wacky wednesday - a crazy little thing called love

In case you just woke up from a coma or have been secluded somewhere without a calendar or media of any kind, this Friday is February 14th … Valentine's Day… the love holiday. The hype this year began BEFORE Christmas when some retailers began displaying heart-shaped decor and red and pink cards galore (kinda sounds like a greeting card, doesn't it?).

So what is this holiday all about?

This was one of three Valentine's Day displays set up outside a local grocery store this week. 

And there were many more inside! Oy vey!!

While its roots go back much farther (to times of Christian religious feasts and celebrations commemorating Saint Valentine (actually there were at least three) around AD 500 or so), Valentine's Day, as it is currently celebrated, began in the United Kingdom in the 18th century with Victorian-style valentine cards, the giving of chocolate and flowers as well as the use of the well-known "love symbols"- hearts, doves, winged cupids, etc. Gifts and cards were typically hand-made by the giver for his, or her, true love. As one would expect, the tradition was picked up by the American colonies and flourished.

Fast forward several centuries and we now find a $14.7 BILLION industry in the U.S. alone. It is conservatively estimated that Americans spend around $277 million each year on Valentine cards alone. And, incidentally, cards and gifts are typically not hand-made among the age 10 and older crowd.

I may be old-fashioned and a bit of a sentimentalist but I think we have completely missed the mark. Contrary to what Hallmark would like us to think, nothing says "I care" like a hand-made card or hand-written note extolling your adoration for your true love. I enjoy a nice dinner or fresh flowers as much as the next gal but what is really meaningful to me is love shown through words and actions. I think the Apostle Paul best describes real love in his first letter to the Corinthians who were living in a place filled with idolatry and immorality - sound like anyplace you know? He wrote, "Love is patient; love is kind. It does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) 

Enjoy indulging your special valentine with a box of chocolates or beautiful flowers this Valentine's Day but also give some thought to Paul's challenging, yet encouraging, words and make every day a "love holiday."

wacky wednesday - it's just a date

One of the groups I "like" and "follow" on Facebook is Forgotten Harvest, a non-profit organization dedicated to feeding hungry people. Last year they rescued, harvested and distributed more than 40 million pounds of food.

They recently shared an article on their Facebook page that really got me to thinking about the waste in this country. You can read the entire article here but the gist of it is that Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe's, plans to open The Daily Table in Dorchester, MA in May of this year to serve the "underserved" population - the "working poor who can afford to buy food but aren't buying the right food"- meaning it is often less expensive for them to buy processed food with less nutrition than it is to buy fresh produce and make a meal.  The catch is that The Daily Table will be part cafe, part grocery store and will use only food that has passed its "sell-by" or "best-by" date or the "ugly" produce making it unusable and/or undesirable in other markets. The Daily Table will be a nonprofit organizaition and after some initial funding to get it started, Rauch expects it to be self-sustaining.

It's an interesting idea. The carton of milk with a "sell by" date of 1-27-14 doesn't suddenly go bad and cause food-bourne sicknesses on 1-28-14. In fact, I've used milk a good week after it's "sell by" date and it has been fine. I've also opened milk well before it's "sell-by" date that has smelled soured. And it went down the sink. The same is true of the "best by" date on canned goods. After doing some digging, I discovered that those dates are pretty arbitrary and unregulated and were instituted to make the American public feel like they are getting "fresher" food.

Most produce doesn't have a "sell by" date but we are a country consumed by beauty so the perfect shiny apple gets picked over the slightly bruised one at the grocery store. Grocery stores throw out literally tons of bruised and wilted produce annually that is, in reality, still edible and nutritious.

But what that really got to me is that 40% of the food produced in the U.S. annually is wasted, as in thrown out, at a cost of $165 BILLION. Holy cow!! I realize that some of that food is spoiled and truly not edible. But if even half of it is usable, there is no reason we should have so many people in our country going to bed hungry or not knowing where their next meal will come from.

Some grocery stores are willing to sell at a reduced price or give away this "out of date" and less than perfect food to food banks if they can come get it. The problem is many food banks and soup kitchens aren't able to do that. Fortunately, there are organizations like Forgotten Harvest whose volunteers work to get that food to the places where it can be used but the quantity outweighs the workers and still too much food is still wasted.

However, getting the food where it can be used is only half the problem. The second hurdle is re-educating and convincing both consumers and watch-dog groups looking out for the underdog that "out of date" and bruised food is still safe and nutritious. As a society, we have been conditioned to throw out food past its date. All of us could stretch our food dollars by using the "ugly" produce that accumulates in our refrigerator and not immediately throwing away the out-of-date food. I, for one, am giving it a try.

