Saturday Morning

I couldn’t think of a catchy title so I decided to name it what it was….Saturday morning

I got up because the boys were hungry and wanted me to get up and feed them.  I came shuffling out of the bedroom rubbing my eyes and trying to adjust to being verticle rather than horizontal.  I did the “normal” procedure for Saturday.  I picked up the food bowls and gave the boys fresh water and cat food.  Then, I set about making the coffee for the moma….

All of this I do before I get my contacts in.  Without my contacts, the world is just a bunch of blurring things in different colors.  Nothing is distinct unless I get right on top of it.  Or, it gets right on top of me.  Every had a cat sitting on your chest waiting for you to open your eyes?

Any way, I shuffled into the bathroom and put my “eyes” in.  I came back out, got my coffee,  and realized that the blinds in the bay window were askew.  The “normal” is to have the blinds up during the day and almost alll the way down at night.  That way the cats can still see outside without the whole world being able to see the inside.

When I looked at the middle set of blinds, I realized they were completely down.  Upon closer inspection, I  realized that the little white things that were supposed to be on the end of the pull cords were gone.  The cords had been completely chewed through.

My first job was to find the little white things.  That got me started looking for all the little things that the cats have taken over the time they have been living with me, not to mention all the other toys I have given them that have come up missing.  There is was in my pjs crawling around on the floor with a flashlight and a sturdy tape measurer trying to retrieve all of the “prizes” that the cats have claimed.

I am sure that the boys were very confused.  They followed me around sniffing at the flashlight and trying to play with the tape measurer.  You see, I did not have a yard stick.  The tape measurer is one of those “professional” ones that is really strong and has a button on the back that can keep the measurer out without it retracting.  Hey, you use what every tools you have on Saturday morning to get the job done…..

The boys thought it was quite an adventure.  And, the stuff we found.  Not only was there stuff under every piece of furniture and appliance in the apartment, but I found loads and loads of cat har and dust bunnies.  I found cat hair dust bunnies!  I found a sponge that I used to clean dishes with.  I found the purple tops from milk jugs.  I found all the little kitty balls that get lodged under furniture.  I found toilet paper rolls….(empty of paper…they love to roll them around).  I found pens…loads and loads of pens.  They love those things. 

Anyway….I gathered up all of the stuff.  I divided it between what was the cats’ and what was mine.  Of course, the cats wanted not only what was theirs but what was mine too.  I hid the pens so they could not take them again.  I gave them all their toys.  And, before I could sit down and really enjoy my coffee, they had already lost some of them.  So, the cycle started again….

My point?  Well, I finally found the white things that go on the cords.  I reattached them to the cords.  And, one would think that all was well.  Well, last night, I hear the blinds rattling again, yep the boys were after the white things again…. So, I had to shoo them away from the blinds.

This morning, the white things were still in place.  So far, so good.

What I have I learned?  If anyone ever attempts to tie me up with blind cord, my boys can chew through it and free me.  So, that is one less thing I have to worry about.  The boys are on it!

One more set of Angels

There is one more set of Angels to mention.  Those two are Georgie and Spencer.  They have invited me and a bunch of others over to their house for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am unable to make it back to Georgetown this year.  I was just there last weekend.  And I need to work.

God is great!  He has put so many wonderful people in my life.  It is so awesome!

God’s Angels

You don’t know who they are.  You cannot pick them out of a crowd.  However, I can assure you that there are Angels sent directly from God here on this earth.  I have met a few in my lifetime, the most recently this past week.

You all know that my rear windows in my Jeep have been malfunctioning, or actually not functioning at all.  I have been riding around with one in the down and one in the up position for almost a month now.  Why?  Well, the simplest answer is that I was trying to figure ou the creative bookkeeping way to get them fixed.

I knew I did not have the liquidity to go to the Dealership and pay a huge amount for the “complete” window assembly because in their words, they did not sell the parts separately.  Also the cost of installation and all the other add ons that they do, made the trip to the Dealership something I was going to have to figure out how I could afford.

In the meantime, I have been riding around with an industrial grade garbage bag slipped over the door and taped down to keep out the rain.  Rain, it kept out, wind and cold, not so good.  So, I was also riding around with the heat on high on cold mornings. 

