by

Our Daily Thread 12-27-14

Good Morning!

It’s Saturday!!!

Today’s header photo is from Cheryl.

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On this day in 1845 Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA. 

In 1900 Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen.  

In 1938 the first skimobile course in America opened in North Conway, NH.  

And in 1947 the children’s television program “Howdy Doody,” hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC. 

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Quote of the Day

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”

Louis Pasteur

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 Today is James Mead’s birthday.

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Anyone have a QoD?

111 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-27-14”

  1. Good morning.
    Janice is correct. Most men are reluctant to ask for help. Calling AAA isn’t asking for help. The point is, he wants to be in control. Daddy knows what to do.

    I never thought of Dicken’s “Christmas Carol” as a ghost story. I thought of it as God appearing to Scrooge in three forms. Much as in the story about Conrad’s Christmas guests.
    Anyhow, it was never a scary ghost story.

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  2. A woman, OTOH, should never hesitate to ask a man for help.
    “Could you reach that for me?
    “Could you help me get this into….?”
    “Do you know how this works”
    etc.
    Men like to do thing for women. Even strangers.

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  4. I didn’t know they had television in 1947. I know it was invented before then, in the thirties, but I didn’t know it was commercial. The first television I ever saw was in a store window in New Orleans. That was in August 1949.

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  5. I don’t remember any TV until the 60s. Some us remember the old tube-type TVs, with the white dot that lingered when you turned it off, or that it took for the tubes to warm up, so it took a while for the picture or sound to appear (about a minute that seemed like a lot longer). I heard it said that TV was the impetus for commercial FM radio, since the sound came over the airwaves as an FM signal, and the quality was so much better than AM radio.

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  6. Chas – After years of watching various versions of A Christmas Carol, I read the book. I was surprised to find it a bit spooky in parts, especially the way the appearance of the first ghost was presented.

    Peter – I remember that kind of TV from my childhood.

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  7. Good morning everyone. I managed to sleep very late this morning. After the past week it was nice to catch up. Coffee? Well the one around here who goes to the store most often bought whole bean coffee by accident. I had to grind the beans this morning. So I have freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee….and a clean kitchen for the first time in a week.

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  9. Good morning, all. I just had fun catching up on all the comments since Christmas eve. Like you, I am very grateful for this place to meet Christian friends and share our life stories, warts and all. You are all always in my thoughts and prayers.
    We had a lovely Christmas. It was so much fun with the granddaughters upstairs who are two and almost-four – such great ages for this time of year. We had the traditional brunch at hubby’s sister’s place and then some of the “extended family” joined us for dinner here. A good time was had by all.

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  10. That is so racist for men to help women.

    I was watching the old videos, trying to get them onto DVDR’s (I just learned that term) and saw the bio children trying to set up the tree. Finally my voice says, “Daddy will do it”. Then we appear on the archery range with an arrow in too tight. “Daddy will do it”. Yep, men like to serve and I love mine for it and appreciate the others along the way.

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  11. As an unbeliever when I first heard the Christmas Carol, I was terrified. Not of God but of the ghosts. Especially the one in the door knocker. I never shook my dislike for the story. Perhaps it is time to revisit it with a different perspective.

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  12. Just don’t watch the Mr. Magoo version–the ghost of Christmas to come terrified me as a child and disturbs me to this day. Maybe I should read the book?

    Saw The Theory of Everything yesterday with daughter and daughter-in-law. I can’t understand why MY guys didn’t want to see a romance about a genius scientist and a liberal arts major.

    Would it feel too much like home?

    Anyway, we really liked it. When it was over, my daughter joined the guys for The Hobbit, (Remember when you used to be able to go to double features? One, very long day, friends and I rode our bikes –what, Donna, 15 miles to Del Amo? ) to see West Side Story.

    Rode home where my father greeted me at the door. “Great, get your coat (must have been one of those dog park days), we’re going to the movies.”

    Wow, a family outing!

    It was a double feature: The Longest Day and Patton!

    Talk about being wiped out!

    My husband’s comment when he got back from The Hobbit?

    “Well, I just wasted three hours of my life, I should have gone with you!”

    (My daughter has a friend who has illegally made what he calls, The Reader’s Cut– that made the first two movies palatable according to my purists. I’m going to wait until he finishes it with the third before I bother).

    Today’s film? Not sure now I’ve read the Christianity Today review of Unbroken.

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  14. My two “boys” went to see Unbroken yesterday. They both loved it, but remember Mr P’s two sons only have a Catholic background. Last night they rented The Interview through Youtube and fed it through the TV. After seeing it I am more firm in my belief that the whole Sony/North Korea thing was a brilliant marketing plan because Sony realized it was a waste of money and needed to create a buzz to recoup some of their money. I am so glad that 3 of us saw it for $5.99. I would hate to think I had paid more to see it. The only redeeming quality of the movie is that the three of us we all in the living room together.

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  15. I learned long ago that if I was in the grocery store and needed something at the back of the top shelf, just wait for a tall man to come along. Even in Chicago, where speaking to strangers could only done in very specific circumstances (like asking if this bus went as far as Halstead), asking a tall man to reach something would always get the product easier than any other method, and he’d be happy to be asked. Now I have my own tall man (6’3″), but if he isn’t with me, I still ask a stranger.

    I think most strengths come with accompanying weaknesses, and the male reluctance to ask for help is based on the male desire to be the one giving the help himself. That’s an honorable trait, and thus I find the reluctance to ask for help a tolerable “side effect,” as long as it isn’t outright refusal to ask for help.

    Janice, yes, it sounds as though your husband couldn’t readily have walked the distance and the taxi might not have come quickly on Christmas Eve. But I’m still not sure that making impractical suggestions qualifies as “dysfunctional.”

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  16. Thanks for the link to the CT review, michelle. I hadn’t seen it and agree with much of it, though I’d giving it better ratings.

    There is something about the film that struck me as one-dimensional as well, but I suspect that’s the fault of the medium itself. The book goes so much deeper.

    And I don’t know that it was necessarily “marketed” for a Christian audience as that review says, I’ve never had that sense. It was (as the reviewer also pointed out) designed to appeal to the largest audience possible, thus not a lot of very specific Christian references (but enough about faith, in general, woven throughout that one certainly got the point of its importance in the story).

    I thought it was well-cast and, mostly, well executed. But limited. And I felt I also had a hard time getting a “fresh” look at it since I’m so familiar with the story by now.

    And many of the comments I’ve seen about Louie, too, stress what a great and amazing man he was, etc. Yes, he was remarkable, but Louie himself would always point to God. I remember asking him to sum his whole story up and he replied with pointing to the gospel.

    As I’ve said before, go see the movie, it’s good. But if you’d like to know more, be sure to read the book for the whole story.

    In all of my articles (and there were many I wrote throughout the past year and a half), I always made sure to emphasize his conversion to the Christian faith. Interviewing his grandson last week, he also stressed that point, saying that was really the root of Louie’s much-hailed ability to forgive his enemies and captors.

    Interesting also that I got an email from a stranger thanking me for mentioning the faith element in my stories, so someone noticed. 🙂 : “Thanks for covering Louie’s life and conversion to Jesus Christ in such a good way! May God bless you.”

    Next up is the Rose Parade where Louie was supposed to be the grand marshal — his family, instead, will be riding in the grand marshal car in his place. But the city of Torrance’s float is also designed after his life story, featuring (from the sketches I’ve seen) running shoes, an Olympic torch, a WWII plane — and a cross.

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  17. A tall man was kind enough to help me get a bag of cat treats off the very top shelf a the pet store last week — I was buying them for a Christmas gift for a friend & her kitty.

    I kept trying and trying to reach them. The clerk’s were all busy, it was just a few days before Christmas.

    When all of a sudden this very tall man, a fellow customer, walks around the corner. “Oh, excuse me!” I said. …

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  19. I always ask a fellow to put my bag in the overhead compartment and to get it down. I would probably drop it on someone’s head.
    Thinking of having my first day of shopping today.
    hmmm…. also wondering about getting a sewing machine that is on sale.

