70 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-16-17”

  6. One of the Adorables is playing with a cat toy and a kitten is pirouetting, twisting and turning to snatch it!

    The happy birthday boy watched for awhile and then retreated to the living room to read: the inaugural copy of Mrs. Oswald Chambers which arrived this afternoon!

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  10. And it arrived just in time for the Birthday Boy. I imagine he got what he wanted. A cat to sit in his lap while he reads. That may take a while–for the kitten to calm down enough. You do realize, don’t you, that in the way of cats, she will make you her person. Although around here Moe is scarce until the dogs and I get up, then she scurries into the bedroom to curl up by her human.

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  12. Good morning! That is one cute Russian blue kitten from what I saw on Facebook. Michelle, I remember you liked a book that I believe had the word White in its title. Would there be a K name in there that you could use?

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  13. My brother should be here shortly to mow. I got the lawnmower out and all set with the gas tank filled and grasscatcher attached. Then I swept out the carport and walkway which had a bit more accumulated knick knacks and souvenirs from the storm. So I am sweaty and tired already. I also cooked a batch of popcorn the old-fashioned way for my brother who, like Art, loves my popcorn. I made bags of it to see us through the storm, too. I have been buying the Arrowhead Organic kernels at Public. Glutton free and Non-GMO. Cooked with light olive oil makes it a healthy snack.

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  15. Good morning!
    I see I missed a birthday. A belated Bonne Anniversaire to Kevin.

    Friday is my busy day, with three classes. I enjoy two, Pathophysiology and an elective in History. The third is mostly group work, and the tutor is something of a micromanager. If something isn’t worded just the she thinks it should be, it isn’t correct. I have a head cold, and felt groggy yesterday, so the corrections just seemed confusing to me. Each class ends ten minutes before the hour mark (i.e. it might start at 11:30, but will end at say, 2:20), so there are ten minutes to get to another class. That class had already gone two minutes overtime, so I told my group members I needed to leave because I had another class. I heard the tutor, who was close enough to hear me, say, “You can’t leave yet.” There was something she wanted us to do before we left. The official schedule is set by the university, and so I had no obligation to stay, but I did stay a couple of extra minutes to try to do it, but I had to leave before I could complete the task exactly the way she said. It is going to be a long semester.

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  16. Roscuro, in college I had a class, the one right before chapel, that consistently ran over by three or four minutes. We had to sign in for chapel, and once it was time to start chapel they took down the sign-up sheets and put up tardy forms to sign instead. And it was just as the time of morning I often needed to go to the bathroom. As the semester went on, I realized there was a bathroom in the balcony of the chapel building, and so several times I signed in to chapel and then went to the bathroom. Technically that might not have been “proper,” but the professor was stealing several minutes of that ten-minute transition time three times a week, and he wasn’t doing it for students who might or might not have had another class in the next hour; he was doing it for students who all had to get to chapel in another building, sign in, and find a seat.

    But then, I once had a Sunday school teacher (the pastor’s wife) who consistently ran late in her teaching, sometimes continuing the class until after the starting time for church, and nearly always continuing it so long it was impossible to get to church on time! One of my friends mentioned often that in her first service at the church, she thought few women attended this church, but then a whole lot of women came in late.

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  17. Michelle, congratulations on the arrival of the book! That moment is one of the sweetest there is!

    When my second book was published, my author copies were slow to arrive–though I am the one who actually wrote the book, and my name was on the cover too, another author had his name listed first and the original contract was with him, so I fell through the cracks. I ended up ordering a book from amazon just so I would get one in a timely manner, but when it hadn’t arrived when I knew the book had been published, I went to a couple of local bookstores to track down a copy!

    That was weird, because with my first book, I got the first copy. I took my copy to prayer meeting that night to show it off, I was so excited, and my pastor thought I was giving it to him and he said, “Thank you so much!” I had to tell him, no, that’s my copy and my only copy so far; once I get my contract copies, I will give one to you . . .

