Scott snagged us two tickets to the first game of the playoffs.  I have my Braves shirt freshly laundered, my Braves cap dusted off, a green lot parking ticket, and my cooler ready to be filled.  October, here we come!

Our Sunday School lesson last week was about how to deal with trials.  This week it was about resisting temptations.  Looking at Matthew 4 we learn that while Jesus wandered in the wilderness he was sorely tempted by Satan.  With each temptation, Jesus responded by quoting scripture.  Our week’s goal is to list those temptations that dangle like a fishing worm in front of a fish.  We can take a little nibble from the temptation without getting hooked.  But too many nibbles, and eventually we all get caught up in whatever is bad for us.  So this week, we’re all writing down those things that we encounter this week as temptations, then searching through the Bible to find just the right verses to call upon to help us resist those temptations.  Sounds like a plan to me!

And my first temptation?  Using my time unwisely all afternoon.  Gotta start searching for my verses!

I learned a valuable lesson last night.  We took the two dogs for a walk around 11:00 last night.  The lovely little Maggie decided it was time to go explore, so she lunged and jerked her leash out of my hand.  The lesson learned:  Never chase after a dog that has gotten loose when there’s a big dog who thinks its a game following right on your heels.

Just as I grabbed the collar, Chloe ran between my legs and I took a tumble.  I’ve heard of people saying things seemed to happen in slow motion, and now I believe it.  As I fell, I was thinking “Don’t catch with your hands, might break a wrist.”  So I took the brunt of the fall on my left elbow (in a patch of sweet gum balls, of course)  and my right hip.  I limped home while Scott split the woods hunting the little muffet who was howling cause her leash was caught on a branch.  Bad dog!!!

Figured I’d be totally “stove up” today, but surprisingly I’m not hurting any more than usual.  Just a little stiff when I got up this morning.  So next time I’ll let her have her run, get tangled up, then go find her.  Problem solved.

Oh, also learned to stay out of sight today so the neighbors who were already asleep when the howling started won’t throw daggers at me.

Okay, do I buy the $700 freezer, just because I’m lazy about defrosting the old one?  Or do I save that money to buy something else?  Well, this “Willow Mae Kemp” raised girl will keep the old one and spend this afternoon and evening cleaning out the old one.  I checked into the new models, and the frost free mostly have the digital readout for controlling temps.  I definitely won’t ever have that feature on my fridge or freezer again.  After a little over two years, the ‘mother board’ on our refrigerator  went out and it will cost almost $400 to replace it.  I’ll keep it as is until the temperature needs to be adjusted, then I’ll get rid of it and buy one without any bells or whistles and hope it will last a little longer.

Our front loading washing machine was also a real dud.  The plastic pull to open the door came off within a couple of months.  We had bought the extended warranty, but this was deemed ‘cosmetic’ so wasn’t covered by even the extended warranty.  Shortly after that, a piece of the plastic around the detergent dispenser broke and once again, it’s cosmetic.  No warranty.  I’ll never buy the extended warranty on an appliance, especially after I found out it kicks in at the same time as the manufacturer’s warranty.  So you have overlapping warranties, that don’t fix anything!  What a rip off.

Then I was told by one sales rep that the ‘platform’ for the life of almost all major appliances is 10 years.  That means they’re made to need replacement within ten years.  Whatever happened to appliances that last for years on end?  Does any manufacturer make a good reliable appliance anymore?  Is our whole world just going to be disposable?  What a waste of our resources, time, money, and my patience!

And for that matter, whatever happened to the pride in producing a good quality, great performing machine?  It’s not just appliances either.  Seems that everything is made cheaply while the prices just keep going up.

Okay, that’s off my chest, so I’m putting on my snowsuit and diving into the freezer.

….along with every rain barrel, the gutters and the drain pipes.  We had several inches of rain in less than an hour.  But as Brandi reminded me, it’s just replenishing our ground water.  Tomorrow, if it’s not raining, I’m starting on some new drainage from the driveway cause our back yard is washing away due to the overflow from the current drain pipe.  Ah, the joys of home ownership never cease.

We enjoyed a lovely visit from Leslie today.  Had lunch together, sewed together, and watched the Braves together.  Then we went through the nursery and pulled out some really nice plants for her yard.

