Froggy Went a'Courtin'

At a very young age, my dad told me that if I had been a boy, he would have named me Aloysius   Throckmorton.  (I was never sure how to spell the name, but it’s pronounced “Ala-wishus.”)  My four older brothers and sisters thought he was saying Aloysius Frogwarts, and he thought that was so funny he called me “Aloysius Frogwarts” for a while, before finally settling on Frog.   By the time I was a teenager, “Frog” was the only name he called me, and at least one of his friends called me that, too.    When I was 16, my dad took my friend and me car hunting, and while at a car sale, my friend whispered to me, “Why does your dad keep calling you Frog?”   I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

I’m not sure when he stopped calling me Frog, but it was some time ago.   I never thought I would say it, but looking at my dear dad now, I long for the days when he had more youth; those days when he called me Frog and sang to me, “Froggy Went a’courtin’ and Froggy Did Ride, uh-huh.”

The 100 Ways Diet

Finally Friday!!!   I was never so relieved to get home and get out of my clothes than I was yesterday!

Not that I run around naked at my house,

it’s just those maypops I had on.

I wore a pair of pants that I hadn’t had on since last summer.   They were a bit more snug this year when I put them on, but they (I thought) were doable.   By the time I ate breakfast…and later lunch…I felt they may pop any minute.  I was so uncomfortable.    Instead of doing the logical thing and start (yet another) diet, I decided to get new clothes.

I have since changed my mind.

Anyone who reads my blog (even fairly regularly) knows I have a love/hate relationship with food.   I eat out uh-lot, cook a little, and frequently whine about dieting, or the lack of it.   I can quickly list 100 reasons for me to lose weight (be happy I won’t do that here) but Number 99 on the list would be I can’t afford financially to be this fat anymore.    Did you know you can buy a T-shirt for $48?   Do you hear what I’m saying?  A T-shirt for nearly $50!    I say “you” because it won’t be me…unless it’s lined in French fries gold.    

Of course, the everyday restaurant lunches are expensive, and lends in the need for new clothes…may I just say the term “lunch money” takes on a whole new meaning when I do it.  (And that doesn’t include money spent on groceries.)

But of course,

Reason Number 3 would be “For my health.”

Who would read all 100 reasons, anyway?

Number 1 would be for my Angels and Ole Boy

Number 2 would be for myself.

I would like to be righteous enough to say Number 1

would be because gluttony is a sin.   I’m not there yet.

Now to figure out a wayable to get me to stick to a diet.

Wayable:  A doable way…a way to be able...

Made that up, I did.

What’s the best diet you’ve tried? 

For what reasons was it “the best?”

What are you fighting with?

(or...With what are you fighting?)

This is the kind of post some folks love to hate.

For eight years, liberals screamed that Bush had destroyed America.  For the last four years, conservatives have blamed Obama and the democrats.  The sad fact is that we have all had a hand in the self-destruction of our country.

Who’s in Charge?

The Bible is no longer studied; its passages no longer memorized.   Even if one doesn't believe it, the Bible is, indeed, the Word of God.   It is our sword, our protection in the fight for our lives.   Without its truths internalized in our hearts, is it any wonder that Americans are deceived into electing ungodly men to run our country?   America largely doesn’t want to include God.  Period.

Electronic Babysitters:

Years ago, it was Atari that commanded the attention of America’s children.   Now, it’s a multitude of handheld devices, the internet – often uncensored and unsupervised – where our children spend countless hours; cell phones, and brutal, bloody, desensitizing violent “shoot ‘em up” video games that not only have the children addicted, but the parents as well.  No wonder we have children who shoot and kill.  

It is not the guns…it’s the lack of interaction with God-fearing, Bible-believing, parents who commit to raising children in a Godly manner.   It’s the lack of fathers and mothers working together (whether in the same home or not)…there is no excuse!  If you do not have contact with your little children:   Straighten up, act right, get help if you need it, and be a parent!   But I digress.  Sort of.

These days, it seems the only thing that gets undivided attention is a text message or a video game.   Watch young parents in public…their children don’t have their attention.   A cell phone does!  And why do we feel that if a phone rings, it MUST be answered?!  

We’ve got a nation too full of people dependent upon the government for their livelihood.  Too many children know only one parent.  Churches are divided, deceived, and confused, teaching a watching world that they don’t really have any standard by which to live.  Why?   Because the Bible has lost its authority in America, in the church, in the hearts of people. 

