Have you ever considered how your tastes in food have been influenced by the people you love?

I was grocery shopping the other day and it struck me anew that I
routinely buy things that I would have never EVER bought, if it weren’t
for the man I married.  And – I am not only buying those things
but actually eating them and enjoying
them.  Take fig bars, for instance.  Ugh.  Who would
want a cookie that has grit in it???  But my dearly beloved grew
up with them and loves them.  Once when we were on a road trip the
only snacks we happened to have in the car were apples and fig
bars.  I was ravenously hungry but my husband had a goal in mind
(picture: glassy eyeballs and hands clenched on steering wheel) so I
didn’t bother to say “Let’s stop and EAT!”  Instead, I wolfed down
some gritty fig bars.  I discovered that they really weren’t so
bad and now they are about the only cookies I always
keep on hand.  I guess when you get to our age you begin to see
the healthier side of “grit” (aka fiber).  Plus, they are easier
to resist than chocolate chip so they stay around a bit longer.

Same thing goes for green olives.  After nearly 30 years of
cutting them up and putting them on our weekly pizzas because my
husband and children happen to like them, I, who would have gagged on a
green olive 30 years ago, find a pizza just isn’t a pizza without
them.  And for breakfast this morning I actually ate and enjoyed a
bowl of Raisin Bran – another one of those things high on my list of
“Things I Can Live Without”. 

Obviously some of these taste changes occur because it’s just easier to
adapt than not.  And it could help that I’ve lost my sense of
taste and smell.  But mostly I think it’s just a matter of the
lines between “what I like” and “what you like” blurring and running
into each other over time.  Now we say things like, “Was it you
that didn’t like XYZ?”  Reply: “No, I think it was you that didn’t
like it.”  “Oh.  Maybe you’re right….”

I got a real chuckle out of
my mother-in-law today.  She’s had a painful neck ever since a
fall a year ago.  After a visit to the doctor this week she told
me today, “I always thought the pain was in my neck but the doctor said
it was in my vertebrae!” 

It was a stretch to think of six random things about myself but here goes:

1.  I have no sense of smell or taste.  Makes it hard to cook so if you come to my house to eat, be forewarned.

2.  One of my ancestors on my father’s side was a guy by the name
of Resolved White.  He was 5 years old when he and his parents
boarded the Mayflower and came to the New World.

3.  One of my all-time favorite presents was the microscope Pete
bought me for being a good wife and helping him finish grad school.

4.  I love science – reading about it, doing it, applying
it.  Unfortunately my brain is anumeric and the only two science
numbers I’m ever really sure of is that it’s about 93 million miles to
the sun and there are 6.02 X 10 E23 atoms/molecules/pieces in a
mole. 

5.  I will almost always choose silence over music or background noise.  I love the quiet.

6.  I love to have people come to our home but hate to dust and
vacuum.  So if you come to my house, don’t even bother to check -
there will be dust on the chair rungs. 

Since I am one of those people who always break the chain of a chain
letter, I’m not tagging anyone!  (Random fact #7 about myself)

I was reading a book a while back and the author described a woman of my age in this way:
    “She was a solid woman.  They were both solid
women.  Solid with that mysterious stuff of middle age.”

Dang.  It unnerves me a little when an author (a man, no less) hits the nail on the head like that. 

According to Roger Klocek of
Shedd Aquarium, mussels (fresh-water clams) are fascinating
animals.  He does surveys of mussels to determine the health of a
stream or lake.  One of the things Roger shared with us at one of
our watershed meetings was this: mussels are perfect for studying
because in a burst of energy they might be able to travel a foot or two
in an hour.  But then they are so exhausted that they have to rest
for about three days. 

I thought of this fact today because I think it applies to me. 
The last few days have been incredibly busy.  And I’m not bouncing
back like I used to.  I’m feeling distinctly like a clam – I need
about three days to recuperate (or as we say in our family
“repookerate”). 

If you need me, knock hard on my shell.

It seems that every January I
make some attempt, however feeble, to organize some corner of my life
that needs it.  This year I took on the challenge of all my sewing
junk.  Yeah, don’t get overwhelmed at the magnitude of this
project…I know…you’d think there might be something a bit more
worthy of the effort.  But, honestly, it really is irritating to
have to dig through all kinds of stuff to find the seam ripper when I
really need it.  Or search through four different drawers or boxes
for the right shade of thread. 

Enter Plano Molding Factory Outlet.  This place is amazing. 
Plano Molding makes tackle boxes.  And all kinds of stuff that
resembles tackle boxes.  And you can buy these amazing plastic
things at their outlet for a pittance.  Well, maybe 1 1/2
pittances.  So you wander around this big room looking at all
these boxes with a thousand little cubbyholes in them and the
organizing bug bites you then and there.  You pick up one you
think you can’t live without and carry it around with you until you
find a bigger and better one.  Or one with special little
verschnörckelungen (German for sort-of-nooks-and-crannies) in the
lid.  And if you get out of there with fewer than four of these
monstrosities you are doing good.  We actually got out of there
with only three but then we got to the car and Pete said, “Will you
wait here just a minute?” and before I could even answer him, he had
headed back in there.  A few minutes later he came back out with
another box in each hand and a foolishly happy grin on his face. 

So now my sewing stuff is organized and Pete has his model plane stuff
organized.  I’d say that’s doin’ pretty good for this
January. 

What you can’t see in the picture is that my wonderful thread box has
two sides so there’re more rows of thread on the other side.  Once
again we have defeated, at least temporarily, the Law of Entropy. 

