All About Whatever

Three Great New Books by Brand New Authors

2012-01-25T13:44:00.000-05:00

What do a Memoir, a Homemade Soup Cookbook, and a Devotional have in common? Each are written by individuals who are writing from the heart, who really live the things they share, and therefore speak with authority things that will help you in your own life. How do I know this? Because they were all written by friends of mine! Yes, I have some incredibly talented friends. “I Love to Tell the Story,” “Kick the Can,” and “Running With The Grasshoppers” are excellent books by talented new authors and I am pleased to share them with you.

“I Love to Tell the Story” is Susan Barnett Braun’s touching, funny personal story of “growing up blessed and Baptist in small town Indiana.” But her accounts of growing up in the church in the 1970s was so familiar that at times I felt she was writing my own memories! From the trials of singing in church programs, mean girls in Sunday School and overcoming glasses, braces and chubbiness to the joys of prizes for learning Bible verses, VBS crafts and learning to bloom in Rosebuds, Susan shows how an ordinary girl can grow to become more like Christ through a Biblical upbringing in church and family. Woven through are hymns that anchor the stories as well as Susan’s life. This book is absolutely delightful, whether you grew up in the church and wax nostalgic, or whether you didn’t and are curious about what such an upbringing entails.

“I Love to Tell the Story” can be purchased through Amazon. Paperback is $9.35, or you can purchase the book on Kindle for $2.99. Susan has another book out for Kindle as well. “Sophie, Pay Attention (Rhoda, You Too),” is available at Amazon for $2.99.

I love soup but most of the canned stuff has waaaayyy too much sodium. The lower sodium doesn’t taste all that good, though. But in Christy Ellington’s new book, “Kick the Can!” there are 16 recipes for homemade soups that are low-sodium and mouth-watering at the same time! There are even two breakfast soups. Most are also low-fat, some are suitable for vegans or vegetarians, and all use fairly common, easily acquired ingredients. Christy really knows her stuff, too. Christy, who suffers from Meniere’s Disease, has been laboring on a low-sodium blog, The Daily Dish, for years, just to share what she’s learned about low-sodium, delicious cooking. Recently she won a grant, and has put the money to good use by publishing this beautifully photographed, carefully researched, and kid-tested cookbook.

“Kick the Can!” can be purchased at Blurb, by following the link, for $15.95. This small, soup-only cookbook packs a healthy, flavorful punch.

“Running With The Grasshoppers” is a 298-page Devotional suited for Christians, men or women, who desire to grow bolder, and to stand firm, in their walk with Christ. Written by R. Mark Webb, a man who lives a Christian life as well as writes about it, “Running With The Grasshoppers” is divided in to chapters that share a Bible story, expound upon it, and then list thought-provoking questions. The questions can be used for personal reflection, or in a class setting to spark discussion. Through Bible stories of ordinary people, “Running With Grasshoppers” inspires us to realize we have an extraordinary God.

“Running With The Grasshoppers” can be purchased in ebook form for Kindle from Amazon for $8.49, or in paperback or hardcover at Xulon Press for $16.99 and $26.99 respectively.

If you want to be inspired and challenged to grow more like Christ, eat healthier, more delicious and wholesome foods, and stand firm in your walk with God, “I Love to Tell the Story,” “Kick the Can!” and “Running With The Grasshoppers” are just the books to help, while entertaining at the same time. To check them out further or purchase them, follow the built-in links.

There and Back Again

2012-01-10T11:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was spent at the beach on Sanibel Island. What a gorgeous day! Hit 80 degrees, sunny with a gentle breeze, puffy white clouds, and the company of my favorite person - my husband. Everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful day. At one point I counted 19 boats: Speedboats and fishing boats, boats of every size and description, and one ethereal sailboat. There were parasailers, too, and kayakers. The smell of the salt spray, the warmth of the sun and coolness of the breeze, the beauty, were all so peaceful and relaxing.

Tomorrow I'm flying up to Indiana. Gonna be cold, might snow. I'll have grandbabies to play with and a whole new type of beauty to absorb in the landscape around me. Life is good!

The title There and Back Again seems descriptive of what I'm doing. But it also reminds me of how much I am looking forward to the film coming out at the end of the year, around Christmastime 2012 - The Hobbit!!! I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings films, and I read the trilogy, but The Hobbit has always been my favorite. My uncle introduced me to Bilbo Baggins when I was 13 years old; he sent me the book, wrapped in a soft, rainbow-hued paper and accompanied by a lovely little drawing he did of the circular door of the hobbit house. I was transported in to another world! I can't wait to see what the film is like and fervently hope I will not be disappointed.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Wow, What a Week!!! Welcome to our Christmas Grandson

2011-12-29T12:31:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas celebration! I think ours was above and beyond this year! We had a lovely Christmas Eve at my sister's house, for a brunch. That evening we had our church service for Christmas Eve. Sunday, Christmas morning, we were getting ready to leave for church when the phone rang, and our son was telling us he and his wife were on the way to the hospital to have the baby! We went to church and in the afternoon we had a family party, and the day was interspersed with phone calls from my son in Indiana. A little before 2 o'clock we got the news that we had a Christmas Grandson!

Our little Timothy Michael was 9 lbs and 21 1/4" long, so Anna has a baby brother now. In January I am going up for a couple of weeks to meet the little fellow.

The rest of Christmas was special and fun, and I got spoiled by my family, as usual, which of course I love. Then the next day was my husband's birthday and he was actually off work for it, so we had a nice day together.

Yesterday, we celebrated our 33 wedding anniversary! Well, we didn't really get to do very much yet, but it was still special. Actually, the weekend before Christmas, he took me downtown to Fort Myers' historical River District, and we strolled around listening to the street musicians, enjoying the architecture, browsing in the lovely little art galleries, shops and boutiques, and he bought me a really lovely purse. Then we went to lunch. And this weekend we plan dinner and a movie. But the best part is just the privilege of being married to this wonderful man for 33 years! He's my best friend, and the smartest, handsomest, kindest, funniest, most romantic and thoughtful man I've ever met.

The cold I had turned out to be a lot worse than I had anticipated, so I spent nights sitting up in a chair, coughing my brains out, so that wasn't much fun, and I've had laryngitis so I couldn't talk to anyone, which I couldn't do anyway, or eat, without coughing... but I definitely think the good stuff outweighed the bad this past week. Here's a picture to prove it!

White Christmas, Florida Style!

2011-12-19T12:32:00.001-05:00

I'm dreaming of a white Florida Christmas
Down at the beach, that would be swell,
Where white sand glistens,
And children listen
To hear the ocean in a shell...

Hey, what can I say, it's a beautiful day in Florida! I do have a cold - but it's not a Christmas cold, oh no. Must just be a Winter Holiday Cold. Nothing that a trip to the beach won't cure. Wish you all were here!

Happy Birthday to the Blessed Jesus Christ on the Holy Day of Christmas

2011-12-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

I am puzzled by people who believe they can celebrate Christmas without celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I can't help thinking how I'd feel if my family decided to celebrate my birthday while excluding me from the festivities.

Or what if people started saying that they wanted to have parades and picnics and fireworks on the 4th of July while denying that the celebration had anything to do with America winning our independence? After all, that was a long time ago. Some people don't even really believe it was all that important, anyway; and what if people from Great Britain got offended by the implication that we won a war against them?

I understand that some people like all of the perks of Christmas without giving any thought to the Host; but is that any reason to hijack it from those of us who celebrate for the Original Reason? No other religious holiday has to contend with people trying to steal it away!

So Merry Christmas to all, but to all those who don't believe in the reason for it, please stop stealing our Holy Day away from us just because you only like the trappings and not the Source of all the Joy that Christmas brings to the world. A Creche is a much more accurate representation of Christmas than a Frosty Snowman or even a Santa Claus.

This is not a just a winter holiday. There are, as people love to point out, lots of holidays in the winter. But each of the others gets to be called by its actual name and be celebrated by those of the faith that it originates with, using the symbols they find meaningful. Christmas is special, but that's because it celebrates the God of Creation becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us. It is filled with joy, hope, love and goodwill; but if you remove the reason for all of those good things, you will be left with a hollow shell of greed, discontentment and over-indulgence. Christmas is first and foremost a religious Holy Day. Without the birth of Jesus Christ, there simply is no Christmas.

The First Day of the Rest of My LIfe

2011-11-30T10:25:00.001-05:00

Good morning! It is my 51st Birthday today. This has been a "heart-wrenching" year, har har, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd be celebrating this birthday here on earth. So I'm kind of delighted today, and I feel like I'm putting the past year's health problems behind me, ready to move forward and get myself healthy and well.

I haven't been doing a lot of writing, instead concentrating on building up my strength and trying to wean myself off the essential naps of recovery, but stories and articles are beginning to flood my thoughts once again and soon I will begin writing them down.

I had a wonderful dream last night, so I'll close with that for the time being. I dreamed that my step-father invented another one of his delightful toys, like the stilts he built for me when I was young. In the dream, he'd taken a fuzzy bedroom slipper and attached one of those Magic Mover discs that they use to glide furniture across the floor. The slipper then worked like a skateboard, and I spent the evening zooming and zipping around inside an old apartment building, with concrete walkways, tile and terrazo floors and staircases up and down - I had so much fun, and woke up grinning and exhilarated. A great way to start the first day of the rest of my life!

Here's a picture of my stilts

Happy Thanksgiving! Here Are Some Funnies For You

2011-11-22T23:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends! I will post the sestina directions another time. For now I want to share some funnies about kids someone sent me. Kind of oldies but goodies, hope you enjoy!

WHY WE LOVE KIDS

*I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, "Mom! That lady isn't wearing a seat belt!"

*My son Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. So I fished it out and threw it in the garbage. Zachary stood there thinking for a moment, then ran to my bathroom and came out with my toothbrush. He held it up and said with a charming little smile, "We better throw this one out too then, 'cause it fell in the toilet a few days ago.

*On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."

*A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup to come out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. "It's the minister, Mommy," the child said to her mother. Then she added, "Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle."

*A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, "What's the matter haven't you ever seen a little boy before?"

*POLICE # 1 While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, "Are you a cop?" "Yes," I answered and continued writing the report. "My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?" "Yes, that's right," I told her. "Well, then," she said as she extended her foot toward me, "would you please tie my shoe?"

*POLICE # 2 It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. "Is that a dog you got back there?" he asked. "It sure is," I replied. Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, "What'd he do?"

*ELDERLY While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, "The tooth fairy will never believe this!"

*DRESS-UP A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, "Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit." "And why not, darling?" "You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning."

*SCHOOL A little girl had just finished her first week of school. "I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother. "I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk!"

*BIBLE A little boy opened the big family bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found", the boy called out." What have you got there, dear?" With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!"

Sestina is an Interesting Form of Poetry - Here's Mine

2011-11-01T12:25:00.000-04:00

Girl Becomes a Woman - A Sestina

What makes me, a girl, into a woman?
Is it because I clean the house and cook,
And for beauty’s sake grow flowers in my garden?
Does it happen when I become a wife
To a man I cannot help but love?
Or not until he then makes me a mother?

I was but a girl living with my mother,
Dreaming of the day when I would be a woman.
Knowing only story book love;
Wanting just to eat but not to cook.
Leaving her to be my father’s wife,
While I sat, dreaming, in the garden.

Then my Prince came one day in to my garden;
Asked to take me from the home of my mother.
With solemn kiss and diamond ring, made me his wife.
I, the blushing bride, not yet a woman,
Learning how to clean and how to cook;
Learning most of all my own true love.

I welcomed my true love
Into my secret garden;
While delicious aromas fill the kitchen where I cook,
Delightful babies grow, filling their mother.
Girl turned bride grows up a happy woman,
Glowing with contentment of a happy wife.

My husband cherishes me, his wife,
And my trust grows together with his love.
Somewhere along the way I become a woman
Cultivated by my husband, his own garden
Bearing fruit, children I will mother,
Offspring nourished by the healthy food I cook.

So I clean and nurture, and I cook;
Bring my husband the blessings of a wife;
Raise my children in the nurture of a mother.
Surrounded by it, I produce more love
Growing rampant in my lovely garden.
Like the passion flower, I became a woman.

Feminine arts cook up a feast of love,
Inviting my husband into his wife’s garden.
Producing children, I’m a mother - I am a woman.

by Tracie Walker 6/2011
My next post will tell the form used to write this kind of poetry, and a bit of the history, so you can write your own if you like!

All's Well on the Southern Front

2011-10-27T17:56:00.002-04:00

I have wonderful news! At least, to me it is wonderful. I had the latest heart procedure, and the doctor said he had good news with a capital G and bad news with a little b. The good news is that I do not need a bypass after all! The stents are finally working properly, so the major arteries are clear. The bad news is that the littler arteries are blocked and that is what is causing the pain - but it won't cause a heart attack. So I am healing from the procedure and beginning to build back my strength. I am very grateful to all my dear friends who have prayed for me. Our God is gracious!

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine

2011-10-17T12:01:00.000-04:00

I have been enjoying the old hymns so much lately.

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest Name I know, Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go,"

"I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is living, whatever men may say; I see His Hand of mercy, I hear His Voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him, He's always near... He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today; He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way..."

And so many others are old friends with a dear, familiar message. I love the old hymns because they come from a deep place of Christian maturity. I love the way they sum everything up in a few short stanzas. They tell of how I was lost until Jesus found me, how I can serve Him here and how He fills me with hope of a home in Heaven with Him for all eternity. I've been singing these hymns for most of my 50 years and they are spiritual meat that sticks to the soul.

A philosophy you can live with is all very well, but the real test comes if you are willing to die with it. That's what I love about Jesus. He gave me a peace beyond understanding, joy that goes deeper than happiness, contentment in all circumstances, and He won the victory over death, so I have the calm assurance of a home in Heaven with Him! Perfection. Now that's a philosophy I can face life and death with.

Here We Go Again... sort of

2011-10-06T17:42:00.000-04:00

To my dear blogging friends,

Apparently this 3rd heart stent is not working either. I am on (more) medicine to stabilize the angina, and scheduled for another heart cath in a little over a week. At that time, a surgeon will be standing by, and bypass is extremely likely. They say I may be a candidate for some kind of bypass surgery that does not require "cracking my chest open," and I am somewhat hopeful that will be the case. But I am content to leave it in God's capable Hands. I say with Paul, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." (Philippians 4:11)
I rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom I serve.
I'll visit your blogs when I can!

“Sophie, Pay Attention (Rhoda, You Too)” Is Perfect for Your Child’s Kindle

2011-09-29T18:50:00.000-04:00

Kindle, an e-reader, is fast becoming a favorite gift to give children, or at least to pass down to them when a newer Kindle is acquired. It encourages reading, while providing a variety of books that aren’t heavy, expensive or requiring a return trip to the library. Some versions will also read the book aloud. But now that giving Kindles to kids is all the rage, the question becomes what books to download on them. Finding books is easy, but finding books that are appropriate for your child’s age, reading level and lifestyle is another matter. And of course, the book has to hold your child’s attention! So it was with great delight that I discovered a new Kindle book especially for children that fits all the criteria: “Sophie, Pay Attention (You Too, Rhoda),” by Susan Braun, a blogging friend of mine.

“Sophie, Pay Attention (You Too, Rhoda)” is a charming chapter book about a little girl learning to to do what’s right. The book tells an entertaining story incorporating a Christian message, yet it manages to avoid being preachy, sugary, or inappropriate. Sophie comes across as a real little girl, with realistic problems of growing up. Through the help of the Sunday School teacher we all wish we’d had, Sophie learns about a girl in the Bible named Rhoda who struggles with the same problems Sophie has. Inspired, Sophie begins to take responsibility for herself, and finds that doing the right thing brings its own rewards.

How refreshing to encounter a stable family unit, not perfect, but supportive; children that obey their parents without bad attitudes, deceit or manipulation; parents who take the time to love and discipline their children appropriately; and teachers that teach children rather than subjects. I especially appreciated the way the girl’s faith was handled, as a natural part of her life, with Scripture being a viable way to learn and grow. All this in a delightful story, perfect for beginning readers as well as those who enjoy being read to.

This book is available on Kindle, and can be easily downloaded from Amazon, for $2.99. The book is billed as appropriate for ages 6-9, but I think younger children would really enjoy it, particularly if they have a Kindle that will read to them; and older girls of 10, 11 and 12 would love reading it as well, especially since Sophie has an older sister. I look forward to more Sophie books from Susan Braun, this talented new author of “Sophie, Pay Attention (You Too, Rhoda).”

Source: PDF version of Sophie, Pay Attention (You Too, Rhoda), provided by the author.

Caring for Caregivers: Hospital Ministry When You Are the Patient

2011-09-22T12:09:00.000-04:00

I wanted to say that I am now answering comments with comments of my own; I know a lot of you do this, but I never have before, so I'm trying it out. I like the conversation aspect of it. Also, I wanted to share the hospital philosophy that God has shown me, so I'm sharing (below) an article I wrote about my hospital ministry when I am a patient:

“Please, Lord,” I prayed, “don’t let me so self-absorbed that I miss the people you’ve put me in here to minister to.” I was lying in the emergency room of a local hospital, after having been brought in by ambulance because of chest pain. The doctor had just been in to say they were admitting me, so I knew it was time once again for my hospital ministry.

I have been hospitalized more than the average bear, and like most people who are sick and in pain, I had sometimes felt a sort of “me against them” mentality toward the people upon whom I was completely dependent. But then one time, years ago, the Lord opened my eyes to the needs of the caregivers, and a hospital ministry was born.

Now, whenever I am hospitalized, I ask for God’s help to focus on the nurses, doctors, techs, CNA’s, and anyone else I come in contact with while a patient. I pray that God will give me the words to say to minister to these souls who spend all their days ministering to others. This has completely changed the way I feel when I am hospitalized, benefitting me as well as the people I am there to bless.

Realize that the caregivers are human beings with needs of their own

The caregivers in a hospital are not like personnel in any other business. In the course of their daily jobs, they give so much, doing things for complete strangers that absolutely humbles me, and so often they do it with aching backs and sweet smiles. They give and serve and help and assist, but who is taking care of them? I’ve found that when I focus on them and ask how they are doing, or about their family, or their feelings about their job - they look startled, and then pour out their own particular woes to a sympathetic ear.

I figure it’s the least I can do, considering all they are doing for me, and yet this is not as selfless as it sounds, because like all of the things of God that seem counterintuitive to us when we are being self centered, this strategy actually makes me feel much better. When I take my eyes off me, and fix them on Him, I stop feeling scared, miserable and like a victim whose life is out of her control. Instead, I feel almost like a missionary in a foreign land. Missionaries face danger and uncertainty, let alone inconvenience and discomfort, but they know they have a job to do in service to their Savior, and I likewise have a job to do in my hospital ministry.

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

It is easy when I am frightened and vulnerable to only notice when someone does something wrong. The things that inconvenience me or cause me pain seem to loom large. But when I focus on ministering to the staff at the hospital, I begin to really notice the myriad things they do that also ministers to me.

Once I begin to notice what they do for me, it is easy to feel gratitude for their service. But I make a point to take it further. First, I try to say “thank you” a lot. I also praise them to their superiors if possible. Secondly, I try to offer a friendly smile. And lastly I try to remember to say and not just think the positive things I notice about them.

This time, for instance, I thanked the girl bringing the meal tray for being a bright spot in my day, and then after my meal, which included a superb soup, I wrote a note saying how delicious the soup was, and left it on the tray. When I woke one night to a vision of loveliness in the form of a beautiful young woman, I told her that she was so lovely I thought I had dreamed her. Anyone who was able to draw blood with out causing agony received special praise! Staff in a hospital are used to working with fretful, hurting people, and a little appreciation goes a long way in ministering to them.

Notice the human being, and not just their impact on you.

When I am intent on hospital ministry even though I am the patient, I try to pay attention to whomever looks tired, worried, happy, or anything I can ask about without being intrusive. That way they can tell me what they choose. The next day, when that person comes on duty, I can ask how their sick sister is doing, or whether their birthday party was as much fun as they had anticipated. Sometimes, I ask a family member to bring a little dish of mints or gum that I can offer the staff. Just little kindnesses that lets them know someone cares about them and that they don’t always have to be the servant.

Pray for the people you come in contact with.

When I am lying around in the hospital, I have extra time to pray, and the people I am ministering to are often in need of prayer. Sometimes, I tell them I am praying for them and sometimes not, as I feel led. I don’t always overtly witness, but to paraphrase St. Francis of Assisi, I try to always preach the gospel even when I don’t always use words. God leads as to who is open to more, and in our conversations I certainly talk the way I always do, which is full of references to prayer, blessings, God’s care and provision, and all the things I just naturally talk about, but I don’t force it, or expect a response from them. God knows what they need, and I ask Him to provide it. I do make sure to ask Him to let me know if He wants to provide more of an overt witness through me.

Be forgiving and merciful about mistakes.

This one can be the toughest part of a hospital ministry when I am the patient, because sometimes the mistakes cause me a great deal of pain, trouble, inconvenience or discomfort. When they have a hard time remembering to come to my room to help me get on or off a bedpan, for instance, it is very hard to be gracious. When they really hurt me putting in an i.v. or forget to give me my medicine on time, or leave me stranded without my call button in a precarious situation, fear or distress can make me forget that they are busy human beings, not malicious or lazy. This takes practice and prayer, and I’ve found the absolute best thing is to remember that my life and well being are not in their hands, but in God’s Who knows all things including my needs, and will supply them. It’s not out of line to ask Him for help and relief, or endurance, and the Savior Who died on the cross while forgiving those who put Him there gives me the grace I need to serve Him.

I never know when God will call me to my hospital ministry, but every time I am a patient, I know there is a purpose for it, and I try to be a servant of the living God, and “bloom where I’m planted.” This time, along with discovering that a major artery in my heart was 99% blocked and putting a stent in it, I also had another opportunity to engage in a hospital ministry when I was a patient.

Source: personal experience

Be Still, My Foolish Heart

2011-09-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

My apologies for my absence recently. Unfortunately, I have a really good excuse. I began having chest pains again and on Labor Day found myself once again in an ambulance on my way to the Emergency Room. Another week in the hospital, another round of tests, including for pulmonary blood clots, another heart catheterization and once again, my heart was blocked in the same spot - so another stent; the third in the same place in six months.

Evidently my heart does not like metal stents very much. A bypass is looming, but hopefully (prayerfully) this stent will be the solution. The first time, I thought, "Whew, dodged a bullet! But now I'm fixed and all's well that end's well." Except it wasn't ended, after all. A few short months later I was back in getting a different kind of stent inside the first one. But the first one was a bare metal stent, and there was a 20% chance of restenosis - my heart had quickly formed extreme scar tissue - so they put in a drug-eluting stent. Only 5% chance of this one ever reblocking. But two months later, it did.

