Bones

This morning I read in the news that there is a famine in Somalia. 

Famine is officially defined as when two adults or four children per 10,000 people die of hunger each day and a third of children are acutely malnourished. In some areas of Somalia, six people are dying a day and more than half the children are acutely malnourished.

Today I wondered what it feels like to be starving.  And how it must feel to not be able to feed your child.

Then I spent $7.97 on a dog bone at Walmart.

I wonder.

General Information

Why does my mind go off on weird tangents? 

While I was coding some reports today, the clinical information stated the patient had "general weakness".  Another common diagnosis is "general malaise". 

I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering what kind of army would be led by General Malaise and General Weakness.  French maybe? 

That's all.

Zip Drive

I wonder where all those memories are stored in our brains. 

My mother keeps coming up with stories that neither myself or my dad have heard before.  (and they just had their 65th anniversary).  Memories from her childhood.  Memories in a forgotten language.  It's as if there is no more room for new memories and the old ones have started to float to the surface.  She is forgetting more and more of today's life and remembering more of yesterday's. 

Yesterday she started singing a song in Russian.  She grew up next to a Russian Orthodox church and said as kids they used to sit on a wall and sing along with the service going on inside.  Her native tongue was Slovak.  Her and her sisters started school not knowing any English.   I can only imagine how frustrating it would have been to be the first grade teacher then.  Most of the children only knew their parents language.  Slovak, Italian, Polish, Russian.  She had to teach them English.  And everything else a first grade teacher is supposed to teach them. 

Somehow I think if I start remembering things from my childhood, it won't be any where close to as interesting as the stories my parents tell.  I hope I can remember all their stories and pass them on.  What an amazing time they have lived in. 

Do you have a favorite story of your parents childhood?

I wonder if anyone missed me.

So to my faithful readers...you know who you are...I wonder if I should make more of an effort to blog.

Hard to believe my last post was in February.  I wonder where all the time went?  

In case YOU are wondering...I did indeed still wonder about things on a daily basis.  Why no blog?  Well I discovered that maybe, perhaps, OK...so I didn't just discover this...that I have a bit of a obsessive tendency. 

So when I would have just liked to blog from the top of my head, I found myself thinking all day long about what I should wonder about and blog about and then it ended up I wasn't honestly wondering but rather purposely wondering so I could blog about it.  If that makes sense to you...maybe you should worry.  I just needed to take a break and move on to my next obsession.  But I still composed blogs in my head from time to time and always thought I would like to try again.  Then my kids started asking what happened to my blog and so here I am again.

I was going to go on a totally different direction with this, but between the last paragraph and this one, I took the dog outside for a walk and while I was in the front yard, I just witnessed a hawk get killed by a motorcycle.  Now there is a dead hawk on the road right in front of my driveway.  I wonder about random things like that.  Was there some reason I was outside at just that exact moment?  And if so, what reason?  Of course now I am obsessing about how I can go out and somehow bring it up to the house without anyone noticing.  It would be a shame for all those nice feathers to just be run over by cars and trucks when I would be happy to keep them safe.  Is it against the law to collect feathers?  I think I read that somewhere.  Now that's a law to wonder about.  If the bird already dropped the feather, then what's the harm in taking it home and keeping it?  

This really isn't such an interesting post...but it's all I can come up with for the moment.  I have to go check on that dead hawk.  My neighbor across the street better not steal it. 

I'll fly away.

I told you I wondered about birds a lot.  We have bird feeders right outside our back window, so that might have something to do with it.  I think we lived here three or four years before they finally started coming to our feeders.  Which I thought was pretty strange considering there is nothing behind our house but a big field and beyond the field, a GIANT hole....but I'll leave the hole for another day.  And beside our house on one side is woods and an abandoned farm.  So you would think there would have been a lot of birds hanging around.  I wonder what they were waiting for? 

Anyway, looking at birds or any wildlife for that matter gives me a chance to use one of my favorite words.  Anthropomorphize.  Which means to ascribe human characteristics to things not human.  Like birds.  My cousin taught that word to me many years ago.  I still remember because I thought it was cool to learn such a big word and even cooler to have a name for something I do all the time anyway. 

So I think about birds like people.  They come in all different shapes and sizes, like people.  They have their own special habits unique to their type of bird, kind of like different people groups have different cultures.  They live in different types of homes, like people do.  They come in different colors and so do we.

One of my favorite observations concerning birds came from watching some wild turkeys.  The male was strutting around looking all fancy with his tail all splayed out and thinking he was so special.  The female just kept pecking and walking across the field and totally ignored him.  But he kept strutting his stuff.  Now tell me you haven't seen similar behavior among humans. 

Bird courtship behaviors can include...singing, elaborate displays of feathers, building a nest, dancing, preening, and offering food.   Need I say more?  

Reality check

Sometimes I wonder what I want to be when I grow up. 

Then I remember that I am grown up. 

What a bummer. 

Today was one of those days.   It's not that I absolutely hate my job or anything.  I am thankful to have a job.  But there are so many things I think I might be interested in.  I'd like to be one of those picker guys who go around digging in peoples old barns and outbuildings looking for cool stuff to sell.  I'd like to be one of those experts on the Antiques Roadshow who know all about old stuff.  I'd like to be the person who sets up the displays in museums.  I'd like to be on the Jeopardy Clue Crew.  I'd like to be a professional organizer.  I'd like to be a librarian.  I'd like to be a professional volunteer...which I know is not a real job, but I think it would be cool to just be able to have the time to volunteer instead of work. 

So, who knows?  I guess I just don't want to stop wondering what I will be when I grow up. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Two for the price of one.

To you my loyal readers. (both of you)  No I did not forget to blog nor did I have a day without wondering.  I simply fell asleep on the couch last night which rendered me incapable of clearing my head enough to write.  That's what happens when I try to stay up past 10:00. 

Yesterday we went to the movies to see The King's Speech.  I think this may have been the first drama we ever went to see.  An entire movie without any shooting or explosions.  Imagine.  I think Marty felt like he owed this to me.  Not that I don't want to see the movies with the shooting and explosions, but on occasion I would like to see something a little more cerebral. 

What struck me most about this movie was simply that it made me look at royalty from a different angle.  I'm not one to be moonstruck by actors or other famous people.  I don't make it a habit to know what is going on in their lives.  Actually I think I just have dismissed royalty altogether as spoiled rich people who think themselves better than everyone else.  I never really thought about their position from their point of view.  The movie made me wonder what it would really be like to live like they do.  Sure, all the fancy homes and food and clothes and travel would be nice.  But what about not having any real friends or being raised by nannies and governesses?  What about not being able to just go out for a walk or to the store?  How would it be to be raised to think you really were above the "common man"?  How would it be to feel like you really couldn't trust anyone because they are only nice to you so they could get something from you?  I just wouldn't want that kind of life. 

Romans 13:1 says there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Kings and royalty should have our respect for that reason alone.  And maybe they could use a little empathy on our part as well.  On the other hand, sometimes a king can be a despicable tyrant who needs to be removed.  OK, so I am rambling now...back to the movie.  I liked it.  And for the record, it was the story of George VI (the current Queen Elizabeth's) father and his problem with stuttering and how he overcame it as well as became king in place of his brother Edward (who famously abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson).  Just to clarify...so you don't think the movie was as boring as my blog today.

As for today...this morning in Sunday School someone brought up how the priests used to have bells on their robes and a rope tied to their leg when they went into the Holy of Holies.  That way if the bells stopped, they would know the priest was dead and could pull him out.  So I wondered if this was the origin of the phrase "with bells on".  Possibly, but apparently it's not sure where the phrase came from.  At least according to my Google search.  There are several possibilities including it referring to sailor's bell bottoms, bells on the collars of harnesses of horses.  The latter seems to be the main contender since it would fit the meaning of the phrase best.  To be there with bells on implies eagerness.  So my guess about the priests robes seems a little off.  Oh well, can't learn if you don't wonder. 

