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 |  Fibro fog, pain, writing sandwiched in between. Quotes. Sermon notes. Encouragement. |
A Texas Sunrise  A friend, William Taylor, took this picture. He visits Surfside Beach with his dogs almost every morning, watching the sun rise while the dogs prance about at the water's edge. This is only about ten miles from where I lived in Lake Jackson, Texas. Sadly, I only visited this beach about four times in the six years I lived nearby. Each day is a challenge. A challenge to get by without thinking about the fibromyalgia pains. A challenge to stay awake when chronic fatigure wants to take over. And a challenge to navigate through fibro fog. I haven't been writing as much as in the past. For years, I wrote at least 500 words a day. Now, I'm lucky if I write 500 words in month. Sigh. For more information about what my day (or life) is all about with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic pains, IBS, depression and everything else thrown in, check this out:
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| Click here for a list of anthologies seeking submissions. Paying $0 to $300. http://www.absolutewrite.com/freelance_writing/anthologies.htm |
I'm sure I'll be back later today to add something.  Seriously, though, what does 24/7 mean to you? About 3 or 4 days a week, as I pick up my son from work in the morning, he'll ask that I stop at our local Kroger store. He might want a fresh donut. Or he might be out of cereal. Or he just might have a hankerin' for something that we don't have. (He buys most of his own foods, thank goodness!) Kroger is supposed to be open 24/7. Today, people were standing around the doors rather confused because they didn't just open when they stepped up to the door. (It would have made a great Candid Camera show.  )We did notice that someone was letting in a few people now and then. There must have been a bunch of employees who started at 7 a.m. and they were let in. While Derek was at the door, being told rather rudely, "Employees only!" I was calling the customer service desk inside. I very nicely asked why the store was closed to customers and inquired if they realized that they had a number of customers standing outside without anyone bothering to explain why they could not come in. Perhaps mine was not the first call this employee answered. Or perhaps she had been in the store all night and was tired and ready to go home. Still, her rude response to me on the phone was not good business. The employee informed me that there was a sign on the door. (There was not on the door where my son stood.) It turns out that the store had completely stripped all the floors and washed and waxed them and the floors were not dry yet. Now, I have never worked in a store that was open 24/7, but I have shopped in a few over the years. When THEY needed to strip and wax floors, they usually did just part of the store at a time and blocked that part of the store while they worked. Even if they really needed to do the entire floor at one time, wouldn't you think they would have arranged to have the job completed before 7 a.m.? Normally when my son runs in to the store, I sit in the car and watch people. One day, I counted the number of people coming out with Starbucks coffee. (There were 22 in a ten minute period.) I wonder how the Starbucks counter felt about losing customers this morning... If my son had known that the Kroger store would not be open, he could have purchased a box of cereal at his own store before he left (Target). But rather than go back, we proceeded on towards the house and he stopped at Walgreens instead. Of course, instead of spending $2 for a box of Kroger brand cereal, he spent at least twice that much for a box of national brand at Walgreens. But you know, he was hungry. That rude girl at the Kroger store had told me that theywould probably open in 15-20 minutes give or take. Did they really think people were going to stand around and wait? I'll probably have to drop a note to the Kroger store about this. Don't worry. I know how to complain nicely. What a segue, huh?
 ***************** Trying to be more serious now. I found this today on the public review page.
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| Check it out! See the awardicon on my blog? Isn't it pretty? Turns out that I won the Blog Ring's Rate 5 and Win Contest. Cool, huh? Click here for more details and to see the growing list of blogs on the Blog Ring. ** Image ID #1138290 Unavailable ** . |
| What a day I had yesterday. Busy, busy, busy. In the morning, of course, hubby and I attended church. Our pastor continued with the series about getting to know Jesus. His focus, and that of the small group I attended Sunday night, was about Jesus as the Shepherd. Did he really have to keep telling us that sheep are really stupid animals? After all, if Jesus is the Shepherd, that makes us the sheep...and stupid. But, I guess we are. We get lost just like sheep do, and we need our Shepherd to help us find our way home. As usual, the notes I made in the margins are the ones I really want to remember. God is love. Do we really get that??? People seek love through: performing, pity parties, positions of power, pleasure, possessions - none of which make us feel loved, at least not for very long. Our congregation includes: seekers, strugglers, and sold-out followers. Even sold-out followers of Christ forget about how deep and how wide God's love really is sometimes. If there was a notebook of all of your sins, how big would it be? Thankfully, our sins are forgiven and we don't have to keep carrying them with us! Do you wake up thinking, "Good Lord, it's morning" or "Good morning, it's the Lord"???? Turn on your light, reflect God's love, be an example to the world. Some of the Bible verses that we focused on in this lesson were: John 10:11 NIV I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:14 NIV I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Psalms 40:11-12 TLB My only hope is in your love and faithfulness. Otherwise I perish, for problems far too big for me to solve are piled higher than my head. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV "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." John 1:12 NIV Yet to all who received Him to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. John 13:34-35 TLB And so I am giving a new commandment to you now -- love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples. The sermon points were: The Shepherd's Role:  God loves and knows me.God looks after me.God leads me.My Response: I receive God's grace and rejoice.I rest in God's protection.I resign myself to God's guidance.I will reflect God's love.Our small group focus on Sunday night was: John 10:10 NIV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Acknowledge the rescue. Accept the rescue. Appreciate the rescuer. Announce the rescuer.After both the morning sermon and the evening small group study, I realized how little time we - Christians - spend rejoicing and showing the world how much joy and peace we have because we are loved so deeply by our Creator and Father. In between the church service in the morning and the small group in the evening, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve. A group of folks from our church - ranging in age from 10 to 60 - drove across the river into Kentucky and served a meal to the homeless (and working poor). The church we visited there serves food every Sunday night to their neighborhood poor. Somewhere between 125 and 225 people show up every Sunday to eat. What a ministry this is for that church. Our church, by providing the food (one of our members is an executive for one of our local eateries and they donated the food) and doing the preparation and serving last night, allowed the other church folks to spend time outside the kitchen and to be with the people they support each week. It was good for all of us. Normally, folks line up at the door of this church just before 4 p.m. The serving begins at 4 and ends at 6. Last night, there were about 30 people waiting to get in at 4 - about 20 less folks than usual. They trickled in after that, and around 4:40 it dawned on a bunch of us at about the same time that, DUH, some of these folks that were regulars were really homeless. Perhaps they didn't realize that daylight savings time had changed 3 weeks earlier than usual. Sure enough, at 5 p.m. a bunch of folks showed up at the door. Perhaps we served about 125 people last night. There was enough for everyone to get a hefty plate of food and for seconds for those who wanted more. There was even enough for take-out plates for those that requested them. What little food was left, we put in the freezer for them to use later. Serving the homeless is something I like to do. My brother is homeless in PA and by serving where ever I am, it somehow gives me a connection to him. Besides, just hearing the stories of how people end up on the streets is a good reminder that so many of us are just one pay check away from being in the same situation. That's rather sad for a country as "rich" as ours is supposed to be. When I went to bed last night, I was thorouthly exhausted. And, yes, there were pains everywhere. Still, it was a good exhaustion and I knew that the pains would disappear as I drifted off to sleep. And as I did - drift off to sleep, that is - I was comforted knowing that God always takes care of me. I need that, because, I guess I am as dumb as the sheep sometimes. Often, actually. I almost forgot. Many thanks to shleprock for making my Easter basket and to intuey   for giving it as a gift. |
| My Sunday is jam packed. I'll be sharing everything that happened...real soon. Meanwhile... Have you dropped in at
There just might be something new! |
| Country Woman - poetry contest - Summer Verse (picture prompt) - deadline March 20, 2007 http://www.countrywomanmagazine.com/2007/MA07/subFeature03b.asp?RefURL=&KeyCode=... Creation Illustrated - for submission information: http://www.creationillustrated.com/article.php?id=8&PHPSESSID=474877b3ac09eedbcc... I know you've been eager to see pictures of our two cats. Here's Opera with her face in the food bowl. That's her usual position.  This shot shows her face.  And here's one of Piewacket, being the serious cat.  Having to get up early to pick up my son at work has its merits. I get to see the sun come up, and in nice weather, that's not such a bad thing. Speaking of nice weather...it was 57 degrees when I got up this morning. Another strange Cincinnati weather day, I guess. The temperature will neither go up nor down today, or so the weather folks say. Just a few weeks ago it looked like this:  That's hubby - Incurable Romantic  and his daughter Tiff. I think he had his back turned so he could avoid being hit by a snowball. (But he'd probably say he was making a snowball of his own. )Today the birds are really getting ready for that first big Spring concert. As I sat on the porch, I heard six distinctive bird songs. I don't know which birds belonged to which song, but I did hear six different songs. Yippeeee! Next we'll be seeing some of God's beautiful Spring colors. And I cannot wait! A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby, excitedly discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?," they asked, as they moved on. "Because," he said, "I can't stand watching chess nuts boasting in an open foyer...." |
| I don't know. I was looking for a word beginning with "f" for my Friday title. Nothing seemed funny or unique enough. So, I made up my own word. Like it? I was going to call it...family speak. Hubby wanted me to mention some of the weird family sayings that he's discovered that my family uses. I already had one entry about some of them. Umquie (my brother's word for water) and azoo (his word for another). Aaayeeee (my sister's answer to what time is it - when she was just a toddler and unable to read time). Some of my cousins said, "I can't want to" instead of "I don't want to." And...well hubby and I talked of another one, but I can't remember. Maybe he'll leave a comment here to jog my memory. Hint to hubby: It was not one of my dyslexic mouth utterings - like, "That's very not nice." Anyway... Do you know a young writer - age 8 to 18? Here's a contest just for them. The young writer has to write about a 50 year old who is not his/her parent. (The 50 year old can be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, mentor.) The deadline is March 31, 2007. Here's the link for more information: https://http//www.legacyproject.org/contests/ltalrules.html Hey! The temperature reached almost 60 today. I still don't understand how the temperatures work here. I mean the highs for the day. The other places where I have lived - PA, MI, MO, FL and TX - have the high temperature in the middle of the day, somewhere between noon and 3 or 4 p.m. Here in Cincinnati, the high temperatue is usually between 5 and 6 p.m. What's up with that? Sadly, it should go back down into the low 30's tonight again. But it surely was nice this afternoon. My car's heater doesn't work very well, so my car never really gets warm. Just