Month: September 2012

Please don’t expect too much from this post as I will probably just be rambling on (not “ranting”, I promise!) as I have a head full of commentary on everything from family events to sports, to politics…….uh, don’t panic, with any luck I will run out of steam before I get to the “p” commentary.  (and if you believe that, you must be watching too much MSM…………..LOL)

First of all I have to give a “shout out” to Olivia and (niece) Tori who were the last group of the “two by two”‘s to pick their evening entertainment and then stay overnight with me.  They decided to follow Sam and Luke’s choice of going to Magic Mountain to play a round of miniature golf and then, after a little pleading from me, they climbed into the go-carts for a couple of races around the track.  I did have to laugh when they came separately to the house and they each showed up wearing the very same t-shirt.  Of course, they have no choice coming from an entire family of Watterson Eagles, but to be proud to show-off their “Lady Eagle” basketball camp wear………………even if it meant looking like they had planned it on purpose.  We had initially decided to keep score, but those darn miniature golf courses place some quirky little hills around the hole so that you either roll up or down or all around and it wasn’t long before we tossed the score card aside and just enjoyed laughing at the absurdity of it all!!!  The most fun of all was the go-cart which I, personally, had been dying to do all summer long.  A couple of years ago, Crick had introduced me to them when we had taken Olivia, Sam and Natalie to Magic Mountain and had them ride in the go-carts with us………..I had vowed to return one day, and so, thanks to Olivia and Tori, I finally did.  I must confess to exhibiting a bit of a double standard when it comes to pressing down on an accelerator, to which Crick, Megan and Stephanie could all attest.   As long as I am in the driver’s seat and have control, I can be known as a bit of a speedster, however, when I am a passenger, it is a whole different story!  Anyone exceeding the speed limit by even five miles per hour will be harassed by the worst back seat driver on the planet (am I telling the truth, Meg/Steph????)!!!!!!! LOL  This all brings to mind an incident from wayyyyy back when I was working for a pedodontist in Worthington and Kathy was working for an orthodontist a few blocks down the street.  Mom had driven up to meet us for lunch and we had all hopped into one car to drive together to the local restaurant and were headed back afterwards to our respective offices (and Mom to her car) when all of sudden we heard what sounded like words blaring from a loud-speaker.  Eventually we all began to make out those words which were now being repeated over and over, “Will the lady in the red car, please pull over!”  You might correctly guess who was at the wheel…………………..well, I looked in the rear view mirror and finally saw the flashing lights of a Worthington police cruiser which had apparently been trying to get our attention!  Yikes!!!!  Being a law abiding citizen, I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and when he came over to the driver’s side to ask for my driver’s license and registration, he asked if I knew why we were being pulled over.  Of course, I really had no idea, I only knew that we were running late and that is why we were taking a short cut back to the offices and now…………………he was going to make us really, really, really late :)!!  So, he said, “Well for one thing, you were exceeding the speed limit…………………… and, for another thing, you did not come to a complete stop at that Stop sign back there.”  Ooooooooooooooppppppppppppppssssssssssss!  Cha-ching…………………and double cha-ching!!!!  There is a saying among the Clark siblings………………….if you have Clark blood flowing anywhere through your veins, you are a marked person, meaning that, if you happen to be the “needle in the haystack”…………….you will be found…………..mark our words!!  LOL  The outcome of this little “incident” was that he decided to let me off on the “not coming to a complete stop”, but the speeding ticket he gave me made for a rather expensive lunch.  The police officer even declined to write an excuse for Kathy and me to give to our doctors, explaining how he had so inconveniently detained us, (LOL) so that when we eventually returned to work, we then had another price to pay in the disapproving looks from both of our bosses.   Ah, the lessons of life!!

Speaking of lessons………….I could sure use some “golf” ones!  Jo, Christine, Julie (Christine’s sister-in-law) and I played again over a week ago.  And, since I did not want all of the angels and saints in heaven to have to hear Crick bellow, “Now, where do you think your ball is going to go?”,  I had Jo occasionally stand behind me to see if I was positioned correctly.  (I sheepishly admit that for a long, long, very long time my sense of direction quite simply did not exist until Crick finally realized that when he said “north” my mind interpreted “north” to be whichever direction my body happened to be facing – ergo, south was behind me and west was to the left side of me and east to the right side of me – what could possibly go wrong?????  please keep in mind that I was a Girl Scout drop-out!!).  For the first four holes my game was actually beginning to show some promise for the first time all summer as I focused on just keeping my head down.  The downside of that tactic was that by the fourth hole, I had already lost three balls (if my head is down how can I see where the ball is going ??)  From then on, I seem to metamorphose into Rory McIlroy on the back nine of the 2011 Masters Tournament…………..my game began to collapse like a deck of cards!