So all in all, a pretty boring two for the price of one blog about my inane wonderings.  Sometimes you get what you paid for. 

Who cooks for you?

When Marty and I were dating, we had a lot of late night drives home.  He lived in Butler and I lived in Sharon.  It was 40 miles between houses.  Considering we saw each other almost every night and didn't drive home until we had watched at least part of Conan...they were definitely moonlight treks.  But the interesting thing about driving at that time of night is the programs you can find on the radio.  One of our favorites was Coast to Coast with George Noory.  Most of the time we couldn't wait until the next day so we could relate what crazy thing we heard.

If you are not familiar with Coast to Coast...well, then I would consider that a good thing.  The subject matter could range from UFO's to Sasquatch to the Mothman to psychic predictions or any other crazy out of the ordinary phenomenon.  And the best part was how serious these discussions seemed to be.  

Now what made me bring this up is owls.  I was sitting in my living room tonight looking around and noticing all the owls.  I started to wonder about all those owls.  I mean, I know how the owl thing got started with us but I just wondered why they were so appealing to me.  What is it about owls that I like?  They just make me happy.  I like their big eyes and the expressions on their faces.  I like their feathers.  I like the way they sound.  So back to Coast to Coast.

I'm trying to tie this all together for you.

One night Marty was driving and listening to Coast to Coast and a guy called in and said that every time he sees an owl, a light goes out.  He could be at home watching TV and a nature program would come on with an owl and...a light bulb burns out.  He would be at Walmart and see one of those plastic garden owls...and a light would go out.  Well we thought this was pretty funny mainly because we thought...how often do you see an owl anyway?   Turns out, once we said that...we noticed an owl every day.   You just have to be aware and looking for them.  They really are everywhere.  Then we started buying owls for each other.  Then other people noticed we had owls and they started buying them for us.  And that is how you end up sitting in your living room looking at owls.  Coast to Coast.

Owls have special feathers that help them to fly almost silently.  There are over 150 different species of owls.  Owls can rotate their heads up to 270 degrees.  A barn owl can eat up to 1000 mice in a year.  (I need one at my house)  An owl can hear a mouse from 60 feet away.  Owls have three sets of eyelids. 

You can watch an owl here.

And one of the best owl related things to happen to us.   After we got married and moved to our new house...one night we heard an owl hooting right outside our bedroom window!!!   We still hear it from time to time.   It says...hoo, hoohoohoo, hoo.   

According to a bird book that I have (all good bird nerds have a bird book or two),  some owls say...who, who cooks for you....

Have you seen an owl today? 

Dream a Little Dream

I work 40 hours a week from home.  I sit and stare at the computer all day and read x-ray reports.  So you would think that the weather would not effect my work.  It did.  There are also people who work part time for the company I work for.  They code a few hours a night after their regular jobs to earn extra money.  Well apparently, several of them did not have to go to their regular jobs due to the big storm across the country.  So they logged in and worked during the day since they were home.  Good for them, bad for me.  I only managed to work 5 hours yesterday because they logged in and took all my work.  All this to say...I just worked 11 hours straight to make up for it. 

I feel like my eyes might fall out of my head.  So I need to keep this short and be off to bed.  And I really didn't have time today to wonder much except what diagnosis code to use. 

I'm not sure what prompted it, but I did wonder about dreams.  I don't usually remember too much of my dreams.  Marty is good for remembering unusually long dreams that have lots of things going on.  I'm lucky to remember one detail.  But the other night I do remember dreaming that I was at my old job at Radiology Associates (which was 1994-2000) and there were 8 patients scheduled for fluoro exams and I only had 4 barium enema bags and for some reason I was unable to do Upper GI's and so I was looking at the schedule and trying to figure out who scheduled that many and why they even scheduled any UGI's when I specifically said that we could no longer do them.  So I said I would check with Dr. Allen (who passed away last year) and I went to ask him about the Upper GI's and he walked into another room before I could ask him and I could see him through a frosted glass window but couldn't talk to him.  So what does this all mean?  I have no idea. 

I wonder what dreams are all about.  I can't say I've ever had a dream with any particular significance.  But some people do.  There are important examples of dreams in the Bible.  There are recurring themes in dreams that are supposed to mean something...like being chased or falling.  Your teeth falling out is supposed to signify anxiety.  (I used to have that one frequently).  I read that Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his own assassination.  The inventor of the sewing machine had a dream that solved a problem he had been trying to figure out with his invention.  I looked up dreams on Wikipedia and there are a lot of interesting ideas and scientific and psychological theories about dreams.  But since I have such a great need to go to sleep and dream right now myself, I will let you read that on your own. 

The study of dreams is called oneirology. 

Have any crazy dreams you'd like to share?  

Clutter

I had a frustrating day "at" work today.  This has effected my wondering.  My mind hasn't been clear enough to just think.  Well to think about anything worthwhile anyway.  

I wonder if this is why a lot of people go through life without that sense of wonder.  Are they too busy trying to get ahead, too busy being obsessed with the next best thing, too busy working to pay for the bigger house and newer car? 

Take a deep breath and just wonder about the amazing things in life.  Babies, snowflakes, love, sunshine, flowers, trees, chocolate. 

What has amazed you today?

It's Complicated.

I have to take continuing education tests to keep up my coding certification.  Here's an example:  What code(s) describe contralateral approach to treat combined SFA, profunda femoral and separate popliteal artery stenoses with angioplasty at all three separate sites, all with 50 percent residual stenoses requiring stent placement at all three sites? 

I wonder how things got to be so complicated.  Everything that is supposed to be making our lives better is just so complicated.  Medicine, technology, transportation, food, communication.  It is just all so complex.  Even just trying to figure out how to send a bill for a medical procedure takes a lot of thought, not to mention all the complexities of the actual procedure. 

The Walmart in Butler doesn't carry the bread we like to buy.  Marty and I like to joke about this.  We stand in the bread aisle with hands on hips and stomp our foot and say...I can't believe they don't have that bread!...as we stare at about a hundred different kinds of white, wheat, honey wheat, whole wheat, rye, low-fat, multi-grain, sunflower seed, Italian and cinnamon swirl breads.  We've talked about it before.  How dare we complain when we are offered such variety.  Even bread can be complicated.  We demand our options. 

When the weather is warmer, I have been making my own bread.  I was tired of all the additives and unknown substances in store-bought bread (more unnecessary complication) and decided to try to make my own.  Flour, yeast, water, oil and salt.  And it is really pretty easy.  And it is the best bread you could ask for.  It is bread in it's simplest form.  Bread of life. 

Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life."   So we had to complicate that, too.  We have Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Mormons.  We've turned Jesus into that bread aisle at Walmart.  And if we don't find what we want there, we stomp our feet and complain. 

I want Jesus without the man-made additives.  

There's a new kid in town.

My sweet precious little granddaughter, Josie is now a big sister!  Her new brother, Uriah Cole was born today.  She's no longer an only child.  I can't wait to visit and meet new baby brother! 

I wonder what it's like to have a sibling.  Josie now has someone that she is forever connected to in a way she is connected to no other.  They will share memories that will be just between the two of them.  They can joke about their parents and their childhood and all the memories that come from growing up together. 

I consider myself an only child.  I know that sounds strange to say I "consider" myself to be an only.  You either are or you aren't, right?  Well...kind of.  When someone asks me if I have any siblings, I hesitate with my answer.  If I'm looking for the short answer I will say no.  Let me explain.  My parents adopted a girl before I was born.  She was about 12 or 13 when I was born and left home when she turned 18.  To this day, I really have never heard the entire story or much about her.  My mother does not like to talk about it.  So she was really only around the first 5 or 6 years of my life.  I think I should have memories of her, but I don't.  Funny, but the only thing I remember clearly was her clothes in the dresser that was in our room.  So I was pretty much raised as an only child and I am an only biological child.  I grew up wondering how it would be if I had a brother or sister. 

