Watered Garden

Was that RA who did that teaching? I forget. Stupid jerk, he was in Mr. Garden's apartment and took naps and everything! And remember the time we got bitched out for waking him up with our louad conversation in the basement, and then a few mornings later got bitched out for being too quiet and letting him oversleep? Sheesh! Those people! WG

Probably my favorite TV show EVER! We have been renting Season 1 from Netflix, getting 4 episodes per DVR. I liked Katelyn a lot. We missed most of season 1 due to church plant meetings which the pastor scheduled on Tuesday at 7:30 because that way he could watch whatever he watched on other nights. I think the last episode Ziva wrote to Daddy and resigned from Mossad so she could apply to NCIS. Last season I didn't much like Ziva; she seemed almost sociopath, her emotions are so repressed. I like her better this season. Nice to hear from fellow NCIS fans! WG

Thanks for posting! WG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

I thought it was incredibly stupid and made us sound asinine (not to mention brainwashed) to say "Happy Household Holidays" to everyone. Two stories: First one: I'm in FLO and we have to go door to door witnessing in Delaware Ohio a few days before Christmas. It's colder'n'hell out, about four inches of snow on the ground and more coming down. I'm paired with this way-brained, legalistic sort who is grumbling and growling about how much he hates all the decorations everyone has up. "Why?" I asked. "They are devilish; they bring devil spirits into peoples' homes and make them think devilish, selfish thoughts! I hate Christmas, too! It's a pagan holiday!" I told him we were not going to one single door to speak to anyone with him in that kind of an attitude. Second one: Years and years later, we are in NC and at a party at the BC's home for Don W. and Mrs. VPW, who have come down to see one of his daughters who is a WOW in Charlotte that year. Teachings, Don speaks, the theme of course is the truth about Christmas and how important it is to know the truth and always say "Happy Household Holidays." After the formalities, we all get to circulate and greet and eat, etc. So I walk right up to Mrs. Victor Paul Wierwille and what comes right out of my mouth? "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Wierwille!" I was mortified and stammered apologies for my gaffe, but she just laughed that merry laugh and said, "Oh, that's all right, honey, I say it too sometimes!" WG

If I were the least bit artistic, I'd do one of those. Awesome! Thanks! WG

Normal conversation would be: "Hi, how are you?" "Fine, and yourself?" "Great! Sure is nice weather we've having. Say, how are your kids? Do they like school this year?" You know, generalized stuff that shows genuine interest in a person as a real human being, as opposed to class fodder. WG

Checkered pattern in the carpet? Hey, if I get time to vacuum at all, I am sooo thankful! You know things are screwed up when a WC grad tells you to take your kid up into the mountains and take turns hitting him over the head with a 2x4. WG

Hey, Kimberly, HB from WG! WG

"I figured if I got caught using more than my "fair share", then hats off to whoever the person was who caught me. Furthermore, it was shared that toilet paper was not for runny noses. If you had a cold and you used toilet paper to take care of a runny nose, then it was stealing. Yup! Biblical Research at its finest!" Well, I guess you could have wiped your runny nose on the leader's tee shirt. Talk about straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel! That misses the whole point of just about everything. I don't remember anyone chiding me about toilet paper in FLO or our three months in hell at Rome City. That is about the silliest thing I ever heard. The floss chart really bugged me though. Bless Patrol had to check the floss charts at midnight, then track down and awaken the sleepy unflossed (or at least un-chart checked) and tell them to go do whatever it was they hadn't done. Got to the point where you just went and checked off your whole family without asking them have they flossed or not. I always wanted to check off a week at a time in advance, but I supposed that wouldn't have flown with the powers that were. WG

Pasta with Spinach and Basil (adapted from "The New Dieter's Cookbook" from BHG) 1/2 box spaghetti, fusilli, or linguini 2 tablespoons sour cream 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/2 BAG fresh ready to eat baby spinach 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves 3-5 garlic cloves, depending on taste 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons or more freshly grated parm or Romano cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt Cook pasta according to directions Put all the other ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth. Drain pasta. Dump back into the warm pot you cooked the pasta in. Add the sauce and mix well. Serve hot and delicious. I use at least 5 garlic cloves for this, and perhaps a tad more than 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves.

