Begin your day after NINE, 9, nine, n-i-n-e, consecutive hours of sleep!!! YES, I really did sleep that long , then dozed on and off for another hour before having to get up to start the day! AMEN!!
Next, return to a former church of people you care about and even though it confirms you have made the right decision to attend elsewhere, enjoy to the maximum seeing those folks who have played such a huge and positive part in your life.
After that, go out for a splendid brunch with friends at The Rotisserie. As far as brunches go, this one is very good and there are many, many, many choices. For people like myself who are on a limited intake and even when cheating can't eat as much as most, the price seemed extremely high to me. However, for a treat on occasion, it is a good place to go. The price was not too high for me today though because our friends surprised us by picking up the tab...sneaky....AND soon we WILL get them back!! Hear that, ya'll? We WILL get you back!!!
Go home for another bit of rest and spend some time praying for the other gal who was supposed to be at the brunch as we were going to turn it into a birthday celebration for her. She was so ill this morning there was no way she could come to her own party. Then remember some other people also in need of healing prayer and spend some time talking to God about them too.
Head over to other friends' for a wonderful visit. It was actually Kat and Val that we went to see. Kat has had setback after setback after her cancer surgery, but is under very good medical care and has not lost her sense of wicked humour one little bit. Val is seeing a surgeon this coming week and we pray she will get the answers and help she so desperately needs. Who leaves patients in this much pain for this long??? It is insane and we pray this new doctor will GET IT!! Our friend Cee, who you have also been praying for over the past year or more, made a beautifully crafted comfort cross each for the ladies. They were touched that someone else who is suffering similarly to themselves would take the time and effort to make the crosses for them. Cee enjoys feeling well enough these days to continue with his holding cross ministry. Times like this are when being part of an extended Christian family is so encouraging. Now that they know he too is experiencing a serious health issue, it means he has two more people praying for him! The prayer circle widens once again!
After such a glorious visit, head home again for a Date Night with your spouse. We rented the most recent Mission Impossible movie because we wanted something suspenseful and silly, as we were not in the mood for a Mary Poppins type of movie. Laugh lots at the movie and forget the rest of the world and all its cares for the couple of hours it takes to watch it.
Then decide that you are so full of food that a late dinner is in order and grilled cheese sandwiches are all you need or want. Yummy, effortless to make, not time consuming, filling....all good.
Lastly head to bed at a decent time, as I am about to do right now and prepare for another good night's sleep, in hopes that Superb Sunday can transform into Marvellous Monday!!
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Saturday, March 30, 2019
The Magic of Greasy Fried Chicken 'n' Chips
Well....it is only just after 8pm but I am SO tired and my vision is so poor tonight that I am going to bed all ready. That less than 3 hours of sleep last night has caught up with me and I want to be well rested for the good day my husband and I are expecting to have tomorrow.
At 5pm this evening I began dreading the idea of having to be creative enough to make dinner. We had the tv on and a commercial for some kind of chicken meal came on. My husband jumped up and said, "KFC! I want that for dinner! It has been 3 years since we ate that stuff." I thought, "Hey, there is a good reason for that, remember?", but he wanted to go and it answered my lack of creativity and energy for cooking.
Off we went and 15 minutes later we were both covered in grease up to the elbows as the freshly deep fried chicken pieces and french fries dripped all over our hands and arms. I asked my cholesterol count to forgive me and ate every possible bite of it.
That will be it I am sure for another 3 years or more, but my husband got his rare KFC craving taken care of and I experienced an unexpected side benefit of our grease festival meal: the vague nausea I have been struggling with since this eye incident occurred disappeared completely.
What is it about the particular deep fried grease at KFC outlets that settles my stomach EVERY TIME?? I lived on the stuff several times a week years ago when I had an ulcer. Greasy food is supposed to upset stomach ulcers, but KFC always had the opposite effect on me. Guess it still holds true! How crazy is that?
Well, it is now 8:12pm. I am zonked. Off to bed, to dream, perchance to even SLEEP!!! 'Nighty night all...........zzzzzz..........
At 5pm this evening I began dreading the idea of having to be creative enough to make dinner. We had the tv on and a commercial for some kind of chicken meal came on. My husband jumped up and said, "KFC! I want that for dinner! It has been 3 years since we ate that stuff." I thought, "Hey, there is a good reason for that, remember?", but he wanted to go and it answered my lack of creativity and energy for cooking.
Off we went and 15 minutes later we were both covered in grease up to the elbows as the freshly deep fried chicken pieces and french fries dripped all over our hands and arms. I asked my cholesterol count to forgive me and ate every possible bite of it.
That will be it I am sure for another 3 years or more, but my husband got his rare KFC craving taken care of and I experienced an unexpected side benefit of our grease festival meal: the vague nausea I have been struggling with since this eye incident occurred disappeared completely.
What is it about the particular deep fried grease at KFC outlets that settles my stomach EVERY TIME?? I lived on the stuff several times a week years ago when I had an ulcer. Greasy food is supposed to upset stomach ulcers, but KFC always had the opposite effect on me. Guess it still holds true! How crazy is that?
Well, it is now 8:12pm. I am zonked. Off to bed, to dream, perchance to even SLEEP!!! 'Nighty night all...........zzzzzz..........
ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz............
.....I am reaping the "benefits" of getting just a few minutes less than 3 hours of sleep last night. My eye is terrible today and I understand now what the opthamologist said about sufficient consecutive hours of sleep each night being important.
However, I am getting laundry done and learning to navigate the slight nausea that accompanies, and has all my life, any disruption of my usual vision. Now the disruption will be constant. Time for a new normal....the fantastic news is that I CAN see through the maze of webbies and dots and not have to be much slowed down by this fascinating new vision of mine.
My husband invited me to go with him for a short walk to the pharmacy this afternoon. I didn't want to go at all, but there were some items I needed, so agreed to go. I am so glad I did: nothing like a few blocks' walk in the fresh air to restore a feeling of normalcy and hope and joy and other good things. When did I become such an outdoors kind of person, I wonder?? I think it happened a few years ago in Moose Jaw when I realized I could walk from where we lived all the way downtown OR to the mall OR to church OR to all my favourite restaurants in 35 minutes or less. I discovered the joy of walking everywhere just because I could! The joy has never left me.
I purchased a new pair of "over the glasses" sunglasses along with my eye drops and my husband's injectable B12. I gave my old pair to my husband so that he has a spare pair. The old ones were not deep enough to cover my present glasses, so I had a black line right across the bottom of my vision where the frame went across. Coming home in the new ones was much better. I think I will head to WalMart one of these days for less expensive eye drops and another pair of slipon sunglasses, so I can keep one pair in the car and one in my purse. O blast....does this mean I am going to need to buy yet another purse, one that is big enough to have my extra pair of sunglasses in without wrecking them? O hopefuly, HOPEFULLY not!
So, another outward acceptance that I am an old woman. I have joined the other oldies who have to wear sunglasses everywhere they go all year round. Maybe, just maybe, I can hold off one more winter on using my cane full time. Wouldn't that be wonderful???!!! hahaha
Gotta go put the last load of laundry into the washer. ...while I can still navigate the stairs! hahahahahahaha
However, I am getting laundry done and learning to navigate the slight nausea that accompanies, and has all my life, any disruption of my usual vision. Now the disruption will be constant. Time for a new normal....the fantastic news is that I CAN see through the maze of webbies and dots and not have to be much slowed down by this fascinating new vision of mine.
My husband invited me to go with him for a short walk to the pharmacy this afternoon. I didn't want to go at all, but there were some items I needed, so agreed to go. I am so glad I did: nothing like a few blocks' walk in the fresh air to restore a feeling of normalcy and hope and joy and other good things. When did I become such an outdoors kind of person, I wonder?? I think it happened a few years ago in Moose Jaw when I realized I could walk from where we lived all the way downtown OR to the mall OR to church OR to all my favourite restaurants in 35 minutes or less. I discovered the joy of walking everywhere just because I could! The joy has never left me.
I purchased a new pair of "over the glasses" sunglasses along with my eye drops and my husband's injectable B12. I gave my old pair to my husband so that he has a spare pair. The old ones were not deep enough to cover my present glasses, so I had a black line right across the bottom of my vision where the frame went across. Coming home in the new ones was much better. I think I will head to WalMart one of these days for less expensive eye drops and another pair of slipon sunglasses, so I can keep one pair in the car and one in my purse. O blast....does this mean I am going to need to buy yet another purse, one that is big enough to have my extra pair of sunglasses in without wrecking them? O hopefuly, HOPEFULLY not!
So, another outward acceptance that I am an old woman. I have joined the other oldies who have to wear sunglasses everywhere they go all year round. Maybe, just maybe, I can hold off one more winter on using my cane full time. Wouldn't that be wonderful???!!! hahaha
Gotta go put the last load of laundry into the washer. ...while I can still navigate the stairs! hahahahahahaha
Recovering From Last Evening's Celebration!
My husband and I went a little crazy with relief last night at the BBQ! I don't remember the last time either of us ate that much food at one sitting.....oooooowww, our aching tummies! It was all I could do to eat breakfast this morning and only my falling blood sugar convinced me I should.
Our friends are big supporters of the 100 Mile Diet and so every fantastically delicious morsel we ingested came from local producers: huge, thick beef steaks grilled to perfection over an outdoor wood fire, sausages stuffed with ground lamb, crispy fat slices of bacon, oven roasted cauliflower and carrots, and a greens salad with homemade savory dressing. SO GOOD!! Of course the two glasses of Portugese wines added another dimension to the deliciousness! Our friend is heading off to Portugal in a couple of days for another tour of the winery he represents from there and it was great to have a taste of what he will be tasting there in person. We had rice crackers with amazing pepper sauce and feta cheese and we completely devoured a bowl of dried carrot crisps covered in dill. Several cups of tea afterward gave us the caffeine we required to keep us awake long enough to drive home with all that food in our stomachs. We both slept incredibly well overnight, so something must have gone right with our digestive systems after the huge feast! It was an evening of celebration for a number of good news items we have all experienced in recent weeks and it was our friends' first BBQ of the year, so we felt privileged to be invited to share it with them. Thank you dear friends. Today we are looking at finishing up some leftover rice and veggie casserole I made a couple of days ago and I am thawing a carton of my husband's home made chili...rather plebian fare after the spoiling we got last night, but our bodies will likely thank us for it. hahaha
Today's Thought:
If you can't be a good example, then you just have to be a horrible warning!
--Catherine Aird
Our friends are big supporters of the 100 Mile Diet and so every fantastically delicious morsel we ingested came from local producers: huge, thick beef steaks grilled to perfection over an outdoor wood fire, sausages stuffed with ground lamb, crispy fat slices of bacon, oven roasted cauliflower and carrots, and a greens salad with homemade savory dressing. SO GOOD!! Of course the two glasses of Portugese wines added another dimension to the deliciousness! Our friend is heading off to Portugal in a couple of days for another tour of the winery he represents from there and it was great to have a taste of what he will be tasting there in person. We had rice crackers with amazing pepper sauce and feta cheese and we completely devoured a bowl of dried carrot crisps covered in dill. Several cups of tea afterward gave us the caffeine we required to keep us awake long enough to drive home with all that food in our stomachs. We both slept incredibly well overnight, so something must have gone right with our digestive systems after the huge feast! It was an evening of celebration for a number of good news items we have all experienced in recent weeks and it was our friends' first BBQ of the year, so we felt privileged to be invited to share it with them. Thank you dear friends. Today we are looking at finishing up some leftover rice and veggie casserole I made a couple of days ago and I am thawing a carton of my husband's home made chili...rather plebian fare after the spoiling we got last night, but our bodies will likely thank us for it. hahaha
Today's Thought:
If you can't be a good example, then you just have to be a horrible warning!
