I didn't feel like getting dressed today - what's that about? I'm in pajama pants, tee shirt and hoodie. I do feel like getting things done, but I kind of battle between moving through it and picking away at it. Hard to get moving. I sorted pecans for Kent to take to work, and started the laundry. I ran the vaccum in my bedroom, then just left it standing and grabbed the rugs off the bathroom floor for the washer. I kind of didn't finish with cleaning the bathroom yet. I sorted magazines and put them away and cleaned off my computer desk. I've got to get back to vaccuming and the bathroom. Ick. It was funny, I found this article online from Marla Cilley, the FlyLady just a few minutes ago.
"We have an acronym for STUFF," she says. "It is Something That Undermines Family Fun. We have allowed stuff to suck the life right out of us. Let me break this down for you. In our inability to love ourselves we have medicated with stuff . . . We shop, shop, shop and then bring it home. Eventually our homes begin to close in on us. We never get rid of anything for fear that we might need it one day. Let me just say that is the “poor” way of thinking."
She talks about how clutter needs a home and is taking over ours! "More spending jacks up our credit card debt and eventually makes us feel bad. When we feel bad about ourselves and our homes we start that downward spiral. Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck because we have homes and driveways that are filled with stuff . . ."
"Here is my list for feeling more hopeful. 1. Shine your sink!(Don’t shake your head NO till you have tried it) . . . " Go to article for more .
I doubt it was by chance I saw the article. When I get up off this chair I'm going to clean the sink.
28 February 2008
26 February 2008
Abundant life
Some days I think I don't do much. I worry I'm not contributing. I do try to follow my impulses mostly. I followed the thought to make soup and a loaf of bread yesterday morning and put it in the fridge, then realized today I'm feeding the missionaries so half of supper was made. That's a good thing, and today I feel happy.
I'm energetic. Happiness comes from that, in part.
Seminary is awesome. I love it when the kids participate and want the lesson.
We were under a tornado watch at breakfast and I witnessed thunderstorms and lightening and everything during the morning. Natural wonders. Then the sun came out - thank you!
I was on schedule making dinner through the day - everything's a go, and I have a messy kitchen which in a way makes me happy. I work hard.
I made oat-flour, low-sugar, half-the-butter (and double-the-chocolate chips) cookies on a whim. Cooking is creating.
I talked to Laura on the phone today and Kent, and checked on Mary who I visit teach and who was put in an MRI tube yesterday, and with claustrophobia about had a heart attack and is still in shock today; and Jean, my friend across the street who's battling bronchitis. Set up new visiting teaching appointments; agreed to be visit-taught by a young mother and her six children; going to lunch tomorrow with Nelma. Invited Becky and her dad, Mark, over for supper tomorrow night - her mother's out of town. Becky's one of my favorite students - teenagers are my friends. Yay! I need friends and stewardships, and they need me.
Finished days 23 and 24 of my December 2007 journal scrapbook and uploaded to Shutterfly. Only seven pages left to scrap. It's amazing to re-read journal entries and see my life in a book.
Tonight the wind is blowing. I hear the wind chimes on the porch.
I'm thinking how lucky I am, and really blessed. There's more that could go in a bona fide gratitude journal here - I live an absolutely abundant life. When I give, I get back more - so much more - than I deserve.
I'm energetic. Happiness comes from that, in part.
Seminary is awesome. I love it when the kids participate and want the lesson.
We were under a tornado watch at breakfast and I witnessed thunderstorms and lightening and everything during the morning. Natural wonders. Then the sun came out - thank you!
I was on schedule making dinner through the day - everything's a go, and I have a messy kitchen which in a way makes me happy. I work hard.
I made oat-flour, low-sugar, half-the-butter (and double-the-chocolate chips) cookies on a whim. Cooking is creating.
I talked to Laura on the phone today and Kent, and checked on Mary who I visit teach and who was put in an MRI tube yesterday, and with claustrophobia about had a heart attack and is still in shock today; and Jean, my friend across the street who's battling bronchitis. Set up new visiting teaching appointments; agreed to be visit-taught by a young mother and her six children; going to lunch tomorrow with Nelma. Invited Becky and her dad, Mark, over for supper tomorrow night - her mother's out of town. Becky's one of my favorite students - teenagers are my friends. Yay! I need friends and stewardships, and they need me.
Finished days 23 and 24 of my December 2007 journal scrapbook and uploaded to Shutterfly. Only seven pages left to scrap. It's amazing to re-read journal entries and see my life in a book.