So now I "get it." I have an ongoing problem and they can't just fix it. They did tell me, however, that it was not my fault and that helped some. I have been doing everything I am supposed to. I actually crave vegetables now. Never saw that coming. I fix salads with spinach, radishes, carrots, celery, cucumbers, red cabbage, green cabbage, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, precisely 3 olives and sometimes a bit of chicken. That's probably more veggies in one salad than I used to eat in a year! And I like it. Very much. I don't even think of unhealthy foods as "real" food anymore. I've lost 30 pounds so far.

The exercise is a bit trickier, because every time this happens it sets me back to square one. I had just gotten to where I could exercise 30 minutes daily again. Now they tell me that in a few weeks, I can set the timer for 5 minutes and walk around inside my house, as long as I don't hurt and my heart rate doesn't go too high. Once I can tolerate that, I can add one minute every other day. I thought this was a major over reaction, so I tried it after one week. Turns out they were quite serious. I had chest pain for 3 days afterwards.

The medicines aren't much fun either. The slow release nitro pills gave me an excruciating headache for hours every day. But when I quit taking them I had chest pain. So I'm back on them. I chose headaches over chest pain, but this time the headaches aren't nearly so bad, so maybe I've adjusted, hallelujah!

All of this heart nonsense makes me think of my mortality. As a Christian, God has blessed me with peace, contentment and joy in this life. I love my life! But I have eternal life as well. This life is just the journey. Heaven is the destination, and the reward. I mean, really, even if you are having a great time on the ride, you still aren't sorry to arrive at Disney World, right? I am loving the journey, and I am looking forward to the destination. May God help me bloom where I'm planted, and glorify Him in whatever circumstances I find myself.

Tattoo Review

2011-08-23T12:14:00.000-04:00

A teenage girl of my acquaintance recently acquired a new tattoo. She is quite excited about it, and I can't figure out why. I know I'm over 30 and not to be trusted, but if any of these young people asked me, I could give them several good reasons to steer clear of "body art," for their own good. Ah, there's the rub. What young person wants his plans thwarted "for his own good?"

When I was young, the only people I heard of who got tattoos were Military men. The rumor was that they were often drunk when they allowed themselves to be talked in to it. Usually when someone will only do something if they are drunk, it is either a) stupid, or b) painful. Quite frankly, if it is so painful that someone who gets shot at for a living is afraid to have one, what business do I have attempting it?

But there are other reasons beside cowardice that make me reticent. I'm also cheap - and tattoos aren't! When I want to spend way too much money to have someone hurt me, I just get really sick and require medical procedures, like a sensible person. Sometimes I even get permanent scars!

Actually, permanence is behind my major reluctance to be tattooed. I know what I use to draw on my hand in ink when I was a teenager, and I can assure you that I would be embarrassed if those things were still emblazoned on my hand to this day. What in the world would I want so badly that I'd be willing to wear it on my skin forever?

Some people have answered this question to their satisfaction. I was treated to a "tour" of firemen's tattoos once, and these men had really good reasons for every tattoo on their bodies. But these were battle-weary men, not teens. Teens are prone to growing up, and growing up changes one's likes and dislikes considerably.

There is something else these teens fail to consider. Besides growing up, the sad fact is that many of them are destined to grow, um, shall we say, out! Changes in weight can drastically change the look of a tattoo, as it does everything else. Girls in particular want to put tattoos in places that are likely to change over the years. I was told of a young lady who had a lovely little rose tattooed near her navel. Lovely, that is, until pregnancy caused the rose to bloom into a bloated, ugly blob that did not recede with a return to normal size.

So I am unlikely to ever get a tattoo. (Although my Dad waited until he had a prosthesis due to losing a leg to diabetes - he had a wonderful tattoo drawn with Sharpies that was the envy of all the rehab patients!) But if my entrepreneurial side ever kicks in, I'll be busy coming up with a way to remove tattoos thoroughly, because some day, when these young people grow up and change their minds about the body art they loved in their younger days, the real money will be in tattoo removal!

Quote of the Week

2011-08-11T19:12:00.000-04:00

"Steve Hawking claims we don't need God, because the universe can be explained entirely by the laws of physics. But apart from God, how can we make sense of the existence and properties of the laws of physics? How could such laws exist apart from a law-giver, and how could we know that they apply everywhere at all times? The Christian world view can make sense of these things.

God upholds the universe in a logical and consistent way that can be at least partly understood by the human mind. Thus, the Christian world view provides a rational foundation for science. However, Hawking is left in the embarrassing position of having no logical justification for the methods and procedures of science. He must borrow concepts (like universal laws of nature) from the Christian world view while simultaneously denying the Christian God." - Dr. Jason Lisle, Astrophysicist

Perfect Beach Day

2011-07-29T22:55:00.000-04:00

We took Anna to the beach today for the first time. We went to Sanibel Island on a perfect day. We saw dolphins, a parasailer, dogs swimming, and this lovely little sailboat. Anna loved the beach and we all had a wonderful time!

A Fond Farewell From a Floridian

2011-07-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

It was with a fond smile of nostalgia that in the early morning hours of July 21st, 2011, I heard the double sonic boom of a returning space shuttle for the last time. After all, the space program has formed a backdrop to my entire life. When I was born, fifty years ago, the space program was just getting off the ground.

Eight years later I experienced the excitement of the United States landing on the moon vicariously through Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I never looked at the moon the same way again after that. Instead of seeing an unreachable mystery, I gazed up and pictured men walking on its surface; I wondered if someday, I would be up there too. A couple of years later I went with my family to Cape Canaveral, Florida to visit the Kennedy Space Center. We marveled at the enormous scale of all the equipment and machinery, and craned our necks to see all the way up inside a building so huge that if anyone dared to open a window, clouds would form inside.

I visited again as a young wife, expecting my first child. This was in 1981, just as the Space Shuttle program was being launched. We sampled vacuum-packed, dry ice cream, Neopolitan-flavored, to be exact. We strolled the Rocket Garden, and I posed with a roving astronaut, in full regalia. We toured the facility, saw rocks brought from the moon, and dreamed of some day bringing our children to see a launch.

A few years later, I stood outside on a beautiful winter day with my two young sons, excitedly anticipating the send-off of Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space. We watched as the silver-tipped plume rose steadily in to the sky. But just before the Challenger “slipped the surly bonds of earth,” suddenly it went shooting everywhere, and the orderly column of smoke became three large plumes falling back to the earth. I thought, oddly, that it looked as if an enormous banana was being peeled by a giant hand, and I knew something was terribly wrong. Later I cried as I saw Mr. McAuliffe’s face on t.v as he stood beside his two young kids. His expression. turned from pride and excitement to confusion, then horror. As hard as it had been for me to explain to my young children, it couldn’t compare to his job with his own motherless children. I mourned along with the country again when the Columbia and its crew were lost.

Over the years, we watched other shuttles rise in to space, and were awakened abruptly, weeks later, by the distinctive sonic boom that shook our house so hard we thought something had crashed in to it. Every time we would be startled and concerned, then laugh as we realized it was just another shuttle announcing its homecoming.

So July 21st was a day of nostalgia. That child I was expecting is now expecting another child of his own, and the Space Shuttle and I are retired. It is the end of an era, for the space shuttle program, and for me.

Good News All Around

2011-07-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

I had a great visit with my new cardiologist today. I am released to exercise! That should help with all sorts of conundrums. Exercise helps regulate mood, blood sugar, weight, circulation - I am looking forward to getting back in shape.

I also found out recently that I am getting a super present this Christmas (or thereabouts). A new grandbaby! Anna will have a sibling soon. Don't babies just make you happy? Me, too.

Speaking of Anna, she and her parents will be here in just over a week. I am so looking forward to seeing them all. Hopefully this rain will let up a bit, so we can take Anna to the beach for the first time in her young life. Although I am certainly not complaining about the rain, which we needed quite desperately. I do feel a little sorry for the cows in the pasture behind our house, although I have to admit they seem to like it. Probably cools them off in this intense summer heat.

Wow, does it ever make the grass (and weeds!) grow - well, the flowers, too, though. But now that I can do things again, I hope to weed around the crepe myrtle plants and help hubby mow the lawn. So what's up with you these days?

Weekend Movies

2011-07-11T12:31:00.000-04:00

We saw three movies this weekend, with varying degrees of enjoyment.

The first was Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon at the theater, compliments of our son. I can't say the story line was my favorite... but visually it was pretty amazing. My guys liked it a lot more than I did. It's definitely a "guy" movie - but if you're gonna see it, the big screen is the way to go.

The next one, from Netflix, is called "Extreme Days." This is pretty hilarious, actually. It is the story of four lifelong friends going on a road trip/extreme sports trip they've planned their whole lives. If you remember being young and having an hilarious trip with your friends, you'll relate to this movie. It is billed as a Christian movie, but it really wasn't, although some of the music was Christian rap and rock. However, this designation kept it clean(er) than almost any other "road trip" type movie. It is very funny but without coarse language, sex, or extreme gross out stuff. There is a voice-over "Jackie Chan" style spoof fight, goofy antics and mild romance, and some great sports shots as well, such as skateboarding, skiing, etc. If you like funny movies, but felt "Dumb and Dumber" was way too coarse, you'll love this movie.

The last movie, also from Netflix, was my favorite. It's called "Bandslam," and I'd seen bits and pieces of it when I was in the hospital. We all loved it! It's about music, and the actors are musicians who do their own singing and play their instruments, which gives it a lot more realism. The plot is a sweet teenage misfit that knows an insane amount about music. He transfers to a school where "Bandslam" is THE event of the year, and when a popular girl realizes how much he knows about music, she talks him into managing her fledgling band so they can enter the contest. Vanessa Hudgens of "High School Musical" fame plays against type as an endearingly strange and unpopular girl. The movie is so sweet, funny and clever, yet doesn't fall in to the usual traps in teen based movies. There is no sex, coarse language or gross out stuff of any kind. The relationship between the kids and their parents is mostly good, with a lot of respect as well as love. Nothing about this movie is predictable and everything about it holds true to the theme right up to the closing credits. I highly recommend this movie, and you can even watch it with your kids without blushing! Amazing!

Happy Birthday, Anna!

2011-07-07T14:07:00.000-04:00

I want to say Happy First Birthday to our precious little granddaughter, Anna! I am a little stunned at just how much I love this little girl. She is a gift straight from the Arms of God. Being a Grandmother is everything everyone said it was and more. What pure delight! I just spent time Skyping with her and her mother, and she is learning and changing and growing more beautiful every day.

Back to Blogging!

2011-07-02T19:08:00.000-04:00

Hello, my old friends! I have decided to begin blogging again - I've missed you all too much to stay away! I don't know if anyone is keeping up with me at Associated Content; I enjoy writing there, but it doesn't have the intimacy blogging does. So I'll be trying to catch up with all of you in the coming days. Ok, maybe weeks.

In the roughly nine months I've been away, a lot has happened, as I'm sure it has with you all. I turned 50. I like being 50! I think it is a good, respectable age. The half-way point! Not too young, not too old. And being a new Grandma, it seems fitting that I not be in my 40s anymore. Unfortunately, my body did not like turning 50, and my heart rebelled. I started the new year out by getting fit and in shape, but right in the middle of Turbo Jam I began having severe, radiating chest pain - this was back in February - and a 99% blockage in the main artery (the widower-maker!) was discovered, and, as I thought, fixed with a stent. But it turns out stents are more like a patch. Anyway, instead of getting better, I began getting worse, and just last week I ended up back in hospital, getting a stent within my stent - scar tissue had blocked it all back up again. So now we're praying that doesn't happen again, because if it does, I'm facing open heart surgery.

I also got to go spend some time with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter this spring. My son was in hospital too, with pneumonia, flu, ruptured eardrum and possible cracked rib, so I went up to help out. It even obligingly snowed one day while I was there! A treat for a Floridian, let me tell you. I am happy that I avoided any tornadoes tho! My little granddaughter is the cutest little thing ever! I enjoyed her so much, and she was in major learning mode while I was there, which was a lot of fun. She's about to celebrate her 1st birthday, and then at the end of this month, they are scheduled to come for a visit, hallelujah!

Ok, that's enough for now, don't you think? I want to find out about all of you! Stop by and leave a comment, will you please?

True Story Time!

2010-10-18T15:24:00.002-04:00

True Story Time - New Kid on the Block
When I was ten years old, I became the new kid on the block. I wouldn't have really cared that the kids wouldn't play with me. Except for the horses!
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Top Ten Reasons Why Old Age is a Gift

2010-10-14T19:57:00.001-04:00

The Top Ten Reasons Why Old Age is a Gift
So many people worry about getting old. But I think old age is a gift. Here are the top ten reasons why old age is a gift.
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Hello to My Blogging Friends

2010-09-17T18:21:00.000-04:00

Hello, all. I still try to drop in on as many of you as I can, but I don't always leave a comment, so I just wanted you to know.

I've had a wild week, but the outcome was better than it could have been. Sunday afternoon my mother had a slight headache, and after church she fell asleep. She slept a good while; when she got up, she passed out, and hit her head in the temple area, really, really hard. Then things got really crazy. I won't go in to all the details, but she was delirious, vomiting, and really in trouble. After an ambulance ride, two emergency rides and a hospital stay, she is finally back home, but none of the expensive tests really told anything. However, she'd recently had a medicine increased and the last time they increased it, she had problems, but they wouldn't listen, so she may have been sleepy and woozy from that medicine. When she hit her head so hard (she has a large, multi-colored goose egg and a bright purple eye nearly a week later), we think she gave herself a bad concussion.

I'm very happy that so many caring, competent people are willing to work in health care, but unfortunately not all of them are caring or competent, and the ones who are good are still swamped, plus Mom was completely disoriented, so someone, and often several someones, from the family was with her at all times. So the whole family is exhausted and stressed, but very glad we were able to be there to help her. She doesn't remember any of it... but we do. She's not completely 100% but definitely improving.

It's a fine line between listening to your doctor and getting your doctor to listen to you. It's a delicate balance between respecting the medical knowledge being expended on your loved one and being diligent to notice and rectify mistakes. I've gotten some incredible care at the hospital for which I am extremely grateful, but the hospital is no place for sick people. Still trying to sort everything out, in other words. But to all of the hard-working, caring, competent, cheerful, compassionate, skilled, patient personnel in all our hospitals, a very big thank you from the bottom of my heart.

"Enchanted April" is a Surprisingly Enchanting Movie

2010-09-04T19:10:00.000-04:00

Movie Review: "Enchanted April" is a Surprisingly Enchanting Movie
"Enchanted April" is one of those movies that you think you have all figured out, but it slowly blooms into a surprisingly enchanting movie.
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Sex Education - What is the Best Course?

2010-08-28T09:52:00.000-04:00

Sex Education - What is the Best Course?
Ideally, sex education should be taught by loving parents, and abstinence until marriage should form the core of the instruction.
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Grammar Rules That Really Rock

2010-08-25T14:25:00.002-04:00

Grammar Rules that Really Rock - a Humorous Look at English Grammar
When I was beginning to write, someone gave me these helpful, hilarious grammar rules that I hope you'll enjoy. Maybe you'll learn something about grammar, but if not, at least you'll have a good laugh!
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"No Paparazzi, Please!"

2010-08-16T16:26:00.000-04:00

Our little darling is learning to cope with constant photo requests. A girl's gotta get her beauty sleep!

Paradise Lost or Regained?

2010-08-11T12:31:00.000-04:00

I live in what is commonly referred to as Paradise, i.e. Florida. After being gone for a month, I am truly enjoying being back home, even though August is not really Florida's shining moment. However, I was in another state, enjoying our very first grandbaby and in many ways that qualified as Paradise!

Our granddaughter is a calm, sweet, adorable little girl and we are head over heels in love with her. We've been doing everything possible to earn e-miles so we can fly up and see her frequently. These things take time. One of the things I've been doing is writing for pay. Unfortunately, that means I don't have much time to blog anymore, writing or reading.

I am sorry to neglect my dear blog friends, and I miss reading your posts and being a part of your lives. But I have run smack in to the old adage about there being only so many hours in a day. So all I can say is that I will do the best I can. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to, they can catch up with me a little more frequently by accessing my Associated Content articles, listed on the left top, with "clickable" titles.

As to recently, I spent a month in Indiana, 2 weeks of it helping out my daughter in law in the last weeks of her pregnancy and 2 weeks of it cuddling our new granddaughter. Another small vacation with my husband followed. Then I got sick. I am just starting to feel better, but now there are extended family health concerns to deal with.

On a good note, our youngest son went to Panama recently and had a wonderful week there, enjoying the beauty of the place and also attending a missions conference. He looks really good in his new Panama hat!

Our Precious Baby Granddaughter Has Arrived

2010-07-07T23:53:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a very long day at the hospital, but all ended well. Our darling granddaughter is born, and she is just beautiful. 8 lbs 1 oz, 21" long and lots of dark hair, also extraordinarily long eyelashes! I appreciate any prayers that were offered on her behalf, because as it turns out, the cord was wrapped three times around her neck. But God is gracious and both baby and Mom, and my son the Papa, are doing quite well.

Any of you that are friends on Facebook can see a pic and name. I plan be in Indiana 2 more weeks, Lord willing, to hold our baby girl and spoil her parents. The baby is so, so sweet and calm. We are so blessed to have her here. Praise God, the creator of babies. 7/7/10

Waiting for the Birth of My Granddaughter

2010-07-02T19:36:00.000-04:00

I am waiting for my first grandchild, a granddaughter, to be born. She is content to stay where she is at the moment and I am content too. It's so different with a grandchild. With my own children, I was much more anxious to hold them in my arms. Even though I long to hold my granddaughter, I am happy to wait until it pleases her to be held. I love her already, just as I did my own children. But while I just knew they would be perfect in every way, it's different with my granddaughter. It's not that I don't think she'll be perfect - it's that it just doesn't matter. She is. That's enough. She doesn't have to be perfect if she doesn't want to be.

I love that I'll get to play with her. I played with my own children, of course, but I also had so much raising and character-forming and teaching to do - I love that with my granddaughter I can just be. I'm interested to see what she will be like, but in a once-removed kind of way that brings ease with it. I even hope that her parents will discipline and guide her properly, because I know that will be best for her. But I like her just the way she is.

Even now, when the way she is, is unborn as of yet. When it pleases her to make her entry in to this world, I'll be waiting with open arms and uncritical approval. I'll be waiting, with time to play; with sympathy and a helping hand when she must work instead. I'll be waiting with pride, but not surprise, at her accomplishments. She has already brought me such joy!

I'm waiting for my granddaughter's arrival, ready to adore and enjoy her. I am a Grandmother and it is grand indeed.

Back Home Again in Indiana

2010-06-25T14:24:00.000-04:00

Hello, all. I am in Indiana for a while, helping out before and after baby arrives. I'm busy and I don't have complete computer access, so I probably won't be able to visit much but I'll have a lot to talk about later!

I was born in Indiana, and even after we moved away, we used to spend a good portion of every summer in Indiana. There's a lot to love. I am enjoying being here again. The weather is gorgeous! People don't really appreciate it when they try to complain about the heat and I burst out laughing. But I can't help it. I can sit outside comfortably under a big shade tree on the soft grass and wave at everyone who goes by. Unlike sitting under a palm tree with the fire ants and the sandspurs, sweat pouring from every pore. Sometimes people do wave at home, though.

I am loving the fireflies at dusk. Magical! I have a wild urge to run around filling a jar with them to use as a nightlight.

I heard my first tornado warning siren today. Like a good little Hoosier, I ignored it. Later I learned they do this every Friday at noon. So as long as the tornadoes pick a different day, it's all good.

I'm also enjoying visiting with my son and daughter in law. But I've never been away from my husband more than a week before. But he'll come up after the baby comes.

And the baby is what it's all about!

Taco Pasta Casserole Recipe

2010-06-17T12:38:00.000-04:00

I've been tweaking this recipe for awhile, and I think I've finally got it perfected. Taco Pasta casserole is bursting with flavor, and is very easy to make. Served with a salad, it makes a great family fun night dinner. It is also perfect for a party or potluck dish. Here's what you need to know:

Taco Pasta Casserole
Ingredients:

          1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
        1/2 cup chopped onion
          1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese
         1 teaspoon salt
         1 pkg. taco seasoning
         1 16 oz. box bow tie pasta (or shells)
         1 jar taco sauce
        1 jar salsa
         1 8 oz. bag shredded Cheddar cheese
         1 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
         1/2 bag, at least, of crushed Doritoes

         1 cup sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS
    1     Preheat oven to 350 degrees
    2     Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions; drain.
    3     In a large skillet, brown beef and onion over medium heat; drain. Return to skillet and add cream cheese, salt and and taco seasoning mix (NO water) and simmer for 5 minutes.
    4     Pour salsa in bottom of 9x13 inch baking dish. Combine cooked, drained pasta with beef mixture and arrange on top of salsa; pour taco sauce over shells. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
    5     Remove dish from oven and top with combined cheeses and a liberal amount of Doritoes; return dish uncovered to oven to cook for 10 minutes more.
    6     Top with sour cream, if desired; serve and enjoy!

My Husband's New Blog

2010-06-14T17:29:00.000-04:00

For those who have been interested in my husband's blog, which used to be called Neo Enunciator, he has changed the name. The link is the same as before, but the name is The Word is Truth. I am linking it here if you'd like to check it out. He has a new article up, and intends to keep up with it a bit better this time. It looks a lot nicer, too. He also has links on the side that might interest you. Feel free to stop over there and say hello. You can say I sent you!

Meanwhile, Our Beaches Are Still Pristine...

2010-06-09T12:09:00.000-04:00

This picture shows Bunche Beach looking toward the Sanibel bridge. That big thing in front is a rock. A completely oil-free rock!

It's true, folks. The beaches in Southwest Florida are clean and pristine. White sand, blue skies, salt smell - NO OIL! NO TAR BALLS! NO BP LOAFERS - er, I mean workers. The only place in Florida that has any oil is the Panhandle. The Panhandle is light-years away from us. You guys don't travel as far to get to a different state as we do to get to the Panhandle.