--Catherine Aird
Life Lesson
Listen to your life.
See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.
In the boredom and pain of it
no less than in the excitement and gladness:
touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it
because in the last analysis all moments are key moments,
and life itself is grace.
See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.
In the boredom and pain of it
no less than in the excitement and gladness:
touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it
because in the last analysis all moments are key moments,
and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner
Everybody SING!!
Singing is Breathing Together:
By Jim Taylor
The most radical thing that churches do these days is not their social
justice programs, their housing for the homeless, or even their
political lobbying. It’s their singing.
Have you noticed that the younger generations don’t sing? Oh, they’re
never without music. They have music -- or at least what they consider
music -- pumped into their ears constantly by their Bluetooth earbuds.
They have audio systems in their cars that can
rattle windows a block away.
But they don’t sing along. They kinda grunt and twitch along.
They don’t even know what to sing, unless a loudspeaker provides leadership.
I sat around a blazing campfire in a mountain resort, a couple of
summers ago. Many of the group were half my age, cheerfully toasting
marshmallows, passing bags of snacks, staring into the embers. Someone
started singing campfire songs. Only the older folks
joined in.
Increasingly, I think that singing is a counter-cultural phenomenon. And it happens mostly in churches.
A way to build community
It’s just my personal view, but I don’t think we sing so that the sound of our praise can go up to God. I think we sing to build community. By singing, we do something together -- something that we enjoy, something that we don’t have to vote on, something that doesn’t require us to defend our views.
It’s just my personal view, but I don’t think we sing so that the sound of our praise can go up to God. I think we sing to build community. By singing, we do something together -- something that we enjoy, something that we don’t have to vote on, something that doesn’t require us to defend our views.
Lindy Thompson, who manages Tennessee United Methodists for Inclusion,
recognizes why she goes to church. She put her feelings into a poem
(excerpts reproduced here by permission: lindythompson.net)
I go to sing.
It’s the willingness to stand if you are able,
the common agreement on page number,
the voluntary sharing of songbooks with people on your row --
but most of all,
it’s the collective in-breath before the first sound is made,
the collective drawing upon the grace of God,
the collective, if inadvertent, admission
that we are all human,
all fragile,
all in need of the sustaining air, freely dispensed,
all in need of each other to get the key right and not sound discordant –-
the common agreement on page number,
the voluntary sharing of songbooks with people on your row --
but most of all,
it’s the collective in-breath before the first sound is made,
the collective drawing upon the grace of God,
the collective, if inadvertent, admission
that we are all human,
all fragile,
all in need of the sustaining air, freely dispensed,
all in need of each other to get the key right and not sound discordant –-
it’s the hidden life-celebration
in the act of making a joyful noise,
all together.
in the act of making a joyful noise,
all together.
We don’t even have to sound that good.
Singing together still brings home
the we-ness of worship,
the not-alone-ness of life in God,
the best of all we have to offer each other.
Singing together still brings home
the we-ness of worship,
the not-alone-ness of life in God,
the best of all we have to offer each other.
I love her line, “the collective in-breath before the first sound…”
Meditation commonly encourages us to focus on our breathing, to breathe
deeply. Singing requires a whole congregation, whether twelve people or
twelve hundred, to breathe in unison -- all drawing
a breath at the end of each line, all exhaling together as we sing the
next line.
When we sing, whatever our belief or theology, we
live and breathe it today,
drawing in the grace of God,
voicing out our need and hope and gratitude and longing.
drawing in the grace of God,
voicing out our need and hope and gratitude and longing.
When we are singing, I can feel the better world coming,
and if I get to be a part of it, you do too . . .
and if I get to be a part of it, you do too . . .
so sing with me,
and we’ll make our way down that blessed road together,
collectively better
than we ever thought
possible.
and we’ll make our way down that blessed road together,
collectively better
than we ever thought
possible.
******************************
Copyright © 2019 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and
study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights
reserved.
Singing A Favourite Hymn This Morning
WE CANNOT MEASURE HOW YOU HEAL
We cannot measure how you heal or answer every sufferer's prayer,
Yet we believe your grace responds where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross, survive to hold and heal and warn
To carry all through death to life and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away, the guilt that clings from things long past,
The fear of what the future holds, are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends the hurt we never hope to find,
The private agonies inside, the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need your help and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here to mend the body, mind, and soul,
To disentangle peace from pain and make your broken people whole.
--Anglican Church of Canada hymnbook of Common Praise #292
We cannot measure how you heal or answer every sufferer's prayer,
Yet we believe your grace responds where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross, survive to hold and heal and warn
To carry all through death to life and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away, the guilt that clings from things long past,
The fear of what the future holds, are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends the hurt we never hope to find,
The private agonies inside, the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need your help and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here to mend the body, mind, and soul,
To disentangle peace from pain and make your broken people whole.
--Anglican Church of Canada hymnbook of Common Praise #292
Friday, March 29, 2019
Prayer Does Make A Difference!
What a good eye appointment I had with the opthamologist today! My two little eyes have never before spent the better part of two hours being tested in every way, by every possible kind of diagnostic machinery, bright sources of light and by poking and prodding them in every possible direction it is possible for eyes to move!!
I think I have a friend crush on my opthamologist! He is patient, gentle, thorough and professional and he runs a tight ship in the office as far as how the staff work with and relate to patients and as far as refusing to allow anyone in street shoes or wearing scented products to enter the "inner sanctum" of the waiting room. For me, it was as close to a perfect medical experience as I have ever had! The whole office was CLEAN, even the waiting room chairs and carpets and I didn't sneeze even once from allergies.
So, the results: my symptoms when I was at the hospital emergency the other night were so dramatic that the examining eye doctor was positive I had a retinal tear of some kind. Hence, the quick appointment with the opthamologist today. However, all the testing, poking and prodding revealed that I have a posterior vitreous detachment without any sign after all of any retinal tears. HALLELUJAH and thank the Lord and my prayer partners for that! He confirmed that I have no signs of glaucoma and that is always a relief with it being so rampant in my family.
Other unexpectedly great news is that while I have the begininng of the dusen formations that signal a strong possibility of becoming macular degeneration in the future, the opthamologist told me that at this time I DO NOT have macular degeneration and I am to stop listing it as a pre-existing condition on any more medical forms I may have to fill out over the coming months. He decided that my optometrist, being young and new to the business, likely got a little excited if I was one of her first cases where she discovered dusens and thus gave me a diagnosis for a disease that has not yet happened.
And the last bit of amazing news is that contrary to what I was told two optometrists ago, I have no signs whatsoever at this point of having inherited my mother's and grandmother's hereditary degenerative eye disease! Wha'??????? Seriously??
So, don't tell me prayer accomplishes nothing, right? While I cannot say with any certainty whatsoever that prayer has resulted in any sort of physical healing, I can say with total confidence that your prayers helped me to calm down, to relax, to get myself back in tune with God and the possibility that just maybe, perhaps,supposedly, hey ya' think???, he would assist me in dealing with whatever news I was given today, good or bad.
I have quit kicking myself for falling all apart over the dire possibilities presented to me at the hospital the other night and realized that of course sometimes it is good to just be as human as I actually am and stop apologizing for the times it is beyond me to be a super spiritual hero giant.
Thank you for praying. I am blessed to have had prayers answered this week. I am blessed to have become a patient of this particular opthamologist and it is one more reason to want to stay here in Regina for the future. I see my optomistrist again in 6 weeks to have these floaters checked out and they may continue to haunt my right eye for that long and I see the opthamologist again the end of October for a full day of measuring, testing, poking and prodding and being lit up like the 4th of July so he can check the retina and the vitreous solution again.
It is all good.
I am now using daily eye drops for moisture and will be eating as many more omega rich foods as I can manage...more tuna, salmon, walnuts, green leafy veggies. (Not sure I can face sardines, but hey, ya' never know, right?)
It is all good.
We had yesterday's company arrive today instead and it was so GREAT to see them. Now we are on our way out of town to a BBQ with some friends who are also very special.
It is all good.
I think I have a friend crush on my opthamologist! He is patient, gentle, thorough and professional and he runs a tight ship in the office as far as how the staff work with and relate to patients and as far as refusing to allow anyone in street shoes or wearing scented products to enter the "inner sanctum" of the waiting room. For me, it was as close to a perfect medical experience as I have ever had! The whole office was CLEAN, even the waiting room chairs and carpets and I didn't sneeze even once from allergies.
So, the results: my symptoms when I was at the hospital emergency the other night were so dramatic that the examining eye doctor was positive I had a retinal tear of some kind. Hence, the quick appointment with the opthamologist today. However, all the testing, poking and prodding revealed that I have a posterior vitreous detachment without any sign after all of any retinal tears. HALLELUJAH and thank the Lord and my prayer partners for that! He confirmed that I have no signs of glaucoma and that is always a relief with it being so rampant in my family.
Other unexpectedly great news is that while I have the begininng of the dusen formations that signal a strong possibility of becoming macular degeneration in the future, the opthamologist told me that at this time I DO NOT have macular degeneration and I am to stop listing it as a pre-existing condition on any more medical forms I may have to fill out over the coming months. He decided that my optometrist, being young and new to the business, likely got a little excited if I was one of her first cases where she discovered dusens and thus gave me a diagnosis for a disease that has not yet happened.
And the last bit of amazing news is that contrary to what I was told two optometrists ago, I have no signs whatsoever at this point of having inherited my mother's and grandmother's hereditary degenerative eye disease! Wha'??????? Seriously??
So, don't tell me prayer accomplishes nothing, right? While I cannot say with any certainty whatsoever that prayer has resulted in any sort of physical healing, I can say with total confidence that your prayers helped me to calm down, to relax, to get myself back in tune with God and the possibility that just maybe, perhaps,supposedly, hey ya' think???, he would assist me in dealing with whatever news I was given today, good or bad.
I have quit kicking myself for falling all apart over the dire possibilities presented to me at the hospital the other night and realized that of course sometimes it is good to just be as human as I actually am and stop apologizing for the times it is beyond me to be a super spiritual hero giant.
Thank you for praying. I am blessed to have had prayers answered this week. I am blessed to have become a patient of this particular opthamologist and it is one more reason to want to stay here in Regina for the future. I see my optomistrist again in 6 weeks to have these floaters checked out and they may continue to haunt my right eye for that long and I see the opthamologist again the end of October for a full day of measuring, testing, poking and prodding and being lit up like the 4th of July so he can check the retina and the vitreous solution again.
It is all good.
I am now using daily eye drops for moisture and will be eating as many more omega rich foods as I can manage...more tuna, salmon, walnuts, green leafy veggies. (Not sure I can face sardines, but hey, ya' never know, right?)
It is all good.
We had yesterday's company arrive today instead and it was so GREAT to see them. Now we are on our way out of town to a BBQ with some friends who are also very special.
It is all good.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Sadly True!
I read this on a friend’s blog today. While it is funny, it is also the sad truth! hahaha
“Pastor is the only job where people who hate you get mad at you when you don’t come to visit them!”
Wow....yes! It is so!
She also posted this truth:
“God will heal and repair you in front of the same people who broke you.”
I don’t know where she comes across these statements but they are very true for pastors.
My eye symptoms are no worse today than they were yesterday and that was a great improvement over the night before. I am so grateful. Looking forward to the appointment tomorrow to find out what is happening.
My son called me from NYC last night. What a treat. He loves his folks. We are blessed.
