Miss Chris's Blog

This Is a Test of the Emergency Internet Polka Radio Station

Satisfy your need for polkas! I'm going to try to see if Xanga will allow javascript for the Live365.com radio player in a custom module on the side of my blog page. 'Twould be uber kool if that would work!

Polka on,

~Miss Chris

Edit: Xanga won't allow the javascript for the player in one of the custom modules. Bummer. I know Blogger will, but that's all Blogger is good for as far as I'm concerned. Xanga is cooler.

Edit 2: The widget worked this morning, but now the link is "null". I say it's an anti-polka conspiracy.

I'm Making a List and Checking It Twice:
The Fall Into Reading 2009 Reading Challenge



For various reasons which I will not bore you dear and wonderful people with, I'm running behind on having finalized and posted my Fall Into Reading 2009 reading challenge list. Those of you who've read my blog the past few years know that I go out of the box and add an addendum to the book list by also posting which movies/TV programs I plan on watching, and also which music CDs I plan on listening to the most. You can read about the reading challenge at http://callapidderdays.com/2009/09/fall-into-reading-2009-the-basics.html Please consider joining in by posting your list on your blog or web page! Part of the fun of a reading challenge is finding out new books to read! It also leads to finding new blogs to read and especially new friends to make!

Bibliophiles, unite! I am a librarian's granddaughter, and I'm proud of it!

I'll post my list later tonight, Lord willing. If any of you join in, please drop a comment in my Xanga comment box so I can subscribe to your blog, too!

Happy Reading!

-Miss Chris

Phenomenal Friday
September 4, 2009.

Good Morning, peeps! 'Tis a lovely early morning in the cool upper 40's F. here in my little corner of the world. The sun won't be up for at least another hour and a half, the crickets continue to serenade me from beneath the open window beside my computer desk and will soon give way to cardinal song and chickadee chatter and bluejay bugling. I so much enjoy and  love this time of night/day/whatever it is with its precious restfulness-yet-aliveness. Before long, a few of the regulars (neighborhood dogs) will woof gently and usually patiently to be let out to do their business (aren't euphemisms so cute?! tee hee hee), to sniff the fresh morning air, and to chase an early squirrel or two up an ancient maple tree, not yet turned to burnished gold and orange. It's the kind of morning for bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast, and the most marvelondrous French roast coffee and fresh orange juice. Of course, that's NOT what's for breakfast here at Chez Miss Chris today, as Miss Chris was treated to a sumptuous dinner of ribeye steak grilled and hickory smoked to perfection on the Weber charcoal grill last night by her dear dad - who, I might add, would do well to open a steakhouse, so magnificent are his charcoal grilling skills.

I digress. Breakfast for me will be a sliced apple (from New Zealand, no less! Can't we grow apples here in Wisconsin?! I don't have anything against New Zealand apples. In fact, they're quite crisp and sweet and tasty. But how much did it cost to ship them here?! Inquiring minds need to know!), sprinkled generously with cinnamon - no sugar needed, thank you, - with a small pot of French roast coffee (I still think that Eight o' Clock coffee beans are far, far superior to Starbucks' insipid brew - so shoot me! Uh-oh! EMFA [Early Morning Feistiness Alert! Sound the alarms!!!]). I will don clean flannel pajamas, my red princess slippers (I am feeling celebratory today), and have coffee out on the patio among the birds and bunnies and squirrels. But dad drat it if I'll invite any chipmunks to my early morning reverie! Ha ha! (another geranium has lost its life to chipmunk crime...)

