Winner from Tuesday: Individuality.

So I have a confession to make. I really didn't tally them up. But it looks like a lot of people voted for that one and it's MY personal favorite, so.... it wins. :) Thanks for all the support in last week's Top Ten.

New order of business: Stealing Natalie's idea.

Well, since I served as the impetus to Natalie's "Quote of the Week," I shall have one, too. :)

"If you don't want to think about the white bear, then think about last summer's canoe trip.... unless you saw white bears there."

1. Tracy Zimmerman
2. my brother-in-law, Tom
3. Luke Knapp
4. Ted Witzig, Jr.
5. my Performance Art teacher

The winner will walk away with $100 cash.... vote soon.

Love you all! T

Today's top Ten is a little bit discouraging. I hope none of you run away crying. In fact, I hope you all just learn to laugh at this pessimistic outlook on life via "demotivation posters." Pick your favorite!





















I generally like to cheer people up. I will be optimistic and say that today, I'm cheering up the pessimists.

I'll close with results from last week's top ten: Everyone likes #9!
"I have many moments like that. I just usually have them on my own and NEVER tall anyone about them. Ok, so I don't have that many, but I do have them every once in a while. Ok, I never have them. Just trying to make them feel better."

Love you all! T

This Tuesday's Top Ten will require a little bit of reminiscing. But it will be fun. Find below the top ten (which probably means the top ten most random) comments made on my blog since I started it. To keep things confidential, I'm inlcuding neither the name of the person who left the quote, neither any names included in the quote itself (although, I suppose that if you wanted to, you could go back and find out for yourself).

1. Well _____, when you get married and realize that your wife hates bacon, then you should go into social work.

2.I am totally going to stalk that hot ______. In fact, I watch her from my balcony already.

3.tzotxwg
bwxigddw
rdzttlma
rcztcypy
xtosb
bpqyu
mngaas
zhnvlw
skajqtdu

Did you know if you type the word verification into your comment and then hit "Login and Publish" without actually typing it into the box it will keep your comment and give you a new word! Then you can make cool lists like mine! I'm SO cool. :)

jgigiouf

(said by someone with no life...)

4.Thank you for exploiting my life.

5.Umm... I'd be sad if my friends called me a turtle...

6.Mint oreos? That is like chicken flavored gum drops. It just ruins the flavor.

7.I wonder how many 1983 nickels a mall pond cleaner outer finds a year? Hmmmm.

8.As a side note, steak is definitely a gift from God.

9.I have many moments like that. I just usually have them on my own and NEVER tall anyone about them. Ok, so I don't have that many, but I do have them every once in a while. Ok, I never have them. Just trying to make them feel better.

10.Crocodiles ARE cool....
But I don't find them very comfortable!

Have fun! And NO, you may not voite for you OWN comment! I love you all, T

Last winter, at the close of Tracy, Part 3, I promised a continuation of this process with Tammy (and then, of course, Tricia.) So if everyone could just try to contain your forthcoming excitement, sit back in your seats, and read on, you will find some enlightening facts about my room mate.

Tammy Sue, Part 1



Some reasons why I love Tammy:

1. Her name gives me many options to be creative: Tamara, Tamaroo, Tam Tamaroo, Tamaria, Tamantha, Tamika, and the list goes on.

2. She can down Starbursts like none other.

3. She can COOK, and is an expert entertainer.

4. Tammy's room is right across from mine, and she has never once complained that I am NEVER asleep when she goes to bed, and NEVER awake when she gets up in the morning. :) This trait also shows her discipline skills.

5. I can already see traces of a great teacher shining forth in her; she can write very captivating, creative children's books, she is great with kids whenever they are around, and she does a good job of putting up with the 3 that she lives with. :)

And that is all for now. Stay tuned for Tammy, Part 2, coming sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Before I close, I'd like to announce the winners of last Tuesday's Top Ten. Coming in first was Tinker Toys, and then we have temperatures that are high and tires swings come in second.

