How do YOU compute?

I've only had my laptop for about 2 to 2.5 years, and already the battery is shot, it has a line down the screen, and it regularly overheats.

So, as much as I hate it, I'm looking into buying a new computer so that when this one dies I'll know what I want to replace it with.

But, I can't get passed the Laptop vs. Desk top debate in my head.

Price really isn't the issue, cause I feel like we'd spend about the same amount on whatever computer I get. But, what if you compare the cost to the amount of time it will last you? Desk tops last a lot longer than laptops.

But, what if it's the portability that I want?! There are very few things I love more than curling up in bed with my laptop to chat and catch up on blogs.

What's a girl to do?

What do you use? What would you suggest? I've done another poll. Please let me know what you think the best course of action is! :)

Please pray

My cousin Amy just found out recently that she is pregnant with her third child. She's only about 10 weeks along, and went in for a check up on Friday. At the check up, they realized that she's partially dilated.

If you could, please pray for her family and for this little one.

I'll update you with more information as I get it.

Thanks, and have a wonderful Tuesday evening!

My most brilliant and offensive idea

Did you know that you can make human corpses into diamonds? It's true! I wouldn't joke about this sort of thing.

Ok, so I totally would, and do, joke about this all the time...but it's still true that it can be done!

So, naturally, my dear hubby and I have talked about turning his body into a diamond for me to wear after he's gone.

And, not for the normal sentimental reasons that you might think.

No, it's much more brilliant than that!

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (compliments of Biblegateway.com) it says:

15According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Did you catch that? And the dead in Christ will rise first. In that line lies my whole argument.

You see, if my husband precedes me in death, and then is made into a diamond for me to wear, then I will know before every other living being (if only for a split second) that Christ has returned.

Of course, this whole argument falls apart if you read this verse to mean what I think it probably means, which is that all the living will probably know that the dead are being raised because of the "load command."But that doesn't fit very well with our joke, now does it?

So, there you have it, my brilliant hole-ridden and horribly offensive idea!

*Please note that this is a joke, and not a post to encourage large theological debates.

"And He walks with me..."

This devotion appeared in the October e-mail from Kansas Bible Camp, and it definitely found me right where I am. It's a great way to look at our christian walk. Hope you find something to take from it and apply to your life.

A message from God's Word
There are three expressions in the Bible concerned with our walk that may be helpful to think about.
1. Deuteronomy 13:4, "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God." Walking AFTER God tells us we have a leader; Someone walking ahead of us. In the New Testament we are admonished to become "Followers of God as dear children," He is our example. The expression "walking after the Lord" is found three times in the Old Testament.
2. "Walk BEFORE me and be thou perfect" said God to Abraham. David commented: "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Walking BEFORE the Lord reminds us that God is our interested observer. We are always in His sight and He is interested in what we do. He observes us, not as a critic, but as a loving parent observes his little toddler. Every step is observed with love, pride, and gentle care. Every improvement is noted and encouraged.
3. Noah and Enoch are said to have walked "with God". We can only walk WITH people with whom we agree: Can two walk together except they be agreed? Two can walk together only if they have the same goal, take the same path, progress at the same speed, and adjust to each other.
You and I are also called upon to walk with the Lord. Our lives must conform to His plans for us. Our path must conform to His word. Today, more than ever in the history of the church of God, we need youth who will walk after the Lord. We need youth who will walk before the Lord and youth who will walk with the Lord. How are you walking?
- Richard Burson, KBC Intercom January 1973

To Load or Unload...

That is the question.

I've put up a survey to the right of this post, because I'm curious to know:

Would you rather unload the dishwasher, or load it?

I HATE loading the dishwasher, but I don't mind unloading it. My mom is completely opposite. She would rather load.

I always thought this was a strange, but handy, difference between us. But, I was never under the illusion that it was normal until I read this post of Brooke's.

What about you? Do you love unloading? like loading? hate both equally?

Let me know!

The gift that keeps giving

Micah and I are been married for 3.5 years now! Micah says he cannot believe it's been that long. He says it feels like it was only yesterday.

I, on the other hand, feel like we've always been married. Don't get me wrong. That's not a joke about "the longest years of my life," but more a realization that it feels so right to be married to Micah, that life before being married to him pales in comparison.

So, imagine my surprise, when I find these:


Along with several other wedding gifts while going through stuff at my mom's house. I didn't even know we had these!

So, thanks to whoever gave these to us over 3.5 years ago. They have brought me such joy!

