The Friday Five - What a Mess!

This week's five from the Rev Gal Blog Pals is on clutter. Or maybe it was on neatness? Hmm....

In looking for a piece of clip art, I found this interesting church sign. I don't know where this church is or really what the sign is supposed to mean, but it sure is interesting what you can find when you google!

1. Are you a hoarder or a minimalist? A hoarder. It makes my husband very crazy. The thing is, we still have some weird stuff of his hanging around too. He hoards, just not as much.
2. Name one important object (could be an heirloom) that you will never part with. Can't think of a thing. Under the right circumstances I think it's all up for grabs.
3. What is the oldest item in your closet? Does it still fit??? My baptismal gown and not hardly. Handmade by my mother and very simple, but very long. Soda Chicky looked very sweet in it at 6 weeks.
4.Yard sales- love 'em or hate 'em? Hate holding them. Hate going to them. Mostly I hate it when the neighbors have them because then the Chick wants to go and buy someone else's junk when we have plenty of our own. Thank you very much!
5. Name a recycling habit you really want to get into. We recycle our papers but we have not found an effective way to recycle our plastic and metal since moving to our new address two years ago. In our former midwestern location, the local township picked up all paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal for free. Garbage on the other hand, you paid for by the can. So it paid to recycle, literally. Here our trash is picked up from a commercial dumpster and since we rent from our church, there is no provision for the residential recycling company to pick up from our house. Basically, I have to find a way to be less lazy about the whole business.
And for a bonus - anything you want to add.... When I was a grade school kid in Southern California in the late 1960's and early 1970's, we had newspaper drives. Everyone brought their papers. The class with the highest stack of papers won a prize. The goal wasn't to recycle but to earn money for the PTA which sold the papers. Now when there are paper drives, it's not about class parties but the environment. Interesting how things change.

Q: So what is "mono" Mom?

A: Infectious mononucleosis is a contagious illness caused by the Epstein-Barr virus that can affect the liver, lymph nodes, and oral cavity. While mononucleosis is not usually a serious disease, its primary symptoms of fatigue and lack of energy can linger for several months.

Soda Chicky went to the Shore last week with her friend Beach Baby. She came home with a lousy cold and Beach Baby is now home in bed with mono. I have caught Soda Chicky's cold and now I wonder if we are all looking forward to four weeks of fatigue.

I don't have time for fatigue! The Chick has too much homework to get mono right now! I was hoping she'd wait until her freshman year in college to catch this thing!

So for now we'll watch and wait. Chicky hates giving blood so that might keep her from admitting to serious illness... Hmmm.....

47 ain't so bad!

So today was my 47th birthday. Mountain Mama and Papa Joe called me from Germany. It's become a bit of a tradition. They've been in Germany on my birthday for about the last five years. The calls are always short but sweet.

Soda Chicky made me a chocolate chip birthday cookie. It was covered in gooey frosting and totally dear of her. The Bug Man went to bowl with the team tonight so the Chick and I ordered take out Chinese since neither of us wanted to celebrate my birthday by cooking. She and her father gave me a really nice gift- a certificate for multiple spa treatments. I hardly know what to do. Massage? Pedicure? Facial? And I feel no need to share the wealth with the Chick. Mine! Mine! Mine!

The sisters called as did Adventure Girl, the mom-in-law, and sister-in-law. It was a quiet kind of birthday. Went to work. Came home. And really, that was good. I was told I didn't look my age. And that was nice, although I'm not sure what 47 is supposed to look like.

As a kid I always wanted a certain amount of fuss. Not so much as to make my introverted self feel embarrassed, but enough to make me feel special. The nice thing about adulthood is that it doesn't take much to feel special. A cookie with a half can of frosting, a musical card from the hubby and more than my fair share of phone calls. 47 ain't bad at all, at all!

Shooting stars and watching Jupiter

For years, Adventure Girl and I have travelled to places where you might see a shooting star. These trips were usually taken with groups of Lutheran teenagers, but sometimes we were actually on our own. The thing is, Adventure Girl would spot shooting stars with very little difficulty. I would look over the top of my bifocals and hopefully wait for a flash in the sky. As soon as I would look away or go inside to use the bathroom, Adventure Girl would spot something meteoric. I would always miss it. But now, I don't feel so bad!

Every Monday morning on WHYY, the local PBS radio station, astronomer Derek Pitts does "Skytalk". His reports are usually pretty interesting: telescopes, space adventures, scientific advances and this morning... shooting stars! Shooting stars are actually bits of space junk about the size of a grain of sand. Something about the chemical interaction creates the spark, but then, the trail is only the width of a pencil lead!

If I was in a more preacherly mood, I might make something of all this. However, I am just feeling that maybe it's not a surprise that I haven't seen these shining wonders. What is amazing is that we get to see them at all!

On the other hand, I have been watching Jupiter for the past several weeks. It is shining big and bright just over the rising moon. When I sit on my front porch, it is positioned neatly over the bell tower of our church across the street. So cool! And Soda Chicky was impressed that I could point it out to her.

Hungry folks

The Bug Man and I went to serve dinner at the homeless shelter tonight. Chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole was the main dish. Chocolate chip cookies for dessert, but only two per person. Things went well, but we forgot to bring along some aluminum foil. I hadn't served dinner at the shelter for a while so I didn't think of it. Unfortunately no one else thought of it either. It made me feel bad that we didn't have any. It's probably not a big deal, but folks sometimes like to wrap up some of their dinner for later. The whole thing made me think about choices. In my cozy little house with it's too full freezer, I can choose what to have for dinner and when to have it. If I want a second glass of juice or a third cookie, I can do that too. I think choices are one of the luxuries we forget about. We forget to be thankful for the fact that we have options. And the lack of options can make one feel so desperate. It's a hunger that is much harder to fill.