Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Lost In Translation

.... or something like that.

Today on my social network page, a friend, someone I haven't seen in over 40 years and who wasn't really a friend but married a friend of my then boyfriend (and that's a long story), anyway, this poor dear woman was explaining about all the physical woes she's experienced in the last month which truly are awful and I'm sure are seriously demoralizing to the psyche, and in general she was just plainly having a pity party and venting.

I posted a comment that I thought I needed to add her to my prayer list. (And I have.)

Someone else then commented, and this is a quote exactly as typed:  "my goodness, i can't imagine prayers and yes you are titled to a pitty party, but bounce back quick..."

Now, when I read that, my thoughts immediately took it to mean that she couldn't imagine prayers would help, and I had all these "well, what an awful thing to say" thoughts run through my head.  Why would anyone post something so, to me, offensive as to say she couldn't imagine prayers? I know the lady is not a believer, but even most unbelievers appreciate that someone would pray for them.  I was tempted to further comment, but restrained and decided, well maybe she closely knew the friend and that was them and their thoughts.  And I walked away from it.

Later, I came back and saw others had added their sentiments, and the friend had "liked" my comment. In re-reading the one comment, it dawned on me that the problem  was not in what was said, but in punctuation!  If you put a comma between imagine and prayers, it changes the whole meaning.  'i can't imagine' becomes a reaction of disbelief of all the poor woman went through, and prayers becomes the commenter also adding prayers.  

I suppose the lessons are 1) deciphering is sometimes necessary to really understand something typed - especially on social media, and 2) I should never rush to judgement about what someone might intend in what they wrote - especially when punctuation is lacking!


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sunday Blessings

 Our pastor relinquished his pulpit to a 'guest' pastor today.  Sometimes when we have guest pastors, I'm inclined to 'play hooky' and listen from home via the internet, but today we went.  Also, our fellowship group  had a morning of prayer with the pastor taking requests and then choosing one of the men in the group to pray aloud for those requests while the rest of us prayed silently.  The guest pastor for our main service is a man of our church and seminary but I don't recall having heard him teach before, at least not in a great many years.  He taught us on Psalm 139.  This passage has been a favorite of mine since shortly after becoming a Believer, and at one time I was memorizing it, so I'm glad we went and didn't play hooky.  I enjoyed the renewed look at the passage, and am placing it here.  May you be blessed by the Word of God.

Psalm 139:
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And inYour book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
20 For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Monday, October 22, 2012

What Have I Been Doing?

It certainly doesn't seem like much since I haven't posted again in over a week...I'm sure that makes me a successful blogger, Hah!



Picture 1

Well, this is what I've been working on:  a 3-D 'model' of what my 'new' kitchen will likely look like, utilizing the existing space and being careful to not add to the so-very-low budget (mental budget, no actual dollar amount set!) by having to unnecessarily change existing plumbing and electrical too much.

Picture 1 is a bird's eye view ~ excuse the wonkiness, I'm only using tape, graph paper and scissors.  I've planned 30" counterspace to the left of the sink, 42" to the right of the sink, 36" for range, and 30" to the right of the range.  Some of that could be flexible, meaning less, not more room.  There is a window over the sink - I don't want to move it. Currently the dishwasher is at the left of the sink with a skinny 6" or narrower cabinet between it and the wall.  Where I show the range, the current layout stops there with that being a peninsula with a range top.  My oven was  inset into that wall on the left but that's where we reconfigured the bathroom which is on the other side of the wall, so I presently have no oven.  Directly opposite the sink I would like a large floor to ceiling cabinet which is shown where the yellow is and beside it would be a small counter with upper and lower cabinets and a shelf for the microwave.  I'd like a portable island with cabinet base no larger than 3'x 4' - I've seen some images of a couple I'd be pleased with.  The other 'square' at the lower-center is the refrigerator (currently the pantry which to the left in the pic is an unused cavity which formerly held the furnace - now on the roof with the A/C).  The cavity will become a shelved area to house all those occasionally used small appliances and things like maybe boxed cereal, potatoes, onions - dark & cool.  There's a doorway into the hall which runs parallel behind that wall of the cab/counter/microwave plan.  The frig was (ok, still is) where I want that counter/cabs/microwave, so you can imagine how much it juts into the floorspace of the kitchen and doesn't leave much room with a peninsula. - the orig. kitchen is ca. 1966.