Brandi called to chat and said she was working on some new things for us to do when we visit in a few weeks.  She doesn’t want us to be bored.  I think a  trip to a monthly antique sale is on the slate.  Don’t know what else she’s looking into, but she always has great things planned for us.   I’m always thankful for the two wonderful young women ours girls have become.

I had a blah day today.  Doesn’t happen to me very often, but when it does, I make the most of it, getting all the sympathy available around my house.  Tossed and tumbled all night due to a pain that radiated from my lower back, down my hip and up into my ribs.  I laid around all morning, did nothing but feed my bees and hummers.  After a nice back rub with that lovely-smelling Ben Gay, I started feeling better.  So it was off to the Open Hands Christian Ministry to do a little volunteer work.  If you’re ever having a bad day, just visit one of our local shelters or food pantries.  It will sure put your life into perspective!  I had a little back ache.  So what?  Somewhere someone went to bed hungry, someone had an ache with no one to give them a back rub.  Someone was struggling to keep their utilities turned on.  Someone was homeless.  Thank you, Jesus, for reminding me I’m a lucky little girl!

I see so many new school buildings with air conditioning, nice floors, pretty exteriors, and I have to wonder if the kids and teachers will ever know the joy I found in teaching those first years.  Refereeing pick up ball games, patching up skint knees, learning the Indian rain dance and then seeing the look of excitement on the faces the next day when it was actually raining.  No push for passing those mindless tests.  Just pushing them to learn to read, memorize times tables, learn some fun songs, do some riddles, play indoor games with blown up balloons on rainy days.  Oh, I ache for today’s teachers who have that inner child in them, but someone is keeping that side of the teacher tucked neatly away.  I wonder how many of them will be able to stick with it until retirement.  Musn’t let school be fun.  Musn’t ask kids to be accountable and responsible, musn’t ask parents to leave the teachers alone and let them do their jobs.

One of ,my favorite (and I think most effective) principals stayed in his office with his feet propped up, but we all knew he’d be there right beside us to defend us, right behind us to urge us on, and right in front of us to take the heat.  They just don’t make ’em like that anymore.  What a shame it all has to be about test scores and self esteem.  Your can’t make them care about their test scores. That has to come from within.  You can’t give them self esteem.  That has to be earned.  We’ve forgotten those two simple things.  If we would remember those, we’d be a lot better off.

And now I’ll climb down from my soapbox, and just say I hope all the kids and the teachers have an outstanding year  with memories that will go with them for a lifetime.

Well, I guess I know how to top off a great vacation!  All morning at the doctor’s office for my six month check up for bloodwork.  Great report-cholesterol down, blood pressure great, heart rate great, liver function great (have to worry about this due to some of my meds), and lost 3 pounds (although I don’t know how this happened after a week’s vacation),

Afternoon was spent having my eyes checked, to see if my cataracts have advanced.  They are about the same as a year ago.  I guess I can’t see too well anymore just cause I’m getting more mature!

Spent the evening listening to the Braves while I quilted a while.  Hope to have this one ready to take to LeeAnn in Los Angeles in November.   Then there’s the skirts to make for the great niece in Bowdon, and some more gardening aprons and tshirts to get ready for a fall bazaar and garden workshop.  That should keep me busy and out of trouble for a while!

Maggie is off to spend the week with Gram.  We call it her summer camp.  Gram dotes on her.  This is a woman who has never petted a dog in her life, until Maggie came along.  Now she calls to see if she can keep Mags for a few days when she needs a ‘doggie fix’.  Maggie eats it up.  Laying in Grams’s chair all day when she reads, taking walks around a new neighborhood with all those new smells, sleeping in bed with Gram (yep, we all found that unbelievable).  She’ll be sorry to see home again when we go get her.  And I’ll miss her terribly!

Yep.  It’s official.  Scott and I are old.  We spent an evening in Lowell at the Opry House last night listening to country music from the sixties.  And really enjoyed it!  This was the first time we went to a show there, and it was really quite good.  We’ll for sure be going back again.  The music wasn’t too loud, the singers were very good, doing imitations of some of the old country stars such as Waylon, Willie, George Jones.  The atmosphere were very relaxed.  i’d recommend it as a short trip for a fun evening.  But don’t tell my mama we enjoyed it so much.  After my years of complaining every Saturday when she listened to the Opry when I was a kid while Dianne and I ironed all the clothes, I’m afraid she might whup me.