Santa Claus came yesterday in the guise of my regular UPS delivery guy, bearing a toy from Amazon.com which I will likely be too ill with my annual Christmas cold to enjoy playing with, hence we ordered it this week and I installed it in the middle of the night and am planning on playing with today already. And yes, Ray and Apryl and Christy - I DID sniff the new computer toy/new software smell and DID get a bit of a buzz from said sniffing! ;)

My dad is giving me this new Wacom Bamboo Fun Computer Tablet for Christmas. I got the small version but I love it so much already that I plan on saving my money for the medium version next year (twice as expensive). Cool, cool, Very Uber Cool technology. It's a digital drawing/writing/photo editing/painting tablet and pen. Mine came with a cordless, non-battery-needing mouse, and Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter Essentials, and some Nik photo filter plug-ins for use with the Adobe Photo Elements. I can't wait to get creating! I am currently blogging while waiting for Photoshop Elements to catalog the gazillions of photos on my hard drives (plural. yep. way too many pictures and don't know where to start editing them!)

***

Yesterday morning, I was feeling kitschy and watched The Patty Duke Show at five a.m. followed by Mister Ed at five-thirty. I couldn't enjoy doing that very often, but yesterday's episode of Mister Ed was a dandy, in which Mister Ed and a visiting barn guest (an elephant named Bongo - must've been a Beatnik - hee hee) had disputes over whether the light would be on at night, and whether the barn door would be open. Classic take on married couples. One wants to stay up reading in bed with the lights on until all hours, and the other wants darkness. One wants the window open all night, the other wants it closed. It was cutely done and very droll. It's up there in my Top Five Favorite Mister Ed episodes, ranking at #2, following the flamingo/birds episode which Apryl knows is my favorite Mister Ed eppie.

***

Well kids, my dad is up and so must I make my bed and clean my room and MAKE COFFEE (flashing celebratory neon lights!!!) and then I am going to window shop online for an appropriate birthday gift(s) for Miss Maggie McGee's Eighth Birthday (Saturday/Caturday, September 5th). She has a tozillion cat toys, but I am thinking of splurging and getting her a really, really special gift (YES! I KNOW THAT SHE IS JUST A CAT AND DOESN'T GIVE A FART WHEN HER BIRTHDAY IS!!!). I have a unique and interesting gift idea for her. I just need to get my dad to take me out to Menards or Fleet Farm to see if they have any of them left.

***

I'm feeling giddy, hence the inanity. I have some really neat spiritual things I want to post over the next week or so, which don't quite belong at my PrayersOfTheSaints Xanga but which I think might "fly" okay here.

Happy Friday! May the dear Lord bless each dear one of you! I do pray for each of you!

Love in Jesus,

-Miss Chris

The Miss Chris Bird Cafeteria and Other Sundry Novelties
August 26, 2009.

When life gets me down and emotional turmoils beset me, I buy bird things. Bird houses. Bird seed. Suet for the birds. Bird seed bells. And bird feeders - including hummingbird feeders. Last week, I bought two new bird feeders and just couldn't rest until I got them filled and situated. The birds think my yards (front and back) are a cafeteria. Hopefully, they'll continue to behave and continue to avail themselves of appropriate places to use as their toilets - namely NOT my patio or front porch. So far, so good.

Miss Maggie McGee Kitty is in a quandary as to which of her "televisions" she should watch and oft races from window to window to enjoy multiple shows. As to those scientific types who claim that cats can't see color (how in billy blue blazes do THEY know?! Have THEY ever been cats and then reincarnated as lowly human scientific types for the express purpose of enlightening us, I ask?! ), I claim and will maintain that most cats' favorite color is RED. I have had three cats and they have each - when given the choice of a basket of yarn in multiple colors - chosen balls of RED yarn. Each of my three cats have lived up to the catly office of undecorating the Christmas tree, and by and large have chosen mostly RED ornaments to knock off the tree. And each of the three have thrilled to the sight of RED birds at the bird feeders - be they Northern Cardinals or Scarlet Tanagers - even before they could hear the birds sing (and I say this realizing that cats, like me with my migraines, have bionic ears).

I digress. Maggie is besotted about the Northern Cardinals, especially the males - those spectacular boys resplendent in their red feathers. And so too am I. I get up in the middle of the night or early in the morning to open my windows just to hear cardinal song to start the day. My morning goes much better if it begins with a cardinal/black-capped chickadee/bluejay concert.

