It's not easy being green

"How do I [waste] thee, let me count the ways..."
i am typically a very "green" person. no, NOT green with envy. green in the newer sense of the word that we're all so conscious of these days: energy efficient and not wasteful. well, i DO hope the "green gods" are not horribly angry with me today cause i really flubbed up and the day is only half over. i have already wasted several things and i'm not filled with JOY about any of that.

i decided on the extra 40 winks this morning and slept a couple hours longer than i should have (and have been paying the price ever since)! after showering i knew i had to dash out of the house to make it in time to get my haircut. so my first waste was of time. after the hair was cut she asked if i wanted "a little mousse," (which i never get, but) caught off guard i said yes. well when i paid for the haircut, surprise! that little less-than-golf-ball-size dab of mousse cost an extra DOLLAR! so, added to my waste of time was now wasted money.

i left there and stopped in the fancy grocery store right next door and felt good that i was saving gas by not driving to a different store for the bananas i wanted...but, oh MAN! following that thought i completely canceled out that savings because it was then that i recalled there were two other errands in that area i had planned on, but both needed paper work (which of course in my earlier haste i forgot, and now had to waste gas in going back home for them and start out on the same exact route)! by now my wastes have summed up to time, money, gas and more time.

i also hadn't eaten or had coffee yet but in the interest of not wasting more time and money i didn't want to stop for anything; so home i go. gather up all the paperwork for my next trek out, and yet i really need to eat and put on coffee. but, now my meals are out of synch: it is completely beyond breakfast and a while before lunch so i come up with the brilliant idea of making waffles. perfect!

i opened up a box of something i hadn't tried before and mixed up some multi-grain with flax seed pancake waffle mix. i put on a pot of coffee while i waited for the waffle iron to heat up, but when i got ready to add the batter to the waffle iron it had hardened to near-rock consistency. i mixed in more water, poured it in and wasted more time while i waited to eat the meal i would now consider as blunch. standing waiting for my waffle, i casually brushed my hand through my moussed hair and found it to be spiked and stiff as a board! what was i thinking when i said yes to mousse? never again! i could've gotten the same results by smoothing in some of this multi-flax-mess!

waffle iron indicated my blunch is ready. OK! now i'll be able to get back on track. but wait...what's this? i can't get the stupid lid open! o GREAT! i took the plug out and yanked the thing open and found half my waffle (good and) stuck to the top, and the other half good 'n' stuck to the bottom, with a gooey, mousse-like-flax-y mixture-mess steaming wet in the middle!

so now the sum of my wastefulness also includes waffle mix, oil, water, electricity, (and if i had followed directions, an egg). i hate wasting things, but look at all i've stacked up so far and it wasn't quite noon! i feel guilty, i feel wasteful, and i feel hungry! so much for my "green-ness." today i feel more like a mean, green, waste-machine. i can't write any more right now. i need to go and find food---and my JOY!

Looking and Hoping

I'm not sure if it is more a sign of the tech-times we are in or the poor economy we're even "more in," but the classified want-ads in this morning's newspaper were barely ONE column! are there really that few jobs that need filling, or are the websites overflowing with all the available jobs?

i can remember in year's past when i was looking for work, i felt as though i would barely make it through the day just waiting and waiting for the (then) afternoon delivery of the daily paper. i'd turn immediately to the entire section, page after page after page, of want-ads. then as i got closer and closer to the "W"-warehouse section, i knew it would be another long, long 24 hours to wait for the next day's paper in hopes of spending another hour pouring over the pages to find that "perfect job."

it HAS to be incredibly difficult for folks who are now looking for work when the ads are so few. then too, i remember hearing of a statistic a while back that said most positions are filled by word of mouth and not by the printed ad at all. i'm not sure i believe that, although for the "higher-ups" who have a huge network of business contacts perhaps it is true. but the "regular" hard working, dedicated folks who are looking, looking, looking, it has to be difficult to maintain that hope and trust.

i recently read a quote who's author was not identified : "Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible." i think what they were trying to say was a re-do of what God already said in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead."

i remember even as a young teen having the distinct feeling that i definitely didn't know HOW people made it through life without trusting in God. i wonder at that still; life is just too hard without Him. my every-day prayers are with any one who is presently looking for work. keep looking and keep hoping and keep trusting.

