I take drugs . . .

. . . in my sleep. Every night I gather up my medications for the night and the first thing in the morning, placing the morning dose in an easily opened container beside my bed. I began this practice when I first began taking my thyroid medication. Our thyroid gland is a remarkable gland, affecting parts of your body too numerous to list. For me, one of the symptoms, other than INCREDIBLE severe fatigue, was that my feet and hands hurt terribly, especially in the morning. It was impossible for me to open those damnable childproof bottles, especially in the morning when the pain was at it's worst. That being said, sometimes during the night while I'm apparently sound asleep, I empty the contents of my little easily opened container, with out having a clue that I've done so. How weird is that? I've never found any pills scattered around, and no open windows to indicate a repeat intruder. I have no pets(that aren't in a cage or aquarium), no children and now I live by myself. It seems to happen on those nights when I'm more exhausted than normal, like last night. Unless my alter-self is actually rebelling against the lifetime sentence to medication and staggers to the toilet to flush them at some god-forsaken hour without me knowing or waking up- I take drugs in my sleep. Please, if you ever encounter me on a corner dealing the stuff, please, please wake me up and send me home.

A

It's just water . . . right?

It rained Tuesday afternoon. Quite hard, torrential downpours, I'd say. I have a plant that a friend bestowed upon me hanging on my front porch(said the porch needed something that I just wasn't giving it, or something to that effect). Tuesday. For a timeline for this story, today is Friday. On Tuesday, getting back to the story, I sat the coleus plant down where the water ran off the roof to get watered. Looked fairly normal. Friday afternoon I went outside and began watering the plant with a little watering can. Much to my surprise, a bird flew out of the plant and continued flying around the area. After watering the plant with almost half of the small can, I began to wonder why the bird was flying around. Uh-oh. I carefully took the plant down off it's hook and peered inside. My suspicions were confirmed. Said bird had built a nest and deposited 4 small eggs, since Tuesday. Jeepers, I haven't even been able to finish my dishes since then. Busy little guy, er gal.

Now, I guess I'll have to carefully water around the eggs. I watered them well today, but it was fortunately just water. They should be fine with that, right? On the other hand, it is MY plant, and not a very good place to build a family! We'll see what the summer holds for these little guys. I didn't volunteer for more pets! :) Will they grow more quickly with a little Miracle Grow?

A

Memorable moment.

A memorable post-fireworks highlight.

I was driving in my car with my friend and her 7 year old man child. It unfolds as follows . . .

Adult chatter,

Child pipes up: I thought I might have got a bug in my mouth. Silence. (deep in thought, maybe?)

Me: Oh yeah? But now you don't think so? Silence.

Adult chatter resumes.

Child: I DID get a bug in my mouth. Blech! Sputter! Yuck!

Friend/Mom: At least you didn't swallow it, then there is no way to get rid of it!

Continued chatter about ways to get rid of it, not to be described here . . .

Child: It could be my body pet.

"It's not ringworm, it's my pet fungus, Ralph!"
"It's Terry the tapeworm!"

I think I'll avoid body pets.

I am older . . .

than Saturday Night Live. I was born eight days before it's original air date of October 11, 1975. The fact that I now know this explains in part why my promised post has yet to materialize. I watched the first 3 episodes tonight with a friend, and discovered that people in 1975 had a much longer attention span than we do now. 5 minute skits would simply not fly nowadays! The Weekend Update is my favorite, irregardless of decade.

Happy fourth of July to you all. Have a safe one!

She's right.

I was talking on the phone to my friend, Jen tonight and I must confess, she's right, I need to update my blog more often. How can I hope that people will stop by and set a spell when I've given them nothing to read? I'll work on that. I've given Jen an outline for a post I'm going to do and she'll hold my feet to the fire, I'm sure! Until then, I just wanted to do a quick mini-post! The post involves finding old pictures and scanning them in and narrating them! Here is a picture of Jen back when we were roommates(the first time). She was instrumental in my salvation, and especially in my early Christian discipleship. She is greatly appreciated. Two nights of our recent vacation were spent at her and her hubby, Seth's house in Utah. The second picture is of her and Seth decorating for Christmas in the house Jen and Sarah and I shared for a short while in 1999.

Stay tuned for more . . .
A

A fish story . . .

I went fishing yesterday for the first time in years, proving that fishing is about dumb luck, not entirely dependent on skill! Here's what I caught. Dad said it was 15.5 inches. My dad, mom, and 2 cousins/friends of my dad's went out on Mom and Dad's new pontoon on Lake Wapogaset north of Amery Wisconsin. We didn't catch a lot, but we got some really large sunfish, and a keeper northern and a perch. The sunfish and my large mouth bass were the highlights of the day! They've headed back up there again today.