So, God’s Angels stepped in.  One of my friend, Keith, stated that he would look at the windows and see what he could do for me.  So, I thought I was set up and things would be taken care of at a greatly reduced price.  Keith is an Angel indeed.  We just had to coordinate when we could get together.  He stated that he would take apart the door and see what parts were needed and then basically go on a “hunt” to find them whether in a wrecked vehicle or at the parts department at the Dealership.

So, we met yesterday and he took a good two hours to take apart one of the doors and assess the issue.  He knows what he needs and is on his mission to find the parts.  He taped my windows in the up position until they can be fixed.  So, YEAH!, I have closed rear windows that I can look out of when merging in traffic and will not fall into the door frame.  No more rain or cold!!!

And if that was not enough….more Angels have stepped in.  One set of Angels, who wish to remain anonymous, offered to take the vehicle to the garage and have the window that was down repaired as a Christmas Gift to me.  I was totally floored by this!  These people are the type that no one would even begin to think were put here as God’s Agents but let me tell you that they have hearts in the right place and are very special.  And, all I can say is God is Good!

But, wait, there is more…. When I actually got in touch with Keith, he told me that the Church had called and wanted him to fix the windows and give them the bill.  More of God’s Angels at work.  I can only imagine that someone who has seen me of heard of my plight got in touch with the powers that be in the Church and low and behold, they wanted to pay the bill for the windows.  These people are truly God’s Angels….God is Good!

So, I say to you, they are out there….The are tall, short, fat, skinny….They are men, women, children…..They are old, young and in betwee….They are rich, poor or just getting by….They are friendly, standoffish, or just a regular Joe….The see things and take action….For the most part, they wish to remain in the wings without people knowing who they are….They don’t want the attention….And, all I can say…is Thank You, Thank You, Thank You and prais God for all of His Agents and Angels here on earth!!!!!

Cat’s Books For Dummies

Just like for people, cats have an extensive library of “How To For Dummies” books.  These are produced by the TabbyCat Press and are available for order on-line as long as you have the human’s credit card number.  Simply order the book(s) you want and also one for the human, as cover, and we will make a charge to the human’s account from Barnes & Noble.  The human will get their book delivered by the US Post Office and assume they must have ordered a book without remembering they had.  Your book will be delivered to you on-line in a secret file with a number for only you to access. 

This secret file will be imbedded in the human’s computer.  Those humans that are not diligent about “cleaning up the hard drive” will never know it’s there.  Also, the file is hard to detect and does not usually get erased when the human does regular maintenance.  If it does happen to get erased, simply send a note to the TabbyCat Press.  We will access your file and determine what files we need to send back to you.

We have a number of titles for you to choose from.  There is the every popular “Spider Hunting for Dummies”.  There is also “How To Get The Human’s Attention”.  And, of course, “Irritating The Dog” which is one of our most popular books.  For an entire list of our publications simply access TabbyCatPress.Com.  Click on the appropriate icon for your subject and peruse the list of titles.  Most of the books are priced at $19.95.

Each of the subjects has an interesting blurb posted for you to read to see if the book will answer your questions.  You are allowed to read the table of contents and to read an exerpt from each chapter.  We have translated the books into several different cat languages for you.  You can choose from “alley cat”, “house cat”, “Siamese Cat” (Siamese can easily be read by Burmese and Persian varieties) just to mention a few.  Again for the full list of translations, refer to the “language” icon.

The books also include plenty of illustrations for you to follow.  It shows you how to perform certain actions that are gauranteed to bring about results.  To mention a few….illustrations show “how to tear up an important document”, “how to hide the nail clippers”, “how to knock things off a high shelf” and many many more.  We promise that you will be pleased with the results if the instructions are followed.

You may ask, how do I get access to the computer.  Well, we can tell you how to do that too…. Most humans do not turn their computers off.  If they do, the switch can usually be operated easily by a cat.  Often there are blinking buttons that are to be pushed or simple switches that can be pushed from off to on.  If you forget to turn the computer off, well the human will usually think that they left it that way.

Our staff of computer specialists have imbedded in all icons that will come up on the computer once it is activated the most common cat language so that you can understand the icons.  Humans are unaware that this has happened and do not see the cat language that has been imbedded.  They see what they want to see…..They don’t think that cats are capable of operating a computer.

Of course, we know that cats are completely capable.  Since it is a matter of pushing buttons and we have been able to push buttons, literally, physically, and figuratively for a long, long time.

