Am I Boring You?

More and more frequently I find myself wondering if I am boring the person or persons I am with.

The reason I’m having these thoughts is it seems no matter what I am doing – business or pleasure – the people I’m with are taking cell phone calls (non emergency), texting whoever or “tweeting”. Driving down the road. In meetings. During church. During meals. In the middle of conversations.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

I don’t want to hear they are “multi-tasking”. The definition of multi-tasking is “doing two or more things with less attention to details”. My definition when it involves interaction with other people is “being extremely rude”.

On a similar note, I have found myself quite a few times in a store actively talking with a clerk about a forthcoming purchase. The phone rings and they answer – and start helping this person who interrupted our transaction!

Excuse me! I’m the one who drove to your store and am probably prepared to make a purchase. Put the caller on hold until you are finished helping me; the one who was here first…

If I’m boring you, I’ll be more than happy to leave- my time is valuable too.

Join the Club!

In this journey of ‘self’ I’ve come to realize that often a person’s purpose is blurred by group activities that have no real value to that person either in information or enjoyment.

I was in quite a few organization and clubs. Perhaps too many. That was one of the things I considered. I believe that not only should any organization I join meet a need for me, but I should also meet a need in the organization. In other words – if you’re going to join then contribute to the group by working it.

In fact, I’ll go even broader and say that if ANYONE joins an organization (club, church, service group, association…) they should contribute their time and effort to the organization. It’s said in most groups 10% of the membership does 90% of the work.

Oh don’t I know that! And the 10% are TIRED!!

Anyway… I pulled out my calendar and wrote down all the groups I was a part of, what my involvement was in each of them and my general thoughts about each.

Wow! It was a very eye opening exercise. There were THREE that I really didn't want to do anymore. They didn't have a purpose in my life anymore so there really wasn't any reason to be a part of them. I’ll be letting each know to take me off the rolls.

And now the decision has been made… if feels pretty good.

And the three I choose to stay involved in can now receive the attention they deserve. Nice.

50 Before 50 - Thoughts On My Birthday

Today I turn 48. Which has me thinking about what I have done these last 48 years – and what I would like to accomplish by the time I turn 50.

Of course there are the ‘dream’ things – travel to Scotland, Australia, and Greece. Own a new car of my own. And so on. But without that little ole lottery ticket coming in…

I know those are not realistic.

But there are things I can do if I put my mind and heart to the task. Things for me.

Here they are, in no particular order (except for the first two):

Get organized
Get fit
Create a signature dish
Come up with my own chili
Come up with my own pasta salad
Come up with my own hamburger
Come up with my own cheesecake
Develop my own BBQ sauce
Show one of my own bonsai
Finish my quilt (hand quilting)
Own a Clan Hanna tartan cape
Make a water garden
Learn to write good haiku
Learn to play pool
Do an acceptable water color painting
Fly in a biplane
Learn to roll my own sushi
Win a photography contest
Get a magazine article published
Write a child's book for my niece & nephew
Create my own personal stationary
Hang a tire swing from a tree
Travel to New Orleans
Travel to Shiloh National Battlefield
Read the Bible all the way thru and make note cards
Learn to throw darts
Learn to build simple furniture
Memorize a poem
Raise my own vegetables
Make a compost pile
Put in a shooting range
Learn to do ikebana flower arranging
Learn to make jewelry chain
Go on a spiritual retreat
Take Hanna and Owen for their first pony ride
Go to the races at Churchill Downs
Bake a soufflé
Have dinner at Tony's in St Louis
Go on a 20 mile bike ride
Go on a "dinner train" ride
Rent a convertible and go on a weekend road trip
Tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home in St. Louis
Learn to make a coil basket
Finish my NOW book
Learn to play one song on the piano
Learn to play chess
Learn to knit
Go to a hot springs spa
Get a massage
Make batik print

Cleaning Up My Ride

Our truck has been feeling a bit neglected. All this cleaning and decluttering but no love has been given to poor Little Red. Double bad since I had planned on cleaning him up last month!


So I gave him a good wash and wax. From grubby… to grand!


Next project was to organize the stuff we need to haul around. I found these storage containers that fit across the bed in front of the wheel wells. They hold:

*Tools and jack

*My shopping bags (going “green” means you have to keep your shopping bags close)

*Hobby – things I use when collecting bonsai specimens or rock hounding.

*Misc – change of clothes and our emergency med kit.

Wedged in behind the containers is the coolest little fold-up hand dolly you’ve ever seen. Found it at Lowes.

If the containers slide (which I don’t think they will as my bed has Rhino Liner on it), I’ll put up an extension shower rod to hold them in place. A second shower rod in behind the wheel wells keeps bags from sliding towards the cab.

I have tossed on top of the containers our sling chairs.

Inside the truck behind the passenger seat I have 2 of those indestructible inexpensive Mexican blankets stored in a bag some linens came in. Caps for each of us. Fire extinguisher. Trash can. A tote to hold my home info (notebook, samples, and such). And a tote to organize misc things we like to keep on hand – wet wipes, paper towel roll, emergency spot light and so on. Behind the driver seat stays clear to hold important things like full shopping bags.

In the ‘pouches’ behind each seat I have a road atlas and some detail maps plus my “read while waiting” book. In the other I have a couple folded up large tote bags from Home Goods and a couple of flashlights.

The arm rest console has change, nail clippers, a little Swiss Army knife, and a few packs of chewing gum.

Glove box has the truck info book, a small notebook, scissors, pocket knife and a small accordion organizer for misc papers.

