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This week I’ve done a few things towards a debt free life and my job transition.  Monday afternoon I took my computer in for it’s tune up.  You already know how that came out.  Last Friday I took my car into the shop for it’s regular maintenance and had to leave it for an IMA replacement and an oil change.  Honda provided me with a rental car until I picked up my little Insight on Tuesday.  The IMA is the integrated system between the gasoline part of the car and the electric part of the car.  If you want more detailed information than that, you’ll have to do a Google search.  When I picked up the car, the oil change cost $50.45, which was about $20 more than the last oil change.  But I saved a big chunk of money since the IMA system of my car was still under warranty.  My paperwork says that they replaced the IMA battery module and both computers.  Cost of that little job.  $6553.92.  I don’t see anything that indicates this price included labor charges.  I think when this warranty is up I’d better look for a new to me car.  I’m hoping to have all debts paid off and the money saved before making that purchase. 

Also on Tuesday I went to the temp agency and spent approximately four hours filing out forms, taking tests, interviewing and working through the hospice self module and test.  I had forgotten just how many tests you have to take to work agency.  Next Wednesday I’ll be taking a CPR for professionals there.  My company is supposed to provide CPR classes and TEAM training yearly, but it’s been over a year since I needed to become re-certified.  Then the next thing on the agenda at the agency will be their orientation.

Thursday I picked up Consumer Man’s paycheck and deposited it for him.  He’s also trying to work his way to debt freedom and made the decision to go back to a job on the other side of the state until at least the first of the year.  He left on Monday and I’m in the process of making adjustments back to living alone.  I stopped in the grocery and wondered why I bothered.  I really didn’t need anything.  I did buy a little produce, some yogurt and some cream for my coffee.  After I left the grocery I remembered that I would grocery shop only about every three weeks or so when it was just me.  Basically, I procrastinated with that chore until I no longer had any cream for my coffee and had used up at least one of the two tins of milk that I kept for backup.  Already I’m finding ways to economise more.  I’m not using the dryer except when I launder sheets and bath towels.  Everything else is put on a rack to dry in Consumer Man’s bathtub.  I’m not watching TV and have gone around and unplugged all kinds of things that used to be left plugged in to suck up the electricity.  I’m sure I’ll discover more ways to keep costs down.  Anyone out there with any hints for me?  Now that we’re heading into fall, in another couple months I shouldn’t have to use the A/C much.  I’m looking forward to temperatures down in the low to mid 80s and not so much humidity. 

I decided today that I needed to do one thing every day (Monday through Friday) for the job transition.  This afternoon I was wondering why I was going to work hospice through the agency.  Yes, I will probably make more per hour and they have medical insurance available after I work at least 30 hr/week for three weeks.  But why not apply for a position with hospice and do home health visits through the agency?  Made sense to me, so I filled out an online application after a phone call to the HR dept.

I’m on my way.  That sounds a bit like a Lionel Richie song.

Don’t ever believe them!  My computer came home today.  As I was hooking everything up I was happily thinking about how nice it would be to have my computer functioning well again.  I turned it on and set about getting my icons in place and everything the way I wanted it.  Then I was checking for a file.  It wasn’t there.  I was told by the computer shop that I didn’t have to download my files and programs.  Everything would be safe with them.  They lied!  Other than a few files saved under my documents and my e-mail folders, everything is gone.  Hundreds of dollars and six years of work.  Never believe them when they tell you your files will be safe.  Always download it all before taking your baby in for a tune up or maintenance job.  If you don’t, you might end up heart sick.  It’s hard to type with tears in your eyes.

I will be taking my PC to the shop for a tune up in about an hour and don’t know when I’ll be able to post again.  I’ll see you back here in a few days.  Enjoy the sun, sand and surf while I’m off the island.

This is a bread recipe from Jewish Cookery by Leah W. Leonard. According to Amazon, this book contains the dishes your mother used to make, from the cookbook your grandmother brought over from the old country.