The problem is, no one wants to come here, either. The economy already tanked, killing our construction business, but now the rumors of oil are killing our fishing, boating and tourism businesses. There aren't many businesses left. The tourism one, though, is actually "Death by Media." Kind of like when Dan Rather kept insisting that one of the hurricanes was headed straight for us when it wasn't anywhere near us at any time. Can't help wondering why the media is NOT attacking the current administration. Can you imagine if President Bush was still in office? I mean, first President Obama ridiculed the idea of offshore drilling. Then he announced that he was approving off-shore drilling. Immediately thereafter a disaster that makes the Exxon Valdez look like child's play, and what do we hear from the media about President Obama? What that's? You don't hear anything either? Interesting... Isn't the MAN MADE oil spill making landfall at the very same Louisiana that Hurricane Katrina went to? The Louisiana that makes its living from the waters? (I used to wonder how the verses in the Bible would happen, the ones saying that a third of the waters would be fouled and a third of the creatures living in the seas would die. That's in Revelations Chapter 8 Verses 8-11. We've seen one way it could happen!).

But, back to Florida, present-day. We are looking with concern at the oil, of course, but chances are it won't come here until it has already snaked around to the East Coast and points north.This is because of the Gulf Loop current that swooshes everything down from Louisiana around the tip of Florida and up tight against the other coast. The oil will likely follow that path as well. Unfortunately, there is so much oil that it will probably pollute everyone at some point. But we might be the last holdout in Florida where you can enjoy nice, clean, white-sand beaches. Not only that, but there are specials! Now is THE best time to come to Florida for a lovely, oil-free vacation. Put it off too long and there will likely be a lot less variety in resorts and beach front hotels. Because if business doesn't pick up soon some of them won't be able to stay up and running. All because of rumor-based hysteria. And that would be too bad, because sunset on the beach should be beautiful and not tragic. In Southwest Florida, at least, you can experience a wonderful sunset on a beautiful, clean beach.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend & 21st Birthday of My Son

2010-06-01T13:44:00.000-04:00

We had a fun four-day weekend! But the above darling little clothes actually have nothing to do with that. These are from a recent shopping trip extraordinaire! I am not particularly enamored with shopping. But I wanted to get something for the new little one heading our way. So when I got not one, but two $10 off coupons (one from J. C. Penney's and one from Kohl's), I decided to do a spot of shopping. As it turns out, both stores were having huge baby clothes sales! At Penney's I got the above "romper" for "Daddy's Little Princess," as well as a deep rose colored onesie and a soft bib. At Kohl's I found the darling red sweater/jacket over a polka dotted onesie, and it included a little pair of red pants with a pink flower on the back! The original prices would have made this about $45 - the sales made it more like $23 - with my two coupons, I paid roughly $3.00!!! Now that's the way to shop.

As for the weekend. Friday night hubby was able to get tickets to the dinner theater to see "Ring of Fire," the musical revue of Johnny Cash's music and life. We had seats right down front; the food was good (particularly the warm peach cobbler over vanilla ice cream), and the show was fantastic! My hands hurt the next day from clapping so much.

Saturday I spent the whole day cooking and baking for a special celebration that night. My youngest son, who spent the day playing video games with his father, turned 21 on Memorial Day. This year we celebrated on Saturday, so we avoided the unfortunate gaffe we made a different year. I don't remember which birthday it was, but we went all out and had a Pirate theme. His oldest brother took him to the movies and the middle son helped us make the front porch look like a pirate ship, put his gift in a little chest and buried it in the back yard, and wrote clues that sent him all over the yard to find it. In our enthusiasm, we even ran the Jolly Roger, procured at the flea market, up the flag pole. It wasn't until later that one of us realized it was actually Memorial Day! Oops! Anyway, this year we had a quieter dinner and party on Saturday. Sunday was nice, church and a quiet afternoon, while the son went to a party with his friends. And Monday, his real birthday, we all went to see Iron Man 2. Quite spectacular. I kind of liked Iron Man 1 better, but this one was definitely worth seeing on the big screen, and the guys liked it just as well as the first one.

I've also been exercising and losing weight (although this weekend was a bit off the reservation, what with the desserts at the dinner theater and the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits and apple pie and ice cream for the birthday party) - and oh, that reminds me, if any of you live far enough south to have a Publix, then you ought to know that for a limited time only they have brought back Tin Roof Sundae Premium Ice Cream, which is their best flavor EVER and which they inexplicably discontinued a few years back. I am also cleaning the outside of the house (and even, on occasion, the inside!), so that's what I've been up to, among a bunch of other stuff... how 'bout you guys?

My Baby is About to be a Daddy

2010-05-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

Me with our oldest, in 1981.

FUSION Speech and Debate Showcase

2010-05-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

Hello, friends! It is an absolutely gorgeous day today and I am enjoying it immensely. I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I talked to all three of my handsome, precious sons, who bless me so much.

Hubby and I enjoyed a unique treat recently, when we attended the FUSION Speech Showcase. Fusion stands for "Floridians Using Speech to Influence Our Nation," and it is a Speech and Debate Chapter of the Institute for Cultural Communication. Don't worry, I had never heard of it either, until our nieces got involved. They've been going for months and working really hard; this showcase was a sort of "recital," but the kids had to audition to recite in it. The standards are very tough.

It's a little difficult to explain the evening exactly. The kids performed what some might call skits, but not exactly that. If you are familiar with Anne of Green Gables, you'll remember the gatherings where people would recite poems and things. It was more like that. The kids, either singly, in duos, or sometimes in a larger group, use their voices, facial expressions and body language to dramatize something. They don't use props or costumes; they act the material out. Sometimes they've written the material themselves, but not always. Sometimes the recitation was comical, other times dramatic. I laughed and I cried! This was a thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining evening; and I am pleased to say that there are some very impressive young people (in this chapter, home-educated) learning how to communicate compellingly!

This was also a fund-raiser for the Gabriel House, which is a local "Christian home for abandoned, displaced, underprivileged, and medically needy children." And I do mean home; this is a loving couple who sponsor children in their home, find adoptive homes for them, and often adopt the children themselves. They accept no government funds, and they are not an institution. But over the past 20 years they have been rescuing children, getting them medical treatment, seeing them adopted, and also loving them.

Altogether an excellent evening!

Doesn't Census 2010 Seem Just a Little Bit... Odd?

2010-05-01T18:39:00.000-04:00

Every decade, a census is taken in the United States, so Census 2010 came as no surprise. But doesn't this year's census hoopla seem a bit weird?

The government reminds me of the mother of a spoiled, recalcitrant child, pleading, cajoling and threatening in the hopes the child will do some small thing she wants. The latest constant reminder is that mailing the form only costs the government, and therefore the taxpayer, 42 cents, whereas having someone come to the door costs $57. They tell us this via expensive commercials and numerous mailings - our humble home has received no less than four mailings regarding the well-publicized census. First, we received a letter telling us it was coming. Next, it came! Not long after arrived a letter informing us it had come. What is this, the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes?

Long after we had mailed it back, a duplicate census form, slightly different from the first, arrived, also warning us we must fill it out by law. I know personally of more than one confused citizen who dutifully mailed back both census forms. So of course we all know the next step in that parade. But they are all elderly and live in Florida, so perhaps this is not a country-wide phenomenon.

The 2010 Census is pretty funny. It wasn't at all surprising that Census Day 2010 fell on April 1st, otherwise known as April Fool's Day. As a matter of fact, all the questions, which most of us filled out in March, refer to April, as in "How many people lived in your house on April 1, 2010?" Sort of a census for Trekkies - future tense in the past via wormhole, or something. Without a rip in the time/space continuum, I couldn't say with absolute certainty, so I just guessed. Even though everything was dumbed down, it still managed to be confusing, so guessing was really all that was left to me. For instance, I was asked if anyone who lives here sometimes lives elsewhere, such as prison. Well, no, not on March 25th; but who knows what might happen by April 1st?

The questions are in English and Spanish, and given the April Fool’s Day tie-in, I was tempted to fill out the Spanish side, answering None of the Above to the question inquiring whether I am Spanish, Latino, or Hispanic. But they don't consider this question related to race. The race section is separate, and very specific until it suddenly reverts to "other." I didn't think it was politically correct to be obsessed with race any more. I don't understand how that knowledge will help them "determine allocation of federal funds, as well as seats in the House of Representatives," which is the stated purpose of the census.

But at least it was short. Just ten questions. Per person. In two languages. In 2000 the census was only seven questions. It was also estimated to take ten minutes. I guess we're getting slow. Of course, in 2000 they also boasted that “some day, there may be no need for paper census questionnaires: Census 2000 will be the first in which many households can respond online." So maybe, since we all got computer savvy in preparation, we have forgotten how to fill out paper forms. Or maybe we're just disappointed. Doing a census with pencil and paper, then mailing it back by snail mail is a bit like pulling out a stylus and clay tablet these days.

That's probably why the statement on the back, from the Paperwork Reduction Project, is my favorite part. Say the form takes you more than the allotted 10 minutes. Perhaps you are trying to think whether any of your household is likely to be visiting the prison on April 1st. The Paperwork Reduction Project gives us all a place where we can officially complain. Any comments regarding this "burden" estimate should be reported to them immediately. No doubt they will send out a letter apologizing. Or maybe two.

Personally, I think the whole problem could have been solved by mailing out ONE census form with a notice prominently displayed, informing each recipient that if they failed to mail the form back by a certain date, they would personally be fined $57.00, collected by the policeman sent to their house to enforce the filling-out process. Of course that might have completely changed the argument over who gets to be Person #1!

Beware the Grandparent Scam

2010-04-27T12:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you've heard about the Grandparent Scam, because although it has been around for a while, the victims are pretty embarrassed and don't really want to talk about it. I'm not sure really why they are embarrassed, though. This scam doesn't tempt by greed; it preys on the love a grandparent has for their grandchild. My grandchild is still, as they say, "in the oven," and I would already do absolutely anything for her!

Anyway, the scam involves a frantic phone call from a young person to an elderly person; when the older person answers, the younger says "Grandpa?" and leaves them to say something like "Is this Johnny?" thus providing the name. Then the game is on. Supposedly there has been a car crash in Canada in a rental car; the beloved grandchild will go to jail if they aren't wired X amount of dollars within, say, an hour and a half; they are depending on Grandpa to save them! It's all rushed, panicked, and often Grandpa can't hear real well to boot. Plus the line gets conveniently crinkly if the grandchild is supposedly answering anything that would identify them as completely ignorant. If this ruse doesn't work fast enough, the a psuedo-lawyer comes on and really turns the screws. Oh, and they are always begged not to tell "mom and dad" because it would only worry them.

I know personally of two people who have fallen for this and I think others need to be alert. Even in the remote chance this is real, your grandchild can afford to wait until you verify the information. And trust me, chances are that it is NOT real.

So that's my Consumer Alert for the day. I have one month to "show the doctor what I can do" in the way of exercise and other health measures, before he begins monkeying with my medicine, so I'm off to the races, so to speak. I have a million things to write percolating in my head and eventually one of them will swim to the top, so I'll be back then.

The Nina, The Pinta and a Nephew

2010-04-12T15:29:00.000-04:00

I have discovered that chicken pox in adulthood is nothing to sneeze at. (Hence all the Benadryl. Ha, ha). But I am slowly recovering. Meanwhile, we took our youngest son, the history buff who loves Sailing Ships, down to the Yacht Basin to tour the replicas of the Nina and the Pinta. (Some day they hope to add a Santa Maria).

Ship builders in Brazil built the replicas with authentic hand tools. The Nina is built to size; the Pinta is a bit bigger and can be rented as a party boat. As long as you and your guests are not prone to seasickness. Like I appear to be. I could stand on the deck of the Pinta, but when I climbed aboard the smaller Nina with the slanting deck, gently rocking in the gentle surf, and looked up through the swaying sails - well, I had to get off, so I wouldn't embarrass myself. My husband and I enjoyed the tour. Our son is considering signing on as crew!

Even though I was up until 5:00 a.m., I was still able to go to church on Resurrection Day! I was forced to wear pants, which was very weird, but I was happy to be able to worship that day, of all days. In the afternoon, one of my sons brought me an Easter Lily plant. It is a beautiful plant and a thoughtful gift, which I really appreciated.

On Wednesday evening, we got a call that our 21 year old nephew had been taken to the hospital and was about to go in to surgery. He was delivering food for a Chinese restaurant and the people he delivered to, pistol whipped him, robbed him of everything, put him in a closet and shot him, then left him there. The surgery was to remove the bullet and to put a plate in his arm, which was so shattered they couldn't piece it together again. They have not caught the perpetrators yet. My nephew is in a lot of pain. But he is alive, and for that we are rejoicing.

Two of my son's missonary friends died within a few days of each other recently. One man of heart problems; he leaves a wife and four year old daughter. A young lady, young and vibrant and seemingly in perfect health, died of eclampsia after delivering her 4th child prematurely. She leaves a husband and 5 year old twins, a 2 1/2 year old and the newborn. It has not been easy. Life is precious and precarious; Praise be to God that because of the Resurrection of His Precious Son, Jesus, we never have to grieve as those who have no hope. As He says in His Word, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints," (Psalms 116:15) and "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21). These are good verses to remember.

Itchy Scratchy

2010-03-28T17:52:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write about the lovely vacation we had and various things related to it. But alas, I am suffering from - well, something itchy. I woke up with a painful welt on my chin. We thought it might be a spider bite, but it spread some, and since the biggest welt-type thing was over a nick from a fingernail, I was worried it was another staph infection. It spread more -a lot more - pretty much everywhere, with itchy, oozy welts ranging in size from dime to silver dollar, and it was intensely itchy. We had done a lot of yard work, "fighting off" the overgrown jungle (err, I mean, lot) next door from eating our yard. So maybe it was poison ivy, oak or sumac. I know there were various vines, etc. where we were working. But then it spread more, only mostly in small, fluid-filled blisters. Besides serious itchiness, I also began having severe headaches and ennui, just total lack of energy. Oops, I once again thought I knew what it was.

I have kind of been proud of the fact that our whole family is evidently immune to chicken pox. Neither I nor my husband have ever had it, and none of our three sons, although I know they were exposed to it, ever contracted the chicken pox. So when my Mom thought she might have shingles, I went over to give my two cents worth. She did indeed have shingles. You can not get shingles from someone with that ailment, but you can get chicken pox from someone with shingles. And I am fairly certain that is what I've got. The doctor's nurse, going by her experience with her children, is sure that's what I have. The doc, because of the welts, leans toward poison ivy. My Mother, who feels awful about it, thinks I have both.

So I take copious amounts of Benadryl, which usually knocks me out cold. I have steeped in enough oatmeal in the form of Aveeno bath soaks to make someone a fine breakfast. I use the very strong (downright scary, if you read the pamphlet) ointment the doc gave me a prescription for. I keep the house cold as advised. And I try sooooo haaarrrddd not to scratch.

So the posts about vacation and other, far more interesting things will have to wait a bit, until I am feeling a little less sorry for myself.

Donkey Basketball - A Blast From My Past

2010-03-10T17:14:00.000-05:00

I found these pictures recently that brought back a half-forgotten memory. In the mid 1970s when I was young teen, donkey ball was a popular way to raise funds for school, church and civics organizations. I had heard of donkey baseball and thought it sounded like fun, so when I was asked to play a game of donkey basketball, I jumped at the chance. I don't remember what we were raising money for; I just showed up on the appointed day and hopped on a donkey. Tickets had been sold, though, so a merry crowd, anticipating fun, filled the school stadium we were playing in. What a wild, raucous game we played! Donkeys are notorious for their independence. When they don't want to do something, they... don't. I was spending so much time trying to coax my balky beast to go toward my basket rather than the opponents, that I didn't notice the referees encouraging and even rewarding the donkeys for unsportsmanlike conduct such as sudden stops, or bending their heads down so the rider slid off. I enjoyed riding contrary, spirited horses, so I had no trouble staying on my donkey; as for getting him to go where I wanted him to, that was a little trickier.

I admit I thought Donkey sports, which have been around since Depression days, had gone the way of the leisure suit, but I discovered that they are provided still, by small,family owned businesses that train the donkeys and truck them around to fundraisers in small towns across the USA. Despite the concerns of animal rights activists, the donkeys are firmly in charge; the referees keep an eye on things as well. Owners of the donkeys claim there have been no injuries to donkeys although a few humans have had minor injuries. Nowadays the riders have to sign waivers, take a short class, and wear helmets and pads, but still the games are played strictly for laughs. This quirky, charming bit of Americana may not be around much longer. I could find only three companies across the U.S. that still provide these games. What about you? Any Donkey Ball in your past? Or future?

March Came In Like a Lion...

2010-03-08T16:52:00.000-05:00

Will it go out like a lamb?

(Photo taken at Lion Country Safari in Florida)

Highly Recommended Article

2010-02-24T19:49:00.000-05:00

There is an article here that I think some of you would really like. It is called "The Healing of a Nation," and it is written by my husband. Let me know what you think.

Childhood Songs Like "The Cannibal King"

2010-02-19T09:24:00.001-05:00

Steviewren was talking about all the songs we used to learn as children and wondering whether anyone still taught them to the new generation of children. That got me thinking about the songs I loved (and learned from) when I was young.

Songs are such a wonderful way to teach things, all kinds of things. I was taught the books of the Bible with a song, and I still sing it when I am looking for chapter and verse. I learned scripture to song, like 1 John 7 & 8, and I learned Bible stories too. Teaching phonics to my youngest son was so easy once I found "Sing, Spell, Read and Write" by Sue Dickson. I can't recommend it highly enough, even if you only use it to teach the sounds of the letters to your child. My older sons loved the Rappin Rabbit's Safety Habits tape, and learned ways to handle scary situations.

But some songs are just for fun. Did anyone else sing "Kookaburra" or the one about the "little green frog, doing what he oughter"? My sister always liked the Prune song ("No matter how young a prune may be, they're always full of wrinkles..."). Two of my favorites were
"The Cannibal King" and "The Crocodile Song." For your amusement, the lyrics are below. Now,Steviewren, what's this about the Abba Dabba Monkey?

The Cannibal King
With the Brass Nose Ring
Fell in love with the dusky da-a-ame
And every night
By the pale moonlight
Across the lake he ca-a-ame
He hugged and kissed
His pretty little Miss
By the shade of the bamboo tre-e-ee
And every night
By the pale moonlight
It sounded like this to me-e-ee
Harrumph, (smooch, smooch)*
Harrumph, (smooch, smooch)
Harrumph Diddily I E A A A**
Harrumph, (smooch, smooch)
Harrumph, (smooch, smooch)
Harrumph Diddily I E A
Bump Diddily A A
(SMOOCH, SMOOCH)

*make smoochy, kissing noises
** pronounce each letter separately

The second song is called "The Crocodile Song"

One fine summer day
A lady sailed away
On the back of a crocodile
"You see," said she, "he's as tame as tame can be,
I'll ride him down the Nile."
The croc winked his eye
As she bade them all goodbye
Wearing a happy smile
By the end of the ride
The lady was inside
And the smile on the crocodile!

What songs do you remember?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T04:07:00.002-05:00

Uck! I'm Sick Again...

2010-02-09T13:17:00.000-05:00

Perhaps all the soup, kleenex, antibiotics and cough drops triggered this memory from my childhood. We keep passing one illness after another around our family, and this one is the worse yet, at least for me. Well, for this go-round, I mean. But it's not as bad as when I was a kid.

One day when I was 8 years old (in 1969), I got to feeling poorly at school. I don’t remember anything about that morning, although I know I couldn’t have ridden my bicycle like I usually did because something needed repairing, so my Mother must have driven me that day. It was too far to walk.

Anyway, the first thing I remember is sitting in class, feeling odd. I remember looking around and thinking nothing looked right. The room seemed dim, my head ached, my lessons didn’t seem to make sense, and I finally just put my head down on my desk. When the teacher came over to check on me, I asked, for the first time in my school career, if I could go to the nurse’s office. I normally loved school and was enthusiastic about my lessons, so the teacher gave her permission right away.

I went to lie down and the nurse called my mother to see if she could give me aspirin. I spoke briefly to my mother, reassuring her that nothing was seriously wrong, the nurse gave me aspirin, and I rested. The nurse chatted with me a bit, and I didn’t feel too badly, so when I heard the lunch bell, I told her maybe I should try eating something and see if it helped.

I went and found my class, got my tray of food, and sat down. But again I began feeling very odd, and I couldn’t eat after all. The lighting seemed strange. The noisy cafeteria sounds dimmed, too, with everyone looking distant as if I was at the other end of a tunnel. Nothing hurt, but I felt disoriented, so I went back to the nurse’s office to lie down some more.

I have always tried not to be dramatic or burdensome when I didn’t feel well, but when the nurse looked my way and I smiled at her, she said she was going to have to send me back to class, since I didn’t have a fever and didn’t seem to be so very sick. She may have thought I was just trying to get out of working. But I stayed put, and she said I could stay a few more minutes.

Before many of those minutes had passed, I suddenly became very ill indeed. The nurse thought I had brought up what troubled me and all would be well. But then I got sick again. And again. Increasingly violent episodes came in waves, but when the nurse called my mother, no one answered. Finally she decided I would have to be taken home. The only person available to take me was the principal of the school.

Our principal, like most I suppose, had the reputation of being very strict and stern, and I was a little bit afraid of her. She came to collect me, but I could tell she didn’t really want to take me home. As we got in her large, fancy, very new car, she commanded me not to be sick in it. I don’t think she was trying to be mean, maybe just trying to lighten the moment, or distract me. Plus I suppose she truly did not want me to be sick in her car. Somehow I managed not to be, and soon we were pulling up in my drive. However, no one was home.

She was unsure what to do, but I told her I had a key, and besides, I was sure my Mother would be home before long. She was hesitant, but I assured her I’d be fine, so she left me to go in and put myself to bed.

My mother came before long; she had taken my bicycle to be repaired as a surprise for me. She was surprised to find me there, sorry she had not been there to greet me. She stayed with me for most of the night, but nothing she did helped. I could not keep any medicine down, not even so much as a sip of water. I didn’t eat anything else that day, but still I was violently ill over and over again.

The next day was a Saturday, so the clinic wasn’t opened. My mother called the emergency doctor’s number. We didn’t have 911 then, of course. The doctor told her to meet him at the clinic. I was too weak to walk, so my stepfather carried me out to the car. When we got to the clinic, no one was there, but right away a nurse pulled in, unlocked the door and turned on some lights. The doctor arrived while she was leading us to his exam room. He looked me over, asked questions, and when I got sick once again, choking and gagging on green bile, he said I was throwing up the lining of my stomach. He was concerned and decided to do a spinal tap. The nurse stripped my clothes off, laid me on my side on a small table, and painted my back with mercurochrome. Then she began curling me in to a ball, telling me to pretend I was a squirrel. She curled me tighter than I thought possible, and then tighter still. Then the doctor took a very long needle and inserted it somewhere in the vicinity of my spine. He withdrew spinal fluid, put it in a little vial, and showed it to my mother. It was cloudy, which confirmed his fears.

