A LITTLE OF THIS AND A LITTLE OF THAT

The following came from Colette Amelia's blog:
Have faith...have patience...everything has its time.

sometimes boo boos are wonderful...

Everyone has function.

"It's a sign of wisdom that seeds don't squander their energy all at once, instead calmly waiting until the time is right. Seeds aren't stupid." ~ Midas Dekkers

(We have several oak trees out front and they do not leaf until there is no possibility of snow. Every spring I think they are dead. The trees that are in a hurry often get heavy laden with snow and lose branches. I guess the steady, slow oaks know something. We should take a lesson.)

Yesterday there was an incident in the neighborhood. Cop cars surrounded a house that has been for sale, no one is sure if anyone is living there or not. The police must have had a search warrant because they broke into the garage which contained a huge pile of clothing and a car in there sideways. Sideways! How do you get a car in a garage sideways? The neighbors have heard gunfire a couple of nights but thought it was their imagination, who fires a gun in the middle of the night in this neighborhood? Anyway, I was talking to a woman who is the next door neighbor.

"Don't you want to come to my house and stay tonight?" I asked her.

"No, I'll be fine. I have swords," she said. SWORDS? She has swords?

Today she send me an email: "My swords are still clean and bright!" so no one was "run through" in the night.

I had to close Phil's site off and this was part of an email he had up.

He's a funny one, that kid is. I don't know that I've done much urinal training with him, as they're usually higher and I usually only get him at Church for public restrooms. At least he's a "straight shooter" now that his dooder has been fixed.

Yup, Phil gets some interesting emails.

(This is Google's idea of a doodler. In fact this is a "super doodler.")

I went visiting teaching to Mrs. Bird today and will put her latest escapades on the blog soon. Have a great day, have faith, patience and remember, don't send your leaf's out when there is still a chance of snow. And if you doodler isn't a straight shooter, it seems that you can have it fixed. I'm so happy to pass on helpful information like this.

WORDS TO LIVE BY

I have an extremely smart friend who says profound things from time to time. This was the last two lines of her yesterday's email. I wanted to share it so you could benefit, like I did.

"Have a good day, my friend. We'll be brave, won't we, because what is our other option??"

So I hope you will have a good day today and are brave as lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

I'M HOKEY--and then if that's not bad enough--I'M ALSO POKEY.

I got a forwarded email a few days ago. You were supposed to number a paper to eleven and then put some numbers down, names of people, and songs. Then you scrolled down to read what your answers meant.

This person in space number three is the one you love: I had written Phil.

The song you put in number eight matches the person in number three: Come Share My Life

Number eleven tells you how you feel about life: I couldn't think of any more songs, my mind went totally blank--you can see I'm defending myself before telling you what I put--The Hokey Pokey.

So, there you have it. My personal creed. Charming.

NOW THIS IS LOVE

In an email from my daughter, "I love you more than skinny ankles."

EMAIL WITHDRAWAL

Friday I lost email service--we are with a new server--I called--I hate to call--I called anyway as I was desperate. I got not-much help--after being on hold for 30 minutes. Saturday I called again. I got better help and my email was restored but it wiped out everything I had received while it was down. I'm so pathetic I wonder if anyone wrote to say, "Howdy."

This is your chance to say, "Too bad, I wrote you a long chatty email and now I'm too busy to do it again." I'll never know.

And I don't think I'm getting much of what I usually do. Last week my Sunday email was 77 count. This week it's 21. I think all my "subscribed" things like from Yahoo lists are gone. Hum. I wonder if I care. Well, I do for one but the others? I rarely read them anyway.

On the upside our Sunday School lesson today was fantastic. Our Relief Society lesson was fantastic. I'm going to bed now to ponder.

THE MAILBOX TO THE EMPTY LOT

See this mailbox? It belongs to an empty lot.This is a new subdivision going in and maybe the person who owns the empty lot feels the need to get advance mail. This is going to be his neighbor. Not too shabby. So I figure the person who owns the empty lot is going to build a not-too-shabby house too.

So, if you feel the need to communicate with the person who owns this empty lot and his future not-too-shabby house you can, 'cause he has a mailbox.

By the way, this morning my email address were restored. My bookmarks were back. My documents and photos are back...HOORAY!. BUT the four emails I wrote--did I write more than four, it seems I did-- are gone and I think they went into cyber space because they are not in my sent file.

So:
Justin, I commented on the cuteness of your son. I don't think Justin reads my blog so he will never know.

