Wednesday Randoms <3
I know I keep saying it’s a beautiful day, but seriously we have had a string of the best fall days I can remember for a long time. We only had a few bouts of warmer days that seemed like summer and the rest of have been just perfect. Cold and crisp mornings with sunny blue skies and moderate temps for the rest of the day.
We are getting spoiled! I know I should take advantage of this and get the Christmas lights up outside, but chances are good and history proves that I will be out there freezing my fingers off next week.
Sigh…maybe not. Stay tuned.
Now for some randoms and that paragraph above may count as the first one. We shall see if I have five more to give you. Let’s go…
Random #1
Have I talked about this before?
Front tuck sweaters.
Gentleman, if you don’t know what I am talking about, the young women you see who you think you should alert to the fact that their shirt got caught in the top of their pants actually did that on purpose.
Ladies, if you can pull this off, kudos.
But for me, I am baffled how it would be possible to actually tuck a bulky sweater into the top of my jeans when I am doing everything possible to camouflage this ridiculous old lady pooch that has become my midsection.
I am learning that inside of this body that is succumbing to all kinds of unpleasant surprises of aging that I had been blissfully ignorant of, beats the heart of a 30, 40 and 50 something gal who still wants to be stylish but realizes that many of those fashionable options are ships that have sailed.
Random #2
I was slicing tomatoes at the counter of the Mosaic Cafe where I volunteer on Wednesday mornings, and a wave of nostalgia for summer tomatoes came over me.
Is there anything like the flavor and texture of those farm fresh tomatoes we had in abundance?
Sure, our freezer is full of chopped ones from the surplus that we could’t eat. But it’s not the same to toss a bag into the chili as it is to slice a fresh tomato onto your BLT.
Some people flee the midwest in winter because of the snow. I don’t mind the snow and the cold, but I sure would consider a road trip to get a good tomato every now and again.
Random #3
I overheard a lady who appeared to be about my age, maybe a tad older, complaining to someone that her daughter had set up her phone so that all unknown calls went immediately to voicemail. It took some doing, but I restrained myself from approaching her and telling her that what her daughter did was out of love.
I have done the same on my own phone because as soon as the world wide web finds out you are approaching 65, your phone, email and mailbox accumulate more opportunities to be hacked, robbed and scammed than you have time to deal with.
All of my unknown calls go to voicemail. One out of 30 is an actual call I need and they leave a voicemail.
My phone typically offers a transcript of the call so I can see before I listen, but if not it just takes a few seconds to know if the call was legit. Usually if it’s just a few seconds long, I delete without listening.
Another thing I hear about are the invoices for things you didn’t buy, the threats that your service will be disconnected and emails and pop ups that look like they come from companies you use.
My response it to delete, delete, delete.
If you are paying your bills and haven’t ordered anything, it’s spam. We have been getting texts from the post office that our box has arrived but can’t be delivered. Of course every time we get this message we actually have a package in transit. HOWEVER…the post office does not text you. Or call you. Or really care if you have a box that can’t be delivered.
I jest. They will leave a little yellow note in your mailbox to come pick up your item.
Be smart. Be careful.
If you are not sure about something, go to the actual source by calling the company and ask if there actually is a problem.
And be careful sharing and opening links on Facebook. If you see an article that interests you, get off Facebook and look up the source to read it there.
Random #4
Our church has been doing a vision campaign. While we have a lot going on in our community and around the world, it is time to add to the ministries we are involved in. A time to stretch and to grow as we have new leadership in place.
We have been learning about stewardship and giving as an act of worship. We have all been challenged to look at our resources of time, provision and talents and consider where we could direct more into building God’s kingdom and reaching others for Christ.
Ever since we got involved in it, we have had several major appliances that needed to be replaced. Our time has been stretched thin. And I think this is typical of anytime we start thinking about how we can give more.
It has been interesting to look around our house and think about things that can be used up before we go by something new and different. An example for me is that I realized I have enough tea to keep the population of England caffeinated for a month. Okay, not that much. But I have stock piled and been gifted quite a bit.
So instead of my morning coffee, I have switched to a cup or two of tea.
You all know I love my coffee, but it hasn’t been bad at all. The tea is good, which I knew since I bought it to begin with. Also I have discovered that the caffeine in it prevents me from having any headaches while giving me a more sustained energy through the morning.
I don’t know if I will continue this after I get our cabinet down to a more reasonable inventory level, but it’s been a good lesson for me.
Random #5
When we were in Cuba and passing through the airport, both going and coming, I noticed something. There were not constant announcements over a PA system giving you directions. No one was standing along the way telling you to stay in this line or go here or there.
This is not the case in the U. S. When were arrived back in the country, a man was standing next to the line we had to get in repeating the same directions over and over and over.
In our airports, signage is in abundance and often there are attendants standing around at every corner reminding you to get your ID out, have your ticket ready, put your luggage here, or don’t let strangers hold your suitcase and vice versa. We have gates set up so we can easily stay in line.
In Cuba and in other airports I have been in Amsterdam, Turkey, Kenya, Qatar and England, you kind of rely on common sense and it works. You figure out where you go next by where the people ahead of you are moving. There are a few signs and people line up one behind the other in the order in which they arrived.
I have also notice that in spite of all the repeated commands of information offered at domestic airlines, 85% of the people never do what the helpful person told them to do.
Just an observation, but we aren’t very good about following directions or listening around here. Something to work on, I think <3
Well, there you have it.
A bunch of stuff that won’t change your life but hopefully made you smile, think or shake your head and wonder just how cluttered my mind really is.
Very. Very cluttered my friend. So glad to have a place to dump these thoughts every week
Have a great day and be blessed!