patting self on the back for SOMETHING

The exercise and eating-right thing is NOT going well this summer. It's just not.

But I CAN say that I've quit drinking diet soda. I know the stuff is just a conglomeration of chemicals, and serves no purpose. But I love sweet stuff, and it's one of the diet-friendly sweet things out there.

So ... I've been a month without it so far, and I consider this at least ONE good-health thing I've accomplished this summer, along with the fact I can now swim for a half hour without stopping. I don't swim FAST, but at least it's moving. :)

I'm also reading Watchman Nee's Sit Walk Stand, and really enjoying it. I've been listening to Harry Potter in the car, and it is a good story. I find myself lingering in parking lots trying to get to the end of a chapter.

Gave up on the running program temporarily - I want to take off 20 pounds before I re-start it so my knees will protest a bit less.

There ... a conglomeration of updates ... none particularly interesting. :)

I've finally decided it's time to read it

I'm a big fan of well-written children's literature. I have very fond memories of books that captured my imagination for days on end

So when I hear of new books being published that have that kind of transporting influence on kids, I'm immediately prone to think positively of them.

So, I've decided to give this Potter kid a try. I've waited until now, because I knew they were a series, and I VERY much dislike having to wait for another book to be published to be able to continue the story.

Now that they're all out there, I'm ready to go. I'm picking up an audio version of book 1 from the library today.

If they're as good as people seem to think, I may disappear for several weeks. Don't worry ... I'll come up for air (or dinner) eventually. :)

Love a good story ...

searching for a fellow like Tertullian!

I was just glancing through a Christian History magazine on women in church history, and I ran across this quote by Tertullian -- from a letter he wrote to his wife, asking her to marry a Christian if he died:

A pagan would not be "willing to let his wife go through one street after another to other men's houses, and indeed to the poorer cottages, in order to visit the brethren? Who would like to see her being taken from his side by some duty of attending a nocturnal gathering? At Easter time who will quietly tolerate her absence all the night? Who will unsuspiciously let her go to the Lord's Supper -- that feast upon which they heap such calumnies? Who will let her creep into jail to kiss the martyr's chains? Or bring water for the saints' feet?"

I love this description -- part of the reason I love being single is that I CAN have those kinds of ministries. And the married ladies who I find most close fellowship with are those whose husbands understand and support those kinds of ministries.

It was neat to see this description going back SO far in church history.

He valued his wife's active life of service to the Lord and His people, and wanted to be sure that continued after his death. The way to be sure it continued was that she marry another believer.

Loved it! A man like THAT, is who I'm looking for! (Obviously he believed some odd things too -- but the church was SO young at that point, that they were still flailing a bit, getting their feet grounded in orthodoxy.)

another small summer blessing...

My two favorite fruits are both in season at the same time. :)

a couple mid-summer blessings

This tree (whose variety I don't know) gets beautiful orange berries this time of summer - and it fills the view of my guest room window, and half the living room windows. I just love looking out at it. If anyone knows what kind it is, I'm interested.

Yesterday I came home, and the wave of zucchini had reached our condo -- there was a pile of them in the foyer, free for the taking. I just love having someone else plan my dinner and provide the ingredients. I cooked them with some tomatoes, onions and mushrooms, and put them over rice. It is most delicious, and has gone into its third day of leftovers.

Got any summer blessings to share?

Harry Potter and National Defense

Does anyone find it ironic that the New York Times will, without apology, publish government secrets that will endanger our country ... yet what people REALLY pitch a fit about is that they've publishing a review of the new Harry Potter book prior to the release date?

We've got some seriously mixed up priorities in this country.

I've been working on that "couch potato to runner" schedule, but haven't gotten past the first week. My brother recommended wearing a heart monitor that will tell you what pace to run at ... and mine still hasn't gotten past the "slow down, you're over your limit" mantra. I decided I'd keep repeating Week 1 until the electronic nag will cease pestering me throughout the last half of the session. But younger-brother definitely has a point -- I've been trying to go WAY too fast, and that's why running has been a lot of not-fun-activity so far in my life. Though when I comply with the electronic nag's wishes, I'm going SO slow that I could actually WALK faster. I'm hoping this is a short-lived phase!

I've also started making some jewelry to try and sell on Etsy. It's a site that sells hand-made things, and I like what I see there. I'll let you know when I have a store up and running.

Plans for the weekend: none. My FAVORITE! :)

little darling just has a bubbly personality

I wasn't sure whose side to take in this little difference of opinion, until the mother said, "he just has a bubbly personality."

That's clueless-mom code for ... "I think my little darling's outbursts are just adorable, and so should you."

I'm sure, from what's written here, that the stewardess could have spoken with more tact.

But ... really ... all the mother would have had to do was ask her little darling to please be quiet for a while. Instead, she chose to throw a royal snit.

I remember sitting in a restaurant next to a table of women, one of whom had a toddler. The baby was being quite good, until the women started holding her up in the air, and bouncing her around, encouraging her to shriek, and laugh loudly. Clueless ... just ... clueless.

Locks of Love

Every year or two I try to send some hair to Locks of Love - if you have opportunity, I'd recommend you do the same! They make hair prostheses for children who lose their hair due to disease or illness. They're more than wigs - they actually make a custom-made cap fit to the child's head, and attach the hair to that - so the child can wear it swimming, and it won't accidentally come off in other situations.

They're good folks - send them some hair if you get a chance!

Doing battle with the forces of bureaucracy ...

I just discovered that when my mortgage was reassigned, my property taxes stopped being paid from the escrow account.

So I'm going to have to call the mortgage company this morning and find out what's happening with that.

I hate this kind of thing with a passion ...

but more so now that I discovered that the mortgage company is in Southfield. (this is a pseudonym for "Detroit").

I'm not sure if it's reasonable to believe that a whole city can have a global I-don't-give-a-rip attitude ... but if it's possible, then Detroit has it.

Whenever I call a company there, I get people on the phone who sound half-asleep, and seem to be only weakly interested in whether they're actually solving your problem or making it worse.

So, if you find out the Township is auctioning off my condo next year - don't be surprised.

Groan - I'm SO not looking forward to this phone call.

(oddly enough, blogger isn't allowing me to title this post ... I believe they may have just moved their offices to Detroit)

So Trinka, what WERE you doing at the Lansing police station at that hour of the night?

Funny you should think to ask!

About 7:30 last night I got a call that a girl from church whose parents are out of the country right now had rolled her pickup on the other side of Lansing.

The truck was totaled. She was OK (though I'm sure very sore this morning). The police officer had taken her to the downtown police station to wait for a someone to pick her up.

I volunteered, and M. rode along with me.

We found the station OK, and she was (apparently) the only one in the building. No cars in the parking lot ... no police officers evident ... just her sitting there behind a locked door waiting for someone with a working vehicle.

