soooooo far

This “It’s Saturday” could scare your Christmas socks off; yes it could, soooo be careful! I got some groceries at Fareway this week.  I told the check-out gal that I could push my own cart out to my car; I will return it.  She said, no no, I will do it; it’s company policy.  Sooooo I asked her if she likes Christmas—OF COURSE I DO!  Especially since I’m no longer in retail.  Huh, interesting.

Don’t believe anything I say; it could be “fake news.” I get much of my information from maybe “unstable” sources and maybe much of the information is staged. LucieEddie says--Much of the information we get is the “over-the-top” exaggerated variety stuff that has an agenda which is usually promoted by small radical groups (i.e. it is just propagation).  MissPerfect says—I’m the biggest sucker around; I fall for most of the fake news; I’m good at it and I get all excited.  MissPerfect asks—Sooooo is this Christmas Jesus stuff real or fake (i.e. now that is the nitty-gritty of Christmas)? The “big box” stores could really care either way; they are only interested in “money”; about 30-40% of their profits happen because of Christmas but I read in the paper, soooo it must be right that soooo far this Christmas’ commercial season, Amazon is knocking the socks of the competition (i.e. must have the biggest and fastest reindeer). 

A friend text me—Sooooo many good memories with Arlene and our families.  It’s my favorite part of the season. And the music! Her text was touching to me; it affected me. It notched up my mood!  Suggestion because of this friend—Try to do something personal for someone this Christmas that will notch up their mood.  Generic is just generic; anyone can be generic! 

JoeBlow says—We put a lot of empty chatter in our heads.  Not good! And some of us are futile a.k.a. empty headed—that’s not good either).  Oswald Chambers wrote, “There are certain things we must not pray about—moods, for instance. Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking.” He wasn’t telling us to never pray for better attitudes, but he was stating a basic emotional reality. We must take charge of our moods and kick the bad ones out of our hearts and minds. Just as importantly, we must open the door and usher in some better attitudes and let them rule in our hearts.  Oswald also says—"We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not….”

I have decided that I am going to try to change. Yep, I’m going to try to kick out some bad moods/attitudes pertaining to two things and insert better attitudes.  Will I be able to do it?  Now that is a good question. I am really going to try; I will put a lot of effort into it.  That is a new and exciting project for me.  Yes it is.  Now time will tell!  Such is life.

My kid sister asked me the other day what I was going to do—I was going down town and buy starch to try to make my collars of my open collar shirts stand up (i.e. my body must not be physical enough to make them look good)—she told me to throw the shirts away and buy new shirts with button down collars or more expensive open collar shirts!  She is soooo smart.  I used to wear them with ties, but who wears ties any more (i.e. not very often unless when someone dies and then we always don’t).  Sooooo times have changed, I guess (i.e. but we’ve always done it that way).  Throw those suckers away!  Now that will solve the problem.  Simple and effective!

I was having breakfast with a friend the other morning.  All of a sudden, a person in a both behind me sneezed. It was the loudest sneeze I have ever heard. Every conversation in the restaurant stopped and probably looked who that was.  It shook the whole building; it was as loud as the loudest thunder clap I have ever heard (i.e. maybe I embellished it a little but let me tell you it was loud).  I looked at my friend across from me like who was that person.  I expected him to say how Mrs. Helen Shirley described Cousin Eddie to the police--He was a huge, beastly, bulging man. But no, he said it was a woman.  I didn’t turn around and look but I wanted to.  I didn’t ask my friend what she looked like, but I wanted tooooo.  What do you think she looked like? 

ItchieBitchie says—Soooooo far I am really short on faith; I want proof (i.e. scientific proven proof)! The angel Gabriel brought news of impending births to two families: Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, and Joseph and his betrothed, Mary. When Zacharias heard the news that his wife would bear a son in her old age, he responded in unbelief (Luke 1:18). And he was struck dumb for nine months. But when Mary received her news, she responded in faith (Luke 1:38). Both responses were similar: “How can I . . .?”—but their motivations were different. Zacharias came to a place of faith in time, but Mary had faith from the beginning.

Now this could be scary for some of you in different ways (i.e. scary in that “it’s none of their business” or “technology is going toooooo far tooooooo fast).  And for some of you, “You just plain love it.” One of our brothers-in-law told me that their utility company gave them a “free” Ecobee thermostat and even installed it free (i.e. retail value $249).  He gets all the breaks! I goggled it and it says—It is soooo smart that it pays for itself! They have to have wi-fi and an Amazon account.  You can talk to it and it will do what you tell it; it even listens to everything you say.  Wow!  I told him that he and my kid sister better be careful what you guys talk about as Amazon knows everything about you.  Sooooo why would Amazon want to be part of this thermostat?  I told him—I can talk to our 1974 Honeywell thermostat, but it doesn’t talk back!  Hippie says--It must not be female!

I read what TrickieRickie said while eating my oatmeal with half a banana on it--By the way, this means you don’t have to have all of your doubts about Christianity and Christ settled before you make the decision to follow him. If someone had told me this, I probably would have made my decision to follow Christ much, much sooner. I still don’t understand a lot that is in the Bible. For the rest of our lives, we’ll be working out all the problems and doubts that come with faith. You don’t have to have all of your doubts resolved. You don’t have to have all of the problems figured out or solve them before you make a decision. But to be wise, you must make a decision in faith, knowing that problems will come, doing your best to plan for them, and trusting God to give you what you need to confront them.  I had another TrickieRickie in my life; he was a college friend who I played basketball with “at good ol’ Northwestern College.”  He was a very good player and was tricky alright; opponents couldn’t stop him.