Of course being an only child has advantages that I'm sure other kids dreamed about.  Always your own room.  No one trying to take your toys.  All the attention.  Everything is yours.  But on the other hand, there is no one to share stories with.  Someday when my parents are gone, there isn't anyone for me to talk about growing up with.  The memories are mine alone...just another thing that an only child has all to herself. 

So I am glad that Josie has a brother.  I hope and pray they make many good and fun memories together and will always be friends.  Welcome to the world, little boy. 

Closed Captioned for the Hearing Impaired

We (as in my kids and I) used to take great delight in the fact that my parents would watch PBS with the closed captioning turned on because they "can't understand all that British talk".  As the years went by, the closed captioning began to be on more often until it was just on all the time.  Not due to British  but due to lack of hearing.  Well, my time has come.  I use closed captioning quite a bit.  More than I care to admit.  And I'm not talking only for bonnet movies on PBS.  I just can't hear most of the dialogue anymore. 

This came in handy the other night to verify a line we heard while watching the John Wayne version of True Grit.  Robert Duvall's character, Ned Pepper, is holding a gun to Mattie Ross and yells, "I never busted a cap on a woman or anybody much under sixteen!"   Marty and I looked at each other and said...WHAT?...he just said bust a cap.  Now that's funny. 

I wondered...actually we both wondered about the origin of that phrase.  We thought it was a recent term from "gansta" culture.  Yes, I just said gansta...but besides that...I figured it made that phrase at least as old as the movie or book.   After doing a Google search on this, I find out a lot of people wondered the same thing after seeing that movie.  I suppose if you think about it you can figure it out for yourself...it refers to the old time firing of a gun which required a percussion cap to make the gun shoot.  I bet when the movie first came out, no one even paid any attention to that phrase.  Anyway, just wanted to share this with you because I thought it was pretty funny to hear (and read) a western cowboy outlaw say bust a cap just like a modern day gang member. 

I love Google...it really helps with the wondering.  Did I say that before?   Probably.  I feel like I am repeating stuff but...did I mention I love Google?  You can find an answer for any question.  It's up to you whether you believe it or not. 

Speaking of Robert Duvall...did you know his first movie role was Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.  "You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he's asleep." 

And with that, I say, I should be asleep, too. Now I just hope I don't dream that Boo Radley is petting my head. 

Back in the USSR.

I've been working on a photo album for Marty with all his Navy pictures.  I actually made it for him for a gift several years ago and presented it unfinished.  I'm trying to finish it now.  I am currently putting in photos of Moscow.   There are quite a few pictures of a military parade.   Cold War military might at it's best.   Lots of tanks and missiles and such.  In one picture there is a soldier looking at the camera with a big grin on his face. 

I started to wonder what his life might have been like.   Russia in 1989.  The Soviet Union.  Nearing the end of the Cold War.  I think of Moscow as cold and gloomy.  I imagine living in one of those huge architecturally bland communist housing blocks.  The average sized 2 bedroom apartment in Moscow is 485 square feet.  I read a statistic that stated Russia has over 500,000 alcohol related deaths per year as compared to 75,000 in the US.  I don't really know how that works out percentage wise, but it's been a notorious problem in Russia throughout their history.  So I'm imagining a gloomy life for that smiling young soldier.  

I hope that it wasn't really as bad as I think.  The sun does also shine in Moscow.  People live and love and have families like the rest of the world.  Maybe his smile continued on for many years.  I only know that I am glad that I live in the United States and not in Russia. 

I like to look at photos and wonder.

There is no try.

I've been wondering why my back hurts so much.  Granted, I do sit in a chair all day in front of the computer...do you think that could be it?   Well, yes...but I've been feeling extremely uncomfortable in my office chair as of late.  Today I just couldn't stand it anymore.  I thought...this chair didn't bother me so much when I first got it, why is it so bad now?   I got up out of my seat and examined my chair.  Oops.  The adjustment that makes the seat back higher or lower had slipped and was too low so the lumbar support was in the wrong place.  How long had it been that way?   Months, probably. 

So I started thinking about how many things that I complain about or make me feel bad physically are partially or even completely self-inflicted.  My back hurt because I didn't adjust my chair properly.  My legs ache from sitting all day but if I exercise regularly, they feel better.  My stomach feels upset and I get heartburn but if I eat healthy food and cut out the junk, I feel fine.  I complain about things I need to get done but waste my spare time watching dumb stuff on TV.  I take a pill for high cholesterol because it's easier than changing my diet.  (I'm working on that one.) 

I used to be really confused when I would read in Romans 7 where Paul is talking about not doing what he knows he should be doing. I've always thought of that as the Yoda passage.  The word "do" is in there a lot.  In verses 15-21, I counted it 16 times.  But it's funny because where this used to confuse me, it suddenly makes perfect sense.  "For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do."   So Paul struggled with the same kinds of things.   I know what I need to do but I don't always do it.  "For what I will to do"...work on fun projects around the house..."that I do not practice,"...."but what I hate,".....sitting around watching TV...."that I do."   

It really seems so clear.   Now to make the change.   And I need to apply that to my spiritual life as well...as the passage was intended.   I'm pretty sure Paul wasn't talking about watching TV here.  Actually, I need to start with the spiritual and I bet the physical would get better as well. 

To sum it all up....Do, or do not.  There is no try.  

.

Happy is as happy does.

I saw that Oprah was going to have a show about happiness.  I didn't watch it but it prompted me to wonder about what she might consider that to mean.  And to wonder what that means to me.  Or maybe what it should mean. 

Our culture would have us think that things and stuff will make us happy.  Maybe it does for a brief while but when that wears off it leaves us with discontent instead.  I think happiness really comes from choosing to be happy in whatever situation you may be in.  Of course, I realize that is not always an easy thing to do.  Sometimes it's a lot easier to just be miserable. 

I am reminded of a book Tom liked when he was little.  The title was Fortunately Unfortunately.  In the book things happened to a boy like...unfortunately, he fell out of the airplane.  Fortunately, he had a parachute.  Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute.  Fortunately, there was a haystack on the ground.  Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork in the haystack...and on it goes.  But it's kind of like that with happiness.  We can look at the fortunately side of things and be happy or dwell on the unfortunately and be sad.  Optimism or pessimism.  Contentment or discontent.  

Working from home makes me happy.  Having to work 40 hours a week doesn't.  Having a warm house makes me happy.  Cold and snow outside doesn't.  Losing 5 pounds makes me happy.  Not eating cookies every day doesn't.  My kids make me happy.  Them living so far away doesn't.  Josie makes me happy.  Not getting to hug her every day doesn't.  So I really think we can choose to look at our blessings and be happy with them.  I'm trying. 

Proverbs 16:20 says...And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. 

Philippians 4:11 says...for I have learned in whatever state I am in, to be content. 

I want to choose to remember that and be happy with the blessings in my life.  I hope you will choose to be happy, too.     

I love technology, but not as much as you, you see.

I love pancit.  So I was glad that we went to a restaurant in Grove City that has Filipino food.  Not many places like that around here.  I had a nice chat with the owner and told her about our Filipina sister-in-law.  In the course of the conversation, she asked if our sister-in-law ever went home to the Philippines to visit.  We told her that she had been back a couple of times.  

This made me wonder what that must be like.  I have always lived pretty close to my parents and extended family.  If I want to "go home" for a visit, it's only 30 miles to Sharpsville.  It must be really hard to only get to visit your mom once every 5 years or so, if that.  Both of my kids live far, but at least it is still affordable and doesn't require a ridiculously long airplane trip.  Pretty long, but not ridiculously long.   

