Random Muses of Megret

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"A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you." - Oswald Chambers

Ken , I think, has a tad bit of the spiritual gift of prophecy. Or maybe it's discernment. Either way, it's amazing me how on target he's been the past couple of weeks. It all started with the hotel and bug incident (if you haven't heard about it, you can read about it here .....Ugh. I am still shuddering). It continued with a series of successive attempts of mine to calendar, plan, and contemplate perfect scenarios in my mind of how our afternoon/day/week will proceed. All gone wrong. All failed. All flopped. I am a planner. That's not a fault....unless you're a person who has a tendency to carry it too far, one tweak in your agenda causing you to fly off the handle. Yep. That would be me. If it hasn't been one thing, it's been another. Hastily cancelled plans due to others' schedules. A realization that no matter how hard I plan this upcoming birth, this one, just like Gardner's, may really throw me for a loop. A project started (m...

Having issues with our HVAC today. Funny how I just attended a focus group on home thermostats, and then ours starts acting up. I hope it's just being obstinate and that it doesn't mean that an imminent major repair of our system is coming up soon. I know that nobody 60 years ago had air conditioning in their homes, but I will still readily admit that I become a crybaby if I have reason to believe that mine will be taken from me....even momentarily! A self-centered and feeble attitude, of course. Ken throws his head back in laughter whenever I exclaim that I was born in the wrong decade. "I should've been born in the 20s," I say, marveling at the fashion or automobiles or music of the era. "You couldn't stand more than 24 hours in July," Ken might say, and he's probably right. Maybe, though, just maybe....if I had been born into heat and cold extremes, and gradually learned to live in a drafty home or stuffy apartment building, my resistanc...

Yesterday, my cousin got married to a great girl. Though it was a record-breaking 93 degrees outside, we still had a blast. Everything was perfect. Laid back, simple....just the way it ought to be. And all centered around a love ordained by Him. View some photos of the event here .

We were a part of a sacred event at New Spring last night. Ken was ordained into the ministry. It was truly an honor and a privilege, as well as a realization of the awesome responsibility placed on him (on our family) as a result. I couldn't have been a prouder wife, sitting beside him and watching others lay hands on him, blessing him. Read more about it on his blog .

Our next door neighbor (who helped me graciously during my mini-crisis yesterday morning) came over last night and surprised us with a homemade blueberry crumble-topped pie and a half-gallon of Edy's vanilla ice cream. Still warm from the oven and delicious, it was....but even more warming was the fact that there are still people out there who hospitably welcome you into the new neighborhood, genuinely and with all smiles. Just a little smidgen that added to my cup of faith in mankind yesterday. Makes me want to do the same for someone today.

I am exhausted. Not just a little bit tired. I mean, every single little iota of energy I had remaining just flew out the window as I climbed the staircase and perched myself at this computer this evening. What started out as a relaxed weekend ("We don't have to be anywhere....how nice....") turned into a Meg-imposed work-on-the-house-with-deadlines weekend. We got a lot done, but man, are we both tired. I say Meg-imposed. Part of the hard work was spurred on by Ken's desires for our shrubs to be cut back. He borrowed an awesome Japanese-designed (complete with absolutely no American safety standard precautionary measures) gas-powered hedge trimmer and got to work. Five hours and a huge brush pile later, he's almost done. We have until tomorrow morning to finish the work and return the tool. He's gung-ho about doing just that. I started in the kitchen, a room where I spend much of my time, a room which I've been dying to lighten up. And did I. I ...

Whenever I surf the web, I'm amazed at how far it's all come in such a short amount of time. I was one of the very first ones in my group of friends who "got online." In fact, in high school, Ken and I used to agree to meet on a certain BBS at a certain time on a certain evening....to "chat." Sure...we only lived ten minutes apart and could've just picked up the telephone and talked to the other person live...but typing messages and receiving messages back via a slow-as-Christmas black and amber screen was way cooler. I had a computer with a monitor that was on the blink....or almost. Every few minutes, all of the pixels would gather into the center, making one long, vertical line. I'd literally whack the side of the unit with my open palm, scaring my family and pets every time, just to make the letters reappear. Yet somehow, I rarely lost my patience. I felt still that, despite my faulty tools, I was above the majority of America in my techno...