Tonight the wind is blowing. I hear the wind chimes on the porch.
I'm thinking how lucky I am, and really blessed. There's more that could go in a bona fide gratitude journal here - I live an absolutely abundant life. When I give, I get back more - so much more - than I deserve.
25 February 2008
Take a minute - six actually - and watch this
This may move you in the next few minutes, or change you. I loved it. 99 Balloons
24 February 2008
The party's over - and we had a blast!
You know me. I cry. So I tried not to yesterday as Dana packed and Brady danced in front of the t.v. to Mulan with his red Tinker Toy stick (sword). He wore his shades in the car on the way to the airport, and laid his head on my shoulder at Sky Cab while we watched planes up in the sky. Seriously loud! I tried not to as Kent and I drove off, and just breathed pretty deep.
Before we left yesterday morning I got most things we used like Brady's green plastic bowls and pink and blue plates put up out of sight and his plastic forks and spoons. I took apart his booster chair and put the lid on the toy box and stashed it. We deflated his air mattress and stripped the bed in the bedroom and I washed sheets. I doubled-checked the bathroom for anything left behind and the kitchen, and under the couch cushions. I even went out to the garden and picked up the plastic yellow shovel that got left there a couple of days in the rain. I'm like Christopher Reeve in Somewhere in Time who finds the 1977 penny in his 1912 coat pocket and falls out of time - I didn't want to find a Brady-penny when I got home from the airport and cry.
I didn't. We had a blast while they were here! It rained two days toward the end, so Friday morning we went to Monkey Joe's, an indoor playground. (We arrived in a frog-strangler and I was drenched by the time I got inside with Brady, the packpack, my purse and camera. Dana's hair didn't even frizz.) Got some cute pics on Dana's camera. Man he loved it! He's a bouncy bouncy bouncy kid. He did push every boundary known to a two year-old, but Dana was patient. He wore her out and she fell asleep watching t.v. with us Friday night. Every night he had a bath and cleaned up slick as a whistle and smiling, then Dana read him stories and laid with him til he fell asleep. She got to go shopping a couple of days and found maternity jeans, pants, a dress and cute shoes. We had homemade peanut butter cookies and granola fruit bars, and homemade chicken salad and even quesadillas which I forgot to make about a hundred years ago. She borrowed a suitcase and took home half my pasta food storage and a couple of tablecloths and a truckload of diapers she bought. I was going to send homemade bread but that's silly, huh. I hope Dana had fun. She'll be tired. Sarah Allred made dinner for her and the boys last night I hear, so there was Sarah's kids Karah and Bradley for Brady to play with (major fun), and good eats and a place for her to relax after her vacation.
This morning when I got up I found his little hand print on my mirror.
Before we left yesterday morning I got most things we used like Brady's green plastic bowls and pink and blue plates put up out of sight and his plastic forks and spoons. I took apart his booster chair and put the lid on the toy box and stashed it. We deflated his air mattress and stripped the bed in the bedroom and I washed sheets. I doubled-checked the bathroom for anything left behind and the kitchen, and under the couch cushions. I even went out to the garden and picked up the plastic yellow shovel that got left there a couple of days in the rain. I'm like Christopher Reeve in Somewhere in Time who finds the 1977 penny in his 1912 coat pocket and falls out of time - I didn't want to find a Brady-penny when I got home from the airport and cry.
I didn't. We had a blast while they were here! It rained two days toward the end, so Friday morning we went to Monkey Joe's, an indoor playground. (We arrived in a frog-strangler and I was drenched by the time I got inside with Brady, the packpack, my purse and camera. Dana's hair didn't even frizz.) Got some cute pics on Dana's camera. Man he loved it! He's a bouncy bouncy bouncy kid. He did push every boundary known to a two year-old, but Dana was patient. He wore her out and she fell asleep watching t.v. with us Friday night. Every night he had a bath and cleaned up slick as a whistle and smiling, then Dana read him stories and laid with him til he fell asleep. She got to go shopping a couple of days and found maternity jeans, pants, a dress and cute shoes. We had homemade peanut butter cookies and granola fruit bars, and homemade chicken salad and even quesadillas which I forgot to make about a hundred years ago. She borrowed a suitcase and took home half my pasta food storage and a couple of tablecloths and a truckload of diapers she bought. I was going to send homemade bread but that's silly, huh. I hope Dana had fun. She'll be tired. Sarah Allred made dinner for her and the boys last night I hear, so there was Sarah's kids Karah and Bradley for Brady to play with (major fun), and good eats and a place for her to relax after her vacation.
