Preparations

A lot of you know that we are in the process of selling our house..or should I say trying to sell our house! It, most likely, will be a long haul. But that is okay and we know it. It is a far different market here in Mason City than it was trying to sell a house in the Charlotte area! Actually I think the houses are listed within $10, 000 of each other but this house is waaaaaaaaaaaaayyy better in my humble opinion! In North Carolina we had over 100 showings...I was always getting the house ready. Here....not so much. We have an open house this weekend and we will probably be lucky if one person comes through but hey---all you need is one person, right?

Some thoughts: it is MUCH easier having a house for sale when you don't have kids and animals around. It is also much easier to have a house ready to show when your husband travels a lot. It is also much easier to show a house when you are not employed!!! With all those things said......I should be able to get this sold, right?? Well, I am hanging in there and realize that when the time is right it will sell. And until then I will keep baking cookies and making the house look and smell yummy!

I also know that this is my favorite house. If I could take the backyard of our house in Freeport, IL, add the pool from North Carolina, the laundry/mud room from the Hawthorne Woods, IL house I think i would have a pretty perfect house. Oh and keep the neighbors from Freeport, IL!!! They were and still are the best! It is funny how when we don't need so much space and room as empty nesters we have the biggest house we have ever had here. Wonder why that is? Lots of room for family and friends!!!

So when you see a house for sale sign in a yard think of us here with this fabulous house just waiting for the perfect family!!! I would LOVE to miss the Iowa winter but I am thinking I need to hunker down ....bought a snow shovel the other day and got a lot of glares in the store as I walked through and out....but I want to be prepared!!!!

Flying in the year 2009!

One of the latest news stories that is getting a lot of air time especially in our area is the Northwest airline flight that was going to Minneapolis that overshot the airport by 150 miles and had to turn around. It sure got my attention!!! Especially since I had just flown a NWA flight from SFO to Minneapolis a couple of days before! So....no one could get hold of the pilots in the cockpit, there was no contact for over an hour and finally a flight attendant was the one who was able to get them to respond. Several theories have been postulated---pilot fatigue, they were arguing, they were distracted (you think??) and finally the truth begins to come out. They were using their laptops and were unaware of their location ---time got away from them!!! YIKES!

Okay so a few questions here:
Why did the flight attendants not know that they were supposed to be landing and they weren't?? They knew the flight time, they knew what the departure time was and what the arrival time should be. Why did they not wonder why they were not getting the call to ready the cabin for arrival?

With all the technology today I find it hard to imagine that the pilots did not get some kind of "communication" from the autopilot system telling them it was almost time to land! Come on, now. From what I have read a lot of the flying is just automated these days and the pilots just kind of hang out. well, obviously these guys were hanging out.

I heard someone liken this to texting while driving but worse and I think that is pretty accurate!! Here you have 2 guys who have responsibility for around 150 lives and they are taking that way too lightly. They are distracted and probably more often than not fatigued to the point that they are incapable of making great decisions.

I think the tip of the iceberg is showing and as the investigation continues we will find out more horrors of flying--not what I want to hear since Chris flies almost weekly! And NWA / Delta is the normal airline we use. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to the industry ---flying has become such a hassle these days with security and surly, yes I said surly, flight attendants who don't offer much help when it comes to passenger customer service. I am amazed how flyers are treated some times! Crazy!!! As I told my seatmate on the last trip "I try to kill them with kindness and make them feel guilty for being so nasty!"!!!! I know they are tired! A lot of people are. But come on folks, take your job seriously and make it as nice for the passengers as you can!

Enough of my airline tirade---sorry but it just rankles me to see the coverage on something that never should have happened. I will put it to rest now.....till I see the next news report on it!

More from California!

Looking up at the Chandelier Tree

I had to back the car back out---my mirrors would not fit through!!!

A reverse tree hug

Tree hugger

My buddy the rock squirrel

He loved Quaker granola bars...that was all I had but he stuffed it all in his mouth!

Roosevelt Elk

Chapter 4: The Ten Commandments Laws of the Heart

It is my week with my sister to lead the discussion on our book and this week the commandment highlighted is "honor your father and mother". Doesn't seem like you can get much simpler than that but as usual, Chittister puts some new thoughts to paper and challenges me to think beyond the simple definition of this commandment.

Of course we honor our parents! That seems ridiculous to question what this commandment means but the author challenges us to think perhaps beyond our biological parents and think of all the "sages" that have influenced our lives. We are to care for those who cared for us AND think about the generations to come.

