Remember that cough I mentioned Mocha had a couple days ago? The one our vet was concerned about? Today, x-rays revealed she has pneumonia. And lung cancer. Because we don't want her to suffer anymore, we're going to have her put down tomorrow or early next week.
The summer isn't going to be the same without her in the pool with us. Her bark that asks for the tennis ball to be thown into the pool, the sound of her nails on the deck as she runs laps around the pool, the splash as she jumps in, and the whine when she wants to race you from the diving board to the steps...yep, big, old void.
If you know vertical love,
share it horizontally.
Five minutes.
The amount of time it took Zoe to get muddy after she walked through the dog door this morning. I gave her a bath last night, so you can imagine how overjoyed I was.
Five minutes.
That's how long it took me to wipe her muddy little paws off. And her belly. And the top of her muddy little head.
Five minutes.
That's how much time I spent playing tug-of-war with trying to get the towel away from Zoe after wiping her off.
Five minutes.
Amount of time spent eating a bowl of the gluten-free cobbler I made. Will definitely do that again. Truth be told, I'll probably do the 3 previous things again, too. I'm not excited about it. But it's part of the Zoe life/ownership.
Five minutes.
How long I spoke to the vet about Mocha today. She hasn't been behaving the same since she swam a week ago Saturday. She's on antibiotics, pain pills and cough medicine. And he's concerned about the cough.
Five minutes.
The time I spent lying on the float in the pool listening to a couple of birds sing. Maybe I had too much sun, but I swear they were talking to each other. The bird on the left was shrill and chatty. The one on the right was deeper and more direct. Left Bird started it and Right Bird answered every single time. And when Right Bird took too long to answer, Left Bird repeated his (or her) statement. Nature is very interesting.
Five minutes.
How long I took to decide what we're having for dinner. Homemade pizza.
So, tell me what you spent five minutes doing today.
For health reasons, I am striving to have a gluten-free diet. I spent 1/5 of my two-week grocery budget on specialty GF items at Kroger earlier this week, pulled out my Gluten-free for Dummies book, and have been shopping online for recipes and grocery items that are GF.
I was just browsing the Gluten-Free Mall's website and 1-2-3 Gluten-free brownie mix is NINE DOLLARS--and that's the "sale" price; the regular price is $11.25. And the 1-2-3 GF corn bread mix (southern style)? $7.34...down from $9.18.
I'm fixing to yell; cover your eyes real quick.
ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME? WHY ARE GF ITEMS SO EXPENSIVE?!?!
I had to let that out.
Can somebody just explain that to me? I have a real problem with price gouging (to be fair, I guess everybody does...except the gougers). At that rate, the brownie mix should feed a swarm of hungry teenage boys. But it doesn't. I thought one of the brands of GF brownie mix at Kroger was unreasonable at the $6 price, so I didn't buy it (I have a real problem with unreasonable-ness, too). I understand it's a specialty item but come on.
The bottom line?
Dear 1-2-3- Gluten-free prices: Customer service FAIL. Despite the fact that you're gluten-free.
I found a great quote at http://proudatheists.wordpress.com/ It said:
"The American brand of Christianity is unraveling while its hypocrisy is being weighed by the minds of our younger folks and discovering that questioning religious doctrine is a trait of human nature, not the voice of Satan."
I love this quote! And I totally see where the 'Cultural Christianity' I'm familiar with is unraveling because of its hypocrisy. Yet I seem to know a lot of people who aren't keen on the idea of their faith being discussed. That's really unfortunate because Ecclesiastes 7:18 says, "It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it."
I don't think asking questions is bad; I think it's profitable. When I was growing up, I was told not to question things. This really bugged me because I wanted to understand why some things were the way they were. But there was no freedom to ask; only rules to follow. And rules without relationships often lead to rebellion. I'm proof of that. :)
I know some people think it's wrong to question things like religion and other 'hot topics,' but it seems that when people think questions are bad it's usually because they're afraid. Maybe they're afraid their faith isn't strong enough to stand up to the questions; maybe there's some other reason. But I believe questions aren't something we should fear. We should embrace them because they help us grow.
Windows of acceptability...it's sort of like when you think the lady in front of you in the left lane driving 45 in a 55 mph zone is an idiot, and the guy who blows your doors off as he passes you doing 82 in a 70 is a maniac.
Those are your windows of acceptability. Anything outside of that is unacceptable, annoying, dumb, ridiculous; or whatever adjective describes your feeling.
But I wonder how many people exclude others because those people don't fall into their windows of acceptability. Have you ever avoided a conversation, a relationship, a dialog, or just being neighborly to someone because:
she doesn't go to church
he's gay
she's got a Christian fish on the back of her van
he's an atheist
he's Muslim
she's black
his arms are covered in tattoos and his earlobes can hold his cell phone
he's got the wrong Presidential candidate sticker on his car's bumper
I'd like to see us break down our boxes and get out of our comfort zones. I'd like to see less "us vs. them" and more "we." And could we leave judgment at the door to better focus on our relationships? I'm not talking about making someone who is your polar opposite your best friend. But how about not keeping him as your enemy?
Peace.
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my never-ending battle
My 411
- Eva M.
- After struggling to fit into the proverbial round hole, I figured it was more honest to embrace the natural facets of my personality: passion for God and people, off-the-wall logic and a twisted sense of humor.
I'm an Air Force wife and former homeschool mom who writes about people and relationships, my faith, and my family. I love my crazy, beautiful, mosaic life...and coffee.