This morning when I got up I found his little hand print on my mirror.
20 February 2008
On a lark, a picnic
75 degrees at noon and we had lunch in the back yard. Dana brought out penne pasta salad with homemade spinach dressing; I had a chicken-meatball sandwich with creole mustard on white bread; Brady had macaroni and cheese but he ate Dana's pasta and she had the macaroni. Grapes, pineapple, water and peanut butter cookies. No bugs and no high winds. It was great except Brady had to have his pants changed in the middle then got ant-bit digging in the dirt. "Hants, hants," he said seriously while he showed Dana and she showed me, holding out the back of his hand where two tiny white spots are showing near a knuckle. (These are fierce little bites that will hurt in 24 hours - sorry buddy.) We swabbed them with cotton balls soaked in alcohol, a trick my neighbor showed me.
Dana said twenty minutes of sun - good vitamin D. She soaked it up! Check out the mac-n-cheese. We stayed out two hours. --More pics:
Getting ready for church - Brady cried because he didn't want to put on his Sunday shoes.
Watching something other than Mulan - TARZAN!
a) I snapped a picture of Dana taking a picture of Brady. b) The picture Dana took of Brady.
Daner's belly.
Fixing the chop job. Photo above this shows um, bad haircut :)
Pet-land at the mall.
Way cute, way tired, way hungry.
Colonial Mall Merry-go-round. Dana's an amazing mom!
More Mulan. Always Mulan. Go Buckeyes!
Give me a kiss, Brady!
Oops, Nana missed.
C'mon Nana, get it right.
Dana said twenty minutes of sun - good vitamin D. She soaked it up! Check out the mac-n-cheese. We stayed out two hours. --More pics:
Getting ready for church - Brady cried because he didn't want to put on his Sunday shoes.
Watching something other than Mulan - TARZAN!
a) I snapped a picture of Dana taking a picture of Brady. b) The picture Dana took of Brady.
Daner's belly.
Fixing the chop job. Photo above this shows um, bad haircut :)
Pet-land at the mall.
Way cute, way tired, way hungry.
Colonial Mall Merry-go-round. Dana's an amazing mom!
More Mulan. Always Mulan. Go Buckeyes!
Give me a kiss, Brady!
Oops, Nana missed.
C'mon Nana, get it right.
16 February 2008
Brady's here!
Dig the Halloween shirt this boy is wearing! (see Dana's blog) Home from the airport and he immediately wanted to write then bounce the big big ball (exercise ball) then have a bath then read a story with mom. In between I took a short video of him running down the hall naked. He's full as a tick from dinner at the Golden Corral, super-happy (hyper) and my FAV tonight. Dana's no slouch too.
14 February 2008
The Perfect Husband
There are several men sitting around in the locker room of a golf club after a round, getting changed. Suddenly a mobile phone on the bench rings. One man picks it up, and the following conversation ensues:
"Hello?”
"Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
"Yes."
"Great! I am at the mall, two blocks from where you are. I just saw a beautiful leather coat. It's absolutely gorgeous!! Can I buy it?"
“What's the price?”
"Only $1,000."
"Well, OK, go ahead and get it, if you like it that much."
". . . ahhh, and I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the 2009 models. I saw one I really liked. I spoke with the salesman, and he’ll give me a really good price . . . and since we need to exchange the BMW we bought last year . . ."
"What did he quote you?"
"Only $60,000 . . ."
"OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
"Great! But before we hang up, something else . .."
"What?"
"It might look like a lot, but I was reconciling your bank account and happened by the real estate agent this morning, and saw the house we looked at last year. It's for sale!! Remember? The one with a pool, English Garden, acre of park area, beachfront property."
"How much are they asking?"
"Only $450,000 - a magnificent price . . . and I see that we have that much in the bank to cover it."
"Well, then go ahead and buy it, but just bid up to $420,000.OK?"
"OK, sweetie . . . Thanks! I'll see you later!! I love you!!!"
"I love you too..."
The man hangs up and closes the phone's flap. The other men are looking at him in astonishment and derision. The husband raises his hand while holding the phone and asks, "Does anyone know who this phone belongs to?"
"Hello?”
"Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
"Yes."
"Great! I am at the mall, two blocks from where you are. I just saw a beautiful leather coat. It's absolutely gorgeous!! Can I buy it?"
“What's the price?”
"Only $1,000."
"Well, OK, go ahead and get it, if you like it that much."
". . . ahhh, and I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the 2009 models. I saw one I really liked. I spoke with the salesman, and he’ll give me a really good price . . . and since we need to exchange the BMW we bought last year . . ."
