Occasionally I have several thoughts I want to share, but each is not enough for a blog post. Some are lighthearted, others are more serious.
First of all, I want to apologize if you see a pop-up box when you comment asking you to subscribe. I *hate* when a pop-up comes up in the middle of the screen and you can’t read any further without dealing with it. I have not seen this on my own blog, but I have on other WordPress blogs, so I assume it happens on mine as well. I just spent some time scouting around to see if there was a way to turn this off, and I couldn’t find it (if you know of a way, please let me know).
I also dislike when I follow someone’s link to a blog or article where I am asked first thing to create an account (even a free account) in order to read further. Honestly, if the first thing I encounter on any blog is a pop-up, whether it’s for subscribing, creating an account, buying a book, getting a free download, or turning off ads, I’m likely to just close the site and move on. How do I know if I want to subscribe or create an account when I have not even had a chance to read anything there yet?
For sites that want you to pay to subscribe, I think those site owners are wise who allow a certain number of free reads per month. I might be more likely to subscribe if I read there and find a lot I like. But not if I can never get past the first pop-up.
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From the time I first learned what an introvert was, I knew I was one. Reading about introversion, like Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, helped me understand myself a great deal.
I’ve run across some Instagram accounts for introverts, but I find I can’t read them regularly. Reading them occasionally, I’ll nod my head and appreciate that someone else knows how I think and feel. Some have comics that are funny and apt. But if I read them all the time, I find myself resenting the demands of life that draw me out of my introversion. I think the point of learning about introversion (or extroversion, if that’s you) is not to make the people who know us or the world around us conform to our preferences. Every source I’ve read on introversion says we need to step out of our comfort zone sometimes. Understanding my bent and needs helps me do that. But if I was constantly filling my head with cute memes about wanting alone time, that would be my focus.
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Sometimes I’ll read that blogging is considered dead (often, ironically, in a blog post). I have not found that to be the case. There are scores of good blogs out there that I would like to keep up with but can’t.
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Sometimes I see a writer attribute our tendency to be over-busy as pride–as if that’s how we “keep up with the Joneses” these days, or as if it’s the trendy thing to talk about how busy we are. But I don’t know anyone who truly feels that way. Most super-busy people that I know would desperately like not to be that way, but they don’t know what to cut out. As we’ve developed labor- and time-saving devices, we’ve added more and more things to be done.
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I have not seen any Christmas items in stores yet (though I have seen Halloween things), but they seem to be displayed earlier each year. Early last fall I stopped by Cracker Barrel because I had seen something in the beachy section that I decided I wanted to get. But when I went back, the whole beachy section was gone and Christmas items were out. I wonder if retailers ever consider that they might lose sales because their Christmas decor edges out other things a shopper would be more likely to buy in the late summer or early fall.
I also wonder if anyone really buys Christmas stuff in August? I admit, if I needed something, I might look early in order to benefit from a greater selection. I like to buy Christmas cards early, but otherwise I try to avoid the temptation of the Christmas aisles. I have more Christmas decorations than I have room for–I don’t need to add any more.
One exception was when our church used to send presents to our overseas missionaries by way of surface mail. We’d have to send packages to some countries in October in order for them to arrive by Christmas. So it was nice to get wrapping paper and such then. After the Post Office did away with that rate, it was too expensive to send packages, so we just sent cash offerings to the missionaries’ accounts. That was more efficient, but I missed the personalized packages.
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Do you ever do this? A while back, I was intrigued with the word “adorn” in Titus 2:10, which speaks of adorning the doctrine of God our Savior. I pondered how we do that. Isn’t God’s doctrine perfect as is? How do we adorn it? As I began to study and thought about writing a post about the topic, I found I already had. 🙂
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I’ve gotten frustrated lately with Facebook removing a couple of my posts. I’ll receive a notification that they removed a post with a note to “Click here to see why.” I’ve clicked there, but then I am taken to a page that says everything looks good with no problems. There’s no explanation and nothing to click to appeal. One post had photos of teenagers I wasn’t related to, so perhaps that was a privacy protection thing. But the other contained two reviews of study books on Isaiah. All I can figure is that their sensor bot picked up on the name of a certain country not popular in the news media (which I am avoiding naming in case that was the problem), even though the subject was thousands of years ago.