***

I'm not feeling too spiffy these days. To keep myself from "going to the birds" (ha! ha! ha!), I am immersing myself in Irish music, classic literature (mostly Charles Dickens, also some Louisa May Alcott. Back to school season always, always finds me yenning to read children's lit by Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder), fudge brownies (!!!), pillow forts, Old Time Radio comedy podcasts (I love, love, LOVE Fibber McGee & Molly. They were superb at making plays on words), down pillows (why can't down pillows stay cool!!?? *fuss and pout!*), and cool cotton sheets and cotton blankets. I am not getting along with the fog and mugginess which we've had to endure recently, and so put a really nice thick, comfortable airbed in the dehumidified basement for EHR (Emergency Humidity Relief). Those of you who are my fellow wayfarers along the Fibromyalgia Way know just how evil fog and high humidity are for our various symptoms. If I could stand the noise of a dehumidifier in smaller quarters than the large basement, I would put one in my bedroom. But the basement is fine, especially now that the basement computer is on our wireless network, though I strongly suspect the mouse population down there is increasing and taking advantage of free highspeed internet! Yikes! Maggie McGee is too well fed to be motivated to actually KILL a mouse. However, she is not above PLAYING with them and scaring the bejuniors out of them. >^..^< If you think that sounds cruel, you should see what she does to a leaf of spinach. Spinach has feelings too.  It screams when a cat's extra sharp and pointy teeth shred it to bits and extract spinach juice from it. *sadistic omnivorous humor intended...*

***

I am really, really, REALLY looking forward to when the neighbors two doors to the south send their little son back to school for the year. Bless his heart, he has emotional issues and screams a huge amount of bloody murder. This has put the kibosh on my morning quiet time on the patio in recent weeks. I am trying to tell myself that God must know that "E" needs to be outside and scream in the summer sunshine more than *I need to be outside and enjoy fresh air, flowers, and bird song, despite the fact that my internist wants me out in the sun soaking up boatloads of Vitamin D as a means of hopefully restoring some functionality to my mitochondria. I digress. Perhaps "E's" screaming is God's way of telling me to pray for "E's" emotional (and perhaps also health) issues to be taken care of. Often. Perhaps... this is one of many of God's ways of telling me that Miss Chris is NOT the Center of the Universe! *GASP!* PERISH THE THOUGHT!!!

***

It is less than three months until my forty-fifth birthday, and I have just finally reached the age of needing "readers" for reading in bed, and for giving Miss Maggie her monthly pedicure. I think I will try the cheap dealies from the hardware store in various strengths before I get the Foster Grant (still not pricey) from Walgreen's. I hate to go to bifocals - I think those would wig out my poor CFS-addled little brain much too much. I've been nearsighted for over thirty years, but haven't needed a prescription change since I was 20. So, Foster Grant "readers" we will get!

***

It is now less than four months until Christmas, begorrah! This of course means that it's time for me to go upstairs to the loft and begin to dust off the Christmas ornaments and decorations. I officially begin decorating the living quarters of the main floor for Christmas around Halloween. I dunno. With H1N1 issues afoot, I think I might just begin Christmas decorating early(-ier) than usual this year. (And I will be damned if I'm getting the vaccine with all of its evil mercury and Gosh knows what else in it which my poor CFS-impaired immune system can't handle ) (Sorry, this little ornery moment has been coming on for awhile....)

***

Well, 'tis time to get up and at 'em for the day. It's relatively peaceful outside this morning and I want to soak in some more bird song.

Many blessings to each of you... may your Wednesday be filled to overflowing with God's wonders which never cease!

- Miss Chris


 

Blaise Pascal's Prayer in Suffering

Grant, O Lord, that I may join myself to Your will; that though I am sick, I may glorify You in my sickness. Without suffering, I cannot enter into glory; nor did You, my redeemer, attain glory without suffering.

And, since nothing is pleasing to God the Father unless it is offered through You, I unite my will with Yours, my pain with the pain You suffered. Let my suffering become Your suffering; unite me with Yourself, fill me with Your grace, and with Your Holy Spirit.

