I Should Table my Rant in the Hodgepodge

1. Besides left over Easter goodies, what's something currently kept in a basket at your house?

Well, there are no Easter baskets here,  but I can say I keep several things in  a basket around my house.   My pantry is organized with red and yellow baskets that I've labeled,  my linen closet has brown, pink and turquoise labeled baskets, and my sewing room has pink, turquoise, and purple baskets .(There is a cute little Easter-style basket I use for snipped-off threads and  bits of trash next to my machine.)

2. 'The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.' ~Michelangelo Buonarroti 

So which one are you...the one who aims too high, or the one who aims too low? Have you ever seen The Sistine Chapel? Did you know Michelangelo's surname prior to answering this question?

In the past I think I've always aimed high, but must admit that with age has come a lowering of my sights, a dwindling of my dreams, and almost a fear of failing and an acceptance of status quo.  I lament that. I liked my former inner adventurer better. 

As for the Sistine Chapel, no I have not seen it but my son and his wife saw it, I think, just this past week. (My inner adventurer is living vicariously through them and trying not to feel jealous.)  Michelangelo's surname--I had heard it, and presented it to students in art class but I had forgotten.  By the way, the most fun art lesson I ever taught was on Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.  I taped long strips of white kraft paper to the undersides of 6' tables around the room, divided the 5th-6th graders into teams, and had them lie on their backs or sides under the tables to paint various scenes over their heads.  They absolutely LOVED that--and gained a huge appreciation for Michelangelo in the process. 

3. April 7th is National Beer Day. Hmmm...wonder how that's celebrated? Do you like beer? Have a favorite? If you're not a beer drinker do you have any recipes you enjoy cooking that call for beer?

I do like beer but have to be in the mood for one which might be once or twice a month to accompany spicy food. Csn't say I've found a favorite but I do like Polish beers which would please my father-in-law, God rest his soul. 

4. When did you last travel somewhere new? Tell us where? How'd it go?

This question stumps me--the "new" part of the question, that is.  I last traveled in October to Kansas, which was fun but not new to me. 

Does it count to drive to a distant county in your own state, needing the GPS to guide you to the location? If so, it was about two months ago that I went to Carroll County, Maryland, to pick up a sewing machine table that I was buying from a lady through Craigslist. 

I wasn't murdered and I wasn't ripped off, the drive was beautiful and added a spark of adventure to my otherwise housebound, overwintered soul. 

5. The value of _________________________is greatly overrated.

matching socks

6. What's a pet peeve of yours when it comes to restaurant dining?

Um, I could get on a soapbox akin to my grammar one, but I won't. Restaurant dining peeve, singular? Okay, it's the way some servers or bussers wipe off a table. 

They use a rag that has been used too many times already, they use no cleaner, they  just sort of brush crumbs willy-nilly onto the bench or floor, and then wipe the bench off, leaving it damp, they fail to give a good scrub along the edge of the table, and they never wipe down the condiments or even shuffle them to wipe under. 

Geez, I think I just found my new calling in life--to be a table wiper trainer. Talk about aiming high.

7. It's Poetry Month...share a favorite poem, either the title, a few lines you find meaningful, or the whole kit and caboodle.

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds..."   (from Shakespeare's Sonnet 16)

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My cousin Lisa, who is in her late 30s, has been in an ICU in Atlanta for two and a half MONTHS.   This two-month stay has been in addition to the 60 days (on and off)  that she had starting in October. 

She has been having one complication after another with pulmonary hypertension, and doctors have been wracking their brains to find a medical treatment to stabilize her enough to discharge her. Her  lungs and heart are very frail. She is a strong believer with loads of sunshiny optimism that spills over in expressions of gratitude most of the time, but she occasionally has her moments, as you can imagine. She expected to come home for Easter, but her potassium levels were dangerously low. 

I am asking on Lisa's behalf that any Christian reading this will pray with me for her.  She was granted what she calls "an Easter basket from the Lord," though; when it was time to move her to a regular room, they had none, so they gave her the only thing available--a two-room, two-bath suite with kitchenette. I didn't know such things existed in hospitals!

Did I mention that she is a nurse practitioner, so she understands all the medical lingo, which is mostly good but her care team certainly can't speak in code around her! Please pray for her healing and for her spirits.