*bose home theater*

When I was in college, I toyed with the idea of buying a massive Bose home theater system for my dorm room. It seemed like everyone had massive electronics in their dorm rooms, and I wanted a television with surround sound that would make everyone else jealous. I never did buy a home theater system (they cost a lot of money!), but I still think that someday, once I am well established in my career and so forth, it would be neat to own a home theater system.

*hoodia patch*

Weight loss is tough, and I know it as much as anyone. If you want to lose weight, the best method is always diet and exercise. If diet and exercise aren’t working for you, you should always see a doctor before choosing your next option. I can’t emphasize that enough. There are some other options, like gastric bypass surgery or diet pills like the hoodia patch, but you really must be under a doctor’s care before attempting any of these options.

here's to christmas cheer...

In Pensacola, Florida, an anonymous person donated a platinum coin valued at over $1,300 to a Salvation Army kettle. Wherever that person is, I pray that God will bless him or her this Christmas. Giving like this is what Christmas is all about. I wish I could give as much as this person, but even if you can’t, we still have plenty to give. This year, let’s resolve to give our time and our love to those who need it most.

*horse riding apparal*

I went through my horse phase when I was in fourth grade. I took a few horse riding lessons, and I thought horses were just about the neatest creature ever. I read books about horses and girls who rode horses. I even had “Littlest Pet Shop” horses. I thought the neatest thing in the world would be to own an entire wardrobe of horse riding apparel – and of course to be an amazing horseback rider too, just like I read about in the books!

*home theater chairs*

Some people are really into watching movies at home. My family isn’t one of them. However, if you are going to watch movies at home often, it makes sense to be comfortable when you do so. You might as well have a convenient microwave so you can pop popcorn and comfy home theater chairs for relaxing and movie watching. If you watch movies often, invite me over sometime. With the writer’s strike, television is the pits!

*playstation 3*

I don’t own a playstation 3. I’ve never owned Nintendos or similar video game systems. If I could find a playstation 3 on sale somewhere at a good price, I would probably buy it just so that I could resell it on Ebay! There are some video games, though, that I’ve played at friends homes and that I enjoy. (MarioKart, anyone?) If I had lots of money, I suppose I’d probably buy a playstation. But I don’t – so I won’t!

*mesothelioma treatment*

I don’t know much about mesothelioma or mesothelioma treatment. I always see those commercials on TV advertising for one lawyer or another, saying “do you have mesthelioma? That means someone has done something wrong, and if you come to my law firm, I’ll sue them and get you a billion dollars!” Naturally I’m quite skeptical of those! Mesothelioma certainly sounds ominous. If you have it, get treatment.

*condo hotels*

Lately I’ve been evaluating real estate and apartments and such. I know if I buy my own place, I should probably look at a condo or townhouse. However, I have a lot of questions about living in a condo. I’m not totally convinced that it would be the perfect solution for me. I should probably stay in one of the Condo Hotels available and sort of test drive life in a condo. Seems like a good solution to me.

*espresso machines*

I don’t drink coffee. I have never liked coffee. When I was in college, I had a friend who was an absolute java-holic, and he tried to get me hooked on coffee. I let him try, but just couldn’t do it. Even if I took a shot of espresso, mixed with lots of flavoring, and milk, and sugar… I still thought it tasted awful! Another thing I don’t like about it is that it is so expensive. You can spend an entire paycheck at Starbucks. So if you’re going to be a coffee-holic, I think you should at least buy your own espresso machines. Even if it is an investment at first, if you are currently paying for coffee every day, the espresso machine will pay for itself in no time at all.

*hotels las vegas*

I’ve never been to Las Vegas but I would certainly like to visit someday. I am not a gambler, but I think Las Vegas has much more to offer than gambling. It’s very flashy and showy, but even more than that, I think there’s just lots of good entertainment there. I could go there, stay in one of the good hotels Las Vegas, and for lack of a better phrase, “expand my horizons”. There’s always more to be learned, and I love going places where I have never been.

lost and found

Today I read this story about a family who became lost in northern California on a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. It got me to thinking… They are certainly not the first family who has been lost in the “modern” west of our nation, particularly in the winter. In 1994, a made-for-tv movie was released, based on the Jim and Jennifer Stolpa story. The Stolpas were lost in northern Nevada in freezing temperatures. More recently, adventurer Steve Fossett was just lost, reported missing after he never returned from a pleasure flight over the Nevada desert. In history, the Donner party had to resort to cannibalism to save the lives of the few survivors.

