Archives for September 2011

Cupcakes and Manners

September 12, 2011 by Amy 8 Comments

The girls and I were at the counter and through the door walked three little dark-skinned boys. Several seconds behind them followed a very light-skinned man with a baby, also light-skinned. One of the little boys toting his bookbag on his back scooted past me with a polite “Excuse me”. As the father adjusted to the light and caught sight of him, now standing in front of a few customers he yelled, “Get back here! That was very rude!” The boy humbly replied, “But, Daddy, I said excuse me.” He immediately joined who was now clearly his adoptive father. And I won’t lie. I stared. And I’m sure they’re used to it. But probably not for the same reason I stared. Today I thought about a little boy, just about his age, that could be standing in the cupcake line in a few months and he wouldn’t be part of that family. He would be our family.

I think about it. I think about him. No one has said what his skin might look like. And it really doesn’t matter. Because I’ll still be his mommy and he’ll still be anxious for cupcakes and I’ll still be worried about his manners. It’s just what families do.

Weekend Recap

September 12, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

Weekend Recap 9/9 by bennettaj on Polyvore.com

Jewelry Holder

September 11, 2011 by Amy 15 Comments

Since the addition, Scott has been taking a nice long break from any larger projects around here. I don’t blame him; he put in a lot of hours. But this weekend it was time and I wrote Scott a honey-do list. We knocked a few things off, even a few that weren’t on the list like clearing out his garage that was a T-total disaster since the addition.

My favorite project from the weekend though was my jewelry holder to finish off our new closet. And what I love most about it is it was less than $5 for us. We already had an 8’ piece of wood and the stain. So it was just up to me to buy the eye hooks and two pieces of metal rod. After I stained it the same as my shoe rack, I simply lined up several rows of eye hooks, alternating its placement between rows. I left the first few rows for necklaces, 3 rows in the middle to put a bar to hang my earrings and finally a last row of hooks for my scarves, belts and smaller purses.

So here it is on the wall after Scott attached it with a few screws.

You can see how I placed the eye hooks here. I’m happy with the horizontal spacing but to be honest, I really should have increased the vertical spacing between each row. I did 6” vertically and 1.5” horizontally. For the earring section, I did 3”.

Lexi loves jewelry and helped me sort it out and hang a few things. OK, for real, she hung up two necklaces and then skedaddled.

Here it is completed:

The necklaces on top:

I even hung matching rings on the same hook.

Rings and bracelets were hung from the last row in the necklace section:

Here is the earrings section. Again, 3” was not long enough for some of my earrings. Who knew earrings could be so long?

Now I have NO excuse not to wear jewelry!

And finally, I have a small collection of jewelry that I just don’t see me wearing, some of it still with tags on. If you see something of interest, let me know and I can text/email you a clear picture and drop it in the mail for you. I just couldn’t seem to make myself trash it!

From left – two HUGE hoop silver earrings, a black/silver bracelet, silver necklace with black rectangle pendant, silver and blue necklace, white/silver multi-chain necklace, a set of gold/amber necklace, bracelet and earrings; black/gold/diamond earrings, small pearl necklace, silver bracelet, gold bracelet, silver bracelet, silver/teal bracelet, Easter bunny silver pendant, Noah’s ark pin, green Dragonfly pin, frog pin, silver anklet and small hoop earrings.

Windows Batch Script – Copy Directory of Files to Multiple Computers

September 10, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

OK, so most of you are going to click off this post pretty fast. It’s ok. I just need to get this code out there for posterity’s sake. It took me HOURS to figure some of this out so if I can save just one person, this post is worth it. It seems so easy looking back but when you’re not familiar with the syntax, it really is like trying to write Greek and not knowing the language.

Here’s the run down of what needed to happen. I had one machine with a directory of files. I needed those files distributed to 10 other machines evenly in small groups each day so they could process the files in parallel. Over a span of 30 days, I wanted to send each of the 10 computers 4 files so that each day 40 files were processed. Oh, and the files needed processed in descending name order.