mildly warm, not like other cars....like hubby's for instance. Of course, he doesn't like or need the warm. One day when were getting ready to go somewhere....maybe for our anniversary dinner....I discovered that he had his car heater turned to the blue side (AC!) instead of the red side (heat). Yikes. I forgot that my air conditioning doesn't work at all. I commented about that to my son as I was driving him to work. Something like, "Pretty soon we'll be complaining that the a/c doesn't work." His response? "No we won't. We both can handle heat more than cold. Remember? There were how many days in a row - 18 - of over 100 degrees in Texas without a/c in the car? And we survived." He's right. My car's air conditioning quit in June, 2003. I guess we've survived so far. But boy...I hope we can get the heater working better before next winter. I've been searching and searching for something I wrote to my mom at the end of 2001. I ran across it - on my computer - a few weeks ago and thought, "I should copy this or print it out, 'cause I'll never remember where this if filed." I was right. I don't remember and I tried searching myself and getting the computer to search, to no avail. Grrr. But, the good thing is that in my searching I found a few other things I had written and forgotten all about. Plus... I found this quote from Erma Bombeck, "My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first, hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint." I wish I had written that one! I always loved Erma Bombeck. Loved her sense of humor and wished I could be like her. She is missed... |
| It's not often that I make three entries in one day. I could have, certainly, just added to the others. But I wanted this to stand by itself. And when I'm finished, I'm going to retreat for the day. At least until much later. I really have things to do! Anway, in the last post, I mentioned that http://www.crosswalk.com had been reorganized and enlarged. Boy has it. Here's an excellent starting place for anyone who wants to know more about Jesus - who he is/was, who he isn't/wasn't, who he said he was, etc. It's an excellent resource. http://www.crosswalk.com/whoIsJesus/1346092/ And for those who want a good article refuting the claims that the bones of Jesus were found: http://www.probe.org/commentaries/tales-from-the-crypt-do-we-have-the-bones-of-j... I'm tired now. Exhausted, really. And I think I'll just go and take a nap. Nighty-night. |
If you have never visited "Invalid Item"  , perhaps now is the time. I admit, we don't often have a real give and take there. And sometimes it gets rather tiring answering the same questions over and over again. (Accusations, often.) But at least once a week, I feel a nudge to go there. This morning, I didn't have any questions to pose for our Muslim friends on the forum. Nor did I have any answers. But I did feel like I needed to share. Here's what I posted there:I was just feeling so loved and cared for and at peace that I just wanted to share some of that. I hope that's okay. Today I discovered that Crosswalk.com has been changed, reorganized, and enlarged. It's a great place of reference to find out about God and about Jesus. It also has a place for searching the Bible - with many translations. This morning the devotional there used these verses: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." I wish that everyone in the world could come to know my God, this God. Why would I ever want to trade my God who gives me hugs and holds me when I need to be held, for one for whom I have to prove myself day after day after day. I know that I am not worthy - alone, that is. But Jesus made me worthy. He made me whole. And because I don't have to prove myself worthy day after day after day, because I don't have to prove anything, I want to show my love - to God, to my neighbor, to the world. I want to share the peace, the joy, the love that surrounds me and engulfs me each and every day. Even as I write these words, tears of joy trickle down my cheek. Thank you, Father God, for giving me such joy and peace and love this morning. You always know when I need it most. |
| Now I understand what my mother and grandmother told me when I was just a kid. Time really does fly. Sometimes it seems as if the hours and days just speed by without much participation on my part. I wonder where the time goes. I wonder what I have accomplished. Nothing? Some days and weeks that's just the way it seems. Like I'm just treading water. Like life is going on all around me, but I'm just standing still. Hmmm. ******** Yesterday, the news local evening news was on in the other room. I was half-way listening to it, but not really. I heard the news anchor mention a school shooting in Michigan and I figured it happened either in northern Michigan (where one of my sisters lives) or in the Detroit area. I was surprised to hear that the shooting took place in Midland, Michigan. That's where I lived! That's where my parents had lived. That's where my other sister and her ex and her two kids had lived. I wondered if any of them knew the girl who had been shot, or the boy who did the shooting. I called my sister, who now lives back in Texas. She said that things were rather tense at work yesterday. There were quite a few parents of Midland teens attending meetings in Texas. They were all concerned about their kids. The school was in lock-down for a while. Fortunately, most kids had cell phones and most used text messaging to inform their parents and friends that they were okay. My sister told me some details that had not appeared on the news. The news said that the girl had broken up with the boy and he went to school and shot her. What it didn't say was that the girl was not in school yesterday. Her mother drove her to the school to meet the boy to talk. Mom waited in the car. When the fight started, the mother drove her car in between them. She watched as the boy shot her daughter once in the arm and three times in the chest, then put the gun to his own head. Can you imagine how that poor mother feels? She drove her daughter to meet this kid. And she watched, helplessly, as her daughter was shot. Supposedly, the girl's condition was changed from critical to serious yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, prayfully, she will be okay. But, then again, will she ever really be okay? Will the mom? Or the families of both kids? Their friends? What a different world this is than the one in which I grew up. Personally, I would gladly give up cell phones and text messaging, even this very computer, if we could have just a bit of those Ozzie and Harriet days back again. *********** On a happier note, here's my bunny. I know lots of folks have them now, and so do I.  This was a gift from gardengirl and made by AntiBarbie .*********** By the way, here's a rather different contest:
