Ever wonder where common expressions and idioms originate?

Which author created the expression ‘I’ll eat my hat’? Dickens. Charles Dickens created the expression in ‘The Pickwick Papers’ (1836). The quotation is as follows:’Well, if I knew as little of life as that, I’d eat my hat and swallow the buckle.’


Riding the gravy train: ‘Gravy’ has been slang for easy money since the early 1900s. In the 1920s railroad workers began using the phrase to describe a run with good pay and little work. Today the phrase also refers to living extravagantly while someone else foots the bill.
 

pay through the nose – reluctantly have to pay too much – from the 9th century house tax imposed on the Irish by the Danes, called the Nose Tax because anyone who avoided paying their ounce of gold had his nose slit.

It just occurred to me that it is actually Thursday already. I’m not kidding. Ah well.
“Monday, Tuesday, Thursday,Wednesday…” Any Godfather fans??!!
Have a great THURSDAY!

~Stacey

I could eat her up…

~Stacey

I just couldn’t wait till Wednesday.

Who knew we had an Urban Dictionary?!
These ought to get your weekend started right.

If this gets Franklin Graham dis invited to the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Service, we are undoubtedly in need of a spiritual awakening.

The exciting thing is that the gray is shrinking and the black and white is becoming more and more obvious. Choices will be made. The line in the sand is being drawn and people will have to pick a side.
The salt is about to get a lot saltier and light is going to get brighter and brighter.


Am I willing to suffer for the sake of righteousness?
Am I willing to loose my job because I speak my faith?
Do I boldly say, “Merry Christmas!” to strangers even though it’s becoming increasingly unpopular to do so?
Should we be surprised to getting resistance to the gospel? It offends everything in humans on so many levels.
It’s a free gift.—so there’s gotta be a catch, right?
It’s the only way in.—you mean you can’t say, “to each his own”?
It’s not about how righteous you are.—you can do some good things and not get in?
It’s full forgiveness.—but I don’t deserve that.
It’s simple. Just yield.—if I don’t look out for me, who will?!

I know how the story ends. He wins. His will won’t be stopped. His plans will prevail.
That’s the team I’m on.

I serve a God who doesn’t forget His promises. He remembers His people and He is mighty to save. His grace covers me….and that’s something to be excited about.

Happy Wednesday! My first two words are in honor of bakersdozen2
We’ve never met but I can tell I would like her instantly. It’s apparent that she is willing to draw a line in the sand. To be marked for what she believes in. To take a stand. To be counted on the side in which she believes.  An ardent patriot.

: characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude, and endurance <an intrepid explorer>

— in·tre·pid·i·ty ˌin-trə-ˈpi-də-tē noun

— in·trep·id·ly in-ˈtre-pəd-lē adverb

— in·trep·id·ness noun

This is my own little made up word *slash* holiday *slash *new weekly tradition that my kids are thrilled with.

Main Entry: Tick-le Tues-day

Pronunciation: Tickle Tuesday

Function:  laughter 

Etymology: English 2010 

: to spend every Tuesday with the purpose of catching one’s children by surprise as much as possible, tickling them relentlessly. <laughter is medicine which is why I’ve declared Tickle Tuesdays>

Have a wonderful rest of the week.

~Stacey

I’ve decided to have a “regular”.  Hence, Wordy Wednesday.
Who couldn’t use a little vocabulary expansion?

Let’s get started. I’ve got three for you today.

1. brackish
This is a word that is just fun to say. I always thought it meant blackish….maybe because it rhymes….

2. dank
This is a word that when I use it, I always feel like I made it up. Like, “Is that really even a word?” It is.

3. juxtaposed

Apparently, everyone knew this word before I did. My Dad knew it, my brother- in- law knew it, my husband knew it but my Mother (queen of words) did NOT know it. I heard it for the first time about a year ago and in the following month I heard it in a random conversation. Crazy. But what a fun word to say!

If you find a way to work any of these words into conversation this week, type the sentence in a comment box. Would love to hear!

“A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words… the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.”
Mark Twain

What a beautiful morning it is. Spring is in full bloom, the sun is out and I just got off the treadmill. I hear birds chirping, the rumble of the lawn mower across the street, and surprisingly, a sound I don’t hear is our dog barking.

It’s my little world and it’s so easy to get lost in it. This is what it’s looked like the past couple days:

Yesterday, one of the pretty canopies over the girls’ beds got pulled down…again. So we had to make what I believe is the sixth hole in the ceiling. Hmm.

I spent two hours on the phone yesterday morning, making reservations for our first real family vacation. A trip to a little place called Disney World. Where to eat, when to go to what park, where to stay, what shows to catch. It’s a real hand wringer.  And heaven forbid you don’t wake up a 6:58 to be one of the VERY first people to call and reserve lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. Missing that would be a travesty.

I spent the better part of the last two days suffocating in laundry and getting constant mini workouts running up and down stairs putting stuff away, changing wet sheets, and getting the baby up from naps.

I shoved dinner down the kids throats at 5:15 yesterday in order to get to baseball on time. Get Emma up from a nap, buckle her in those ridiculously heavy carrier car seats, herd the other three in the car, get out of the neighborhood by 5 minutes and realize I forgot a bottle for the baby. So, I turned around, got it, and headed back. Pulled in the parking lot, I got her OUT of her seat and start to feed her (because she’s starving at this point) and traipse through the pollen filled grass, kids in tow to find Jake’s team. Wandered around the fields for 10 minutes, never finding them. Well, at least I didn’t know I found them. Apparently, we walked right past them two or three times. Again, a little frustrating!   Deciding I must have had the wrong time or day, we loaded BACK in the the car to head home.

I love almost everything about my  life and I believe it’s important. I know it’s what has been put in my hands to do. I also know that I don’t have the grace to walk out anything that is more than what I’m currently experiencing. Nor am I supposed to. However, if I get so caught up in my, me, and I, it’s really easy to loose perspective.
Little things start to feel like big things.
Looking outside myself, at what other people are living, not only makes me grateful, but it also presents an opportunity to see God’s grace and mercy at work.
His promise to be faithful is true.
I’ve seen it. And I’ve experienced it.

“God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. The temptation is to face difficulties from a common sense standpoint. The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God.” ~Oswald Chambers

Reese cracks me up.  It was so bright she couldn’t hold her eyes open but she was sure gonna’ try. Then there’s Jake, kissing Avery off the cuff. Make my heart melt.

~Stacey