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A sad day, but still there is hope

My second cousin Liz died suddenly last week: age 25, recently graduated with a masters in Social Work and married just under a year. From a human perspective she died, oh, at least 50 if not 60 years too soon. Liz had so many more people to help! She had so many more meals to cook with her husband. She had so many more family reunions to attend. And, she would have made a great mother. From God's perfect perspective, however, it was the perfect time; and time and time again we realize that God's timing is best. But, still, I'm immensely sad that Liz has died.

Let me, as the preacher suggested, remember some good memories about Liz.  She was so mellow; and she had such dry sense of humor. We laughed a lot around Liz. Her Facebook statuses were always clever with a touch of sarcasm or wit! My husband and I met her in Switzerland the year she was studying abroad and we all hopped a train together to Berlin and had such a fabulous time. Despite our age difference and the accomodations (I think we slept on the floor at our friend's place in Berlin), all three of us remember Berlin as the highlight of that trip to Europe.

Being a social worker, Liz took a special interest in my sister Janice and always asked about her. We even got some ad hoc counseling sessions from Liz at various family functions!

The funeral was yesterday. This was without doubt the saddest circumstances under which I've ever attended a funeral, although the service itself was uplifting, and there was standing room only.

The preacher urged us to honor Elizabeth by reminding ourselves how fleeting life on earth can be. Every day, we are one day closer to eternity with God. That just makes every day more important!

He also reminded us what heaven will be like. He quoted Revelations 21: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there will be no more death, neither sorrowing nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Coupons are my new friend

I saved $2.45 at the grocery store yesterday thanks to coupons! It is not much, but it's a huge beginning. For so long, I have been an unlucky coupon clipper: either the coupon has expired, or I forget to bring my collection to the store, or I don't even really need the product that I just saved 50 cents on.

So, a few weeks ago, I spotted a pretty little coupon organizer in the dollar bin at Michael's Arts and Crafts store. This was my sign. I grabbed it and started collecting coupons. Even added labels to the little dividers within the organizer: Kroger, Publix, household, restaurants, and "other".

This is not going to be that hard.

A lucky weekend

It was 30 years ago this weekend (I think) that my EYC had a youth retreat at St. Mary's Convent near Sewanee TN. That weekend changed my life in a couple of ways.

First of all, during that weekend, I got intrigued about running. Rusty, the retreat leader was a runner, and the way he described it made it sound easy. Having failed just about every sport in PE, I thought it seemed worth a shot so, when I got back home, I ran to my aunt's house and back. At the time, it seemed like about 4 miles roundtrip, but later I measured it and it was more like 2 miles. Undaunted, though, I saved up money and bought a pair of Nike "waffle" shoes. (Maybe you remember them: turquoise blue with the canary yellow swoosh and the avant-garde waffle soles.)

Secondly, that weekend, I fell in love with the campus of Sewanee. It was so beautiful: the stately chapel, the quad, the mountain setting. Coming home that weekend, I announced to Mama, "I've found the college that I want to go to." Little did I know how much it cost, but my mother and father were not the kind to squash out my dreams, and so they helped me find a way to go. I ended up applying early admission to Sewanee and by Christmas, I had been accepted. (Boy, college admissions sure were simpler back then!)

Thirty years later, I'm still running and fortunately have yet to have that dreaded knee injury that can kill a running career. And, I loved my Sewanee years: I learned so much and had such a good time doing so. Although I didn't meet my husband there, it was a friend from Sewanee whose sister introduced us several years later. So, had I not gone to Sewanee, I would not have met Charles!

A foot detox experience

I heard about foot detoxes on the radio this week, and curiosity got the better of me so I went and had one on Friday. It is unbelievable what happens and almost indescribable, but I'm going to try!

The purpose of a foot detox is so that the body can get rid of toxins and other crud that has settled in.

I had my foot detox at Goodness Grocery, a new health store here in town. The nice lady who administered mine started by filling a tub with hot water and then added some salt. Then she plugged in the machine that has a cord running from it to the tub with some metal plates immersed in the water. There are some ion things going on, but I'm not sure of the science behind it. Anyway, I put my feet in there. Almost instantly the water started turning rather yucky colors with various shades of green, orange, brown and white. According to the lady, this is toxins from my body that are being purged. I can't explain how it got out of my body because I didn't feel a thing. It has something to do with the ions.

During the detox, the lady told me that she could tell that I had parasites by the color of the water; she also told me I had lots of petroleum in my body. (I asked her how in the world you get petroleum in your body and she said by eating/drinking from plastic, and even by filling up your tank with gas.)

The detox lasted for thirty minutes. By the end, that was the yuckiest tub of water I'd ever seen! I took a picture, but it's too disgusting to post.

Some say this is a scam, but I'm all about feeling good and doing good things for my body, so I'd say it was worth it. The lady talked me into some products for the parasites and petroleum, which I'm going to take for the next 30 days. I think I'm also going to start wearing gloves when I fill up my car! Then I'm going back and having another foot detox. If nothing has changed... well even I will be skeptical at that point.

