Monday thoughts

Vintage Christmas Greeting Cards from Zazzle.com


I thought this card picture was going to show up on my blog, but I guess that didn't happen.....


Well, I think I'm pretty much ready for Christmas, but even if I'm not.....it's still going to be here. In 5 days and no less! 8-{
This year is sort of an unusual year as far as Christmas is concerned. For one thing I haven't baked any goodies, and also my immediate family & I have decided we're not going to give each other gifts. The reason being mainly financial; there just seems to be a shortage if money trees around here. Well, we might break down & give a couple of gifts. I did buy my sister a DVD. It's Emma ( with Gywneth Paltrow) from good old Ebay. I can post this safely, for I doubt if she ever reads my blog. I know she'll be tickled pink to get it because she has wactched it endlessly on the video we had.

I've had this crazy cold the last 2 weeks. It's not a very severe cold, but it's made me miserable nevertheless. Just a overall feeling of fatigue, on & off scratchy throat, headaches and cough. To be honest, I haven't even cared about Christmas this past week, I felt so blah. I think I'm finally getting over it, though, and should be completely well by Christmas.

I did some shopping today and boy.......was it busy!! I thought I'd be smart and go on Monday, and early in the morning, mind you. Ha! The parking lot at Bath & Body Works was a nightmare. I must have wasted a good ten minutes circling around & dodging careless people walking in the middle of the road. When I finally found a spot to park, right near the door.....another car swooped in from the other direction and got it before I did. Of course....what else do I expect from rabid B & B Works, TJ Maxx & Target shoppers??! I had a whole day like that, fighting for a spot to park and nearly running over more careless ( and impatient) people in the stores. When I got home, I felt spent. Haha~!

Getting back to B & B Works., when I got out of there I found some bird had left me a throughtful gift on my windshield. Yes, this must be the week of bird poop because I seem to keep running into it. This time, it was a big, tan plop of poop which wasn't going anywhere, no matter how madly I made the wipers wipe. All it did was smear all over the whole window. Even the wiper fluid didn't do the job. I kept hoping it would rain, but no.....that would be too much to ask. So, in the end I had to pull over and pour my bottle of water on the windshield while the wipers were going. That didn't even help. So I got to drive around all day with a smeary window. Now, that I think of it I could have stopped at the gas station and cleaned it. Hmmm......sometimes I wonder where my brain is. But, around 2, it did rain and that finally did the trick!

Poor Grandma is sick with an awful cold, and I feel rather guilty that maybe I gave it to her! But, she insists it was the lady who had the cough behind her in Bible study. So, I'm going to blame that lady, too. Grandma has even had to go to Urgent care to get help for her breathing, and she has been so tired. I hope and pray!!! she gets well quickly, because if she doesn't....I'm afraid this could send her over the edge. She's so frail to begin with!

When I haven't felt gross with my cold, I've been having fun decorating the house. I have all these vintage Christmas things that I've collected over the years, and it's been a blast putting it all out. I've got to stop somewhere, though....I'm running out of places to put things!


Well, enough of the blog tonight!

Catching up.......

Hello again, blog! I hope all 2 of my readers had a very nice Thanksgiving!

We had a rather different one than usual, but fun nevertheless. Not all of the family could be there, so there was only 5 of us, but we still made it special and had a great time. God is so very good and I thank Him for all His blessings!!!!

It's a cold, damp day here in the Northwest. The cold almost seems worse than what we had last week. It has to be the awful dampness that just seeps into your very bones.
Just think, we had no idea what was ahead of us last week at this time! Even the weather forcasts did little to warn us about the severity of the approaching storm. I think it took everybody by surprise! This cold front was really expected to make its way south, then stay there. Instead it stalled over the Seattle & surrounding areas, and dumped snow, record low temps and horrific winds on us!