And, thanks, Micah, for spending the last 3.5 years with me. I know it may seem hard to imagine at times, but you bring my even more joy than my pretty striped dishes!

The Lord's Provision

I've blogged a few times about things I've found in my textbooks back in my school days. But, I've never got around to this one.

In McGraw-Hill/Irwin's Legal Aspects of the Business Organization I found another one of these such things on page 992 that was truly a gift from the Lord.

The topic at hand is incorporation. There's a term called "corporation by estoppel" which basically means that if someone holds them self out to be acting on behalf of a corporation, then the court will "estop" him from denying the existence of the corporation. This is to protect third parties from thinking they're dealing with a corporation, when really they're not, or vice versa.

Anyway, the funny part comes when the book starts discussing liability for defective incorporation. It states:

If people attempt to organize a corporation but their efforts are so defective that not even a corporation by estoppel is found to exist, the courts have generally held such persons to be partners with unlimited liability for the contracts and torts of the business.

And, all I've got to say is, if people who want to be incorporated can't even MAKE THEMSELVES OUT TO BE incorporated, then they deserve full liability!

Hehe...I realize most of you won't think this is funny - but I sure do!

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Everyone should know someone

Like our friend Nicole.

Several months Micah and I got a chance to play Apples to Apples with a few of our friends. One of these friends is a 13 year old named Nicole, and she is HILARIOUS!

I realize that Apples to Apples is the type of game that is only funny at the time, and only to the people who are playing. So, I'm sure this won't be funny to all of you. But, to those of you who know Nicole, I hope this brightens your day!

Here are a few of the quotes from the game:

"Does it make you as hot as poodles? That is the question."

"Oooo eeee! Nama nama nama! 1,2,3,4,5,6!" - Nicole in reference to Boyfriends

"That's fake...not unless they put a bomb in your underwear...that's fake." in reference to Spontaneous Combustion

"The bust up word" - later on in reference to Spontaneous Combustion. She can't actually say it correctly, but Spontaneous Combustion is her new favorite phrase.

On the Challenger Explosion card, there is a poem that reads: "Without a wish, without a will, I stood upon that silent hill and stared into the sky - Ralph Hodgson" and when I finished reading it out loud, Nicole chimed in with: "and blew up"

"The Bumb up word...I'm gunna have to learn that one"

"It's my favorite word now, But I still can't say it"

"This is going to be a nasty one...but it might be tasty to some people." in reference to olive oil

And the last one I'll leave you with:
"The dump? Now, what kind you guys talking? The trash can kind?...Micah, you're over there turning purple!"

Photo O.O.T.T.W.I.L.A.T.Q.A.Y.A.Y.H.T.F.I.T.A.B.C.A.P.I.A.N.D.A.E.T.T.Y.F.S.A.H

Laurel did this thing on her blog a LONG while ago. I don't normally like these O.O.T.T.W.I.L.A.T.Q.A.Y.A.Y.H.T.F.I.T.A.B.C.A.P.I.A.N.D.A.E.T.T.Y.F.S.A.H things. Mostly it's because I never know what to call them!! :) But also because they're all the same.

But, this one is kind of cute.

Here's how it works: Figure out your answers for each of the below questions. Put your answer into a Google image search. Grab the first interesting image for each answer, and post the images on your blog. I won't be tagging anyone cause if you wanted to do ityou probably would if I tagged you or not!

Hope you enjoy!

1. The age you will be on your next birthday
2. A place to which you'd like to travel

3. Your favorite place
4. Your favorite person

5. Your favorite food

6. Your favorite animal

7. The town in which you were born

8. The name of a past pet

9. The first name of a past love

10. Your favorite color

11. Your first name
This is a picture of MAGEN's Bay. Spelled "right" and everything! Isn't that cool?!? :)

12. Your middle name

13. Your last name

The view from my front porch

OK. I am aware that it is totally lame to talk about the odd trees you have growing in your yard on your blog (Or anywhere for that matter!).
And, I am aware that twice merits loss of readership, but I can't help it!

Today, I found the most interesting thing when I looked out my window!

I don't aspire to be a great photographer like my friend Rachel, so you probably can't tell from this picture....But, there is a branch growing out from the middle of this huge long trunk! You're probably thinking, "yes, Magen, tree branches normally do grow from tree trunks," and you'd be justified in thinking this. But, this is a very old tree. And, all the other branches that bear leaves are WAY higher than this new, small twig. And, there are no other small twigs like this. It's very odd to me.

But, if you look closer at the twig...Its leaves have already started turning!!