CHALLAH

Makes 2 loaves

• 8 cups flour
• 1 tblsp salt
• 1 tblsp sugar
• 4 tblsp vegetable shortening
• 2 cups hot potato water
• 2 packages dry yeast
• 3 eggs
• pinch of saffron added to hot liquid

Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.  Mix sugar and shortening with the hot liquid.  If potato water is not available, use plain hot water.  When cooled to lukewarm, dissolve the yeast in some of the liquid and stir into the flour to make a sponge in the center of the bowl.  Cover and let rise 30 minutes.  Add slightly beaten eggs to the sponge and stir in remaining liquid to make a dough.  Turn out on a floured board and knead thoroughly until smooth and elastic.  The dough should not stick to hand or board.  Return to mixing bowl, brush top with shortening or dust with flour, cover and let rise in a warm place until approximately double in bulk.  Knead on floured board for 10 minutes and shape into coils for round loaves or cut in half and divide into 3 to make braided or twist loaves.  Place on greased or floured baking sheet and let rise again till about double in bulk.  Brush with egg yolk and water and bake 15 minutes at 400F.  Reduce heat to 375F and bake for 45 minutes.

It’s the 15th, time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book’s FIRST chapter!

  

When Answers Aren’t Enough Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn’t

Zondervan (April 1, 2008)

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Matt Rogers is copastor of New Life Christian Fellowship at Virginia Tech. Eight hundred students call it home.

FROM THE BACK COVER:

On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. Following that horrendous event, Virginia Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, “Where is God in all of this?” The cliché-ridden, pat answers rang hollow.
In this book, Matt approaches the pain of the world with personal perspective—dealing with his hurting community as well as standing over the hospital bed of his own father—and goes beyond answers, beyond theodicy, beyond the mere intellectual. When Answers Aren’t Enough drives deeper, to the heart of our longing, in search of a God we can experience as good when life isn’t.

Product Details

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310286816
ISBN-13: 978-0310286813

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

 

A Heavy,
Sinking SadnessEmbracing the World That Is

One

Lately I’ve been walking in the evenings. I tend to do that when stuck on a question. Maybe I’m trying to walk it off. On days when I have time, I drive out to Pandapas Pond in Jefferson National Forest to be in nature. Once there, I set off through the woods or slowly stroll along the water’s edge, deep in thought or prayer.

Most days, because of time, I have to settle for the streets around my home. I can quickly climb to the top of Lee Street, turn around, and look out over Blacksburg, the Blue Ridge backlit by the setting sun. From there, I can see much of Virginia Tech. The stately bell tower of Burruss Hall rises proudly above the rest.

On nights like tonight, when I get a late start and the sun is already down, I head for campus. At its center, separating the academic and residential sides of the school, sits the Drill Field, a wide-open grassy space named for the exercises that the Corps of Cadets practices to perfection there. After dark, old iron lampposts, painted black, blanket the ground in overlapping circles of light.

It was here on the Drill Field, the day after the shootings, that students placed thirty-two slabs of gray limestone rock — Hokie stones, as they’re called — in a semicircle in front of Burruss Hall, to commemorate the lives of loved ones lost. Thousands of mourners descended on the place, bearing with them a flood of condolences, a mix of bouquets, balloons, and poster-board sympathies. They came sniffling, clinging to tissues and to one another, and lifting their sunglasses to wipe tears from their tired, red eyes. The world came as well, vicariously through television, watching us, kneeling with us in grief.

I also came, revisiting the stones day after day, and sometimes at night, drawn to them by a need to connect with the dead whom I never knew. Always there was something new here, some trinket that had been added. At times the items seemed odd: a baseball for every victim, an American flag by every stone, though some of the dead were international students.

People took their time passing by this spot. There was no need to rush; there were no classes to attend. It would be days, dark and long, before there would be any distractions from the pain. For a time, there was no world beyond this place.

By day, soft chatter could be heard around the memorial. After sunset, no one spoke a word. During daylight, masses huddled near the stones, peering over shoulders to read the notes left there. At night, however, mourners passed by in a single-file line, waiting their turn, patient with the people in front who wished to pause at every name.

The masses have since receded. The Drill Field now is vacant (except for these stones) and silent. The semester has ended, most of the students are gone, and only the sounds of insects disturb the stillness of the summer evening air. If I close my eyes and take in the quiet, I can almost imagine nothing happened here.

Almost. Except for the stone reminders that lie at my feet. On one is written a simple, anguished note.

