Miss Chris's Blog

Thursday Tidbits
May 10, 2012

Just some odds 'n ends tidbits for today.

* Have you ever experienced the BBC Radio 4 dramatization of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit? Purely exquisite! I was fortunate enough to snag it from The Wisconsin Public Library Consortium digital library recently and just finished listening to it Wednesday night. What a treat!

* Am currently in Agatha Christie classic murder mystery season. I relish listening to and/or reading Dame Agatha's stories either on my MP3 player, or "really" reading on my Kindle Reader. Am feeling "veddy British".

*'Tis the month of May. What does this mean for me? I always watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies in May.

* Am discovering Joanne Fluke's cozy "Hannah Swensen" mysteries. When my Amazon gift card comes in from Swagbucks, I plan on buying more than a few of her books for Kindle.

* Went out in the country to buy some garden flowers at Britten's Greenhouse with my dear dad yesterday. It's always a festive occasion for us to shop for flowers. This year we were about a week later than usual getting out there, and with it being so close to Mother's Day weekend I thought for sure the grounds would be simply swarming with shoppers, but as it was a cool and breezy day we lucked out and mostly had the greenhouses to ourselves. We've been shopping at Britten's for the past 22? years. I didn't buy as many things there this year but did find some wonderfully lovely geraniums and double impatiens.

* Also went for a bit of garden shopping at Mill's Fleet Farm and came home with a load of kitchen herbs (3 rosemary plants, 3 sweet basil plants, 3 parsley plants, 1 dill weed plant, and 1 spearmint), and with some glorious Wave petunias.

* I have "Lilac Fever". *grin* This means I have a powerful urge to plant at least one lilac bush/shrub on the west side of the house, possibly near one of my bedroom windows. In the meantime, the (nice) neighbors two doors to our north shouldn't be surprised if they see me sniffing their lilacs. I like the really old-fashioned lilacs, not these fancy shmancy new hybrids which don't smell nearly as pretty.

* Have been enjoying a good deal of Vitamin L (laughter, for newcomers to my blog) as of late. I increased my Netflix to unlimited 3 DVDs out at a time each month. Currently, what is tickling my funny bone are the following classic American TV series: The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, and Get Smart. Can we say TV Time Travel back to the 1960's?  And as always, it is necessary to my happiness and health to watch at least one Jeeves & Wooster DVD per month. I believe the DVD I currently have checked out is J&W season 3, disc 2. *Bonus Netflix note: I feel compelled to watch either some All Creatures Great and Small, or some Upstairs, Downstairs. I think I am done with Fawlty Towers for awhile, having overdosed on it, if you will, over the past couple of years.

* Ah, yes, but life can be Serious Business. I have not neglected spiritual reading, and have been digging into my Mother Angelica books, as well as two books of excerpts of letters from St. Pio of Pietrelcina. Mother Angelica is down to earth and her teachings are easy to grasp. St. Pio is steeped in the Apostle Paul, and is truly encouraging to read. I hear he [St. Pio] was a grouch. Isn't it encouraging to know that the Saints had quirks and failings, too?Yet they exercised their wills to respond to the grace of Jesus Christ with heroic generosity and love.

* Speaking of Saints, and speaking of gardening: Did you folks know that St. Catherine of Siena was extremely fond of gardening? Perhaps that is part of the Italian DNA!

* Speaking of Italy: I just checked out Frances Mayes' book Every Day in Tuscany (audio book, courtesy, once again of the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium) for the umpteenth time. I also checked out Dr. Blair's Italian in No Time audio book. Am feeling molto Italiano! Va bene!

* Speaking again of things (and people) Italian: Saturday, May 12, 2012 will mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of my Italian grandma, Nani. I plan on celebrating by container gardening (weather permitting), and baking cinnamon raisin bread. Nani loved to garden and to bake bread. And bake cookies. And bake the most delectable Swedish Tea Ring... Yep. If you're even the least bit Italian, you say "I love you" with food!

Well, this has been fun. I'll sign off for now as this entry is too lengthy already. Please do know that I truly pray for everyone who visits my blogs. The Lord knows who you are, He cares about you, and He knows exactly what you need at this time.  Many of you are, for one reason, or another, suffering because it will be Mother's Day this weekend. I know your pain in my own way. Let's point our hearts toward Jesus and ask Him to give us the grace to take courage and to hope hard in Him and His good plan for our lives - even though we don't understand why He has allowed heartache and broken heartedness to afflict us so sorely. God love you all.

Much love in Jesus! We shall all meet in Heaven someday! Hugs!