This ugly fruit and black cherry Greek yogurt 29 days past its "sell by" date made a delightful smoothie. Richard declared it both "yummy" and "creamy" - and no, he didn't see the ingredients before I made it!

isn't life grand?

November of 2013 is one of my favorite months of all time. I spent the month at the home of our son-in-law, daughter and their family while they welcomed a new baby, Elizabeth "Ellie" Paige, into their family. Living in a house with five kids for a month is one of the most fun things I've ever done. Really.

Yes, it is often organized chaos and almost always noisy but it is also fills your heart with love and awe and wonder. Grandchildren are truly a gift from God - they keep us "younger," they make us laugh and they let us rediscover what it's like to be child-like (not childish) again.

Although they live across the country, we are fortunate to be able to visit our grandchildren and their parents several times a year staying a week or so each time. What I loved about being there a whole month this time was really spending some time with them, one-on-one and as a group. They are a pretty interesting group of kids!

I learned about Rainbow Looms (the hottest  Christmas toy of the year!) and the "new" way to do long division (must say I am not a fan of Common Core - but I'll write about that another day!). I memorized two Bible verses as I helped them with their Awana lessons. Being up on what's "in" and learning new things keeps our minds young.

Art Linkletter used to say that kids say the darnedest things. I found that to be true when our children were young and am constantly reminded of it with our grandkids. Dinner-table and car conversations are my favorites. Sometimes I laugh until I cry. With three boys you can imagine how much "potty humor" there is. When our kids were young I could keep a straight face and firmly tell them how inappropriate their comments were but for some reason, I just can't anymore. Maybe I realize more now the value of laughter … or maybe it's funnier when it's someone else's kids … or maybe I've learned that children don't have to be perfectly behaved ALL the time. Of course, there are also conversations about what it was like "a long time ago" when I was a child. "Did you have TV when you were little?"    "Yes, but it was in black & white." "You mean ALL THE TIME? (with a look of complete disbelief)" But perhaps my favorite conversations are the random ones - "I  licked all the m&m's right there on the counter so no one would eat them while I went to the bathroom."

As a parent, I tried to play and have fun with our kids as much as possible but other responsibilities (like making dinner or parent/teacher communication or laundry or …) seemed to get in the way more often than I would have liked. But being a grandparent is different. There is more time to play and have fun and to rediscover what it's like to be a child. We played games ALL afternoon instead of making dinner, read stories instead of doing dinner dishes, chalked on the driveway instead of doing laundry, "grew" edible monsters (made of candy eyeballs and other gooey treats) in "petri dishes filled with moldy agar" (lime Jell-o in shallow dishes) and had lots of slumber parties. It's fun being child-like!

I may not have helped much with making meals or cleaning up but I played hard and had fun with the grandkids. I think my "sweethearts" make my life pretty grand!

Children's children are a crown to the aged.

Proverbs 17:6

50 shades of summer… august (the asterisks!)

My Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (a book, not an on-line source) defines asterisk as "the character * used in printing or writing as a reference mark, as an indication of the omission of letters or words, or to denote a hypothetical or nonoccurring linguistic form." It means that there is more to the story. Two items on my 50 Shades of Summer list require asterisks - both were partially done but with an explanation.

I had been in the market for a new cell phone for months but just couldn't make up my mind. I finally got a Galaxy S III in March ... and hated it. My biggest complaint was not being able to see the screen when it was sunny out, even in the shade. Apparently some LCD screens are difficult, if not impossible, to see in bright light. I returned that phone and then stalled. I didn't know what to get - which is why such a silly item went on my summer list. I knew it would force me to make a decision and it did.

After listening to both our daughters and several friends sing the praises of their iPhones AND after "playing" with our daughters' iPhones several times AND after making sure I could read the screen in the sunlight, I finally decided in early August I would get an iPhone. The problem now was that the new iPhone 5s was coming out in September, 2014.

I ordered my phone when the 5s came out in September and received it by the end of September. I most definitely LOVE my new phone. It was worth waiting for!

I have had a lot of help from our kids and grandkids in setting up my phone and using more of its potential. I can see why smart phones are so "addicting" and people have their noses in them ALL THE TIME! But that's a post for another day!

The second asterisk in my list is making a geocache (#5). Actually, making the geocache was no problem and was done well before the end of August. I wanted to use a small cache and bought a "tin" box of Sucrets. After emptying the box, I spray painted it with a textured, tan-colored paint. My plan was to put it in our community by a lake so I packed the box with a note about the creation of of the lake, its name, etc. as well as a FTF (First To Find) token, a log, pencil and SWAG (Stuff We All Get) and then hid it. We checked back in a few weeks (in September) and our cache was gone but we found it in a similar location. Unfortunately, there are too many unsupervised kids there that might (or did) mess with the cache in that location so we need to place it in a different location. After thinking about it for quite some time, I finally have an urban location in mind but need to get permission to place it on private property before it goes "live."

