Each Day Already is a Challenge

Is it really Friday? Plus great news...Read til the end!

Another week has flown by and I have not even finished unpacking the boxes. Grrr.

The weather has me really ticked. It's April. It should not be getting down in the 20's at night. And the weather folks should not be saying that we might have snow. Nope. It's supposed to be Spring. That crazy groundhog really got it wrong this year, didn't he???

I was realizing that I haven't mentioned that my birthday is a-comin'. Well it is. My mom used to start telling folks one to two months in advance when her birthday was coming. She strung banners to remind us. She put lists of things she wanted in our lunch boxes or school books. She did the same thing before Christmas. And you know...she usually got the things on her list too. Know what I want for my birthday? Well, ever since I visited a blog that had 37 or 39 (I forget which) entries IN ONE DAY, I have wanted that myself. They weren't all the same people making a couple of comments, either. Well, maybe some were. And she might have added a few of her own. But there were at least 30 unique commenters.

So...mark your calendars for Friday, Aprill 13 and get your butts over here and make a comment.

Anyway, yeppers my birthday is a-coming. In fact it's next Friday, April the 13th. How about that. Friday the 13th. Doesn't bother me a bit. Since my birthday is on the 13th, I've had a few of those Friday the 13th birthdays in my time. But way back in 1952, April 13 was a Sunday. Easter Sunday, in fact. Yeppers. I was born on Easter Sunday.

Is it any wonder that this is my favorite time of year? I was born on a very special day. I asked Jesus to be my best friend (7 year old words) on Palm Sunday. This is my time! It defines me - as a person and as a Christian.

And it's supposed to be warm enough to wear pretty Spring colors to church on Sunday.
Oh well. We'll live.

I'm going to be 55 next week. Now, that just seems impossible. I remember as a kid that I defined 50 as being old. That means I'm about to be 5 years past old.

There are some good things about turning 55. From what my attorney told me, the Social Security people have that age marked as one that, although they do still reject disability applications, they usually finally do approve them. So maybe, if they ever get around to my hearing before a judge, I'll finally get my disability approved now.

There are also some agencies that help folks 55 and over try to find jobs. If you're 54 and 51 weeks old, they won't help you. But once you've hit the 55 year old mark they will.

Also, it's not 60 or 65 or 70. And that's a good thing too. I'm just getting used to being over 50 and I'm half -way to the next big mark.

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Last night, hubby and I attended our church's annual Maunday Thursday Seder Supper. Our poor pastor was a bit buzzed. He hurt his back and was on pain pills and muscle relaxers. But he - and we - survived the service.

This has been a tradition in our church for probably 20 years. (The pastor has been there for 23, I think.) Thankfully, the pastor doesn't do all of the reading and teaching. When folks arrive, they are given sheets to read when it's their turn.

I was reader #6 and my part said: The charoses (pronounced ha-ro-sis) reminds us of the color of the mortar used in Egypt when we were enslaved, and we also here remember the bitterness of the slavery, the bitterness that our Lord has taken from us by His sufferings.

Hubby was reader #23: Egypt received the judgment of God for defying God's command. We also know that the plagues exhitibed the defeat of the false gods of Egypt, for these gods were meant to offset the very plagues which took place.

As we went through the service, doing and saying the same kinds of things that have been done and said in Jewish households for centuries - and that were done at The Last Supper by Jesus and the Disciplies - it's easy to see that Jesus did fulfill the prophesies. It's too bad that more Christians don't have the opportunity to participate in this. (You should have heard our pastor trying to speak Hebrew. He figures we won't notice. But I did. Since each part that he spoke began with the same words, it was easy for me to recognize that his pronounciation of the Hebrew words was not the same each time. ) This service makes the whole communion thing make so much more sense.

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And on a lighter note... Yesterday I was gone - to the store, I think - and, of course hubby was at work. Derek went to the door for something and Piewacket went to the door as well and started flicking her leash. Derek very kindly told Pie that he doesn't do that. But he did make sure he told me when I got back that the cat was asking for a walk. How many cats do that?

Opera - our kitty who has now turned a year old - is still very rambunctious. It would be quite easy to get angry with her, and I have to say that I come close as she knocks over things and bats them around the house. But then she runs out of energy and crawls into my lap and starts the purring engine as she winds down and starts drifting off to sleep. Yesterday as she slept, I heard a sound I had not noticed before. As I looked down at her sweet, angelic face (well, yes, when she sleeps - much like a child!) I realized that the sounds I heard were sucking sounds. Her mouth was moving as if she was trying to suck. As a mom, my heart melted, of course. In spite of her outrageous awake behaviors, she's still pretty young.

Right now, she's sitting in the bay window watching the birds (poor things, must be awfully confused about the cold weather that arrived after they had gathered). And she's talking to them through the window. I had to laugh, because I right away thought of that Quiznos commercial that was sooooooooo stupid. "I want you in my belly!" I think that's what she's sweetly saying to the birds outside. Or at least, "I want to chase you all over the yard."

That's all for now.

But don't forget to mark your calendars for April 13. That's the day that you're supposed to come - and drag all of your friends - to comment for my birthday. Don't forget.

Angela's Niece needs Praye is back at home. Thanks for all your prayers!