Rainbow Cloud

On our way out of town this past weekend, we caught an amazing site! Just a few minutes outside of Fayetteville, Alpha says "Look! A Rainbow!" She calls anything striped a rainbow so I didn't get too excited. However, when I looked up, THIS is what I saw:



It is a rainbow cloud!

According to the above-linked National Geographic site, this cloud is a circumhorizontal arc. It's not a traditional "rainbow", but it IS light being refracted by ice crystals. According to that website, it's actually quite rare. And we saw it with our own eyes!

Here's another picture:



Wow. To GOD, be the glory!

Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies

I have been reading many editorials, theories, and articles about the 7th and final Harry Potter book. Surprisingly, I've got some theories that I haven't seen mentioned yet. (I wish that fact really "meant" something, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. I have yet to guess anything that has happened in the Harry Potter series.)

So here is my partial theory about Voldemort: He is NOT going to die. The prophecy states "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches....." According to www.dictionary.com, "vanquish" means:

1. to conquer or subdue by superior force, as in battle.
2. to defeat in any contest or conflict; be victorious over: to vanquish one's opponent in an argument.
3. to overcome or overpower: He vanquished all his fears.

Notice that it does not say "kill". I do not believe Harry will use Avada Kedavra on Voldemort, even if all his horcruxes are destroyed.

The second part of the prophecy supports this theory as well. It says "For neither can live while the other survives." That word "survives" has always thrown me. It doesn't say "neither can live while the other one does." It says while the other one "survives". JK Rowling has mentioned that she worded the prophecy very carefully. This makes me think there's way more to this than Harry and Voldemort have a duel and Harry kills him with a well-timed "avada kedavra".

And that's as far as I've gotten. I told you it was partial. More later!

Crocs!

I can't think of anything to post. Yes, things happened this weekend. Yes,they were fun. But right now, at bedtime on Sunday night, i can't remember any of them. Well, last night we actually hosted a party! For 2 couples and their kids. Which equaled 11 people total. AAHHH! It was great fun, though. I've got pictures and maybe I'll get them up before May.

On Friday, during a very cold rainstorm, we bought new crocs! The girls and I all got Mary Jane-syle crocs. The girls are "pink swirl" and mine are "pearl", i.e. grayish-white. We can't wait for it to be warm enough to wear them.

We had church today. The choir wasn't singing an anthem so I sat out with Jim and the girls. Very interesting. The girls are quiet and don't say a word, but move around like monkeys!

This afternoon we went to Lowe's to try and get some gardening stuff. It didn't happen. Even the plastic pots were too expensive! Why does even "good clean fun" cost money? It's so frustrating. We need to do some landscaping for our house. We'd also like a patio set and to have a vegetable garden for the girls. But it all takes money! I'm so sick of worrying about money. Mine or somebody else's.

Well, I think it is bedtime now. Maybe I'll remember the cute stuff my girls did tomorrow night. Ciao!

THESE ARE FOR YOU, ROBIN!!!!!!

OK. OK. You wanted pictures, you got pictures. Never mind that I'm staying up 15 minutes past my bedtime to do this for you. Or that my red-eye reduction won't work for some unknown reason. Here are pics of your favorite nieces!

Alpha - I think she's doing "ta da!" with her hands.



Now here is sweet Beta. Posing all pretty!



And here we are at church! They made a cross out of Easter lilies. I have NO idea what Alpha is doing. I think she's either laughing or trying to "act crazy".



Yes, we all have our heavy coats on. It was 34 degrees when we left for church at 9:30 am! Not the best time for springy Easter dresses!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!

Today is Easter Sunday! Things went really well this morning. Of course, that was after we nixed the thought of attending the 8:30 service at church. We nixed the sunrise service idea weeks ago.

Both girls got up on their own, ate breakfast, and got dressed in their Easter finery. AND HEAVY COATS! When we left for church at 9:30, the car thermometer said 34 degrees! Yikes!

We made it to church a little late, but nobody was crying and everyone was wearing matching shoes, tights, and hairbows. Success!

The preacher spoke on John 20 where Mary goes to the tomb and doesn't find Jesus. Jesus asks her "Why do you weep? Whom are you seeking?" It was a good sermon.

All in all, a very fine day! One we can all praise God for! HE IS RISEN! AMEN!

Our Own Room of Requirement

Finally! Today, I took some time to myself to sit and read a book. I brushed up on the Harry Potter books since the 7th one is coming out this summer. (JULY 21!!!!)

I reread parts of Book 3, "Prisoner of Azkaban". That one was my favorite right after I read it. I"m not sure which one is my favorite now. I like the 6th one a lot. I think, of the first four "classic" books, (my own words), the one I like the best is the first one, "Sorceror's Stone".

In the 6th book, "Half-Blood Prince", the Room of Requirement comes into play a lot. This room gives the user whatever he or she needs the most at the moment. In the 6th book, it is used a lot as a storage room or place to hide things.

In order to spend the most time ALONE, I took advantage of our 4th bedroom. I dragged my old bean bag in here and got comfy. This 4th bedroom was an absolute NECESSITY for my husband. He HAD to have a 4 bedroom house for his own private "office". So far, though, the "office" is used to store things that have no other place to go. We'd like to make it a library-type room, but that takes money for nice shelves.

Anyway, as I read about the Room of Requirement, I realized that this office is our own room of requirement. We can make it, or have made it, be anything we want it to be. It is storage, a library, a linen closet. We have old toys, too small clothes, picture albums, the computer network router, sheets, extra pillows, and just some trash lying around. Now if only we could make it have stained hardwood built-in bookshelves from floor to ceiling. That would take some magic we just don't have!

Correction!

I just realized that on my earlier post "Jesus 'Dyed' and went to heaven", I should have said "Jesus 'dyed' and rose again." And then went to heaven.

Daffodils are my favorite flower!

In an effort to avoid doing my morning workout for as long as possible, here are pictures of the first flowers to ever grow in our new house's new yard!









Maybe after tax season I'll have time to really make the front yard look like it's landscaped. Until then, this is as good as it gets. But these flowers remind me of wonderful spring days spent at my grandmother's house. She had a huge tree in her front yard and daffodils in a circle surrounding it. I did the same thing at our old house. I guess I'm going to have to find a tree for this front yard. Trees just cost a little bit of money that I don't have right now. But give me time and I'll have a beautiful front yard!

Jesus "dyed" and went to heaven.

Here, as promised, are Easter egg pictures! The first one shows girls who are very excited to be dyeing Easter eggs, even if Alpha doesn't look like it.



My tube cake pan is the only way I keep my sanity and make egg dyeing fun. In fact, it's about the only thing I use a tube cake pan for. However, it's worth having one just for times such as this.


These pretty blue, green, and orange eggs are Alpha's finished product. We bought a glitter egg pack this year which made them very sparkly. Oh, and VERY MESSY!


Last not but least, are Beta's pretty in pink eggs! She loves pink so she dyed most of hers that color. Or maybe it's just because the pink cup was closer to her than the others.


So it is now officially Easter time here! I went ahead and dyed eggs on Saturday because we had to cook 5 dozen for the Seder Meal we had at church. I figured why not cook 7 dozen and get all the egg stuff out of the way.

By the way,......glitter-dyed eggs are restricted to the kitchen ONLY! No living room, no bedroom, no giving away to friends at school. (a request I had to turn down)

Hope everyone has a very spiritual Holy Week and a Happy Easter!