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  20. Karen, re the discussion yesterday: I definitely sympathize with your thoughts that your daughter isn’t really ready to be living outside the home, and that living with this family isn’t helping her. And I understand the concerns about their lack of faith (which is why I said I’d be concerned more about a kid living with people with the wrong spiritual and moral foundations, less about the social weaknesses). If she had decided to move in with some girlfriends, she would almost definitely be experiencing the same sort of homelife you call “dysfunction” in their lives: that is absolutely the norm for today’s young woman. I personally wouldn’t be bothered at all by their going to bed late and sleeping late–I know very successful people who follow such a schedule. As long as they are holding a job and being responsible, sleeping hours are a quirk and (in my opinion) a complete non-issue. The hours themselves aren’t the issue; even the procrastination is a common fault and not an unpardonable one, though annoying.

    A friend once told me that when I was doing online dating I should not tell any man that I slept till 9:00, lest he think me lazy. My reply was that going to bed at 1:00 in the morning and taking an hour to fall asleep meant that getting up at 9:00 netted me less than eight hours of sleep . . . nothing the slightest bit “lazy” about that, it was simply a different sleep schedule.

    Their spiritual state is a huge concern. But thing is, they were in your home for years; Chrissy seems them as family and as dear friends. Speaking against them or even dwelling on how bad they are (without saying anything at all, your attitude will show) won’t help her; it will only make her feel defensive of them, which will drive her closer to them, if anything. This is a matter for prayer and for continuing to love her. Reaching out to them as friends may help all of you, as well. Invite them over for a meal, or send Chrissy home with fresh-baked cookies for them. Try not to dwell on how bad they are; see them as friends who need the Lord, friends who love your daughter too.

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  21. On Peter’s question about ghost stories at Christmas, they are an old tradition. Dickens wrote five Christmas novelettes, and all of them involve some sort of vision or ghostly appearance. In the Christmas scenes from his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, after the feasting and games, they gather around the fire and tell ghost stories on Christmas Eve – the story which Dickens inserts here, “Gabriel Grub and the Goblins”, is considered a forerunner to his Carol as it involves a miserly man scared into generosity by a visitation from goblins on Christmas night. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas speaks about the tradition of ghost stories in his poem “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”: “Bring out the tall tales now, that we told by the fire when ghosts whooed like owls in the long nights when I dared not look over my shoulder.” The tradition may have been more due to the fact that people, before the days of many books, radio, and television, liked to tell stories when they got together and ghost stories were the most sensational kind (like horror films now). The tradition seems to have been widespread and involve any merrymaking time – in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving wrote a ghost story telling scene during a harvest feast.

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  22. Interesting literary/historical perspective, roscuro, thanks.

    And it’s another cute bird on today’s header — he looks very confident and brave despite his little size. 🙂

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  23. I’m by nature much more of a night owl — and I’m fortunate that we have late start times where I work. It was deadly for me when I had to be at previous jobs by 8 a.m., especially one that had a somewhat longish commute into Hollywood when I was right out of college.

    We had a battleship-tough female supervisor who used to stand at the office elevator door, look at her watch as the doors opened — & write down names as people arrived only minutes late.

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  25. Phos- Thanks for the history.

    And to think the author hasn’t read Dickens’ original A Christmas Carol! Anyone who hasn’t read it must do so before the New Year. It’s a short, easy read, and rather enjoyable. And the Kindle version is free on Amazon right now.

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  26. Donna, that red-headed woodpecker isn’t all that little, and he’d be offended to hear you say that. But he’s puffed up because it’s cold.

    Interesting Christmas history lesson.

