Thankful/Positive 1/22 to 1/28

The week started as usual with church, and the service was a preview of what our contemporary services will be like. There were a few glitches, but that’s usually the case whenever something new is tried. I feel good about the direction our church is going in the next weeks and months.

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As far as pain went, this past week was better since I’ve been faithfully taking my pain meds first thing in the morning and then my other meds throughout the day. It seems to be working.

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There was one day last week that I was playing my Raven games while listening to youtube. I have a neighbor in the games that is a big Kylie Minogue fan and I decided to listen to some of her stuff again. I had forgotten how much I really loved the music of the 80’s. I’d play my game until the song was over, then put up another one and go back to the game. My heart still belongs to classic rock, but this was so much fun trolling around in the decade when my kids were little and VH1 was my mainstay. Thank you, Sean!

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The week ended up back at church for the annual Congregation Appreciation dinner. This time it was a LUAU!! Can you imagine a bunch of old Lutherans in the middle of January all dressed in Hawaiian clothes! Boggles the mind, eh? I even got brave and tried poi…Saying it reminds one of wallpaper paste is an insult to wallpaper paste. At least wallpaper paste has a purpose…

The chicken and pork were awesome, though. The lava cake was outstanding. The coconut pudding was good with some extra lava sauce mixed in. Even the non-alcoholic pina coladas were yummy. Although I wished I had a flask of coconut rum with me…I would’ve been discrete…

All in all a wonderful time of fun and fellowship. Thank you Lord, for my church and my friends. Thank you Lord, for this past week.

January 2012 Book Report

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and be a villain by Rex Stout

Yes, the title is all in lower case. That’s the way Mr. Stout did it. It’s from a quote by Shakespeare. I love the Nero Wolfe mysteries. This was a good little case involving a woman who had a radio talk show. One day, her special guest dropped dead while on the air. Poisoned! Whodunnit???

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The Love Nest and other stores by Ring Lardner

Not Ring Lardner Jr. but his father. Didn’t know he was a writer as well. Got this little paperback at one of the church rummage sales. Delightful bunch of stories. Written in 1926 and really brings back the flavor of a time long gone.

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Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

We saw the movie first, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll watch just about anything that Meryl Streep does. Knowing the movie was based on real events made it even more enjoyable. I came across the book in the bargain bin at WalMart. Marv actually found it first and showed it to me, and I put it in the cart. There wasn’t as much about Julia Child in the book as there was in the movie. And Miss Powell sure does love the ‘f’ word! She is a very talented writer, but her language was a bit off-putting. And she makes her hatred of Republicans come through loud and clear as well. I think I’ll stick with the movie.

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When My Baby Dreams by Adele Enersen

This is the book I mentioned in one of my “positive/thankful” posts. Ms. Enersen is a photographer and artist. She had a blog with a bunch of pictures where she created “dreamscapes” around her sleeping child. Unfortunately, someone stole those images and used them in unauthorized advertising and Ms. Enersen removed them from her blog. She put some of those pictures in a lovely little book that was just released. There weren’t as many pictures as I’d hope in this book. But that was the only disappointment. Maybe there will be other books forthcoming with more of the pictures. I hope so. This book would be a great baby shower gift.

Thankful/Positive 1/15 to 1/21

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Started out the week by getting all the Christmas boxes put away! Finished taking down the tree on Sunday, and on Monday got the front room put back together and even vacuumed!
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Tuesday was our Christ Care Bible study group, which is always a blessing. We watched a very interesting movie on the science behind the star that appeared to the magi. Although I have to admit I was so tired that evening that I dozed through some of it. I've NEVER done that before! At least I didn't snore...and I need to watch that movie again...
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The highlight of the week was our monthly dinner/game night with friends. Instead of games, though, we watched an outstanding Christian movie called "Courageous" that I cannot recommend enough. Awesome movie. And there was PIE as well!!
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A New Label

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This is a follow-up to the posting about my knees. The last time I saw my doctor (for something unrelated to my knees) I swallowed my pride and talked to him about getting a handicap parking tag.

