Top Ten

photo credit: nellart

I put this list together for my eBook Entangled.  I return to it in my mind when I need a reminder of His love.  Perhaps you need a reminder this Valentine’s Day.  Here is the printable list of all of them.  And here are the Top 10:

1. He knows you intimately
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30
The LORD knows the thoughts of man. Psalm 94:11
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

2. He thinks you’re beautiful
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. 1 Timothy 4:4
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

3. He delights in you
The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. Proverbs 12:22
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalm 147:11

4. He will fight for you
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

5. He forgives you
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.Ephesians 1:7

6. He wants the best for you
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

7. He sees and appreciates you
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness. Zephaniah 3:17
How amazing are your thoughts concerning me. Psalm 139:17

8. He protects you
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me. Psalm 50:15
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

9. He wants to give you the desires of your heart
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. Psalm 145:19

10. He is jealous for you
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 2 Corinthians 11:2

Happy Valentine’s Day.  I sincerely love you guys!

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday

I love tax season.  I know, you don’t hear that very often.  But let me explain.

1. I love numbers.  For a few years there, I would do my taxes by hand but then still get them done so I could see how close I was to the right answer.  Why yes, I did give myself a test on taxes.  *sigh*  I know.  The geekness knows no bounds.
2. I love getting extra mail.  I know!  My life is boring.  But knowing I’m getting important! mail! and often! makes me happy during January.  I normally lo-uh-ove the mail but January has a special place in my heart.  I’ve been known to call companies on February 1st asking where in the world my 1099 was.
3. I love office supplies.  So organizing all the papers into categorized stacks and then putting one of those huge alligator clips on them makes me happy.  My kids love office supplies too but they get like 2 pieces of paper and try to use these huge clips when a paper clip would do.  But tax papers?  I NEED the big clip.
4. I get to make lists.  I love lists.  I make lists just so I can check things off.  I’m not even joking.  They say you get a little shot of adrenaline when you check something off.  Clearly I need as much excitement as I can in my day.
5. I get to print and highlight lists.  The geek in me loves running reports in mint.com, paypal.com and our bank so I can find deductions.  I like downloading the exports and formatting them in Excel and printing them and highlighting them.  How often do you really get to use a highlighter for a legit reason these days?
6. Finding deductions is like a scavenger hunt.  Once I have all these lists printed and highlighted I always go back to previous years and see what I’m missing. I search my email for other deductions I might have missed.  When I cull something up, it’s like I hit the jackpot.  YES!  Another deduction.  It’s like a game!  Try it!
7. I enjoy seeing if we met our giving challenge.  Our goal is always to give a higher percentage from the year before so I love that challenge to gather all the numbers and see if we met our goal.
8. Call my silly, but there’s a satisfaction I receive going to see our tax office.  It’s run by a local family in town that knows everyone else in town.  It’s in an office in a house.  The linoleum has to be from 1976.  The dad and daughter do the taxes and the wife answers the phone.  It’s just so homey and small town and I like the tradition of it.
9. But if I’m honest, the biggest reason I love tax season is since having kids, we usually get a hunk of change back.  Except for that one year I actually made money on the Internets and it physically hurt to write that tax check.  That year wasn’t fun.
10. And just to drive home the point, the very best part is having those returns randomly show up in my bank account.  It’s always so depressing to go into mint.com and see my bank account drain every single day but during tax season?  Surprise!  Random huge deposit in your account!

OK, now I promise I’m not just a money-hungry dork.  I’ll claim the dork part but that’s it.

Tell me, do you love tax season or hate it?

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.

I just *know* you guys come here every single day and read every single post so this one you can skip.   Buuuut just in case you haven’t and may have missed one of Permission to Peruse’s most popular posts, I thought I’d put together a little list:

1. More Working Mother Rambling
2. Introducing Entangled (Entangled: Launch Day and Things I’ve Learned Writing an eBook also made the list but I thought I’d combine)
3. Top Ten Reasons to be an Early Riser
4. Top Ten Tuesday: Lighting Choices
5. My {Current} Take on the Topic
6. Top Ten Reasons to Watch Downton Abbey
7. Sacrifice
8. My Experience with the Daniel Fast
9. Jewelry Holder
10. Would You Quit the Internet?

This one gets an honorable mention because it didn’t have the most comments but I believe it got the most views: My Favorite Things

As we begin to finish out 2011, I can’t thank you enough for coming to read here.  I’m looking forward to what 2012 brings for Permission to Peruse!

You can see more Top Ten Posts at ohAmanda.com

I haven’t talked too much TV lately but I just have to share about a new show I’ve caught up on recently that is a must-watch.  I’m talking Friday Night Lights-level love here.  The BBC show Downton Abbey.

It.

is.

amazing. 

Imagine Pride and Prejudice but 8 times better and drawn out as a TV series.  I’m serious.  It’s that good.  Here are 10 things I love about it.

