Friday Fragments

I’m so glad it’s Friday!  Even though I’m retired, and yes, every day is the same as the weekend, I still find myself looking forward to the weekends. 

And I’m especially looking forward to this coming weekend because it’s time for Daylight Saving Time! 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Daylight Saving Time!  I don’t mind getting up before sunrise (doing so gives me a chance to see some of God’s beautiful handiwork), and I love having daylight after dinner.  In December, I was ready to go to bed right after dinner because it had been dark so long, it just seemed like it ought to be bedtime!  ha!  I’d be happy if we had Daylight Saving Time all year long! 



It’s so sunny outside … I’m ready to head outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Oh wait, it’s still chilly.  Ok, maybe I’ll spend the day inside … quilting (of course).  But it’s going to get nice and warm next week … in the 70’s all week, with 77 forecast for Tuesday!  Now those days will definitely be days to spend outside! 



Speaking of quilting, I’m continuing to make good progress.  I’m getting pretty close to having 1/2 of the blocks quilted … and of course, there’s the borders on top of that.  I spent a good chunk of yesterday quilting … while watching The Big Sleep, then listening to the Cardinals win in Grapefruit League play, and then watching the Blues win another game. 



I’m still doing well with my switch from Diet Coke to iced tea.  Do I miss my Diet Coke?  Yeah … a little.  It’s more convenient to just pop open a can of soda than to lift the top off my cup, add ice cubes, pour in the iced tea. 

And I do miss, a little, the crisp, refreshing taste of a Diet Coke.  But I don’t miss that enough to switch back. 



It’ll be two weeks tomorrow that we’ll be on our way to southern Florida for Spring Training.  We’ve been doing some planning on what we plan to do on the days we don’t watch the Cardinals.  It looks like we’ll visit Everglades National Park; we had hoped to get there last spring, but we ran out of time.  We plan to see the flora and fauna of the Everglades and do some hiking.  Every spring that we go to southern Florida, I hope to be able to see a manatee ... while I’ll be tempted, I’ll spare those nearby … and refrain from singing .

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

Another week has passed, and that means that it’s time for the Hodgepodge!

 

1. Did March come in like a lion or was it something less ferocious in your neck of the woods?

Remember last week’s Hodgepodge?  Where I told you that my brain is like a sieve … well, here’s proof:  I cannot remember what kind of weather we had last Thursday … nor can I even remember what I did last Thursday.  <sigh>  so I cheated and went and looked at the weather for last week.  With windy but warm temperatures (mid 60’s), I’d have to say that March came in pretty lamb-like.  Which means that it’ll wrap up pretty lion-like, I guess.  I’m not surprised given the crazy weather we’ve been having.

 

2. Speaking of lions, which one's your film favorite...The Cowardly Lion (Wizard of Oz), Mufasa (The Lion King), Elsa (Born Free), or Alex (Madagascar)? You may notice I left Aslan off the list. Including him would have made this question way too easy for many of you.

I’d say the Cowardly Lion … not that I’m a huge fan of his, but I love that movie (generally speaking, I prefer the older classics over many of the more recent movies). 

 

3. What's your favorite spot from which to view the sunrise or sunset?

On the beach … of course.  Did you really expect me to answer this any other way?  ha!

This is the sunrise on our trip to southern Florida last March.  I hope to be able to capture another sunrise when we’re there in 2 1/2 weeks.     

 

4. To what extent is knowledge power and to what extent is truth power? What's the difference?

Knowledge is the knowing of things, but truth … ah, truth triumphs over knowledge.  After all, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life … and promised us that through Him, we will know the truth and it will set us free.

 

5. What's something peculiar you've seen recently? 

I wish I had something to share … but if I’ve seen anything peculiar lately, it’s just slipped right through the sieve that is my brain.

 

6. Bottled water...your thoughts?

It’s convenient, but expensive.  I’d prefer to drink the filtered water from my refrigerator … in a refillable cup full of ice.  If I’m going to drink water, I want it cold.

 

7. What's your strongest sense?

With my poor eyesight, it’s obviously not sight (although my sight is my most cherished sense, the one I cannot imagine living without).  I’m starting to have to ask people to repeat themselves, so it’s not hearing.  I’ve noticed that DD is able to pick up scents that I don’t, so it must not be smell.  I guess that leaves taste and touch … and I guess it’s a toss-up as to which one is strongest.

