Do I know how to get your attention, or what??!!!  And why, oh why, does our President torment me so????  There I was sitting in my living room watching the championship game as Kentucky was beating up on Louisville………… & then……………. halftime happened, & out of nowhere…………. “he” shows up for yet another (!!!!!!!) interview (er, correct that……campaign speech)!  Even I was trying to escape from politics for an evening!!!!   I immediately picked up the phone & called Christopher (he is now my “political” sounding board) & then l pulled out my laptop & found CBS sports’ e-mail address & sent off a complaint……..LOL!!!!!  Okay, okay, I know it probably went to their spam inbox, but taking some kind of action made me feel better & brought my BP down a few notches :).

Moving on now to the Buckeye “pity party” promised in my last post…………………boo hoo hoo…………”tears on my pillow, pain in my heart, caused by you” (lyrics from Little Anthony’s song – more Google searching for you youngsters!!!)………. we were, oh so close, but apparently the wrong team came out of the locker room for the second half!!!!  All of that being said, the Bucks made it an exciting season & getting to the Final Four was quite an accomplishment.  I must say that I am not sorry about seeing Jared Sullinger leave for the NBA…………I think that his ego got a bit too big for the Buckeyes………and anyway, we have Craft, Thomas, et al who are anxious to have another shot at the NCAA title next year………….so stay tuned!

Let’s see, what else has been going on around here that hasn’t either made me go crazy (B.O.) or made me cry (the Buckeyes)???  Oh yeah, the “rose-bush incident”.  As I am always doing battle with a little bit of OCD  (Christine told me that I really have “CDO”…………………..it’s just like OCD……………only in alphabetical order………………………………..just as it should be!).  Anyway, two weeks ago as my eyes were scoping out our backyard “jungle”, I decided it was time to resurrect “Edwina” Scissorhands & so I hauled out the electric hedge trimmer & the “electrical taped “repaired electric cord (if you remember, I have this propensity for cutting through not only, hedges, but cords as well).  Having successfully accomplished the task of neatly trimming back all of the overgrowth (electrical cord still intact!), I set about digging up several bushes which were crowding the landscape.  These pesky bushes were more deeply rooted in the ground than I had thought, but I persevered & after I pulled four of them, I decided to go after one last bush………….it was a rose-bush.  Now here is where Crick enters into the story.  Late last summer as I was once again on a mission to “organize” the yard, Crick stepped out the back door & saw me, shovel in hand, attacking two of the four rose bushes in the rock garden.  He yelled out, “What are  you doing to those rose bushes, there is nothing wrong with them!!”  To which I replied, “I have never liked these rose-bushes & so I am digging them up  & getting them out of here.”  He restated that they were perfectly fine bushes, that he liked them, and so, we compromised ………two out of the four were spared from “Edwina”.  That is……………..until just about two weeks ago.  So…………..as I surveyed the yard once more, my eyes came to rest on the two remaining rose-bushes & with the shovel as my accomplice, I set about to take the two, down to one!  When I finished, with rose-bush & roots in hand, & as I was stepping down from the elevated area of the rock garden, my foot hit a low spot & twisted just enough so that I immediately knew I had damaged something.  I went inside to put some ice on “my left foot” (anyone remember the movie from 1989″????) & as I sat looking at my foot, I thought about Crick & thought that perhaps, just perhaps, he might be chuckling to himself………………..I imagine that if I could hear him now, he would be saying, “You just couldn’t let it go, could you?………you had to have your way :)!”  Well, of course I did, and now, I am paying for it :).  I had an x-ray taken this week & learned that I have a non-displaced fracture in my foot & will be heading to an orthopedic foot doctor on Tuesday.  Hopefully, the doc will decide if I just need to continue wearing a foot boot for a while longer & that the fracture will just heal on its own.  End of story (I hope!).

Now, after hearing of this next particular incident which took place earlier in the week,………………do you think I have become too much of a morning fixture at Bob Evans??  You see, as I am a creature of habit (I inherited this trait from Dad)………….after morning Mass, I invariably head to “the Bob” along with “Oscar” to have breakfast (my favorite meal of the day) & to research the political news of the day.  Several of the servers know my routine (pathetic, I know!) & on this particular day, I also came armed (oops, politically incorrect word there) with a coupon for a free coffee.  On this visit my server who was not a “regular”,  very pleasantly took my order for a “well-cooked” waffle.  Now, there is also a bit of a side story to the waffle order as Christine, Erin, Katie, Bobby & Jo can attest to……………………maybe a year or so ago, B.E. decided to take the Belgian waffle & the cinnamon roll off the menu……….GASP!!  They didn’t even conduct a survey of their patrons………….I mean, surely grits & fruit were more expendable than my two favorites………………..and soooooo since then my choices have been reduced to eggs/toast, french toast or a hot cake.  This “creature of habit” does not deviate from these three food choices, even though the management finally realized the error of their ways & returned the waffle to the menu a couple of months, they raised the price of the waffle, & so I must now choose frugality over favorites!!    Okay so, back to the waffle order story…………………….the server returned to my table with the “very precisely cooked” waffle which I proceeded to bite into when Eric (a “regular” AM server) walks over to my booth, stares at my waffle & asks, “Did you get the right order today????  I saw the order come up to the window & I figured someone had put in the wrong order for you!!”  I explained to him, that since I was getting a free coffee that day, I could splurge on my favorite waffle.  He smiled & walked away, & then not three minutes later, Charles (another of the “regulars”) came over to check on me, taking note of my waffle, thinking as Eric had, that my server had given me the wrong breakfast!!  As he too walked away smiling, I could overhear the two of them commenting behind the counter to each other about how they had both assumed that the waffle couldn’t possibly have been mine!!

As I read that last paragraph over, I began thinking to myself that I continue to reveal waaaayyyyy too much about myself, but then, I see the heading at the top of the page & it reads:…………. diary of a nut………………………..what, I guess, would one expect??   Could Crick have imagined that his designating me a “nut” would one day lead me, myself, to declare it to the entire world?????  Methinks, I underestimated his wisdom all along…..LOL!!!!

Before I close out a post, I usually like to pass along words of inspiration that have encouraged me to see the “glass half-full” & have provided solace to my many anxieties.  The following passage from Jesus Calling is one that I find myself referring back to quite frequently, for it alludes to Isaiah 30:15 “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:  By waiting and calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies.”………………………………………………………………..

“Let Me fill you with my Love, Joy and Peace.  These are the Glory-gifts, flowing from my living Presence………….as you go through this day, trust Me to provide the strength you need moment by moment.  Don’t waste energy wondering whether you are adequate for today’s journey.  My Spirit within you is more than sufficient to handle whatever this day may bring.  That is the basis for your confidence.  In quietness (spending time alone with Me) and confident trust (relying on My sufficiency) is your strength.”

Have a great week!

TNT

TGW