    My first job with a set schedule (that is, my first job other than McDonald’s) I worked 10 a.m. to 6:30 and found it perfect. Most of my co-workers worked 9 to 5:30 and they were a bit jealous of the one lady who got the opening shift, 7:45 to 4:15. Me, I was very happy to have the whole evening and to be able to sleep in a bit. In Chicago, I worked 8 to 4:30 and found it a little too early for my preference . . . but my co-workers nearly all chose to come in at 7:00 or 7:30 to beat rush-hour traffic (I lived closer to work than most of the rest, and wasn’t a morning person). Fortunately 8:00 was the official start time, so even when I was the only person in the office who still came in at 8:00, there was never any pressure for me to come in earlier! Bu8t once I went freelance I discovered I rarely ever started editing before noon or 1:00, and that basically an afternoon and evening work schedule was my own personal ideal.

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  28. Annie brought a big bird into the house that was flying everywhere.

    Chaos.

    It’s now in the kitchen, sitting in a basket on top of the recycle bin. She’s very stressed, I hate to try to approach and move her. So I opened the back door (just inches from her) and shut all the animals out of the kitchen, hopefully she’ll figure it out … 😦 If she’s not too injured.

    She certainly was flying expertly just a little while ago, once she escaped Annie’s mouth.

    Sorry, bird people. But I’m hoping she’s OK and will get back outside.

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  29. We briefly had to take turns doing “early” (6 a.m.) shifts for the paper. It was nice to get off early — and I can adapt to schedules like that if I do it long enough — but I generally resist getting out of bed before the sun comes up.

    It just seems so wrong.

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  30. Donna, from personal experience: if you have to catch her to put her out, wait till she is flying against a window and trying to get out that way. Shell be focused and distracted, and you can sneak up from behind and catch her. But hopefully she will see the open door and go out.

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  31. OK, the bird is still sitting in the basket. I’m afraid to move it as it will further traumatize her — the open glass door is literally inches away from her, will she eventually go back outside, assuming she’s not injured?

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  33. Warning heeded, Peter, as soon as the Ipad recharges . . . 🙂

    Any of you birders seen the movie The Big Year with Steve Martin and Owen Wilson and I think Jack Black? Funny–we rewatched it the other night after a friend of my daughter’s told me she was an ornithologist having trouble finding a job.

    We even passed it on to my son or we might watch it again before we return it!

    Except I hear Lord of the Ring music wafting up from downstairs where they’re working a puzzle. They must need some reassurance after The Hobbit last night!

    Final night of eating and presents with adorable grandchildren tonight. I’ve decreed no one is cooking; we’re trying to decide between take out Chinese or take out Mexican. Anyone want to vote? 🙂

    We’re down to the last leftovers in the refrigerator. I may actually cook tomorrow if I can bear to have my kitchen messy yet again. I’d better get started before I lose my nerve! 🙂

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  34. Well Michelle my Jewish friends on facebook have been joking about eating Chinese on Christmas…
    Of course the Mexicans are mostly Catholic so that could be a good traditional choice as well.

    I am a little down on Chinese right now because I got take out last week and they put ZUCCHINI ugh in my Moo Goo Gai Pan. Who ever hear of such…it should have had bamboo shoots, bok choy, snow peas, water chestnuts, and maybe carrots, but zucchini? I don’t think so.

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  36. Oh, I see by the time that posted, the bird was free again.

    Michelle, I vote for Chinese if you’re willing to share. I had chili for lunch, and thus Mexican would be too much tonight.

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  38. Chas- It looks like SC is in an exciting game.

    Just finished two games with my son, D3 and Mrs L. We played Dutch Blitz first (an very fast card game). My son won by a lot. Then we played Scrabble. I won by a lot.

    Son also helped me run some wiring in the basement. I’m replacing two old outlets and adding another for a small freezer we bought (Mrs L’s Christmas present). The entire downstairs of the house is on one circuit, so I am making a new circuit with these three outlets on it. It’s an old house with old wiring. However, I am going to have an electrician check everything and hook it all up to the breaker box. I don’t trust myself that much.

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  40. Cheryl – You are very right that I need to watch my attitude about this family. I don’t want it to interfere in my relationship with Chrissy, nor my relationship with God. I had thought I’d let it go, but that incident on Christmas Day stirred it up again. (We had changed our dinner time to earlier to accommodate them picking up Chrissy earlier, but then they were later anyway.)

