Bfth's Boring Blog

My son and I returned from a visit to the NJ shore to see my parents Sunday afternoon.  The drive home had been longer than I had hoped.  (Sunday afternoon drives home are NEVER good, but I left in the early afternoon and was hoping for a break...I didn't get one.)  I was tired and a bit frustrated, but as I got out of the car I noticed something on the sidewalk by my parents’ house.  It looked like a large envelope and I was thinking maybe someone's trash had gotten away from them. Let me be a bit clear when I say sidewalk.  In front of all the houses on our block is a walkway which empties out into the public sidewalk.  There is then a patch/strip of grass and then the street.  My parents' walkway actually goes all the way out to the street, so that there is a cement square where a garbage receptacle can be placed.  (We don't have this and I wish we did; especially when it snows and there is nowhere to put the trash!)  It was there that I saw the item, which is w

The majority of us probably don't think of it.  We are just regular people leading regular lives.  Legacies are for Presidents; for royalty; for celebrities.  Maybe that's true on a grand scale, but we all leave a legacy. Of course I am not talking about a monetary legacy; I refer to the 2nd definition of the word (as found in the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary):   something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. We ALL have something to give and share.  It doesn't have to be grandiose.  Quite often simple is even more memorable. Do we worry about how we will be remembered?  We might say we don't, but honestly, don't we all?  We worry about how people perceive us now, so of course we think about the future. But HOW do you want to be remembered?  What DO you want your legacy to be? We all have a choice is WHO we want to be and HOW we want to be. I have two specific memories from my childhood of ol

For the past several months, my husband (who lovingly calls himself my emotional support pig; that might be a blog post unto itself) , my son and I have been working on clearing out/cleaning up the home I grew up in.  It's a difficult process and a highly emotional one. (Which is why I need an emotional support pig!) We may say that things are just things, but they are not.  They are memories.  They are a piece of time.  Items are highly personal.  These "things" that would mean nothing to someone else, can mean the world to me, or you. I have worked hard to honor what is there. (Which is one of the reasons why this process has taken so long.)  While I may have tossed some things; I have kept some that have special meaning to me.  Items that I felt could be of use to someone else, I donated to the thrift shop.  Items that I felt someone else might have a kinship with, I have given to the appropriate person.  (A friend collects/uses seasonal china; I gave her a

I see angry crowds and hear vitriolic chanting.  What is said does not matter because hurtful rhetoric is nothing more than words that pierce like a dagger . But what comes to my mind as I watch: "They all answered, “Crucify him!” “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”" Now in NO way am I comparing a human being to Christ.  But I AM a Christian and I am NOT seeing peaceful protests.   I believe in peaceful demonstrations.  I do not believe in condemnation. I hear lamentations that we are not a Christian nation; yet those who cry out for justice appear to me to be very similar to the crowds who stood before Pilate calling for the death of Jesus.   Is this what we are?  Are we an angry crowd calling for punishment for sins that we cannot define?  Do we think that the answer is to send someone who disagrees with us "somewhere else"?  Why do we hate so vigorously and refuse to open our hearts and mi

So what the heck does that mean? Ok, I KNOW what it means, but what does it really?  What is the speaker trying to say? Go back where you came from...if I came from New Jersey or New York or Florida or Kansas or Wyoming  or...so you want me to go back there? Go back where you came from...if I came from Mexico or Japan or Russia or Greece or ...So if I went back there I would solve all of that country's problems?  If EVERYONE who came from that country went back there, would there be no problems in that country or this?  Is that truly what you think? If I don't like it I can just go home?  Should I take my ball with me?  Are you under the age of 10 and no longer want to play? If you don't like me, why don't YOU go back where you came from?  Where DID you come from?  I won't ask because it's a question that is just mean spirited and full of hate. You were born in this country?  Maybe I was too... so what's your point?  What facts are you searchin

Presbyterian Youth Triennium  is a gathering for high school age youth from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church that occurs every three years.  Research tells me that it began when I would have been of age (probably the summer that I was confirmed), but I knew nothing about it and my youth experience is a whole other story... My son was confirmed last year and this year is a triennium year.  He is the only one of his confirmation group that is going, along with  our incredible (and I do mean INCREDIBLE) Christian Education Facilitator.  She has been generous enough to volunteer to pick up our son and take him to Camp Johnsonburg  where a group of teens from the NJ area will be meeting for the day (getting to know each other and hopefully having some fun) before they get on a bus that evening and head for Purdue University where the event is held.  They will spend 5 days on campus before heading back to NJ (arrival time is after midnight) and finall

