Random Thoughts

Above is the photo I took of Petra in Jordan. Note how tiny the people are which shows you the scale of the place.

Several bloggers I know do Random Thoughts posts, and I saw one that Betsy at My Five Men wrote which gave me the idea.
I visited the rose red stone city of Petra in Jordan when I was in college. It was incredibly beautiful and ancient and built by the Nabateans. A bedouin man led my friend, Carol, and I into the city through the passage in the cliff. We had only enough money to rent one horse so we took turns riding the horse.

My favorite flowers to grow from seeds are zinnias. They grow readily from seed and I love all the colors and types of flowers. These are growing in an old metal pail, and I plant them in the ground too.

I bought a wine rack and a book at Goodwill yesterday for a total of $3.14. The book is "The Inklings" by Melanie Jeschke and is a novel about Oxford in the time of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.

I feed the wild birds every day and give them fresh water. Our favorite birds right now are the graceful and peaceful mourning doves in their soft tan colors.

We like watching Downton Abbey and Walking Dead, now those are two SO different shows.

If you like to read mystery series you might like Stop You're Killing Me This is so good if you get a bit lost where you are in reading a series, because here you can search by author or main character and find out the order of the books. Plus extra features so you can find mystery series by subject.

Shameless self promotion of our Christmas book

Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday

Yes, the book I co-authored has loads of tips to simplify your holiday. In our book we share easy to make or inexpensive to buy gifts, recipes, and ideas for celebrating the birth of Jesus.

One neat idea in our book is to carry a roll of quarters and when you see a Salvation Army bell ringer, give each of your children a quarter to put in their collection pot. That encourages children in the idea of giving during this holiday.

Another idea in our book is to create a Santa chair for busy households and hectic moments. Put a red blanket or Santa hat on a comfy chair and set it in an out of the way spot. The rule is that for 15 minutes if anyone needs a quiet time, they can sit in the chair and and enjoy some peaceful time when no one is allowed to bother them.

Those are just two of many tips in the book.

Also there are engaging two page stories in our book, like the one where a prodigal son returns home for Christmas, or when two siblings are adopted and have their first Christmas with their new forever family. My story of our family driving from Wisconsin to camp in the Everglades at Christmas is included too. Oh, and did I mention my baklava recipe? When I took my baklava to a program at church years ago, a man yelled out "I want to marry the woman who made this baklava." What a compliment; I told him I am married though.