In the process of making and placing my geocache, I learned a lot about making an interesting cache in a good location. I can't wait to make my next one!

List-makers, I think, like the challenge of completing the items on their list. I made my 50 Shades of Summer list to give me something to do, something to look forward to during the l-o-n-g, hot summer. It was challenging to complete all the items but oh so much fun! In fact, I already started making my list for summer 2014!

50 shades of summer… august (part 5)

The challenge in coming up with my 50 shades of summer list was having a variety of things on the list. I wanted to include things that used my brain (working a jigsaw puzzle or learning a new card game), things that used my senses (cooking, watching a sunset/sunrise), things that were relaxing (watching movies, reading), etc. These next four items were things that stirred my creativity.

The pottery painting stores have always intrigued me. I took my youngest daughter and her friend one time - a long time ago- and had fun but never went back by myself or with my friends which is why painting pottery (#49) made my list. I went with a friend (thanks, Laurie, for the encouragement!) and had a great time. I knew exactly what I wanted to make - a small bowl/dish to use as a candy dish. I am not very gifted in the painting department so chose to do the inside white (I don't remember the exact shade of white - there are about a hundred!) and the outside a shade of purple. The challenge was that the color it goes on is not the color it will be once it's fired. Fortunately they had tiles that showed the post-firing color which helped. I added some dots (the extent of my originality) and left it to be fired.

I love the way my candy dish turned out!

I enjoy two very different kinds of needle crafts but seldom make time to do anything with them. Soon after we got married I made Christmas stockings for the two of us using felt appliqué and sequin kits. I discovered I really enjoyed putting them together, using different embroidery stitches, watching the sequins add depth and sparkle and have since made eleven stockings (one for each of our daughters, their husbands and our grandchildren). I found a felt appliqué/sequin ornament kit and decided to use it to make a Christmas ornament (#23).  The best part? An ornament comes together much quicker than a stocking!

The other needle craft I enjoy is crocheting - ok, technically it's a hook, not a needle. Making a blanket (#46) was pretty quick once I decided to do a car seat blankie for our newest granddaughter expected to arrive in November. I wanted to practice before making her a bigger blankie - and the car seat one was just the right size!

I had fun making these projects - and can't wait to make the bigger blankie!

Sewing (with my sewing machine) is a love-hate relationship. I love it when everything works out  right (no measurement mistakes, broken needles, tension issues, etc.) and hate it when it doesn't! I put making a valence (#7) on my list so that I would get it done. Richard replaced the baseboards and repainted my office before we replaced the carpet in the spring. My window valence was in definite need of a facelift was well. I finally found the fabric I wanted - a black floral print on a white background - and went to work. I have made all the valences in our house for the past 26 years and, fortunately, everything worked out right so it did not take me long to do this one. The end result is an updated look to my office!

I love the contrast of my new valence and how it ties everything together.

I used to think being creative meant coming up with an original artistic project. I have since come to view creativity as creating something - sometimes it's an original project and sometimes it is adding your own "flair" to an existing pattern. I had a blast letting my creative juices flow!

50 shades of summer … august (part 4)

My last post showed activities from my 50 Shades of Summer list that I did with friends - and I had a blast doing them. But sometimes it's nice to be alone and the next five items are, by nature, more solitary things.

I often lament not having enough time to read so I set aside one whole day to just read a book (#31). That day, August 26th, began very early for me as it was also the day I chose to watch the sun rise (#44). I got up at 5:15 WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK so that I could get my coffee, set up my camera and be somewhat awake by the time the sun actually rose at 5:58am. The thing about sunrises and sunsets is that you never know if you're going to get a so-so one or a knock-your-socks-off one. That morning God blessed me with a stunning sunrise full of vibrant color and an overcast sky - the kind that makes you glad you rolled out of bed to see it.

There were roughly 12 hours between the end of sunrise and dinnertime. I don't think anyone could read for 12 hours straight but I did spend about eight hours reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (recently made into a movie). I enjoy historical fiction and have read several Holocaust novels but this one was from an entirely different perspective. The narrator of the story is Death and the central character is a young German girl. That's all you're going to get from me other than to say it was one of the best books I've read in a long time - well worth the time.

As I was standing outside watching the sun rise, the weather app on my phone said it was 82° - a pleasant start to an August day! I read for several hours on the patio before retreating inside to the air-conditioning.