Picture 2
Picture 2 shows from a lower view. Where the cabinets end, well, actually where I plan to extend those cabinets as shown, is currently a 7'11" picture window overlooking the backyard and our massive Modesto Ash tree - where I watch those squirrels, minus one :(.  In my plan, that window is gone, and in it's place is either a 5' or 6' sliding glass door so that we have an exit from the kitchen to the patio to bbq rather than having to carry everything out of the kitchen, down the hall, and through the computer room to get to that slider and the patio - I wonder who the brilliant architect of that was?!  Do you know how much stuff gets spilled on the floor between the two locations?  The new refrigerator location may not be ideal but there really isn't anyplace else without running new gas lines through concrete or overhead conduit and then I'd lose counter and cabinet space as well.  Having a portable island will tie the frig in a little more and will give me a place to set things from the frig when needed.

Picture 3

Picture 3 shows the dining area - before I continued the side wall.  That wall is solid floor to ceiling, side to side. The back shows the opening for the projected door, as well as my cut-outs representing the sizes and space that our table, chairs and hutch/china cabinet take up.  I would prefer and door that swings open, but there just isn't the room so a slider is more fitting.  Between the refrigerator and where the hutch is, there is the door to the garage and the hutch is against the solid wall of the garage.  My washer/dryer are on the other side of that wall in the garage and I'd hoped to have included that in this remodel, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  I'll live with it.  Our dining room has been 'huge' compared to the actual kitchen space, so that will be changing - we rarely entertain, so no biggy.  When we bought the table, my thoughts were that we'd be having gatherings of folks over a lot so the table, with extensions would be 4' x 9' and is still plenty big without the extensions.  We were once far more involved in social activities than we are now.  Oh well, something else I've gotten used to over the years...or not. 

I'm glad I went through this exercise.  I needed a 3-D model to get my mind wrapped around what the possibility could be and to see if it would work for us.  I think it will and I think this is what I'll present to our contractor.  Each square of the graph paper equals 6".  It's not entirely accurate, but is close enough.  The sink counters would appear to be 30" deep, but in reality, I think they'd be closer to 24" for the cabinets, but the counter may come out close to 26". 

My thoughts for the wall at the left end of the kitchen would be to put up a wire grid where I could use S hooks to hang pans or utensils, with maybe a shelf or two above for my cookbooks.  Will have to wait and see.  We considered moving the wall where the shorter section is, but it's a load-bearing wall, and that complicates things and I'm sure would add more than what we want to spend on the re-do.

I welcome any comments or suggestions, but keep in mind, I've considered this for now over 16 years taking into account how we function as a family and how I cook presently (not much) and how I really would like to cook (and used to) again.

Road Kill

I know, not a great topic, but it seems lately I've been seeing a lot of this on my way to taking Nick to school.  Awhile back a couple coyotes on as many different days; more recently racoons and possums.  Yep, we have all of the above in our populated suburbs and they get hit.  Thankfully I haven't seen any carrion of the domestic variety!

Today though, as I went out the front door, locking it and then turning around I saw a squirrel with his prize nut or acorn in his mouth coming across the street.  Seeing me he stopped where he was and stayed as I moved toward my car in the driveway.  Then I heard a car coming down the street and looked just as it came past and that squirrel, well, why did that poor dumb squirrel decide to run right towards that car when it was only a few feet from the safety of the parkway and a tree? It's little body is now growing cold in the middle of the street and we have one less squirrel to watch play in our tree and, having seen and heard it's demise, it just ruined my whole afternoon!.  Why little squirrel, why? did you run TOWARD the car?  And doesn't it seem like they always do that?  Surely someone has funded a study on that?  Why do squirrels wait, and wait, and then dart right in front of cars as if playing chicken?  I have wondered this pretty much my whole driving life!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Stash Report ~ Week 41

 I haven't posted a Stash Report since the end of July!  There hasn't been a need to, and, haha, still isn't as I've neither added to nor used anything from my stash.  The finished quilt I returned to my local guild was from fabric all provided by the guild.

