Just a Mundane, Wonderful Day

Not a whole lot to say, but today was an exceptionally nice day.  The Brit was off work today, so once I got off work, we met for sushi and wound up sitting right next to a friend I went to college with and his mother.  Dave directed "Steele Magnolias" when I did it with the Alumni Association and that was one of the two best times I have ever had on stage.  I was blessed enough to be cast with five other women that I had known for years, thus putting the friendships that needed to be portrayed on stage, already firmly in place.  We laughed, we cried, we cut up a lot during rehearsals, sometimes to the point that Dave would just throw his hands up in the air and walk out of the theater laughing.  It was good to catch up with him today and reminisce about old times.

After lunch, the Brit and I decided to go refrigerator shopping, which turned into a "maybe we just finally need to have the kitchen remodeled."  The people we bought the house from five years ago, put new cupboards, counters and a new floor in the kitchen...and for some reason chose to build it like a galley.  The room itself is a good sized room, but the working kitchen is all built into one corner.  So, we stopped in to speak to some folks about it tonight and they'll be coming to do measurements next week and then work us up some possibilities and the dreaded estimates.  We love this house, but the we nearly didn't buy it because of the kitchen.  It will be nice to see about finally getting it together and fixing its issues.

After getting home early this evening, I grabbed the ipod and headed for a walk around the park.  About halfway around, my neighbor from up the road, pulled up beside me, asking if I would call her the next time I decided to go walking.  She and I are just getting to know each other.  She has been going through a rough patch, and I've been an ear she can bend.  We've discussed relationships, God and health and I like her more and more each time I speak to her.

We are very blessed to live in a neighborhood full of good people who look out for each other, exchange baked goods at Christmas and chat back and forth on warm spring or summer evening.  The day we moved in five years ago, we met our neighbor across the street  because she showed up on our porch with a plate of brownies.  We were convinced we were in Mayberry.  It just reminds me of summer evening in California in the seventies where my parents would sit on the front porch with their next door neighbors, while the kids would all play together.  It's comforting to know that sometimes, you are fortunate enough to find a little piece of yesterday still intact thirty years later.  There aren't too many things we can say that about anymore.

Just me thinking out loud here...don't throw anything

There are stories in the Bible that I love to ponder, question and wonder about the little details that are not mentioned in the story.  But then again, I may view the Bible a bit differently than some people do.  Yes, I do believe it is the inspired word of God, without a doubt, but there are some things I place more weight on than others.  The prime example is "Did Jesus say it?"

I admit to placing much more stock in something Jesus is documented as saying, especially when paralleling the Old Testament to the New Testament.  I believe that much of the Old Testament is a historical account and a showing of the times.  Let's face it, there are things in the OT that are no longer done in this day and age.  For example, there were slaves all over the place but we no longer find slavery an "acceptable" thing to do and it isn't.  But if you want to take every single word in the Bible at face value, you would have to say that you believed in slavery and my guess is that if you do, you don't want to say that out loud.

Another belief for me is that you can find any passage in the Bible you desire to suit your current need.  Someone looking on whether or not it is biblically appropriate to seek revenge on someone who has wronged you, can either see "turn the other cheek" or "an eye for an eye."  We can read whatever we want to read into scripture.  The Bible contradicts itself on several occasions, but come on, it was written by how many different people??  Biblically, did Judas die from hanging himself or from falling and having his insides burst open?  Matthew gives one account and Acts gives another.  In Googling for answers, there are those who explain it as he hung himself, the rope broke,  and then he fell and his insides burst open. Okay, so that is one way to put the two accounts together, but is it correct?  Only God knows for sure what happened.  So again, we can read into it whatever we want.  The point is that Judas knew he had betrayed Jesus and took his own life. 

If I could go back in history and meet any one person, I would love to meet the woman who committed adultery in the book of John.  I love to speculate on this story and about what it can possibly mean for us today. 