Tech Tags: Classified Want+Ads Hope Trust

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Un-welcome guests!

I have blogged enough about birds that it is rather obvious that i really love 'em. but! more often than not, come this time of year, i'm not so crazy about their persistence in wanting to build a nest and raise their families in the outdoor vent from my dryer! they have been known to stuff (and i mean STUFF) it full with all kinds of paraphenalia...which is not so cute when you consider the possible fire hazard that this causes.

so we get very creative this time of year to try to come up with new and innovative ideas to spook 'em so they don't take up residence where they are not welcome. so far, everything we have tried works only for a short while until the little bird-brains catch on that it's no big deal and they become even more creative and work around our methods of determent.

we have planted lots of trees and eventually they do get the idea. last year, in the one tree alone, we discovered about 5 different nests! now THAT's what i'm talkin' 'bout! but they still insist on checking out the "property" without a For Rent sign (namely the vent)!

well, since they are still fluttering about the dryer vent so far this year, i have to admit i'm getting a little weary of every few minutes pounding on the window, then darting out the front door, waving arms, clapping hands, and yelling and stamping my foot. the neighbors i'm sure have determined that i've finally (completely) flipped out this time....for certain! so now, my latest ingenious idea is to hang a set of wind chimes. i even was thrilled to find a real pretty one with a shiny hummingbird on it, and it was on SALE half-price, which made me even happier!

we shall see how successful this will be. i have a feeling (and hope they prove me wrong) that they will swoop in, then HALT....whoa....what th'?...HEY! who put that thing there? as they rest momentarily in the arborvitae and size up the hangy-thing near where they wanted to build. then: oooh, what a loverly little tinkling-sound it makes; that should do well as a lullaby for my li'l babes. this really IS the perfect spot for our new nest! i love it! not only will we live here this year, i'm definitely coming back next year too, and i'm going to let all my feathered friends know about this location, location, location.

HEY! GET OUTTA HERE! G'WON, GIT! (clap, clap, stomp, stomp, stomp!) SHOO!

Pets

I was in the pet store yesterday to load up on food for the keets and canary. (i almost bought a 40 pound bag of cat litter too, but struggled to put it back and decided to wait for it to go on sale, since we have enough to last.) it's easy to spend a LOT of money in a pet store nowaday!

rudy, our singing-canary (who in the 8 years we've cared for him has blessed us only ONCE with the beautiful trill and warble they're known for!) is named after rudy valee, an old time famous singer who is probably an unknown to anyone younger than 60. our rudy confuses us because he is suddenly, over the past couple months, eating like a horse! in all his previous years he ate "like a bird," which was hardly-at-all! now, he sometimes even perches on his food cup as if he's guarding it with his little yellow life for fear those neighboring keets might escape and steal it from him. i'm not sure why, after all these years, he suddenly discovered he has an appetite.

and the keets, well...i'm just hoping that miss cloudy doesn't plan on laying any eggs! mr whitey has been "taking liberty" lately and i hate to break it to them, but i'm not about to be purchasing that huge, heavy wooden nesting box they would require if they happen to become in the family-way. it weighed a ton and wouldn't even fit inside the cage. so i may have to look into a teensy-tiny-keet-size chastity belt.

mr rudy used to have a mate named ruby, who had quite a fun personality, if you can believe that of little birds! she did lay some eggs, but they were not fertilized. (i guess singing is not the only thing that rudy doesn't do.) but providing a nest for ruby was a lot easier than providing a wooden box for cloudy. a tiny little wicker nest just attached inside her cage and she filled it with little bits of string. the keets however do not sit in a nest and they'd much prefer eating string than sitting on it. so it remains a mystery what may or may not happen next.

all of the above however, was not what i intended to post! (sometimes i get side-tracked. tee hee) while in the pet store i always wander back to where they have a few windows where you can see the cats who are up for adoption. typically and surprisingly, they are young cats, not kittens; and usually there will be 1 or 2 older cats. what amazed me yesterday was the PRICE to adopt one of their older cats! $90!!!!!! i squinted. was i reading it wrong? no WAY!

when my kids were young we got most of our pets from the animal welfare shelter and they were free, though the shelter hoped you'd at least give a donation if you could afford it. then when we adopted our present cat (then an 8 week old kitten) from the shelter just 5 years ago, there was a charge of $28. but, come on...$90, for an older cat? are you kidding me?! no special breed, just a nice old black cat, fully grown. it somehow doesn't seem right. i'd rather see someone go to the animal shelter and pay, rather than give a store that much money. plus, most people, i would think, would prefer a kitten to a grown cat anyway. so, why 90 bucks? i don't get it.

