To say nothing of my finger joints!

Not only am I working out my ears and eyes these days, my finger tips and knuckles as well! Lots of typing and mouse-clicking going on as work continues between phone calls and posting on the three newsletters. All three due this month! What day is it exactly today????

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It appears, according the ticker on Fox News, that the Dow is showing an upturn thus far today, with the markets only being open a short time at this point. At first when the markets were falling, people like me were riveted to their sets or monitors, watching and marking as the numbers fell, turned red, bright red at the end of trading. Now, we ask one another, "How much did we lose today?", as though it is expected. None of the Wise seem to realize the market just is not "buying" into all these attempts to socialize our nation. Neal Boortz loves to ask the question: "When did a poor person ever hire you for a job?" I guess the answer to that would be: the guy who hired you for his start-up company on borrowed money who is now able to make it without bail-out money and has repaid the loans!!!!

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I was telling my friend, Judy R., yesterday about reading my "Grandma..." books she recommended, which I bought "used" on-line. What is this world coming to? She is a voracious reader and I am not, but she likes me anyway---talk about unconditional love! She told about a read she just finished and I asked her to not tell me about it because I simply cannot keep up! It seems I am using the Grandma books more like a devotional than a cover to cover read because of the way it is set up. And I really enjoy it! The writer includes Scripture passages between her paragraphs as well as hymn stanzas to tie it all together. As I was looking at the back cover and saw "testimonies" from other readers, I recognized names of people I know, like the Spiritual Growth leader of LWMS, Carolyn Wehmeyer, here in our circuit! She comments that this book is "a great devotional for personal daily use....". Yup, I knew that!

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The chapter I read this a.m. was about getting to put away the winter underwear. My readers from the South are not going to know what this is, but back in the old days, the kids actually did have to walk to school all the time, even in the winter and had to wear heavy, scratchy "woolies" under their clothes to help keep them warm. The city kids did not have so far to walk so were able to shed their woolies sooner than did the rural students, who were then teased for still wearing the winter weather garments. While all rejoiced over having the woolies to keep them warm during the worst of winter, come spring, all wanted to cast them off, even if it meant not being comfortable for the long walk back home, to avoid being teased. Pearl (who I think is really Judy R.!) places the passage from Romans into the text: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Makes me feel badly about not liking the little pink half coat that was handed down from sister to sister when I was a girl! The kids who had to wear the winter stockings and shirts felt the mockery of their rude, nasty classmates while enjoying the warmth of those items of ridicule on their way home! Just think.....