This and That

 Thinking about my Dad today.  I was loudly complaining one day years ago, after weeding the garden and mucking out the hog barn.  Dirty, sweaty and crabby I was.  Dad, in his usual calm fashion, informed me that there was no shame in being dirty from hard, honest work.  The shame came in when the dirt was from slovenly behavior and laziness.

This same Dad, when I was 12 years old, had me convinced that the new lawn mower sitting in the middle of the front yard, was indeed my birthday present.  He let me fuss and stew about that for maybe 15 minutes, after which he handed me the bat and baseball glove I had been begging for.  My family may not be famous, but we are known for having working senses of humor.  :)

I have some interesting conversations with the home health care nurses that I see three days a week.  Lately, they have been telling me about the overabundance of "Karen" types they deal with.  The kind of person who gets their knickers in a twist if the nurse is 5 minutes late in coming to care for them.  The ones who fail to understand that these traveling angels of mercy have 10 to 12 patients to see in a day and these patients reside miles apart.  Not to mention the one who thinks the nurse should vacuum their carpet and dust their furniture.  Really?

Yesterday was my grocery delivery day.  I have had the same delivery guy for several years now.  I know that he is honest and truthful.  In answering a question, he tells me that as far as he can see, the current tariffs aren't having much of an impact on the grocery stores as yet.  We have been hearing that store shelves will be empty, but so far, at least in my area, that hasn't happened.

However, someone who works for a large company that makes a variety of machines for lawn care as well as for other purposes, tells me that there is a problem with getting the parts needed to build the machines.  Plus, their overseas sales have dropped dramatically.  

I suppose there will be a variety of outcomes with this tariff thing.  I am not knowledgeable enough with the subject to offer an opinion.  I just hope and pray that we as a nation can find a way to be civil and friendly and happy and productive again.

I find that keeping up with all of the crazy in this world is challenging.  I have gotten to the place where I spend a small amount of time on what passes for news.  The rest of my time is spent on the things that matter to me.

Phone calls and visits with kids and grands are at the very top of my list.  My son gave me an iPad and programmed it for FaceTime.  So from time to time I get a face to face visit with family.  The most fun is when I get to go on a FT walk when they take the dog for a walk. For someone who is housebound, a walk down a trail while watching the pup scouring the bushes for bunnies, is a pure delight.

Prices in the grocery stores are still ridiculously high.  Don't expect that to change any time soon.  So I am getting back to making my own instead of relying on store bought.  Mixes, like hot chocolate and flavored rice and soup using dehydrated veggies.  Jennifer over at Prep School Daily has a ton of recipes and ideas for this kind of thing.  Her blog is listed on the right of this page.

And then there are the activities that I do just because we all need some joy in our lives.  Things that make me happy.  Genealogy research.  Sewing quilts.  Crocheting afghans.  And soon, I hope, scrapbooking old family photos.

We can either let ourselves dwell on the gloom and doom we see on the news or the internet and as a result, live in fear, or we can live our lives the way they are meant to be lived.  Keep an eye on what is happening around us, but enjoying life as much as possible.  

I choose the latter.