I looked for opportunities to anonymously buy a stranger lunch (#40) all summer but had trouble finding the right time - and the right person. I finally realized I was being judgmental, looking for someone who was "worthy." Ouch. The idea was to anonymously bless someone, to do a random act of kindness without looking for recognition. Given that parameter, anyone and everyone was "worthy" so finally I waited in the drive-through line at a popular fast food restaurant. When a car pulled up behind me, I moved forward and placed my order, then proceeded to the pick-up window. When I told the employee I wanted to pay for the car behind me, he asked if I knew them. I replied that I did not, but I wanted to buy their lunch. With a confused look on his face, he said, "But you don't even know what they ordered!" I replied that while it was true I didn't know, he did know and could tell me how much I owed him. He finally broke out in a huge smile and said that he had never had someone pay for someone they didn't know and it was the nicest thing he'd ever seen. While I really hope it wasn't the nicest thing he'd ever seen, it did get me to realize that random acts of kindness often have a ripple effect. This was one of my favorite summer activities and one I plan on repeating. And obviously, there are no photos - taking pictures makes it difficult to be anonymous!

We watched two movies in August - the 1966 blockbuster Fantastic Voyage (#27) with Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch and the 2013 hit 2 Guns (#22) with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. I saw Fantastic Voyage as a child when it first appeared on the big screen and wondered if miniaturization technology would be possible when I was a grown-up. While we aren't shrinking people, having them swim through someone's blood vessels and then hop out through a tear duct before they regain regular size, nano-technology is often in the news. 2 Guns was a fun, athough somewhat predictable, movie about two federal agents working together without realizing the other is also in law enforcement. 

Although very different, we enjoyed both movies. It's fun to rewatch older movies that were cutting-edge in special effects at the time (Fantastic Voyage won an Oscar for Special Visual Effects!) and see how much farther we've come.

With all the busyness in trying to finish up this list this month, it was nice to have some relaxing things to do. It's good to have balance!

50 shades of summer - august (part 3)

At least two things happen when I do things with friends: time flies and there is much laughter. The next five things we did in August on my 50 shades of summer list were things that are more fun doing with other people - playing games, swimming, hosting a party and learning how to do something.

We love to play games but often get stuck in a rut playing the same few games all the time. I play Words With Friends quite a bit but it has been years since I played an actual game of Scrabble (#4 on my list). And although we like card games, we generally play the same two - Uno or Phase Ten - so it was definitely time to play a new card game (#32). Our friends, Mike and Laurie, were good sports and played not one but two games of Scrabble with us when we went to the Grand Canyon. And before that they taught us a new card game, Euchre - a four-player trump game. It's fun and pretty easy to learn. Before we knew it, we were hooked!

Fun & games!

We used to go swimming at night all the time, especially when the kids lived at home. For some reason, we just don't go when it's the two of us which is why a late night swim (#42) made the list. Our grandson, Christopher, spent two weeks with us and couldn't wait to swim at night - something he had NEVER done before - so we had quite a few night-time swims while he was here. 

The darkness and quietness make night-time swimming more serene and relaxing - the perfect way to end the day. And yes, we really got in the pool with him ;-)

I read somewhere that hosting an impromptu party is fun and less stressful than planning a big, elaborate affair. The tips were to keep it simple and to invite a lot of people since there isn't a lot of notice. After deciding on a  "Make-Your-Own Sundae" party (#35), I posted the invitation on my Facebook page six or seven days before the big day. About a dozen people were able to make it and we laughed and talked as we ate our sweet, creamy concoctions.

I was having such a good time that I totally forgot to take any photos of the ice cream sundaes - but everyone seemed to have a good time!

After visiting a pineapple plantation in Hawaii five years ago, I wanted to try growing a pineapple (#48) but "hadn't had time"to do it - until now. I enlisted the help of Mike & Laurie who lived in Hawaii for six years. They knew how to do it "the Hawaiian way" and I found different directions online. Mike twisted the top off a Tropicana pineapple while I cut the top off a Del Monte pineapple. We then placed each top in a shallow pan of water. That was where the similarity between the directions ended. My online directions said to remove the top from the water after three days and plant it in potting soil. Mike & Laurie said to wait until the top had sprouted roots and then plant it; it took seven days for roots to sprout. 

The pineapple plant on the left is the Del Monte one I planted using the internet directions and I used Mike & Laurie's "recipe" for the Tropicana one on the right.  Both were placed placed inside by a window. Now we wait a couple of years to see if we get a baby pineapple! 

Note: An advantage to waiting so long to post this is I can now tell you that the Del Monte one turned brown immediately after planting it (perhaps because it had not sprouted roots before planting?) - and completely bit the dust when Richard forgot to open the shade when he was home alone - in other words, it was sun-deprived. However, five months later, the Tropicana one still looks great and is getting bigger!