Random Musings

1 Samuel 15:23 ~ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. My Mom liked to quote this verse a lot growing up. Now that I'm older and watching events unfold in our country, I'm beginning to understand how vital the Judea -Christian concepts of authority and respect for God-given authority are to the well-being of a democracy. Leaders do have high standards of conduct to which they should adhere. And when they don't adhere to those standards they should be held accountable. (The above reference is actually the prophet Samuel talking to Saul, and the remainder of the verse tells him he is losing the right to be King.) Abuse of authority is a terrible thing. Yet too many times I see people rebelling to authority, or being stubborn about submitting to requests. I agree that there are policemen in our country who have not lived in accordance with the law and abused the authority they have. But I don't think that gives us ...

Sunday afternoon we will load up and head out on a grand adventure for our 10 th anniversary...WE'RE GOING TO WASHINGTON, DC!!! Bobby's actually been twice before and has toured the White House and seen a few other historic things, but he's never done it with me. :O) I'm excited about going. Thanks to Senator Burr's helpful staff, we have a scheduled tour of the Capitol Building and as of Tuesday, have been worked into a group touring the White House. I am so excited!!! There's a whole list of things we hope to do, but the only thing requiring a reserved time slot/ticket that we don't have yet is for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Once your representative's office has given out their share, everyone else must stand in line at the ticket counter (which opens 8am) for a ticket for that day only. I've seen in some tour books that tickets for the day are usually all given out by 10am. But we'll give it a try on Tuesday and Wednesday, and...

Where is it along life's path that we cross the unseen line where fun activities become chores? For example, as a small child there was nothing I liked better than to help my grandmother with the dishes. To move up from drying and putting away to the rinsing station was quite the achievement. Yet by the time I reached washing status and it became chore at home to be done three times a week, suddenly there was little about washing the dishes I liked. There are other things I wished for and longed to to growing up, but when the time arrived, I found it wasn't as wonderful as I had thought. The activity hadn't changed, but my perception of it certainly did! The grown-up part of me says it's because my values of time changed as well as an increase in responsibilities, but sometimes I wonder. Could it be the repetition of the task, or realization it was "work" instead of a privilege? Which leads me to ponder whether or not we truly understand what a privilege i...

My dearest darling received the following at work several months ago and sent it to me, wanting to know if I had written it. It does sound like me, but unfortunately I can't claim credit. Today at my physical I inquired about some myths I've heard. And here's what the doctor had to say: Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is als...

When your 5 year old niece holds your camera, you will get: self-portraits unflattering pictures of Aunt Monica attempting to replace batteries and pictures of her feet because "it's funny". When your 9 yr old nephew takes pictures with your camera, you get: self-portraits pictures of his now irritated sister ( but I don't WANT you to take my picture!) and his thumb because "that's cool". And then Aunt Monica takes the camera because we've FINALLY arrived at Hidden Valley Wonders, where I had my days mixed up and we came on the WRONG DAY, but Mrs. Dottie and her girls graciously give us the tour anway, we get the following pictures: everybody with their favorite animals the bunny everyone's favorite activity (until Nicole introduced them to the spinning swing) and one of the few games played outside of hide and seek with Uncle Bobby and foosball with Aunt Monica and the not so loveable bunny that's been eating the cabbage in my garden.....

My day is not going as planned. I had some outdoor projects and yard work I needed to tackle and hoped to finish at 10:30am. It's now 10:00am and I am on my second "break" and have been stymied TWICE. After a minor discussion of exactly WHERE the new chicken pen is going to go, I finished placing the boards and began spray painting the lines (this was step one). I'm 3/4 finished when I look up and see a branch stuck in the upper window of the chicken house. I took one step closer and it wiggled. I scream loud and long and repetitively for Bobby, who has gone back inside to do his job's work. He doesn't hear me. I run inside and yell for him. He finally comes out, and by this time the snake is no longer in the window. I'm not adventurous enough to lift the roof side near the nesting boxes where he was, so we open the nesting pole side, and see the snake on the opposing side nestled up in the far corner. It's a young black snake (also known as...