I wouldn’t mind so much if there was an explanation and an opportunity to appeal. They really need to not let these things be done by AI.
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Since my husband retired at the end of last year, we went on Medicare in January. I am not a fan so far. For one thing, a blood thinner I am on for atrial fibrillation (since afib can cause blood clots) jumped from $10 for a 90-day supply to over $500. What sense does that make, that when your income goes down, your prescriptions go up? I talked to the cardiologist about alternatives, and we found one that was *only* $150 for 90 days–and it’s at a different pharmacy than we usually use because it’s cheaper there.
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Since I’ve been sharing some frustrations, I’ll end with some things that made me smile recently:
Our gastroenterologist’s office was decorated for summer in a luau theme, with this sign on the bathroom door:
This was from a restaurant we went to a few months ago:
I was looking at the evening reading of Daily Light on the Daily Path a while back, and thought it ironic to see an ad about cremation after a verse about being made from dust . . .
And lastly, this text exchange with my husband:
To be fair, there were only two left, and I had one the night before. So technically this one was his. But I thought it was still in the refrigerator and he might not want it. 🙂
And yes, sometimes we do text each other from different rooms in the house . . . 🙂
And that’s probably enough stray thoughts for one day.
Stray Thoughts 
I have just recently found your blog, I believe, through Tim Challies. As a Christian woman approaching 60, it has not been easy to find women bloggers in this season of life to gain encouragement from. I am thankful for your stray thoughts. Please keep sharing them.
Thanks so much for your own encouragement to me! I’m so happy to have you here.
I only follow a couple of word press blogs – yours and one other. I never get a pop up but that may be because I already subscribe to them. And yes, it irritates me to click on something and be asked to subscribe to read it.
I agree with the introvert remarks. I’m a bit of an introvert and I’ll stay that way, thanks.
It looks like deviled eggs are a hot commodity in your house!
Have a good week.
Yes, deviled eggs are a favorite. 🙂
Such a lovely collection of truths and observations, Barb. I’m with you, blogging is certainly not dead but continues to reinvent itself. And no thanks to buying Christmas stuff but yes please to picking up gifts along the way so I don’t have to scramble come December. And yes, please to Susan Cain’s Quiet. It was a gamechanger for me.
Meanwhile stay cool in this heat. I hope you’re well!
We’re doing well, thanks. Hope you are, too! Trying to stay inside in this heat. I have family members in TX without power due to Hurricane Beryl. 😦 I can’t imagine being without AC this time of year.
What a fun post idea! I have many similar thoughts — I should start a list and write something like this 🙂 Commenting is weird (at my blog, too, every now and then someone comments that they have trouble). At yours: I have to first click the wordpress logo, then a box comes up where I need to click “comment” and then the comment shows up. I am used to it, but I can see how it would get confusing for others. And, it’s wordpress so I don’t know anything you could do to eliminate the extra step. Good point on not wanting to dwell in introversion all the time! I did the same with some “stoicism” pages I followed — had to unfollow because I didn’t want that to become an “identity” to me. Hmmm, I’ve been thinking medicare will be great after our current $16k/annually insurance. Maybe not though? That is not pleasant to have such a big jump on a drug cost. I am not for socialism at all, but there must be a better way to ‘do medicine’ that we currently do here!
I’d love to read a post of your “stray thoughts.”
I have to do that, too, on WP blogs–even though I am logged in, it doesn’t look like it until I click on the WP logo. Then my info. pops up. But with a lot of WP blogs, a pop-up will appear, sometimes during commenting, sometimes at the beginning, which says something like “Discover more–subscribe now.” I wouldn’t mind if it was to the side and one could finish reading and commenting–but it’s right in the middle of the page and you have to click the X to close it before you can proceed.