I was talking to a friend about their adult children who are going through a challenging time.  She told me that she doesn’t ask them questions or talk to them about it as she doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable.  Flipthepancake—As a caregiver and speaking for other caregivers, asking about us and the person we are caring for is super; we cherish direct questions instead of the generic, polite, wish washy church responses.  You will not make us feel uncomfortable; the only person it makes uncomfortable, it appears, is you.  Your questions are a very sincere interest that shows that you really care.  Being part of several care giver support groups, the caregivers (i.e. I would assume for all others as well who are experiencing a struggle) like to know that others care.  Say something; say “we care about you.” Just hug them or if you are not a hugger, tap them on the shoulder or if that is toooo wild for you, shake their hand while looking them in the eye.  Anything is better than nuttin! I recently told a couple who are struggling with a tough situation (i.e. by text message) that I care about them.  After a while I got a message back and the text thread when like this—Sorry I’ve been so hard to get a hold of lately. I could give you a few excuses, but honestly, I’m just kind of sad and I tend to withdraw a little when I’m sad. Been thinking of you, though—I feel for you—I know you do (with the emoji of a heart). 

ItchieBitchie says—YaBut, we’ve always done it that way! Sooooo I was thinking of some folks who have a difficult situation with one of their children.  I decided I was going to call them and tell them that I have been thinking and praying for them (i.e. caring about them).  Of course, they didn’t have a land number soooo I used messenger on Facebook.  I was telling one neat gal about not finding their phone #.  She said—Da Dad, this isn’t 1980!  What makes me laugh about this is soooo many things have changed (e.g. on line buying of Christmas presents) but yet in some situations (e.g. some churches), things just don’t change much at all.  I did a few projects recently; they were rather small but they made such a great difference in my life (i.e. much more enjoyable).  Why don’t we do those simple little projects?  Friends (i.e. senior citizens) told me recently that they are lazy (i.e. could that be the reason you think)!  Sooooo far, I haven’t figured that out. Sooooooo I talked to a younger couple at our Thanksgiving Eve church service—Good to see you guys; haven’t seen you for a while—we have been going to XYZ church—you like it—yes we do, it’s modern; but we will see! What do you think that means?  That is what I thought.

My Daddy, Chester, told me many times—erv, you can tell what kind of a person folks are by how they treat someone who is less powerful, less affluent, or less important.  WorldClassLarry says—Many times, but not always, you can tell by their kids as to what their parents are like.  Sooooo the other night some carolers from our church came to sing to Arlene and me.  They were soooo nice and kind and loving to Arlene (i.e. they hugged her, shock her hand and patted her on her back).  Arlene knows them but don’t know them by name.  Many of them she has been friends with for years (i.e. good folks with good hearts).  ANYWAY, we all sang; Arlene knew many of the words (i.e. I was surprised).  While we were singing, a couple of girls maybe 4 and 3 crawled up on Arlene’s lap and just hugged her (i.e. they don’t really know her).  Soooo touching to everyone.  Arlene cried.  The whole experience was very touching and quite incredible.  

Soooo the nurse asked me—erv, do you feel like you are under a lot of stress as your blood pressure is higher?  No, I don’t feel any more stress than I normally do, and I don’t think I’m stressed but some friends and acquaintances think I am, but I don’t think soooo. But how do I know?  That is hard to measure; I guess you just did!  ha ha    Hey, picking the right Medicare supplement plan and drug plan can be stressful.  I just did that.  But I don’t think I have a lot more stress than others do; no, I don’t.  Of course, maybe my genetics have something to do with my blood pressure level (i.e. Chester and Anna's fault) or maybe because I just had another birthday (i.e. birthdays are good: the more you have, the longer you live).  Or maybe being a 24/7 caregiver might affect me but I don’t think soooo; no I don’t! She told me—erv erv, sit still and relax for a while and I will take it again. Then Arlene and I went to a mall and I gave her a ride in the wheel chair; a ride of a life time (i.e. Arlene laughed a lot—we really squealed the tires alright).  Then went to Von Maur and had the gal play our favorite Christmas songs on the piano.  Quite a life we have.  Such is life.

My golf buddy’s/friend’s 3^rd joke—Once upon a time there was a woman married to an annoying man. He would complain about everything. One day he went to the creek with his mule. He complained so much that the mule got annoyed and kicked him to death. At the funeral, when all the men walked by the wife, she shook her head yes and every time the women walked by she shook her head no. The minister asked "Why are you shaking your head yes for men and no for women?" Her response was, "The men would say how sorry they felt for me and I was saying, "Yes, I will be alright and when the women walked by, they were asking if the mule was for sale . . . "  

Last Saturday we went to Charlie’s piano recital in West Des Moines.  She knocked our socks off! Of course, it doesn’t take much to knock the socks off of either set of her grandparents; we are pretty much suckers!  Charlie played one song out of a piano book that Arlene used when she gave piano lessons; pretty special.  ANYWAY, 6-year-old Rookie said to his Dad after about 5 kids played their songs—When is Charlotte going to play?  He showed him the program and pointed that she was about 10 out of the 20.  He said—You mean I have to sit through all of those?  After a while, another kid played Deck the Halls and he said to his Dad—How many times do I have to listen to that song! I always say I like honest, real folks—Now that is being honest and real.  Soooooo much fun.

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFrinedJean says—Life tests all of us—Pay attention and take notes.