This week I had the wonderful opportunity of having my little sister and her family stay with us for most of the week. Watching my youngest niece is like pulling into the vaults of my memory and seeing glimpses of my grandmother's personality and character traits and body structure of my eldest niece, who is now in high school. We will miss her kisses, hugs, smile and questions. Another highlight from this week was getting to know my nephew's personality a little better. One of our fun activities was letting them design t-shirts for an iron-on transfer. He continuously amazed me with his sense of layout and design. Wouldn't it be cool if twenty years down the road the two of us could have our own graphic design company? Other events from this week: countless games of "chase" with Uncle Bobby Carly's Toy Store table football Hidden Valley Wonders fishing the geese/dog/chicken conversations and chore time meals water balloons & more our brief shopping trip I...

We've traveled on an airline since 9/11 and never had a problem with Bobby's fork. (It's bent and in a special strap of velcro , leather, and/or plastic so his hand can hold it.) Yet for some reason, security at the Wake County Courthouse demands that either a) he take it out of his pouch and leave it in his van or office, which can be an ordeal b) they confiscate it and trash it You know, Bobby's such a threat with a metal fork he could stab somebody or release a handcuffed prisoner or something...anyway.... While reading through security regulations for the US Capitol building, they recommend you wear/take little or no metal. Something in the guidelines from the Senator's office prompted me to respond and ask the question about whether or not he would be allowed to take his fork. She laughed and said "Yes. Is it metal?" When I responded in the affirmative, she gave me the phone number for security to call and ask them. The lady I talked to didn...

My mother has a problem with cleaning. By this I mean she cleans constantly. In that regard, I take after my Dad. But there is one area of cleaning in which I take after Mom, and that is in regards to HOW we clean. I have family coming in this week. That means the empty bedrooms which I use as "put places" are often uninhabitable prior to company coming. Or in the words of my 2 nd grade niece, " Hmm , these rooms are quite messy." And so they are. Now I could easily pick stuff up, stuff stuff under the beds and into drawers, vacuum and be done. But there's something within me that rebels at that thought, because that means I will have to come back later and sort through it all, which means cleaning the room AGAIN. So I began tackling the guest bedroom last night, which I use as my sewing room. Now, keep in mind that from April-May I have frantically been quilting. Bobby stopped in a few minutes ago to see how progress was coming. When I joyfully e...

Today at the church we had a tub of legos for the boys to play with. Even though this was a different set of boys from church, I was again amazed that they didn't tump the tub over so they could see all the pieces, but searched through the tub to find what they wanted. I wonder if it's simply a difference in how boys and girls play, though Bobby says most kids probably aren't as messy I was as a child. On the way from the church to Family Fun Fest, I saw the police and thought that road was blocked so I went to the next entrance and saw it WAS blocked. So I turned on the road to the right to circle back around. The boys wanted to know what was going on, so I told them I missed the turn and we were going to circle back around. Hudson thought that was the funniest thing. He thought I should miss my turn again and turn around and again, and again, and again so we could just keep driving. He thought that would be fun. I told him it wouldn't. After we got back to th...

What do you do with 12 children for 7 hours when you're not accustomed to running a daycare? I spent an hour at the library choosing books this afternoon, I've pulled DVDs from the shelf, have the lego bin on the table ready to load, and we bought Kool -Aid Jammers and a few snacks on the way home tonight. I know the church has crayons and papers and some toys in the nursery, plus each child will be away at the Family Fun Fest for 1.5 hours, but the logistics of it all still boggle my mind a little bit. I do well with small numbers at home, but put me in a different environment with a lot of children and it makes me a little nervous. And of course, everyone has a different idea of how things should be done, which doesn't make things any easier. Either way, Family Fun Fest 2009 Childcare...here we come!!!

