Home remedies

I received these in an e-mail this morning. I thought you might find them useful in the new year.

1. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

2. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.

3. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

4. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.

5. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

6. Have a bad toothache? Smash your thumb with a hammer and you will forget about the toothache.

Sometimes, we just need to remember what the rules of life really are.You only need two tools: WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

Remember:
* Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
* Never pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom.
* If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You get another chance.

And finally, be really nice to your family and friends; you never know when you might need them to empty your bedpan.

Will someone please give this baby something to eat?

Ella's in that wonderful stage where everything goes in the mouth for inspection.
She loved biting on this water bottle. At almost five months, she has her two bottom teeth coming through.
M-m-m, that looks good. Soon I'll be eating some of that good stuff.
Even Daddy's thumb tastes pretty good. You can see why the doctor said to use lots of hand sanitizer.

My son and his wife left on Friday morning, taking Ella home with them. I know they were glad to going home to their own bed. We had a good arrangement for Ella here, but she ended up in bed with them. Hopefully, she'll be happy in her own crib. Everyone was all smiles whenever they saw her, and she generally reciprocated with a winning smile of her own. 

Hello, Great-grandpa

Christmas Day was the first time that Ella's great-grandpa had seen her. She was so content to sit in his arms, and, of course, that made him very happy. Ed is my husband's father and lives here in Bradenton. Don's dad died in 1995. Ed remarried a couple of years later, and that wife died from cancer about three years ago. He lives alone here, but he keeps himself busy with work and activities at church.
As you can see, the cheeks are still there...just makes you want to get all the sugar you can. Ella is a very happy baby. She's very smiley in the morning and talks and laughs a lot.
Her dad often mimics her expressions, which at times, are quite amusing. Please note that she is wearing her first Penn State t-shirt!

The family is here until Friday morning when they fly back to Virginia. The weather was nasty on Christmas day and a little messy yesterday, but today is beautiful...so sunny, but a bit cool...just the way we Floridians like it. 

Christmas Eve

She's here! She's here! The princess has arrived, and she is cuter than ever. Pictures tomorrow!

Our pastor spoke this morning of the birth of the Savior as expected, but he brought out in his message something that we know as well...that Christ did not come just to be born as a baby, but He was born God in the flesh and later would pay the penalty of our sins.

In my Christmas letter last year and again I excerpted part of the book, Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner. What a wonderful testimony of a young Jewish woman, who goes to Columbia University because she knew there would be a large Jewish population there. In a bookstore she picks up one of the Mitford Series, reads it, becomes interested in Christianity, and comes to know the Lord. Her book is basically a journal of her journey, but she makes some wonderful statements about Advent.

She writes: "The calendar tells us that this all culminates on December 25, but really the whole season slouches toward Easter. Jesus became incarnate now, in the manger of Bethlehem, but if His incarnateness is meant to make Him more relatable to us, if we are meant to have better access to God because our God has a body like we have, if we relate to Him better because He knows what it is like to weep and throw up and be tempted and suffer, then the Incarnation that starts on Christmas isn't finished until Good Friday.

And the miracles that start in the strange inexplicable Virgin Birth aren't finished until the Resurrection.....Even his birthplace takes us to the Last Supper: Jesus, the Bread of Life, is born in Bethlehem, bet lechem, "house of bread," and at the Last Supper, He will break bread for us, and then on the cross He will break His body. Nothing in Scripture, even the names of birthplace towns, is coincidence."

Having been raised in church and being around Christians all my life, I know I've taken a lot for granted. I love Ms. Winner's book becasue she has taken nothing for granted but has studied her Judaism, has studied Christianity, and God has captivated her heart.

A Christmas Prayer

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth.

- Martin Luther.

Merry Christmas a little early.

Lest I get caught up in the wonder of holding and playing with Ella, my granddaughter when she's here, I want to wish you all a very merry and blessed Christmas. I love reading your Christmas posts and know that your day will be one filled with happiness.