And we wonder why obesity is epidemic in this country! (spoken from around a mouthful of a QP with cheese)!

Actually, we pick strawberries in about early June and then I clean and freeze them to jam when convenient. This usually means after all the seasonal stuff is done. Also with black raspberries. We got a goodly number of each from our own plants, but picked at U-pick-it farms also. The goal is to have our own exclusively in a couple more years. Actually I tnink about 1/2 of the black razz were ours; it is absolutely the best we ever made. We have a Victorio strainer with two screens, one for regular stuff and one for berries. We cook the berries down, Mr. Garden kindly strains them for me and I make the jam, using Pomona's Universal Pectin, which utilized far less sugar than the regular brands, making for jam that tastes like fruit and not fruit-flavored sugar. 4 cups berry stuff to 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar. You can look up the website, but either use PayPal or order by mail. $5.35 a box which will do about 8-12 quarts, depending on the fruit you're using. Well worth it. WG

F-R-E-E-D-O-M!!!!!!!! WG

Leafy, you're gonna let us know how this turns out, I hope? WG

I'd like to hurt them for you, and we've never met. Think about how God felt about this stuff - I think Mr. Main Man Pervert is gonna The Almighty's boot up his butt one of these days. I just hope we all get to watch! WG

Well, I never knew him personally, but there was very pleasant guy at the early ROA's who walked around singing at the top of his voice. Of course, later, anyone who did not know how to pretend to be whatever "normal" was considered to be, got run off like a stray dog. WG

In order to verify, you need to know where she lived the last few years. The attorney may have used the interactive SSDI, which shows someone by that name dying in Illinois in 1997. That was the only name that popped up, by the way. That's about the only suggestion I would have. WG

"shat?" is that Old English or Anglo-Saxon? Seriously, it's probably Anglo-Saxon. Funny, though!

I shudder to think of Waysider trying to slice a rutabaga for a tossed salad, so perhaps FLO was worthwhile, after all. I got the best gift of all (except for Jesus Christ of course) from FLO - Mr. Garden! Other than that, a lot of it is a blur. I don't remember being very happy; the situation was so abnormal, and in spite of having lived my WOW year with a WC on her interim year, I was still pretty independent. A third year FLO once told me that when she met me the first time, she decided it was her personal mission to "break me." "Break me of WHAT?" I wondered. I had been toilet trained since age 1 1/2 and really didn't feel a need to mark my territory, since I didn't have any to mark. Break my spirit, break my heart, break my individuality. I learned to keep my mouth shut and my opinions, which were many, to myself. I liked spending time in the garden, however, and that was the second best part, and I still to this day love growing, freezing and canning, as does Mr. Garden, who set the damn thing up in the first place, with help from I*a He**n from NK. I'm not sorry I did the program because that's where I met the love of my life, but I do wish it could have been what it was cracked up to be. WG

Yeah. Trust is a scary thing with people you do see face to face. That probably is why there are two entities I know I can trust; one I do know face to face and the Other I don't, yet. WG

Steve! got it! Next, Steve!? WG

When I signed the green card, I told my boss: "I know what the Methodists say about God. I know what the Catholics say about God. I'm taking this class to find out what God has to say about Himself.' I wish it had all been so simple. WG

A lot of times with books like the Rick Warren stuff, the literature itself can be helpful, or at least harmless. It's what people do with it that is dangerous. Maybe this book genuinely seeks to assist those who are hurting. But in the wrong hands, which is where this crap usually ends up, it can be a spear to puncture your heart. The first church plant we were involved with, from which emerged the second church plant that I mentioned above, had small groups and Mr. Garden and I were to be group leaders; in fact, we took over the original pastor's small group when he went to jail, and we had this very organized criteria that the associate pastor, who became the pastor of the second church plant, and selected. It was based on TPDL. It was very structured and boring as hell. Therefore, Mr. Garden simply abandoned it and starting teaching Bible. Everybody loved it. Then, of course, came the second church plant, small groups were disbanded, and when the young pastor decided to have other small groups we weren't asked to be leaders, which was lovely, because we were already disenchanted and subsequently left. I know this is somewhat confusing; we were in a church plant that failed due to the pastor getting busted. The pastor of the subsequent church plant was the associate pastor of the first church plant. WG