Good morning friends

We are excited today because we get to pick our little girl up from day care right after lunch.  She will spend the afternoon with us.  I messaged her mom early this morning so she'd know we hadn't forgotten; she told the kid we'd be there, and Cora said, "Can they come and get me now?"  

It's downright chilly this morning, not that I'm complaining.  We haven't used the furnace yet, but I told Cliff if we had a small electric heater, it would be nice for a couple of hours in the morning.  I wouldn't use one all the time, simply because it takes a LOT of expensive electricity to make heat.  But I'm thinking it would save money, used only for a couple of hours daily.  Our Wellington Fair is this weekend.  Sounds like the weather might degenerate somewhat, with a 60% chance of thunderstorms during the time of the parade.  I'm so happy for cool weather, I don't even care that much, although I'm pretty certain we'll never again get over half an inch of rain here.  It can't be because God hates us, though:  I hold on to the promise straight from Jesus that says the rain falls on the just AND the unjust (yes, that's tongue in cheek, I'm not trying to convert anybody... although I do like Jesus). 

Facebook is doing fundraisers for charity now, and it's one of the best ideas ever.  For my birthday I chose the local Lafayette County charity which sent Cliff over $700 to take care of fuel expenses when he was driving to the city for radiation.  Thanks to great local friends, I exceeded my goal of $200.  My grandson chose to raise funds for St. Jude's Hospital.  He just started yesterday and has already reached his goal.  You can raise funds for non-charity things too, but in that case, as I understand, Facebook gets a small cut of it, sort of like GoFundMe does.  I've heard people cry and moan about how it's a ripoff using GoFundMe because they get a (tiny) part of the proceeds.  They'd rather give it to the actual person.  That's real nice, unless we're talking about Internet friends:  We don't have addresses for them, so it's impossible to help them without GoFundMe or something similar.  To each his own, but I feel it's a great deal.  They should be getting something for their part in helping people donate.  Do people consider it a ripoff when their cell phone bills arrive with extras tacked on so their $70 phone bill turns into $74?  

But you know what they say about opinions.    

I took a brief break from my blogging at this point because Cliff came inside and pointed out some cobwebs around the pictures in the hallway.  He reached toward one, finger cocked to remove a web, and I said, "Don't touch those... it's almost Halloween!  Then I got up from the computer and went for my dust thingie, saying, "This happens every time I try to blog:  Somebody tries to make me do some kind of work.  That's a joke, of course, because the fact is I'm a lousy housekeeper and, as I told Cliff, God gave me eyes that can't see cobwebs.

I'm finally learning how to make omelets.  Most people feel scrambled eggs are the same thing, but I really prefer omelets, and used to order them when we went out for breakfast.  I can make a decent-looking omelet now; this morning I folded them over and added chopped ham, onion, cheese, and sweet pepper.  It looked and tasted as if a professional made it.  Go me!  That reminds me, if anybody wants the recipe for the ham casserole I mentioned yesterday, go to that entry and click on "ham casserole we both like" just above the picture; it will take you to the recipe.  Just don't use as much butter as the recipe says, because that's ridiculous.  and add more than 2 teaspoons of onion, for heaven's sake.  Why bother for such a small amount?

I've gotten many positive comments about my "new" letter-writing style of blogging.  By the way, I share the link to each blog entry on Facebook, so I get more comments on Facebook than I do here on the blog.  It'll take awhile for me to get used to jotting down notes, but that's what I'm trying to do as I go about my daily rounds.  I might write a word or two about something that's going through my mind, or some nice thing that happened.  This has been a big help to me over these last few days!  

Here's a story from yesterday, at Walmart in Blue Springs:  I got in the speedy line where you can only have a limited number of items, thinking it would be faster.  Wouldn't you know someone at the front of the line had something going on that held us up for about ten minutes?  There was an older (ok, maybe my age) couple behind me, and the man was extremely disgruntled, talking to his wife in a rather hateful way while not actually saying anything bad about her.  I struck up a conversation with her:  I said, "Standing like this is a problem for those of us with aches and pains and health problems, isn't it?"

"Yes," said the guy,  "and we both have problems."

"His problems are worse than mine," Wife answered, and he sort of shook his head and went off looking for a quicker place to check out.  I told her I understand because it seems one of us is always off to the the doctor; then I related how Cliff's doctor wanted him to have a colonoscopy, but he refused; so they had him take a fecal sample (Cliff's going to kill me, but he told me I should tell this story).  Turns out the fecal sample tested positive (I'm thinking a false positive, but we'll see).  So Cliff gave in.  BUT then he got a call from place saying the cardiologist wouldn't let them do a colonoscopy until he saw Cliff.  Another doctor.

About this time she looked in the direction of her husband and whispered, "Make sure he gets that colonoscopy..." and nodded and motioned toward her husband, who was now rapidly approaching us.  It all became clear then:  They had just been blindsided by colon cancer, I imagine, and weren't dealing too well.  He wasn't angry at his wife; she was just the only one there to vent to.      

I'm not one to chat with folks, introvert that I am, but for some reason I chatted with them.  Not only that, but when I was done and ready to walk out, I turned and said, "I hope your day turns around, and I hope you have some good luck today."

I was just like some Little Susie Sunshine, talking to them.  But you know, by the time I left, both their countenances had changed, and they looked somewhat less stressed.  I've got to quit judging people when I don't know what's behind their actions.  There's a quote often seen on Facebook as a meme:  "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Yours truly, Donna