He had to do some hard headed negotiating to receive all he was owed from the construction project, received the negotiated amount, then found out he was the only one of the temporary workers who squabbled over their attempt to rescind the original offer of paid lunch breaks. Our son is learning how to negotiate NYC style. Proud of him. One of the best things he will take away from his southern experience is the newfound ability to stand up for himself. He is learning that confrontation over being ripped off is quite possible and that such problems can often be resolved in his favour if he isn’t afraid to try. He has learned how important it is to be able to articulate his career skills and experience without getting lost in a false sense of humility that leaves career contacts unaware of his expertise.
We may be getting some company this afternoon. I do hope they are able to come. I need to remove a bit of dust in the living room. Wow this suite is bad for dust, particularly now when the furnace only comes on occasionally and the dirt outside is finally dry enough to be blown around.
My husband is at a political discussion group this morning. They are supporters of a particular political party and he is not. hahaha Hope he does not make enemies during today’s discussion!
Off to shower and then find something pretty to wear. I don’t want to sit around here all day in sweatpants and a grubby tee shirt, huddling into the couch to await tomorrow’s appointment! I want to focus on our company and other happy things!
Oh, I talked to mom last night and she got some encouragement about her kidney problems yesterday from the doctor. He does not believe her kidney is only 39% functioning. He believes pills she has been taking to help her with fluid retention have skewed the kidney test results. So he has taken her off them and will retest the kidney in June. This is good news. She is very hopeful.
The sun is shining today!
“Pastor is the only job where people who hate you get mad at you when you don’t come to visit them!”
Wow....yes! It is so!
She also posted this truth:
“God will heal and repair you in front of the same people who broke you.”
I don’t know where she comes across these statements but they are very true for pastors.
My eye symptoms are no worse today than they were yesterday and that was a great improvement over the night before. I am so grateful. Looking forward to the appointment tomorrow to find out what is happening.
My son called me from NYC last night. What a treat. He loves his folks. We are blessed.
He had to do some hard headed negotiating to receive all he was owed from the construction project, received the negotiated amount, then found out he was the only one of the temporary workers who squabbled over their attempt to rescind the original offer of paid lunch breaks. Our son is learning how to negotiate NYC style. Proud of him. One of the best things he will take away from his southern experience is the newfound ability to stand up for himself. He is learning that confrontation over being ripped off is quite possible and that such problems can often be resolved in his favour if he isn’t afraid to try. He has learned how important it is to be able to articulate his career skills and experience without getting lost in a false sense of humility that leaves career contacts unaware of his expertise.
We may be getting some company this afternoon. I do hope they are able to come. I need to remove a bit of dust in the living room. Wow this suite is bad for dust, particularly now when the furnace only comes on occasionally and the dirt outside is finally dry enough to be blown around.
My husband is at a political discussion group this morning. They are supporters of a particular political party and he is not. hahaha Hope he does not make enemies during today’s discussion!
Off to shower and then find something pretty to wear. I don’t want to sit around here all day in sweatpants and a grubby tee shirt, huddling into the couch to await tomorrow’s appointment! I want to focus on our company and other happy things!
Oh, I talked to mom last night and she got some encouragement about her kidney problems yesterday from the doctor. He does not believe her kidney is only 39% functioning. He believes pills she has been taking to help her with fluid retention have skewed the kidney test results. So he has taken her off them and will retest the kidney in June. This is good news. She is very hopeful.
The sun is shining today!
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Some Days I Amaze Myself......
.....other days I put the laundry in the oven.
Don’t ask............sigh......
Don’t ask............sigh......
Poem
We love this short poem written by a childhood friend of my husband's:
I cannot walk a road behind
Nor will I walk ahead.
I walk beside and share with pride
Or walk alone instead.
Cc Chris Van Der Mark
I cannot walk a road behind
Nor will I walk ahead.
I walk beside and share with pride
Or walk alone instead.
Cc Chris Van Der Mark
Appointment Made
48 hours from now I will see the opthamologist. Yay! So very grateful! Now I can relax....so I will!
Fun Activity Suggestion For Today:
—pop a bag of popcorn kernels in a stovetop pan and leave the lid off ! (teehee)
Fun Activity Suggestion For Today:
—pop a bag of popcorn kernels in a stovetop pan and leave the lid off ! (teehee)
A Good Sleep Helps So Much!
Gooooood morning all: after a marvellous sleep last night I am over my jitters this morning. Your prayers are definitely responsible for the peace I feel today. Unemployment, an empty fridge, broken bones, living on my car, other chronic medical issues, all the other difficult events I have faced in my adult life I have sailed through with relative ease, but involve my vision and panic sets in unbidden and unwanted! Wow, I struggled with that while waiting in the emergency room last night. I am embarrassed to admit that for a few minutes I felt like, “God?? Who??”. Duh.....
This morning my symptoms are far less intense, but I am still experiencing them. I hope the ophthalmologist calls today and doesn’t wait until tomorrow, so I can find out what is happening and what can be done to correct it.
Thanks for the prayers and supportive emails I woke up to. I am not telling my parents about this until I have seen the ophthalmologist and have something definite to tell them. No point upsetting them if I don’t need to. They have enough worries of their own.
I should go and rest this crazy eye now.
I so appreciate you all for the emotional and prayer support you give me. Bless you!
This morning my symptoms are far less intense, but I am still experiencing them. I hope the ophthalmologist calls today and doesn’t wait until tomorrow, so I can find out what is happening and what can be done to correct it.
Thanks for the prayers and supportive emails I woke up to. I am not telling my parents about this until I have seen the ophthalmologist and have something definite to tell them. No point upsetting them if I don’t need to. They have enough worries of their own.
I should go and rest this crazy eye now.
I so appreciate you all for the emotional and prayer support you give me. Bless you!
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Not Quite the Anniversary Celebration I Was Expecting This Evening....Sigh.....
So.....Dell and I sensibly decided that since breakfast had been so filling, to the point where we barely ate any lunch, that going out for dinner was rather ridiculous! YES!!! I had a poached egg on 2 slices of low carb, low sodium seed bread and he finished off the few Thai leftovers we brought home last evening.
Then we walked over to the grocery store to purchase some milk for the morning. As we left the store to walk home, I suddenly developed a weird floater in my eye....a curved khaki coloured line with frayed ends. By the time I got home it had moved into the centre of my vision, so off to the nearest emergency room we went. There was a line up to get to the registration triage desk and when we got there the lady at admissions told me that while they could certainly check my eye, there were about 15 people ahead of me and the Pasqua hospital has an actual eye care unit triage. So off we raced to the Pasqua...RACING is the word...my husband drove as close to light speed as I have ever seen him, dodging traffic and scaring me half to death. I clung to the door handle and said nothing, just closed my eyes and prayed I wouldn't die on the way to get help! hahaha
It took only a couple of minutes to get me checked into triage there. There were only about 4 people ahead of me and none of them were going to the eye clinic. I was in an examination room in well under an hour. A very nice South African doctor checked my eyes, particularly my "floating" right eye. By then the line had splintered into dozens of small black floaters. He looked and looked and did acuity testing, shone horrendously bright lights into my eyes, checked my peripheral vision and asked me dozens of questions about my symptoms. He ascertained that I don't seem to be in immedate danger of a retinal detachment, but appear instead to have a vitreous posterior detachment. It is a separting of the gel around the eye as it pulls away, mostly due to age, from the retina. The danger is the creation of retinal tears that can lead to retinal detachment, so I have had a referral faxed to an opthamologist downtown. I will hear from his office within 48 hours to set up an appointment and I have strict instructions to chart my symptoms until I see him, paying close attention to the specific symptoms of retinal detachment, in which case it is a return trip to Pasqua immediately.
My husband's brother in law has suffered a serious retinal detachment and he has very serious eye problems even though he had an excellent surgeon who helped him a lot. After hearing his stories of what he went through, his symptoms etc., I learned all ready directly from him not to mess around if a change of vision happens unexpectedly. So, I will be looking for a narrowing/shadowing of my vision in this effected eye, flashes of light and other symptoms. In the meantime I am sitting here typing while looking through all these insane floaters which spread, while I was at the hospital, from the periphery of my vision to cover my entire field of vision in that eye. Glad it happened at the hospital because I was able to tell the doctor about the change.
So, my prayer request is that I don't have any retinal tears, or if I do that the laser surgery will be effective, AND that I don't develop a retinal detachment.
Alway something at this age! I admit when we arrived at the hospital I was so terrified I was nauseous. Dell prayed for me, I texted my son and he sent a prayer back and so then I felt ever so much better.
Thank you Lord for the examples of people in our family that are responsible for me realizing I had to go for help immediately. Thank you for the fairly short wait time at emergency. Thank you for the good doctor who saw me and for the referral he faxed to the opthamologist. Thank you for the other kind staff who were so considerate as I was explaining the problem while I checked in. I am very grateful to know at least part of the problem so that I will be able to sleep tonight. Please protect my vision Lord while I am waiting to go to the specialist. Remind me of your care when I am tempted to forget because I start panicking in my humanness. Thank you for my wonderful husband and son who supported me in my emotional overreaction to this whole thing. I didn't explain my feelings to them because I didn't have to. They know me. They know I am not going to have a screaming fit, but will suddenly turn completely white in the face, need to sit down and then start turning blue and shaking from cold. They are calm on the outside and help me to become that way. Thank you for friends and family who will pray for me. Thank you again Lord, Amen!
Then we walked over to the grocery store to purchase some milk for the morning. As we left the store to walk home, I suddenly developed a weird floater in my eye....a curved khaki coloured line with frayed ends. By the time I got home it had moved into the centre of my vision, so off to the nearest emergency room we went. There was a line up to get to the registration triage desk and when we got there the lady at admissions told me that while they could certainly check my eye, there were about 15 people ahead of me and the Pasqua hospital has an actual eye care unit triage. So off we raced to the Pasqua...RACING is the word...my husband drove as close to light speed as I have ever seen him, dodging traffic and scaring me half to death. I clung to the door handle and said nothing, just closed my eyes and prayed I wouldn't die on the way to get help! hahaha
It took only a couple of minutes to get me checked into triage there. There were only about 4 people ahead of me and none of them were going to the eye clinic. I was in an examination room in well under an hour. A very nice South African doctor checked my eyes, particularly my "floating" right eye. By then the line had splintered into dozens of small black floaters. He looked and looked and did acuity testing, shone horrendously bright lights into my eyes, checked my peripheral vision and asked me dozens of questions about my symptoms. He ascertained that I don't seem to be in immedate danger of a retinal detachment, but appear instead to have a vitreous posterior detachment. It is a separting of the gel around the eye as it pulls away, mostly due to age, from the retina. The danger is the creation of retinal tears that can lead to retinal detachment, so I have had a referral faxed to an opthamologist downtown. I will hear from his office within 48 hours to set up an appointment and I have strict instructions to chart my symptoms until I see him, paying close attention to the specific symptoms of retinal detachment, in which case it is a return trip to Pasqua immediately.
My husband's brother in law has suffered a serious retinal detachment and he has very serious eye problems even though he had an excellent surgeon who helped him a lot. After hearing his stories of what he went through, his symptoms etc., I learned all ready directly from him not to mess around if a change of vision happens unexpectedly. So, I will be looking for a narrowing/shadowing of my vision in this effected eye, flashes of light and other symptoms. In the meantime I am sitting here typing while looking through all these insane floaters which spread, while I was at the hospital, from the periphery of my vision to cover my entire field of vision in that eye. Glad it happened at the hospital because I was able to tell the doctor about the change.
So, my prayer request is that I don't have any retinal tears, or if I do that the laser surgery will be effective, AND that I don't develop a retinal detachment.
Alway something at this age! I admit when we arrived at the hospital I was so terrified I was nauseous. Dell prayed for me, I texted my son and he sent a prayer back and so then I felt ever so much better.