It was not fun at all to be without power for over 3 days! I thought it would never end. The worst of it, was we weren't really prepared for this and because of it, it made it even more hard to take. We hadn't done any major grocery shopping before the storm hit ( only the ingredients for Thanksgiving) and had only a handful of candles to burn. Still, we got by and lived on canned soup, bread, cheese and doughnuts. Not a very healthy way to eat, but it kept us going!

I think the worse part was the awful boredom, especially in the evenings. Afterall, it gets dark about 4.....and then you have 6 hours or so to kill before bed! No computer......waahh!!!! :-( To be honest, I never really missed it that much. Only not being able to update my status about the storm ( or perhaps harvest my white lilies on Farmville. ....haha! ) but other than that....I rather liked the break from technology.

And so we read a lot by kerosene light. I found the Smithsonian magazine fascinating during the power outage.......

The not-so-fun part was waking up every couple hours or so to stoke the wood stove. Every time I heard my cell phone alarm go off, I felt very negative. But, it had to be done, or the alternative would be to freeze to death. Mom & I took turns, and we both felt very sleep deprived in the following days.

Very stupidly, we don't have a thermometer, so we never actually saw how low the temps were. Gram saw 12 on hers, but often it's colder here since we live lower & near the water. I would imagine it was probably about 9 here on the coldest night.

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I made a turkey stew with dumplings today. Actually, mom and I combined efforts. It turned out to be really good and tasty. Got the recipe from the Food Network magazine.

There's more I could write, ( especially about the break-in of my car ) but I'm tired, and I think I'll have another bowl of turkey stew.......

The Day of Many Cobwebs

Wow, I'm writing in my blog two days in a row! A new record for sure

I'm exhausted tonight beyond all reasoning. I cleaned a big, two story house today and I thought I'd never get done. Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into things. At the time, it seemed smart to take on this new cleaning job to earn some extra moola. This job, however, totally exhausted me & may take me awhile to recover. LOL. When I came today, I couldn't even talk to my mom right away I was so weary. I was there over 7 hours & thought I'd never get done. Just let me say that this house hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in months.....maybe even years. I have never seen so many cobwebs or such dusty baseboards in my all my life! 8-{

But I stuck to it, and got it all done, though it nearly killed me. I think the reason why I got so tired, was because we had a VERY humid day today. I sweated like crazy. They basically just wanted some deep cleaning, but was also some general cleaning thrown in as well. At one point, I was happily thinking I was nearly done, and the man informed me that he also wanted all the granite counter tops wiped down in the kitchen, and a bunch of mirrors cleaned. Oh help! I thought inwardly.

So, little Miss Lana is POOPED tonight, and I'll probably have nightmares about cobwebs all night.

Lost kitty

I just had the fun of rescuing a lost cat! Just a little while ago, my neighbor called and said one of her indoor cats, Dusty, had accidentally gotten outside. She had no idea where Dusty could be & was so worried! She had been looking for him for quite some time, too. Being the cat lover that I am..... I sprang into immediate action and went over to help find Mr. Dusty. Praying as I went, I scoured her yard feeling somewhat doubtful that Dusty would be found very quickly, if at all. And it was dark, too. Behind her house are dense woods that includes a creek, and on other two sides of the property, are busy roads. ( I've had several of my cats squished on these roads in the past, which is unbearably awful to go through )

So, I kept walking & calling, hoping to soon see a little kitty face peeking at me from behind the bushes. I hadn't been out there too long, when I happened to look at my neighbor's sister's house (which is directly below her own house ) and there on the porch steps, sitting very tall & straight.....sat Dusty!! He was waiting to be found, meowing pitifully. I called to him and at first he didn't move, but then as I squatted down & put out my hand, he soon started to come over to me. I was so afraid he would get scared and run off before he got to me, so regardless of the VERY wet grass.....I got down on my knees & grabbed him up quick!

Needless to say, my neighbor was soooooo relieved that Dusty had been found. I was so happy that God has answered yet another prayer, and so very quickly, too!!