It was interesting that she highlighted 3 specific funeral rituals of Judaism that I had no knowledge of but am glad that she provided in the book.
1. A dead body is likened to a damaged Torah scroll: while it is no longer able to be used for its original purpose it is still to be revered for its holy purpose.
2. Kaddish-the Jewish prayer that affirms life and reiterates faith and acceptance of God's will is actually said daily for 11 months - 1 day. This allows the parents to show that parenthood in itself is a holy act.
3. The celebration of Avelur--the 12 month mourning period that many Jewish communities follow as parents is longer than the mourning period for any other relationship even a spouse. Our parents deserve special reverence

Our relationships with our families may be a little bit different than those in early Israel where tribes and families were the backbone of society. Our current families suffer all kinds of fissures and we do not "take care of our own" like many other cultures do. I don't know what the answer is but we sure could use some work on our care of those who came before us and who need us now. There are some great examples of good care out there but then there are so many that are forgotten. That is what breaks my heart.

I guess the main thing that I took away from this chapter was this---"It is not simply a mandate to remember the past but to be aware through it of our own responsibility to the future. We are the sages of tomorrow, we come to realize." Yikes---I hardly can think of myself as a sage but I get what she means. It is our responsibility to make the best for future generations. It begins with honoring the past, our parents and those who made a place for us. I was blessed with parents who were fabulous examples--I know not everyone has that in their lives but I did and count it a huge blessing.

In closing I liked what she said in her thoughts to ponder:
"No parents are typical. No parents are perfect. We do not honor them for that. We honor them becasue they did what they could in making us what we are. The rest we were meant to do for ourselves." AMEN!!!

A few words about California

It took me FOREVER to get a shot of this when it was lit up!!

Monument to honor fisherman who have lost their lives

2 harbor seals swimming around

Harry the Harbor Seal---he was looking for love but no one was taking him up on it!

By the Golden Gate Bridge

The amazing Golden Gate Bridge

Me and my sailor dude friend!

Chris had a vendor to see in Eureka, CA so we jetted off there last weekend. Of course our travel plans are always a little bit convoluted but then I don't know what I would do if we did anything normally! Chris had to go to Pennsylvania on Thursday morning so we drove to Minneapolis to spend the night since he had a very early flight. He caught the hotel shuttle to the airport so I could sleep in---well that sure didn't happen! I got on the road and headed back to Mason City and then on Friday headed back to Minneapolis to meet him in the airport so we could fly to San Francisco. We had a good trip but got in pretty late ----3 am our time so we were dragging! On Saturday we headed to Eureka, the weather was pretty abysmal but we did get to see the Golden Gate bridge in the daytime which was great! It is a pretty neat thing to see and be able to drive across. We shared the driving so it wasn't too bad and we stopped along the way to see stuff so it was a nice drive.

Saturday was taken up with driving, got into the hotel around 5 and headed out to find a seafood place, saw a lighthouse and Chris got a great shot of Harry the Harbor Seal (I need to give him credit for a lot of the great pictures!). I have a Picasa album of photos and I will be happy to send that along if anyone wants to see all of our pictures. I will post a few select ones here over the next couple of days. I usually try to keep up with this day by day but I have been having some laptop issues so I didn't take it along with me this time. But all is well and I am trying to get back into the blogaspere.

Birds of a different feather!

Aren't they cute??? Sorry the pictures aren't that great---I had to sneak and take them on my phone without them running off but my feeders were raided by 5 of these cuties this afternoon around 3 pm. They just strolled through and decided that it was a good place to munch---right at the right level for them ---and they helped themselves! I do love watching them and it reminds me of when we lived in Freeport, IL where we had them in the back yard all the time. Kind of makes the cold weather tolerable when these little cuties show up!

The first snow!

Well, it happened. It was bound to but I had hoped it would wait a few more weeks. A bit of snow today but by evening most of it had melted away. It was pretty coming down but I am not quite ready for it. Had to go out and buy snowbrush/scrapers for the cars since ours are nowhere to be found. So now it begins......I am going to make the best of it and enjoy it as much as I can. Just don't like the cold but with my ever changing thermostat these days maybe that won't be an issue!!! :-)

KLEENEX� Get Mommed | Get Extra Mothering this Cold and Flu Season

KLEENEX� Get Mommed | Get Extra Mothering this Cold and Flu Season

Shared via AddThis

Nobel Peace Prize

My one minute writing prompt this morning is to write about who I would recommend for the Nobel Peace Prize. I guess President Obama's recent award has spurred on a lot of discussion and commentary especially due to the fact of the timing of the award so early on in his term. I must admit I was quite surprised to hear of his award and it spurred me on to do some research on the actual award and how it is given, etc.

