Pins and needles

I'm an old school dog.
'Worried about our game tomorrow. It is NOT going to be easy. I'll have to watch it on the 'net...as Tennessee has a game at the same time. :-P

You know, that's a nice thing to be worried about instead of all the things we have been wrestling with as of late. Truly, I can see God's hand in healing us little by little, giving us a little rest. Some good stuff for kiddo...at least it appears that way. I assume nothing.

I'm getting some help healing from some dear folks and I am grateful. All this abuse and bad patterns are hard to replace with good stuff...I don't even feel worthy to do so and definitely don't know much about how to do better. But step by step things are improving.

Lord, thanks.

And now off to the basketball madness yet again. :-) Lots of stuff that needs to be made too. Farmers market isn't long from now, and accounts need stuff too. Plenty to do. It's spring break so I have a little more time than usual to work. What we really need though is a REAL vacation. I'm praying for that.

Which mid-major is most likely to pull a George Mason '06?
Bilas: Drake Bulldogs
Davis: Drake Bulldogs
Fraschilla: Kent State Golden Flashes
Gottlieb: Drake Bulldogs
Rankin: Drake Bulldogs
Vitale: None

March Madness!!!!

Usually we don't give a lick about the NCAA tournament since our alma mater hadn't been in it for 37 years. Well, we're back and in a big way. Scary game on Friday and if we win it we will probably be playing UConn. Not getting ahead of myself, as Western Kentucky University is not going to be easy.

Still, it's a heck of a lot of fun to see Drake get all these props.

We were even in USA Today in a flashback article today...ironic that UCLA is in our bracket. It's a story of the 1969 run...party like it's 1969, bay-bee!!! :-)

Our coach has won a couple coach of the year awards. Considering they thought Drake would finish ninth in the conference and is instead rated #14 overall, that's probably a good call.

"Missing Zach: Drake's basketball team will be missing one fan when it's in Tampa, Fla., for the NCAA Tournament. Reigning Masters champion and Drake grad Zach Johnson, who now lives in Florida, won't be able to attend. "It stinks,'' Johnson said."

As I've said before, we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Overheard at our house...

Me: "When I die, I would like black gospel music played at my funeral, I think."

Hubs: "Well, THAT will make everyone sad."

*L*

Somehow, this is just my style...

Earlier on this here blog I told you pardners that I had signed up for a western mini apron swap. Well, hubs didn't call a shrink and I'm not in a psych facility, so now that I'm mostly not sick I finally finished the crazy things. If you know me, these won't strike you as out of character. *L*

And of course, dear little feline Mandy was nowhere to be seen until it was apparent that one of her slaves was going to take some photos. Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my closeup...*L*

yet another quote o' the day...

ah, to aspire to this...I'd like to be considered this way...got quite a ways to go, but hey, maybe I'm a baby step or two closer...

But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Job 23:10 (New International Version)

But he knows where I am and what I've done.
He can cross-examine me all he wants, and I'll pass the test
with honors.
Job 23:10 (The Message)

Don't stop believing...

...time to announce my return from the dead. Whoa, that was some nasty stuff. I'm not completely over it yet, but mostly. Ten days later! Arrgh. ;-P

Drake treated us fans to an awesome game on CBS. Yeah, CBS with Dick Enberg gushing about our team. I know some of you people are used to this, but it has been a long, long time since Drake has had such basketball notoriety.

Although I should mention that in 1969 we went to the Final Four and lost by three points to Lew Alcindor (yep, that's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to those of you who aren't that old) and UCLA. There was a third place game in those days and we beat North Carolina by around 20 points.

So we're saying...

buff em to a gloss!
wax em to a shine!
party like it's 1969! :-)

The best quote we heard on the TV show was at halftime...Mitch Holtus said, "Cinderella is turning into Godzilla...and Godzilla is on the honor roll!"

I was PROUD, yep, PROUD, when Drake abandoned its Division I football program years ago and joined the Pioneer League instead. They took the money saved and wired the entire dorm complex for the internet, and made sure each student had a computer. This was quite a number of years ago, maybe 15.