It’s amazing that with all of our technology, there is still a land that is so close and yet so foreign. Maybe we’re not supposed to know everything about it. Maybe God meant it to be that way.

*sweeney todd*

Sweeney Todd, an all new Johnny Depp movie, will soon be released. I’m intrigued by this movie. Sweeney Todd was a real character in history. He was known as the demon barber of Fleet Street (London). For lack of a better explanation, men came to Sweeney Todd for a shave and never came out. I studied Sweeney Todd, as well as many other serial killers, in a sociology course I took in college.



I am intrigued by Johnny Depp’s choice to play Sweeney Todd in this movie, based on the life of Sweeney Todd. In many of his other famous movies, such as Edward Scissorhands or the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Depp played characters who may have been perceived by society as “bad” (Edward Scissorhands and Captain Jack Sparrow) but who were shown in the movie to be good at heart. Based on my studies of the life of Sweeney Todd, I just can’t imagine any way that they can turn him into a “good at heart” character. Sweeney Todd was a cold blooded serial killer. Period, full stop. However, I am still interested in the movie and hope to see it. At the very least, it should be an interesting view of this man’s life.

If you’re interested in this movie, you can visit Sweeney Todd on Myspace or visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site.

the fear

It has been several days since my last update, but words can’t fill that time.

To be self employed is hard. To be a writer is hard. My days are so often filled with emotion, with drive, with the need to push myself beyond my literary limits, and sometimes even more with fear. Fear that my words won’t be enough, and conversely that I can’t be enough. It’s a fear that I have to constantly push beyond. I am more than my fear. My words will change the world.

*human touch*

Many people, including myself, understand the exhaustion and soreness that accompanies a job that requires a full day standing up. By the end of the day, your neck, your back, your legs, and your feet will all feel like they are being poked, prodded, and stabbed (and not in a good way!). A massage would feel fantastic, but since I’m single I can only make do with what I can reach. Nothing feels as good as the human touch, and now the Human Touch Company has created a Human Touch HT 7450 Zero Gravity Massage Chair. This chair will massage you from head to toe, and with adjustable warming and a pulsating state of the art massage system, you will be invigorated!

winter came in with a vengeance!

It is cold nowadays in KC. Not that cold, really – in the 20s and 30s – but after all this time of spring/summer/fall and warmth, it feels cold. It’s extra cold to this Africa transplant (ME!), since I missed a whole winter and really prefer the warmth. However, I don’t completely mind the cold. Snow and ice are pretty, and it’s a fun time of year.

Speaking of snow and ice, we have plenty of that too! Luckily it is a weekend, but the meteorologists are predicting an ice storm and it’s hard to predict how long this will last. Churches are cancelling tomorrow’s services by the dozens. Hopefully I won’t lose power and be unable to update this blog, but if we get more than a half inch or so of ice, it is very possible!

*car donations*

My first car was literally a “junker”. It was an eleven-year-old Chevrolet Celebrity, with a large dent behind the driver’s door (from when it was hit in the street outside our house), several smaller dents on the bumpers and all around the car, and another large dent on the roof of the car (from when it was parked in my sister’s college parking lot – ‘nuf said). When I bought a new car and needed to get rid of the old car, it was so worthless that no one wanted to buy it. Car donations are a perfect solution for situations like these. We donated our car to the Salvation Army, and the Salvation Army took care of getting rid of the car. Plus, it was a great tax write-off!

Car Angel is a great non-profit company that uses cars and other donations to to make videos for kids and teens!

*migraine*

I was really blessed as a child because I rarely, if ever, had headaches. As I’ve grown older, I have begun to deal with occasional, mild headaches, and even a migraine or two, but nothing terribly severe. My mom often has much worse headaches than I do. It’s amazing how much even a mild headache can disrupt your day. It’s a nagging and bothersome ailment, which is probably why so many people seek treatment for headaches.