Category: A Quick Thought

Have you been there? The great, black hole we call the world wide web. It holds great fascination, hours of enjoyment, and you can find just about anything. And that is where the problem resides.

I just went to YouTube, to find a song I wanted to post about. Now, almost an hour later, I have seen that song and about 50 others. One loads, you watch about a minute of it and then the side bar calls you with pictures and titles of another song that looks just as good. You repeat that process for an hour, (hopefully you can keep it to that) and then you get on with your day, feeling really lazy and like you haven’t accomplished a thing.

The song I was looking for was ‘Get Happy’ and it was sung by Judy Garland and others. The tune was running through my head and I wanted to hear the actual words. It wasn’t what I was really looking for, but I did stumble upon…well actually ‘click upon’ several other songs. Most were from the old movies, the musicals with the brightly colored dresses and wonderful dancing. You watch one of those movies and you cannot be sad for long.

So while the world wide web can be a huge time waster, it can also be very useful in many ways. I use it everyday for various things, and it is very much appreciated…most of the time. So now that I have several jingles bouncing through my mind, and visions of swirling dresses, I will climb out of that hole and… get to work. If you read one of my books and I break into song during the dialog…you will know why.

That moment when you end up with your breakfast down the front of your clean clothes…ready to start the day. Each morning, I try to make a smoothie for my husband and I, and our youngest daughter. I have been surprised about the merits of it. I sleep through the night now, no getting up several times or laying awake for hours. I generally go to sleep fairly quickly as well. So, those items alone have kept me drinking this in the morning for about three months now. Surprisingly, the two people mentioned above also enjoy it.

But, this it not a post about smoothies. This post is about all those frustrations in our lives, the little things that shouldn’t seem like much, but are. They are common to all of us.

So…that moment when you have slimy, green gunk splattered all over your clean clothes for the day. A new pair of hose shredded on the way out the door by an excited puppy, kitten or toddler. A baby spitting up or leaking on your outfit just as you are about to walk out the door for church or work. Rushing out to your car, late for church or work and seeing a flat tire. Again, late for those two activities mentioned several times…it’s winter and it snowed over night…no garage. And don’t think you can clear off everything but the top of a mini-van. The laws of physics prove that all that snow, some 200 pounds of it, will slide forward at your first stop…and bury you.

How about that time you were eating with friends or fellow workers? (Yes, they could be one and the same.) You managed to have that rather large bite of food land in your lap? Please let me re-word that. The time when that large bite of food slid off your fork, plopped on your chest and dripped bit by bit down your front until it landed in a soppy pile on your lap. Just going straight to the lap would have been way to convenient because you could have discreetly laid your napkin over it and pretended it didn’t happen. Icy weather is always a joy. You never fall by yourself…it is always in front of people. Yes, they do rush over to help, ask if you are alright. But wouldn’t you prefer to hurriedly crawl to a support of some sort and stand by yourself…again, pretend as though it didn’t happen? We will go out with a bang…something I know you all have experienced. That little bit of food, stuck between your teeth. It could be lettuce, spinach, a peppercorn…let your imagination run wild. You will always feel the incredible urge to smile, when this happens.

Now that I am older, the above scenarios don’t frighten me as they used to. And yes, I have experienced them all…more than once. Maybe I now understand that I will not die if I have food on the front of me or if someone sees me being stupid. I will survive and live another day to do the same. Isn’t life wonderful? Enjoy your day, food-covered shirt and all!

I am a writer. I love to write, and express myself through words. Sometimes no words are best…and this is one of those times. Please watch this very moving performance.

As a child, I loved snow. Growing up in Colorado, it would snow and generally it would melt within a couple days. We would have a lot at a time, but it wouldn’t stick around for long. Then we moved to Vermont. There is snowed, and snowed, and snowed. Every day it just grew deeper. The piles in the parking lots were there until June. I didn’t like snow so much anymore after that.

As an adult, I still love snow. As long as it snows in November and December and there is no ice with it. For me, that sets the holiday mood even more. I love a white Christmas! But as an adult, you also have to think of things like, driving to work in it, shoveling out your car BEFORE driving to work in it, etc. By the time January arrives, I would be fine with it being a pleasant 70 degrees, a touch of rain here and there to keep things green.

Living in Kansas, that is not how it works. If we have snow, it will generally be AFTER Christmas and after January. It has snowed as late as April 17th in  my memory of living here. Not so pleasant, especially since you have had a couple REALLY nice days of upper seventies by that date. Just enough to kind of tease you about spring.