Let's talk about those self-checkout counters at the grocery stores.  I could be the noble person and say how those self-checkout lanes deprive people of their livelihood. I should stand up and shout about how stores are going for profit over people.  That they are cost cutting and sacrificing employees who are already underpaid and overworked.   All of that would be true in my mind. But I'm going to take the low road and tell you why I HATE self-checkout. It's annoying.  It's time wasting.  It rarely works. Those simple reasons are enough to make me get into a line that is 10 people deep when the self-checkout area has no one. Let's just go through the motions, shall we? You pull up to the self-checkout lane with your cart.  Most checkout lanes are for 10 items or less. (I rarely have 10 items or less).  It makes sense because there is nowhere to put your items.  You have to take your item out of the cart, scan it and then put it in the

I'm a believer in recycling.  I *try* to recycle and do it properly.  (My comingled items are NEVER in a plastic bag for pick up...they are ALWAYS in the can.  And though I have in the past put items in that can't be recycled, I have learned from my mistakes!)  Items that I no longer use or need and are in good condition, I donate to my thrift shop.  Putting out for the trash is a last resort for me. With that said, I've been doing a lot of cleaning out of larger items. Items that are too big to take to the thrift shop or that I know will not be sold.  Some of them are still usable, but I don't have the time or the energy to go through the process of trying to sell.  These are the things that I put out on the curb twice a month when we are scheduled for bulk item pick up. I have no problem with "pickers;" people who come by and go through what has been put out prior to pick up by the garbage truck.  (Aside:  as I've been going through this process

I am a serious planner.  I plan my work day.  I plan my morning walks.  I plan meals. I plan holidays.  And of course I plan vacations. If you said, Bfth, it sounds like you are a compulsive planner, I'd agree. That's not to say that I'm not flexible.  I think I am, but I like having a plan in place, even if I know it's going to be deviated from.  And I'm definitely uneasy when I DON'T have a plan. I AM A PLANNER! So when I looked at the school calendar and saw that my son had the last Friday and Monday of September off, I went into planning mode.  A four day weekend!  I could take 2 days off and we could do something fun as a family!  Yes! So I started researching and planning.  The planning even lead to this  post .  I started to narrow things down, broached the subject with my boys and googled!  I was ready to make some reservations, when I double checked the calendar and... Tuesday (before the Friday I'd been planning) I have been

Christmas means multiple viewings of A Christmas Story .  Easter calls for Godspell .  And for me, Independence Day requires a viewing of 1776 .  Or at least sometime during the week of July 4th.   Or maybe a week before; or after.  For me, this year, the annual viewing was on Sunday the 7th. Though the film is NOT perfect (I could list all the items I would have liked to have seen, but no one likes an armchair director/producer), the cast IS.  There's not a weak link anywhere, which is pretty amazing.   Although I did not see the original production (William Daniels, Ken Howard, Betty Buckley!) I envy those who did! I've been lucky enough to see two stage versions.  The 1997 revival with Brent Spiner who was an excellent John Adams.  (Who knew the man could sing?)  I wish I could say the same of the late Pat Hingle, who might have been the right build for Ben Franklin, but carried none of the fun that Howard Da Silva conveyed in the movie version. And so I also assum

I've heard that today is the peak travel day for the holiday weekend.  (I'm assuming most people are off on Friday...just FYI, I'll be working.)  Specifically, between 1:30 and 4 is supposed to be the worst time to be on the road. (Which is when I'll be leaving work...but not heading anywhere other than home.) Summer is the perfect time to travel; at least weather wise.  The downside is EVERYONE seems to be doing it.  (Again, NOT me.)  This and the recent FB quiz about how many states have you been to got me thinking about where I've been and where I want to go. So where in my 50+ years of life have I been?  I've been out of the country twice:  once to Canada when I was in high school (and I want to go again...the Bay of Fundy is on my bucket list...but I need a passport!) and once to England when I was in my 20s.  Where have I been in the USA?  When I think about it there are many places I haven't been, but I have been to: New Jersey:  Obviousl

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." These are words that wer