Tax Day Tea Parties Throughout the Country

Here is a link that I hope many people will find useful:
http://taxdayteaparty.com/

Choose your state and find a tax day tea party near you in order to participate. There is one here in Ft. Lauderdale that I will attend:

City: Ft. Lauderdale
When: April 15, 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Where: Federal Building, 299 East Broward Boulevard
Contact: EMAIL
Phone: 954.547.1489
Other Info:Facebook Group: CLICK HERE

I have been reassured that the pendulum is just swinging pretty far to the left, but that it will surely swing back to the right center again. I'm not sure that any politician is the answer right now, whether Republican or Democrat, and I'm not sure the pendulum will be allowed to swing back by those presently in power.

Worst case scenario? President Obama is a front for the communist revamping of America, and behind him are all those who molded him and made his path through to the top echelons of politics possible.

Best case scenario? President Obama only lasts one term and can't do enough damage in one term that can't be undone by subsequent leadership.

In the meantime, we all still have freedom of speech to an extent (as long as we aren't politically incorrect), and I want to exercise mine on April 15.

No, I'm Not Dead

I've been reading other blogs, wondering if the Rapture is approaching, doing everyday chores, hoping the Rapture is coming soon, going to work everyday - and have I mentioned, praying for the Rapture to come soon?

OK - now that I have that out of the way - I ordered a book from a used book store through Abebooks. com today. This is the note that I received in my email to let me know the book had been shipped:

Just a short note to inform you that the book you ordered from One Penny Books has been gently taken from the book shelf in the secret vault with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. A team of 50 employees inspected your book to make sure they were in the best possible condition (for a used book) before mailing. Our packing specialist lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your book into the finest water proof envelope that money can buy. We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private jet on this day. I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at One Penny Books. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to visit with us for all your reading needs!! Oh and did I forget to tell you that from time to time, our jet is stuck on the run-way? Well because it is a book, which is media mail, it can travel "extremely" slowly. And even though I am royalty. I can't control everything. So please take that into consideration.

Thank you once again,
May this new year, be a blessed one.
Princess Razz Ma Tazz of One Penny Books
http://www.1pennybooks.com

Tell me that isn't the most clever and funny confirmation email you've ever received after purchasing something. Of COURSE I'll shop with them again - who could help it??

One Last Thing

Article about Emma Garner and Blanche Shriner

The above is an article from the Frederick News-Post from 10/23/1930. It mentions Emma Garner, Blanche Shriner and Blanche's mother, Flora. I think this is the best of all. It says they were members of the Church of God on Frizzelburg Road - which is still there and not far from Jasontown Road or Linwood. The link takes you to the entire page of the newspaper for that day - look under the article in the middle of the page, entitled, "Uniontown". You'll need to make the page at least 150% size to read it well.

Blanche Shriner's Sunday School Teacher

The letter written to Blanche was from her Sunday School teacher, Emma G. Garner. So after I found Blanche on Ancestry.com, I looked up Emma. I found her right away. She was 59 in the 1920 census, so in 1924, that made her 63. She lived with her brother and his wife in the house he owned on Linwood. He worked as a cashier in a bank and neither his wife nor Emma worked. I wonder if it was tough living with your sister-in-law. I hope it was wonderful and not difficult for Emma. Remember to click on the image above to make it bigger in order to read the information.

Now for the map of Emma's house in 1924:


View Larger Map

Two roads were listed on the 1920 census record - Linwood and McKinstry Roads. I couldn't find Linwood at first, so I tried McKinstry. That worked. Then I saw Linwood, which is no longer the name of a road, but a village perhaps. On this map above, I requested directions from Linwood to Jasontown Road, the intersection which Blanche Shriner lived 2 doors down from.

Emma's letter mentions that it has been a year since Blanche's father, Milton, has died, so he must have died in 1923. I looked for the Shriner family in 1910 and found out that Milton was really James M. Shriner, and that Edith was a younger sister (3 years younger than Blanche) who must have married and had a baby by 1924. Also, the younger brother listed as an invalid in 1920 is called Paul S. Shriner (S. must be for Shreeve) and he is 8 years old in 1910. Here is the 1920 census record:

This sleuthing sure is fun!! I wonder what churches were in the Village of Uniontown, MD in 1924.

Finally, I found Blanche in 1930. She is now living with her mother, who is 60 and works as a practical nurse, while Blanche is a housekeeper for a "private family." It appears that even though Blanche was 20 in 1920 and 30 in 1920, she is now 37 in 1930.....but if you look, you'll see the age written over, so it's hard to read. It should be 40. Caroline is now definitively listed as "granddaughter" - of whom? There were two unmarried sisters - Blanche and Bertha. It appears Bertha has moved on - perhaps married, or moved. Shreeve is not living with them - perhaps he has passed away, or gotten better and lives elsewhere. Caroline was listed in 1920 was a 28 month old daughter, but then that was crossed out and "grand daughter" was written. Edith is married and has a baby, but that would be listed under her husband's name on the census. It sounds a bit as if Blanche had somewhat of a hard life. She never married, she missed her father and she had to go to work when she got older. Here is the 1930 census record:


It would appear that Blanche died in April 1972. Her death certificate has her birthday as 8/31/1889. Her Social Security number was 218-01-9946, issued in Maryland before 1951. Her last residence was
17331 Hanover, York, Pennsylvania.