When the will abandons what is above itself and turns to
what is lower, it
becomes evil-not because that is evil to
which it turns, but because the
turning itself is wicked.
Therefore it is not an inferior thing which has
made the will
evil, but it is itself which has become so by wickedly and


inordinately desiring an inferior thing.
    … St. Augustine (354-430),
The City of God [426]

The quote above was delivered
to my email-box this morning by Christian Quote of the Day. 
That’s a service I enjoy because it is rather like getting a postcard
from some great spiritual person of the past every day.

This quote really hit me between the eyes.  Friday night some
friends and I were talking this very topic.  If we do not allow
God to do exactly what He wants in our lives but rather put up walls
and barriers because we desire something else (security, popularity,
control – just to name a few) we are doing just as Augustine
said.  We are inordinately desiring an inferior thing. 
There’s a situation in my life right now where I would like to put down
some limits to what I’m “willing to endure”.  How foolish that
would be – to make my emotional security the thing I wickedly and
inordinately desire.  Of course I’m not talking about putting up
with abuse (emotional or physical) here.  I’m talking about
putting up with risks and inconveniences, misunderstandings and slights
that naturally come with doing kingdom work.  It was good to be
reminded not to abandon what (Who) is above myself and settle for,
desire, or demand something inferior. 

As long as I can remember
there has always been a big glass jug of buttons around home.  I
loved looking at them, playing with them, feeling them when I was a kid
and when my kids were little they loved looking at them at Grandma’s
house.  Buttons were a great toy for someone with imagination (I
guess we didn’t worry about choking hazard back then).  Somewhere
along the line I inherited my own jug of buttons.  You might
wonder where all these buttons came from.  And you might wonder
what in the world a person does with them!  To answer the latter
first, you’d be amazed how often I need a button for this or
that.  I heave the jug (it must weight 25 lbs or more) up and
start dumping buttons.  I can usually find an acceptable button
for what I need.  It’s always fun to look at them – an incredible
variety, some so old you really wonder what kind of garb they came
off. 

Where they came from is a story in itself.  In my family there is
an old, old loom, a great big floor loom.  It’s really beautiful
and it was handmade by someone way back when.  It’s been used for
several generations now to make rag rugs for the floors.  Nothing
fancy but definitely serviceable and nearly indestructible.  In
order to make those rag rugs, a person needs lots of rags.  Old
clothes no one wants or needs.  And those old clothes usually had
lots of buttons on them.  As my grandmother made strips of cloth
out of the rags (my grandfather was the weaver), she cut off all the
buttons and saved them.  Over time, quite a few buttons
accumulated.  So that’s the story of where they came from. 
I’m still using the strips of cloth my grandma made and wound into rag
balls as I weave on the loom.  I suppose it’s inevitable that someday I’ll need to make
strips myself and then I’ll be the one cutting off the buttons for some
future generation to enjoy.  That’s a nice thought.

I love toys.  Now that
my kids are grown I have to have another excuse to have toys
around.  We do tend to have families with young children visit us
at frequent intervals so that’s my excuse.  So I keep a big basket
of Legos at the ready.  They are usually a hit with the
grade-school crowd.  Also, for the younger set, two tins shaped
like barns.  These are filled with wonderful plastic (or “resin”
as the current trend is) farm animals.  Becca has given me these
marvelous and life-like animals for Christmas for the past couple of
years.  It’s a great collection and it does keep the little ones
fascinated for hours.  I love looking at them myself.  Cows,
horses, a donkey, sheep, a llama, chickens, a rooster, ducks, geese,
dogs and cats.  What a great toy. 

Board games are also fun.  We must have played 8 rounds of
Aggravation recently when 9 year old Chip was here.  He wanted to
play Monopoly but we only had the German version so he settled for
Aggravation instead and loved it.  Yesterday I was at the thrift
store and found a nearly-new Monopoly game (English version of course)
for $1.  Next time Chip comes, we’re in business! 

Then there are books.  I must have a hundred or more Little Golden
Books.  Those are always useful.  Great pictures, few words
and memorable stories.  My own kids loved them and I even have
some from when I was a kid. 

My latest toy project is making a dress-up suitcase.  I was going
to throw away some old sheer curtain material but in a moment of
thriftiness/silliness/inspiration decided to turn it into a cape and
veil for little girls to play dress-up with.  Now I need to dig
out some more things to fill the suitcase – hats, etc.  Can’t wait
for someone to come to try them out.

What were your favorite toys growing up?

Marco, Anne & Jon’s
pitbull, is snoring on the bed next to my desk.  He’s visiting us
while they are skiing in the mountains of California.  It’s been
fun having a house dog – exactly like having a two-year-old in the
house again. 

We’ve finally hit the January lull.  And a blessed lull it
is.  I’ve got a bunch of projects I’d love to work on but things
seem to keep popping up.  Just an indication that I’m not very
good at living by objectives.  Yup, I guess I’m just basically a
responder.  Here are a few of the things on my list if I ever do
get around to them:

1.  Take all the completed rugs off my loom.  Means I have to
get it set up for rewinding warp and that’s a big job.  So I have
to save this one for a day when I’m feeling very energetic or else just
dive in in a moment of lunacy.  Plus it’s cold out in the loom
room at this time of year…

2.  Finish piecing the squares for a quilt I started for Joel last
year.  Then sew them together.  Then quilt the whole
thing.  Good to do while there are some good old movies on TCM.

3.  Work at typing on to the computer more letters that I wrote
during our years in Germany.  I wrote to the families weekly for
10 years.  Lots of letters but they give a picture of our life
there and are full of anecdotes about the kids.  Would like to
preserve them as a record for each of the kids. 

4.  Go to the church library and process about 3 big boxes of
books that have been donated.  This means catalog, put in cards,
pockets and shelf numbers, enter into database and then shelf the
books.  Looking for someone to replace me as church librarian but
no prospects in sight…

Does it strike you that most of the projects I do are painfully tedious???