Stories and other stuff

At the five hours left of 2013 mark, I am laying in bed watching a movie and waiting for my roomie to come home.  She's been tending kids. She's late. I had a visitor earlier today.  It was not a happy visit.  It was the end of something that started out pretty good about a week after the divorce was final.  It wasn't meant to be.  It's funny how little things come back to you.  One today is a stern talking to I got from said MIA roommate about saying "no". I said no a lot at the end of 2013. It didn't always result in a positive ending. This is how one went:  "You said no...so bye."  Curt and to the point. That didn't hurt. Much.  It's not like it was the first time I'd said it. There's nothing left from 2013 to carry into 2014.  Other than the immigrant, it's just me and the dogs and her pussycats.  The pussycats are not long for this address.  Saying no means saying no to unreasonable things in my own home. ...

I had a bit of a conversation about Scripture and homosexuality earlier this week with someone who goes by the name Xander.  Part of it was about love being a sin.  Well, sometimes whether or not we like it, love can be a sin.  It's not exclusive to homosexuals.  There are lots and lots of times that love between a man and a woman can be a sin. Here we go. One of the most famous examples of this I can think of is a romance between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.  Mr. Tracy was Catholic and divorce for him wasn't an option.  And the rest, as they say, is Hollywood legend. But what about when that chicken comes home to roost closer to home.  Earlier this week, I found myself in that position. And I had to say no to something that I couldn't find a scriptural way to make right.  I found myself at that intersection of my own life and Scripture and I had to make a decision: "Do I love God more?" For me the answer was yes, I love...

Cooking for one isn't something I can do.  I'm not even gonna pretend.  That's why I'm putting in a shameless plug for my foodsaver gadget. I smoked a turkey for sandwiches.  I sucky-saved some.  I also sucky-saved what was left of the Christmas roast.  I have another turkey I roasted.  Both were very small turkeys; just for sandwiches and for roasting.  I got to try sausage stuffing in the turkey I cooked yesterday.  It's still in the fridge. Dinner tomorrow and Sunday.  I might make some rolls tomorrow for the sandwiches.  Or not.  There's always turkey clubs with the bacon left from Christmas breakfast.  Then again, open faced turkey sandwiches sound pretty good too.  I can still make gravy from the drippings I saved. The bones from the roast are in the oven now, covered in barbeque sauce.  They had lots of meat on them so I decided to cut the roast at the bone and save them for lunch or dinner.  ...

I'm not gonna let this Christmas thing go.  I mean that.  You shouldn't either. I know a little bit about what the world looks like with no Christmas because I had the good fortune(?) to spend a Christmas Day in a place where Christmas doesn't exist.  I was in a place where lots of things don't exist, like religious freedom, freedom of speech, and a lot of what we as Americans take for granted. Here were the rules for celebrating Christmas:  Small decorations were allowed but could not be viewed from a window.  No large gatherings for religious ceremony.  Small groups OK, but only at the compound and only small groups.  No liquor.  Period. Christmas Day, 1990 was spent in Saudi Arabia.  At the compound that housed American contractors.  We had a special meal.  It was called a special meal, not a holiday meal.  Other than that, it was just another day.  It came and went without carols, snow, hymns and songs about Jesu...

This isn't what you might think it is although when I spent $100 on a roast I think it's time to rethink a little bit of Christmas up around in here (we don't eat like that always, but still...).  This is for my non-believing friends. A friend of mine mentioned on Facebook the other day he likes some of the little memes I share because they're positive.  He also made a point of telling me he's not a believer. But you couldn't prove that by looking at his Facebook page. He shared a photo a few weeks ago of his Christmas tree.  Today it was a photo of his Nativity set.  I want to ask him, but won't, of course, how he reconciles the the latter with the former.  It kind of seems to me he believes in something.  Kind of anyway. This is one of them things where I'm not throwing rocks, by the way.  I was like this for most of my life so I have no room to talk and if I were to say anything to my friend (or to you dear reader) it would be simply that yo...

I do try to tell my stories but often they're lacking because I don't take this particular piece of advice.  I tried it once and it was a really horrible idea. I actually stole this meme from a Christian post on Facebook.  I think it's OK to tell our stories but sometimes the equally important thing our mothers taught us when we were young should rue the day.  That gem is "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". Which of these is more full of wisdom, dear reader, is for you to decide. It's in the vain of the latter, as opposed to the former that the rest of this post is written. I figured out the whole KISMET thing.  Actually it was figured out for me by some legal papers I received in the mail the other day.  They, when final, will put an end to the saga of the last four years. The irony is that the same man's name I have on numerous sets of orders for the military also appears as the Attorney General for ...

