Cathy's Grace Notes

On a quiet Wednesday morning...

Beginning of Christmas vacation and for that I am thankful as I know there are others who are not able to have this time to refuel and regroup. And there are those who find this time gets even busier as we near December 25.

Last night I attended the Service of Light at our church --- the church was illuminated by candlelight and was beautiful. Fifteen minutes of silence was beautiful to the ears, with the occasional interruption of the outside world to remind us that there are those who do not have the opportunity to experience silence as something beautiful.

Facebook - I'll be honest. I've been there alot. Interestingly, I have found people on there who I have not seen nor heard from since grade school. I have experienced many blessings on there I would have NEVER expected. You know who you are if you read this!  In addition to the old friends, I am delighted to see my children and their friends on there and watch as they share with me their lives through what they write and the photos they share.  It's a whole new way of experiencing our little world in a big way!

Pandora --- I had not used it for a while and I was impressed with the improvements in how we can tweak our own stations. So my quirky likes and dislikes can be fed and purged as I listen to my personal station. On the flip side... I have exceeded the amount of music I have added to my IPOD that I allow myself for Christmas music each year. Shame on me.

On the knitting front - I am working on a Moebius cowl - once I got it going, it's been LOTS of fun, but it took me quite a few trials to get it right.  I am knitting it in black so it is not going to photograph well. Sigh.... but I might try it when I finish it.. soon...

And for those of you who have sent me Christmas photos of your children -- they are treasures. They make me smile and give me tears of joy more than you know.

And how are you???

I'm here -- -and what I'm thinkin'

Not that anyone asked, but I have been here --- a little on Facebook, but mostly busy with life in general and work has consumed my energy to put anything up on a blog. The most I can eke out is a sentence on my status on Facebook.
However, I found this.... folks, I am working on unplugging the machine, the one of the commercialized season. I hope our children realize that we are for real on this. Our gift to them is our time together when we go to the beach. Other than that..... I need to hear from you on this... I need to know if you are making changes in what you are doing for the upcoming holiday racket, um, season. 

I share this with you in hopes you can share this with others. Also how might you make the season different for you and those you love?  HOw will your Advent prepare the way for you?

Let it all hang out or fall down

Went to jury duty today. Didn't last long. The man was to represent himself in a trial which accused him of assault, child endangerment, and obstructing an emergency phone call (or something like that).

Personally, if I was going to court and was in the hot seat, I don't think I would have worn britches that were holding on for dear life. Ya know what I mean?

The other day I was driving down the road, and saw a woman with jeans on, however, her zipper was all the way down in the front, her underwear was showing and her belly was sticking out. T-shirt as up high enough to show her belly button, and more.

Isn't there some sort of expression "Let it all hang out?" - I think that expression came before all this hanging out. Just sayin'.

Consider me Grumpy

The past two weeks 10 year old has been with us for her annual 2 weeks in July. It's been nothing like the 2 weeks in June which was filled with a cruise and a wedding and all the anticipation and preparation of the two events. We have done a little geocaching, but the weather/gnats were so such that being outside was miserable - who wants to inhale gnats in one's mouth and through the nose!

So we have been inside, reading and a little housework when necessary, and..... watching TV. My television watching is limited to a very few shows, and honestly I can take them or leave them if it comes down to brass tacks. In fact, there was a time where there were NO TVS in my house.... for about 5 years. Then the children's grandparents felt as though we were committing some sort of abuse to the children and insisted on purchasing us a color TV - I remember it was 1984 and was the first color tv in my home as an adult.

Now I am married to someone who LOVES television, where my vice is the computer. However, over the past 2 weeks I have had more than my fair share of "children's TV". The two I have in mind are the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. I really can't tell you the names of the shows I have watched as they all seem similar, but I do note that I have quite had my fill of snarly smart aleck comebacks between young kids and then young kids and their parents. And... it's just not smart aleckness from kid to parent, but also vice versa - sort of a one upmanship as to who can dish it out and have the quickest comeback.

The thing is.... ten year old "doesn't hear" the tone of the kids voices on television, so she dishes out what she is hearing and thinks it is perfectly normal. So when we call her to task on something she has said, she genuinely doesn't hear how her tone and inflection has come across to others.

I am really given thought to putting parental controls on the children's channels which is a sad commentary on the television industry and on our culture. Consider me a fuddy duddy or curmudgeon, but, for the most part, I think I have raised my children to be pretty respectful and courteous children. That's not to say we have not had our moments/hours, but I can understand rebellion during adolescence, but there is a line in which we draw where adults must act the role of adult and children must have boundaries as to what they say and how they say it.

I do understand why people PULL THE PLUG and choose and alternative to how their children are educated.

My belly is full of sensationalized and substandard programming.  Call me  grumpy and disappointed because I am.