- Miss Chris

Currently Blackout By Connie Willis see related

Saturday Snippets
April 14, 2012.

Just some little nuggets of information from Miss Chris.

* I have not blogged here at Life Is a Polka in two months, and the blog editor (Ha! that came out "blob" editor the first time! Whee!) has been updated. Sooo, before I have Morning Coffee, I am being a wild and crazy Miss Chris and learning how to use the new editor sans the Magic Bean. Please laugh with me at my inevitable mistakes.

* This winter past and this current spring find me collecting a veritable ton of cookbooks for my Kindle reader. I believe I have 286 or 287 ebook cookbooks for Kindle format now. I love to cook, but I do not love to clean kitchen. I also do not love to gain the weight that I always gain when I cook. However, I do like to peruse the recipes for ideas. Some of the recipes are actually great ways to enjoy fabulous tasting food with fewer calories.

* I have decided that *drum roll, please* CHOCOLATE IS MEDICINE. Seeing as how I can't take Prozac or anything even remotely related to Prozac for depression, I now resume medicating with chocolate (in moderation). The past year and a half or so found me making myself (and everyone around me - in person or via the Internet) miserable because I was too dagnabbed stubborn to eat enough chocolate. Recently, I began increasing my chocolate consumption, and it's made things more tolerable for me. Weight Watchers be damned!

* Chocolate being medicine aside, I have increased my fruit and vegetables intake significantly over the past four months. It is safe to say that I am addicted to California navel oranges. Thank goodness Aldi carries them bargain price at the rate I consume them. Now if only I could get that excited about fresh brocoli and cauliflower - yuk barf!

* What am I going to do when my Kindle Reader's 4 gigabytes of memory is all taken up with books? I have at best 128 MB of memory left! So many good books to read and so little time free from migraines during which to read them. Fortunately for book junkies like me, Amazon has improved it's "manage your Kindle" section. So, I will be able to remove books from my device and be able to find them again in a jiffy. Why on earth do I feel I need 2,034 books (including several Audible titles) on my Kindle all at one time?! Do I kid myself that if I fall asleep reading, I will somehow absorb all of that vast knowledge and/or entertainment by osmosis?! *I am a librarian's granddaughter! There is no such thing as "too many books"*... Unless, of course, they are bad books. The phrase "bad books" is not an oxymoron. My goodness, have you seen the tripe that people are trading with each other on Lendle?

* The Migraine Fairy didn't take a vacation here in central Wisconsin during our "semi-winter" (I really mean pseudo winter). So, when life hands a bookworm lemons, the bookworm makes bookly lemonade. Meaning, I went back to audiobooks - everything from all things Winnie-the-Pooh to Great Expecations by Charles Dickens, to Rocket Boys (the abridged version of a memoir by Homer H. Hickam Jr.), to a number of James Herriot's books performed by Christopher Timothy. Oh, and any number of mysteries by both Dame Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, oh and Alexander McCall Smith.

* This weekend, I am starting on the unabridged audiobook version of Connie Willis's Blackout. Anything Time Travel, and anything Oxford are enough to get my attention.

Well, the sun is now quite up and I need to get in my brief morning workout on the Air-Dyne before I turn into a pumpkin. The pollen count is in the high category, so I sleep by day while the pollen proliferates wildly, and I'm up by night. Last night was peachy! It RAINED! Hoorah! Nature took a nice, noisy bath, as G.K. Chesterton was given to putting it.

Please know that I pray for everyone who stops by here! If you are looking for spiritually encouraging and edifying words from the Saints, may I humbly suggest that you visit my Catholic Christian blog at www.prayersofthesaints.com ?

Prayers and Hugs in Jesus, the Risen and Victorious Lord! We who follow Him are not trudging toward defeat! We are marching to the VICTORY He has won for us! Let's do our best to follow Him with all our hearts!

- Miss Chris

 

Visiting The Life Is A Polka Blog Archives

Once upon a time, before I started having to take Lyrica (pain medication) and before perimenopause threw me into two week long depression spells from Hades every month, I wrote a better blog. My mind was clearer, and my sense of humor was still with me.

Lately, upon checking the "footprints" in my Xanga feedback, I've been noticing that the same string of 16 or so blog posts from the past have been getting a second gander - from readers from Wisconsin to China to Poland and Germany. In light of the fact that I'm in need of a serious nap already today, I thought I would point my visitors to http://www.lifeisapolka.com/?uni38081815-direction=n&uni38081815-nextdate=9/8/2005%2B1:3:53.163 . This is a series - a potpourri - of things I wrote or borrowed from email from another in 2005. I hope some of it blesses and or amuses someone. I will never win a Pulitzer prize for writing, but I did use to write better. Please pray for me that the Lord would release me from my lack of humor. I'm not the only one who needs Vitamin L (laughter).

