Me and My SoldierMan: Food, Friends, Fourth

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Quotes for Life

"Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should....My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether be life or by death."~ The Apostle Paul: Eph 6:18-20; Phil 1:20

"Lord, I intend it to thy glory, and let no profane misinterpreter abuse it to thy diminution."
~John Donne

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."
~ John Adams

"You have enemies? Good. It means you've stood up for something."
~ Winston Churchill

"I would rather have a plain down-right wisdom than a foolish and affected eloquence."
~ Ben Jonson

"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it."

~ George Washington

"Country music is about new love and it’s about old love. It’s about gettin’ drunk and gettin’ sober. It’s about leavin’ and it’s about comin’ home. It’s real music sung by real people for real people, the people that make up the backbone of this country. You can call us rednecks if you want. We’re not offended, ’cause we know what we’re all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church, and we get up and go to war when necessary."

~ Jeff Foxworthy

"The most dangerous predator of liberals is the real world. They hide from it in college campuses."
~ www.imao.us

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ President Theodore Roosevelt

"Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be interesting, absorbing, exhilarating, racking, relieving. But amusing? Never!"
~ Edna Ferber

"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in an argument."
~ Robert Frost

"I'm a Christian first and a mean-spirited, bigoted conservative second, and don't you ever forget it. You know who else was kind of "divisive" in terms of challenging the status quo and the powers-that-be of his day? Jesus Christ."
~Ann Coulter

"Feminism has nothing at all to do with being 'feminine.' Feminine means accentuating the womanly attributes that make women deliciously different from men. The feminine woman enjoys her right to be a woman. She has a positive outlook on life. She knows she is a person with her own identity and that she can seek fulfillment in the career of her choice, including that of traditional wife and mother."
~ Phyllis Schlafly

"Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions."
~ G. K. Chesterson

"It isn't going to bed with a man that proves you're in love with him. It's getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful, everyday world with him that counts."
~ Yours, Mine and Ours

"I owe nothing to women's lib."

~ Margaret Thatcher

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

~ Henry VI

"We're all born pessimists. It takes effort to be optimistic."

~ Rush Limbaugh

"True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same conclusion."

~S.S. Smith

"There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit."

~ Jack Dake

"If a woman like Eva Peron with no ideals can get that far, think how far I can go with the ideals that I have."

~ Margaret Thatcher

"What I felt like saying was, 'I've produced my third child and my sixth book since I last saw you. Aren't either of these things more important, more interesting, than my size?' But no - my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book; finally, something to celebrate! Maybe this seems funny or trivial, but it's really not."
~ JK Rowling

"Dear Lord
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me to remember
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?"~Anon
"[Judgment] comes from four sources: God, nature, diligence and conversation. Serve the first, and the rest will serve you."
~ Ben Jonson

"I think political correctness is a wonderful fad. Probably not as spiritually uplifting as the hula-hoop, but undoubtedly better for the health."
~ Waiting for God

"Our God and soldier we alike adore. At the brink of danger, not before. After deliverance, both alike requited. Our God's forgotten and our soldiers slighted."
~ Oliver North

"The way to tell the professional writers from the amateur writers is that the amateurs only write when they feel like it."
~ Jerry Van Cook

"Remember that only in cheesy romance novels is the heroine guaranteed to find true love without the risk of vulnerability or pain."
~ Dear Prudence column

"We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue."
~ from "The Birth of a Nation"

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree besides the river of truth, and tell the whole world - No, you move."
~Captain America

"While God doesn’t promise tomorrow, he does promise eternity."
~ Tony Snow

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
~ John Stuart Mill

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. In the fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there. In her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits, aflame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
~ Alexis de Tocqueville

"I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny - a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls."
~ J.K. Rowling

Wisdom from the Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan:
------------------------------
Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.

Live each day to the fullest. Live each day with enthusiasm, optimism and hope. If you do, I am convinced that your contribution to this wonderful experiment we call America will be profound.

The dustbin of history is littered with remains of those countries that relied on diplomacy to secure their freedom. We must never forget...in the final analysis...that it is our military, industrial and economic strength that offers the best guarantee of peace for America in times of danger.

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

July 4, 2012

Food, Friends, Fourth

4th of July is my second-favorite holiday, after Christmas. I just love it. Weeks ago I “claimed” the privilege of hosting the 4th of July party for our friends. I don’t know if I would have been quite so emboldened – I’m not the most creative hostess naturally – if it weren’t for pinterest. :) I hope one of you can relate. The ladies here are fantastic theme-party throwers, after Oscar Night parties, Kentucky Derby parties, Dr. Seuss birthday parties, aquatic baby showers…let’s just say, there were some great acts to follow. And thanks to pinterest, I think I did okay. I can see room for improvement for next year (dibs!) but I’m pretty pleased with how everything turned out.

Not least because we had such a great turnout from all of our wonderful friends, who brought food, bebes and puppies (BIG thanks to those who brought playmates for the boys. It kept me from worrying about having a couple of puppies further destryoing our back doors trying to get to the people and food).

Whew. With all that said, mostly parenthetically, time for pics:

Mason jar fruity beverages, both of the high and low octane variety.
(Recipes here and here. Printed labels from here.)
Jars courtesy of sweet friend Jessica, who was out of town but helped make the party rock :)

Founding Father quote stickers, gathered form around the internet (I sourced them, don’t worry). It was quite a challenge. They were brilliant, eloquent men, but incredibly verbose. The best stuff was paragraphs-long. I wish I’d had cuter stickers than address labels. Next time.

Red, white, blue and Mickey! Plus a completed fruity mocktail and a beautiful table runner from a talented friend! Sign printable here.

Patriotic Mickey! Decoration printables from here.

Giving a little guy a ride. Jeb actually handled it really well.
There was no alcohol involved in this picture, and no animals were harmed in its production.

Double twinkies!

Some of the guys

Fun friends

The lovely ladies (and cute kiddos!)
By pure happenstance, there was a color key:
Red = mommies
Blue = the rest of us

At the end of the afternoon. We’re looking a little tired, but we had a fantastic time! The rest of the day we hung out at the house and recuperated with leftovers and classic patriotic movies. It doesn’t get much better than that.