Livin' the dream!
"Things are looking up in this cruel world." For some reason my stepdad says that when he's been particularly looking forward to a meal and it's time to eat. (My dad says "Food, my favorite dish!" before every meal.)
The kitties have been fighting all night, and I seriously had to give Grady a time out. First they were fighting over the bits of chicken they managed to beg off me from my Tossed salad (even kitties like Tossed! Try it!). Then they were rolling in a ball and hissing. I made Grady sit on the bed with me for ten minutes. Fighting stopped. Dirty looks ensued. (There is nothing like a dirty look from your cat. Honestly.)
Anyway, I picked my car up today. Yes, I can see with my two art-school non-mechanic eyes that the head gasket is leaking. There's also oil on the air conditioner pulleys, near the a/c intake, around the #1 spark plug, on top of the place where you put in brake fluid. But just teeny splatters of it. The car has 165000 miles on it. Cars leak oil. It's part of why we replace them. It's not what had me stopped by the side of the freeway Friday night.
It is not dire. It may be a hassle, or ugly, or not optimal, but it is not dire. And even if it is, I've been setting aside money for another car for about six months. I have enough so that I'll only have to have a teeny car payment, payable in a year (or two if I really stretch it out). I have nearly made my deadline, and...well, I've been watching those iPhone videos.
Because Tomorrow is the day. I will let you know how it goes. :)
Sometimes when I'm having a little internal struggle - not really a disaster, just a whiny day or a bit of uncertainty or an inability to keep on the sunny side - all it takes is to read a little something and snick! my perspective shifts, not too terribly much but just a notch right or left. You know what happens if you take off from Nashville and drive due north? You end up in Lake Michigan. (I do not recommend driving in to Lake Michigan unless you are picking up your boat.) But if you're off just five degrees? New York state. Small shifts in perspective become major adjustments over time. You just have to trust the process.
This was my little internal re-centering for today, from the daily Elisabeth Elliot devotional. When I am old, I hope that people will say I am like her - courageous, solid, and true.
Despite my fears I did learn where to go and what to do, and I managed to grasp first-grade arithmetic. But, I used to think, I could never do it without Miss Scott. Well, I was not required to do it without Miss Scott. Miss Scott was the teacher. Miss Scott was there precisely to teach me what I needed to know. It has taken me a good many years to realize that in the School of Faith, what I am required to do I am enabled to do. Provision has been made. I am not alone and there is nothing to fear, for "God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it."
I have found lately that singing songs from The Sound of Music at the top of my lungs helps as well. Grady disagrees, and asks that you send ear plugs.
The kitties have been fighting all night, and I seriously had to give Grady a time out. First they were fighting over the bits of chicken they managed to beg off me from my Tossed salad (even kitties like Tossed! Try it!). Then they were rolling in a ball and hissing. I made Grady sit on the bed with me for ten minutes. Fighting stopped. Dirty looks ensued. (There is nothing like a dirty look from your cat. Honestly.)
Anyway, I picked my car up today. Yes, I can see with my two art-school non-mechanic eyes that the head gasket is leaking. There's also oil on the air conditioner pulleys, near the a/c intake, around the #1 spark plug, on top of the place where you put in brake fluid. But just teeny splatters of it. The car has 165000 miles on it. Cars leak oil. It's part of why we replace them. It's not what had me stopped by the side of the freeway Friday night.
It is not dire. It may be a hassle, or ugly, or not optimal, but it is not dire. And even if it is, I've been setting aside money for another car for about six months. I have enough so that I'll only have to have a teeny car payment, payable in a year (or two if I really stretch it out). I have nearly made my deadline, and...well, I've been watching those iPhone videos.
Because Tomorrow is the day. I will let you know how it goes. :)
Sometimes when I'm having a little internal struggle - not really a disaster, just a whiny day or a bit of uncertainty or an inability to keep on the sunny side - all it takes is to read a little something and snick! my perspective shifts, not too terribly much but just a notch right or left. You know what happens if you take off from Nashville and drive due north? You end up in Lake Michigan. (I do not recommend driving in to Lake Michigan unless you are picking up your boat.) But if you're off just five degrees? New York state. Small shifts in perspective become major adjustments over time. You just have to trust the process.
This was my little internal re-centering for today, from the daily Elisabeth Elliot devotional. When I am old, I hope that people will say I am like her - courageous, solid, and true.
Despite my fears I did learn where to go and what to do, and I managed to grasp first-grade arithmetic. But, I used to think, I could never do it without Miss Scott. Well, I was not required to do it without Miss Scott. Miss Scott was the teacher. Miss Scott was there precisely to teach me what I needed to know. It has taken me a good many years to realize that in the School of Faith, what I am required to do I am enabled to do. Provision has been made. I am not alone and there is nothing to fear, for "God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it."
I have found lately that singing songs from The Sound of Music at the top of my lungs helps as well. Grady disagrees, and asks that you send ear plugs.
posted by Jen at 10:35 PM
4 Comments:
I wish my husband and child had the same view toward food as your dad - it would make cooking so much easier.
Your stepdad sounds like fun.
Centering? I need some of that today.
Songs from The Sound of Music - excellent and ME TOO! :)
I have confidence in confidence alone.........
I completely agree with you on the whole car lease/paymetn thing. Interest is money the banks make for nothing. I refuse to pay it. I drive my cars into the ground. the last car I had started acting up. I looked for a new one for 2 months, foound one, bought it and we were a 2 car family for a whole...2 months. then the old(er) car quit. Wouldn't start up. Had it towed to the junkers. Not bad for $3400. (I got 6 years out of it!)
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