What Are You Saying?

Have you noticed how often when your are talking to someone they aren't listening? How do you react?

• Do you just drop what you are saying?
• Do you call it to their attention?
• Do you just walk off?

Who has the problem here? Are you talking too much or are they listening too little?

(Richard E. Henthorn, 9 January 2014)

31 March 2014

Too Much Stuff

Please set me free from the false security that comes from having more of anything than I really need.
(Beth Moore, Praying God's Word Day By Day, 29 November)
30 March 2014

Benefits

Bags Made By Melva - Mr. Dickie

... we can get unlimited benefits from changing our way of thinking. No realistic, reasonable person would consider this an easy task, there is nothing more difficult in life.
(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 24 September)
29 March 2014)

Make A Difference

Melva's Quilt - Mr. Dickie

There are many ways you can help those whose lives have been turned upside down by natural and man-made calamities. Make a difference today.
(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 41, 27 October)
28 March 2014

Goal

I can walk toward my goal, remembering each step I take will bring me closer to achievement and personal reward.
(Amy E. Dean, Night Light, 26 January)
27 March 2014

Becoming Wise

Melva's Quilt - Mr. Dickie

Becoming wise is an ongoing, lifelong pursuit. Don't be content just to know about wisdom, make it part of your life.
(The One Year Book Of Bible Readings, 27 November)
26 March 2014

Watch Your Back

Some people are always looking back, focused on their hurts and pains. Other people are looking down, living in self-pity, and complaining that life is not fair. The key to rising higher is to keep looking to where you want to go.
(Joel Osteen, Become A Better You, p. 11)
25 March 2014

Strong Marriages

Rain Barrel Presentation - Mr. Dickie

Spouses in strong marriages do not have a tendency to try to be someone they are not. There is no pretense. Each spouse knows the faults and failings of the other, and offers the other acceptance and forgiveness. Love and the marriage can grow when each spouse has made friends with the reality of who the other truly is.
(Cloud & Townsend, God Will Make A Way, p. 129)
24 March 2014

Life Choices

Backyard Flowers - Mr. Dickie

If your life choices are not providing you with personal feelings of peace and fulfillment, then you must reconsider why you are making the choices to live out your life in ways that are simply permitting you to exist rather than to feel a sense of mission and purpose.
(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 31)
23 March 2014

Define Success

How do you define success: exhaustive acquisition? Or time for family, and friends and enough food, shelter and clothing?
(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, vol. 41, 15 December)
22 March 2014

Joys Of Home Ownership

There's more to nourishing a family than the food they need to stay alive and healthy. Families also need spiritual and and emotional sustenance. "Close families building history."
(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 22 October)

Early in the week we experienced a serious plumbing issue in our old house.  It appears that the pipe from the laundry room floor drain to the front of the house is broken. Plumbers are not able to clear the problem with a snake.  The snake hangs and it is very difficult to extract afterwards.  The second time it happened it took more than one hour and two men to retrieve the snake.  The plan is to open the concrete floor, gain access to the pipe, run a TV camera into the pipe to access the problem. Then replace all or part of the pipe.  The big issue is to find a plumbing company with the skill to accomplish the job.  To say the least, we are in deep trouble with no guarantees that throwing thousands of dollars at the problem will have good results.

This housing maintenance
crisis will have serious impacts on the three of us living in this house and will no doubt cause us to do some serious long-term planning for our future.  There is no doubt that it will impact my interest and ability to post to my two Google blogs
Mr. Dickie
21 March 2014

Treasures

When you cut down the number of treasures you try to hang on to, you may find that each treasure you keep grows brighter and more beautiful every day.
(Cindy Glovinsky, Making Peace With The Things In Your Life, p. 80)

Physical, financial, and emotional challenges are real. They create boundaries in our lives. However, no one said we cannot move beyond boundaries. Your life is a reflection of what you believe.
(Iyanla Vanzant, Faith In The Valley, p. 99)
18 March 2014

Mistakes

Mistakes

1. The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others.
2. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying.
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

(Cicero, Roman statesman, orator and philosopher in Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 41, by The Christophers, 12 March)

17 March 2014

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Unhealthy Needs

Unhealthy Needs

The need to:

• be always right
• be first in everything
• be constantly in control
• be perfect
• be loved by everyone
• to possess
• be free of conflict and frustration
• to change others
• to manipulate

(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 44, 10 March)

16 March 2014

Faith & Confidence

If I am morose and discontented, I will deliberately cultivate happy thoughts.
If I am prone to criticize, I will seek out what is good and pleasing and fix my mind on that.
I will replace my fruitless doubts and fears with faith and confidence.
If I am bored, I will learn something new -- even a new way to make the same old chores more enjoyable.
(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 25 January)
15 March 2014