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Updates:  I decided, yesterday mid-morning, to switch to regular iced tea.  So far, the change is going well.  I don’t find myself missing the diet Coke.  And so far this morning, no bloody nose.  Whew!  I may have the 2 littler Ts today.   Last night their Mama wasn’t feeling her best, so if she’s feeling up to it this morning, she’ll drop the 2 littles off here and take the 2 bigs to the field trip.  

A little randomness

 

Ugh.  Blogger is acting up again.  Yesterday I checked my Reader … there were 46 unread posts, going back to February 18! 

 

I read yesterday that more and more schools are no longer teaching cursive writing.  It sounds like it’s a cross between not enough time or money to add another class to the curriculum and focusing more on keyboarding. 

 

For the last two days, I’ve had a bloody nose right after getting up in the morning.  My first thought was that with the furnace running, perhaps our air is too dry … but we have a humidifier that is working properly … and I checked our humidity level in the house – it’s fine. 

 

I made it through Day One of cutting back on the Diet Coke.   I know … can you believe it?  I’m not sure that I can!    T#1 and T#2 shared with me that they’d heard that diet soda drinkers are at an increased risk for heart disease.  While my own research indicates that there needs to be more research before the risk is directly a cause of the soda consumption (rather than unhealthy food choices, etc.), I still felt led to cut back on my diet soda.  I mean, how could I not when my grands expressed their concern for me?  It wasn’t an easy choice to make, as I really enjoy my Diet Coke and I am kinda picky about what I drink (I want my drinks to have some flavor but  nothing sweet and nothing hot) and I don’t drink anything with caffeine after lunch.  I chose to go with caffeine-free iced tea in the afternoons … I’m still drinking Diet Coke for my caffeine in the mornings, but I’m actually giving some thought to switching to regular iced team for my mornings.  

 

Miscellany Monday

Crazy, crazy weather around these parts.  The 2011-12 meteorological winter was the third warmest (and 24th least snowy) winter on record for this area.  (And if you don’t believe me that weather here is crazy:  this winter follows the fourth hottest summer on record … which followed the 9th snowiest winter ever last year.) 

What is meteorological winter, you ask.  Well, truth be told, I didn’t know what it was either, so I looked it up online.  Meteorologists and climatologists define winter as December 1 through the last day of February. However, astronomical winter – often described as “official” winter – begins on the winter solstice (on or around December 21) and lasts until the spring equinox (on or around March 21).  Just what we need – two kinds of winter to keep track of!    And no, I didn’t check to see if we also have two kinds of spring, summer or fall.  Some things I just do not want to know.  Ha!

And in case we needed more “proof” that winter is over, the Cardinals play their first spring training game today. 

And while I’m sharing all kinds of important information, let me advise you that you do not want to rub your eye right after having eaten hot wings, especially hot wings dubbed “fire” (ask me how I know). 

I’m making progress, slowly but surely, on my blue and white Irish chain quilt.  I have a little over 30 blocks quilted … that sounds like a lot until I remind myself that there are a total of 154 blocks in that quilt – not to mention the borders.  So obviously, the key part of the phrase above is slowly.    It’s ok, because I enjoy hand quilting … it’s my favorite part of quiltmaking.  And it’s what I plan to do this afternoon while listening to the Cardinals play baseball. 

A Little of This and a Little of That

 

We did make it to the zoo yesterday and I must tell you that we had a wonderful time.  It was a warm day but very windy … so windy, in fact, that we held on tight to the littles … didn’t want them to blow away!    Seriously, it wasn’t that windy … but it was close!

 

T#3 is learning about goats, so one of our stops was the Children’s Zoo, where they were able to pet/brush goats.  There was even a little goat who was climbing the rock wall, so T#3 got to see just how the hooves that God made for the goats helped them climb.  We saw the elephants (including a baby elephant), the penguins and puffins (including a baby penguin), rode the carousel, and collected some pressed pennies.  Our last stop was at the Build-a-Bear store where Nana treated the Ts to a Leap Day treat.  T#1 chose a guinea pig, T#2 chose a giraffe, T#3 chose a panda, and T#4 chose a penguin. 

 

We got back in time to tidy up at DD’s before heading to church for the meal/meeting about the transition to 2 worship services.  I came away last night a little disconcerted.  This was the first time that the specific worship times were announced, and we were already expected to know which service we planned to attend (I hadn’t even had time to think/pray about it, let alone learn what time my Sunday School class would be meeting, etc.).  But my biggest concern was that instead of recruiting new servers, they are expecting the existing servers to serve more often … if I continue to serve as a greeter and as a toddler nursery worker, I will have to either give up attending worship or Sunday School (because of the amount of time that each requires, I will not be able to do both the same month … I would have to serve in the toddler nursery during the month that I’m off as a greeter). 