This makes me wonder about my grandmother and the other millions of immigrants like her.  How many of them came to America and never saw their parents again?   My grandmother came here to marry my grandfather without really knowing him.  I'm not sure if they had met previously or not.  She looks sad and forlorn in her wedding picture.  I can't decide if she looks more sad or scared.  She was probably both.  She came here on a boat with only what she could carry to marry someone she didn't know and live somewhere she knew nothing about.  She didn't know how to speak English.  She was only 18 years old and had to leave her home and parents.  Any communication with them would have been through letters.  No Skype.    And how many times was this same story was being played out by so many other women?   They really had to be strong.   It's no wonder that people from the same ethnic background settled together in communities to have that little sense of the old country.  To have others to relate to and talk to.  To have a little piece of home. 

And to go back even a bit farther in my wondering....imagine what it must have been like to leave your home in the pioneer days or for settlers like the Pilgrims.  They didn't even have much of a chance of contacting their families by letters.   If they were lucky enough to get a letter, it would be a long time in getting there.  You might leave your home and never ever know what happened to your parents and family and never ever see or talk to them again.  No photos, nothing.  People back then had to have a lot more guts and gumption than we do now.  I'm not much of a one for change.  I would probably have been one of the ones left back in the old country.  Which is OK I guess, someone had to stay there or Europe would be empty. 

So if I am tempted to complain too much about not being able to see Josie as often as I'd like...I need to remind myself that at least I do get to see her and that I can see photos online and print them instantly from my own computer.  And I can see her in real time on Skype.  And I can watch videos of her.  I am thankful that I live in the times that I do.  Sometimes I wish life was simpler and that my phone still had a cord and didn't come with me everywhere I go.  But most of the time, I'm glad I can send a photo of The Corral to my kids to make them jealous.  Modern technology does indeed make my connection to my family better than my grandmother's.  

I challenge you today to send a little love out to your family...email them a photo...just because you can. 

Aber Lincolnham

Today one of the reports I was coding noted that the patient was a "poor historian".  I know that means the patient is unable to answer questions about his medical condition for one reason or another.  And I don't mean to make light of that fact.  But I wondered what that might look like in another context.  I can't help what pops into my brain. 

I imagined the technologist with pen and requisition in hand, saying...What year was the Spanish Armada defeated?...patient-I don't know...tech-When did Christopher Columbus land in the New World?...patient-I don't know...tech-Who was the 16th president of the United States?...patient-I don't know...tech-My, my you really don't know much about history do you? as she jots down "poor historian" on the requisition. 

Maybe you have to work in the medical field to find that funny.  I keep a notebook with words and phrases that I have encountered on actual reports.  Here are a few:

Patient fell.  Speaking Greek.  Usually speaks English.
Patient returned for further violation of a subtle area of possible distortion in the right breast.
Swallowed a fly.
Hit right knee with hammer.  Now has pain. 
Belching and hip popping for two weeks.   
Manopause.
Unable to take out tongue.
90 year old female with pregnancy. 
Correlation with Mr. Cycle recommended.
The handmade and a piece of form.   (This was supposed to be the hamate and pisiform-bones in the wrist)
The right apex is not well seen due to overlying clavicle and the patient's physician.
Hammertoes deformity of the right 2nd and 12th possible third toes.  
The patient states Dr. polo knee has a lump in his chest.  
Hit center of chest with sofa while eating peanuts.  
Vomiting after eating for 2 months.  
The patient has a car on the left side of the face and head.
Otto accident.
According to nursing home patient became SOB.
Patient starts drinking at 9:20.
Restroom failure.  
Feeling woozy.  Having blur.
Diagnosis:  Fell on knees.   Accident place:  At church

This is just a highlight of my collection from the past 10 years or so.  I have pages of them.  Most of them are only funny to other medical people.  Like the funny x-ray school story that I told Marty the other day.  He looked at me expectantly like he was waiting for the punch line.  But there wasn't any more to the story.  I said I guess it's only funny to other x-ray techs.   

I hope you got a laugh or two out of reading this.  And I pray that you will always be a good historian and that if you ever need to go to the hospital the people you encounter are good historians, too.  I don't want to add your patient history to my list. 

And in case you were wondering...the 16th President of the United States was Aber Lincolnham. 

My mind is an 8-Track.

Marty got a phone call from our pastor tonight and I was trying to signal to him to ask our pastor something while he had him on the phone.  Apparently, Marty can either listen to who is on the phone or to me but not to both at the same time.  Strange.

I wonder what it would feel like to only have one thought in your head at a time.  Ladies...you know what I'm talking about.  I can be working and simultaneously making notes to myself on ten things I need to do after I'm done working.  At my old job I could be on the phone with an insurance company, filing a claim online, answering a question from one of the girls at the front desk and folding and mailing paper claims all at the same time.  Why only do one thing at a time? 

A while back I read a book called "For Women Only:  What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men".  I think one of the most eye opening things I learned was that most men only think of a single thing at a time.  They are not multitaskers.  If they are watching a football game, they are only thinking about watching that football game.  They aren't thinking about how many calories the chip dip is and what to make for dinner and that the carpet needs vacuumed and how does a buffalo stay warm when it gets below zero and when are you going to file the taxes online and that your fingernails need filed and you need to call your friend for lunch plans and....well that's pretty much how it goes and that's just about 30 seconds worth of thoughts.  I can't even imagine how it would be to shut that off for a little while.  I don't think it even shuts off when we sleep. 

I just love how men and women are created so differently and yet so complimentary.  God has made us to think and feel for the tasks we have to accomplish in life.  Mothers need to be multitaskers.  Just read Proverbs 31 and look at all the things the woman does.  Selects fabric, makes clothes, gets up before everyone else and prepares food, buys real estate, plants fields, stays up late into the night, decorates her home, runs a business.  All this while the man takes his seat at the city gate.  Well, give him a break, he can only do one thing at a time.  

Now I know that in today's society, sometimes the roles of men and women are blurred.  A man can take care of a house and baby.  A women can be a CEO.  But I think it does us good to remember that we really are wired differently.  Don't moan and complain about the way a man is different...embrace it and marvel at it.  I thank God for my husband and I love to observe him just being a man.  

Remember one of those other Proverbs women...Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24 which both say...Better to dwell in the corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious women.  

Well, see there is a perfect example of my many tracked mind.  I think I went off in an entirely different direction from where I started.  Now how could that happen?   

Dances With Wolves

Today has been a slow day in the land of wonder. Nothing profound to report on today.  Not that anything thus far has been particularly profound.  But it's just been one of those days.  Maybe my brain is as frozen as everything else today. 

Temperatures should not be measured with single digits. 

We drive past a buffalo herd on the way to church.  I like the way they get a coating of snow on them that doesn't melt.  Shows how thick their buffalo coats are.  I wondered how they manage to not freeze when it is below zero.  I can see that their backs are all nice and warm but what about their feet and noses?  I can't keep my feet and nose warm in the house let alone outside.   So I decided to read a little about bison on Wikipedia.  We've all heard the facts about how many there were and how they were practically hunted to extinction.  I knew about some of the reasons they were hunted.  Coats.  They got in the way of trains.  Removing them removed Native Americans.  They competed with cattle.  But one thing I found interesting was the hide was in demand because it was desired for leather belts to run machinery in eastern factories.  So I learned a little possible Jeopardy trivia. 

Buffalo are the Native Americans of the cow world.  You could definitely draw some parallels on the way both were treated. 

Plains Indians had one of the best diets going in their day and age.  Bison is good for you.  It's lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than beef and has iron and Vitamin B-12. 

Between 1978 and 1992, nearly five times as many people in Yellowstone National Park were killed or injured by bison as by bears (12 by bears, 56 by bison).  So stay in your car. 

There is a place in Canada called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. 

Bison is the mascot of Clearfield High School in Clearfield, PA.  Marty was a Bison. 

Tatonka. 

You can be sure if it's Westinghouse.