According to Alfred Nobel's will the prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses," (Wikipedia) Well, I certainly do not qualify!!!


What was surprising to me was maybe some of the people who did NOT get the Peace Prize. Most of these recipients I am unfamiliar with but some of them seemed like obvious choices from my sparse knowledge of history. The judges are 5 people from Norway ---Nobel's theory was there would be less political corruption if Norway was the final judge of who received it since at the time he created it Norway and Sweden were joined and Sweden was responsible for all foreign policy.


In 2009 there were a record 205 nominations! Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment, the Nobel Peace Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving a conflict or creating peace. (Wikipedia)

Okay--- so I keep thinking about this and my limited knowledge of who should receive this award who hasn't so far and all I could come up with was Ghandi. The Committee has confirmed that Gandhi was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, finally, a few days before he was murdered in January 1948. Seems like he should have gotten more than just a nomination sometime. But it is good food for thought today, don't you think?? To think about who has promoted peace and fought for it. There are a lot of good people doing good things out there to promote peace and it makes me want to learn a little bit more about the whole process. But for today those are my thoughts!!!!

The Ten Commandments---Laws of the Heart

My sister, Paula, and I are reading a book together. She chose a book the first time that she has been wanting to read and it has been a good choice. We decided that our way of "discussing" it would be just using our blogs to "talk" to each other about it. So this week it is my turn and feel free to tune out if you wish or chime in if you wish!!! So here it goes.

Chapter 2: Joan Chittister's The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart the focus is on the second commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. And the chapter is titled The Law of Respect. On first reading of that commandment I have a pretty shallow concept and always have of what it means. I "assume" that it just means to not swear using God's name. Something I don't do so I figure I have that one licked. HA! Ms. Chittister sheds a little bit more depth to it than I had considered.

Much time is spent discussing the concept of a name and how it means different things to different cultures. In the Native American culture names are given to children that indicate a spirit that is seen in them. When children are named after their parents it denotes that lineage and links them to the past. And when Moses asked God "What is your name?" it has more to it than what appears on the surface. God's response of "...I am who I am. I am Being. I am Life. I am Creator." blows me away. I mean really....think about it. How can we even begin to imagine??? Which leads the author to even more thoughts about the second commandment that I hadn't thought of!

Probably the part of this chapter that challenged me the most was the following exerpt:
"The second commandment tells us not only to risk the corruption of God's name, it also tells us not to play with God's name, with God's being, with God's power. It tells us to not use God's name uselessly.It is useless to use God's name to prove the untrue. It is useless, as well, to use God's name to do what God would never do. This is the sin of those who put themselves in the place of God."

Hmm...so are we talking about idle threats of bad things happening to someone because of a lifestyle choice or when we say that a natural disaster is because God is displeased?? Who gives us that right? And....are we trying to be God when we make those statements and judgments????

The author gives several things to ponder at the end of the chapter and several of them focus on things that I need to mull over more! But one stuck out to me that is making me think more. "God is not my own private, mobile hex sign meant to be used against anyone I don't like. God is what calls me to be godly." Think on it.

Dream Time

I am a dreamer! I mean I really am. I will wake up in the morning and tell Chris what I dreamed about and he will just shake his head and ask me what I ate or drank before I went to bed. I think it is a great thing. I don't have scary dreams too often and when I do I usually wake up from them before something really bad happens. But last night was an amusing one---- and since Chris is in Canada I couldn't share it with him so you get to read all about it.

I was with the boys---Micah and Aaron and we were driving through some countryside someplace and all of the sudden we saw a mushroom cloud of the bomb type ahead of us erupting. Micah told me to go straight (I was driving) and when I did I ended up driving through a large door and ended up in a barnyard (I did get lost in a barnyard in Kentucky one time but that is another story for another day). As we got closer to the mushroom cloud, ninjas jumped out at us and started attacking us so we jumped out of the car and started fighting them. I seem to remember that Micah was much better than I was at this.....Then I yelled at Micah and told him I was going to go take Aaron to the car since we were down to only one ninja to fight and I thought he could handle it and I would get the car ready to leave the area and come back an get him after I got Aaron settled. Oh and did I tell you that Aaron apparently had no arms or legs???? Not quite sure how he was fighting the ninjas but he was....
l
I took Aaron to the car and all I can remember is he was searching through my purse for coins to use to buy this candy he had seen someplace in the farm called Tea Tree Candy that he just had to have. Now how he was doing this with no arms or hands is beyond me but I just remember telling him before I woke up that I had to go NOW to help Micah fight the ninja off.....and then I woke up.

