A random but fun meme

Eric has tagged me and the rules for this meme are fairly standard. Simply post the rules at the beginning of your post and answer the questions and tag five others to play along. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they need to visit your blog for the rules. And...of course...link back to the one who tagged you (in this case it is your truly).

So here we go...

Ten years ago:
I was the mom of kids ages 18, 13, and 10, with the oldest one graduating from high school and going off to be a camp counselor. My middle one played baseball and I helped the coaches with the behind the scenes work, including keeping the books (keeping score.) That was fun, but we had to travel a lot for the games. At home I was chief cook and bottle washer, as well as gardener (flowers, not veggies too much.) I think I was still Sunday School Superintendent then.

Five things on today's to-do list:
(1) Clean up my sewing mess because my grandkids will be here next week.
(2) Send some photos of my grandson’s baptisms to my mom and mother-in-law.
(3) Pack to go attend my youngest child’s college graduation from Gustavus.
(4) Call my mom.
(5) Vacuum.

Things I'd do if I was a billionaire:
This is a tough one but here are just a few things I would do (but not limited to these).
(1) Give more to charity.
(2) Travel back to Uganda.
(3) Send clothes to Uganda
(4) Send some books to Uganda
(5) Send some expensive school supplies to Uganda

(6) Get some food to Uganda

Three bad habits:
(1) I spend "too much time" on the computer.
(2) I eat too fast.
(3) I need to stick to the to-do lists I make.

Five places I've lived:
(1) Milwaukee, Wi

(2) Decorah, IA
(3) Cleveland, Wi
(4) Minneapolis, MN
(5) St. Paul, MN

(6) where I live now for 30 years!

Five jobs - plus 1 - I've had (the "plus 1" is MY addition):
(1) Pizza Restaurant clerk (that job paid $2/hour when minimum wage was $1.35/hour!)
(2) Office work (alphabetized bills for 8 hours/day!)
(3) Cafeteria lady (college)
(4) Pension Office worker, American Lutheran Church headquarters, Minneapolis
(5) Junior High teacher (Akkkk)
(6) Health insurance claims examiner

Five people I am tagging:

I am too lazy to tag people, sorry.

Enjoy!

Eating in Frustration

Yes, I've been known to do this. I'm quite tall, so I can get away from this more than some people. Since I like being at the computer, I'm not active enough to wear off the extra calories, but I guess I must make up for the emotional eating some way.

I spend way too much time yesterday trying to unscramble a BIG mistake made by a woman at our bank with our money from our account. Well, it is really not ours, only on loan from God. But that money may have gone to an island on the other side of the world due to her oversight. Sigh. I have to go to the bank as soon as I get off the computer and tell them which numbers go in which spaces on their forms.

Yesterday I had a huge headache from working on this. I made tacos for supper, plus I cut up strawberries. It was a good supper, but I was observing myself eating like I was a vacuum cleaner. I was shoveling it in due to my frustrations.

Then the thought hit me: what about the people who are starving or just getting by with one meal a day? What do they do when they are this frustrated? Why was I reacting so strongly when I wasn't the least bit personally, physically, threatened by what happened? Currently, there is a food shortage in much of the world that usually does OK with food supplies. We all know about the really bad starvation already, so much so, that it is easy to ignore it rather than dedicating some of our funds for relief.

The money that may have gone astray may end up at an orphanage that DH visited 3 years ago. Maybe God's hand was in this mistake. Who knows? Calm down, myself, and see how this plays out.

Long Trip; Lots of Miles

Traveling again, by car, to visit lots of relatives: We’ll probably be at 3 – 4 places overnight, visiting family in 5 – 6 towns. It is really hard to live so far away when family members are aging.

This HEADLINE is supposed to be good?!?

McCain predicts Iraq War over by 2013

or lost by ___? Or declared won and we pull out by __ ? What does it mean to win?

Baseball on TV

Baseball on TV: Relief from Dancing with the Stars, etc.

Relief from primary election dissection.

Relief from news of disasters.

And enough replay that I still have hope that I’ll understand the difference between inside out swing, pulling the ball, hitting inside oneself, and going to the opposite field. I’ve been told that if I would hold a bat and actually try to hit a ball, I might get this through muscle knowledge.

I’m still not sick of Bert lobbying to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The return!

The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks have returned! Maybe we will have spring after all, but probably not today! I hope I can get a picture to post when the sun is bright.

When will Glory return?

I think I’m down in the pits lately. And maybe with good cause. Hmmmmm. All these huge disasters, Myanmar, China, all the tornadoes. The snow, yes, we had three snow storms in April. Actually, we have had some snow the last five weekends.

Well, that is a small thing compared to the floods and tornadoes in other parts of the US.

But I’m also thinking of the rise in the cost of fuel and food. We can weather it, but our friends in Uganda don’t have the margin to fall back on.

I have several elderly relatives, all dear to me, who have some pretty touchy health issues. My mom is currently in the nursing home, where the plan is for her to get stronger and go back to the assisted living facility. My sister just realized yesterday that Mom can’t remember her assisted living apartment even though she has been away from there for only a few weeks.

Yes, there have been some good things happening. I was in a little art show. We attended three weddings where we got to see friends and relatives we haven’t seen for awhile. My eye infection has finally cleared up, although I’ve been left with some kind of allergies that affect my eyes. We attended our daughter’s college concert, and we will soon attend her graduation.

We will be traveling to the baptism of our second grandchild next weekend and seeing family again. I do have so much to look forward to.

I think that the early Easter, with its association with flowers, baby animals, spring, sun, etc. set up unrealistic expectations for me. Then after Easter, we had those snow storms. The grass is green, the tulips and daffodils are up, but not blooming, but the usual glorious May weather is taking its time arriving.

Jesus promised his followers that he would return. He is also, seemingly, taking His time returning. Did we understand His words incorrectly? Is He expecting something from us before He returns? Are we actually to follow the other things He said, not just sit and wait? We don’t have to look far to find people and situations where we can serve Him through serving them.

I guess I need to do more than just sit and wait for spring.

Christ Chapel Concert

One of these wonderful singers is my daughter in her last concert since she is a senior this year. Does anyone of you recognize this ELCA school?

Have Evangelicals Expressed Truth without Love?

This article tells about a statement called the Evangelical Manifesto which expresses criticism of some Christians for expressing their political views through/with their faith without regard for the Truth in the Bible. It will be interesting to follow this to see who has written it, who has signed it, and who refuses to sign it. For me, the article begs the question of what is the true meaning of the word "evangelical" and which truths of the Bible the writers think are being ignored.

While reading the article I couldn't help but think of some preachers I've seen snippets of on TV or heard on the radio. Granted I don't have a full assessment of them. My reaction has been, "You can't catch a fly without honey." I've had a more positive reaction to those preachers who did preach the law, but within the context of the Gospel.