The Fridge

This morning there was the "Fridge Episode".  I can explain.  When you live alone food does not pile up in your fridge too quickly, so there is quite a bit of time in between sortings out.  Things can get pushed unnoticed into the back corners where they live and brew and create their own colonies, complete with schools and department stores!  Really, it's true! lol  If you have 6 people living in the house, not as much is left over from dinner, so there is not as much "old food" to put away and get pushed into the recesses as "newer old food"  is added.  And anyway, with more groceries needed for more people there is just not room for very much "old food", so the sorting through has to happen more often.  For me, the sorting usually happens only every several months and in general involves suiting up in a hazmat suit---complete with gas mask.  I'm kidding.  Though at times I wish I at least had the gas mask!  Today's "adventure" was just such a time.  Most times the "old food" doesn't smell too awful--mostly just like slightly fermented food or like mold---which has a rather dusty smell.  Not bad really.  But once in a while, like today, there is a particularly bad combination of ingredients that just reeks.  No, REEKS.  I did not realize it, but I had some leftover soup in the dark recesses of my fridge that had been there--dare I say it?--since the end of April.  I sincerely did not remember that it was there.  But when I ventured in, there it was lying in wait for me.  Do you have any idea how bad white chicken chili smells after 3 months?  It didn't even have the courtesy to grow mold, so that there would be the dusty smell!  Oh no!  It just had to brew and ferment in there until it came up with the winner of the blue ribbon in the "Worst Smell In The Fridge" category!  It was one of those odors that lingers on and on in the air even after the offending "food"( I use that term loosely here!) has been thrown out.  So Nasty!  None of the other science experiments, aka "old food", aka leftovers in the fridge this morning came even close to that one.  Needless to say, there was bleach poured into both wash and rinse water---not only to kill germs, but in hopes of expunging my kitchen of that awful smell.  It worked pretty well---or maybe it just burned my nose hairs enough so I now only smell bleach.  I'm not sure which, but at least I don't smell that "old food" smell any longer.  But good did come out of this adventure.  My fridge now has lots of room (to begin the process all over! lol), and what is in there is edible.  The sinks are sparkling after being filled with bleach water (I have porcelain sinks).  And I now have cupboards full of clean bowls (with which to fill with "old food" to put back in the fridge! lol).  Such fun on a Thursday morning!  =)

Tuesday Laughter

This morning one of my dialysis patients told me this and I'm still chuckling.  Had to share.  =)


A woman went into a store and the owner's parrot said, "You are the ugliest woman!" 

The woman was incensed!  She went directly to the owner and said, "Your parrot disrespected me and I do not appreciate it!" 

The man apologized and said that he would teach the parrot better. 

A while later the woman went in that store again, and again the parrot said, "You are the ugliest woman!" 

The woman said to the owner, "I thought you said you were going to teach him better than that!" 

The man again apologized and promised that he would, indeed, teach the parrot better. 

The next time the woman came into the store, the parrot looked at her and said, "You know."



=) Hope you all are having a great Tuesday!

sine cera

Do you like word stories?  I do!  You know, how we got to use certain words or phrases.  My grandpa used to have some interesting phrases---some of which I never heard anywhere else.  This past week I was listening to something on the radio--or half listening I should say.  I play the radio sometimes and don't really listen.  I was doing just that this time, but something jumped out and grabbed my attention.  The speaker was talking about sine cera.  I was intrigued.  Apparently in Roman times sculptors or others that dealt in works or pieces of marble would sometimes try to pass off less than perfect pieces by filling in the cracks and crevices with colored wax.  With time or heat that wax would melt or fall out, revealing the defects.  So, the phrase "sine cera" began to be used, meaning "without wax".  Maybe by customers wanting a quality product, or maybe by dealers wanting a quality reputation.  When said together what word do those two sound like?  You're right!  So smart you are!  Sincere.  Without wax.  Pretty good description of someone who is "sincere" don't you think?  Now there is some argument about where our word sincere actually comes from, and some believe this origin is just a myth.  But I believe that sometimes myths are based somewhere in real life, so I wonder....  Regardless, sine cera is still a good way to be:  without wax.  If we try to fill in or mask our "flaws and fissures" with the "wax" that is available in this broken down world of ours, it's all gonna melt away when life gets hot, and we'll be seen for the mess we really are.  Instead we have to have God's grace to transform our lives, change them into something quality.  Quality made clear through, not just filler on the surface.  Sine cera.