I wasn't so happy later when I discovered a big glob of yellow dog poop on my clog! But then.....it was so worth it, seeing how happy my neighbor was & knowing I had probably saved a kitty's life!

Not a blessing in sight!

Sometimes I wonder why I just don't give up on this blog. I can't believe it's been over a month since I wrote in it last. It's a good thing I don't have many followers, or they would have given up on me!
Usually, I'm either too busy or too tired to write, or I can't think of anything very blog-worthy. Or if I do think of something blog-worthy, it's usually while I'm in the car.....far away from my computer. I think of all kinds of things I could write then, but when I get home I can't seem to remember what I wanted to write about or it just doesn't seem important anymore. I wonder if anybody else feels that way? Some people have such a knack with words, and come off sounding witty, clever and very cheerful.

Tonight I feel neither witty, clever or cheerful. Especially not the cheerful part. It's not that there's anything terribly wrong, I just feel very tired. But yet, I feel peaceful.

I didn't feel that way earlier today. I didn't have the greatest day. While driving home from a house-cleaning job, I could barely find find anything to be thankful for. Everything sort of just hit me all of the sudden, and in a very busy area, too....... of all things. I was finding it hard to drive, because of the tears. I tried to think of things I was thankful for, but, counting my blessings seemed very difficult. Any blessings I had were so elusive..... and about as far away as the moon. Maybe even further. (Or is it farther? I get those two words mixed up. )


It seemed as though so much was going wrong & was feeling very sorry for myself! It was VERY grey and rainy, my back & neck were killing me, I had ( and still do ) a painful abcessed tooth, numerous family problems to worry about, and then of course..... my car has some issues. There's a leak in the oil pan, the trunk leaks and the driver's side window refuses to open. (The positive side of this being, NO MORE drive-thru's for Lana!!!! Therefore......I have been losing weight. If I want to eat anything while I'm out, it's a jog into Safeway or Fred Myer for me.......... )


But, getting back to my blessing-less afternoon.......I did have recieve something that made me stop feeling so gloomy. In fact it helped a lot. A phrase from Nahum 1:3 just popped into my head, where it says, " the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind". Just those 8 words made a complete difference in my attitude and comforted my heart!! God will never let satan get the upper hand & is in complete control. He has a good purpose for all the storms I go through, was so encouraging to me! I know He put that verse into my head when I needed it.

Here's an excellent excerpt that I came across that I thought was so good.


" If we look up into the regions of the air, there we shall find proofs of his power, for he has his ways in the whirlwind and the storm. Which way soever God goes he carries a whirlwind and a storm along with him, for the terror of his enemies, Ps. 18:9, etc. And, wherever there is a whirlwind and a storm, God has the command of it, the control of it, makes his way through it, goes on his way in it, and serves his own purposes by it. He spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, and even stormy winds fulfil his word. He has his way in the whirlwind, that is, he goes on undiscerned, and the methods of his providence are to us unaccountable; as it is said, His way is in the sea. The clouds are the dust of his feet; he treads on them, walks on them, raises them when he pleases, as a man with his feet raises a cloud of dust. It is but by permission, or usurpation rather, that the devil is the prince of the power of the air, for that power is in God's hand. "





Of course as the rest of the verse in Nahum talks about the clouds & how they're the dust of God's feet. So, if there are a fearful amount of clouds about in our lives, doesn't it thrill you to know that He who has caused these clouds must be so very near to us when we see them so much?!

Actually........there are several verses in that chapter that are so good.

I usually feel reluctant to share precious experiences that happen to me, but maybe someone else will find this useful & be as encouraged as I was! We MUST remember that Jesus is always near, to trust no matter how dark & hopelesss the situation may seem. He IS faithful and will never allow anything to touch our lives that is not His will, or that isn't for our own good! Praise His name!!!


( Oh, I did think of something to be thankful for a bit later. It was chocolate! )