This woman is caught in the act apparently, and dragged before Jesus by "teachers of the law and the Pharisees."  My first thought was, where is the man she was cheating with?  After all, it does take two.  Did they just leave him alone because he was male, or did he go and hide some place and just leave her to take the heat alone?  Seems pretty low to me.

I have to wonder too, if the teachers of the law and the Pharisees were all men or were there women present as well, ready to cast stones upon her.  As a female, I'd have to think that there would be a part of me very sympathetic towards another woman who had sinned and was facing death.  But either way, here are all these self righteous people standing there with stones in their hands, wanting to kill her for her sin.  I can only imagine how she must have felt.  Ashamed.  Afraid.  Waiting for the first infliction of pain on her body and then knowing that more and more pain would follow until she could feel no more.  Can you imagine the terror?  Was she trembling or standing tall in defiance?  The Bible doesn't say, but it is very clear on Jesus' position.

He knelt down and stated that anyone in the crowd who has never made a mistake, broken a rule, told a lie...anyone who has never sinned  can throw the first rock at her.  He was stating that only the person in the crowd who had never even had a sinful thought could raise a hand to hurt her.  This is one of the single most powerful pieces of scripture for me, because no matter how many ways you can interpret different passages in the Bible, this one is cut and dry for me.

Jesus knew that he was going to take every sin of the entire world onto his own shoulders and die for them.  He knew that there was nothing so bad, that his sacrifice would not wipe it away and in that moment, he was telling us how to treat each other.  Not just for that moment but forever.  He was saying, "Look at your own heart before you accuse another and only if you can find no fault with yourself, can you judge someone else."  I would venture to say that there is not a one of us who can look at ourselves and know that we are perfect.  In the darkness of night, when no one can see us, God knows everything we have done.  We can't hide from it.  Oh sure, we can hide it from the rest of the world.  We can keep our guilt and our dark secrets locked away in our hearts and never utter them aloud, but God knows them.  And he knows that there is not a one of us who does not have sin in their heart. 

There are other places in the Bible where adultery and its consequences are treated much more negatively, but to the best of my knowledge, the passage in John was the only time Jesus made mention of it.  I'm not saying that adultery is right, because it is not, but I am saying that Jesus was telling us not to judge one another on our sins.  And because Jesus said it, I put more stock into it.  His heart was pure love; he was God made man.  Please understand, that this post is not about adultery.  It's about judgment and forgiveness and making sure that we take good, long looks into our own hearts, before we speak stone cold words of judgment.  Even when Jesus tells her "Go and sin no more" he knows that is not possible.  Oh sure, maybe she never again committed adultery, but not sinning at all was just not do-able.

I just think that this passage shows us the level of God's forgiveness and grace.  It is one of my very favorites and when I get to Heaven, I hope I get a few minutes to talk to her.

There is something to be said for being able to plan

I got weighed and measured at Curves today and got my nose out of joint because I didn't do as well as I thought I should have.  I sulked my way around the circuit the first time, grumbling to myself about all the sacrifices I've been making and the walks around the park I've been taking and how dare my body not cooperate with all my hard efforts! 

It's amazing how we can work ourselves up to feeling righteous indignation, isn't it?  Very easy to do it when we don't examine ourselves too closely, and our sense of being "right" is enough to keep us from that self examination.  What was I talking about again??  Oh! Right, Curves.  For a minute there I thought I was someplace else.

Anyway, once the workout had taken the edge off my anger, I got down to the nitty gritty of the last couple of days.  I mentioned singing at two dinner banquets for an organization last Thursday and Friday night.  Well, unfortunately, one tends to eat at banquets as well.  Now, I tried to prepare for this by really watching my intake during the day both days, but let's be realistic, I have no idea how the food was prepared, or what ingredients were used.  At home, I am in perfect control of this.

Thursday night was not too bad, relatively speaking....or maybe it was.  The dinner theme was a BBQ and it was very good.  BBQ chicken and ribs; I had two small thighs and two ribs, a little potato salad, some fruit and literally one tiny dab of the peach cobbler, because I love me some peach cobbler and I had to have a taste.  But then there were also rolls and bread which are my hell and damnation to eating better.  I stay away from it at home, but if we go out and they bring warm rolls or bread to the table, I am a goner.  So, I think I had three dinner rolls.  Hell and damnation.