Enter this script.

A few things to note here.

1 – The batch file takes two parameters. First, is the number of files you want distributed at that time. The second parameter is the directory where the files are.

2 – The big issue I had was the variable counter was not holding its value. The trick is you have to use the

setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion AND use the exclamation marks so it knows to use the current value. Otherwise, it waits until the loop is done to parse. Also, please note if you echo those values, it won’t look right but it is doing the math right.

3 – Another issue was the modulus. Make sure you use the /a to for the set command so the operation is an arithmetic operation. Otherwise it treats it as a string. Also, when you’re in a batch script, use two percent signs %% to do the mod. You’ll want to change the value in the mod to however many computers you have to send to.

4 – In the for loop, the /A-D switch tells it to NOT show directories, the /B switch tells it only to use the bare format, and the /O-N switch tells it to Order it by Name in Descending order (the minus sign).

5 – The %cd% is a standard variable that tells it to use the current directory that the script is running from.

The script does make some assumptions on the directories and such but I’m sure you can clean those up.

Download the code here if you’d like to use any of it. You’ll just rename the extension to .bat and if you want to run it, here’s the command:

code.bat 40 c:directoryoffiles

I hope that helps someone a little!

South Carolina Accent Vlog

September 9, 2011 by Amy 12 Comments

I saw this Accent Vlog from Trina today and I just love it! The whole purpose of this meme is to see if people think you have an accent. Even though I’m in South Carolina, Trina’s Alabama Southern accent is just too cute for words! Just so you know I tried pretty hard to get Scott to get on film. He’s the one with the REAL Southern accent but it was just a no-go, as you’ll see. Also, I tend to talk like people that are around me so after listening back, I feel like my accent is a little thicker since I just listened to Trina 🙂

The instructions are to say these words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

And answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you use to change the TV channel?

You can see all the other fun accent vlogs here.

OPI Fall 2011

September 9, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

I got a (FREE-thank you, Groupon) manicure and pedicure today so I have nail polish on my mind. And here’s a confession: I do not own one full bottle of OPI nail color. *gasp* Maybe because of Pinterest and all its pretty posts, I decided to splurge on a sample-sized variety pack a few weeks ago. I got 4 colors from their Touring America Fall 2011 collection.

Here are the four colors I got:

French Quarter For Your Thoughts aka “the gray”

The gray was fabulous. It was a great neutral and I felt fashiony, as Lexi would say.

Honk if You Love OPI “the dark purple”

The purple was lovely. I love purple. To be honest though it didn’t feel new. I suppose it’s because I bought nearly the exact color from Revlon last year. I know, I know. OPI is 800% better but I just couldn’t get excited about buying a full bottle when I felt like I already had the color.

A-Taupe The Space Needle aka “the green but looks brown”

I love green. I really do. Any of my friends can tell you that’s my go-to color. But this? Looks like a baby pooped on your fingers. Maybe it’s just me and my pink-undertone skin but this was NOT a go.

My Address is Hollywood aka “the pink”

When I started to put on the pink, I was pleasantly surprised to see some shimmer in the polish. But unfortunately once it dried it basically went away and I honestly ended up with a mousy sort of pink. I even asked Scott what he thought and it took him a long time to answer, “Yeah, I guess it’s ok.” Which really translates to “I would never pick that out but it’s not bad enough to hurt your feelings.”

In summary, the bottle that would be worth forking out the $9 or so for a full bottle is the

French Quarter for Your Thoughts or the Honk if You Love OPI if you don’t have a dark purple already.

Have you tried any of the fall colors? Favorites out of these?

One Verse

September 8, 2011 by Amy 4 Comments

I asked a burning question today on Facebook and Twitter.

And this is what I love. First, we needed clarification on the TYPE of favorite verse.

After I clarified that I was looking for those that speak to us personally, many had trouble finding just one verse!

TweetDeck

And even those that picked just one had answers that were far and wide:

Just reading through those gets me so pumped! God’s word is alive and is doing a work within each of us.

