by jphilo | Jan 12, 2016 | Top Ten Tuesday
For some reason, the first week of January 2016 was a highly productive one for a certain inhabitant of our gravel road. Had I known on January 1 what I know now, the following New Year’s Resolutions would have been listed and checked off in 7 short days, rendering the remaining 359 guilt and fancy-free.
10. Come to grips with getting older after learning of several former co-workers and present dear friends, who are our age contemporaries, are dealing with age-related health conditions.
9. Cut back the geraniums wintering over in the upstairs bedrooms and water them less so the woody stems stop rotting.
8. Send out Christmas cards as a staunch proponent of the better-late-than-never school of thought.
7. Find a group to hand quilt Mom’s remaining quilting projects, sewn together by my daughter a year ago, and which have been lurking in the corner of the guest bedroom ever since.
6. Launch a redesigned website full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes that make half the archived posts disappear for a few days.
5. Garner a 100 new likes on my Facebook author page thanks to EA/TEF parents who read the first EA/TEF Awareness Month post at DifferentDream.com.
4. Eat a few Kirkland non-dairy chocolate covered almonds every day.
3. Watch as many seasons of Downton Abbey as possible in preparation for watching Season 6.
2. Call a dear friend in Harding County, South Dakota and make plans to visit next August during the 100th Anniversary county fair.
1. Record personal information in your copy of The Caregiver’s Notebook so you can tell people attending caregiver organization workshops to do the same without feeling like a hypocrite.
What New Year’s resolutions would you make in hindsight? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Jan 5, 2016 | Top Ten Tuesday
The Man of Steel, our son, and I went to the new Star Wars movie on New Year’s Eve. We all loved it. I’m ready to see it again to confirm that the ten observations below are completely accurate. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, reading this post requires no spoiler alert.
10. Luke Skywalker knows how to nail his lines for sure.
9. Skinny women with stylized make up and slinky clothing are up to no good, wherever they are found in whatever universe they inhabit.
8. Hans Solo still has it.
7. As does the original Star Wars theme.
6. Several super-sized creatures from The Lord of the Rings movies (trolls and Ents to name a few) sound a great deal like Chewbacca. Perhaps they used the same voice over artist.
5. Bad guy military attire must always resemble Nazi uniforms in some way.
4. If #5 isn’t enough to help you distinguish between who’s on the light or dark side, apply this simple formula. Red = Resistance, Black = Bad Guys, Storm Troopers = Bad Guys unless they are marked by blood, which happens to be what color?
3. So far as the resistance goes, past princesses, present generals, and present female fighters who might possibly become princesses or generals in future Star Wars movies, must coil their long, dark hair in complicated designs and wear light-colored, flowing clothing in their salad years.
2. Robots have feelings, too.
1. Women can be leaders, light-skinned people can succumb to the dark side, and dark-skinned people can fight for what’s right and true.
Have you seen the new Star Wars movie? What did you think of it? Leave a comment…without spoilers, of course.
by jphilo | Dec 29, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
2015 was a wonderful year that included the births of 2 new grandbabies, the release of 2 new books, meeting more people in the special needs ministry community, and the completion of my mystery novel. (No need to mention chance encounters with kitchen knives and the consequences thereof.) I am looking forward to 2016 with as much anticipation as last year. Here are 10 things I’m excited about.
10. Fresh fruits and veggies from our CSA. Fresh strawberries and sugar snap peas in June. Sweet corn and tomatoes from July through September. Melons in August. Are you drooling yet?
9. New seasons of Sherlock, Doc Martin, and Downton Abbey. I’m even putting together a new outfit, all black, to wear during the final episode of DA.
8. Receiving an email from my agent saying my novel, See Jane Run!, has been accepted by a publisher. I believe in positive thinking.
7. Spending a week in Idaho at Shadow Valley family camp next summer. (See photo above.) Hopefully with the Man of Steel this year.
6. Co-presenting a workshop about special needs inclusion with Katie Wetherbee at next spring’s Accessibility Summit in McLean, Virginia.
5. Visiting my sister and her husband in Phoenix from January 16-23. This one’s doubly sweet with 8 inches of snow on the ground.
4. A year’s worth of Wednesdays with Dorothy playing Rummikub, Uno, and waiting for her sense of humor to peek through.
3. Going to Latvia to participate in a special needs family camp. Yes, you read that right. Latvia. At the end of June and beginning of July. More on that later.