Christmas open house

Welcome to my home. I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would, but this will give you a little glimpse of the open house that I had earlier in the month. As you can see, we folks in Florida who never see snow do enjoy snowmen. A friend that I worked with for many years made the reindeer and the snowmen, and I've enjoyed having them on my front porch over the years.
My table doesn't look too lavish from this viewpoint, but it was enjoyed by all...just plain old food, nothing fancy. Sarah had encouraged our having the open house, and when I asked her what she wanted to have to eat, she said "the same thing that we always had." Earlier when I mentioned about the open house in the blog, a missionary friend who had been at one many years ago, wrote and said how much she and her husband had enjoyed being in our home for the fellowship and the good food.
Peg is a friend of mine since grade school. We hadn't been together much since she had moved away from Bradenton. When her mother died, she inherited the house, and she and her husband moved back to Bradenton to live. We reconnected after Don died and enjoy doing things together. Her husband was so ill a couple of years ago with cancer and heart problems, but he seems to be doing well now. It amazes me to think what the body can endure and still survive.
Sarah (in the middle) enjoyed having some of her friends from high school come. Suzanne, the young woman on the left, graduated with Sarah, and they live next door to each other. Suzanne has a young son, Joshua, and Joshua has the same kindergarten teacher that Sarah had at Bradenton Christian. He finds that very hard to believe, but it's true. Grace, on the right, also graduated with Sarah, and she lives in Tampa where she teaches strings in the elementary school. She has a degree in vocal performance and does a lot of acting in the local theaters. Her favorite role was Maria in West Side Story.

I think we had around twenty guests in that evening. Plenty of food was left over, so I had some of my Sweet Adeline friends over the next evening to eat some of it up after we had gone to the movie.

It was a good weekend for visiting and enjoying time with friends...some whom I see regularly and some whom I hadn't had a chance to talk with for quite some time. I wish you could have been here. 

Comfort at Christmas

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out that same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to hear the his own son had been seriously wounded as a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac.Sitting down to his desk, one Christmas Day, he heard the church bells ringing, and ringing. It was in this setting he wrote:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair Ibowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

At this Christmas time whether you are in sorrow or in joy you can know that God is not dead, not doth he sleep. He knows your every need and longs to comfort you and be that special friend you need. Seek Him this year instead of the outward manifestations of the season. He will give life real meaning and your heart real peace, the peace that passes all understanding.

The above is from Pastor Tim's website

No words needed

 

Isn't it time for another picture?

Just a few more days before I see this baby again. I can hardly wait. Ella keeps telling her mommy and daddy that she wants to hurry to Florida and see Grammy and Aunt Sarah too. This is not a new picture, rather one that was taken in October. But I was looking through my files and thought I'd bring this one out. The blue dress brings out the blue in her eyes. 

Another act of kindness

Do you recognize this golfer? One evening I was at my son's high school basketball game. When I went up into the bleachers to sit down, I happened to sit next to this really good looking man. I didn't know him, but when many of the boys came over to him with golf balls to be autographed, I realized i was sitting next to Paul Azinger. I came home after the game and told my husband that I had been sitting by this really good looking guy, and then I told him who it was. Don said to me, "Well, his wife is a good looker too." He had done electrical work at their house several times and knew them both.

If you follow golf at all, you know that Paul Azinger is a cancer survivor. There is a family whose boys go to Bradenton Christian School, the high school where my children went to school. One of the boys, Anthony has been diagnosed with Fanconi anemia, a rare blood disorder. He is in need of a bone marrow transplant. Many fundraisers have been held for him. A donor is also being sought. His brother was tested; he is a perfect match, but in testing him, it was discovered that he also has this disorder.

Anthony has been receiving transfusions to help him stay healthy, but the transplant is what he needs. Paul Azinger, the golfer, headed up a clinic recently at a golf tournament held for Anthony. He said this about Anthony:

You'll never see a kid with a better attitude than he has, Just the little bit I've talked to him. . . . He should be an inspiration to everyone here. He's an inspiration to me, I'll tell you that.

