Life in the modern world can get complicated fast. I already bored you all with my broken furnace last week. So I won't drone on about the broken dishwasher AND garbage disposal and the running toilet. But I will tell you about something which has made the last few days complicated and stressful. I LOST MY CELL PHONE.....not ONCE...no no no....but TWICE. I lost it for two days, found it for about 5 hours and then lost it AGAIN, and alas have never found it although I have turned the house upside down. And believe me, going through my household is a daunting task.
I can't believe how dependent I am on constant communications. Because of one missing little 4 x 2 inch box of plastic and wires, we have missed dentist appointments, shown up to practices with no shoes, weathered social calamities that are so complicated I still don't understand them and run out of milk twice....and all because I wasn't available at a moment's notice for three days!
In case you are wondering how I managed to lose it so readily, twice in the same day....I was cleaning the house. And when I clean the house, I walk around for hours putting random things away in far off places where I normally fear to tread! So I am sure that my poor old cell phone is lying dead as a doornail in some basket of yarn or the back of the freezer or under a tupper ware lid. NOoooooo....just testing you.....I didn't clean out the TUPPERWARE CABINET....that's 20,398th on my household to do list! And it's probably by some twist of fate or a rent in the fabric of time, exactly where my phone is.
I'll let you know!
Showing posts with label Observations on life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Observations on life. Show all posts
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
What to do...
It amazes me how out of touch we are in modern life with how things work. My furnace wouldn't start this morning when I went to turn it on for the first time. The house was 60 degrees, so I thought it an appropriate start to the day. Of course, WHY it doesn't work is a complete mystery to me. I fidgeted with a few dials and switches, none of which I understand the mechanics of, but I toyed with them anyway, hoping for some miraculous healing. It's happened before.
So what would the pioneers have done? They, at least, understood the mechanics of their world. They would have known how to fix their situation. Does it bother anyone else in modern society that we lack even the means to warm ourselves by methods which we as individuals can understand and control and fix? And my furnace is a relatively simple piece of modern equipment! I won't even go into the strange sounds coming from my car which I ignore because I neither comprehend them nor truly want to comprehend them. I just know that when it ultimately stops working, I will pick up my cell phone, which I couldn't begin to understand on anything other than a "which button to push" level, and call a mechanic who will use tools that he doesn't understand to fix it!
This constant feeling of not knowing and being at the mercy of someone else bothers me! It is one reason, among many, that I dream of moving to some remote place and living off the land, off the grid, somewhere where if something breaks, I will at least intellectually know how to fix it even if I lack the brute strength....where I can be master of my world instead of a slave to the yellow pages.
By the way, anybody living near me know a good furnace repairman???
So what would the pioneers have done? They, at least, understood the mechanics of their world. They would have known how to fix their situation. Does it bother anyone else in modern society that we lack even the means to warm ourselves by methods which we as individuals can understand and control and fix? And my furnace is a relatively simple piece of modern equipment! I won't even go into the strange sounds coming from my car which I ignore because I neither comprehend them nor truly want to comprehend them. I just know that when it ultimately stops working, I will pick up my cell phone, which I couldn't begin to understand on anything other than a "which button to push" level, and call a mechanic who will use tools that he doesn't understand to fix it!
This constant feeling of not knowing and being at the mercy of someone else bothers me! It is one reason, among many, that I dream of moving to some remote place and living off the land, off the grid, somewhere where if something breaks, I will at least intellectually know how to fix it even if I lack the brute strength....where I can be master of my world instead of a slave to the yellow pages.
By the way, anybody living near me know a good furnace repairman???
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Molly and Me
Last week, Katie, Timmy, Lily and Tim and I watched "Marley and Me," the movie out last year about a family and their out of control lab who, after turning their lives upside down, ends up breaking everybody's heart at the end by dying, basically of old age. (Go figure.) Anyhow, I have been wanting to rent it for some time...as in a few weeks, to see if my reaction to the movie has changed any since I saw it in the theatres last fall....back when I didn't own a dog....back before I'd even realized that I was about to own a dog. Because, I have to tell you, and I know by saying this that I am causing some avid born-that-way dog lovers to shake their heads in disbelief, but my reaction in the theatre was completely lacking in canine compassion! I sat watching the movie for the first time thinking, "Why would anybody WANT that? Why would they choose to put themselves through that...and like it even?" When the dog would chew the floor or destroy the blinds, instead of laughing bemusedly like the others around me in the theatre, I felt my blood pressure rise and my stress level go up, and I honestly found myself wishing the movie were over! Enough already!
So....you are wondering.... 1. Why did the Lindquist's get a dog???...but that's not what this blog post is about. Sorry. Another time, perhaps. Perhaps not.
