Too Old To Go With The Flow. And Loving It.

"For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity..."   ... 2 Corinthians 1:12

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My vintage, reliable, Old Faithful radio alarm clock died last week. Waaaaa.

A moment of silence, please.

Er hem. Well anyway, Mrs. Online Shopper here went searching at websites for another (cheapo) clock radio, but half of the reviewers would say, "I love my new clock! So perfect." and the other half would moan, "A piece of junk! Stopped working after two days. I sent it back."

What are you supposed to do with that? Hmm?

Well, on The Fourth, we visited Salvation Army (where everything's half-off on holidays) and Tom showed me a radio alarm clock rather like my old one, but newer and with tons more buttons.

I was suspicious. Lots of online reviewers also stated these newer clocks were complicated (which is a bad, bad word to me). But I told Tom I'd try it. Go ahead and spend the whole dollar.

Oh.My.Goodness. I carried that thing upstairs to my room and had a nightmarish 15 minutes. (I refused to keep trying to understand it any longer, Life being too short, and all that.)

I couldn't even figure out how to set the clock.

So forget it. Just forget it. I calmed down, placed it in a bag to donate, then went downstairs and told Tom that this was yet one more example of how, at 58, I've paid my dues and no longer will I do anything for which I have no grace.

Those days of forcing round pegs into square holes are over. 

And the realization of that--the deciding of that--has made my life much, much calmer. Sweeter. Better.

Anyway, after chatting with Tom I returned to the computer and pretty quickly gave up on buying an alarm clock with a radio. They're just beyond my brain now.

So I went for cute, instead. Something perfect for my awesome little stripe-and-floral closet bedroom --

Oh wow. It arrived today and you know? It came with no directions. None! But the cool thing? It doesn't need any directions. It took all of two minutes to place a battery in the back, set the clock, the alarm and watch the second hand go 'round.

And it looks adorable in my bedroom.

Today's lesson? Always, always, follow Grace. If you have tons of Grace for complicated machinery or circumstances, well, more power to you. Go with that.

But if, like me, you just can't handle complication anymore? Always ask God and Grace where to go next. Even if everyone else is marching the opposite direction. Even if everyone else teases you about not keeping up, lagging behind. 

Even so, go with God. With Grace. And enjoy all that wonderful new peace on your unique journey. You've earned it.

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Oh! Did you read the prayer Brenda shared in her post called Keep Me Reasonably Sweet? 

My, my,my. It's haunted me (in a good way) ever since spying it a couple weeks ago. Gulp. Could not have prayed a more hit-the-nail-on-the-head prayer, myself.

May it haunt you, too.

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Working Through The Head Clutter to Find Acceptance

"Happy are those who trust in the Lord,
    who rely on the Lord.
8 They will be like trees planted by the streams,
    whose roots reach down to the water.
They won’t fear drought when it comes;
    their leaves will remain green.
They won’t be stressed in the time of drought
    or fail to bear fruit."   ... Jeremiah 17:7,8


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Still here! Just trying to make friends with Summer (as I do every year).

And trying to make friends with being 58. 

Ugh. Poor ol' thing. Just mix some humidity with what I believe they call 'physical labor' and ol' Debra's all crumpled on the red couch. I do love my yard, but--even with my famous 'sit down gardening'-- the actual work outside still wears me out.

Even when done slowly.
Even when barely done.
Even so.

Oh well, maybe I'm finished out there this year(!) You know, with the moving plants around and redesigning parts. It is July, after all, and I did, during cooler times, make a few pleasant improvements.

As one ages, sometimes smaller projects must be enough.

Speaking of which, remember when I wanted so badly to do something similar to this? --

Well. 

Finally I admitted our living room's too small. Darn. Even pushing our couch out just six inches is six inches too far. So on to Plan B! Now I'm considering hanging shelves over the couch, shelves maybe like these--

Or this.

But sometimes I still struggle with coming to peace with personal restrictions. Oh, and that redecorating ideas arrive sooo s-l-o-w-l-y when, years ago, they'd surface in minutes. 