• When is the last time you complained about our nation, our president, your spouse, the high costs of gas? 
• When is the last time you wasted an hour (or two or three) in front of the computer?
• When is the last time you spent an hour on your cell phone gossiping?

• When is the last time you spent an hour in prayer praying God’s will?
• When is the last time you spent an hour in prayer seeking His direction over your own plans?
• When is the last time you spent an hour in prayer?

When is the last time you memorized a Bible Passage?   Spent half an hour reading the Word?  Spent half an hour in quiet (or loud) prayer?

The upcoming election is more important than any of us realize.

PRAY GOD’S WILL.

Vote.

It’s our responsibility.

Living in Ignorance

On my last post, I said: 

Dear Georgia Chick With a Yankee Accent:

After 15 phone calls, six text messages, and one voice mail this weekend, have you finally figured out that I am NOT whoever it is you are trying to reach?   I hope so, I’m growing a little weary…

She started calling, texting, and leaving voice mails again Monday evening.  I finally answered on the third call.  She hung up, but called right back.   I picked up again, this time I didn’t say hello, I just told her that she needed to check her number because she had the wrong person.  She hung up again.  I sent her another text and told her that whoever she was trying to reach didn’t know she was trying so hard because she was only reaching me.    She texted back an apology, and I haven’t heard from her since.

But…

How quickly I forget that I did some poor little guy the same way last spring, only over a much a longer stretch of time, and far more texts and calls than I got from Miss Georgia Yankee.  While perusing my blog last night looking for something else, I came across this entry:

About a month ago, my daughter (Les) got a new phone.   She gave me her number, which I promptly plugged into my phone.  

Three or so weeks ago, I got a phone call from a guy who blocked his number.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:	Hello?
Him:	Who is this?
Me:	Who did you call?
Him:	I don’t know.
Me:	Well, you blocked your number and called my phone, so I’m assuming you know who you were calling.
Him:	No, this number was on my caller ID.
Me:	Well, I don’t know who you are.

Last week, I sent a text to Les which said, “Call me NOW!”   No response from her.   Not once have I gotten a response from her on that phone, it’s been a great source of irritation for me.

Today, I get a text from her number, and it said, “Who is this?  You told me to call you.”   I responded, “Duh, a week ago!”    She texted back, “But who is this?”    Thinking she’s either being silly or being dumb (because she didn’t recognize my number and obviously didn’t have it saved on her new phone.)  I type back, “If you don’t know me by now, you will never, never, never know me.   But I know you!”  She wrote back, “Give me a hint.”  So I continue to play the game:

Me:	I know your peoples, and they know me.
Her:	I’m lost
Me:	You luv me.  At least you say you do.
Her:	I haven’t figured out who you are, but at least I now know my boyfriend is talking to another girl. Thank you.

I could not figure out where her head was!  Why would she think her boyfriend was calling a chick from her phone?   And why didn’t she recognize my number?  I’ve only had it for 15 years!

I started calling Les, both her cell, which I’d been texting, and her home.  No answer.  I even called her boyfriend, thinking the poor thing was catching it by now.  No answer there, either.   It also occurred to me that she was playing a joke on me…she does that sometimes. About an hour later, I finally reached her.  I told her that it upset me a little with that last text, because I didn’t know if she was really upset or not, and then she wouldn’t answer.

Les:	What text?
Me:	All those texts you’ve been sending me!

I’m sure you, Gentle Reader, have already figured out that I was not texting with my daughter.   But not me.   *I* was the one being dumb.  

I had been calling this number for a month, no one answers.   I have also sent a few texts.   The owner of the phone has to think I’m nuts…after calling me and asking me who I was, then to get about 100 phone calls from my number since then.

I’m probably a home-wrecker!  I’m sure he’s catching heat.   After Les convinced me that indeed I did have the wrong number keyed in, I sent one last text trying to explain that my daughter had gotten a new phone, and that I’d saved it in my phone wrong.   I can only hope she believed me.  He probably hopes so, too.  

I may have caused that guy a lot of grief.  In my defense, when the guy called me, had he not blocked his number, I would have figured out that it was not LesLee's number...or if he'd just been honest and told me that I had been calling and texting for a month..but he wouldn't give me any information, so I remained in ignorance a while longer...a place I visit fairly often.   

Monday Musings: The Common Courtesy Edition

Dear Deputy Sheriff:

If I had been weaving all over the road like you were this morning going south on North Wood Avenue, you would have stopped me and given me a sobriety test.   If I had suddenly whipped over in front of you with no warning and no signal like you did to me, I’m thinking you would have given me a ticket.   I couldn’t be certain, but it sure did look like you were talking on a cell phone.  I don’t know your name, but your car number was 29.   I wish I had remembered my trusty little camera, and videoed you.   That would have been even better fodder for my blog.

