A Blogger is Born

I was born at 11:06 a.m. on Wednesday, May 1, 1963.

There are some humorous things that my mother documented about my birth, so I thought I'd share some of her words tonight. I did not ask her permission....

Mom wrote the following in a little book called "mom's hospital record:"

"Dad waited in the hospital waiting room until 2:00 p.m. before he found out you were born. The Dr. didn't know he was there -- tried to call him at school."

"Dad was 3 hours late in hearing of your birth. Everyone at school knew before he did. Dr. Richards didn't know he was in the waiting room. Poor Pop!"

"8 babies were born to Kents Hill faculty between Aug. & May of 1963. You were the 6th and proudly I say you were the biggest weight-wise."

"You cried as we left the hospital, quieted down in car, and when we got home you wanted to eat right away."

And I am named after:

"no one"

(Postscript: I have never called my father "Pop," but I still like to eat.)

Fruit and Vegetables

As I was trying to fall asleep the other night, I started to wonder if I could come up with the name of a fruit or vegetable starting with each letter of the alphabet.

I'm not sure what brought that on. Perhaps I should eat more fruit and vegetables? Maybe it was some sort of subliminal message from my inner conscience.

Here goes:

apple
banana
cherry
d
eggplant (is that a vegetable?)
fig
grape
honeydew
i
j
kiwi
lemon
mango
nectarine
orange
pear
q
radish
squash
tangerine
u
v
watermelon
x
yam
zucchini

I did this list fairly quickly, and I'm obviously missing a few. Any ideas?

My Friend Kimmee

I have a wonderful friend named Kim who often comments on my blog. She is not to be confused with my sister Kim, who I'm not even sure reads my blog at all...LOL!

My friend Kim sometimes refers to me as "Tracy Ann" even though Ann is not my middle name. And I often refer to her as "Kimmee."

Kim -- a fine American gal -- fell in love with and married a Japanese man several years ago. She and Ryu (pronounced like my husband's name) have been living in Japan. They have the cutest little girl named Jun (pronounced like the month).

I am excited to say that Kimmee and her family are now living in the States. A slight problem, though -- they live on the wrong coast! Well, the wrong coast as far as I'm concerned. (Smile....)

WELCOME HOME, KIM!

Multiple Choice

Short post tonight.

Why? The choices are:

a. I'm tired.
b. I'm really tired.
c. My eyes are slamming shut.
d. I was busy all day, and now I'm really tired.
e. It's late.
f. All of the above.

And the answer is....

Do you really need me to tell you?!

G'nite!

I Am Annoyed

When Lew and I became joint owners of the house that we own with my parents, we did the required paperwork to have our names added to my parents' existing mortgage. The lender made the change. That was two and a half years ago.

Everything had been fine until today.

The monthly mortgage statement came with just my parents' names on it. "Hmmmm," I thought.

So I called the lender. Twice.

The first person I talked with took several minutes to agree that I even existed. She was finally able to find documentation in her system that Lew and I had been on the mortgage. That's past tense. Had been. Did she know why our names had been removed? Nope. She said I had to fax about a billion things to their loan assumption department in order to find out what happened. Uh, I don't think so.

I called the lender again, this time at a different number which I had found on a recent mailing from them. This guy was much more helpful. He was able to find documents in their system that the other gal couldn't find. But he didn't understand why our names had been dropped either. He, at least, took some initiative and is going to have someone research this. In the meantime, he is "resubmitting" all of our original paperwork.

I have to admit that I no longer have much confidence in this very large financial institution, which will go nameless...for now.

I spent almost an hour dealing with this tonight. Grrrr.....

(Postscript: Blogging is very therapeutic!)

Mail Call

Last Monday was the Patriots' Day holiday here in Maine (and also in Massachusetts). My parents, Lew, and I all assumed that there was no residential mail delivery. So nobody checked the mail at our home.

On Tuesday morning, I had a piece of mail going out. So before leaving for work, I walked to the end of the driveway to put the envelope in the mailbox. I put the flag up first. (If I don't do that right away, then I forget.) After that I opened the box and saw a bunch of mail.

This actually made sense, when I thought about it. Patriots' Day is not a Federal holiday. Therefore, it's not a postal holiday. (I even checked the USPS website before writing this, just to make sure.)

I brought Monday's mail in to my mother and then I left for work.

After work, I asked if anyone got that day's mail. Dad said that Lew did.

The next morning (Wednesday), I had another piece of mail going out. Walk...flag...open...and more mail again!