I do believe I'll have to enter this one. |
| Grrrrr! I never took any debating classes in school, nor was I ever a member of a debating team. But...I think I know that debates or discussions require a give and take. Well, don't they? I really hate (okay, my mom said never to use the word hate...so I strongly dislike) it when two people - defined as me and one other person - are engaging in a discussion or debate when he/she says, "I can't believe you said that!" Looks over shoulder to see what it was that I said that was unbelievable. Finding nothing, I respond, "Is there something I said that you don't understand?" "No. I just can't believe you said that." With a bit more give and take, it is determined that the person with whom I am discussing/debating has a different point of view. Well, duh! That's why we're having this discussion!" The other person is stuck in the, "I can't believe you said that" mode and cannot climb out. I am left scratching my head, wondering what went wrong. And the other person is left feeling that he/she has somehow won the debate. Huh? Another thing that really gets to me is the person who refuses to answer quesitons I pose while discussing/debating and, instead, asks a question of me. I calmly and accurately answer the new posed question, then head on back to the original discussion. What is his/her next commnent? "I can't believe you said that." Grrr. Imagine if you will: I have just given an illustrious speech about the importance of eating blueberries, for instance. The most recent studies have found that this is one of God's best foods, because of the anti-oxidants found in blueberries. Etc., etc., etc. Second person: "Hmmm. Interesting. Do you like oranges?" Me: "What???? We were discussing the benefits of eating blueberries." #2: "Yes, but I don't like them." Me: "Surely you understood the importance of eating them, though, right? You did hear what I had to say about blueberries?" #2: "Yes, but I don't like them." Me: "You know that.... Oh, never mind. Why don't you like blueberries?" #2: "Well....they're blue. But not really. And I just don't like them." At this point, I might back-pedal and repeat what I've already shared about how we should be thinking about food as being the fuel to feed our bodies and be searching for the best fuels. (After all, we do that for our cars!) Blah, blah, blah. #2: "Hey, how about apples?" Me: "What about apples?" #2: "Do you like them?" Me: "YES I LIKE APPLES! And they are a part of a good diet as well. But we were discussing blueberries." Again, I retreat a bit and mention all the benefits of all fruits and veggies, of eating a limited amount of red meats, etc. Again I bring up the fact that Americans are way too fat and unhealthy and why that is. Etc., etc., etc. #2: "I can't believe you said that." Me: "Said what?" #2: "What you just said." GRRRR!!!!! The above is not a real discussion. It's just being used as an example of what has happened to me in recent months - on a number of different issues and in a number of different locales. By the way...do you like pomegranates? Hey, watch your mouth. I can't believe you said that. ********** Okay, on an entirely different matter... Most of you have probably gotten one of those scam emails supposedly from someone in another country wanting you to deposit sales moneys for them, keeping your share and sending the rest back to them. The scam is that the checks you deposit will be no good, and you'll be sending your own money. Most folks look at those emails and know right away that they're trash. But did you know that there are some "companies" preying on people who have resumes posted on some of the Internet resume posting sites - like Monster and Yahoo Hot Jobs and others? I only found this out because I still had a resume out there somewhere that I had completely forgotten about. The company writes to you and praises your resume. Then they ask that you fill out one of their online applications so that you can be scheduled for an interview. They seem to have jobs that match your job skills, because they search your resume for key words. If your resume says something about training, the job is about training. If it mentions sales, the job is about selling. Etc. The money they are proposing to pay is just a bit above what might be normal for the area, but it's not so outrageous that you would laugh at the money. Or run the other way. I got one of those emails a while back and something about it just didn't "feel" right. For one thing, I have not been actively looking for a job - at least not a responsible high-paid full time job - for quite some time. But it was more than that. Instinct just said that the email and the company was probably bogus. Still, I clicked on the link and was sent to a job application. Again, bells and whistles went off in my head. The name at the top of the application didn't match the name in the email I received. I thought that was strange. I hit the "about us" link on the home page and discovered that this outfit supposedly provides professional Internet applications for lots of companies. Hmmm. The application appeared to want just a bit too much information. So, I decided to Google both the name in the email and the name at the top of the application. What I discovered what that both of them are bogus. They're using the information they collect to solicit, to send spam emails, perhaps even to steal identies (since one of the application pages wanted way to personal information). What I find as odd is that while there are pages and pages about this particular scam on the Internet, I have not heard it being reported by any major TV networks or newspapers. |
