Sunday, July 21, 2013

Balanced and Cool and Fine Again

 
" Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]"   ... John 14:27
 
 
Rarely do I allow myself to feel defeated. I very much believe in disciplining my attitude to stay 'up', not down, and if I feel bad health-wise I go online and find non-druggie ways to fix it (for as long as I can get away with this).

But that long week of darn humidity! By Saturday morning I'd melted into our (broken-down, stacks-of-books-supported) couch and while thinking that soon Naomi would arrive, yet our yard looked like a war-zone with sycamore bark absolutely blown everywhere (never buy a house beside two sycamore trees) and other assorted annoying, undone things--I, all hang-dog-like told Tom, "I feel defeated. This weather has defeated me."

Oh, and our new vacuum cleaner is messed-up.

Sigh.

But you know? I took some Vitamin B and the weather had cooled(!) after an enormous lightning storm the night before (which kept me awake and blew down more bark after I'd raked so much of it) and Tom and I actually pulled ourselves out of the house (on a Saturday, even!) and--for the first time in months--went to yard sales together.

Oh my goodness. I realized I'd spent far too many weeks at home, traveling only to the supermarket and 2 movies over three months. I'd not gotten out enough. I'd gone all wonky-out-of balance! Those yard sales and their kind people perked me right up, especially when I discovered a box of 1960's kids' lit., the kind of box I see only once or twice a year. And there was retro and vintage doo dads here and there, making my world feel right again.

Balance. How I have missed you.

Here are the books I bought, each around .75 cents:

Robin Kane, The Mystery of the Phantom  1966
Mystery of the Old Field  1963
The Mystic Ball, A  Judy Bolton Mystery 1934
Ginnie And The New Girl,  1954

Happy sigh.


******

Naomi's home! And we're enjoying her and all that organic chocolate she brought with her.  :)


******

Oh and some of you will love this. Did you know that you can buy a cord which you plug into your computer and also your tv so that your tv becomes a computer monitor and you can then watch anything upon your tv in your living room rather than sitting all hunched over a tiny computer screen? We had one of those cords at the farm, but it disappeared (probably into the abyss otherwise known as our basement) so Tom bought another and now Life is better. :)

The cord is called an HDMI cord (High Definition Media Interface?), costs only around $10, and will plug into any high def. television. You can also plug it into your blu ray player.

Have Netflix? Although the shows there won't officially 'stream' through this cord (you do need a blu ray player or other options for that)--you can still watch Netflix movies on your tv by way of this HDMI cord. Same for Hulu, and well, anything! You just must be willing to operate things through your computer (pause, start, stop, etc.), which for Tom and me means running back and forth to our home office. But still, it beats squinting around a small computer screen.

Check it out!

*****

"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."   ... 1 Corinthians 9:27



5 comments:

Dolores said...

Debra, I also have been in the house too long with this heat. I can't wait until I can start making my rounds again. (On foot because I don't drive) My usual route is: drugstore, library, thrift store, and finally the dollar store.
So glad you got out and about again. I got such a rush of emotion when I saw the title of one of the books you found, Ginnie and the New Girl was one of my favorites as a young girl. And I read most of this authors books.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that sometime I totally miss the true message of your posts because I am a bit air-headed, but then I go back and reread it and go, "ah that's what she was really talking about". I get easily distracted by pretty pictures. :)

Debra said...

Aw, Dolores.... You always make me smile! I'm so glad you mentioned the going back and reading and seeing more later. That means a lot to me because really, seldom do my posts mean only what they appear to mean on the surface. They always go deeper, even the ones which sound pretty 'fluffy-headed.' heh.

I love Catherine Woolley's books, too! My favorite while growing up was A Room For Cathy. I bought it from the Scholastic Book Club and must have read it ten times. As an adult I bought another copy and I still reread it. I bought others from that series, but that one remains my favorite--I love any book which includes fixing up houses! :)

Thanks for commenting! Blessings, Debra

Rosemary said...

So glad to know you are out enjoying yard sales again. I always love reading about the little treasures you bring home. By the way, there is a small device called Roku that you hook to your TV for streaming (doesn't hook to your computer). It sells for around $80 and offers Netflix plus dozens of other channels (most are free - some are subscriber based).

Debra said...

Oh, thanks, Rosemary! Roku sounds like something we should look into. :) (Had never heard of it!) Thanks again.... Debra

Anonymous said...

Glad your daughter is there now and you are having fun!! We use that cord and it makes doing a lot of things easier on older eyes, that is for sure!!
BLessings and glad the heat has gone some!!
Elizabeth currently visiting kin and friends in HOT HOT Idaho!!