Personal policies meme

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Laura at My Quotidian Mysteries tagged me for a “Personal Policies Meme,” asking about “not moral rules, like ”Do Not Kill,’ I’m talking about the silly policies we impose on ourselves, like ‘Never eat anything you can’t identify,’ or ‘Don’t step on sidewalk cracks.'”

First of all, thanks for the tag, Laura! I think it is fun to be tagged.

I had to think about this for a while — I wasn’t sure I had any personal policies. I should probably ask my family what they think my policies are. 🙂

Before I read the “silly” part, my first thought was that two of my policies are to try to read some portion of the Bible every day and to go to church just about every time the doors are open. Both were instilled in me early in my Christian life and have done a lot to help me grow spiritually.

Beyond that, though, some everyday “silly” policies are:

1. I am kind of germophobic, so I am always asking everyone in the house if they have washed their hands (with soap!).

2. In public restrooms I always put a seat cover or toilet paper on the seat. I know it is probably not really protecting me from anything, but it makes me feel better.

3. I’m not really obsessive-compulsive and I don’t have “a place for everything” like I should, but one place I do like to keep everything in a certain place is the refrigerator. It helps avoid the opening the door and asking anyone in range, “Where’s the…….?” syndrome — though that sometimes still happens. 🙂 I also put the new milk or OJ behind the old — if I don’t, almost without fail someone will open the new one before the old one is finished, then the old one spoils. I’m afraid I can get quite carnal in my heart when I open the refrigerator and the jar of Miracle Whip is there on the center shelf instead of in the door shelf where it always goes. 😳

4. I can’t stand music with words playing in the background when people are talking. I don’t know, it’s something like sensory overload — my brain feels like it should be listening to both and can’t. I love listening to music while I am making dinner or cleaning, but if someone comes in and starts talking to me, I have to turn the music off. Instrumental music is a little better, but not much — I usually turn it off, too, unless I am alone or the room I’m in is quiet. I tend to turn music on blogs off, too, for the same reason.

5. When I was a teen, I tended to skip around in books. Then I began to make myself read from the introduction, forwards, etc., into the main part of the book. That’s usually pretty enlightening, but I’ve suspended it a couple of times recently when reading classics in which the forward gave away way too much of the story — I guess the ones writing the forwards figured everyone must already know the plot.

6. I have to sit where I can get out easily, whether it is at the end of a near-the-back row at church or by the doorway at a bridal shower at someone’s home. I just feel closed-in and trapped and panicky otherwise. I don’t know why. I think it stems from a time when I was having….ah…..digestive issues and needed to be able to get to a bathroom as soon as possible if needed. The source of the problem was found (a medication), but that feeling still remains.

7. I always call an older person by Mr., Miss, or Mrs. and their last name unless they tell me to do otherwise. That’s just what I was taught. Sometimes even if they tell me to call them by their first names, I have trouble doing it, especially an authority figure.

That’s all I can think of right now! If any other things come to mind, I’ll add them on.

(I did think of one more: I almost always take a Sunday afternoon nap!)

I’ll tag Alice, Jen, Janeen, and Joyful Days — and anyone else who would to to do this!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Shoes

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Theme: Shoes | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

I’ve been pondering this week’s theme for days. None of us has any interesting-looking shoes. Ideas I had for what would have made neat shots were hindered by the fact that I didn’t have access to the shoes I was thinking of (like Barbie doll shoes from my childhood). All the boys’ shoe sizes are too close to the same size to make a line-up from oldest to youngest look interesting. All I could come up with was this: a button of a Victorian boot on a piece of jewelry I made. I love the way it looks but I am so glad we don’t wear those these days!

Show and Tell Friday: My grandmother

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show-and-tell.jpg Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts the “Show and Tell Friday,” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.“

My mother’s mother passed away when I was about four. A few weeks ago I was thinking about her and realizing how little I actually knew about her as a person, so I wrote to my my aunt, my mother’s sister, and asked her a bunch of questions about her.

I had forgotten about that until my aunt called me this morning (Thursday). Her voice was about the last I had expected to hear when I picked up the phone! We chatted for a while, catching up with various family members, and then she began to answer some of my questions about my grandmother. I had grabbed a pen and tablet of paper and was furiously trying to jot things down as she spoke.

I learned that “Memaw” had always been thin and had gone to college to become a P. E. teacher (somehow I didn’t inherit either of those genes, thinness or athleticism!) She left college to get married. She loved music and played the piano. My aunt said she had a mental image of her mom playing the piano and her dad standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at the music and singing along.

She passed away from cancer when she was only 48. She had ovarian cancer and waited too long to deal with it, then one of her ovaries burst. They did surgery, but the cancer spread to her colon. She had radiation, but they did too much of it and she suffered burns from it. They tried chemotherapy, which at that time they had to sign off on as an experimental procedure. She told my aunt she would have never gone through with the chemo except that Papaw so wanted her to be able to live longer.