Back to rambling

Ooh-eee has it been busy 'round here!  But I'll get to that in a minute.  Lately I've been thinking (yes, I do that sometimes. You needn't act so surprised) that I had begun to look at this here blog from the wrong perspective.  Somehow I started thinking that I needed to "craft" posts on certain topics instead of just doing what the blog title says: Rambling.  "Crafting" posts takes a lot of thought and energy, which means that 98% of the time I am Waaay too tired to post.  You've noticed this?  Ok good.  So what I have decided to try to do is get back to rambling--in my bare feet too.  Maybe then I can get more posts up, so this actually looks like a blog instead of a barren wasteland!

So what I've been doing.  I've been Mowin' and Sewin'.  Ain't that cute? lol  But it's true.  Now that the deluge has ended and the water has receded I've finally been able to go forth from the ark and run the lawn mower again.  What?  Oh, I've got my stories mixed up again?  Well, really it did seem a bit like we had returned to the time of Noah what with all the rain that was coming down!  =)  Fortunately the sun did not shine much while it rained---I know it doesn't usually, but sometimes it does!  But thankful goodness it doesn't too much or I would have literally had a hay field.  As it was, the humid, warm air was just what the grass likes, so it grew plenty while it rained, sun or no sun.  The side yard was so thick it really does look like I need someone to come bale it! lol  It looks yucky laying out there, but if you think I'm gonna rake........ha!  Maybe it will keep the stuff underneath from growing so quickly!  I like to kilt myself in the last 2 days trying to get most of it done just in case the rain started again.  One more section to go, and I rather dread that one because there are great bunches of sticks and branches that have to be picked up before I can mow it.  My neighbor now,  he mows the front yard no matter what is lying on it: pine cones, sticks, branches, whatever.  He and that Cub Cadet go flying over. Whir, plink, crunch, crack........!  I cringe for his mower blade, but maybe he can smooth out the dents himself, so he doesn't mind.  I don't think my little red Fred would take that too well, though, so I go through and pick up the sticks first.  No fun, but you gotta do what ya gotta do!  So that's the mowin' part.  The sewin' part has kept me busy too, but it's much more fun.  I'm changing--or adding too--my little business.  I'm making bags.  So far I'm selling pretty much every one I make, even making custom ones for local friends.  And I'm having a blast!  My one wish would be more time to make more bags.  My friends are sporting theirs and others are going to start asking about them and I still don't have any in the shop!  I also have some advertising opportunities, but how can you really advertise unless you have some product to advertise about? *sigh*  Ah well.  It is what it is.  I hope that someday I can get big enough to go part-time at my "day job", but for now, it's one bag at a time.  And I figure that eventually all my friends will have the ones they want for the moment and then will be time enough to put more in the shop.  Don't get me wrong!  A sale is a sale, no matter where it is!  I am having a great time sewing special items for my friends! I guess anyone else that wants a bag will just have to wait or add their name to the "Custom Order" list!  Makes me feel like a regular "boutique"! lol

So that's me in a nutshell---er, long post! lol  Hope ya'll are having a great summer!
Ciao!

Independence Day

It's Independence Day.  I thought maybe I would write about freedom or patriotism--something along those lines. But this morning one of my Facebook friends shared a link to a flash mob at Colonial Williamsburg done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It was lovely, of course.  Those Mormons know how to sing!  But watching that led me to search on YouTube for other "flash mob" videos, and when the search came up there was the video of the flash mob in the mall at Christmas time singing the Hallelujah Chorus.  You've probably seen it.  If you haven't, go to YouTube, search for 'flash mob' and it should be there.  It's by Alphabet Photography. This is my favorite flash mob video of all time.  I cry every time I watch it.  I don't know why, but something about singing so openly--in such an unexpected place--that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, forever and ever, does something to me.  Its one thing to hear that proclaimed in church, or to hear it sung in a performance at Heinz Hall (that's in Pittsburgh, if you didn't know), but to hear it sung loudly and freely in the food court of a mall?  It changes things.  The words seem to have even deeper meaning---out where the rubber meets the road.  And on this day those words reminded me of this:  No matter what is happening in our country, no matter what is being said or done, Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He will reign Forever and Forever.  He has the last word.  Period.  He is in Charge, no man can change Him, and nothing happens that has not passed through His Hands first. How about some fireworks for that?!!  HE--the Lord of Liberty--makes Independence Day a true day of Celebration.  Hallelujah!