A Round of Applause (not Applesauce)

Why is it that people who do the cooking shows get a spontaneous round of applause when they add the portabello mushrooms, or the feta cheese, or the cup of sherry? Good heavens people, I've never had a round of applause in MY kitchen...for anything! And I'm convinced I've prepared a few pretty good pot roasts in my time! Baked a few pans of light and fluffy homemade rolls. Made several steamers of tasty potato soup, loaves of Anadama Bread, and even opened a can or two of Campbell's soup. What am I missing here?

..., ...., can't trust that day.

Through trial and error I've discovered that I should write when the moment calls. Do not wait until 20 hours later, thinking the same inspiration, thought, word, and effort will be there. It will not.
My oldest grand daughter (one of three) said to me the other day, as we were quickly discussing the pleasures and pitfalls of "newer car ownership", "Mamaw, I think sometimes things just get too fancy." I'm right there with you, AnnaB.
My old car was not as protected as this one from straw wrappers, ice cream drippings, and art work. What do we give up in the "get"?

The Best I've Heard it Said

This comes from Mary Oliver....from "Messenger" in Thirst/2006

"My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird-
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work
which is mostly standing still and learning how to be astonished."

My goodness, I love that!

Rainy Monday Morning

Up when the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Tired. Humm? Didn't take any of my meds yesterday morning and no Dr. Pepper the whole day. Could that explain those headaches yesterday?
I have a jillion things to do today. Return, pick up, mail, get hair cut, deposit, etc. Rainy Monday in Oklahoma...

This week I'm going to learn (and write the directions for...) how to post pictures from my computer and camera. I feel like a computer dork. Out of touch with that.

Lots of things to get done. Prayers for Becky, Gary and Yvonne, Lisa and her mom, Linda....
I have a poem to post (not original) and it is a KEEPER for sure!
Will get that done tonight!
Peace.

My goodness, it's been a long time since I posted. I'm getting back to this blog thing...I've been on Facebook all summer and enjoying it, but it's NOT a writing place for sure. Not enough room for me!
I am SO DISGUSTED about the direction of thinking with the general population in Oklahoma. It seems that the majority of the people, or at least those who make their voices heard in the media, are so AFRAID of everything!! And yet these are the very same people who talk about their FAITH!!!! Good grief people! Wake up and smell the coffee! or at the very least, smell it on your own breath! Our local newspapers (Tulsa World and Owasso Reporter) have the most rampent articles on the horrors of children hearing the words of our President in their classrooms! What in the WORLD are they THINKING!!! One of our brazen Senators even compared his (President Obama) speaking to the schools as "Marxist thinking."
Here's what I don't get: Are these same people AS CONCERNED with the rate of female incarceration in our state, the rate of child abuse, and the rate of births to mothers under the age of eighteeen, the amount of polluntants in our rivers, creeks, and streams, i.e., ground water pollution? Get on a band box that has some teeth, people!!!
I had a request/encouragement from a friend to get back on my blog. I'm doing JUST THAT. Do not want to let my days go by without my voice being heard, even if it is in my own head!

Procrastinate...such a nasty word.

Is it procrastination or postponement when you KNOW you should begin putting the Kilz on the bathroom cabinets and instead....you watch The View? I think we all know the answer to that one! I think I would put that in the category of "Big Project Beginnings" and know that I REALLY don't want to start that when I have a dental appointment in the afternoon. Exactly. On the other hand, I could have had the whole dang thing done by now, had I started that project at 6:00 a.m. I didn't. Live with it, Lana.

It's also a day for getting seriously started back on my "food watch." I've lost 12.5 pounds since the 26th of December and now I'm at a plateau. Also known as I've-eaten-more-than-I-need-to-and-some-of-the-wrong-foods for the past 4 days. I'm feeling it. Amazingly easy for me to think that baking cookies with my grandson will be the best thing for a Tuesday afternoon. It's the best thing to feed my sugar/carb addiction, but not the best thing for me. Start again.

Finally Walking!

Tonight I began walking. Not long, not far, not fast. Fifteen minutes and right under 2 miles an hour. That's slow. I'm starting out slow. My feet are actually in pain. My heels hurt. I will walk again in the morning for another fifteen minutes at a slow pace. I will do the same thing again tomorrow evening and that will give me my thirty minutes for the day. Then I must repeat that same plan on the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next. Never "the end," but continual progress.
I will be healthier.