2. )How did it go watching "Marley and Me" the SECOND time around? Was her reaction different now that she OWNS a little pooch? Has she changed at all?
The answer to number two is...: Nope. Nada. Not one iota of difference in my emotional reaction.
OH, I DID GET EMOTIONAL during the movie. I got emotional at exactly the same point in BOTH viewings of the movie. It wasn't when the dog dies, or when the little boy (Patrick) stands over the grave or even when Jenny says "Goodbye Clearance Puppy." (you have to see the movie to understand...)
I cried when the mom (Jenny), who is overwhelmed with two babies and the dog, looks at her husband and says (my paraphrase), "It's just that I've given up so much of who I was...of what made me me. I know it was my choice, but sometimes I'm not happy and I know that makes me a bad person to feel that way, but I do." I cried. Good stuff.
Oh...but my reaction was nothing compared to Lily's. As soon as she got a whiff that Marley was getting old, she asked if he was going to die. I said yes. She wailed for the last 20 minutes of the movie, then all the way up to bed and was still doing dry sobs 30 minutes later. She didn't get it from me, I tell ya.
So Molly and Me....don't worry; we are doing alright. I like her, most of the time. And since I feed her, she adores me. I'm ok with that.
So....you are wondering.... 1. Why did the Lindquist's get a dog???...but that's not what this blog post is about. Sorry. Another time, perhaps. Perhaps not.
2. )How did it go watching "Marley and Me" the SECOND time around? Was her reaction different now that she OWNS a little pooch? Has she changed at all?
The answer to number two is...: Nope. Nada. Not one iota of difference in my emotional reaction.
OH, I DID GET EMOTIONAL during the movie. I got emotional at exactly the same point in BOTH viewings of the movie. It wasn't when the dog dies, or when the little boy (Patrick) stands over the grave or even when Jenny says "Goodbye Clearance Puppy." (you have to see the movie to understand...)
I cried when the mom (Jenny), who is overwhelmed with two babies and the dog, looks at her husband and says (my paraphrase), "It's just that I've given up so much of who I was...of what made me me. I know it was my choice, but sometimes I'm not happy and I know that makes me a bad person to feel that way, but I do." I cried. Good stuff.
Oh...but my reaction was nothing compared to Lily's. As soon as she got a whiff that Marley was getting old, she asked if he was going to die. I said yes. She wailed for the last 20 minutes of the movie, then all the way up to bed and was still doing dry sobs 30 minutes later. She didn't get it from me, I tell ya.
So Molly and Me....don't worry; we are doing alright. I like her, most of the time. And since I feed her, she adores me. I'm ok with that.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Dance
May you find a moment this summer...
....to dance....
...in the glow ....
...of the sunset and the waves...
...to laugh like a child...
...and then....
...to be held.
....to dance....
...in the glow ....
...of the sunset and the waves...
...to laugh like a child...
... to spin in the wind...
.
.
.
...and then....
...to be held.
.
.
"...and underneath are the everlasting arms of God..."
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Why is this funny?
Why is this funny? It's babies in distress...MY baby in distress...but for some twisted reason their little faces are funny!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Glory
I was standing at the window THIS even colder morning (see yesterday's entry), watching the warm lights of Tim's car pull away into the gloom with my three kids and their kind father snug and warm inside, and I noticed that on one particular house about about two blocks away, it looked as though their windows were lit with a soft pink light that stood out in lovely contrast to the greys and indigos everywhere else. My eyes couldn't make sense of it; I wondered what sort of indoor Christmas lighting they could possible have to make their whole house light up so beautifully, so delicately. Then I realized it must be a reflection of something, and indeed it was! I turned around and saw out the back of our house that the low opposite horizon was glowing with a small but magnificent stream of molten colors. It was lovely! I, in my fluffy robe, mug in hand, sat on the couch so that the brightest point was centered on the center window, and I gazed. What started as a magma colored line quickly spread along the horizon line and spilled the most beautiful corals and fuschias and pinkish purples you could ever hope to see. I wanted to swim in it! I gazed and watched it take over the whole southeastern sky until all the pre-dawn gloomy colors and blacks were simply beautiful foils for its brilliance.
I wanted to sit there all day, but since actual sunrise was still a way off, I couldn't. But what a God-glorifying show it was. I am so grateful that He caught my attention with the soft reflection of his handiwork on a faraway window, and I was struck with how the gloomy and hard things in this world serve to point us to the light of God. It is in the dark times that the hope He offers is the most dear to our hearts and most clearly reflected.