Did it just sprout out with autumn leaves? This is very perplexing to me. One day, there's no sprout there at all, and the next day there's one that's already dying!!

But, at any rate, I love fall. And, in my yard at least, it's beginning to look a lot like fall, ya'll!

My dear friend Joy...

has a grandma who lives in Texas. Her name is Gloria and a few weeks ago she was attacked in her home. You can read the initial post, and also a couple updates on her blog. Please keep this dear lady in your prayers.

On a much happier note, Joy also has some super fun stamps for sell on her site, Apple Blossom Studios! AND, she has several very talented scrappers showing off her wonderful products regularly on her blog. Go check it out!! To get there, just follow the super fun link that I just added on the right hand side of my blog!

OH, and while you're there, check out her stamp called "Inksy Daisies"...I named it myself!

2 Days shy of a month!

Seeing as how we're rapidly approaching the one month mark since my last post, I figured I'd give you a nice Labor Day treat!

I am laying in bed with my computer and The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and alternating between it and blogs. What a wonderful Labor Day!

Anyway, I've been trying to catch up on reading my friend Joanne's blog when I came across this post. And, I have to say, you're not going to believe this, Joanne!

But, I too use a NASB Study Bible (in burgundy bonded-leather).
And, I too have my first and middle name on it.
And, I too bought it when I was 18.
I too knew that I would be marrying my dear hubby.
I too thought it would be too early to put his name on my Bible, but thought it was a waste to put my maiden name on it when it'd soon be out of date.

Isn't that weird?! :)

It made my day! Hope you have a good holiday!

I don't know about you....

but I pride myself in celebrating safely and with class!!

This past year when the Jayhawks went to the Final Four, Bill Self himself (hehe, yes, I meant to do that) sent this e-mail out to all the students:

Dear Jayhawk fans:

Thank you for all your fantastic support again this year. Jayhawk fans are truly the greatest and there is no place better to play basketball than Allen Fieldhouse -- although San Antonio on Saturday will be close!

We wish you all could be with us Saturday, but we know you will be there in spirit. No matter where you are, please look out for each other, know your own limits and be safe.

Show the world that Jayhawks are class acts on and off the court! Celebrate safely.

Then later, after they made it to the championship game, we all received this e-mail:

Dear Jayhawk fans--
We heard you in San Antonio! The team played a really great game and
back in Lawrence and Allen Fieldhouse, Jayhawk fans were equally
incredible. It was terrific that so many people cheered us on and
afterward celebrated safely.

Tonight, we know you will be with us in spirit when we take on Memphis.
And again, please look out for each other when you go out tonight, know
your own limits and be safe.

Let's show the nation again why Jayhawk fans are the greatest.
CELEBRATE SAFELY....AND WITH CLASS!

These e-mails struck me as pretty hilarious. I wasn't one to party and drink and drink and party while in college (But now that I'm out...just kidding!). But I imagine that if I were the type, a mass e-mail from Bill Self (or more likely, his secretary) telling me to to act responsibly would not have changed my actions one bit.

But, they're still fun to read.

Tax Class

Here's yet another post I've been meaning to make for an eternity, but am just now getting around to doing! :)

In my tax textbook, (I told you it was old!!) Prentice Hall's Federal Taxation 2008 for Individuals, it has a paragraph on the bottom of page 13-7 that reads:

Step 3: If a net Sec. 1231 gain is the result of Step 2, determine if the taxpayer has any nonrecaptured net Sec. 1231 losses. Nonrecaptured net Sec. 1231 losses are the excess of aggregate net Sec. 1231 losses for the preceding five years over losses previously recaptured as ordinary income due to the recapture provision of Sec. 1231. Net Sec. 1231 gains to the extent of any nonrecaptured net Sec. 1231 losses are treated as ordinary income. Sec. 1231 gain that is unrecaptured Sec. 1250 gain is first treated as ordinary income to the extent of nonrecaptured net Sec. 1231 losses. Any net Sec. 1231 gain in excess of nonrecaptured net Sec. 1231 loss is treated as a LTCG.

And now you know why I had a semester-long headache!

Hope you're week is going well!

It's amazing what people can find....

when Google leads them to me!

I have a site meter on this here blog, and one of my favorite Saturday morning pass times is to look through the "referral pages" to see how people got to my blog. One of my other favorite Saturday morning pass times is eating the delicious breakfast my husband made! But, that's neither here nor there.

Since I haven't blogged in MONTHS, the majority of those referrals come from people who have googled in hopes of finding something useful.

For instance, one person googled "Christmas Trees 2007" and saw this! I'm sure that person has added my family to their prayer list.