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  18. I hear you, Cheryl. My next class is in a different building, so those ten minutes are even more important. I had Greek and Latin back to back and in different buildings, but my Greek professor was very understanding about me needing to leave. I never had occasion to mention that I had a prior class to my Latin professor, as I was never late for his class. At the end of the semester, the final exams of both courses were scheduled on the same day. My Greek professor, at the beginning of class, said to me, “Dr. _ (the Latin professor) and I were just comparing notes, and we realized our final exams were on the same day.” Having two exams on the same day is something you can ask for accommodation for. I just smiled and said I’d already realized that and was prepared for both. Then, when I went for my Latin exam, the professor came up and said, “Did you already have an exam today?” I indicated yes, and he replied that he would take that into consideration (I was already sitting at over 90 percent average going into the exam, so I don’t think he needed to take any consideration, but it was nice of him). S, I’m accustomed to instructors being more understanding about class schedules.

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  19. So did R finish the book yet? 🙂 How fun and how exciting.

    And how’s Day 2 with the kitten?

    J from the dog park is coming over sometime this weekend to check out the new lighting fixtures and where they all go. I’ve told him no pressure, do it at your leisure when you have the time. He’s in between calls back to NM on the contract refinery job right now so he has some down time. And our weather has cooled off which would make the work easier now than it would have been a week or two ago.

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  20. We may have to keep the Adorables, too, they’ve been playing with her all morning. A woke up to a kitten patting her face, “time to get up and play!”

    Third birthday party in four days following the ladies’ tea in a couple hours. I need to get moving!

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  23. Do you have anything that you make for a church family in need of a meal? I made/carried spaghetti, salad greens with bottles of dressing, and garlic breadsticks before the storm hit. That seems to me to be a general crowd pleaser. Other ideas? If no one else signs up, I may do another meal. I think the husband likes pretty plain food.

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  29. Hi all!
    Kizzie encouraged me to come back and participate here again. I am usually pretty busy, but as I have been at home sick with a cold since Wednesday, I have a bit more time on my hands than usual because I just don’t have the energy to do much besides sit at the computer or read. I’ve read three books and am halfway through another, and as much as I love reading it’s nice to have some interaction with other people as well.

    Kizzie told me she had shared my husband’s prayer request for our dog Kyra. I’m not sure at what point that was, but in the past few months she had surgery twice for a carcinoma on her leg (the first time to find out what it was and the second time to remove the rest of it), then surgery to remove a blockage in her intestines because she managed to pull the gauze out from under her bandage and eat it, multiple times. She is healed from both of those and was starting to seem more like herself, but instead of regaining the weight she had lost, she has now lost more weight. This morning we found out she has diabetes. (There may also be a thyroid problem.) So we get to learn how to give her insulin.

    My older son started his second year teaching K-5 music at a Catholic school. And my younger son is struggling with 4 AP classes in his senior year of high school. He was happy to tell me yesterday, though, that he is going to be allowed to start self-monitoring on his behavior and if all goes well he may be able to get off his IEP and go to a 504 plan. (The 504 plan will still get him more time for tests.) He still wants to major in physics, though his most challenging subject is math. Well, we’ll see how he does in AP Calculus, which I have read is probably more important than physics classes in preparing him for studying physics in college.

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  31. Hey Pauline, good to see you!

    I had an Aussie that was diagnosed with diabetes so have been through the insulin shot routine. 🙂 Interestingly, before that he also had numerous health issues, from allergies to a benign tumor on his thyroid (requiring surgery). He was definitely a high-maintentance dog, but did well once the correct insulin dose was determined.

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  32. I just scheduled a “bulky pickup” with the city of LA for Friday — I decided it was beyond time to move all the junk out of the patio. So I’m stacking most of it along the side of the driveway so it’ll be easy to haul out for the pickup next week. I’ll have to call and add more to the list. The hardest things to move will be the big heavy wooden laundry doors.

    If I just didn’t have to work 40 hours a week, I could get a lot more done. But as it is, it’s catch-as-catch can on Saturdays and other random evenings.

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  33. Has anyone taken a Perspectives class? It is a class on Missions. It is a college level/Graduate level class. we are in week 5 and it has been pushing my wife and I. We are taking it as an internet class with a once a week meeting in church. About half of us are local and a few less than half are from outside our area ( Crescent City, CA).

    It is both challenging and helpful. We have at least 4 unreached people groups in our immediate are; Hmong and three Native American Nations, Tolowa, Yurok and Karoke.

