NBA with an unreal record of 54-13.

The Jazz beat them last week when the 2 teams met up, so I have a little bit of confidence there.

Still, even though the Pistons are super hot, (49-19), the Celtics are being picked to take the East.

As for the West, the Houston rockets recently ended a 22 game win streak, even without their 7 ft+ star Yao Ming.

And tonight the Jazz will face their number one nemesis, the hated LA Lakers, who are number one in their division at 46-21.

So root for the Jazz tonight and in the upcoming playoffs.

I've gotta add that Jerry Sloan is an absolutely amazing coach, and it's bull that he gets passed over year after year for Coach of the Year.

Go Jazz!

Baby announcement! I'm so excited....

I am going to be an aunt! Again!

My younger brother Von and his wife Emily just announced that they are expecting their second baby.

Their first daughter, Aurora, is cute enough for 2 all by herself, but her parents wanted another one anyway.

Congratulations Von and Emily. I'm really excited for you.

Legomation

For those of you who don't frequent youtube, it is very common for people, usually bored teenagers, to create "legomation" that is, video animated lego scenes.

These scenes are usually set to go along with songs or dialogue.

This video takes a very funny song, from a very funny movie and makes it even funnier by legomating it.

This video has to be one of the best legomated vidoes I have ever seen. But if you are not familiar with the original song from Monty Python's Holy Grail you probably won't appreciate it as much.

Still it's worth watching.

Enjoy.

Puzzle

Each person lives in a state that can be spelled by rearranging the letters of that Person's name.

Where do they live?

Roy Kewn

Nora I. Charlton

Colin A. Fair

Dora K. Hatton

Earl Wade

Hilda D. Rosen

A. K. Barnes

J. R. Sweeney

.

Good luck.

Time for a good picture

Can this be for real? Who knows? But it's funny.

Funny story

I took my dad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes. We decided to grab a bite at the food court. I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him.

The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue. My dad kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find him staring every time.

When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?"

Knowing my Dad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on his response; knowing he would have a good one. And in classic style he did not bat an eye in his response.

"Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."

Sunday Post

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?

His father takes him into the forest,

blindfolds him and leaves him alone.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold.

It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.

He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone.

Even when we don't know it,

our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us.

When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Product pick of the week

Robin Eggs Candy.

This candy rocks.

They are way better than regular whoppers because of the fun, colorful, crunchy, candy shell, and are so much fun to eat.

They have 2 pretty big downsides.

One is that they are only available at Easter.

The other is that once I start eating them I can't stop.

I made the mistake of buying 3 large bags. I have been giving them to my kids to make them go faster and they are almost gone, but while they are in the house it seems my entire supply of will power and self control disappear.

I am currently ahead in our family weight loss contest, (I have lost 14 pounds since the start of the contest and 27 pounds since summer) but I am afraid I will lose my edge and my waist line if the Robin Eggs are not gone out of my house and out of the stores soon.

For me, I am sure the path to Hell is paved with Robin Eggs, or at least the path to Weight Watchers.

I may need a 12 step program.

Who to vote for

My Grandpa sent me this link to a website that asks you questions and tells you which candidate for president you agree the most with.

If you are undecided, or if your favorite candidate has dropped out of the race, or you are interested in different candidates views, here is a pretty simple questionaire to help you.

Click here>>>>http://www.votechooser.com/<<<<

Modern bathroom

Sorry if this post is a little much. I couldn't help it. Thanks to Mike for this pic btw. I'm not sure what I like about this bathroom the most, the gawking women or the cone shaped urinals. It kind makes me think of peeing in an ice cream cone. Now you'll have that image in your mind all day.

Book Review

Chris bought me this book, The Darkest Evening of the Year, for Christmas, but I did not get around to reading it till a couple of weeks ago.

I have got to say that while I like some of his books better than others, I have never read a book by Dean Koontz that I didn't like.