The following is from an article in the Bradenton Herald about Anthony and his family: "The Negrin family - parents Sergio and Roxanne; brother Sergio Jr., 21, and twins Jonathan and Jordan, 15 - and countless friends throughout the community are optimistic their off-course story will have an even better ending.

Fanconi anemia - which is diagnosed in only 10 to 20 children in the United States each year - prevents the bone marrow from making red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body. The disease can be fatal without a bone marrow transplant.

Jonathan's bone marrow is a perfect match. But during testing at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, he was found to also have Fanconi anemia, ruling out a transplant.

Doctors have told the family there is a 92 percent chance Jonathan will have bone marrow failure. The Negrins have teamed with Children's Organ Transplant Association to form a trust fund to defray a major portion of the costs not covered by insurance.

Anthony has received 13 blood transfusions during the search for a bone marrow donor. Yet his spirit never fails to lift those around him.

"He tells me, 'Don't worry, Dad. God knows the outcome. He has a purpose for me, that is why he is putting us through this,' " Sergio Negrin said. "He not only brings us to our knees, he shows a strength and inner faith we can all learn from."

Anthony has faith a bone marrow match will be found and counts his blessings every day. To Azinger, who made an inspirational comeback of his own after being diagnosed with lymphoma in his left shoulder, that attitude is worth everything."

Posted December 7, 2006 in the Bradenton Herald sports section.

You can read more about Anthony at caringbridge.com. Visit Anthony Negrin.

More Poetry for Cats

I will post some pictures of our Sweet Adelines shows and my open house in a day or two, but tonight I have a poem for AC. She has a post about her cat who jumped up on the table and knocked off a snowglobe and broke it. This one's for you, AC.

To A Vase (or, in this case, a snowglobe)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cat

How do I break thee? Let me count the ways.
I break thee if thou art at any height
My paw can reach, when, smarting from some slight,
I sulk, or have one of my crazy days
I break thee with an accidental graze
Or twitch of tail, if I should take a fright.
I break thee out of pure and simple spite
The way I broke the jar of mayonnaise.
I break thee if a bug upon thee sits
I break thee if I'm in a playful mood.
And then I wrestle with the shiny bits
I break thee if I do not like my food.
And if someone the shards together fits,
I'll break thee once again when thou art glued.

from Poetry for Cats by Henry Beard

An act of kindness

While I was still teaching, I worked with several young women who were wonderful teachers and wonderful people. When one of those ladies had her first babies, she became a stay at home mom, although she was still working. She had earned her doctorate in education and became a supervisor of student teachers here in the county.

Time passed, and she gave birth to her second child, a little girl, just about the same time that my husband was taken in an accident. In fact, her baby was just a few days old when she came to the visitation before Don's memorial service.

A few days later I was at Target, sitting at the snack bar, reading a magazine and drinking a coke. Her mother came up to me and told me that it had been determined that her little granddaughter had Down's syndrome.

The little girl is four years old now; she'll be five in April, and she is her parent's delight. Today I opened our local newspaper to the editorial page, and there was a letter there from M's mom. They had been eating at the Cracker Barrel. We have one in town, away from the interstate, and it has become a restaurant where folks get to know one another. While walking through the gift shop (don't you just love the gift shop?), M. had been fascinated by a carousel that was on display. Each time they went, she was drawn to the carousel. And so M's mom went to the lady in charge and asked her that if the carousel was marked down, would they please put it aside for M.

Thanksgiving morning M's mom got a call from Cracker Barrel. The staff there had decided that they would donate the carousel to M. And so M's mom wrote a letter to the editor, thanking Cracker Barrel for the kindness shown and letting the community know about it as well. Well, my tears started to flow, and I cried off and on all day.

I was sitting, working on some papers this afternoon when my phone rang. I looked at the caller i.d., and it was M's mom. I probably had not talked to her or seen her in two years or more, and so we had a wonderful time of catching up.