There is one caution that we will give to all cats who attempt to order Dummy books.  Make sure that you order something that your human will read so that he/she will not return it therefore negating your purchase.  As soon as the purchase has been verified, we will send to you an email with the instructions on how to download your book to your human’s computer.  Those instructions will include how to make sure that the human is unaware that you even came near the computer except to lay across the keyboard. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Family

This past weekend was spent in Georgetown, SC with my other siblings and my parents.  It was all in all a pretty good time.  There were some snags, though.  My sister is under the weather and her father-in-law had to have a toe removed due to diabetes and is in the hospital.  Even with all that, we found time for all four children to be in my mom’s house at the same time.

The last time we were together was in 2008 at Mom’s 80th birthday in March.  So, it’s been over a year.   I drove down on Saturday and came back on Sunday.

The window is still an issue.  About 30 minutes out of Charlotte, the trash bag tore loose from the window.  I pulled into a rest stop and just pulled it out of the window frame.   Even though it was 36degres outside and cold as heck in the car, it was better than hearing the flapping.  I cranked up the heat and the radio and drove off praising  God for his goodness.  Afterall, there was nothing I could physically do at the time to make it “better”.  So, I decided to praise instead.

The closer I got to the coast, the warmer it got as the day advanced.  So, it turned out to be a nice sunny and uneventful ride.

I pulled into the yard about 11:30 AM and surprised everyone.  We all hugged and said the usual stuff…”trip good?”  “Yep, yours?”  Then we commenced to “visitin” and getting filled in on everyone’s lives.  It was really nice to be there with everyone.   My sister was in Charleston visiting her in-law in the hospital.  She showed up later for us all to have dinner together. 

The two brothers, the sister-in-law, myself and mom piled into the car and rode “downtown” to eat lunch.  We had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants on the “water side” of the street.  We sat out on the back deck so we had a good view of the InterCoastal Waterway.  Afterwards, we walked along the boardwalk stopping occasionally to take pictures.

Sunday, after church, we all met up again at my mom’s.  We sat around after having had a really filling lunch and told stories about our childhood.  It was nice to hear the different points of view from the sibilings on the same events from our past.  One we agreed on was the story about the “Electric Chair” being in the Town Clock on Front Street.

My mom related the story that she had had a traffic accident on Front Street, a minor fender bender.  The Police were housed in the Town Clock t the time and when they arrived instructed her to come down to the Police Station to fill out the paperwork.  My brothers and myself were in the car.  My brothers thought that the Bell Tower of the Town Clock held an electric chair into which “bad” people were put.  How the got that idea….. I hazard to guess either Mom or Dad had planted the seed and encouraged the thought in order to keep the “troups in order” if you know what I mean.

Regardless….when Mom entered the Police Station, those of us left behind in the car were convinced that she was headed for the electric chair.  We all started bawling, as was mom.  She said that when she came of the Police Station, all the little ones in the car were crying.

Imagine the sight….A mom who is already upset, comes out to see her little ones terrified that she is going to be put in the “chair”.  I am sure that they had plenty of laughs about that later but at the time….it must have been very upsetting.  How do you comfort your three  little ones and yourself at the same time.

Anyway….Today, Monday, we are all off to our own places.  People flying back to Louisiana…people working….life goes on.  I am sure that my mom enjoyed the time.  I am equally sure that she misses us all right now and is thinking about times past.

We all missed those who were not there.  The grand parents that have gone to heaven….the dad that has passed….and the grands, nieces and nephews who were not there…..  All in all, a good time was had, good food was eaten, and good memories were made.

Upstairs Neighbor

I had originally planned on making today’s post the sequil to the Rain Days and Tuesdays one.  And, I still intend on writing the rest of the “Window Caper” in another post soon.  However, after listening to my upstairs neighbor for two consecutive days, I have been left to wonder just what goes on in the apartment above mine.

I live in the quite town of Davidson, NC.  I live in a middle class neighborhood in a middle class apartment complex.  There are the usual mix of people in this complex.  There are young singles who have roommates.  There are newly married or newly “living together” couples.  There are “young families”.  There are middle agers like myself either single or married. 

I would wager to guess that most of the residents have a pet.  I know that several of the people who inhabit my building have pets.  There are dogs that are being walked at all hours of the day and night.  There are dogs that bark behind doors as on climbs the stairs or walks down the hallway.  There are cats that appear in windows and stare out at the day.  As for other pets, I can only guess.  However, I hope that no one in my building has a snake!  That would be something that I would worry would make it’s way into my apartment somehow.