I had meningitis. The doctor told my mother to take me straight to the hospital and he would follow. He said not to go anywhere else, and definitely not to allow me to eat or drink anything at all.

At the hospital I was put in an isolation room. This meant a private room, of course, but it had very little in it. No t.v. Nothing that couldn’t be burned or disinfected after I left. No one, including nurses, could come in without scrubbing, putting on paper masks, gloves, gowns, and paper booties. I couldn’t have visitors, other than one short visit with family only in the evening, and they had to gown up as well.

I was hooked to an I.V. since I couldn’t have so much as a sip of liquid. Nothing by mouth. The nurses came in sometimes to take my vital signs, which they wrote on their arms. Mostly I was alone. I was scared. So was my mother. She held it together until she got home, where my poor stepfather, who had heard nothing for hours, saw her come home without me. When he asked where I was, she burst in to tears and sobbed for awhile before she could tell him what was going on. He was afraid I was dead.I didn’t find out about that until much later.

After a few days, I could have liquids. The trays were styrofoam, so I would draw pictures on them to put in my window. Of course, they had to be burned eventually.

Finally I got to go home, and after a while at home, I was able at last to return to 4th grade. Since I was already doing 5th grade work, I wasn’t behind on my school work, and soon the frightening incident was behind me.

Only there was one footnote; about 5 years later something awful happened that made my mother cry all over again. She sold Avon at the time, and had a customer who was also a friend. The customer had a 9 year old daughter that she doted on. One day the girl got sick; her mother took her to the doctor, but he said it was only a virus, and sent her home. That night the little girl went to bed, and when her mother checked on her later, she was dead. Of meningitis. So I am very grateful to that doctor who was willing to come in on a Saturday, do a spinal tap in his office, and save my life.

I trust this illness is nothing like so serious! But I'll sure be glad when it, too, is just a bad memory.

Paradise Regained

2010-01-26T17:51:00.000-05:00

Hello again, I am fine. Welcome to Mr. Putz; you are welcome to visit my blog and thank you for leaving a comment. To all my friends, I have been reading your blogs, but the lazy way, through Google Reader, so I can’t leave comments; I will try to soon.

I did decide to plant my poinsettias. After a very hot, and I do mean VERY hot fall, we proceeded to break records with our cold stretch (which for us meant temps in the 20s). Before you smugly point out what a wimp I am, may I remind you that we do not have heat in our house, other than one tiny space heater (it's really cute, though, and looks like a little fireplace). I even had to break out my one and only pair of pants! Now, however, the weather is what I call "why I live in Florida weather." Surely you did not expect me to stay in the house blogging about it, did you?

Besides gardening and trying to save what's left of my poor, scorched plants (don't worry, Rosezilla is fine. She's amazing. I mean the rosebush, not me), I have also been painting, since hubby is about to launch another project and the boards needed painting first. He's going to be building a storage closet, of sorts, and he's going to close in my back porch, put lattice up to make it pretty and make a door. Then I can leave my back door open without getting varmints like raccoons, possums, and every stray cat around in my kitchen.

I've been reading "Jane Eyre," which was a Christmas gift, and enjoying it very much. Gonna put the PBS show of it with Ruth Wilson playing the lead on Netflix. I have also been exercising, as promised.

At Bible Study we are in the book of James. I love the book of James. My boys memorized it for school, so since I was their teacher (homeschool), I learned quite a bit of it too. There is so much good stuff in there! A lot of admonition, instruction and comfort. I love James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (New American Standard version).

I have been writing some, but mostly for AC; in part because they are donating money to a relief organization (IRC) for the articles I write about Haiti. Living in SW Florida, we have Haitian neighbors and friends, church family and orphans being cared for by other friends; we have, like most of the country, been trying to do what we can to ease the suffering in whatever small way we can find to do it. One young girl, here on a medical visa, was supposed to go back in January. I am so glad she was here and not there. She's such a darling. The young friend who had the recent motorcycle accident, and has EMT training, was asked to go with a small medical team, but she was heartbroken to realize she was not healed enough from her accident yet to stand for very long. (It turned out both ankles were sprained and she had a hairline fracture on her tibia, so it was a little bit worse than I had first been told).

Another friend is adopting a little child from Haiti. I have been told there were over 900 adoptions that were weeks away from completion when the earthquake hit. First they were all thrown into turmoil, but now they are expediting as many as possible. I leave you with a darling picture, from the Joint Council on International Children's Services, of a caregiver from a Haitian orphanage with her young charges while they waited at the airport for their exit visas to be expedited.

Let the Happy New Year Begin!

2010-01-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

(I see they have changed the way they do images on here, and it is messing me up! But I'll soldier on.) Christmas was warm and my roses were blooming their little hearts out. It is cold now, supposed to be between 30something and 50something all week. They said we haven't had 12 consecutive days below 70 degrees since 1935, but we might break the record over the next two weeks.

My head cold is nearly gone, for which I am grateful. I didn't get bronchitis this time, but I couldn't sing Christmas carols without coughing. My husband sings so beautifully, though, that I just enjoyed listening to him instead. (See my Schnozz, up above? Isn't he a hoot? He was a gift, and I love him to pieces.)

Christmas was lovely. I still have the poinsettias across my table, but I am trying to decide whether or not to plant them. I keep hoping I can keep one growing long term. I have a new location in the yard to try out. As for the previous post, all the things say Merry Christmas, obviously, in the following languages: Spanish; German; English; French; Hebrew; Swahili; Russian; Thai; Slovak; Bulgarian; Greek; Italian; Estonian; Portuguese. No, to my regret I don't speak all those languages. Only English, and a smattering of Spanish. I borrowed these from my youngest son's Facebook page. He's a missionary. No, he doesn't speak all these either, although he knows some German, and has been to Greece and Bulgaria.

Christmas was lovely and full of family, beauty and good food. And good news! Thanks to our oldest son and his lovely wife, I am going to be (or rather, as my husband pointed out, I already am!) a GRANDMA!!! The baby is due in late June. And we are EXCITED!!! I've been practicing on all the babies at church.

Our middle son sent us to see Avatar at the movies as one of our gifts; we saw it in 3D, naturally. Although I did not care for some of the language, other than that I loved the movie! It was beautiful, actually stunning, to watch, and an entertaining story as well. Pure escapism with a visual element that was amazing!

Well, for some reason I always do spring cleaning right after the new year, so I gotta get busy. Also, I didn't make resolutions this year as I have not yet gotten the good out of last years' so I will be Gardening, Exercising and Writing. Oh, one more thing. My hubby set up a google reader for me, so I can read all your blog posts in one central location a lot sooner. The only down side is that I can't comment there. I am reading your things, and as soon as I can, I will swing by and say hello. May God Bless us this year and I ask that He give me an even deeper love of and obedience to His Word.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T14:46:00.001-05:00

Feliz Navidad! Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! חג מולד שמח Krisimasi Njema! С Рождеством! สุขสันต์ วัน คริสต์มาส! Veselé vánoce! Весела Коледа! Καλά Χριστούγεννα! Buon Natale! Häid jõule! Feliz Natal!

The Gift Has Already Been Given!

2009-12-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

Everyone is aware that this year is a little tight financially for many people. It's got people to thinking about Christmas, gift giving and what's really important. I think this is a good thing. Everyone loves gifts, of course; most people love giving nice ones as well. But is this really what makes people love Christmas so much? I don't think so.

There are a lot of things we do at Christmas time. Giving gifts is one thing. Singing carols, baking cookies, making candy, and visiting family are some more. Also, decorating and shopping and going to parties and feasting together. But these are still not what we love about Christmas. These are things we do to celebrate what we love; tokens we give each other to celebrate what was given to us.

Because the Gift has already been given! Christmas, as Linus tells it so famously in A Charlie Brown Christmas, and as the Bible even more famously proclaims, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord. "And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.' " (Luke 2:10,11). He already came; He already walked among us, brought us Hope, and then died for our sins and rose again! Everything that gives us so much joy in the celebration of Christmas ever since that Holy Night is because of Him; the general happiness, giving spirits and soft hearts we feel at this time of year especially. Of course, some people will point out that we don't know for sure that Jesus was born on December 25th. It is true that we don't know the day He was born. But we do know that He was born, and this is why we celebrate.

Gifts are an integral part of the celebration of Christmas. God gave us the greatest Gift of all time, One that brought peace on earth and to men's hearts. The Wise Men brought gifts to the Christ Child. And we give gifts to one another in honor of His birth; we give ourselves to Him also. So for Christians, what is really important? The cost of the gift we give? The amount of people we give gifts to? The gifts we receive? Or the fact that we are remembering the Gift God gave us in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ; the fact that we offer ourselves back to Him Who made us in the first place? "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

This year is a great opportunity to remember what it is you are really celebrating at Christmas time. It is easy to get caught up in everything you think you have to do and not even enjoy Christmas anymore. But it doesn't have to be that way. God already gave us everything we need to celebrate. A Baby in a manger. Peace in our hearts. Hope for eternity. The Gift has already been given. What more could we possibly need?

More Really Good Stuff

2009-12-08T13:33:00.001-05:00

Good things happening! We've been decorating for Christmas. There was even a very obliging cold front that came in the day we put our tree up; it was all grey and overcast, rainy, windy and downright cold! Well, by our standards, anyhow. Probably because it was a change, it was lovely. It shouldn't be too hot to put up the Christmas tree, but many years it is. When you want a Slurpee afterwards, in front of a fan, instead of hot cocoa in front of a fire, you know you live in Florida! We actually got quite a lot of rain this weekend, which was a gift in itself. Great way to begin Brush Fire Season!

My Mother-in-Love and I went on our annual Shopping Trip with Lunch for my birthday. We had a great, girly-girl time and she bought me the loveliest outfit. She got an amazing silver jacket - I was calling it her Jetson's jacket - but she can totally pull it off. The woman's got style! She gave me good guidance, too, on fashion for ladies. I was pondering whether I could wear a certain, perfect outfit or whether I would get too hot, and she said, "Sometimes a lady just has to suck it up and be hot, if she looks good!" I love when the older generation teach the younger... like Aunt Ruth, who told me frequently (when she was in her 80s), "I won't worry! Worry causes wrinkles!" And my own mother, who always looks beautiful, told me once, "Do the best you can, then go eat chocolate." Works for me!

Thanks to all of you, especially Sara, who recommended Elizabeth Goudge. I am nearly done with "Valley of Song" which is simply enchanting! It is not easy to describe - the closest I could come might be to call it a fable - but it is charming and beautifully written, and I hope to go get another of her books at the library tomorrow.

My nieces have been taking ice skating lessons, which all by itself is pretty cool considering we live in southern Florida. They had a recital/show Sunday afternoon (lasted 3 hours!!!); it was a hoot. Like all recitals, there were lots and lots of tiny cherubs in darling costumes who performed all kinds of antics other than the ones they'd rehearsed. The show was perhaps a bit ambitious for the ones who could barely stand upright, actually. But unlike most recitals, there were also some amazing skaters whose names we will probably all be hearing before long. The show was based on movies, such as "Peter Pan," "Grease," "Annie," "The Sound of Music," and others, so (with the exception of "Annie") there was some really good music. And the coup de grace was Todd Eldredge! Not only did he perform, but he is going to be coaching here at our humble skating rink in between his own tours. Pretty cool! Unfortunately, one of my nieces sprained her ankle right at the end. She'll be alright, and she at least waited until she was done with both dance lessons and skating lessons. But I was sorry because I know it hurt.

Speaking of being hurt when it could be much worse, I do have something I am praising God for today. A very close friend of mine (since sixth grade!) has twin daughters; one of them was in a motorcycle accident yesterday. Someone pulled right out in front of her, and she had to lay the bike down. She skidded sideways and went right under a large pickup truck. But it never touched her. She has some painful road rash, some badly bruised bones in her foot, ankle and shin, and a few other cuts and bruises. But other than that, she is fine! Her mother, who has never been in favor of the bike, says God must have wrapped her in bubble wrap. The bike frame is bent, inexplicably. Her mother is even grateful for that, since presumably the bike cannot be ridden now. The other twin just got married - in a beautiful white dress and pink high-top tennis shoes! Tickled me.

Well, I have got to quit gabbing and go earn my keep, clean my house, and finish my library book. Until next time!

"It's the Most-Won.der.ful Time... of the Year!"

2009-12-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. Everyone seems so much happier and kinder and softer, somehow. And there's more going on than just good old, wonderful Christmas. Yesterday was the last day of Hurricane Season. In my part of the world, that's a big deal. (Of course, today is the first day of Brush Fire Season. Ugh. Always something).

Yesterday was also my 49th birthday. (That's me at one year). One more year to be in my 40s; then I'll get to reset the clock and start over. Since I'm going to live to be 100. I'll only be half way there next year. I love my birthday. I had a very nice one. It started on Saturday when I opened my front door to find 8 poinsettia plants on the porch, from my middle son. They now reside on my dining room table, and they look smashing! Such a cheerful plant. And it's RED!!! Lots of other nice things occurred, I had a lazy, spoiled weekend, and yesterday I enjoyed myself thoroughly. (Thanks for the card, Connie! So sweet!). I had chips and salsa with leftover turkey and a chaser of M&M's while watching an old Hee Haw rerun, for lunch. Then I took a lovely, leisurely bubble bath in my Wonder-Tub. Man, I love that tub. More about it another time. I also cleaned my kitchen and stuff, but I enjoy cleaning my house. Last night we watched "Operation Petticoat," with Tony Curtis and Cary Grant. Still funny after all these years (1959 is when it came out. A year before I did!).

Thanksgiving was wonderful, too. Everything turned out perfectly. And there were lots of leftovers. We all worked hard leading up to Thanksgiving Day. But we were totally lazy for the weekend afterwards. I don't do Black Friday shopping. I'm too tired from cooking and cleaning. And besides, there's nothing I want badly enough to fight the crowds for it. Also, I'm broke. So instead, I slept 'til noon, ate a huge leftover lunch, lounged in my tub, and visited with my hubby.

We watched the new Star Trek movie this weekend. Got it from Netflix. It was kinda cool seeing their version of how the original crew - Cap't. Kirk, Spock, Scotty and all the rest - first got together. I've also been reading some good books by Deeanne Gist. "A Bride Most Begrudging," and "The Measure of a Lady," which is my favorite. I'm about to read an Elizabeth Goudge book that Sara recommended. I am going to post again soon. Bye for now!

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T18:03:00.000-05:00

From the first year of our marriage, Thanksgiving took on a different feel each year. The first year, we "borrowed" my little brother, and had a picnic on the beach in Naples, Florida. Then we went to play on a water slide. When our own kids were small, I cooked for a week, with them playing on the floor at my feet in our tiny kitchen. I made my own stuffing, special rolls that took two days to make, pies, everything I could think of. We invited all of the family plus a recent widow from church. The day turned bitter cold, highly unusual for Southwest Florida, so we had to bring in space heaters. I remember my little boy being so puzzled when he overheard me saying we needed an extra leaf in the table to fit everyone around it. He finally caught ahold of my skirt to ask, "Mommy, how will putting leaves on the table make it bigger?"

That was a lovely meal. I put kernels of corn on each plate, and then passed a basket around. Each person said what they were thankful for as they put a kernel of corn in the basket. All of us had a hard year that year, but we all found something to be thankful to God for also. It reminded me of what the first Thanksgiving must have been like, when the settlers had barely survived the year and had winter coming in fast.

One year my husband's Grandmother made the trip down from Indiana and we all went and had a picnic in the park, then played games. She seemed so delighted, and couldn't wait to go back up north and tell her friends how she'd spent Thanksgiving on a beautiful Florida day. My husband's Aunt Ruth spent her very last Thanksgiving meal with us; I used the special dishes she had given us. She was so happy, her eyes were sparkling.

When the kids were old enough, we began volunteering at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving day. I'd put chili in the crock pot for our meal, or we'd have taco salad when we came home, exhausted from serving hundreds of turkey dinners to grateful, hungry people. The boys were assigned something like cutting the pies; they worked hard, and so cheerfully.

At some point the boys decided they wanted a big, traditional family dinner. I still have some of the name cards they made for each family member's plate, complete with drawings of Indians, pilgrims or turkeys. They each had their favorite foods, which I would try to incorporate; this led to a really big menu! It didn't help any that one didn't like turkey, only chicken; hubby only liked ham. Some like pumpkin pie, others only apple. I just make it all.

I learned to make amazing rolls, but could never get the hang of gravy. One year when the boys were old enough, they went to KFC to buy gravy for our Thanksgiving meal. It became part of family lore when they related that the young clerk had asked them whether the gravy was "for here, or to go?" One admitted he'd almost said "We'll have it here. Do you have straws?"The one son who doesn't like any gravy but white has learned to make his own.

Even my son's cat, Patience, tried to help. I was cooking away one Thanksgiving morn, when I heard a sort of strangled sound behind me. I turned to look, and the cat, looking like a little Pilgrim maid in her black and white coat, proudly laid a squirrel down at my feet. She seemed quite startled and upset when I screamed! She snatched up her gift and began running all over the house with it. Later, she tried again, with a lizard!

Now we usually have a big, family meal with the grandparents invited, and they pitch in with some dishes. One year our oven quit working the week of Thanksgiving. I did all my cooking in a toaster oven, while my mother-in-law roasted the turkey. That actually worked out pretty well! Another year when our son was remodeling our kitchen and miscalculated the timing of some repairs, I had no kitchen sink, no running water, and a huge mess. We all got to work and pulled off the meal that time, too. I think that was the year my son and husband spontaneously decided to cut a large "window" in the wall between the kitchen and living room hours before Thanksgiving dinner. I had mixed feelings. I had wanted that window through there for years; but not necessarily on Thanksgiving day! But it let so much light and air in to the kitchen, and I wasn't isolated. I ended up truly thankful for that window.

I am busily cooking and baking this year's meal. It isn't that hard to plan, because even though I'd love to make something different every year, no one will go for that. Well, actually, they don't care if I make new stuff - as long as I make all the old stuff too! So I'll probably just stick to the same old things, tried and true, beloved and anticipated. That's okay, though. Some things never change. Like the love of family. Like the gratitude we have to Almighty God for His provision throughout another year. As this Thanksgiving of 2009 approaches, I am most thankful to be His child. He has provided all of my blessings, and He is the best blessing of all. Happy Thanksgiving, and may the Lord make us truly thankful.

The October Thing is Always in November

2009-11-15T15:04:00.000-05:00

Last night we enjoyed the 20-something anniversary of the October thing. Only it is always in November now. It began in October and kept sliding forward year by year until it settled in to the second weekend of November, or thereabouts. But everyone kept right on calling it The October Thing. It is always on a Saturday night. That hasn't changed. The whole family goes over to the lot my parents own on the banks of a small lake, where they've strung lights, set up a few tables and chairs, and my step dad has a lovely campfire burning. All the children can't resist playing in it. They start with sticks, then surreptitiously sneak other things in to it, like paper plates, until they get caught and get in trouble. Of course now it is the younger kids. The older kids play other pranks.

Everyone brings some food to share. We never coordinate, so we never know what it will be. Last night it was mostly cookies and chips. But there was also my sister's incomparable devilled eggs. And my brother brought "long tailed frog," also called "swamp lizard." Some people call it alligator meat. Because, of course, that is what it is. I had the tiniest piece I could find, just so I could honestly tell you I have eaten alligator meat. Nope, it doesn't taste like chicken. Maybe like pork... I guess it is "what eats the other white meat." A very mild, rather chewy meat.

The main course, though, is hot dogs that we all cook on forked metal cooking poles. I cook mine until it is bubbling, but it is usually still ice cold when I bite in to it. Last night I got it done really well. That was a first. It doesn't matter, really, because the main event is roasting marshmallows. Everyone has their own special way of doing it. One young niece likes to cook them, but not eat them, so she is always going around begging everyone else to let her cook theirs. Her special technique is to catch them on fire, blow them out when they are bubbly and blackened on the outside, then present them to the recipient. I like to get them toasted medium brown all the way around so they are a little crispy on the outside, and melty on the inside. Perfect! My once a year treat. My step dad always makes his hot spiced cider, too, and has leaves it on its own special table in a tiny crockpot.

We talk about all kinds of things. We talk politics and religion and sports, hunting and fishing, video games, tell funny stories and plan future get togethers. My brother brought his pet raccoon last night. It loves to drink soda out of his cup. A teenage niece recited "The Man From Snowy River," Australian accents and all. Sometimes we sing, and one year a son who'd had a dancing lesson taught the box step to a younger cousin.

Gradually, later then they'd intended to stay, different families begin gathering up chairs and children and heading for home, usually taking chips or cookies with them. Everyone is full of marshmallows and root beer, and smells like smoke after our once a year, micro-camping family adventure.

Health Care Reform or Health Insurance Reform?

2009-11-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

I know feelings run strong about the Health Care Reform bill that passed the House and is being debated in the Senate. Everybody has their own take on it, at least partly based on their own experiences, and that's alright. In fact, I am very interested in what you have to say about the matter. I think the best solutions come from listening to a wide variety of opinions. Not that any one is asking me to decide the solution, but I know we can all learn from each other, and I want to learn from you.

I wrote an article about what I see as a need for Health Insurance Reform for Associated Content that you can find here and after you read it, please leave a comment, either there under the article, and/or come back here and tell me what you think. Whether you agree or disagree, I would like to hear how you see the issue and why. Or, if you post about it on your own blog, please tell me here so I can come and read it. Thanks!

Holidays and Baseball

2009-11-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

Now that Halloween is behind us, is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving. The family, the feasting, and the special time to all give thanks to God for His incredible blessings.

We had a wonderful visit with our son and daughter in law. They are very happy newlyweds. We really enjoyed watching the World Series together too. Our new daughter in law really knows her stuff as she played the position of catcher on her college softball team, and she added interesting color commentary. She is rooting for NY and I am rooting for the Phillies, so that made it fun, too. I like a lot of the Yankee players, though. It is a friendly rivalry. I try not to miss the World Series; it is the one sporting event I always try to make sure to see. It is funny how many connections I have to different family members, old and new, through baseball. My first real memory of watching baseball was with my Grandmother, who loved the Cincinnati Reds.

It is that wonderful season of holiday celebrations, family time, worship and incredible food! Enjoy!

Favorite Costumes From My Childhood

2009-10-26T12:35:00.001-04:00

Ruth thought it would be fun to do a meme on favorite costumes from our childhood, and I decided she was right - it would be fun! Plus, I found pictures! I was a strange kid...