| Well, of course it is. Yes, it hurt to get out of bed this morning. And it will hurt to get back into bed tonight. And in between, there will be more hurting times. But I'm alive. And I am blessed with being able to sit at my computer and write a few words. I can watch out the window and see things gradually changing. (I would wish for faster season changes, but...) I have two cats that depend on me. And I think each one loves me, in its own way. Of course, being cats, they might not admit to that. Yes indeedy, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Well, maybe not for someone. As I was riding down the street to pick up my son from work, I noticed some folks in front of a store gathered around and pointing and shouting. From where I was, I couldn't tell if they were shouting at each other or about someone else. Then, a car sped up behind me, went around me, then decided to make a right turn from the left lane. Curious. Farther down the road, there were four police cars racing in the direction of where I had been. They had lights flashing, but no sirens on. Real curious. I don't think I've ever seen that many cop cars in our area before. Except at parades and community good time events. I picked up my son at Target, and on the way back, we noticed a bunch of flashing lights ahead. I told him what had happened on the way to get him. As we passed the police cars, we noticed that two more had joined in on the....chase? It must have been because it appeared that they had cut a car off. Very, very curious. Then I realized why my mom always loved having a police scanner tuned to local police and fire stations. There are some flashing light events that you can pass and never know what happened. They just don't always make the newspaper or the nightly news. (And we only get the newspaper on the weekend anyway.) Poor Mom. Some might think she had a fascination with police and fire calls and the tragedies of others. She loved listening to the police scanner. When I was a kid (and later as a teen and young adult) my mom loved chasing fire trucks to see what was happening. As a kid, I thought it was fun. If the fire engines roared past our house, we would get on our roller skates or hop on our bikes to follow my mom to the fire. We never saw any major fires. Just backyard burning piles that got a bit out of control. Or kitchen fires that damaged just one room. Then one day, when I was working and in college at nights, we heard sirens. By then, Mom had her scanner and when we heard where the fire was - near where we shopped for groceries - we hopped in the car to go and see what we could see. We parked the car, then walked to within a block of the fire, but on the opposite side of the street. This fire was a bit more serious. It had spread to most of the stores in a strip mall. The roof caved in, and two fire fighters fell through. The gathered crowd cheered when they exited the building, knowing that they were safe. At the end of this strip mall was a gas station, and it was then that I realized this could really be a serious fire (and explosion) if the fire traveled a bit more. We left, and Mom was forced to listen on the scanner. I'm not sure we did much fire gazing after that. I know I didn't. How did my mom become so fascinated with fire? Actually, she feared fire. When we went to restaurants or movies, she always looked for all the exits. If there were not lots of exits, we would have to leave and go somewhere else. You wonder why? When my mom was about three years old, the lumber yard right next to their house burned to the ground. My grandparents had six kids and they got them all outside. Then my grandfather and the other men in the neighborhood started using their garden hoses to squirt down their houses and roofs so they wouldn't catch fire. My mom snuck back into the house and alternated between hiding under the bed and watching from the upstairs window. The fire scared that three year old child horribly. And, it's a wonder that her fears didn't get embedded into each of us. Still, I was curious about what happened down the street a ways. But not curious enough to want to get a police/fire scanner. Since that day that we feared that the gas station might catch fire, there have been two fires that I saw that I'll always remember. The first was in Michigan. My first husband and I lived in a fancy mobile home park. He wanted new stuff and all the things that his parents had right off the bat in our marriage. And the easiest way to appear to have those things was to buy a new mobile home. The first weekend that we were in our home, there was a fire. Just like folks often say, that mobile home was completely destroyed in less than three minutes. Not long after that, we had a bunch of fire and smoke detectors installed in our home. There weren't a bunch of the cheap ones that you can find today. No sireee. It cost us over $300 for those smoke and fire detectors. But we felt just a bit safer with them. Then just a few years ago, when my son and I lived in Texas, the hardware store and lumber yard just a few blocks from our house burned down. I think I finally understood my mom's fear and fascination. It was probably 10 pm, maybe a bit later, when we heard explosions, one after another. From inside, they sort of sounded like gun shots, but a bit stronger. I went out on the porch to see what I could see and discovered lots of neighbors rushing down the sidewalk. The stench of fire and smoke was in the air. I heard the crackling. I was just as curious as my neighbors, so my son and I joined them all to go and see what we could see. What a mess. The hardware store had lots of paints and other chemicals in it, and that's what we heard exploding. The spray paint cans had actually flown across the street and embedded themselves in the sidewalk. The mixture of burning chemicals soon had us all turning back to the safety of our homes. Even indoors one could smell the horrible smells. Once the fire fighters had the hardware store part of the fire under control, they just stayed around to make sure that things didn't get out of hand. The lumber yard part of the fire just burned until there was no more fuel for the fire. How sad for the owners. Strange, how the mind works. All of this came from just seeing a few cop cars with flashing lights. |