Strawberry Pretzel Crust Dessert.  If you bring one to a pot luck dinner, you will be required to bring one to every subsequent pot luck.  People crave it.  I bet if I ever had to bring something to a pot luck on an alien ship, it would be this dessert. 

I got the recipe from my high school friend's mom.  She made sure I knew the secret to making it right.  I've been making it for 30 years now.  Never to eat at home...always to share.  I think about all the different people in my life that I have sat down and talked to over a plate full of pot luck desserts.  Thank you God for all Your good people I've been privileged to share with.  We will eat a piece of Strawberry Pretzel Crust dessert together in heaven someday. 

Like my sewing machine that has seen many years and many seasons in my life, so has my electric mixer.  It's not one of those fancy stand mixers, just handheld.  Westinghouse.  My dad worked at Westinghouse in Sharon.  They were going to quit making small appliances and the employees had a chance to buy them at a good price.  I can remember boxes way back in the corner of the kitchen cupboard with an iron, mixer and toaster.  They were put there waiting their chance for daylight when the current countertop appliance quit working.  My mother's mixer never malfunctioned and so when I set up my own household, I got the Westinghouse.  How many times has it beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and Cool Whip?  A lot.   

Funny about those appliances in the cupboard.  I have this memory of being in the cupboard with them.  I used to crawl in there.  This had to have been when I was very small.  I can still remember how it felt.  And smelled.  And looked like.   I have an even earlier memory.  I know this seems unlikely but it is a memory nonetheless.  I have this vague memory of standing in my crib and looking out over my room and it is not quite light and not quite dark.  My viewpoint is exactly from where my crib was and the room situated like it was.  Is this a real memory or one that only comes from knowing my room and how it was?  I can't say.  Memories are strange.  What we remember, what we forget.   How our memory of the same event can be so different from someone else who was also there.  What makes us remember the things we do?  My parents seem to remember more old stories the older they get.  I still hear new tales from time to time.  Where have these stories been all these years? 

What is your earliest memory?  

Sew, very old one. Sew like the wind.

Did you ever wonder how a sewing machine works?  Well I was wondering that, too!  I think it must just be magic because...well just think about it.  When you sew with a needle and thread, you bring the thread down through the material and back up through the material.  There's just no way that can be happening with two threads on opposite sides of the fabric.  How do they end up connected?  It just doesn't make sense.  And besides, I remember reading that the guy who invented the sewing machine was having trouble figuring out how to make it work and he had a dream that he was being chased by cannibals and their spears had holes in the end and that is what gave him the idea for the sewing machine needle.  So that proves it to me that some kind of hoodoo voodoo crazy stuff was going on.  And that is how a sewing machine works.  Magic. 

Making quilts is what had me wondering about such nonsense.  I'm sewing two quilts...one for Josie and one for Baby Boy.  I realized that I have missed using that old sewing machine of mine.  I used to make so many things for my kids.  Stuffed animals and dolls and this and that.  But what really caught me by surprise was the memory that I had used that same sewing machine to make the "chicken quilt".  This is a quilt that starts with a panel showing an egg, then a cracked egg, then an opened egg...you get the idea...up to the grown up chicken.  I made that quilt for baby Tommy before he was born.  Baby Tommy just turned 30 in October.  Baby Tommy has that quilt in his living room folded up on a corner of the couch to keep handy for those cold California nights.  And what REALLY made me stop and think was that my Aunt Jay gave me that sewing machine when I was about 12 or 13 and that it had been her machine since before I was born and that now I am making a quilt for my granddaughter Josie who is named after my aunt.  Josephine.  Circle of life.  Circle of sewing machine. 

Sew, very old one (me).  Sew like the wind.  

Time Traveling

I guess I do wonder some pretty strange things from time to time.  Well maybe more often than from time to time.  But strange is relative...right?  What may seem strange to you may be perfectly normal for others.  Maybe I am just hopeful that I am not alone...

Sometimes I think about the spot I am in right now...I mean the geographical location on earth.  Like my house.  And then I imagine what it may have looked like if I was standing in the exact same spot 50 years ago.  What did my house look like?  What would be around me?  Were there any cars going down the road?  Then I think about 100 years ago.  My house would not be here.  What was here?  Was there anything or just woods?  How about 200 year ago?   Did anyone else live here?  Maybe the person who lost that arrowhead that I found.   And what about 2000 years ago or even more.  Maybe a dinosaur walked across my yard.  I'm not sure why I wonder these things.... Maybe it just gives me a better appreciation of this planet we live on. 

Or maybe it makes me think about how permanent the earth is and how fleeting our lives on it are.  The earth was created long ago and remains.  We spend such a short time here. Let's make each day count.  

You can't judge a book by it's cover.

I don't really believe in zombies.  I came into my fascination with them by accident.  I knew Tom had the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.  So I saw that he had another book out and thought maybe that would make a good present for Tom.  I ordered World War Z on Amazon.  When the book came, I read the cover, then I read the inside jacket, then I read the first chapter.  Then I couldn't put it down.  Then I made Marty read it.  Sorry Tom, I sent you a used book. 

Last night I walked into the living room and Marty was watching The Walking Dead.  So even though I was on my way to getting ready for bed, I stood there watching for 20 minutes.  So that is how I came to be wondering about zombies today and thinking about World War Z.  

It's not really about the voodoo scary zombie aspect of the whole scenario.  World War Z makes you ask yourself a lot of questions.  You wonder how you would react.  Some people react with courage and others react with selfish intentions.  Would you survive?  Would you want to?  Do you have any skills that would really matter?  Bankers and politicians aren't in as much demand as a good carpenter or hunter.  The book really made me think.   Deep thoughts...and I'm not talking Jack Handy here.  Not many books have provoked me into that much introspection.  I recommend  that you read it.  

Of course the whole apocalyptic movie genre provokes a lot thoughts that aren't so deep.  Like I wonder why just because the world was almost wiped out by a plague or nuclear war does everyone suddenly have to wear such strange outfits?   Think Mad Max and Water World.  Why can't people just wear jeans and a T-shirt?  I would think that even if there were no more companies manufacturing Levi's, you could find a pretty big supply in the department stores to last a few hundred years.   And do we really need to wear a lot of spikey leather?  Or strange makeup?  I mean, if you want to, that's OK but it seems everyone does in post catastrophe earth.  If I'm out there beheading zombies or running from Tina Turner, I just want some practical clothes.  Something comfortable.   A decent pair of shoes. 

One thing that kind of bums me out though is that if zombies take over, it's better to live where it's cold.  Because they freeze and you can just go out and whack them while they are frozen with no danger to yourself.  I was kind of hoping to move somewhere warm.   

Do you have any useful skills in case of a zombie plague?  Please let me know so I can keep you in mind just in case.  

Present and Accounted For

Marty's dad has Alzheimer's.  He doesn't know any of his family.  His days consist of sitting,  interspersed with meals and snacks.  That's why I found it interesting that when we all visited him on Christmas day, he seemed to find joy in opening presents.  Even though he says little and remembers less, he knew that a gift was a good thing.  He wanted to open his presents.  Funny how that joy of tearing into a package has stayed in his mind. 

A friend was telling about his mother, who is in her 80's and blind and in a nursing home.  She couldn't wait for her Christmas presents.  When she found out they were being mailed to her son's house instead of directly to her, she wanted to know why.  Then she wanted informed of the safe arrival of her packages.  She couldn't wait for Christmas day to open them.  Even though she couldn't see them, she could still have the joy of opening the presents through touch.  

Christmas 2009, Josie was only 6 months old.  The paper was more interesting than the gifts.  But this year, how things changed.  She has learned that inside those pretty packages and bags are fun little prizes.  And she knows that if there is another one, maybe that one will hold something even better.  So she keeps opening until there are no more to open. 

When my kids were little, they would exclaim after opening every present..."Just what I wanted!!!".  They were so happy and filled with joy to get a new toy.  Sometimes it wasn't even that exciting but they said it anyways. 

