We Were The Same Kind Of Shoppers--What Kind Are You?

I take after my dad in many ways so I found this little quiz interesting about shopping. When I answered the questions as my dad would have, his results were identical to mine.

Karen's & Harry's Results: You Are a Reluctant Shoppers

You really don't enjoy shopping. For you, it's just another chore. My did only shopped when he needed something which was only for groceries, gas, or hardware. He never went to the mall for anything. I like to shop for Christmas presents but when it comes to shopping for myself, I don't. My husband usually does the grocery shopping and gets the gas too so I don't even do that. You approach shopping systematically. You research what you're going to buy and come prepared with a list. My dad saved and indexed all of his "Consumer Reports" magazines and whenever he was going to buy something, he would always look it up first in his "Consumer Reports" to see what brand or type was recommended. Even at age 89 a few weeks before he died, he looked up microwaves when he decided to buy a new one and I ordered the one he wanted for from Sears. Since he pretty much bought the same groceries every week, I printed out checklists for him that he could use to just check the items he wanted for that week to save him time. It took him a long time to write once he got arthritis in his fingers. If I mentioned to my dad that we were going to buy something, he would look it up in "Consumer Reports" for me too. I also printed out a checklist for our grocery shopping that we use. Of all the types, you are the most likely to not buy things you don't need. My dad never thought he bought things he didn't need, but that's debatable. My mom didn't think he needed all the tools he kept buying and the locks that he kept for inventory--I agree with her on that one. Also, he often would stock up on things such as thermometers, heaters and air conditioners so he could have one in each room. I have a rule not to buy anything on impulse. If I see something I really like, I will think it over for a few days and then if I still want it, I'll go get it. If it's not there, then I just figure I wasn't meant to have it. My husband has learned from me to do this as well. He was an impulse buyer before we were married. I must admit, we do have DirectTV and a computer which are not really necessities but they are our prime outlets for entertainment. You try to de-emphasize stuff in your life. You find shopping and buying things to be a rather empty experience. My dad never shopped just for the fun it and neither do I. Most of our money is spent on taxes and food. I finally gave in after about 10 years and ordered a new pair of dress shoes but I haven't even opened them yet. I should go buy some new sports bras too, the two I have are worn out but like it says, we are reluctant shoppers.

What Kind of Shopper Are You? Click here to find out and please share your results in the comments with us

Harry's Top 6 Favorite Foods & 6 Least Favorite Foods

My dad was not a big eater. In fact, he was always very thin and must have had good metabolism. I'm glad I take after him about this but hope I do not get diabetes like he did.

His Top Six Favorite Foods:

1. Ice Cream (Sometimes he'd even have it for breakfast--is it any wonder he got diabetes?)


2. Graham crackers with peanut butter. (He'd always have a good supply of these--4-5 boxes!)


3. White or Rye bread broken up in pieces in a bowl of milk--yummy! NOT!!


4. Potatoes (He made baked potatoes in the microwave for himself after my mom died.)


5. Applesauce


6. Cereal

Top Six Foods He Never Ate Were:

1. Sauerkraut


2. Ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayonnaise


3. Tomatoes


4. Pizza


5. Vegetables (except corn)


6. Spaghetti

What are your favorites? Any the same as these?

Thanks For Your BlogNet Award Vote!

I got this award from Huskies to Husbands who received it from Caregiving Daughter.

Thanks to the following who voted for this blog on BlogNet Awards and left a comment here to let me know. I am passing this friendship award on to you, but don't feel pressure to pass it on unless you want to:

Jude at Mature Not Senile
Homestay Mama at Amazing Journey, Amazing Grace
Shinade at Simply Shinade
Liza at A Simple Life
Caregiving Daughter
The Zoo Crew
Tina
Umeko

Click here to go vote and comment about this blog at BlogNet Awards.

Praying Before Meals and Family Devotions

When I visited "The Little Mermaid's" blog and saw some prayers that she has been taught, it reminded me of the one we used to say before meals growing up. It went like this:

Come Lord Jesus, be thou our guest, and let this food to us be blessed. Amen.

It was short but had a neat concept of inviting Jesus to join us for our meals. It became repetitious to me though and praying before meals is something I really no longer do. I know Jesus gave thanks to the Father before he ate so maybe I should too. But it also says not to use vain repetitions when we pray. I start my day with prayer and pray throughout the day, so don't feel it's necessary to pray before every meal. I know it's expected at Christian gatherings and I don't have any objection to doing it, so I do when I attend those things where there is food. Even then though, it seems kind of ritualistic to me.

Praying before meals was really the only formal "spiritual" instruction or training we got at home even though my mom and dad were both Christians. They mostly taught by example. I remember seeing my mom reading the Bible when she was preparing to teach her Sunday School lesson or for the Jr. High youth group but can't remember ever seeing my dad read his Bible outside of church. He never learned the order of the books either--probably because he always had difficulty memorizing things. He just always used the Table of Contents in the front.

I remember at one time our pastor preached about the parents taking responsibility for the spiritual training of their children in the home and that families should have a time of devotions together. He referred to it as a family altar. My dad didn't want to do it and took no part in it, but let my mom give it a try. She would get us kids all together in the early evening and tried leading some kind of devotional time. We didn't like it and felt awkward. I don't remember how old we were but I do remember it didn't last for long, maybe a week or perhaps a couple weeks but no more than that.

I never understood why my dad didn't support her more in this effort but apparently he felt it wasn't necessary. Perhaps he felt it wasn't her place to do it or perhaps he just didn't like the minister telling him what he should do. I was just happy he wasn't for the idea at the time.

Do you have family devotions? Do you pray together as a family? I think it would be a wonderful thing to do if you start early so it doesn't feel so awkward for everyone. Do you think the saying, "Families who pray together, stay together" is true? These days, at least in the U.S. it seems families are doing great if they can manage to have one meal a day together.