A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

I am, in general, something (or more) of a procrastinator. For example, after I cleaned out the stationery cabinet and sorted out all the orphan envelopes and things I didn’t want or need any more, and the plethora of postcards, I hadn’t actually gotten around to taking those things to Goodwill. And here’s the challenge that arose:
a few years ago, I was a volunteer mentor for a girl at the elementary school that’s near my church. After a couple of years, she changed schools, but I had her grandmother’s address and sent her cards at birthdays and holidays, and during the summer. Last year, her birthday card came back. I’ve kept it, just in case. As I talked with a school employee several weeks ago (now I’m a Reading Club volunteer there), I mentioned that I’d lost track of this girl, and the employee said, “Oh, I see her at the Middle School all the time.” So, I pulled out that card last week, to take to that person in the hopes that she could deliver the card. But, of course, the envelope that came with the card had gotten thrown away because it was used.

The magnet strip snuggles up solidly to the vent and the Roomba glides over it.

We got a new Roomba. The old one just stopped working, and I was somewhat afraid that it would cost more to repair (if possible at all) than it was worth. The new one works great, scooping up stuff from the floors, especially dust. The amount of dust that collects on the floors is amazing to me. However, the previous Roomba sometimes would get stuck on the vents in the floor in the dining room (the floor in there in laminate). The new Roomba always gets stuck on all the vents all over the house. I don’t know why. The bottom of both Roombas look the same to me. Maybe the newer one is just a tad closer to the floor, possibly to clean better. Whatever the reason, I found myself always needing to rescue the thing, several times per room, and finally took to putting a trash can over the vents to circumvent the problem. Then I had an idea. I went to the craft store and bought a box of self-adhesive magnetic sheets. I cut a sheet to fit, but left the backing on. Now, I just have to move it from one room to the other, smack it down on the metal vent, and Voila!!

At last!! I feel a little embarrassed at how excited I am.

On December 26, we noticed a small puddle in front of the dishwasher. I thought I had spilled some water when I was unloading, and I wiped it up. When I ran the next load there wasn’t any problem. On December 29, Kevin and April and Jeremy and Sarah and I went to see Star Wars, leaving David to tend Peter. When we got home, David and Peter were off having a Mayborn adventure. There were stacks of newspapers in front of the dishwasher, soaking up quite a bit of water. I’m very happy to be able to tell you that, as of last Tuesday (yes, January 12), we are back in the dishwashing business in our kitchen. (The repair people I like had taken all of the last week of December off, and then the guy came and thought it was the door seal and it had to be ordered, and, it just took a lo-o-o-ng time.)

I got a video in an e-mail from Kevin last Monday, captioned “Peter’s New Game.” In the video, Peter has one bare foot and the other foot in one of his red shoes.

I told my podiatrist about it last Monday.

Meanwhile, my foot is healing nicely and I get to wear a regular shoe all the time. Well, it’s a diabetic shoe, and I have to wear it all the time. But, I got measured for another pair of diabetic shoes, and I like them better than what I’m wearing now, so at least I’ll have a choice. A limited choice, but a choice; and they’re shoes.  Even though I do miss, a little tiny bit, that Handicap Tag.

Most days, I really do feel like rejoicing. I have so much to be grateful for. The little things, like having a dishwasher and a just-the-right size envelope. And the huge things, like every sunrise and sunset, and a grandchild. God is good to me.