Where I Go for News

I guess you can say I’m fairly eclectic in my choice of news media.

NPR Sign

I find that most of the news I get is on Twitter or Facebook first. Twitter often “scoops” even MSN.com or Yahoo.com. Once I’m alerted to something happening, I usually read more detailed information somewhere on the Web following links provided by Twitter and/or Facebook.

I get alerts on my phone, but prefer to read longer articles on the computer.

I do try to watch the national and local news at 5:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. most nights, although I admit what I’m most interested in on the local broadcasts is the weather. I also check Sports Center most evenings, mostly because my husband chooses to catch the scores.

I try to watch Rachel Maddow for political analysis once or twice a week, and I enjoy the in-depth coverage I get on NPR on Morning Edition, and All Things Considered.

A History of Skin Cancer – Update

I see one of my most popular posts is this one from last October.  If this blog helps you understand and be willing to “Hie thee to the doctor” at the first sign of a scaly spot or bump – Great!  I hope it’s a help to you. 

I thought I’d do an update six months along.  Here are the pictures of my nose – close-up and personal – today.  (Sorry about the frowzy hair!)

That little white place is just where the nose piece of my glasses press – not a scar.

Hope this helps someone! 

If you are someone who has been looking at these pictures, drop me a comment and let me know and tell us your story.  I know lots of people find my blog by searching “skin cancer” but, unfortunately, I don’t know who you are!

Multi-List Here We Come

Our Realtor came this afternoon and we signed the papers for her to represent us, and to put it in Multi-list.  I suppose gone are the days of going to bed with dirty dishes in the sink!

She spent a couple of hours rearranging furniture and taking pictures.  We have our yard man scheduled to plant flowers on Saturday, and we’ll go get some potted arrangements and hanging baskets on Friday.  The side yard can look really good!

Those baby bushes you see her are now full-grown and really pretty this time of year.

Hopefully these pictures will lure someone in.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Moving Forward

I called Liz Applewhite and told her she got the listing.  She’ll be coming by tomorrow for us to sign papers and to take pictures for multi-list.

So now I guess we start living our life on the edge of our seats again.

Prayers, please.

Whoo Hoo! Diet

I hopped on the scale this morning and I was down another 3 pounds – that makes 16 pounds since January 29, or whenever it was I started this nonsense.  The clothes are finally beginning to fit a little looser, and it’s easier to lift my butt out of a chair.  Many thanks to all of you who have encouraged me, so far.

To celebrate we went to Texas Land and Cattle  for lunch today, and I actually had some of their Signature Smoked Sirloin!  Yum!  I haven’t had beef more than once or twice since I started this dieting – I’ve been sticking to chicken and fish mostly.  It was wonderful.  I did substitute broccoli for the baked potato.  I also had the Signature Wedge Salad with bacon crumbles and blue cheese crumbles.  I know Weight Watchers is whirling in their grave, but I figured once in 9 weeks is okay!  I still didn’t exceed my points value for the day, but supper is going to be an apple with no peanut butter.

Tomorrow, it’s back on the careful eating, with the calories more spread out.  And I’ll try to do a little more walking, too, although I’ve slept wrong the last couple of nights and have a catch in my hip when I try to stand up or walk any distance.

Words Matter – 3rd Sunday in Lent #1

Fighting Words

From the Lenten Devotional  Words Matter.

Read Exodus 17:1-7

I remember when Representative Giffords was shot, everyone was yelling and screaming that it was because of the hate and vitriol being spewed around by the far Right.  I will admit I thought so.  And then my friend Katie Mulligan pointed out that the Left commentators (notably Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann) were guilty of poking the tiger in the eye.  There was plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the political discourse.  (On a personal note, I love Rachel and Keith and their acerbic wit, but I agree that their comments sometimes crossed the line.)

This lesson asks us “When do sarcastic words and actions stop being funny and start being hurtful?  How do you draw the line?”

Notice the Lord tells Moses to stand in front of the people – not answer them – just gather a community of leaders and go in front of the people.  Moses didn’t get defensive or answer fighting words with more anger or arm himself – just in case.  He dealt with the source of the problem.

Let’s pray that we have sense enough to be like Moses and deal with the problem, rather than fighting back.

The Roller Coaster Starts Again

On Thursday I got an e-mail from USAA with a special one time good deal with their MoversAdvantage® program.  If we signed up with their program we would get a rebate from their referral fee to the realtor, and we would also get an iPad II once the house closed.  With Big Al expecting his iPad II in the next couple of weeks, and my lust growing lustier and lustier, I decided to investigate the program.  They referred two realtors to me who had been “specially trained and certified” to work with USAA members.

We interviewed Tom Stites yesterday afternoon.  He seems like a nice fellow and, in his favor, his parents live right across the street from us.  He will probably want us to get the very best price for the house, since it would impact him and his family directly.

The other Realtor we interviewed this afternoon was Liz Applewhite.  She hasn’t been in the area all her life, but she seems knowledgable and has a good record in closing deals.

They both came up with almost identical prices to suggest what we list the house for – $189,900 and $189,812.  With both of those prices we will have a significant shortfall in order to be able to move to Franke Tobey Jones, but I suppose there is no reason NOT to take that money out of our IRAs.  After all, the money is there to use for our retirement, and that’s what it would be going for.

Apparently, USAA told them that they wanted the house sold by May 15th, and if they can get ‘er done by then, it would be worth it!  And if there’s anybody who can get a service provider’s attention, it’s USAA!

We have probably decided that we will list with Liz with Century 21, based on nothing but personal preference and gut feeling.  She did say that she thought she could find a buyer with cash rather than having to wait for mortgage information, so, that’s a big plus.

We’re going to sleep on it, and see whether we still feel the same way on Monday, or if by that time, we’ve decided to put it off until the market improves some more and our mortgage is paid down further. 

I know one thing, though, if we don’t decide to put it back on the market, I’m going to have a hard time keeping Big Al out of the boxes of DVDs!

Weekly Prayers

Here are the folks I’m praying for this week – the third week of Lent.

I don’t know this girl’s name, I’ll call her the bridesmaid.  She discovered she had Stage 4 breast cancer shortly after participating in a friend’s wedding.  She’s only in her mid-20s.

And this is for all those souls who are struggling with no health insurance, trying to decide whether to go to the doctor, or get worse.

And finally, my daily personal prayers for the third week of Lent.  I found most of them were prayers of thanksgiving – for illness avoided, for birthdays, for friendship, for children…

Lord, in your mercy…

Amen

My Top Celebrity Sightings

I've seen several celebrities in my life, but the absolutely top was at Royal Ascot in England in 1978 when I saw the Queen! She was returning to her box after inspecting one of her horses before the race.

She was wearing a beautiful bright yellow suit, and an emerald broach with a stone the size of a large hen's egg, surrounded by diamonds. I was so busy looking at the broach, I almost forgot to look at her!

A Great Place for Stargazing

Comet Hale-Bopp

There's a Rest Area on I-20 west of Weatherford, just at the foot of Ranger Hill. You can really escape the ambient light of the cities there. It's far enough off the road that the lights of the trucks and the cars don't interfere either. I was lucky to be traveling that road at the perfect time to see Hale-Bopp Comet!