When things got interesting was when we tried to find her truck, so she could retrieve her belongings.

We had the name of the towing company, but no address. No Lansing map. No GPS (though there was one in her parents' car that we were immediately wishing we'd grabbed to bring alone!)

The girl at the pizza place next to the police station knew where the towing company was, and gave us directions ... which .... in trying to get us to Martin Luther King Drive, neglected to mention that it ran parallel to the road we were on, and hence, no matter how far we drove, we would never find it.

The drunk at the liquor store assured us that, if we just kept driving, we would, eventually, come to M.L.K.

We drive and drive and drive

neighborhood continues to look unsavory

We stopped at a light, hoping to grab some more directions, and a police officer pulled up next to us.

We asked him where M.L.K. was, and he asked us to pull over, and he'd give us directions.

This is where we found out it was parallel to, and about a quarter mile from, the road we were on (Cedar.)

A side note - he was a K-9 officer, and let us meet his dog. That was so cool. I've always found it fascinating how much those animals can learn. She was a beautiful German shepherd.

When we finally found M.L.K., and the towing company, there were, to our amazement, actually people there. So the yard was unlocked, and we were able to get her things.

The trip home was relatively uneventful, except for the story of the semi forcing her off the road.

We got her home and tucked in by about 11:30.

And as I pulled into her driveway, I was just awed at how God's goodness was demonstrated in the whole thing. So much could have gone terribly wrong.

The truck was a terrible mess. It either didn't have airbags, or they didn't work, because they hadn't triggered. Rolling at 70 mph, she could have been killed so easily, or else badly hurt.

God protected her from anything worse than the normal post-accident aches and pains.

She had her cell phone with her, and it was working, so she could find one of us to help her.

My car had been out of comission earlier yesterday with a dead battery. I had discovered it, and it was charged again in time to be available when she called. (P.S. -- leaving your lights on is NOT conducive to good battery health)

We were led to people who sent us in the (generally) right direction to find the truck. Really ... how could a person expect random (occasionally inebriated) strangers to know the location of a specific towing company in a city like that?

For whatever reason, she had some important documents in the truck. We were able to find them. They hadn't been stolen or lost.

So ... her parents continue on happily serving the Lord for two weeks in Africa, and hopefully won't realize until they get home how differently their trip could have ended.

On the exercise front - this morning, I got up and tried the first day of the running schedule. Still not committing, but interested ...!

Hey - did I mention I got to meet a police dog? (I'm so easily pleased) :)

why do I keep trying Target?

Yesterday I went into Target on my lunch, looking for a bin to use for recycling paper.

I come to the same two conclusions every time I go into that store:

* It has essentially the same merchandise carried by Walmart, only with higher prices
* The merchandise that IS different from Walmart is trendy. (note - in Trinka's vocabulary, "trendy" is NOT a positive adjective.)

I go in there about once every three years, and always come out feeling as if it were a gigantic waste of time.

I just saw a link on another blog to the Couch Potato to 5-K running plan. I've never been too sure about running - it always gives me this terrible pain in my side that none of the home remedies I've been offered seem to help. (drink more water ... hold your abs in while you run ... etc.)

However, I'm intrigued by the slowness of the thing. I'm considering .... (ONLY considering!). :)

This afternoon I'm dog-sitting for our pastor and his wife, who are in Africa on a missions trip. That means I get to spend time with a happy black lab, while loafing next to a fenced-in, shrieking-children-free pool. Life is good. :)

one of the problems of staying up late ...

Is you spend the night dreaming about taking a college class taught by a woman dressed as a viking.

weird ...

look at the silly American try to say "firefly" ...

Several weeks ago, I met the sweetest little Chinese girl. I was staying with friends in Missouri (who speak Chinese), and they are caring for A., who is pre-school age, and speaks no English.

She is an adorable girl -- very obedient, and quite happy to socialize with adults, even though she doesn't understand a word of what they're saying.

I got to see her experience her first field-full of fireflies. She was enthralled.

Her care-giver taught her the Chinese word for firefly (which I won't even ATTEMPT to type out phonetically).

THEN, D. who was traveling with me repeated the word.

Little A. gave the most bubbly giggle you've ever heard! Our hostess said that D.'s pronunciation sounded a great deal like she was trying to talk with a tennis ball in her mouth.

So little A. ... while enthralled with the fireflies, was even MORE absorbed by this strange woman who couldn't say the simplest word properly!

For the rest of the trip, A. would point at D., and say "firefly", and then burst into these contagious giggles. She even seemed to be making a vain attempt at teaching the proper pronunciation ... without success. She would pull D. over to others, and get her to say "firefly", so they could share in the hilarity. (Though, since most of them were ALSO non-Chinese-speaking, they didn't really catch the true spirit of the thing.)

It was adorable!

my favorite pictures so far

It amazes me that these men are working up that high without being TIED to anything.

construction progressing

 
 
 
 

I'm so enjoying watching the addition go up outside my windows at work!

happy anniversary to me ...

Some people have wedding anniversaries, I have buying-my-condo anniversaries.

June 25, 2003 was when I closed on my place.

It's the biggest commitment I've ever made (or am every likely to make), so I think an anniversary celebration is in order.

I just may have to buy the place some flowers. :)

Wish I'd done it a decade earlier!

it sounds so June Cleaver

I love cleaning my house. I really do. There's something so relaxing about waking up on a Saturday morning, and knowing I have nothing more pressing than just to get this place in order.

All week, I try to solve problems, and help people find what they need. It's so refreshing on my day off to be able to be all alone, just dealing with cobwebs and dust bunnies.

I made a neat discovery yesterday - you can use a "reader" to subscribe to the blogs you read regularly. (I use Google's). Then you can open one page, and it will show you a list of whatever blogs you like that have been updated since you last read them. Kinda snazzy!

Tonight, I'll be going to the offroad derby at the Hudsonville Fairgrounds with T. I find them so relaxing, and they offer a nice chance to visit too.

what a sweet blog

To counter my oh-so-negative last post ... here's neat story about a dad taking his handicapped daughter jet-skiing. Love it!

me

an interesting idea ...

Long Island couple face fines, jail because children play too loudly

I love it!

Now, I understand that children will be noisy when they're playing ... and to a degree, it's understandable.

But the shrieking that just goes on, and on, and ON ... I can't fathom how parents stand it themselves, let alone not realize that it is making the rest of the world homicidal.

I have a pool that belongs to my condo ... yet I often drive 5 miles to use our pastor's pool ... because ours has shrieking grand-children and his is silent!

More power to the anti-shrieking protesters!!

Trinka

for all those who are de-cluttering this weekend ...

For some weeks now I have been engaged in dispersing the contents of this
apartment, trying to persuade hundreds of inanimate objects to scatter
and leave me alone. It is not a simple matter. I am impressed by the
reluctance of one's worldly goods to go out again into the world.