I live on the second floor.  The person who lives below me is very quiet.  The only sounds coming from his apartment are those of him opening and closing his door as he enters or leaves his apartment.  The people who live on the second level are all fairly quiet, myself included.  There is a family that lives at the end of the hall nearest me who has at least two children.  I am still now sure just how many people live in that apartment.  The kids occasionally squeal or scream and they plod up and down the stairs.  But, all in all, they are fairly quiet too.

The third floor remains a mystery to me.  I know one “guy” lives up there.  Whether he lives over me or not, I am not sure.  The other apartments are surely occupied on the third floor.  Which brings us to the person(s) who live above me.

The person(s) living above me must not have much if any furniture.  Or they do not spend much time sitting down.  From early in the morning until late at night, I can hear the steps of the person(s) above my head.  There is also slamming and dropping going on up there too.  And, often the sound of really loud music with a really turned up bass.  The music, while in itself not so bad, is not to my taste.  However, one has to make consessions when living in a building much like a college dorm. 

I can only imagine what is going on upstairs.  I don’t hear screams so I am fairly sure that there is no type of abuse or human bondage going on.  I also don’t hear moans or groans which would lead one to thing that the person(s) above me were just fairly “frisky” (if you get my meaning).  There are just lots and lots of footsteps and lots and lots of slamming and dropping.  (could be hammering…not sure)

So, my mind has started wondering just who or what is occupying the space above me.  It is a secret place for Santa’s elves to build part of the Christmas toys desired by boys and girls each Christmas?  Is it a chop shop?  Is it a gym with someone working out and lifting weights?  Is the person learning how to dance or teaching dancing?  (reference the music from before)  Is it a professor from the nearby university practicing his lectures, walking around?  Is it a chem lab?  (I don’t think so, there are not any weird smells)

Does the person build furniture?  Or maybe put together furniture might be a better way to say it.  I don’t hear any power tools or sawing.  Just lots and lots of pacing and slamming and dropping.

Does the person above me ever sleep?  I cannot attest to that fact.  The pacing begins, or maybe it has continued all night, early in the AM.  It continues until late, or maybe nevers stops, into the night.  There is no room that the pacing feet do not visit innumeral times during the day/night.  Jut when I think it is going to stop, it starts up all over again.  

The footfalls are not like those you would think you would hear like living in a two or three story house.  These are heavy footfalls.  As you can deduce by this post, they can sometime be distracting.  I have not yet become curious enough to go upstairs and ask.  I don’t want to be a bad neighbor…but I am curious.

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

I know that’s not the way the lyrics go.  But, after you read this you will understand why I made the change in the line.

I have mentioned in another post that my car windows have been malfunctioning.  The two rear windows seem to have been possessed by poltergist or some other entity.  The independently decide when to go down without any assistance or without my hitting the down button on my console.  The powers that be seem to think that this is funny to have me riding around with windows that don’t stay up.

Since the weather has been relatively warm and dry,  I have not bothered too much to try to figure out how to get the windows to stay shut.   However, that all changed on Tuesday.  It poured rain all day long and way in to the night.  This is where my story begins.

On Tuesday, as long as the car was in it’s parking space at the apartment, the windows stayed up as they were supposed to.  However, I had Bible Study on Tuesday evening and had to use said Jeep to drive to the meeting.  Well, about half way out of the parking space, the window behind the driver’s seat decided to go to half mast.  And, that is when the “fun” started.

As long as I was driving, a minimal amount of rain came in through the window.  But, stopping a traffic lights and at the church allowed the rain to pour in to the car in copious amounts.  I felt like someone had stood outside my window with a bucket full of water and had chosen the opportune time to throw said contents into my vehicle.

When I arrived at chruch, I got out of the car in the driving rain and attempted to raise the window manually.  But, the force of gravity was definitely against me.  No matter how much I struggled or tried, that window was determined to stay at half mast within the confines of the frame.  Just to “tease” me, once it even dared to go far lower suggesting that it could and would disappear into the frame of the door if I attempted any further attempts to get it any higher or to get it to close.

No matter how much I begged or pleaded with it, the window was determined not to stay closed.  And it was futher determine to allow the inside of my back seat to get a good soaking.  What feud it had with me or the back seat, I am not sure.  I seldom ask it to do anything but stay closed.  Maybe that is why it had decided to open itself.  It wanted the freedom to choose whether to stay opened or closed and was exercising it’s option to stay open in any type of weather.  Regardless, I could not get the window to cooperate in any way.