And you know? Perhaps I'm (finally) getting the 'why of it all'. 

Because if I--now at my age--did all the crazy-creative, day-by-day decorating which I used to? Oh dear, I'd probably be limping/ill/crawling/dead by now.

This old grey mare just ain't what she used to be.

Er hem. But to avoid future problems, there arrives a time, in each season, to accept that wisdom sometimes comes in a confusing disguise. 

To happily accept that  (frankly, I've been stuck there--or not there- lately). Yes willingly, without resentment with myself or with Life's new-to-me patterns so that, hooray! This acceptance will carve another avenue where I must lean heavy upon God. 

Is there a better place than trusting God far, far more than ourselves? Nah. Only He can make our pathway to Heaven, sweet, no matter what our decade or our circumstances.

I'm not yet walking in Total Acceptance Land, but I'm hanging out at its edges. Be sure to wave if you see me inside someday, ok?

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." 

----Melody Beattie



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Tom and I watched Passengers this weekend and enjoyed it. After reading a Plugged-In review, I'd thought there'd be lots of 'waiting around for something to happen', and well, there was. And yet? This movie made me think all sorts of new thoughts, all kinds of 'what would I do?'--and I appreciated that about it.


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Let's Communicate and Not Get Mad, Ok?

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."   ... Colossians 4:6


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So there I was lying in bed at 1:30 a.m. after feeding the cats (spoiled ol' things). Then during a late-night episode of Frasier while trying to return to sleep, a commercial for a Simply Fit board came on with that catchy Wipe-Out tune.

My bleary eyes widened. I thought, "Hey. After 5 years of wishing we had space for an exercise bike (but none poof! magically appearing) maybe I should get that Simply Fit board and twist around on it. I could even store it under the couch. Easy."

Weeks later I used a gift card from my credit card rewards and bought one at Amazon. Last week after Tom got home from work, the board arrived in a box on the front porch and, while peeking from the window, I told him, "Oh look! My Simply Fit board got here. Yay!"

To which Tom replied, "Now, you'd better be careful when you use that thing. I won't be able to pick you up if you fall, you know."

Good grief. What encouragement.  😉

Heh. Fortunately, I knew he was referring to his recently-diagnosed torn shoulder rather than my too-huge-to-lift body.

But still. I did tease him, anyway, about how it sounded. You know, like I was a bloated, klutzy ol' whale.

Communication in marriage. Sometimes it gets easier, other times, not so much.

(Continue to my next little story---)



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Well, I'd planned to ask you, "So, what am I doing wrong with this plant?" --

.... but then this morning I actually read the directions on the tiny plastic stake. 

Good gracious. 

When Tom gave this to me he said, "It should be in direct sunlight," which means of course, I heard, "It should have indirect sunlight."

Gah. We've been married for, like, forever, but these types of misunderstandings seem to happen daily. From both sides. Not being as bright as we once were,  Tom and I have been forced to discover new ways to communicate. To state things more clearly, concisely. We've had to---it's easier than always being exasperated and annoyed with each other.

Besides, all relationships are worth the effort of making occasional necessary tweaks, especially in today's volatile, "You offended me so I'm outta here," world.

Anyway, the little stake also said the plant should be fertilized weekly and guess who's fertilized it only once in 4 months?

Man, Debra. Read the directions next time, ok? (And listening a tad more closely wouldn't hurt, either.)

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, 
slow to speak, slow to anger..."   ... James 1:19


"There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."   ... Proverbs 12:18



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So did anyone try my tasty pineapple Spam recipe yet?  😃  If you did, let me know what you thought, ok? Well, unless you hated it. Maybe don't tell me if you hated it. heh.


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Isn't this a super nice picture of Naomi and Justin? ---

They took us out for dinner in honor of Father's Day at Tom's favorite Mexican food place. Happy sigh. (And gee, the camera loves both those kids. Must be nice--I've yet to have a camera love me.)  😃


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