Thankfully, our other prescriptions under Medicare are about the same. When you and your husband approach 65, you’ll start getting tons of mail about people who want to help you sort out your Medicare options. That’s one of my other gripes about it–it shouldn’t be so complicated that an average person would need help. My husband did use a guy that someone recommended to him.
I agree, I am not for socialized medicine, either (and our brief experience with Medicare has reinforced that). But something really needs to be done with our health care system. It’s such a massive problem, I have no idea where to start.
I love this post, Barbara … it feels like a conversation with you, and I want to respond to everything! I really appreciate your thoughts about introvert accounts on Instagram. I’ve had similar thoughts about accounts related to grief. I don’t know if I’ve ever bought Christmas stuff in July … probably not. We were at Cracker Barrel the other evening and I wondered the same thing about the Halloween decorations … does anyone actually buy them in June? I guess so or they wouldn’t put them out. I’m so sorry about the Medicare drug prices.
I’ve wondered if the early seasonal decorations in stores get that much traction, or if the situation is “Everyone else is doing it, so we should, too.” But I guess they must get enough sales to keep doing it.
So much I resonate with! I agree about the insta-subscribe or paywall. And I definitely agree with blogs I can’t keep up with. It’s partly the reason I omit my blog from google indexing (or some such) and don’t do Mr Linky — just can’t keep with everyone, even since retiring.
My parents have been on Medicare for a bunch of years now and I’m so impressed with how well my Mom has navigated all the nonsense. I’m so not looking forward dealing with it.
Before we went on Medicare, I was discussing with the receptionist at the dentist’s office what would change, what Medicare plans they took, etc. She mentioned that some churches offered classes in how to figure our Medicare. I thought–it shouldn’t be that complicated! Kudos to your mom!
I no longer have insurance through work and won’t qualify for Medicare for some years yet. When I asked my dental office what insurance they recommend, they said none were really worth it because none really cover enough for what you pay.
That’s what we found, too. My husband chose a Medicare plan that doesn’t include dental insurance. Finding a separate plan just for dental wasn’t worth it. It helps that our dentist gives uninsured people 10% off.
I enjoy your stray thoughts posts, Barbara. I thought I had found a email subscription widget for my blog. I added it to the blog and realized it was a pop up one…. didn’t take me long to remove it! I really dislike pop ups.
When I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia I looked for people on Facebook and You Tube as a way for support and encouragement, but I soon gave it up because they were too depressing. 😔. I imagine I would feel the same way about introvert sites.
Several months after being diagnosed with transverse myelitis, we got our first personal computer, and TM was the first thing I searched for. I found a wonderful email group (before Facebook or even message boards were a thing). They were a lifeline for me with encouragement and answering questions.
But some years later I tried the same thing with IBS, and that was depressing.
I recently joined a group on FB for afib, but it seems to be more questions that answers.
I didn’t find the introvert sites depressing–one had comics that were quite funny. But they fed my innate selfishness and made me even more unwilling to socialize than I already am. I saved a few of the comics in Pinterest to smile over occasionally, but I didn’t need to steadily feed my mind with thoughts of enjoying time alone. That just made it harder to extend myself.
Thank you for your blog. I enjoy the content. Regarding popups on blogs I don’t get one when I go to your site. I have discovered that I can often bypass those popups without entering any detail. Sometimes I can click anywhere on the screen outside of the popup and it will disappear. The other way is that often there will be an “x”, usually on the top right corner, which you click on and make it go away.
Hi, Harriet, thanks so much. I’m glad you don’t get pop-ups on my site. I had discovered the X that closes the box, but I just got a little miffed at having to do that before I could read further. It’s a small problem, though, and I need to remind myself of that.