In this first one, I was five. I am the Frankenstein on the right, wearing my dad's pants. I guess my sister is Morticia. We used to go to the rich neighborhoods for candy and we could fill two big bags! Although I have no idea how she could walk very far in Mom's high heels.

Here I am eight and wanted to do my own costume. I wore my step dad's bathrobe, an old wig I liked to play with, and my sister used some sort of makeup pencil to draw a villain's face. Then I practiced making scary faces. I actually won "Ugliest" in a costume contest. I was so proud!

I am ten in this picture with my siblings. I don't know what my brother was, besides cute, and my sister looked adorable as a cat. I chose to be a bookworm. That's right, a bookworm. I have a box around my middle made to look like a book. I have no idea what the black material is, and the "cap" was my mother's tube top! I pretty much gave up on costumes after this one. Until my kids came along!

Recipes for Rose Hips

2009-10-20T15:07:00.003-04:00

One way to prolong summer after your roses die, is to find ways to eat roses! Rose Hip Jelly, for instance, is fairly easy to make. For Rose Hip Jelly, you will need the following:

Rose hips
water
apple juice
pectin
sugar
paraffin (for sealing canning jars)

Remove the stems and wash the rose hips; then for every cup of rose hips, add two cups of water in a large pan, and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. Using a potato masher, carefully mash the rose hips in the water, and simmer for 10 minutes more. Carefully pour the mixture in a glass or stainless steel container and set aside for 24 hours. Strain the juice through a cheesecloth bag or a fine strainer. Don't push the mixture too firmly or the jelly will be cloudy. Put the juice in a pan and for 2 cups rose hip juice, add 1 cup apple juice and 1 box pectin. Bring this mixture to a good, rolling boil. Stir in 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar. Boil for 6 or 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until jelly is thicker. Remove from heat and skim off the top with a slotted spoon. Pour in to sterilized canning jars. Cover with melted paraffin (follow the directions on the box). After the paraffin sets, put the lid on, label or decorate the jar and store in a cool place.

Or perhaps you would prefer Rose-Hip Soup. Directions for making the soup are fairly simple.

3 cups rose hips
Extra water if needed
3/4 cups sugar
dash salt
Thickening agent, such as potato flour, cornstarch or tapioca, mixed with water to make a paste
1/4 cup chopped almonds
whipped cream

You will need to place 3 cups fresh, well-washed rose hips in 3 pints boiling water. Cover and cook until tender, straining by forcing the softened hips through a sieve. Take 4 1/2 cups liquid from this process, adding cold water to finish out the amount if necessary, and return to pan. Add 3/4 cups sugar and a dash of salt. Mix 1 1/2 Tablespoons potato flour with a little water to form a smooth paste, and stir it in to the mix to thicken the soup. Or, if you prefer you can make a paste with cornstarch or tapioca. Either will work as a thickener. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour into a soup tureen. Sprinkle 1/4 cup chopped almonds on top. Chill soup. Top with whipped cream and serve.

Whether you prefer stopping to see and smell the roses, wearing the lingering fragrance on your skin, or allowing the essence to fill your mouth, roses can continue to delight the senses all the year round.

UPDATE: Ok, I should clarify some things. A post by the lovely and fascinating Protege about the rose hips that grew in her part of the world reminded me that I had some old recipes of Swedish origin that used rose hips. I haven't actually made these with my own rose hips. For one thing, any roses using pesticides probably shouldn't be eaten, and also, if you prune the roses for more blooms, they don't have a chance to form the hips. If you go here and here, you can find out more information, recipes and warnings.

Zis and Zat

2009-10-14T14:12:00.003-04:00

We are supposed to have a cold front soon. That means it will be in the high 80s. We'll take it. It is already cooling down. One day last week, it was 95 degrees. The next day it was 94, and the day after that is was only 93! We measure progress in beads of sweat per square inch of skin.

Hubby and I went to a musical comedy at Broadway Palms Dinner Theater. We saw "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels." We've never seen the movie, but with Michael Caine and Steve Martin, it is probably funny. We enjoyed the stage version, for the most part. A bit naughty, but mostly just fun, and very lively. Very well acted, sung and danced. They do a good job with their casting. I also knew one of the actresses, so that's always cool. Last year, we saw "The Wizard of Oz" there and she was in it as well. And one time we saw "The Sound of Music," and one of the nuns was a friend of our son. Just adds an element of fun. One of the songs in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" was called Zis and Zat, thus my title today.

I've been going to a Bible Study for women in a nearby neighborhood. I enjoy it immensely! Such sweet, Godly women, and such solid study of the Bible. Not a book about the Bible, but the actual real live Bible itself. It is like a drink of pure water for the soul. I love God's Word, reading, learning and living it, and it is a joy to find sisters of a like mind.

I've also been doing a lot of writing, for a place online called Associated Content. A fellow blogger, Susan of Girls in White Dresses, told me about it, and I'm having a lot of fun. Not only am I honing my skills, but I'm getting paid to do it. When they accept something they pay for it, and you also get payments every time someone goes to view something you've written. If you'd like to see what I've been up to, go here to my profile page. Feel free to leave a comment so I'll know you were there!

Pranks at the Power Plant - Time to Reminisce

2009-10-05T17:59:00.002-04:00

Back in the late 1970s I worked as a temp at a power plant. Most places I could have earned around $2.50 an hour as a secretary so I was thrilled with my $4.50. Until I found out that the position, being union, started at over $7! Not to mention phenomenal perks and benefits. These people were well cared for. They complained all the time though. There was constant friction between union and management. My position, for instance, was only supposed to last 2 weeks, but ended up lasting 5 1/2 months because they couldn't fill the position due to a union requirement that the person hired had to know shorthand. Even as a temp, I had to know it. But the person rarely if ever had to use it. They found that most people who know shorthand don't want to lose the skill, so they wouldn't accept the position that didn't actually use it. Fortunately I was perfect. I could honestly say that I knew shorthand. But I could only drrraaawww shorthand if someone spoke very slowly. So it worked out.

They were pretty serious about their union stuff tho. Once I tightened a loose screw on my desk with my fingers and got a lecture because I had "cost some union guy his overtime." Um...okay. I remember the management guys being nice, serious, mournful looking worn out and nervous guys while the union guys seemed to always have a good time. They certainly found plenty of time for pranks. My tasks consisted of keeping and distributing supplies, running the switchboard and doing whatever I could to help the secretaries with proofreading or typing reports and things. I was also basically the receptionist, although you don't get tons of visitors at a power plant. The media sometimes, when there were nuclear plant controversies and such. I also made announcements over the loudspeaker.

One day I was in my little room and one of the other girls came running in, pulling the pocket door shut behind her and locking it. It seems one of the young men had been chasing her around with a lizard. Just then the lunch buzzer sounded, and she knew he would not waste any time going, so she confidently opened the door - and let out a scream! The fellow had indeed left, but not without tying the lizard to the door frame with a long string so that when she opened the door she was eyeball to eyeball with the dangling lizard! She got revenge later when he and a few other guys were repairing something down below our second story window. She got a few of us together and we all dumped large glasses of ice water out our window on the count of 3. Those guys might have been macho when it came to lizards, but they did some screaming of their own!Sometimes people took it too far, of course. One poor guy cut off part of his finger in the metal shop. A quick search did not turn up the missing part, so he was hustled off to the hospital. When he came back to work, he was greeted by the grisly sight of the end of his finger, tacked to the bulletin board with a R.I.P. note taped above it. He was NOT HAPPY!

There was one woman in particular though, who soon held the title in prank playing. Her name was Joyce. Someone told me she had formerly been a nun but was too high-spirited to stay in that profession. She definitely kept things lively. One girl would come in every morning to the kitchen, grab a foam coffee cup off the stack, get water from the tap, and turn to lean against the sink, drink her water and visit a few minutes. One day she found the water dripping all over her, from tiny pin holes Joyce had put in the bottom of the cup. The girl was good natured about it, threw her cup away - and grabbed one off the OTHER stack, thereby repeating the whole prank again! Naturally Joyce had done the top cup in each stack! Another girl was going on a hot date immediately after work one Friday. She brought a fancy long sleeved shirt and dress pants to change in to, and left them in a bag in the women's restroom. We all made sure to linger long enough to see her come flying upstairs, run in to the bathroom and - yes, sure enough frustrated screams erupted moments later, the word "JOYCE!!!" among them. Of course we already knew that Joyce had been at work with her needle yet again. This time spending her lunch break sewing the shirt sleeves together just below the cuff and the pants also! Another time she photocopied a rather risque picture from someone's calendar of a naked man lying on his side between a campfire and a motorcycle with a bottle of whisky rather strategically placed. She tacked it above the desk of the secretary to the President, who didn't notice it until her boss brought a bunch of visiting big-wigs in to introduce them to her. They kept glancing above her head while they were talking to her, and when they were gone, she looked to see what they'd been so interested in!

I turned 19 while I worked there and I have to admit it was a fun place for a young person to work. I even managed to get in a few pranks of my own. But I think this post is long enough. Don't you?

Five Words, Five Insights

2009-09-28T14:23:00.003-04:00

The lovely Beverly at Dancing With the Daffodils shared a meme where she had gotten five words from someone else, then wrote what they made her think of, thereby revealing something of herself to us. She invited me to play, and sent me my five words. I have expounded on them below. Enjoy! (And if this is something you'd like to try, let me know and I'll come up with five words for you to write about!)

Moment - It has been my experience that life can change in a moment. When things are good, I savor them thoroughly, because I know they might change. When things are bad, I don't despair because I know they will not stay bad.

I have also been learning to live in the moment. I have struggled in the past with thinking of all the things I should be doing with the result that no matter what I was doing at the time, I thought I should be doing something else. I never felt accomplished or satisfied because there was so much more to do. My husband has worked hard at teaching me to enjoy the process. When I am working on something, I am trying to give myself permission to concentrate on it, focus so that I can do a good job, enjoy the process and take a moment or two to bask in the satisfaction of a job done well. I get at least as much done as I did before, and probably more because it takes a lot of time to stress and worry!

The best moment is still to come! "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51, 52)

Finish - When I am finished with my life, I want my Savior to be able to say "Well done, good and faithful servant." I have a problem with finishing things, though. I'm much better at beginning. I begin a story, a diet, an exercise program, a garden - but too often I'm on to the next beginning, before I finish the preceding one. I guess learning to live in the moment will help with that.

Sound - I have discovered that I am very sensitive to sound. People's voices either soothe or grate. I don't make judgments about people because of their appearance. But I've been known to do it because of their voices. My boys used to complain because my ears are so sensitive they felt like they got in trouble just for talking. I felt like they were re-enacting WWII in my living room. Luckily that's what they make "outside," where boys should be, for! (Having said that, though, I really love the sound of my sons' voices). My ears physically hurt if sound is too loud. I speak very softly. I get in trouble all the time because people can't hear me. When I try to talk loudly, or I get mad and yell, it hurts my throat. My favorite sound is my husband's voice.

Carry - I loved carrying my babies. I mean after they were born, carrying them in my arms. I didn't want to use a baby carrier. I wanted to be the baby carrier. I did use a snugglie so they'd be right there even when I needed to be hands-free. When I had two babies a year apart, I would carry one on each hip to balance them out, or one on my back and one on my front. I loved the feel of them, little living bean bags, warm, fragrant, cuddly bundles of love.

Fact - I am not an overly emotional person. Not most of the time anyway. I'm pretty pragmatic and just kind of deal with what is, rather than moaning about how I wish it was. There are blessings to be found in just about everything, if I look for them. So I like facts. That's why I'm a Christian. When I look at the facts they all point to the word of God being True, just like Jesus says it is. Truth and fact are not exactly the same thing, but something can't be true and not be a fact. Now granted sometimes it doesn't seem that way. It can be a very hard truth, counter-intuitive or hard to understand. People say that's where faith comes in and they are right, but not for the reasons a lot of people think. It isn't that you have to have faith because something isn't true, but because it is and you can't see it. It is pointless to have faith in something that isn't true, and that's a fact! "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Evidence, not just wishes. I have studied the Bible all my life and I've verified enough of it as fact that I can confidently have faith that the parts I don't understand are true.

How Shall They Then Hear?

2009-09-21T17:24:00.003-04:00

(A short while back, I won an Honorable Mention in a short story contest. I even got paid! Anyway, I thought you guys might enjoy reading my entry. It is fiction.)

“The pastor keeps talking about inviting our friends to church, but all my friends already go to church!” Karen commented to the other ladies at Sunday School.
“How about family?” Kathy asked.
“Nope, they’re covered, too,” Karen confidently replied.
“Oh, come on, you must know somebody who’s not already a Christian!” Linda exclaimed . “Don’t you have neighbors?”
“I used to know all my neighbors, but not anymore,” Karen admitted.
“Well, there you go,” Linda replied.
Karen nodded as if things were as settled as Linda supposed. But as Linda asked for prayer requests, Karen thought about her neighbors. There were the two guys across the street who always waved and seemed friendly. But Karen was becoming increasingly convinced they were gay. The elderly woman next to them was so frail it took her half an hour just to get her mail. As far as Karen could tell, the mailbox was as far away from home as she ever went. The house on the corner was bursting at the seams with the largest family Karen had ever seen. There must be at least a dozen children and none of them ever looked clean. Karen had a sudden mental picture of pulling up in front of the Sunday School building in her Honda and unloading children like clowns from a circus car.
“And I’d especially like you all to pray for Maria, a co-worker of mine,” Karen’s mind wandered back to the group in time to hear her friend Cindy say.
“Is she new?” Jean asked. They were all used to prayer requests for Cindy’s co-workers and none of them recognized this name.
“No, not exactly. She’s been working there for a while evidently, but she just started cleaning our offices last month,” Cindy explained. A few amused glances were exchanged at Cindy’s reference to the cleaning lady as a co-worker, but Cindy appeared not to notice. “She’s kind of shy, but I’ve been eating lunch in my office lately so I’d be there when she came in, and she’s finally opening up a little bit.”
As all the ladies began to pray, Karen’s mind continued its inventory of her neighborhood. She remembered the young woman who had moved in to the tiny house next door. Karen had intended to bake brownies or something and welcome her to the neighborhood. “But how could I even talk to her,” she protested to herself. “She probably doesn’t even speak English.”
“You don’t know that for sure. You’ve never even tried to speak with her,” came a quiet voice of conviction.
“Well, I’ve been busy,” Karen argued silently. “Besides, what would we talk about anyway? She’s half my age. We’d have nothing in common. What, do I just walk up and ask her to church and hope she understands? She’ll think I’m nuts. I’ve never seen her talk to anyone in our neighborhood. She probably just wants to be left alone.”
After church, Karen headed home. As she pulled into her driveway, she saw the woman next door out pulling weeds in her small front yard. Karen waved, but the woman didn’t acknowledge the greeting.
Karen was late to Wednesday night prayer meeting, but Cindy waved her over to the seat she’d saved. After the service, Karen hugged Cindy and asked her how things were going. “Oh, great!” Cindy enthused. “I’ve been talking more to Maria. She’s from Ecuador. Her family is still there and she’s really lonely. I think she could use some friends here. I know she could use the Lord in her life!”
“Well, I’ve been praying for her,” Karen assured her friend as they parted.
The next afternoon Karen finally got a chance to plant a petunia garden down the front walk. As she worked in the fresh air and sunshine, the mail came. Karen noticed the lady across the street inching her way out to the mailbox. She considered going over and getting the mail for her. “But that is probably the only exercise she gets!” Karen thought, and contented herself with watching to make sure the frail lady didn’t fall.
When Karen had planted every petunia possible, she had three left over. She wondered for a moment if she should take them to the young woman next door. “I’m so filthy, though!” she thought, looking at the streaks of dirt covering her sweaty body. “I’ll get cleaned up first, at least.” As Karen stepped out of the shower, the phone rang. After she talked to her mother, she began fixing dinner. Before she knew it, it was bedtime and she’d forgotten all about the extra flowers. The next day, as she pulled out of the drive, she saw the forlorn little pots sitting in the sun. By the time she got back from running her many errands the little plants were wilted and ugly. Regretfully she tossed them in the trash on the way in the house.
As Karen entered the foyer of the church Sunday morning, Cindy headed toward her. Karen smiled at her, then noticed a young woman trailing her shyly. There was something very familiar about this woman.
As they reached her, Cindy said, “Karen, I’d like you to meet a colleague of mine, Maria Fernandez.” As their eyes met, there was a sudden flash of recognition in Maria’s eyes. She smiled and held out her hand.
“How good to finally meet you,” she said. “I’ve been enjoying the flowers you planted.” Karen, with a stunned look on her face, shook the hand of her nearest neighbor.
When Karen got home that afternoon, she saw one of the guys across the street in his yard. As she got out of the car, he called to her, “Wow, your flowers look great. Mark and I have really been enjoying them!” After a wave and a smile, Karen turned toward the house. Then, suddenly, she turned around and headed across the street to talk to her neighbor.

Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing and My Friend Heather

2009-09-15T14:38:00.004-04:00

I was so sorry to hear that Patrick Swayze died. I loved to watch him dance. We watched Dirty Dancing for the first time in its entirety a few weeks ago. (I'd seen snippets on t.v. before). I wasn't at all sure it would be our kind of movie, but it was actually pretty good. I especially enjoyed, what else, the dancing! I went to school with one of the dancers and was very close friends with her sister, Julie, in middle school. Her name is Heather Gerdes and I met her when she was a 7th grader with waist length hair. I spent time with her talented family, even went to their rehearsal and a recital once, so I guess I "knew her when." She was featured quite a bit, even dancing briefly with Patrick Swayze at one point. I knew she'd gone all over the world to teach dance and do choreography after the movie came out. I found a bio of her here. Apparently she's a script supervisor now. We enjoyed the movie much more than we expected we would, and I was impressed with how often she was shown. I thought I might post about it some time, but then when I heard that Patrick Swayze had died, I decided to pay tribute to him as well. I knew him only as an actor and dancer, but my heart goes out to his family and friends who really knew him as a person.

Ode to Bread (and Lawry's!)

2009-09-14T10:40:00.002-04:00

I love to make bread of all kinds. It is so much heartier and more flavorful then store bought. It has texture and substance and it smells wonderful. Plus it is fun to make. I used to do all of my bread making completely by hand. Kneading large balls of dough for up to 10 minutes at a time is quite a workout! At some point, my husband used his entire bonus to buy me a top of the line Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a bread hook and large bowl with my name engraved on it! It became my new best friend.

Sometimes I make just loaves of plain, white bread, transformed by being hot, crusty and fresh. Whole wheat and grains of various kinds make a hearty bread that is practically a meal unto itself. Cinnamon-brown sugar raisin bread is more of a dessert than a staple. I make my own pizza crust, too. But I think maybe my favorite is garlic bread! First I make two long loaves of French bread. I mix and knead the dough in my amazing mixer, let it rise for an hour, then punch it down and form it in to loaves. After it rises some more, I pop it in the oven until it is golden.
Then for garlic bread, I would mix Lawry's Garlic Spread with a stick of margarine, heating them both until they melted. Cutting the slightly cooled bread down the middle, and then across the sides into pieces, I would carefully spoon the hot mixture on to the individual pieces and after it soaked down in to the bread, back in the oven it went to crisp up a bit. Unbelievably good with spaghetti and meatballs, this bread was a major hit in my house. It was good with salad the next day, too!
But then Lawry's stopped carrying the spread. Yikes! What to do, what to do. I tried just using the minced garlic mix they sell in jars, but that didn't have the right texture because of the bits of garlic in the oil. I started making Parmesan Garlic Breadsticks, and they were very good, but not as good as our former bread. Finally, a tad discouraged, I resorted to just having store-bought bread with butter while I gave it some thought. But this past week in the grocery, my husband decided to try to find something else that might do. And lo and behold, he discovered four jars of Lawry's Garlic Spread! Naturally we bought all four! We are hoping very much that Lawry's saw the error of their ways and decided to begin making the spread again, but one can't be too careful. But for now, I have my spread; so tonight is spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread! The sauce is homemade and simmers in the crockpot all day. The meatballs (yes, of course, from scratch!) are in the oven as we speak. The french bread is rising. Later I will boil the noodles (no, I did not make them myself, although some day I intend to try). A few veggies or a salad and we have a winner! Here, have a cyber bite!

Sunset Beach

2009-09-10T13:38:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, we headed out to the beach for a sunset stroll. We've been going about once a week since spring and it is a highlight of the week. As soon as we step out on to the sand, I can feel my blood pressure going down a few notches. Taking a deep breath of the salty brine, we walk along the shore, seeming to keep pace with all manner of boats skimming across the bay. There are sailboats, yachts, Coast Guard cutters, barges, speedboats, Sunset Cruise boats, and many more.
My honey holds my hand, making sure I don't trip on driftwood, leaving me free to gaze clear to the horizon. Mullet jump while seagulls, herons, and other sea birds wheel and dive, their raucous cries filling the air. Often the tide is low, leaving tide pools to explore, full of baby horseshoe crabs, starfish and living shells. Often we will spot a dolphin swimming parallel to the shore fishing for dinner.
Lots of people come to fish for dinner as well, some with poles and some with nets. Others paddle kayaks and canoes, swim, look for shells, fly kites, sail, walk, and picnic. Sometimes the sky is clear and blue, with blazing sun; other days storms blow in, stirring up the waves in to froth and making interesting patterns with the clouds.
When the sun gets low enough, all eyes turn to see what colors it will bring this time. Sometimes it is delicate, pale pastels, edging the clouds and turning the sand pink where the tide has filled little pools on the shore. Other nights it is a bold orange and melts like butter down in to the sea. We watch in awe until the last bit of color is gone, then turn toward the magnificent moonrise to head home, sleepy and content with the beauty God has provided.

Knights and Door Knobs

2009-09-08T13:45:00.002-04:00

My youngest son spent the long weekend in Ocala at a King's Coronation, as well as Carnivale. The Society for Creative Anachronism crowned the King of Trimaris and celebrated the new Queen's birthday. The SCA (linked here) basically is about all things medieval. Every winter there is a Medieval Faire, (where jousting is my favorite activity) - this is an extended version. Everyone dresses in period garb, and people feast, ride really big horses, dance at a Masque, have sword and rapier fights and tournaments, shop in booths full of handmade items, learn juggling, archery and knife throwing, and play a wild game of living chess. A very fine way to spend a weekend!

