How in the word did the week fly by so fast??  At this pace, my “bucket list” is going to be pretty tough to complete!  Prepare yourselves, in no particular order, here come my jumbled thoughts

For one thing,  I have switched to the HTML mode (don’t know what that is? well neither do I, but apparently it is different from the visual mode (WYSIWYG……”what you see is what you get”) which is the way I have posted the previous journal. So, I figured I would test this out to see if it is easier to write using the HTML (“how to mangle letters”???). If anyone knew how long it takes me to accomplish a single technological task or to decipher the extremely foreign, yet touted as “oh so easy” directions, they would wonder how I have managed to ever hold a job. Actually, I am hoping that my “one day a week job” is not in any jeopardy as I am still struggling to figure out Microsoft Excel…..those darned cells just don’t merge my way LOL!! Whoever devised all of today’s technology never heard of the KISS Principle “keep it simple, stupid”!!!! Well,there, that is one thought down…………here come the rest.

The grandchildren have served to keep me on my toes of late. The two youngest, Josh & Mayce, were they to join forces to be unleashed into the world at large, they could very well become our nation’s greatest defensive weapon. The rest of the world would literally be quaking in their boots (LOL)! I have nicknamed Josh “the demolition man” ……..last week Christopher came over to the house with just Josh & Sydney & while Chris & I were engaged in discussing the latest political blogs, we had to rescue the kitchen from Josh who had, on 5 separate occasions gotten into the refrigerator, each time removing & rearranging various food items. One of those times, he had taken out a container of blueberries & turned it upside down, spilling out the entire contents & as I tried to pick them up off of the floor, he began backing up, stepping on & smashing the blueberries, not only onto the floor, but also onto his shoes & before I could catch him, began running out into the living room where my newly cleaned carpet awaited him (fear not Tom, your hard work was spared as Christopher caught him before any damage could be done (FYI……. Tom Brown’s Carpet Care……the best Columbus has to offer – no charge for the free advertising Tom!!). You know, even at 17 months old, they have the darndest memories – every time Josh comes over, the first place he goes, even before removing his coat, is into the kitchen & stands directly in front of the cabinet where I always keep my beloved M&M’s pointing & speaking in his “Joshese” until he is given his “fix”!! Mayce, on the other hand uses her more accomplished verbal skills to command your attention. She already has quite a vocabulary & loves getting on Stephanie’s I-phone while she walks all over the house chatting away to whoever happens to be on the other end (kids are such great imitators & Mayce has obviously been very observant of her parent’s mode of communicating LOL!!). Now the first thing she does when she comes over to the house is to point to my laptop & repeats over & over, “Papa, Papa”………..it seems that one day when Stephanie stopped by, I was working on burning a video to a DVD (reference the above KISS principle!!:)) that I had taken of the Schultheis Sibling OBX vacation & Mayce saw Crick sitting around the table playing cards with everyone & so now she always wants me to play the video so she can see him:(. Once she has seen Crick she is happy, & not having the brute strength of “demolition man” to open & begin cleaning out my refrigerator (lol), she insists that we watch the You Tube video of the 1940’s version of “The Three Little Pigs”. When Olivia was born 12 yrs ago, I began reading this story to the grandkids & now the You Tube version has become Nana’s “signature” story (See picture above) The little ones just love to “huff & puff & blow a house down”. I continually remind them about the “smart” pig who didn’t speed through his chores, but worked long & hard completing his task of building a strong house before taking time for some fun. (do you suppose there is a subliminal political message in there somewhere???).

Did I mention the “p” word??? Oh…….yes……… I…….did…….which leads right into my next thought……the primary election taking place today. Given my passion for what is going on in our country (remember, I didn’t seek this all out……it was Aunt Evie’s fault…she is the one who asked me to find out who Bill Ayers was!!), I decided that I would volunteer at the phone bank for Rick Santorum & and so I spent 3 hours over 2 days calling eligible voters, most of whom are, as yet, still undecided. I did make sure to immediately identify myself & that I was calling on behalf of the campaign. Somewhat surprisingly, most of the people actually answered their phones & were very polite & often most willing to engage in a little give & take regarding the differences between the candidates. No matter which side of the aisle we find ourselves politically, we are fortunate to remain, for now at least, free to cast our vote for the candidate of our choice. Sometimes the process is a little messy, but the freedom to give voice to our religious & political views without fear of any reprisal is not only a great privilege, but also a very grave responsibility. Did I just get up on that darned old soapbox?? Seems as though I did (it does seem to come out of nowhere though), guess I had better move on, huh?

