Each Day Already is a Challenge

Mishmash

My headache (from hitting it yesterday) is gone. The boo-boo on my leg is rather ugly, and there's still a bump there, but I'll survive. I do wonder, though, if the pain in my collar bone and my neck have anything to do with the fall I took yesterday. I know when you have a car accident that the pains often show up the next day (or two). Is that also true for a fall? Hmmm.

Have you ever heard of Dr. Mercola? He's an osteopath who believes in natural healing vs. prescription medicines. I get a newsletter from him every day. I have to admit that much of his web site is there to promote his books and products. But he does find some great information to pass along.

Here's a black and white commercial showing a doctor promoting smoking. Dr. Mercola likens this to what docs today are doing by promoting prescription medications. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Are-Doctors-Still-This-Stupid--23254.aspx...

His newsletter today also had an article called, Seven Ways Your Body Tells You You're Hungry. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Seven-Ways-Your-Body-Tells-You-You-re-Hun...

Yesterday's video exposed a fast food chain whose strawberry milkshake contains no milk or strawberries, and the strawberry flavoring has 59 ingredients. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Fast-Food-Milkshakes-Exposed-27226.aspx

Dr. Mercola gets lots of mail about this video about the Town of Allopath: http://www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm

I was a bit curious myself about Dr. Mercola, even though I've been receiving his newsletter for some time. Sometimes when I'm curious, I'll check Wikipedia, even though I know it's not the most reliable source of information. I was surprised at the amount of information about the doc there. The Wikipedia page on him shows lots about the criticisms about him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mercola

'Nuff about that.

My cousin and I were talking about how most folks get their daily information doses - from the TV. Most folks pick one station to watch and don't ever venture out to see what another channel or other type of media is saying about the same thing. When something is questionable in my mind, I check a bunch of different news sources, including the BBC. I'll check conservative and liberal media to see where they differ and where they agree on the topic. I'll check print and internet media sources. But all of that takes time, something of which most Americans claim to have very little.

I talked about that in the very first sermon I ever gave. It was called, "If it's God calling, tell Him I'm busy!" I used that title because I had seen a cartoon using those words. Maybe I'll share that first sermon I gave sometime, and you can see how much I've grown in the last 15 years.

Busy? My mom was busy. At one point, she had three kids (6, 2 and infant with cholic), her mother who had just had a stroke and broke her leg, her 18 year old brother-in-law (who was building a stock car in the back yard) and my dad to "manage."

She typed insurance policies at home to keep her skills up and earn a few extra bucks for the family. That was back when there were manual typewriters and carbon paper. Some of the policies required that she type an original and six copies.

Since my baby sister had cholic, Mom hired teen sisters as baby sitters/mother's helpers in the afternoon so she could fix dinner. Their own house was teeny, tiny (really - one bedroom for parents and three teens, one boy and two girls!), so our basement playroom became their hang-out place late at night...with their friends.

And my friends - and their siblings - all congregated at our house. We had a huge back yard, a 3 or 4 car garage, two huge porches, and two play rooms. Our bedroom closets connected with "secret" passages and playing hide-and-seek in the house was loads of fun.

Mom always had time to chat with the mail man (it was always a man back then), the bread man, the ice cream man, the milk man, the garbage man, etc. That meant that the gossips in the neighborhood never let her alone. But with three kids and her mother as her constant companions, Mom wasn't doing anything but being nice. And offering each one at least a glass of water, if not a cup of coffee.

Our washer was a wringer washer. Lots of clothes were hung out to dry. Folks seemed to prefer that over dryers back then. Clothes were "sprinkled" and rolled and put in a plastic bag into the refrigerator until they could be ironed. Mom and Grandma (when she could) and I ironed sheets, pillow cases, table cloths (which we used all the time), cloth napkins (ditto), handkerchiefs (for both genders) and Dad's t-shirts. Plus the things we would iron today - dresses, skirts, pants and shirts. At that age, I was just learning to iron. I stood on a stool and ironed pillow cases and hankies and napkins.

Mom sang in the church choir and was the craft organizer for VBS each year. She was the Vice President of the PTA for a number of years. She wrote plays for the PTA and for church, and helped direct them. She also volunteered as a room mother at school.

There were no micro wave ovens back then or even crock pots. Meals took time, especially since there were few quick foods. Most things were made from scratch, including cakes and pies, break and rolls.

As we grew older, her activities changed but never stopped. She was my brother's den mother. She drove me to choir practice and took my brother to softball practice, and later took both of my sisters to band practice.

When I was in church youth group, she organized the moms so that we would have a good cooked meal every Wednesday night.

She made costumes for Halloween and for plays.

She wrote poetry for every organization and for every kind of event. She made goofy presents for kids (of her friends) going away to college or the service. She made wacky awards for folks to celebrate the strangest (or the ordinary) happenings in their lives.

When I was in high school, she organized a neighborhood watch because drugs were being distributed in the park next to our house.

Our house was called "Switzerland." I guess most families have fusses going. Ours was no different. The fussing parties would visit our house, but NOT the houses of those with whom they fussed. So just about every birthday party, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner was held at our house.

We also called our house "Mack's Motel." Out of town relatives and friends always stayed at our house when they visited Pittsburgh.

Busy? My mom was a busy person. I have never had to be as busy as she was.

Thinking about how busy Mom was has made me tired, tired, tired. Y'all go back and click on a few of those links above while I take a nap. Okay?