Happy Trails, and off with me to snuggle in my feather pillow fort while listening to John Michael Talbot music.

- Miss Chris

Mother Angelica: Wasted Pain

Suffering in itself does not make us holy. It is only when we unite it, out of love, to the suffering of Christ that it has meaning. Suffering without love is wasted pain.

- Mother Angelica

Randomized Rambles
January 20, 2012

Here sit I in lovely, snowy, frigidly yet pleasantly chilly and dry Wisconsin on a starry, starry night - enjoying the simple, cozy, and old-fashioned pleasures of life. I love Wisconsin so much (especially anywhere north of Madison and Milwaukee), and I love it especially in the wintertime. This is despite the fact that my illness (CFIDS) goes into an industrial strength reactivation starting around the beginning of each new year for at least three to four months. I am mostly housebound during this time, for reasons which other CFIDS patients know well themselves, and which I don't feel like expounding on tonight.

I am between migraines this evening, having spent the past four days with a sick head and little relief. I had a bad experience with the neurologist a few years back and am hesitant to go back. I think my internist knows what's going on with me than the neurologist. At least I don't suffer paralysis with migraines any more. However, now I am losing speech skills during certain (albeit brief) parts of migraines. All the same, I am celebrating my little window of relief between migraines tonight. I choose to celebrate each day that I can get out of bed!

Some of the things which make life less painful and more pleasant during these rough little stretches in the road are:

* Electric blankets! I have two; one for my bed, and one for my easy chair. My cat loves them! My dad and I laugh and call the 'lectric blankies the "fancy butt warmers".

* Feather pillows, and lots of them! Great for aching heads, perfect for sleeping, and terrific for pillow fort building!

* MP3 players on which to listen to music (my especial favorite two CDs currently are Corrette: Les Six Symphonies de Noel as performed by La Fantasia, and Whatever Makes You Dance by Bob Halligan Jr. and his band Ceili Rain.)

* Kindle Readers on which to read everything from St. Pio of Pietrelcina and St. Louis de Montfort and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, to Alexander McCall Smith and George MacDonald.

* Netflix and my trusty old-fashioned color TV (I'm not ready to go flat panel TV in my bedroom until the current TV goes es kaput) and dependable DVD player on which to engage in one of my favorite comfort activities: Television Time Travel. Lately, I have been traveling back to the more gracious and funny days of the early 1960's. My current favorites are the situation comedies My Three Sons (season one) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (season four). Netflix has been recommending some great sitcom DVDs for me this past week. I haven't thought of the series Family Affair in eons, but I can guarantee you, I wish I still had my Mrs. Beasley doll! :)

* Books, be they Kindle or hard copy! I am currently enthralled with Africa. I Book Travel to Botswana by reading Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series for fiction, and by reading Imaculee Iligibaza's recounting of life in Rwanda before and after the genocide which took place there. I also want to dig my old, timeworn copy of Joy Adamson's classic Born Free (I take such delight in lions and any species of feline - be it large or small like my tiny gray and white Siamese-Tiger kitty, the one and only Miss Maggie McGee, Wild Celtic Kitty! >^..^<

* Kitties! Lately, Maggie the (ten year old) kitty has been very Bouncy Tigger and full of vim and vigor. It's not just the change to cold weather, and it's not just the change to a different diet. I believe some of it is the power of prayer to Jesus, who loves His little creatures so tenderly. Maggie works hard taking care of me on my sick days (which is most of the time lately), and I am glad to be able to take care of her, too. Up until about half a year ago, I was really depressed about not having had any human children, but I see now that I am better off without what would have been something beyond me. While little furry creatures are by no means as precious as human beings, I still delight in my little feline daughter, and I pray God will always allow me to have at least one cat in the house.

* Crocheting! I have found a new crochet addiction, that of making motifs. It's kind of like the fun of making snowflakes, without all the added bother of having to weave in as many loose ends and especially without having to starch and pin them out! Also, I just received an absolutely luscious yarn catalog from Herrschner's and am hoping to start a new afghan in the next month or so... UNLESS I decide that I want to crochet socks... socks are a total addiction!

