Sara Bareilles - Oh Darling (Live from Abbey Road)

Amazing how cold it is outside today. Temperature is about 3 degrees with w/a windchill of -22 degrees. (The Weather Channel @1140 hours.) Anyway, leaving the building for lunch didn't seem like such a brilliant idea so I thought I would try to warm up the hearts and minds with a cover of one of my favorite Beatles tunes. Sarah Bareilles has an amazing and often under-rated voice. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did... and also check out her accoustic version of (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by the one and only Otis Redding. Amazing.

Day 23 - Winter Weather Advisory

Tonight I'm planning on watching "The Day After Tomorrow" in honor of the big storm that's moving it's way into the Texas Panhandle. We are only supposed to get two to four inches of snow, but the blizzard conditions which include 50 mile an hour winds and a windchill estimated tonight of 15 below is not my idea of a good time. I know this storm is not atypical, but still, storms like this always kind of freak me out. I don't like to think I would be stuck at home with no electricity or creature comforts. I suppose that means I probably should learn what "roughing it" really means. I think I will go add a third pair of socks to my freezing tootsies and may also throw on another sweater. It's cold. I don't like the cold. It's not that I'm a big fan of a Texas summer, which can be hotter than the gates of Hades... but I really don't like the cold.

More later...... when I thaw out. Safe driving peeps...

Day 22 - Not So Sunny Sunday

I'm sitting here looking at my desk at the casa and all I can ask is, "How does it get this messy so quickly?" I guess junk mail is the majority of it (and mess is relative to any given person. Mine is just cluttered, not exactly "messy.") And the good Lord knows that I have no intention of letting my desk look like mother's kitchen table. Heavens that would be bad... I tend to be a pack-rat and I can probably justify most of the stuff I have kept throughout the years; however, the older I get and the worse mother's hoarding gets pushes me to the other extreme and I've started throwing out a bunch of stuff.

If you are wanting to know the difference between hoarding and collecting, there's a pretty observable definition. Hoarding is when the items collected intrude on the living conditions, lifestyle and ability to use areas of the home for their intended purpose. For example, when you are sleeping on the couch or in a chair because you can't make it to your bed, you are a hoarder. Another example is when you are eating off a tv tray in the bedroom because the dining room and kitchen table are covered with stuff, you are a hoarder. If the quality of the air you breath is diminished and you don't even realize it because you are in the stench all the time, you are a hoarder. If you are keeping random items long after the use they were intended for, then you are a hoarder. I'm not saying all of these things apply to my mother, but I can honestly say that she does have a problem.

My brother in law, John, is the opposite of a hoarder. He and my sister live in a wonderful apartment in Manhattan and have an office on one of the most famous streets in the world. Because New York living standards are different from the midwest, it's easy to see how he is able to keep things to a minimum. I admire the ability to do that. And usually about the time their spring cleaning / fall cleaning starts, I sit around at the house and start asking myself, "Ok, time to clean out some of this crap. What goes first?"

With this being said, now is a good time for Life Lesson #22 Cleanliness is next to godliness.

It's an old expression, but in case you were looking for some motivation to actually clean up the casa, here's a list to help you get motivated.


1) Insects. The cleaner you keep your room the less likely that there are creepy crawlies hiding in corners, in your shoes, or otherwise populating a space that should be yours alone.

2) Cleaner rooms are healthier rooms. A lot of people are allergic to dust mites or dust itself. It's bad enough that your messy decor might be making you sick, but if your room is literally making you sick that can lead to feeling awful and possibly preoccupying your immune system so when a cold or flu bug comes your way, you might be too run down to fight it off as well as you otherwise would.

3) When you can find all of your clothes, and they are clean and neatly put away, you can actually wear all of them and vary your wardrobe, which is very cool. This can prevent you from getting bored with your stuff, and even better, prevent you from wasting money on stuff you already have.

4) Cleaning gets rid of some other nasties: It eliminates food and body shed skin that roaches dine upon as well as the stink from oily bed clothing. (I'm thinking I need to do a wash load right now because I'm fairly grossed out by #4.)

5) Pride. If you have a messy room / house, when you have company over they may tell their friends. They may also say something if your room / house smells bad. When friends and family come to call, they don't want to trip over anything, break anything, or sit there with a hankie covering their face because your room smells like decomposing food, old gym shorts, wet dog or what have you.

And a final note taken slightly out of context, the Bible also promotes keeping things clean. This also includes our bodies and our spirits. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.'Luke 11:25. and the rest of the story at Matthew 12:44 When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.

Food & Drink #22 The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook. —Julia Child

Food tally for the day:
Breakfast: 2 homemade oatmeal cookies and some hot tea
Morning Snack: TBA
Lunch: TBA
Afternoon Snack: TBA
Dinner: TBA

Feeding the Spirit #22 “May the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21).