Fifty-Cent Mom

H eading into Christmas home plate last week my confidence surged. I had successfully performed with The Voice of Praise Choir and the Lake Geneva Symphony over the weekend; paid our bills; sent out our Christmas cards; ordered Christmas gifts; planned Christmas menus; orchestrated a caroling party for about 40 teenagers; had my hair colored and cut; attended a Christmas party; had most of my cookies baked - but had scheduled to finish them Friday and on and on...      Then He showed up. Uninvited. Monday.       Misgivings about his visit tapped on my shoulders, but I forged ahead. I wasn't the one barfing in the toilet - Les and Bridget were. I had too much work to do to stop. Sure, occasionally I'd ask them if they needed anything, but I thought it would be best to leave them alone with Him so I wouldn't be bothered. He seemed to ignore me. I moved so fast last week, he didn't have time to catch up...or so I thought.      Thursday night we went around the homes i

Photo credits: C. L. Paur  Technology. It is the new best friend for so many people. It doesn't disappoint you like real people, except when your hard drive crashes, you don't get phone reception, or the earphones wear out. I t's the holiday season and time for the Paurs to have another car repair. Fortunately it was just a tire, so I sat in the dank, smoky waiting room and tried to stare at the television with the volume set so low, I needed captions. Next to me was a woman with deep lines etched into her face with her over-processed hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her bangs poofed-out and were unevenly cut.  A smoker , I thought to myself.  She smiled. I smiled.       Then I opened up with, "Last year we had a nearly $2,000 car repair."       "Oh my," she said. For the next 20 minutes we discussed cars, lemon-cars, chiropractors, writing, and books. During this visit, another customer came in, headphones tightly pressed against her ears as i

I t's a good thing my husband or daughters don't read my blog for they would scoff at my attempts to offer time management tips. They would remind me of the times we rushed into church during the opening hymn, or Mom dropping kids off right before the schoolbell rang. I won't tell them that I'm often strolling into Tuesday night choir practice after the warm-ups...      I do show up on time for many things, however, and I wish to share my secrets. Work backwards. That is not my secret, but somewhere on the Internet I read this, and when I apply it, I actually arrive on time. I might even have a few minutes to spare for a trip to the restroom.      The principal works like this: you have somewhere to go later in the day. Get yourself ready for that before you do anything else. I will use Sunday mass as an example. I put out my clothes the night before and in the morning get ready before I begin doing anything else. These are the Sundays we get to mass on time. When I

Finished rewrites of my second novel I will be submitting into a contest/campaign for Kindle Scout. This is not the final book design, but I thought it would help lead into this week's topic. The protagonist, Catharine Zimmer, suffered all sorts of ailments during her life on earth. One of her most fiercest diseases was Stomatitis -- Inflammation of the Mouth. It's so easy to catch! The terrible thing about this malady is it doesn't affect the sufferer, but creates suffering for those at the end of the tongue. An entire industry is built up on this disorder, and reports estimate it generates $3 billion annually. Whoopee! This is an economy builder!  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue  but deceives his heart, his religion is vain (James 1:26 NABRE). Mom would say this about gossipers, "If they're talking about people when you're in the room, they'll talk about you when you leave." Why is gossip so easy to sl

It was hard to shake off the terror and the image of the headlights careening toward us. It was a pleasant afternoon. We picked our oldest daughter up from college for the Thanksgiving holiday. Lunch and a trip to the mall would complete our afternoon. After shopping on one side of the mall, we scrambled into the van to drive over to the other side. At the stop sign, I waited to turn left. Once my vehicle entered the lane, I suddenly realized I had turned onto the wrong side of a one-way road. I panicked, but it was so short, I thought I'd quickly drive through so I could merge into the correct lane. Apparently, however, a pickup truck spotted my error, flashed its brights and sped up as if to crash into us. I smashed down on the brakes and the horn. It stopped maybe a foot away from us. What the hell was he trying to prove? my thoughts screamed. I drove around him and soon was on the right path. Inside a brightly lit store I trembled and sat on a chair, while some of my

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! There might be a bit of confusion with the holiday since there are Christmas decorations lightening up the streets already. Am I behind? I just set out my ceramic turkeys for Thanksgiving. I must be since most of the department stores have been ready for Christmas since Labor Day. Has Thanksgiving been reduced to a four-day weekend to pump up airline traffic and Christmas sales? This isn't a rant about people putting up Christmas decorations long before the Advent season has even begun, but about an appeal to live life in the moment: to embrace the seasons, to embrace the beauty, to embrace the dry times, to embrace the suffering. I remembered Thanksgiving as a unique and separate day set aside for us to thank God for our many blessings. Perhaps it began losing its significance when we turned our focus onto the feast and not on the gratitude. This isn't a rant about people putting up Christmas decorations long before the Advent seaso