Each Day Already is a Challenge

Wednesday Wisecracks

Wisecracks? Well, maybe so, maybe not. But you know me. I love titles and using the same ones each week would get boring. For me, anyway.

It's turning out to be quite a week and it's only half over. Or as hubby pointed out when he called and I commented that the day was only half over, "You can look at it from the other direction. It IS half over." Right. The glass. Half full? Half empty. I got it.

Anyway, today's adventure involved the washing machine. When Derek came home from work, he promptly started doing some laundry. Not long after that, he yelled, "Mom, I need help!" When I opened the basement door, the sounds of the washer and water just weren't right. Turned out that the hot water hose had broken or split and it was spraying hot water all over the basement. It seemed like lots of time went by, but you know it didn't. We had to put a bulb in the overhead light fixture and I handed him a flashlight so he could see what was going on. He turned off the hot water and then we started mopping up water. It covered his turn tables, his TV and lots of CD's and DVD's. What fun. Once we had that under control, he restared the washer, using only cold water. But he commented that the cold water hose appears to be rather brittle too. Probably so. It's probably been there since the washer and dryer arrived, and I have no idea when that was. Wonder if hubby remembers. I'm just glad that Derek didn't toss the laundry in the washer and head off to bed. Thankfully, he was still in the basement when water started spraying all over the place. I probably would have noticed a different kind of sound coming from the basement...eventually. But the mess might have been greater.

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I was trying to catch up with my Yahoo emails today. I have not finished. I think I still have 177 in my inbox that I have not yet opened or tossed. Serves me right for not checking there daily. I think I get about 120 in my inbox there each day and about 600+ in my bulk mail. With that many in my bulk mail, I just empty it, even though some "good" mail may end up trashed.

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One of my newsletters, The Rick Scarborough Report on the War on Faith, mentioned something that happened at William and Mary College. They reported last October that the new president of the college ordered the removal of the 18-inch cross which had been in the Wren Chapel for 75 years, based on the complaint of one student.
Readers of this newsletter, plus most likely other Christian media (like Focus on the Family), plus alumni bombarded the college with letters, phone calls and emails. Some of the alumni threatened to withdraw donations, including one individual who had pledged $12 million in donations. The president changed his mind.

That same college president allowed the college to partially subsidize an exhibit of paintings produced by "sex workers" -- prostitutes, strippers and porn stars. He thought the cross was offensive, but the art exhibit showed tollerance. Right.

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From another email/newsletter I received today: Over the past 52 weeks, fewer than 15 percent of the books on the New York Times non-fiction best seller list were authored by women. Since the majority of non-fiction books (up to 70% by some estimates) are purchased by women, this disparity led eWomenPublishingNetwork and Content Connections to launch a national, comprehensive study on the reading, recommending and book buying habits of women. The study also investigates the factors that can help more women become successful, published authors.

Women, click here to find the survey: http://www.womenandbooks2007.com/
It will take a few minutes, but it's worth taking.

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From 48 Days Newsletter: The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both. - James Michener

And...

John Wesley was an Anglican priest and leader of the great Weslyan “Methodist” revival of the 18th century. In his lifetime he rode 175,000 miles on horseback to preach 40,000 sermons. As his health failed near the end of his life, Wesley complained that his doctor would only allow him to preach 14 times weekly. He wrote in his journal, “I fear laziness is creeping in on me – there is a growing desire to sleep in until 5:30 AM.” Hey, I was raised a United Methodist. I love John Wesley...

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Someone commented the other day that I seem to be “better.” No, I’m not really better. I just don’t always complain. If it appears that I have been online for most of the day, it’s more likely that I just forgot to log off while I went to take a nap.

I probably provided this link long ago. I know I’ve shared it in our disability forums and hubby shared it in his fibro blog. But it’s worth sharing again. It’s the Spoon Theory. The woman who wrote it has Lupus, but what she experiences (and explains really well) applies to many people who have chronic illnesses. http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/2007/02/the_spoon_theory.php#more