"What did he quote you?"
"Only $60,000 . . ."
"OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
"Great! But before we hang up, something else . .."
"What?"
"It might look like a lot, but I was reconciling your bank account and happened by the real estate agent this morning, and saw the house we looked at last year. It's for sale!! Remember? The one with a pool, English Garden, acre of park area, beachfront property."
"How much are they asking?"
"Only $450,000 - a magnificent price . . . and I see that we have that much in the bank to cover it."
"Well, then go ahead and buy it, but just bid up to $420,000.OK?"
"OK, sweetie . . . Thanks! I'll see you later!! I love you!!!"
"I love you too..."
The man hangs up and closes the phone's flap. The other men are looking at him in astonishment and derision. The husband raises his hand while holding the phone and asks, "Does anyone know who this phone belongs to?"
13 February 2008
You Never Know
I love how what we choose can make a difference for someone and we might not ever know.
12 February 2008
Happy almost Valentine's Day
So are you in a slump or on a roll? My seminary students stayed awake in class two mornings in a row! They actually participated. It's like Christmas. I made them promise as they were escaping today to be back tomorrow ready to roll, and they looked at me kind of pained. A promise? Yeah, right. I love these kids. You have to jump-start them in the a.m. though. Stephen didn't even come today because his clothes are standing in the corner by themselves they're so dirty. Stephen's the greatest, absolutely. He and his dad live alone, I mean without Steve's mom. So he's off the hook. (Not) He's smart and kind and very courteous and funny, so it'll be okay. Wish that’s how it was to get into heaven.
I made great lasagna Sunday. Here it is steaming hot for lunch.
Bye. Have a great day!
I made great lasagna Sunday. Here it is steaming hot for lunch.
Bye. Have a great day!
08 February 2008
Do you think “it” will matter in five years?
What “it?” What troubles me? Excites me? I was in Target this morning and the colors and packaging in there thrill me. The all-a-dollar items just about pounce on you when you walk in, and naturally I go straight to the clothes past spring bags and jewelry and shoes, and wow! My heart rate picks up and I want one (+) of everything. That’s not to mention the electronics department; health and beauty aisle; bath and bedding; seasonal items, garden center, scrapbook and magazine racks. I’m seduced! More and more when I feel that rush, the heightened “want,” I say you’ll be on clearance soon, outmoded, outdated and outdone by something . . . else; or you're just a pretty package; you won’t matter in a day and a half or a year and a half. I get to way step back then, mostly walk away. I didn’t always used to.
What troubles me? My extra weight’s gotta, GOTTA go. Will being fat matter in five years? I think so. My joints hurt now and I qualify for cholesterol meds. My metabolism is slow and (dang it) I don’t want to exercise or calculate every bite I put in my mouth. I confide to myself (where no one can hear) that I don’t want to exert myself. Break a sweat. Make the effort. Sure enough this isn’t a weight issue only, it’s a “my get up and go has got up and went” deal. And if that’s how it’s going, how can I be happy? I’m not unhappy this year, but in five?
So, yes and no. In this case, well, the other way around.
What troubles me? My extra weight’s gotta, GOTTA go. Will being fat matter in five years? I think so. My joints hurt now and I qualify for cholesterol meds. My metabolism is slow and (dang it) I don’t want to exercise or calculate every bite I put in my mouth. I confide to myself (where no one can hear) that I don’t want to exert myself. Break a sweat. Make the effort. Sure enough this isn’t a weight issue only, it’s a “my get up and go has got up and went” deal. And if that’s how it’s going, how can I be happy? I’m not unhappy this year, but in five?
So, yes and no. In this case, well, the other way around.
06 February 2008
Journal prompt
I've determined to every other day or so write from the prompt link on the right. Today's: Work through a painful memory. Describe it. Feel it. See if you can let it go.
thinking about it
is way
hard
thinking about it
is way
hard
05 February 2008
Wondrous things
Happy Birthday, Scott!
From The Life of Mrs. Miles, a favorite blog: "What inspires you to think of God? Because I love art and photography, and these things are both visual I find it easy to find evidence in God in the things I see... but what if one were blind... how would His majesty 'look' to you? It may be that it would be in the LIGHT which we have - but for someone who lives in total darkness what is that like? I found this poem which was written by Patricia McGavock who is blind:"
Would I could see the beauty of the flowers
Whose sweet perfume pervades the summer air,
The grass so soft beneath my faltering footseps,
That thing called light I'm told is everywhere.
Then I could see the trees in Autumn glory,
The little birds that flutter to and fro;
The colours of the rainbow, sunset glowing;
The changing seasons as they come and go.
But I am blind and cannot see such beauty,
No moon or stars illumine my long night,
No dawn of day or sunrise in the morning
Can share with me the wonder of the light.
Yet I am glad, when each new dawn comes breaking,
To feel the morning air, the sun's caress,
To touch the gentle softness of a rosebud,
And breathe the fragrance of its loveliness.
The scent of rain upon a country footpath,
Soft music and a voice that sweetly sings,
God's hand in mine as He so gently leads me -
I need not eyes for all these wonderous things.
From The Life of Mrs. Miles, a favorite blog: "What inspires you to think of God? Because I love art and photography, and these things are both visual I find it easy to find evidence in God in the things I see... but what if one were blind... how would His majesty 'look' to you? It may be that it would be in the LIGHT which we have - but for someone who lives in total darkness what is that like? I found this poem which was written by Patricia McGavock who is blind:"
Would I could see the beauty of the flowers
Whose sweet perfume pervades the summer air,
The grass so soft beneath my faltering footseps,
That thing called light I'm told is everywhere.
Then I could see the trees in Autumn glory,
The little birds that flutter to and fro;
The colours of the rainbow, sunset glowing;
The changing seasons as they come and go.
But I am blind and cannot see such beauty,
No moon or stars illumine my long night,
No dawn of day or sunrise in the morning
Can share with me the wonder of the light.
Yet I am glad, when each new dawn comes breaking,
To feel the morning air, the sun's caress,
To touch the gentle softness of a rosebud,
And breathe the fragrance of its loveliness.
The scent of rain upon a country footpath,
Soft music and a voice that sweetly sings,
God's hand in mine as He so gently leads me -
I need not eyes for all these wonderous things.
04 February 2008
03 February 2008
Chronicles
I’m deep into Chronicles in the Old Testament examining wars King David fought and the nations he subdued. The Philistines, and Moab and Syria and Damascus who came up against him. I don’t really get the lifestyle of the warring king surrounded by his mighty men and his enemies. But it's interesting. These chapters are an OMNIMAX event (hello)! Characters and plots are unbelievably close up in some ways. I read just a few minutes ago, “thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went” and I like that. I kind of pounced on it with my red pencil sure this has something to do with me finally. I also glanced ahead to see if David thanks the Lord. He does. It’s in there.
01 February 2008
Favorite Childhood Anything
From the Creative Portal - Imagination Prompt Generator link on the right, I got this writing prompt today: What is your favorite childhood cartoon? I can hardly remember my favorite childhood anything, much less cartoon. But there was one . . . Clutch Cargo, which aired starting in 1959. I was very little but I remember Clutch's airplane,
and Clutch and Spinner and Paddlefoot,
and Swampy.
It came on early, I mean early, Saturday morning before I got up to the table for breakfast, while I was still in my jammies. Mom was religious about breakfast - a lot of table setting and noise and smells of good food. You didn't come in your pajamas. And we certainly prayed first, kneeling by our chairs. Routinely. When I was in fourth grade I sobbed all the way through morning prayers many days because of sepration anxiety - there's a childhood memory. Anyway, back to Clutch, someone was always in a jam and he was helping them out with his trusty plane or boat and sidekicks. Cartoons went downhill after that; I remember when it wasn't on anymore. Saturday morning was cartoon time, it made me happy! Bona fide! Do little kids know happy, or is it just how it is? But after Clutch Cargo, well, I certainly was not liking Bugs Bunny or the Roadrunner Show. Or Popeye. Borrrring.
and Clutch and Spinner and Paddlefoot,
and Swampy.
It came on early, I mean early, Saturday morning before I got up to the table for breakfast, while I was still in my jammies. Mom was religious about breakfast - a lot of table setting and noise and smells of good food. You didn't come in your pajamas. And we certainly prayed first, kneeling by our chairs. Routinely. When I was in fourth grade I sobbed all the way through morning prayers many days because of sepration anxiety - there's a childhood memory. Anyway, back to Clutch, someone was always in a jam and he was helping them out with his trusty plane or boat and sidekicks. Cartoons went downhill after that; I remember when it wasn't on anymore. Saturday morning was cartoon time, it made me happy! Bona fide! Do little kids know happy, or is it just how it is? But after Clutch Cargo, well, I certainly was not liking Bugs Bunny or the Roadrunner Show. Or Popeye. Borrrring.
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