It’s been awhile since I read Quiet, but it is one book that I keep in sight on my bookshelf. I appreciated Cain’s deep dive into the research of introverts. Holley Gerth is another who I don’t mind reading when she blogs about being introverted. But otherwise, typecasting can make me very wary, so am selective of what I’ll read! “As we’ve developed labor- and time-saving devices, we’ve added more and more things to be done.” Ah…so true. What was to save our time, actually just freed us to do more.
What a fun post! I can’t deal with the hurry up of holidays. Summer is so short here in Maine that I can’t even LOOK at Halloween stuff. Hobby Lobby is already pushing me to think about Christmas…
Hi Barbara,
I am so glad I found you a couple months ago. I believe I found you
through Tim Challies. You seem like such a kindred spirit except you
are a lot wiser!
I am an introvert also and I’ve read the book you mentioned by Susan
Cain. Understanding that my batteries are drained by too much company
and social time has helped me “pace myself”. I do well inviting someone
for dinner once a month. Due to some cancellations and rescheduling, I
ended up having company twice a month for two months in a row this year.
It really was too much for me humanly speaking, but God gave me the
energy to do all the cooking and cleaning. I believe being an introvert
is also an “energy” thing – extroverts naturally have so much energy! It
sounds counterintuitive, but I am pretty social – I love to go out to
lunch with a girlfriend and do that often. I love to email friends in
other parts of the country. I love to send cards for gets wells and
sympathy. The difference is the size of the group. I enjoy one-on-one
lunches or having just one couple over for dinner. I agree with you
that we need to stretch ourselves.
In my case, some of my over-busyness was due to pride or maybe a Puritan
work ethic ingrained in me. (Some of it was taking on too much – being
Treasurer of both my DAR chapter and our Beekeeper’s Club was just way
too much). For some reason, I felt until fairly recently that I need to
justify my existence on the planet. I felt guilty to read during the
day. I felt guilty to stop and have a glass of iced tea and relax a few
minutes in the afternoon. I’m slowing changing my entire focus. I did
not run again for the office of treasurer of either organization above
so that has freed up the time for the book club. I am going to switch
next year to doing a container garden on the back porch as the amount of
hours I spend pulling weeds sitting on my rear is silly. I want to
focus on Bible study, homemaking, walking (haven’t started this yet),
reading, and the social things I mentioned above. I want to focus on
time with my husband rather than being “too busy” to sit with him and
watch a show. I used to work until 11 pm but now have a quitting time
of 8 pm. So delightful!
I believe you should specify regarding Medicare that you mean part D –
the drug program. Yes, that is bad for us. We chose a super-saver plan
that doesn’t cover much. We might have to change that for next year.
However, we LOVE Part A & Part B. Before getting on Medicare last July
(I’m 65 almost 66), we had a policy through Blue Cross with a $6500
deductible per person. It helped reduce the amount we had to pay, but it
never actually paid out anything! Now with Medicare, we just have $240
deductible per person and that is easy to achieve. We are now getting
all our bills paid at 100%. This is such a relief because my husband
was just diagnosed with PMR (polymyalgia rheumatica) and there have been
lots of tests and doctors.
My husband is a hobby-farmer in his retirement – he has 13 sheep and 4
cattle right now – so we loved the sign about the pig and agree
completely – so neat to have something eat grass and make steak!
I love your Friday Faves and your Laudable Linkage – by the way you’ve
posted some articles by Dr. Kevin Schaal – he was our pastor when we
lived in Arizona. We are in South Carolina now since 2017. I also love
your Stray Thoughts. I feel I gain so much reading your posts. Thank
you so much for the effort you put in – don’t stop! I hope all this
isn’t too boring! The cremation thing was hilarious!
Love, Renee Richmond
We often text our teens from other rooms of the house (each other too but my husband is so rarely home for that to happen often! LOL). I can not get over the hike in your prescription; that is crazy! My youngest son installed a pop up blocker on my computer so I really don’t see many of them anymore (though the one that pops up after hitting the comment button will still show up).
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