A peek into the world of beautifying ourselves as I see it

Today, after my exercise, I went to get a pedicure and manicure - pedicures I am thinking of more and more as a necessity especially as I get older and the nails get tougher to cut. Fingers - are still fairly easy to care for and I have never been one to have nails other than short plain Jane ones. It fits my personality.

Today I looked around at the diversity of folks there - it was an interesting cross section of almost all females - Asian, Hispanic, Blacks, Whites, all there for the same reason.(Our churches should be so diverse). Some folks getting elaborate work on their nails - and I wonder how they afford such luxuries, and how in the world do they do anything with those long long nails. Mercy me!

Once I moved over to get my manicure, I sat by a young woman who was getting the same except she was having the acrylic nails on there. Petite in stature, I began noticing the following - super super white teeth, LOTS of makeup, lips that looked to be larger than life. And then..... there were the...ahem... the girls...
I don't usually notice such things, but I couldn't help it by looking at her blouse and its scooped neckline. No way those could have been her's. And, as she got up at one point, there was the one tattoo that was visible.

It was a bit disconcerting because I wondered how many more are out there with the same enhancements?  I am not trying to be critical, but  I can't help  but wonder about all the money spent for these  "improvements".

Then I get to thinking... what happens if I lose down to a normal weight, will I want to enhance myself? That loose skin might just get in the way or hurt someone as it moves around or do I just encapsulate myself in a Spanx outfit?

Thoughts?

Addendum to this post: I was also amazed at the number of dings and blings and pings of text messaging today along with the phone rings. Talk about chaos!

It's What We Need

A true need and want has come twice this week for which I am truly thankful.

I've almost forgotten what it's like to have a soaking rain like this and it looks like it's going to go on all day. And...it's even on a day which if I wanted I could stay inside, but I do need to go and exercise and visit a one of my friends who reads my blog and is in the hospital with a hip replacement.

A few other thankfulnesses I would like to share:

1. a warm house
2. the public library
3. our local YMCA which helps me expend my calories
4. clean undies (this one is for you know who)
5. my dogs
6. electricity and running water (because I found out someone this week I know has not had it for 3 months)
7. church community
8. blogging friends --- even the lurkers who do not comment, but visit me.
9. oatmeal, as I am sending positive thoughts to lower cholesterol
10. tomorrow, as my husband returns home from the big golfing convention he has been attending

I'll keep it at ten, but am ever mindful that it is a sampling of the many blessings I have in my life.
Can you share a thankfulness or blessing today?

Don't Fence me In

We live in an established neighborhood of folks who are professionals and business owners.  Most of us are middle aged and our children are "on up there" - either in college or adults. Young children we see around here are the grandchildren. But I have digressed before I get into the topic at hand.

One of our neighbors lives in a home who at one time was owned by one of the physicians here in town. It was build of what we call "old brick" - the kind which is taken from older homes and has a distinctive look all its own. When they bought the home, they painted the brick white - which is not bad in itself EXCEPT that brick is one of a kind - it's the kind that part of the brick had been a chimney at one time and it had the aged look.  The house is beautiful as a white home, but I do miss the old brick look. 

Well, then, they bricked their driveway - from the road to a semi circular drive in the front of the home as well as up the side of the home. Now they have added a three car garage and a game room - with brick as the flooring in the garage (we have a good view of the garage, and Mom keeps up with the progress.

Well more brick has come in and there is a rope on the property line from the back of the property to the road. We just received a phone call to ask us if it was ok if some of the brick might be placed on our property while they are working on a fence. It's a PRIVACY fence for both of us. Gee, I didn't know we were invading their privacy (I really don't think we are, it's just that they are brick happy).

I have mixed emotions about the fence - did we do something in which they wanted to put up the fence? Are we the low rent district?  Then, there is the excitement of knowing that it DOES improve the property value of the house to have that sort of fence as it will be right there on the line.  All in all, I believe this is just another part of their property improvement.

We seem to be the ones who get the questions as to what is going on at the neighbor's house. Every morning I wake up and leave for  work, there are usually 3 workers in the yard and their yard, needless to say, is impeccable.

I couldn't help but think of the song today of "Don't Fence me In" and if you will bear with me, you might enjoy this blast from the past with the Andrew Sisters.

And what interesting things have you experienced with the neighbors recently? Won't you be my neighbor? (oh that's another song..)

Today's New Houses

I went looking at some houses with a friend this weekend. I hadn't looked at a new house in some time, but it's interesting to see what the new "thing" is in the house market, especially one that is as slumpy as this one is.

I just want to know something. Are people spending so much time in a bathroom now that we have THAT much square footage spent, plus a tub AND a shower? One would think hours were being spent in a place that I always thought you got your business done and got out and got on with the rest of the world. Just sayin........