by jphilo | Oct 14, 2014 | Reflections on the Past, Top Ten Tuesday
On last week’s road trip, I spent an evening with one of my best friends from high school. Every time we–or any of our high school crowd–get together, we remember why we were (and still are) good friends. And we remember and miss what was best about those fleeting and powerful years.
10. Throwing good luck pennies on the Pizza Hut roof.
9. Sitting in the stands and talking with friends during basketball and football games…and even watching the games now and then.
8. English and history classes.
7. Being part of a group that made sure everyone had a date for Homecoming, Twirp, and Prom.
6. The speech and drama teacher, Mr. Hallum, who demanded the best from his students and gave so much of his time to help them grow.
5. Looooong weekend band and speech trips on very uncomfortable school buses.
4. Marching and concert band during the school year and city band in the summer.
3. Church youth group and our leaders, Ron and Barb Ritchie.
2. Play rehearsals.
1. The best friends a person could ever have (in alphabetical order): Cheri, Jacki, Jane, Katie, Mary Anne, and Roxanne.
Okay, so what’s missing about what you miss about high school? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Sep 23, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
The September equinox left the building two days ago. That means shrinking daylight hours and increasing hours of darkness for the next several months. Not my favorite time of year. But in an effort to think positive, I came up with ten things to appreciate this season of darkness.
10. Unemployment will go down as work hours expand for burglars and peeping toms.
9. It gets dark soon enough to take kids outside to play with sparklers before bedtime. Yes, toes and fingers and bums will freeze. But we are thinking positive, remember?
8. Burned out lightbulbs are more obvious and therefore are replaced sooner.
7. Sunscreen bills go way, way down. No need to mention that heat and lighting bills go up because that wouldn’t be positive. At. All.
6. Less daylight means people won’t notice dirt in the corners of my car/bathroom/kitchen/closets. You get the idea.
5. Those who wait to binge watch TV series on DVDs and Netflix don’t have to wait so long.
4. Putting on jammies right after supper is perfectly acceptable when it’s dark outside.
3. Long, cozy, dark nights + reading lamp = more hours to read!
2. Long, dark nights + cold + nasty weather = a perfect reason to stay home and write.
1. Once each day’s minutes of darkness overtake the minutes of daylight, only three months remain until the December solstice when daylight hours start increasing again!
by jphilo | Sep 16, 2014 | Family, Top Ten Tuesday
10. While watching a Mad Men wannabe show, we like to critique the clothing and talk about elementary teachers who dressed like that.
9. She and her husband recommend the best books, authors, and recipes.
8. She checks the routes mapped out by her country sister, who has to drive around the big city, and recommends better ones.
7. She scopes out the best shoe store in the metro area and suggests a shopping trip.
6. She provides excellent and honest feedback about the shoes and clothes tried on.
5. We talk about our work, and then she emails ideas and websites related to what we discussed.
4. She puts life in perspective by reminding me that our kids need time to figure grown up things like buying houses and finding jobs just like we did.
3. We react the same way to certain hot button issues, and we both know why.
2. Though I was a fussy baby who upset her only child world, she still loves me.
1. We share memories of early childhood that no one else has. The older we get, the more that means. I love you, Sis. Thanks for a wonderful visit!
What do you appreciate about your siblings? Leave a comment
by jphilo | Sep 9, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Our children were very happy to hear we had decided to replace the ancient window air conditioner that came with the house when we moved there in 1991. We were happy, too, until the Man of Steel discovered a bee hive between the machine unit and the box that surrounded it. Bees in the house isn’t a wish-for-it experience, but it does have its perks. Here are ten of them.
10. Bees fleeing their hive as the Man of Steel banged and pulled at the unit provided a once in a lifetime opportunity to see him wear his winter coat, hood, and thick work gloves in early September.
9. The Man of Steel thinks I’m a genius for knowing that a paste of soda and water eases the pain of bee stings.
8. Bees in the house makes mice in the car seem a less disturbing event.
7. A person’s eye-hand coordination improves rapidly when wielding a fly swatter against a bevel o’ angry bees.
6. When the vacuum sweeper sucks the venetian blinds cord a long way into the tube, along with a mound of bee corpses, only a tiny piece of the plastic thingy at the end of the cord becomes a sacrificial offering to the vacuum cleaner god.
5. Bees sneaking back into the house through teeny-tiny holes is motivation to immediately finish the interior caulking, sheet rocking, mudding, painting and trim work.
4. The hardware store will make a huge profit this quarter due to bulk caulking purchases made by a frantic Man of Steel with baking soda paste all over his arms.
3. Bees in the house means the Woman of Aluminum has to spend her working days at her favorite coffee shop until the invasion ends.
2. They also make heading out on a two day speaking trip a welcome event rather than something a homebody Woman of Steel dreads.
1. In fact the speaking trip, booked more than a year ago, makes the Woman of Steel thankful for for God’s divine intervention in our lives…even when he uses bees to make his presence and his plan known.
Photo Credit: anankkml at www.freedigitalphotos.net
by jphilo | Sep 2, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. The beginning of September and the swiftly diminishing daylight hours threw me into a deep funk.
9. For the longest time, I could only think of 9 things for the list. Call me OCD, but I couldn’t publish this until #10 came to mind.
8. Senior moment. I forgot.
7. The computer died.
6. There was a power failure.
5. My family did an intervention, and I went off social media cold turkey for the long weekend.
4. I celebrated Labor Day by doing no work…which meant no writing or blogging for me.
3. Because writing never feels like work to me, I spent the weekend feverishly writing the Great American Novel.
2. Writing three books in one year led to a bad case of writers’ block, and I couldn’t think of a thing to write about.
1. I spent the weekend playing games like trucks, fix-it, garden, and yummy soup with our adorable grandson.
How was your Labor Day weekend? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Aug 26, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. The temperature soared as soon as the municipal pool was drained.
9. Our property tax bill, due at the end of September, arrived.
8. My waking hours are spent trying to think of a gift Mom would like for her birthday in September. The only idea so far is to put a big bow on our property tax bill and give it to her. But I have a feeling she’ll just give that back.
7. Despite all the rain we’ve had lately, the leaves on the trees are now more yellow-green than vibrant green.
6. The cricket that found its way into our bedroom likes to sing. At night. We are not amused.
5. For the past week or so, the daylight’s been pretty dim when I leave for my morning walk.
4. Unless you arrive at Hickory Park the minute they open, there’s a 5 to 15 minute wait for a booth, now that the college kids are moving back to ISU.
3. My to do list includes trips to Walmart and Target to check the back to school aisles for clearance bargains.
2. Every once in a while, soup and other cold weather comfort foods like Balkan Meatballs sound like a good idea for supper…even though it’s still way too hot to enjoy them.
1. Every time I walk by the empty Boone Municipal Pool, I feel sad. How much longer until spring?