Meanwhile, hubby and I shopped at Lowe's for doorknobs and deadbolts. We were about to settle for the cheapie knobs when, in the ta-da, nick of time, we discovered an amazing sale on really primo ones. They had been $60 a piece, but because that brand is being discontinued in this store, they were going for $7.50 each. The "cheapie" ones we had been prepared to buy were $8.50! So we did good. These are heavy, solid brass, and very classy. Not to mention how much easier they were to install, according to hubby. Often Lowe's has clearance sales of unbelievable proportions, esp. on Sundays.

September is Back and So Am I

2009-09-01T12:11:00.002-04:00

I thank you for your kindness in bearing with me, after what may have seemed like a melodramatic statement when I posted last. I wrote it in the impulsive aftermath of an emotional night. My dislike of August has nothing whatsoever to do with the weather, but with a deep sorrow. After all these years I had thought it would not be so sharp. Indeed I get through some Augusts almost unscathed. Other years I am blindsided by what amounts to a tsunami through my heart. I would have liked to say a tsunami of my soul because to my writer's ear it sounds better. But I cannot because despite my pain, God has kept my soul firmly in His grasp. But as anyone who has a hidden sorrow - and I am beginning to think that is all of us - I needed a time of solitude and renewal. Prayer and Scripture, physical activity and creative endeavors have helped me with my grief. After all, God says precious in His sight are the death of His holy ones. We who are yet clothed in weak flesh need sometimes to rediscover that death is not the end of life.

I Hate August!

2009-08-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

I will see you all in September.

The Mother of the Groom is Back!

2009-07-28T19:41:00.003-04:00

We are back from the most beautiful wedding I've ever attended. Visually, it was stunning, but I am talking about content here. There were opportunities to praise God together for blessing this young couple; the vows they wrote spoke of love being a commitment, not just an emotion; they had communion together and received a blessing on their marriage, as well as admonishment on what God expected of them according to scripture; and their care of and concern for their many guests was heart-warming.

When the cake was cut, they fed each other very gently, which I thought was sweet. (I was told that this ceremony symbolizes trusting each other and taking care of each other).
Since the groom is 6' 5" and the bride is 5' 2" the couple's first dance was a source of amusement, but it was also really sweet, and they looked tremendously happy together.
Then came the part where the mother of the groom (that would be me) dances with her baby boy. I thought I would be nervous, but once I was looking (wwwaaayyy up) in to my son's shining eyes, I forgot anyone else was in the room. I couldn't help thinking of when I used to stand him on my feet to dance, or later, when he was about 6 and loved to be a little gentleman and dance with me in the kitchen. I have to say I enjoyed this time thoroughly even if I can't dance - it just didn't matter. I got in a nice hug after, too.

Some of the wedding party managed to sneak out and adorn the car and the honeymooners left for the Canadian Rockies.

Tomorrow Is Another Day

2009-07-07T13:22:00.002-04:00

"Our car broke down. After bumming rides everywhere for weeks, we had a mechanic come here and he put in a new starter - but the old one broke teeth off the flywheel so it's a pain to start and it cost plenty! It dies all the time.

Our washer broke down, for the third time in 3 months, with the same problem each time - and all the Sears people do is bug me about getting a maintenance agreement. If they'd just fix the thing right, I wouldn't need a maintenance agreement!

Our plumber-friend fixed our toilet so it wouldn't leak out the bottom and now it's leaking somewhere else. He told us someone needs to take it out and shoot it. He spent all afternoon putting in new valves in the shower and tub (he had to cut a hole in the wall) and when he got it all in, it shot water out because there is a pinhole, and it has to all be taken out and returned, exchanged and put back in again. But he can't do it until Monday, then we have to take it back Tuesday and he'll replace it Tuesday night. Monday is also when my washer guy is coming, as well as when the week of Vacation Bible School begins (I teach). Also the tax job came in so hubby will have to work long hours. He had to work today, his day off, (fixing the ROOF at the shop!!!) and also get our flat tire fixed, so he came home with a headache, but then had to help the plumber all afternoon, so he had a migraine when the plumber left, and it was also too late to go to the grocery, so we can't go to church tomorrow, because no one can take a shower and we have no food. We had to call people to see if they were willing to cover for us by teaching two classes, passing out materials for Sunday School, doing the attendance stuff for all the classes, rescheduling a meeting. The fan is shooting flames out the back. The tape player ate a Bible tape and ruined the player. Our son broke the key off in the front door lock while I waited on the step with groceries. I had a nightmare, cut my finger and punctured my hand with an ice pick. To top it all off the wood in the back of my chair broke so my bottom sinks way down and my knees are even with my nose."

I was going through some things and found this journal entry from at least 20 years ago. Even though it probably didn't seem funny at the time I wrote it, it sure made me laugh when I read it today. What a bad week we were having! But everything turned out ok in the long run and we got through it. Other problems have been far more serious, devastating even, and God brought us through those as well. As a veteran camper, I really relate to the verse about God's Word being a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). One time we were camping at a place that was over-run with armadillos. They are pretty cool, prehistoric looking little beasties by day, but trust me, you don't want to step on one in the dark of night. We had a little lantern, and if we held it just right, it would illuminate the spot where we were about to step. We had no idea what might be outside of that spot, but we knew that for that one step, we were not going to tread on any armadillos. So often that is how God leads us. One step at a time and no idea what else is out there, threatening or beckoning. I don't know what the future holds, but I sure know Who holds the future.

I will be out of the loop for a few weeks, what with vacation and my son's wedding and good stuff like that. But I know not everyone has things to celebrate right now, and that there is a lot of unhappiness and uneasiness. I thought I would leave you with this thought.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28.
"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." Jer 29:11 (NIV)
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5&6

School Daze

2009-06-29T16:22:00.002-04:00

Why, you might ask, would someone who loves to learn as much as I always have, hate first grade so much? But I despised it.

I went to 6 schools in my 12 years, 4 of them in the first 5 grades. But that didn't affect first grade, of course. I suppose I was too young emotionally to handle the full days, though. Usually children begin with half-days in Kindergarten, and so far I was no exception. But my afternoon Kindergarten classes lasted a grand total of 2 weeks. Ten sleepy afternoons, following swimming lessons, a few teenage girls attempted to acquaint my wide-eyed classmates and me with the foreign concepts of sitting quietly in our chairs until called upon, raising our hands to speak, and writing our names on simple coloring pages. There may also have been singing. I only wanted a nap. Then, at the tender age of 5, I began the full days of first grade. But the work was no problem. Upon hearing that I was to go to school, I insisted on being taught to read. I felt it would be the height of embarrassment to show up at school unable even to read. I was highly motivated - my mother says I learned by osmosis.

Unfortunately being able to read actually became an obstacle to my happiness in school, however, because the other kids were constantly asking me questions, for which answers I would incur the wrath of the teacher. And the teacher was my real problem. I was positively terrified of her. In this particular school there were known to be 2 first grade teachers - the nice one and the mean one. In what was to become an unfortunate pattern in my school life, I got the mean one. I was only slightly apprehensive because I tend to get along easily with people and I felt perhaps she'd been misunderstood. Alas, she had not.

I can't honestly say I was singled out for her sharp words. I don't recall her liking any of us. We all got in trouble if we talked; but it didn't matter why. When confused classmates whispered desperate pleas for help and I tried to explain something, we both were called down sharply. Finally I learned to put my head on my desk when I had completed my work, shutting out the whispers and the tugs on my shirtsleeves.

The constantly sour attitude and sharp rebukes made me nervous enough, but had it ended there I might have adjusted. One day something occurred that cemented my fear and made every day an anticipation of disaster. We were finally at lunch, to be followed by recess - every child's favorite part of the school day. My friend and I were at the back of the lunchline, which was very long and very slow, and we began looking around us, and fell to daydreaming. Something brought my eyes back around to my friend, and with a start I realized the line had long since left us behind and we were standing alone near the door we came in at. "Go!" I commanded my friend, giving her a little push to emphasize my words.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, seeing how far back we were, and she hurried forward. As I lifted my foot to follow her, I was suddenly snatched up by both shoulders and shaken very hard. My head flew back and forth, tender baby teeth clashing together, feeling much like I imagine a field mouse must when an owl snatches it from the ground. As the violence of the shaking diminished, I could see the angry face of my teacher close to my own frightened one. "Don't push people," she screamed. Eyes wide with shock, I attempted to sputter out an explanation. Unfortunately I began with the words, "I wasn't-" and before I could get another word out, the shaking began again, much harder than before, as she yelled furiously that I was not to lie to her! "Ok," I gasped and she released me. I stumbled forward to get my lunch, stunned and rattled. Leaving as quickly as I could to go to recess, I discovered that the treasured plaything I had carefully placed in the toy cubby had been absconded with. Discouraged and unhappy, but afraid to complain, I went and sat under a tree. My mother was furious when I told her what had happened, and she tried in vain to get me transferred to the other class. She did discover that my teacher was very ill and that's why she was so tense.

Following closely on the heels of this incident was another, adding to the feeling of uneasiness because of the unnerving quality of it. I was sitting in reading circle with the sun streaming in, a little sleepy with the dull business of listening to other first graders stammer out their reading lesson. Suddenly the quiet was shattered by a shy, timid girl, who leaped to her feet, screaming. She danced frantically, slapping at herself and emitting little shrieks while we all watched in horrified fascination. The teacher rushed to the girl's side, trying to discover the problem. Just as she reached her, the girl burst in to tears and the teacher hustled her out of the room. We all stared in amazement at one another, totally at a loss as to what had just occurred. We were later informed that the girl had been stung by a bee that got inside her sweater. This episode did not make me fear bees, but my fear of my teacher became a bit mythical as I associated her with the bizarre episode.

One weary, dreary Monday morning, I dragged unwillingly in to school, weighted down by a very large, heavy cast on my aching arm, shattered in 3 places in an unfortunate incident at the Jaycees picnic over the weekend. It was my right arm, too, so all the careful work I'd done so far in learning to write had been completely undone. When I arrived, it was not my teacher who waited for me. We had a substitute, a very pleasant looking lady named Mrs. Whited. She explained that our teacher was going to be out for some weeks due to surgery and recovery, and she, Mrs. Whited, would fill her place as best she could. While feeling sympathy for the sick teacher, I can't say I was sorry to have relief from the constant dread of the school day. Mrs. Whited was as pleasant as she looked and I thrived under her smile like a flower in the sun. She was patient with me when I had trouble doing my work because of my broken arm, and she laughed when she found that rather than raising my hand for attention, I was just resting my heavy cast on the back of my chair. We got along famously. The crowning touch was the school-wide Student of the Month competition. I craved going forward in assembly in front of the entire school to receive the certificate and accolades given to the favored student. But our teachers had to nominate us. I had given up hoping, so I was genuinely surprised when my name was called. I went forward, beaming, and saw my new favorite teacher beaming back. Not long after that our regular teacher returned. Everyone in the class mobbed her to say welcome back. Well, everyone except me. I was over with Mrs. Whited having a tearful farewell.

There wasn't much of the school year left by this time, and perhaps our teacher was feeling better after her surgery, because there were no more particular incidents. As long as we stayed silent, and didn't complain at recess about the bullies, things weren't too bad. We even had an art project one day, and I enjoyed it so much that I remember it still. The owl I made is preserved as magnificent in my memory, the actual work of art not having survived to contradict my visions of grandeur. The owl art project done on black paper was the single good memory I had with that first grade teacher. She was almost nice to me that day! I've had a fondness for owls ever since.

Spider Art

2009-06-24T12:24:00.002-04:00

Update on Gates

2009-06-22T11:52:00.002-04:00

My friend, Karrie, continues to post here about the adoption of her little son from China. After many obstacles, Paul is in China right now, patiently plodding through all the many steps of officially adopting his son. They have a Skype account set up, so Karrie can see her new son as he plays. He's adorable! She asks for continued prayer for the process, the trip home, and Gates' acclimation to his new family. Thank you all for your interest and prayers.

June Roses

2009-06-15T13:07:00.003-04:00

Are Bugs Pretty?

2009-06-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

No one thinks flies are pretty?! I'm shocked. I mean, look at the little guy, with his huge red goggles, his shimmery blue-green hide, and his little hook to hold on with! Though, to be honest, if he had been on my kitchen counter I'd of whacked him without a second thought. For me the demarcation line is inside versus outside. I've always been an outdoors girl, and I marvel at the beauty of all kinds of unusual things. Snakes, for instance. My mom says there's something heathenish about my fascination with snakes. But have you ever really looked at, say, a coral snake? They are really gorgeous. We have large indigo snakes here too. Once my young son was leaning against a tree by the pond and felt something on his leg. He looked down and there was a 5-ft. indigo climbing him! He did a frantic little panic dance and the startled snake dropped off. Evidently he'd never seen a tree behave like that.

I find many spiders and other unpopular creatures to be beautiful too. My sister and I loved ants when we were little and were always trying to make homemade ant farms, with moats around them. An awful lot of ants drowned themselves rather than stay with us! Maybe it's from growing up in Florida where you either get used to things or stay nervous a lot. We always did a lot of camping, so when we went swimming or canoeing, it was usually in a pond or lake, and there were often alligators nearby. Mostly they leave you alone, especially if no one has been feeding them. Unless they've been fed, alligators are pretty shy of people. I did get to swim with a manatee once, back before it was illegal to touch them. They have hides like elephants and faces only a mother could love. We have oodles of lizards and frogs. We watched quite a drama in our bathroom window one day. We heard what sounded like a girl screaming and ran to find the source. There were 3 frogs on the outside of the screen, but there was the glass of the window kind of trapping them. They were what was screaming! A snake was crawling up the screen, wanting to eat them. While he was trying to pick out the juiciest looking frog, a tiny spider started sidling sideways toward him, ever so slowly. Finally he reached the snake's head, climbed on and bit him right between the eyes! The snake jerked, then fell from the window. So the little spider saved all those frogs! Sort of made me think of the story of the mouse saving the lion.

I love watching all the little dramas unfold as long as the creatures are outside where they belong. Even birds, which are so beautiful and fascinating flying free, I've had no luck with inside. Once we had a parakeet named Midnight. It was basically psychotic. I figure it was because it was caged. Another time we came home to find a peach-faced lovebird clinging to our screen door. Someone's pet that had escaped, we thought at first. My son made a pet of it, and at first it was adorable. It would sit on his head and sing and act all innocent. Soon, though, it became an attack bird, refusing to allow anyone in to his bedroom except him - and then, it turned on him too. We came to realize that it had probably been booted out by it's original owner in self-defense! I use to like squirrels, too. Until one got down inside our bedroom wall! So, if any bugs could read this, the moral of the story would be - stay out of my house! The bugs in the pictures I posted were all found outside and left to live and let live, except the red and black one that I trapped in my kitchen! He was left in a jar to be admired until he expired.

(This was first posted when I began blogging a year and a half ago; Dishy's post about her daughter's little fly friend reminded me of this, so since almost no one was reading back then, I thought I could re-post it without boring anyone too much. All of these photos were taken outside of my house (the jar one was inside).

For Your Amusement...

2009-06-08T12:18:00.007-04:00

(I've had this skit script since we performed it as a radio play in high school, and thought you'd enjoy it. I did not write it but it is possible that -

the author of the skit is a semi-retired pastor by
the name of Warren W. Wiersbe of Lincoln, Nebraska. He wrote it decades
ago while a youth worker with Youth For Christ. It tells about it in his
autobiography, "Be Myself." He's written about 100 books and been on
radio for years.

I haven't been able to confirm that yet. It is pure silliness and very "punny." Enjoy the melodrama!)

FRONTIER MORTICIAN

Announcer: The makers of Fatrical present (MUSIC) –Frontier Mortician…

Are you skinny and run down? Are you so thin you have to wear skies in the bathtub to keep from going down the drain? When you turn sideways and stick out your tongue, do you look like a zipper? When you drink strawberry pop, do you look like a thermometer? Then you need Fatrical—the drink that adds weight to you. Fatrical is not a capsule, it is not a solid, it is not a liquid—it’s a gas that you inhale. Fatrical comes in one delicious gas flavor—mustard. It costs only $4.95 a case, and the equipment for inhaling it costs only $5,678. This includes a 10,000 cubit foot tank, 300 feet of hose, three pumps, two filter tips, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Now for our story—Trigger Mortis, Frontier Mortician. The scene opens in the residence of Sam Alamode, wealthy rancher and owner of the Bar B Q ranch in Sparerib, Texas. Sam is dying and is talking to his lovely daughter Piney Alamode, whom he lovingly calls Pie…
Sam: Pie, honey, I’m dying again. Go call Trigger Mortis, the frontier mortician. Have hearse, will travel.
Pie: What’s wrong with you, daddy? What’s your ailment?
Sam: I swallowed the thermometer and I’m dying by degrees.
Pie: I’ll go call Trigger Mortis right now…
Announcer: Unknown to Sam Alamode, his head foreman, Joe Silver, is hiding outside listening to the conversation. He’s a full-bloodied Indian. And Sam always called him his faithful Indian companion, Silver. Sam doesn’t hear Joe speak…
Joe: Let old Sam die. I wish he would. Then I can get the ranch and be set for life. He’s always got some fool disease. Last week he swallowed a dynamite cap and his hair came out in bangs. Before that he swallowed a hydrogen bomb and had atomic ache. He’s suffering from flower disease—he’s a blooming idiot. Hey—here comes Pie Alamode’s stupid boyfriend, Arnie…Poor kid…he’s an orphan…little orphan Arnie. I’ll just sneak away…
Arnie: I haven’t seen my girlfriend Pie Alamode for two weeks. Boy, she has lovely eyes—one is brown and the other two are blue. Last time she rolled her eyes at me, and I picked them up and rolled them back. I remember the first time she kissed me…it made chills go up and down my spine…then I found out her popsicle was leaking. I’ll knock at the door. (KNOCKS)
Pie: Who is it?
Arnie: It’s me, honey—and I call you honey ‘cause you have hives.
Pie: Oh, my cookie…and I call you cookie because you’re so crummy.
Announcer: We interrupt this love scene to bring you a message from Peter Pan makeup. Use Peter Pan before your pan peters out. This is the makeup used by the stars—Lassie, Gentle Ben, and Phyllis Diller. Listen to this letter from Mrs. Mergatroid Fluglehorn from Liverlip, Mississippi. “My face was so wrinkled I had to screw my hat on. Then I used Peter Pan makeup and I don’t look like an old woman anymore—I look like an old man. I had my wrinkles tightened up, and now every time I raise my eyebrows, I pull my socks up. I give all the credit to Peter Pan.” You can be beautiful, too…Now back to Frontier Mortician. Trigger Mortis, the frontier mortician, is answering his telephone…
Trig: Oh, it’s you, Miss Pie Alamode…You want me to come to see your father? Well, my hearse has been giving me trouble—I think I blew a casket. I’ve got to quit using embalming fluid in the gas tank, because the motor keeps dying. Yes…yes…well, I have to finish my breakfast. I’m eating Shrouded Wheat and Ghost Toasties…Well, I’ll hurry right out. Goodbye – I must be shoveling off.
Announcer: Pie Alamode hangs up and goes to meet her lover, little orphan Arnie, in their favorite meeting place…the family graveyard.
Pie: It’s so romantic here in the graveyard. There’s the grave of my Uncle Earnest. Look…there are some maggots courting in dead earnest.
Arnie: Darling, may I have your hand in marriage?
Pie: My hand? Oh yes! In fact, you can have my arm, too.
Arnie: Here, I’ll put this ring on your finger.
Pie: Awwww, your face is turning red.
Arnie: yeah, and your finger’s turning green…after all, we’ve been going together for twelve years now.
Pie: So what do you want—a pension? Let’s do tell my father.
Announcer: This program is brought to you by the Double Insanity Insurance Company. Mothers, do you have children? Then protect them with a double deal policy. We pay $100.00 if your son is killed by a herd of white elephants going east on Thursday. If you lose an arm, we help you look for it. If you get hit in the head, we pay you in one lump sum. We have a double indemnity clause, too. If you die in an accident, we bury you twice. Now, a report from the National Safety Council. It is predicted that 356 people will die in accidents this weekend. So far only 135 have been reported. Some of you aren’t trying. Now back to our story. Joe Silver is plotting to kidnap Pie Alamode and hold her for ransom. He thinks Sam Alamode is dying, but he really isn’t. Trigger Mortis, frontier mortician, is on his way to the ranch…
Trig: Well, here I am. When you are at death’s door, I will pull you through.
Sam: Good to see you, Trigger…Can you give me a good funeral?
Trig: I’ll give you a good funeral or your mummy back. Could I interest you in our new layaway plan?
Sam: I’m a sick man, a sick man. The doctor told me to drink some medicine after a hot bath, and I can hardly finish drinking the bath.
Trig: You need some of my Whistler’s Mother medicine – one dose and you’re off your rocker.
Sam: Trigger, I can trust you, can’t I?
Trig: Of corpse, of corpse…have I ever let you down?
Sam: I don’t trust my faithful Indian companion, Silver. He has a sneaky look.
Trig: I happen to know, Sam, that Joe Silver wants to kidnap your daughter and keep her from marrying little orphan Arnie.
Sam: Trigger, we gotta do something. Think of a plan.
Announcer: Will Trigger Mortis think of a plan? While he thinks, here’s a word from Honest John Pendergast, the used car dealer. Honest John has bargains in used cars that you can’t afford to miss. Here’s an 1887 Essex—this is a revolutionary car—Washington drove it at Valley Forge. The tires are so beat that you not only knock the pedestrians down, you whip them to death. This car has low lines—in fact, it’s so low it doesn’t have doors—it has manhole covers. This program is also brought to you by Glum, the toothpaste that gives your bad breath the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Are your teeth like the Ten Commandments--all broken? Do you have a Pullman car mouth—one upper and one lower? Then use Glum…Glum contains eucalyptus oil, flown in from Australia…this eucalyptus oil is the secret of Glum. Millions of users say, “Man, you Clipt us.” Be true to your teeth and they will never be false to you. Now, back to Frontier Mortician. Sam, Pie, Arnie, and Trigger Mortis are trying to figure out how to get rid of Joe Silver.
Sam: I have a splitting headache.
Trig: Have your eyes ever been checked?
Sam: No, they’ve always been blue. Trigger, why don’t we put Joe in one of your coffins and ship him out of the state?
Trig: A tisket, a tasket, I’ll put him in a casket. I was in love once, so I know what Arnie and Pie are going through.
Pie: You were in love?
Trig: Yes. I was stuck on a girl who worked in the glue factory. She had a schoolgirl complexion…with diplomas under her eyes. Her lips were like petals—bicycle pedals. Those lips…those teeth…that hair…that eye…
Arnie: Hey—here comes Joe Silver. Get your coffin ready, Trigger.
Pie: Daddy, lie on the bed and act like you’re dead.
Announcer: Sam lies on the bed and holds his breath. Trigger takes off his shoes and everybody holds their breath. At this breathless moment, we bring you the daily police calls. Calling car 15, calling car 15—Happy Birthday, car 15, you’re now car 16. Car 56, Car 56, rush to the Bungling Brother’s Circus. The fat woman has hay fever and is crying so much three midgets are about to drown. Car 23, car 23—return the 10-gallon hat bought for the mayor. He has an 11-gallon head. Car 19, go to the corner of 6th and Main. The Chinese cook has just committed chop sueycide. Back to the story…Joe Silver enters Sam’s bedroom as the other people hide.
Joe: So I finally caught you, you scoundrel. You’ve cut my check so many times I have to endorse it with Mercurochrome. I want to marry your daughter, Sam, and nobody’s gonna stop me. Sure, I’m tough…I’ve been sent up the river so many times I get fan mail from the salmon. The last time they caught me I got ten years in jail and two in the electric chair. Even when I was a baby people were pinning things on me. Now, I’m gonna get you.
Sam: Get him, Arnie.
Trig: Quick, I have the casket opened. Push him, Arnie.
Joe: Help! Help! You’re pushing me! (MUFFLED SOUNDS)
Trig: That takes care of him. Now I have to run for a body. A fellow in town swallowed a quart of shellac and died. He had a lovely finish.
Arnie: How can we thank you? You’ll come to the wedding, won’t you?
Trig: Yes, I plan to give you a tombstone for a present, but don’t take it for granite.
Sam: Thanks, Trig. By the way, stop over and we’ll play golf someday.
Trig: Don’t ever play golf with an undertaker—he’s always on top at the last hole.
Arnie: Now we’re alone, Pie, my love. Someday you’ll have my name.
Pie: I never did find out—what is your last name, Arnie?
Arnie: My name is Arnie R. Square.
Pie: What a lovely name I’ll have…Mrs. Pie R. Square.
Announcer: And as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we leave the lovers as they plan their future. Tune in tomorrow for a new adventure, brought to you by Bleeties, the cereal for old goats. Bleeties contains 55% iron, 22% copper, 78% steel, 14% bronze and 11% zinc. It doesn’t snap, crackle or pop—it just lies there and rusts. Bleeties isn’t the breakfast of champions—it’s for people who just want to get into the semi-finals. In closing, be sure to visit your local dime store where they’re having a monster sale. Haven’t you always wanted to own your own monster? We have vampires at special prices and they‘re excellent for curing tired blood! These are experienced vampires who all worked as tellers in blood banks. Now, tune in tomorrow for the first episode of the new story, “I Was a Teen-Age Spinster,” brought to you by the gardener’s magazine, Weeder’s Digest.

