Ramblings

This morning I was at the seed store buying sweet potatoes and flowers. I walked to my car and thought that the tag looked different and didn't remember the tag being rusty. I opened the back hatch and thought the stuff in the car definitely wasn't mine. I shut the door and looked about 3 spaces down and saw my car. Apparently there are more silver Fits around than I thought!

Yesterday I learned how to do Hyperlinks and queries in Excel. We'll see on Tuesday if my work was done correctly.

"Rhonda" got an invitation in the mail this week. Does that mean Rhoda needs to go and/or give a gift?

I got 35.4 mpg and am quite happy about that. It's amazing what slowing down about 5 mph can do. It also helped that 200 miles was highway driving to Shipshewana.

A Good Idea

I sent this as an e-mail to several family and friends, and one of them suggested posting it on the blog.

A woman I work with in our Healthcare division lost her townhouse to fire on Sunday in Duluth, GA. (Mark, this is the lady that took us on a tour of the Healthcare office and Atlanta showroom several years ago.) The pictures are here; hers is the one with the firefighter shooting water in the front door in one picture and the end unit of another picture.

I'm letting you know this because she sent out a warning of making sure that people document their house possessions and keeping the pictures in a firebox. She had pictures on her digital camera, but the camera was lost in the fire. She has spent a great deal of time this week trying to remember what she had in every cabinet, drawer, and room. I'm not sure I would do a very good job of remembering what I had after the trauma of losing literally everything but the clothes I was wearing.

This is an idea I've heard to do and have thought about doing, but it's an easy one to put off because "what are the chances it will happen to me?" I have a new weekend project as I think I'll borrow a DVD camera and make a DVD rather than still pictures.

By the way, for those of us that live in condos or apartments, this fire started with an unattended grill burning all eight units in one structure, jumping to a fence separating that structure from another one and then burning the second structure. Lynn's unit was in the second structure. It's a reminder of how someone else's carelessness can cause us great damage as well.

Shipshewana

Yesterday on my final day of vacation, Renae, her mother and I went to Shipshewana’s flea market. It was a beautiful day for it and the market was not crowded. It made for a fun day of shopping. I made several purchases including a 3-piece luggage set that will be easily identifiable on a luggage carousel. The black suitcase with big pink polka dots will also be color useful for MK. Of course, we all made sock purchases since about every fifth booth had tables loaded with socks!

We also ate supper at the Blue Gate Inn which is similar to Das Dutchman Essenhaus for those familiar with it. We all had chicken from the menu rather than eating family style.

I meant to take a camera to take a picture of the gas station with the hitching post for the Amish buggies. I had a low tire when we left in the afternoon so we stopped at this gas station to put air in the tire. Wouldn’t you know the air tank was situated right beside the hitching post. Let’s just say the horses had left some remains so Renae and I had to do a little tiptoeing to put the air in the tires!

Rhoda's Dictionary

Good Friend: a friend who comes over on her vacation day to help wash windows. (Picture beside the entry--Renae)

Last night there was moonshine and tacky Stuckey's souvenirs in one of my dreams.

This is one of the times I'd like to know the meaning of a dream. And if Dr. Fremont was right that dreams are God's way of clearing our minds then why was there moonshine in my mind?

How to Read. . .

I've mentioned Seth Godin's blog before and found his post today to be good. It talks about how to read a business book, but I think it applies well to reading Christian life books as well.

Now to read more.

Deer Sighting

I was driving down a country road last night when a deer crossed the road ahead of me. I slowed down expecting another one to pass as well. Until I was much closer I could barely make out a little fawn crossing the road as the color blended in with the dirt road. When I got to where they crossed the road I stopped. The mother deer had stopped and was turned looking at me. The little fawn was trying to cross a ditch.

When do deer give birth? The fawn was barely walking across the road and was so small which made me wonder if it was not very old.

Dr. Grabill

Today I am sad. The assistant principal at Xenia Christian my last three years there, “Dr. Dan” Grabill, died yesterday. Dr. Dan had about the driest sense of humor I’ve been around. He would leave the office and say “See you next week.” The secretaries would get flustered because they didn’t know he would be gone for a few days. He’d look back, smile, and say, “That doesn’t mean I won’t see you tomorrow too.”

He was helpful. Dr. Dan was always willing to help covering administrative duties at athletic functions. That really meant a lot to me who couldn’t be multiple places at once and who was putting in 60+ hours weekly.

He loved the students. That was evident by his involvement in their activities and his interactions with them but more importantly by his prayers for them.

Dr. Dan was a spiritual giant. In teachers meetings/devotions and in many, many discussions I don’t remember him saying, “My opinion is” or “I think”. Dr. Dan knew the Bible so well that he could gently say, “That reminds me of…” or “That makes me think of. . .” and then quote a Scripture reference and verse. He could so easily turn the thought back to the Bible in such a non-pious way.