* DivineOffice.org! For the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church, I always used to depend on SQPN's (Starquest Production Network) "Praystation Portable" version of the Liturgy of the Hours, and while I haven't totally forsaken SQPN, I am being more deeply drawn into the prayer life of Holy Mother Church by the devout and expressive reading of the Divine Office as produced by DivineOffice.org.

* Old Time Radio Comedies! There are so many, many, many wonderful old time radio comedies (and mysteries, and science fiction, etc.) podcasts or sound files available for free from various websites, including the Internet Archives. I currently am enjoying Fibber McGee & Molly, The Jack Benny Program, and The Adventures of Maisie. Great laughs, no bad language, and perfectly delightful Time Travel back to the 1940's.

* Yankee Candles! My current favorite candles are the Christmas Wreath scent, and the Hollyberry Scent.

* My Christmas tree! My Christmas tree is still up, decorated, and lit, and as such it will stay until the lights burn out or until Good Friday - whichever comes first.

* Frank Sinatra music! While I am not feeling amorous toward any particular gentleman at this time, I am however enjoying all of my dad's Sinatra CD collection. The man was truly an artist.

***
This afternoon, while taking a migraine-relief nap, I had a dream about taking up playing the violin again. It probably would not be a good idea for me to buy a violin (the A and especially E strings are so. squeaky. and high pitched. :( ) till I get to the point of life when I no longer have migraines. However, a compromise might just be a viola.... lookout eBay, here I come!

This evening, while taking another migraine-relief nap, I dreamed about doing an art project with the most lovely and exquisite teal and aqua colored wood beads and feathers. Such are two fringe benefits of CFIDS and migraines: With CFIDS, I get to dream in Technicolor. With migraines, I get creative spells.

Well, this is more than long enough! I will post or repost a Mother Angelica quotation for some of you.

May the blessing of the Lord be upon each of you! I truly do pray on a regular basis for each of you who show up here at my blog and at my other blog at http://www.prayersofthesaints.com/ . I hope and pray that each of us will get to meet each other in our Heavenly Homeland someday!

Much love in Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Son of the Most High Father!

- Miss Chris

January 4, 2012 and Introducing Dr. Jackalope

Yikes! I have neglected my blog for the past several weeks. I think feel a blogging spree coming on. Also, for some reason that blog graphics theme of snow just didn't do it for me this year - much as I am looking forward to hopefully getting some decent snowfalls yet this winter. It has been dreadfully "warm" for Wisconsin this year. I dream about moving to the North Pole, or... at least to Iceland. I would like to photograph some nice snow scenes to publish on this blog to remind my Armed Forces readers of home.

I digress. It is January, and January means that my sleep time dreams are filled with flowers and botanical Latin - much as I am looking forward to having it be winter for a long time yet! I am starved for color, hence the flowery, springlike graphics theme. Last year's flower garden was splendid, but... it was too darned hot and humid for me to spend much time enjoying it. (We CFS/CFIDS patients do not do well in hot weather. For me, it means extra super narsty excursions to a hellish little place called Planet Migraine, and I know it does for many others).

Briefly of Dr. Jackalope

ANYWAY, as promised in November, the lifeisapolka.com blog is going to feature Dr. Jackalope's Story Corner. I am pleased that Dr. Jackalope came home early to Wisconsin from his vacation skiing and mountain biking in the northern Italian Alps (where he lodged at the Hotel Concordia - please see http://www.lungolivigno.com/en/livigno-hotel-concordia - it's owned and run by my cousins Fabio and Petra) , just to help me and Nurse Maggie bake Christmas cookies. But rascally Dr. Jackalope was true to form and, after we all went to bed at night after long days of baking nice cookies, he stayed up drinking Peppermint Schnapps and baking Garlic Cut Out cookies frosted with garlic icing.

Poor Dr. Jackalope! He is such a handsome specimen of masculine jackalope beauty, and he is not at all humble. Therefore, God hath ordained that he have an insatiable craving for garlicky foods - even right down to staying up all night (using all of the real butter, no less - and not cheap this year by any means) stinking up the house by baking multiple dozens of garlic cookies and loading up the bread machine with garlic-herb bread dough. And... as much as he tried to mask the odor of garlic on his breath each morning by "gargling" (ahem!) with Mohawk Peppermint Schnapps, his halitosis was still dreadfully atrocious. Not to mention, Nurse Maggie and I had to spend loads of time trying to deodorize the cookie sheets so that our Lemon Butter Spritz (and other baked confections) would not bear any signs (taste and smell) of Dr. Jack's Garlic Spree.