Narcissism Defined

Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin.
(Promises Of Joy, Proverbs 18:24 (NRSV), p. 197)

Too many people learn to function in their dysfunction. ... You can never change what you tolerate.
(Joel Osteen, Become A Better You, p. 43-4)

... narcissism, the habit of focusing attention on oneself rather than the world of objects and of others, is considered a disorder.
(Thomas Moore, Care Of The Soul, p. 55)

How deep are your thoughts?
(The One Year Book Of Bible Readings, 4 November)
14 March 2014

Anger

It is not men's acts which disturb us -- but our reaction to them. Take these away, and anger goes. No wrong act of another can bring shame on you.
(Marcus Aurelius, in One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 15 November)

Perhaps the most profound miracle of all is living through something we thought would kill us.
(Beth Moore, Praying God's Word Day By Day, 16 November)

It isn't always easy to speak correction to those we know are clearly in the wrong. But the Lord uses strong leaders to correct His people, courageous leaders who can speak the truth in love.
(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 17 September)
13 March 2014

Organization & Planning

Stop imposing rigid demands for organization and planning on the lives of others.

(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 223)

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.

(Daily Guideposts - 2012, Proverbs 29:11 (NIV), 8 September)

We don't achieve victory once, then never have to bother with it again.

(Beth Moore, Praying God's Word Day By Day, 20 September)

12 March 2014

Winner

A one-hundred-percent-of-the-time winner is one who elects to work at not becoming depressed, traumatized, angry, guilty, unnecessarily fearful, self-rejecting or anxious as a reaction to problems and life experiences.
(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 360)
11 March 2014

Life's Journey

Life's journey takes us to unexpected places.
We need to be always alert and aware to discover the joys along the way.
(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 41, 26 January)
10 March 2014

Friends

Friends are people you made part of your life 

just because you felt like it.

(Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, p. 293)

9 March 2014

The Bookshop

The Bookshop has a thousand books,

All colors, hues, and tinges.

And every cover is a door

That turns on magic hinges.

(Nancy Byrd Turner in Night Light, by Amy E. Dean, 1 February)

8 March 2014)

Understanding

Understanding begins when we discover how we became the people we are -- how we formulated the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that govern how we act.
(The Twelve Steps For Christians, p. 69)
7 March 2014

Whiners & Complainers

Whiners and complainers are looking for allies. Don't allow yourself to be poisoned by their toxic attitude. Remind yourself that joining them in their misery will corrupt your state of mind.
(Sandra A. Crowe, Since Strangling Isn't An Option, p. 76)
6 March 2014

Chasing The Wind

I say it is better to be content with what little you have. Otherwise, you will always be struggling for more, and that is like chasing the wind.
(Whispers Of Blessing, Day 52)
5 March 2014

What's Been Done

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.
(Marie Curie in Night Lights by Amy E. Dean, 5 November)
4 March 2014

Think Big

Look for ways to step out of your normal routine and connect with others. Compliment a stranger. Show an interest in your neighbor's garden or pets.

Learn names. Not just of people, but of the birds, flowers and other living things. It's a much richer experience to say, "There's a nuthatch," than "There's a cute little bird."

Reconnect with old friends and acquaintances.
(Janet Ruth Falon in Three Minutes A Day by The Christophers, 26 February)
3 March 2014

I Have Noticed

Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.
(Ecclesiastes 5:18 (NLT)) in Daily Guideposts - 2013, 26 February)
2 March 2014

What You Think

What you think upon grows. Whatever you allow to occupy your mind you magnify in your own life. Whether the subject of your thought be good or bad, the law works and the condition grows. Any subject that you keep out of your mind tends to diminish in your life, because what you do not use atrophies.
(Emmet Fox, Around the Year with Emmet Fox found in Since Strangling Isn't An Option by Sandra A. Crowe, p. 163)

******

On the 26th and 27th of February I worked on a project to create playlist folders for various artists on Spotify.  Many of my favorite Bluegrass artists have 14 or 15 albums on this music service. 

Consolidating the albums into playlist folders on the left of the display will make it easier to quickly find something I want to play.  I learned that if I click on the playlist folder all of the albums are aggregated into one big temporary playlist for immediate play.

While working on this project I discovered that an application upgrade to Spotify eliminated the feature that allowed us to post a song to the wall of our Facebook friends.  I can still easily post a song to my own wall where all of my friends can see it.

Mr. Dickie

1 March 2014