He fully agreed with me. Not that I look down on people who have a tag, but it bothered my pride that I am now in the position of needing one. On good days you would never know. And even on some of the bad days, you wouldn't be aware of the full extent of the pain I was in. But those extra steps can really, really make a difference. Especially if there isn't an abandoned shopping cart nearby that I can use as a sort of walker to get into the store. Going back to the car isn't as much of a problem, since I usually have a cart to lean on. I didn't have my tag in time for Christmas shopping, but I have it now. And it is a real Godsend, I can tell you. If I'm having a good day, I don't bother looking for that special parking spot, because I don't need it. But on the bad days....then I admit that I am handicapped to a certain extent and need some extra help. And I am grateful for it.
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Thankful/Positive 1/8 to 1/14

I'm not always going to expound on everything I list, just hit the highlights.There were a LOT of positives last week.
The week started by waking up with an awful headache after DREAMING I had an awful headache. I could've just taken some pain meds and gone back to sleep, but chose to get up. After my coffee/slimfast breakfast I started feeling somewhat better and decided to go ahead and get ready for church. And as always in a situation like this, I was blessed immensely by the service.
Got to spend some quality time with Paula and get some stamping done. So much fun when there is someone to talk to while doing this.
Went to a pizza fundraiser for the Children's Center and had a great time. Wasn't real impressed with the pizza, but the salad bar was great and so was the fellowship.
One night Marv brought home 2 French donuts leftover from a meeting at work! YUM!!!!
I'd been having trouble with my new bifocals and went to Chico to Sears Optical to see what could be done. It turned out all I needed was a bit of adjustment and tweaking of the frame and everything lined up just fine. BIG relief!
AND....since I was in Chico, of course I had to go to Barnes & Noble and have lunch at the Starbucks inside the store. I also found 2 bargain books: the true story of Dewey, the library cat in Spencer, IA and an autobiography of Rick Springfield. WOOT!
On Saturday, we had more fun with Jay and Paula (Jake's Burgers is GREAT), and then went to a friend's BD party.
Good week. Thank you, Lord!

My Pegboard Desk

Apparently these things were popular in the ‘40’s & 50’s. I had one. I LOVED it. The pegboard would slide out and you could then inset a masonite board in for a solid surface to draw or color on. And of course all the little wooden pegs would store inside the desk. I hadn’t thought of that desk in ages. I’ve been reading the book “Julie & Julia” and it mentions Julia Child’s pegboard wall in her kitchen where she hung all her pots and pans. That jogged my memory about the desk. I vividly remember using it when I was 3-4 years old, when we lived in Kansas City, KS. I have no memories of it after that, when we moved to California. It might not have survived the trip, since after we’d started out with our trailer full of possessions, the hitch broke and everything in the trailer ended up in a corn field. After picking up what could be salvaged, we drove back to KC to repack and reload. Then headed out again.

I tried looking these up on the Internet. This one pictured here was on Ebay. And I guess that’s the only place you’re going to find one these days. I thought this would be a dandy thing for Lia, but I guess not. I know Marv could easily make a pegboard in a frame to place on a table, but where on earth would you find pegs? There is nothing like what I had as a child. There are peg games with large plastic pegs, but Lia is beyond that kind of thing. The closest thing would be a Lite-Brite set. Ah, well. The things of childhood past…

Sure did love that desk.

Thankful/Positive 1/1 to 1/7

We thought for sure that when we took Sheba in to the vet last Monday, there was a good possibility that we would be taking an empty cat carrier home. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case…this time. We got her a reprieve in the form of a steroid shot. We were told this was only a stopgap, but I’m grateful for whatever more time we have with her.

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I found out that a book I’ve been waiting to be published for a long time is now available! It’s titled “When My Baby Dreams” by Adele Enersen. I will report more on that after I get my copy.

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I know the above isn’t much of a post, but the purpose of this whole Monday blog thing is to reflect on the previous week and pick out only the positive stuff. There is a whole world of things/people/etc to be thankful for and positive about every single day. Waking up to a new day is one. Seeing the sunshine, drinking coffee, talking to friends…the list goes on. What I want to do though is not just a “diary” type of thing…  “Dear Diary, I started the day as usual with my coffee and trying to get my eyes to open up on their own. Then I brushed my teeth and got dressed. Then I emptied the cat box.” My readership would go from the possible 5 down to maybe 1 if I did that sort of thing. The point is to focus on picking 1 or 2 real positives apart from the everyday life that we are to give thanks for as a matter of course. For the Christian, anyway. We are told to “pray, praise and give thanks” for everything. Which I try to do. But some days, the only thing I can think of to be grateful for is that the day is finally OVER and I don’t have to deal with it anymore. This blog will force me to come up with something positive in a one week period beyond the everyday.

