Mews from Meowmix

My dear friends, brothers and sisters, family in the Lord:

Although I’ve taken brief hiatuses from blogging before, this time I think I may be throwing in the proverbial towel for good.  I just don’t have anything to share right now that I believe anyone would be interested in.  I think I am all blogged out.  Add the fact that I am going through a very difficult time of life for me, personally.  Not that I don’t think you are interested in my welfare, for I know you are.  But my blog has been based on the premise that, even in the darkest of times (and this is by far NOT the darkest of times…………just murky), there are smiles to be found.  I just don’t want to sit down 3 or 4 days a week and bore you with my whining!    So I think it best, at least for now, to give it up.  I will be visiting your blogs and making comments, so we will see each other!  I ask for your prayers for a “return of me”………….only an improved one!!!  Many blessings and much love to all of you.  Til we meet again.

Love,

Meowmix

Hi folks!  Once again, I’m lagging behind with my blogging.  I wanted to check in and at least say hello to everyone!

I think it’s a sign that we’re getting old when your days are consumed with illness and doctor’s appointments (and a little work!).  Latest developments at my house are that I am on my 5th antibiotic since Thanksgiving and still have the crud!  An even later development is that Doris has pneumonia!  She’s at home, thankfully, but feeling rotten.  We have hopes of seeing an end to this winter and the string of cruddiness we’ve both endured! 

SOME SMILES:

• The gift from my brother.
• The generosity and kindness of friends and family.
• A place for “Santa” in heaven.
• Talking to nephew Steve last night on his birthday.
• Ditto above with Elisa on her birthday.
• Beth and the birthday cake.

See you soon.  Much love.  And may God bless.

62 years ago today, I made my first appearance in this world!  What a ride it has been and, hopefully, will continue to be.

I went to sleep last night and woke this morning, as I frequently do, thinking about the people who surrounded me on that day.  And I thanked God that I was born to Johnie and Nora Poyner in NE Arkansas with 4 brothers and 1 sister.  My dad taught me, by example, about hard work and paying your bills.  My mom did the best she could in everything and was a gentle soul.  My brothers and sister spoiled me rotten, I am sure, with them all claiming to have raised me!!  And I wonder about the one brother I never knew, who passed from this life far too early.  Wonder if he was like the rest of us.  What did he look like?  Was he fair and favoring my mom’s side of the family or was he dark-haired and brown-eyed?  What would he have been like as an adult?  All questions to be answered in time.

And I also thank God, big-time, for all of the loved ones who surround me today.  ALL of you make up the fabric of my life.  Thank you.

RECENT SMILES:

1. A pretty snow falling yesterday.
2. Squirrels playing in the snow.
3. It’s freezing outside, but warm inside.
4. All the happy birthdays on Facebook this morning.
5. Our God, He is alive!!!!!

See you soon.  And may God bless.

So I haven’t blogged now in a week and a half.  I hesitate to say this, but “same song, second verse.”  I have had the sinus crud again, and still have it.  Am on my 5th antibiotic since December 1st.  The situation calls for a trip to see my ear-nose-throat doctor, so I have an appointment on Thursday morning.  I will be there with bells on, that is, if weather will allow it.  Snow is predicted for us beginning sometime in the morning through tomorrow night with some 2-4 inch accumulation.  I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but hey, we’re talking Memphis, right? 

I just wanted to log in and say hello, send you my love, and hope for better days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Sleeping kitty cats.
2. Dinner prepared for me.
3. Phone call from niece Linda, who swears it’s over 75 in West Palm Beach!
4. Anticipation of spring.  It will be here one day!!

See you soon.  And may God bless.

Normally, I try to begin my blogging week on Sunday evening.  Yesterday, however, I worked an 8-hour day at the funeral home for the first time since a good bit before Christmas.  We slid into the pews a few minutes late last night and, by the time, I got home, my brain was in idle! 

