Booming Banter

Our credit card with CHASE allows us to book travel at a really good redemption rate provided we book well in advance.

Last Saturday we started to think of summer and what we might do. We really want to see our family and friends in the UK but also go places we haven’t been.

So we thought we’d do a tour of the British Isles. Dad and Dibs are staying home so it will be another Mom and Son adventure.

The rates looked really good out of Chicago less than half the points needed compared to going from Columbus. It will mean a six hour drive but we’d need to fly to Chicago anyway to connect to an International flight so in the end with all the hanging around between flights we might even gain some time.

Today, as Aaron is taking some summer classes to prepare for college credits he was checking his schedule at school. When he sent the dates it was a green light to get the tickets.

That’s when some panic set in. Points for the itineraries we had looked at at the weekend had gone up steeply from 32000 to 48000 in just a few days. 

Finally after a good hour jiggling dates and airports the ideal combination was found. In to London and out of Dublin all for 34000 on UNITED so we get our frequent flyer points too.

Now I need wine!

Blessing # 282 – Just in Time

Our fundraiser went off well yesterday. We all had a lot of fun.

My friend Jackie brought her grandchildren to help. They had dressed up in green and looked like real life leprechauns.

The kids took turns manning the reception desk to show guests the way to the event including Jayne the littlest one.

A last minute idea was to give everyone a leprechaun name when they arrived using a simple little code pulled off the net!

The kids loved this and the adults too! It got total strangers talking and comparing names.

We realized many of our first names end in N or Y so we had a whole lot of GREENIES and STUMPIES in the room!

Funny how the tiny things can make the biggest impact!

Blessing # 281 – Little Lambs Love Little Laughs

Saint Patrick was by all accounts a well educated young man from a rich family when he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave.

When he escaped some years later he went back to his home in Britain.

Memories  of Ireland stayed with him though and he returned there voluntarily giving up all he had for the love of people who once held him captive.

What an influence Patrick had on the world. He literally touched the lives of billions.

Indian industrialists have long given back to their country and their people. The philanthropy of the great Tata and the Birla families goes back over one hundred years.

Just this week it was announced that one of India’s  most successful modern entrepreneurs Azim Premji the founder of Wipro IT Group will be giving even more than he has already to fund education. This brings his overall donations to a staggering 21 Billion Dollars!

It’s easy to think that if we had as much as Azim or Ratan or Warren or Bill and Melissa or Mark and Priscilla we’d do the same.

Would we though?

The BIG givers rank right up there in my books with Patrick!

Blessing # 280 – Transformers

When the beautiful Miss Missi started our Zumba class it was only on Saturday morning. Now her faithful followers are Zumbaing our way to happiness four times a week.

The group is diverse, made up of young marrieds, young Mums, young grandmas, young retirees. All young at heart of course!

We often for unexplained reasons and without planning show up in coordinated colors. This morning is was pinks and grey! It’s sorta like we’re  psychic!

In the class each person has their favorite spot mine being at the back beside the door so no one can see me! We all get in so well. I often think Maeve Binchey could write a great book about us!

We cover songs and Zumba moves that are current but sometimes this takes a few of us back a bit. We’re kick boxing to Lady Marmalade at the moment. That’s the version by Christina Aguilera not the disco epic of Labelle!

The funniest of all is our ballet to Seven Bells by Arianne Grande inspired by The Sound if Musics Favorite Things.

Let’s leave it like this our Arianne ain’t no Maria!

Blessing # 279 – Daily Dancing

Today the shopping for the fundraiser went into full swing.

There had been a bit of scouting done before on where the best deals were to be had for the stew ingredients.

Bouillon had to be the best and that is definitely Maggi so got that from the company store at super duper discount.

Aldi won out on the veggies. The checkout clerk looked startled by the volumes of potatoes, onions and carrots that were in the caddy.

She was so good though and said to leave it in there. All that was needed was to give her the number of bags of each item and she rang them up. Lovely gesture of trust!

The beef was always going to be the biggest chunk of change and here is where divine providence intervened. Giant Eagle had a buy one get one free offer on chuck roast! This is good quality stuff for stew and  it got even better.

The lovely butcher and his assistant jumped in to help. They offered to take my order, give me the BOGOF price and best of all cut all of it up for me into nice stew size pieces. They will have it all ready for me tomorrow at midday. What great service!

Now all we need to do is chop and cook. There will be a few tears on Sunday. Let’s hope it’s only down to onions.

Blessing #278 – Helpful Hands

 

 

 

This morning my friend Sue posted a picture on Facebook.

Sue is in India right now taking a yoga course and had had a bindi placed at breakfast time and was saying how good that felt.

This little mark or dot on the forehead is very usual in Indian culture. Some will wear one on special occasions like festivals or weddings others everyday.

They are mostly, but not exclusively seen on women. In the past in China too these little dots were often placed on the heads of babies.

They have traditionally a very definite spiritual connotation linked to the creation of the universe, energy and wisdom. Many still think of the bindi in that context although they also have taken on a more decorative role.

This got me wondering how many of our current practices like polishing nails, or wearing mascara or rouge might also have origins in ancient traditions.

When Aaron was playing football that the coach would also put a little strip of black across the lads faces to give them an extra edge on the field. War paint of a sort!

