A Quiet Saturday

This will undoubtedly be a quiet Saturday. Maybe I can get further into my book.

I slept well last night. I woke up once, took my meds and an Aleve for my aching right shoulder and a melatonin tablet. Then I got right back to sleep. Missy curled up next to me and I didn't wake up until after 5:00AM...a good night's sleep at last.

I have dressed, fed myself and Missy and got myself ready for the day. When it got light enough I took Missy out for awhile. It had been raining out there and was pretty cool but Missy was ready to come back in when she noticed everything was moist and chilly.

She is lying here where I usually keep my computer table.



I don't have a thing planned for today except to read. I am trying to plow myself through this "A Farewell to Arms"...Hemingway's most famous book. So far I am struggling with it.  It drags at this point and I am on page 75.  It had better pick up or I will not have much to say about it at the book discussion.

I have sporadic TV this morning.  It tears from time to time but I have been able to get the gist of the CBS news when it works.  Streaming to my computer has been just as sporadic lately. A couple of weeks ago, I contacted Cox to see what it would cost to get a better signal.  They told me I would need a better modem and router and I told them to forget it. From then on the signal got worse.  I hate to think they would slow it down to retaliate but when you are dealing with big business...anything is possible. Capitalism is greed driven.

More later...

I finished my book and went to get my bath early. Missy and I watched TV on Amazon Prime until 9:00PM when we both went to bed. 

A rather dull day.

Friday and Lunch with Gay

I slept very well last night. I awoke at 1:00 and went to the bathroom, took my med and also a melatonin tablet. Then I slept the rest of the night and awoke again at 5:00...my regular "wake up" time.

This morning I have fed myself and Missy and even taken her out for awhile until she was ready to come in.

After awhile, around 10:00, I will start for Chanute to meet Gay for lunch. She may bring her friends too and her sister Adele. I wish she would only bring Adele. When she brings all five of her friends, we don't get as good a visit.

I transferred some money today from my savings so I could pay my Cox bill, my electric bill and for my Amazon Prime bill. When I get my social security on Wednesday, I will transfer it back to savings.

Next Tuesday I will go to Independence and meet the tour bus for the tour of Tulsa museums and other spots of interest.  I do this through "Gone For A Day" tours.  They are cheap but interesting and something different to do. So I am having my hair done at 10:00 on Monday at that time.

My son-in-law's birthday is next Friday. I believe he will be 64 years old. Yep! I checked with my daughter and he is to be 64.

More later....

Bob Avery checked with me this morning and dropped by.  He will be going to Dr. Conrad, my dentist, this afternoon to see if he can get his one remaining wisdom tooth taken out. He has a dull toothache and doesn't want to wait until it's a full blown problem.  He wanted to see if I would be able to go with him just in case it turns out to be a bear of a problem. I should be well back from my trip to Chanute and lunch with Gay by then.

I need to leave for Chanute now...so more later....

I had a nice lunch with Gay and her friends. There were five of us and once again, I didn't get a good visit with her.

Anyhow, I started home a little after 1:00 and the rains began to fall..and it rained so hard I could barely see the highway. Every time a semi passed me I had to guess where the highway was.  Luckily, the rain subsided just south of Cherryvale but it was an horrendous drive. But I made it!

And I heard from Bob. Joanne is going with him.

I heard from him again....the office is closed on Friday afternoons.

Chuck, the previous secretary/treasurer of the alliance, e-mailed me that he is still getting the bank statements and he asked me to go over to the bank and get that changed...so I just did.  I had Dana print me off a copy of the bank statement Chuck received today and I told him to just throw his away.

More again later...it's time for Missy's treats and she's here telling me about it.

I got Missy her treats and got one myself...one of Schwan's ice cream bars...ummm good!

At shortly after 6:00PM I took my bath and put on my PJs and got ready to watch Amazon Prime.  Missy and I went to bed about 9:00, as usual.

Thursday and Ministerial Alliance

I slept well last night. I awoke at 1:30, went to the bathroom and took my med and went back to bed and back to sleep.

When I got up at 5:00, I dressed, fed Missy and myself, and watched the news by steaming it on the computer. The picture on the TV was tearing constantly. Odd, sometimes it is fine other times it tears constantly.

Missy went back in and crawled up on the bed and is sleeping again.

I have been asking myself and the Church School class at church this question. We have been studying some very controversial and challenging material the past few years. Some of those books were: "Living the Questions" and "Saving Jesus from the Church" by David Felten and Jeff Proctor Murphy, "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian McLaren and "Who Wrote the Bible" by Richard Friedman.  Perhaps we should ask ourselves this question. 

Has Your Faith Changed?