From Goodbye to 48th Street, E.B. White
(the fellow who wrote Charlotte's Web and Stewart Little)

what are your "morning coffee" web sites

Every morning, as soon as I turn on the computer, I have a little list of things I always look at:

The Drudge Report for my daily dose of news-that-the-networks-ignore

The Daily Puppy for pictures of the sweetest puppies you've ever seen. And I love the "comments" section -- it's the only web site I've ever visited where all the comments emphasize the positive, are kind, and pleasant. Even if I didn't like dogs, I'd go to the site, just for the taste of kindness!

Three comic strips:
Dilbert
For Better or for Worse
Luanne

Woot ... just in case they're selling something I NEED ("need" being a poor word choice there!)

Several blogs of friends, or friends of friends

And Meet Christians ... just to see if there are any interesting discussions on the forums that I want to go back to later that day.

Nation States, to check on the progress of my little country (Euphoniousness, if you want to look me up!). It's a fun little game where you have your own little nation-state to rule, and every day you have new legislation to view - your responses to it change the description of your country, as well as its population and tax rate, the next day.

How about you? What web sites are your "morning coffee"?

in the land of weird dreams

We had vacation Bible school here at church from 9-2 yesterday. Being as I took Monday and Tuesday as vacation days, it was my first experience this year with trying to work amidst 220 happy children, and 100 busy workers.

Yes. I remember this feeling.

This, "I'm glad this is happening, but I can't get my work done" feeling!

Last night, instead of going to prayer meeting, I came home, went for a swim, and was in bed asleep by 7:30!

This led to some mighty weird dreams. I vividly recall that I thought peanut butter was on sale, and so bought it for a cheap price, but then I got put in jail, because the cheap price only applied if you bought jelly WITH the peanut butter.

Jail was, all in all, a lot like living in a college dorm, and they even let me keep my laptop, and there was wireless internet access. :) I was concerned that I'd be in jail over Christmas, and I was trying to count the days of my sentence to see if it lasted until December 25 ... but I couldn't figure out whether to include weekends, and so the math didn't make sense.

Weird ... just weird ...

I've finished memorizing Psalm 16, and am enjoying reviewing it while I swim in the evenings! Anyone got any suggestions for which Psalm I should do next?

an encounter with The Plant

Where have I been lately? Hmmm ... lots of places I suppose!

One of said places ... apparently ... contained some poison ivy. Yes, yes, I know what it looks like. I was just working with a friend (who ... apparently ... is not allergic to the stuff), in a place she'd worked many times before. Her history bore no trace of meetings with The Plant, and this lulled me into complacency, so I failed to exercise due caution!

All in all, I'm not in THAT bad of shape, just having the rash on my arms. But it was bad enough to make me very thankful it wasn't worse. In the course of things, I discovered a marvelous situation. If you use a blow dryer on poison ivy, it takes the itch away, for a VERY long time -- more than an entire day in some cases. This was a delightful revelation! I never use my blow dryer on my hair, but I'm becoming VERY thankful that I have one.

I've been memorizing Psalm 16, and it's been a blessing. I don't know why I don't work on memorization more often -- I really enjoy it. Good habits need to be built!

sweet little fellow!

I was out walking just now, and as I came up the steps in front of the community building, there was a baby rabbit hunkered down against the step. He was about the size of a softball, and was playing the "if I sit still enough she can't see me" game. :) So I was able to kneel down and get a really close look - so delicate and perfect!

Then I opened my cell phone to use the camera, and he took the opportunity to run away quick-like so I couldn't take his picture. (the picture above is one I found on Google that looked a bit like the one I saw).

Looking forward to a productive, yet relaxing weekend -- hope yours is as well!

I know one person's who is not. My dad is in China on business, and got his passport, pda and laptop stolen ... so, SO not fun.

oh dear ...

Jimmy Carter has called the Bush presidency the worst in history re: foreign policy.

Now that is funny. :)

I've been reading Revelations of a Single Woman, and very much enjoying it. I've got some thoughts from it to blog about ... but I want to mull them over a bit more.

Until then, let me share with you one of my favorite internet finds:


Answers to the question, "Why aren't you married yet?"

I was hoping to do something meaningful with my life.

Because I just love hearing this question.

Just lucky, I guess.

My fiance' is awaiting parole.

I'm waiting until I get to be your age.

It didn't seem worth a blood test.

I already have enough laundry to do, thank you.

Because I think it would take all the spontaneity out of dating.

I'd have to forfeit my billion dollar trust fund.

What? And lose all the money I've invested in running personal ads?

I don't want to have to support another person on my paycheck.

I'm married to my career, although recently we have been considering a trial separation.

(For Single Mothers) Because having a husband and a child would be redundant.

You haven’t asked yet.

It gives my mother something to live for.

I’m still hoping for a shot at Mr. America.

Do you know how hard it is to get two tickets to Miss Saigon?

My condo board doesn’t allow spouses.

I wouldn’t want my parents to drop dead from sheer happiness.

I guess it just goes to prove that you can’t trust those voodoo doll rituals.

I'm not willing to give up on love just yet.

Dad, I'm only 12. Can I date first?

Is this a proposal?

I'm still looking for that special someone who won't rat me out to the cops.

Because human/computer marriages aren't recognized in my country.

Today, people live to 80. That's plenty of time to get married and divorced.

Federal regulations say I can't.

I keep spending all my time with the Keepers of Lists

Marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries.

People begin to look like their spouses over time. I'd hate that

Look at some of the cool single role models: Catwoman: single. The Lone Ranger: single. All superhero types are single: Superman, Wonder Woman, Dudley Do-Right. And then there’s God—also single.

When you think about it, there’s no such thing as a Stepford Single Woman.

Why limit myself to being dissatisfied by one relationship when I can be dissatisfied by an infinite variety?

It's easy to get married. Millions of people do it every year. If you want to pressure me to do something, why not pick something a little more challenging—like becoming an astrophysicist.

My 23 cats wouldn't unanimously agree that he was the right one for me.

My mail order groom has not arrived yet.

Because single women don't have Mother-in-laws.

Because when I get home after work, I don't have to start work again.

Who has time? I still have to build a life-sized Captain Kirk figurine out of Legos.

It would violate the terms of the restraining order.

Changing my last name seems like a ton of extra work.

Its my rib now and I am keeping it!

Now that you mentioned it, I would be safer having a personal driving instructor advising me every time I go somewhere.

The Elvis Chapel was closed that day.

I enjoy finding the toilet seat left in the position I chose.

They just started a great singles group at my church.

tweaking OSHA

As I wandered around the construction site, wearing a skirt, and with bare feet ... I couldn't help but enjoy my tiny little act of rebellion.

Hey ... some people get tattoos ... some people go into debt for convertibles ... I enjoy digging my toes in the dirt!

I was reading in Song of Songs this morning. I really enjoy the non-scholarly-approach of reading it as a love song between the Lord and his church (and individual believers). It makes the serious students around me a bit twitchy ... but since I don't plan to write a book setting forth the theory, I feel total liberty!

1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

Solomon was the all-powerful king at that point in history. His wealth far surpassed anything anyone had ever seen. The parallel between him and the Lord Jesus at that point is not hard to see! (Obviously, there are aspects of his life that we can't parallel to the Lord ... but there are plenty where we can!)

2 "May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.

To long after fellowship with God like this! Almost all who belong to Him have experienced those times of incredibly sweet communion with Him. His love truly IS better than wine.

Wine is a symbol of joy (among other things) in the Scriptures. Earthly joys fade into the background when He steps on the scene. In John 2, when the wine had run out at the wedding at Cana. He took everyday water, from stone washing-pots, and made it into wine. Has the joy run out of life? His love is better ... and can bring joy in places we'd never expect it.

3 "Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like purified oil; Therefore the maidens love you.


Oil was used to anoint prophets, priests, and kings in the Scriptures. When He chooses us for a place of service, it's the perfect fit for the person He made us to be. The work He gives us will have "a pleasing fragrance."

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."


4 "Draw me after you and let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers." "We will rejoice in you and be glad; We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you."

When my heart is cold, and I'm preoccupied with the world around me ... this is a good thing to pray. In the midst of it, He can (and wants to!) draw me after Himself. There is rest to be found in fellowship with Him in the inner rooms of my life. And look at the result of that time alone with Him ... "we will rejoice in you and be glad. We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you."

That sweet fellowship with Him will make me tons more effective in the busy-ness of life. I'll live my life in a way that's winning, and will encourage others along.

End of Song of Songs thoughts ... :)

For those who are not fond of the touch of mysticism reading it inspires in me ... please cover my failings with love!

For those who DO like this kind of thinking, I'd recommend Union and Communion by Hudson Taylor (missionary to China). Some delightful meditations there! (Posted on Christian Classics Ethereal Library, if you'd like a free electronic copy).

me

Today's headline on MSN ...

"Is Las Vegas Kid Friendly?"

What?

Let's see ... legalized prostitution ... gambling ... scantily dressed women ... quickie marriages and divorces ...

Hmmm ... yes, I can see how that would be right up there with Disney-land.

Weird. Our world is weird.

Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

some experimenting

I enjoyed a trip to a jewelry-making store while I was on vacation. I've found I really enjoy it! Here are my attempts so far.

my lovely new floors

It was such a treat to come home and see how the new flooring looked! Housecleaning is still untouched, but that's on my tomorrow agenda.

some post-vacation meditations ...

#1 -- 5:30 was scheduled considerably earlier this morning than it has been in the past. Gotta ask somebody what's up with that.

#2 -- I came home to absolutely beautiful new flooring ... and an incredibly filthy house. I plan a cleaning binge on Saturday. Something about cleaning empty rooms is quite empowering, so I'm rather looking forward to it.

#3 -- O'Hare ... something about that airport seems to inspire flight delays. I think I may plan to avoid it from now on!

#4 -- I've been thinking about mundane conversation -- particularly mundane phone conversations.

I don't do them well. I can remember hating talking on the telephone from my earliest experiences with it. In elementary school, one of my friends used to love to call and chat after school, and I can remember handing the phone off to my mom so I could take a break. (Since my mom's "uh huh" sounded pretty much like my "uh huh" ... I could run to the bathroom without any real interruption in the conversation.)

Now that I answer the phone at work, I find I like the phone even less. Calls always seem to come in batches, and interrupt my train of thought in what I'm working on.

About the only time I find myself looking forward to a call, it's from someone who lives far away who I don't see in person. Even then, I'm desperately searching for something interesting to talk about!

BUT ... the friend whom I was visiting is just as social as I am solitary. So she was on and off her cell phone often while I was there. As I eavesdropped on multiple phone conversations, I found it interesting that so much of it was mundane, day-to-day stuff ... "how did things work out with your car repair?" ... "did you ever find that ________ you lost?" ... things like that.

In essence ... their phone conversations were very similar to their in-person conversations.

This probably seems obvious to everyone else. But I found it very enlightening!

Then I started eavesdropping at the airport.

Same thing ... "I'm getting off the plane, will be hitting McDonalds, and then probably be home in 45 minutes or so."

Hmmm ... interesting.

I think it's a good communication technique. I DO find my friends' day-to-day lives interesting, and I want to be involved in them. It would be a good way to do that. If I could cultivate this skill.

I know overhearing cell phone calls irritate a lot of the world, but I think that's because people invariably find the need to shout while they're doing it. My theory is, shouting should only be necessary if you're trying to make the call with the phone turned OFF.

But a normal tone of voice can be used ... I think I could do this without annoying the surrounding population.

I'm going to try it as a self-improvement project.

Trinka ... .the inherently anti-social ...

cats

Let me just say ... he got in there by HIMSELF!

(and kept going back to it later.)

a few notes from vacation ...

I find myself sitting here loafing ... listening to the birds outside the window, and the family with whom I'm staying getting their kids off to school.

So far, I've had a lovely weekend retreat with the ladies from St. Philip's Episcopal church in Frisco. We went to the Protho conference center, and had a relaxing time getting to know each other. The site was lovely -- there were eagles flying over the lake, and the sun glistened on the water.

This morning, I've had a walk around the neighborhood, and thought I'd share some of it with you.

There was an elementary school just getting started for their day, and they were playing the sweetest song over their speakers as the kids came in ... "ready to learn ... yes, we're ready to learn" being sung by a kids' group.

I was amazed at the line of cars waiting to drop kids off at the school. I hadn't realized that children don't take buses or walk anymore. They even waited to drop them off at the door, rather than letting them out at a sidewalk a half block away. Fascinating to me!

In a park I walked through, there was an elderly oriental man sitting and chanting. I wish now I'd asked if I could sit and visit a bit. I always have these ideas too late to act on them!

OK ... I'm off to find coffee. :)

when I left for vacation ...

There was a toilet on my balcony. The neighbors are SO loving me right now.

Spent a while at O'Hare yesterday with broken airplanes and such-like. It was SO nice to get off the plane in Dallas and now have to get back on again. I love traveling, but I love it more when I start early in the morning. :)

Hmmm ... wonder if I've ever blogged the story about getting home from Italy? I'll have to check!

What we started with (carpet looks a lot better in the picture than it did in real life!)

Monday night - all the carpet torn up and tools moved in

Progress as of last night

radically different perceptions of the same event

Gunman shoots 30 on Virginia Tech Campus

Calls for "stricter gun control" will be forthcoming.

I personally see it as a call for sane people to apply for concealed weapons permits.

On the less depressing side ...

The contractor from church started ripping out carpet at my house today. I went home at lunch. It's going to be a MOST unpleasant environment for the next few days until I leave for Texas ... but the end result will be worth it. :) (Pictures to follow!)

When I walked in the building, one of the ladies who lives upstairs met me at the door.

"Oh, are you getting new carpet?" she asked.

"No. But you know, while I was at work this morning, someone STOLE my carpeting! And I think it was antique!" I replied.

There was a brief moment when I think she took me seriously. Maybe there really is a band of thieves stealing 30-year-old wall-to-wall carpet? :)

AND, they've started moving dirt in preparation for our new addition at church. It is so exciting to pop my head out the back door and see everything moving along. I anticipate much distraction from my work in upcoming months!

see these ugly chairs?

We were cleaning out an old barn here at church that was going to be torn down in preparation for our new addition.

There was a stack of these old chairs in there, and we were preparing to dumpster them, and then someone thought they should check and see if they were worth anything.

They're selling for $50 each on ebay.

We have 80.

Well ... isn't THAT a nice little development! They're ugly. Nobody likes them. And they're worth money.

Yippeee! The deacons are going to LOVE this development!

a few blessings from the week ...

There were some very sweet things from this past week ... some I can share and some I cant.

However, there's enough I can tell that it will easily make a blog entry!

Tuesday our church voted on whether to build on an addition for a larger sanctuary. We've been packed to the gills for a LONG time now. Several times we've approached the idea of adding on, and then balked at the cost. But this week the decision was made to go forward. What was a blessing was the vote -- 141 to 7 in favor of beginning. So many churches split during building programs, and we've been praying that the Lord would give us unity in the decision ... whether to go forward or not ... just so we were in agreement. I think 95.3% is about as close to complete agreement as you could expect to see!

On a less corporate level ... I was blessed with some lovely flowers. A lady at church works for a commercial greenhouse, and her job is to shear the geraniums of all their flowers, and put them in baskets. (I'm assuming so they'll get bushier? Maybe?) I think she feels quite bad for all the flowers going to waste. Yesterday she brought me this pretty bunch.

And lastly, I've been thinking of putting down laminate flooring in my condo. I had a contractor from church come out and look at things this week. I was shocked that the cost was about double what I'd thought it would be. Gulp!

So afterwards, I was sitting at my desk, with floor samples spread out around me as I worked.
One of the deacons walked past.

"What are the samples for?" he asked.

"I was thinking of using it in my house."

"Really? I've got a ton of that stuff somebody gave me. Want to have a look at it?"

Well ... YES! :)

"Maybe you won't like it, but if you do, you can have it."

"I like it already!" FREE is my favorite style of laminate.

He doesn't have enough to do all that needs done (I need 450 square feet for the main area). But, hopefully I can buy something that matches what he has, and then I'll only need to pay for that and for installation. It's been through a fire, so I'll have to pull the padding off the back, before it can be used. But I think I can manage that quite nicely.

Lastly, yesterday I went down to a banquet at the Christian school I graduated from. (Note to my brother ... lots of folks asked about you.) I have my 20th class reunion this year, so it was interesting to see how the school, and the people, have changed! It was a good evening. A friend went down with me, so there was good visiting in the car going down, and coming back. A very nice evening.

lovely hair extensions ...

Last night I went to the Dollar Store just in between a couple other stores I needed to visit.

While there, I saw these funny headbands with hair attached, and picked them up for my nieces.

As I left, the lady at the cash register said, "did you find everything you needed?"

I replied, "yes," and then thought ...

Does that mean I went IN to the dollar store looking for orange and pink hair extensions? :)

weekend socks

My stepbrother and his wife (step-sister-in-law? ... lots of hyphens, but that must be right), gave me these socks two Christmases ago.

They don't match a thing I own. In fact, they don't match a thing I've EVER owned, or ever WILL own. (I'm a very conservative sort.)

I love these socks.

They're weekend socks ... I put them on Saturday morning, and they clash with whatever I wear. And I know it's the weekend ... nobody will see me, and I can wear whatever socks I like.

Some people rebel in big ways ... some people rebel in small ways. :)

I love my weekend socks.

feminist ear-worms

Hah! Now THERE's a unique subject line for you!

I've had an ear-worm for several days now. (For those who aren't familiar with the term, it's not a parasite, or at least not a physical one. It's an annoying song that gets stuck in your head and won't leave you alone.)

My current ear-worm is Helen Reddy's "I am Woman."

So not only is the tune annoying, but the general philosophy drives me crazy as well!

Feminism had a great beginning ....

equal pay for equal work? Great idea.

fighting pornography and domestic violence? Great idea.

But by the time I got to college, feminism had morphed into wacky-ness, and was more concerned with proving that --

a. women are just like men!

b. No! women are better than men!

c. actually, men should become LIKE women!

There was also a great deal of other absolute nonsense spouted in the name of women's rights. So my general opinion of feminism is that it has outlived its usefulness and become a refuge for bigger, slightly nutty, women.

This is why Helen's little ditty is making me crazy. It seems to embody the nuttiness I witnessed among the feminist college professors I knew.

However, that's not to say that I didn't USE the feminist rant on occasion while I was in school.

Being a firm believer that college papers don't necessarily need to agree with one's personal philosophy, since their purpose is only to prove that one can write, I decided to play with my philosophy a little when I wrote.

I started taking stands against things I genuinely disagreed with ... but doing it from the perspective of a feminist instead of as a Christian. The difference in reception was amazing!

There was a particularly offensive play on campus one semester, and I had to go and see it, and write a review, as part of a communications class. I protested the nudity and degradation of the female characters.

Now, the reason I really think these things are wrong is because God designed and desires our sexuality to be experienced within the context of marriage, and because human beings are created in God's image, and should not be treated in a degrading fashion.

However, what I wrote was that the women were objectified, and I was offended. Male domination, blah blah blah ....

It was fascinating to see the waves of sorrow ripple through the communications department over the horror that was that play (Robin Hood, oddly enough). I think, if I'd written from my real perspective, the response would have been quite different.

All these things brought to mind by one (annoying) song!

watching the robins

I've been enjoying watching male robins staking out the good spots for their nests. It's such a delightful thing to watch spring coming!

I cut up a rag, and put the scraps on my porch, and am hoping to entice them to come and pull them off for nesting material.

Simple pleasures for simple minds ... :)

a few sights from my walk today

The weather here was wonderful - high 60's in temperature, and sunny.

I heard a red-winged blackbird and a robin - two of the birds that come back in the spring, and the snow was melting off everywhere.

I was passed by a boy on a skateboard, being pulled at a very high rate of speed by a black lab on a leash, carrying a yellow frisbee. It was quite possibly the happiest-looking dog I've seen in a LONG time. :)

the curse continues

I tried again last night.

"What did you try?"
the eager blog-reading-community asks ...

"I tried to make Jell-O"
is my answer, "specifically, finger Jell-O."