Then, after the part where I had to sing, we were all invited downstairs for an ice cream social.  Great.  Fabulous.  Just getting over the stress of singing with a sound system that did not play the backup tape loud enough while singing in front of a group of complete strangers had me feeling stressed and ice cream sounded like a plan.  Ugh.  I did refuse the second scoop when it was brought around, but the damage was already done.

Friday night, the dinner was not as good, but again, no clue how it was prepared.  Seafood Newburg over rice, potatoes(didn't finish what I took as I didn't like them), salad, damnable rolls again, some kind of chicken (didn't finish it; didn't like it) and prime rib, which I did not take as I've been really good about staying away from beef and I barely miss it at all.  Dessert: chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Stupid banquets.  After singing, guess what?  Left over ice cream!

Saturday was clean up day at the church and lunch was provided: hot dogs, pretzels and dessert.  Went out to dinner Saturday night and Sunday night....and let's just say there is really no big surprise why my loss was not what it should have been.  Without the fatal four days proceeding it, it probably would have been a lot better.  Any one of those four days meals would have been fine, but not all of them.  So it is back to being strict and doing what I know works. 

It's definately a day to day struggle, but I have no doubt that the end result will be totally worth it.

TGIF...I think

So tonight is night numero two of this conference-I-am-part-of-the-entertainment-thing.  Did not get home until nearly 10:00 last night, just in time for CSI and please don't let Sara die.  Since waking up this morning, things have just not stopped and I'm tired.  Here's a sample.

Worked from 8:30-12:30 and had just tons to do today.  Barely got it all finished in time.  Left work, as despite feeling tired a wee bit out of sorts, I still needed to do the Curves thing, so I did.  Left there and came home to try to straighten up home that three men were left alone in last night for six hours.  Walked up on the porch and realized I needed to water my flowers and my plants, so:

Filled huge watering can full of water
Realized that the water made me want to pee, so went upstairs to deal with that.
Took care of nature and then realized that the sink in the bathroom needed to be cleaned.
Cleaned sink in bathroom as well as little bench and toilet.  Grumbled over why smashed up crackers were in the corner by the trash can.
Walked out of bathroom twenty minutes later and glanced in kid's room.
Took the next 45 minutes to clean up their room, from legos to towels and clothing on the floor. 
Checked in the Brit's and my room and hung up dress from last night. 
Decided to go ahead and start laundry, so piled all clothes from our hamper into portable laundry basket.
Did the same in the kid's room.
Took towels that I just hung up in the bathroom (previously on kid's floor) and threw them in portable laundry basket as well. 
Dragged baskets along with handful of ink pens found in kid's room downstairs (I had wondered just this morning where all my pens went!).
Remembered that I was going to water the plants, but decided to start laundry first.
Carted laundry down the next flight of stairs to basement.  Started a load.  Went back upstairs, forgetting to grab something out of freezer to cook for men for dinner.
Picked up watering can to water plants.  Phone rings.  Quickly set watering can on table  and water sloshes everywhere.
Answer phone.
Get off phone and finally water plants and flowers.
Clean up kitchen; put away dishes from last night, wash dishes, wipe off counters, stove and table.
Deal with piles of mail that are lying around and throw away broken picture frame.
Vacuum.
Take vacuum upstairs to clean up there and especially to pick up smashed up cracker from bathroom floor.
Go back down to basement and switch loads of laundry over.  Remember to get dinner out of freezer.
Come upstairs and get dinner ready to roll.
Iron (Iron??) dress for tonight's event.
Read about Monkee talking about knitting (you can do it!)
Finally eat a little bit of cantalope.
Go upstairs and get dressed for tonight's event.
Apply fresh makeup
Put peas in pot to start cooking them.
Blog
Next step is putting Brit's potatoe in the microwave to cook.