One of the hardest things about quitting my job was having to tell the people I've enjoyed working with the last three years. Had it not been the absolute peace and certainty that this was in the best of interest of our family, I don't think I could have gone through with it. And God has blessed me with great friends who have prayed with me for this last year (even though I didn't tell them what they were praying for!) that God would give me direction. A part of me dreads tomorrow as I say good-bye and pack up my office. And the craziest thing of all, is the things I thought about today that I'll miss. clocking in and out - Now, I won't miss seeing how early/late I am, but MBC has a really cool machine that stamps your timecard and it makes the coolest sound. Plus I just find it gratifying to hear that "ca-chunk" every morning and afternoon. It's like a piece of you (or your time) is being encapsulated in ink and is there to be seen. the large f...

If you walk .6 of a mile on slow speed on a treadmill you will burn off 1/2 of chocolate chip cookie. If you exercise at a very slow pace for 40 minutes you will be VERY tired and go home and take a nap. If you drink a 20oz Dr. Pepper at the beginning of your work day the caffeine (or is it the carbon or the acid?) will make your tongue tingle and give your day a temporary boost. Or at least make your hands a little shaky. If you try out this elipta -something machine (think a mutation of a treadmill, a stairclimber , and a bicycle), your heart will elevate nicely and after 3 minutes your leg muscles will burn. If I ever get in shape and lose my weight I might also lose some of my sanity and walk an extra mile or two like my mother-in-law and sister-in-law just so I can eat some chocolate. (yes, I'm smirking as I type that) If I make it to the gym BEFORE work tomorrow, will my muscles get my up the parking lot hill at work and into my office?

The 4 th of July is one of those holidays when the Guyton clan assembles for food and fun. The men grill outside while the ladies prepare foods inside. The few times when relatives had a pond or lived on the lake, we always congregated there for swimming, one hour after you eat, of course. When I was about five or six my Dad bought an electric ice cream maker. (Home made ice-cream was always the late afternoon treat.) I remember that summer specifically , as Uncle Tom has his hand crank machine. My cousin Niki, who is my age, stood in front of her Dad and I stood in front of my Dad and we cheered for our Dad's machines like there was no tomorrow. Uncle Tom was determined that "new- fangled " machine wasn't going to beat him and worked up quite a sweat (which he would have done anyway as hot as it was). The electric machine quit first, but Uncle Tom stopped right afterwards, and his ice cream was done, too! It's strange the things we got fired up about as ...

Today I foraged my way into a section of Target I have never been before: the rows of exercise clothes. I was in search of a simple pair of loose-fitting shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt. Yoga-style pants would have been fine. I wasn't overly surprised to find most aisles had nothing in my size. That's not uncommon. What did shock me was the one style of pants/ capris that had my size was labeled: FITTED. Below the waist, figure hugging, form fitting. Um, did ANYONE at that manufacturing company stop to think what someone my size would look like wearing that?! Granted, I didn't bother looking at the sizes on all the short shorts because you wouldn't catch me dead wearing a pair of those. I never did as a child, and I'm certainly not about to know. If I were interested in starting a business, I would go into the business of sports/fitness clothes for fat people. Think about it...if anybody needs to exercise or lose weight, it's people like me. But...

Last night in our mid-week Bible study Pastor Mike used a reference verse that always bugged me when I was a child. The verse goes something like "Honor your father and mother and you'll live a long time." (yes, I know that's a far cry from a direct quote, but that's the gist of the passage.) That verse always put me in a quandary . I wanted to honor my parents and follow God's command, but I did NOT want to live a long time. Our church was blessed by a multitude of old people, and a good chunk of the visiting we did was to elderly widows whose children lived far away. Living to be old never appealed to me in the least. I always debated whether or not I should disobey Mom and Dad every once in a while so my life wouldn't be as long as I feared it might be. After church I was sharing those thoughts with someone who has also wondered about those verses, and they came to this conclusion: to not want to live a long time is to essentially tell God we nei...