"Um," the slightly puzzled blog-reading-community answers,
"and why is this blog-worthy?"


Because I can't make Jell-O.

Never have been able to.

Jell-O ... when made by me ... is a synonym for "overly-flavored, viscous, Kool-Aid."

When I was a kid, my mom made me finger Jell-O. I was prone to nose-bleeds, and someone, somewhere, had told her it would help. I don't know whether it DID help or not, but I very much enjoyed the treatment. :)

Sometimes, I get a real hankering for the stuff. I usually just scoop up plates of it at church potlucks, but last night I attempted to fabricate my own supply.

I'd have had better luck producing cold fusion.

Just don't EVEN tell me, "the water wasn't hot enough." or "you didn't stir it long enough" ...

I've tried all your remedies. Boiling is boiling. Dissolved is dissolved.

There is some kind of mysterious chemical, electro-magnetic, something.

Some people can't wear cheap jewelry.
Others are allergic to seafood.
Still others get claustrophobic on elevators.

I can't make Jell-O.

Anyone have a use for a 9x13 pan full of red syrup? I'd give it away cheap.

The funny thing is ... one of my readers has occasionally offered me a job in an industry at which ingredients are combined at high temperatures, and expected to solidify thereafter. I'm guessing ... if I were employed there ... within days they'd have nothing but vats and vats of science-defying sludge.

It's (still) snowing, and I'm looking forward to a quiet day of studying. I'm working on a study for D.'s class on the 12 tribes of Israel and the class my pastor is teaching on dispensationalism, and another study on John. Life is good. :) If I get my bathroom and kitchen cleaned too ... well ... there's a bonus.

And I suppose I'd better figure out what to do with that pan of ... well ... whatever-it-is.

Pssst ... if anyone is thinking of supplying me with a finger Jell-O fix ... let me just say ... raspberry and black cherry are FAR superior to any other flavors. :)

global warming and a little education

Al Gore is way off base. I'm sorry ... but he is. There have been shifts in global temperatures ever since we've been tracking this information. (And many of the warming trends happened pre-industrial-revolution).

Remember in the 70's when they were all in a panic about the next ice age that was coming? It was all very similar rhetoric ... and you may notice that spring and summer still arrive every year.

For a nice balance to An Inconvenient Truth, have a look at this site. It's amazing how, once the media is convinced of the veracity of an idea (Iraq is a mistake ... global warming is an imminent threat ... blah blah blah), it immediately becomes commonly accepted. By the way, the graphic is my own "cabon footprint" ... so ... even without believing in human-being-caused-global-warming ... I'm still livin' MUCH cleaner than Mr. Gore. (It's called "frugality"!)

Our senior pastor was a professor at Calvary Bible College before he came here. There is a lady here who just needs one class, that he used to teach, in order to finish her degree.

She's going to take it independent study, and they're letting me join in. I won't get any credits for it (as I'm too cheap to pay for them!) But they don't mind if I study alongside, write the papers, take the test, etc. I just love taking classes ... I really do. :) I could easily be a professional student, if only I could figure out that how-to-get-paid-for-it part!

an excellent movie

I went to see Amazing Grace last night. It was just excellent.

It's the story of William Wilberforce's battle against the British slave trade.

The movie was exceptionally well done, and the story itself is one of those heroic bits of history that is interesting to begin with.

Go see it if you can!

Hollywood puts out so much that's centered on smut, or low humor ... when they do something good, let's get out and vote with our money. (End of unpaid advertisement!)

freezing fog

Lovely ... not only can you not see, you couldn't stop if you COULD see.

Yesterday was the second instance of the "non-surprise surprise" I've experienced in my life.

I dislike surprises. I find that anticipating a pleasant event is as much fun as the event itself ... so usually people tell me when something nice is in the works, because they know I enjoy the anticipation.

Yesterday was the second instance where I was sure I saw a surprise coming ... and was wrong.

The first was when I was just out of college, I went with a group of friends down to Battle Creek to see the Christmas lights and eat out. The date chosen was either on, or very near, my birthday. I was sure a surprise party was in the works, and then ... at the end of the evening, realized everyone had forgotten my birthday. :)

Yesterday, it happened again. A string of strange coincidences combined to make me certain that something was going on. And, while something MAY have been going on, it obviously had nothing to do with me!

I have weekly after-work-Tuesday plans with a friend, but this week she had to cancel. Odd -- she rarely cancels. But her reason made sense - her mom's been ill, and she needed to take her to the doctor.

The pastor had a meeting that went late, so I ended up needing to stay at work after my usual hours. No problem, because my plans had been canceled. Odd. He doesn't usually schedule meetings that late in the afternoon.

As I was leaving, he asked if I was going home. "Odd ... why would he care where I was going?" I told him that I was running errands first.

A few minutes later, I remembered something I'd forgotten to tell him, so I called back to the office. He asked, "is this your cell or home phone?" Again, odd question ... why would it matter?

Then, after I get home, my mother calls, and asks several times during the conversation, "anything interesting happen today?"

"Um ... I unloaded the dishwasher?"

So, this series of random, unusual occurrences combines to make me absolutely sure that SOMETHING is being planned. Some out-of-town guest is going to appear ... Publishers' Clearing House is going to show up ... SOMETHING.

Well ... actually ... no.

Ordinary night. Go to bed early. Nothing happens.

But I DID get my house cleaned. Nothing like a vague feeling that something is coming to make a person want to prepare!

On a totally different topic, about 7 years ago, I had a season where I was terribly dizzy. The doctor sent me to a specialist, who did this strange procedure where he moved my head around, had me sit up, lay down, sit up, etc. And when he was done - the dizziness was gone, and never came back. Yesterday I ran across a doctor's blog that described it ... see medical-type friends, I'm not nuts! The procedure really does exist ... I wasn't hallucinating. :)

in love on valentines day

This dog ... is adorable.

remembering a previous blizzard

I think the last time we had weather similar to this past weekend was New Years' Eve weekend 2001.

The reason I'm remembering it specifically is because, not only was the weather rotten, but it was the weekend the baby of some acquaintances was kidnapped when someone stole their car.

It had been snowing heavily for a long time, and it was bitterly cold just like this past weekend. Nobody was going anywhere. In fact, a friend was staying with me, because she wasn't able to get home after work Friday night.

We got a phone call Saturday morning asking us to pray for this young couple, and their baby, Rachel. The husband ran into a gas station to pick something up and left the baby in the car, with the engine running. (I know ... stupid ... he figured that out quickly). When he came back outside, the car was gone.

It was all over the television and radio -- asking for people to watch for this car. It was missing for several hours.

While it was doubtful the thief knew the baby was in the car when he took it, it was obvious that if he abandoned the car once he discovered her, she couldn't live long, because of the cold.