Others have googled "tile floor" and have been greeted with a tile floor picture I posted for you all as an example of what I was wanting. This is kind of funny to me, because I got that picture through a Google image search, and it's humorous to think that now I've stolen the traffic that someone else used to be getting.

Then there are things I find that really hit home. Like, this post about 1 Corinthians 15. It's such an encouragement to my heart.

I hope you all are encouraged this Saturday morning with whatever it is you're up to!


I'm off to clean my disorderly house, but before I do: does anyone else find it funny that we can now use the word "google" as a verb and no one thinks anything of it?! :)

My 2 cents

In the last few weeks of school, I was needing to study every waking moment.

I stopped meeting with the women's leadership in our church. We stopped having social time with our friends. Micah even made me stop doing housework of any kind so that I could completely focus on school.

One of the bottle necks is my studying was finding a good place to study. I can't study very long at home because I get distracted with the other things to do there, including sleeping! So, I thought the chain bookstore here in town would be the perfect solution. They have plenty of tables to study at, there is a coffee shop attached, they're open late, and they have wireless internet.

So, I went one Sunday afternoon, and started to settle in for what promised to be several long hours of studying. Only, I couldn't connect to the internet.

Most people would probably say that I don't need the internet to sit and study for hours, but they'd be wrong. Sure, I may not need it for the actual work. But, I most certainly do need internet for my SANITY.

You see, if I can't have some sort of distraction (in the form of a chat client or a blog to read) I wouldn't last more than an hour. But, give me wireless internet, and I could sit and be VERY productive studying for hours on end, because I would get interaction with other people at regular intervals, which I crave.

So, imagine my shock and dismay when I realized that the bookstore charges $3.99 for 2 hours of wireless internet! 2 hours is NOT going to cut it!

I should clarify, that I'm NOT against spending money. They provide a service, and I'm more than willing to pay for the ability to sit in their establishment and get things done. Normally, I would spend anywhere between 3 and 10 dollars on drinks and food in order to feel like I wasn't treating them unjustly.

But, I am not willing to pay for internet usage when I could pay the same amount and enjoy a tasty coffee drink for the same price and get free internet usage to boot!

So, while I would have liked to have the variety in my studying, I decided to stick with the local coffee shop instead.


Oh, and have I mentioned lately that I'm DONE WITH SCHOOL?! It's SO nice to not have to study!

But, I do enjoy a place to sit and work on projects from time to time. In fact, I am sitting at the local coffee shop right now enjoying a blended mocha and wireless internet, and it's wonderful.

Pictures of my IN HOUSE work station coming soon, compliments of my friend Shawna!

You know you're a grown-up when...

A man in our church met us at our car this past Sunday morning when we pulled up at 8:30am. He greeted us with, "we just said the closing prayer!" I think he was joking that we missed church, when really he was referring to the prayer group that meets at the church every Sunday morning from 8:00-8:30am.

It reminded me of something I meant to post about a long while ago!

Micah and I were late for music practice at the last Day Light Saving time change, not because we forgot to change our clocks, but because NO ONE TOLD US TO.

I couldn't even believe it. Normally everyone and their moms, and I do mean OUR moms, remind us.

I guess this is just further proof that we're expected to be a self-sufficient unit.

Bummer! :)

Please show the audience what's behind door number 3

A couple of months ago my car was making some funny noises.

I'm sure you can imagine me on the phone with a couple of car places trying to replicate the sound for the man on the other end of the line.

I'm sure each of them mocked me later.

I eventually got the problem fixed in exchange for a pretty penny or two, but what struck me was the difference in my options of auto-repair places.

Option 1 was Chain Guy. This is the company that you could find in most any American city. Their price reflects the name recognition that they hold, but you know what you can expect from their work, much like how you know the McDonald's across the nation will look exactly like the one down the street from your house. It's predictable.

And, it's convenient. It's close to your home and they provide rides back to your house while your car is being worked on.

Option 2 was Dealer Guy. Normally, your best bet is to steer clear of these places because they tend to be quite a bit pricier than even Chain Guy. But, something I discovered is that, the price difference is all in the labor. The ideal situation would be to buy the part (assuming you know what part you need - which is a big assumption in a story involving me!) from Dealer Guy and take it elsewhere for installation.

Option 3 was Local Guy. Whenever possible, I'm a sucker for the local business over the chain business. And, because Local Guy isn't paying franchise dues, you can bet that his price for labor is cheaper. However, one thing that surprised me in my research is that his price for the part was also cheaper.

