Taste and see that the Lord is good...

• A good Laundry Day is one in which all loads are washed, dried, folded, and put away.
• A great Laundry Day is one in which all loads are washed, dried, folded, and put away and all the socks match.
• A bloody fantastic Laundry Day is one in which all loads are washed, dried, folded, and put away and all the socks match and you remembered all the hand towels in the bathroom and the dish towel in the kitchen.

I had a bloody fantastic Laundry Day!  I also got out in the mail all 11 of my overdue thank you notes and the next set of letters to the children.  So what was my reward??  Cookin' with Marie today!

Yep.  I missed that.

We made Red Lentil Dahl, which was a first for Marie, and Naan, which was a first for me (the recipe was new to Marie).  I chose the recipe because so many commented that it tasted like traditional naan.  Having had an awful lot of Indian food and naan in restaurants over the past two decades, my expectations were rather high.  The recipe did not disappoint!  I should note, though, that since it has a three-hour resting period, we made pumpkin pancakes and applewood smoked bacon for a "hold over" meal to keep body and soul together whilst waiting.

We cooked three pieces and froze the rest of the dough.  Since Marie did most of the work and the kitchen was rather a disaster after she had to go on to work, I decided to make a second batch for the freezer to ensure that I could make them all on my own.  Perhaps I should have waited to know that frozen dough works, but Becky said that she does that for her fococcia bread and flour tortillas.  Yes, I am very excited about having ready-to-cook dough in my freezer!

Speaking of freezers, I got a text from Sears today that my new freezer is ready for pick-up.  So, I rather shamelessly started begging Firewood Man if he could pick it up for me this weekend.  He charges $50 less in delivery than Sears.  Plus, I trust him in the house.  He is hopeful he will have time.  I am crossing all fingers and toes ... and asked Amos to cross his paws for me.  My electrician is coming on Monday to put in the plug and I would very, very, very much like for the freezer to be here and already been through the 24 hour resting-in-place period by the time the electrician is finished.

While I am aiming to not buy any more groceries until my next monthly budget period (I cycle on the 27th with my credit card!), I would like to redistribute a bit in my freezer, make up a couple more desserts, and try my hand at some dinner rolls.  I will note that I might not be able to wait another 17 days before buying stew ingredients.  Chiefly this is because I made the supreme sacrifice of sending one of my mason jars of stew home with Marie because she liked the taste I set aside for her so much.  Clearly such sacrifice was the Holy Spirit at work.  Sinful Myrtle does not like sharing her most favorite foods.  However, I do not need to buy any more groceries (save for milk) and I am trying to assuaging my deep and abiding longing for stew by concentrating on the fact that I spent only 1/3 of my grocery budget this month, which certainly helps with the extra spending in December.

I also skidded down the alley and drove to Walmart to pick up my glasses.  I thought they were blurry in distance vision and very blurry peripherally.  Since they are rather expensive special lenses that are specially designed to have good peripheral coverage and I have good coverage on my current lenses, I noted that.  At first I was told to take them home and live with them for a few days and then a manager said she was going to keep them and talk with the doctor.  The prescription checks out as to what was ordered.  So, very sadly, I left Walmart without my new glasses and, thus, still cannot see well.  I wish I was more courageous and took them home to see if perhaps it was merely an adjustment matter.  And, well, the optician was not that skilled in adjusting the glasses to my head.  I have a tilt on my current ones and I thought I could just adjust them at home.  I really miss seeing.

Of course, if I could see well, the guilt about being overdue for vacuuming and steam mopping might actually drive me to actually tend to my floors.

Someone has been asking me about my Kindle, so I answered another set of 20 Questions.  That got me to thinking I have not perused the free Kindle books in a while.  Two caught my eye:

• The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society
• Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians

The former cracks me up and the latter I was very much glad to find because I have never figured out (in an entire year) how to get my Luther's Works license on the Mac.  Every time I think about trying to contact customer service, I become anxious.  The license was $200, so I really should gird my loins and find out how to buy the Mac version of the reader or learn whether or not I would have to purchase an entire new license.

I also downloaded a dozen classic novels, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.  Of course, whilst perusing the free options, my opinionated, overly enthusiastic self sent many a suggestion (links) to the Kindle owners I know.

While I want to write more about the dreams later, I will finish today's online rememberer note by saying that I awoke screaming from a nightmare before the alarm was to go off this morning.  It was one of my house dreams, a dream where I awake not really knowing what is real and what is not ... feeling afraid in an unfamiliar home and wondering how I can get back to the home in my dream.  All of the homes in my dreams (four of them) are not real, but I go back to them again and again and again and I know them better than I know my home here and the one in Alexandria.

Becky talked to me for a moment, but she was trying to get her children to school and did not have much time.  She did text me a few reminders about what is real for me.  I then called Marie, planning on demanding that she come early.  However, she had already left early because she was worried about the condition of the roads and arrived soon thereafter.  I practically shoved my Bible into her hands and demanded that she start reading.  When she asked me what, I replied, "Anything!"  I was so terrified and disoriented.

I was sitting on the kitchen floor.  Not only did Marie take the Bible and read to me ... she joined me there on the floor.  The two psalms Marie chose to read greatly calmed me down:


The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to meditate in His temple.
For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and answer me.
When Thou didst say, "Seek My face," my heart said to Thee,
"Your face, O LORD, I shall seek."
Do not hide Thy face from me,
Do not turn Thy servant away in anger;
Thou hast been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the LORD will take me up.

Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a level path
Because of my foes.
Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD.
~ Psalm 27 (NASB 1977)


To Thee, O Lord, I call;
My rock, do not be deaf to me,
Lest, if Thou be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to Thee for help,
When I lift up my hands toward Thy holy sanctuary.
Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who work iniquity;
Who speak peace with their neighbors,
While evil is in their hearts.
Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;
Requite them according to their deeds of their hands;
Repay them their recompense.
Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
Nor the deeds of His hands,
He will tear them down and not build them up.

Blessed be the Lord,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplication.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults,
And with my son I shall thank Him.
The Lord is their strength,
And He is a saving defense to His anointed.
Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance;
Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.
~Psalm 28 (NASB 1977)


More so than writing yet aging about the efficacy of the power that the Living Word has, I wanted to note specifically the value of hearing it.  Whilst she was reading, whilst I was lost in the maelstrom of fear, a few thoughts stood out to me that I had not considered before:

• Psalm 27 and the focus (for me) of one thing is really appropriate for the home nightmares and disorientation because of the one thing being to dwell in the house of the Lord and to think about how that can happen in my own home ... finding shelter in the Living Word. 
• Psalm 27 has the plea to be taught, which I had heretofore mostly associated with Psalms 25, 119, and 139, and it struck me that it is a fitting plea for the whole of the psalm ... really for the whole of any prayer.   Here is a link, actually, to all the psalms I have labeled with a plea for instruction: 16, 25, 27, 32, 34, 39, 78, 86, 90, 94, 119, 139, and 143.  I prayed them all tonight.  And I wondered if I missed other psalms that have this plea imbedded in them, if not actually spoken.
• Psalm 28 reads:  To Thee, O Lord, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me...     and hearing those words made them connect to my fears of being someone to whom Jesus says, "I never knew you."  The plea of salvation and rescue that I see in the psalm echoed the plea of the father in Mark 9:24.

His plea and mine....


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!