Random Musings

You know you're from Alabama when... a group of shopping girls becomes a football commercial you can imagine high school classmates doing this to each other in 30 years every other commercial on television involves football every radio announcer says something about football on game day if you go shopping on game day 90% of the people will be wearing their team's colors or shirt you don't understand why people are surprised a girl will watch football Roll Tide.

Our dog has the capacity to drive me crazy. I've been trying off and on to train him on a leash. (and yes, I hear all you dog whisperes out there...that's the problem. You're not being consistent.) The biggest problem? Buster thinks EVERYTHING is a game. Put the leash on him? No problem. Start to walk?  Not so much a problem. Keep walking? Then he throws himself up in the air, flips, grabs the leash with both front paws and WILL NOT LET GO. If I pull him up, he won't flip over, but just lets it hang himself. If I keep walking, he just lets me drag him on the ground. It's not fun. By the time we were finished last night my joints were KILLING me and I was so mad at both the dog and my husband that it wasn't even funny. And we get to do it again today. I think I'd rather go to the dentist (which I also hate beyond measure).

The reason for drop in egg production has been discovered. Pics to come Saturday. Pulling out the incubator - again!

Back when I was a working girl, most of my colleagues went out to eat at least once a week. Many of them went out every single day. Two of the ladies were fast drivers, and their favorite thing to do was race to the next town of Cary so we could eat at Panera Bread. We would rush their, semi-slowly eat our food, then fly back and try not to laugh as someone got onto us for taking too long on our lunch break. (My justification note: she would go out with the pastors once a month and be gone 2 hours AND unlike the upper staff we had to clock in and out for lunch so we weren't shorting the church of their time and money as we would work 5-10 minutes later if needed to get all our time in). Granted, we didn't do that often, but still those are fun memories. I was reminded of those days today as I got a survey in my inbox from Panera Bread. I'm not going to fill it out, as I couldn't tell you when the last time I ate there was. I love their food, but it's not something...

We normally think about conversations as things that happen over the phone, through e-mail, or in the hallway at church or the aisle near the Targer pharmacy or in passing at the gym. (Yeah, I do live a schedule life.) But lately I've been thinking a lot about the conversations we should be having, but don't. And I've come to the conclusion that it's because these topics are often hushed due to the emotional impact they have. So here's what my brain's been hopping around a lot the last few months. The "even if...still" passages of the Bible. I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on these verses. Actually, now that I think about it, it would be a very short sermon, so maybe that's why. But in all honesty, why are we so scared to think about or discuss the phrases where ancient believers boldly asserted God could do the "impossible", but then went even further to say "but even if God doesn't do this, I'll still serv...

I finally got around to charging the battery in my camera and downloading my photos. WHOhooo! And I'm going to warn you, in case you didn't already know, my view of cool photos doesn't always match everyone else's. :)  Banana trees (but I don't know if they're the kind that bear fruit or not). I just thought they were cool because they were so tall and yet the leaves allowed sunlight through. Would they make a better  barrier on the property line than a magnolia tree?  A bamboo fence! I think this was one of my favorite things in the Asian garden.  And another view of the coolest of cool fences.    Lotus plants...this part of the Asian garden made me feel like I was back in China. Bobby was amazed at how far out one plant spreads (the big leaf pads and the smaller leaf pads are all connected at the center where one big white lotus flower grows).  And this area located in the exotic plants section and named after a botanist, made me...

Within the first few years of marriage, my husband calmly looked at me and said without any condemnation, "I think if caves had electricity, you'd be happy living in one, far away from people." or something to that effect. And there have been many days I've met him at the door or called him at work and semi-jokingly asked "Do you have my cave ready?" It doesn't mean that my day has been bad, or that I'm upset with anyone. It simply means some days I find humanity overwhelming . As in I stay off Facebook because I'm tired of all the comments trivializing the important and maximizing the trivial. As in I long to hear/read international news and all we hear in American media is a rehashing of the same old problems that we've yet to solve. As in I hear a lecture with a group of people, and I'm the only one who didn't find it awesome. As in I feel out of sorts in my world, as if I'm the square peg for a board that only has round...

I remember in high school moaning one Sunday morning that the school year was going by WAAAYY TOOO SLLOOOWWW. My Sunday school teacher, Mr. Pittman, looked at me, gave a laugh/sigh, then shook his head. After a few minutes, he said the most preposterous thing EVER. "One day you'll find that time goes by so fast you'll wonder where it went." What a crazy statement! And now I'm 39 and that is not so crazy. At all.  It actually makes sense. I've thought that more than once in the last four years. Now? I don't bother keeping up with what happened in what year. I keep up with things by the events that happened around them. I'm reminded of that more than ever as I have my last two "free" weeks of September rapidly approaching. (Not quite sure how planning a Christmas program as Plan A and possibly B are now out the window, sewing 2 Halloween costumes, and inviting a large section of my favorite munchkins over fit into the term "free"...