Pam, I wrote you a long email which I cannot now recall one word of. It must not have been really important--just like ALL my emails to you.

JoAnne, I finally answered your email. It had questions about you new grandchild and about NieNie --this isn't actually the link to her blog but to her sister's blog who says, "People calm down, we will restore Nie Dialogues as soon as we can. " And I wrote other chatty stuff and I KNOW I said we should do lunch next week to celebrate your birthday OVER TWO MONTHS AGO. Now everyone knows what a total slacker I am. And they know you don't blog either and you should repent.

Tierney, I wrote a brilliantly funny email to you. Probably. There is a slight chance that it might have been whiny and depressing but since it went into cyberspace I'm saying it as brilliant and funny.

I probably am not going to rewrite those emails because I have a writing class in the morning that I'm not prepared for so I must go get busy now!

SIX WORDS FOR AN EMPTY EMAIL BOX

Gone. Not far. Still in "deleted."

MY EMAIL INBOX IS EMPTY

Earlier today my inbox had over twenty thousand emails. It's now empty. I deleted them.

My deleted file now has 22,092 emails. I can't delete them permanently. Yet. I'm thinking about it, really I am but it's such a big step. It's like tossing out all the real mail you've saved, all the Happy Birthday cards, the thank you notes. There are kind words from dear friends in the delete file. I wonder if I will miss those emails. I'm going to give it a day or two to decide for sure.

So, if you feel so inclined, you could send me an email so my inbox won't be so darn naked.

If you feel so inclined.

I've written the "naked" word above. That is to give you a little excitement in case your life is boring or you are forlorn. Naked. There, don't you feel a little bit excited?

Me too. Excited to hide behind the door or the shower curtain or even the very large, very leafy potted plant--if I had one.

I should delete this post too but I never do. I'm sorry later but that's the way life is. You live it and it's out there for all to see. Nakedly.

SIX WORDS FOR HOPING FOR "REAL" EMAIL

Health lists, recipes, chore charts, Iwantsomerealemail!

"ALT TAB," DO I HAVE ANY "REAL" EMAIL YET?

Why is it that even though I have a blog to write, a personal history story to write, I keep typing "alt-tab" to see if I have any real email. I don't hope for real mail any more. I don't send hardly any myself, even though I mean to.

So, I push "alt-tab" and see I have emails from:

Flylady--I'm sure she is going to tell me to fold a batch of laundry and swish and swipe or swish and flush--I'm not kidding. She says something like that. And she tells me to put on shoes with laces. Does she not know about bare feet and summer and toe nail polish? And she'll tell me to do something to the dishwasher, either unload it, or start it, or look vacantly into it because you have lost your mind and think it's the refrigerator. It you are old you think it's the ice box.

ThirdAge Health and Wealth--I'm sure they will tell me to brush my teeth to avoid heart disease, stop eating sugar, exercise and I don't know what they are going to say about wealth. Get some, I guess.

Fire Mountain Gems Specials--they show me beads and more beads, thinking that just because I subscribed to their email service, that I'm going to become a beader...or a jewelry maker or whatever you are when you are creative and make stuff. I figured it out one day, I could buy a bunch of their beads and make something sub-standard that would only cost me twice as much as if I went to a great store, like Chico's, and bought something stylish that I would love. It might cost me three times as much. I'm not opening that email. I have made enough ugly, handmade, half finished stuff in my day that got donated to DI where someone else bought it, brought it home, looked at it for a month and donated it back to DI. Because of my stupid, half-made, ugly stuff DI has made lots and lots of dollars. They should send me an email, thanking me.

Top Secret Recipes--since he started charging 79 cents for his recipes I don't go to his site. He is grieving over my absence, I'm sure.

Some one's weekly e-zine--who is this and why did I subscribe to this? It's a mystery. Everyone should have a little mystery in their life and this, obviously, is mine. I am going to state, right here, in black and white--I want a better mystery.

Self Improvement Newsletter--As if I don't feel bad enough about myself. I'm not opening this to see what else I don't do. No sir-ee. I'll just stay ignorant and un-improved.

Health Seeker's Forum--see Third Age Health, above. They might say eat raw food, too. It seems I have subscribed to a lot of "health" type newsletters or groups. I wonder if "this means something." (Reminder to myself: add Close Encounter of the Third Kind" to my Netflix queue. Yesterday we watched another one of my interesting films. This one was completely in French with English subtitles. Phil had a nice nap while I watched. I really know how to pick winners. I should hire out as an advisor at horse race tracks.)

