"I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage." - Erma Bombeck

Another swiped from a friend's Facebook page.

Happy Birthday, mom!!

Pam wasn't called off today, something of a surprise. She was called and told she would only be needed for a few hours, but we'll take it. After only one day of work last week we're thankful for any hours she gets.

Cold snap here, with highs over the weekend only in the mid- to upper-50's. We'll have to wear jackets.

Pam's dog moves throughout the morning. At 8 he's laying on his small bed to the right of the TV cabinet soaking up the sunshine coming through the kitchen window. By 9 he's had to move to the small rug in front of Pam's chair to get those rays, and by 9:30 he's in front of the slider. By 11:00 he's gone back to his bed in a state of mild depression.

Because almost nobody in the west valley of the Phoenix metro area is from Arizona we'll have many Pathway families missing, gone to visit family elsewhere. We'll only have our worship service - no second hour - as an accommodation of the reality that kids' classes would be near empty. And first hour we'll be missing all our musicians, in other states for the weekend.
Heavy sigh.

You might be married to a car guy if:

• You have two long boxes stored under your bed, each holding a shiny new bumper.
• There's a rebuilt dash gauge cluster on the dining table.
• The far wall in the spare bedroom has a windshield and rear window leaning up against it. 
• The boxes out for trash pickup aren't from Christmas presents, but from truck restoration parts delivered from various vendors. (OK, that's sort of like Christmas presents.)
• There's a freshly reupholstered bench seat sitting in the living room!!! ("Think of it as another couch.")

A guy points a gun at a cop, the cop shoots him, and a riot breaks out. 

Seriously troubling on several levels. Some folks in the suburbs of St. Louis are at risk of a public backlash. The vast majority of Americans support law enforcement officers, men and women who have an extremely difficult and often dangerous job to do in service to the rest of us. 

On the way home from the gym, NPR's "All Things Considered" - In Sweden the national Christmas Eve tradition is to sit down as a family at 3 p.m. and watch the Donald Duck Christmas Special cartoon together. 

Proud to be a Swede tonight.