Random Thoughts for Friday

My mind is a swirl of something lately. I can't stop the swirling long enough to pin a thought down.



And for my 1st random thought of the day, why are there mice? What was Noah's wife thinking when she let two of those hiddeous creatures onto the ark? I found mouse poop on my kitchen counter this morning. I figured as much. These mice have been bonded to me. The old house came down, and it took them nary a week to find me over here, a mere half mile away. I swear, I heard one kneel down and say in a high pitched squeaky voice 'whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge..."



My 2nd random thought, what do people do who don't make stuff? I once tried to quit making stuff, but I just cannot do it. There is stuff to be made, I must make stuff. Sadly, once I make the stuff, I do not know what to do with it. And watching Carol Duvall in the morning isn't helping me. Do you know how much stuff there actually IS to be made? It's staggering, and so am I.



Number 3 random thought: I think I need a new sewing machine. Does anyone know if the cheap ones are any good? I am not a good sewing person (sewer? i am NOT a sewer!) but hand sewing is hard on my already numb hands and painful wrists. I've had very good luck with my old Kenmore, but parts are breaking off of it and it is unsightly.



My 4th random thought, What would cause someone to do a commercial about genital herpes? There is SUCH a bigger lesson there than the medication being marketed. Somethings do not need to be made public.



Number five in the random thought department, my daughter-in-law once made a presentation from the very stage where lethal shots were fired yesterday at NIU. My thoughts on this would not be random were I able to wrap my mind around it.



And for number 6. If you do not have a collection, start collecting picnic baskets. They are SO convenient to have around, and they generally stack nicely. I orginally planned to buy vintage picnic baskets to fill with vintage picnicky things to give Daughter and Daughter-in-law for shower gifts. Instead, while waiting for the showers to happen, I loaded them up with my own mix of stuff and haven't stopped yet.


Number 7? Remember that box of "52 Silly Things to Do When You Are Blue"? Huh. It has only caused me to become more blue. "Get in a car and drive for 45 minutes?" Let's see...I don't have a car, I don't have money for gas, the weather is nasty... "Make rags out of your old underwear and socks"? No. I do not want to play those cards anymore.


My 8th random thought is this: Scrabulous is fabulous! I love that game. My wins fall far behind my loses, but, it's fun. And, nobody gets to see me storm off in a rage when I lose. And, on Scrabulous, things are words that we all know are not really words that would work while playing Scrabble. We KNOW that, but we use them anyway. A word like "QI". Lots of potential points there.


For random thought number 9, how do people read things only once? My favorite books I read over and over again. Tonight I will read C.S. Lewis' "The Inner Ring". It is one of those things that made such a huge impression on me that I cannot seem to get enough of it. This is because at every point in my life, it has said the same thing, but to different circumstances. My stack of 'new' books to read is growing taller, but I simply MUST read things again to push them deeper inside. As soon as I can locate what happened to my book of short stories by Theodore Dreiser I will read "The Old Neighborhood" again. If I were ever to hold anyone hostage (or homeschool them, which daughter believes to be one and the same) "The Old Neighborhood" would be required reading. And, Sheldon van Auken's "A Severe Mercy".


Oh, and 10? Random thought number 10 is the fact that in three and one half months I will turn 50. It did not bother me to turn 21. I was a married lady already. By 25 I had three children and hardly had a moment to notice. At thirty life was humming along at a crazy pitch. I turned 40 just before we moved the last time. I was tired, but could still laugh about it. But 50. I'm having more trouble with that one.

I think Joyce Carol Oates says it best: "When you're fifty you start thinking about things you haven't thought about before. I used to think getting old was about vanity, but actually it's about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial."