September 1, 2007
Too Much?
Blogs, websites, e-mails, article writing… When is enough enough?
I guess I found out the answer. Rather than continue to blog here, I’ve decided to go back to Plan A. I’m returning all of my entries to my website www.tidbitsandstuff.com. All of my blog entries here can be found under My 2 Cents section of my site.
Hope to see you there!
July 20, 2007
Does your yes mean no and no mean yes?
When you say yes, do you mean yes? When you say no do you mean no?
Sounds simple, but unfortunately, people have made it difficult.
If you have a reputation for being are a person of your word, and you are asked a question your yes or no will stand on its own. Folks who don’t often keep their word will have to bolster their yes by saying things like, “Yes, I promise, I swear I’ll do it. No, really, I mean it this time. Cross my heart.”
Those are the words of someone who has been unreliable in the past.
Think about it. Do you promise to take your kids to the park and find that the day is getting away from you? As the day gets later you realize its time to prepare dinner, and you no longer have the time or energy to take them? Understandable, but did you make a promise that you would? Is your yes a yes, or is it a ‘yes, but look at my circumstances and understand why I can’t take you.’ In other words, your yes was not a yes.
Here’s a biblical point of reference for you, Matthew 5:37: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.“
I’m pointing this out because at the time I read that I was knee deep in not living up to a promise to my daughter. As silly as it sounds, I had promised that I would wake her up early so we can take a walk around the lake. In my mind, I wanted to spend a little time reading my Bible before I woke her up. Then I read Matthew 5:37. I looked at the time and realize that I had spent ample time reading and should put the good book down to live up to my promise.
Darn it. My yes has to be yes and my no, no.
After sharing the above verse with my 11 year old daughter, she now understands when she pesters me to go to the mall and I say no, don’t bother me with it again because my yes is yes and my no…
July 10, 2007
Galatians 6:9 – Don’t Faint!
Don’t faint! Keep on doing good and in due time you’ll reap your rewards. It’s true. The Bible says so:
Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Let’s break down this verse into bite-sized nuggets that are easier to digest:
- “And Let us not be weary in well doing…” You know what that means. Your daughter’s school chaperone cancelled out on a school trip the very day you took off so that you can enjoy a much needed ‘mental health day’. However, your smart daughter, knowing you took a day off from work, volunteered your services. You are absolutely worn out and weary, but you remember Galatians 6:9 and you decide to forfeit your day and go on the trip (that darned ‘well doing’ will get you every time).
- “…for in due season you shall reap…” Oh man, the due season can be a tough one. For some strange reason, my thought of what a season is and God’s thought of what a season is never seems to match. Let’s face it, God’s been around for a long, long time. Our whole life is a blip on a very long time line. What is 60, 70, 80 or even 100 years when you’ve got eternity. In our minds, a day, week or even month of hardship constitutes a season. God doesn’t always agree with us.
Things may be tight financially and your next mortgage payment is a stretch but you continue to tithe faithfully and thankfully (well doing). After you meet your mortgage payment you’re not quite sure how you’re going to cover the car note (a season of financially belt pulling), but you will not grow weary because after all, it’s only for a season. As Galatians 6:9 says, “don’t grow weary of well doing.”
- “…if we faint not..” You may be feeling a bit lightheaded and as woozy as they come, but faint not! Have faith because the Lord will see you through! As you stagger dizzily through your season, you are not going to faint. You continue because you know in due season you shall reap if you ‘faint not’.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had to use the smelling salts a time or 5, but I refuse to faint. I don’t want to be down for the count when my due season arrives!
That’s my take on it!
February 15, 2007
National Meal Appreciation Day
Although this is a widely celebrated holiday, it is usually celebrated in secret by parents (usually women, but not exclusively women) who just need to remember what its like to sit down and eat a plate of food uninterrupted. I think the first celebration of this holiday was in the late 1400’s. It coincided with the invention of the first golf club (go figure).
I hope I don’t get into trouble for spilling the beans, but I’m coming out of the closet to tell you how I celebrate the very widely celebrated yet secretive holiday.
Usually, in preparation, I make sure the house is clean. It’s hard to celebrate this holiday in the midst of toys and clutter. Secondly, I make sure I have all of the necessary ingredients for the meal of choice. Did I forget to mention that National Meal Appreciation Day usually only applies to one meal? Since the holiday’s inception, it has been very rare for celebrants to figure out how to get enough time to appreciate two meals in one day. We’re thankful for the one. (Please don’t confuse this holiday with Thanksgiving which should really be re-named “National Over Consumption, Eat Like a Piggy Day.)
The key factor to this holiday is making sure that my children and husband are adequately occupied (He’s out 
golfing and the kiddies at a scheduled sleepover at a friends house). Remember to find something and someplace for the dog too. It’s hard to enjoy a good meal with an extra pair of begging eyes staring at you.
