Me oh my

I know I wrote a blog last week, on Tuesday in fact, announcing the then-current contest winners, but Super-Jen has pointed out that it was never posted.  YIKES.  Once again, cyberspace has eaten my words.  (Or, and this is more likely, I simply thought I’d hit that ‘publish’ button.  I occasionally mistake good intentions for completed tasks, which is one of the reasons I’m back to making daily to-do lists.  Besides, I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I can check something off.) 
In any case, the week before last week’s winners are Michele J and Cathy Yonkers–sincerest congratulations, ladies, and thanks for your comments.  Quite possibly, you’ve already received your books.  This week’s winners will be announced later today.  (No, really.  I swear they will.)  AND the new round begins right now, at this very moment, so if you don’t see your name here, try again.  All you need to do, as ever, is comment. 
There’s a lot to be said for trying again.  I don’t know how many times I’ve started over in my life, but I guess as long as I’m willing to do that, I’ll be okay in the long run.  I firmly believe that we’re only defeated if we quit, and, being Skip and Hazel’s baby girl, I don’t really know how to give up.
Still, I am for some reason reluctant to do those things I know for a fact are good for me–such as exercise, devotional time, and reading-with-a-purpose.  I’m proud to say I’ve been riding my stationary bike faithfully for a month now, and not just because I want to be thinner.  I am prone to depression, and regular exercise is a proven cure.  Also, spending 30 minutes pedalling away increases my physical energy.  It’s doing my heart and lungs some good, too, and dovetails nicely with my plan to remain healthy as I age, not to mention independent.  Of course I realize there are no guarantees, but it never hurts to hedge one’s bets a little, now does it?  🙂
As for devotions, I never seem to get too far from that–I miss God if I don’t spend some time with Him every day. 
And what, you may be wondering, do I mean by ‘reading-with-a-purpose’?  For me, and I suspect for most of you as well, ALL reading has a purpose.  A day rarely goes by when I don’t read or listen to a book–in fact, I usually do both.  What I mean here is the kind of reading that stretches the mind and feeds the spirit, the kind that makes me reach for a highlighter and/or copy down things I want to remember.  (I’m well into the Course in Miracles, as I’ve mentioned, and I take lots of notes, mostly entering them into a journal designated for the purpose.  I also write quotes on index cards and tape them to the refrigerator door.  The current one reads: Do I want the problem, or do I want the answer?  Good question, methinks.  It seems so obvious, and yet….)
What I’m reading now: a biography of Clementine Churchill.  This is going to take a while, since that lady did a lot.  And don’t even get me started on all the things her husband did.  Winston Churchill is one of my heroes, actually, right up there with Abraham Lincoln.  What I’m listening to: mostly podcasts, I must admit.  A guilty pleasure, for sure.  Current favorites are Real Ghost Stories Online and Dave Schrader’s UNaptly (is that a word?) named Darkness Radio.  www.darknessradio.com   (Dave is such a good guy, and he makes me laugh.)  The Daily Audio Bible is a staple, too–I’m in my third year with that one, though I did skip a number of broadcasts this time around, when I hit Old Testament Overload a couple of months back.  Up until then, I had an unbroken streak, but I’ve decided to chalk this up as an exercise in overcoming perfectionism.  🙂  (Honestly, it was hard not to backtrack in a compulsive frenzy.)
Well, that’s the state of things in this neck of the woods, for the moment at least.
Make a difference in somebody’s life today, my friends, and by ‘somebody’, I mean critters as well as people.  It doesn’t have to be earthshaking.  Remember, it’s often the smallest kindnesses that turn things around.