Enter into my heart, into my soul, into my suffering. Even though I have had so small a share in Your suffering, fill me entirely with the glory which You have won. Finally, let me enter into the glory in which You live with the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

- Prayer of Blaise Pascal

Minor Monday Meanderings
July 27, 2009.

It's five o'clock in the morning, and I woke up too early. 'Tis foggy and my sheets, blanket, and pillows were all in a tangle so...

... I got up early to face the day. I've got things I should be doing, such as putting together the big newsletter for our parish's intercession ministry. However, I keep on getting sidetracked on that. Must, gotsta get it done before August 1st. Just had to download the latest version of Sun Microsystem's Open Office suite, and please allow me to say that even with a broadband 'net connection, that was a long, slow download! However, I'm sure it's worth it. I love Open Office! You couldn't pay me to go back to Microsoft Word, nor to Corel Word Perfect. Well, possibly to Word Perfect. I have a fondness for things Corel (Especially Paint Shop Pro X2), but I do like Open Office the best. And there are a whole lot of new extensions for it. Knowing me, software junkie that I am, I could easily waste an hour or two perusing the offerings for new toys to put in the Open Office Writer.

On with the blog! Many hearty thank you's to those of you on Facebook who prayed for my little girl kitty, Miss Maggie McGee, this past week. We are thinking that she had a bad can of Fancy Feast that set her off into the waves of cat vomiting and diarrhea. Fun, fun, fun - not! Anyway, she has certainly made a full recovery and is full of ginger and vim and vigor. Actually, she's been acting more like a kitten again than she had done in awhile. I was beginning to get a bit paranoid this spring and early summer that she was getting "old" at the age of seven going on eight (her eighth birthday is September 5th). Ya know, the veterinarians and pet food businesses do pet owners a lot of favors, but one of those favors is NOT telling us that our pets are "seniors" at age seven or eight. Frankly, I think that is mostly good for the pet food companies' pocketbooks. But I'm not going to start the week off on the wrong foot (or do I mean "paw"? ) by launching into a diatribe about this topic. The good news, my catlet is feeling kittenish again, despite the temperature and humidity going back on the rise, and that makes me happy.

It was a stinky weekend. I am segueing between my most recent viral infection, which I caught two weeks ago today (while at the clinic, I'm sure...), and a new one. Hey. This is CFS, or as some would call it, CFIDS (chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome). Many of you who message me suffer from the same things, so you very well "know what I mean is". Misery does love company, does it not?!  My immune system is screwy. I am just grateful when I go one or two weeks at a time without a really nasty cold or viral infection. And, if I have to have a somewhat (or totally) miserable bug, well at least variety is the spice of life! I find myself saying that so often that I think my dad is tempted to have a t-shirt custom made for me that bears that slogan: "Variety is the spice of life!" All I can say is, thank the dear Lord that not every day is a migraine, and not every day is fibromyalgia. And thank God even for variety among head colds and stomach flus. I know that sounds nuts to say, but those of you who have CFS/CFIDS and fibromyalgia know what I mean! May the rest of you never have to find out!

***

I spent the weekend in a brain fog with a long duration/extra concentration impairing migraine and couldn't even listen to an audio book, nor could I watch even the littlest bit of TV. Everything just shortwired my brain with acute sensory overload. I really, really, REALLY hate it when that happens. With CFS, the deprivation of proper, restorative sleep causes symptoms akin to ADHD and autism at certain times. Those of you of my friends who are ADHD or who have children with autism spectrum disorders can relate when I say sensory overload.