Tech Tags: animal+adoption birds cats pets

Good Friday, and THEN...

i'm actually glad it has been grey most of today. in fact, i kinda wish we had gotten the heavy rains that were predicted. Good Friday has always been a rather dismal and emotional day for me, so i really prefer that the weather match my mood. i get choked up when i think of the suffering, the terrible suffering, the dreadful, awful suffering that Jesus endured so that i wouldn't have to. the crucifixion seems even more real to me this year, since i went to the Easter production that was so professionally enacted by volunteers of my church. check out the incredible photos of past productions at their website here.

it is one thing to read about the crucifixion and resurrection in my Bible, and another, to see a film about it. but when i saw it presented LIVE, it took on even MORE meaning. incredible meaning! and some of the scenes have stayed with me so that when i close my eyes, i can visualize what i saw on the stage.

it is such a shame that stores have changed (most) holidays into nothing but SALE days. Easter is NOT about buy-one-get-one-half-off. look beyond good friday to the marvel of EASTER! it is the miracle of a resurrected, living Saviour! have a blessed resurrection day! JESUS IS ALIVE! JOY, JOY, JOY!

Tech Tags: religion good+friday

Coffee Please

I know i could've had tea, but this morning i really wanted my caramel swirl coffee. but our ol' coffee pot called it quits. it's been a good one for i-dont-know-how-many-years, so i wasn't too, too upset (except that i was up early and really wanted my coffee).

when i saw the high prices of the new ones, it became obvious that we must've had this one longer than i thought! and depending on the brand name, they went anywhere from $25 up to $200. wait, WHAT? they all squirt hot water over coffee grounds and produce brown, flavored water, so why the drastic-difference in price? beats me. but i thought it best to get the same exact brand that just died since it served us well and i could still use the permanent "gold" filter and 100 paper filters that of course i just had restocked.

packaging nowaday is another whole topic! by the time i got the new coffee maker out of the box, took it out of the plastic bag, got a cardboard cut trying to peel all those inner cardboard inserts off, unwrapped the tape holding together various other parts, and a few other procedures, not dissimilar from outpatient surgery, i set it up and poured the plain water in to clean it (before seeing if i could salvage my caramel swirl coffee grounds from 6:30 this morning, since the water hadn't touched them).

new pot now on and ready to produce hot water, i proceeded to break apart the box and other cardboard for recycling while miss dusty (cat) had great tent-fun in the box. okay. all the trash and recycling taken care of...now, dump the hot water and it is now, finally time for some real coffee.

WHAT TH'???!!! wait a minute here! NOTHING! NO water dripped through. well, THAT's just GREAT! that gives me NO JOY! go get all the cardboard, reassemble the cat's tent, put the whole stupid thing back together again, back in the bag, back in the car, back to the store. customer service wasn't too crowded.

the customer service woman was from the Caribbean, the woman in line behind me was from India, and then the Caucasion with the defective re-packaged coffee pot. WELL! we had the nicest conversation amongst the three of us! it was as if we had just poured a defective cup o'coffee and sat down for a nice chat; who liked coffee, who liked tea, where they grew up, the best place to buy a coffee maker, which brand to stay away from (namely, the one i was returning...and the woman from India had already returned one just like it), which brand was best and where to get it. honestly, i felt bad breaking up the coffee-clatch, but another woman joined us then and not only did she seem perturbed by our chatting at the cust-service desk, but by adding another Caucasion, she threw the balance off. so off i go, disappointed only that now by going to the recommended store to look for the recommended brand, i would lose my senior citizen discount.

