ugh

I texted a golf buddy/ friend and told him he gets all the breaks as corn went up 16 cents.  His response--What can I say...take pie when pie is passed...maybe that's why I'm carrying 15 extra pounds..was going to say 10 but I have to be honest once in awhile. Ugh!

Ambrose Blerce, in “The Devils’ Dictionary,” defined optimism as “the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.”  That makes me smile.  A friend, at breakfast the other day, told me that the church he attends uses a determined doctrine for the pandemic: Their precautions for the virus are done half way (i.e. they do about half the suggested precautions and not the other half).  That makes me smile toooo.  Ugh! And what makes it easy is that folks can pick the half they like; it’s like a regular smorgasbord! Guess what, he and his wife got the virus!  Yikes!  But I don’t know if they got it from church.  Some folks have been very careful and others not soooo much (i.e. difference of opinions for sure).  I wonder if folks have different opinions about religious doctrines that have been established (i.e. pick the ones they like). Ugh!

ItchieBitchie, who lives across the tracks, says—We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth.  How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40; and half the things he knows at 40 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20? Ugh! SusieQ, who at times has a hard time making up her mind but is soooo sweet, asks—Is that a joke or is that true, I can never tell erv if you are serious or kidding with me! SusieQ, your guess is as good as mine!

WorldClassLarry says--If you’re going to be good at anything, you’ve got to accept short-term pain for long-term gain. Why is this resolution important in our lives? Because most problems in life come from the inability to delay gratification. Society teaches us to say, “I want everything and I want it now and I want it free and I want it easy.” Life doesn’t work like that! Ugh! AverageJoe, who seems to always have his wheels up, says—We are going to experience pain in life. But if we choose to do the hard thing right now and put in the effort and discipline to learn, grow, become strong, and mature, then later in life we’ll get to benefit from all of that. AverageJoe, I don’t know if it always works that way on this earth.  It sounds good but I question if it always works that way. Life has obstacles that always don’t seem to allow us to enjoy the benefits (i.e. that is real life).  Just hard work always doesn’t cut the mustard.  BUT I agree that you will be a better person and have a much happier life if you work hard and do what is right (i.e. use your talent to the fullest and work hard to get to your best level of success that you are capable of—be an over achiever instead of an underachiever) but there is no guarantee. Do you honestly think that everything the politicians are saying they are going to do? Their common statement is after they are elected is—My hands are tied, I can’t get it done (i.e. scripted before they even get elected—Elected 101)  Ugh! It’s all about the money and power folks (i.e. my opinion). SlimySlick says—Flip the pancake, sometimes I hope what the politicians say they are going to do, I hope they don’t do!!!!! haha

MissPerfect, who is thrilling but not pretty, says—You can’t deal me the aces and think I wouldn’t play them! I recently was thinking about a friend who has a very opinionated spirt and expresses it in how she thinks and talks. My opinion is that it is to a point of she being a tad over bearing.  I think it might be a damaging mentality to her (i.e. very narrow).  Extremes usually cause problems for folks. Many conversations between folks that don’t know each other are quite interesting (i.e. my opinion).  What do folks talk about?  For retired folks the conversation might be different than working folks who are 60 or 45 or 25.  I think it is quite often.  Many folks define themselves by what they do for a living, their occupation.  Folks ask each other—Soooo what do you do?  And many will try to make their occupation sound as important as they can (i.e. even embellished) to make them appear important.  And then there are others who downplay their occupation or don’t talk much about it (i.e. it is not that important to them—that isn’t who they are).  I find this very interesting.  I think I can tell somewhat of what a person is all about by just listening to them. Sometimes I say to myself when listening to some folks talking about themselves—UGH! 

RickyRick, who might be the brother of RichyRich, says—"When you look for your identity in other people, you’re not going to find it. When you look for your identity in your job or your hobby or your accomplishments or your causes, you’re only going to be disappointed.” Soooo where do you think RickyRick thinks we can find our identity?   JoeBlow says—It has to be in money and toys! RickyRick says this--Most people have no idea what success really is. Some people think it means you make a lot of money. But you can make a ton of money and be an absolute failure. Some people think it means being famous. But you can be famous and totally miss the point of life. So what is real success? The Bible says real success is being who God made you to be. It means you’re not trying to be somebody else or what your parents wanted you to be. You’ll only find real success when you spend your life as the person God created you to be. SusieQ says—I wish God would have created me to be something else.  What was He thinking anyway? He must have been having a bad day! Ugh!

When I was a little ol' farm boy a mile and a fourth south of Roseland, MN, Anna, my Mom would say—erv, eat over the table (i.e. I heard it a lot; I must have been a sloppy eater).  It was not a suggestion but a mandate (i.e. Anna was not treading a verbal needle).  She knew I spilled and would make a mess and mess up my clothes that she would have to clean up.  And there was never any blowback from me.  I knew she was right as I respected her.  Soooo when you are told to eat over the table do you listen?  Do you give some blowback? SpoiledWalt says—I hate that when folks tell me to eat over the table (i.e. in other words, boss me around).  Ugh!  I rebel and give them some blowback.  SpoiledWalt thinks he’s smarter than the average dog. Ugh!  Do you know any SpoiledWalts?  Do mothers still say to their Juniors—Eat over the table Junior!

MissPerfect, who seems to be a prophetess, says--Whatever moves the heart wags the tongue.  Ugh!  Now we have to find out what moves her heart soooo we understand why her tongue says what it does.  Isn’t the mind really something?  Now that is pretty complicated.  My Daddy, Chester, liked to play checkers.  We played some but I never could beat him and he never let me.  He could think one, two, or three steps in advance, I couldn’t. Not good in checkers was I.  I lost interest real quick.  I wasn’t any good at it! Just like when we played couples’ bridge, I would rather eat the snacks and talk.  Of course that didn’t work for the more serious players.  Probably that is why I wasn’t much good at that either but I didn’t really care.  Could be!  Ugh!