| Vincent van Gogh said, "The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." He had a point, don't you think? I found a few other quotations tucked away in my files today. I really like quotations - from famous or not-so-famous people. They are snippets of wisdom. How about... "Take care that old age does not wrinkle your spirit even more than your face." Michel de Montaigne Something to ponder... Theologian Fredrick Buechner said, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." "Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance." John Petit-Senn "Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." Charles Dickens Sure, sure. Our world is a rather crappy place. But there are pockets of joy out there. You just have to find them and scoop them up and take them home with you. Once there, though, you'd better share them! Didn't someone say that it's not really joy until it's shared??? Now...these statistics are not shared to make you feel that you might have set you sails for the wrong course (writing - especially writing and publishing a novel). No sirreeeeebob. These stats are just a reminder that the number one reason we should be writing is that we feel called to do so. And the number two reason should be to share words that we can no longer keep inside. Anyway, here are some statistics. They're old - from 2004 - from Publisher's Weekly. I couldn't find any more recent ones. 950,000 titles out of 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies25,000 sold more than 5,000 copiesThe average book in America sells about 500 copiesOnly 10 books sold more than a million copies Fewer than 500 sold more than 100,000Nearly 200,000 new titles are published each yearThe number of books published per year is probably much more than this number now, since there are so many more companies and methods of publishing. Like I said, these stats are not shared to make anyone discouraged about writing. They are eye-opening, though, aren't they? And they should remind us that we write because we have a passion to do so and because there are words just screaming to get out. Remember that Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest I mentioned a few days ago? http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/wergle/we_guidelines.php I decided to write something for the contest. As you'll recall, you have to enter the poem at one of those vanity poetry sites and have it accepted before submitting to the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. I did that, and sure enough my poem was accepted. (I knew it would be! ) So, I promptly sent it off to good ol' Wergle Flomp. Here's what I wrote: A Dead Poem Comes Back to Life By Marilyn Mackenzie A glob of goo splattered to the ground. I picked it up and tossed it into the fish tank. I sprinkled fish food over it. I thought it might be a dead fish. It was not. That glob of goo had to belong somewhere. I picked it up and buried it in the backyard. I used plant food and watered it. I thought it might be a dead plant. It was not. That glob of goo really had me confused. I picked it up and put it in a tree in my yard. I put twigs and feathers beside it. I thought it might be a dead bird. It was not. Turns out that glob of goo was really a dead poem. I brought it to life again; changed its name, Rearranged some words. Until it was as good as new again. No longer just a glob of goo splattered here and there. Now it is splattered instead All over the Internet For all to see. And I am proud. Purrrrty bad, huh? Oh yeah. I posted two things today. One I put in my "Old Notebook Pages" . The other is here:
Later gators.  |
| Every once in a while, I go to this web site to see if my favorite pin is still available. One day, I'm going to buy it for myself. It's the one about the Proverbs 31 woman. http://scripturewear.com/onlinestore.html I was conducting a Bible study one time and the Proverbs 31 woman was part of the study. I think the study was Becoming a Woman of Excellence by Cynthia Held. Have you ever seen/done any of her studies? I love them. As we read about the Proverbs 31 woman, so many of the women in the class said that they just could not be like that woman. I told them - if they were totally responsible for the household, including the cleaning, laundry, shopping, plus responsible for feeding her family, and all of the other things that women tend to (besides holding down full time jobs) that they were probably closer than they thought. I also shared a favorite paraphrase by Beverly LaHaye. It can be found in the book Spirit Controlled Family Living by Tim and Bev LaHaye. In the paraphrase, LaHaye says: 31:14 She shops wisely at the local supermarket and fresh-vegetable stands for the best buys in foods and provides well-balanced nutritious meals that are attractively servced. 31:15 She rises early in the morning and serves a good breakfast to her husband and children before driving her children to school and starting her day's schedule. 31:16 She holds home Tupperware parties. From the money she earns, she pays her children's tuition for a Christian education. 31:17 She goes to the local health club and exercises her body to keep physically fit and strong. Don't you just love the part about Tupperware parties? I do. These words and phrases that we understand. In fact, LaHaye calls this The Twentieth-Century Woman of Proverbs. Anyway, I just love the pin that depicts the Proverbs 31 woman. There are new pins too, since the last time I visited the site above. Like the one about being a New Creation. I don't get any kick backs for mentioning this site. I just like it. I think the women who make the pins are stay at home moms. ******* I know I have mentioned taking sermon notes before, but I'm not sure if I mentioned that our pastor provides fill-in-the-blank pages to take notes. I dutifully fill them in like everyone else. But I make lots and lots of scribbles in the margins. I think some of the pastor's best words are those ones I've put in the margins. Maybe because they're not rehearsed, but, more likely, the Spirit giving him some words to share as he goes along. I never did like coloring in the lines, you know? The sermon yesterday morning and the study last night were about hurting and healing and forgiveness. Big topic(s). Here are some of my margin notes: Want to get well? Want to get even? You can't do both. Resentment and bitterness hurt you and everyone around you. What you resist the most is what you become. Your focus is what you teach and what you learn and what you live. Focus on peace and joy and become peaceful and full of joy. Negative and faulty data (that we receive from others and ourselves) never disappears. Your self-esteem is defined by what the most important person in your life thinks about you. Make sure that most important person is God...then yourself. What others think should not overshadow what God thinks of you. And God perceives you as clean. (Jesus saw to that!) God never wastes a hurt. The main points of our pastor's sermon were: Prescription for Healing: 1) Reveal my hurt. Learn to be honest with yourself, with God and with someone you trust. 2) Release those who have hurt me. Why forgive? Because I need forgiveness - today, tomorrow and to get better. If I need forgiveness, so do those who have hurt me. 3) Replace old tapes with God's Truths. Romans 12:2 (NLT) "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Ephesians 1:4 (TLB) "God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes without a single fault -- we who stand before him covered with his love." 4) Refocus on the future. Job 11:13-26 NIV "Yet if you devote your heart to Him and stretch out your hands to Him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters going by." I think this explains why one of my sisters calls me Pollyanna. She's always surprised at the hurts I seem to have forgotten. Our pastor shared that these verses say it's not only okay but important that we forget the hurts done to us - UNTIL WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO SHOW COMPASSION TO OTHERS BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN THERE/DONE THAT. And then, we will only remember them as passing hurts. "recalling it only as waters gone by." Now I know why I'm made this way! II Corinthians 1:4 (NCV) "He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us." Yes, indeed, it all makes sense now. |