    Of course, I realize that a lot of people have late hours, or are procrastinators, or not wise with their money, or messy, & they live their lives successfully & well. As I said, I think these are symptoms of a larger problem with the McKs. (You may remember my description of their messiness being piles & piles of stuff on every surface, & even on the floors, where they literally had to climb over or step over these piles to get from the door to their beds, in every room. Chrissy had even mentioned that their bathroom was disgusting. Emily had to do some serious deep cleaning to get it clean.)

    I think I mentioned also that the daughters seem to rule the roost. It was A (the younger daughter) who decided that Chrissy would move in with them. One evening while babysitting, Chrissy asked if I minded her being picked up earlier than usual so she could go out to dinner with them. Over the course of two or three hours, no one could make a firm decision as to when they would go out. Eventually, A made the final decision for them. Chrissy, in an unguarded moment, said, “No one ever knows what’s going on around there.”

    These observations I’ve made have also been made by Emily & Lee. We all feel that there is some underlying problem with them.

    Which means I should be praying for them rather than complaining about them, I know. I stand corrected & convicted.

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  41. Janice – This morning you wrote, “Miss Bosley has gone to Level 4 of Cat Terminology boarding school. She is still in the undergrad program.”

    I liked it because I thought it was funny, but I have no idea what you meant. 🙂

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  42. Husband and son trusted me to drive to Hilton Head. 🙂 No flats, PTL. I am tired. The Christmas lights along the way were beautiful after it got dark. It is in the fifties and since it is on the coast, you know what that means? It is very cold, and it is a good thing I packed Thinsulate and Cuddle Duds. 😉

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  43. Karen, based on some of what you have said about the other family, I get the impression they do a good bit of creative things. They sound like they operate more as right brained rather than left brained people. Being creative usually means generating messiness. It means collecting supplies for projects and dealing with leftover supplies. If a creative person lives with Uber organized people then I think the creative soul might feel imprisoned in a sense. I do not know if that could be any of the draw the other family has on Crissy.

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  45. I may break with tradition this year and make a New Year’s resolution. I may resolve to stop taunting Donna about the very cold weather in the dog park at night in Los Angeles. But I probably won’t.

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  46. One daughter writes, & one daughter does graphic design on the computer, but other than that, they are not into arts & crafts. The piles are made up of a bunch of random stuff, including what seems to be trash, like used plastic forks or empty envelopes from opened mail. One pile in the parents’ bedroom was flowing down from against the wall, about three or four feet high. For real. I did a double take when I saw it.

    I’ve asked Chrissy if I can come see where she lives now, but she is resistant to that.

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  47. I didn’t dare venture out to the dog park tonight. Too cold.

    Instead, I’ve been cooking the casserole (oven heat!) and trying to update my computer.

    I am clearly a glutton for punishment, getting a new phone AND downloading a new operating system on my laptop all on the same night.

    What’s wrong with me?

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  48. I read an article recently about how messy desks = creative people. I liked it because my desk at work is, um, a little overrun. But I’m not sure I’m any more creative than other people. …

    It makes sense, though, that math- and engineer-types are very precise about their surroundings, whereas writers, painters and designers (even just “at heart”), maybe not so much? 🙂

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  51. Do you suppose it is possible to break a New Year’s resolution before the New Year starts? I mean, if it should happen to get very cold around here, I might say something that would break a resolution I might but probably won’t make.

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  53. Well, I am glad we did some changes to the house. The new wing and the rebuilt walls and the insulation and new roof all add up to a cozy home. We just have the one stove in the living room to heat the entire house and it does. I would not go so far as to say it is very warm in the bedrooms, but it is not very cold. It rarely gets below freezing for example. Tonight the outside temp is around thirty with twenty mile per hour winds gusting to about forty. Brings the wind chill down a bit, probably into the teens. You could say the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful, let it snow let it snow let it snow. The children and I are all snug in our home and husband and the other children are about halfway to the destination. They are probably through the worst of it. They said White Bird grade was a white out the entire way down. But so far so good. God continues to bless us in such unexpected ways.