The day I received a job offer in Michigan, he was the only administrator I could reach. I went to his home, and he and his wife, Joan, discussed it with me and prayed about the situation. I don’t think he wanted me to leave, but he was supportive of me.

Another thing he often said was “I’ve quit voting.” After the shocked expressions of his audience he’d say, “I’ve quit voting in the morning if I’m going to get up and read the Bible and walk.” I’ve made up my mind I will do that, and there’s no voting about it when I wake up. I got to admit I think about Dr. Dan when I vote, roll over, hit the snooze, and go back to sleep for another five minutes.

Dr. Grabill was sick for a couple of years and recently had a stem cell replacement therapy. While his CaringBridge update said he was having some liver issues, I didn’t realize it was as serious as apparently it was.

I can imagine the twinkle in Dr. Grabill’s eye when he entered heaven and heard, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

A Good Day

It was a very good day. I got to go to Gemmen's and use the drill!!!

The garage closet is very clean and organized.

Faith is. . .

Faith is putting big tomato cages around tomato plants that stick about two inches out of the ground.

Everything is planted but not pictures this week. I'm too tired to move after planting everything and mowing my friend's 3 acre yard.

Miscellaneous

Today I was a research subject. I got to sit in a chair for 1/2 hour and basically give my opinion of the seat every five minutes based on the way I adjusted it. Not bad for a Target gift card! The best part was I got to read USA Today for the time--well while I wasn't talking to the researcher who I've gotten to know over the last year.

To continue my customer service rant(s): The teller at the bank today said my name correctly--woo-hoo!

Tomorrow I begin a stint of five days of vacation, two weekends, and a holiday with two days of work mixed into the middle. I plan to get lots and lots of work around my house done. I also have a work project for a friend as well as getting the garden planted on Saturday.

This year we are going to plant at least two tomatoes upside down. Has anyone done this and what were your results?

First picture of the garden. I picked some rhubarb on Saturday and combined it with some from a stand to make rhubarb crisp on Saturday. The garden is nicely tilled and ready to be planted next weekend. Beside the rhubarb is asparagus. You can kind of see the stalks. The bushes on the right of the picture are raspberries. I'd like to move them to the other side of the yard and let them expand as they break of the garden. On the back right side of the garden you can see three slim green stakes. Those are the rows of potatoes and one of lettuce. The carrots are on this side of the raspberries. The broccoli is on the right side of the asparagus but you can't really make out those plants.

This is my flower garden near the pond at Renae's. Originally it was about 3/5'x6' and rectangular. It looked like a grave. Last year I expanded it to about 9x20. I don't know a lot about perennials, and I have a lot to learn. This is a trial and error project. The little figurine is named Rhoda. That was Renae's gift my first year. She also bought the looking ball at Goodwill and the birdhouse at an auction. I'll get a picture of the plaque (which used to be at the head of the garden until I decided it looked like a gravestone) later when there is more color around it.

My Mid-Life Crisis is Gone but It's Not Over

My motorcycle, Ike, is sold. It was loaded in a trailer and driven away at 6:00 p.m. yesterday. A man at church today thought I should try sky diving now.

I think the title is the best I've written so far.

Real Customer Service

I’ve posted previously about how good customer service can’t be that hard to do. The best customer service I’ve experienced over the course of the last 3 2/3 years is through FedEx. One, they have an easy number to remember to call so I don’t have to look it up—1-800-GO-FEDEX. (FEDE are all the same number button which is easy.) Two, even though you get a voice mail tree to go through it’s easy to use. You can always say what you want such as Track a Package, Change an Address, Customer Service, etc. Three, the people are always friendly in a non-gushy reading a script way. Four, the customer service reps are helpful which is what customer service should be all about.

My department sends out approximately 40-50 FedEx packages each week. Since I’ve started here 3 2/3 years ago what happened today is only the first, maybe second, occurrence I can remember. FedEx mis-sorted a package and it didn’t get delivered on time.

A dealer called to let me know they didn’t get their weekly FedEx package. You never, never, never ever want expense checks to be delayed!!! I called FedEx and the lady asked how she could help. I gave the tracking number to her and her immediate response was apologizing that FedEx had not delivered the package yet. She did some checking on-line and said it had missed its sorting in San Antonio. She would put out a tracer to find out when it would be delivered, request a credit for the shipment, and have someone call me with a delivery time. Less than two hours later I had a voice mail that a credit had been issued and if the package wasn’t delivered today, it would be delivered tomorrow. I had to call back to have the package delivered on Monday and again, the csr was friendly and helpful.

Many companies need to use the head of customer service at FedEx as a consultant for their own customer service or as Clark Howard says no customer service!

Another lesson learned from FedEx—if there’s severe weather in Memphis, you’re package is going no where!

It’s been a quiet day at work. Of twelve people in my department only three of us are here today. One works at home on Fridays, one doesn’t work on Fridays, one is at a funeral, and five are on vacation. The nice thing is that I am looking forward to several vacation days over the next 2 ½ weeks. I’ll be getting a lot of work done around my house.

MK Products I Like

One of the fun parts of joining MK has been the opportunity to try different products.

Last night I used the MK Microdermabrasion Set. There are two steps: Refine and Replenish. I had tried this product before once, but I don’t think I read and/or followed the directions properly. Last night the Refine step was incredible. I will admit it almost hurt, but I could really tell how much more deeply the crystals exfoliated than the daily cleanser. This is a product to use about once a week. The Replenish step moisturizes and felt wonderful! This morning my face is so incredibly soft. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in a couple weeks after I’ve used the product 2-3 times more.

Today my work team leader asked if I was getting a tan. I smiled and said, “Well, actually this is the Mary Kay Subtle Tanning Lotion.” What a great opportunity to share the product. She and the others around agreed that the color was very smooth and looked very natural. I used the product for four straight days. Yesterday I forgot and today I was running too late. I need to use it for several more days in a row and then I can use it every other or every third day to keep the color.

My work team leader had used tanning lotions that made her skin smell. MK Subtle Tanning Lotion doesn’t do that.

The Gas Game

I won the gas game this morning. I filled up at $3.67 on my way to work and the price jumped to $3.89 mid-morning.

Wait, I "won" paying $3.67/gallon?

My Annual Garden Joke

Last night I rhoda-tilled the garden.

I also planted some early stuff like potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and lettuce. The plan for the rest of the garden includes corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, kale, okra, muskmelon, winter squash. And the new item for this year (besides carrots), drum roll please. . .. . . . popcorn.

Why can broccoli go in now, but kale must wait until May 15?

The kale is for Renae; the okra is for me.

The tomatoes, peppers, and corn will all go into our homemade salsa.

I'm going to try to post pictures of the garden throughout the summer.

We are actually going to have some decent rhubarb this year although it still isn’t turning a nice red. According to my cousin Cleve, we need lots of manure. I guess it have to wait until next year unless it goes on in the fall.

To Run or not to Run

A few weeks ago I posted about setting a goal of running a 5K later, much later, in the year. I realize that's not a very impressive goal for most people, but it is enough of a challenge for me. I have a schedule of running and walking that bumps up each running segment by a minute every third run. It then backs down the minute and then back up for two runs before bumping up again.

This morning was a bumping up a minute. It isn't too bad yet, and the mornings are really nice to be out. I'll be glad when it's about 60-65 in the morning instead of 49. I don't look forward to the summer mornings that will be humid even at 6:15 a.m.

And now my dilemma. I want to be exercising and outside on these beautiful mornings, but my allergies make me conflicted about this.

Cooking

I like to cook; I just don’t do it very often.

Yesterday I invited two couples and a lady for dinner after church. They asked about the individual meat loaves—“It’s a recipe from the Rassi family cookbook. Rassi is my maternal grandmother’s mother’s family.” We went through a little litany of my mother’s mother’s mother’s family. Then we discussed the orange jello salad. “That’s my Aunt Catherine’s recipe in the Klopfenstein family cookbook.”

It’s a good thing I come from a line of good cooks.

I started thinking about the foods that I do make on a regular basis. The individual meat loaves and orange jello salad is kind of a standard company meal for me—I like them both, and I usually have leftovers then. Those are both family recipes. At Christmas it’s important to me to make chocolate cookies—a recipe from my Grandma K., and springerles—a German cookie made by both my grandmothers.

I guess I’m not real adventurous in the kitchen. I’ve tried some recipes from the newspaper, but usually they haven’t tasted as good as I thought they would.

At least this week, I have meatloaf to eat.

Allergies pt. 2

This is the frustrating or one of the frustrating things about allergies. For 34 hours I couldn't breathe. I was getting ready to take more allergy medicine and a nasal spray when literally within a minute I was breathing fine. That was about 9:30 last night. Then at 4:45 I woke up unable to breathe again and I'm miserable again. I suppose the good thing was that I easily went to sleep last night since I could breathe.

Allergies

pollen.com may say that the pollen index in my zip code is medium high, but as far as my sniffling, sinus pressure, and the number of tissues I've used today the Rhoda Meter of pollen is HIGH.

I love spring and the greening, budding, and flowering that occurs in spring so I have to offset that with the pollen that results from the plant growth.

It's interesting that when I move somewhere (and with the number of times I've moved this is almost a scientific study), I don't have allergies the first year or two I'm there, but then they hit full force.

Mom, don't worry--I'm not announcing a move!