Early to Rise---Ha! Now I might open one that says "Early in the Morning to Bed." But I'm trying to quit. As soon as this blog post is done and I've written a personal history story I'm going to bed. I have five minutes to make my goal.

Alt-tab. Well, would you lookit that? A real email.

Bye.

SOME EXCELLENT THINGS

1. A young man from a Podunk town in Oregon who is scared to death, but has come to Provo to go to BYU anyway. I hope he does well.

2. Going to the movies--Kung Fu Panda today--with some of my excellent grandkids. Very cute movie and very cute kids.

3. Remembering that Gilmore Girl used to call our Oriental acupuncturist Kung Pao Chicken.

4. Having a story already written for my personal history group and not having to stay up late writing.

5. Having email friends. One is on the run for stealing two steak knives thirty years ago when he was just a young sprout--I've vowed I don't know him but I don't know...if I'm put under the lights I may fess up. Another email friend decided instead of thinking of all the things she wants to change she will think of some things that are excellent as they are. She is the inspiration for this post. Still another email friend sends encouraging words--even from where the deer and the antelope play. She would know that because she's been on the range and everywhere else that her husband, Columbus can drive. And my erratic emailing daughter, Gilmore Girl who will not write a blog and only sends me pithy one-liner emails and I have to call her a Cheeky Monkey. There's a lot of that Cheeky Monkey-ness going around this week, it seems. And last, but not least, a funny friend from the land up north who walked into a pole one day and has never been the same, which is all right by me because she is funny and optimistic and hard working and did I mention funny?

6. Having a husband who eats forty-'leven times a day and stays at his pre-marriage weight. It gives me someone to grumble about and, as we all know, everyone feels better after a good grumble. Thank you Honey for the reason I feel better forty-'leven times a day, multiplied by 365 plus one for leap year.

7. Sleep.

8. Cold weather today, but only if it gets hot again tomorrow.

9. Rain.

10. Toenail polish, which will soon be covered up with socks but it will be there, all winter, anyway. And fingernail polish too, which I am wearing every day for a month until I get sick of having to re-do my nails every two days.

That's it for today. Ten excellent things that I don't need to worry about trying to change.

SIX WORDS FOR AGGRAVATION

My email provider cleaned house. Again.

IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN

Do you ever know that you should do something but you just can't do it because it's overwhelming? Like clean out your email inbox? I am a notorious non-cleaner-outer of my email. Right now there are 13,737 emails in my inbox. 2, 919 of them are unread. Earlier today there were about 20,000 in my inbox before my email program cleaned its self out. Everything from December 2nd, 2007 to today. I tried to see if there were any I missed reading in the last few hours but Comcast--bless their little hearts--does not recognize me. Or my mother's maiden name or my maiden name or the cost of rice in China or nothin'. Comcast does not think I exhist. Therefore I am not.


I think Comcast is in cahoots with the freezer. The freezer decided it was time to be defrosted ALL BY ITSELF, exactly one week ago. I wonder what's next.


Can we say procrastination? Obviously one of us can't. Or, wait. Maybe one of us can.


I used to clean out my inbox but then I saved a bunch of important emails and now I wonder why they were important. Here are some of the subjects of emails I've saved:

"The papers are coming, the papers are coming - retreat~~~" I opened this one up and I still don't know why I should retreat or what papers. But, it must be important because I saved it.


"Fat Burning Tips"

"Hello Liney ;-)" I emailed this person and it bounced and I have no way of contacting her. I'm sad. She was an email friend from long ago.


"The University of Poland science students digital clock ." This one had a link, Go here. It's pretty neat, actually.


"This week's report." This was from a friend who has since died, unexpectedly, just a few months after she retired. I am sad thinking of her.

"Help" I did. I don't know why I still have that email. Maybe I wanted to be reminded that I helped, who knows?


"Spam Alert: RE: Spam Alert: FW: Wed. Lecture!!!!" This has too many exclamation points for me to take it seriously. I mean, seriously. Three? I'm not saving an email with three exclamation points.


"Lips recipe." It's a raw recipe for stuffed mini peppers that she calls "luscious lips."

"Three keys to personal power." I opened this one. "Your Emotions Are Contagious--Key one: The first power you can develop is enthusiasm. The Key To Charisma--The second personality power that you can develop is expertise, or competence. Prepare Thoroughly For Every Event--The third power of personality that gives you charisma in the eyes of others is thorough preparation, detailed preparation, prior to undertaking any significant task." And on and on....


"Salsa Lessons." I'm to tired to Salsa.