1. The show had a great hook right from the start.  The show takes place in Yorkshire at Downton Abbey, where the Earl and Countess of Grantham live with their older three daughters.  The two male heirs are killed in the Titanic and it sets off the basis for entirety of Season 1.
2. The filming quality is that of a movie, not of a TV show.  The setting is legitimately filmed at a castle in England.  The costumes have won awards and are amazing.  It’s just one of those shows that is simply beautiful to watch.
3. The show is different from other period pieces like Pride and Prejudice in that it deals moreso with the servants and the running of the house versus the royalty and their dealings.  Yes, it’s mixed in but you get a unique look at that period I’ve not seen anywhere else.
4. The ensemble cast is spot-on.  There is not a bad actor to be found.
5. There are good, honorable characters.  There is one in particular, Mr. Bates, that is honorable to a fault.  One of the servants Anna is a caring woman with integrity.  You can’t help but love them dearly.
6. There are some great evil characters too.  There are two servants in particular that are foul-mouthed, morally destitute and downright scoundrels. I love to hate them but it makes for some GREAT TV.
7. There are some funny characters too.  The mother of the Earl has the perfect sense of sarcasm I appreciate about the British.
8. Because the Earl has three daughters, many of the storylines are about finding them a husband.  You know I can’t help but love a good storyline about a couple.
9. Each season only has 7 episodes.  It’s easy to get caught up but each episode is packed with so much drama so you don’t feel jipped.
10. Season 1 is on Netflix!  PBS will be airing the second season starting in January so you gotta get caught up!

Seriously, ya’ll.  You have to watch.  The first episode I would say has the most controversial scene of the whole first season but don’t let that put you off.  The rest of the season is amazing. Here’s a promo for the first season.  Just watching it makes me want to watch it all again!

This post was linked up with ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.

It’s been almost two weeks that I’ve been going to bed early and getting up early.  I know, two weeks isn’t long enough to consider anything a habit, unless your talking about buying Lattes every day and then I’d bet you’d call it a habit.  In any case, I’ve found that I quite like it.  Here’s why:

1. Scott and I go to bed at the same time.  Since he has to get up at 4am when he’s on day shift, he’s in bed by 8.  I usually was never in bed until at least 10 and sometimes 12.  I’ve enjoyed the whole house shutting down at one time.  It’s weird, but it feels like that “lights out” moment at camp when you knew you were all in it together.
2. I wasn’t getting a whole lot done at night anyway.  My brain power by 8pm was not worth much so I’d find I was just circling between Facebook, Twitter and email.  Sometimes I’d get a blog post in but only when I was lucky.
3. I start to think about the next day a lot earlier in the evening.  This is good because at 7:30 I still have energy to plan for the next day.  I find even though I’m up early the next day, I’m getting more things ready for the next day the night before.
4. I get up easier when it’s earlier.  I have no idea how that happens but it’s easier for me to get up at 5:45 when I’ve gone to bed at 9 then it is to get up at 6:45 when I went to bed at 10.  It shouldn’t be so as it’s the same amount of time but I have just found I am entirely too groggy the later I wake up, no matter how much sleep I’ve had.  In fact, Friday night Scott and I were asleep by 9:30 or so and slept in until almost 9 and it was harder to get myself out of bed that morning.
5. I like starting my day before everyone else.  I feel like I have a head start to my day and get my day started with the right attitude versus the kids up and me feeling like a failure for not being able to be up with the kids.
6. I get more done in the morning.  I’m a lot more alert in the morning so I’m actually productive.  With less time, I get more done.
7. We’re not rushed to get off to school.  This morning, we were all literally sitting around the living room waiting for the time to leave.  This has *never* happened before. 
8. I like that the kids will remember that I’m up, ready and alert.  I normally did have to wake them up for school anyway but I was in my pjs, hair a mess and barely alert.  It worked, but I just feel better being completely dressed and ready. I have a better tone to my voice and attitude.
9. I’m not worried all day about all the things I need to do.  Yes, some things have to wait but I like that I can get things started before work.  That load of laundry that needs switched or that blog post that needs written (this one!) can all get done without me worrying about it.
10. I’m saving money!  Now this one sounds funny but seriously, we are.  Since I’m up earlier I have time to make my own coffee and get my snack and lunch ready for work when I go.  Before, I was just rushing out the door and buying stuff at work.  I still treat myself to Starbucks one work morning a week but I’m not buying the regular coffee at work every single time.

Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever be such a proponent as an early-riser but I think I’m in!  The only downside I can think of is when you CAN’T get to bed early and it’s super hard to get up early the next morning.   The good news is, it’s even easier to go to sleep early the next night and get back on track.

So how do you do this?  I started out by going to bed super early one night when I was exhausted but then got up early the next day instead of sleeping in.  Somehow, it’s stuck since then!

So tell me, are you an early riser or night owl??

Make sure to check out more Top Ten Tuesday posts over at ohAmanda.com