To further my storage I bought a couple organizers at Wal-Mart. One is a console that sits on the ‘hump’ on the floor. It holds my GPS, charging cables for GPS and phones, sunglasses in case, a bottle of hand lotion, a pocket pack of kleenix, some individual wrapped hard candy and a purse pack wet wipes.

Visor organizers hold auto info, garage door opener and pens (driver side) and the passenger side has 2 cases; on for CDs and the other holds napkins, a Wal-Mart gas card, some small dollars for spur-of-the-moment yard sales and a few Band-Aids. Oh… and a card magnifier so I can read the maps with these old eyes!

Happy sighs! Little Red is about as organized as he can be.

Just need to scrub off that truck bed… :-P

Who? Me? What Can I Do?

Have you ever wished you could be a philanthropist?


(Hungry children picking up kernels of corn dropped from passing trucks.)

For good stewardship and accountability, I keep records of what we are doing. They are private, not for bragging. For the fun of it, I fancy it my own little charitable foundation… a middle man for God, so to speak. I call it “Route 25/35. Route = road to follow. 25/35 = from Matthew 25:35. It doesn’t rank up there with Bill Gates or Franklin Graham or Bono… but even one drop of water raises the level of the sea.

As I said in an earlier post, I’ve used “The Purpose Driven Life” book to help me fine tune where I need to use my time and resources for the Lord… how I ‘give back’. I truly believe that a person should make ‘giving back’ a regular part of their lives. It goes beyond race or faith system or economic level. It is a human factor.

We believe giving comes in many forms. Not only money. It is time. It is resources. All three need to be given away.

As Christians, most of our giving goes faith-based organizations who reach out to all people regardless of their beliefs. The possibilities and needs within those areas are so huge; I MUST focus in on exactly my special niche. Otherwise I would burn myself out.

I have 2 Bible verses that guide my focus:

Matthew 25:35-36 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.'

Acts 1:8 “… you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." For that to apply to my life, it means “be My witness in Clarksville, and in all Tennessee and the United States, and to the ends of the earth.”


All that being said, I know that my purpose as a Christian is serving Christ is to help those in need.

My “Jerusalem” work includes:

*Local mission and service projects thru my church. I also serve on its mission team.

*Manna Café – a feeding ministry to the homeless. They go to the people where they are. http://www.mannacafeministries.com/site/

*Donations and purchases from the Habitat for Humanity ‘ReStore’ shop.


My “Judea and Samaria” is weak right now. I need to find what projects to add here. There are a few that have grabbed my heart… I just need to find what my place is with them.

* www.navajomissions.org in NW New Mexico.

*Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

*And a yet-to-be-found within a day’s drive project.


And to reach “the ends of the earth” there is:

*Our sponsorships: 4 kids thru Compassion International ( www.compassion.com ). Plus I have 6 Compassion “writing buddies”. 3 kids thru Kenya’s Kids In Need ( www.galileeschool.org ). A Christian Religion teacher in Nairobi, Kenya thru Plant a Book (http://sites.google.com/site/plantabook/ ). A missionary thru Africa For Jesus ( www.africaforjesus.org ) We also donate and make purchases from their thrift shop that supports the ministry.

*Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org ) which is how we respond to disaster relief and also we do 8 shoes boxes each year for distribution by Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan’s Purse). Six boxes are for older boys since this is the group that gets the least boxes donated. And we also do 2 boxes with our little niece and nephew for children who are the same ages as they are.

*We regularly give to Mercy Ships www.mercyships.org and Mission Aviation Fellowship www.maf.org and have invested in microloans to widows thru Kiva www.kiva.org


Other charities we give to include:

*The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org ) where we sponsor 4 young orphan elephants.

*Operation Migration (http://operationmigration.org ) to help the highly endangered whooping cranes.

*The Cousteau Society (www.cousteau.org ) and The Ocean Futures Society (www.oceanfutures.org ) which is founded by Jean-Michel Cousteau.

I truly believe that “Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever.”

And that is one of my purposes…

Shattered!!

Wow!!!!!

Monday night I heard a strange noise… kinda a bang, kinda a pop. Here in the country you don’t get very many unexpected noises. I looked outside and didn’t see a thing. Maybe it was a barge on the river or something…

It wasn’t a barge…

Yesterday morning as I was moving the truck back down from the shed I am look over at the patio. And I look again!


The entire six person patio table top had shattered into a million little safety glass pieces!!!!! It looked like ice dumped on the patio. Nothing hit it! It just shattered. The WHOLE thing. Dang it!!

See??? I knew it!!! It’s so hot here it’s melting glass!!! j/k – maybe…

So… does anyone have any ideas for what to do with a broken out patio table and a bucket full of safety glass chips?

Before and After: A Dresser for Little Hoss

I found this dresser on Craig’s List. It was pretty beat up and I was able to get it for $50 (they had asked $100 but the finish was so bad they agreed to cut the price when I picked it up). I got it for my nephew "Little Hoss". My sister uses large dressers for the kids changing tables. Smart move. No sense buying a piece of furniture that can’t be used after a couple years and doesn’t have much storage.

I took it up to Missouri my last trip and the refinishing of it became a family project.


Here’s an almost before shot. Dad was sanding a lot earlier than I out of bed!

Like I said, the top was in rough shape. The drawers had taken a bit of beating too and I ended up having to do some repairs to the drawer rails.

Dad has all the cool tools. I found out that I really, really want an orbital sander!

Yep, look how well that little jewel works!

After we got it all sanded down, Mom and I put the new stain on it. Neither one of us likes to use gloves. So much for my manicure!

But it was worth it! I think the finished product came out beautiful.