Lew told me later that he assumed that one of my parents had brought in the mail because he saw it on the table. But that was Monday's mail that he saw, not Tuesday's.

So I brought Tuesday's mail in and handed it to my mother. Then I was off to work.

I was told when I got home from work on Wednesday that the mail for that day had indeed been retrieved.

The next morning (Thursday), I had another piece of mail going out. Walk...flag...open...empty mailbox!

Victory! Small, yes. But still, a victory.

Before the Rocks Cry Out

I was going to write about something else tonight, but I just read Barry and Suzy Gaeddert's blog. Barry writes such touching posts, and I was especially moved by today's entry. So, I leave you tonight with the following excerpt.

Barry writes:

"....The flowers don't ever forget to praise God. The birds are never too busy to sing praise. The entire creation - including the rocks - just keeps on doing what it does best: telling God how very worthy of worship He is and what joy there is in praising Him.

"Brain tumors, pills, radiation, schedules, deadlines, pressures, stress, frustration, heartache, worry, pain: these are NOT reality folks! They are only shadows of the fall. God still reigns supreme. God continues to create beauty and perfection. God continues to redeem the fall. And God always works in ways that bring Himself glory and honor, whether we fully understand what He is doing or not. So even though I live in the middle of everything on that list (and more) I choose to praise. Because I can't imagine letting the rocks do my job for me."

Concert Night!

Late night out. Just got home from the Gaither Homecoming concert. It was wonderful, as always. Very inspirational.

And now, it is time to sleep.

G'nite!

Singing in Spanish

This may be one of those "I guess you had to be there" stories, but I'm still going to tell it.

There is a very nice song that our choir sings that starts out in English and ends in Spanish. Please keep in mind that we memorize all of our music....

The first time that Lew and I ever sang this particular song was early last summer. We had both worked hard trying to get the Spanish down.

Lew usually stands right in back of me in the choir. He has a very good tenor voice and he sings out. I enjoy listening to him. But that morning, when we got to the Spanish part...well, things kind of fell apart for Lew. Yet he kept right on singing!

I can't re-create what he sang, because it certainly wasn't Spanish. Nor was it English for that matter.

Anyway, I got the giggles. Bad.

I spent the rest of the song mouthing the words and trying not to bust out laughing. We were, after all, singing in the Sunday morning worship service. By the end of the song, I had tears running down my face from trying to withhold the laughter.

When I told Melodie (our choir director) about it later, she said her thought had been "Gee, Tracy looks really happy this morning."

Fast forward several months to last night's choir rehearsal....

We rehearsed this same song. I was blanking on the first words (of the English portion), so I asked my friend who was sitting next to me. She answered. Then we both starting singing...the wrong verse.

We started laughing. Really hard. I think that some of my laughter was left over from last summer. But I didn't have to hold it back this time!

Choir and Cookies

I worked hard today.

Then I expended a lot of energy at choir rehearsal. Granted, some of that energy went into laughing. But I did some singing, too.

I was so tired when I got home that I decided to eat a couple Newman-O's, which are the Paul Newman brand oreo-type cookies. Very yummy.

Well, a couple cookies turned into five. But they gave me the energy to post this blog entry.

Yes...I worked hard today.

I Get Another Surprise

I like nice surprises. I got one today.

The surprise was on the kitchen counter when I got home. Mom and Dad had picked up Chinese food for our dinner. Sweet and sour chicken, pork-fried rice, and beef teriaki...YUMMY!

My parents had already eaten their meals. Dad had a couple pieces of his chicken left, as well as some sweet and sour sauce. These items were added to the meal they had bought for me. Without my asking, he told me that he had not "double-dipped" in his sauce.

I went to work earlier than normal today, so I was pretty tuckered out when I got home. A meal of Chinese food was perfect.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I am SO spoiled....

(Postcript: For those of you that are wondering about Lew, he doesn't like Chinese food. He ate left-over spaghetti.)

By the Numbers (Roman, that is)

Here are some more examples of Roman numerals, with a little bit of "me" thrown in. I hope that I don't goof up....

XLVII = I will soon be this old (47)

CMLII = number of pages in the John LeCarre trilogy (952)
CCCXVIII = number of pages I have left to read (318)

XLV = Lew's "Sleep Number" (45)
XCV = my "Sleep Number" (95)
(These are out of 100, so thank goodness for the "Sleep Number" bed!)