There are days when I have to choose to be thankful or sympathetic. Today is one of them. I ran out of material for something I am making for someone and had to make a trip to Cary to buy more. But I also had a little time to browse, which was very nice. I stopped at a friend's consignement sale and found three things in my size, which is unusual. Stopped for lunch, and encountered a restaurant full of buddies and babies. I headed to the bathroom to pull myself together and found a near-desperate mother trying to reason/help a young son who clearly did not want to be in the women's bathroom or have help from his mom. When I told the clearly exasperated woman "hang in there" before I left, I actually meant it. I chose the old people seating section. To my left were a group of girls laughing and talking, enjoying themselves quite a bit, and behind me turned out to be two pastors, discussing the emotions and frustrations of losing church members to another churc...

Yesterday and today Bobby decided he needed to use up some of his vacation time (some of it has to be used by the end of the year and he's got a very crazy schedule in October and December).  And...get this...I had to plan what we were going to do. I was too tired to make a whole lot of plans, and I had several things I wanted/needed to do this week, so we spent yesterday as a day of half-leisure and today has been a semi-normal day. Duke University is not quite an hour from here, and I have always heard everyone talk about how beautiful and wonderful their gardens are. I went online, found the hours, and we headed there to roam the accessible parts. I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to see 3/4 of the gardens. There's no admission, though you do have to pay for parking ($2 an hour). I used up the battery on my camera, so pics will have to wait until later. I thoroughly enjoyed it; I think Bobby did even more, and while I'm very sore today, I'm not so sore...

Updates: Mom - she's doing a LOT better. Yesterday was her first day since surgery (on July 6) that she has not had throbbing pain, though the swelling is still atrocious.  She sees one doctor about other issues this week, and when I asked her when she was going to the cardiologist (she's been having problems there but was waiting until after recouping from this surgery to have yet another appt) she said "I'm waiting."  Not sure what we're waiting on this time. Jamie - my brother-in-law is doing great since having his heart attack and stint placement. He's back at work, and life is normal. Andy- my brother has yet to see a cardiologist, though his symptoms have somewhat subsided. He was supposed to make an appointment with a different doctor in hopes of getting someone "with manners" as my sister-in-law says. Ellen - my niece is having a really hard time adjusting to her new school and her sis being at college, though I think she loves th...

Perhaps I remember visits to the eye doctor more vividly than the general practitioner because  I wasn't sick when I saw the eye doctor. Growing up we attended teh Alabama School of Opthamoogy. The visits were cheap compared to most eye doctors, but you were checked out twice: one by s student doctor and once by his teacher/supervisor.  For the most part, it was a positive experience, except for third grade. It was summertime, that room was COLD, they left me in there for the longest kind of time imaginable (I watched two cartoons ont eh screen as opposed to one and still had time  to examine every single piece of equipment in that room before climbing bqack iup in my seat and daydreaming and debating whether to poke my head out in the ahllway and yell "Does anybody know I'm here?" I don't remember whether or not that was the year the student stormed out o the door saying "That's not possible!": and I had to redo EVERY SINGLE TEST with the regular d...

One of my summer projects was to start tackling the mound of albums/pictures that have piled up on a desk over the last few fourteen years. Since confession is supposed to be good for the soul, I can now tell you: it didn't happen. I did start the last week of July. That's a good thing, right? But then came August, which I had determined was going to be my month for NaNoWriMo, so nothing happened last month, either. And since September first, life has been a little bit busy. Busier than I dreamed it would be, in fact. So today, my first morning "off" this month, I ventured into the room and started. Of course, I got sidetracked in the process, but I now have one big envelope of negatives, a small pile of discarded pictures, as well several smaller piles of pictures for when I do get around to stashing them. Meanwhile, my album is currently in the year 2004, though I now have pictures from 1999-2003 that need to be inserted here and there. Organization used to be ...

Repetition is the key to memorization. My fifth grade teacher used to say that. A LOT. Typed out that way, it sounds bland. It needs her voice inflection and the cadence to which she repeated it. I feel like I need to type it in font that has swirly letters, even though she wasn't a prissy person. Rep-e-TI-tion is the KEY to MEM-ori-ZA-tion. And I've come to the conlusion the last few weeks that while reading/hearing/studying something over and over and over might help me remember it, putting that principle into practice is the only thing that will actually make it a part of my life. I can think and read about a healthy lifestyle, but if I don't actually do it, it doesn't help me any. I can think and read about loving others, but when the time comes if I put myself and my needs first, then I'm still not demonstrating the love of Christ. I can think and read about many good and wonderful things. I can repeat and memorize, but that rote memory stuff is onl...