2. Watching our kids navigate the world as adults and marveling at how well they do it.
1. Hugging and smooching the grandkids every chance I get. They’re all at that completely kissable age and love to cuddle. This stage doesn’t last forever, but should hold firm for 2016. It’s gonna be great.
What are you looking forward to in 2016? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Dec 22, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
This post is of the good news/bad news variety. The good news is that my hand is healing well and regaining function rapidly. Therefore my therapy appointments are down to one a week, and the therapist said I can skip some of my exercises if I’m using my hand to complete daily household activities. The bad news will become apparent as you peruse this week’s top ten list of good-for-the-hand household activites.
10. Hanging clothes on the line. Not that I’m hanging clothes on the line at this time of year. But since the therapist makes me squeeze giant clothespins at every appointment, this activity makes the list.
9. So does clipping fingernails. Though it only comes up every couple of weeks.
8. Squeezing the toothpaste tube. Always starting at the bottom, of course.
7. Dusting. Knickknacks are good exercise for pincher movement. And dusting furniture limbers up the wrist.
6. Cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen. Scrubbing sinks, wiping counters, swabbing the toilet bowl, and attacking that grubby bathtub ring are ultimate multi-tasking activities.
5. Mopping floors. As in the on-your-hands-and-knees variety. The hands and knees part makes the wrist bend as its never bent before. The wringing out the rag part puts squeezing Ther-a-putty to shame.
4. Washing dishes. What could be better than scrubbing pots, wringing out rags, soaking hands in warm water?
3. Cleaning the kitchen. Which would be as intolerable as #10 through #4, except that #2 and #1, the reasons why the kitchen gets dirty, are the only items on the list I enjoy.
2. Cooking and baking.
1. Eating. As in everything created in #2.
See what I mean? Good new, bad news, a clean house, and a balanced diet for the first time in months. Leave a comment!
by jphilo | Dec 8, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
We’re celebrating Christmas with the kids and grands early, so this week is wrapping week…not my favorite activity for these ten reasons.
10. I grew up trying to force reused, wrinkled wrapping paper that was always too small around boxes that were too big.
9. Next we topped the wrinkled paper with old bows, all of which had lost their sticky.
8. We always ran out of Scotch tape before we were done.
7. When we ran out of Scotch tape, Mom showed us how to use masking tape rolled inside out to hold the wrapping paper together. This tactic worked approximately 50% of the time.
6. She told us to use rolled up masking tape to stick bows on the packages, too. That worked approximately 25% of the time.
5. All of the above traumatized me, so I now avoid wrapping paper whenever possible.
4. So I’m in a catch 22 situation: If I seek immediate treatment for my wrapping paper phobia, I will not have time for wrapping presents.
3. Plus, as a result of the tendon I severed 2 months ago, my left thumb has a bad case of oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) and is in therapy, too. Which means even less time for wrapping presents.
2. Though gift bags are the obvious solution to my gift wrapping issues, I am too much of a cheapskate to buy them. So I’ve developed this habit of saving gift bags from year to year and store them in a big drawer.
1. Every Christmas season, when I open the drawer and see the big pile of wrinkled gift bags, I realize that I’m more like Mom than I want to admit. And I thought Christmas was designed to gloss over harsh realities like that.
How about you? Do you love or hate wrapping presents? Tell us why in the comment box.
by jphilo | Dec 1, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
Gravel Road posts have been a bit spotty for a few weeks. Here are the top 10 reasons why.
10. Two to three hand therapy appointments a week.
9. Fifteen minutes worth of hand therapy exercises every two hours during the day.
8. Christmas shopping and present wrapping.
7. Thanksgiving baking and cooking.
6. Hours and days in a carbohydrate stupor after the Thanksgiving feast.
5. The Grandbaby’s arrival which led to quibbling with the Man of Steel about who’s turn it was to play with the little guy.
4. Spending time with our kids.
3. Watching Baby and marveling over his new skills: hand clapping, food smearing, and flashing a most disarming grin.
2. Nursing the cold Baby passed along when he planted a huge, slobbery kiss right on Grammy’s lips.
1. Feeling all mopey while doing piles of laundry after the kids and grandbaby went home.
What’s eating away your time this holiday season? Leave a comment.