The redhead is my youngest Niece, who was grossed out and oddly fascinated by my catch(as was I!).

(I must confess, I did not take it off the hook, and only touched it to take this picture. It was cleaned this morning and is waiting for me in my parent's freezer. I hate touching wriggling slimy fish and worms. I did do a lot of worms, though. )

Tagged . . . much delayed!

A long long time ago I was tagged by Dorky Dad, a blogger whose blog I check regularly for a round of Chinese Freeze Tag to tell 10 things about myself. He's fun, in case you've never checked him out . . . I'm finally getting around to fulfilling the request. Part of what took so long is that this requires more thought than I usually put into a blogging session. My brain is challenged! Well, here goes! BTW- they have nothing to do with being frozen or Chinese.

1. I have a poor memory. I attribute this to too many head injuries as a child and my brain choosing to not remember some things. My sister hit me in the head with a baseball bat growing up, unintentional of course, but still very painful and a quarter inch downward or a wooden bat and I wouldn't be here to write this. I also flattened my face in a head-on collision with a drunk driver when I was 11 or so. I looked like a raccoon and my eyes swelled almost completely shut.

2. I have a guinea pig named Whirling Dirvish, aka Dervy, several fish (that I kill off frequently) and tons of plants(that I also kill off on occasion!). (No panicking Dani! Your plants are fine!)

3. I have a random eye for details, mainly concerning things that are out of wack or need to be fixed(leaks, crooked things, broken things). This is not true across the board, though. I do not see details in faces, clothes, makeup, the likes. I can not see something broken and not try to fix it. My friend was showing me her new house this weekend and I noticed a leak in her ceiling, two actually, and I unplugged her kitchen sink.

4. I hate science fiction of any sort and I have never watched all of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Braveheart, Hitchhikers Guide, etc. I dislike SciFi almost as much as I dislike cats . . .(most of my friends like both)

5. I am a romantic at heart. This may surprise some people who think they know me, though, because I tend to be a little rough. I grew up mildly bitter and cynical, but give me flowers and a chick flick and I'm over the moon! Most people in my past life were not allowed to know this privileged information!

6. I collect books. I LOVE books that give me useful knowledge, stain removal, hanging doors, gardening, etc. Have random questions? I may have random answers! If not, I can look them up in any number of books . . .

7. I am fairly reclusive and antisocial by nature. In the face of that though, I consider the gift of hospitality to be one God has given me. Figure that out. I love to be able to bless people by having them over to my home and making it their home(or something like that). I could work this muscle out more, though.

8. I became a Christian when I was 20 years old. I grew up somewhat religious, even being confirmed in my church at 15 or so. It wasn't until I went to college in Utah that I was challenged to find out what I believed and I truly asked God to come into my life. He was so gentle and patient with me. He has so carefully orchestrated our whole relationship. I can look back and see that he was courting me and I love him for it. I wouldn't have come if He'd been pushy. I can see the effort He put into my school choice, my roommates, the people on my floor in the resident halls, timing of everything. When I came back home to Wisconsin, He took such care to bring me to my current church home. He was there, ever eager to bless me and take me to the next level. He wooed me, and I've fallen head over feet.

9. My mom had a brain aneurysm in January of 2000. She is alive and we are so fortunate. She still has short term memory problems and severe depression issues. My sisters and I have taken over the mom role in our family. I miss her a lot .

10. I have this sick obsession with old things. I have several old tablecloths(2 great turquoise, blue and green floral, and a red and white handkerchief pattern), 3 kitchen stools(I don't think they make these anymore . . . ), my card table and chairs are army green and 3rd or 4th hand and I love them more than I ever love anything I could buy new(the table was a great birthday present!). I also have 2 record players(functioning!) and hundreds of old records. I prefer old worn copies of books rather than new ones. I have boxes of old, funky fabric waiting to be used in some(as of yet) unplanned manner. I am a garage-sale-aholic! A couple of my favorite possessions are my antique hand braided rugs that my best-friend-from-junior-high's great grandmother, Otilla, made. When Grandma Tilly moved out of her house, no one in the family wanted them, and so they gave them to me. They are amazing. I wish I could replicate them.

11. (BONUS!) My deep dark fears are cutting through my finger nails with a knife, walking in to a bathroom and finding someone dead in a stall(or being that person), and not finishing the course laid before me. To my knowledge I have never cut through my finger nails with a knife nor have I found anyone in the bathroom, although someone I knew once was found dead in the bathroom where my dad works. I worked with this woman for a summer, she helped me learn one of the big machines there. When walking into a multi-stall bathroom I always glance at the floor of the stalls. Sick, huh?


I don't think I'll continue the tag for now, because I'm not sure many people will have the time to continue it. If you want to continue this, consider yourself tagged! I am the weakest link! Thanks again Dad for the tag. I appreciate it!