This evening I want to share one of the devotionals from my Power for Today.  Lately, it seems that they have been hitting me pretty close to right between the eyes.  Pain has been a constant companion for a few months now.  Financial issues have also been constant worries for a good while.  Because of these “things” in my life, at present, I get pretty tensed up and fretful, forgetting what “things” are really deserving of my time and attention!  While you have to pay the bills and while it’s hard to ignore pain, removing your focus from being entirely on them can help put them in perspective.  That’s why today’s entry in the little devotional spoke to my heart.  Hope you can find some enlightenment in it, too.

Bible Thought:  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselvs treasures in heaven….for where your treasure is, there will your  heart be also.

Also refer to Psalm 145:13-21

I have a friend who is a compulsive collector—–soda pop cans, postage stamps, coins, picture postcards.  You name it, he probably collects it.  I too collect souvenirs from the 51 countries I’ve visited, trophies, ribbons and medals from all kinds of competition.

Yet, what is the eternal value of these material “things?”  They are useless for nourishing the soul.  Pharaohs and emperors attempted to build lasting memorials to themselvs.  Yet, these monuments have decayed and disappeared.  Both the great and small have died, taking nothing with them.  Of all that exists, only the Lord’s kingdom is everlasting.  Only His dominion continues forever.

Do we want to live on for all eternity?  THEN LET US QUIT HOLDING ON TIGHTLY TO THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD!  Jesus reminds us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24)

——-Glover Shipp, Edmond, OK

While my obsessions do not surround collecting “things,” I DO obsess about “things,” like the leaves in the yard that I can’t rake because of my pain, or the den ceiling that still needs to be painted, or all of the walls in the rest of the house that need to be painted, the old kitchen cabinets that need to be torn out and new ones installed, making the car payment on time, catching up the utility bill, being able to actually afford the $20.00 copay three times a week that my doctor wants me to spend in physical therapy instead of just one time a week, cooking at home because I WANT to instead of because I HAVE to, being able to get my hair cut when it NEEDS it instead of 3 or 4 weeks past that time…………well, you get the idea.  I want to be able to help people less fortunate than me (and there are many).  Maybe one day……………just not now.

But would I perpetuate my memory by doing all of the above?  No.  However, people will remember me because I’ve been kind to them, smiled at them, been sympathetic with their problems, have loved them.  Even THOSE things will not live on in this world forever because those people will one day go the way of all the earth, just like I will.  What will last, and what’s really important is my relationship with my Lord and His kingdom.  Obsessing about the “things” only serves to make my sojourn on this earth less enjoyable.

God grant me the ability to focus on the right “things.”

TODAY’S SMILES:

• Another unseasonably warm day.
• Loaded baked potatoes.
• I think I can see a little improvement because of the physical therapy!
• My friend, Liz.
• Plans Coleen is making to change her surroundings and improve her frame of mind.
• The full day of work yesterday!

See you soon.  And may God bless.

This was on the front page of the M section of the Commercial Appeal today. As for the first bullet, we’d probably ALL benefit from a road trip to Gulf Shores! 

• Take a drive to a sunnier place.
• Take a daily walk.
• Read a good book.
• Meet a friend for coffee.
• Pick up some flowers and place them in the area of your home you spend the most time in.
• Consider buying different light bulbs.  Some bulbs simulate natural outdoor light.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables, as you would during the summer months.”

——McClatchey Newspapers

There are some I, personally, would add:

• Spend time in prayer and Bible study
• Force yourself to get up and get a shower in the mornings and put on clean clothes.  If female, put on some makeup.  It helps.
• Talk to a trusted friend.
• Stay busy with something.  Usually, this is the last thing we want to do but one of the things that does the most good.
• Following up on the above, find someone who needs your assistance with something and reach out to them.
• Look around for smiles and something to laugh about.
• Count blessings.

Care to add something?  Feel free………………………….

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Glorious sunshine.
2. Spring-like temps for several days in the forecast.
3. Maintaining my 13-pound weight loss.
4. Bryan came by for a second and got Shelly’s mail that had been stacking up.
5. The visitation tonight is a 5-7 and not a 5-8 or 9!

See you Sunday evening or Monday morning.  And may God bless.