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  54. Karen, I agree with you about their level of messiness being a serious issue, which is why I didn’t include it in the list of pardonable social weaknesses. On the other hand, as a creative person, I definitely struggle with tidiness–just at nowhere approaching that level. But I know from my own level of struggle how hard a problem it can be to conquer. I also have several people I know and love who have very serious problems with clutter–I wouldn’t be willing to live with any of them, but then I know some people who wouldn’t be willing to live with me. (I also warned my husband before we married, and I told him I’d do my best but I am not Martha Stewart, even on my best days.)

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  55. Oh no, Cheryl, I am quite certain I don’t need any practice. Thank you for the info, I was not absolutely clear on it in my mind. And I certainly would not want to mess up such a momentous occasion.

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  57. Someone at work is very tidy and orderly and it helps with the efficiency of getting work done. I have never seen her do a creative act. The whole work space is rather sterile and austere by my standards, or in other words, a bit boring. She would consider my work space cluttered. Probably I work better in a space that gives me interesting combinations of things to look at and consider to help generate creative thoughts to enhance my work. She would just find the extra things hanging around the work area to be a distraction and hindrance to working efficiently. A problem develops when one type person tries to make the other type person conform to their standards. That happened one year when the Uber tidy person set up my work space for the season as if I was not capable to do so. Some people give lots of opportunity to practice grace and learning to be a duck with water on its back. No need to get the feathers ruffled.

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  59. I have been depressed and found that the clutter tends to get away from me. I am trying to keep this home in order and having fun buying a few things for the home. Got some new kitchen towels today. Such a little thing, but it will cheer me up to use them

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  61. As you know I have battled depression in the past and am currently medicated. Everyone has a little clutter in their lives. My desk at work is cluttered but I am one of those people who if I get too organized and put everything away–out of sight out of mind or I can’t find it. Some things have to stay in view. On the other hand too much disorganization and clutter and even too much noise fries my circuits. I have to clean my desk about once a week.

    All that to say that what Karen describes borders on hoarding. My very dear friend Leesee has it. Her mother has it. Many years ago Leesee would try her best to clean her parents house and cry over the condition it was in. Then it happened to her. She is in a seriously disfunctional marriage–to the point that a good friend of hers who is a Christian therapist flat out told her she needed to get a divorce. Therapist never tell you what to do, they guide you. When L’s father died a few years ago in February, the Christmas tree was still up. There were piles of stuff all over her house. Thankfully we have been friends long enough that I felt comfortable telling her I was giving her a week and then I was coming over to help her clean and put things away. We got her house clean and she had several garage sales to get rid of stuff, but it is an endless cycle. It is depression and it is a disorder.

    Karen, again I remind you that you are worrying over things you cannot change unless you are willing to take over keeping the McK’s house clean and organized. They are no longer under your roof. I can see what you are doing to yourself with this because I do it myself, so I am not pointing a finger at you and berating you.

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  62. Haven’t read the thread yet, but looks like I’m in time for 62!

    I have skimmed it just now, though, and it looks like a good one.

    I’ll be back.

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  63. Kim – My sharing about that was to give more of a picture of the underlying dysfunction I believe is there. You’re right that it looks a lot like hoarding, & may even be that. It took them six weeks from the first time they rented a moving van until they had everything out (much of which was thrown away or given away, fortunately).

    My husband tends to be quite unorganized & messy at his desk & other of his personal areas at home, but is organized at work.

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  65. I found this mildly amusing, in my local paper. It appears like it has probably been around for a while so you may have seen it. It may have been printed in here before. But here it is:

    Season’s Greetings
    To All My Democrat Friends:
    Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for and environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2015, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country not the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
    To My Republican Friends:
    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
    signed by Alfred Jones out of Lewiston

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  68. I wonder what new words Miss Bosley is learning at her boarding school today. She learns new words in cat speak from all her room mates.
    Yesterday when we were playing retrieve the paper ball, she would first make observation and the go out based on her judgment to try to intercept midway. Once instead of interception, her paw managed to bat the paper ball way far into the outfield of our living room. She is developing her physical abilities at the same time she is becoming quite fluent in cat speak at the boarding school.

