Al Anderson [re~born]

I want to make soap and candles.

Karen and I have opened a new online store called Simple Blessing . It is nice and all but we really need some new photos and stuff to make people feel good.

One comment that we have gotten is that there is just not enough stuff in there. Well stuff costs money so I was thinking about making stuff to add to the store that people will like. I was thinking about soap.

As far as I can tell the basic formula is water, lye, and lard in that order and everything else is the scent, suds, skin care goodness.

What makes a great soap? Suds? fabulous scents? or that cocoa butter and other oils that the dermatologists are so crazy about.

I really want to make a cool soap that can get it done in the shower.

The other thing is candles, people seem to like to decorate with candles and will put them anywhere. the formula for candles is a little easier wick, wax, and fire in that order and like the soap the rest is color and scent.

I like the candles that I have gotten from the Bullfrog Light Company but I think I could probably make a passible candle and have a corner on the market for my candles.

What kind of soap and candles do you like? [1]

Katrina

The hurricane landed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Monday. The storm was so huge that it seems to have hit the entire coast at once.

I do not know what is intact at this time to the south of Jackson.

Karen and I are fine. The storm knocked down some trees near us but it did not knock any down on us. Our power is back up and our water is potable so we are twice blessed.

The Gulf coast will not be the same for quite a while.

For online video of whats going on go to WJTV:”http://www.wjtv.com” they have an online stream and have gone wall to wall with recovery news.

I hope everyone we know and love is ok and we hope to hear from everyone soon.

Check in here or send email. [1]

Three Days and Counting

Less than three days if you go to the hours.

Wedding music has been my challenge the last week. Two weeks ago we decided that there was a song that we sang at our Cursillo weekend. The song was important to us and with the number of songs available on iTunes, how hard could it be?

Turns out that there are not very many recordings of “The Servant Song”. Nothing on iTunes, Amazon turned up few hits. So, I ended up on Gracenote. If you do not know what they do then you might not have been watching closely when you insert a CD in your computer. Gracenote runs CDDB and fills in the track names for the CD when you play it on your computer.

Gracenote gave me a list of every CD that had a track called “The Servant Song” on it. I started tracking down these albums and got to a Maranatha music accompaniment disc, a Promise Keepers disc from 1994. I got the PK disc on the way but I was not full of hope for this recording.

In a Google vs. the world effort I entered the lyrics, the title in quotes, and other searches. I found a camp called the Pilgrim Lodge in Maine. I nquired with them for their collection of camp songs. I was worried about the quality but they had an email address and they sent me a copy of the song to use in the wedding so that I can order the album and not swaet getting it overnight. It sounds beautiful, I still have to put in my order for it but it is amazing and I am looking forward to getting the disc and hearing the rest of it.

The wedding is saved! [3]

The Capture of 'Buffy'

Buffy, is a dog. She is a miniature poodle and some days seems to barely get around.

This is an act. In reality Buffy is a daring mastermind in a poodle’s body. The canine decrepitude is an act to lure unspecting people to cater to her needs. If the truth is known and the cunning of this dog is revealed Carlos the Jackal will be changing his nickname to Carlos “the Poodle”.

To really understand the severity of the situation you need to know this, Buffy belongs to my future in-laws (wedding in 18 days). Karen kept Buffy in our yard once before and she escaped and was gone for three days to be found on a busy two lane road, Old Canton by the Madison Airport for people familiar with the area.

This is the story of Buffy’s capture:

Have you ever chased a lost pet?

If life is about change, I have life in abundance.

I have been very busy and not posting much to the website. But it takes a lot of time to be blessed the way that I have so far this year.

First, I am in love!
Second, I am engaged!
Third, she is, too!

So I have been going around with a stupid grin on my face… stupid in love.

Here is the thing about being this much in love. You take really lousy pictures. I mean Karen looks great but I look like I have a disorder. I am so happy that I cannot smile like a normal person.

Love isn't pretty, especially in pictures. [12]

Ash Wednesday Questions

I am a United Methodist. My church held a Ash Wednesday service last night and I was curious about the symbolism of it all so I did a quick Google for it and found out some interesting information about it.

Just as a background, United Methodists believe that the essentials of faith we are unified, in everything else liberty. So, it is not a requirement that we have an Ash Wednesday ceremony but we are free to observe it.

