Category Archives: Ponderings

Rolled Common Sense

I mentioned awhile back that I have switched to one-ply toilet paper (something I thought I’d never do!).

For some reason, I have been noticing Scott‘s motto lately. “Scott. Common Sense on a Roll.”

It is just common sense to assume they are saying that the toilet paper is sensible and that it is on a roll. But sense common since cannot be had by a brainless roll of toilet paper, I think they might mean something else. 😉 Maybe not, but may be.

Not only is it common sense to use Scott, but Scott is “on a roll” with it’s sensible toilet paper. I love the double meaning!

A Picture of Disappointment

... éveil ...!!!
Image by Denis Collette…!!! via Flickr

I was getting ready to tell you the 47th thing about me, when I discovered something that just had to be posted on my blog. Yes, I know,  you are so disappointed to have to wait a whole day to read about that 47th thing, but alas, you must wait!

So, are you ready to see what caused this dreadful disappointment? It is the picture on the right that I found on Zemanta! Zemanta is easy and cool to use. Unfortunately, I have no idea how it got on my blog. My husband is responsible for that. So, if you have questions about how to get it on your email or blog, you’ll have to talk to him.

On a side note, remember when I mentioned earlier that I don’t have much trouble with spelling? Evidently I have trouble with one particular word. For awhile I thought Zemanta was misspelling the word “license,” but after looking it up in the dictionary, I see that according to dictionary.com, “licence” is actually acceptable. I would like to point out, however, that my spell check does underline “licence” in bright red, but then again, it does the same thing to Zemanta! 🙂

Pick Me Up

I wrote this poem in March of 1997 at the age of 19. I lost this poem and had a bit of a time finding it. I decided to post it here, so I can find it when I want it!

I fight so hard to keep the things
I know I do not need,
Seeking approval in the world
In every thought and deed.

I find myself in deep despair
For life seems dark and dreary.
The world just shoves me all around
Until I’m weak and weary.

I reach out to the world
To have it spit right in my face,
Trying to find in every crevasse
My very special place.

Soon I see what I have missed
And why I could not find it;
For up I look into the sky
To see my Daddy’s face all lit.

I see His arms stretched out to me
Waiting for me to utter.
I jump up to my Daddy’s side
With just one thing to stutter,

“Daddy pick me up
Hold me in Your grasp.
Daddy pick me
Ignore me if I gasp.”

“For deep down in my heart I know
You hold the key to every space,
And now I know that I’m made whole
For you ARE my very special place!”

The Potter and the Clay

This poem came to me today and is still a bit rusty, but I decided to post it anyway. If you have corrections or suggestions, feel free to comment. 🙂

I am the potter
You are the clay;
However I shape you
So you must stay.

You are the potter.
I am the clay;
I’ll stay how you shape me
Just do it my way!

I am the potter
You are the clay;
You’re pliable, moldable
Just bend where I say.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
I can resist you
Your mold will not stay.

I am the potter
You are the clay;
Please don’t resist me
For your heart, it will sway.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
My shell is hardening
But do I like it this way?

I am the potter
You are the clay;
Please heed my voice
Just trust and obey.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
I’ve lost control now
Help me, I pray!

I am the potter
You are the clay;
The only way to help
Will be painful, I say.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
Help me, Help me
No matter which way!

I am the potter
You are the clay;
I break you completely
And hold you, my clay.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
The pain is unbearable
Take it away!

I am the potter
You are the clay;
Now I can fix you
Renew you this day.

You are the potter
I am the clay;
You’re awesome, magnificent
I’ll serve You Your way!

Unusual Find

As I mentioned before, Rhode Islanders like to have their unwanted items taken and nurtured by someone else; they don’t care who that someone else is. So they put it out on the curb for any passerby to claim.

Last week, I came across something that was a bit out of the ordinary! Some one had thrown their live flowers out! Believe it or not, some of these flowers are still alive and looking beautiful!

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Happy 90th, Grandma!

My grandma turned 90 years old today!! Can you imagine? I am curious, though. Do you expect to live to be 90 years old? If so, I wonder what life will be like then? For me, that will be 2067.

(Okay, now I have a confession to make. I just spent a full 2 or 3 minutes figuring out what year I will turn 90. Let me give a hint to those who happen to be as tired as I am. Take your birth year, add 100, and subtract 10.)

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you!!

Spring Sprang Sprung

Several years ago, I suddenly noticed and became in awe of the seasonal change from winter to spring. Watching the world brighten up is an amazing process!