BUT! fear not! the recom-store had the recom-brand...AND IT WAS ON SALE! so i got a better coffee maker for $8 LESS than my sr-citiz-disc had me spending! and, yes, i'm just finished my first cup of caramel swirl and it's everything i had hoped it to be ten hours ago. funny how things work out, isn't it? what nice ladies i met today! now THAT is JOY!

Dusty

Ode to The Duster

you yourself climbed into my bed
and on the pillow laid your furry head
slept all day quietly, no sound
while i searched for you all around.
this was fine, but then last night
as you curled up by my knee
WAIT! that sound, what could it be?
sounds like a...wait, what IS that!
that SNORING sound is from my CAT!
why am I awake while YOU soundly snore?
wake up, Dusty...there's the door!

Rainbow

Last evening the sky became very ominous. the storm blew in, the clouds churned, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and the raindrops started pelting down! BUT! the JOY of it all: way off in the distance, across all the backyards, the horizon lit up with a VERY BRILLIANT RAINBOW! it was different than any other rainbow i'd ever seen! SO brilliant and such a small, but wide, wide portion. no arch, just a spectrum-spotlight! i always get SO excited when i see a rainbow (of any size) and have been known in the past to actually knock on neighbor's doors to get them to come out and witness it as well. in years gone by, God made a huge promise along with His rainbow. every time i see one, i always think He is making another promise...usually one that is only known between Him and me. thank you, God!

Violets

I used to be known as having a "brown thumb"--y'know, like the opposite of a "green thumb." i killed my houseplants. ALWAYS. no exception. it wasn't until all these years later that i realized that i actually DO have a green thumb; i just had lousy lighting. whichever windows had the decent lighting to encourage growth, they also had a radiator in front of them. naturally, the heat from the radiator, no matter how often i'd water the plants, dried them out and in some cases cooked them brittle.

knowing that any house plant i bought was doomed to certain demise, i used to go the rack, "Reduced for Quick Sale" and buy any little pathetic and puny plant that begged me for a home. i delighted in caring for those poor green-orphans. if any of them responded with a new green shoot, i'd jump for JOY. on the other hand, if they brittled-up and browned, i'd console myself with the remembrance that they were practically dead when i bought them and i just prolonged their life with a little love first.

but, as i look now, i am SO thrilled to see my African Violets in full bloom! but, truly it is a bittersweet love. while i'm thrilled at their brilliance of deep purple, with that teensy little dab of sunshine-yellow in the middle----hmmm, i wonder if God planned them that way because purple and yellow are complementary colors on the color wheel?? anyway, whenever i see beautiful blooming African Violets i cannot help thinking of my mother-in-law, who is presently with our Lord. talk about a sweet, dear lady; mommom was all that and a whole lot more.

she knew i loved violets and she also knew that i had a hard time keeping plants alive. one year, which i will never forget, she gave one of the most loving, generous Christmas gifts i could've EVER hoped to receive! her African Violets. all of them! i even went and got one of those grow-lights with the special ultra-violet lights perfect for the violets and set aside a special place for them on my server shelf in the dining room. no radiators. no cooking of these plants. i was gonna do it right because i knew what a sacrifice it was for her to give up these "babies."

they did real well and blessed me with lots of flowers, and were remaining in good health. then, well, then....and oh! it pains me to remember. (excuse me while i get a kleenex....sniff. ok, just joshing; it was too long ago to cause that. but at the TIME....)

one day as i was doing a good thorough cleaning (it was back in the day when spring and fall housecleaning were in style. ever since women started working outside the home, instead of seasonally, they spent every weekend cleaning thoroughly! i remember once, a "thousand years ago" my mom asked me if i'd finished my fall housecleaning. i told her that my schedule was off and that i did in fact, finish. but i wasn't certain if i had finished my fall housecleaning early, or was it my spring housecleaning late? that's when i decided to do away with those old fashioned terms and just do the best i could with what time i could invest.)