I will be glad when summer is over. I say this despite the fact that it's been a cool summer (thus far). I just don't dig summer the past few years. I find myself fantasizing about autumn weather - clear, Kodak color blue skies with big, puffy white clouds, a riot of brilliantly hued leaves, cool and crisp days and cooler, crisper nights, and shorter days and longer nights. My section of Heaven is going to be perpetually October. That is, when I don't insist on snow and having Christmas every day.  In Heaven, I am going to be the Queen of the Winter Olympics. I am going to have strong ankles, good balance, excellent coordination, and unbreakable bones, and I am going to downhill ski and ice skate to my heart's content. Picaboo Street and Dorothy Hamill had just better stinking look out for ME when I shed my earth suit and get my heavenly body! I have been an inept klutz all of my life, and one of the cool things about Heaven is that I will no longer be clumsy. (And there won't be any broken bones! I can't say that enough! *she says, still feeling pain in her broken wrist from January 2008*)

***
Stinky weekend though it was, my two main consolations were (1) Cuddle Love from Miss Dr. Babylove Kitten (Maggie McGee), who wouldn't let me out of her sight, and (2) listening to Bach's Magnificat over and over (I'm in Baroque mode again). Also noteworthy was tooling around Nani and Papa's old neighborhood on Sunday night (the new owners fixed up the exterior of N & P's house, and I like it much better again. Plus, I'm sure Nani would be pleased to see that the new owners have taken an interest in flower gardening and landscaping the yard.)

***

I have so many projects that need to be finished, and others that I want to start. When I get really tired, or when I come down with a new viral infection, I go through a certain amount of endogenous depression. But frankly, I am simply too creative to stay depressed for long. I just miss the days when I had the energy to go on long, wacky, and wild birthday bandit emailing sprees. In Heaven, I am going to have energy plus. I have reason to believe that Jesus plans on giving me a foretaste of that on this earth by someday healing me of my affliction. May He do the same for each of you.

***

'Nuff procrastinating. Time to get at working on that newsletter.

Happy Monday, one and all. My prayer for each of us this week is that we will grow in faith that our God is a faithful God, and He is so utterly, totally worthy of all of our trust. Let's try to feed our minds, emotions, and spirits with things that encourage us in Jesus instead of wasting too much time on inanities. C. S. Lewis once said/wrote something to the effect that we are more prone to sin when we are discouraged. We have it in our power to be more fertile ground for being encouraged, by what we let our minds feed on.  The less we sin = the less we separate ourselves from God, and the less we separate ourselves from God = the more encouraged we are, and the more encouraged we are = the less we sin. Pretty basic, but I need the reminder!

May God's choicest blessings abound for each of you this week! And may each of us grow in holiness (which is wholeness!)

Love in Jesus,

- Miss Chris


 

Saturday Snippets

July 11, 2009.

I went to bed early on Friday evening with a migraine and dreamed that I was in my Grammy's house. I must have dreamed that for hours. This coming Monday is the 92nd anniversary of my Grammy's birth, so it's natural that my subconscious would decide to "haunt" her house in my dreams this weekend. I live less than a ten minute walk from Grammy and Grandpa's house, but I don't like to go by there very often. The people who bought their house from our family have ruined the property. It can be kind of depressing to take a stroll by there.

***

I am high on chocolate tonight! Seeing as how Saturdays are a day on which my dad fasts, I resisted the temptation to bake a pan of my famous melt-in-your-mouth brownies on Friday evening. However, I decided that I simply HAD to have some chocolate, so I made a vewwwwy, vewwwwy small dish of chocolate buttercream icing for myself. By Jove, that was excellent! I would swear that I haven't tasted chocolate icing that heavenly since my fifth birthday, which was my all-time favorite childhood birthday celebration. There probably won't be chocolate icing that tastes that heavenly again until... Heaven. It's the kind of thing that only happens about once every approximately 44.5 years. In any event, I am definitely high on it tonight. Chocolate does so much more for me than alcohol ever did when I was younger. It does so much for me than other substances, too, including Lyrica, which I take for fibromyalgia.

