Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Twilight Zone

Things my husband said today that made me wonder what they'd done with MY husband...

"Lets go pick apples"

"I'm stopping at Walgreens because you said you were out of chapstick"

"I have to pee"

"I bet we can get that cheaper at WalMart, lets go there instead"

Life Goes On...For Everyone Else

I went to my parents place in Cincinnati for my fathers 60th birthday.
My parents are getting older, and thats depressing.
My brother has a girlfriend that he hasnt told me about, and thats depressing.
Actually, hes mad at me cause I didnt go there for his birthday breakfast. I didnt wake up on time (I had to get up at 430 to be there by 730) because I couldnt fall asleep. I sent him a text message, but apparently my mom turned off the text messaging service. So he just thinks I didnt come.
Thats depressing.
My sister is having a baby and im not. Thats depressing.
It was great to be home.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Resolutions for Mental Health

October 3rd, 2008 by JHG

Clyde Kilby composed a list of 10 resolutions to benefit your soul and mental health. John Piper says of them, "He (Kilby) pleads with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature.” Here are the resolutions:

1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: “There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.”

3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their “divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic” existence.

7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the “child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.”

8. I shall follow Darwin’s advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, “fulfill the moment as the moment.” I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.

10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.


*Extracted from In Light of the Gospel.org*

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Pick of the Week

I dont endorse Applebees as a habit. But because of my current circumstances, it becomes necessary to do many things that I wouldnt be caught dead doing other wise.
Shopping at Walmart, on Saturday morning.
Attending a local highschools band competition.
Going to a diner for a chicken liver dinner
Etc.
But today I found myself at Barflebees, I mean Applebees and I found the most wonderful surprise.
Pomagranite Margaritas.
This thing was so good that I called Heather Lee from the dinner table.
Its so good you would smack your momma if she tried to take a taste.
Its so good that i am going to suggest that all of you go to Applebees and try it.
Seriously.
You should go there.
Just for this drink.
While your there you should get the spinach and artichoke dip and chips so that you dont look like an alcoholic and/or drink on an empty stomach. But you should go get this drink.
Im telling you.
Two Thumbs...WAY UP!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

What the...

My computer is ringing...
Not my phone, my computer. It started this morning and I thought it was my alarm clock so I just kinda shook it off and got in the shower.
But now, as I sit here reading my blogs and playing with my facebook, the ringing is most definitely coming from my computer speakers.
There are no programs running other than my web browser. So to put a bandaid on a bleeding artery, i plugged in my headphones.
AND THE DAMN THINGS ARE STILL RINGING!
Like once a minute.
What the ...?

_____________

So its like twenty minutes later. Ive unplugged the speakers. And they are still ringing. And now Im getting paranoid. So I start moving things around and find Noahs phone on the desk behind the computer monitor. Ryan confiscated it because the kid hasnt been returning Dad's calls very regularly and since were in town now Ryan can just go see him. Anyway, so the the battery is low, hence the regular ringing which was echoing off the back of the desk and sounding like it was coming from the left speaker. Ha. Glad to know im not nuts.
Well not for that reason anyway!