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 53.8 yards
Net Used for 2012: -53.8 yards

Linking up to Judy at Patchwork Times for more stash reports.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Time Escapes Me

When all routines, minimal as they were, have been scattered to the winds (see how I got that fall effect thrown in there), it seems gathering them back together requires more than a rake.  I got really comfy just sitting around waiting for others to do what I normally did, because I couldn't do them, well, at least not without a great deal of effort mixed with equal parts pain and creativity.  Help has come to a screeching halt as the foot gets better. I now have only a minimal limp, and the shoe is on, as well as a sock, though not yet laced up.  My next doc appointment isn't until the 25th - think the doc will be happy with my progress?  I think he'll be quite surprised, as I am very surprised at the progress in just this past week - I truly was expecting weeks and maybe months to get this far - maybe I'm not really as old as I thought.  My pre-injury chores and activities are all back on me except Nick is responsibly still getting his own lunch prepared and getting his own breakfast.

Remember this little quilt?   I can't tell you how long I've had it here, but it's been way too long.  Is this a deja-vu moment or did I post about it recently? Anyway, our guild meeting was Thursday night, so I was determined to get it out of my house!  It was a community service project pieced by someone else and I did the layering, quilting & binding with the provided fabric.  All along I kept thinking to myself that I just didn't like the backing/binding fabric and after I got the binding on and started hand-stitching it down on the backside I knew why.  I snipped a small piece and burned it, yep, polyester content! Ugh.  Running that needle through by hand was a pure pain, and I tried several different needles. But it is DONE, and I took returned it to guild.  I think it'll be awhile before I bring another community service project home. It had been laying around here for so long, with all the dust from the bathroom remodels, the cats getting on it, and something from who knows where getting spilled on one corner, it had to be washed & dried first. Can I count this a FINISH? even though not something on my UFO list.

The first lesson with my friend was more of a time of chatting and catching up as her hubby was home too and learning where she is as far as her sewing skills/knowledge and what she was considering for a quilt.  She'd like to begin with a crib-size, and had a black and white picture of a scrappy, very simple little number without any directions from a pamphlet from 1979.  She also had a couple others picked out in more recent magazines and only slightly more complicated.  She also likes the looks of the rag quilts.  The only sewing she has done is a very small wall-hanging from a pre-printed patchwork design where she used a running stitch to highlight the 'squares' and to attach some Sunbonnet Sue pieces, with layers & binding.  She's had no experience even with clothing, so it'll be all new, but she's eager to learn, and is a quick study I think.  Next week, we will meet and look at some fabric.  She has only a cutting mat, a rotary cutter, some pins, seam ripper & a sewing machine....still in the box. 



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

...the Behinder I Get!

You all know the saying that comes from, something like the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.  Well, I'm not hurrying much, but I'm not catching up much either.

Hard to believe he's now 14! and 5'8" or more.
Yesterday was Nick's 14th birthday.  Daddy 'caved' and ordered his, achhh, expensive computer set-up.  I won't say how expensive but I'd like a sewing cabinet that costs about that much!  Dinner plans included his two best friends, Tino and Jay and we all went to his restaurant of choice (our birthday tradition) Olive Garden - yum.  I was 'bad' and didn't get out to get him a card, but I did sing Happy Birthday to him.  Did you know that O.G. no longer offers a complimentary birthday dessert?  And they'll only sing H.B. IF you BUY a dessert!  Nick was too full for dessert and most of their desserts now cost what a meal did a decade or so ago, so we skipped dessert entirely....not even a cake at home!  Very low key.

Tomorrow I become a teacher.  A younger friend asked if I'd teach her to quilt, so I said I would.  I'm looking forward to it.  I don't know if she has any sewing experience at all.  She told me her sewing machine is still in it's box.

I've not used my crutches since Friday.  I'm slow, but moving.  Remember, it was the tortoise not the hare that won the race.  Each day is better, and I thank God for the healing He is giving me.