Happy (Slightly Late) Birthday, Youngest Son!

2009-06-03T13:29:00.002-04:00

Twenty years ago last Sunday our much-anticipated youngest son arrived. Fun-loving from the start, he has also loved books apparently since birth, and is very well read. He used to enjoy acting, doing all the different accents spot on. He has always been fond of the water, swimming and boating, and playing soccer. He is a graphic artist volunteering in missions work. He can play a mean game of pool, since he is ambidextrous, but is also formidable at Chess, good at both offense and defense in the same game. Sometimes I wonder if his mind is also ambidextrous! He's talented, fun-loving, cheerful, serious, a great conversationalist, intelligent and a joy to his family.

I would have wished him a Happy Birthday earlier, but I'm having a little trouble with the concept of having no more teenagers. I keep having this dream where I am walking down a long, winding path, pushing my youngest son in a stroller. As we walk, he grows, until when we finally reach our destination he is a grown man, crouched in the stroller glowering at me, angry because I won't let him out. Of course, we all know what that means - time for grandchildren!

Seriously, though, I do wish him a Happy Manhood and since he's just as cool as he always was, I'm sure I shall enjoy this phase of our lives as well!

Gates Waits

2009-06-01T12:52:00.002-04:00

A close friend of mine is in the endless process of adopting a child, nicknamed Gates, from China. The paperwork and red tape has been relentless, and now, at zero hour, the swine flu has thrown another huge cog in the wheel. Karrie could really use your prayers and support. I am linking to her blog here if you would like to read about her struggle and her beautiful, waiting child.

Bolivian Flute Music

2009-05-24T17:08:00.001-04:00

We had a lovely evening the other night. We were invited to an intimate little gathering at the Ten Thousand Villages boutique to hear a Bolivian pan flute musician named Efrain (pronounced Eee.fra-in). There were 15 of us scattered at little tables around the transformed shop. Lights were dim and cozy, textiles and tapestries softened the walls and ceiling, and incense wafted through the still air. My husband found a little rattan love seat that we could snuggle on to enjoy the beautiful music.

Efrain, a native of Bolivia, had long, jet-black hair and traditional, colorful dress. He played a mix of traditional folk music, self-composed instrumentals, and Christian songs such as On My Knees by Jacqui Velasquez, and El Shaddai. In between the songs, he spoke of growing up in a small village, his early love of music, and his journey toward playing music professionally. Eventually, he developed a deep faith in Jesus Christ and a ministry to be a witness to Him through his music.

There was an intermission featuring a variety of fruit, a chocolate fountain, coffee and cheescake. We all had a chance to chat with Efrain as well. We learned that he made all his own instruments, which included quite a mix of flutes. He innovated a finer bamboo mouthpiece for the pan flute, made single bamboo flutes and even aluminum flutes. He also showed us other instruments, like a 10-string one that resembled a ukelele. Efrain has played concerts all over the world, in venues small and (very) large. We were very priviliged to enjoy such a special concert. Thank you, Melody, of He, She and Me, for hosting the event!

Just Stuff

2009-05-18T12:32:00.003-04:00

I had a splendid Mother's Day! First and foremost, all three of our "boys" (who are really men, but hey, I'm a Mom and they'll always be my boys), came over. We had a wonderful visit, both all together, and individually. We always have a great time when we get together, with lots of conversation and laughter. Then I always enjoy them individually as well. They are so unique and endlessly interesting. Our oldest son had Engagement photos to show us, that were just wonderful. I am putting my order in for several! He also gave me texting lessons, since I didn't have a clue. I'm really bad at it, as it turns out, but at least now I understand how to do it! You never know when I might need that information, and I appreciate the patient lessons. Then we had a good talk, which is a rare treat these days. I am so gonna miss him when he moves away to begin his married life.

Our middle son brought me some beautiful plants that I am so excited about! One is a Dipladenia, which I have been wanting for years, with big, pink, trumpet-shaped flowers. We got it planted yesterday, right where I can see it from the kitchen and back porch. There's another one with pretty, yellow flowers; I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it's beautiful. I love plants with yellow flowers. They are always just like sunshine. Hubby is making a special place for me to plant it in front of lattice. He (son) even brought a little pot of red gerbera daisies, that I'm keeping in my kitchen. They are so cheerful! He was the recipient of my practice texts, as well, and exhibited great patience with my silly messages. He is such a generous man.

Our youngest brought some beautiful Nepalese pottery. You light a candle in the bottom, and the little bowl in the top holds a scented cube (White Chocolate Berries! Smells heavenly). It went straight in to my new bathroom, for use during a leisurely bath. He was his usual cheerful, thoughtful self, which I find a very pleasant combination!

I am so proud of our boys, they are strong, sweet, intelligent, funny, amazing Christian men, and I love 'em to pieces. I am very happy and proud to be their Mother. I also enjoyed spending time with my own mother and my mother in law, both of whom I am cherishing more as the time with them grows shorter.

Thanks be to God, it is finally raining! It has been so, so dry. Spring is always dry, but they are saying this was the driest spring in 75 years, and everything has been screaming for rain. There have been such terrible fires, including the one above, behind the golf course and near the Nature Center, a few miles from our house. Roads have been closed, including major ones like Alligator Alley, which is the preferred route from the west coast to the east. Recently, when we were watering our poor, thirsty plants, hubby started noticing movement from every direction. To our amazement, small lizards began running over, along and beneath the fence, straight to the water. They were licking it off leaves and out of small puddles, and there were dozens of them. We've never seen that before! The summer rains are quite early this year, and we are very grateful. During the hot, humid days, the clouds gradually begin to build up larger and darker in the sky, until, with an impressive roll of thunder, the wind freshens and the rains come pouring down. I love storms, and I love the huge, fluffy clouds; I would be quite content in heaven just to float around on my own, special cloud for a few thousand years. For now, I'm content to watch them rolling lazily along above me, bringing the promise of much needed rain.

Sunset

2009-05-11T19:29:00.004-04:00

I took this photo many years ago, as the sun set on the lake behind our house. It won an Honorable Mention in a photo contest. I just found the slide and thought I'd share it with you. If you click on it, you can see it a little bigger. Isn't God amazing? Enjoy His handiwork!

Here's a Little Story For You...

2009-05-05T12:31:00.002-04:00

Just Exactly What I Wanted

All I did was go to church. Some nurses were taking blood pressures in the foyer and mine was way, way too high, earning me a trip to the emergency room. While there, a routine blood test revealed diabetes. This discovery led to a doctor visit and a dietitian, and now I was home, my head swimming with facts and figures, warnings and advice. Realizing my husband would be home soon, I mulled over what to say to him.
My sweet husband had once told me that he didn’t care if I got so fat he had to roll me around, as long as I was happy. That made me laugh, which was a relief to us both because I had been griping at the time about how ugly and miserable and huge I was, but doing nothing about it, and we were both sick of hearing about it. But I knew he worried about my health, and if I told him I had diabetes, he would want me to follow the doctor’s diet. And there was simply no way I was going to do that. I’d had it with diets and besides, I knew plenty of diabetic people who ate what they wanted. I stopped there and didn’t think about the consequences, just like my diabetic friends hadn’t until the damage was done. My mind was made up. Even though I never kept secrets from my husband, this one would simply have to be kept.
That evening, when my husband walked in the door, he kissed me and then he said, “What did the doctor have to say?”
I burst into tears. “She says I have diabetes!” I wailed. So much for secrets.
Had he tried to help me by offering to be my coach, I’d have rebelled entirely. “Stop!” I would have begged, making a time out sign. “I don’t want to be coached. I don’t want to be a project. I don’t want to do this at all! I feel fine. Forget I mentioned it.”
But as usual, he surprised me. “You don’t have to do this,” was the first surprise. “WE have to do this,” was the second. “We’ll do this together,” he quietly assured me. “We’ll start with a walk after dinner.” And then he did what he does best. He wrapped me in a big, old hug, and kissed the top of my head and for the millionth time I thanked God I had married this man when I had the chance. But I still had no idea how we were going to do it, and after dinner I stayed in my chair.
Over the next few days I tried to decide what to do. “What difference does it make?” I muttered to myself. “I need to lose, like, a million pounds and nothing I do will make any difference anyway.” I decided to do only what I wanted. It is my body, right? Everyone else does what they want, don’t they? The skinny ones who lecture me while the cigarette dangles from their lips?
“But what is it that you really want?” I asked myself suddenly. This thought blew me away. This I wasn’t expecting. I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to diet. I didn’t want to exercise. I didn’t want to be told what to do. I had a lot to think about.
So I cleaned out my purse. No, I wasn’t procrastinating. My purse, known to my family as “the black hole” because what goes in disappears forever, is like an extension of myself. I could survive on a desert island with just the contents of my purse. I rarely clean it out because I figure at some point I’ll need everything in there, but once in a while when my thoughts get too tangled, cleaning out my purse seems to be the only way to clean out my head. Despite all the fuzzy breath mints and shredded tissue, today was no exception, because suddenly I was pulling out a wad of papers. The pamphlets from the dietician’s office! I’d never given them a second thought, which is a good thing because if I had I would of pitched them. But now I was curious.
The first little paper was about all the complications of diabetes if I didn’t control it. I set it aside and began reading something called “The Plate Method.” It was kinda cool, because it was so simple. All I had to do, it explained, was mentally divide my plate into fourths. One section gets protein, such as chicken, a burger or eggs. The second section holds the carb. This might be a serving of potatoes, pasta, rice or bread. The other two sections got veggies. A salad and some broccoli, perhaps, or a whole bunch of greens that take up half the plate. I could add a fruit on the side if I wanted to, or wait and eat it a couple of hours later. Milk with breakfast and yogurt or sugar free pudding in the late afternoon would take care of the dairy requirements. I thought this sounded a little easier than some methods I’d heard of, and I was relieved to see that breakfast didn’t have to include anything green!
Ok, practical and easy. Nobody would even realize what I was doing, although they might think I was a real pig when it came to veggies!
The next pamphlet talked about portion sizes. Yuck. I’d already done the whole weighing and measuring routine. But before I could toss it aside something caught my eye; a little fist. Apparently my fist is roughly the size of a cup. Who knew? The palm of my hand is about 3 ounces, a serving of meat. The first joint of the small finger can represent a teaspoon and a tablespoon is roughly the size of the first joint of the thumb. How cool, a portion measuring device literally in the palm of my hand! This sure beat cups and spoons and scales. This could be done surreptitiously and more importantly, easily! I could do this. I could do this and not even resent it. Shoving the last pamphlet, the one on diabetic complications, back in my purse, I went and asked my husband if he was still up for that walk he’d mentioned. Sweetheart that he is, he didn’t mention that it had been a week since he’d offered to walk with me. He just suggested that we wait until that evening after dinner, when it was cooler.
I was eager to try my new information out and see if my husband noticed. I hoped he wouldn’t. I just eyeballed things with my hand size in mind when I served myself, and I tried to think of the plate in fourths as I chose what to eat. The mashed potatoes looked miniscule on my plate - I tried to get roughly 1/2 a cup - but honestly, when I ate them it was plenty. Especially considering how long it took to chew through that huge salad! I’d loaded that baby down with every veggie I could think of, plus chunks of chicken. It was delicious. I didn’t remember salad being so good. Of course, I usually just put in lettuce and carrots.
Before I could even think about seconds, my husband was asking me if I was ready to go for a walk. We decided to just stroll up and down our block a couple of times and we set off. It was really nice outside. We got talking, just small talk at first, but soon we were talking about things that mattered to us. With no one looking at the clock to see when a show came on, no phone ringing, no dirty dishes calling, we talked in a way we hadn’t done for a while. Soon we were holding hands and talking of our hopes and dreams like we did when we were teenagers. The time flew and the more into the discussion we got, the faster we walked. A gorgeous sunset turned into a cool, pleasant evening and still we walked, back and forth, enjoying each other’s company without interruption. “This is what I want,” I suddenly thought. “A simple, uncluttered life. Time to really connect with my husband and energy enough to enjoy it!”
I never even thought about a snack, and that night I slept like a baby. The next day I was a little sleepy and yet I could hardly wait for our evening walk. My legs were a little sore. “I’m really out of shape!” I admitted ruefully. I thought about all the things I’d always wanted to do. I’d never done them because I never had the energy. Judging from my aches and pains, I still didn’t. “But could I get it somehow?” I wondered. My mind seemed invigorated, anyway, and all day I couldn’t get the question out of my mind. “What do you want to do?” Answers were beginning to drift around in the air like confetti.
That evening after dinner, we could hardly wait to get out the door for our walk. My husband was animated and almost immediately launched into a discussion of the water features he’d like to build in our fledgling garden. His excitement fueled my own, and I was soon eagerly planning a new flower bed by the fence. I’d always loved gardening. How else can a woman my age justify playing in the dirt? I hadn’t done any gardening for a while though. Too hot, I always told myself, or too many bugs. But tonight when my husband asked if I’d like to go to the local garden center on Saturday and “see what we could see” I instantly agreed.
Saturday came and off we went. The variety of flowers and plants got my gardening juices flowing again and I filled my cart with petunias, mulch and manure, ready for a day of planting. At home, we set right to work, my husband planning out his water garden near where I was happily digging and enriching and otherwise playing in the soil. All too soon, my husband said, “Wow, it’s past 3 o’clock. Ready for some lunch anytime soon?” We both looked at my filthy, sweaty, sun burnt self and burst out laughing together. “Tell you what, hon, you go get cleaned up and I’ll take you out to eat!” my husband offered. As I headed happily in to shower and change, I mulled over my day. I couldn’t believe I still had so much energy after working so hard today. And I’d missed a meal without even noticing! When had that happened last?
Pulling out of the driveway, headed to our favorite restaurant, I looked over at my new petunia bed. The ruffled petunias always looked like girls’ pinafores to me, young and wholesome, beautiful and clean. “This is what I want,” I realized. “Energy to garden. Time to focus on beauty.” I hadn’t thought about food all day.
Another week flew by. We would eat our meal and never even think about seconds. We were in too big of a hurry to get out the door for our “walkie-talkie” as we had dubbed it. Soon it was again the weekend. I woke up early Saturday morning and stretched luxuriously. I’m not much of a morning person, to say the least. But lately I’d been waking up rested, and today I realized even my aches and pains were gone. My husband suggested a ride and we headed off in the car, talking and laughing. I soon realized he was taking us to the beach.
The truth is, I love the beach, everything about it. The salty smell alone relaxes me before we even get the car parked, and I come home feeling sleepy and rested all at the same time. But the whole bathing suit issue usually stops me cold. “I want to look decent in a bathing suit,” I realized. “I don’t have to look smashing. Just decent..” For the first time in a long time, as we walked hand in hand beside the waves, I felt like this might be a reachable goal. Later we went out to eat and this time, I asked for a box when I ordered my meal. I put half the meal in as soon as it came, left satisfied instead of stuffed, and still had a scrumptious lunch to look forward to the next day. We went and bought some lovely little dessert dishes that only held a serving and Sunday we enjoyed some ice cream after our walk.
Monday came and instead of dreading it, I felt a cleaning jag coming on. I put on my College Fight Songs CD and bopped my way around the house, humming and cleaning. Cleaning out a box shoved in the corner of the closet, I came across some old workout tapes. “Wow, I haven’t seen you guys in a while,” I said. “I wonder if you still work!” On a whim, I popped Richard Simmons in the VCR player and soon I was dancing up a storm. I tired quickly, but right then and there I made myself a promise. Whenever I did a workout tape, I would keep moving for the duration. Even if I couldn’t do all the exercises, I’d try at least one of each, and meanwhile, I’d keep moving even if it was just marching in place. After that Richard and I met for daily dance sessions and before long I could do the twist to make my momma proud. I began to search around for other workout tapes I could do at home.
About two weeks later, I put my bra on and it did not lift or separate. It just hung there, on its tightest setting, loose as could be. “What’s this?” I wondered. Probably just old, worn out elastic. Perhaps it was time to get a few new ones. Come to think of it, some of my other things were feeling a little baggy. I headed off to the Mall and went straight to the Plus Size department of my favorite store. To my surprise, nothing fit! I mean nothing. Everything I tried on hung on me. This couldn’t be right. Finally I sidled over to the ladies’ department, feeling like a criminal. A svelte, young clerk saw me and headed my way and I cringed, remembering the time not so long ago when just such a clerk had totally humiliated me by loudly assuring me nothing in her department would fit and directing me upstairs to the “big clothes.”
“Can I help you,” this young lady asked cheerfully. I considered for a moment telling her I was shopping for a friend.
“Uh...I was looking for an outfit,” I said stupidly. I waited for her to tell me I was in the wrong department as she looked me up and down.
“Well, okay, so what are you looking for?” she asked. “We have these new skirts in that are just adorable! You’d look great in this one,” and she picked up a teenybopper skirt, offering it to me. I looked at her face. No, she wasn’t playing me. “Uh...okay, I’ll just look around,” I said.
“Whatever,” she agreed companionably. I slipped the skirt back on the rack, but I found another, longer one, and a tank top that matched it perfectly. “No way these will fit,” I told myself as I headed to the dressing room. And they didn’t. They were too big! I went out and got the next smaller size in each. They fit perfectly. I preened and pranced in front of the mirror. Resisting the urge to make an announcement over the mall loudspeaker, I paid for the clothes and tried to act as if I wore this size all the time. Emboldened, I tried on bras. Not the kind in the box, the ones hanging on a little hanger, all lace and silk, with price tags to match. I found an unbelievably sexy one and on this enchanted day the bra fit too. I bought some matching panties and floated home. That night when I modeled them for my husband, his eyes lit up and he said “Wow.” I thought, “This is definitely what I want!”
Six months is up and today I go back to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. I have this funny feeling that this will all turn out to be an illusion, that the doctor will find some way to snap me back to the reality of my inadequacy. While I wait, I discover the last pamphlet in my purse. The one on complications of diabetes. Finding it fitting reading for a doctor’s waiting room, I pull it out and morosely peruse it. Kidney disease, blindness, heart disease, losing limbs - “I definitely don’t want this!” I admit. Am I back to this? Thinking about what I don’t want. But this last six months has been a discovery of what I do want. And the greatest discovery of all has been that it’s mine for the taking. I used to think that I had so much weight to lose, one little donut wouldn’t make any difference one way or the other. I was so out of shape, what was one achy, sweaty exercise session going to do? Suddenly I realized that if I applied that to brushing my teeth, they would be long gone. After all, what good does one day of brushing do? But day after day and one day you realize, hey, - my teeth never fell out! That’s how eating right, exercising and all the rest was. Not a pointless exercise in futility, but a cumulative way to wake up one day with energy; shop with confidence; get my husband to say “Wow”.
By the time the nurse called me in, I was not surprised to find that I had lost weight. She took blood and ran a quick A1C test, then took my blood pressure. She looked surprised and took it again.
“The doctor will be right in,” she said, and for once she really was.
“What’s all this?” she said with a big grin. Your weight is down, your A1C has dropped a whole point. Even your blood pressure has dropped. And I gotta tell ya, you look great! What have you been doing?” she asked.
“Oh,” I said, as casual as could be, “I have been doing just exactly what I want to do!”

Congratulations to Our Winner!

2009-04-23T12:30:00.008-04:00

We are so proud of our youngest son, a graphic designer. He recently entered a t-shirt design contest with ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization), and he won! ECHO is a local farming organization that experiments in raising food in all sorts of conditions on a small enough scale that hungry people can do the same all over the world. Missionaries and others come and learn the techniques, buy the seeds, and go all over, helping hungry people to grow viable food in their part of the world. Each contestant was allowed up to 3 designs. These are his:

His first design was the bright one above, with the sun. The judges said, "We can tell you put a lot of effort into the organic elements on the ECHO logotype! Overall we liked this design and feel that it would transfer to the medium of a shirt, but feel that the shapes and colors lend it to more of an underwater theme that may distract a viewer used to traditional agricultural icons."