Let’s see……….on Wednesday, the K thru 4 IC students were at Mass & Monsignor Missimi came down off the altar for his homily to walk up & down the aisle asking the students if they had ever made a promise to their parents, & if so, what had they promised. Lots of little hands went up & as Monsignor called on them, their replies were fairly typical, “clean my room”, “do the dishes”, “make my bed”, “do my homework” & then the last little boy Monsignor called on said that his promise was “to take a shower” LOL!!! Then Monsignor called on him to come out into the main aisle & asked everyone if this little guy wasn’t the most sparkling clean kid ever??!!! You just never know what you’re going to get with kids:). Monsignor also spoke to them about the Lenten practices of prayer & sacrifice. And he asked them if they all would be willing to make a promise to him that every morning when they got out of bed, they would first kneel down & say a prayer asking for God’s help & guidance. Of course, they all raised their hands that they would promise. I should remember to ask Luke, Natalie & Sophia how that’s going for them!!! On the subject of sacrifices, when I picked up the “TGI Friday grandkids” from school last week they were discussing Lent & what they were planning to give up & I chimed in that I thought it would be a great idea for Natalie to “give up talking” to Sam & for Sam to “give up talking” to Natalie……………….what a peaceful 6 weeks that would be for Jennifer & Jim!!!!!!! (LOL)

One last thought………….I had to go out to the Beightler Armory this past week to have a new military ID taken for insurance purposes. As I entered the building, several National Guardsmen dressed in their fatigues & boots were waiting to sign in & I couldn’t help but think of Crick & how happy & proud he was to have been one of them for 20 years. He always had a deep, abiding respect for the military & I know from all of the citations he received while he was in the service that that admiration was equally reciprocated. Every Guardsman I came in contact with at the Armory always prefaced or ended a sentence by calling me “Ma’am”. It is only when I am among military personnel that I am ever called “Ma’am” & it never fails to call to my mind, how my Dad (who was the youngest Major in the US army during WW II) insisted that all of his children reply to any adult as “Yes/No Sir or Ma’am”…….how times have changed!!! Anyway, getting my ID consisted of having my picture taken & getting a fingerprint of the index finger of each hand……………funny thing about those fingerprints……….they kept registering as “invalid”…………….now how in the world do you have an “invalid” fingerprint???? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the index finger of my left hand was fractured one Christmas night 5 years ago when I tripped over Riley (Christine & Mike’s golden retriever, & yes, I know, how could I not see such a big dog?…………………..Mike’s home insurance agent wanted to know the same thing!! And whenever Mike reminds me of how I raised his insurance premium, I remind him that an insurance premium is cheaper than the lawsuit I could have brought against him for allowing his dog to lay right in my path!! LOL)

More & more thoughts are popping up into this cluttered mind of mine especially as the results of the primaries are coming in………..better sign off for now as it is getting very late. Before closing out this post, I found what I thought to be an appropriate ending excerpted from one of my daily readings:

“I the Creator of the Universe, am with you and for you. What more could you need? When you feel some lack, it is because you are not connecting with Me at a deep level. I offer abundant Life, your part is to trust Me, refusing to worry about anything. It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about those events. Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation to bring about the results you desire. Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life. The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence. Stop all your striving & watch to see what I will do. I am the Lord.”

TNT
TGW

P.S. March Madness is almost upon us………..can the Buckeyes find some much needed momentum coming off of their victory against the Spartans????????????!!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S. Several people have asked about how to receive a notification when a new blog is posted. At the bottom right hand corner of the post there is an icon & if one clicks on “follow” you will be prompted to provide an e-mail address & will receive e-mail notifications each time there is a new post:).

March 9th

P.P.P.S  AAAGGGGGGHHHHH……….okay, so………………………..I clicked on diaryofanut.com & it seems a different view of the post showed up with the “follow tab” on the top left corner of the page!!!!!  Heck, maybe I am not meant to be “followed” !!  You remember the old “Follow the Leader” game????  Who knows where you may end up “following” moi….. LOL!!!!!! Anyway, as this is a “learn as you go” process & I am instructionally challenged:), it takes this old girl many hours of trial, error & frustration before the light bulb  comes on (an “incandescent” one mind you!) & I realize that I simply needed to add a “widget” (more blogging lingo) in the sidebar & voilla!  you can sign up for the “journey”………………..just don’t forget your life jacket!!!!!!!