Once they’re all gone, I pull out my ingredients and start preparing my meal. While preparing the meal, I set the table with my ‘fine china’ (this means I don’t use paper plates). I set the candle and pull out an actual wine glass with a stem. The music is playing softly in the background and the fragrance of the fresh flowers is wafting gently.
This year I’ve prepared home made lentil soup which is followed by an entrée of Shrimp Frances over spaghetti squash. To compliment this meal I pour a cool crisp glass of Pinot Grigio which is ever so respectfully illuminated by the gentle glow of the candle.
For dessert I arrange sliced organic bananas in my favorite dessert bowl topped with whipped cream, sprinkles of chopped pistachios and carob chips (my substitute for chocolate chips).
Ahh. I sit down in anticipation of an enjoyable relaxing delicious meal when the phone rings. My daughter is missing me and wants to come home. My son left his favorite video game on his bed and needs it right now and my husband’s partner never showed up to play golf so they’re all coming home. Oh, and the dog…well he just up chucked because he was nibbling on Barbie’s remote control Jeep.
Oh well. There’s always next year!
That’s my take on it.
January 19, 2007
Ephesians 4:29
Are you familiar with the saying, “When you know better, you do better”? Well, for all of you who are not prepared to do better, click away now. I’m going to share something with you that you might not want to have to answer for later; so rather than read this article and not do better, leave now. For those of you with nowhere to go, Visit Hudson Valley.
Now that I’ve emptied the room, here’s my two cents for the day:
A Sunday or two ago, the Pastor at the church I’ve been attending challenged us to apply Ephesians 4:29 for one day. For those of you that are not familiar with Ephesians 4:29, it’s a book, chapter and verse from the New Testament of the Bible. It goes like this “Let no corrupt words proceed from your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (NKJ – which means New King James translation of the Bible)
In other words, if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone (“…no corrupt words proceed from your mouth…), be quiet. Additionally, not only should you be quiet if you have nothing nice to say, don’t be a brown noser and go about unnecessarily flattering people .( “..what is good and necessary for edification…”). To top it off, the necessary uplifting words that fall from your mouth will make the person listening feel good (“…impart grace to the hearers.”).
I took the challenge of applying Ephesians 4:29 to my life for one day. Hmmm, I don’t think the Pastor meant for me to rather forcibly yell “Ephesians 4:29!” every time I wanted to say something rude or bad about someone, but it did happen a few times until I got the hang of it. You see it went like this:
My teen-aged son advised me that he didn’t want to take a more challenging English class in school next year. Bottom line, his thought process was the class would cause him to put in more effort than he wanted to put in. Additionally it would interfere with his social life. 
My initial response … nope, I didn’t respond as I normally would. First, in a tone rather too loud for the existing conversation, I belted out EPHESIANS 4:29! Ah… that being said, I repeated it again a little lower and a little softer. I said it yet again, but this time my voice was at an appropriate level for the current conversation. Needless to say, I had my son’s full attention.
He watched me as I morphed into an understanding mother who, having had been a teenager once (a long, long time ago), understood his plight. I was calm and edifying and I imparted my wisdom. His responses were surprisingly well thought out and articulate. We continued with this banter for about an hour and a half (I don’t think I’ve got the Ephesians thing down efficiently, because the conversation should have been done and over in 15 seconds).
Here is where we left it for the time being: Because he’s taking many other honors classes, he is under the belief that this very challenging college-level class would put him over the top. It would prevent him from being able to play football, retain his high 90′s average and have a small social life.
As of this writing the issue is not resolved, but the lines of communication are open. If it wasn’t for Ephesians 4:29, our conversation could have ended within minutes of starting and the both of us would have ended up storming off. I’d say this outcome is a definite an improvement.
Having been so worn from our marathon conversation, later in the day my daughter inadvertently caught me in the throws of making snide comments. She walked up to me, cleared her throat, quietly said “Ephesians 4:29″ and left the room. Talk about stopping me in my tracks!
I’m a work in progress and have decided to “Do better, because I know better”. Now that you’ve read this, you know better, so do better. Ephesians 4:29!
That’s my take on it!
January 9, 2007
Too Much Perfume!
I appreciate a nice smelling person as much as the next guy does. Let’s face it, a nice cologne or perfume can act like an aroma therapy and enhance a person’s mood or recall a pleasant experience. Perfume is sensual and thus can create positive human reactions.
I believe the scent should emanate within a small personal space radius which requires rather close contact to enjoy the aroma. In other words, to smell it you’ve got to get within a person’s scent radius (generally extending about 1 foot from the scent wearer). The scent should waft softly and gently behind when you leave a room allowing the people behind to appreciate the sensual experience, but not be overwhelmed by it.