***

It is typical for me to have a migraine on Friday evenings. I don't know why. I try everything I can to avoid the dreadful and evil things. My stepfather used to have migraines every Sunday evening. I think his were more cluster headaches, and mine are more just plain chronic fatigue syndrome and being a female. Sigh. But... as I am given to repeat over and over again: God never allows me to have a cross without also building in the possibility(-ies) for a nice consolation. Friday nights are often Scrabble with Apryl nights, and are also often a night on which I enjoy a richer, fuller, and deeper enjoyment of literature. Overnight, I have read/listened to numerous chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Volume I (performed excellently by Martin Shaw) and numerous chapters of G.K. Chesterton's All Things Considered, (performed wondrously by a volunteer from www.librivox.org). I would like to read more before I head back to bed in an hour or so, but I think it behooves me to give my poor little CFS/fibro fog brain a rest. P'raps I'll watch some Green Acres, Season Two for some Vitamin L.

***
I am vacillating between listening to fantastic Scottish fiddle playing CDs by Bonnie Rideout, and having a Third Day attack and especially, especially, ESPECIALLY the new Ceili Rain CD I Made Lemonade which I just downloaded from iTunes the other day. I so love Bob Halligan Jr. and Ceili Rain!

***

One of my little consolations tonight is that, while the rest of our house is being cooled by the air conditioner, I am feeling fine in my room with the box fan going. I just feel nostalgic for my childhood when we lived in our nice little house on the suburban west side of Madison, Wisconsin in a very Brady Bunch kind of neighborhood in the early to mid 1970's and we (and the majority of our neighbors) didn't have air conditioning. My mom and dad's house had a really neat floor plan (funny, I never ever dream that I'm there anymore like I do that I'm at Grammy and Grandpa's house...) and I can still see the gorgeous hardwood floors. Tonight, propped up in bed with my multitude of pillows and the box fan blowing a gentle and cooling breeze against my bare legs was reminiscent of the happier days of my childhood.

***
The cold front went through without producing much rain. The temps are in the mid 50's and I'm going to open my window. We have now reached the point of summer at which the robins no longer sing so robustly beginning at 4 AM. They're still around; I see them hopping around cheerfully. It's just that they don't sing as often or as loudly during July and August. I wish I knew why. I am given to opening my windows at 3 AM (if they aren't open already) just so that I can enjoy bird concerts. Now the star performers are the cardinals (early morning) and then a little later the bluejays (which are not nearly so melodic, but I love them anyway). And let's not forget the black-capped chickadees, though the cardinals in our yard are so numerous this year that they're drowning out even chickadee chatter.

***

Time for me to go back to sleep, after some Green Acres. The chocolate high is wearing off, and it's just as well.

Happy Weekend, Everybody!

Blessings,

Miss Chris

Jackalope Warning!

I live in Marshfield, Wisconsin (which is recently experiencing a jackalope (a/k/a antelabbit) population explosion of monumental proportions - ::gasp:: - it's the Cheddar cheese which attracts them in such vast numbers!) and I am here to tell you that JACKALOPES (a/k/a ANTELABBITS) *ARE REAL*. NOT ONLY ARE THEY REAL, THEY ARE *DANGEROUS*!  Batten down the hatches, Wisconsinites! While jackalopes (a/k/a  antelabbits) have previously been associated more traditionally with the Western states such as Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, et al, they are now closing in on Wisconsin (attracted by our exceptionally excellent Cheddar Cheese) and WE ARE VERY AFRAID. They are fearless! They are evil! They are cunning! And they have Extremely Sharp and Very Pointy Teeth, which they are inclined to use as weapons, especially if confronted before they have coffee and breakfast.

Keys to being on guard against the wild and savage packs of jackalopes (a/k/a antelabbits) is knowing that if you smell garlic, they are near. Jackalopes are exceedingly fond of Very Garlicky Fettuccine Alfredo, and often emit garlicky vapors.

Please stay tuned for more jackalope warnings and updates... your life depends on it if you live in Wisconsin.

Vapid Inanities From Miss Chris
The July 3, 2009 Edition

Be warned: this will be truly a vapid and inane Miss Chris blog entry. Perhaps later today, I'll be a good girl and post my Gratitude Attitude entry for the day.