Can't stay away

CELEBRITY QUIP

I was going to have cosmetic surgery until I noticed that the
doctor's office was full of portraits by Picasso. -- Rita Rudner

Too much to do

I have several deadlines this week, so I'm going to take a little break from blogging. I'll be back soon. Believe me, I'd rather be blogging.

Living from your heart

Once again I offer to you a piece from www.lifesupportsystem.com.

Confucius said, "To practice five things under all circumstances
constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of
soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." Sincerity and
earnestness are vital components of character. Part of it is to
simply say what you mean and mean what you say!

"I adore you," the young man said to his girl. "I need you; I
can't live without you; I love you."

She pushed him aside saying, "John ... I don't want to get
serious."

John replied, "Who's serious?"

Like Tennessee Williams might say, he had all the sincerity of a
bird hunter's whistle. Saying what you mean and meaning what you
say is vital, but there is another important part to living a
genuine and whole life: that is to LIVE what you say. Make
your actions and your words the same. Living what you say is at
the heart of sincerity.

Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong was a superb jazz musician who also knew
how to entertain. Satchmo used to say that what he played was life.
He believed that his whole life, soul and spirit was to blow that
horn. When he made music, it came from his heart. And it spoke to our
hearts. Any life can be great when it is lived fully and sincerely
from the heart.

Let your whole life, your whole soul and your whole spirit sing
in harmony. It is a matter of saying what you live and living what
you say. For when your words harmonize with your actions, you are
living from the best part you -- from your heart. And the sincerity
of your life will forever touch the hearts of others.

Poetry for Cats

I was straightening up a book shelf tonight and found this book which had gotten behind some others. The title of the book is Poetry for Cats. It is described as "The Distinguished Anthology of Destinguished Feline Verse." My daughter took this to her English teacher in high school, and she used some of the poems on a test to see if the students could identify the author by the style of the poem.

The photo of my cat doesn't quite suit this poem, but it will do. Besides, I love this photo of her.

Sitting By the Fire on a Snowy
Evening

by Robert Frost's cat

Whose chair this is by now I know.
He's somewhere in the forest though.
He will not see me sitting here
A place I'm not supposed to go.

He really is a little queer
To leave his fire's cozy cheer
And ride out by the frozen lake
The coldest evening of the year.

To love the snow it takes a flake:
The chill that makes your footpads ache,
The drifts too high to lurk or creep,
The icicles that drip and break.

His chair is comfy, soft and deep
But I have got an urge to leap.
And mice to catch before I sleep.
And mice to catch before I sleep.

by Henry Beard

Some other titles include "The Cat's Tale" by Chaucer's cat, "To a Vase" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cat, and "She Walks in Booties" by Lord Byron's cat. I was just looking at Barnes and Noble to see if this book was there. I didn't find it, but he has some interesting looking titles about cats. I might have to buy some.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Sarah and I went out with friends of mine from church. The Holiday Inn Riverfront has a buffet every year, and this year it was pretty decent. Way too much food, though. On Friday morning, Sarah and I went up to north Florida to visit my cousins. When I blogged about my cousin's cabin, Sarah was intrigued by it so we decided to make the trip.

Better than seeing the cabin was visiting with my cousins. Sarah hadn't seen them since she was very young, so it was a good time of connecting and renewing acquaintances. Their lives are busy, but they live in a country setting, quiet and peaceful, which is so different from the everyday busyness that goes on around here.

Going into the holiday season brings a little sadness. I remember the first year after my husband's death, we sort of went through the motions of the holidays, feeling rather dazed. The next year I thought it would be better, but it was worse, I think. The numbness had worn off, and the realization of his absence from us was felt even more. Even now, there is a wistfulness as we move into the holiday season.

I used to have big parties and have lots of friends in during the holidays, but I hadn't done much of that in recent years. So Sarah said, "Mom, let's have an open house this year." So, we're going to. I look forward to having the laughter of friends in the home.