And the proudest moment for us is that this is a team that demands a HIGHER GPA than the NCAA requires in order to participate, that there is a double major and a quadruple major on the team, and that we have the winner of the Academic All American Award for universities. Yep, the number one Academic All American.

Hey, how far can they go? Who knows. But we will continue to enjoy the ride while it lasts.

And if you like Seinfeld, here ya go...

If there's a new video on Al Jazeera...

...with some dude claiming success for spreading a terrible virus over America, I would only be half joking that I'd believe it.

Six days later, I haven't seen really any improvement in this awful stuff and now hubs has it too, I think.

I've done what the doctor told me to do and then some, and none of it seems to offer any relief. Arrgh.

Well, later when I don't feel like crap I will talk about the positives of this time. And I'm not joking at all about that part. :-)

Not really a quote

But a paraphrase from Brian Houston of Hillsong, someone I don't usually listen to, but happened to swoop through briefly on the remote control "wow, there really isn't anything on" wanderings...(I think he's a little out there, but the quote seems very wise)

"Sometimes it doesn't seem like following God makes sense, but it is true wisdom to do so."

not a quote, but close enough for jazz ;-)

Dog poo poo

probably feels better than I at present. ;-)

But it hasn't all been bad. I've learned some cool and healing kinds of stuff. Let me get to feeling better, and I'll spill the beans. Until then, peace out.

Good news and not so good news for the sickie chickie

This tells you a little something about the health of folks in glittery Nashvegas these days.

Yesterday: after trying for a good half hour to get something other than a busy signal (and no, AT&T, I am NOT going to pay you $1.20 to keep calling this number for me till it's no longer busy), I get my doctor's nurses' voicemail as requested. She calls in a while, asks about symptoms and whatnot, and says she'll call back.

Someone else calls me from the practice and says my doctor can't see me tomorrow. Hey, I don't even WANT her to see me. She's on chemo, or just finished, and I have NO desire to give her this crap. The person on the line suggests another doctor in the practice that has been helping out while my ABSOLUTE JEWEL of a doctor is recovering from all the crap she's had to deal with. Hey, that is fine with me on so many levels.

This morning, on my way to the appointment, I get a call. "That doctor called in sick and (yet) another doctor will try to work you in."

They were very helpful.

But I did mention that this was good and bad news.

Good news: I don't have strep, and (drumroll please) I HAVE LOST TWELVE POUNDS since the last doctor weigh-in. Yahoo. I guess walking, trying to eat better, and a couple bouts of sickness combined to at least a start on my quest for shrinkage.

Bad news: Doc thinks I have a virus, so two more days of this suffering before they want me to take antibiotics. They said they didn't think the antibiotics would help anyway.

So there you have it.

Sickie chickie once again

I have some lovely, cough your guts out, sore throat, swollen gland stuff. The doc's phone number was busy for the first half hour I tried this morning. That kind of tells you what's up.

I told the nurse I can wait until tomorrow if needed.

This is the second time I have been sick in the last three weeks. Arrgh.

Why I am I so ticked at myself that I'm sick? I guess I expect myself to caregive adequately all the time and I am unable right now? That's probably it. I'm more aware about self care and try to do it, but I still suck at it without being extremely mindful.

Wonder if that's why I told the nurse I can wait till tomorrow.

There is an abusive person in my life, though their abuse is muted now that I have stepped away (for almost a year now). In this situation they would likely scream that I am "selfish" and a "martyr." At the top of their lungs. Then I would have to apologize for nothing, for absolutely nothing, to get them to stop screaming.

I'm not going to apologize anymore.

Maybe I can learn to take care of myself better. After all, Jesus only spent less than 10% of His earthly life in public ministry. Must have needed to gear up for it during the first thirty. Seems like a huge waste of time from my perspective. I must have it wrong.

At least I figured that out and am not serving blindly. Cool.

Quote of the day

“He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Job 23:10

Hope I can live up to that one.