*Tonight I played "Eating Cheap Yellow Mustard On My Chicken Sandwich While Wearing A Brand New White Blouse Roulette" - and I won! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

*I am just now "deplaning" (thanks for that word, Beth!) from one very wild and traumatic trip to Planet Migraine. I find it difficult during said trips, to believe that a body can feel that sick and NOT die. While I am grateful tonight that I am back on Planet Anti-Migraine, I am struggling with attitude problems. July is traditionally a horrific month for me with migraines because of the particular allergens which are proliferating, and because of the heat and humidity which will soon enough head our way again. I am not being pessimistic or negative when I say I know that the next number of weeks are going to be a severe test of my mettle; I'm just being realistic, as it does happen every year. I need to work on my gratitude muscles, and also focus on what I CAN do - not on what I can't do during these firestorms of sickness and pain. Many of you who do me the honor of reading this blog are not only my friends, but are also CFS/fibromyalgia/migraine/other chronic pain patients. I know you know what I mean about needing to develop the good ol' gratitude muscles and to find the silver lining to these thunderstorm clouds.

*The sun hasn't shone here in several days. Not only that, but we have set records for low maximum temperatures. Actually, it's been nice having it be autumnal after that nasty little heat wave a week or so ago, but it's not helping my pumpkin patch to grow! I am obsessed with pumpkins this year. In fact, late as it is, I am going to go outside this morning and plant some more Jack-O-Lanterns and Connecticut Field Pumpkins. Me has a hunch that we'll have temperatures in the 80's in early November. It's a weird year.

*Speaking of pumpkins, I have already planted about a gabillion "Jack Be Little" ornamental (3 to 4 inch in diameter) pumpkins in the back flowerbed behind the garage. I had also planted numerous dwarf sunflowers and cactus zinnias, which the evil and nefarious tribe of chipmunks brutalized (a few survivors remain). However, the chipmonsters did NOT ravage the pumpkin seedlings, and this is good.

*Speaking of chipmonsters: I was in Shopko the other afternoon and saw boxes and boxes and BOXES of this massive atomic blasting "Vindicator" water guns. Methinks I have found a humane (though humiliating) weapon with which to chase this brazen band of beasties out of my garden and patio. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

*Back to the pumpkins (seeeeeeeeeee... I told you I was obsessed! ) I didn't put my dad to work spading up the garden this year because he is so busy with church activities and mostly with other lawn care (I'm beginning to think that lawn care is a full time job, even when it's not your second religion like it is one of our elderly neighbor's). I digress. I didn't put my dad to work spading the garden, and doing it myself was simply waaaaaaaaaay out of the question this year (some years I can do it, and some I can't. Those are the breaks). Anyway, I did do some hoeing last month, and built up five hills for pumpkins. Two hills of Connecticut Field Pumpkins (the big, honking 25 pound doozies - Lord willing) and three hills of Jack-O-Lanterns (which typically weigh in at 8 to 15 pounds, plus have a more beautiful deep orange color). I notice that we have bees aplenty in the yard this year, so I am thinking that they will be nice little friends and pollinate lots of the pumpkin flowers whence they bloom so that I will have lots and lots and LOTS of pumpkins. And hopefully there will be spare pumpkin flowers for dredging in flour and then deep-frying!

*Speaking of my friends the bees doing their job this year: Whoo hoo! BOTH of our apple trees are simply loaded with baby apples this year! One of the trees has never produced while we've lived here, and I prayed for the dear thing this year, and voila! It actually flowered as profusely as the other true, and those flowers did indeed turn into baby Granny Smith apples. I am going to be busy picking apples this fall - and busier making apple pies and apple crisps (with loads and loads and LOADS of cinnamon! YUM!).

*Back to my Pumpkin Passion: I hope to have something of a Pumpkin Ministry this fall. More on this another time.