This year I have pictures to show how quickly spring happened here in Rhode island. I took some pictures of the tree outside our house exactly 2 weeks ago. Here is what the tree looked like.

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I took pictures again today, and the tree looks like this.

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Isn’t God absolutely amazing?

Smileys and Life

Smileys. They are found online across the globe and can mean many different things including “I’m happy,” “I’m smiling,” “that’s funny,” or “just kidding.”

It seems to me like smileys are quite common everywhere, except one place. Wondering where that one place is? It’s called the real world.

Do you ever see someone walking down the sidewalk smiling for what seems like no reason? What do you think about them? “They look so weird walking around smiling for no reason!” The question is, how do you know he is smiling for no reason? Can you see what she is typing in her head?

Why do we assume that someone is weird if he is walking around with a smile on his face? Mostly because not many people do it any more. We live in a country that expects people to tuck their positive emotions away in a secret folder that is never to be publicly displayed.

In fact, our society seems to always keep the “negativity” folder open on its desktop. If you are unhappy with something a friend said to another friend about you, you chat it to all your friends.

What about when that same friend says something nice about you to a friend? First off, the fact that you found out about it at all would be miraculous, but if you did find out, would you make a point to thank that person? Brag on them on your blog?

You may be afraid the complimentary friend will find out that the word was spread. Did you worry about that when you spread the word about their not so complimentary words? Wouldn’t it make more sense to let them know you appreciated their compliment?

So, let out those positive emotions. Believe it or not the whole world wants to see them. They are dying for permission to let theirs out! So do us all a favor and smile! Don’t worry, it won’t crack your face, and if you get wrinkles from smiling, they will look a lot better than frowny wrinkles!

I previously mentioned some goals I have set for myself. Now I am going to set a another one. I am going to practice walking around smiling for no particular reason. I tried that while walking today, and do you have any idea how difficult it was? I kept noticing that I had a normal expression on my face instead of a smile.

I discovered that having a desire to smile actually makes me think of pleasant things. This is true because I need something to smile about, so I click on that search box in my head and type in “pleasant.” It was so cool to scroll down that list of wonderful things to think about!

Anyone else want to join me on this smiley venture? It can do nothing but benefit you. You may even get the opportunity to take your own scroll down memory lane!

The Unexpected Note

A few weeks ago after one of our many snow storms, Luke went out on a Sunday morning to shovel the driveway.

Since we were having a fellowship at church, we were taking more stuff to church than usual. Because it is harder to shovel once you have walked on the snow, Luke always shovels and then comes back for any stuff that needs to go to the van.

That particular morning, I decided to be helpful by suggesting to Luke that he take some stuff and leave it just inside the apartment door to save him a trip (and time) later. I thought it was a good idea, and evidently he did too, because he took my suggestion.

While Luke was shoveling, I got a call from the pastor telling us church was canceled. So, we had Sunday school at home and ate lunch, like we have in the past when we’ve been snowed in on a Sunday. Later, on the way down to the basement, I found a note just outside the door that read, “Thanks for the playpen.” Huh? What playpen? Then it dawned on me.

When took the playpen down using the back door on his way to shovel. When he was done shoveling, he came in the front door, but since church was canceled, we never finished loading the van. Guess where we left the playpen? Right outside the downstairs neighbors’ door! Neither one of us had thought to bring it back in! Oops!

I am eventually going to tell you the outcome of this story, but I would like to know your thoughts first. What would you do if you were wearing my shoes? (And please don’t say that you would take a boat ride or hold your nose). 😀

What an Icicle!!

I posted a picture previously of a large icicle that formed outside our house. Now that a month has passed, I guess it is high time I tell you a little more about that miniature ice tower.

The snow only stayed on the ground a few days, and then the temperature went up into the 50’s. As the snow melted, this humongous icicle formed just outside our living room window.

After it had been there about a day, it dawned on me that it might hurt just a little bit if it fell on a person’s head, so I decided that it had to be knocked off (the icicle, that is). Since it was located outside our 2nd story living room widow, I opened the window from the top and stood on our couch with a bat in hand. Scared yet?

With an icicle that big, I knew I would have to hit it pretty hard to knock it down, but I decided to give it a little tap to see just how firmly it was attached. Amazingly my small tap brought the entire icicle down from the very top where it was attached to the roof! It was so loosely attached that a good wind would have brought it down!

When I went outside to check it out, there was one chunk about as big as my head! And I will be the first to admit, that is pretty BIG!! 😀

Wanna see again?

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