Speaking of cards (I told you there was a lot going on inside my head!)…..several weeks ago, Jo and Tom had some of us over to their house for dinner and a friendly (ha!) game of cards.  They decided to play Scum (also known as President, Kings, and many other names), which is a card game for three or more in which players race to get rid of all of the cards in their hands in order to become President in the following round………..if you happen to be the last one holding cards you become Scum .  (Don’t think I didn’t just realize that there is a “p” word in that sentence, but I will come back to that).  Now, of course, my family all knows that I would love to become President of anything just so that everyone would then have to agree with me and I could make up all of the rules as I go along (kind of like someone I know who is currently “occupying” the WH, but I digress), unfortunately, that didn’t happen this particular night.  Instead, we, all nine of us, became convinced that the spirit of Crick was somehow hovering over the table to ensure that I would lose six out of the nine games that we played.  After I lost the first three games, Tom assured me that players never lose that consistently in this game especially since we were playing with so many people.  Well, after my third stint of being named Scum, I came to the conclusion that I simply needed to change seats and so I switched with Kathy and lost the very next game, and then I switched with Ben and lost that game too!!!  That was the point at which we knew that Crick must have been having a very good time commuting between the physical and the spiritual worlds to mess with the cards to make sure that I, not only never became President but, that as Scum, I would never have any power!!!!! LOL

Family…………..you may all now breathe that collective sigh of relief as I am well over my twelve

hundred word limit and am running out of steam; and so there really will not be any political ranting:) in this post.  Except for one tiny little item of note…………………..I heard that Senator Marco Rubio was going to be at the State House yesterday afternoon and so I went down to see him.  He spoke passionately and extemporaneously for almost thirty minutes about the choice we have before us in November and when he was finished speaking, and had made his way around to where I was standing, I reached out, shook his hand, and thanked him for speaking so eloquently and without the use of a teleprompter!!!

I hope that you don’t mind that I leave you once again with an excerpt from my daily devotional, for today, as it always, always, always seems to do, the reflection speaks directly to me and to all of my concerns for the many “battles” being waged in our culture:

There is a mighty battle going on for control of  your mind.  Heaven and earth intersect in your mind; the tugs of both spheres influence your thinking.  I created you with the capacity to experience foretastes of heaven.  When you shut out the world and focus on My Presence, you can enjoy sitting with Me in heavenly realms……………As you concentrate on Me, My Spirit fills your mind with Life and Peace.

The world exerts a downward pull on your thoughts, Media bombard you with greed, lust and cynicism.  When you face these things, pray for protection and discernment.  Stay in continual communication with Me whenever you walk through the wastelands of this world.   Refuse to worry, because this form of worldliness will weigh you down and block awareness of My Presence.  Stay alert, recognizing the battle being waged against your mind.  Look forward to an eternity of strife-free living reserved for you in heaven.                      from Jesus Calling

“Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in him,because everything there is in the world — disordered bodily desires, disordered desires of the eyes, pride in possession — is not from the Father but is from the world.”                                                   John 2: 15-17

TNT

TGW

P.S.  I really should go pray right now, because I still have these “worldly” thoughts in my head concerning a topic I neglected to touch on!!  The “world of sports”………………………..I am thinking……………. OSU football now in full swing……………..my Fantasy Football team’s HUGE win over Tom Brown’s team this past weekend 104-62 (so sorry Tom:) ……….Mike……you better get ready, I’m coming after you next!) thanks to a much better showing by Cam Newton, Ray Rice and Victor Cruz …………………………and, of course,……………..those “aging” Yankees still hanging on to a half game lead over the Orioles despite an injury to Teixeira……………..love, love, love that Andy Pettitte is getting set to return!!!

P.P.S.  THAT IS ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!