*Back to less gardenish vapid inanity: My mind does not function at peak performance during the day. Ever since I was a baby, I have been a Night Person to the profoundest Nth degree. I would get more work done around here if I could get my dad to sleep soundly enough that I could do laundry and dusting and watering the garden in the middle of the night. Instead, here I sit on my "brains", blogging vapid inanities when I could be doing something "productive". Unfortunately, my dad has taken up Coffee Drinking as a second religion as of late and tiptoe through the house like a quiet little mouse I must lest I wake him up and lose my precious middle of the night "able to think clearly" hours. I say a pox on the world that insists on Day Personism. I say, "Equal Rights for Night Owls"!

*Okay, enough whinenyness (would you like some cheese?). The sun is going to shine again today, and (Lord willing) I will spend part of the day outdoors tidying up my patio flowers, soaking in the sun's rays, and getting a much needed change of scenery.

*I went shopping at Shopko the other day for some "be comfortable around the house and yard" tops, and got them all at 50% off. Now I'll have something to wear (she says with her closet so bursting that she can't even get the doors shut) when my mom comes up from Florida and wants to take me shopping. (Hint to Mom: I would rather have technological bling for my birthday than clothes this year!)

*I am getting so daggone geeky that I can't stand myself.  I installed new RAM in two of our computers and set up a wireless network and am going to soon teach my dad about the wonders of email and the web. I should really stop this blog entry and finish setting up some of the network (sharing printers, etc.) while I am awake and functioning mentally (I use the term loosely, of course. I am on Lyrica for fibromyalgia pain relief and I'm just NEVER "all here" mentally anymore. Sigh. But... it's so nice here in my cushy executive chair, beside an open window while a light and cool breeze caresses me as my fingers tickle the keyboard....

*TVLAND.com has had a Beverly Hillbillies marathon going on this week, so on non-Planet Migraine days/nights, I've been watching the Clampetts' antics. So, my comedic tastes aren't always sophisticated and modern! Shoot me! I can't stand the junk that's on network TV the past several years. Netflix, the Internet, and my local public library's DVD selection are my friends. And, I think I could do with some British Comedy again soon.

*I happen to love eMusic.com. Last month, I bought some excellent Celtic fiddle music CDs by: Bonnie Rideout, Liz Carroll, and Natalie MacMaster. Also got the latest by Waterdeep (Pink and Blue). I also downloaded some primo editions of sacred music composed by Bach (the Mass in B Minor, and The Magnificat) and Mozart. And then I bought an audiobook of Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Volume I performed by Martin Shaw. Then I promptly canceled my subscription! I was soooooo tempted to buy the "booster packs" but I just need to not buy anymore music or audio books for awhile. It would behoove me to not spend so much on entertainment. Sigh.

*Eric Clapton Rocks! I just still love the Unplugged CD, as old as it is.

*Independence Day Weekend is when I typically start listening to Christmas music. It is also when I typically get the urge to start knitting woolly mittens and crocheting woolly socks. Last night, while on Planet Migraine Medication, I had a niiiiiiiiiiice dream about cross-stitching Christmas ornaments - everything was in brilliant red and green holiday technicolor. This is one of the advantages of being a CFS and/or fibromyalgia patient: while the rest of the (healthy) world dreams in mere color, WE get to dream in TECHNICOLOR! Whoo hoo!

*Twenty-five years ago on Independence Day, I acquired my first kitten - the one and only Miss CJ Kitty. She was a beauty, and was simply the best cat friend in the world. Never did I shed a tear without her climbing on my lap and comforting me.

Well, 'nuff out of me for tonight. I'm going to try to clean my closet (albeit on tiptoe, quiet as a mouse). I still have wool sweaters that need to go upstairs to the cedar chest in the loft - IF there's anything left of my wool sweaters. There have been moths in the house this week. I am almost afraid to look. If anything happens to my Irish sweaters, I will be sad.

My prayer for each of us this weekend and coming week is to be content with what we have, and with what we can/cannot do, and to focus on the ways in which God blesses us daily. I will pray for each of you (I promise!), and I humbly covet your prayers - be they even a mere two seconds long - for me.

Much love to one and all in Christ Jesus,

-Miss Chris