Next was this green bubbly one.

The Judges Said, "We'd wear this shirt :) This is a fun design that looks like many popular tee shirts today. Font selection is very solid and the visuals are engaging. Perhaps a shape other than the circles that would depict ECHO's work would help this design to communicate more about the organization. If your offer for the original vectors still stands, we'd love to use this as a desktop wallpaper and basis for Powerpoint slides. This design is at the top of the heap, but just doesn't say quite enough about ECHO."

Last, he submitted the black one below with the tag cloud. This one was the winner!

The Judges Said, "OUR WINNER! Congratulations to (Our Son at) (New Mission Systems International) for his winning design. The balance and flow of this design is truly excellent, but the research that went into bringing ECHO's function, mission, and ministry really set this design apart. The judges found the META cloud concept to be an effective, current cultural concept that will resonate with younger demographic groups while being accessible to all. Be watching for how ECHO and Josh together refine and develop this concept into a finished product. Thank you so much to all of you who have participated in the contest, the decision was made difficult by your myriad of exciting submissions."

We are very proud of our son and his talents, especially the fact that he uses his God-given talents in service to his Lord. (The link above is to the ECHO facebook page. They have a website also. You should be able to see the t-shirts a little better if you click on the image, but they are a little blurry. The facebook page has the images more clearly).

Economic Models & Business Strategies Explained w/ Cows

2009-04-21T13:20:00.002-04:00

(I did not write this, don't know where I picked it up, but it was too good to keep to myself)

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes one of them and gives it to your work-shy neighbour.
They laugh in your face.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for the five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheets are provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, block the roads and set fire to cars, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You don't know where they are, you decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows.
None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy...

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office for the day and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive

NU-LABOUR GOVERNMENT
You have two cows, milked by the cow tsar.
One is black and one is white to ensure racial diversity, the black one fancies the white one thus ensuring we have suitable variation in sexual orientation.

THE ULSTER CORPORATION
You have two cows and pay protection for the milk

SCOTTISH CORPORATION
You have two cows (the hairy highland variety)
You dip one in chocolate, cover it in batter and deep fry it, just to see if it works

ZIMBABWEAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They produce lots of milk for the people.
The State beat you up and steal your cows then give them to someone who has no idea about looking after them.
The cows die and there is no milk
It is all the fault of the Britain and America

BRITISH POLICE SERVICE
You have 2 cows.
You give them a selection of tasks, including making sure that no-one is rude to any other cows for any reason, even if the cows haven't complained. You ensure that they have the correct ethnic proportion of cows for all the fields in the country, notwithstanding that there are almost no minorities in this field. They are so busy doing these tasks this that they have no time to be milked, so you buy some cheaper cows who don't produce any milk but look as though they should, and you hope that because you can see these cows, everyone will think that there is stacks of milk.
To fund this, you feed the real cows less so they couldn't produce any milk even if they weren't so busy doing non-milk producing activities.

For the Technologically Minded...

2009-04-16T18:59:00.003-04:00

RECALL NOTICE:

The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed "Sub-sequential Internal Non-Morality," or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed..

Some of the symptoms include:
1. Loss of direction
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Amnesia of origin
4. Lack of peace and joy
5. Selfish or violent behavior
6. Depression or confusion in the mental component
7. Fearfulness
8. Idolatry
9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.

The number to call for repair in all areas is:
P-R-A-Y-E-R.
Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure.
Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.

No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7.. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers' Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes..
WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus.

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention!

- GOD

P.S. Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by 'Knee mail'.

Because He Lives!

Florida the Cool

2009-04-15T14:28:00.004-04:00

The temperatures may be hot, but Florida is really a very cool place. Sure, we have insects...
And alligators, too
But where else will you see Mr. and Mrs. Whooping Crane walking down the sidewalk?
And, we have pelicans!
Of course, sometimes even pelicans can get a little wild.
But we have a trump card - the beach! Kind of puts everything in perspective, doesn't it?

(These are all photos taken by my family around Southwest Florida)

Project Meme

2009-04-08T19:52:00.000-04:00

Back in January, I promised Daffy to do a Projects Meme within the next week. Well, I'm ready to do it now, and I think the first project should be

1) Quit procrastinating! (Maybe tomorrow...)

2) I was working on a novel back in the 1980s and even though I have thought out sections of it over the years, I put it aside and never got back to writing it. I would like to work on it, using a really wonderful book I got called First Draft in 30 Days. I think after reading it over that I kinda need to rework the whole thing. But I want to leave the setting in the 80s.

3) I really need to keep making exercise a priority, for health reasons. I have been riding my exercise bike for a half hour daily, and doing a Body Electric routine for 20 minutes daily. (Body Electric is weight lifting/strength/flexibility/balance, that kind of thing. It really tones me up when I stick with it, and even though it can be intense, it is doable. I see progress not only in doing it, but in the rest of my day, I am more flexible, have more energy and less aches and pains when I commit to it).

4) I want to spend some quality time tending to the yard and garden this year.

5) I want to spend less time on the computer, and more time reading books. I want to use the time I do spend on the computer more productively.

Okay, that's what I'm working on. I am supposed to tag 5 other people, and I know who I'd like to tag, but I don't want to put people on the spot when everyone already has so much going on. The last thing any woman needs is more guilt! Honestly, I wondered whether to even do this. I think women have a real problem with feeling like they never do enough. Even when we get a lot done, we only think of all the OTHER things we should have done. We say we want to spend more time reading, but then either it is on our "to do" list and we make a chore of it, or we spend an enjoyable afternoon reading and then feel guilty because we weren't doing something else. One thing my husband has worked hard to help me do is ENJOY LIFE and learn to enjoy the process, the satisfaction of feeling good about what I do accomplish, and the joys of leisure and beauty and conversation and relaxation. I, however, sometimes enjoy little challenges I set myself, or planning things I'd like doing, and that's all this is. So if you feel it would be something you'd enjoy, feel free to let us know what you'd like to accomplish in the coming year. We won't hold your feet to the fire.

Celebration Time

2009-04-02T09:16:00.002-04:00

Our oldest son has announced his engagement to a wonderful girl that we all really like. She lives in another state, but she was down here this week, so we decided to celebrate with an engagement party! Our middle son had a beautiful cake made. A lot of family came, and everyone had a really good time, I think, especially the happy couple. The wedding is set for July.

One of the things we served was chocolate dipped strawberries. They are exorbitant to buy, but the strawberries are in season right now and particularly succulent, so we decided to try dipping them ourselves. First I tried a fudge icing that hardens in to a shell, and it seemed to work, but it got grainy, and then weepy, so that was out. All Recipes.com to the rescue! Sure enough, there is a super simple recipe that works spectacularly. (Was that alliterative enough?) All I did was melt 2 Tablespoons of shortening in the top of a double-boiler (over a thin layer of boiling water), and then add in 16 oz. of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate chips. (I'd previously rinsed the strawberries well and drained them in a colander. We poured them out on a clean towel and then hubby dried them with paper towels because apparently if they are too wet the chocolate can seize up). Anyhow, I gently stirred the chocolate until about half the chips were melted, then removed the double boiler from the heat, but leaving the bowl over the water, I stirred until the chocolate was melted and smooth. Then hubby and I began swirling strawberries about half-way up, and laying them on parchment paper lined trays. We put them in the fridge for a few hours and when we put them on a serving dish for the party, they were absolutely beautiful! The chocolate was smooth and thick.

There was a lot of chocolate left so we began dipping the ends of pretzel sticks and also laid them on parchment paper to harden, then put them upright in a dish. Really, you could coat anything you wanted to. Marshmallows, graham crackers, nuts, raisins, oreos... the possibilities are endless! The strawberries and pretzels were a huge hit and they really were very good.

We are really looking forward to the wedding. Congratulations, you two!

In Other News... Snot Cars!

2009-03-31T22:47:00.001-04:00

"Scientists and Engineers are corroborating with Doctors to develop an alternative fuel made of snot. With flu season upon us, there are plenty of donors willing to sneeze in to a specially designed tube in exchange for lower fees at their ubiquitous doctor visits. The common cold doesn't have a cure. Instead of fighting the inevitable, we should harness this plentiful source of raw material to solve the energy crisis. When you are at your least energetic, you can still be a productive citizen. Think Green!" Ok, I made it all up, but really, people, someone needs to think outside the tissue box! April Fool's!

Comedy Quotes

2009-03-26T14:35:00.002-04:00

If you're not familiar with the work of Steven Wright,
he's the famous erudite scientist who once said: "I
woke up one morning, and all of my stuff had been stolen
and replaced by exact duplicates." His mind sees things
differently than most of us do, to our amazement and
amusement. Here are some of his gems:

1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect
it back.
3 - Half the people you know are below average.
4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts
feel so good.
7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the
rain.
9 - All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse
gets the cheese.
11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... but she left
me before we met.
12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have
obviously overlooked something.
15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the
wrong lane.
17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense
to be lazy.
18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off
now.
19 - I intend to live forever.... so far, so good.
20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her
friends?
21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into
jet engines.
22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your
brakes, so I made your horn louder."
24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all
evidence that you tried.
26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of
thinking.
27 - Experience is something you don't get until just
after you need it.
28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the
softness of the bread
29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal
from many is research.
30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no
lifeguard.
31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll
have to catch up.
32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is
required to be on it.
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just
don't have film.

And an all time favorite-

34 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would
your headlights work?

(Thanks to Tracey for sending me these! They kinda make you go "Hmmmm..." don't they?)

Eating - Healthy Vs. Delicious?

2009-03-20T15:00:00.003-04:00

I've been giving a lot of thought (and even some effort!) in to what I should eat for optimum health, versus what I too often want to eat. Despite the food pyramid, the 5-a-day plan for fruits and vegetables, the 3-a-day plan for dairy products, and the endless diet advice, I sometimes am forced to conclude that there are really only three food groups. These are convenience foods, comfort foods, and foods that are good for me.
Convenience foods are inevitably outrageously priced, but I buy them because I am tired, or in a hurry, or both. Sometimes they are packaged at the grocery store. Just add a microwave and I have something hot to eat. What, exactly, I’m not always sure, and reading the box definitely does not help. Other times I go to a drive-through restaurant and yell into a box, pay a fortune, then pick up my bag containing a meat-like substance on a bun. I woof it down and head to my next task. Although billions of advertising dollars are spent to try to convince me that I am eating a delicious meal, I recognize it for the unhealthy compromise that it is. I can always tell when I am eating convenience food because it tastes like sawdust, and there is nothing left in my purse to buy good food with.
Comfort foods, the ingredients of which often include cream, butter, sugar, and quite possibly chocolate, aren’t usually that expensive. It takes some time to prepare them, and involves considerable clean up as well. But, oh, the smell of cinnamon buns baking in the oven makes the time well spent! A large bowl of mashed potatoes with a pool of melted butter, light, flaky biscuits with home-canned jam, and crispy fried chicken makes me think of my grandmother. Spooning cool ice cream bathed in hot fudge sauce into my mouth brings back my childhood. Biting into a macaroni noodle with cheese oozing out the side is a soothing treat. I lovingly concoct special meals for my family to give them pleasure and to show my love for them. But all that delicious comfort food comes with a price, and with a sigh of regret, I turn to food that is healthy.
For some reason, the term “healthy food” seems to conjure up whatever I hate the most. Hot, smelly spinach, tasteless, naked vegetables, or a tiny piece of broiled, skinless, spiceless chicken seems virtuous. If it is awful, it must be good for me, right? Well, maybe not. I think back to a perfect apple I once ate. I was in Washington, D.C. and apples were abundant at every roadside stand. I bit into one, and I’ve measured every apple against it ever since. It had a thin, red skin that broke crisply under my teeth to reveal firm white flesh crossed with red veins. Bursting with flavor, it was tangy, but not tart. The best peaches were found in Georgia. Perfectly ripe, juice dripping off my elbows as I ate, there could be nothing better. One memorable summer vacation in Indiana, the corn was ripe on my grandparent’s farm, and the tomatoes were huge. I went and pulled the tassels back to reveal the golden kernels underneath, and then I picked as many as I wanted. My family and I husked them, and, stripping off the corn silk, we dropped them in large pots of boiling water. While they cooked, we sliced the juicy red tomatoes and put them on a platter. Some bread and butter rounded out the meal, and we ate our fill, knowing that if we wanted more we had only to go out and pick it.
Perhaps healthy doesn’t have to be tasteless. Most of the healthy foods aren’t that hard to prepare. If I’m willing to wait until something is in season and buy it fresh, I know it will taste wonderful. On reflection, I see that healthy food can be convenient, comfortably delicious, and good for me, too! I'm thinking maybe it is time to begin a vegetable garden...

You Might Be a Floridian If...

2009-03-17T17:36:00.003-04:00

You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer,
not summer but really hot, and Christmas.

"Down South" means Key West

"Panhandling" means going to Pensacola.

You think no-one over 70 should be allowed to drive.

Flip-flops are everyday wear.

Shoes are for business meetings and church.

No, wait, flip flops are good for church too

Socks are only for bowling

Orange juice from concentrate makes you sick

Sweet tea can be served at any meal.

An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.

You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip to Florida.

You measure distance in minutes.

You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.

You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.

You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in
five minutes

All the local festivals are named after a fruit. (Although we do have a Shrimp Festival, and I'm not sure Swamp Cabbage is a fruit...)

A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store,
but everything to do with shade.

Your winter coat is made of denim

You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites

You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65

It's not "pop." It's "soda" or "coke."

Anything under 70 is chilly.

You've hosted a hurricane party.

You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the
best rides.

You pass on the right and honk at the elderly.

You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.

You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Withlacoochee, Okahumpka and
Loxahatchee.

You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat than have a
boat yourself.

You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.

Bumper stickers on the pickup in front of you include various fish, the
NRA and a confederate flag.

You were 8 before you realized they made houses without pools.

You were 12 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.

You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas. (We actually ran the A/C once, trying to make it cold enough so we could have a fire in our fireplace).

You know what the "stingray shuffle" is and why it's important!

You could swim before you could read

You have to drive north to get to The South

You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.

Every other house had blue roofs in 2004-2005

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.

You dread lovebug season.

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

You know what a snowbird is and you hate them. (Well, that might be a bit harsh. We only hate the sheer volume of them clogging the roads!)

You know why flamingos are pink.

You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.

You haven't seen snow.

Tornadoes/Tornado warnings don't scare you, and you laugh when your friends from outside of Florida get scared by lightning.

You eat ice cream cones in the winter, because it's finally cool enough so that it won't melt instantly down your arm

You save your sweater for summer when everyone's A/C is so cold, you are freezing in their houses or cars

(Thank you to my youngest son for sending me this! My sons are true Crackers, not transplanted Hoosiers like me, and will never let me forget it...)

Eating Roses

2009-03-16T02:16:00.002-04:00

I was at the grocery recently and found a new little section featuring foreign foods. The one that caught my eye was a small packet labeled Sultan's Turkish Delight! Being a "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" fan, I had always wondered what would make Edmund choose Turkish Delight when he could choose anything he liked. This tiny package was a bit expensive, both in price ($1.59) and calories (200), but, like Edmund, I simply couldn't resist.

Later, after lunch, I opened the package and found a small rectangular candy covered in milk chocolate. I bit slowly in to it, revealing a jewel tone raspberry colored filling. I recoiled a bit from the texture, which resembled something between figs and gummy bears. Or maybe gumdrops. Not something I am at all fond of. But at the same time, my mouth filled with the unmistakable fragrance of roses! I read the package. The filling, mostly sugar, was also suffused with rose water. It was hard to discern whether I was truly tasting it, or smelling it. I took another nibble. The chocolate joined together with the roses to form an irresistibly unique sensation. The filling's texture didn't seem so bad. Really, it was almost... good. Another nibble. This time I just let the roses waft through me, the texture setting it off perfectly. I had never eaten anything like it!
Perhaps it is magic food after all. Legend has it a certain sultan, trying to amuse and please his harem, had been experimenting with perfume. Then he decided to turn his hand to candy, and created this seductive delicacy. Perhaps there is more to the story. Perhaps a genie, owing one more wish, was pressed in to service and the candy had special, magical ingredients ideal for soothing the fretful. Maybe you grew up on Arabian Nights, but never truly believed them. If so, you had better avoid anything labeled "A Product of Turkey." Or else you, too, may end up, mouth full of roses, and under the Sultan's spell!

Things I've Done Pictures

2009-03-11T17:12:00.004-04:00

I promised I would show some pictures to go with the Things I've Done tag, so here they are. Above is my Grandpa with the small plane he flew for a while. I loved going up in it!

Below I am playing my snare, in about 7th grade. I hated those glasses, but now they are "in."

In 1976, the Bicentennial, my family went to Washington, D.C. Back then you could tour inside the White House, which we did - we toured everything! Below is the Lincoln Memorial.
This is the overnight train, in our case from Florida to Indiana. I am in front. I look scared, but I had a blast.
This isn't the elephant I rode, but it is at Lion Country Safari, passing in front of our car. You drive around through a nature preserve while all these wild animals run free. It's amazing. At the end, there is a park, where you can ride elephants, see baby wild animals, and all sorts of things.
Here's my little brother getting "patted" by Pluto at one of our many Disney trips.
When I was 8 or 9, my step-dad took us out to a hunting cabin he and some friends had deep in the Everglades. Mom loved to drive the swamp buggy. One time she raced my step-dad; he was driving the Land Rover we'd come in. We were so far away from anything, and we had a wonderful time. I'm in the yellow shirt.
We took an amazing trip when I was 14, camping for weeks and hiking through the West. Here is Old Faithful.

Reminisce Tag

2009-03-05T12:01:00.007-05:00

Stevie tagged me to do a Things I've Done meme. I bolded the things I have done. This was really fun! Care to reminisce with me?

1. Started my own blog (obviously!)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (drums!)
4. Visited Hawaii (my son and parents have)
5. Watched a meteor shower (once right before we got married and once right before our 25th anniversary!)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity (You can't outgive God)
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Disney World, lots of times. It's only a few hours away, we can go up in the morning, stay all day and get home to bed).
8. Climbed a mountain (hiked and camped in the mountains though)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (or maybe it was a duet. Whatever it was, I don't plan to ever do it again!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I was at the beach and the lightning storm was at sea! Or maybe that doesn't count?)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (had a foster child)
16. Had food poisoning (and heat stroke)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (my son did for Science one year)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (Both!)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (within the U.S., but my mom went further back and visited Germany)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (Tried, anyway)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (yep, lots of times, because it doesn't take much at all).
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (my son has, and my other son has been to Greece and Bulgaria, and a third son has been to Las Vegas. I've only been to Canada).
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (too many times!)
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (my hubby used to scuba dive)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (my dad and my uncle have both been in movies).
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (tried, they never will let me)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter (no, but I've flown in my Grandfather's small airplane!)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar (no, but I've eaten escargot and frog legs)
72. Pieced a quilt (my mom does)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades (in an airboat, swamp buggy and Land Rover, as well as on foot)
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (2 bones! My son broke 2 at one time).
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (no, I don't think we were speeding).
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (not a whole book, but I have been published several times).
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper (and had things I wrote in a newspaper)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I have shot guns, though)
88. Had chickenpox (No one in my family has. I think we're all immune).
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Margaret Goff Clark, that wrote the children's books. She was at our tiny writer's club because someone knew her, and she liked my story!)
92. Joined a book club (Nope, but did join a writer's club!)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person (planned to, but ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks instead)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant (twice!)

(The following I've added)
101. Been on t.v. several times
102. Swam with and touched a manatee
103. Seen 2 sitting U. S. Presidents in person (saw Roy Rogers too, he was adorable!)
104. Ridden on a float in a parade
105. Been waterskiing and snow skiing
106. Done Chinese Fire Drills on a bus
107. Been through hurricanes (and an earthquake)
108. Ridden bareback with no bridle/reins
109. Homeschooled all 3 sons from K-12
110. Graduated on the same day from the same college with my oldest son
111. Lived in a house with no indoor bathroom - we had an outhouse
112. Married Prince Charming and Lived Happily Ever After

Ok, I've done 40 of the 100. I might even have some pics of some of them that I can post later. How about you? If you've read this far, you know you want to do this! Let me know if you do so I can come see it.

A Charles Dickens Aficianado

2009-03-02T16:47:00.001-05:00

My hubby and I just finished watching the entire BBC production of "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens. It was on 3 DVDs in roughly 15 episodes, and we enjoyed every bit. (We had it compliments of Netflix). I am a big Charles Dickens fan. I had seen "A Christmas Carol" in every form known to man, from Albert Finney to Donald Duck, but never read any Dickens, until 9th grade English, where we were compelled to read "Great Expectations" for class. I expected to hate it when I saw that the protagonist's name was Pip. I mean, really! But soon I was lost in the story, and when we had the daily quizzes about such trivia as the color of the vase on the mantel in Chapter One, I had trouble answering because I was pondering Pip's fortune and who supplied it, many, many chapters further on.

When I had finished that book I went on to read, on my own, "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield". I began "A Tale of Two Cities" but for some reason never read more than a chapter, and then I was on to another author for a while. But when our youngest son got old enough for Dickens, he was as taken with him as I had been at his age, and he begged and cajoled me to read "A Tale of Two Cities" all the way through. I did, and WOW, what a story! I proceeded to read "A Christmas Carol," "Bleak House," "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Our Mutual Friend," along with a slim volume Dickens had co-written with someone else, called "A House to Let", and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. I intend to continue reading more of his stories, but they are best savoured and not devoured, so I'm taking a breather. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying the theatre productions on DVD or PBS when the chance arises!

Some people seem a bit intimidated by Dickens because his books are usually long, peopled with multiple fully fleshed out characters and often of a somewhat sombre nature. But when he was originally published, it was in the newspapers in the form of serial stories, a segment at a time for weeks and weeks, and not meant to be read all at once! And although the subject matter can be grim at times, it is relieved by humor and a deliciously sly sarcastic wit that shows the best and the worst that humankind has to offer. These books are great character studies, as well as windows in to cultures at different times in England's history. They are very good reads, but also mini-educations! For instance, "Bleak House" exposes the justice system, "Oliver Twist" the charitable institutions, and "A Tale of Two Cities" gives an inside view of the French Revolution in chilling prose to rival any suspense story written today! Every time I go to the library I discover a "brand new" (to me!) treasure left behind by Mr. Charles Dickens and slowly I hope to sample them all. Any other Dickens fans?

Sisters

2009-02-26T13:04:00.002-05:00

We've got each other's back...
(My sis and I circa 1971. Yes, I'm the one on the bottom... that time, anyway!)