I worked on the little quilt that I've had oh-so-way-too-long that is a many-hands community service quilt for my guild.  All I've had to do was prepare the back, sandwich, quilt, & bind.  It's been pinned for eons, really for eons, and I'd done some stitching in the ditch around each block, and originally planned to do something more free motion within each block (crib quilt), but at this point, just want to get it back to the guild and the meeting is Thursday night.  With that in mind, I just did some additional straight-line, diagonal quilting and tomorrow morning will hopefully knock out that binding so that I can stitch it tomorrow night or Thurs. morning and call it DONE.




Friday, October 5, 2012

Fina-Lee Friday

  • Now that I'm driving again, I also need to stop and get gas in the tank when it gets low.  Last week when I began to drive, gas was at $4.05 at 'my' station.  Today it is $4.65 (and likely higher by this afternoon), which is 22 cents higher than yesterday!  According to news sources the excuses reasons: 1)low supply because of switching from summer fuel mixture to winter fuel mixture; 2) a refinery fire the first part of August; 3) a power outage:  4) a pipeline shut down after finding elevated levels of organic chloride; 5) maintenance work at another refinery.  Interesting how this all happens at the same time, hmmm?  Maybe the state finally found a way to increase funds in the over-run coffers as the state sales tax runs around 8% depending on the county/city you live in...that's a lot of extra $$$ out of drivers' pockets.  That #1 listed item - after all the years they've been switching between summer and winter fuels, you'd think they'd be smart enough to build up the supply, which really, why is the supply the problem - every time they switch, the raise the price! without any 'shortages' at the pump!
  • As compensation for the gas woes/trials, God gave us an absolutely glorious sunrise - not very common in this area:  
Nick took the sunrise pics as it would've been gone by the time I got dressed and hobbled downstairs and outside to try to do it myself - he did a great job!

  •  Flame is our orange and white kitty.  Why does she have ONE black eyebrow hair?  Just wondering.  And she's becoming a real rascal, finding out she can jump up onto dressers, and bookshelves, and even to the counter in the kitchen from the bookshelves for my cookbooks which sit directly under the breakfast - where by the way NO one ever eats breakfast bar - I'll be glad when it's gone!  As I type, she has worked her way into the paper bag I keep by my desk to toss recyclable/scrap paper in.  And now Raven has come up and wants to know what she's doing.  Do you think this eye looks a little shifty?
I think Raven likes that little bit of a sun spot as well :)

  •  I refrained from getting out of my car, as if it would be that easy still using the crutches, to slap a young girl (mid-teens?) that saw me driving towards her direction - not at all far away, and proceeded to go ahead and walk right out in front of me jay walking diagonally across the street and then stare at me as if to dare me to hit her as I'm hitting my brakes!  Seriously, I wanted to slap her upside the head...you know, like Gibbs in NCIS does to Tony, only more forcefully!
Well, that's my Friday so far.  If anything more exciting comes along this afternoon or evening, maybe I'll add an update.   Have a Fantastic Friday!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Of Mice and ... Cats

Thankfully we don't have mice...at least not in the house that we know of.  We do have rats at the compost bin.  The neighbors have ivy on their side of the block wall - rats love ivy.  Never saw a rat until the neighbors, actually the prior owners, planted the ivy - it gives rats perfect protection for their runways.  I do not like ivy, no I do not!  I digress.


Here's the real story today.  You all have heard read my posts mentioning that Raven plays fetch.  These days, all I have to say is "Raven, go get Mousie, where's your Mousie?" and her little ears perk up and her eyes glaze over and it isn't long and there's a Mousie at my feet and she's saying her little purrrrppps sounds and reaching up and clawing at my chair for my attention.

So today, for your viewing pleasure, is a picture of two of her Mousies. A third Mousie is lime green.  Do you think maybe the pink one has been well-loved?  At times, we couldn't find the Mousies.  Until....I hobbled to the living room on my crutches and using one of the crutches while sitting on an ottoman, swept that crutch under the sofa.  Lo and behold, all three Mousies as well as half a dozen other pretend-Mousies, you know, those various colored pompoms - she plays fetch with those too!   
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