MMX = the current year (2010)
MMIV = year Red Sox 1st won World Series in my lifetime (2004)
MCMLXXXI = year the Batgirls graduated from high school (1981)

III = number of children that my parents have (3)
III = number of above children that are girls (3)

DXIX = this example is just for kicks (519)

MDCLXVI = Roman numerals in decreasing order (1666)

(Postscript: This was my last post dedicated to Roman numerals. I've enjoyed it, and I hope you have, too. If not, then too bad -- it's my blog. LOL!)

IVXLCDM

As promised, I am sharing my basic understanding of Roman numerals today. I can sense the excitement already!

The first letters of the words in the sentence below represent the Roman numerals in order. (I got this helpful memory aid several years ago, I think from an "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade Magazine.)

If Victor's X-ray looks clear, don't medicate.

Here's what they stand for in our number system:

I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500
M = 1000

My somewhat incomplete and inadequate explanation of how to convert to a Roman numeral: Do one digit at a time -- starting with the left-most, and skipping any zeroes. Use the Roman numerals that you need; they add together. If you need to repeat a Roman numeral more than three times in a row...well, don't. Use the next higher numeral, preceded by what would needed to be subtracted from it. (So, if you see a lower Roman numeral before a larger one, it needs to be subracted from it when you're converting back.)

That's the gist. Got it? (If you did, then you probably already understood Roman numerals!)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an example is probably worth at least that many, too.

I think I'll convert the number 2,984. Taking one digit at a time (with it's power of 10):

2000 = MM
900 = CM (not DCCCC)
80 = LXXX
4 = IV (not IIII)
Final answer = MMCMLXXXIV

Phew! That's a lot of letters! Now, aren't you thankful for the numbering system that we really use?

Roman Numerals

One of the daily devotionals that I read is My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. The edition that I have uses Roman numerals when giving the Scripture reference. So in order to look up the passage in my own Bible, I need to convert the numbers.

This morning I found myself thinking of other ways that we still use Roman numerals. (I lead an exciting life.)

A few examples:

-- The Super Bowl
-- Clock faces
-- Table of Contents / Book sections / Outlines, etc.
-- Crossword puzzles (eg., clue = "Cato's 519")
-- Namesake suffixes (Sr., Jr., III, IV, etc.)
-- Movie sequels

There are probably more, but hopefully this list shows that it is worthwhile to understand the basics of Roman numerals. It is especially important for the movie sequels. As we all know, the higher the Roman numeral, the worse the movie.

So, in order to do my part, I am planning to write a little "primer" for tomorrow's post.

Won't that be fun?!

Under the Weather

I think that I am successfully fighting off whatever illness has been threatening me. I was starting to wilt a bit this afternoon at work, but then I got my second wind and have felt fairly good ever since.

The actual weather, however, is pretty bleak. Rainy today. Supposed to rain tomorrow. Maybe even some slushy snow tomorrow night. (Hopefully the snow is one of those "just in the mountains" forecasts.)

So, what to do on a rainy Saturday???

We'll have our regular breakfast date and run a few errands. But then I hope to be able to curl up in a comfy chair and finish my John LeCarre trilogy. I only have about 450 pages left!

A Cold Coming On

Lew has been fighting off a cold.

And now I think I'm catching something. My throat is sore.

Having a cold is one of those difficult illnesses for me. I might not feel sick enough to stay home from work. So, I go to work and get worse.

Sleeping at night can be hard, especially if I'm all stuffed up. Post-nasal drip is especially annoying.

I'm hoping to avoid all of this. Zicam RapidMelts, here I come!

(Disclaimer: Although I mentioned a specific product that I happen to use, I am in no way giving medical advice. I'm not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV.)

A Spring Fever Coming On

I usually eat my lunch in the break room at work.

Today, I had an errand to do, so I left the building.

It was a beautiful spring day, so I did not want to go back to the office.

But I did go back.

After that little taste of freedom, it was a really, really l-o-n-g afternoon.

Maybe I should stick to eating lunch in the break room.

On second thought....Nahhh! Too much outside to enjoy!

(Postscript: Choir rehearsal = Short post!)

A Gift to Be Cherished

While at work today, I received a text message from my sister Kim. A friend of hers lost a teenage son in a car accident this morning. He was in the same class as my niece Kelsey.

I thought of the following lyrics from the song "No Life Too Small" by Dennis Jernigan:

"Life is a gift,
No matter how small.
Though lived long or short,
It's a treasure for all.
A gift to be cherished
that transcends death's wall...."