"Marriage Builders." This one came from my friend who should have been a researcher. EVERYTHING fascinates her. This web site it actually pretty good. It's for helping marriages.


"Getting more control of Tip # 4"--This one intrigued me so I opened it and guess what? Tip number four was..."STOP PROCRASTINATING." and then it gave a quote: "The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started." -- Dawson Trotman


With that I will close this post and hope not to read any more reminders from the past. Good grief. How many hints do I need, I wonder?

FOUR TIMES FOUR ANSWERS

This came via email today. If anyone wants to do it on their blog...well, it would be a post and you'd be done for the day. I'm done for the day and it's not even three-thirity in the afternoon. Practically a record for me.

Four, Four, Four, Four...

A) Four places that I go to over and over:

1. Church --The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints--The Mormons

2. Grocery store, Costco, the most, probably or maybe Days Thriftway

3. J-Dawg, for those incredible Polish dogs, or Heaps, for the great salad bar, or Smart Cookie for the yummy lemon cookies with crunchy lemon bits baked right in, or Chuck-A-Rama on Thursday for their Mexican salad, or Dairy Queen, late at night, for those frosty's—do you see a pattern here? Not so good. But, hey, call me and I'll pick you up, and away we'll go. It will be fun. We will visit and eat stuff.

4. My writing/critique groups.

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):

1. Pam --who always seems to know exactly what to say to life my spirits.

2. Cheryl--who should blog. She has the most incredibly funny things happen to her or maybe she just looks at life with joy.

3. Terri--who also should blog for the same reason.

4. Gilmore Girl--who doesn't email me so much so she really should blog.

Everyone who thinks all these people should blog raise your hand. The voting appears to be unanimous.

C) Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In the Swiss Alps or maybe Paris. If "right now," then the Alps because Paris would be hot and with all the dog doo problem, that Paris has going on, it wouldn't be pleasant.

2. Back in time to when the kids were little and everything was hectic but not as stressful as now, how I'd love to gather them up on my lap and read to them or sit with them on the lawn swings, eating popcorn and rhubarb and just letting them be silly, entertaining Phil and me.

My favorite lawn swing memory is when Lord Bumhampton was about two or three-years-old and Mom was here. It was time to put him to bed but we were on the lawnswings--the lawnswings were out back, that year. We didn't want to go in so we bathed Lord Bumhampton in a bucket on the patio. He was all blond and slippery-wet and delighted to be bathing in a bucket.

Then we "jammied" him and cuddled him down and stayed out there until way past dark, just talking. The crickets turned on and so did the stars and Mom and I sat in friendly mother-daughterness for a long time while Lord Bumhampton went to sleep in my arms. So if I could go back in time maybe that would be two of my choices, once with the kids and once with my Mom and a sleeping toddler.

3. In New York City for a week with a purse full of money and tickets to everything

4. San Francisco, ditto with that full-purse thing. Or maybe Carmel.

D) Four people I wish I were more like:

1. Jeanne Inouye, for about fifty different reasons, some of which are her grace, her love for everyone, her dignity under difficult situations, her wish to be happy and to share her happiness with others, her work ethic, etc. She is one of those people who you cannot believe is real because she is so perfect and yet she makes you feel like you are just who you should be, even if you're not.

2. Terri, Pam, Cheryl and Gilmore Girl for their insaneness. They laugh--and I laugh more when I am with them--than can be imagined.

3. Eleanor Roosevelt, but prettier.

4. Sarah Barlow. She has the most giving heart. She wants to help others all the time--and does. And Boyd Helquist, who is such a social person and he makes everyone feel they are important in his life. He always walks down to talk to us if he sees we are outside, even if he just has a minute to spend. He's that way with everyone.

E) Four TV shows I watch all the time:

1. "Lost," when it's on--and that's what, 12 to 14 times a year? Big whoop.

2. Cooking shows, I don't know why, it doesn't inspire me to cook. I used to cook. Poor Phil, having a wife who used to cook.

3. That's about it--oh, maybe a movie we get from Net Flix—I order never-heard-of-before-movies, the feel-good kind and Phil thinks are lame--the latest one was DEAR FRANKIE, which I loved and he slept through. He has put EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF 24 on our Queue so I won't be watching TV anymore at all! He thinks Jack Bower is real. Don't tell anyone, it's embarrassing.

4. Oh, wait, "Everybody Loves Raymond," I watch over Phil’s shoulder after he watches the news. I, of course, am on the computer. Blogging, probably, or perhaps waiting for the Muse.