Thank you Lord for the examples of people in our family that are responsible for me realizing I had to go for help immediately. Thank you for the fairly short wait time at emergency. Thank you for the good doctor who saw me and for the referral he faxed to the opthamologist. Thank you for the other kind staff who were so considerate as I was explaining the problem while I checked in. I am very grateful to know at least part of the problem so that I will be able to sleep tonight. Please protect my vision Lord while I am waiting to go to the specialist. Remind me of your care when I am tempted to forget because I start panicking in my humanness. Thank you for my wonderful husband and son who supported me in my emotional overreaction to this whole thing. I didn't explain my feelings to them because I didn't have to. They know me. They know I am not going to have a screaming fit, but will suddenly turn completely white in the face, need to sit down and then start turning blue and shaking from cold. They are calm on the outside and help me to become that way. Thank you for friends and family who will pray for me. Thank you again Lord, Amen!
The Sun and Warmth Have Returned! YAY!
We are so happy to have the warmer side of spring weather returning to us today after yesterday's chilly snow showers.
We were up early this morning as planned and arrived at the Breakfast Bistro right at 8am, just as they opened for the day. It was lovely. We were able to sit beside the big windows that let in the western sunlight, not as glaring as it would be if the windows faced east. The food was spectacular as always for very reasonable prices. This bistro is the only restaurant I have found here with a cook that knows how to do scrambled eggs properly and I dug into mine with enthusiasm this morning. The grilled potatoes were freshly cut and the mini croissants such a delicious change from regular old boring toast. My Italian sausage was nicely flavoured with only a hint of fennel and lots of spice! My husband ate the tofu scrambler. He said it was fantastic and was made even more exciting by substituting freshly grilled asparagus for the zucchini he is allergic to. We lallygagged over our breakfast and as usual, we were never made to feel that we had to rush off as soon as the last bite of food entered our mouths. We love it there.
Then we ran some errands before returning home to work some more on the photo project. In honour of our 42nd anniversary today we read through our honeymoon travel diary, killing ourselves laughing at the noted outrage at a Quebec campground owner who charged us a whopping $3.50 per night for a site with no showers, when the going rate with showers elsewhere was only $3.00. hahahahahahaha We travelled all the way from Calgary to PEI and back for a total of $210 in gasoline costs. hahaha Can you imagine it????? What a hoot!
We planned to go to the MacKenzie Art Gallery today but my husband has his head in the photo project now. So, we will go tomorrow. Nice to spread the celebration over an extra day. However, my husband is still determined we are going out to Cathedral Creek this evening for dinner. I had the lightest lunch I think I have eaten in 10 years so I can handle having another meal out today. hahaha
For now, since we are not going to the Gallery, I will settle on a short walk to the grocery store for a carton of milk so I can walk off a bit of this food and get ready for the next festival of gluttony!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Either I'm right or I'm wrong or I'm somewhere in between.
--Joe Firmage
We were up early this morning as planned and arrived at the Breakfast Bistro right at 8am, just as they opened for the day. It was lovely. We were able to sit beside the big windows that let in the western sunlight, not as glaring as it would be if the windows faced east. The food was spectacular as always for very reasonable prices. This bistro is the only restaurant I have found here with a cook that knows how to do scrambled eggs properly and I dug into mine with enthusiasm this morning. The grilled potatoes were freshly cut and the mini croissants such a delicious change from regular old boring toast. My Italian sausage was nicely flavoured with only a hint of fennel and lots of spice! My husband ate the tofu scrambler. He said it was fantastic and was made even more exciting by substituting freshly grilled asparagus for the zucchini he is allergic to. We lallygagged over our breakfast and as usual, we were never made to feel that we had to rush off as soon as the last bite of food entered our mouths. We love it there.
Then we ran some errands before returning home to work some more on the photo project. In honour of our 42nd anniversary today we read through our honeymoon travel diary, killing ourselves laughing at the noted outrage at a Quebec campground owner who charged us a whopping $3.50 per night for a site with no showers, when the going rate with showers elsewhere was only $3.00. hahahahahahaha We travelled all the way from Calgary to PEI and back for a total of $210 in gasoline costs. hahaha Can you imagine it????? What a hoot!
We planned to go to the MacKenzie Art Gallery today but my husband has his head in the photo project now. So, we will go tomorrow. Nice to spread the celebration over an extra day. However, my husband is still determined we are going out to Cathedral Creek this evening for dinner. I had the lightest lunch I think I have eaten in 10 years so I can handle having another meal out today. hahaha
For now, since we are not going to the Gallery, I will settle on a short walk to the grocery store for a carton of milk so I can walk off a bit of this food and get ready for the next festival of gluttony!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Either I'm right or I'm wrong or I'm somewhere in between.
--Joe Firmage
Monday, March 25, 2019
From C.S. Lewis
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under the robber barons than under omnipotent moral busy bodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
--from God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis
Take a look at what is happening in the North American political and cultural scenes, particularly in regard to political correctness and rage fuelled social media comments, then re-read this quote, then be afraid...be very afraid!!
--from God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis
Take a look at what is happening in the North American political and cultural scenes, particularly in regard to political correctness and rage fuelled social media comments, then re-read this quote, then be afraid...be very afraid!!
Happy Birthday Boo
My husband is having a lovely birthday celebration today. Fortunately I didn't have to be creative as I didn't fall asleep until well after 3am today and only slept until 7am, so felt quite out of it all day. I managed to stumble off to the bank, the post office and WalMart but that trip was all over by 10am and I don't remember how I whiled away the rest of the day....it was like being in a permanent stupor!
My husband was quite happy to spend the entire day working on his photo scanning project and getting dates put on photos we have been carting around for years, but never bothered to keep track of the year in which they were taken. There were photos and papers and computers and pens scattered all over the dining room table, both the living room coffee tables, the library floor, his desk, the bed and he even brought the card table up from the basement to put MORE stuff on. hahaha Our whole suite looks like a bomb went off in a stationery store!! But he is having a blast and who am I to tell him how badly the suite needs to be vaccumed and dusted underneath all that mess? There is no way I am going to ask him to clean it up before another couple of days have passed. He is so happy, so jazzed about doing this project AND he is tossing out MANY MANY old photos that are so badly taken or badly posed that there never has been any point in keeping them. YAY!
At about 5pm we both decided it was time to get a move on, brave the cold and falling spring snow and get some dinner. A dear friend from Alberta sent me several amazing recipes in response to my blog-public plea to myself to stay home and cook something creative today rather than go to a restaurant, but I will cook some of those later on this week when I have caught up on my sleep. My friend is an AMAZING cook, so I don't think I could get any of these recipes to turn out as well as she could, but I am happy to try!!
We drove around to a couple of restaurants, but the one my husband wanted to try, Cathedral Creek Bistro, turned out to be closed on Mondays. So, his second choice was to go downtown to Siam Thai. We have been promising ourselves a trip there and at last we made it. The food was excellent and relatively inexpensive. The bill came to $34 and that included our appetizer, entrees, drinks and taxes. We will definitely go there again. Although the decor was a little battered looking, the food was delicious and the portions more than large enough. We only ordered 2 dishes and 1 bowl of rice and still brought home enough for my husband to have for lunch tomorrow.
After dinner he drove me to La Macaron to get dessert: one each for this evening after we got home, PLUS one each for tomorrow's luncheon treat. Eek!!! (Gotta admit I fell in love with the matcha and vanilla cheesecake I had tonight but am wondering if my slice of lemon matcha cake will survive a few days in the freezer so I can have a break between treats!!!) My husband purchased a vanilla mille-feuille cake for himself for tonight and a HUGE nut muffin for tomorrow. hahahahaha He is taking this celebrating thing very seriously. Read on:
So, now his plan for tomorrow, since his usual Tuesday morning men's meeting is cancelled until next week, is to take me to Breakfast Bistro for 8am breakfast in the morning to celebrate our 42nd anniversary and then to take me to Cathedral Creek Bistro for dinner! Aiiii yiiiiii......I am going to look and feel like the Good Year blimp by the time we have eaten out twice in one day! hahahahaha Guess it will be Wednesday before I can attempt any of the wonderful recipes my friend shared with me. hahahaha
My husband had phone calls from his sister and my parents and a long SKYPE with his son. He received several birthday cards that he opened with great glee this morning over breakfast. He is looking forward to opening the stack of anniversary cards tomorrow morning, but I hope he will open them at home and not drag them to the Breakfast Bistro, hahahaha.
I sound like I am complaining about his restaurant food extravaganza, but in reality I am THRILLED that he is feeling happy and well enough to go out at all! He is starting to come through the burnout from his last job, he is getting motivated, he is starting to be able to thing farther ahead than the immediate moment and as a result, I am getting more mentally with it and motivated each day as well.
Tomorrow after breakfast I need to pick up my dry cleaning from Busy Bee, which is near the Bistro, my husband is going to take his birthday money and start looking for a new spring/summer jacket or coat, we are going to hopefully go to the MacKenzie Art Gallery to see the new exhibit there and he wants to spend a few more hours on his photo scanning project. (Yes, Aunty Phyl, you are right that not only are our income tax forms not complete, we haven't even started them yet....there is always next week, right? Sigh...)
The enforced resting between job searches and responses and interviews has really been making a great and wonderful difference in my husband's recovery from having to work seven days a week for the past couple of years. I told him to take the rest of this week off from looking for work and enjoy himself. Next week will be plenty of time to start the daily scouring of job boards and preparing applications. He has finally started to wind down properly and enjoy the freedom of being unemployed for a few months. Another week won't matter in the big picture.
Aaaaaah....if I can get a good night's sleep tonight, tomorrow will be a grand day for me too. Happy birthday my dear and I look forward to more celebrating tomorrow!
My husband was quite happy to spend the entire day working on his photo scanning project and getting dates put on photos we have been carting around for years, but never bothered to keep track of the year in which they were taken. There were photos and papers and computers and pens scattered all over the dining room table, both the living room coffee tables, the library floor, his desk, the bed and he even brought the card table up from the basement to put MORE stuff on. hahaha Our whole suite looks like a bomb went off in a stationery store!! But he is having a blast and who am I to tell him how badly the suite needs to be vaccumed and dusted underneath all that mess? There is no way I am going to ask him to clean it up before another couple of days have passed. He is so happy, so jazzed about doing this project AND he is tossing out MANY MANY old photos that are so badly taken or badly posed that there never has been any point in keeping them. YAY!
At about 5pm we both decided it was time to get a move on, brave the cold and falling spring snow and get some dinner. A dear friend from Alberta sent me several amazing recipes in response to my blog-public plea to myself to stay home and cook something creative today rather than go to a restaurant, but I will cook some of those later on this week when I have caught up on my sleep. My friend is an AMAZING cook, so I don't think I could get any of these recipes to turn out as well as she could, but I am happy to try!!
We drove around to a couple of restaurants, but the one my husband wanted to try, Cathedral Creek Bistro, turned out to be closed on Mondays. So, his second choice was to go downtown to Siam Thai. We have been promising ourselves a trip there and at last we made it. The food was excellent and relatively inexpensive. The bill came to $34 and that included our appetizer, entrees, drinks and taxes. We will definitely go there again. Although the decor was a little battered looking, the food was delicious and the portions more than large enough. We only ordered 2 dishes and 1 bowl of rice and still brought home enough for my husband to have for lunch tomorrow.