What you don’t want is to enter a room and people 20 feet away on the other side of the room begin to suffer watery eyes, headaches and dizziness. When nose hairs begin to singe and those around you are unable to speak, the perfume is too strong. As I mentioned earlier, person’s scent should gently waft around them, not aggressively attack everyone it comes into contact with like an offensive tackle for the NY Giants football team.
The worst of the perfume offenders is the very strong, very cheap perfume. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that one cannot find a nice scent at the drug store, but if you do, please wear it sparingly.
At what point is a person’s right to wear perfume encroaching on everyone else’s right to breathe? The aroma-therapeutic effect is no longer one of pleasant memories. One whiff of the olfactory offender induces the desire to dip the perfume wearer in a vat of boiling water and Ivory soap (Ivory because it’s unscented).
People, please be aware of your aroma, especially if you work with people in a confined area. If you notice that people appear to be angry with you and you can’t figure out why, maybe it’s the way you smell.
That’s my take on it!
July 24, 2006
Poops, He Did It Again!
Okay, bad enough she wanted a dog and I whimped out and let her have one. You would think that after a year and a half Mutsky would figure out that the puppy poopie area is not inside the house?
What gives, what am I doing wrong? The dog and I have a rather tenuous relationship. He sheds, I vacuum, he vomits, I clean, he eats human food, he gets diarrhea. Lovely relationship. I would say there’s a love – hate relationship, but that wouldn’t be accurate. There’s the dog – slave relationship. The dog eats poops and sleeps, I clean, vacuum and clean up.
We won’t mention the burnt grass spots in the lawn from where he pees. Why don’t they pee in the same spot and burn only one section of the lawn. My lawn looks like several alien spaceships had landed and left polka dots of burnt grass everywhere.
Now to the real crux of the matter. I’ve got this thing about poop. Changing my children’s diapers is about the max. I withstood their hazardous material because they were my children and I love them. Eventually they learned how to use a toilet.
Mutskie on the other hand…he just doesn’t get it. Several times a day we let him outside. He stands at the front door and stares wantingly to come back inside. Other times he just plain won’t go outside. What gives?
After coaxing him to go outside several times the other day (he reluctantly went), he then came inside to lay down. About an hour and a half later, the dog walks just past the living room, where the entire family is, and takes his poopie position and lays a huge one for all to see and smell.
Well, before I got a chance to post my two cents to the web, Mutsky really out did himself. Four times he went in the house. Since I can’t seem to get rid of the dog, I’m leaving. My next blog entry will be written from the van, because that is where I will reside until Mutsky leaves.
That’s my take on it.
June 27, 2006
Let girls be girls!
Last weekend my daughter was invited to a birthday party for one of her friends who was turning 10. All of the 
girls attending the party were either 9 or 10. The party was planned so that the girls would have pizza at the birthday girl’s house and then they would all go to the mall to complete the celebration. Parents were to pick up their daughters at Club Libby Lu in the mall.
Never having had the pleasure of shopping at Libby Lu before, I must say I was shocked when I got there to get my daughter. First of all, the store was very pink! Pink and purple and lace and girly stuff everywhere. There were tiaras, fairy dust, more pink and purple.
I walked in the store to find my 10 year old daughter dressed in a white and sliver sparkly spandex outfit. The top was sleeveless consisting of one shoulder while the other shoulder was a sequenced strap. The top came slightly below the top of ribcage and left about 4 or 5 inches of belly showing (when you’re ten years old, 4 or 5 inches of exposed belly is a lot).
The waistline of the white spandex pants was trimmed in silver sequence and so were the pant bottoms. Being spandex, it hugged her little body.
After getting over the initial shock of the outfit, I then zeroed in and realized that my 10 year old daughter had on eyeshadow, star decals around her eyes, glossy sparkling lipstick, her hair re-done into a bun atop her head with sprayed on sparkle and glitter. To top it all off, she was wearing a tiara.
My throat began to close. I felt like I was in a tunnel and I couldn’t speak for a moment. I was saved because as I was standing there with my mouth agape, other parents began to show up.
As I was leaving my trance, I saw one of the father’s standing there in shock. I asked him how comfortable was he standing in this pink place. He jokingly said, he’s getting into contact with his feminine side. We chuckled and I realized that I suddenly had the urge to go home and watch football, basketball, hockey, wrestling or even boxing. The place was getting to me.
Another mother showed up and stood there slowly looking around with her mouth open. I guess that’s how I looked a couple of minutes before. She was in shock.
To top it off, after they dress the girls up in the skimpy outfits, they parade them around the store singing and dancing and waving their hands/hips and anything else waveable. They paraded the girls to the front of the store (which is open for all mall walkers to see). Once at the front of the store they have the girls sing and dance and wave, shake and perform to whoever is walking by. Of course people stopped to watch.