I woke up this morning at six thirty for no particular reason.  Well, that I know about anyway.  I couldn't get back to sleep so I did what I've done a zillion times before in my life; I turned on the TV.  There was a short movie on from MGM from back in the day.  It was Scrooge in about five minutes.  I'm sure it was snippets of a longer movie they made.  Anyway, after the Scrooge bit, they went into an advertisement for the movie KISMET.  There's a word you don't hear every day, right?  Anywyay, the guy holds up a record album (for you kids that are too young, CDs used to be called albums or records or both) of the soundtrack of this particular film.  Then they cut to a scene from the movie.  I wasn't feeling it so I changed the channel for a minute then turned the thing off. I don't think too much of things.  I mean that. I can't help but see the things I do.  You never know what each day will bring.  Keep that in min...

Today's theme is about give and take. Saturday' post was a prime example of give and take.  I lost $320 in overtime wages.  I lost another $140 for parts and tools for my truck.  I gained a new battery and new tools.  I was in a place where that plan came together because God let the breakdown happen where I could easily take care of it. Today's devotional in Our Daily Bread is about the good and bad and how God uses them to mold our character. The example used was the story of Jonah. My pastor's blog today was a book review about how God transforms men.  The story of David and Bathsheba is a great example of sin, forgiveness, and redemption.  It's also an illustration of what God gives and takes away.  God took the child produced in adultery and later on gave them Solomon, who is credited as being the wisest man who ever lived.  Even he had his issues, though. The third thing was about what fire gives and takes in the Yellowstone ecosystem....

The immigrant is tending babies today.  When she does that and it doesn't happen here, it adds to the chaos and confusion of keeping things ship-shape here at Lark Circle.  When she's gone taking care of me falls to me and I don't do such a hot job of that sometimes.  I try but things never look as nice and clean when I do them as when she does. I did get a lot done today before setting out for work.  I mopped my bathroom and cleaned the carpet in my bedroom.  I washed the dishes I dirtied last night after work.  I swept which is a chore around here. And I went on a search and destroy mission to find the battery charger for my cordless drill.  It wasn't where I put it but I did manage to find it.  It's the beginning of the things I'm thankful for today. I have a lot to be thankful for today even though it won't sound like it as I tell the story.  Some of it was my own fault for not doing what I needed to.  Lessons learned the hard wa...

I really didn't sit down to write a blog post.  I am sitting through the credits of a movie that's just starting.  It's a favorite; Auntie Mame  made in 1958 and starring Rosalind Russell in the title role.  It's a great film. The film was introduced by a costume designer.  The same man who designed the costumes for my all-time favorite movie, and incidentally, although arguably, the best movie ever made; Casablanca.   The woman, whose name I forget, spoke the introduction in flowery prose.  She's creative.  She uses creative words.  For example, something a person like her might say may go like this: The ground was covered in a white blanket of snow, the flakes gently falling in the quiet of the night. Me, I would say "It's snowing out." I can't be flowery.  It's the mechanic in me.  I can use straightforward words, usually of the two syllables or less variety, and keep it "real".  It's the linear thinker in me. I ca...

I write often about my dog Bucket.  He's a character, to be sure.  Me and Buck.  Don't know what I'd do without him.  He's over there on his side of the bed, snoring.  He's quite content. When I got up this morning at seven to take care of some personal business, Katie was on the bed too.  I went out to the kitchen to get a drink of water and when I got back, Katie was in my spot on the bed, head on my pillow, and wasn't gonna move for nothing.  I moved her and she grumped and we got to sleep again.  But not without Bucket getting into the act. He's very jealous.  He wormed his snout in so he was closer and that's when I thought to myself that Katie will come up and hang out when she wants to but Bucket is different.  He's an "every down" kind of dog.  It's a football analogy.  Bucket plays every play.  He's always underfoot.  He's always right there whether I'm happy or not.   If I was gettin' too close to t...

The stock market is up.  There is no earthly reason for it.  Here's my point:  Holiday shopping is down 3% over last year.  Last year sucked.  And what were people buying?  Clothes.  Apparel items led the charge for sales.  That's not good because people are buying necessities to give each other over luxuries.  That's not a happy start to the shopping season. I say all of that on top of this:  roughly 3/4 of all economic activity in this country is driven by consumer spending.  And folks are buying clothes which we don't make anymore.  No more looking for the "union label when you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse."  There are still small companies that make textiles in America, but they are few, and small. Black Friday used to be a retail industry term for the day company books made it into the black.  Now it's something I'm pretty sure Jesus would frown upon.  Fights, crowds, avarice, greed, you name it, ...