After dinner he drove me to La Macaron to get dessert: one each for this evening after we got home, PLUS one each for tomorrow's luncheon treat. Eek!!! (Gotta admit I fell in love with the matcha and vanilla cheesecake I had tonight but am wondering if my slice of lemon matcha cake will survive a few days in the freezer so I can have a break between treats!!!) My husband purchased a vanilla mille-feuille cake for himself for tonight and a HUGE nut muffin for tomorrow. hahahahaha He is taking this celebrating thing very seriously. Read on:
So, now his plan for tomorrow, since his usual Tuesday morning men's meeting is cancelled until next week, is to take me to Breakfast Bistro for 8am breakfast in the morning to celebrate our 42nd anniversary and then to take me to Cathedral Creek Bistro for dinner! Aiiii yiiiiii......I am going to look and feel like the Good Year blimp by the time we have eaten out twice in one day! hahahahaha Guess it will be Wednesday before I can attempt any of the wonderful recipes my friend shared with me. hahahaha
My husband had phone calls from his sister and my parents and a long SKYPE with his son. He received several birthday cards that he opened with great glee this morning over breakfast. He is looking forward to opening the stack of anniversary cards tomorrow morning, but I hope he will open them at home and not drag them to the Breakfast Bistro, hahahaha.
I sound like I am complaining about his restaurant food extravaganza, but in reality I am THRILLED that he is feeling happy and well enough to go out at all! He is starting to come through the burnout from his last job, he is getting motivated, he is starting to be able to thing farther ahead than the immediate moment and as a result, I am getting more mentally with it and motivated each day as well.
Tomorrow after breakfast I need to pick up my dry cleaning from Busy Bee, which is near the Bistro, my husband is going to take his birthday money and start looking for a new spring/summer jacket or coat, we are going to hopefully go to the MacKenzie Art Gallery to see the new exhibit there and he wants to spend a few more hours on his photo scanning project. (Yes, Aunty Phyl, you are right that not only are our income tax forms not complete, we haven't even started them yet....there is always next week, right? Sigh...)
The enforced resting between job searches and responses and interviews has really been making a great and wonderful difference in my husband's recovery from having to work seven days a week for the past couple of years. I told him to take the rest of this week off from looking for work and enjoy himself. Next week will be plenty of time to start the daily scouring of job boards and preparing applications. He has finally started to wind down properly and enjoy the freedom of being unemployed for a few months. Another week won't matter in the big picture.
Aaaaaah....if I can get a good night's sleep tonight, tomorrow will be a grand day for me too. Happy birthday my dear and I look forward to more celebrating tomorrow!
Collected Thoughts For a Cool, Cloudy, Less Than Inspiring Day, Complete With Crashed Computer, Sigh...
Welcome to my sense of humour! (as the unforecast snow flakes come drifting down)
This land is your land.
This land is my land.
So stay on your land!
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.
Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow.
Do not walk beside me either; just leave me alone.
Always take time to smell the roses and sooner or later you’ll inhale a bee!
It takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown and fewer still to ignore someone completely!
Support bacteria: it is the only culture some people have.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
If he had another brain, it would be lonely.
Start off every day with a smile and get it over with.
— W. C. Fields (my favourite quoteable quote creator!)
This land is your land.
This land is my land.
So stay on your land!
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.
Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow.
Do not walk beside me either; just leave me alone.
Always take time to smell the roses and sooner or later you’ll inhale a bee!
It takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown and fewer still to ignore someone completely!
Support bacteria: it is the only culture some people have.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
If he had another brain, it would be lonely.
Start off every day with a smile and get it over with.
— W. C. Fields (my favourite quoteable quote creator!)
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Happy Family Memories
Our son and his best friend at the age of three years:
Visiting the family farm at the age of four:
Thoughts From Around the "net" #3
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourself out, be as I am--a reluctant enthusiast, a part time crusader, a half hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land: it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still there. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy.
--Ed Abbey-January 29, 1927-March 14, 1989
--Ed Abbey-January 29, 1927-March 14, 1989
Thoughts From Around the "net" #2
From Healing the Sacred:
Forgive yourself for not knowing better at the time. Forgive yourself for giving away your power. Forgive yourself for past behaviours. Forgive yourself for the survival patterns and traits you picked up while enduring trauma. Forgive yourself for being who you needed to be.
Forgive yourself for not knowing better at the time. Forgive yourself for giving away your power. Forgive yourself for past behaviours. Forgive yourself for the survival patterns and traits you picked up while enduring trauma. Forgive yourself for being who you needed to be.
Thoughts From Around the "net" #1
And Jesus said unto the theologians:
"Who do you say that I am?"
They replied:
"You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships."
And Jesus said:
"Huh?"
"Who do you say that I am?"
They replied:
"You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships."
And Jesus said:
"Huh?"
A Good Time Alone Today
I enjoyed the church service today. The pastor talked about inviting others to feast with us, both in church...the rather obvious parallel to Jesus' talk about the people who refused to come to the feast they were invited to, forcing the host to go out into the streets and invite complete strangers to come and share in the food and fellowship....but also he talked about inviting others into our own homes more often to share food and get to know them better. It was a good reminder that my husband and I have been getting lazy in our invitations of late. There are many people we know both inside of and outside of the church we have never had over because of how crowded our little suite is and we need to get over that. The handful of folk we have had over here in the past few months have not minded being a little crammed in around our table. My husband has been so tired the past couple of months that we have caved into that and not done much inviting. Time for it to change!
After church my husband stayed there to attend the Annual General Meeting, which went well apparently. I couldn't face it today as I felt a strong need to be alone with God for awhile. So, I ambled on over to Famoso's Pizza for a bowl of their delicious tomato bisque and a small caesar salad with prosciutto chips atop it. Yum! I was the only customer in there and so I truly relaxed and starting thinking about what God might have in store for us in the coming months. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk home as well, so I strolled along, lost in a conversation with God and felt strongly that I was being heard. The AGM went on for a rather long time, as AGM's in congregational churches seem to do, so I had time at home on my own as well today. The whole day thus far has been quite wonderful and the sense of peace I am experiencing is very deep.
My husband has been feeling well today, has been in a very good mood, is cheery, is preparing himself to begin his job search anew this week and is generally encouraged about life in general. So good to see him returning to himself after a bit of an absence while getting over the stress of his last position.
Our son sent in his application today for the sessional instructor position he is hoping to get back in Canada. I can't help hoping he can be hired as it would solve his issue of how hard to work at staying in the U.S. He is trying to decide how much more debt he wants to accrue to pay for his new visa at the end of the year if he stays in the south. Like his father, nothing is ever easy for him. It seems to be a "family thing" in my husband's family. I have never met so many incredibly intelligent, well educated, or otherwise talented people who have never gotten a break in their entire lives, particuarly in the area of careers for which they have been eminently qualified, but never seemed to go in the direction they hoped for. The whole "tragedy" seems to be passing down through the generations. Unreal!! So, Lord, please make your direction clear to our son and help him get where he needs to go. Thank you!
Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. The next day is our 42nd wedding anniversary. We plan to spend one of those days over at the MacKenzie Art Gallery looking at the latest exhibition and perhaps will go to a couple other galleries we have not been to in a long time. I want to have two of our pictures reframed so will take them along to the one gallery that has an excellent framing business as well. Hmmmm....it has been so long since we have been over there that I wonder if it is still in operation...perhaps I need to check that out first before I take down the two photos! If so, that will be my anniversary gift!
We have been out to eat a lot lately and the so-called Fine Dining here doesn't seem all that fine to us, so I am trying to think of a really nice, different meal to make at home that my husband would truly enjoy.
Since we didn't even get our income tax information set out on the desk last week, we do need to make a better attempt to get the taxes done sometime this week and our suite is a dust pit since the last couple of big winds dried up the snow and puddles outside, so....housework is also a priority over the next few days.
We need to start thinking about who to have over for meals once this week is over and we get some of the tax stress taken care of. The pastor's sermon hit home for us today!
After church my husband stayed there to attend the Annual General Meeting, which went well apparently. I couldn't face it today as I felt a strong need to be alone with God for awhile. So, I ambled on over to Famoso's Pizza for a bowl of their delicious tomato bisque and a small caesar salad with prosciutto chips atop it. Yum! I was the only customer in there and so I truly relaxed and starting thinking about what God might have in store for us in the coming months. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk home as well, so I strolled along, lost in a conversation with God and felt strongly that I was being heard. The AGM went on for a rather long time, as AGM's in congregational churches seem to do, so I had time at home on my own as well today. The whole day thus far has been quite wonderful and the sense of peace I am experiencing is very deep.
My husband has been feeling well today, has been in a very good mood, is cheery, is preparing himself to begin his job search anew this week and is generally encouraged about life in general. So good to see him returning to himself after a bit of an absence while getting over the stress of his last position.
Our son sent in his application today for the sessional instructor position he is hoping to get back in Canada. I can't help hoping he can be hired as it would solve his issue of how hard to work at staying in the U.S. He is trying to decide how much more debt he wants to accrue to pay for his new visa at the end of the year if he stays in the south. Like his father, nothing is ever easy for him. It seems to be a "family thing" in my husband's family. I have never met so many incredibly intelligent, well educated, or otherwise talented people who have never gotten a break in their entire lives, particuarly in the area of careers for which they have been eminently qualified, but never seemed to go in the direction they hoped for. The whole "tragedy" seems to be passing down through the generations. Unreal!! So, Lord, please make your direction clear to our son and help him get where he needs to go. Thank you!
Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. The next day is our 42nd wedding anniversary. We plan to spend one of those days over at the MacKenzie Art Gallery looking at the latest exhibition and perhaps will go to a couple other galleries we have not been to in a long time. I want to have two of our pictures reframed so will take them along to the one gallery that has an excellent framing business as well. Hmmmm....it has been so long since we have been over there that I wonder if it is still in operation...perhaps I need to check that out first before I take down the two photos! If so, that will be my anniversary gift!
We have been out to eat a lot lately and the so-called Fine Dining here doesn't seem all that fine to us, so I am trying to think of a really nice, different meal to make at home that my husband would truly enjoy.
Since we didn't even get our income tax information set out on the desk last week, we do need to make a better attempt to get the taxes done sometime this week and our suite is a dust pit since the last couple of big winds dried up the snow and puddles outside, so....housework is also a priority over the next few days.
We need to start thinking about who to have over for meals once this week is over and we get some of the tax stress taken care of. The pastor's sermon hit home for us today!
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Sad, But Not Unexpected
My husband just received the sad news that he was runner up for a job he really wanted here in town. With the amount of time that has passed since his interview, he pretty much guessed he did not get it, but it is good to finally have confirmation of that. Now we are free to pursue other options and I suppose it is now a done deal that we will be moving at some point in the coming months.
Even though we knew it was coming, I admit I am sad. If we had a dollar for each time my husband has been second choice in job competitions he could have retired with ease long before now. After this many years of it happening, he could be very discouraged that it has happened again, but based on those same past experiences, we know the right job for him will show up at just the right time and we will have evidence of it being far more suitable than this one.
I think we are more sad about being faced with the reality now of likely moving than about the loss of the actual job, to be quite honest. After four years in one place we have become mentally lazy about facing what it takes to find accommodation in a new place, arranging all the details of the moving process and then there is the physical exertion required to load and unload all our ‘stuff”. Aiiii yiiiii....just writing about it makes me tired! Guess we are going to have to trust we can handle it all when/if the time comes.
Wow, if there is an even better job for my husband than this one he didn’t get, well, definitely a reason to get excited about what IS going to happen in our future! Perhaps we are not so sad after all!
Even though we knew it was coming, I admit I am sad. If we had a dollar for each time my husband has been second choice in job competitions he could have retired with ease long before now. After this many years of it happening, he could be very discouraged that it has happened again, but based on those same past experiences, we know the right job for him will show up at just the right time and we will have evidence of it being far more suitable than this one.
