Sleeping With Bread Mondays on Thursday

Mary at Life, the Universe and Everything started the Sleeping With Bread meme awhile back. This meme is usually posted on Mondays, but I really, really feel like baking my bread today ... right now ... Thursday. I'm sure Mary will forgive me for doing this on Thursday. [smile] If you don't know about this meme, go here to read about it.

As I sit here snuffling (yes, snuffling) and hovering over my hot tea, I find that I'm simultaneously miserable and filled with joy. The misery is simple. I've got a sinus infection that has now moved down into my chest. All of the smoke from the fires here in Southern California have made the whole thing worse. I really want to be able to breathe without wheezing. I really want to be able to taste my food again. Soon ... I'm sure I'll be feeling well soon due to modern medicine that will kick this thing in the butt.

So you may ask, "But where is the joy in this?" The joy has a name. I call him Mr. Distortion here in blogland. He is my husband of 26 years. He is my bright spot. He has brought dinner home each evening this week and cleaned up afterwards. He has brought me decaf-nonfat-lattes on demand. He has done the grocery shopping and has made extra trips to the store for essentials that I was too fuzzy headed to remember to put on the list. He has rubbed my shoulders. He has brought me my book when I've gotten myself all tucked in and then realized that I left my latest read in the living room. He has put up with my sick, grumpy self. But here is the best part ... he is like this whether I'm sick or not. I have a lot to be grateful for.

Sleeping with Bread Monday: A Tale of Woe and Joy

The Woe

I received a frantic phone call from my Mother last week. She has been wintering in Arizona and was in the process of preparing for her cross country trip back to North Carolina when she received a call that her Mother (my 89 year old Grandmother) had been rushed to the hospital and was pretty much "bleeding out." Grandma has a chronic condition that requires much medical oversight and occasional blood transfusions. The doctors can not locate the precise location of the bleeders without exploratory surgery, and at 89 years of age they are hesitant to take this route.

My Mother immediately got in her RV and started driving across country, towing her car. She was blessed with incredibly good weather and traffic conditions the first day. The second and third days were spent driving in white out conditions, from April blizzards, and dodging tornadoes. Of course I was worried about the weather, but I was very concerned about her driving alone in a state of frantic worry.

"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you. I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I."
Psams 61: 1,2

The Joy

My Grandmother will be going home from the hospital today. After 11 pints of blood, the doctors were in the process of preparing to do the exploratory surgery when the bleeding suddenly stopped. They don't know why the massive bleeding suddenly stopped. They have no explanation for why my Grandmother is up walking the hospital halls and eating lasagna dinners.

My Mother made it safely through the snow and winds without incident. When I talked to her several times during her trip she sounded unnaturally calm. There is no earthly explanation for her calm. She is not a calm person.

No earthly explanation.

"Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:20

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme thought up by Mary at Life, the Universe and Everything.

Sleeping with Bread: Where IS my bread anyway?

I'm having a difficult time these days keeping track of where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing. I'm sure none of you can relate (wink). I don't know if I'm coming or going ... and if my Outlook calendar doesn't "blip" at me and tell me what I should be doing at any given moment I'm likely to miss the meeting, forget the class, confuse the deadline. Case in point: I'm writing a Sleeping with Bread Monday on Tuesday. Obviously my calendar forgot to tell me to get this done.

A friend recently compared keeping track of her schedule to the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is looking out the window and various people and things whirl by. I can SO relate to this. Oh look! There goes JJ with a birthday party hat on her head -- maybe she'll get my gift on time if I FedEx it overnite. And there goes my husband -- oh no! I forgot that I was going to meet him at Islands for dinner 1/2 hour ago. Gee, why did my boss just whirl by the window? Oh yeah ... we have a meeting in 15 minutes -- maybe I'll get all green lights between home and work and can make it just in time (now there's a fantasy!).

Yes, my life is very busy and I often feel like the tornado is going to pick me up and never let go -- I will just whirl around forever trying to grab parts of my life as they whizz by. THEN ... then ... I suddenly find myself in the peaceful eye of that storm. I receive a phone call from JJ telling me all about her birthday and "thank you" for the present. I have a relaxing 2 hour dinner with my husband who doesn't mind that I'm 1/2 hour late. I get to the meeting just in time and find a cup of coffee waiting for me.

I feel needed. I feel loved. I feel appreciated.

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme thought up by Mary at Life, the Universe and Everything.

Sleeping with Bread Monday: Traffic Time and Reading Time

For more about Sleeping with Bread go here.
What was the least relaxing thing I did last week?

I sat in Friday rush hour traffic needing to pee (pardon my bluntness). If you've been reading my posts for any time at all, you've probably picked up on my I-hate-to-drive-in-traffic theme. Normally XM radio keeps me sufficiently distracted from my annoyance at sitting in traffic, but Friday I was getting a lot of static so my major form of driving entertainment was not so entertaining. I'd already had a lot of coffee during my all day meeting so decided to forgo my usual coffee pacifier for the trip home. Of course, all that coffee meant I had to pee about 9 miles into my 31 mile trip home. I had been in the car for about an hour (yes, it took an hour to drive 9 miles), so this wasn't completely unexpected. I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of making my way across 4 lanes of stop and go traffic in order to exit the freeway in the hopes of finding someplace with a public restroom -- so I held it. Not so relaxing.

What was the most relaxing thing I did last week?

I spent the weekend with my husband and books, books, books. We went out for dinner Friday and then over to the bookstore to browse. I rarely browse bookstores without walking out the door with a purchase. Friday's purchase was "A Thread of Grace" by Mary Doria Russell. I'd previously read her other two books "The Sparrow" and "Children of God" and enjoyed both, so am eager to read this newest of her books. Saturday and Sunday were both spent reading. I took my current read, "Rider at the Gate" by C.J. Cherryh, over to Diedrich's Coffee on Sunday and sat outside alternately reading and staring off into space thinking. Very, very relaxing.

Sleeping with Bread Monday

Sleeping with Bread Monday
In the last week, when did I feel the most grateful and the least grateful?


This past week my husband and I took a trip to Pismo Beach to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I am so very grateful for the wonderful man I married and that we are both committed to our marriage. I am also grateful for the cool weather we were able to enjoy while at the Central Coast. I do believe it might have been the only cool spot in California!


I was not very grateful for the horrid L.A. Basin traffic that we had to join in order to get home on Friday. I am not a big city kinda girl and often question why I live here -- especially when driving back into the city after having spent time away. For my views on big city traffic see Driving In My Car.