• cats,  pet rescue,  pets

    I got my cat at Kroger’s grocery store

    When we can’t get to our locally owned grocery store, my husband and I shop at Kroger’s in north Terre Haute. Kroger’s offers you a discount on gasoline, based on your monthly in-store grocery purchases. We’ve been known to save 30 or 40 cents per gallon, easy. This summer a Sister of Providence that I work with told me she saw a black and white kitten at Kroger’s gas pumps the previous night. She talked to it as she filled her tank but it became frightened and ran under a wooden pallet piled high with wood for sale. She told us this story at a meeting because she knows that…

  • Christian living,  friendship,  transplant

    Do unto others …

    Sunset on Brookville Lake, Liberty, Ind. What if we — Met resistance with kindness … Countered hatred with love … Lifted each other up instead of undermining each other? Gave support instead of criticism … Offered assistance instead of condemnation … Encouraged one another instead of judging one another? Made the first move instead of waiting … Apologized instead of demanding the same … Tabled our anger for timely reflection? Prayed to God instead of complaining … Thanked God for the good instead of holding on to the bad … Trusted God with the future instead of fearing the past? These thoughts have been on my mind lately and reflect…

  • Christian living,  hostas,  rural life

    Hostas with the most-est

    What an amazing season spring is! One day the grass, trees, bushes and other plants are brown, dry and easily crunched between your fingers. And, the next day it rains and thunders a bit and voila! Everything is green. It’s like all the plants have gotten together and decided to cooperate. It’s a symbol of the best team spirit I’ve ever witnessed. Everything has sprouted overnight. Our house backs up to Lost Creek and in the winter, although hundreds of trees and bushes line the creek bed and shelter us from our neighbors’ prying eyes and the roaring traffic of 13th Street, they are leafless. We can see AutoZone from…

  • cats,  Christian,  faith,  friendship,  life after 50,  pets,  writing

    Help me reach my goal …

    I’d like to write at least one blog a week in 2011. As you can see, I’m starting this goal a little late – it’s March already. To spur me on, I’m asking for friends to visit my blog and click “follow me” on the top right-side menu. You can sign in using your Google, Twitter or Yahoo account. You’ll be notified when (and if) I write a new blog post. So, in essence, you’re keeping me honest and motivated to complete my goal. In return for your faithful following, I will try and give you a chuckle or laugh at an interesting anecdote or happening in our meager lives…

  • Chai,  Christian,  Christmas

    Happy New Year!

    I’ve had 12 glorious days off of work – woo hoo! Tomorrow is my first day back after Christmas vacation and I’m apprehensive. I’ve gotten fairly comfortable not going into work, although I enjoy my job at my non-profit marketing position for a Christian organization. It’s not that I don’t like to work. I’ve worked since I’ve was 15. It’s more that I have so many things to do in my “off time” such as knitting, making jewelry, spending time with my husband, playing with and walking the dog, cooking and baking, drinking Chai tea at the local coffee house while trying to write the great American mystery novel. There…

  • Denver,  humor,  life after 40

    Sunny disposition

    It’s this time each year when winter is in full swing, the days close in darkness at 5 p.m. and the wind chill is 0 degrees. Originally from Colorado, where it can snow 12 inches one day and be 50 degrees and sunny the next, I need to actively remind myself what it is about this season that I love, now that I live in Indiana. It’s not uncommon for skies to be overcast for days on end and for freezing rain to accompany or precede beautiful snow. So, here goes: 10 things I like about winter, in no particular order: snowflakes, falling snow, crunchy hard-packed snow, all things snow-related…

  • transplant,  writing

    Nothing “blue” about blueberries

    I found blueberries on sale at the local grocery store and brought them home. I had a blueberry almond bar recipe that I wanted to try but could never find the time. We ate some of the blueberries on ice cream and they were awesome but the majority of them sat, washed, in the fridge. Over the weekend, my husband had a grand idea, “Why don’t you make a blueberry pie?” After getting a trusted recipe off of the Internet, I went to the store, got a few ingredients and made two pies. The house smelled like blueberry heaven after I put the pies on top of the stove to…

  • customer service,  non-fiction,  relationship

    Rant of the day

    Okay, call me old fashioned but is it too much to ask to have a real person check you out at the grocery store? I know every business is looking to cut costs but I don’t see the savings. By the time I attempt to scan each item (3-4 times because the little bar code doesn’t register), look up and punch in produce codes, and enlist the one real checker’s help in entering coupon codes, and show her my ID for the bottle of wine, I could have gone through the line with the human checker 3 or 4 times. Let’s think about other “service” industries where we wouldn’t appreciate…