Random Musings

Today was roaring Monday. You know, one of those where you feel as if you've already lapped yourself a few times before you even get out the door. My before-work checklist was only half-done, and I arrived at work a little late. BUT the network and internet was down (meaning I could neither access my saved files nor photo accounts) so I was able to cull through CDs of old work to save some of my creations. I had planned to do that next week, but seeing as I had nothing else to do but wait, I did that for an hour. After that, I clocked out and headed to the grocery store. By the time I got home, unloaded, and was debating whether or not to call and see if things were restored, I got the phone call saying not to come back until tomorrow. WHOHOOO! I took pictures of today's work, but they won't be posted until tomorrow. Chicken pen supplies...we now have them all, with help coming this weekend to put it together! Medicine - prescription dropped off and filled! Dr's o...

There will come a day when my feet do not hurt, When I can find every piece of paper I need without having a search party, When as I get ready my clothes will be hanging in my closet instead of the dirty basket, When I can enter a new situation without fighting panic inside, When I will never lose train of thought mid-sentence, When I will be organized. There will come a day. Meanwhile, I'll continue to daydream.

Earlier this week I posted a baby quilt (leftover from Lyd's yard/craft sale)on CraigsList . After getting no hits and seeing the alarming amount of baby stuff listed, I reposted under the arts and crafts section yesterday. Today I had two hits. One suggesting another website that she thought the quilt would sell well on, and the other was very strange. The lady said I must be either desperate for money or looking for a job so to contact her. I deleted her e-mail. I'm not looking for a job and we're trusting God to do His part in providing adoption funds for the Wells while trying to do ours. I just wanted to sell a quilt! Between all the horror stories coming out about CraigsList and the recent article on human trafficking in North Carolina in Bobby's recent law journal, the last thing I want to do is reply to an e-mail from someone who thinks I'm desperate. That was more than a little creepy.

It's not uncommon for people in Europe to get a whole month off for vacation. Now, I know people who here who get four weeks of vacation, but I imagine if any of them tried to take them all at one time they would be looking for another job! Yet, at this moment, the thought of a month-long vacation sounds very appealing. I know there would still be laundry and cooking to do, but could you imagine 3 weeks of reading, sleeping, sewing, walking, and writing at either the mountains or the beach? (Yes, I know I left a week out, but you have to reserve some time for stuff around the house!) How fabulous would that be? I think growing up on a traditional school calendar spoiled me quite a bit. It doesn't matter what job I've been in, come summer time I feel like I should be at home, working outside and reading books. Unfortunately in adult life it doesn't happen that way. In some ways I think children who are in year-round schools have a better understanding of how the real...

My heart hurts for the people of Iran and their turmoil. In the 2000 US presidential election, I feared our country could very well be headed the same direction. I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when 2004 ended without much contention. But it also makes me stop and think about how truly dramatic and impressive our democratic republic and its transfer of power is. So many times we hear of murder, civil protests, hunger strikes, military abuse, police brutality and voter fraud when we hear of nations during election time. I think of Belarus, and how one of the last three presidential contenders was found dead on a dark road, and the other was mysteriously imprisoned two weeks before election. How can a prisoner be a president? Is it any wonder their President stayed in office? While I didn't vote for Obama and I'm not crazy about many of his policies, I am still very proud of our country and its peaceful transition of power. I was thankful the Bush's exited...

Yesterday at lunch my mother-in-law started teasing me about my pathetic little garden. And for the first time in ten years, I was actually able to TRULY laugh and not just put on my pretend smile. Maybe it's because I don't expect my garden to fall into "true garden" status, but I just hope for enough fresh produce for the summer. Maybe it's because I know she's right, AND I also know where she's coming from. Or MAYBE after almost ten years, I have arrived where mother-in-law jabs (and yes, hers are innocent and well-intended with love) no longer bother me. My in-laws lived through the Great Depression. My mother-in-law still has her family's ration book from WWII. One of my father-in-law's favorite sayings was "Hard times are coming. Better be prepared." I can still hear him saying it. Bob would duct-tape his worn-out tennis shoes together to wear in the garden or when tending to cows or fishing. He saw no point in ruining go...

What would you do if you took your child to a place of amusment, entered the women's bathroom with your daughter, and saw a person whom you weren't totally sure was a female? How would you react, and how would it make you a feel? An aquaintance recently approached Bobby wanting to know how to deal with a situation in which a customer had recently had a sex change operation. At first the person used a private restroom in the building, but then began using the women's bathroom. Other customers are very uncomfortable and have complained. He wanted to know if he would be guilty of discrimination for telling him to steer clear of the women's bathroom. Personally, I think if "it" refuses to wear a wig and dress like a woman, then there should be no question about which restroom to use. And I would most certainly be complaining if someone who appeared to be a man was in the same restroom as me. The saddest thing of all, is that if Obama gets his way, Christian bus...

on the one hand....but on the other hand.....TRADITION! I've been thinking about that scene from Fiddler on the Roof lately, as the Father had to decide just how low he was willing to lower his standards. But there's one basic principle the play left out which bothers me: Scripture. We have a lot of traditions of man which we follow. There's a lot of things that are not clearly spelled out in Scripture. But there are many things that are (or at least spoken of derogatorily enough that in my not so humble opinion it's clearly not a good thing). When forced to make the painful decision on whether or not to accept his daughter's marriage to a non-believer, the father resorted to the fact that he had to uphold tradition. And that bothers me. Why didn't the playwrights or screenwriters have him revert to Scripture and the Judaic law? The only answer I can come up with is that deep down people recognize the sacredness of spiritual writings. Had the father said...