I think we are more sad about being faced with the reality now of likely moving than about the loss of the actual job, to be quite honest. After four years in one place we have become mentally lazy about facing what it takes to find accommodation in a new place, arranging all the details of the moving process and then there is the physical exertion required to load and unload all our ‘stuff”. Aiiii yiiiii....just writing about it makes me tired! Guess we are going to have to trust we can handle it all when/if the time comes.
Wow, if there is an even better job for my husband than this one he didn’t get, well, definitely a reason to get excited about what IS going to happen in our future! Perhaps we are not so sad after all!
Friday, March 22, 2019
Happy Tired!
I am joyfully exhausted tonight! The past couple of days have been busy and a lot of fun.
The Bible study I led the other night went surprisingly well, even though I only partly stuck to the "script" of the study outline I was given. It wasn't the easiest topic for inspiring discussion, but we managed to pull some out of thin air and it all went very well. Since I have never led any sort of Bible study before, I was thrilled it went as well as it did! Whew, and thank you Lord!!
Yesterday my husband woke up feeling rested and happy, so he agreed to come grocery shopping with me. We drove across the city to the East side RC Superstore and found everything we needed, dropped off my winter coat at the drycleaning venue, stopped in at a Dollar Store for a couple of things, my husband needed a couple of items at Staples....it was so much fun wandering around together. We didn't buy much, but we had fun. It still amazes us that we have time right now to do such simple every day "couples' stuff", as we have had so few chances in our lives to do the small things together. We grabbed a bowl of tomato bisque at Famoso's before coming home. That is wonderful soup. I detest tomato soup, but this one is creamy and topped with crumbled feta cheese....delicious!! The rest of the day passed in a blur of housechores and then I enjoyed seasonal choir rehearsal last night. I think we will be better prepared for this concert than we were for the Easter concert last year. Everyone seems to be working harder and taking it more seriously.
Today I was up fairly early to go to a mall and look for two pair of summer pants, the usual black and navy blue that go with almost any kind of top. I found a pair in each colour, plus a bonus pair of brown capris that will be very handy and a pink rain jacket. That is the end of my needed purchases for spring and summer.
When I got home I made us some lunch and then I spent a couple of hours working on ironing my spring and summer clothes. Wow, they were terribly wrinkled. What was I thinking last fall when I crammed them into the bins willy nilly with nary a decent fold anywhere??? Yikes!
Our son contacted us in the later afternoon with a request for assistance in proof reading his cover letter and write up on his philosophy of teaching for a sessional instructor position he is very interested in...right here in Canada. We are surely praying very much about this possibility. I don't know how excited he is to actually consider having to return to Canada, but I think the reality has hit him that there is no way he is going to be able to afford to renew his visa. He is taking that as divine guidance, so that is mitigating any disappointment he has struggled with over it.
After our time with our son on his project, my husband decided he had spent enough of the day on the computer and wanted desperately to go for a walk. So, off we went. We tried walking around the lake, but less than half way around we were stopped by deep water flooding the pathways as the last of the snow melts from the higher ground above the lake. We weren't wearing adequate footwear to wade on through, so we made a detour out of the park to walk the longer way home. As we exited the park my husband decided he wanted to go out to eat....again....hahahaha. SO, we walked a block up the street to a rather dilapidated old Thai restaurant. The outside was filthy, but inside the building the decor was clean and very nice, despite it being left over from the 1990's! The food was fantastic and we will definitely go there again. The prices are quite low and the amount and variety of vegetables is incredible. I paid no attention whatsoever to the name of the place and still have no idea what it is called, but we will definitely return.
After we arrived home we were both quite tired from the long walk, so I sat down in front of the tv for an hour while my husband headed back to his computer. Then he decided he wanted to rent a movie, "The House With the Clock In the Walls", (silly and then some, but he loved it, so it was worth it). While he watched that I returned to my ironing project as I knew I couldn't sit and watch a movie for 2 hours without falling asleep, partly from being tired and partly because the movie didn't interest me. hahaha So, one more session of ironing tomorrow and I will be done with that clothes project!
Don't know what tomorrow holds, but for now we are assuming it will at least hold the possiblity of sleeping in!
Had a nice phone chat with a friend from BC this week. She spent several days on a beautiful west coast island at a church leadership retreat and had such a delightful time listening to guest speaker Charles Price. She doesn't get to go away very often and wasn't sure she would enjoy the retreat, but she returned thrilled to bits about it. I am happy for her.
Kat is doing much better after a second surgery a couple of days ago to relieve nerves that were being pinched by the stitches from her first surgery. When the surgeon made the new incision, she discovered a huge seroma under the original incision. She was able to remove all the fluid, release the nerves and send Kat home the following day. Kat's pain levels have dropped from a 10+ to about a 4! She is finally able to sleep for several hours at a time since she is in far less pain. Thank you Lord and thank you praying friends.
Had a nice phone chat with a friend in Ontario this week as well. She and I have similar family issues and seem to be able to be a good support for each other. She is considering moving back out west and I would love that. I miss her.
The weather has continued to be wonderful; just warm enough to be able to go for walks in light jackets and footwear, but not so hot as to melt all the snow at once and cause a lot of flooding in the city. Apparently 48 hours from now it is to be cold again for one day, but after what we went through in January and February, a high of only +1C is not so bad! This spring is bringing a slow warm up, but that is okay. Any sort of warm up is happily welcomed!
Last night there was a gorgeous full moon. It was so huge I felt like I could each up toward the sky and touch it. It must have been very close to the earth to appear that large. How beautiful!
Well, another happy couple of days are at an end and I need to get to bed. I have been tired enough at night to only be able to read a couple of pages of my present book before I am nodding off for the rest of the night.
Hope tomorrow is another good and productive day with more good times with my husband....maybe I could convince him to stay home for our meals this weekend by proposing that we cook a few together. He likes to do that!
The Bible study I led the other night went surprisingly well, even though I only partly stuck to the "script" of the study outline I was given. It wasn't the easiest topic for inspiring discussion, but we managed to pull some out of thin air and it all went very well. Since I have never led any sort of Bible study before, I was thrilled it went as well as it did! Whew, and thank you Lord!!
Yesterday my husband woke up feeling rested and happy, so he agreed to come grocery shopping with me. We drove across the city to the East side RC Superstore and found everything we needed, dropped off my winter coat at the drycleaning venue, stopped in at a Dollar Store for a couple of things, my husband needed a couple of items at Staples....it was so much fun wandering around together. We didn't buy much, but we had fun. It still amazes us that we have time right now to do such simple every day "couples' stuff", as we have had so few chances in our lives to do the small things together. We grabbed a bowl of tomato bisque at Famoso's before coming home. That is wonderful soup. I detest tomato soup, but this one is creamy and topped with crumbled feta cheese....delicious!! The rest of the day passed in a blur of housechores and then I enjoyed seasonal choir rehearsal last night. I think we will be better prepared for this concert than we were for the Easter concert last year. Everyone seems to be working harder and taking it more seriously.
Today I was up fairly early to go to a mall and look for two pair of summer pants, the usual black and navy blue that go with almost any kind of top. I found a pair in each colour, plus a bonus pair of brown capris that will be very handy and a pink rain jacket. That is the end of my needed purchases for spring and summer.
When I got home I made us some lunch and then I spent a couple of hours working on ironing my spring and summer clothes. Wow, they were terribly wrinkled. What was I thinking last fall when I crammed them into the bins willy nilly with nary a decent fold anywhere??? Yikes!
Our son contacted us in the later afternoon with a request for assistance in proof reading his cover letter and write up on his philosophy of teaching for a sessional instructor position he is very interested in...right here in Canada. We are surely praying very much about this possibility. I don't know how excited he is to actually consider having to return to Canada, but I think the reality has hit him that there is no way he is going to be able to afford to renew his visa. He is taking that as divine guidance, so that is mitigating any disappointment he has struggled with over it.
After our time with our son on his project, my husband decided he had spent enough of the day on the computer and wanted desperately to go for a walk. So, off we went. We tried walking around the lake, but less than half way around we were stopped by deep water flooding the pathways as the last of the snow melts from the higher ground above the lake. We weren't wearing adequate footwear to wade on through, so we made a detour out of the park to walk the longer way home. As we exited the park my husband decided he wanted to go out to eat....again....hahahaha. SO, we walked a block up the street to a rather dilapidated old Thai restaurant. The outside was filthy, but inside the building the decor was clean and very nice, despite it being left over from the 1990's! The food was fantastic and we will definitely go there again. The prices are quite low and the amount and variety of vegetables is incredible. I paid no attention whatsoever to the name of the place and still have no idea what it is called, but we will definitely return.
After we arrived home we were both quite tired from the long walk, so I sat down in front of the tv for an hour while my husband headed back to his computer. Then he decided he wanted to rent a movie, "The House With the Clock In the Walls", (silly and then some, but he loved it, so it was worth it). While he watched that I returned to my ironing project as I knew I couldn't sit and watch a movie for 2 hours without falling asleep, partly from being tired and partly because the movie didn't interest me. hahaha So, one more session of ironing tomorrow and I will be done with that clothes project!
Don't know what tomorrow holds, but for now we are assuming it will at least hold the possiblity of sleeping in!
Had a nice phone chat with a friend from BC this week. She spent several days on a beautiful west coast island at a church leadership retreat and had such a delightful time listening to guest speaker Charles Price. She doesn't get to go away very often and wasn't sure she would enjoy the retreat, but she returned thrilled to bits about it. I am happy for her.
Kat is doing much better after a second surgery a couple of days ago to relieve nerves that were being pinched by the stitches from her first surgery. When the surgeon made the new incision, she discovered a huge seroma under the original incision. She was able to remove all the fluid, release the nerves and send Kat home the following day. Kat's pain levels have dropped from a 10+ to about a 4! She is finally able to sleep for several hours at a time since she is in far less pain. Thank you Lord and thank you praying friends.
Had a nice phone chat with a friend in Ontario this week as well. She and I have similar family issues and seem to be able to be a good support for each other. She is considering moving back out west and I would love that. I miss her.
The weather has continued to be wonderful; just warm enough to be able to go for walks in light jackets and footwear, but not so hot as to melt all the snow at once and cause a lot of flooding in the city. Apparently 48 hours from now it is to be cold again for one day, but after what we went through in January and February, a high of only +1C is not so bad! This spring is bringing a slow warm up, but that is okay. Any sort of warm up is happily welcomed!
Last night there was a gorgeous full moon. It was so huge I felt like I could each up toward the sky and touch it. It must have been very close to the earth to appear that large. How beautiful!
Well, another happy couple of days are at an end and I need to get to bed. I have been tired enough at night to only be able to read a couple of pages of my present book before I am nodding off for the rest of the night.
Hope tomorrow is another good and productive day with more good times with my husband....maybe I could convince him to stay home for our meals this weekend by proposing that we cook a few together. He likes to do that!
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Happiness Is Also.....
