stupid little things are not really stupid

My stupid little things mean a lot to me. They are a break from life, a change of pace, a breeze if you will.

My stupid little thing right now is staying up until midnight, adding about 160 movies to our Netflix queue and reminiscing about all the great (or some not so great) movies I've seen. I put some in from the 80's that I enjoyed as a kid in hopes that my kids may like them (Clash of the Titans-now that brings me back-can't wait to see Medusa with the snake hair).

I like staying up late. The house is so quiet, I get a lot done or do stupid little things that I can't do normally. I pay for it usually in the morning but once in a while, I sure do enjoy it. I guess I am a bit of a night person still. Perhaps I will be one of those "sundowners" (people who stay up all night roaming) when I am old. God help my kids!

Remember the famous quote (from where I do not know): It's the little things in life that make life grand. (Wow! I sound like my mother!)

By the way, reading blogs may be considered a stupid little thing but I sure enjoy it along with millions of others.

Book Update

Finished "The Devil in the White City". An excellent book about the Chicago's World Fair in the 1890's and how the city of Chicago worked to bring in the World's Fair. Amongst the World's Fair is a serial killer. The history and people that were connected to the fair are amazing (Cracker Jack, Ferris Wheel, Walt Disney). At that time period, there were lots of people losing jobs, banks failing and a tough time in the US.

Recommend reading it for the historical value but the added insight into serial killers only added to the excellence of this book.

Stupid Little Stuff That Makes Life Better

I'm a huge baseball fan, especially the Minnesota Twins. I like baseball more than any other sport, even football and NASCAR. Recently I've been reading Joe Posnanski's blog at http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/. He is a baseball writer in Kansas City who talks a lot of sports but will throw in commentary on politics/life/being a dad. He doesn't seem to like Dan Marino, but that's okay.

He recently wrote a column talking about the Stupid Little Stuff that makes life better. Stuff like waiting to read the credits in a movie, Diet Pepsi/Diet Coke, Chinese Restaurants that pile food on your plate, the 60 minutes clock. The comments are great to read as well.

So, some of the Stupid Little Stuff That Makes Life Better

- Fresh roasted coffee (home roasted). No coffee place including Starbucks can make coffee as good as a home roast. Nancy and I went to a restaurant in Richmond that served their coffee in a coffee press. What a restaurant. Even the food was good.

- Coming home on a Sunday night and hearing Jon Miller and Joe Morgan calling a baseball game on ESPN. I don't even have to watch the game or care about the teams. I love listening to them call a game.

- Chinese places such as the Panda Express do pile on the Chinese food.

What are some of your Stupid Little Things that make life better?

New Bloggers

Bobby O has joined the blogging community. Read his obscure revelations at http://bobbyohasablog.blogspot.com/

Also, Jonathan Burke at http://burke-nation.blogspot.com/

Stitches and Drains and Dressings, OH MY!

So I am recovering and other than pain and tight dressings and these annoying drains, I am catching up on some of the home bound things I like to do like reading, writing, scrapbooking, e-mailing, blogging, school work (well lets not go too far), etc. I have a nice little set up here on the couch while my stomach decides to heal back together hopefully tighter without any holes in it.

Today, I had to go to the Doc and get stitches taken out (felt like little needles), dressing off (along with some skin), and the worst, one of the drains out (a bit of a painful and weird experience). The nurse was glad I did not hit her or pass out, neither of which I do although I would sometimes welcome the passing out part. Dave would have passed out today for sure although God bless him, he did do the drain emptying at least 2x. I have a new lighter dressing, one drain left, and a few stitches left to take out-if all goes well, probably on Thursday. I have pain pills but am scrounging around for some Valium!

But people are kind by bringing dinner and doing errands and schlepping my kids to various places, God bless them all.

I am getting out of some of winter's cold at least for a bit over 2 weeks.

Which books, dear are not non-fiction?

New Reading Material

The end of a year always brings out people's favorite books or books that they enjoyed over the last year. It has given me some new books to read over the next few months:

Among them:

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography

How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life

Gilead

The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America

Orthodoxy: The Classic Account of a Remarkable Christian Experience

Best book that I read last year:

The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard.

Yes, Nan, some of them are not strictly non-fiction. I know that will shock you.

What we did with OUR snowday

Our snowday wasn't as exciting as this or this. However, it was a different experience as Nancy was at Mary Washington Hospital finally fixing her hernia on the third attempt. After about a two hour before surgery experience, four hours of surgery and then two plus hours to recover, she was all fixed up and headed home. A little sore, but doing well all things considered.

And, I didn't faint at the site of blood.

ITCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been coughing for over 6weeks now and have struggled with lots of headaches in November. I have started itching all over in the last 2 weeks. So I made an appointment with an allergist before Christmas and went to that appointment today. I had been to an allergist before but not since 1992 or there abouts. I had forgotten what it was like. 2 breathing tests, 1 breathing treatment, 64 skin pricks on back, 20 dermal injections on each arm, 1 large needle in the butt, and a partridge in a pear tree (well, that was not included in the appt). I got 3 new perscriptions and still need to do patch tests for chemicals (perfumes and such). I am hoping to get rid of the cough and itching before my surgery on January 17th (I can't imagine having abdominal surgery and coughing my head off and itching all over!). Needless to say I am even more itchy now because I was very allergic to 9 things: dust mites (no surprise-covered my pillows and bed with dust mite blocking covers), CATS! (surprise), grasses, pollen from certain trees (no surprise), cockroaches (yuck). Those pin pricks swelled up and became very itchy on my back. Even with the cream and an antihistamine I am still itching as I write this. I got a steroid shot which I hope helps with it all and after the patches will go back on either my old antihistamine or the new one whichever works. I feel like I have lots of mosquito bites. I just hope this all works. The doctor was great and his office is literally down the street in my neighborhood. I will eventually also get allergy shots which I did in the past and felt like they worked so hopefully.

On another note, Christmas and New Year's was fun with family and friends, and now I am cleaning up a storm and getting decorations down before school starts again (January 14th) and my surgery (January 17th). Good luck to me. I am halfway on the deep cleaning.

Here's to 2008!