The young man that lost his life this morning attended the same church as Kim's family. I pray that he knew Jesus and that he lives with Him now.

My 100th Post

When I signed on to my blog just now, I saw that I have a total of 99 posts.

Due to my excellent education in mathematics, I know that the entry I am currently writing will bring the total to 100.

I have not kept track of how much time I have spent working on my blog. The amount of time per entry varies. I tend to agonize over every word, and at some point I just have to say, "Enough!"

But let's assume that it takes me an average of 15 minutes per entry. This means that I have spent at least 25 hours total on my blog.

In reality, it's probably quite a bit more than that.

Although I don't get that many "Comments" submitted, I do know of several people that regularly read my blog. (In fact, I just found out last week that my Aunt Jean and Aunt Debbie have been reading it. Hi!)

I enjoy writing "Mainely Tracy," so I guess I'll keep it up. And maybe I'll even get started on that novel soon....

(Postscript: I spent 35 minutes working on this post. So maybe I'm closer to 50 hours total. I do hope that you all sincerely appreciate my efforts to entertain you. Ha Ha!)

A Close Call?

I wrote a while back that Lew and I would both like to lose a few pounds.

After today's weekly Sunday morning weigh-in, Lew admitted that he probably would never make the required effort to get to his goal weight.

I was ecstatic!

You see, I did a really silly thing last summer. I told Lew that if he made his goal weight, I would buy -- and wear -- a bikini this year. I'm still processing the fact that this reward wasn't enough of an incentive for him. But no offense taken.

I think I hear Lew downstairs. He just made a run to the Dairy Corner. Gotta go before my ice cream melts!

(Postscript: It seems like the more you pay for a bikini, the less material you get. You would think that this would discourage some women from wearing them. But I have seen a lot of bikini-clad women on the beach that should have made a different swimwear option.)

THE Perfect Game

A pitcher for "that" team almost pitched a no-hitter today. It got broken up in the eighth inning.

When I heard about it, I decided to write about my thoughts on the perfect game.

A perfect game is when the pitcher completes the entire game without allowing a single opposing batter to reach base. As long as the game doesn't go into extra innings, that's 27 men up, 27 men down.

A couple years ago, I contemplated what could make the perfect game even more perfect. As the pitcher usually throws multiple pitches per at-bat, then only one pitch per batter would be more perfect. That's 27 pitches total.

But could it be even more perfect than that? Absolutely....

Outs can be made, for example, on ground balls to the infield or fly balls to the outfield. But what if each pitch resulted in a pop-up or a line drive that is caught by the pitcher? No other fielders would be needed...not even the catcher.

That would be as perfect as it could get...THE Perfect Game.

It can never happen, of course. Every batter would have to swing (and connect) on the first pitch. So in order to break up THE Perfect Game, all a batter would have to do is just stand there.

That's all some of them do anyway.

Diamonds Are Forever

I treasure my engagement ring, but I'm also partial to the baseball diamond.

I enjoy watching most sports, but baseball is definitely my favorite. I started watching baseball on TV with Dad when I was about 10 years old. Although there have been a few years that I haven't kept up with it, I've pretty much been a fan ever since.

I root for the Boston Red Sox, of course! There is another team that I always root against. (Do I even have to say who that is?)

In 2004, the Red Sox lost three straight games to "that" team in the American League Championship Series. In a best-of-7 series, that's not a great start. But then they won four straight games to make it to the World Series.

When the Red Sox finally retired the last St. Louis batter to win the 2004 World Series, I jumped up and down. I danced. Lew and I laughed. It was a wonderful feeling...of relief!

What a great moment. I will remember it forever.

Play ball!

"I'M IN" Challenges #6 , #7

The sixth challenge:

As a church family, how many times can we give what would be equivalent to the tithe of the average "month's income?"

I'll be direct here. Lew and I believe we should tithe to our church. So we do it!

The seventh challenge:

As a church family, how many (what would be equivalent to) days can we fast and pray?

I must acknowledge that I have never been a big one for fasting. My body may have been able to handle it when I was a teenager. But not now.

Looking back over the past few weeks, perhaps I could have devoted some large chunks of time (i.e., several hours) to being alone with God in Bible reading and prayer. Maybe the idea of fasting can apply to more than going without food. I need to think about this some more.

And that's a wrap on the seven challenges.

Although the 92 days are now over, my effort to experience real life change will continue.

I'M IN! How about you?