| I just want to rant a minute about shoes. Huarache sandals, to be exact. I have rather ugly toes and when I lived in warm climate and everyone was showing their tootsies, I had to find shoes or sandals that would be cool while not focusing on my ugly toes. I have a few pairs of...what do they call them?...maybe fishermen sandals? They cover the big toes. Then one day back in about...oh, maybe 1990, I discovered what Payless Shoe Store called huarache sandals. They were fantastic. Just what I needed to keep my feel cool and my toes covered. The first pair I bought was on sale for 5 bucks. Couldn't beat that. Cheap shoes don't last a long time. So? I purchased the same pair of sandals once a year from 1990 to 2003 when I moved to Michigan. Those sandals I bought in 2003 are rather shabby by now. I only wear them around the house as comfy slippers. Anyway, I decided to see if the Payless site still showed these sandals, and sadly, they do not. When I Googled "huarache sandals" and came across a picture that was probably what the real huaraches looked like back when that song was on the radio. You know the one? Was it the Beach Boys? I forget and the only words that pop into my head are, "huarache sandals too..." Back when I was listing to that song 1) I had no idea what the words were saying and 2) even if I had known, I didn't have a clue what those sandals were. They were rather ugly, I suppose, not at all like my huarache sandals from Payless. Continuing on in my huarache search I discovered that everyone is calling their shoes by this name. Really. There are 3 inch heels with this name. And there are Nike tennies with this name. What's up with that? |
| Here's an interesting poetry contest. No, TexansBeatTheMiamiDolphinsBy3 there is no entry fee. Actually, if you're a serious poet, this might not interest you. Except that the prize money is pretty good. It's called the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest so you know it can't be very serious. It could be fun, though. You have to make a not so good poem and send it to one of those....rip-off poetry sites. You know the ones that accept everyone's poetry then want you to pay for chapbooks and such. Anyway, you have to submit to one of those and be accepted. (I think everyone is!) Then you have to enter that poem at the Wergle Flomp contest. By April 1 - so you have to hurry. The prizes are: 1st place $1,359, 2nd $764, 3rd $338, 12 honorable mentions of $72.95 - plus everyone gets published on winningwriters.com. Here's the URL for guidelines: http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/wergle/we_guidelines.php Go on y'all. You know you want to enter. Make us proud. |
| Well, not really. I just hate having the same blog titles over and over again. Wanted something different and something that would get your attention. Did it work? Great news! Angela's Niece needs Praye is back from the hospital. She's already been online today. Said she actually flatlined twice in the hospital. I told her that God must still have some jobs for her. Mosey on over to her port and tell her howdy, won't you?Don't you just love my word choices today? Sludge. Mosey. Wonder what else will sneak out, going from brain to fingers to page. Guess we'll see. Strange weather again. Weather folks said that we would have - maybe - some snow flurries today on and off. Well...we have had some snow flurries on and off, that's true. But we have also had a few short snow blizzards. At least that's what I'd call them. You know, when the snow is coming so fast and furiously that you can't see but a few feet in front of you? That kind. Fortunately, it's too warm for it to start piling up. And it hasn't lasted long. ********* How about a few cat/kitty stories? Opera still isn't gaining weight. I probably already shared this, but the vet said the next tests would have to be for her thyroid. Yippe skippy. I surely hope we haven't gotten ourselves a cat that will need constant meds. Hubby and I have enough trouble keeping up with our medical stuff. Anyway, she's cute, but she's one wild kitty. She runs all over the house, plays constantly. Sneaks up on the table or one of our desks and knocks pens and pencils on the floor so she can play with them. Yesterday she really had me going. I don't get angry very easy, but... I had a pile of newspapers by the door waiting to out to the recycle bin outside. She decided that looked too inviting to pass up, so while I was making a pit stop, she scattered them all over the place near the front door. I piled them up again, and of course that made her even more determined to play with them. It became our game of the day. She tried to scatter newspapers while watching me, then when I reached for the water sqirt bottle that I use for training purposes, she scurried out of range. Then when I was occupied with something, she'd start all over again. Last night when hubby came home, he took that temptation to the recycle bin. Today, Opera decided that a box in my closet looked rather inviting. So she proceeded to start emptying it a bit. Soon she had "important papers" on the closet floor - a car title, financial records, those kinds of important papers. She lay in the box looking up at us so innocently. I did take a picture of her there before I chased her out of the box and put the papers back in the box. Gee whiz. Both cats have been having fun with a regular paper grocery bag this afternoon. We got it at a church rummage sale. This was the second day of the sale and it only cost $3 for anything and everything you could shove into a bag. That was fun. We got some things for Tiff (she's here for the weekend), some for me and some for hubby. Plus we all got a couple of old record albumns. That was fun. The cats got the empty paper bag and they're just loving it. ********* My mom's birthday is Monday. She'll be 78. I sent her a card, but I doubt she'll remember that or even that it's her birthday. Then again, if she does remember that I wonder if she'll remember that exactly 7 days later was Mom and Dad's anniversary. I guess they waited until she turned 21 to get married. That was a tradition in my family - Mom's side - for years. All of cousins got married at 21. I did too. I think maybe the next 2 younger cousins did too. Then the tradition stopped. My brother was quite a bit older than that when he married, and my baby sister was still a teen. So much for tradition.