We know we don’t have the originals of any of the books of the New Testament but only error-ridden copies, and that there are places where we may never know what the originals were; Scholars know the NT was filled with discrepancies and contradictions and that most of the NT books were not written by their alleged authors ..some are mis-attributed, some are forged.  True, we never use the word “forgeries”. But it wasn’t for religious reasons; we simply don’t know then what we know now.   Our views of the historical Jesus were the same then as now: for years we have realized that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who was predicting that the end of the age was soon to come in a cataclysmic act of judgment when God overthrew the forces of evil and brought in a good kingdom – sometime within his own generation.

Our views of Paul’s theology, the nature of the bizarre symbolism of the book of Revelation, the varying views of Jesus and of salvation and of many other things found in different parts of the New Testament – none of that changed.  The idea that early Christianity was remarkably diverse, with different groups in the second and third centuries all maintaining different beliefs and engaging in different practices, but all claiming to represent “original” Christianity better than all their competitors – we still have this view as well.  Also the fact that the Bible has numerous competing views of suffering, none of them entirely satisfying: 

In short, we can’t really think of anything that is different in terms of scholarship or essential views of Jesus, the New Testament, or early Christianity.

It’s true – very, very true – that our views are different.  But we changed those views as we studied.   Our religious views changed. 

It meant that we could not have a literalistic understanding of the Bible or a faith that accepted fundamentalist assumptions about the Bible.  But we realized that that was all to the good, since in fact those assumptions were not the views held throughout history by most Christians – especially educated Christians – over the centuries anyway.

But being a believer really has nothing to do with whether one recognizes the historical problems of the Bible and the development of early Christianity.  We simply have alternative visions of what it means to be Christian from what we find in our increasingly “narrow-minded”, conservative world.  And our visions in fact are more historically true to what Christianity has already been than the dominant view (at least the dominant view in the American South).

For one thing, it unites us against fundamentalists.  We may need to CHANGE our faith, but we do not need to become a non-believer.

We are instead interested in acquiring historical knowledge, learning how to THINK, and developing a more thoughtful approach to life, whatever our religious perspective or persuasion is.   Hopefully, more of us, simply will become more thoughtful and informed believers.  And that’s a very good thing!

"The Trinity is a Christian doctrine, stating that God exists as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but is one being. The persons are understood to exist as God the Father, God the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "that the one God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"."

Let’s think about this question….

I will leave at 11:30 for the Ministerial Alliance meeting at Windsor Place.  This afternoon, Cyndi will be coming to vacuum my apartment. That will be good since I have organized some things this week and also  dusted and cleaned the bare floors. 

I have watched the news the past two days and am interested to reading Bob Woodward's new book coming out on Tuesday. I have ordered it from Amazon.  It's called "Fear: Trump in The White House". Bob Woodward was one of two reporters who helped bring down the Nixon administration. He is a very thorough and careful reporter who always has documentation for anything he writes.  

It should be an interesting read.  

More later... 

I attended the ministerial alliance meeting, did the minutes and treasurer  reports, got a bank deposit made and generally read the rest of the afternoon. I am still working on the Hemingway book, "A Farewell to Arms" for the book  discussion at the library. 

Cyndi came and did my vacuuming. She does such a good job!

Later in the evening I took my bath and put my PJs on and watched Amazon Prime TV with Missy.  At shortly after 9:00. we went on to bed.

Wednesday and Bunco in the Afternoon

I slept well until 2:30 and awoke with my right arm hurting terribly. I had slept on that side since I went to bed. I took another melatonin tablet and my thyroid med and later got up and took an Aleve. Then I got back to sleep until almost 5:00AM. At least the 5 mg strength melatonin work and help me to sleep. The Aleve took care of most of the pain in my arm. Then I slept the rest of the night on my left side. The ear Dr. Eslicker zapped has healed now.

Today I will probably finish throwing away my petunia plants. The neighbor stray cat got into the flower bed yesterday and tore up the petunias so I bagged most of them up and put them in the trash. I kept the other plants and unless he tears them up too later, I may just see if they are perennials or annuals. I would like to plant something that would come back each year. That would save me a lot of money.

I took Missy out briefly on the carport. She stayed maybe 20 minutes and then was ready to come back in and take her morning nap.  She sleeps all night and almost all day too. At 15, I am just waiting for the day I find her motionless for good. I will just miss her terribly but Betty has told me I cannot have another pet and live here.

This afternoon, I will go to Bunco at the senior center. I have been missing the exercise classes since my arm has been so painful lately. Tomorrow afternoon, Cyndi will vacuum for me. Tomorrow noon I have the ministerial alliance meeting at Windsor Place.

More later...

I baked cookies this morning. I will take a dozen of them to the senior center for the games this afternoon.