So, it's a win-win situation. Option 3 would be picked every time, right?

Only, imagine that you went to Option 1 for an oil change, and they've already got your car torn apart, know exactly what's wrong with it, and could potentially charge you a portion of the labor
in payment for figuring what was wrong with it.

Further imagine that Local Guy is a fair distance from home, and it the problem could be made worse by taking your car on the trek across down. Oh, and also, you would need a ride because Local Guy's shop isn't the best place for a 20-something girl to hang out in.


So, what's a girl supposed to do? Clearly from the facts, we chose to go with Chain Guy, because in this situation, the dice were stacked against us. And, even though I would probably rather go to Local Guy 9 times out of 10, I got REALLY good service from Chain Guy.

In fact, I got such good service from Chain Guy, I'm inclined to go back for each oil change, even if it costs me a few extra dollars.

How do you guys handle this situation? Do you have hubbies that do all that work themselves? Do you have a favorite place to go?

New Furniture

Our church has 2 teams this year for a sand volleyball league! They met for practice this last week, and it was great fun to hang out with everyone while I watched!

This is my mommy in her new outfit for volleyball. Isn't she cute?!


You may be thinking, "what on earth does this have to do with new furniture?!"

And, if you are thinking that, you probably don't know me very well. Cause, those that DO know me well know that when I tell a story I have to start WAY back at the beginning.

I've been promising to post pictures of my furniture so that people could help me figure out how to arrange it in our living room. But, as it turns out, it's taken me so long to get pictures up, that I actually know how I want it.

Which is totally due to the fact that our friend Jonathan volunt to come over and move 2 pieces of furniture after volley ball practice on Wednesday.

This is him (in red) next to my hubby (in orange) at practice.

NOW do you see the connection? Hehe...OK, there's not really a connection at all.

That's all the pictures I'm going to post of this last week of volleyball, but my dear friend Rachel has posted a few more pictures of the actual volleyball action, if you're in to that sort of thing. ("That sort of thing" being pictures that actually relate to the topic at hand.)

Anyway, back to the furniture situation! Jonathan brought his wife and kids to our house after volleyball practice so that he could help my hubby move furniture.

At the time, I thought I only had a book shelf and a T.V. stand to move from downstairs, but
as it turns out, I also had a shelving unit and a hope chest that would work better downstairs, and "needed" to move my living room around at least 3 times before I got something I liked.

I kept brainstorming out loud thinking the other adults in the room could tell me whether a certain configuration would look right. "What do you think it would look like if we moved the couch against this wall, the love seat in it's place, and then the bookshelf on the other wall...and..."

And, Mr. Cheerful (Jonathan) would simply say, "well, let's just see what it looks like!" It was really funny to his wife and I, but Micah was a bit worn out! Which, I'm not all too certain, wasn't Jonathan's motive. :)

But, all is done, and I think I like the arrangement. You'll have to use your imagination on the pictures; I couldn't quite get it all in. And, my video camera doesn't have a flash.

And now, I can cross "posting furniture pictures" off my to-do list. How's that for taking the title of my blog to heart?!

I'm ready to BOYCOTT!!

I'm slowly but surly getting thank you cards for my graduation party sent out. I love sending out thank you cards because that means people get snail mail...and snail mail brings me a lot of joy!

But, as I'm writing these thank you cards, I've been looking through all the cards everyone gave me...


and, I've been thinking: I got 35 cards for my graduation, and not a single one of them is the same. That's pretty cool.

But, I'm also thinking: Hallmark made a KILLING!

And, of course, the accountant in me wanted to know just how big their killing was.

I totaled up the retail price of each of the cards (adding only $0.10 per card without a price, because that's the price I normally pay) and I came up with $66.97.

If you're someone that gave me one of these delightful cards, please please do not think I'm being ungrateful. I have truly enjoyed reading each and every one of the cards.

But, did you know that Micah and I have 36 family members that we try to send birthday cards to each year? (Those family members who read my blog know that TRY is the key word!) I've learned a VERY valuable lesson with these cards! Just look at how much we could save by not sending the expensive greeting cards. It's even more when you consider that the total above doesn't even include tax!

But don't despair, the alternatives are great! You could send 10 cent note cards. You can find these just about anywhere, and there's much more room to write the personal message - and I like those best!

Another option is to just write your greetings on a $5 bill. Better your friend or family have the $5 than Hallmark!!

Another option, for when a gift accompanies the card, is to skip the card altogether and use the $$ you would have spent to buy a better gift!

That's just what's rattling around in my head today.