If that didn't put a smile on your face and a head shake I don't know what will. Sweet dreams everyone!!!

Useless Information

Went to the library today since it was such an icky rainy day to load up on reading material while Chris is gone and found a book called "The World's Greatest Book of Useless Infomation". It is something that my brother in law, Carl, would like I think! So today I thought i would offer up some bits of wisdom from this book for your reading pleasure! There is a world of useless info out there just waiting to be told!

1. A "keeper" is the loop on the belt that holds the loose end.
2. D. H. Lawrence enjoyed taking off his clothes and climbing up mulberry trees.
3. John Grisham is a distant cousin of former president Bill Clinton.
4. The board game Scrabble can be found in 1 out of 3 American homes.
5. Between one and two horse jockeys are killed each year while horse racing.
6. Four percent of the food people eat in a lifetime is consumed in front of an open refrigerator.
7. The darker an olive is, the higher the oil content.
8. The sun's warming rays travel 93 million miles to reach earth.
9. The average lifespan of a human taste bud is 7 - 10 days.
10. People who attend church, synagogue, or other religious services once a week live to be an average age of 82 while non church goers live to an average age of 75.
11. Napoleon reportedly carried chocolate on all of his military campaigns.
12. In Iceland, tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.

That's it for today. Amaze someone with your knowledge!!! :-)

What do YOU think?

It was movie weekend in the Chiles household this weekend and we almost overdosed on movies I think but it was fun to see some of the new ones out there and some old ones we loved on tv! We went to see "The Invention of Lying" and it is one of those movies that is invoking a lot of discussion. Most of the reviews that I have read are touting it as an atheist film with nothing redeeming in it at all. I don't know that I would go that far and would welcome any comments from any of you out there in the blogasphere that have seen it! Just leave me a comment at the end of the blog! I would love to hear your reactions.

If you haven't seen the movie yet the basic story line is that in this town no one can tell a lie. Everything is told in brutal truth--no censorship at all so if someone is say a little plumper than those stick figure models in magazines they know it because others are relentless in telling them that they are fat or pudgy or whatever.There is no filter whatsoever. And it got me thinking about my filters.....and I admit it---I use them. I don't always tell the complete truth.

An example happened right before we went to the movie!!! We went to a local restaurant for a bit of a bite to eat before the movie. Ended up just getting a couple of appetizers since we really were not all that hungry and both of the things we ordered were horrible---absolutely horrible. And yet....when the waitress asked several times if everything was okay I LIED and said it was fine. Now I did not gush and go on and on like i sometimes do when the food on my palate is sensational but I did not tell her that it was horrible either. And it made me wonder why I did that. I mean---we were paying for the food and it was really not good at all. So why did I feel that I should hide the truth and spare her feelings when she had not even prepared it??? I was avoiding confrontation I know and at that point it just did not seem like it was that big of a deal in the big scheme of things. So my response to the bad food is to just not go back to that particular place again and they have lost a customer without ever really knowing why they lost a customer. Is that fair??? Hmmm. I don't know.

So the movie had some good lines in it and the reference to God was about "The Man in the Sky" and I guess at times it may have been seen to mock Christianity but at other times I think it challenged Christians to look at their own lives and examine them and how they value the truth. Do we tell lies to avoid confrontation, to avoid hurting someone's feelings??? And is that right? Is there a way to tell the truth with heart and try to temper it and soften it??? Is there anyone among us who tells the truth all the time---no white lies, no little exaggerations??? I don't know. I know that even though I place a huge value on honesty I am guilty.

The movie proceeds with the main character realizing that he can fib, he can lie and as a result he can manipulate things and people. They all believe him totally when he tells a lie and the movie proceeds with more though provoking moments. I will let you come to your own conclusions about the way the movie ends but if nothing else it led me to think a little deeper about things. I guess I got that from my dad---he always could find some redeeming quality in a movie even if it was "Clockwork Orange".

So think about it today----it is worth putting some thought into --this whole lying thing. And let me know what you are thinking. I would love to hear it!

Six Word Saturday

My one minute writing prompt today is to describe your life in six words---could be a phrase, could be a string of words, whatever you choose. And this is what I came up with for me today:
Completely and totally happy and content