Cause of death

A number of years ago, I received a letter from the agency that handled my adoption. This letter contained non-identifying information about my birth family. It was the first opportunity that I had to date to learn anything about my family of origin and I devoured the information looking for clues to fill in the blanks of who I was.

Lately I've been thinking about my maternal grandmother. The letter stated that she died of menopause! It's kind of interesting to speculate about what her real cause of death was given that, as far as I know, it's not possible to actually die as a result of menopause!

For the past couple of days I have felt a kinship to my grandmother. If it actually were possible to die of menopause, I think that I must be getting close to that point. I am so tired of not sleeping well, of hormone-related mood swings, of sleeping in Lake Michigan as a result of night sweats, and other things that I won't even write about. (probably already TMI!)

Yuck...yuck...and more yuck.

Reading aloud

There is an interesting article this morning on the WOW! Women on Writing Blog about reading our work aloud. When I am working something I always take some time, often more than once, to read it out loud. I find that reading a piece on my computer screen, reading a hard copy, and reading aloud work together in the editing process.

I'm curious. Do you read your work out loud?

Rogging

I am so tired of hearing doom and gloom everywhere I turn lately. It's hard not to get caught up in the stock prices, bankruptcies, business closings and such when it seems that we're bombarded with bad news constantly.

A few weeks ago our pastor gave a message on Relying on God, which he coined Rogging. I like that term and I've thought of it many times since then. When I sense myself being drawn into the negativity, I try to step back and do some rogging.

I know we can't keep our heads in the sand about the current situation, but I'm not sure we need to be exposed to it 24 x 7 either. That just can't be healthy. I think back to the Great Depression, which was much worse than this current economic situation, and they just didn't have the instant access to news like we have now. I wonder, in some ways, if that allowed those dear people to get through those years in a way that would not be possible now.

I'm thankful that our TV news feed has been turned off at work this week due to technical difficulties. It's nice to walk into the lunch room without hearing CNN. I am also considering taking a TV news fast for a while. One can still stay current by checking the news online in about ten minutes in the morning.

Today as we go about our daily activities, let's go rogging all the way!

Four sentence book review

I was delighted to find out yesterday that my four sentence review of Anne Rice's Called out Of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession was selected as the January winner in the SCN HerStories Memoir Challenge. Pop on over and check it out!

I couldn't resist the temptation to share another picture of Makiya Rose, whom I'm now referring to as my "Strawberry Shortcake Girl" due to her red hair. We don't know where that came from but it sure looks
good on her!

We have also noticed that she looks quite a bit like her grandma as a baby. What do you think?

Book orders

One of my favorite memories from my school days, was when we woul get to bring home the Scholastic book order forms. I would spend days poring over those order forms trying to make the right choice. It was similar to the way that I pored over the Christmas Wish Book every year, only better, because it involved books!

Once I made my final selection, and Mom approved, she would fill out the order form on the back and I would return it to school with the money to pay for the book. Then the waiting started!

I remember the excitement I felt when the books came in. Those of us who had placed orders would receive the books in plastic bags with the order form we had filled out attached. Oh how happy I was to hold a new book!

I still remember many of the titles of those books fondly. I fact, I still have some of the books. My children enjoyed reading them, and I hope that little Makiya will some day too.

Do you remember any of these books?

The Ghostly Trio by Nancy Woollcott Smith
Old Charlie by Clyde Robert Bulla and Paul Galdone
Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors by Lavinia Derwent, Joe Lasker, and Eva Moore
Barrel of Laughs by by Edna Mitchell Preston
The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder