Monday Musings

Thank you for making the effort to continue to be a part of my life. It means so much to me. I do feel your support and love.

I know many of you are still living in summer mode, but we are definitely into the beginnings of autumn. It is more than a nip in the air in the mornings. In fact, as I ride my bike to the gym, it's more like a BRRRR factor. I even caught a whiff of fireplace in the air one recent morning. Some of the leaves are already changing - -

Speaking of the gym - the good news is that I made the cut to the final 8 contestants for the cruise to Mexico - I was asked to write a short essay. I realized after I turned it in that I left out several important points that I meant to make. Oh, well. Tomorrow we'll know the winner. I heard that one guy had lost an enormous amount of weight - I don't know how it is physically possible to lose that much in only 3 months. Fortunately, weight loss was not the only factor in the decision.

I took a little trip back up to my old office the other day, with Feisty and one of her buddies along for the ride - and of course, the twins. Did I tell you about the goofy lady I worked with who told me not to bother to bring the girlies when I came to visit, but to bring a dog??!! HUH??? Did you ever hear such an insensitive thing to say to a grandma?? I think it's a good thing she never had children. A very good thing.

Anyway, the girls and I were walking around campus, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see far fewer belly buttons showing than the past few years. It's about time a bit of modesty returned!

Retirement - I jokingly told everyone, when they asked what I was going to do with "all that time," that I was going to do what I felt like doing and not do what I didn't. Well --- I have tried to have my mornings to myself. Riding bike to the gym, working out, and riding back home takes a good bit of time. I am trying to get things in my house in order one mess at a time. I took some pictures, but am embarrassed to show them. Maybe I will later. It is taking me alot of time to complete each individual project. In the meantime, as I work on these projects, my nice little room becomes inundated with piles as I sort and toss. I must have thrown out 500 recipes this week that I was quite sure I'd never use. I am a great saver of things I might someday try - not likely. So I'm decluttering one cupboard at a time. We're in the throes of deciding how to re-do our kitchen. I'll have to do before and after pictures when we get that far.

More about retirement - one of our dreams, once DC has retired as well, is to take a trip to visit every place we have lived - being preacher's kids, both of us, that will cover a lot of ground. We will go to Minnesota, Nebraska, maybe Iowa where he was born, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Hopefully I'll get to visit some of you!

My afternoons are spent with Feisty and the twins while Kristen studies. (I neglected to mention in my back to school post that both of my adult children are back in college - exciting times). If anyone thinks you can get anything done while you care for baby twins and a 4 year old, I beg of you to let me know how it's done! I've been attempting to get my fall things out and on display for a week now - don't even have them out of their storage place yet. Maybe this week.

Speaking of which -- have you ever known of anyone who could ruin Rice Krispie Treats? You know these simple little things that take 10 minutes to make??

Well, now you know somebody - me! We eat at church on Wednesday nights and it was my turn to bring a dessert. I had everything I needed, and wanted to bring something kid friendly. I rested just a few minutes too long while the twins napped - the minute I put the butter and marshmallows in the pan, I heard their little squeals. I turned down the heat and ran up to attend to them - when I got back, the marshmallows had begun to stick to the pan. I decided to pour the mixture into a bowl and microwave instead. The marshmallow volcano erupted in my microwave - the bowl was too small! So I got a bigger bowl and attempted to pour the mess into it - but the little bowl was SO hot! By the time I poured the mallow mess onto the cereal, it had become too hard and I had one big gloppy mess - and most of the krispies weren't even coated. At that point - a pan and two bowls later, I threw it all in the sink and headed to the grocery store for something from the bakery. I'm usually pretty proficient in the kitchen!

We ran out of bird seed the other day and took awhile to get the feeder re-filled. For several days our visitors came to check, then they disappeared. It took several days after the food was replenished for the finches to return. They also brought a cute little chickadee. There is another feeder hanging from the Austrian pine. We have quite a few resident squirrels as well - this one particular little guy is very persistent --







I have been going through a lot of pictures, beginning to try to decide how to sort and save them when I begin the huge project that I'm planning for winter. So many of them bring a post possibility to mind. I thought I'd share this one with you just for the fun of it. I got braces when I was 33 years old. I was very happy to be able to get my teeth straightened, and my doctor loved adult patients, because we did what we were supposed to do! I even wore headgear - the doctor told me that every hour of headgear wear took an hour off the other end - I wanted to be done as soon as possible. I worked in a school kitchen at the time and the kindergarteners, when they came for their milk break, would say, "Look she's wearing bracelets!" So cute. I'll never forget the trip we took when I was in the middle of wearing rubber bands - finding a place to brush my teeth and replace the bands was a challenge. But it was so worth it.

Can this grandma do a bit of bragging? Care Bear was saying her prayers and she said, "Dear Jesus, please let me have some harder math homework tomorrow. All they have is 3's and 4's and 5's, and I know those already." What a kid - she's reading at 5th grade level - in first grade - the youngest kid in the class. Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Wrapping up this crazy mish mash of mental meanderings - on a more serious note.

I have been reading through the Bible chonologically this year from The Message. I just finished Ezekial and chapter 20 has stuck with me. Four times in that one chapter, God states that He is so tired of the rebellion of His chosen people. He says that he seriously considered unleashing his anger on them, but "I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt." I believe God is still acting out of who He is, not by what He feels, as He watches us self-destruct as a nation. Then in chapter 22 Ezekial quotes God saying "I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this . . . to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn't have to destroy it. I couldn't find anyone. Not one." I trust He can find us standing in the gap.