Today's Laugh

It's so dry in Texas that
the Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling,
the Methodists are using wet-wipes,
the Presbyterians are giving out rain-checks,
and the Episcopalians, Catholics, and Lutherans are praying for the wine to turn back into water.

Miss Timnite

Samson was off to visit his heartthrob.  He killed a lion on the way.  When he returned for his wedding, he found the beehive in the lion's carcass.  And that's where he came up with the riddle.  When the Philistines couldn't solve the riddle, they threatened Samson's wife.  "Hey, you better find out the answer, Miss Timnite.  If you don't, we'll kill you and your family."

You know the story.  She whined.  She pouted.  She begged.  She wore down her husband, and he told the answer to the riddle.  She ratted him out.  And havoc ensued.

But catch what happens in the next chapter (Judges 15:6).  The Philistines turn on her anyway, and burn her and her father's house with fire, precisely what they'd threatened at the wedding.

That girl was doomed.  If she didn't tell, the Philistines would've killed her.  When she did tell, they ended up taking out their anger at her and executed her even though earlier she had complied with their demands.

That's how it is with the devil.  "Do this and I'll leave you be."  "Do this and I'll give you something good."  You do.  And he turns on you.  What a liar and enticer!

Champagne Vinaigrette

We fell in love with a salad dressing from the California Pizza Kitchen.  After hunting up a variety of recipe-fakes, the following concoction has been whipped up many times over the last couple of months:

¼ cup white wine vinegar *

¼ cup raw olive oil

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard**

1 lime or ½ lemon, juiced (1 to 1½ Tbsp)

1½ Tbsp honey

1 clove garlic or ½ a shallot, lightly minced

½ tsp salt

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and somewhat emulsified.  Stores nicely in the refrigerator, unlike my other oil-and-vinegar dressings which separate and where the oil solidifies.  This isn't as healthy as my usual homemade dressings, but it's so yummy it makes me want to melt into the floor with joy.

* The recipe is supposed to use champagne vinegar.  Several recipes suggested letting leftover champagne sit out for several days to become vinegary.  Ummm ... we seldom have champagne, so it's a little hard to make champagne vinegar from the leftovers.  Conveniently, Aldi offered white wine vinegar as a special purchase not long ago, and I nabbed several bottles.

** I usually use plain old hotdog mustard any time a recipe calls for whatever-type mustard.  Aldi also ran a mustard extravaganza recently, so I bought my first jar of Dijon.  The Dijon definitely makes a difference in this recipe.

Nicene or Apostles'?

It's probably bad to have a favorite when both are holy words from God.

But I sure do like the Nicene Creed better.

1)  Longer section on the atonement.  Why is it that my mind tends to wander so easily at "was crucified, died, and was buried"?  But "was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried" is simply enough extra length that a brief moment of distraction doesn't mean I miss the whole section. 

2)  The necessity of God's word:  "according to the Scriptures" and "who spoke by the prophets."

3)  Not just that the resurrection and the life-everlasting will come, but that we long for it.

4)  "Light of light."  Beautiful words during these short days of winter, and also as we approach Easter and the Vigil.

5)  "For us."  Twice.
God became man "for us men."
Jesus was crucified "for us."
Even though the events of Jesus' life (as listed in the Apostles' Creed) are indeed for us, it's the Nicene Creed which states "for us"  right out there, blunt and obvious and clear and unavoidable.

Miscarriage

"Jesus wept."

Lora remembers her children in heaven and talks about the comfort of Jesus' tears and the comfort of the resurrection of the body. 

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Fix-It Time

The washer was having its fits.  The water would drain out, but the tub wouldn't spin.  Clothes were too wet.  I researched likely causes for the problem, took the washer apart, and found lots of rust inside the outer-shell.  After plenty of sanding and spray-painting, no more bits of loose metal could get jammed in the lid-latch-detector.  And the washer works!  Yee haw!

This week I finally tired of crackly phone lines and purchased a new phone.  Now I can hear conservations through the phone.  Nice!

Problems with a flickering light.  Turned out not to be the light fixture or the wiring, as I'd thought.  It was merely a faulty bulb.  Replaced that, and we now have our under-cupboard, above-counter light again, after two years without.  And it's over the cutting board -- important place, so you know whether you're chopping veggies or fingers.

Ugly equipment on the bathtub-plug lever, ever since we moved in.  Also, the plug had a slow leak.  Thursday night the metal busted altogether.  I took it apart, went to the hardware store, and installed the new pieces.  Woo hoo!  Fixed that too.

I've been unable to play CD's or DVD's on my computer.  That also meant I had no way to transfer the scanned old-timey photos onto my computer.  I bought a new CD-drive and tried to install it.  I couldn't; I bought one with the wrong plugs.  But Nathan came over, found that we could switch around the old-fashioned plugs and the newer ones.  He installed the new CD-player.  Everything is hooked up and works!  How's that for new-and-different?!

I'm feeling mighty self-satisfied
and pretty durn powerful because
of the repairs I accomplished!

And pretty thankful for the places
where Gary and Nathan took over
and finished what I attempted!