Fruitful Words

Since joining Facebook I’ve had a small flurry of emails letting me know that . . . .

• “Jene” has confirmed me as a friend
• “Jon” added me as a friend
• “Jasmine” requests that I be her friend
• “Jamal” asks that I confirm or deny that we are related

Yesterday I received an email that made me scream out loud, “No Way!” It was a friend request from a classmate in high school. I haven’t talked to her in, well, too many decades. I look forward to catching up and hearing about her life since our last reunion party which was probably for the 15th year.

As I looked over her friend list, I saw the name and picture of Mickey, one of my best high school buds. I had lost contact with her many decades ago too. Of course I put in my own friend request late last night.

• At 6:45 am I checked to see if she had responded yet. NO.
• At 7:10 am, still NO.
• By 7:30 am she hadn’t friended me yet.

Okay. I’m turning off the technology and getting on with my real life. I have a few things to do before going to a conference with some work mates. (Doesn’t that sound so professional?)

But wait, one last look. But alas, still NO email friend confirmation. This waiting is gonna be hard on my curiosity. And my imagination because I’m thinking, “Maybe she doesn’t want to be my friend and that’s why I haven’t heard from her yet.” Yes, part of me realizes that it is still before 8 am in her part of the world.

I don’t do rejection well. It seems like Facebook has the potential to bring a lot my way. What am I setting myself up for?

BTW - anyone from Peter Pond High School know where Char is? I’d like to send her a friend request too.

I became a twitterite this week. Not sure who uses it for what. My sista and Daughter are on there though. Evidently you get 140 words to tell what you are doing.

This is what I posted a few minutes ago:

I just recuperated from a HOT day in an 80 degree classroom. Should I go to bed, make tapioca, put away the laundry, write a paper or surf?

After I hit send, “laundry” wins the coin toss.

What you doing in 140 words or less?

It is unlikely that I’ll be blogging for the next two weeks.

This week I have 3 days of school and next week it’s 3 days at a conference and maybe SF with my children.

I could use your prayers so that I’ll learn and integrate well the new material into my life and for a good sleep schedule so I can be energized. I want to enjoy these two weeks.

My Roomie is in Israel for school for 3 weeks. Pray that she has energy, health, safety, learns well, has a good time with the other students and doesn’t suffer from severe jet lag either way.

Thanks!

Habits and Events from my 51 Things List didn’t get much attention last week. The first excitement of engaging in a new project has passed. I need to be more intentional about what I’ll be doing week to week.

So this week I’ll do the following . . . .

• Download and complete the doctrinal questionnaire to become a licensed CM&A worker. I hear this questionnaire is a long and hairy beast to complete.
• Schedule an appointment with my seminary advisory to officially figure out what classes I need to take to graduate in May 2009.
• Plan my summer camping trip. PEI or Hawaii are probably too far to go for a weekend, eh?
• Continue working on a 10 p.m. bed time.
• Tell my three jokes to 2 people. Find another joke and memorize.
• Install a clothesline.
• Finish transcribing my notes from the John Wesley prayer book so I can start a new book on prayer.

Okay - looks like this might take two weeks, but at least I have a plan.

Come on, don’t be shy. How’s it going with your own list of yearly to-dos?

I made my last payment a few minutes ago.

What a relief that is.

When I started Seminary several years ago, I made an agreement with God. If I didn’t have the money, I would not go that quarter. I would trust God to provide direction and the necessary money as HE SAW FIT.

Until last quarter I was faithful to that promise. I didn’t have the money, BUT certain funds were going to come in: from a debt someone owed me, from a trust fund, and from a side job. I really wanted to go to school because I had a schedule to keep. I want to graduate next May and so I NEED to take 2-3 classes each quarter. Therefore, I put the charges on my credit card knowing it would be paid off within the month. I counted on money I did not have.

Of course you know what happened. None of it came in. So not only did I have a credit card payment with interest and finance charges to pay each month. . . .

. . . . I disobeyed God. I won’t do that again.

Tuition is due the end of May. This time, if no money, then no classes. My school schedule is in God’s hands. Please pray for my faith, discernment and obedience.

How many of you use Google reader to keep track of your blog reading? Or some other reader?

• How many blogs do you track?
• Are they in the same category or varied? What are the categories?

I wonder what my blog reading choices reveal about me. What do they reveal about you?