All of the parents were standing there dumbfounded.
What is America coming to? I was mortified when my daughter said to me that she loved it and she wanted to have her party there. I mumbled under my breath, oh no you won’t. This place won’t be here a year from now, because I’ll have burned it to the ground. 
The other parents applauded and laughed, because they felt the same way.
No, I’m not a pyromaniac and I do not applaud burning establishments to the ground, but if a magic fairy were to grant me 3 wishes, my first wish would be to erase that place and places like that off the face of the earth. My next wish is to put some smarts into parents so they do not fall prey to societal pressures to dress young children up like little street walkers; and last, and certainly not least is to allow children to be children.
That’s my take on it.
June 13, 2006
I Love Computers
Very recently I was flooded with ideas and topics for my website. At my age when my brain thinks of something, I had better get on it before I forget. Immediately I hopped onto the computer and started my research when SCREECH…my computer got sick.
Wait, let me back that up (no pun intended). My computer had been showing signs of illness, but I ignored it. I usually backup and reformat it every 6 months to keep it healthy and it knows it. Well, it’s now the beginning of June and it’s ready for its 6 month back up, but like a bad parent, I ignored it. My solution to every illness is to drink a glass of water and put on a jacket (doesn’t seem to work for inanimate objects).
Anyway, I was typing away and all of a sudden, nothing. My system froze…then I froze. We were both frozen just staring at each other. Urgh. My usual first line of defense is to reboot. I knew that after the reboot I could get back to work.
Well, the spoiled brat didn’t want to shut down. After about 25 minutes of coaxing, it finally turned off. At that point, I promised that if it would turn back on, I wouldn’t shut it down until 
everything was backed up.
Thank God it turned back on. I backed up, reformatted and reinstalled all of the software (still have a few tweaks to go). Unfortunately, my productivity for the day was nil. I spent the day fixing a tool rather than using the tool. As a result, everything is a day or so behind.
This is my long winded way of saying, I’m behind on my articles and (to take a page from my teenage son’s book)…it’s not my fault…It was the computers fault and the…dog ate my homework. I’ll ignore the fact that I knew the computer was due for its 6 month reformatting and I was negligent.
That’s my take on it.
May 26, 2006
Is it hot in here or is it just me?
Come along on this journey for a moment. Imagine this:
You’re sitting in a business lunch meeting with a bunch of young chippies (definition of young chippie – anyone younger than you by more 
than 10 years). You keep yourself in shape and no one really knows how old you are. You’re feeling real good about yourself. Your weight is down, you workout, yeah…lookin’ good. Things are going fine and then all of a sudden, you notice your forearm is sticking to the napkin. Whew, did someone turn up the heat?
You look up and scan the room, everyone else is buttoning up their sweaters and jackets complaining that the air conditioner is up too high. You, on the other hand, open the button to your business jacket only to display wet spots around the neck of your silk blouse.
Yikes! It is just you. You’re having a hot flash! Oh no, please Lord, not now! You search in your jacket pocket for a tissue to inconspicuously dab at the beads of sweat that are forming on your brow. Uh oh, now you feel your legs sticking to the chair. Quick, you’ve got to excuse yourself and go to the ladies room.
Oh no, your skirt is stuck to the back of your legs. Hmm, how do you save face, do you back out of the room? Wait, an idea…you accidentally spill a glass of cold water all over your expensive skirt. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Here it goes…oops. “Oh, please excuse me.”
You scurry to the ladies room. You look in the mirror and are alarmed to see your face flushed, mascara running down your cheek and wet hair stuck to outline of your face. You know for a fact that the chippies are chuckling. Everyone at the table knew you had a hot flash and are sitting their guessing your age.
Okay, I was a little dramatic. Now back to reality.
I was shocked earlier in the week to start having the undesirable and somewhat embarrassing hot flashes. It surprised me because I try to take good care of myself. I knew that for a period of a few weeks, my diet had deteriorated. One excuse after another… a little white flour here, some sugar there, not drinking enough water for a few days and finally totally abandoning my juicing ritual. For me, this was the perfect recipe for bringing on hot flashes.
It took me a little while to equate the flashes to my taking a taxi cab down the wrong nutritional road. After three or four days of sweating through everything I owned, I said “No more”. I stopped with the white flour, cut back on sugar, started drinking water and most of all, got back to juicing my veggies. (When I don’t have time to juice, I drink Green Vibrance).
Once back on the right nutritional track, the flashes lessened. Within three or four days, they were reduced to an unpleasant memory 
It is my belief that hot flashes are a function of what we eat. Do I have scientific proof? No, but I know what worked for me. If you are suffering from hot flashes, try cleaning up your diet. It just might save you from pouring cold water on your expensive skirt.
That’s my take on it.