....So I think I found my new favorite restaurant last night. P.F. Chang's beckoned to me from the interstate last weekend, and I knew that was just the place to try when some girlfriends and I went out last night to dinner. Great atmosphere, excellent prices, and even better food.... it was well worth the 50-plus minute wait on a Tuesday night. (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt....their doors have only been open for a couple of weeks now, and I'm guessing they're still working out the "kinks.") Highly recommend it. As I was driving along the backroads yesterday with a red-faced toddler in the backseat, I wondered where our "transition to summer" went. We went from 75-degree weather to 95-degree weather in less than three weeks, and my poor Jeep's air conditioning system just cannot keep up. I was able to get my hair trimmed of one heavy inch yesterday, and tomorrow, the same for Gardner. 'Tis the season. I have lots of cleani...

Ken and I are home at last from our fabulous four-day getaway to Charleston. It was wonderful just to go with the flow. Try as I might, I just couldn't relinquish all of the control over our schedule or touristy pursuits....but I was better than I have been on previous trips. In fact, I even let myself nap when I wanted to nap....even if it was from 7-8 pm, only to go on to bed at 11 pm. Hey...it's vacation, right? Ken has a few snapshot highlights of our trip here . We came home to, however, a tirade of two devious felines who are, I'm convinced, intent on ruining our house and every piece of furniture within it. We've had these cats as 100% indoor cats for six years, but they are quickly wearing out their welcome. I, supreme cat lover (and every other breathing animal, for that matter) never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but....we are on the verge of kicking them out. They still have their claws. The only threat in the neighborhood is a harm...

I don't know why, or where the thought of you came from....but driving home today, I thought of you. I remembered the three or four times I visited you, one time in particular when I was with my grandparents for a week the summer after I turned eight. I don't remember your name, but I do remember that you were an intricate little shop that housed solely Christmas merchandise. Trinkets galore....sparkling silver teardrop ornaments, jolly red felt 60s Santas, glass icicles, silver tinsels and garlands, little flocked reindeer sitting in cotton "snow," elves that mechanically "decorated" lit trees in each snow-flecked store window. I remember your creaky floors, the narrow, narrow staircase that led from one crowded floor to another. I remember the smell of Grandma's attic within your walls, and your quiet holiday music bursting forth from dusty speakers overhead. Such a magical place. It is pure magic in and of itself to step into a Christmas wonderland...

In developmental and biological psychological class (whoa....seven years ago since I sat in those seats), we had to come up with genetic combinations. Long process....much like those eliminate-the-options puzzles that give you a headache. But today I found this ....a site with a calculator which will show you the likelihood that you and your mate's future children will have certain eye colors. Amazing. Looks like little Rainey has a 50% chance of having green eyes, 50% chance of having blue. So much for my hopes for a "brown eyed girl!"

We lost one of our two huge Bradford Pear trees out front this weekend with all of the wind and storms we've had. As we surveyed the damage of the limb that fell (well, really, half of the entire tree split off), we realized there was nothing we could do but cut the entire thing down. Yesterday, that's just what Ken and his dad did. Sappy female and animal activist that I am, all I could think about was the fact that I hoped there were no baby birds hidden away in nests inside its branches. Forget about the fact that we lost a tree and the majority of our shade against the morning sun.... what about the birds? I am not going to complain about the wind and rain, however. I am a lover of summer showers....there's something about a late afternoon thunderstorm that, if I'm at home, makes my whole surroundings seem cozier and warmer. I love explaining to little Gardner how God makes the rain fall, and how the clouds gather up and produce streaks of lightning which t...