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  36. Sorry, that didn’t link like I thought it would. Here’s a copy and paste of what I think you’re referring to:

    Here is something she wrote that was in her eulogy. It sums her up perfectly.

    Memories

    One night when I was in Nicaragua on a mission trip, one of the ministers brought a local man he wanted us to meet. He gave us all Spanish names and told us how he could only afford to bring one child a week with him to church. Then by the light of the lanterns, he sang hymns in Spanish.
    I’ve worshiped God in the most beautiful Cathedrals in the world, under a tree in Nicaragua and an elevator in a psychiatric hospital (I wasn’t the patient.)
    Having always been healthy I had a serious misconception of what it was like to be sick. I pictured myself lying in bed while people brought me things. Never thought it would involve an 8 hour work day, a little rest, then getting up to do laundry.
    I once caught a softball 2 inches off the ground.
    When Tim and I were in Europe we visited some of the most beautiful cathedrals: West Minister, Canterbury, Notre Dame, to name a few. Sometimes, someone would come over a loud speaker and invite everyone to join in prayer. Later, we visited a little church in Edinburgh. When we walked in there was a small choir practicing for a concert. The acoustics were amazing. It was one the most beautiful things I’d ever heard.
    I swam in a Mexican lagoon so clear and full of colorful fish, it was like swimming in an aquarium.
    When I was young my friends and I flew out west and stayed on a working ranch. We got hats and those cool coats with the slit up the back. One time, we helped move the cows from one field to the next. There was a little calf in my section who didn’t want to go. Every so often he would stop, bellow a while, then move on. Afterward we rode up into the hills and saw the tiny cabin where the family’s ancestors had raised 14 children.
    The other picture of being sick is in Tim McGraw’s song Live Like You are Dying where you climb mountains, ride bulls and go fishing. The reality is you have no energy to climb a mountain and you have no time to ride a bull. What energy you have goes to making a living, taking care of kids and cleaning things. And of course money. The deductible for a scan can cost over a weeks salary.
    I’ve ridden a train up the California coast and under the channel between England and France. I’ve ridden snowmobiles in Yellowstone Park and through the mountains of Colorado. I’ve been on a ship in the Caribbean, and a bike to the Georgia line. I ‘ve hiked through Isle Royal in Lake Superior within view of Canada. I’ve swam in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacfic Ocean and both sides of the Atlantic.
    I was one of hundreds who helped bring the Pope to the world, one of dozens who brought the gospel story to the Birmingham area and one of six who told a dozen children about Jesus with puppets.
    Finally……
    When Chris was a baby he and I were sitting on a blanket in the yard. I was a little bummed out because I had missed a movie I wanted to see. Then, Chris crawled to the edge of the blanket and picked up a pine cone. As I watched him look it over, I realized that anyone can see a movie but not everyone gets to see a child discover a pine cone for the first time.

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  39. I haven’t taken Perspectives, Bob, but our Hill who is a missionary in Sicily, recommends it to anyone, interested in missions or not.

    Home and in shorts for the first time in four days. Kitty is hiding from me–which is probably a good idea because I need to be a whirlwind of activity to get the house back in order before the next activity.

    I really just want to sit with a book and read, but house is too crazy for that.

    It’s sobering, awesome, marvelous to hold this lovely book, but the overwhelming feelings of all I have to do are now back attacking me.

    Perhaps it would be good to sit and read my Bible for awhile . . . I could use some personal perspective. LOL

    Meatloaf: 1 pound hamburger, a bunch of either oatmeal or bread crumbs, chopped onion, some garlic salt, parsley, an egg, sprinkling of Worcester sauce, maybe a splash of spicy mustard, a toss of basil and oregano; mix. Cram into baking dish previously sprayed with Pam, top with catsup. Bake 350 degrees for an hour.

    Since I usually accompany that with potatoes already wrapped in foil and pierced. I suggest turning on the over, placing the potatoes inside and then make the meatloaf. The oven is then generally warm enough by the time I’ve put the meatloaf together, both meatloaf and potatoes only have to bake an hour.

    When bringing it as a meal to someone, I have them start the potatoes 15 minutes before placing the meatloaf in the oven.

    Sounds like a good idea for tonight, now that I mention it . . .

    🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  41. I remember making a meatloaf dinner for a couple traveling Quaker friends from the east coast some years back, two guys. I didn’t know them well, but later, on a reciprocal visit to PA, I discovered that one of them was a near-vegetarian with a penchant for some really weird health food that I’d never seen before (and hope to never see again!).

    So meatloaf probably wasn’t the best choice for that dinner I made, though they seemed to be good sports about it in retrospect. It’s an easy and foolproof meal. 🙂 Personally, I love meatloaf and potatoes, but then I grew up on all that Iowa farm food.

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Pauline, nice to see you! Drop in any time, and often.

    I took Perspectives in 1982 while working at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena. It’s definitely worthwhile.

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  43. Good to see you again Pauline. Glad to see your family is well and that your son is taking challenging courses. As a teacher, I like it when IEP or 504 students try the hard classes instead of going the easy route.

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  45. Peter L,
    I’m glad he’s taking challenging courses, but our choice (and his) would have been 3 instead of 4 AP classes. I did 4 college classes my senior year of high school (we didn’t have AP classes, they were dual credit UConn classes), and I had to stay up way too late most nights getting all my work done. Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the classes he had requested due to schedule conflicts, and there just weren’t a lot of choices because he had to fit in certain credits to graduate. If he gave up marching band it might have been easier, but I don’t think he would consider that an option. The other class he is struggling with is AP Music Theory, and I told him if he had to drop something, that would be the one. But so far he seems to be doing OK (not counting a meltdown one evening but we got through that too), and if he wants to keep all his classes I’m not going to push him to drop one.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. I got a lot done today. The patio is looking much better.

    I’m going to watch a movie on TV that didn’t appeal to me when it was released by had a lot of hype — ‘LaLa Land’

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  48. You’re welcome, Mumsee. Memories was good to reread. My eyes misted reading again about the little bellowing calf that didn’t want to go. And Chris crawling across his blanket to examine a pine cone for the first time — priceless.

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Hi Pauline. Good to hear from you.

    Your younger son and my high school piano student have similar coursework. My student is a senior, also, and she has three or four AP classes, including a calc class at an area university; concert and jazz bands; and I don’t remember what else.

    She also wanted to take an AP Music Theory course, but couldn’t because of a scheduling conflict, so I will ramp up her theory studies after she finishes (in February) the work she’s doing with me in the Fundamentals of Piano Theory series. She plans to major in music composition, but she’s got so much homework from those AP classes, she hardly has time to compose, and to practice her three musical instruments, until weekends, which are also the only days she has time to work at her part-time job.

    So busy.

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  50. OK, not so bad (the LaLa Land movie). Fun to see all the familiar local scenes at least, but also not bad in terms of a plot & musical (who does musicals anymore?).

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  51. Hello, Pauline. Nice to hear from you and see news of your family’s progressions. That is a tough load your son is dealing with.

    I am looking forward to church this a.m. Now that we know we will not be merging, it gives a bit of motivation to think ahead instead of just thinking in blank slate mode.

    I hope AJ and family are having a wonderful time! A lot of people are suffering in FL while they wait without air conditioning for power to be restored. I imagine Disney was top priority in getting any lost power back on because of the mighty power of the tourists’ dollars.

    My brother went to a hardware store about two blocks from our office yesterday. The store would not let customers inside because a sweet gum tree had fallen on the roof. They met customers at a side door and had staff get the customer’s order together. It was a different shopping experience. And another reminder of how fortunate we were to have no damage to home or office from Irma.

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  53. I used to take a hand-written grocery list to the market at the end of the dirt road behind my grandmother’s house in Iowa. The railroad tracks ran alongside there, too. The man behind the counter would take the note and fetch all of the items (it was a little store), bag them, and give me a bill to take back to my grandmother. Simpler times, though I suppose things like that are still done in small towns throughout the country.

    Liked by 2 people

  56. I’m not responsible for any of this. It’s not my kitten. It’s not me who hasn’t named her. She will be going outside, she just needs to grow bigger than the crows haunting the back yard. And the squirrel. And the big stray gray cat who thinks she owns the catnip.

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  58. Church was fantastic! We had one of the church planters in the pulpit this morning. All I can say is I am in awe over how God is blessing my church. He spoke about instead of going to church that we are to be the church. Originally the church was outward focused. Eventually the name church was derived from German and meant building. The focus shifted. That has totally been our problem. We have had too much inward focus and not enough community focus. Our area is starving for Jesus.

