Melissa's Idea Garden

I got this in my email from my Mom today and I liked it so much, I thought I would share it here.

Blue Roses

Why do I always have to be the one that starts to do laundry and there's no
detergent? Well, I guess it was time for me to do my store run, which
included light bulbs, paper towels, trash bags and Clorox. So off I go.

I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies, and headed for the
checkout counter only to be blocked in the narrow aisle by a young man that
appeared to be about sixteen-years-old. I wasn't in a hurry, so I patiently
waited for the boy to realize that I was there. This was when he waved his
hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm over
here."

It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged, and also startled as he
turned and saw me standing so close to him, waiting to squeeze by. His
eyes widened and surprise exploded on his face as I said, "Hey Buddy,
what's your name?"

"My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother," he responded proudly.
"Wow," I said, "that's a cool name; I wish my name was Denny, but my name
is Hal."

"Hal, like Halloween?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered. "How old are you Denny?"

"How old am I now, Mommy?" he asked his mother as she slowly came over from
the next aisle. "You're fifteen-years-old Denny; now be a good boy and let
the man pass by."

I acknowledged her and continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes
about summer, bicycles and school. I watched his brown eyes dance with
excitement because he was the center of someone's attention. He then
abruptly turned and headed toward the toy section.

Denny's mom had a puzzled look on her face and thanked me for taking the
time to talk with her son. She told me that most people wouldn't even look
at him, much less talk to him. I told her that it was my pleasure and then
I said something I have no idea where it came from, other than by the
prompting of the Holy Spirit.

I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow and pink roses in God's
garden, however, "Blue Roses" are very rare and should be appreciated for
their beauty and distinctiveness. You see, Denny is a Blue Rose and if
someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that
rose with their kindness, then they've missed a blessing from God.

She was silent for a second, then with a tear in her eye she asked, "Who
are you?"

Without thinking I said, "Oh, I'm probably just a dandelion but I sure love
living in God's garden."

Please the next time you see a BLUE ROSE don't turn your head and walk off,
take the time to smile and say Hello. Because by the grace of GOD this
mother could be you. This could be your child, grandchild, niece, nephew.
What a difference a moment can mean to that person or their family.

From an old dandelion.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yep, it's been a couple of months since the last good clean and as I looked around at the buildup of stuff in the kids rooms and the dirt in the corners, the mood struck last night. It was all I could do to keep myself from starting cleaing right then and there, but I have learned that the rest of the family doesn't appreciate it when I am vacuuming and cleaning under furtniture at 2 in the morning.

So I...what? What did you say? You are still trying to cope with the fact that I only clean once every couple of months? Well, let me tell you, it has taken me my life time and a total of 3 generations for me to get to this point.

My grandmother was a neat freak. The woman literally cleaned (or had my mom clean) up their house every day. Mopping the floors, vacuuming, etc. This was in a house with three people where two worked and one went to school every day. Gee...how dirty could it get? And grandma never stopped. My grandfather passed away on my mother's 20th birthday. I was born a month later and my grandma was alone in her home. Yet, she still cleaned daily.

My mom eased up from that. She only cleaned once a week, but still our house was always pretty spotless. It was mom, dad and I. My lucked out (or else trained me well), but I was always the kind of kid that picked up after myself. I got a toy out, I put it back when I was done (boy, do I wish someone else in my home now was like that...but not even my husband is). Anyway, back to my story. Mom cleaned every Saturday morning. Dad would offer to do it so she could have some Saturdays off, but she refused because she felt it was her job. And she didn't ask me to help because her mom had always made her, so she didn't want to do the same to me.

Again, I was an odd child and when I was old enough, I started helping her by cleaning the family room and bathroom downstairs while she cleaned upstairs and in later years, I would clean the house on Friday afternoons after I got home from school and before she got home from work. That way she wouldn't have to work Saturday mornings too. Honest, I am not making this up.

When I got my own home, I did the once a week thing too. Then kids came along and it went more to once every couple of weeks. Then to once a month and now once every two months (which interestingly enough, usually coincides with company coming for a meal! I vacuum once a week, and will wipe up spills and straighten up when I have time, but otherwise, I just don't stress about it. I only have my kids once and I only get to go through this life one time. As long as our house isn't so dirty that we have critters living in here with us and we are all healthy, I am happy. In fact, I think that because I don't keep the house so very, very clean, we may have less illnesses, but that is just my theory.