I wonder why we lose that excitement with God's gifts?  Sometimes it seems we are always looking to the next great package and we don't stop to enjoy the one we have in our hands.  I want to be excited by the here and now.  I want to be grateful for the things I have today.  God has blessed me with so many wonderful gifts...my husband, my children and my grandchildren...friends, family, home.   I want to start each day as if I am opening those precious gifts for the first time.   I want to be filled with the excitement of finding out what is inside and holding that present in my hand with care and love.  I want to exclaim..."Just what I wanted!!!".

And I want to be excited about Jesus, who was and is the best present we could ever receive.  The present that accounted for all our sin.

I hope you cherish your gifts today and always.

A Dash of Trash

I really like trees a lot better when they are full of green leaves.  But I will say one thing I like about a bare tree is that it enables you to see where the birds put their nests.  Like right in a tree on Broad Street in Grove City in between the Guthrie Theater and the Presbyterian Church.  Right along the sidewalk.  About four feet off the ground.  It looks so vulnerable right now but it must have felt safe with the leaves on the tree. 

This particular nest has a piece of trash incorporated into it.  I have a nest at home that Marty found in the yard and brought to me.  (This is better than a dozen roses in my opinion).  That nest has a piece of trash in it, too.  One of those plastic strips that would be around a package of gum or cigarettes when you open it.  All nicely woven around.  I wonder what attracts a bird to pick up litter and put it in their nest?  Maybe they are just trying to recycle.  reuse.  reduce. 

I feel like I just hit a wall here.  I don't really know where I was going with this whole post.  I wondered about birds nests and that's about it.   My mind feels cluttered by all the tasks that I have unfinished.  I'm making quilts and my sewing machine is acting cranky.  I have photo albums to work on and can't seem to carve out a large chunk of time.  I want to start selling some things on ebay and can't even get myself to buy a postal scale to get started.  I still have Christmas pictures on my camera that I want to download and send to friends and family.  I need to...well...nothing earth shattering really, just the daily business of life.  Maybe my nest needs a little less dash of trash.    

How is your nest?

Experience Preferred

Although I am not too keen on winter, I do like looking at the snowy landscape as we drive to church or where ever we may be headed.  I wonder what animal made tracks and where it was going.  I wonder how far I could follow those tracks and if there would be a deer waiting for me at the end.  Today in a cow pasture there were tracks that just went in a circle.  Like the cow was headed for the bank of this hill and then realized, oh yeah...I forgot about that little cliff there.  Just a circle in the snow.  And there are always sled riding tracks along the side of this one church we pass by.  That made me think of fox holes.   

Fox holes?  

Marty said when they were kids, they used to go to the neighborhood supermarket and play in the giant piles of plowed snow and dig fox holes.  That's a fun winter memory.  I used to love playing in the snow.  I remember all the preparation...layers of clothes, hat, scarf, mittens, bread bags on my feet.  Alright, I have to confess that I grew up thinking everyone put bread bags on their feet before you put your boots on.   Marty tells me I am incorrect in that assumption.  But bread bags and crumbs aside, playing in the snow was a great experience.   The sled riding at Buhl Park, making a snowman and other assorted snow beasts.   

This got me to thinking about childhood experiences in general.  I feel bad for kids who have THINGS but don't have the EXPERIENCES.   My stepson has had every thing money can buy but he has missed out on so many experiences.  Countless hours spent with things and few of the childhood memories that so many of us cherish.  I think of my own son spending hours playing in the creek behind our house with his friends.  No purchase required.  Just go out and play.  And both my kids playing in the backyard with an old sprinkler hose on hot summer days.  No purchase required, just an old hose that we already had.  And my own memories of staying over at my cousin's farm and just playing in the pond or riding ponies.  Simple activities make for the fondest memories.  Who hasn't had fun playing in an old box?  Imagination is such a wonderful toy for a child.  Too often, children in today's world don't get to exercise their imagination.  

I like to imagine...and wonder.

What fun childhood experience do you have?    And did you wear bread bags on your feet when you went out in the snow?  (I'm conducting an informal poll) 

Open and Shut Case

I wonder why I find such comfort in organization?  I need things to be in their proper place.  I feel anxiety when I know a closet is in chaos.  It's as if I can sense it behind the closed door telling me that it needs to be stacked and sorted and labeled.  I start to feel overwhelmed when there are too many things out of place. 

Here I go again on the nature vs. nurture thing.  I really do wonder about that quite a bit.  It intrigues me.  Have my children inherited some of my tendencies by imitation or just because they have my genes?  Not too long ago, my mother said something that made me laugh to myself.  She was straightening up some papers and items on the table and said...I'd better put this stuff back the way it was because Dad likes things lined up.  Funny how a little comment like that can hit you.  I had never really thought about my need for organization being something that was passed on from my dad.  But I suppose it is.  I do like things lined up and at their proper angles.

Maybe it's the German in us.   Watch this gameshow!

So I wonder about my granddaughter, Josie.  Tom posted a video of her just running around the house going about her toddler business.  I didn't catch it at first, but Bethany commented on it.  At one point, she stops jumping on her bed and climbs off to shut a drawer.  Wow, did that ever remind me of myself.  I like to have drawers and cabinets properly shut.  So have I passed my love for order on to my granddaughter?  


Is there anything you see in yourself that comes from your parents?  Or anything in your children or grandchildren that is like you? 

Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale

I am a product of pop culture.  When I look back over my life, I can see the influences at any age.  Star Trek, Flintstones, Gomer Pyle, Welcome Back Kotter, Land of the Lost, Johnny Quest, Pink Panther, The Partridge Family, Baretta, Bonanza.  I could go on.  And that's just the 70's...and a little 60's.  I don't even want to start on 80's pop culture.  So this is part of what shapes my thoughts.  Things in real life bring to mind movies and TV shows.  I quote movies to be funny.  I quote movies to make a point.  Pop culture references are part of what Marty and I have in common and makes us get along so well.  I have a song or quote for almost every circumstance.  When I read the Bible, I picture Charlton Heston as Moses. 

My cousin married an Amish girl.  She's no longer part of the Amish community but hasn't been part of our culture for very long.  Her childhood was so very different from mine.  She didn't play with Barbies or come home from school and watch the After School Special.  She doesn't have a photo album full of pictures of her as a baby.  She never had a crush on David Cassidy. She can shoot a rabbit and cook it for dinner. 

We've never met but I was thinking about her and wondering.  Would we be friends?  We don't have common backgrounds.  But we are both women.  We cook and clean and take care of homes.  We love and laugh and cry.  We just might have things we could share with each other.  If I could share a bit of my world with her I wonder what it might be?  Maybe make a photo album, watch a good movie, go to the theater and see Les Miserables.  Or maybe simply a walk in the woods and talk about life.

What would you share from your life? 

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

I wonder about food a lot.  Maybe not so much wonder as obsess.  Is this just a woman thing?  It seems so. 

So I tried this spinach, almond, raspberry, yogurt and egg diet.  It was the first diet I had seen where I liked all the ingredients.  No fish.  It wasn't too awful except for the yogurt.  That is really hard to eat without any sugar or sweetener of any kind.  I was supposed to do this for five days and lose up to 8 pounds.  I lasted 3 and a half days and lost 3 pounds.  But I did learn a few helpful hints from the book that I think I can carry through and continue to try to watch what I eat. 

Anyway...tonight we read about greed in the book we are studying.  And it just happened to mention Numbers 11 where the Israelites were complaining about manna.  It really reminded me of myself lately.  I have been eating really good and healthy food and all I can think about is all the things I can't have on this diet.  The Israelites said...who will give us meat to eat?  We remember the fish we ate...the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic but now our whole being is dried up...

Wow.  Kind of hit me over the head.  How many times do we wish and want and think about all the things we wish we had and forget about what God has already provided? 