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  69. When I was at brother’s, I noticed he had quite a collection of used fast food paper cups going. It appeared to be a scene of hording, but I considered with his gardening that maybe he was collecting them for starting plants for his garden. So, is that considered hording?

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  71. Yes, I am a hoarder. Of egg cartons, paper cups, etc for my gardening efforts. But I do try to keep them somewhat out of other folk’s way.

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  76. Any plastic container Elvera gets, gets saved. I use the butter cups to put snacks in.
    I keep books. Then I go on a “get rid of” rampage. Then I find I’ve discarded a book that I wanted.

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  77. I collect number ten cans. They are good for feeding animals. And playing kick the can. And some other stuff.

    Two seventy fives in one day, not bad.

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  79. Karen, 😦 Sad anniversaries, especially when they fall so close to holidays, are always hard.

    Well, our sermon today (titled “The Holy Ghost’) talked about Christmas and Bible ghost stories today. 🙂 What a coincidence.

    Annie continues to scan the ceiling from time to time, hoping, I suppose, that the bird will reappear. Yesterday was her best morning ever inside the house.

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  80. We all miss those who have passed on during the holidays in one form or another. For those who had good memories, it is a missing of more expected good times. For those with bad memories, it is a missing of what could have and should have been.

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  83. I was just a the store. I was going to buy some Conecuh sausage to make tomato gravy and rice. I have had all the rich food I can handle for a while. On the package it said “All Natural No MSG” So I read all the ingredients including that it was in “natural sheep casing”.
    You should NEVER read the ingredients of sausage. Never.

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  84. Went with Chinese and while the concept was great, the food was not. 😦

    But, we’ll try again.

    Fantastic Sunday School class–we’re going through Ray Vander Laan’s Walk with God in the Desert (I think that’s the title). The lesson was extraordinary. I clapped when it was over–about how following God is like walking on a path in a rocky area. I can’t do it justice. I love Vander Laan’s work and learn so much from it.

    Took two kids to lunch and will meet them later at the movies for Into the Woods. Gorgeous, though chilly, day in northern California (46. That’s cold for us). I bought my husband a book: 95 Hikes in Sonoma County, and we may try one today.

    Unless I just lay around and read Jane Hawkings’ memoir of life with Stephen . . . 🙂

    Starting to catch on to what vacation is like when you aren’t allowed to write . . . 🙂

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  85. There is a big difference between clutter and filth. It seems to me that Karen’s acquaintances are more of the latter. When you are making others constantly wait for you and constantly disregarding other’s needs or desires, you are sinning. When your laziness etc. makes others have to do extra work and be greatly inconvenienced, you are in the wrong. That is what I have heard over the years from Karen’s descriptions. Everyone is late SOMETIMES. Some are messier than others. None of the description of what this family is like fits someone who is just being creative. None of us can stop anyone from sin. We have enough dealing with our own. However, making it out to be less than it is doesn’t help.

    Sadly, Chrissy is attracted to it, because it is easier to live with them than with someone who actually cares enough about her to want the best for her. Kind of like Pinocchio going off with his ‘friends’ instead of attending school. She may tire of it. All you can do Karen, is keep the door open and the love apparent. That does not mean endorsing a sad lifestyle. Talking to Chrissy about it is a waste of breath, as others have said. She has to make her own decisions. So glad we can pray when there is little else to be done.

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  86. So sorry, Karen and Janice, about those sad anniversaries.

    I like Ray Vander Laan’s videos. We’ve found them informative and engaging.

    So many things on this thread (and the prayer thread and Rants & Raves) to which I want to respond, but am finding it difficult. Two daughters and I were home, sick, from church today, and I’m tired and unable to compose my thoughts well, so will just leave it.

    Just as well, perhaps.

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  87. Just got back from picking up another car. So now I have two. Not sure when they want this one back. One is automatic the other is stick shift. It was parked in a steep driveway and my first try I had to figure out how to do a six point turn to go out of the driveway forwards. I couldn’t get it started. I think that I probably had not pushed the clutch in. All these cars are a blessing, but confusing. And the steering wheel seems to be on the wrong side. I am praying for clear thinking as I drive and that no vehicle or person will get hurt.