 

I’ve got nothing planned for today, which will be nice after a couple of pretty busy days.  I hope to be able to do some quilting today … I wasn’t able to do any quilting the last couple of days (not that I’m complaining … spending time with the grands will trump quilting any day of the week!   ), so it will be wonderful to be able to spend some time with my needle and thread.  It’s supposed to be another nice day (not quite as warm as it was yesterday), so I hope to be able to get outside for a walk. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

Is it really possible that another week has passed?  How time flies when we’re having fun! 

 

1. The Hodgepodge falls on the last day of February this year, a leap year. How will you spend that extra day?

I hate to say how I plan to spend my extra day because every time I have any plans, they always seem to get changed.  I may – or may not – go to the Zoo with DD and the Ts.  I also will be going to dinner at church for an all-church meeting about our upcoming plans to go to two worship services.  We should be home in time to watch a little of the Blues game before it gets too late.  Or I may not do any of those.   

 

2. What has recently required a leap of faith on your part?

I think it was a leap of faith to roll over DH’s retirement plan last fall, what with the way the market has been. 

 

3. We're one week into the season of Lent...are you marking these 40 days in some way? Giving something up or adding something extra to normal life? How's it going so far?

I grew up Baptist where Lent wasn’t celebrated, and I’m now a member of a Christian Church where Lent isn’t celebrated.  There's no way that I could give up anything that could compare to what Jesus gave up ... I'd be far more willing to do something for the 40 days of Lent that would cause me to focus more on what Jesus came to do for me.   

 

4. When was the last time you sat beside a fire?

At Christmas time, when we had our fireplace going. 

 

5. Surf and Turf is on the menu. Do you order as is or do you ask for just the surf (lobster), just the turf (steak), or a menu so you can select another option?

I really like lobster and I really like steak, but I don’t know that I’ve ever ordered Surf and Turf.  While a part of me thinks that maybe I’d might want to view the menu … just in case there’s something I like even better than Surf and Turf, the other part of me says go with the Surf and Turf (especially after finding this picture online – yummy!).

 

6. If you could have any television program back, not in reruns but in new episodes, what program would you choose?

I really enjoyed ER and would like it back … with the original characters, of course. 

 

7. They say an elephant never forgets. These days would you say your memory is more like an elephant or a gnat?

My memory is more like a sieve.

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I use a pack-n-play for the littlest ones to sleep in when they nap at Nana’s … T#4 is still sleeping in a crib, so she still gets the pack-n-play.  But those days may be numbered … as she figured out how to climb out of it after naptime yesterday afternoon.  I couldn’t figure out how she managed to get out of the pack-n-play (she’s so tiny … she’s going to be a shorty like her Mama … and her Nana ) so I had her demonstrate it for me … she just hiked her little leg up to climb right over … and looked up at me with such a big grin on her face … she was quite proud of herself. 

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Google is making a few changes.  Instead of allowing readers to follow a blog using Google Friend Connect (near the bottom of my sidebar)
there’s now Linky Followers.  It’s fairly intuitive … just register (it’s free). 

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what impact it will have for any of us.  I like to think that I’m fairly technologically savvy, but I just can’t seem to find a definitive explanation of what this change means.  About the only thing I can find is that any of you who follow me but don’t use Blogger will need to use my Linky Follower tool (which I’ve added to my sidebar – near the bottom) to continue to follow me effective March 1. 

I cannot find any information on what impact this will have, if any, on us Blogger bloggers.  I can’t determine if the non-Blogger blogs will continue to feed through to Google Reader.  I’m curious, too, to see if the Blogger follow options (in the upper left hand corner of my blog) will still be available … will we still be following blogs we opted to follow using the Blogger follow button (which is what I use when choosing to follow a Blogger blog).  Goodness, could I use the words follow or blog (or some variation of them) any more often in a sentence?? 


I just hate not knowing what is going on.  Change can be difficult enough, but it’s doubly difficult if we’re trying to navigate the changes with only limited bits of information. 


I remarked last week that we were 5 weeks away from our Spring Training trip.  Ooops!  I miscounted … we were 4 weeks away!  And not only that, we’ve decided that we’ll leave a day early … we’ll hit the road after the Ts’ soccer games.  This will give us a head start, and one of the stops along the way will be the beach at St. Augustine. 

It’s a very cloudy, dreary day here … I think that means that it’s going to be a perfect quilting day, don’t you?