Not to mention, it was pouring rain.  The window was slippery and wiley.  Rain was pouring down the neck of my coat because one cannot hold and umbrella and deal with an unruly window.  The window won and I admitted defeat.

However, I did have a towel in the hatch part of the Jeep.  So, I decided to get it out and place it in front of the window.  I opened the hatch, got the towel, opened the rear door and positioned the towel over the window and closed it.  That solved the problem for just a little while.

I attended Bible study.  Although, I have to admit that my mind kept wandering back to the window and thoughts of how I was going to drive home without being soaked.  I knew the towel would not work.  So, I decided that the Church could donate to me one of it’s garbage bags to cover said window until I made it home.  It did not help my concentration that the in room in which the study was held we could hear the force of the deluge going on outside. 

Most of my study mates were sympathetic to my plight.  They offered certain advice.  Most of them asked if I had a garage in which I could park.  But, alas, no garage comes with my apartment. (not without a cost anyway)  They all looked at me with pity in their eyes.  And, I don’t fault them at all for some of the obviously having thoughts that they were glad their windows were operating as they should and were sealed tight against the storm.  “There before the grace of God…”

After the study broke up for the evening, I got the garbage bag and once more braved the forces of nature to do battle with the stubborn window.  I walked out into the pouring rain thinking “once more into the breach”.  I steeled myself and made my first attack on the window.  I removed the sopping wet towel and attempted to place the garbage bag the window to prevent rain from gaining access to the interior.  

After doing the best I could in the situation, I got in the front seat realizing that I could not find my keys.  I had left the car unlocked when I went in.  Why lock a car with a window that is down at half mast?  So, when I came out, I did not have to use them to gain access to the car.  I went through my pockets, my purse and looked around the car to no avail.  No keys.  So, I once again braved the weather to go back into the church to see if I could find them there.  When I could not find them after I retraced my steps I realized that the keys were in collusion with my window.  How they communicated with each other I do not know.  Perhaps when the keys were in the ignition and I was driving over to the church.  Maybe that is a connection much like the internet where each part of the car can instant message the other.  Regardless of the mode of communication, they were both staging a coup against me.  At this point, I was hoping the the engine, windshield wipers, brakes or tires would not join in and make it a party.  I really do take pretty good care of my vehicle so I was hoping that this attempted coup would not get any futher.

Well, after I got back to the car, there were the keys sitting in plain sight on the back seat.  I am guessing that the back seat, being soaked decided not to cooperate with the coup and delivered the keys back to me as a peace offering.  I was both relieved and appreciative that I had again gotten the keys back in my possession.

I started the car and off I drove.  Before I got out of the parking lot and onto the street, the garbage bag was flapping in the wind.  So, you can guess, it was not doing much good to keep the rain out of the car.  In my mind, I could hear tiny laughter coming from the window and “ugly” words coming from the back seat. 

When I got home, I parked the Jeep.  I unlocked the doors and made sure I had firm possession of the keys.  I went around to the back doors, opened one and got in.  I closed the door behind me.  I then started to make sure that the garbage bag was in place by resecuring it around the opened window.  I knew that without tape, it would only stay in place if the car was not moving.  And, I was not moving the car until I went to work the next morning.

After being relatively sure that things were as good as they were going to get, I reached over to open the door and get out and realized the coup was not yet over.  The back door, in spite of being unlocked, would not open.  I had the keys with the fob.  I locked and unlocked the doors in an attempt to get the door to operate properly.  Nope, nothing doing.  So, now, even though the door was unlocked, I was in fact, locked in the back seat of my own vehicle. 

Is this starting to sound like an episode of I Love Lucy?  Well, I realized I could reach the front door handle and open the front door.  But, from opening the front door from the back seat, how was I to reach the outside door handle of the back door?  In the meantime, rain would be pouring in the opened front door wetting yet another seat.  The window at this point must have been smelling victory.  Because, I could, force it down further and easily access the outside door handle.  I chose not to take that opportunity.

If anyone knows what a Jeep Liberty looks like, there are two bucket seats up front with a console between them.  The seats have high backs so you cannot climb over them.  So, I had chose to squeeze myself  between the console in order to reach the front seat of the car.  That was a practice in human origami to say the least!  