First, what’s it all about.

Resurection and the Holy Spirit. Forty days after the resurection the spirit was imparted to the apostles. Hence Lent is forty days. It is arainged on the christian calendar so that it is forty days prior to Easter but historicly it occured after Easter.

But why ashes?

Repentance and mourning. In the Old Testament ashes are placed on the head to humble someone and physically show a broken spirit. Also, the symbol on the forehead is a mark of ownership. So, it means “I belong to Jesus”.

It helped me to understand why I had ashes on my head.

Did you participate in Ash Wednesday? [2]

Moot or Mute?

I was talking to K. and she used the expression “thats a mute point.” I corrected this by explaining that it was actually a “moot” point. She believed me but challenged me to find out how many people actually think that the expression is “mute point” because mute means unable to speak and moot can also mean worthy of discussion in a meeting, since a moot was an old word that means “meeting”.

So, without any of this discussion, what did you think that it is? “Moot” or “Mute”.

Is the point Moot? or Mute? [5]

Dumb Crooks Win One...

We all know the story of the dumb crook that got caught, what about the one that pulls off the dumb crime of the month.

Michelle Hunter of the Times Picayune reports on a dumb crook that found the right place to stage a daring scheme while dressed in a pillowcase with holes for his eyes.

_{Dateline: Metairie, Louisiana; January 22, 2005.}

Man robs doughnut business with laser.

Worker feared it was attached to firearm

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office was looking Friday for a man who held up a Metairie doughnut shop wearing a pillowcase with eyeholes cut out and armed with a laser pointer, authorities said.

The robber walked into Tastee Donuts at 4301 Veterans Memorial Blvd. on Tuesday about 1:30 a.m., a Sheriff’s Office report said.

Behind the counter was a 61-year-old Metairie woman. The robber waved a red laser pointer at her and demanded money from the safe, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply, the woman said Friday.

“I was very frightened,” she said. “I have heart trouble, and it really upset me.”

A second employee told a deputy that the man had flashed the laser at him also, the report said. The woman unlocked the safe and handed the money to the robber, who then ran south on Houma Boulevard, the report said.

Other than possibly damaging the retina of the eye, laser pointers can’t cause any injury, said Kristen Dean, spokeswoman for East Jefferson General Hospital. But criminals use the pointers to trick people into believing the pointers are attached to something deadly such as a gun, said Ernest Davis, sales manger at Lasermate Group Inc., a California manufacturer of laser pointers.

“There is a built-in fear. When someone sees that dot come on them, they think they have a laser sight on them,” Davis said.

That’s what the Tastee’s employee believed. The robber, she said, was holding the pointer as if it were taped to something. Afraid that it could have been a gun, the woman said, she did as she was told.

The robber was wearing a black and gold Saints jacket and dark pants, the report said. He was described as 19 to 25 years old, 140 to 160 pounds and 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall.

Anyone with information about the robbery should call the Sheriff’s Office investigations bureau at 364-5300 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111. Callers do not have to give their names to be eligible for a reward of as much as $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect.

Thats right. He robbed a Doughnut Shop with a laser pointer. Where were the Metaire Police? doesn’t he know the odds of a policeman in a doughnut shop are just too great. Anyway, whats next, rob the pawn shop? they have real guns there.

Comment

The Import was Successful

The articles from Movable type were imported into Text Pattern using a script from a user called Ramanan. He actually based it on a script for moving B2 to TXP.

It moved the categories too so that will take some time to work out but the articles, categories, and comments were all moved. Now I have a lot of articles without comments and that shortens the page so that the textile help is not necessary sot that too will need to be worked out.

I am glad that they were salvaged.

Comments

Hindu fundamentalists praise the work of Christian missionaries

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Hindu fundamentalists have praised the work being by Christian missionary organisations in providing succor to victims of December 26’s tsunami in India. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), armed branch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the nationalist Hindu party hostile to religious minorities, defined efforts on the part of Christian organizations in disaster areas as “commendable”.

It is amazing to be recognized in this way and by people that have every reason to denigrate you. The missionaries did not do this for the praise of the local leaders.

Read Matthew 25:34-40 and James 2:14-20 to find out why.

Also, think about giving to UMCOR through the link on the left to support the relief effort.

How would you be described by your biggest critic? [1]