I'll report back then.

An awesome story

Neal Boortz succeeded Friday morning of reducing probably 90% of his audience to tears. No, these were not tears of anger or frustration or disgust, but tears of sheer respect towards our service men. He had Belinda read a touching story on the air. Get a kleenex and click here for the print version of it:

http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2009/08/lets-end-with-this.html

Read it and be thankful

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal had an article about people who have been laid off for months and are coping, readjusting... and blogging about it. These people all have MBAs and you can tell by some of their stories that they are used to big bucks.

Reading it made me so thankful that my job is secure and that I don't even think about getting laid off.

One of the MBA's ended up taking a job which paid 20% of his old salary! Ok... if you're used to making an ample 6 figure salary, then I guess 20% is still well above poverty. But, it must be rough out there for job hunters, especially those who were at the top.

Many have moved, have become the primary at-home parent, have gotten into volunteering, have taken pay cuts and have re-thought their career goals. None of them is just sitting around! Hopefully, they'll all come through this stronger!

But, one thing's for sure: I've been a little more pumped to be at work this week!

Here's a link to the blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/laidoff/2009/07/30/making-a-career-switch-during-a-down-economy/

A positive spin

I really like Carolyn Hax's advice: she knows how to cut to the chase when necessary and pump people up when that's the ticket. Her advice today was to a lady who is feeling a little depressed that her friends seem so successful and they're all married and expecting babies, and their lives just seem perfect to this down and out friend whose career is struggling too. Well, Carolyn counters to the LW (letter writer) that maybe some of her "perfect friends" are struggling too or maybe some of them are wondering themselves if there is more to life than what they've got. The point is: things aren't always as they seem. Here's the link to the column: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/26/AR2009072602579.html

This is uplifting to me, not in a nay-nay-na-nay sort of way, but just in the thought that everyone in this world is struggling with something, no matter how rosy their life seems to be, and that we should be attuned to that and ready to help when the time comes. I'm not negative or pessimestic here, just open to the hurt and pain that others may be facing, and hoping that I can be a source of hope or comfort.

Only in America

There's a funny article this month in Readers' Digest entitled "Bubble Babies".

The article talks about all the inventions that are out there to protect babies and to keep them comfy. Here are just a few the author mentions:

1) knee pads for crawling
2) a seatbelt for the little red wagon
3) a helmet for when baby learns to walk
4) a little plastic turtle that you put in the bathtub with a "hot" indicator
5) a wipe warmer so that baby never gets a chill "down there"

Wow! We sure were deprived, weren't we? How did we ever survive?

The author has a tongue-in-cheek writing style. You should read the article: It's on page 146.

It reminded me (in an opposite sort of way) of a story my friend who adopted a child from Russia recounted: in the Russian orphanage where they got their child, if baby drops the bottle on the floor during feeding time, that's it! The bottle stays there.

Anyway, can't there a happy medium out there these days for raising children?

What's up with that?

My doctor prescribed Detrol LA last month, on a trial basis, so the prescription was only for 30 days, as opposed to the usual 90-day supply that you can get if you take the medicine on a long-term basis. I got it filled last week and about had a cow when the charge was $107! (That's over 3 dollars a day.) After doing a little research on the web, I discovered that this drug would cost $94 for a 90-day supply if ordered through my insurance plan's designated mail-order supplier. Very confused, I printed out this fact and returned to the drug store. The pharmacist was a little confused too. He did a little research himself and discovered that their store would also charge $94 for a 90-day supply.

Thankfully, the pharmacist was able to process my prescription for 90 days, so I got the cheaper price. However, how can 90-days worth of medicine cost 3 times less than 30-days worth of the same medicine? This is baffling and just one more incentive for me to stay healthy and thereby stay out of the way of our crazy and unpredictable health-care system!

A cereal from the past

I bought some Grape Nuts cereal today after reading an article about them a couple of weeks ago in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124381591156970663.html. The article must have been pretty popular, because last week I wanted to buy a box, but my grocery store was all sold out!

The article has a few random points about this cereal that has been around over 100 years, one of them being, "What exactly is a grape nut?" Is it a grape or is it a nut? The article comfirms that it's neither; it's more like a loaf of bread that has been cooked, dried and crumbled to smithereens.  The article mentions that sales of Grape Nuts have been on the decline since Euell Gibbons who promoted them died. I guess he was irreplaceable... or maybe there just wasn't enough sugar and other "fun" ingredients in them for the next generation? It also mentions that Grape Nuts were first marketed to cure lots of illnesses, and they have also been marketed to men, claiming it's the manly cereal!

Do you have memories of your parents buying Grape Nuts when you were little? I remember pouring a bowl of them once and I couldn't finish it because they were so filling! My dad loved them. They were definitely the grown ups cereal. Me, I much preferred Frosted Flakes. Even so, Grape Nuts do remind me of a happy childhood. So tomorrow morning, I'm going to pour a small bowl and enjoy the memories.