This could be an interesting meme. You know the drill. Answer the questions. Tag a few people with the info here. Link back.

Waiting in the early hours, cold and excited in Napa Valley, CA, for the balloon to fill up.

See how tall the basket is? I won’t be falling out. I’m between my son and daughter. A nice place to be when celebrating a 50th birthday.

Some people are just natural show-offs! See that guy in the background getting into the basket? He had NO trouble getting in or out.

Bye! See you later: 7 miles south and 1 hour, 20 minutes later.

To read about my trip, go here. To see pictures that my sista took, go here. To read why I went on this trip, go here.

Thank you, family, for spoiling me again.

The other day sista and I were visiting on the phone. Hubby arrived home and she had to go. I told her to kiss him like she really missed him. ‘Cause you know, I’m the older sista and sometimes I have good ideas about marriage and other things.

Today I was flipping through magazines looking for pictures for a collage about “the perfect woman” (I’ll tell you more in another post). I read the following from the February 12, 2008 edition of Woman’s Day (page 13) . . . .

“Take 10 Minutes. Pucker up! Making time to reconnect is good for your relationship and for your health-locking lips can boost your immune system, relieve stress and even slow the aging process.”

Boost immune system. Relieve stress. Slow aging. Who knew doing something “healthy” for your body could be so fun, cheap, and easy? Since I’m single and not doing any kind of reconnecting kissing, guess I’ll have to settle for vitamins, exercise and sleep.

The weather is warm and the ceiling fan helps move the air around the house. Since the fan blades are dirty, it also moves dust around the house. So today, I’ll clean it in 3 easy steps.

1. Gather supplies: drop cloth, ladder/stool, spray cleaner, feather duster, and the secret weapon - a sock. You might need two, if the fan is very dirty.
2. Spread drop cloth under fan. Set stool/ladder on top of cloth, under the fan. Get on ladder.
3. Dust fan blades. Put sock on dominant hand.
4. Spray fan blades. (Sometimes I uses vinegar, if I don’t have any regular cleaning sprays.) Wipe off with socked hand. Repeat until done.
5. Pick up drop cloth. Shake outside. Put away all your supplies.

This cleaning project is great for using up odd socks. And I always seem to have odd socks. Even though they go into the dryer as a pair, they come out as singles. Go here to read a poem about missing socks I wrote one distraught day.

Go here to read other Works-For-Me-Wednesday posts.

Related Posts Works-For-ME Wednesday:

Cleaning

• Whiteboard Cleaner That’s Non-Toxic
• 3 Whiteboard Cleaning Tips

Edited to Add These Tips from Commenters:

• Crystal uses a vacuum attachment, “that weird little round brush,”  to clean her fan and return air ducts.
• Melissa puts a pillow case over the entire blade so that all the yuckys fall inside the case and nothing on the ground.
• Christine uses a microfiber cloth and spray she bought at the same time she bought the fan.

I’ve done 3 new things from my 51 Things To-do-List:

1. I learned to do one new thing on my blog. You might have noticed: PICTURES! My sista showed me stockxpert - the leading free stock photo site. It is quick to sign up for a free account. Nice choices. Easy to use. And if I can use it, anyone can.
   
2. I read my second just for fun book: The Secret of the Old Clock - the first of the Nancy Drew mystery series. I read all these books as a child. My niece, Es, is reading these now and lent me her copy. It was a fun read - good junk food is the category I’d place it in. I’ll give a recap later.
3. Because of extra money coming in, I’ve been able to tithe extra. I put the money towards the Building fund and the Missions fund. Of course it was tempting to keep it all for my needs. But I’ve been trying to practice what Pastor Mike has been teaching us in his last series on “God’s Remedy for Financial Worries.”

Hmmm. Maybe the extra money was a quiz from God to see what it is I’ve been learning. Keep reading for what I’ve been learning from Pastor Mike.

• Keep your priorities straight. Desire what God desires. God’s will be done in heaven and earth.
• Continue to be generous. Don’t let fear affect my heart. Don’t let fear stop me from helping those around me.
• Make God’s kingdom & righteousness my first ambition.
  
• Take one day at a time. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes,” Matthew 6:34. The Message

Go here for information on how to contact the church office and get your OWN copy of this sermon series.

What quizzes have been coming your way? How are your goals coming along? What new things have you learned? Do share here in the comments or at your blog.