Koontz writes with 2 enduring concepts in pretty much any book he writes. They are:

1- Meaningful, committed, long term -even eternal- relationships between 2 main characters.

2- Golden Retrievers.

This particular book was no exception.

In some of his earlier books, from maybe 15 or so years ago, this first concept is not so developed as it is now.

But whenever I read a book by Dean Koontz, part of the fun for me is finding the Golden Retriever. Very often he places this dog simply on a sidewalk that the hero notices walking past. Sometimes the main character owns a Golden, and in a few of his books, this being one of them, the Golden Retriever is one of the primary players.

In fact, in this novel, the heroine, Amy Redwing, has founded a Golden Retriever rescue foundation and these dogs are discussed at length. Important to this novel are the concepts of adequate care and treatment of animals, as well as the tremendous benefits and rewards that come through owning and loving a dog.

In the Darkest Evening of the Year the plot lines seemed at times to cross and connect in slightly improbable ways, but Koontz was Koontz and carried a slightly fantastic story to the end with believability. (Or maybe I'm just gullible, I'm not sure).

In order to have contrast to the protagonist's "Golden Heart" which was the name of her rescue organization as well as a symbol of her goodness, the bad guys were incredibly bad, indulging in arson, murder, torture and child abuse.

This was a little hard to stomach, but it made me ache even more for goodness to win out.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and would definitely reccomend it. Especially if you are a Dean Koontz kind of person.

I think this book was inspired somewhat because Koontz's own dog Trixie, who has graced the back covers of many of his books, and is even credited for writing her own book (with his help of course), passed away last year.

I was sorry to hear that.

Let me add that my favorite Koontz' of all time are Watchers (another one where a dog is the main character) and Odd Thomas.

Good reading.

-Della

I bet you didn't know...

Presidents living in the white house have had some unusual pets.

President Calvin Coolidge had a raccoon.

Theodore Roosevelt had a pet badger.

Abraham Lincoln had a pair of goats.

Great housekeeping tip

Always keep several get well cards on the mantle...

So if unexpected guests arrive,

They will think you've been sick and unable to clean.

Points to ponder

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

.

What disease did cured ham actually have?

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How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

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Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.

.

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

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If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

.

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

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If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

.

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

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Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

.

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

.

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?

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Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

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How can you tell when sour cream goes bad? It's aleady sour. Does it turn good?

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If our knees bent backwards, what would chairs look like?

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If a cow laughed really hard, would milk come out if it's nose?

Something to make you laugh

Good but quick brainteasers

These are easy number problems, but if you try to answer them too quickly you'll probably make mistakes. They're fun to spring on friends.

1. How much is 1 times 2 times 3 times 4 times 5 times 6 times 7 times 8 times 9 times 0?

2. Divide 20 by 1/2 and add 3. What is the result?

3. How much does a brick weigh if it weighs 5 pounds plus half its own weight?

4. A farmer had 17 sheep. All but 9 died. How many were left?

5. How much is twice one half of 987,654,321?

Sunday Post

This story is awesome. Many of my family may have seen it because I think I forwarded this one when I first got it, but it is worth a repost.

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta.

She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb. During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby.

As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger.

Dr.Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.'

The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.'

Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Sorry if this picture is a little "gross" as my kids called it. Being that I used to assist c-sections it looks pretty normal to me, but I recognize there are lots of ways that I am not normal.

Still it is an awesome picture and story.

-Della

A life long dream

I've finally done it.

I signed up to be a PAMPERED CHEF consultant.

Please understand that it is not my lifelong dream to be pampered chef consultant, but rather to own every single pampered chef product that I can.

So now I can buy them all at a discount.

And if other people want to buy the products but don't want to have to wait for a show or get hassled about having a show themselves, they can call me and I will hook them up.

And hopefully soon, with some practice and all of my new products I will be able to make fabulous dinners and treats like these:

Yum!

-Della

Water Bridge

Even after you see it, it is still hard to believe !