I wanted to sit there all day, but since actual sunrise was still a way off, I couldn't. But what a God-glorifying show it was. I am so grateful that He caught my attention with the soft reflection of his handiwork on a faraway window, and I was struck with how the gloomy and hard things in this world serve to point us to the light of God. It is in the dark times that the hope He offers is the most dear to our hearts and most clearly reflected.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Attention! Existence of Parallel Universe(s) Proven!!!
Yes! Just released to the associated press.! It is true! Evidence of at least one parallel universe has been discovered at a private residence in a quiet St. Paul suburb!
The primary proof of this parallel universe is the lowly sock. It seems that the membrane separating our universe with a parallel one, (hereafter referred to as P.U.) has holes in it that allow socks to slip out of one reality and into another. However, once a sock is through, the membrane repairs itself in some manner as to prevent the mate of that sock from following. That is the reason that puzzled housewives everywhere wonder at the statistically absurd number of mateless foot apparel in their laundry baskets.
However, there sometimes occurs an as of yet unexplained phenomenon where a small percentage of the socks are catapulted from the P.U. back into our universe! We know this because they inexplicably "appear" in the back yard in no apparent pattern. Scientists are also following other trends of rogue socks, as these mysterious items are called, reappearing in flower pots, light fixtures and behind television sets. Theories as to electromagnetic forces affecting their re-entry are still being formulated at the time of this writing.
Socks are by no means the only objects prone to intra-universal travel. Other common items which routinely disappear from our universe, and thus must reappear in another, include but are not limited to the following: batteries, kitchen shears, fingernail clippers, chap stick, rolls of duct tape and finer writing utensils. Homemakers have long wondered why it seems that no matter how many of these items they buy, there never seems to be any when they are needed. Now we have the answer! Whether there is a separate universe for each of these items or just one universe for them all remains for speculation, but interesting observations are continuing to be made.
It is also notable that the Reverse P.U. effect is also to be observed with some specific items. In this schema, we are the P.U. and items are showing up in our universe with regularity. No matter what the average person does to get rid of these objects, there always seems to be MORE! The list is currently incomplete, but observations are being done on stuffed animals, fast food type toys, half drunk water bottles and hair binders. Techniques to send these unwanted items back to the universes from whence they came have been unsuccessful, and the state of the art recommendations are to have regular garage sales and garbage pickups.
If your household experiences a large number of P.U. phenomenons, you may want to explain to all of the members how your mood swings are connected to these occurrences and enlist their help in controlling the situation. Perhaps, with proper funding, these disconcerting episodes can somehow be controlled, but until then we continue to be amazed at how so much can get so lost.
The primary proof of this parallel universe is the lowly sock. It seems that the membrane separating our universe with a parallel one, (hereafter referred to as P.U.) has holes in it that allow socks to slip out of one reality and into another. However, once a sock is through, the membrane repairs itself in some manner as to prevent the mate of that sock from following. That is the reason that puzzled housewives everywhere wonder at the statistically absurd number of mateless foot apparel in their laundry baskets.
However, there sometimes occurs an as of yet unexplained phenomenon where a small percentage of the socks are catapulted from the P.U. back into our universe! We know this because they inexplicably "appear" in the back yard in no apparent pattern. Scientists are also following other trends of rogue socks, as these mysterious items are called, reappearing in flower pots, light fixtures and behind television sets. Theories as to electromagnetic forces affecting their re-entry are still being formulated at the time of this writing.
Socks are by no means the only objects prone to intra-universal travel. Other common items which routinely disappear from our universe, and thus must reappear in another, include but are not limited to the following: batteries, kitchen shears, fingernail clippers, chap stick, rolls of duct tape and finer writing utensils. Homemakers have long wondered why it seems that no matter how many of these items they buy, there never seems to be any when they are needed. Now we have the answer! Whether there is a separate universe for each of these items or just one universe for them all remains for speculation, but interesting observations are continuing to be made.
It is also notable that the Reverse P.U. effect is also to be observed with some specific items. In this schema, we are the P.U. and items are showing up in our universe with regularity. No matter what the average person does to get rid of these objects, there always seems to be MORE! The list is currently incomplete, but observations are being done on stuffed animals, fast food type toys, half drunk water bottles and hair binders. Techniques to send these unwanted items back to the universes from whence they came have been unsuccessful, and the state of the art recommendations are to have regular garage sales and garbage pickups.
If your household experiences a large number of P.U. phenomenons, you may want to explain to all of the members how your mood swings are connected to these occurrences and enlist their help in controlling the situation. Perhaps, with proper funding, these disconcerting episodes can somehow be controlled, but until then we continue to be amazed at how so much can get so lost.
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