I have been taking a tiny break from blogging to spend time with Ken , who took two days off this week to be at home with Gardner and I. It was nice! I have been busy cooking and cleaning today in preparation for a wedding shower we're throwing here tonight for my cousin and his soon-to-be bride. The house smells like pecan pie bars and Eucalyptus Spearmint aromatherapy linen spray. Mmmm..... I laughed outloud today at a video linked from a friend's email.... see for yourself how far dance has come since the 1950s. Ken has a link to another funny clip from "The State," but to maintain my family-friendliness of my blog, I will refrain from linking to it. (It's not bad ....it's just not good , either.) (Although, I highly recommend searching for "Bad Words" by "The State" on YouTube , as well. Probably my favorite.)

I was inspired by my experience with a "healthy mom snack bar" just now to make up a little list of foods which are supposed to be good (or at least good for you, so they say)....but are instead ideas which should've died on paper. -- Fried Oreos. I mean, come on. Let's face it. You take a cookie already laden with trans-fats and then dip it into hot oil and fry it? As if that weren't bad enough, it's fried in oil which has also been frying turkey legs being sold alongside them at the county fair's food booth? -- Those Philly Swirl push pops . I love Italian ices, and so we tried this next invention from the popular food maker. I mean, Ken and I seriously believe they froze up some ice but forgot to add the flavor packet in the last round. -- Necco wafers. What are they trying to be? SweetTarts? In the words of Ken (forever etched in history): "This is what EVIL tastes like!" -- Pennywort juice. No questions, please. These were in a...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I know I did. It was all that I was hoping it'd be....fun, relaxing, filled with time with my own two cuties here at home, as well as extended family. Ken and Gardner treated me to brunch, as well. You can't have a day much more perfect than that.... Got to see my Grandma yesterday, who was celebrating her 54th Mother's Day this year. We also were able to meet our other future cousin-in-law....my cousin Jonathan returned from the mission field with his future fiancee at his side. How exciting! Vacation is now only ten days away, and I am ecstatic. I don't think I've ever "needed" a vacation this badly before, except for, of course, after a heavy week of college exams (which, when I reflect back on it, wasn't as bad as I thought it was then). After Ken and I take this excursion, in a couple more weeks, we will bundle up Gardner and take him to see the beach for himself....for the firs...

I give you a site that Ken immediately remembered from his childhood and pre-teen years (although back then it was only in paper catalog form): Things You Never Knew Existed. In other news, did anyone catch all of the little revelations that exploded out of the plot lines of LOST last night!? OH, wow. I have to admit, though, I wish Ana Lucia hadn't bitten the dust. I know everybody else had intense hatred for her character, but I had a soft spot that she was slowly warming up to. I could see past her shell. Looking forward to tonight's season finale of "The Office." Let me just say that sociologists sure had fun with this show, and by saying that, I'm assuming that probably 60% of the writing collaboration team have background in that science of sorts. There are just way too many stereotypes flying around. (Check out their site if you haven't already....some of the cast members have their own blogs.) Got my first installments of "free gifts ...

Not much to say today. I'm kind of down today, so I'm actually going to be totally honest and say I've had a day full of plain old sulking. (Boy, doesn't that sound so grown-up?) It's days like today when I feel like I need to run straight forward to any source of help....yet I am not sure in which direction to run. Of course, the first place I need to run to is Him. It's truly one of those days where I cry out, "God, I admit again, I simply cannot do it alone."

I am forcing myself to stay in today and clean our house. No, I mean, REALLY clean it. Not just piddle around and dust what's visible. It is in need of extra TLC. I even made Ken take our one car to work (the Jeep's in the shop getting A/C repairs) so I wouldn't be tempted to run errands instead of stay here and work. In other news, Ken got home from the gym last night to see me engrossed in a movie called "Downfall." It is a recount (lasting 2-1/2 hours) of the last four days before Berlin fell.....in other words, Hitler's last days. Wonderful. I re-learn to speed read whenever I watch movies that are subtitled, but all in all, it was an incredible flick. If you're into that kind of stuff, I recommend it highly. I am going now. The house isn't getting any cleaner by me sitting here at the keyboard.