WaterBridge in Germany. What a feat!

Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long.......now this is engineering!This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project.

It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.

To those who appreciate engineering projects, here's a puzzle for you armchair engineers and physicists.

Did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of ship and barge traffic or just the weight of the water?

Answer: It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water!

Why? A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded.

Pretty cool, huh?

Buscuits Wanted For Attempted Murder

BISCUITS WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER (the actual AP headline)

Linda Burnett, 23, a resident of San Diego , was visiting her in-laws,and while there she went to a nearby supermarket to pick up somegroceries.

Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled upand with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head.

One customer who had been at the store for a while became concerned and walked over to the car.

He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour.

The man called the paramedics,who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head. When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head.

A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loudnoise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in theback of her head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.

I think qualifies as a blonde moment.

Brain teaser

Richard is 33 years old today.

This is three times as old as his brother Philip was when Richard was the age that Philip is today.

How old is Philip?

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Too easy?

The simplest answer...

...Is not always the most obvious one.

Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher.

A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members lunched at a local cafe. While dining they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt.

How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? Clearly this was a job for Mensa!

The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer.

They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

"Ma'am," they said, "we couldn't help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker..."

"Oh," the waitress interrupted. "Sorry about that."

She unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.

Great picture

My brother in Iraq sent me this picture.

Enough said.

Product pick of the week, My Kia

I might have to write another post about how much we loved buying our car at Carmax and how great our experience was there, but for now I will focus on my car.

I have had my 07 Kia Sedona for almost a year. Mine is white like the one in the picture.

We compared side by side with other minivans and decided that the Kia Sedona was all over the best value.

For starters it has a 5 star crash test rating. I love the middle row captains chairs instead of bench. Available power dual sliding doors. The windows in the sliding doors actually roll down.

But here are my favorite features:

This is the fold down convex kid mirror. A push from one finger releases this from hiding in the overhead console, so I can keep an eye on my chitlins. When they are not in the car, it just as easily folds back up. But this is my favorite:

The rear seats fold completely into the floor. And it is so easy to do, you can do it with one hand. I even borrowed my friends baby, so I could prove that it could be done with one hand while holding a baby.

When the rear seats are up in normal position there is an extra deep cargo space where they othrwise fold in to. This is great for carrying extra groceries and making sure they don't roll around.

The middle seats can fold down, forward, or come out of the car very easily too, to maximize cargo space. We have easily transported furniture and even mattresses in our van. We had a trailer hitch installed too. The V6 engine had no problems pulling a loaded 6 foot trailer. (I'm sure it could pull something bigger, that's just what we have).

Let's not forget that this car has a 5 star crash test rating.

Downsides? Sometimes, especially after a cold night, the side doors stick and you really have to pull to get them open. They also don't retain their value as well as some.

Our model didn't come with built in dvd players, though I think that is an option. And there is not built in navigation. But we solve both of those problems with portable dvd players and our tomtom. It is cheaper to do it that way than have them come built in anyway.

As for price, the value for this car can't be beat. A brand new one starts at $21,400. So you'll pay $24,000 or so with good features. That's if you buy new.

We got our '07 in '07, used, with about 15,000 miles. Our purchase price was about $15,500. At the same time we looked at other minivans, Dodge, Chrysler, Honda and Toyota for starters.

Any other 06 or 07 that we looked at was about $19-23,000, even used. Other minivans in the $15-16,000 range were at least 4 years old with 60,000 miles or more.

We felt like we were getting a great deal with an almost new car for the same price as others that were much older.

We have had almost a year to drive and enjoy it. While it doesn't have many bells and whistles, it is a great family car, gets decent gas mileage, runs great, and was a great value. I love it.

Puzzle, Brainteaser

The owner of a pet shop is trying to persuade two mothers and two daughters, who entered the store together, to buy the three kittens in the display window. He made the sale. Each customer left the store with her own pet kitten. None of them shared a kitten. There were no other kittens in the shop except these three. How can three kittens be owned by two mothers and two daughters so that each has her own individual pet?

