Friday's Fave Five

This is from my cousin, who has a wonderful blog mentioned elsewhere in this blog. She has been doing this - and she has pix, but I'm just going to try getting something down! :D


#1 - Freshly cut grass - by my wonderful hubby. Smells are some of the greatest memory stimulators. A whiff of newly cut grass, on a summer's evening, with lightning bugs and the hoya blooming, and suddenly I am 11 years old and playing kick the can with my cousins while our parents and grandparents played cards. If we stayed out of their way, we could stay up to the un-heard of hour of eleven o'clock!!


#2 - Anoles that live WAY longer than they are suppose to! My daughter made a terrarium as a science project in 2003. She was homeschooled and we were studying river banks, coasts etc and the life around them. She created this 30 gallon habitat for an anole that was predicted to live about 3-4 years. Well it is now 2009 and Lady, as she was named, is still doing fine. And I find her strangely more appealing than the cats and dog who also occupy our abode.

#3 - Pot roast in the oven when I got home today! YAY! TheaterTech followed directions and it smells heavenly!!! See above comment on smells :D

#4 - My heels are feeling better. After my last post, my daughter pushed her anti-inflammatories on me and they seem to be helping!!! Hallelujah! This is me kicking up my heels! It was this or a Bette Grable pose! :D






#5 -This is almost a year since our Mediterrean Cruise taken to celebrate our 30th anniversary. In front of me is a calendar we bought in Sorrento to constantly remind me of the great time we had. We saw so many new and wonderful things. But the best part of all was that we found out we still like to be together and do things together and not just talk about the kids or work. It was wonderful!

ouch

My ankles hurt! Or maybe it is my heels. Not sure. I have heel spurs and they are BOTH aggravated. Doesn't seem fair that they should both be inflamed at the same time! Over a year ago I started doctoring with a pro for the right heel. Two months into the process I broke my little toe on the right foot. Totally. Major coloring and lots of pain. Of course, there is nothing they do for it except tape it to the neighboring toe and tell you to do the wedding walk. The wedding walk you say...that is when you take a step forward and then bring the rear foot even with the forward step. The idea is to NOT bend the toe at the joint, which is where my break was. So 5 weeks later all is healed and I have the ok to start walking normal again.
TWO day - yes, I said 2 days - later I was in a hurry to get to work and tripped on a rug in the dining room. I went to make the little running steps you do to regain your balance, and my life changed! It felt like someone took a baseball bat to the back of my leg. My right leg, of course.
After an MRI it was determined that I had torn the Achilles tendon about 70%. Any more and they would have wanted to do surgery. For me, they just put the foot in a boot and immobilized the foot for 3-4 months. The tendon seems to be doing pretty well, but I am told it can take up to 2 years to fully heal, so I need to be patient.
But the original heel spurs are NOT improved. They hurt. I am not convinced that anything the doctor did helped. I kinda think if he had just ordered me to stay off my feet for a week or two and given me anti-inflammatories, it might have been over by now. Without his order, I couldn't take time from work and I am on my feet the whole time I am at work.
Thanks for listening, I felt the need to whine a little. It does make me feel a little better! :D

Awards and recognitions!

I did it!!! I finally figured out how to post an award I got from my dear cousin several weeks ago! She wanted to know why it wasn't up and I had to admit that I couldn't figure it out. Turns out I had to copy the image and paste as an address and it worked. Yay.
Recognition. Don't we all like that? Today I had to work 12 hours because a colleague who is pregnant had to be rushed to the hospital. (she is OK - but will have to take it easy for a little while - she is due Sept. 2, all prayers welcome) Anyway, I was allowed to leave as soon as the store closed rather than stay for 'recovery.' As I was leaving a fellow associate made comment on my early departure and I said I'd been then for 12 hours already. She commiserated and then as I left she said, "Thank you for your good deed today." I started to just slough it off as 'no big deal' but then I thought...and said...'Thank you, it is nice to be appreciated." It did make the day feel a little better.
We all need affirmations in our life. We want to be good parents, children, mothers, workers, whatever, and we want someone to notice that we are doing those things well. Those little certificates at work for perfect attendance, or maybe that merit bonus, these are things that make us feel good about ourselves.
A number of years ago, I attended a youth conference as a chaperon. The last thing that happened on Sunday morning before church, was an affirmation ceremony. Each small group would write short positive statements about the others in their group. Then as each person took center stage in their group, those statements were read aloud. It seemed kind of silly. And definitely a time waster, we could have been packing the cars instead. That is until it was my turn to sit in the middle and hear things my fellow adults said about me. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. I never wanted it to end. And I, too, took those words home and kept them. Both our daughters have numerous paper bags from various conferences, all contain letters and geegaws that remind them they are special and loved! They look at them sometimes when they feel like mouse spit and they get the strength to go on.
We also want to be good Christians. And again we want to be noticed. We forget that sometimes it is better to do that good deed in secret and be rewarded later by God.
I have tried to live so that God will be proud of me...or at least recognize me when we meet! I don't begin to believe that I have succeeded 100 % but I try.
Thanks Heidi!