The same day, some other acquaintances, who had also gotten a phone call to pray about this, were driving into Grand Rapids to work from about 30 miles away. It was terrible weather, and so the drive was nightmarish for them. For some reason they decided to get off the highway half-way to Grand Rapids and take surface streets.

They were talking about the missing baby as they drove and ... they saw the missing car. It was parked in the parking lot of a muffler shop. The hood was still warm, and the baby was inside.

It's one of those small miracles ...

it was snowing hard. Driving took all a person's attention to just keep the car on the road.

In minutes, the stolen car would have been covered with snow and not noticeable.

It was a part of town that no one we knew would have had reason to BE in ... it was a (normally) busy shopping artery out of the way where anyone from our part of town would normally be driving, and all the businesses on it were closed for New Years.

But God brought people who would recognize the car past it, while it was still visible, while it was still warm, and this young couple had their baby home that same day.

I haven't thought about it for years, but this weather makes me remember. It was just amazing.

I guess I'm not really surprised ...

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

a brisk, brief walk ...

It was mighty cold, but I was dying to get outside with my camera after work.

The sun peeked out, and it was just beautiful out there!

17 inches at 8 below

We've had 17 inches of snow since Friday, and it's been nose-freezing cold. The cold and snow is supposed to continue through this whole week.

So they haven't been able to get the ice off the roads, or keep up with the plowing.

Some nasty driving out there today! I had the obligatory 4-wheel drive coasting off my back bumper on the way to work this morning. They should put a warning sticker on the dashboards of those things ... "just because you can stop, does not mean everyone else can." I ended up pulling over, and letting her pass, so she could intimidate the driver in front of me.

Church was cancelled yesterday (as the police were pleading with people to stay off the roads). This basically means all my work last Thursday was for naught ... but it's made up by the fact that all the work I normally do on a Monday doesn't need to be done this week. I'm sorting through and de-cluttering cupboards. One of my favorite passtimes! (and what I did nearly all weekend at home.)

Got home at 3:00 Friday afternoon, and didn't budge from my house until 6:30 this morning. It was delightful - like a 2-week vacation all squeezed into 2 days. I think I might become a professional hermit after I retire.

I was reading in John 7 this morning, and thinking about how the people's responses to Jesus were so contradictory. He mentioned that the religious leaders were plotting to kill Him. In one place the people said He was crazy ... nobody was planning to kill him. In another place they said, "hey, is this the guy they're trying to kill?" In one place they said, "He can't be the Messiah ... because nobody knows where the Messiah will come from." In another place, they said, "this can't be the Messiah, because we all know the Messiah will come from Bethlehem, and this guy's from Galilee." (Which proves that not only were they contradicting themselves, they also didn't do their research! While Jesus was living in Galilee, He was born in Bethlehem.)

Got myself on the treadmill this morning (since I woke up at 4:00 when the plow truck came through). I've been enjoying my weight set this weekend, and am having an elliptical machine delivered tomorrow (if they can get through the snow.) My guest room is finally getting some use other than the 4-5 nights/year I have company. :)

Well ... back to cupboard-cleaning!

winter all at once

It's been snowing since Thursday. I heard the plow come through early this morning, and just now I walked out in the parking lot, and the snow was half-way to my knees. (now ... of course .... my knees are a lot closer to the ground than the average person's!).

I'm so thankful to be able to stay home today!

We have a guest speaker at church Sunday. He's flying in from Dallas today. I called him, and warned him that it was more than just cold-like-Michigan-in-winter here ... I sure hope he took me seriously. :) It's supposed to stay in single digit temps all weekend, and into early next week.

our esteemed governor ...

I disagree! I disagree! There. I feel better. Maybe SOMEONE will listen, even if she doesn't!

Kalamazoo has a wonderful program - a private, anonymous donor pays for college for all of their high-school graduates. (They may be required to maintain a certain GPA, but if so, it's not a very high requirement.)

Well ... Jennifer Granholm, our governor, thinks this is a wonderful thing. (Which it is!) And she wants to replicate it over the entire state. But ... of course ... she wants EVERYONE to pay for it.

grrrr! It makes me crazy! What happened in Kalamazoo is what SHOULD happen ... someone seeing a need and choosing to meet it. What J.G. is trying to do is what should NOT happen ... confiscating from me, in order to meet what she sees as a need.

It drives me batty!

They had a recent proposal to buy laptops for every 6th grader in the state, also. She justified this because it was "federal money" ... um ... excuse me ... and where did THAT money come from? Oh, yes, that's right ... US again.

Thank you for listening. I feel better (sort of) now.

cell phone etiquette

Let me preface this post by saying, I am NOT an anti-cell phone crusader. I have one. In fact, it's the only phone I DO have. I do use it when I'm driving, as long as I'm not merging onto or off of a busy section of highway, or traveling on a busy street.

It's quite possible to use the things without creating a hazard or being rude to the world.

But this morning, I had one of those experiences that reminds me why some people ARE anti-cell phone crusaders. On the freecycle mailing list, a lady had mentioned needing moving boxes. I had a bunch of copy-paper boxes so I offered them to her. She just left picked them up.

It was quite odd ... her phone chirped just as she walked in, and she said, "oh that's my brother." She then proceeded to carry on a conversation with him, and with me, at the same time. Odd. Really odd.

Now I have a friend who ALWAYS calls mine just as I'm needing to talk with someone - it's some kind of a telepathic gift. :) But it's astonishingly easy to just hit the button on the side of the phone and turn the ringer off. One doesn't HAVE to answer it. And, if you call the person back in a few minutes, the delay doesn't do any visible damage to the conversation.

The funny thing was she seemed like an otherwise-socially-adept lady. She was pleasant, she had a helpful little girl who picked up a stack of the boxes without being asked. It was very strange.

any ideas for me?

I'm sitting here working on the newsletter for my condo association. I'm trying to think of short, interesting or funny articles to include along with the standard chidings about not throwing furniture in the dumpsters and not allowing outsiders to use the laundry.

Any suggestions? In previous issues I've put in the statistics from brainy-zip about our neighborhood. People seemed to like that. I've got a mostly-elderly readership, so things that are passed around the internet until people have them memorized would all be fresh and new to this group. :)

everyday miracles

On the MeetChristians forums, one lady posted about getting her first pair of glasses.

It brought back a neat memory of getting my first pair. It was in the fall just before the 4th grade, and my family were looking at a deer out in the field, and I said, "what deer?"

Not too long after that I met my first eye doctor, and got glasses. I remember just wandering around looking at things, because it was all so CRISP! I can still picture the tomato plants out behind the shed ... I just stared at the detail of their leaves against the red tomatoes.

Really - If I didn't have vision correction, my eyesight wouldn't be functional at all. I certainly can't read or recognize faces without glasses or contacts. Without my eyes, I have no marketable job skills. I suppose I'd be living in my mother's basement, and spending my days eating chocolates and watching soap operas!