....the look of joy on my husband's face when he accepted my proposal to go out for dinner last night. There is a restaurant here that is closing out next week that we have been wanting to try but never have, so decided it was last night or never. I won't bother naming the place because it is only open for another ten days, but it was a good meal. It wasn't as good as the prices indicated it should be, but the gluten free sticky toffee pudding, made with date flour was fabulous (a HUGE portion perfect for two) and with a side of made in house iced cream, the best...we actually started with dessert, something we always say we are going to do and then don't, teehee. The joy for me was searching through my desk drawer in the late afternoon and discovering an envelope with some Christmas gift money someone gave us. I set it aside last December for a special Christmas dinner out for the two of us and then just forgot as life rolled along. So, we celebrated a very late Christmas 2018 with a dessert first dinner in lieu of gifts and had a special date. My Don David wine was so good with the chicken breast in fresh mushroom sauce with wild rice and grilled veggies...actually charred veggies by the time they arrived on my plate, but that was okay. My husband had a lamb curry that was tasty enough but there were corn niblets in the the curry gravy....corn niblets in curry??? He picked out as many as he could but I knew he ate a fair number of them. I can only hope the beer and glass of wine he ingested relaxed his digestive system enough to avoid a corn headache arriving tomorrow or the next day. The main thing is we had a great time, a relaxed time, a good visiting time and we also were thrilled that another couple seated near us requested the blaring music be turned down so we didn't have to do it. hahaha
....the shock of the excellent lab test results from my lab work last week. I am stunned. While the rest of my annual exam confirmed my own home scale's report of an 8 pound weight gain that I have been achieving and losing and regaining and losing and now managing to achieve once more, leaving me determined to continue with my return to proper diet and exercise that I started a couple of weeks ago (more or less...gleep....) everything else is looking good. I was terrified about my A1C results and I did go up 2 tenths of a point, but at 5.6 I am still in normal range and that number motivates me to continue to lose both weight and tenths of points on the next A1C. I know I can. If it went up that little in the past 4-6 months of complete dietary and exercise disaster, then getting my discipline back in both arenas should lower it again in a few months' time. Every other test, including the ones my doctor conducted in her office today worked out just fine!! She congratulated me on trying so hard to remain healthy "in your senior years, my dear.", eeep, "senior years, my dear....sigh...... However, I was too elated by the results to care about my senior citizen status being confirmed yet again. haha Hey, she didn't even have to take my blood pressure twice because I was able to control my nerves well enough to get an accurate reading the first time.
....the doctor's confirmation that the neuropathy I have begun experiencing in the ends of my fingers and toes over the past few weeks is very much likely due to the particular statin I have been taking that has reduced my cholesterol so incredibly well. So, I have a prescription for a new one, a milder one. I am to remain statin free for the next 2-3 weeks before I start the new one, monitoring whether or not the neuropathy begins to wane, then take the new one for 2-3 weeks and see if it worsens. If so, then I am off statins permanently and we will have to find another solution. I am going to head to the health food store and see what they are selling these days to lower cholesterol and if I can't take the statins at all, then I will start the more natural treatments to see if they actually help. I have a friend who swears by them. With my family history and the fact that my necessary osteoporosis drug is causing this unnatural rise in cholesterol, I was hoping the statins could be side effect free, but it looks like it won't happen. I admit I have low hopes for this new one the doctor is trying me on.
....more sunshine, more warmth, more snow and ice melt. In another week it will be safe for me to go walking almost anywhere again.
....my husband waking up early this morning feeling more rested and relaxed and happy than he has almost any morning in the past 4 years; feeling hopeful, excited to be heading off to his weekly Anglican men's breakfast because he didn't feel today like he was pushing himself physically and mentally to attend. He enjoyed his early morning meeting with the Lutherans yesterday as well more than he has since he started. I am watching his health returning slowly but surely now it seems. Feeling that he has permission both from me and from God to not worry overly much about applying for every possible job until he is feeling stronger has helped him a lot to lay the stress aside and trust for the right thing to be found in time.
...preparing the last bit of tonight's Bible study for the Baptist women. I am feeling more confident the past couple of days going over it than I did when I first agreed to take it on. It is only for this evening. Next study will be led by another member of the group, but I am glad now that I overcame my shyness about leading things and am giving it a whirl. This is a particularly forgiving group and for that I am grateful!
....the shock of the excellent lab test results from my lab work last week. I am stunned. While the rest of my annual exam confirmed my own home scale's report of an 8 pound weight gain that I have been achieving and losing and regaining and losing and now managing to achieve once more, leaving me determined to continue with my return to proper diet and exercise that I started a couple of weeks ago (more or less...gleep....) everything else is looking good. I was terrified about my A1C results and I did go up 2 tenths of a point, but at 5.6 I am still in normal range and that number motivates me to continue to lose both weight and tenths of points on the next A1C. I know I can. If it went up that little in the past 4-6 months of complete dietary and exercise disaster, then getting my discipline back in both arenas should lower it again in a few months' time. Every other test, including the ones my doctor conducted in her office today worked out just fine!! She congratulated me on trying so hard to remain healthy "in your senior years, my dear.", eeep, "senior years, my dear....sigh...... However, I was too elated by the results to care about my senior citizen status being confirmed yet again. haha Hey, she didn't even have to take my blood pressure twice because I was able to control my nerves well enough to get an accurate reading the first time.
....the doctor's confirmation that the neuropathy I have begun experiencing in the ends of my fingers and toes over the past few weeks is very much likely due to the particular statin I have been taking that has reduced my cholesterol so incredibly well. So, I have a prescription for a new one, a milder one. I am to remain statin free for the next 2-3 weeks before I start the new one, monitoring whether or not the neuropathy begins to wane, then take the new one for 2-3 weeks and see if it worsens. If so, then I am off statins permanently and we will have to find another solution. I am going to head to the health food store and see what they are selling these days to lower cholesterol and if I can't take the statins at all, then I will start the more natural treatments to see if they actually help. I have a friend who swears by them. With my family history and the fact that my necessary osteoporosis drug is causing this unnatural rise in cholesterol, I was hoping the statins could be side effect free, but it looks like it won't happen. I admit I have low hopes for this new one the doctor is trying me on.
....more sunshine, more warmth, more snow and ice melt. In another week it will be safe for me to go walking almost anywhere again.
....my husband waking up early this morning feeling more rested and relaxed and happy than he has almost any morning in the past 4 years; feeling hopeful, excited to be heading off to his weekly Anglican men's breakfast because he didn't feel today like he was pushing himself physically and mentally to attend. He enjoyed his early morning meeting with the Lutherans yesterday as well more than he has since he started. I am watching his health returning slowly but surely now it seems. Feeling that he has permission both from me and from God to not worry overly much about applying for every possible job until he is feeling stronger has helped him a lot to lay the stress aside and trust for the right thing to be found in time.
...preparing the last bit of tonight's Bible study for the Baptist women. I am feeling more confident the past couple of days going over it than I did when I first agreed to take it on. It is only for this evening. Next study will be led by another member of the group, but I am glad now that I overcame my shyness about leading things and am giving it a whirl. This is a particularly forgiving group and for that I am grateful!
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Happiness Is......
....an early morning chit chat with a friend, right here in person in my very own living room! YES! What a great way to start the day! Bless you my buddy!
....a delicious home made lunch of spaghetti squash smothered in my own tomato/turkey/veggie sauce. Delish! AND I have started to consistently cut down on the amount of food I am ingesting each mealtime, have even been able to remove one carb unit from breakfast with no ill effects. Snacks are almost non-existent now in my schedule....ooh, it feels so good to be back in control of my diet and exercise again!
....a fat slice of banana loaf as part of my breakfast today. Yesterday afternoon I realized a couple of the bananas in the fruit bin were turning rather over ripe, so I made a loaf. It is such a great recipe as I can more than halve the amount of sugar and add an extra half banana instead. There is only 1/3 cup of margarine in the entire loaf, so it isn't high in saturated fats. I had a slice at dinner last evening and my thick breakfast slice and my husband has pretty much demolished the rest of it as of lunchtime. Poor man....I don't bake much, so he gloms onto anything I manage to bake that turns out to be edible and scarfs it down as quickly as possible. hahaha
....a wonderful walk downtown after lunch! This morning my friend and I opted to remain indoors as the temperature hadn't yet risen sufficiently to melt the many frozen puddles on the sidewalks and streets. My husband confirmed, once he arrived home from his own meeting earlier this morning, that we made a wise decision to do our visiting in the living room. However, I have been in need of new blue jeans for the summer and all the utility bills arrived in today's mail, so I walked downtown once the ice melted, to take care of payments and new pants. I found a pair in Cleo's that will work well, but the best ones I found were in The Bay: perfect high rise and not skinny jeans, but not flared legs either. They look nice on someone my age and are soft and comfy for the warmer weather. Now I need to do a cold water wash and set the blue dyes.
....realizing I completely forgot this morning to take out any meat or chili from the freezer, meaning my husband will soon find out that we are going out for dinner tonight! teehee SURPRISE MY DEAR!!! teehee Fortunately the weather is so lovely that I am guessing he will not balk at the idea of going out again, plus it will still be light when we leave the restaurant. He is an evening hibernator in the winter, even worse than myself. So....hmmm....where do we want to go this evening; what type of food do we want to enjoy?? O goody!! A happy ending to the day as well as a happy beginning!
....a delicious home made lunch of spaghetti squash smothered in my own tomato/turkey/veggie sauce. Delish! AND I have started to consistently cut down on the amount of food I am ingesting each mealtime, have even been able to remove one carb unit from breakfast with no ill effects. Snacks are almost non-existent now in my schedule....ooh, it feels so good to be back in control of my diet and exercise again!
....a fat slice of banana loaf as part of my breakfast today. Yesterday afternoon I realized a couple of the bananas in the fruit bin were turning rather over ripe, so I made a loaf. It is such a great recipe as I can more than halve the amount of sugar and add an extra half banana instead. There is only 1/3 cup of margarine in the entire loaf, so it isn't high in saturated fats. I had a slice at dinner last evening and my thick breakfast slice and my husband has pretty much demolished the rest of it as of lunchtime. Poor man....I don't bake much, so he gloms onto anything I manage to bake that turns out to be edible and scarfs it down as quickly as possible. hahaha
....a wonderful walk downtown after lunch! This morning my friend and I opted to remain indoors as the temperature hadn't yet risen sufficiently to melt the many frozen puddles on the sidewalks and streets. My husband confirmed, once he arrived home from his own meeting earlier this morning, that we made a wise decision to do our visiting in the living room. However, I have been in need of new blue jeans for the summer and all the utility bills arrived in today's mail, so I walked downtown once the ice melted, to take care of payments and new pants. I found a pair in Cleo's that will work well, but the best ones I found were in The Bay: perfect high rise and not skinny jeans, but not flared legs either. They look nice on someone my age and are soft and comfy for the warmer weather. Now I need to do a cold water wash and set the blue dyes.
....realizing I completely forgot this morning to take out any meat or chili from the freezer, meaning my husband will soon find out that we are going out for dinner tonight! teehee SURPRISE MY DEAR!!! teehee Fortunately the weather is so lovely that I am guessing he will not balk at the idea of going out again, plus it will still be light when we leave the restaurant. He is an evening hibernator in the winter, even worse than myself. So....hmmm....where do we want to go this evening; what type of food do we want to enjoy?? O goody!! A happy ending to the day as well as a happy beginning!
Monday, March 18, 2019
Quirky Cuteness
Yesterday afternoon as my husband and I were sitting visiting we heard what sounded like trumpet music coming from outside our front windows. We opened a window and sure enough, a young man was standing at the bus stop tootling away for the obviously curious goose couple standing near him by the bus bench where he was waiting for his ride. The had their necks and beads twisted at odd angles as he played, as if trying to figure out what sort of odd creature would be capable of making such strange sounds. They appeared to be completely fascinated. As his transit bus pulled into the stop we opened the window, clapped our hands to let him know we had enjoyed his impromptu concert, he bowed to us and trumpet in hand, boarded the bus with a wave to the still confused and fascinated geese. They stood and watched the bus pull away and gazed after it for the longest time. CUTE!
How Fortunate Am I Today? Rather Fortunate!
Church blessed my socks off today, on a beautiful, sunny, warm St. Patrick's Day morning!!