But they say I only work 20 hours a week.....

Royal Blood

JJ: Mom, do you have a birthmark?

Me: (unsure and looking at my mother) Not that I know of.  Does everyone have one?

Nana: I have one.

JJ: Where is it?

Nana: On my butt.

JJ: Can I see?

Nana (laughing) No!

JJ: (Reaches around to back of his head to the bottom of his hair line) Mine is right here.  All kings have them.

Me: So, you're a king now?

JJ: Yup

Short and sweet

I'm pretty tired tonight but I always feel guilty not blogging during the week, so here ya go.

Because I didn't blog over the weekend, I failed to say "Happy Mother's Day" to all you moms out there!  I also forgot to say "Happy Birthday, Brit!" as Sunday was his birthday as well as Mother's Day.

My mother-in-law, after a years wait, finally had hip surgery today and all went well.  I know that health care in England doesn't cost them a penny...or a pound rather, but she had to wait an entire year in pain before finding some relief.  I'm just glad it is over, that it went well, and she can now get on with her life without being in constant pain. 

Today was busy.  Grocery day, laundry day, did some gardening out back, grilled for dinner and finally by 8:00, I could settled in to watch American Idol.  Hard to believe that next week another season will be over!  I don't watch tons of television because I generally have other things I either need or want to do, but I do get very wrapped up in AI each year.  I'm predicting that Blake will go home tomorrow night as I have said all along that Jordin and Melinda should be in the finals.  Let's see if I get that one right.

The rest of the week is shaping up to be equally as busy.  The oldest son has therapy tomorrow night, then Thursday and Friday, I'm singing at banquets with a friend. So for now, off to bed!  Good night to all!

Hannah

I'm a little iffy on doing this post, but I've had it planned all weekend.  The reason being is that my dear friend, Lisa, had to put down her eighteen year old kitten on Saturday.  Lisa, I'd love to have a picture of Teddi to honor her here, but that it up to you.  The rest of you, send her warm fuzzy lovin' please.

I had promised Monkee that she would have a proper introduction to my six kitties.  I may not do this in consecutive days, but I will get the ball rolling tonight!



This is Hannah, aka, Baby Hannah or sometimes Hannah Banana...or as my mother calls her, "I hate that cat." 

I met Hannah when she was brought into the veterinary hospital where I once worked, and she was a tiny, strangley little kitten with all kinds of issues.  We fed her by syringe in the hospital and she was soon nursed back to health and before I knew it, I was bringing her home.

She's quirky as I like to call her.  If she wants petted and you are not accomodating her petting need, she will nip you, which is why my mother hates her.  Hannah hates to hear anyone yelling, even if I am only calling up the stairs to the kids to come down.  The first chance she gets, Hannah will race up onto me and try to nip me, all the while talking as if to say, "What's wrong?  Why are you yelling?  Tell me!"

A couple of weeks ago, the Brit and I were watching television and two of the other kitties were fascinated with something on the front porch as they were perched on the back of the sofa in front of the window.  We figured we had a stray cat outside and just let the cats have their fun gazing at it.  It never occured to us that they weren't growling or making other horrendous noises as one would expect when encountering a stray.  An hour later, I got up to head into the computer room and noticed that the two felines were still completely enthralled at the window.  As it was dark outside, I walked to the front door and switched on the porch light, affirming that there was a cat on my porch.  An instant later, I realized the "Stray" was Hannah.  I was amazed that she had never left in the porch during her little adventure, but now we have to be careful as she is always trying to escape.  When she does slip out, all I have to do is open the door and tell her to "get in here" and she runs right in.  Quirky.



She has very healthy habits and loves to finish off a yogurt for the Brit.  She has an incredibly loud purr and can amuse herself for hours, chasing shadows, her tail, or a favorite toy.  She is one of my two who love to carry a favorite item in her mouth and then walk around the house with it meowing loudly.  When I ask her what she has, she immediately drops it and runs to me for some lovin'.  She's quirky but she's mine.




Oh and guess what I have out back on my porch??



Maters!