Stephen Colbert and Bears

If you are not familiar with the Colbert Report on Comedy Central this might not make much sense to you. Suffice it to say Stephen Colbert (this guy) hates bears.

Releasing a bear. What could go wrong?

So far, so good.

Uh, where's he going?

Down Booboo, Down! Oh, $*&!

Well, at least he didn't get my picinic basket (or my leg).

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Check back soon for another installment on Stephen Colbert's favorite nemesis, Bears!

Subject for the day: Bears

Possible captions for this picture:

Who has the right of way?

Opposition in all things

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Any other ideas?

Hooray Jordan

My blog buddy Jordan (the Goddess of Sewing) has just announced that she is expecting a baby! Hooray for her and congratulations!

In her honor I am going to steal a couple of quotes from her blog.

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You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

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Some people are like slinkys. Not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs!

Sunday Thought

I've been saving this one. I love this picture as well as the thought. It reminds me of my family. -Della

Product Complaint; I paid a dollar for this?

Let me start by saying I am not planning on making product complaints a regular blog topic. I really don't like to complain, and I don't think I do it much, (maybe I do, you'd have to ask those around me), but once in a while something bears complaining about.

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So today I took CJ and Mark to McDonalds for lunch. Recognizing that my first mistake was going to McDonalds, I should have expected to be disappointed.

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Having eaten at McDonalds before, and having seen Supersize Me, I knew better than to order from 98% of the menu, knowing that not only would anything I ordered be bad for me, it would probably also taste bad.

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So after ordering happy meals for the boys I thought I would be safe with a fruit and yogurt parfait, apple dippers and a drink.

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My first disappointment came when I went to fill my soda. This particular McDonalds had a neat function on the soda machine that allowed customers to add cherry or vanilla flavoring, even sugar free cherry flavoring, to their drinks. This was a cool bonus to me as I particularly like cherry flavored sodas, especially cherry flavored diet sodas. So I was naturally disappointed to see that they had removed the extra flavor feature. Disappointment #1.

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When I sat down with the food (at a table in the play area which was actually clean), I looked for my apple dippers, only to find that while they had given me the little bag of apples -which have been chemically treated not to turn brown- they had not given me the caramel dip to dip them in. Thus I had apples, but not apple dippers.

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Of course I thought to go to the counter to ask for caramel dip, but the line was so long my apples probably would have turned brown in spite of the chemicals if I had chosen to wait that long to get to the counter. Disappointment #2.

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So I turned to my fruit and yogurt parfait, hoping at least one piece of my meal would meet my expectations. I had to search the tray for a minute before I found it. You see, last time I ordered a fruit and yogurt parfait it was more than 2 1/2 inches tall. I know it's "snack size", but even Calista Flockheart eats bigger snacks than this.

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And I recognize that a dollar doesn't buy what it used to, but I guess this is the first time I have seen a literal example of this.

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So I took a picture of it next to a dollar bill and a chicken nugget to give a size comparison of how small it actually was. (I promise I did not doctor the picture). Alas, disappointment #3.

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So the kids had fun in the playland (they'll probably get sick from all the germs, or maybe increase their immune systems from being exposed to it all) while I did Sudoku and my stomach growled.

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Now that I'm home I think I'll make myself a taco salad.

My name

I went to photobucket.com (thanks Christi and by extension Melissa) and searched images of my name.

These are some of the things I found:

I had always thought my name was kind of rare, but apparently (from what I found on photobucket) there are a lot of people, dogs, horses, a snake and at least one drag queen named Della. BTW, if you are familiar with World of Warcraft you will notice that the bottom picture is from World of Warcraft, so even characters on the game have my name.

If you are interested I will tell you that my character names on WoW are Stellarina and Orainia.