My Favorite Hobby

I belong to a Grace Livingston Hill reading group online. I never post, but I read the posts of the rest of the members - I guess you would call that "lurking". Anyway, one of the readers purchased a First Edition of Grace Livingston Hill's book, "Re-Creations" printed by Lippincott and published in 1924. Inside was a letter from a Sunday school teacher named Emma F. Garner to her student, Miss Blanche Shriner in Uniontown, Maryland. Evidently, Blanche was a Sunday school student who never missed a lesson in 17 years, hence the gift.
So, I got on Ancestry.com and looked up Miss Shriner. I found the above census record (click to "embiggen" and look for Milton Shriner).



Miss Shriner was 30 years old in 1920, which makes her 34 in 1924, the date of the book and the letter. She was single, as was her sister, Bertha, who worked as a servant for a "private family". Her 18 year old brother Shreeve was an invalid according to the 1920 census, and the baby of the family, Caroline B., at 28 months, was at first claimed as a daughter, then this was half marked out and "grand" was written above daughter. Hmmmmmm. I have a feeling that Caroline was a daughter and the census writer was making a judgement based on the age of the mother, who, at 50, could still have had a 28 month old child.

Miss Shriner's father was, I think, a huckster helper (I had a hard time reading the writing), which is a traveling salesman (think a man with a cart full of stuff, I think). I believe he worked for his neighbor, W. Guy Segafoose, 47, who owned a huckster business. It would make sense. They probably split routes - one went one way and one went the other. That's IF I'm correct in my assumption about the job, although the census record does say for both that they have "own route"s.

Here's the map of where I think they lived. They were on "Main Street", which today is Uniontown Road. They were 2 doors down from Jasontown Road.

View Larger Map

Trouble With Numbers

It seems to me that a lot of Congresspersons (gotta keep up that political correctness.....yeah) and Presidentpersons have a real problem with numbers. I'm thinking that none of them did very well in math when they were in school, and now that they're "saving" the country from financial ruin, it doesn't bode well........


How's that? America has maybe a total population of 300,000,000. But EVERY MONTH 500,000,000 Americans lose their jobs.

I have a strong suspicion that Nancy Pelosi either smokes hash or does cocaine, neither of which aids her math difficulties.

And lets not forget:

Yes - even though the US, of which this man is PRESIDENT, has 50 states last time we counted, he visited 57. Perhaps the last 7 were somewhere on another planet where Nancy learned her math skills.

Mamma Mia

I work with a couple of people who have been raving about Mamma Mia, the Abba musical. Not having seen it, I thought I'd Google it and see what the plot is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamma_Mia!

The plot? She is dead in the water. She is retarded. Too stupid for words - I'm glad I haven't wasted my time on this Broadway play/movie.

Quick synopsis? Girl getting married - doesn't know father because mom slept around in such rapid succession with 3 separate men (and got impregnated by one of them), then dumped them and never saw any of them again. Girl wants father to walk her down the aisle, a.k.a., "give her away".

Mom was once part of a girl band who are reuniting for daughter's wedding.

Girl finds out who 3 possible fathers are and writes them letters, inviting them to wedding, without telling her mother.

Girl doesn't tell fiance either.

Men arrive day before wedding. All 3 men have personalities that must have been made up in some woman's fervent imagination.

The 3 men take turns doing unlikely things such as:

* showing up to begin with - spending the money to travel and stay for a wedding for someone they reputedly don't know.

* declare they are the girl's father and offer to walk her down the aisle

* offer to pay for the wedding

Girl turns down all 3 men and takes her mother's offer to walk her down the aisle instead. Alrighty then.

All 3 men go to party where mother and band members have reunited. One of the 3 decides he is still in love with mother, one of the 3 announces he is gay and the last one of the 3 meets someone he likes and attempts to have sex with her in a restaurant, when people begin to arrive at the restaurant, shock of shocks.

Are you ready for the best part of this treacley piece of trash?

Girl and fiance decide on the day of the wedding that it's too soon to get married, so they go off on a world tour, while the man who has decided that mom is still hot marries her and the wedding "stuff" doesn't go to waste.

All this is interrupted at various parts for the lamely appropriate ABBA song.

So much for Mamma Mia.

Head Cold

I think I was "well" for about 2 days before I began to come down with my present illness - a head cold. I feel like I have cement in my head and behind my eyes. I feel dragged out and tired all the time, despite massive doses of Emergen-C with zinc and elderberry. I called in to work sick last Thursday and went home after 3 hours of work on Friday. I sure hope I feel more peppy tomorrow. At least I sound sick, so there won't be any doubt from co-workers. These days, in this bad economy, jobs are wonderful things to have - and at my age, I am anxious about the possible loss of my job in the coming months.