"I'M IN" Challenges #4 , #5

Challenge #4:
As a church family, how many "average Americans" can we lose in weight?

Challenge #5:
As a church family, how many times can we walk/run across America?

I was pretty close to my goal weight when we started the 92 days, so I wasn't expecting to help much on the fourth challenge. I did, however, hope to cross off quite a few squares (each representing one mile) for the fifth one.

Well, I didn't do that great. I ended up gaining five pounds. And, although I got off to a good start, I didn't rack up very many miles.

But can we all agree that I should go a little easy on myself here? I'm pretty sure that having surgery on both legs is a superb excuse!

"I'M IN" Challenges #2 , #3

If you haven't already done so, please be sure to read yesterday's introduction of the "I'M IN" 92 Day Challenge to Change!

Here's the second challege:

As a church family, how many (what would be equivalent to) chapters of the Bible can we memorize?

I marked off zero squares for this one. I'm scrunching my face up as I write this, because I really should have attempted to memorize a few verses.

I do believe that Scripture memorization is important. The Bible tells me so! I need to "write" it on my forehead and "hide" it in my heart. Then in times of temptation, I'll be able to resist the devil with God's Word. That's what Jesus did.

And our third challenge:

As a church family, how many (what would be equivalent to 24 hours) days can we pray?

We tracked this in 15-minute increments. Because of the devotional time that Lew and I share together, he and I agreed that we could at least mark off one square per day.

In general, I don't think we can really calculate the exact amount of time we pray. After all, we should be praying continually. The Bible tells me so!

"I'M IN" Challenge #1

Our church just completed the "I'M IN" 92 Day Challenge to Change. The 92 days began on Sunday, January 3. The final day was yesterday, Easter Sunday.

Our pastor presented us with seven challenges. He had charts up all over the church so that we could track our total progress as a group. I'll comment on my own individual effort.

The first challenge:

As a church family, how many times can we read through (what would be equivalent to) the Bible?

For this challenge, we tracked the number of chapters that we read each week. I mentioned in a previous post that I try to read the entire Bible each year. As of yesterday, I had read Genesis through 2nd Chronicles. I was able to mark off quite a few squares.

I would have to give myself "two thumbs up" on this one!

Easter Joy

What a wonderful Easter we had!

Our musical went very well this morning. It was a great service.

The weather was gorgeous. I actually sat outside this afternoon in shorts and a T-shirt. Lew and Glen went on a motorcycle ride. When I asked Lew how it was, he replied, "Ahhhhhhhhh......"

Lew and I enjoyed an Easter dinner of Bill's Pizza, Pier Fries, and ice cream from the Dairy Corner. (Our first visit to all three places this season!)

But was it the best Easter ever?

Not even close.

The best Easter happened before I was even born.

It was the day that the tomb stood empty, and the world was filled with hope.

"...HE conquered death with the power to forgive.
My REDEEMER lives! Celebrate! HE lives!"

A Good Tired

Lew and I had the first performance of our Easter musical this afternoon.

I knew that we'd be standing for at least an hour, so I wore the evil stockings. Lew tells me that stockings can not be "evil." And today they weren't, because they really did help my legs. But they'll never be comfortable to wear.

We both were really pleased with how the peformance went. It's always amazing to see how the final details come together with the band, the sound, the lights, etc.

And how did we do remembering our music? I'd say that the reticular activation really kicked in. It also helps that Melodie (our choir director) is mouthing the words!

Matt and Emily came to the program today, and then they treated us to dinner. (Actually, I think it may have been Emily that won the "who can get their debit card out the fastest" race. Thank you, young lady!)

Lew and I expended a lot of energy singing through our program. And then we ate that nice big dinner. So we are both really tired now.

But it's a good tired.

Good Friday

What do I wish to share on this special day? How about the third verse of that great old hymn, It Is Well With My Soul:

"My sin -- oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin -- not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Amen!

And Sunday morn' is still a-comin'....

Blogging Along

Lew mentioned that he could tell from my recent blog entries that I'm still tired from last Friday's surgical procedure.

He lovingly hinted that my posts have been lacking my usual wit and charm.

To this I replied, "Oh, no! I don't want to disappoint all my fans!"

Then we both laughed. In addition to being tired, I am apparently delusional about the size of my readership.

But...just in case...I'll ask all my fans to hang in there with me and please keep reading! I'll come out of my post-surgery stupor at some point.

(Postscript: Lew's comments were made in the context of my recuperation. He always enjoys reading my blog. I think he may even be a fan.)