Today in our hectic world these daily rituals of dabbing on some lipstick or perfume or aftershave means nothing much  more than giving yourself a little lift.

Imagine though if we did as Sue did this morning and took just a few moments to reflect on the gesture and how special it is.

Imagine when you put that lipstick on if you said to yourself I’ll say something kind to someone today or I won’t shout at anyone.

Imagine with that splash of aftershave or spray of perfume if we just stopped for one second and thought how we might make life for someone just a little bit sweeter

Blessing #277 – Crossing Cultures

The furball slept like a log all night without a cheep. He was as frisky as can be this morning and even wanted to play ball. Poor soul probably needed a good sleep.

His humum had another really bad nights sleep though worrying about him. So after a trip to the dentist a detour was made to the hairdressers.

Nothing does you more good when you are feeling weary than a wee bit of pampering.

The therapy was great. Got a lovely touch up with professional color on the home coloring job I’d done six weeks back. As Mother would say you didn’t need it you deserved it!

Had a good cut too and discovered a new hair care brand called TIGI smells divine and as Pooh himself knows

“A wonderful thing is a TIGI a Tigis a wonderful thing”

Reminds me too to book the furball in for his spring spa treatment at Four Paws

Blessing # 276 – Good Groomers

Dibley has been sleeping in our bed for years. It’s so long now that it is difficult to remember why we allowed this.

A vague recollection says it started during a bad thunderstorm that makes Dibs very shaky. Anyway it was snuggly and it was my doing and now is something that has to be addressed.

Over the past couple of years Dibs has been rattling the bedroom door to get out in the middle of the night. He will go for a tinkle and then wants water. He insists Krishna takes him as he’ll allow him to drink water and I won’t. We know now that this is likely linked to his Cushing’s syndrome.

Well it has been getting worse and worse to the point where he has us awake four time a night. It’s like being on baby patrol and it is exhausting.

Once we get up in the morning Dibs heads off immediately to his crate in our kitchen where he proceeds to slumber till noon sneaking out occasionally if he smells toast or something frying.

So the furry one gets his sleep albeit disrupted and not at night but all we elderly humans get is grumpy.

Yesterday, after many outings the night before, the riot act was read and it was decided it is time we returned our Dibs to his crate to sleep at night.

So after the boys finished watching their wrestling at 10:30 they put Dibs to bed. It’s seems he barked a bit but I’d already been in the land of Nod for a good while by then and didn’t hear this.

At about midnight something woke me up! All was silent until Krishna let out one of his big coughs and then the barking started. It went on for a while and the temptation was there to go and let him out but I resisted and it stopped.

For literally hours after I couldn’t stop worrying. What if the silence means he’s died! Finally at five o’clock with no rest to be had I got up scared to look.

He was snoring! When his water bowl was filled he dragged himself out, guzzled down a long draft, took a tinkle and went back to his crate for more sleep.

When Aaron came down this morning he said he too didn’t sleep well because of concern for the furball.

So what to do tonight? Try again with the new arrangement and worry all night long or cave in and do the door duty?

Blessing # 275 – Afternoon Naps

Today an article in the Belfast Telegraph told the tale of three Northern Irish ladies who have had tremendous success through their blogs and social media.

A quick checked showed the sites are beautiful and have a wide following but strangely I’d never once heard of or seen a post from any one of them.

This got me thinking how come? This inevitably led to the next question how many blogs are there in the world? A little research showed that there were an estimated 550 million in 2018 and the number is growing.

Some for sure started with a particular focus or idea others to record a journey or a milestone life event.

Seems though that it is most unlikely, no matter how much we wish it were so, that anything is totally unique.

So what makes one blog popular and another not? The content for sure but also the design and the amount you might invest in expanding the reach.

Wonder how Samuel Pepys would have fared in today’s world?

When he wrote his dairy he didn’t want his contemporaries to read it but he did want it to be a historical record of the time because he logged it in his library.

It took centuries for it to surface. No way that would happen in our days of internet transparency.

As he kept going for a decade Samuel must have taken pleasure in keeping his record. Bet it gave him the occasion to reflect on each day and to observe more keenly the world around him.

So whether you reach a billion, a million, a thousand, one hundred or just talk to yourself there is joy in the journal and merit in a memoir!

Blessing # 274 – Purpose

The season of rummage sales has started. I’m in heaven.

My particular weakness, or talent depending on your perspective, is to go to the last hour of the sale. Like a chipmunk on the prowl for nuts the tables are scoured for any adorable little item that has been left rejected.

There must be some reason for this passion but I just love to give those little bits and pieces a new home. As the saying goes One Mans Junk Is Another Mans Treasure. 

Programs like Extreme Hoarding cause concern that this tendency might get out of control but then the temptation of the bargain hunt strikes again!

Yesterday with a Buy One Get One Free underway I hit the tables with only half an hour to spare! What could I find? Thinking now not just of what might fit for home but what might look good in a Victorian Guesthouse!

Things didn’t fly at me at first but in the last five minutes jewels were mined and a big three dollars spent.

Back home later in the day the bounty was displayed for the ever patient Krishna.

That’s when the real fun starts seeing how unrelated gems can be combined into a treasure!

Blessing #273 – Quirky Combinations