Did I mention, Dr. Jackalope is an inconsiderate fellow when he's been "gargling" (ahem!) with Mohawk Peppermint Schnapps, and he falls asleep with a tummy full of Garlic Goodies before he's cleaned up all the mixing bowls and utensils in the kitchen?! On the sofa, he snores blissfully with snorts alternated with belches. He really can be uncouth! But... he really is a good fellow and he has a heart of gold. However, when he has overindulged in Garlic Cut Out Cookies and finds it necessary to "gargle" (ahem!) with extra Mohawk Peppermint Schnapps, he is a bit, shall we say "ornery" in the morning until noon. You dasn't wake up a jackalope before noon! Warning: Do not approach an ornery jackalope before noon. They have extremely sharp, pointy teeth - and they're not afraid of using them on People Who Sing Loudly and Whistle Cheerfully in the Morning. (In which case, I wonder if there is any way or chance that I could be related to jackalopes... ).

I have pictures to post in this blog entry, but unfortunately, Xanga's Photo Manager is farting hiccuping again. I'll try later.

Well, it's time for me to fix something simple for dinner. Maybe this will be one of those "breakfast for dinner" nights.

Ta Ta For Now!

- Miss Chris

Silliness Therapy
For October 30, 2011.

I really hope to be back blogging again "properly" soon (am doing cave time), but I thought I would share some Silliness Therapy for this weekend: The Three Stooges in We Want Our Mummy.





The devil hates it when we laugh. I so love that! He also hates it when we pray to Jesus. I so love that, too!!!

- Miss Chris

Getting Ready For Fall Into Reading 2011



Dust off your To Be Read pile of books, make plans for cozy, autumnal evenings reading books by the fireside (northern hemisphere folks, anyway ), and enjoy a healthy dose of bibliophilia by joining the Fall Into Reading 2011 reading challenge hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. This is a low-pressure reading challenge lasting until the first day of winter. Katrina does give away prizes, but the real winning is the privilege of reading, and also in meeting the other participants of this most delightful online event by reading their blogs and book reports. You can read about the basics of the Fall Into Reading 2011 event by pointing your browser to this link
http://callapidderdays.com/2011/08/fall-into-reading-2011-the-basics.html .

I'm excited about this, for a number of reasons. One is that my mom gave me an early birthday/Christmas present of an Amazon Kindle reader, another is that I just love, love, LOVE books and reading, and another is that my friend, Xanga's very own @GreatGrandpaDog and I are just beginning to simultaneously (more or less) read the third book of Stephen R. Lawhead's Song of Albion trilogy together with plans for discussion (The Endless Knot. Actually, I am finishing up book two of the trilogy, The Silver Hand.

Another book I'm looking forward to is the Puritan classic by Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed which some dear LibriVox.org volunteer was kind enough to record. It is available for free at http://librivox.org/the-bruised-reed-by-richard-sibbes/.

And yet another book which I'm looking forward to is one I was blessed enough to snag from PaperBackSwap.com by Frances Mayes, entitled The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems.

Well, it's time to watch some television and get my Vitamin L levels up! I currently am enjoying another long spell of watching and reading all things Wodehouse - P.G. Wodehouse. I have a couple of great DVDs at home from Netflix this week: Wodehouse Playhouse: Series 1: Disc 1, and Jeeves and Wooster, Season 2, Disc 2. @EliRiello, have you ever watched these? They are absolutely hilarious (and clean).

Toodles! I need to get at that Vitamin L, as it makes good medicine for a raging head cold induced sinus headache to beat all sinus headaches! I look forward to seeing others of you at the Fall Into Reading 2011 event.

Much love in Jesus!

- Miss Chris

Mother Angelica: The Preparation of Pain

As I look back, pain was always a preparation for me. The Lord allowed pain before accomplishing anything He asked me to do. It made me more aware of my own weaknesses, my own faults, my own incompetence, my own lack of knowledge . . . it made me appreciate the fact that God must do everything.

- Mother Angelica

Mother Angelica: Christ's Cross

Did Jesus go on a mountaintop and yell, "I love you, I love you"? No, He got on a cross, stretched out His hands, was nailed to that cross, and said, "I thirst" (John 19:28). For what? Water? No. He thirsted for your love.

Every cross we have brings us closer to the Lord because it detaches us. It's easy to have faith when times are good. It's in the cross that our faith is proven. Sometimes, when it just seems too heavy and you can't seem to carry it any longer, go to a church, before the Blessed Sacrament if you can, or just in your living room, and tell the Lord: "I thirst for Your love, for Your understanding. Give me strength. Give me courage."

- Mother Angelica