It is one of those every-day wonders ... that those of us with bad eyes can just go trippingly through life with very little inconvenience, let alone handicap!

A good friend is going for lasik surgery on Friday. This is one of those things I've pondered occasionally. It would be so wonderful to wake up and be able to see ... to not have to carry spare glasses in the car, lest I lose a contact and get stranded somewhere. Pondering ...

Trinka

Time to admit I'm not getting to the gym

I like lifting weights. I really do. I like the solitary, non-competitive aspect of it. Plus it's WAY cool to notice that I'm stronger than I've ever been before.

BUT ... what I don't like is having to drive over to the gym in the evenings after work. I don't like the noise. I don't like the busy-ness. I don't like waiting for machines others are using, and I don't like feeling nervous when others are waiting for the one I'm using.

So, I ordered myself this weight machine today. I'm a little dubious that it will do all the things the ones at the college did. BUT ... if it's located in my spare bedroom, it will be MOST convenient. Plus it's small-ish in size compared to a lot of them.

I was quite smitten with the bowflex machines, but the price did not intrigue me at all. I found this machine on the Overstock website, and it's within my "amount of the tax refund you're allowed to spend" budget.

It does weigh 125 pounds ... so it should be interesting to try & haul it up to my condo. But I suppose if I'm going to lift weights at home, I might as well get started as soon as they arrive.

Hmmm ... better get those taxes mailed out this weekend. They've been done for a couple weeks, but TaxCut hasn't had the final updates available to download yet. I guess it's time to check on that one again!

living among the Dutch

The Grand Rapids/Holland area has a large Dutch population.

One would think that one white American couldn't possibly be a minority while living amidst other white Americans ... but there are times when I realize that I am.

It's their attitude towards housekeeping that fascinates me, while at the same time proving to me that I am definately on the outside of this blonde-haired, blue-eyed group.

A few examples:

• Yesterday while out for a walk, I saw a nice little mother and daughter stop their car on the street, both hop out, kick off the snow from around the tires, and then pull the car up onto the driveway.

• A Dutch friend who frets about people in her area who have let ... horrors ... weeds grow in their yards. (You may remember my earlier post about the weed lady near the church? This is NOT the same woman ... it's obviously a fairly common phobia.) Now, growing up, our yard, and the pasture across the fence, were composed of precisely the same plants. The only difference was the length. And there were times, the length wasn't even all that different, if the lawn mower wasn't working properly!

• I often tease the janitor here at church that she cleans behind her water heater with a toothbrush. I made the mistake of telling this (what I thought to be patently-obvious sarcastic story) to another lady. Her eyes lit up, and she eagerly responded, "oh, how does she get back there?!!!?"

• There is the often-heard fretting about people whose cars leak oil onto driveways. My thought ... "a driveway is a place where you park cars. Cars occasionally leak oil. Hence, the driveway is the perfect place for leaked oil to BE."

There was a time when I thought myself to be a relatively neat, clean person. And then I moved here. The longer I live here, the more inferior my estimation of my housekeeping skills becomes! There are times, at the end of a long, busy week, when I half expect the health department to burst down my door wearing bio-hazard suits and demand to inspect my condo.

Hmmm ... study ... did happen a little last night, but only under peril of appearing at my ladies' Bible study tonight woefully unprepared. I enjoyed some time in John 5 & 6. It's interesting to see how much the physical and spiritual is contrasted in John. Everyone was looking for Jesus to meet their physical needs for healing, or food, or a king to overthrow Rome. But He came for something bigger than that. He came to meet the spiritual need that underlies it all - to become right with God by having the problem of our sinful nature dealt with.

But speaking of the physical ... I heard the author of Under the Overpass speak Monday night. He lived for 5 months as a homeless person, and wrote this book about it. I haven't read it yet, but I have it on order from the library. It was an excellent challenge to be mindful of the physical needs around us, and to see people as individuals.

Exercise is still happening about 5 days/week, though I've been mostly walking. I haven't seen the gym in almost 2 months. After work I've been so weary that I just haven't been able to face a noisy room full of people, or the 15 minute drive to get there. It's just SO nice to have a quiet walk right outside my front door, and then retreat to my "to do" list.

staying home waiting for the Publishers' Clearing House van

First, a confession:
Every morning, when I sign on, I go to the Publishers' Clearing House, and enter the sweepstakes.

I then have a brief interlude where I daydream about living in a paid-for house.

Then I get to work, so I can actually stand a chance of earning some money that would contribute to a paid-for house. :)

OK ... with that as a foundation, today as I was making my coffee, and having my standard, irrational, pre-caffeinated-brain thoughts, it occured to me: "what happens if the Publishers' Clearing House van comes, and I'm not home? Would they come back?

This befuddled idea was immediately followed by a vision of myself sitting home every non-work hour in a bathrobe, staring out the window, waiting for the prize van to arrive. Yikes! This proves I've gotta be careful not to make any major life decisions pre-coffee!

***Warning -- paragraph that follows will be deadly dull to anyone who's not related to me!***
Maria ... nice to see you! If you get a second, drop me an e-mail so I have your address. My email address is just my first and last name and I use gmail. :) I'm also told your mom is using email, so I'd love to have her address too!

***OK ... end of personal paragraph****

Exercise ... still happening, though I haven't been to the gym to lift weights in ages. I need to get back in that habit. I just flat-out hate going out after work. There's something so calming about pulling my car into the carport, and knowing I don't have to leave again for 14 hours! (See ... maybe sitting home watching for money to arrive wouldn't be so bad after all). :)

Reading/Studying ... yikes. Nope. Not happening. I've actually been watching television and playing a hand-held tetris game in the evenings.

This. Situation. Is. Pathetic. I realize that. I can feel my brain turning to mush.

I feel just like a Clinton ...

I'm shredding 1998 records in preparation to throw them away.

So I'm sitting here surrounded with bags of confetti, and more than a little on the floor.

It's rather relaxing, actually ... wanton destruction with no consequences (other than needing a broom later!)

I find it fascinating that as recently as 1998 we were still paying for pagers for all of our staff. It seems like cell phones have been around MUCh longer than that!

announcements you rarely hear ...

unless there is a presidential funeral being held in your town ...

"Please turn off your car alarms, so the vibrations from the cannons won't set them off."

if a person were able to sleep in past 7:00 ...

I am a morning person, all the way through to my bones.

So now ... by 10:16 on New Years' Day, I have already put away all my Christmas decorations, re-organized the basement, and checked on a motor-home I'm selling for my mother on ebay. (really! )

What I WANT to do is vacuum. But, being a person who's never been able to sleep in, I don't know if (for the sake of my neighbors who CAN sleep in) it's still to early to politely make noise.

I think I'm giving them 'till 11:00, and that's it! The Christmas tree residue NEEDS to be cleaned up!

Trinka