I talked with a dear friend today who is very sad and depressed right now.  I have encouraged her to make an appointment with her doctor and sit down and talk with him about treatment.  She’s one of those hardy former farm girls, as am I, and there is something inside her that just won’t let her turn loose, yet, and do this.  Doesn’t want to have to go on medication.  Wants to wait until her regular appointment in March.  I know her to be a happy, outgoing person, and I pleaded with her not to suffer through this until March.  She will make her own decision, as would I.

I can talk about this because I’ve been there and done that!  I’ve made no secret of the fact that I am also fighting with some pretty severe depression right now, too, in addition to physical pain, and I shared this with my friend.  And I told her about at least one other mutual friend who has also had to be on medication in the past, if not still.  And this a person you wouldn’t ever think to have that kind of problem.  All of this in an effort to help her see that taking an antidepressant carries no shame with it.  But I think most of us have put the skids on, at times, to admitting to this or the need for a medication.

I know, in my case, for a very long time, I thought to have to give in and seek treatment for depression meant that my faith in God was not what it should be.  I felt I should be able to pick myself up by my own bootstraps and move on.  I thought it meant I was weak.  But another friend pointed out to me once that I would not hesitate to take medication for high blood pressure or an antibiotic for a cold or the flu.  So why balk at an antidepressant?

So, even though I have been taking this kind of medication for quite some time, I still feel somewhat like a weakling because I have to.  I have friends and family who are of the “tough it out” mode of thinking.  That only works for a while.  But sometimes I still feel like my faith must be second-rate or I wouldn’t be depressed.  I know, intellectually, that’s not the case, but in my heart I feel badly about it.

Depression can take all sorts of paths.  Sleeplessness or sleeping too much.  Tears.  Anger.  Irritability.  Feelings of hopelessness.  Just to name a few.  And it may have all kinds of roots.  Broken relationships.  Fear.  Financial issues.  Physical illness.

Yes, we are told to “cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us.”  Philippians tells us to not be anxious about anything but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving make our requests known to God.  When this doesn’t work, it’s certainly not the fault of our great and loving God.  Many would say it’s a fault of ours, of the strength of our faith.  But is it a fault at all?

We, as we age, become dependent on various kinds of medications.  Is it really a measure of our faith if we are also dependent upon a pain medication or an antidepressant?

These questions are mine and not really verbalized by the friend I spoke with today.  I just know how I’ve struggled with it.  I’d love your feedback.  What say ye?

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Thinking about trying to make our church’s yearly trek to Reelfoot to see the eagles and eat catfish at Boyette’s!
2. Bro. J. didn’t interrupt Andrew tonight during the devotional!!
3. Getting through physical therapy for another session.
4. Although some of the discussion wasn’t all smiles, I enjoyed conversation with niece Sherry today.
5. My church family.

See you tomorrow evening.  And may God bless.

One might think I am talking about plants, right?  But, no, I am speaking of life.

No place is this more evident than at a medical facility I visited today.  A cancer clinic.   It was Doris’ yearly check-up time with her oncologist and, as always, when we leave with a relatively good report, we know how very blessed she, and we, are to be 8 years and counting from her cancer diagnosis and surgery.  A cancer type that usually is not even detected until it’s already too late.  And she’s 8 years out……….cancer-free, as far as we know.

She IS having more acid reflux than her doctor is comfortable with, so he’s issued an edict for an upper scope to be done, and we have the ball rolling on that.  Additionally, she’s having blood sugar drops every now and again; it dropped to 35 today while we were at the clinic.  And we will see about that with her internist.  All of this will take place in the next couple of weeks.  We covet your prayers.  However, her CT scan was good.

In a cancer clinic, you see life at its best and at its worst.  You see people like Doris who have been blessed beyond imagination.  And you know that life is hardy and strong.  Then you see others that you know probably will not live out the year, or you see people like sister Grace, who was in stage 4 when diagnosed and died within 6 months.  And you know that life is also fragile and easily snuffed out.

I am thankful that Doris is one of the blessed ones.  But grieved for those who are not.  So if you get one of those e-mails from me from time to time that we all get, urging us to forward so more people will be praying for a cancer cure……….well, that’s just what I do.  So many have been lost to this dreaded disease, and down in our heart of hearts we probably all fear the C word.  Praise be to God Who has overcome even that!

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. The beautiful paintings on exhibit at the clinic.
2. Big, pretty snowflakes.
3. Barney following me from room to room.
4. A very encouraging e-mail from someone who reads my blog!  Thank you, Doyce.  You made my day!!
5. Our next door neighbor, Ms. Ruby.
6. Creamed potatoes!

See you tomorrow evening.  And may God bless.

I’m sorry to report this, but I have become one.  Perhaps it happens to all of us, but I had confirmation tonight.  My mirror lies!

When I look in the mirror, particularly if I have on make-up (!), I see what I’ve been thinking was a relatively attractive older lady, in her early 60s.  Some wrinkles, and some gray hair the color has grown off of, to be sure…………..but not a half-bad looking lady.  And looks not being everything, I still have considered myself a reasonably nice and intelligent person.  After all, don’t I solve 95% of the puzzles on Wheel of Fortune??  I’ve won millions, I tell you, millions from my recliner!

But pride goes before a fall, I’ve always heard.  I have to confess what happened tonight.

I went to Kroger with a limited amount of money to buy a few things our household needed.  (Money is ALWAYS limited!  )  But I digress………….

I had my items and got in line to check out.  A lady was in line in front of me and asked if I’d seen the discounted items.  She showed me a box of instant oatmeal she got for 99 cents.  Remembering we were out of oatmeal, I got out of line and went looking for the discounts.  She’d said they were right over there, “in the middle.”  Since many times we find discounted items in a basket in the middle of the aisle, with a hodge podge of stuff, I went looking for a basket.  I looked around and saw a basket which I took to be the already-gone-through-and-most-of-the-good-stuff-already-picked-through discounts.  I picked a few items up and looked at them, moving them, looking for the oatmeal.  And then………….

This nice  young man came over and said, “Ma’am, this is my basket!”  I could have died right there on the spot.  I apologized over and over and explained I was looking for the, sputtering…………………  He said, “the discounts?  They’re right over there.  She’s still putting them out.”  The discounts were actually on some shelves that were being stocked as we spoke.  I got my oatmeal and, before beating a hasty retreat, I apologized again, and told the nice young man to just call me a “crazy old lady!”  And THEN I beat as hasty a retreat to the check-out line as I could with a limp!!!

I wanted to crawl  under the doormats.  And I’ve been shaking my head ever since.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. A visit from Elisa.
2. Left-over vegetable-beef soup and cornbread for dinner.
3. My great-niece’s profile picture on Facebook.  Her smile is so like her daddy’s.  My nephew whom we lost too soon.
4. Got my exercises done and a 10-minute walk.
5. My new tactic with diabetes.  “Sugar is evil!”
6. Our Barney-baby.

See you tomorrow evening.  And may God bless.

………….snowflakes, that is!  That’s what I’ve always heard.

As predicted, we had another small snowstorm move through the area today, bringing Memphis metro probably an inch of snow.  It was a pretty snow, and it was fun to watch it come down.  Have you ever thought about just how serene a snowfall is?  Doesn’t make a sound.  I’ve always loved it and usually take a picture or two, but I’m not smart enough to post them on here! 

We were driving home from a physical therapy session in some of the heaviest snow today.  The streets were only wet, not icy, and it was fun to just be out in it.  (During my working career when the office would close early due to the weather, I’d come home and get out and walk in it!)  But today, as I watched it come down, I thought about there being no two snowflakes alike.  Millions, yea trillions, or mega-trillions of snowflakes fell just today.  We had snow some two weeks ago.  And just think of all the times snow has fallen since the world began, and how many more times it will fall in the future………..and no two snowflakes are alike!  Staggering thought, isn’t it!?

Only God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Snow.
2. Squirrels playing in the snow.
3. A long afternoon nap with Barney in my lap.
4. Seeing Lorenzo out at the therapy place.
5. God’s providence……….again.

Have a good weekend.  I’ll try to see you Sunday night.  And may God bless.