Gettysburg

I returned Friday from a week at Gettysburg with my Girl Scout troop. We camped in the National Park and hiked and learned about the Civil War. One of my co-workers is a re-enactor and he offered to take us on a tour of the battlegrounds. Fascinating. The girls learned a lot from it. We did both the Girl Scout badge and the Boy Scout badge. It made for a well rounded examination of the subject. The Boy Scouts deal with the military aspects and the Girl Scouts deal with what the women had to go through to hold their families and homes together during a war.
Monday night at our usual meeting, we took a side-trip to our local cemetery and discovered several Civil War veterans who were buried there, including one who died in the battle of Vicksburg and another who died in a prisoner of war camp. We held our Scouts Own there.
For those unfamiliar with a Scouts Own, it is a quiet reflection on a single subject or theme. Poems, songs, thoughts etc are shared. The girls chose the Gettysburg Address as their theme. One girl read the Address out loud. Another had us listen to a song from her laptop that to her discribed how the women must have felt while their husbands, brothers, uncles and other males fought a bitter war. Still another wrote a poem in which she describes looking up during the battle and seeing her second cousin in the enemy line. It was very moving.
But the part I liked the best was back at the house over snack, when one Scout asked, "Don't we ever learn about how to prevent wars? Why do we keep having them?" Maybe her question will cause her to search for answers that will help all of us to strive for peace.
Please, Lord?

July 5th

Day late and a dollar short. But I had to work on the 4th so I will say my bit now!
Thank you to every veteran or service person out there. Thank you to those brave ancestors who chose to separate us from the British rule. Thank you to all who try to honor the constitution of the USA and thank you for a democracy that has lasted 2oo years longer than most people thought it would.
This is a free country, but that doesn't mean we are free to do whatever we want. It means we are free to behave in a manner that reflects what the men and women of colonial times thought was proper for a person to do. We have stretched the constitution like it was rubber or elastic. The meanings are actually pretty clear, but every year, little by little we are chipping away at the foundation of the country. And I fear that soon we will tip over and fall flat on our faces as the foundation is washed away entirely.
Traditionally we took care of our own. Churches and neighbors stepped in to care for those who needed help. Then we let the government do it.
Traditionally the school board decided how a local school was run. And the products of those schools created the industrial revolution and one of the most affluent societies the planet has ever known. Then state and federal governments mandated what could be taught and how and American scores have plummeted and jobs have moved overseas.
Traditionally we received our news from newspapers and television where respected reporters kept us abreast of what we needed to know about legislation and local happenings. Then tabloid journalism became the norm and suddenly everything is a sound-byte and more people know about John and Kate (I had to ask my daughter after seeing them on the cover of all the tabloids at the check-out counter!) than can name their local senator!
If we are not careful, we will lose this country, not to the gays or blacks or whatever minority you chose to fear, but to our own indifference! Do something. VOTE. Get involved. Teach - and that doesn't have to be in a school, teaching happens everyday when you model to someone how to behave. Remember mom saying "Don't do that, your brother (sister) copies everything you do!" It is still true. Everyday there is someone watching what you do and how you do it. Even when you don't think so. Please be an American - an active, involved American. Thank you.