ANY way! it was a beautiful sunny day, so while i worked on cleaning the dining room that day, i thought i'd place all my plants out on the front step for a dose of fresh air and sunshine before bringing them back inside under the "fake" light. (about now....if you know anything about African Violets, you might be going for that kleenex!) violets do NOT like hot sun! well, WHO KNEW??!!! (obviously not me!) when i went out later to bring them all in, the hot sun had literally burnt all the leaves brown, and crumbled and scorched the plants so terribly that they all (ALL!!!) very soon afterward, met their demise.....and left me, somehow, having to explain the situation to mommom. i'm not sure which one of us was more upset and sad.

obviously she forgave me and still loved me...she just never trusted her violets to me after that! she DID let me look at her's when they were in bloom. "just look, don't touch." it did nothing at the time to put to rest my brown-thumb reputation.

Labor Pains

I remember a long, long time ago, after birthing my first-born, my mother told me that she, without knowing that i was in labor, at that same time, she also experienced "sympathy pains," as she called it. i have since discovered that it is SO true that no matter how young or old our children are, their pain becomes our pain; rather--their pain becomes my pain. however, the other side of that coin is that their JOY becomes my JOY!

today, eleven short years ago, i paced the floor continuously while my own daughter was in labor with my first grandson. WHAT A WONDER AND JOY he is; HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY "supershot75"!!!!! what incredible JOY you have brought to SO MANY! (excuse me for shouting, with all those capital letters and exclamations, but yes; i am THAT excited!!!)

i have two photographs framed on my mantel. one is a very young me, holding my daughter, just home from the hospital. the other is of a sorta-kinda-young me holding my brand new grandson. Amazingly, these two photos are virtually identical, in position of baby and me, and in both, a glow on my face that can only be explained as pure JOY!

a couple months before my mother went to her heavenly home, i remember during a visit, counting up for her remembrance, all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for whom she was the matriarch. the numbers respectively were 4, 7 and 4. and it was THEN, that the shock hit me: i had just one less grandchild that my elderly momma had! i was only ONE behind her.....but, yet--WAIT! WHAT? i am not (ewww! yick!) elderly!!! how in the WORLD? WHAT th'!

then i remembered! it has always been, and remains, MY plan, to live til i'm 103, and then if i still like it, i'll stick around a little longer. so, in THAT case, i am just about middle age! SO, at that rate, i may have to add a third photograph to the mantel some day. when my now-11 year old grandson someday in the far future places his little one in my arms, someone had better be on assignment to have the camera ready.

Good Sport / Bad Timing

always at this time of year, i can't help thinking of a man i worked for over 40 years ago. i gave him SUCH a hard time on april fool's day, and he took it all quite in stride--when he could've very easily gotten angry. i tantalized him with tricks all morning long. mostly simple things, but the worst of which was when i told him there was an assignment in the lobby for a portrait to be taken. (he was the company photographer.) after this good soul rounded up all his photography equipment....this was LONG before the age of digitals!!!...and headed downstairs, with cameras swinging from his shoulder, back-screens in tow, lights on tripods and extra film plates under his arms and balanced precariously in both hands...i called the receptionist and asked to speak with him. "April Fool." he had every right to fire me on the spot!

but instead, dear man that he was, with a mission only to get even, he told me he was going to the sandwich shop to bring lunch back to the office and did i want something too? as we later sat across from each other eating our yummy sandwiches, he asked how mine tasted. oh, it's delicious, i said. he asked me the same question in a few different ways, and each time i assured him how much i was really enjoying it and how that place makes such great sandwiches. is it HOT? he finally asked, a tad impatient. no, not at all. he then admitted that he was trying to get even with me and had the deli load up my sandwich with lots of hot peppers. OH, i said; i LOVE hot peppers! no wonder this tastes sooooooo good. thank you!

in keeping with my typical m.o. of bad-timing, i had also chosen that same day (not at all thinking of it being april 1 when i wrote it)... gave him at the close of the work day, my letter of resignation, with two-week notice. we had bought a little house in another state and would be moving soon. NATURALLeeee, he thought my letter was all part of my day's worth of tricks and he didn't believe me. he was such a good man to have put up with my trickery, and if it helps make amends at all, i think of dwayne and his lovely wife and 3 children, this time every year since. we lost track several years later, but i'm not sure i've ever met such a good sport.

Happy April Fool's day, dwayne, wherever you are!