Sunday Stealing

Stolen from the League of Extraordinary Penpals

1. My plans for December 

I make very few plans at this point in my life.

2. How energized I feel at this point in the year

I haven't felt energized since I was 70.

 

3. The best things about the holiday season

The food

 

4. Something that changed my perspective on life

Some 35 years ago my husband was out of a job for quite a long time.  I had always written my monthly bills on the calendar for every week, with the amount due.  When he lost his job it didn't work out any more because the bills amounted to more than he made.  But somehow, with one thing and another coming along, we got by.  A local dairy farmer gave him occasional work and paid him with calves, which I raised to six or eight months old and then sold.  Our then daughter-in-law and two babies came to stay with us for several months and contributed a little money to the pot.  We finally went to our favorite banker and borrowed money to pay off all our bills so we'd just have one payment.  

I did my best to keep calm and positive because a man out of a job doesn't need any negativity, but as I told him, "Both our kids are on their own now, it's just you and me.  The worst thing that could happen is we lose our home, and as long as we have each other, we can handle that." 

That period of our lives brought us closer than we had ever been, and it's a time that I can look back on and realize it was good for us both..

 

 5. What I seem to get the most comments about

If this means blog comments, I seem to get the most comments on entries talking about our injuries or sickness... major sicknesses, that is.  I used to ride my horse around the countryside, and Cliff and I went for motorcycle rides; I had something to write about then, and got quite a few comments.  I like comments, but it doesn't bother me that I don't get a lot of them.  I don't comment on blogs a lot myself, although I love to read them.

6. The changes I’ve made to my style

What style??  I've never had much style.

 

7. What gets in the way of my success

Since I don't try anything difficult or outstanding, nothing gets in my way.  I consider it a success when I make a pie or cookies and they turn out well.  If I find an interesting book, I'm a success at choosing books.  My goals are simple and basic.

 

8. News sources I trust the most.

None of them since Walter Cronkite retired.

 

9. Fictional characters that would easily fit into my life

Andy Griffith and Barney Fife.  The family in Laura Ingalls Wilders books (not the tv show).  You know... country folks.

 

10. My relationship with spirituality

I've been up and down, wandered off and then back on the path.  But I have finally developed an abiding faith in God through Jesus.  My husband says it's just because I was raised that way.  All I know is that I am very much at peace these days, and I truly believe in God.

 

11. How I feel when I’m being retrospective

I love thinking about my childhood and remembering aunts, uncles, cousins, my grandmother... It was all so wonderful, and I didn't have a care.  It's calming to recall my childhood.

 

12. My thoughts on AI technology 

Ha.  I saw this and thought, "Why would anyone ask a question about artificial insemination."  I had Jersey cows around for over half of my married life, and we didn't keep a bull for them, we just called a man to come and inseminate them.  I don't know anything about AI technology, even though I looked it up on Google.

13. The odd/weird things I do when nobody else is around

Why wait till nobody's around?  I'm weird all the time.

 

14. What I do when I can’t sleep

I sleep pretty well these days, but if I wake up and can't go back to sleep I pray, simply by saying the names of those who come to mind.  I also like to go over Bible verses  I've learned, many of them words I learned as a child:  The Lord is my Shepherd, the beatitudes, verses from the Old and New Testament.

 

15. The winter/holiday season tasks I enjoy 

Cooking the things my mother used to make for the holidays, because it takes me back again to my childhood; every day my husband and I have been having a little piece of the fruitcake like my mother used to make...We don't do much about Christmas around here any more.

Thanks to Bev Sykes, who steals fun things on the Internet to keep us on our toes.  You'll find Sunday Stealing HERE.

Ho hum

First of all, let me tell you that Cliff seems to be doing great.  After the day of his surgery, he hasn't been dizzy.  He's probably happy that he has a good excuse to take naps without me teasing him about it, since there's not really anything he can do right now.  He has some new parts for the big old White tractor, but I don't think he'll be able to do that for at least ten more days.  If fact, I've taken a few extra naps too!  The days are cloudy and cold, not very inspiring for much of anything.

It is hard waiting so long to find out how much good all this will do.  In most cases it does work; Cliff still has tinnitus, some days louder than others.  Of course it isn't a real sound; it's a fake sound caused by nerve damage, and nothing can be done about it.  Now that Cliff's "good ear" isn't hearing anything, he's found that when the tinnitus isn't too bad, he can hear a little out of the left ear if the hearing aid is in it.  Yesterday the tinnitus was terrible, today not so bad, so I can talk to him some, as long as he can see my face to read lips along with what he's hearing.  We're still watching TV together in the evenings; he's been using closed captions for at least 20 years, and that's how he keeps up with whatever's going on.

Scammers irritate me!  I'm answering Cliff's phone now, as well as my own, and he gets several scam calls every single day.  Most of them are from people with a Mexican accent wanting to know if we've gotten our new Medicare cards.  Surely by now, everybody knows this is a scam, and yet they keep calling again and again.

I just finished what I consider to be a really good book:  The Gods of Green County by Mary Elizabeth Pope.  It's fiction, and takes place in Arkansas back when cotton was still hand-picked.  It's sad, but I could hardly put it down. 

That's all I have today.  Let's all try to keep our spirits up on these gloomy, windy winter days.  

Peace.