So now that I have given you way more information that you were wondering, I'll fill you in on what I did today. I got up at about 4:15 to say good-bye to Daniel as he headed back to Illinois. After he left, I did some work on a business project he and I are working on. I played on my DS some (I am so addicted to Pokemon Diamond - I have collected 360 Pokemon since February!) While I did that, I watched the second part of the movie Henry VIII. It was a miniseries. Excellent! Then I watched the first part of a miniseries about Victoria and Albert. I love Netflix.

During that time, I took a few moments to feed Katrina and get her some medicines (she's a bit congested and has a sore throat) and I fed the cats. Then I fed the dogs. Then I began. I spent an hour or so on Jack's room. Changed sheets, picked up, rearranged a few things, then dusted, vacuumed and then shampooed the carpet. That carpet was installed in 1997. I bought a carpet cleaner a couple of months ago and I was tickled to use it. I was surprised that the water wasn't black when I was done. It was more of a light grey color. And I was glad to get a bag of clothes out of his room so his drawers shut. We donated them to the battered women's shelter.

Then I cleaned up the kids bathroom and started laundry. I have done four loads of laundry today in between everything else. Then it was time for lunch and a few rounds of Hangman with Katrina. Then I took the trash and recycling to the recycling center/dump. WE got back just in time to watch it pour down rain. I studied my Spanish (I am learning from Rosetta Stone) for an hour, read from my SCUBA training book for an hour, and then started on Katrina's room. Three hours later (my daugher is a messy packrat), her room was picked up, dusted, vacuumed, sheets changed and carpet shampooed. We are waiting for it to finish drying now. Then I did dishes and now I am blogging and watching The Cat Returns with Katrina.

I love days like this. Looking forward to another tomorrow. Next on the cleaning list, the play room. The rest of the house after that won't be near as involved.

And when my in-laws come to visit in a couple of weeks, everything will be spic and span!

Adios!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:31 PM | Permalink

Back in the early 1970s, I rushed home every day after school so I could watch Star Trek reruns in the afternoon. I loved Star Trek! The handsome Captain Kirk, the witty Dr. McCoy, the logical Mr. Spock (whom my father would fret me by calling squirrel ears). The adventurous journeys, the exotic aliens, the witty comments, and the chemistry among the original cast all kept me mesmerized. The worst punishment I remember from my childhood was I wasn't allowed to watch Star Trek for a whole week because I didn't listen to my babysitter one day!

Little did I know that just an hour away, my future husband was just as aptly watching the show that would launch four decades of great science fiction. He liked the show so much that he asked his mother to take him to the ABC tv station so he could meet the crew. He was sure that the Enterprise was there at the studio and he could get on board if only his mom would take him there.

Over the years, we have watched all of the Star Trek movies and the Star Trek mutations. Our least favorite was The Next Generation series. Captain Picard was just too 'nice'. Probably our favorite was Deep Space Nine. Voyager was also good. We tried watching Enterprise, but at the time, the channel it was on didn't come in very well and we got tired of watching the snowy show, but what we saw of it did look good.

So on to yesterday. We had been waiting in anticipation to see the new Star Trek movie. Some of the early trailers had us concerned about how they were running the storyline and the changes that it looked like were being made, but we were still growing very excited seeing what J.J. Abrams came up with (after all, we love LOST).

We got tickets for us and for the kids and seated ourselves front and center. The next two hours flew by. The action, the characters, the laughs...J.J. Abrams has come up with a hit! Not only has he recreated the show so as to attract a whole new generation of fans, but there was so much about the movie that was put in to appeal to those of us who have followed these characters for years. And while the story centered on Kirk and Spock, the other characters were given much stronger roles than in the usual series. Sulu, the sword expert. Uhura, the communications expert, and Chekov...the whole reason he looked so young was because he was a genius! I loved this movie!

J.J. Abrams could not have done a better job than what he did. We are ready to go see the movie again!

We give this movie two thumbs up!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Early this morning, in the rain, we fetched Plato. It was time to take him to the Vet to get a major trim for the summer. The dog has so much fur on him, that I was sure he had to be miserable. Plus, I was having a hard time getting the frontline spray to get on him really well and get rid of those pesky ticks...

So we got Plato and took a photo so you could see what a wet, light colored dog who likes lying in my rich black potting soil looks like...

We went back later to pick up Plato...and didn't recognize him.

Well...we'll be able to find the ticks now...

NEVER AGAIN....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)