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  88. Um, Jo? In this country we don’t just pick up cars. There are payments involved and licensing and all. Usually the cars we see out on the roads belong to somebody. Culture shock, I know.

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  89. From the “on this date” data at the top of this thread:

    In 1900 Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen.

    I noticed the “first” in the sentence above, which suggested she kind of got away with it or got a slap on the wrist, so I googled her. Her first husband was an alcoholic, so her distaste for the stuff was understandable, but . . . she was nearly six feet tall, 175-180 pounds, and she’d go into bars with a hatchet and bust up everything. She would be arrested and fined, but would pay those fines with selling “souvenir merchandise” like replica hatchets to her fans.

    In other words, she made money off her crimes, and became a celebrity.

    Oh yes, and she and other women would go in singing hymns as they did their damage, so they did it “in the name of Jesus.”

    This is exactly the sort of situation for which the Old Testament called for punitive restitution. If she’d had to pay back three or four times the damages, she wouldn’t have been inclined to do it again. A fine that pays money to the court but doesn’t pay the party who was injured doesn’t actually do any good. But give the criminal a choice between paying back three times the damages (and this is enforced) or paying back single damages but also spending a year in jail, and this kind of stuff isn’t encouraged. Charge a fine that can be easily paid off while the person becomes a celebrity, and you encourage more of the same.

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  90. hmmm…. what am I going to do with the cars now, Mumsee?? No one has gotten upset, and it seemed that I could just take them. I guess that’s what I get for living next to a church parking lot.

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  91. finally made the call, confusing call, to get a new sim card for my cell phone. I have an old Net 10 phone. It works for emergencies. It is kinda funny that there is usually no service where I live.

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  94. Kathaleena – Thanks for understanding what I’ve been trying to get across.

    One of the issues with their doing everything late is that Chrissy often gets dropped off after midnight, often close to 1am, when we need to babysit in the morning. And Chrissy can be a bear when she hasn’t gotten enough sleep. So yes, their personal habits often have an effect on others.

    But I’m trying not to think of all that now, trying to let it go. Chrissy loves them because A has been her best friend since childhood, & they love & accept her almost like another daughter.

    Sadly, it has been her strained relationship with Emily that made her want to leave. Or at least, that’s a big part of it. I pray for reconciliation between my daughters, & for a close relationship to develop as they mature.

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  95. Karen, my intention was not to pick on you or not understand. I do understand and I agree there is something more going on there. I just don’t want it to become a stumbling block between you and Chrissy.

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  104. I may have entered the 21st century, or at least gotten my toes wet. No, don’t worry, I don’t have an i-phone! But I downloaded a kindle app onto my desktop computer in order to get Michelle’s Christmas tale (which I read and enjoyed). And I’m now trying to add a set of books ($1.99 for 50 Chesterton books, most of which I already own), if my internet will let me. No, I don’t plan to buy thousands of e-books; I prefer reading print. (Reading on computer is for editing or blogs.) But not all of these are readily available in print, and it’s two bucks. (I just ordered it.)

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  106. Perhaps you could pick up a few from my driveway. The cadillac we loaned to some needy folk for six months to be used for running meth (we were not apprised of its use until afterward) no longer runs. The pickup we bought a bit over twenty years ago has been pulled apart on the basketball court, something about a clutch or slave cylinder or some such. The Subaru has had its check engine light on for months, probably the catalytic converter so it does not go places any more. The boys have a Cadillac somebody gave them and a Nissan they bought and the girls have the GMC…..I could do with fewer cars around here.

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  107. Of course, any of those vehicles would be very cool to drive to the very cold dog park. With plenty of room for dogs and coats and mittens and hats and thinsulate and boots.

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  110. Some of you likely think I’m posting at a weird hour. But it’s Monday, and the sun is about to come up here. Well? Not really, it’s raining so we likely won’t even see the sun today.

    🙂

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