We made a list the other day of whom we would invite and then a list of what we would have. Sarah said, "Mom, just make the stuff that we used to have." So, there won't be an updated menu, but I don't think anyone will mind.

I did something that I haven't done in a long time. I went to W**-Mart. I had decided when the new Publix opened, I would shop there, even if things were more expensive. I would go in, get what I needed, and not be tempted to look at all the stuff. I miss the W**-Mart of old when we would go and see friends there that we hadn't seen for a while and talk and talk.

I must say that I stayed with my list, and I wasn't tempted by all the stuff that used to draw me. Maybe I've grown up, or I'm just too tired.

The bell ringer was out front from Salvation Army. That's a good thing I can say for the store. Inside the store Christmas music was playing. I guess they've decided to say Merry Christmas again. I was a bit bothered by the music though. They were playing the beautiful Christmas hymn, "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." I thought that it was rather out of place. Such a beautiful hymn, but it seemed so out of place. Perhaps someone heard the words and it made a little impression.

So it's off to begin preparing for the open house. I wish you could come.

Shout joyfully to the Lord!

Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving thanks.
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

A few years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, there was a column in our local newspaper by Joan Beck, a columnist for a Chicago newspaper. I always looked for her columns becasue they were so refreshing. She dealt with issues of the day, but not in the way of some of our columnists today. This particular column was titled, "For All Things Great and Small, we give Thanks on this Thanksgiving Day.

I'm going to put excerpts of it here. If you would like to read the whole text, e-mail me, and I'll send it to you. I love the way she uses alliteration in her essay.

Our fathers’ God to thee, author of liberty, we say thanks this day for homes and homecomings and homilies and Holmes, for holidays and holograms and hollyhocks, for taxol when it saves lives and tax reform when it’s real, for thesauruses and tyrannosauruses and all the wonders your hands have made....

For amber and ambulances, and amniocentesis and amicus curiae, we are truly grateful, O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. So, too, for daylight savings time until it ends, and a new year when it begins, for waffles and wiffleballs and warehouse clubs, for loons and lofts and lollipops for licorice and libraries and lilacs and liberty, for joggers, and jigsaws, and jonquils and jazz...

God, who is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, we are grateful for comets and comedies and comic strips and the Pacific Rim community, for hope and soap and kaleidoscopes, for mother and foster mothers and grandmothers and motherlodes and mothers of invention. Our thanks, too, for answered prayers and amazing grace, for herbs and heroes and Hemingway and the Heimlich maneuver...

For diapers and diamonds and dialysis, we give thanks, o God the omnipotent, for unicorns and universities and UNICEF, for cells and celery and cellular phones, for trips and ships and scholarships, for friends in need and angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God

Joan Beck, columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

In everything give thanks?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I've been giving a lot of thought these last few days to things that I'm thankful for. On Sunday our pastor had a wonderful service. His message dealt with praising God.

After each section, we sang a capella a fitting song. We are to praise God for His great works. We are His great work, aren't we, fearfully and wonderfully made. "To God be the Glory" was the song that we sang--"To God be the glory, great things He hath done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son."

Then we are to praise Him for His faithfulness to His flock. "Great is thy faithfulness, Oh God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Next we are to praise Him for His unique Majesty. There is none other like Him. "Majesty, worship His majesty. Unto Jesus, be all glory, honor and praise...So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus as king. He is great, all sufficient, all powerful, holy.

The verse "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." But God, am I supposed to be thankful that my husband was taken so suddenly and senselessly? Am I supposed to be thankful that my little granddaughter was born with cystic fibrosis? But the verse says, "In everything." So thank you, God, even though I may not understand, You have a master plan, and You are sovereign over our lives.

I'm reminded of Corrie ten Boom, who wrote that while she and Betsy were in the concentration camp, they thanked God for lice...lice! Because of the lice, the guards would not come near them to do them harm.

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful day with your family and friends.