Weekends are too fleeting

I love weekends! I love sitting by the fireplace, relaxed and warm. I love spending time with my family and giving my dog belly rubs. I love not having to set my alarm clock on Saturday and setting it for two hours later than usual on Sunday. I love having time to quilt, do laundry, make phone calls, and putter around the house.

It was nice to have Tyler and Sarah over today, though they couldn't stay very long. This week is going to be insanely busy, so I need to be really prayerful about my choices!

Salad Rules

We play this goofy card game my mom taught me called Salad. When we look online for rules, we only find versions of "Canadian Salad" which are much more involved (12+ hands, more rules, etc.). So this is our current rule standard for the LaMoore family. We were up at my sister-in-law's lake place and didn't have the rules with, so we punted. It worked out okay, but I thought putting it in my blog might help for future events. Here they are! The Salad Card Game Rules. (I couldn't upload my pdf, so here they are in full form.)

On 7/11/16, I updated some info to clarify questions that came up in comments. When I originally posted this on 1/2/08, it was so I could access it anywhere I had internet connectivity. It's gratifying that so many others have enjoyed it!

Salad (4, 5, 6, or 7 players)

4 players – full deck

5 players – remove 2 of diamonds and 2 of clubs

6 players – remove all 2s

7 players – remove 2s of diamonds, clubs, and spades

(Actually, we’ve played with 8 people, 2 decks, and it worked fine. . . )

Dealer is determined by cut (1^st hand only).

Play clockwise to left.

When all cards have been dealt, each player selects three to “slough” to the player on their left. First player leads whatever they want. Highest card in original suit played takes the hand. Keep track of points each hand – this gets interesting!

1^st hand No Tricks - 5 pts / trick

2^nd hand No Hearts -  5 pts / heart

3^rd hand No Queens - 25 pts / queen

4^th hand No Kings -  50 pts / king

5^th hand Last Trick -  75 pts for last trick

6^th hand All of the Above pts as above

7^th hand 8s and Solitaire (see points below)

Points for 7^th hand:

1^st done = -100 points

2^nd done = -75 points

3^rd done = -50 points (unless 4 or 5 players, then 0 points)

4^th done = +50 points

5^th done = +75

6^th done = +100

On Solitaire hand, 8s must be played first. Aces are high. A player puts an eight on the table. If the next player has an eight in a different suit, or a 7 or 9 of the suit already played, they can play one of those cards. If they do not have any cards that can be played, they must "pass." If someone can play a card, they must play it. (They cannot pass just to hold off other players.) Play continues around until players have played all their cards. (From the eights in the middle, cards will extend from each side seven through two and nine through ace.)

Person with highest points loses.

Time and Thankfulness

Today was lovely. Worship and fellowship at church this morning. Time to finally decorate the house for Christmas! Time to finish the laundry, catch up on some papers, enjoy the fireplace, etc. I'm so thankful for many things! Praise God for His goodness! Tonight, I'm thankful for my warm home, my wonderful husband, my fantastic boys, and our sweet little dog. I'm thankful that I have a great job to go to tomorrow. I'm thankful that my parents and siblings are all alive. But most of all, I'm thankful to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ!

Tears and Thoughts

A friend forwarded this YouTube clip to me. It's a little boy's phone call to a Christian radio station. It made me cry, but in a good way. What a neat little kid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCdZwitrNoY

God is good!

Blogging

Now that I've started a blog for my Metronet class, I plan to keep this one as my whatever-I-feel-like writing about blog. The one I made four years ago and finally found again, I'm trying to decide what to do with it. . . my reader's response blog? I just don't know what direction to go. It's not as though anyone's ever read this one. . . with whom would I like to share my musings? Are they even worthy of an audience? Perhaps a reader's blog. Right now, my reading responses are in an excel document. . . I think it's time to change.

Let it snow!

Saturday morning was gorgeous! A fire in the fireplace, snow lightly falling, and a day without a full agenda - heaven! It was so beautiful that I had Nick take a photo to send to Matthieu in France.

We had a wonderful healing service last night. It was such a blessing! I am thankful for all that Jesus is doing in our lives right now. I look forward to time this week with family to relax and enjoy our blessings!

Time

There's never enough of it! I just finished stamping and addressing the envelopes for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary party. Now I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything else tonight. . . It's been a great day, but life in general is just too busy! Well, praise God I've been blessed with so many wonderful gifts. I need to appreciate the time I do have (and use it well).