Oh...and considering I am trying to write something here everyday...sorry if I repeat myself.  I don't know if I have yet, but I'm trying to be proactive on my apology. 

And I wonder if the Israelites had bad breath when the lived in Egypt. 

God has provided us with such abundance.  Let's remember to thank Him for that.  

Here I Raise My Ebenezer

We keep our house cold.  That's just how it is here in Western PA in the winter.  (And by winter I mean September through May)   Last night, Marty was joking that he needed a nightcap, like Scrooge, because since he got his hair cut, his head feels so cold at night.  Then he wondered why nightcaps were pointy and had a tassel at the end.  I don't know.  My guess was maybe you could keep the long pointed end over your ear and face and the tassel would give it enough weight to hold it in place.  Maybe. 

Of course this led me to think about Scrooge and that made me think Ebenezer and that made me think of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.  My Bible has a footnote about Raising Your Ebenezer.  It's in I Samuel 7:12.  Samuel set up a stone and called it Ebenezer which means "stone of help".  It was to remind the Israelites of the Lord's help in their victory over the Philistines.  I like that idea.  It wouldn't have to be a stone.  You might have other objects that remind you of a time when God helped you through a particular rough time in your life. 

Do you have any Ebenezer's in your house?  I challenge you to find a special rock and put it in your garden or flowerbed and when you look at it, thank God for all He has done for you. 

Hummingbirds

I wonder how it took me until just now to notice that the border of my blog was hummingbirds?  I'm new to this blogging thing so when I created it, I just picked a random template and honestly, I can't believe I didn't notice this.  Not that I have anything against hummingbirds, but I'm usually not into cutesie kind of stuff.  I would have picked something geometric or something strange like skulls.  Maybe if I spend some time playing around with this I just might change it. 

I like hummingbirds in real life though.  Pretty amazing how they find those feeders.  A couple of years ago I was putting out the feeder for the first time that season and I opened up the back door and stepped outside with it and was promptly buzzed by one of them.  It took them all of 2 seconds to find the feeder that year.  They are pretty amazing to watch.  And think about it...they are birds, eagles are birds but look at the differences.  I wonder about God creating birds sometimes.  Don't you think that some of them are here for no other purpose than to bring us pleasure?  We can enjoy looking at them and hearing them sing.  I find it comforting to watch birds.  I had a friend who used to refer to me as Miss Hathaway. 

One time I was watching some turkey vultures fly around over the strip mine.  Now these have to be the UGLIEST birds on the planet but when they fly they are transformed into the most beautiful creatures.  They soar and glide and make it look so effortless and graceful.  Kind of like us in some ways.  We may be ugly and not very nice but God can take us and transform us and make us beautiful. 

Where are you today?  Are you a turkey vulture sitting on a pile of rocks or are you soaring above the clouds? 

Perspective

 Today I saw this optical illusion on my son's Facebook page.  It made me think about perception.  How not everything is what we think it is.  Sometimes it is a matter of our point of view, our stage in life, our misconception of what is real and important. 

Our perception can become so blurred by everyday trivialities and little problems we think we have that we forget to be thankful for all the wonderful blessings we have been given.  A warm home, people who love us, food to eat, clean water, a bed, nice clothes, freedom.

I want to strive to focus on the good.  

Is there something in your life that you need to put into perspective?  

Larry, Curly and Moe

We attend church in a theater.  One of those old 1920's style theaters with a balcony and stage that is now a movie theater.  As I was sitting up in the balcony this morning, I started thinking about that theater.

I wondered about the whole concept of entertainment.  What entertains us is so varied.  Personally, I don't think The Three Stooges are all that funny but they really make Marty laugh.  And Marty isn't so entertained by Untold Stories of the ER or any of the other medical shows that I love to watch on TLC.  But most of our taste in entertainment is mutual.  Steve Martin and Captain Kirk.  King of the Hill and Clint Eastwood.  Arrested Development and Yoda. 

What do you suppose one did for entertainment way back in biblical times?  I was trying to think of examples from the Bible and off the top of my head there is mention of singing and dancing.  Maybe the amount of entertainment needed in ones life is relative to their leisure time.  You hear about kings having a court jester but the average peasant probably didn't have time for that.  Too much time spent surviving.  I just have this picture of people thousands of years ago sitting around the fire in their yurt and one of them stands up and says...A yak walks into a bar.....

So as society finds itself with more and more leisure time entertainment has evolved.  Look how much more options we have to fritter away time with than our parents did.  Some of our parents are old enough to have only had a radio to listen to for fun.  Kids actually went outside and improvised for fun.  My dad said they had an old wagon axle with two wheels and they would sit on the axle and ride down hills.  He also broke his leg jumping out of a barn so that maybe didn't turn out to be as entertaining as he had hoped.  Anyway...something to think about.  

How long do you think you could last without all your favorite methods of entertainment?  What alternate and maybe more fulfilling means of entertaining yourself could you find to do?  Read a book perhaps or finish a project you have set aside?  

A Book

I thought I pretty much knew everything that is in my parents house but today they show me a book that I never saw before that was tucked way up in the front closet.  This book was printed after World War II and had photos of all the men and women who were from Holstein Iowa and served in the military during the war. My dad and his brothers had their own page.  What struck me was how many there were even though it was a small town.  Imagine just about every man being gone to war.  Imagine whole families of brothers off to other parts of the world.  Imagine a young boy born in the middle of America's farmland being buried on an island in the middle of the Pacific that no one had heard of until then.  Imagine those men in those horrible battles coming home and just being expected to return to their normal jobs.  I don't want to forget them.  I look at their photos and wonder what kind of men they were.  Were they good husbands, fathers, sons, brothers?  They were good citizens.  Were they gentlemen?  What stories did they keep with them for the rest of their lives?  So many faces smiling out from those old pictures.  They all had people who loved them.  They all lived in a time like no other.  We owe them our gratitude for their sacrifice.  

Tools! Tools! Tools!

Sometimes I wonder if all the things that need to be manufactured have already been made.  Is it really necessary for the world to have one more fork or crescent wrench? 

A while back when Marty was looking for some tools to finish setting up his wood shop, he came across an ad for the Hamilton Tool Company in Beaver Falls, PA.  Tools!  Tools!  Tools!  the ad declared.  New and used.  So we decided to take a little day trip and check it out.  Picture a really cool turn of the century three or four story (I can't remember exactly) bank with all kinds of amazing architectural features like a marble tile entry way and fancy corbels on the outside.  Then picture that building STUFFED with old greasy tools.  And I mean stuffed.  There were tables of old circular saws and tables of old screwdrivers and rack upon rack of every kind of wrench ever made.  So I wondered...does the world need any more wrenches?  I think anyone that needs one can just come to PA and there is one waiting in Beaver Falls just for them.  At a discount price.   

We've been going to a regular Friday night auction in Mercer.  If you went every week, I think eventually you would find every thing you could possibly need and a few things you might even want.  I guess what I am getting at is we are always talking about green this and recycle that and then we go out shopping for all new stuff when what we are shopping for could most likely be obtained used.  I have to wonder what people in third world countries would think if they knew what we threw away and rejected as not good enough.  We seem to have the attitude that it's got to be brand new.   There's just too much waste in this country if you ask me.  I will add that while I am pointing my finger, I have to point it at myself, too.  I buy new stuff all the time.  But I think I get more satisfaction out of buying something at a yard sale or auction.  So maybe that is my contribution to being green. 

What is the best find you ever got at a yard sale or thrift shop? 

Would you refer to two Sasquatches as the Bigfeet?

Today was one of those days where I feel like I didn't have time to just stop and wonder about things.  Well about things I would like to wonder about anyway.   Seems like every day I have to Google something work related at least once.  Like a rim rent tear of the supraspinatus tendon and "blown pupil".  I don't know about you, but I sure didn't like the sound of that one.  I hope that is never on my medical chart.  So I did at least learn something today.  At least enough to pick a code for them.