As you can tell from this post, I did achieve access to the front seat.  I did open the door and get out.  And, I did make access to the apartment. 

 

Letting Go

I don’t know who said it, but it’s definitely true….”You have to let go and open your hands to receive what God has ready to give you.”  Meaning if you are holding on to anything with a closed fist or very tightly, well, you migh just be missing out on something way better.

I am in the process of learning how to “let go”.  It’s not easy and it’s dang scary.  However, without letting go of what I have in my hands, whether it is a “physical” something or a “metaphorical” something I can’t “grasp” what else God has out there ready for me. 

There are a lot of “what ifs” and a heck of a lot of fear.  And the idea runs in the opposite direction of conventional thought some times… with that old “bird in the hand” adage along with tons of others that I could recite.

I could also recite just as many instances when if “we” had not let go… we would have been stuck.  For example, how about learning how to walk.  You can’t ever see the world if you don’t let go of that finger you are holding onto and walk by yourself.  Otherwise, you have to go where someone else wants you to go.

I have been letting go of a lot of thing recently…ideas, hurts, pains, past actions, ways of thinking.  I have also let go of a lot of physical things too.  Just think about the farm and my beloved Ranger Dog.  A house that I loved.  A life I thought was going to be “happily ever after”.  I sold all my jewelry I received from the ex.  That was a huge one!!!

And, all of this letting go is looking towards the future.  After all the talk about lamenting and singing the Blues, we learned today in church that the lamenter in Lamentations still had a glimmer of hope.  I realize that I do too.

If I keep and carry around all the things from my past and all the unfortunate things that have happened recently, well, there simply isn’t any room left for the new stuff that is coming.  And, I know it’s coming.  How?

Well, it is because of God’s promises.  He says that He has lots of stuff he wants to give us.  But, we have to be willing to accept it.  It’s kind of like waiting for Christmas when you are a child.  Or getting the training wheels taken off of your bike.  Or the first time you cross the street by yourself.  And much much more all rolled up into one.

A lot of my meditations this past week have been on God opening doors and windows and giving us opportunities.  I don’t want to be too tied down with things that I can’t just pick up and go where God is leading me.  (spritually and physically)  So, if that means letting go of some things and ideas, well so be it.

The prize in the next Cracker Jacks box may be the best yet.  But, I won’t know unless I let go of what I have in my hand to open the box and see what’s inside.

Here is one idea that keeps popping in my head.  I really, really want to “help”.  What does that mean.  I really, really don’t know at this point.  I know that I want to help those going through what I am going through.  But, I also want to help children who have had to this point and beyond a not so pleasant home life.  I know of this child right now who have panic attacks because of the situation he is in at home.  The parents are “trying” to help but if they don’t get that they are part of the problem, the curen will never happen.  However, I cannot say what I would like to say about they, themselves seeking professional help without alienating them all.  So, what I am doing is praying for the child and the family.  I know that helps…however, my hands just “itch” to reach out and hold that child and let him know that he is loved and he is just a little boy and cannot take on the world by himself…..Let the adults worry about the adult things.  And, if they don’t, well tell someone.  Believe me, I know that is easier said than done.  Because of the burdens I carried for so long that were foisted on me when I was just a child myself.

Regardless, the seed has been planted.  Those of you who read this….pray for me that I will know how I can “help” in a good and productive way.

When It Rains…It Pours

Why is it that all the good adages have already been quoted?  Will some words from our generation be adages for future ones?  I don’t know about that.  But, I do know that the above title, quoted by whomever is certainly apt today.

I know that God does not give us more than we can handle.  The caveat is that we are suppose to ask for His help in the handling and not try to do it all ourselves.  I am slowly but surely learning that concept.  But…I admit that some times, God has to pile my plate really high and give me an itty bitty little spoon with which to consume the meal.  No matter how hard I try, I can’t get much down before another huge ladle full is placed on the plate.  And, when I think I have had enough and can’t “eat” one more spoonful…. Well you get the idea.

This week, we are suppose to bring to church broken things.  This is unique…we are going through the bood of Lamenetations.  I suspect that the broken things are significant because they can be used as examples of things that can be used.  So, I have to wait until tomorrow to know the full extent of the significance of them and how they will be used.  The ending product is that our resident artists are going to use the broken things after the service to make works of art.  I am totally excited to see what people will bring and what art projects will arise from the “ashes” so to speak.