Of course, I rest in the faith that the Lord will take care of my husband and I no matter what. Times may get very bad, but yet He promises to sustain us. I'd be lying if I said that I have no dread of hard times - I do.

But enough of that for now. Tonight I will relax in what my Lord has provided now. A warm home, a comfortable home - even with a head cold, especially with a head cold. A loving husband, a job that I still have and a paycheck I still can look forward to for the near future.

But most of all, my Savior has provided Himself for me. He has called His followers, "little flock" (Luke 12:32 - ESV). Like my sister says, "that's ME!!"

SICK!!

Bleah! I'm just getting over the worst case of stomach flu I've had in more than 20 years. I'm a wuss when it comes to nausea and vomiting, and since Friday at about 1:30PM until this morning, I've been the most miserable human being on the planet. Other people write about having had a stomach virus like it's no big deal.

For me, I'd rather be dead. And, as a Christian, knowing I'd be in heaven, I'd REALLY rather be dead.

I still don't feel right. My stomach is still uneasy, I can't get comfortable, and although, I'm not blatantly nauseous, I just don't feel well yet. Lots of burping, burping, etc. and burping - I know this may be TMI, but does anyone else get that unfortunate after effect when recovering from the stomach flu?

Well - that's all for now. I'm going to sit back and get as comfortable as I can and wait for wellness to return 100%.

Martha Vs. Mary

I just finished reading the passage in Luke 10:38 to 10:42 about the time when Jesus goes to Bethany, specifically to Martha's house. I say Martha's house because, somehow, it seems implied that she ran things – she was in charge. In "John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible", he goes into great detail and says that it is implied (perhaps elsewhere in Scripture or in extra-Biblical literature) that Martha is a widow, and that her brother and sister, Lazarus and Mary, live with her.

Gill is what opened the passage up to me. He refers to Persian and Syriac versions of the story and gives a more complete picture.

Martha is not just fixing the usual "stuff". She is doing something I might do. In the event that I have someone I greatly admire, or, in the case of Jesus, worship, I'd be thinking of how my home looks – every detail – how warm and welcoming to make it, etc. Right there is Martha's first problem. She is assuming that the Lord will even notice, or, in noticing, care about the pleasing decorations and touches that Martha exerts on the Lord's account. I'm thinking that Martha's emphasis is in the wrong thing. Perhaps for an important human personage – a mayor, even a regular Rabbi, what she is doing would be appreciated and even expected. But for the Lord? The Lord who came from Heaven and to whom nothing on earth is going to be impressive? Granted, the Disciples didn't understand that He was going to be killed, that He wasn't going to, at that time, bring in the Kingdom, and so be with them forever. Perhaps Martha didn't understand either, she didn't feel any urgency – after all, the Messiah is here, there's plenty of time!

The other part that I think is implied here is that Martha, like a lot of women who have to share their home, may be a bit heavy handed. She likes things a certain way, and if her sister and brother have to live with her, they should help. They may have no say in how the house looks or is run, but they are expected to assist Martha because she has been "so good" as to allow them to live with her. I understand this completely. I would, I'm sure, be the same way. Frankly, I'd be very unhappy to have to share my home with another woman, and I'm sure there are lots of women out there who know what I mean – one kitchen, two women? Not so good.

So Martha is going about her grand dinner a la Martha Stewart, and she's beginning to feel ticked off. She's doing "all the work", while Mary (Lazarus, being a man, isn't expected to help with household chores) is totally ignoring everything and sitting at Jesus' feet as He teaches. First of all, to give Martha a little credit, women were not usually encouraged to have equal place with men in Scriptural learning, so Mary was bucking a very ancient trend. There were other women that supported Jesus and followed him, however, and His attitude toward women was VERY different than what had gone before in Jewish tradition.

Martha finally has enough. She is waiting for Mary to understand her responsibilities and to get up of her own accord and help. That doesn't happen. So Martha comes into the room, standing, ready to leave as soon as she has her say. I doubt if she has already spoken to Mary, but maybe she has and Mary has told her that this is more important and perhaps Mary has also told Martha that all her elaborate preparations are silly. Knowing human, and especially, family dynamics, I doubt Mary is this outspoken. In any case, Martha goes directly to the Authority figure, and in true "I'm telling on you" fashion, asks Jesus to back her up and tell Mary to get off her, uh, behind – and do her duty.

Poor Martha. Jesus is very kind and calming to her – sees she is agitated and annoyed, self-righteously assuming that her way is the correct one – and He tells her that her mental state is unnecessary. He tells her that His word is more important than what she is doing, and that Mary has the right idea.

I can just see Mary saying "YESSSS!" inwardly, or even giving into a silent "nah nah nah nah nah". I can also see Martha visibly deflating and embarrassed to have her authority denied in front of her sister – and perhaps not understanding. After all, Martha is the one who yelled at Jesus for not coming soon enough after Lazarus' illness so as to prevent his death – I have a feeling Martha is She Who Must Be Obeyed.

I could probably write for days, but you all (what – all 2 of you?) would fall asleep. There is so much between-the-lines family "stuff" going on here, I just love it.