Random Ramblings # ???

I hope my dear friend, Groovy, will forgive me for borrowing (or should I say stealing?) this wonderful caveat to this post. It cracked me up and said so well what I would say if I were as clever as Groovy is.

"WARNING: Readers of this post should be at least 48" tall and be in good health. If you are pregnant or have heart conditions, please check with your doctor before buckling into this ride. This ramble is subject to quick pacing and sudden twists and turns in subject matter. As always, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle until the ride comes to a complete stop. "

I haven't felt all that great for the last 3 days - just a bit of flu, I think. There's a lot of it going around here. I can't blame it on the heat, although that is what I have blamed everything on for the 23 straight days of over-9o degree days that we suffered through until a breakthrough came. We broke a 134-year record - dubious at best! I heard, though, that Barb over on the western slope, had over 50 days in a row. I guess I should count my blessings.



First and foremost, I need to acknowledge a lovely award from our friend, Tammy, over at Lattes and Lollipops (formerly Family Doin's - but I don't have the techno savvy to change it on my sidebar and my techie guru, Kristen, is out of the computer loop right now). Tammy has honored me with this award, and said the kind words below:

"I think I met her after I had only been blogging a few months and I love that when I visit her, it's like sitting down at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a good friend. She has just recently retired and added twin baby granddaughters to her family in the past six months, so it's fun to peek into her life as she enjoys this interesting phase of her life."

Thank you, Tammy, for those kind thoughts - and I do wish each and every one of us could sit together and chat. But what a blessing that we've found each other in this wonderful medium.

I've missed going to the gym for the last several days - first because of the big doings out at my husband's employer (see previous post), then not feeling well. But last weigh-in was Thursday (two more to go before the end of the contest), and I'm happy to report:

It's going very slowly, but at least in the right direction. Especially when you consider all of that FREE food friend Groovy, mentioned above, talked about in her latest post.

BUT - how in the world long does it take for some improvement to show on my disgusting bat wing arms??? I might have to have a bit of nip and tuck surgery -- and speaking of surgery ---

You may remember the marathon of doctor's appointments I went through before retirement and changing my insurance plan. I didn't get to my eyes at that time, because I have no coverage for them anyway, and there was no rush. When I got the notice that it was time (well, way past time, really) for my eye check-up, there was an offer for a complimentary evaluation for L*sik surgery. My personal opthamologist has told me that he doesn't think I'm a good candidate. But I wanted to hear it from those who do the process evey day. So I took them up on the offer. It was a very thorough examination. At the end when the doctor finally took over from the technicians, he told me that I had very dry eyes and they don't close completely when I blink. Hmmm. Weird. He told me to use eye drops for two weeks to see if the reading he was getting was just because of the dryness, or if I really wasn't well suited for the L*sik correction.

When I went back and they re-ran some of the tests, it turned out that I could indeed have the surgery. Now - the problem. I can't decide whether I want to do it or not. I WANT to do it, there's no doubt about that. One problem - my sweet DC, who usually is up for anything I feel strongly about, is not sure about this one. It's costly, and I have to figure out how to pay for it. But I haven't talked to too many people who regret having done it. I totally understand that I'll probably have to still wear reading glasses. But I really detest wearing glasses - especially bifocals, after so many years of contacts. So - my question - if you have had Lasik surgery, give me the pros and cons. Okay? If you don't want to do it here on this comment section, please e-mail me from my sidebar. Thanks!

I am almost through the pile of books I showed a few posts ago - I am enjoying the Jennifer Chiaverini series so much. But I'm reading several other books that are new, so only have 3 weeks to read them and can't renew. Thus, I get very homesick to get back to my new quilting friends in between books. I recently finished Runaway Quilt, which was a very moving book. If you haven't read it, it's worth the entire series to read this one book. It is a flashback to the Civil War times when slaves were hidden in the Underground Railroad. There was a paragraph that really gripped me,

I cannot trace the path my thoughts traveled that night, but in my fatigue and my fear, I saw quite plainly a sameness linking all of us entangled in this great conflict, so that I felt once both guardian and fugitive, both slave and freeborn. Slavery made slaves of us all, it seemed to me, imprisoning those with dark skin in the iron shackles of injustice, those who owned slaves in chains of sin, and those of us complacent in our freedom with the heavy yoke of obligation to help our enslaved brethren.

Last - I have mentioned several times that I'm reading the Bible through chronologically this year - I just finished Isaiah - as in Proverbs, I find so much that is applicable to our society. How long will God wait? In the second chapter (The Message), Isaiah gives this message:

God, you've walked out on your family Jacob because their world is full of hokey religion,

Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus, a world rolling in wealth,

Stuffed with things, no end to its machines and gadgets,

And gods - gods of all sorts and sizes.

These people make their own gods and worship what they make. A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter.

Don't bother with them! They're not worth forgiving!

I'm thankful God is still in control and that his timetable is not ours. In a time of wondering why young men die - another funeral today for a young guy, only 15, who's been battling cancer for 3 years - why fires rage the land, hurricanes and tornadoes, drought - it is comforting to read Isaiah 55:

Seek God while He's here to be found, pray to Him while he's close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work - God's Decree.

For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry. So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.

So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines -- Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.