But I would rather be learning and googling things like how many Sasquatch sitings there have been in my area or what does a wenge tree look like?  You know...important things. 

If you had time to just learn about something...what would it be?  How to speak a different language, how to make a quilt, how to do CPR...??  There's an endless world of possibilities out there for us all. 

The Middle Ages

Why didn't I know about parchment paper until recently?  I'd seen it at the store and saw it mentioned on cooking shows and in recipes...but I don't think anyone ever conveyed the wonderful easy convenience of using parchment paper on your cookie sheets.  I don't even remember what recipe prompted me to buy it...but it sat in my drawer for awhile and one day I thought maybe it would help to make my granola on the paper since it makes a huge sticky mess on the pan.  I wanted to tell everyone everywhere I went that they should be using this stuff ALL the time.  You don't even need a spatula to get your cookies off the cookie sheet. 

So I wondered...what else have I learned about since reaching the Middle Ages? 

I learned that bread is actually pretty easy to make.  Why was I intimidated by the thought of flour and yeast?

Tomatoes are actually pretty tasty on a salad.  (Cue the Aunt Jay tomato story here, Tom and Beth)  I wonder how many pounds of tomatoes I rejected at restaurants in the past?

I had in my possession the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER and never used it.  My daughter-in-law makes the best chocolate cookies you have ever had and so Marty wanted me to get the recipe.  I have been using that recipe ever since.  A couple weeks ago I decided to look through my recipe box and clean it out and came across a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I had asked someone for about 25 years ago.  I never made that recipe.  As I looked at it, I realized it was the same as Kath's famous and wonderful cookies.  I could have been making them all this time. 

Men actually can indeed wash dishes and do laundry.

A Club cracker with a spoonful of Parmesan cheese on top and wrapped in half a slice of bacon and put in the oven for 2 hours at 250 degrees just might be about the most delicious thing you have ever eaten.  I know I already went on about this on Facebook, but it needs repeated.  I'll probably repeat this again since I think about food a lot and most likely will wonder how those three ingredients can be SO YUMMY.  I wonder why I think about food all the time?

Vicks Vaporub is the best thing in the medicine cabinet. 

OK, so none of these things are earth shattering and my life probably wouldn't have been much different if I had known these things before 40...except maybe for the men and dishes thing because that would have meant that I had met Marty before the age of 40.  But it is good to know that there will always be something to learn about and new experiences to have no matter what your age. 

What have you learned recently that you wish you would have known about before?

One more thing...based on the average life expectancy in the Middle Ages, the middle aged Middle Age citizen would have been around 17 years old. 

Hide and Go Gobble

Where are those turkeys?  I wonder where they are hiding.  Do you ever find it strange to think about all the wild animals that just live among us?  Here we are living in our nice little neighborhoods in our cozy little houses and there are just random animals roaming around here and there.  I like when they roam into my yard.  Maybe they wonder why we are in their yard. 

I'm tired tonight so this is short.  The Biggest Loser sucked me in...even though I always say I'm not going to watch it anymore because I don't like to think...oh, it's Tuesday, I gotta watch the Biggest Loser.  I like freedom from TV.  But here I sit watching.  Sigh.  

I wonder how much more I would accomplish if I quit TV.  I am going to try to watch less and spend more time doing all the things I think I don't have time for, like working on my scrapbooks or those quilts I was supposed to make for Christmas. 

What would you like to spend more time on?

You Are My Sunshine

I wonder how the sun can be shining so brightly and it is still so COLD!  OK, I understand the science behind it all with the earth's rotation around the sun and all...but still, it catches me off guard sometimes.  I look outside and think just for a moment that it must be as warm out there as it looks.  One second outside cures that thought. 

How do you suppose people felt about the sun hundreds of years ago before they knew about what we know?  There must have been a lot of fear and superstition about the sun.  I'm glad I can narrow my fears and superstitions to earthly things.

Speaking of sunshine...we had a dandelion in our yard that must have figured that the sunshine yesterday meant that it should open up.  Kind of strange to see a flower blooming in the yard in January.  Makes me wish for more flowers blooming.  I'm ready for some of that sunshine that brings some warmer weather with it.  

Peace out.

Zombie Dinner

How can something that is tangible and can be measured, imaged and studied at the same time be the source of so much that is unmeasurable and unexplainable?   I wonder how our brain can store all our emotions and memories and the personality that makes us who we are.  It's as if invisible things are put away in a real place.  Like putting your memories in a drawer so you can take them out later.  If you looked in that drawer, you wouldn't see anything because a memory is not something you see with your eyes or touch with your fingers.  The brain is a mystery. 

I read an article about brain imaging...PET scans and MR's and such...that talked about how some criminals have been later found out after autopsy to have had a brain tumor.  The point being made was that the tumor caused them to commit their crimes.  So if the rule is that we are all responsible for our own actions, then are those that commit crimes in these circumstances an exception to that rule?  And where does sin come to play in all of this?  I find it a fascinating and frightening scenario to think that it could be possible to lose the ability to control your own actions.  So what happens?...does the tumor in the brain...a tangible mass...squeeze out the space where the morality...the intangible...abides?  The brain is a mystery.

And what about those with Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias?  When someone looses their memory and no longer communicates with those around them, I wonder what state their soul is in.  Is there any thoughts in their minds or are they rather in some kind of limbo?  Is their soul in heaven and the body is still alive?  Is it like being asleep and dreams are keeping your brain occupied?  

I think the brain is a mystery that no one will ever truly understand.  All this wondering about brains is making mine hurt. 

Of Cabbages and Goiters

Cabbage.  A great start to a new year.  I wondered about why people eat sauerkraut and pork on New Year's Day.  And that started me on a train of thought about cabbage.  I think maybe cabbage flows through my veins.   My dad is of German descent...his grandparents were immigrants.  My mother is Slovak...her parents came to America looking for a better life.  Both of my parents have stories about big barrels of sauerkraut made to last the winter.  My mother said that they would put apples in the sauerkraut to keep the apples and flavor the kraut.  Her sister LOVED these apples and would sneak into the cellar and reach way into the barrel to fish for her prize.  But an arm soaked in sauerkraut juice would give away her secret! 

Then there is the cabbage and noodles.  My favorite.  But only the way my mother makes it...loads of butter.  I've had other cabbage and noodles at various Western PA functions and there is no comparison to the loads of butter method.  After steaming the cabbage for hours until it is nice and soft, the key to perfect cabbage and noodles is to then fry the cabbage in more butter before adding noodles.  Oh, did I mention to add more butter?  And salt and a little pepper.  Perfect.

So I wonder...how is it that so many foods have so many different ways to prepare them, each according to the culture and climate?  Who were these first cooks that came up with these dishes?  And how many attempts were deemed inedible?  I thank you whoever you were!

Interesting fact found on Wikipedia in regards to cabbage...it is actually a goitrogen...yes, that's right, it can cause goiters!  I found this fact to be entirely and wholly amusing.  Not that a goiter is in and of itself a funny thing...especially if you have one.  But it has always been a source of amusement to me that when my mom and her sisters would get together and talk about the old days there was always mention of "so-and-so with the goiter".  There were women who were defined not by what they did or who they loved or what kind of a person they were but rather by their goiter.  So the whole cabbage and goiter connection is like a link to my ancestry.  Kind of like finding a missing link. 

I have to add that I currently have sauerkraut and pork and kielbasa in a crock pot for the first time at my house on New Year Day.  I love it.  Marty hates it but assured me that he would be OK if I cooked it.  I think this might mean I should let him open a can of tuna some day.  Up to this point I have only made cabbage when he was away at camp and he only eats tuna when I am in Florida or California.   This must be true love.

Happy New Year to all of you and I hope you learn something new every day...even if it isn't particularly interesting or important.  You never know, it might help you answer a question on Jeopardy.