We had a little bit of white just after Christmas this year. We were to have a big storm, with many inches piling up, but it kind of petered out. So it rained, more freezing rain, and then it kind of froze so we had white on the roads and sidewalks. And now it’s cold! For me it can still snow until New Years Day. I will give it one more chance, just a couple more days. Which brings me to the reason I wanted to write this.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! is a song usually sung at Christmas time. But it is really a winter song in my mind. So I wanted to share it with you here. For me, it brings to mind that cozy feeling when it is cold outside and really piling up in big, white mounds. You don’t want to leave, just be close to family and friends and sit beside the fire. Just about a perfect day! Enjoy this Walt Disney version! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sawh40RHFFE

This is my cozy little corner. I sit here in the evenings, on my Cracker Barrel rocking chair. My husband sits in his on the opposite side of the room. This has become a routine for us almost every evening and it’s one that I enjoy. We usually watch Netflix in the evenings, but I do sit here and read at times as well. And sometimes I just…sit.

The chairs were purchased for a lovely front porch we had in an old house we lived in twelve years ago in Upstate New York. I was pregnant with our youngest at the time and I spent a lot of hours on that porch before and after she was born. I absolutely love front porches, side porches and back porches. If I could, I would have every room in my house lead to a porch.  They are kind of a nice, safe, haven that you can observe the rest of the world from. And I really wouldn’t mind if a porch looked out over meadows or mountains. A lake or an ocean would be terrific!

Front porches are old and nostalgic, while decks are modern and open. I do like a deck, but it is just not the same as a porch. I guess I’m just funny that way. (I’m sure some would say in many ways!)

They make life brighter…a day that is headed for the trash heap can be turned around by a great conversation with a friend. I am so thankful for mine…and you know who you are!

Friendships develop from many different areas in our lives. We can have childhood friends, school friends, church friends, and work friends. Many of us count our spouse, children or grandchildren among our friends. I know I do my adult children. To think that these children I use to change diapers on, feed and bathe are now counted among the most trusted people in my life, is pretty wonderful!

So, thank you all for your love, prayers and encouragement. For the great conversations and laughs in tough situations. They are very much appreciated! YOU are loved!

I am usually a very organized, methodical kind of person. When it comes to blogging…NOT! Maybe that is my writing style in general. I am definitely a SOP writer. This means a ‘seat-of-the-pants’ writer. A story comes to mind and I start writing. As it unfolds, twists and takes over my life, I get it down ‘on laptop’. My blogging takes on the same form. So, when you come to read my posts, you don’t know what you’ll find…and I guess I kind of like it that way. All of life is so planned and full of ‘have-to’ type stuff…why not have a little fun and excitement every once in awhile?

Every since I went back on Facebook again, I have been amazed at the way you can reach out to people. I know my children think I was raised in the Dark Ages, but we did have a telephone, hooked to the wall and we did have a television set. It was even in color and weighed about 500 pounds. I thought we were pretty big-time. But…when I was growing up, you generally still wrote a letter if you wanted to communicate with someone far away. You could call, but that was for VERY special occasions.

I wrote many letters in my pre-teen and teen years. I wrote my paternal grandmother at least monthly and most definitely every time she wrote me. I had an aunt that I wrote very frequently and I had childhood and teenage friends that I wrote for many years. It was always exciting to get that letter or card in the mail. I would recognize the handwriting and usually tear the envelope open on the way to the house, so anxious to read about what was happening in their lives.

Childhood friends were married, we shared pictures of our children. My grandmother always received the latest pictures in the mail. There is a huge part of me that misses that form of communication. This younger generation will never know the simplicity of writing a letter, the excitement of it, that pile of cherished pages.

Facebook has given me the opportunity to reconnect with some of those childhood friends. I’ve been able to see pictures of their spouses, children and now grandchildren. Thirty plus years have come and gone…and WOW, they had a life as well! So many of them moved away from the small town we attended school in. Most have had pretty exciting lives compared to mine. Staying at home and raising children is rather ‘blah’ when stood up next to…well, almost anything probably! But it is what I chose to do, wanted to do and loved doing.

So, here is a positive vote for social media. Like everything in this life it has its good aspects and the not-so-good. Right now I’m mostly enjoying the good ones.

My family in the 1970’s. This ‘me’ is what some friends may remember.

Okay, I guess the Midwest has finally decided to call it winter. It’s cold outside!!! But more than the cold… is the freezing rain we’ve had for going on the third day now. I used to love to ice-skate. But not from my car to my backdoor! And whose idea was it to put in all that cement anyway?! I know I’m by no means elderly…yet. But the thought of falling and then trying to get back up on the ‘rink’ is more than a little scary these days!

So, maybe a day beside the fire with a cup of hot chocolate would be just the thing. Have a great day everyone! Stay safe and warm.

We’ve had some cooler weather here in Kansas and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It’s put me in a different mood…needing a little change.  So I’m cleaning house! Actually, I have most of my fall cleaning done, but I wanted to tidy up here. I’m still trying to figure out WordPress and all the bells and whistles. So please bear with me!

I know when I’m reading something, I like it to be colorful and easy to read. I absolutely LOVE fancy fonts…but they are not so wonderful for this site. I adore muted colors and an old-fashioned look to something, but also maybe not the best for posting.

So stick with me as I find my little comfy chair in blogging. I may change it up a bit here and there, once in awhile.  And as always, please let me know what you think!