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Oprah does a "favorites" show where she gives the audience one of each of her favorite things. I'm not going to be doing that. Lately, though, I've been making a mental note of things that are my idea of perfection in their classification. I have no idea why. At any rate, at my age, I decided that writing things down is really a better plan than mentally noting! In fact, I'll probably have to keep adding to this extremely disparate list because I'll never remember them all. I invite you to add you own ideas of perfection on your own blogs and send me a link: The perfect diet soda - Diet Cherry Coke. It just doesn't get any better than this -- not even the real thing. The perfect non-fat, no sugar-added yogurt - Krogers brand coconut cream pie. A dollop of sugar-free whipping cream and I swoon just thinking about it. The perfect mouthful of food - Spicy Crunchy Tuna Roll. It has softness, crunch, it is spicy, and well, it is sushi! The perfect coffee, fully loaded - Trader Joe's French Roast. The perfect decaf coffee - Fresh Market's orange. It really tastes delightfully of cardamom. The perfect place to buy books online - www.half.com. None of that pesky bidding, and you can choose what condition you can put up with to manipulate the price. The perfect travel book - Fodor's. You get suggested routes for touring, restaurant reviews, hotel reviews, tips and pointers you would have never dreamed of inquiring about. We don't travel anywhere new without one. These books have never let us down. Okay, well hardly ever. There was that hotel in Germany that was pricier than the book said, and that dump in Rome... The perfect time-saving device - DVR (I think this is similar to Tivo). I never waste time sitting around watching my favorite shows on the schedule of the stations that program them. Now I waste time sitting around watching my favorite shows when it is convenient for me. More to come. |
Posted in contemplation
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There really is nothing quite like gaily walking down your deck stairs in the dark with bare feet, only to put your full weight down on a good sized frog at the bottom. What a terrible way to depart this world. At times like that, I am most grateful that I do not believe in reincarnation. |
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Nine-year old Middle Son: "Mom, do you think Sally's tail is voice activated?" |
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There's a lady at church who is contantly giving me self-help books. She's one of those people who remembers everyone's birthday and never fails to arrive at church armed with a gift on the appropriate weekend before. I arrive with a gift for her sometime in the month after, because, as I've said before, I'm just a rotten friend. But I digress. Clearly, judging from all my past gifts from her, she believes I need much self-help. (And to read Aretha Franklin's biography, but that's a blog for another day.) Finally, I explained to her that I simply don't read that stuff and in fact, loathe self-help books! First of all, I'm really not at all sure that I would choose to change the same things SHE thinks I need to change, and judging from past results, I'm powerless to change anything anyway. In short, it is my policy to avoid self-improvement books, programs, videos, you name it. Just too depressing to wake up the same ole Queenofthehill, morning after morning, with all the same flaws hanging out there for the world to see and a lot of wasted energy and emotion spent in trying to change the unchangeable. Not to mention that renewed sense of being a failure. Who needs all that negativity??? I really felt pretty dogmatic about this, until this past week. I suffered a terrible blow in the pride department a couple of weeks ago (Dad2Three tells the story better than I ever could) and the ensuing depression and literal nightmares I suffered as a result have spawned something of a spiritual awakening for me that has me thinking and praying a lot more. This, combined with a recent weight loss of 44 pounds (as of 8/19/08), caused a light bulb to go off: if I could change my habits and my lifestyle significantly enough to lose 44 pounds, what ELSE could I improve about myself if I set my mind to it? So now there's a world of possibilities. Will I become a better housekeeper? It can really be quite overwhelming. It was a lot simpler to believe that I was impervious to all attempts to change me for the better. But God, in His infinite wisdom has sent me a theme song. Much in the manner that "Wheels on the Bus" or "It's a Small World After All" stick in your head until you want to scream, but still the point was taken. I guess I could accurately label it a "mission statement." Are you familiar with that old hymn Make Me a Blessing? Those are very simple words. I look at my beautiful children, one who will soon be a TEEN, one who is at that peculiar age of 9, and one who is a Really Terrible Two, and I want to drink in every moment of their lives, memorize every funny face they make, and... not make one false move. I want to be a blessing to them. I want to nurture them to be able to meet every iota of potential that is worthy of meeting. I want to create in them warm, fuzzy memories of their childhood and, well, ME! I want them to have warm and fuzzies when they think of Mommy. I do not want them to get a visual of a shrieking fish wife, which is what I am when I'm stressed out -- which is what I get as a result of poor organization and NO planning. In short, I want to do better by them. Like with so many goals, that takes a multi-pronged approach. To eliminate stress in my life will force a number of lifestyle changes. To create a more enjoyable home and school environment will take a number of other steps. To deal with them in patience will take a completely different set of changes. Can I do what it takes? I would have said "no way" a few weeks ago. I pray that God will "Make Me a Blessing" to them.
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Posted in motherhood
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I have really done a disappearing act from my blog lately. I've been caught up in my latest weight loss enterprise and just didn't have any spare brain cells left to write with. All day today I've had the hymn "Resting in the Arms of Jesus" running through my head. Well, maybe not all day; just since the cat bit my baby viciously on the cheek (there's probably not a non-vicious way to bite someone). This inspired the murderous thoughts that eventually led to my mental choice of hymns. I've owned and hated this cat for four years. It was abandoned at a rental house next door to us at our previous domicile and we quickly learned why. But we felt sorry for her, so rather than abandon her a second time, we brought her with us to the house on the hill. And we've lived to regret it. While her name is Honey, it really should have been Lucifer, if you know want I mean. Sure, she's all friendly when you come up on the porch, but if you make one wrong move, or stop petting her when she really wants you to continue, she'll bite. At one time or another, she's bitten all of us. We warn all our guests, but all are still shocked when she bites their little Johnny or Jane. And now she's gone too far. My neighbor the vet says we need to keep her another 10 days to make sure she doesn't keel over from some dread disease that could impact baby. But that cat has all her shots, so I'm not worried about her health. But how does one do the right thing with a pet (execute it summarily at dawn, in this case) without traumatizing your children? My husband thinks we should try the direct approach and explain that she's simply not pet material for anyone and really, there's not another job available for cats. His point being to convince them that sending her on to the next of her 9 lives is the right thing to do. I, on the other hand, am still really, really mad at my mother for putting the family dog down when I was 10, so I think that's a terrible idea. I'm thinking of calling in a hit man who'll just arrange for a sudden, unexplained disappearance. And the kids can just believe she's found a better porch to cover with hair, or a warmer hearth, or maybe even some people that like her. But I'll know she's "Resting in the Arms of Jesus." Or in her case, maybe she'll be off in the other direction... You can see that it might be in my children's best interest not to know exactly how mean I can be when it comes to that monstrous cat. When you and your spouse have had to make these tough decisions about pets, how did you talk about it to your kids? Or did you? HELP! |