********** Hubby and I are finally - really - going to Texas to get the rest of my stuff out of storage. We'll probably early Monday, March 19. He has to be back at work the next week, so we won't be doing much site seeing on the way down or back. Every solution we considered was costly. We thought about flying down and driving a moving truck. Both of those cost way too much when it's just one way. We've decided to just drive down. Who knows what shape my "stuff" (and my son's) is in since it's been in storage since...June, 2003!. Lake Jackson, TX doesn't usually flood, but it did either last year or the year before. And just being Texas, I'm sure the boxes are full of roaches now, since they've been ignored for almost 4 years. There may not be anyting of value left. If there is, we're going to ship some back and load up the car with some. Maybe get one of those roof-top carriers if we need it. Sorting through the stuff will probably take us 2 days. Then we have to drive on back. We'll probably be staying at my sister's house while we're there. She very kindly offered it, even if she's out of town. That will, at least, save a few nights of motel costs. ********** Hey, I heard that our buddy, Budroe turned yellow. I guess I'll mosey (there goes that word again) over to his port to see how he looks in yellow.Oh yeah, did I tell you? I got 100% on his music trivia quiz. I think it was about my 4th try, though. Later gators. |
| I'm hoping she made it home, but her niece said it would be with a nurse in attendance. Did you see those storms and tornadoes yesterday? Here we had some rain and thunder, but nothing like that. The temperature got warm today, but with the wind (which threw our porch chairs onto the lawn), it didn't feel that way. Now they say snow is coming. Awwwwwww. Come on. |
| Do you ever find yourself on a web page but have no idea how you got there? Or why you ended up there? That's what happened to me yesterday. For some reason, I ended up on a page about the Ethic of Reciprocity. Dictionary.com defines reciprocity as: 1. a reciprocal state or relation. 2. reciprocation; mutual exchange. Perhaps I wandered upon these sites because there was a person (a young man, I think) who showed up here in the past week and who decided, yesterday, to post some rather racist stories and poems, plus comments in forums. He was also rude (vulgar) to TexansBeatTheMiamiDolphinsBy3 . I believe he must have caused pain to others as well and it appears that the higher ups have taken care of the problem now.Anyway, I found myself on a few sites about this topic. Perhaps I've always known this, but one site reminded me that there are at least 21 different religions and cults that have in their "rules" something similar to the Christian's Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (See Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.) Even famous philosophers were all for this type of ethical behavior. Plato: "May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me." Socrates: "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." I guess what surprised me most is that one fellow (and I lost his web site - naturally) has decided that he is going to start peacefully picketing in front of churches during worship services. Why? He says that since we're supposed to do to others what we want done to ourselves, that we must want others to picket since Christians picket in front of abortion clinics. He's decided that he will boycott Christian businesses because Christians boycott businesses that do not meet their standards. He wants to do to us what we have done to him or others he has known. He has not just singled out Christians, though. He also commented about the actions of persons in the Islamic and Jewish faiths, as well as those who did not condemn violent acts by these faiths. (He did not, thankfully, say he was going to do harm to these persons or to Christians who have hurt people at abortion clinics.) As I thought about his comments, I also visited a site about religious tolerance. The author of this site pointed out that although most faiths have similar beliefs about behaving kindly toward other humans, they don't actually practice it except amongst persons of their own faith. From that site: "Only when religions stres that their membership used their Ethic of Reciprocity when dealing with all persons, not just their fellow belivers, will religiously-related oppression, mass murder and genocide cease." Personally, I always thought that the "Golden Rule" and Jesus' answer to what were the greatest commands (loving God and loving our neighbor) were supposed to go hand in hand. When we're talking about loving our neighbor, I don't think we're talking merely about tolerating him. We're talking about respecting him and holding him in high regard. I heard a preacher once who said, "The easiest way to evangelize is to love them into the Kingdom." I wonder if we can do that by picketing or boycotting. I certainly don't have the answer to that. But I know One who does. Perhaps it's time that we ask. Here are a few of the sites I visited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_Reciprocity http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm This one lists Bible verses about serving others, helping others, honoring others, judging/not judging, saluting, forgiving, teaching, etc. http://addiesramblings.com/2006/11/28/do-unto-others/ ********* I found some more writings scribbled in notebook pages today.
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| Thanks to everyone who has been praying for Angela's Niece needs Praye . Hubby talked to her niece a while ago. Angela is doing well enough now that they're taking her out of ICU. They're even talking about maybe sending her home soon, but with a nurse. Yippee! God is good. |
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