The first person I saw when I arrived was our resident Irish member wearing a huge bright green bow tie! SO CUTE! And it reminded me that I should call my father this afternoon to wish him a Happy St. Paddy's Day in honour of his Irish dad, my favourite, beloved grandpa! Our friend told us he had put a pot of Irish stew on at 1am so that it would be ready after church to eat while he SKYPE'd with his family in Ireland. hahaha
The one thing I knew I was going to miss today was the chance to sing St. Patrick's Breastplate at an Anglican church, but I was in for a lovely surprise. We didn't sing it at First Baptist, but we prayed about three verses worth in unison as our departing prayer at the end of the service. It brought a tear to my eye. I LOVE that cobbled together old hymn.
The sermon encouraged us and confirmed to us that we are on the right path in taking the time my husband needs to recover his equilibrium after his last crazy job before he dives any deeper into the job search. YES!!
Before the service, we enjoyed the final Learning for Life event on aging and next week there will be a study from the Book of Mark that will last until Easter. That will be good too, I am sure.
After church our LFL leader pulled me aside and encouraged me beyond anything any church leader has ever done before....I am amazed at the humbling things she said to me. I am affirmed, motivated to keep going in the way I practise my faith and feeling blessed beyond measure.
My husband and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day after church by going to our neighbourhood pub for their $6.95 all day breakfast. hahaha Whoopee, eh? hahahaha It was delicious and all the toast that came with it also came home with me to eat later because I wanted to save my carb intake for the delicious diced potatoes. It is SO nice to eat them and not see a pool of oily greasy yuck sitting underneath them on the plate. This place does drain and dry their potato cubes and I so appreciate it. We requested no added salt...done!
We watched some boxing this afternoon and my husband prepared his questions for tomorrow evening's sitting on the ordination examination committee at church. He was given a copy of the candidate's life story today that answered some of his questions and gives him a better idea of what to ask tomorrow.
Had a long phone chat with my parents. They had just come back to their suite from the social room where a celtic band provided some great Irish dance music entertainment. The band leader is an old friend of all our family and he singled my parents out for some band banter throughout the concert. hahaha They were thrilled to be noticed!! hahaha
Tomorrow we may wash the car. I need to look for some higher rise jeans. I need some cleaning wipes for the bathroom fixtures. We both need to get out for a couple of hours and enjoy the good weather. A week from now we are to get freezing rain overnight. That could change in the meantime, but I want to be sure we get out for some exercise and a change of scene as often as possible before the yucky side of the spring weather has a chance to arrive....freezing drizzle, massive freak snow/ice storms and the like.
For those of you still praying for Kat and Vee: Vee had some cortisone shots a few days ago and her pain has subsided to the point where she was able to come to church today for the service. She finally has an appointment with her bone surgeon in 3 weeks' time. Kat is in a bad way with severe pain she is barely able to cope with even with narcotic pain killers. It would appear that there are nerves being pinched by the stitches from her surgery. Tomorrow she is going back to the surgeon and the oncologist and she is likely going to have to have a second surgery to fix the problem. She is understandably upset and scared again. They will do diagnostic tests of some kind first to confirm there is not other problem they missed during/after the surgery. I cannot believe she has coped with this level of pain for this long! What a woman is my friend Kat!! I am getting a couple of holding crosses that a friend of ours makes with great love and skill and giving them to the ladies. They are excited to receive them and when they see the beautiful craftsmanship of our friend, they will be even more delighted. I so often hold mine in my hand and find it comforting and centering on Christ even when I am not ill or in pain.
So, don't stop praying for Kat and Val. In the midst of cancer surgery, impending surgeries, hip replacements and ongoing pain, one of their primary caregivers caught influenza, they spent a day without running water due to a water main break outside their house and various other assorted issues....the past few weeks have been an absolute nightmare.
Thanks prayer warriors!
The first person I saw when I arrived was our resident Irish member wearing a huge bright green bow tie! SO CUTE! And it reminded me that I should call my father this afternoon to wish him a Happy St. Paddy's Day in honour of his Irish dad, my favourite, beloved grandpa! Our friend told us he had put a pot of Irish stew on at 1am so that it would be ready after church to eat while he SKYPE'd with his family in Ireland. hahaha
The one thing I knew I was going to miss today was the chance to sing St. Patrick's Breastplate at an Anglican church, but I was in for a lovely surprise. We didn't sing it at First Baptist, but we prayed about three verses worth in unison as our departing prayer at the end of the service. It brought a tear to my eye. I LOVE that cobbled together old hymn.
The sermon encouraged us and confirmed to us that we are on the right path in taking the time my husband needs to recover his equilibrium after his last crazy job before he dives any deeper into the job search. YES!!
Before the service, we enjoyed the final Learning for Life event on aging and next week there will be a study from the Book of Mark that will last until Easter. That will be good too, I am sure.
After church our LFL leader pulled me aside and encouraged me beyond anything any church leader has ever done before....I am amazed at the humbling things she said to me. I am affirmed, motivated to keep going in the way I practise my faith and feeling blessed beyond measure.
My husband and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day after church by going to our neighbourhood pub for their $6.95 all day breakfast. hahaha Whoopee, eh? hahahaha It was delicious and all the toast that came with it also came home with me to eat later because I wanted to save my carb intake for the delicious diced potatoes. It is SO nice to eat them and not see a pool of oily greasy yuck sitting underneath them on the plate. This place does drain and dry their potato cubes and I so appreciate it. We requested no added salt...done!
We watched some boxing this afternoon and my husband prepared his questions for tomorrow evening's sitting on the ordination examination committee at church. He was given a copy of the candidate's life story today that answered some of his questions and gives him a better idea of what to ask tomorrow.
Had a long phone chat with my parents. They had just come back to their suite from the social room where a celtic band provided some great Irish dance music entertainment. The band leader is an old friend of all our family and he singled my parents out for some band banter throughout the concert. hahaha They were thrilled to be noticed!! hahaha
Tomorrow we may wash the car. I need to look for some higher rise jeans. I need some cleaning wipes for the bathroom fixtures. We both need to get out for a couple of hours and enjoy the good weather. A week from now we are to get freezing rain overnight. That could change in the meantime, but I want to be sure we get out for some exercise and a change of scene as often as possible before the yucky side of the spring weather has a chance to arrive....freezing drizzle, massive freak snow/ice storms and the like.
For those of you still praying for Kat and Vee: Vee had some cortisone shots a few days ago and her pain has subsided to the point where she was able to come to church today for the service. She finally has an appointment with her bone surgeon in 3 weeks' time. Kat is in a bad way with severe pain she is barely able to cope with even with narcotic pain killers. It would appear that there are nerves being pinched by the stitches from her surgery. Tomorrow she is going back to the surgeon and the oncologist and she is likely going to have to have a second surgery to fix the problem. She is understandably upset and scared again. They will do diagnostic tests of some kind first to confirm there is not other problem they missed during/after the surgery. I cannot believe she has coped with this level of pain for this long! What a woman is my friend Kat!! I am getting a couple of holding crosses that a friend of ours makes with great love and skill and giving them to the ladies. They are excited to receive them and when they see the beautiful craftsmanship of our friend, they will be even more delighted. I so often hold mine in my hand and find it comforting and centering on Christ even when I am not ill or in pain.
So, don't stop praying for Kat and Val. In the midst of cancer surgery, impending surgeries, hip replacements and ongoing pain, one of their primary caregivers caught influenza, they spent a day without running water due to a water main break outside their house and various other assorted issues....the past few weeks have been an absolute nightmare.
Thanks prayer warriors!
Saturday, March 16, 2019
OOOOH Yeah! I Like These!
From The Gift: by Gordon and Gladis DePree:
1. When I seek God,
And bring my concerns,
What will He say?
Will He give me the magic solutions,
The instant answers,
The guarantee to remove all troublesome things?
Not always.
If this were so,
I would become weaker and weaker,
More dependent, less of a person.
But when I seek God,
There is one sure promise . . .
He will help me to face up to the situation
And free me from all my fears . . .
And when a situation is faced without fear,
It is no longer a problem.
It is an exciting experience.
I sought the Lord and He answered me, and freed me from all my fears. -- Psalm 34:4 MLB
2. Being a Christian
Is sometimes a state of great frustration.
There are times when we glimpse the vastness
Of the potential
Contained in the Christian gospel,
And then one look around, or within,
Can reveal what a tiny portion of the potential
Is ever actualized,
Or even comprehended.
And we squander our one short life
Not by any willingness to do evil,
But by becoming plodding persons
Who have lost sight of the wonder,
And are caught up in taxes,
The mortgage,
The grocery bill,
And setting the alarm clock,
God, keep the dream alive in me!
Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong.
-- March 3:5 Good News For Modern Man
3. God is central,
Living,
Life itself,
Unorganizable,
Moving, striking, creating.
Man constantly wants to organize God,
To build walls around Him,
To capture Him,
To project life toward Him,
To makd God predictable, stagnant and deadly.
But what is true is true,
And those who worship God not as He is
But as they think He is,
Are only worshiping the creation of their own minds . . .
A worthless idol.
God of truth, you hate those who serve worthless idols . . .
-- Psalm 31:6 TJB
4. Who is that curious, ragged figure
Walking along the lonely seaside,
Sometimes by Himself,
Sometimes in the company of a few bedraggled men . . .
Could that be Jesus Christ,
The man who has caused such change in the world
These two thousand years?
And where does He live?
Does He have a home in keeping with his greatness,
With chariots of the best sort parked outside?
I've heard it said
He doesn't even have a place to rest His head.
They tell me He's a man of ideas,
And Ideals,
That He has such a passion to teach and heal
That He forgets to eat and sleep.
Who is that curious, ragged figure?
I wish He would disappear . . .
He troubles me.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.
-- Hebrews 12:2
1. When I seek God,
And bring my concerns,
What will He say?
Will He give me the magic solutions,
The instant answers,
The guarantee to remove all troublesome things?
Not always.
If this were so,
I would become weaker and weaker,
More dependent, less of a person.
But when I seek God,
There is one sure promise . . .
He will help me to face up to the situation
And free me from all my fears . . .
And when a situation is faced without fear,
It is no longer a problem.
It is an exciting experience.
I sought the Lord and He answered me, and freed me from all my fears. -- Psalm 34:4 MLB
2. Being a Christian
Is sometimes a state of great frustration.
There are times when we glimpse the vastness
Of the potential
Contained in the Christian gospel,
And then one look around, or within,
Can reveal what a tiny portion of the potential
Is ever actualized,
Or even comprehended.
And we squander our one short life
Not by any willingness to do evil,
But by becoming plodding persons
Who have lost sight of the wonder,
And are caught up in taxes,
The mortgage,
The grocery bill,
And setting the alarm clock,
God, keep the dream alive in me!
Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong.
-- March 3:5 Good News For Modern Man
3. God is central,
Living,
Life itself,
Unorganizable,
Moving, striking, creating.
Man constantly wants to organize God,
To build walls around Him,
To capture Him,
To project life toward Him,
To makd God predictable, stagnant and deadly.
But what is true is true,
And those who worship God not as He is
But as they think He is,
Are only worshiping the creation of their own minds . . .
A worthless idol.
God of truth, you hate those who serve worthless idols . . .
-- Psalm 31:6 TJB
4. Who is that curious, ragged figure
Walking along the lonely seaside,
Sometimes by Himself,
Sometimes in the company of a few bedraggled men . . .
Could that be Jesus Christ,
The man who has caused such change in the world
These two thousand years?
And where does He live?
Does He have a home in keeping with his greatness,
With chariots of the best sort parked outside?
I've heard it said
He doesn't even have a place to rest His head.
They tell me He's a man of ideas,
And Ideals,
That He has such a passion to teach and heal
That He forgets to eat and sleep.
Who is that curious, ragged figure?
I wish He would disappear . . .
He troubles me.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.
-- Hebrews 12:2
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