Then I went out to the church and ran off copies of the legislation for the 2019 World Conference so those who do not get the Herald can know what the proposed legislation will be.  I put the copies on the bulletin board there.

Now, I need to consider what I will have for lunch. I have an hour to make that decision.

I stopped by Sonic and ordered the child's chicken strip order. That was planty and then I went on to Bunco. I had a good time there.

Afterward I came back home and read my book.

That evening, I had my regular evening snack and an ice cream bar and settled down to watch some old Perry mason episodes on Amazon Prime TV. At 7:00, I took my bath and at 9:00, Missy and I went to bed.

Tuesday and A Hairdo Day

I slept better last night. I took a melatonin tablet and that must have helped.

I had my hair done at 9:00 and had next week's appointment changed to Monday at 10:00. Tuesday is my day trip with "Gone for Awhile Tours". We are going to go to Tulsa.

I also sent off a package of photos to Scott. After that, I took the cakes to Independence's First Christian Church.

I had a key made for Cyndi since she is going to do my vacuuming for awhile while I try to get my rotater cuff better. I did get the dusting done this morning.

I stopped at the church on my way back from Independence and found the lights on there. I turned them off. I remember Bob turned them off Sunday so I must have left them on when I took those brochures and visitor's cards out there yesterday.

I was updating this blog earlier and the entire thing disappeared. So I am trying to recreate it.

I took Missy out several times today. The weather was cooler and this afternoon it rained hard for awhile.

I went to the library to get a copy of "A Farewell to Arms". That's the next book we are discussing at the library meeting.  I read for a couple of hours this afternoon.

I fixed some of my lasagna from Schwans for lunch. I wasn't impressed. I won't buy it again. I threw some of the leftovers away instead of keeping it for another lunch. If you microwave it as long as it calls for, it scorches around the edges. With the cheese and etc., that makes it very hard to eat. If I decide to have lasagna, I will have some from Walmart.

More later..

The Schwan's delivery man came a little after 6:00 and I put away my purchases. Then I had some yogurt for my supper and one of their ice cream bars for dessert.. 

About 7:00, I took my bath and put my PJs on and then laid down with Missy and we watched a couple of episodes of Perry Mason.  At 9:00 or so, we went on to bed. I took a melatonin tablet before I went to bed.

Monday and a Cleaning Day

Evidently when the Tuesday post disappeared, so did Mondays. I slept poorly again that night and finally just got up at 2:30.  I got myself and Missy ready for the day and fed both of us.
I took Missy out after it got light and let her enjoy the outside.

I went out to Walmart later in the morning and bought more melatonin...5 mg strength. I must have something harmless to help me sleep.

Then I went to Dollar General and bought more litter.

I spent the afternoon going through my last month's receipts and shredded those I did not need to keep and filed the rest.  Then I cleaned the den thoroughly. I emptied the shredder and dusted the apartment.

I heard from Gay. She is back from the east coast where she visited her daughter, Kathy and her family.  We will meet on Friday in Chanute and have lunch so she can tell me all about her trip.

The rest of the day also disappeared and so it is lost. 

Missy and I watched some Amazon Prime TV before we turned in for bed.

Sunday and Church

I slept all night though after taking a Benadryl  capsule. I don't like to take those because I believe that drug affects memory.

I dressed for church and fed Missy and myself.

After it got light I took Missy out for awhile. That little tom cat appeared after awhile and she began hissing and spitting at him and he disappeared into the culvert. We stayed out for a little longer and then she was ready to come back in the apartment. I discovered she had wet on the little bath mat under  the litter box. So I ran a load of laundry and washed everything in the laundry basket.

It's all dry now and I have put it away.  .

I really need to strip my bed and wash the sheets. I just haven't had the energy to do that lately.

I moved the antenna around last night to get a better signal last night. I don't know if that helped or not but this morning a have a very good picture.

More later....I have the sermon this morning and have to look it over.

The sermon went fine. After church, Bob and I went to Great China for lunch. We had not been there for a month or so. The last time we ate there, we had Phyllis with us. This weekend, because of the Labor Day holiday, she is in Overland Park visiting her daughter. Both Bob and I brought home half of our dinner. He will eat his this evening and I will eat mine tomorrow noon. I will have yogurt for my supper.

Afterward Bob brought me home and I imagine he went over to his girlfriend Joanne's house. I watched some Amazon Prime Forensic File episodes and rested on the sofa. It was pretty hot at 86 degrees. Missy wanted to go out but it is too hot during the day just now for an old cat. She slept in on my bed all afternoon. It's almost 5:00 now and I have just given her her treats and filled her water dish.

About 7:00, I will take my bath and put my PJs on and we will watch some more Perry Mason episodes until time to go to bed.