Midlife Musings

I will be so happy when Friday evening gets here! I have a hot date with my main gal pal. And by that, I mean my hairdresser. We have had to reschedule several times, and the appointment I have on Friday was originally slated for July 26th. A month plus, people. My hair is no longer growing down, it is growing out. Bigger and Bigger and Bigger. And while I do like big hair, I think I have reached the point where I am walking around with constant Victory Hair. You know, the kind of hair you have after a really hot date with your personal Fabio. And hopefully Fabio is your husband’s name, if you know what I mean.

Most ladies get that under control before they go out in public, but there is no serum, wax, or gel on the planet under my sink that can deal with this, and it must go. Friday. At 5pm. Gone. Of course, the process of getting more victory hair will start as soon as I get out of the chair, because there is only one step in my victory hair process, and it will continue even after I die, because! Your hair grows after death! Should I sign up for a posthumous in haircut, do you think? No?

For those of you who take a more traditional path to victory hair, and who remember the dating game, and who need a giggle this morning, I have enclosed a little widget for the “Ultimate Flirting Championship”. It is kinda fun to play in that if you like and occasional blast from the past. I won, FTR.

The Ultimate Flirting Championship is put out by Extreme Style by VO5, and it has served it’s purpose with me. I’ll be looking for the line of products the next time I but styling aids. When my hair is actually almost controllable. Friday. Around 6pm. Possibly 7, given the current state of my head. I want to try the curling mousse for sure!

Somedays, I just seem to spend most of he day banging my head repeatedly agaist a rough brick wall. Today was one such day. I had planned to talk about Proverbs 11: 16 and 22 here today. Instead, I am going to watch tv with my family and knit. After that, I will read my blog feeds while I drink wine and maybe talk to Ang. some more. Maybe tomorrow will be slightly less …. today-ish.

If you could take more control of one aspect of your life, what would it be?
If you were to name the difference between the male soul and the female soul, what would it be?
If you had to admit the most selfish thing you do on a regular basis, what would you say it is?

These are some tough questions.

1)Money. And surprisingly enough, I don’t want a ton of it. I’m more like the guy in Proverbs. I want enough that I don’t have to fret, but not so much that I forget where it comes from.

2)I don’t think the souls are different. I think the physical and emotional sides are different. But the soul, it is spirit, like God, neither male nor female.

3) I can’t say that here. My mama reads this blog. I talk about Jesus here. But it’s free.

Here I am, on Friday morning, drenched! We had extra trash this week, so I dashed out to help the trash guy. BEFORE I realized it was raining. But daggone, my side yard looks 400% better!

That’s what I said when I first read about this deal from Charter. If you sign up for their services, you are entered into a drawing for the Charter Laptop A Day Giveaway. They are giving away 30 HP Compaq Presario C770US Laptops. Plus, you get a gas card. The value of the gas card depends on which of their services you end up subscribing to, but they start at $25, and top out at $100. Hey, gas is gas, and at almost $4 a gallon still, that’s a sweet promotion.

You’ll note I said I said ‘Ooh, Ooh, Ooh”, not I’m saying, “Ooh, Ooh, Ooh”. That’s because Charter isn’t available here. But you know how badly I want a laptop, and I know you want me to have what I want, so how about I make you the same offer I made the readers of my craft blog. You go sign up. keep the gas card for yourself. If you win the laptop, give it to me as a finder’s fee. That would totally work for me! Whaddya think?

Otherwise, I am just going to have to work for it, and working is so passe’, don’t you think?

In other news, I’m planning a very busy weekend, which doesn’t include much work for which I get paid, but does include plenty of the other kind. Yay me!

… What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

Aside from school libraries, I remember first the library here in my home town. When I was a teen, it was located in a building beside the old middle school. It was called the old middle school to distinguish it from the new middle school that opened the year I went into sixth grade. But I don’t remember going there then. I don’t remember going to the library until I was in my teens, because I rode my bicycle. And yet, I must have gone before that, because I remember being there, just not getting there. I remember the green carpet and the sun through the windows, and the smell of old books. It was just one room, this library.

Amazingly enough, almost three decades later, the library has relocated. Now we have two whole rooms. And the next county over charges 20 bucks a year for a card if you don’t live there, which I refuse to pay. Needless to say, I buy most of the books I read.

And I am hopeful that it will allow me to get more done. Football season has started, and that means my Saturdays are now full, fuller, fullest, at least through October. I told you a few days ago about my new notebook method of organizing myself, and you saw I still have a massive to-do list with many, many hours-long projects on it. (By the way, that is working extremely well for me, hold that thought, I’ll get back to it in a minute.)

Anyway, since I am working until about 10pm most nights to cram everything in, I prefer to NOT work all weekend, too, and since Saturday is busy, I am now taking Wednesdays-for-Work. Clearing the desk, clearing the email inbox, and clearing that to-do list, too. No school, no housework. It seems to be working–it’s only noon, and my regular work is done, except for one post, and I am doing some chewing on that in the back of my mind. I guess that means it’s time to work on the desk and email, right?

Now back to that thought above. I did indeed streamline my notebook, and this is how I did it. I made 10 columns across a 2 page spread, and that holds 2 weeks worth of Monday-Friday checklists and blogging schedules. Then, I can use as many pages after that as I need to hold to-do lists and notes and such. I can follow that up with another column spread (possibly using 4 pages to hold a month’s worth) so that I can work on the same notes and to-do list, because my to-do list stays oo long to accomplish it all in a week. Unless this new Wednesdays-for-Work thing goes way better than I could hope or imagine.

Today, I read Proverbs 9. I had never noticed before how the beginning of the chapter and the end of the chapter are so similar.

1 Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; 2 She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens, She cries out from the highest places of the city, 4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,5 “Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed. 6 Forsake foolishness and live, And go in the way of understanding.

13 A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing. 14 For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city, 15 To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way: 16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”; And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, 17 “Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” 18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.

And what does clamorous mean?

1. to murmur, growl, roar, cry aloud, mourn, rage, sound, make noise, tumult, be clamorous, be disquieted, be loud, be moved, be troubled, be in an uproar
1. (Qal)
1. to growl
2. to murmur (fig. of a soul in prayer)
3. to roar
4. to be in a stir, be in a commotion
5. to be boisterous, be turbulent

Whoa: a noisy, unsettled woman who causes commotion.

So to be always in a tizzy is to be clamorous, to be clamorous is to be foolish, and to be foolish is to entice others to join us in death and destruction. Can you say O-U-C-H?

Clearly, it is better to fully rely on God to meet our needs, to plan our work and work our plan, and to not allow the circumstances of the day to determine our outlook or reactions. We need to REST in HIm, even as we go about our tasks.