Dear Mongolian Grill Buffet:

You don’t have the best food in the area, but it’s ok for the price.   However…the waterbug was a little much, I just don’t think we’ll be back.   It was nice of the waiter to try and knock it off our seat, even if he did almost knock it on Ole Boy.  Had it been on my seat, I wouldn’t have been so calm.  Bugs can make me squeal like a sissy-girl.

Dear Dog Walkers:

I am sure you enjoy our beautiful UNA campus.  That’s probably why you walk your dogs here.  I would think it would be common courtesy or at least common sense that you’d pick up their business and not leave it, ruining the walk for the rest of us.   Taking the dog for a walk?   Bring a bag and a scoop!   The same goes for Deibert Park…Clean it up!

Dear Georgia Chick With a Yankee Accent:

After 15 phone calls, six text messages, and one voice mail this weekend, have you finally figured out that I am NOT whoever it is you are trying to reach?   I hope so, I’m growing a little weary…

Dear CoWorker:

I taste your perfumed spray most every day.  It’s not a pleasant taste, really, and I kinda wish you wouldn’t spray it.  More importantly, I wish the purpose for which you are spraying wasn’t the reason, for your sake.

Saturday Day Trip

Ole Boy and I took a road trip to Lawrenceburg/Ethridge, TN, to the Amish (Mennonite) Community, something we like to do each spring and summer. 

An Amish calf...such a cute little thing.

A common sight...children walking barefoot on gravel roads and horse drawn buggies.  The Amish do not take pictures of themselves, and I am respectful when I snap photographs.   I have never taken pictures of the very little children in the gardens, or at play, nor do I snap pictures while I am on their property.  After a little hesitation and research (and much thought), I am posting these two pictures that do not show any faces.   

 
Transportation
Although the Amish will accept rides in cars, and
ride on trains or buses, they do not own vehicles.

Often, you will see cars and trucks parked in the driveways, but they are owned by people wanting to buy Amish goods such as wonderful home baked breads, cakes, and cookies, or some of the best homemade peanut brittle and other candies.  They also sell fresh vegetables from their gardens.  They make bracelets, baskets, cedar furniture, jams, jellies, pickles, apple butter, pear butter, scented candles and soaps...you get the idea.

One little lady we like to visit every time we go makes the best turnovers  (fried pies, that is)! I probably shouldn't mention that I meant to take a picture before I gobbled mine down, but I forgot once I got the thing in my hand.  It was warm and scrumptious.  The peach and strawberry are the best.

Keep in mind that these are very plain, simple people.  They do not wear bright colors (usually only blue and black), nor do they use electricity (notice no power lines). They do, however, use gas for some equipment, such as milking machines (though  I believe some milking is still done by hand).  They often use a gasoline engine to pump water from a well.  They also sometimes use gas to cook, like the lady who makes the fried pies. 

The wives pluck, cut, and fry their own chickens.  They bake, wash and clean.  The women and small children tend the gardens, and the men and young boys toil in the fields.   It is very humbling to watch the hard work that goes into their "simple" life.  After marriage, men do not cut their beards; however, they do not keep mustaches, as they believe mustaches are associated with the military, and they strive to be peaceful and live in harmony.

They are German in their heritage, and Christian in their beliefs.  They believe, as do I, that the Bible is the inspired word of God; that Jesus is the son of God, who died for our sins.  They are committed to peace, and they believe their faith calls for a lifestyle of discipleship, service and holy living, hence the "not being conformed to the world." way of life. (Roman 12:2)

Again, notice no power lines.   Young boys mow grass by the
use of a push reel mower, not a gasoline powered machine. 

All homes have gardens.   The most precious little children work in these gardens in their bonnets and hats, and their pilgrim-like clothing.  They are friendly little ones, and also very smart and responsible, often helping out with the taking of money and counting back change;  very young children doing a very good job...without a register or a calculator.

Hand made signs dot the community and line the fences. 

If you're ever in the Lawrenceburg area, you should make your way to Ethridge, and drive along the gravel roads in the Amish community.  Even if you don't buy any of their goods (though you should definitely get a loaf of their homemade bread, just once in your life, and eat it while it's still warm), I believe you'd be touched by this very different way of life.   It's a lifestyle that not a lot of us could manage very well...or at least not without some complaint.