So, I have been thinking about what “broken” thing I could take to church.  And, I have come up with some unique things….but really nothing more unique that others have thought of I am sure.  The first thing I thought about….well, the obvious is me.  I am broken and need fixing…but, Idon’t think that is what the minister had in mind when he said things…because I am not a thing.  Then I though about my marriage…well that is broken. But, you know, that is an institution and a pledge but not a thing.  And, I lay that at the feet of God alot. 

Then, this week, my left rear windo in the Jeep decided that it would join its twin, the right rear window, and quit working.  You see, I have automatic windows.  I have already had one of them repaired once already.  But, now, when I drive from here to there, before I make it, both windows in the rear are down to about half mast.  It seems that the mechanism that is suppose to keep the windows closed is not working.  So, everytime I exit the car, I have to shove up, manually, both rear windows. 

As you may guess, I don’t currently have the funds in my possession to have the windows repaired.  Actually, I have been riding around with one of them not functioning properly for a while now.  But, guess what, during rainy cool weather, the back windows automatically dropping is not desireable or wanted.

So, the third thing that crossed my mind was my Jeep.  However, the minister stated we were not to bring things in like washers or any huge applicance.  And, I can’t quite figure out how to get the Jeep in the sanctuary with out damaging the Jeep further or in fact damaging the sanctuary.  Also, I don’t know what I would use as transportation if I were to give the Jeep as a broken thing even though it is a thing and it appears to be broken.

Now, I have to come up with something else that I might be able to take.  Well, I have a mug with a broken handle.  That is a common thing and I am sure that there will be more than one broken mug that shows up tomorrow.  I have a pair of favorit jeans that are no longer wearable.  They are a thing, and they are broken…but someone else might like them to wear, holes and all.  I have a favorite sweat jacket that has a broken zipper…again someone else can use it (Hey, maybe we are to consider that too!)  I have ink pens that no longer write although they seem to have plenty of ink….

I think I have the perfect thing to take.  No one else will have one I am sure.  While by itself, it is broken because it cannot be recharged,  if it were to be united with the charger, it would no longer be broken.  But, it represents how my life as I knew it was broken apart by words and actions and things….So, I guess I have settled on the thing I will take.  It is the shock collar from Ranger Dog.

See, my soon to be ex…decided to put a shock collar on my beloved Ranger Dog to “make him behave”.  He was misusing the collar.  So, on one of my trips to see my pup dog, I took the collar.  So, for a while at least, Ranger Dog got the respite of not being shocked for no reason at all except the “meanness” of the person holding the controls. 

I am sure that there will not be another shock collar in the whole pile of broken stuff that is presented tomorrow.  And, if seen by my ex, he will know where it came from.  And, I might have to bear the brunt of his disdain.  Because when questioned about the collar, I told him I did not have it.  At the time, I did not “actually” have it in my possession.  It had been discarded and hidden.

The gist of this post….I need to find a bigger spoon.  I need to ask God to help me consume the pile on my plate because I know that the “means” will be supplied for me to fix the car, sooner or later…. And, I need to get rid of the shock collar…..

Lamentations

I guess my last post was similar to one of David’s psalms or maybe the start of one of Lamentations poems from the Bible, except in modern prose.  We all have those “laments” where we say….”hey look, my life is in ruins here”.  Today, we heard about that in church.  This was the start of our series on Hope in the house of blues.  It is one of the best and most attended series that our church has.  Todday, the parking lot looks like it does on Christmas and Easter!

Today, we even learned a little Hebrew to go along with the sermon.  That was really neat too. 

The gist of today’s sermon…which featured Mike Farris, a really great Blues singer, was that we all have “laments” we all feel abandonded at some time or other.  We should pay attention to others in their times of laments too.  There is that old adage “misery loves company”.  But, there is also a chance to offer a glimmer of hope to those lamenting.  Don’t change the focus from them to yourself.  Meaning, don’t try to one-up the person who is lamenting.  Listen with your head and your heart.

Mike says you “sing the blues” to “take the heat off” sometimes.  It helps to get it off your chest even if you don’t see and end in sight.  One is there if you continue to believe.

Right now, I am wailing out the Blues…It does take some of the heat off.  And it does give me hope that things will get better.  I also have loads of friend who are listening to my laments and offering solace.  Thanks friends.