    I tried to work on the inmate Bible study reviews yesterday, but each time Miss Bosley sat on my lap desk or got between me and the work. I will try again today. Michell it only gets worse as they grow bigger and can take up more area. Enjoy its bitty size while you can🐱

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  60. Michelle, when I had foster children, one day I went to my computer and found the book I have been editing replaced with something that looked like that. A quick “select all” (not chosen on purpose, of course) and a few random hits of the key, and it was just gone. I was very glad for the “undo” function. I hit it just two or three times, and there was my book again. (I also e-mail it to myself every evening, so I could have gotten it back that way had I needed to.)

    One child’s name started with “H” and she liked to press the keys. So sometimes I’d let her sit on my lap, and when I got to a word needing an “h” I would let her supply it. If I forgot and hit one myself, she would notice. (The girls would be teens now. That was ten years ago I had them at ages five and six–amazing to think about it!)

    Liked by 1 person

  61. Last time I brought a meal for a couple it was a hot dish. I am a Midwesterner, don’tcha know? I just brought the whole hot dish thinking that they could eat the leftovers like we would have. The husband took one look and sniffed about how large it was for two, as if I committed a cardinal sin. Not everyone is Minnesota nice. 😉

    Liked by 4 people

  63. So … Carol, though the last couple years, has signed up for 4 FB pages. I’m friends with two of her. Now she has launched another one (she said she can’t remember her passwords for any of the others). So I “unfriended” the two Carols I was previously friends with. She’s hot and cold on FB, she’ll be on it for a couple days and then vanish for months on end.

    Discussion also came up in SS / Q&A about helping people and when to draw the line. Our pastor and another friend both said they were guilty of helping ‘too much.’ Reminded me of Carol. At some point your help isn’t really helping them. Our pastor, who was giving money to a single mom who lived downtown (this was years ago) said he finally had to impose conditions such as he’d micromanage and actually pay the bills rather than giving her the money (which didn’t often go to the bills it was supposed to pay). She declined his further help.

    Carol’s a bit different as she’s also a friend, but since cutting off all financial aid to her since January, I do feel less resentful. Not sure it’s helped her become more self-reliant or responsible, unfortunately, but that’s not my concern. We still talk, I will still visit — and take her out when/if she’s feeling better and I have more free time from this house project — but she seems to have accepted there will be no more financial help in paying her phone bill, etc.

    She still hasn’t been able to get the $10 together to go to a notary for paperwork needed to get almost a year’s backlog in payment from a pension she has from an old job in NY. It should be coming monthly. I sent her the $10 last year (when she’d also put it off until the very end of the year). This year she seems to know she’s on her own to figure that one out — and then to pay for it herself.

    Liked by 1 person

  64. I’m not one who normally has “baby fever,” but today we had a baptism that had us all gasping at the cuteness. 🙂 Mom and dad carried baby girl, born only a weeks ago, up to the front of the sanctuary and when they turned around — yes, we all literally gasped and “awww-ed.” There was this little face surrounded in a billow cloud of a pink frilly dress w/head band and “bling bow.” EEEEEeeeeee 🙂 🙂 What a cutie.

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  65. And dogs at church at least get secondary billing — a young woman who was in a car accident and often brings her ‘therapy’ dog, an Australian shepherd, was there today as well. My heart melts at the sight of that beautiful, and well-behaved Aussie. I’ve volunteered to drive her to church, but haven’t heard back from the person who had been arranging rides for her, maybe she found a steady ride that works.

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  67. I was just trying to meet the desires of my husband’s heart, mumsee. Who could fault me for that?

    Today he said she was the best gift and he loved how well she fits into our family.

    I’m not quite there yet, but I’m glad he’s happy. Now that we’re finally home after being gone all day at church, we’ll see if she lets him take a nap.

    Daughter, meanwhile, just wants to be here to play with the latest adorable (with a lower case a because she’s not a person).

    Liked by 3 people

  68. Janice,

    Disney never lost power so it didn’t need to be restored. Also they have been housing out of state utility workers as well as thousands of employees and their families who did, for free. Pretty good for a greedy corporation. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

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