Read What You Will! (and what you won't)

One of the very best things about being retired from teaching is that I've actually had time to read. Oh, I had some time before that, but my hours were always taken up with raking the yard, cleaning the garage, cleaning the bathrooms, going after groceries; that sort of thing. Stuff we all do, you know. Plus, I could never hold my eyes open long enough to read anything of any length. And when I read, I READ. I'm not one of these who sit down and read 5 pages and then come back to it four days later. Nope. That's probably one of the things that I CAN stay with for more than 20 minutes at a time. The rest of me is really ADD. I won't call it a "disorder"; I think it is an order of my being. I don't think we really have disorders; I think we have orders. Orders from God. That's who I am. That's the way I'm made. Take it or leave it. Maybe not like you...and then of course, you're not like me. Isn't THAT just a wonderful thing of life. Can you imagine if all the Spring flowers were alike? We'd all have to love tulips wouldn't we?

But back to the original...love of reading.

Right now I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love. It is the selection we made in our new book club (YEA!) for the month of March. I'm really enjoying her style of writing. Easy to read and funny; some thoughtful stuff there, too. I'm such a lover of the non-fiction so reading the fiction is good for me, I know. And I'm learning to find the treasures in that, too.

Funny...I think my love for non-fiction probably comes from the fact that I was raised in that small Missouri town in the 50's thinking that every moment should be consumed by doing something that's "good for you"...the old work ethic thing. Reading non-fiction is BETTER for you than reading fiction? How crazy is that??!! I'm changing, thank goodness.

SPRING....Where are you????

Across the street from us sits a vacant house. A vacant house with jonquils in front. Blooming jonquils! I have some of the same signs of spring in my front flower beds, but not any that are blooming right now. I love the first signs of spring. Those little niblets of green that poke through the ground...so refreshing and reassuring that spring will actually arrive. Come quickly!

What a lazy day this has been. I don't even want to do the mundane things that need to be done. Cleaning up the dishes. Putting clothes in the dryer. Don't want to do any of it. May blog reading go on all afternoon...

I'm not sure I was cut out for doing a blog of my own. Probably not.
February Sunday...

The Day after The Day after

Uck! That's about all I have to say about stomach viruses throughout my daughter's family...which attached to me, too, after the fact at their house! Hopefully we're all headed in a positive direction; weaker, still a little queasy, but better.
I'm ready for some springtime sunshine and some open windows. Fresh air sounds so good.

I am thrilled that I've had one comment posted on my cheap little blog site! (Thank you, Clare!) Gosh, what a wonderful thing to check this out today and see that "1 comment"! I guess everyone loves the attention of being heard.

If I DID the number of things that I THINK ABOUT when lying awake at night (or in the early morning hours) I would have so much done here at this house! So many things would be organized! So many cards would be mailed! So many items of clothing would be pressed, hung, sorted, and boxed! So many pictures would be stored in nice albums and written in the margins would be stories for my children.
Not yet. I need a shower.

Some friends of mine are joining me in starting a book group. I can hardly wait to see what this will all become. Being sixty-plus has real advantages; you just don't care about the trivia anymore. It's wonderful! We think we all have something to say and that's good. We all think we have something to learn and that's good, too.

I will publish this and then grab a picture from who-knows-where to add to my post this weekend. I'm still learning and I'm slow!

More Than Words Can Say

This morning I awoke early...1:30 a.m. early. Even early for me. I know it's going to be one of the most memorable days in my life. Not because I awoke early, nor because the cat threw up on my pillow beside my head.
Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States. I can remember John Kennedy's swearning in as President, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the assination of both. At 4:30 a.m. we are seeing pictures on the news of our nation's capitol filling with people, shoulder to shoulder. That's how we should be. We have a lot to get done.
Obama is just who we need in this time of our Country. He IS a Community Organizer. Thank God.

Seventeen Days...

I made the choice on Christmas Day to give myself the gift of renewed health for the coming year. I'm seventeen days into my new eating plan and I'm down about 10 pounds, depending on what time of the day it happens to be! I thought I would begin my exercise plan last Monday but that didn't happen. Obviously, I wasn't as sincere about it as I have been about my eating (or not eating!) plan. It has to happen for my health, too.
I'm amazed at how much better I'm feeling already.

I hope to rekindle my efforts with this blog thing. I really like using pictures and I have some I'd like to put on my blog, but I need to re-learn all I've been taught about that. Heaven help me!
I've been going through my box of family pictures from years passed. I have so many that I want to put into my scrapbooks and do some journaling along with them. Many of the pictures are not as good as people take today. The quality of the pictures themselves are often poor along with the actual techique. Regardless, they have a lot of family history and story that need to be recorded for my children and grandchildren.

I'm hoping that the coming months will be ones of great health. I'm working toward that!
Peace.