I leave you with something to ponder:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

More Freebies

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about my love of free stuff before, but I haven’t figured out how to access labels on my blog yet, so I’m not 100% sure. Just give me time…I’ll get it eventually.

In the meantime, here’s something new about freebies, since it just happened yesterday.

I try to give blood as often as I’m allowed since I’m a universal donor. I’ve missed the last 4-5 times because of illness or being in Fresno. The last time was in December and they were giving out a free holiday t-shirt. I was in Fresno…(sigh)

So when the blood drive was here yesterday, the planets aligned and nothing else was going on and I was in good health and I went in to donate. Even though there was no t-shirt offered. It was out of the goodness of my heart (or veins, maybe) and the lure of free snacks. Plus, I had a good book I’m in the middle of. *More on that later.

After I registered, I was given a nice, shiny key chain because I was at the gallon mark of donations! I’ve given a GALLON of my life’s blood! WOOT! And it’s a real nice key chain too. Not cheap. Heavy metal. Came in a nice little gift box. Of course, now that I’ve talked about it, there is NO chance of me ever re-gifting it to anyone…not that I would do that.

So I got all comfy in the reclined chair and read my book and donated. It doesn’t take me very long to fill up the bag…fast blood, I guess. I went to the table for my snacks and ate my crackers and nuts and took a small bag of Cracker Jacks to eat at home. **More on that later. As I turned away from the snack table to leave, there was another table set up with ALL THE HOLIDAY SHIRTS FROM LAST TIME…

They usually don’t have leftovers, but there was a good number of them. So I got my shirt after all! I was so stoked! It was a very nice grayish/blue color, which I love, and had white snowflakes on it. I was amazingly thrilled. I’m wearing it as I write this…***More on the asterisks.

*Yes, I know it’s been a long time since I did a book report. I’ll get to it eventually. I think I gave up doing that on a monthly basis some time ago. I’ll just report when I don’t have something else to talk about.

**Cracker Jacks. Love ‘em. Always have. And of course the prize was always something to look forward to. Not anymore. (sigh) All they have now are little paper things like pencil toppers or a folding paper to reveal a famous person. NO FUN. I guess there were so many people ingesting the prize and suing the company that all the fun was taken out of it. Now be honest…did you eat until you came to the prize, or did you dump the box into a bowl, paw through it for the prize and THEN eat it? Hmmm? Be honest!

***I saw this device used in another blog I used to read, and of course, I decided to steal it for my very own. So, dear Gladys, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE ASTERISKS!!!

Retro Resolution

I hadn’t come up with a New Year’s Resolution as I was still so chuffed at keeping the one I made last year—about blogging every week. So I didn’t even try. I would just keep up what I had started.

Last night I was having trouble falling asleep because of pain. I had forgotten to take my pain meds earlier in the evening and was really hurting by the time I went to bed. So I was laying there, waiting for the stuff to kick in. I started thinking about maybe giving up something for Lent this year. I hadn’t been led to do that in a couple years or so. I was running things around in my mind and came up with something entirely new: instead of giving something up, how about taking something on?

The result was this: a thankfulness blog apart from my Friday one. And it wouldn’t just be for Lent, it would be for this entire year. It would be written on Sunday and posted on Monday and would cover the previous week. This would force me to really go through the days and focus on the positive of what had transpired.

Since January 1st fell on a Sunday, the previous week would be Christmas. That’s too easy. So I decided to write this as my first entry. Since I didn’t come up with the idea until last night, my first posting is late…typical for me, huh?

So start looking for me on Mondays as well as Fridays. Better yet, subscribe to my blog, and then you’ll get it in your email inbox and won’t have to wait for notices on Facebook. And let me know what you think! I welcome comments. You DON’T have to have a blog or website or anything like that to leave comments here. You can post anonymously. But if you can leave your name within the comment just to let me know who you are, that would be dandy! It would also let me know that I’m not sending all this into a vacuum…that would suck! (haha, vacuum humor! Never gets old!)

So just as a quickie bit of thankfulness:

12/25/11 to 12/31/11

Christmas and all that entails—the birth of our Lord and Savior. Born to die. Born to save.

Fellowship with family and friends.

The old year is over. We’ve been granted a new start. Amen, and thank you, Lord!