Even with feeling so awful and the outlook not very promising, in the hospital she told everyone not to feel sorry for her, because she had gotten to see her kids grow up and to see many of her grandkids. She said, if you want to feel sad for someone, go to the children’s ward.

I so enjoyed not only the conversation with my aunt but getting a better picture in my mind of my grandmother as a person. I’m so glad my aunt took the time to call.

Over the years I have really grown to love the idea of family treasures to pass down to the generations — not expensive things, but sentimental things. I’ve so — not envied, exactly, when I have heard or read other people talking about things passed down from the their loved ones, but just regretted that for various reasons our family has not passed things down or has lost some items along the way during moves. But a few months ago while cleaning out a desk I rediscovered some pictures my mom had sent me before she passed away. These were pictures she had sent to her parents that eventually had gotten back to her after both her parents were gone. In that package was this special picture of my grandparents holding me when I was a baby.

It is a treasure to me not only because of who they are, but because it is one of the few mementos I have of them, made all the more precious to me today because my mental picture has been fleshed out a little more by the conversation today with my dear aunt.

Ode to a summer cold…

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To the tune of “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”

Oh, my nose, it runs
At most inconvenient times
Leaving overflowing trash cans
Filled with tissues full of slime.
It’s become a drip-o-matic.
My condition still is static!
Oh, my nose, it runs.

Oh, my head is filled
With such pressures in my sinus
And such fogginess of brain.
And my energy is minus.
Who’d have thought a simple head cold
Could cause scheduling to implode?
I’m ready for a nap.

An original composition.

Booking Through Thursday: Encore

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btt2.jpg The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:

Almost everyone can name at least one author that you would love just ONE more book from. Either because they’re dead, not being published any more, not writing more, not producing new work for whatever reason . . . or they’ve aged and aren’t writing to their old standards any more . . . For whatever reason, there just hasn’t been anything new (or worth reading) of theirs and isn’t likely to be.

If you could have just ONE more book from an author you love . . . a book that would be as good any of their best (while we’re dreaming) . . . something that would round out a series, or finish their last work, or just be something NEW . . . Who would the author be, and why? Jane Austen? Shakespeare? Laurie Colwin? Kurt Vonnegut?

I guess the two I would love to hear more from are Janette Oke and Elisabeth Elliot. They both have written prolifically and I don’t feel anything else is needed to finish or round out anything — I just like reading them both, and they are both at an age where we’re probably not going to have any more books from them, and that makes me sad.

Janette Oke was the author who first got me started reading Christian fiction. I loved her gentle “voice” as an author and the godly wisdom imparted through her stories.

And speaking of godly wisdom — Elisabeth Elliot has been a source (or maybe conduit would be a better word?) of that to me for years.

Book Review: Sunrise

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I finished Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury sometime last week, but hadn’t yet sat down to review it. It wasn’t on my original Spring Reading Thing list, but when I knew it was coming out in early May, I added it, just barely restraining myself so my kids could buy it for me for Mother’s Day. 🙂

The characters in Sunrise, the Baxter family, originated with the Redemption series of five books, then continued primarily focusing on John Baxter’s oldest son, an actor named Dayne, in the next Firstborn series of four books. The Sunrise series will end the Baxter family saga with I believe another four books, the first of which is Sunrise.

Sunrise has an ensemble cast: Dayne and Katy’s story continues, as does John Baxter’s and his daughter Ashley’s. The other Baxters are there in the book, but we see the most of these. Also, the family Katy lives with, the Flanigans, are spotlighted a little more in this book than the previous ones.

There are several issues touched upon: teen-age alcoholism, a friend’s jealousy, the need to be careful in dating — their are three dating or almost, sort of dating couples in the book, and each relationship has its challenges. There’s the issue os what a prime Hollywood actor would have to face if he became a Christian and the issue of dealing with the media. This storyline seemed the most real to me, even though I know no one in Hollywood. I am thinking that Karen must — or else she has a good imagination. 🙂

But one of the things I most enjoyed about the book was the continuation of Dayne and Katy’s story. In so much fiction, when the guy and girl get together and declare their love, that’s pretty much the end of it. But Karen progresses Dayne and Katy’s relationship and shows some of the struggles they will face and concessions and sacrifices they will have to make, especially when joining together from such different worlds.

Overall this was one of my favorite Karen Kingsbury books.

(By the way, many Spring Reading Thing participants are linking to reviews of the books they’ve read on Katrina’s blog here, if you’d like to see what other people think about other books. Plus Semicolon sponsors a weekly book review link on Saturdays.)