 “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world” C. S. Lewis.  AverageJoe says-- I’ve noticed something as I have aged and my hearing has degraded. When you don’t quite catch a comment, you get tired of saying, “Huh? What did you say?” or, “Could you repeat that?” Soooo you just ignore what was said and hope it wasn’t too important. Seniors Beefeater, Baits, Hagen, and Digger played a round of golf and stopped at the club house when done for a beverage and talk.  They sat 6 feet apart as suggested.  None of them can hear very well sooo when they got started talking about politics, they didn’t hear half what was said and the other half they didn’t hear as they didn’t agree a.k.a. selective hearing.  I wonder what they told their wives when they got home (i.e. if they could remember any of it; maybe they just made it up).

Mark Twain says—The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lighting and a lighting bug. I struggle many times if I should do something or not.  One minute/day I think it’s a good idea and then next I don’t think it is (i.e. maybe I think it is the right thing to do but others might think I’m goofy).  My history is I tell myself to just do it.  I usually do (e.g. should I send a note or not). SusieQ says—Doesn’t everyone like attention and appreciation?  Don’t you? BigHeartMary says--The safe life is a life protected from loss and disappointment, a passionless life that is afraid to love and live. Sooooo do it even if some might think you are goofy (i.e. way out in left field).  Ugh!  PsychologistJoe says—When you think of others it is soooo good for yourself as well as others.  You believe that?  That is what I thought. erv says—The difference between doing something good and doing something good that is maybe thought by some as goofy is like the difference between a $100 bill and two $50 bills!  WorldClassLarry says—If you do it there is between 0% to 100% chance that you might knock the socks off someone and if you don’t do it there is between 0% to 0% change that you will (i.e. those are guaranteed percentages folks, for sure—you can take that to the bank)!

Are you a practical person?  CoachB says—Be realistic and practical folks.  84% of the folks dream about having success but 75% of those folks think about their success will be in sports, arts and entertainment. Reality is that only about 2% of folks find success in those areas.  Da! I find it soooo interesting that college education has majors that are fun but have very few jobs.  The old saying is—Some college education will get you a job where you will say—with or without fries! Those jobs don’t buy too many $75,000 pickups or half million-dollar houses if that is what your dream is.  Ugh!  But if that is not what your goal is, then don’t complain when others have them.

If we ask a little boy about kissing, he probably will say ugh!  Soooo who started this kissing thing anyway?  Why is kissing an expression of affection?  Maybe 30 years ago a group of guys went on a fly-in fishing trip in Canada.  We fished two guys to a boat and changed fishing partners each day.  One of my fishing partners/friend told me that his wife liked to kiss a lot more before they were married than afterwards!  He made me laugh (i.e. that is what I remember most about the trip).  I kiss our grandkids on their checks or on their heads but never on their lips.  I don’t remember them ever kissing me.  I kiss my daughter and daughter-in-law on their checks.  They kiss me on the checks and occasionally kiss me on the lips.  I have through the years kissed our son on the check.  I have kissed some of Arlene’s and my female friends on the checks who were soooo nice to us during her illness (i.e. and some of you have kissed me on the check—no guys though but have hugged many of you). Some families and individuals are more on kissing that others, for sure.  Are you a kisser? Some of you have kissed a lot of people through your years and others of you maybe only have kissed your spouse (i.e. and some of you don’t even like doing that).  This kissing is interesting to me. On TV and in the movies, male and female look at each other in the eyes and kiss passionately and then God only knows what happens!  Of course, that is TV and the movies!!! PuckerUpMitsi, who claims she is very good at kissing, says—This kissing has been going on for a long time and I’m good at it and I like it!

Recently I was having breakfast with a friend.  I had Greek yogurt with seeds, nuts and granola on the top with some fruit on the bottom.  I said I didn’t know if it is really as good as they advertise.  My friend said that Greek yogurt contains probiotics, which support a healthy bacterial balance in the gut; she uses it all the time and really helps her.  A gal a table over (i.e. with proper social distance) kibitzed to us and said—I’m not listening to your conversation but couldn’t help to hear about probiotics. I use them and they have really helped my stomach.  Soooo there you go; I heard it from a table over. Later my friend was telling me that there aren’t as many stores that sell women clothes as there use to be.  And also that many of the clothes aren’t as good as they use to be.  Some lose their shape and also their looks after a few washings.  I told her I didn’t know about that but when I was taking care of Arlene, I noticed that her bras weren’t very good soooo Jessica bought a couple new ones.  Boy was I surprised how expensive they were!  Then the home health care gals all gave me their instructions of how I was to wash bras and dry them (i.e. different opinions for sure but I listened intently). What a hoot!  The gal a table over did not comment! 

Was invited to a small little wine bottling party this last week of friends.  We had some chili and parfait and then bottled wine.  Of course we had to constantly test the wine to make sure it tasted ok and we also wanted to make sure we drink enough to kill any possible virus germs soooo we made sure we drank enough!  As the evening went along, all smiles got bigger and bigger!  It was a hooch!  I mean, it was a hoot!

Here is an ol’ Mellema family jingle that came from the NW Iowa Mellema branch of the Mellema tree which they learned growing up (i.e. very old jingle that might have even came from Holland) sent to me by the other Warren from Omaha------------Oh I wish I had ears like a donkey and the neck like an old kangaroo and the face like an old English bulldog and --- I'd look just exactly like you.

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

erv

MyFriendJean said—Sometimes we have to replace “what ifs” with some good old-fashioned “so whats.”