Love you all. T

I am sitting here in the kitchen with ALL of my room mates while I am writing this. Another great save from Kristi tonight... I got a phone call around 10 p.m. wondering where the Top Ten was. To be honest, I had forgotten it was Tuesday and thought it was Monday. How dreadful.

Well, my initial topic was going to be Top Ten Food Creations by myself, but as I am sitting here, all my "T's" shouted at me: Do your top ten favorite T's! So that's what I'm going to do.

But not without writing about my spontaneous and amazing food creation that I had tonight. We were all eating snacks, so I decided to combine a few of them. I took a graham cracker, smeared peanutbutter on it, placed 3 mini marshmallows on it, and zapped it in the microwave for 8 seconds. The marshmallows start to blow up but not TOO much, just enough to soften them and warm the peanubutter. What results is an amazing sensation in your mouth! It is SO yummy. You must all try it.

So here is my Top Ten Favorite T's (in NO particular order, of course:)



1. Tommy Hilfiger
2. Takhomasak from Steak 'n Shake
3. Toast with cinnamon, or peanutbutter and marshmallows, or peanutbutter, bananas & honey
4. Temperatures that are high, especially outside
5. Tea party lunches
6. Telephone calls from friends & family
7. Tire swings (are sooo fun, especially when you are so dizzy that you can't walk)
8. Tinker Toys (do any of you remember those?)
9. Top Ten Tuesdays
10. T-House

Now that I'm done playing Scategories, why don't I just say that of course I also enjoy:
Tammy, Tricia, Tracy, Tonya, Tasha, and Tate. I have SO many T's in my life...

Alright, I'll be anxiously awaiting your votes...

Love, T

All, the results were pretty spread out. However, we did have a definite winner at 3 votes- the Chicago City Lights. The Lime picture, the Sailing Boys, and the "Fishy" picture all came in second, with Lola scraping by in third. Thanks for the votes, and for putting up with my picture galleries so very often!

Today I am going to focus on a piece of Scripture that I read a couple of weeks ago. It is Titus 2:11-14.

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

After reading this, I kind of sat back and was astounded by how wonderfully it wrapped up the picture of salvation. I suppose I had not read this passage in awhile (Titus is such a small book in the New Testament and can be easily overlooked) and it really stuck out to me.

It is so simplistic, yet so meaningful. In verse 11, we answer the question, "Why do we have salvation?" Because of the grace of God. And thereafter, we see this gloriously long run-on sentence that give us a running explanation of salvation itself.

We know that we should say NO to ungodliness and worldly passions. But it is one thing to know it and another to do it. Sometimes, the basic principles of being a Christian become so repeated in our memory that we almost tune out these redundant instructions. Whenever we hear things like this, we should a.) do a mental check to see how we are in this area of our life, and then accordingly b.) either define an area that needs to be change via conviction, or pray for the grace to continue to lead a godly life and praise God.

Our goal is to live "self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age..." To repeat, "in this present" age, that is quite a tall order. Society points toward everything but self-control. In my opinion, anything that allows us to be selfish and feed the carnal flesh is practicing a lack of self-control. We are to lead "upright" lives. Picture someone sitting upright in church... I picture someone alert, ready, cautious, and composed.

The last part of these verses focuses on waiting for the "blessed hope"- the return of Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from all the wickedness of the world. If that is what He saved us from, and eternally, if we would take His gift of salvation, Hell, then of course we should desire the opposite of that, which is what is "good." :D

I know I just broke down an extremely easy-to-understand chunk of verses, but in my experience, it is when I "break down" Scripture that I get the most out of them, no matter how simple they may be. So there it is!

I love you all, and hope you all have a wonderful weekend. T

For today's Top Ten post, I thought it would be fun to post different pictures and have you all vote on your favorite. So here they are, along with titles. A lot of you may have seen these images already due to the fact that I have already shared a lot of these; hopefully, I'm not being too redundant. Just pretend that I'm not. :)


1. Bee Happy


2. Sophia


3. What?


4. When a Woman Loves a Fishy


5. Three Pink Buddies


6. The Famous "Lime" Picture


7. Chicago Lights


8. Sailing Boys


9. Lola (How could I not include one of these?)


10. Domniq