Up until 2 months ago, peanut M&Ms were one of my favorite candies, followed by the peanut butter M&Ms. Then for some strange reason things got a little wonkie and my jaw resorted back to middle school days and began popping in and out for no reason. And the least little things, like taking big bites or chewing anything "meaty" tends to aggravate it. So when the chocolate urge strikes, I now resort to Reese's cups. Can you tell I like chocolate and peanut butter? But then I ran across a coupon on Sunday's paper for this: Now, I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with grape jelly being the best and strawberry coming in a very close second. But somehow the thought of peanut butter and strawberry something being surrounded with chocolate does NOT appeal to me in the least little bit. I never ever thought I would say this, but for the first time in my life I read a description of M&Ms and said, " EEeeewwww !" Bobby finds this funny. He ...

As always when we travel, there's no such thing as a full night's sleep. And when I woke up at 6am NC time (5am back home), I got to see the sun come up and hear a symphony of birds and owls every single morning. Granted, there were many mornings I let them sing me back to sleep, but it was still glorious to hear. And without all the parking and street lights and such glaring at night, the stars were shining in all their glory. And of course, it wouldn't be a summer trip home if it didn't involve picking beans or peas and shelling. Thankfully the corn wasn't ready. I'll gladly leave the corn-shucking contest days in my past. On the festive side, I got to visit a new town and experience new things. First, a small diner with the best fish I have EVER had. It would almost melt in your mouth. The owner, whose name I didn't get, was friends with Amie, my new sister-in-law, and was very friendly and helpful. Somehow we ended up sitting with her bridesmaids and t...

To those of you who know I struggle with habitual procrastination (my husband says I just have no concept of time), it would be absolutely no surprise that we will get up in 4.5 hours to start getting ready, and I am only halfway through packing. This seems to happen with every trip. I stay up half the night before cleaning house and packing while Bobby sleeps, then we pull out around 5am and I sleep 6-8 hours of the 13 hour drive. Am I a wonderful traveling companion or what? The craziest part of all is that I actually had today off work. But I have a cousin my age up from home (her husband is in training in Cary for the next two weeks), so I spent the day with her and her two teenage girls. They assisted me in picking out the quilt backing from the quilt (I'll have to post that later as it's a story in and of itself.) then we went shoe shopping and in search of a dress. I came home to tend to some details, then we joined them for supper. I have laughed and reminisced so...

Let's say every other day in the course of your comings and goings, you cross a bridge. Granted, there are other ways to get to the precipice on the other side, but keep in mind that climbing down a mountain takes time (not to mention the climb back up), and training a pet eagle to fly you across might not be the safest alternative. And to make things more interesting, let's say this is a swinging bridge. So every other day you make the trek back and forth across hanging boards to maintain life as you know it. Some days the bridge swings more than others; some days it shakes. But hey, it is a swinging bridge, after all. And then, one crazy day, you almost drop something. As you crawl on all fours to gather your packages, you notice one of the underlying support ropes is a little loose. Not loose enough for the boards to come untied or loose enough for the bridge to break into a free-spirited swing, but nevertheless, loose. The next few weeks you hesitate before stepping...

Can you believe we are embarking on the last month of the first half of this year?!?!?!? It seems absolutely incredulous! I am happy to report that I did get a few things accomplished during May, my "catch up" month. I managed to work through Chapter One in the Dreamweaver text, though I fear most of it was following instructions and not really grasping the text. Nevertheless, a few project ideas have sprouted. ( Yes, I know. I'm supposed to be COMPLETING projects, not dreaming up new ones.) I reserve the right to rescind the following project's deadline, but by Jan '10 I hope to have my own designed website. NOTE: I reserve the right to rescind both this project and deadline! THE Quilt: is still in pieces, haha . Actually, the first 3.5 rows are completed and sewn together. Rows 4-5 are in the process of being put together, and goodness knows how many rows are pinned together. SOOO , shall we say there is hope? My older sister has graciously agreed to embroider...

Well, we've officially jumped through medical hoop #2. Whoohooo ! We'll jump into hoop #3 tomorrow, and we'll see where that one takes us. I recognize the practicality of specialists not seeing new patients without a referral, (can you imagine how swamped they'd be if anyone could just call up and come?) but there are times when it seems absolutely unnecessary . It's one of those times when I feel like we're being punished because there are people who abuse the system. Meanwhile, we can strike another item off the list of potential causes that are making life occasionally interesting in the Bryan household. I'm also finding this whole matter of "purging" records bizarre. I can understand in the old days that doctors would probably purge their files of patients they hadn't seen in a while because they simply didn't have the space to store huge amounts of paper files. But in today's technology-filled offices, that should no longer be ...