“Do not be afraid.” What if that smidgeon of Joshua 1:9 is all I had from His Word? It would be enough to sustain me through so many trials.

What if all I had was “Be still and know that I am God.” It would be enough to get me through the most confusing moments.

What if all I had was “now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness.” It would be enough to make all the hard times worth it!

And this is what we need to get. There is SO MUCH POWER in just ONE VERSE. One PHRASE of ONE VERSE. We have them ALL available to us. We are so rich and yet. And yet! There are 340 MILLION people that can not read one WORD of it, much less one verse.

One-third of the world’s language groups speak a language which the Bible has not been translated into.

There is no hope, no comfort, no encouragement, no reminder that He is God, that He is with us, that He is in control, that there is a reward, that He loves us, that we should love others. Yes, God shows Himself in many ways but oh how He speaks through His word. For those 340 million people, my heart is broken.

But OneVerse gives me hope.

OneVerse works with local translators to get God’s word translated into their language. A sponsorship amount of $26 provides enough resources to get one verse translated. Only $26 would be enough to give an entire people group your favorite verse. Look, I know that our money goes into a big bucket and funds an entire translation but it’s so important. We DO have the solution to this problem. By being a part of this, we give some of those 340 million people an opportunity to read the Bible and find their verse.

If you can and feel led, please hop over to their site. You get to pick the region and language of the translation you help sponsor. It literally takes seconds to fill out the form. Give a verse or a lot of verses.

If you can’t give, do me a favor and go read His Word. Pick out a verse or a lot of verses. Memorize them. Use them. Find comfort in them. But most of all, thank God for them.

*This post was written in part as a submission to a Relevant Ticket Contest. I was not compensated in any way for writing the post but as a result may be chosen to receive a free Relevant Conference ticket. In any case, I love what OneVerse is doing and am glad to help spread the word!

James Read-Along Week 1

September 7, 2011 by Amy 10 Comments

Well, Marla is at it again with another read-along. God was faithful with the last one so I couldn’t turn this one down. And honestly, I need some accountability to stay in the Word.

James 1 is no joke. You could spend your whole Christian life in this one chapter and always be both encouraged and challenged.

I was specifically encouraged by two verses and then challenged by 3 more. Let me share.

Encouraged

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds

How can you not be encouraged by this verse? Like everyone, we’ve been facing trials of our own. Many personal, others somewhat public like Emma’s start to school. What a great reminder that these things are doing a work within us. Even things that Satan means for harm can be used to make us more like Christ if we turn to him in these trials. And not for him to magically make them disappear but to learn to persevere through them.

James 1:5 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. (The Message)

I love the way The Message words this verse. And how many times lately have I just prayed, “God, I have no idea what I’m doing! You have to help!” It’s true. We have to remember to go to HIM for that wisdom and direction. He is just waiting to give his wisdom but we have to ask for it in faith.

Challenged

James 1:19 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

This has been on my prayer list for weeks. I need help controlling my tongue. Period.

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

I think those of us, particularly in the blog world might struggle with this. How often do we read or listen to posts or messages about Christ and yet fail to actually live them out? We are DECEIVED if our life does not look like the word.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Marla pointed out in her post that these are the two spectrums of people..the socially aware liberal and the law-loving right-winger. We are responsible to be BOTH. But what struck me reading it is that phrase “polluted by the world”. What is the world? How do I become polluted by it? How do I be a part of it without being polluted? There are lots of questions for me here.

I’ll be honest and say one area I’ve been challenged by the past year is TV. Is that considered “the world”? All of it? Some of it? Just my penchant for addiction to it? I have stayed away happily from TV this summer. Should I continue through the fall? Or to what extent? All I can say is God definitely is pricking me in this area and I’m searching for the right balance for me. And trust me, I believe that it is different for all of us.

Whew, see? That is enough to keep me going for quite a while. Make sure to hop over to Marla’s and read the rest of the linked up posts.