Jeremy,

We love you.

Mom and Dad

These stones are more than rocks. Each is all that remains of a son, a daughter, a husband who will never come home again. I picture my mom and dad, heartbroken, kneeling by a stone for me, had I been among the dead. Moreover, I imagine myself by a stone for my dad, had he not survived his fall.

This is a summer of mourning. I am grieving the world as it is. And I am asking, “If I embrace the world as it is, in all its sadness — if I refuse to bury my head in the sand, pretending all is well, but rather think and speak of the world as it actually is — can I, then, still know God as good? Can my experience of him be more consistent than my circumstances, which alternate between good and bad?”

Is this too much to expect?

Before I can know, I must face the world at its worst.

 

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.  The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches – come not from the Father but from the world.  And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

I John 2:12-17

Or rather Etsy bitsy goodies.  I’m addicted to free standing lace and there are some adorable FSL items at Flutterby Stitches.  It’s an Etsy shop where I’ve purchased some lace butterflies and dragonflies to use as Christmas tree ornaments.  My tree theme is tropical since I live in Florida and worked at a job where I roamed the Caribbean for ten years.  I’m going to be purchasing a few more when I decide what I want next.  If you don’t see something you want, you can ask Elizabeth and maybe she can make what you want in the color you want.  She also has a personal website  where you can read about and see examples of her many needlework talents.  This lady seems to be able to do it all.   She is an inspiration.

I’m planning my escape.  I’ve been trying to figure out how to leave my job and make enough income to work from home.  That time has not yet come, but I am choosing to leave my job.  I work as a mental health nurse and have been told in so many words that my job is to do paperwork and not “consult” with the clients.  It’s difficult for the nurses who actually do their job to get all the paperwork done in a shift, therefore, it is not uncommon for us to clock out and finish up the paperwork part of the job on our own time.  It has been decided that we will no longer be allowed to do that.  I was told Saturday night that I was to concentrate on getting all the paperwork done and if any of my clients need to talk, they can talk to someone on Monday. 

Excuse me.  I work in a crisis stabilization unit.  If any of my clients are in the middle of a meltdown on Saturday or Sunday, I’m supposed to tell them, “Hold that thought.  Someone will talk to you on Monday.”  That’s going to stabilize a crisis?  In other words, I’m no longer allowed to be therapeutic.  I became a nurse to help people, not ignore them when they are in need.  Maybe some can do that, but I can’t. 

So, I’m planning my escape.  It’s not as easy as just turning in my two week’s notice and leaving.  I need to have another job ready to go.  I also have medical needs that I need to take care of first.  I may have to be without medical insurance for awhile, so I’ll be hustling to get everything taken care of now.  I have an appointment with a nurse recruiter this coming Tuesday.  I’ve already turned in an application and sent my resume, and from our phone conversation, I can safely say that I will probably walk out the door as an employee.  I will start out as a part timer and if it’s what I want, work it into a full time position.  I’ve already been given that option.  We only discussed some of the benefits thus far and will continue that discussion along with the important one of $$$.  I will be paid on an hourly basis.  I’ve already done the career thing and am no longer interested in anything more than a job right now.  The bottom line.  I’m working towards that debt free lifestyle.

The eagle still cries for 9/11 and so do I. 

I have had this image on my computer for years and it’s so beautiful and heart rending that I want to share it.  I do not know where it originated and am unable to credit it’s creator.  If you have this information I would appreciate it if you would share it.  Thank you.

This recipe comes from one of those cookbooks that are put together by churches and organizations as fund raisers.  I no longer have the cookbook, so I don’t know what group put it out.  I was bad and cut out the recipes that I really liked and passed the book on to someone else.  This dates back to my college years in Joplin, Mo.  I think it was a gift from my friend, Jeannie, who lived in Arizona prior to coming to Joplin, but for all I know, it might have just dropped down out of the sky.  Wherever it came from, the recipe was contributed by Rosemary Barnes.  Thank you, Rosemary.

MEXICAN CORN BREAD

• 1 can cream style corn
• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 can (small) green chilies
• 1 egg

Mix  together all ingredients except cheese and pour into large baking pan.  Top with the grated cheese and bake 45 minutes at 400 F.