I've Moved

Please update your bookmarks and change your links if you have linked to my blog. I've moved:

Fabulous Fifty

Blogger has been nudging me to update my blogger version but my browser is not usable with the new version. Its a catch-all problem. They need me to upgrade to the newest version so they can dump the old one. My newest browser isn't supported in the dashboard.

So, I'm jumping off blogger and using my own domain. :D

Join me!

And please update your bookmarks and your links to me.

http://www.fabulousfifty.com

Thanks!

Crash the Superbowl - Doritos

The superbowl holds a bit of fun for everyone. If my team isn't playing in the game, my next best thing to watch are the commercials. Premium spots costing big bucks to the sponsors. Funny ideas, great notions.

Since my daughter works for the largest salty snack company in the world and because a superbowl commercial contest by the big salty snack company has been all the buzz around here, take a peek at this one. They started with hundreds of entries. They had online voting to narrow the field. Now there are five entries left in the finals. The one above is my favorite, not only in concept but in the "rest of their story". It cost all of $12.00 to produce (the cost of the bags of chips).

Just another few days to vote! Click here to see all the videos. The finalists are available on the main page.

Watch the superbowl to see who wins!

Trip Down Memory Lane

Today I had a fun adventure. I was contacted by a familiar name from classmates.com. Now under normal circumstances a person would have an easy time remembering. But I'm not normal.

I attended three different high schools. With a dad in the Air Force, I attended the high school for "base" kids during my freshman year, the off base school during my sophomore year when dad was in Vietnam, and then we moved to Texas where I spent my last two years. I graduated and my parents moved again. Remind me of a name and I can remember faces and events but I have trouble figuring out which high school was the connector.

I pulled out my sophomore yearbook to browse the pages. I read through the autographs and photos, allowing them to provide clues to a dim memory of good stuff. I found this guy's autograph and his message to me. Apparently he thought I was a cute gal. [grin]

And while I vaguely remember this young man (well, he's no longer young as I'm no longer young), he has memories that I don't recall. People's names I don't remember. Even looking up their faces in the yearbook, my memory is still not jogged to recollection.

And although its a bit alarming as I wonder if it's a case of mistaken identity, I've enjoyed my trip down memory lane. The people I do recall. The faces. The activities. The friends who shaped me all contained within the weird yearbook littered with odd art that was considered atrocious even in the 70's.

What a decade: the 70's!

My Choices for Being Typical

Recently I was accused of being a "typical conservative" because I drive a Honda Pilot SUV.

The accusation was suggesting that if I cared about the environment, I would not drive what this person called a "gas guzzler".

Since when is a person under attack because of their choice of transportation?

I am very amused by the notion.

Can you tell what kind of political/world views a person holds by the car they drive? The house they live in? The kind of dogs they have?

I don't think so.... which is why this amuses me so much.

My neighbor is an attorney who votes the exact opposite of me in all elections according to the signs in their yard around election time. They have a Honda Pilot SUV, too. My dad, who is a retired Air Force officer, votes in every election in support of our nation's military and defense (read: ultra conservative). He drives a Toyota Prius Hybrid.

Behind it all is an even much deeper, more profound thought. I guess the idea of choices for folks like this is only allowable when it is in regards to babies in the womb and doesn't apply to car choices.

When this person argued: "What would Jesus do?" I grinned.

The answer is simple.

The pharisees had added new rules to the laws of Israel. Twisting what is allowed and not allowed. One day, trying to trick Jesus, one pharisee asked Jesus:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40

There it is.

Jesus would say: It matters not what a person drives. What is the most important thing? Love God. Love people.

And this is what I pray I can do and is my choice. Because I'm learning that if I do nothing else in this life except to do both of these things, my life will be an awesome journey.

Awesome Women

I had lunch today with eight brilliant, lovely, women. We sat in a Chinese restaurant and ate from a yummy buffet and enjoyed each other's company. We laughed and swapped stories.

We heard about one trip to Las Vegas with lavish shows, awesome malls, and family love. We listened to the plans of an upcoming wedding from a groom's mom. We heard about a house on the market and an impending move. We heard about a child in need of a new start for a school.

We heard about the testing and treatments options for a terrible illness for one of our group. We listened to her praise our God for his goodness in her life, the peace He has provided in the midst of much medical uncertainty. And yet with God, there is no uncertainty. His truth is real. His peace is real. His love is real.

We plotted and planned future get-togethers and activities to share together.

I love these women. And I love the God who binds us together.

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

Summer Gal in Winter

I'm a misplaced seasonal gal.

I love the end of spring, the entire summer and the beginning of autumn.

I love the warmth of the sun and the bright sunny skies that accompany the heat.

And when the cold winds blow through north Texas, I learn to cope.

I wear fuzzy slippers and socks around the house. I wear layers of shirts, sweaters with an tank under it all. I have been known to get dressed and then put my robe on top. I gravitate towards hot soup for meals. I move chairs to sit in sun puddles if they stream through a window. I keep my leather heated seats in my car on "high". I surround myself with warm, spring colors.

I must force myself out the door to walk in the cooler temps but when its 94 degrees at 9 pm at night, I don't mind so much.

And even now, in Texas where the temperatures have been mild, I'm longing for spring. Blooming flowers. Green leaves. Sunny skies. Warmth.

May his name endure forever;
may it continue as long as the sun.
All nations will be blessed through him,
and they will call him blessed.

Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds. Psalm 72:17-18

The Old is New!

Today I traded in the rental Corolla (whew!) for my three year old leather heated seats on wheels.(yay!)

My car is sitting in the driveway, looking rather spiffy. She is all cleaned up with shiny wheels, brand new pin striping (a freebie, tossed in by the body shop since my original pin striping had shrunken in some minute places. Go figure!) and sans dings.

I can't even tell where the original dings were.

They did such an awesome job that there is no evidence of my past inability to park in my garage. The trick will be keeping my car in tip top shape to reflect the brand new beginning of my 3 year old car.

God is like the body shop technician.

He takes our lives. Removes the dings. Renews the tired stuff. And the shininess and reflection that results is that of the person who did the body work. And now our job is to show off the shiny, new stuff and point to the person who did the awesome work.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21

A few Dings

I drive just fine.

I just can't park.

Today my car is headed to the body shop for a bit of TLC. Two dings, neither of which were anyone else's fault nor a product of a busy parking lot. I seem to have a problem parking in my garage.

Both dings are worthy of some attention. One was a very deep scratch which took the paint off down to the metal. Rust was beginning to set in. The other was a dent that couldn't be classified as little.

So for a few days, I'll be driving a much smaller car and trying to get used to sitting in a sedan instead of my SUV. And I'll be considering the eventual purchase of something I can park without incident.