NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Have you ever noticed that things are often not what they seem. Not just people, although that is often true. It holds true for happenings, too. Apparently this phenomenon has been prevalent through the ages. Why else would we have those wise old proverbs that tell is not to "judge a book by its cover"?????????

Tonight was one of those "real life" reminders of the truth behind the saying. About 4:45 this afternoon I was standing with towel in hand, getting ready to wash my hair so I wouldn't scare anyone when I went to church. Lo and behold, all of our electricity went out. It's really hard to reach our breaker box, so I did the next best thing. I threw my towel over my shoulder and headed out the front door, looking up...looking down...looking all around. Not sure exactly what I thought I'd find; perhaps a big electric pole "downed" in the middle of the street?????????? Nope...I didn't find any "tell tale" signs to explain the outage, but what I did find was my neighbor...coming around the corner of her house....looking up....looking down...looking all around! No electricity at her house either. No computers available...no TVs with pictures...we might as well visit. So visit we did!!! We caught up on where all the family members are. We caught up on mutual friends who are ill. We laughed a lot.

What could have been a very annoying experience turned out to be fun and enjoyable. In fact, before the electricity returned about an hour and a half later, I had a chance to visit with another neighbor. More catching up. More laughing.

I'm glad the electricity went out. I'm glad the computers and TVs stopped working. I loved visiting with my neighbors. We should definitely do it more often!

Do I want to go back to the "days of old" when the distractions were fewer? Uh...I think I'll pass. The old body was getting a tad toasty without A/C!!!!!!!!! And I really MUST refresh my memory on how to get the car out of the garage when the garage door opener isn't available to open that door!

WEE HOURS

Have you ever noticed just how much more complicated things are in the late night hours or the wee hours of the morning? I've been playing with my blog...trying to get it all nice and spiffy for visitors...and for the life of me I can't find mp3 players that actually work. The ones I have on here used to work...I promise...honest...they played beautifully. But now they won't load. Bummer. They say "ready"...I click on the play arrow...and they start "loading." But they never FINISH loading...no matter how long I wait...believe me. So, I think I'll tackle this tomorrow. Mid morning. After all brain cells have awakened...and before the ones that were the early risers have finked out on me to go take a nap.

Sweet dreams!

WISDOM FOR A FRIDAY

'Tis a far, far better thing to check for ants BEFORE sitting down on the sidewalk instead of AFTER you have been sitting there for several minutes!

BUT I DIGRESS

Ahhhhhh...but I digress....what a wonderful phrase. So very, very useful when I discover that I have once again allowed myself to stray from the topic...when I have once again lost my focus....when I am exploring one of those tangents I quite frequently "go off on." My niece loves it, too!!!

Unfortunately, I think the appropriate term for right now is "regress" instead of "digress." In fact, I think I have regressed back to my "temper tantrum" stage. Not a full-blown tantrum, mind you. Just a bit of foot stomping and whining "I DON'T WANNA" in a somewhat annoying tone.

Last night I sat down and dutifully wrote out my "things I gotta do and projects I gotta finish" list. All nice and neat, with a nifty blank before each item on the list so that I can put a BIG check mark there when all is finished. A thing of beauty it is. So organized. So efficient. So fulfilling (once it is filled with BIG check marks).

A good night's sleep...a morning walk...time to tackle the list. Shall I start with item #1? I DON'T WANNA! Well, how about #2. I DON'T WANNA! Perhaps the third item on the list?? I STILL DON'T WANNA. And so went the afternoon...and evening. Did I put fabric softener in the load of towels waiting oh, so patiently in the washing machine? Uhh...that would be a negative. Did I accomplish anything on my list? NO! Am I totally clueless as to how I managed to stay busy all afternoon but cannot see anything accomplished. Guilty as charged. BUT, I am proud to report that I have this thing figured out. Go ahead and ask me, "Are there BIG check marks on your list now?"

YOU BET! I just went back and added the things I actually did!

Works for me!

HEAT

How's that for a generic subject!!!!

Silly me...saying that I was going to start blogging right before Vacation Bible School and a visit from our younger daughter. Apparently a few brain cells escaped just before I wrote the last blog entry; they are still missing.

Now, to tie this eloquence to the title as all good authors/authoresses should do, let me just say that even though we have had 15 days of triple digit heat so far, we are free from triple digit temps this week. In fact, we have had a "cold spell"...all the way down to 95. I have been pondering buying a new sweater!

My niece just moved to Las Vegas. I fear I must report that some of her brain cells are already warped. She has joined the "club" that promotes the fallacy that "105 isn't too terribly warm when the humidity is low." Honey...trust me....I'm about to turn 60 and have lots of experience under the old belt (and let's not mention how much surface area there is in that belt)! I feel it is my duty to inform you that 105 DEGREE DAYS ARE HOT!!!!!! I don't care if the humidity is a minus 49 1/2...it is still HOT! Now, granted, it may not slap you up side the head and hang bricks from your body, but it is still HOT!!!!!!

Lemonade and A/C, anyone??????

BLOGGING

For the past week I have been mentally composing blog entries...but not a single one of them has made its way to my actual blog. "And why is that?" you might ask. I'm thinking it is influenced by several thoughts...but probably the most prevalent "reason" is because I'm just too lazy to do that late at night. The other "reason" is probably because I don't think anyone reads it, and I already know what I'm thinking about writing.

But...my niece has started a blog, and I have had a WONDERFUL time reading it and finding out more of what is going on in her life.

Therefore, I shall try this blogging thing again. I shall try to "wax eloquent" on the minutia of my days. And who knows...someone just might read it one of these days!