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Summer Actvities

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wfmwheader_4.jpg This week’s Works-For-Me Wednesday is a themed one, the “Mom, I’m bored” edition where we share tips about how things our kids can do to while away the summer days.

Here are a few ideas for children or for parents to do with children — or even for adults to do on their own:

· A special Bible study project like a study of the wise man in Proverbs or all the synonyms for God’s Word in Psalm 119.

· Swim lessons

· Learn a new craft—take a class, get an instruction book and teach yourself, or ask someone to teach you.

· Work on a jigsaw puzzle as a family project.

· Run through the sprinkler.

· Water balloon fights

· Find free concerts where you can take a picnic and listen to music. One orchestra not far from here usually has concerts near a lake in the summer, and often has the 1812 Overture complete with cannon and fireworks near the Fourth of July.

· Visit museums

· Read, individually or together

· Have dinner or lunch at a park; feed the ducks; ride the paddleboats

· Listen to an audiobook while doing something else with your hands.

· Get together with friends.

· Meet a neighbor.

· Acquaint yourself with classical music. Listen together while just relaxing or doing something else with your hands. You might do some general listening or focus on one composer or era and supplement your listening with a little research on the Internet. There are some interesting stories behind some pieces like Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (No. 94) and Farewell Symphony (No. 45) and Handel’s Water Music and others.

· Work on a major project like cleaning out the attic. Involve the children. Some of the best family times are not just the vacation and fun days, but working together. It can be a fellowship time as well as a teaching and work time.

Find other workable summertime tips at Rocks In My Dryer.

Bleah

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Jim has had some kind of upper respiratory thing going on for a week or more now, and even though we’ve tried to avoid contact that would spread it– I started having a sore throat and sniffles Sunday night. Now I’m in the foggy-headed, alternately runny and stopped-up nose stage. Jim has had an awful hacking cough, which I don’t have yet and hope I don’t get.

If I had to get a summer cold, though, this is the best week for it. Last week was busy with a lot of deadlines plus getting two kids ready for camp, one for the whole summer; next week is the ladies’ luncheon. So, though I still have a checklist to work through, this week is a little lighter.

One thing I discovered after several months after TM — any kind of cold or infection wiped me out, and I had no choice — I had to go rest. But I discovered that that actually helped to short-circuit a cold and to make it not last as long. I don’t know why we think it is so noble to push ourselves til it has lasted for weeks and gotten worse before we go to bed and get more rest. Sometimes it can’t be helped, I know — there is just too much to do. But though colds don’t quite do me in that much these days, I still try to get more rest if possible. A nap is definitely on the agenda for today.

I also see a new doctor today — not for the cold — this has been scheduled for a while. The doctor I had been seeing for 8 years suddenly left his practice last year. I had heard he would be starting a new practice, but it has been months, and so far nothing. A friend at church who is a doctor — and actually a former partner of my doctor — has been keeping my prescriptions refilled, but he can’t do that forever. I didn’t want to go to him, though he’s a fine doctor, because he’s a friend — and that would just feel awkward to me. He recommended a new doctor, a Russian lady. It was funny when I called to make the appointment — I got a voice mail and left my information and said I needed to make an appointment as a new patient with Dr. B– and tried my best to pronounce her name in an recognizable fashion. When the reception called back, she said, “You wanted to make an appointment with Dr. Vickie?” 🙂 I guess her staff doesn’t even try her last name.

They called last Friday to remind me of my appointment and tell me what to bring, and said I was supposed to come in fasting. I told them I couldn’t do that with a 1:30 appointment — I have low blood sugar and can’t go past 9 or 10 without feeling dizzy and shaky. They told me I could come in anytime after 8 a.m. and do lab work and then come back in the afternoon for the appointment. My first thought was, “Like I have all day to run back and forth to your office!” I planned to call back and change it to a morning appointment. But then I decided this really would work better even though it meant two trips — if I had a morning appointment, I’d have to wait til after everything was over to eat. So I went this morning and left behind my bodily fluids. 🙂

I feel a little awkward going when nothing is wrong — I just need monitoring for one medication. I’ll have to admit that going to the doctor is not my favorite pastime in life — sorry to those in the medical profession 🙂 — and going to a new doctor and having to explain about the TM makes me even more nervous (I have been blessed with excellent doctors who were very knowledgeable about it, but I have read horror stories from those on the TM Internet Club who had been told it was all in their heads).

And I don’t know why I went into all that — just rambling in my fogginess, I guess. If you read all the way through, pat yourself on the back for me!

Gotta go get ready for round 2 at the doc’s…………

More book give-aways!

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This seems to be a summer of book give-aways! That’s fine with me! Besides the ongoing ones at Katrina’s and the one I mentioned earlier at Deena’s, there is another one this week only at Joyful Days.