NEW CONTENT COMING

December 22, 2023 Carol Ann Erhardt

This site will have new content beginning in 2024. Don’t worry, the old stuff will still be available for viewing, but all material in the new year will be taking a new direction. All posts will be geared to make you smile or to inspire you, as before, but publishing schedule and themes will be new.

For the remainder of December, we will be taking a break to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to work on new content.

If you haven’t already signed up to receive email notification when a new post is published, please consider doing so now. Go to the “blog” tab and enter your email address. That’s all there is to it. Your info will not be compromised, nor will you receive any emails from me except for your new post info.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Looking forward to seeing you in 2024!!

This and That

Taking a Break

December 13, 2023 Carol Ann Erhardt

We are taking a break for the remainder of December to be still and rest in His presence. Our new site and content will begin on January 1, 2024. Thank you for being a subscriber. Your likes and comments give us inspiration.

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones! – Love, Carol Ann

Meowy Christmas, everyone! – Love, Finnegan

Meowy Christmas! – Love, Fergie

I Am Being Deceived by Technology

October 23, 2023 Carol Ann Erhardt

My Fitbit Versa 2 is telling me I’m very active! According to the app, I took over 12,000 steps yesterday and I spent 50 minutes at my peak heart rate, 31 minutes in cardio, and 22 minutes in fat burn. I burned 446 calories. All this happened while I was sitting and enjoying a television sitcom program in the evening. It’s a good thing I don’t put any stock in these readings!

I’m over having a fitness watch anyway. For years it served me well, but now what I want to monitor is my heart rate and blood oxygen levels. I can do that with an Oximeter, which I do have.

Which leads me to the reason for this particular blog. Have we become too dependent on these fitness watches? Not talking about those athletic people, but about the average person, especially seniors like me. If I focused on my results, I’d be very stressed since I do have heart disease and high blood pressure. And for a few days I’ve been concerned that I’ve been having a racing heart in the evening hours. I’m on a blood thinner for A-fib so that is concerning. But I know these readings are inaccurate. I believe it is time to say goodbye to my fitness watch and go back to wearing a regular clock piece. Oh, I know. We have our cell phones, right?

Well, what if these should fail? What if I don’t want to pull my phone out when I’m with friends or family? I know many do, but I feel looking at a phone makes a statement that my attention is no longer on the person I’m with…and that’s true and a bit rude! So many people today have followed the trend to have a fitness watch. We look at our steps, our heart rate, our text messages, and even answer phone calls…all on our fitness devices. Who would ever wear just a watch anymore?

Are there such things as regular watches any longer? I’m curious. I think I’ll be looking around to find a reliable arm decoration that correctly tells me the accurate time and nothing else.

How about you? Are you too dependent on a fitness watch that can notify you if you have a text or a phone call? Do you want to be that tethered to your phone? Okay, that’s another thing I need to put aside for another blog.

Have a blessed day!

Finnegan's Diary · This and That

It’s Not All Good (Finnegan’s Diary)

September 27, 2023 Carol Ann Erhardt

Life here hasn’t been the greatest lately. I still feel like mommy is starving me. I mean, so what if it’s only been 3 hours since I last ate? Why can’t she feed me anyway? Sigh.

The window bed in the office fell again. We had no bed for three days. Mommy said a new one was coming. I thought that meant it would be the same. It’s not. She says it is much safer and doesn’t require velcro to keep it attached to the windowsill. Not going to trust anything different. Fergie doesn’t care though. She likes it. Fine! She can have it.

To top everything off, mommy told me on Friday she is dropping me off at the vet’s office! Dropping me off! I mean, really? She says I need an exam, my yearly shots, and a nail trim. Why can’t she take me? Okay, so it would be a long time before I’d get an appointment. I can wait. I don’t like the idea of being abandoned. There’s only one thing that makes me happy:

Mommy just looked at what I wrote and called me a grumpy butt! Oh, well. I guess I’ll see you next week if I don’t starve to death or get left at the vet’s office.

Love, Finnegan

This and That

I Am a Book, God is the Author

September 4, 2023 Carol Ann Erhardt

There are so many “cliches” in this world. One that came to my mind this morning was “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” So many times and situations this can be used! For me, it was looking in the mirror. I saw an elderly woman with wrinkled skin, thinning hair, sallow skin, and hooded eyes behind glasses. Who in the world was this? It couldn’t be me. I don’t want to look like this. I want to look like I feel. Or rather like my mind feels.

In my mind, I’m in great shape. I walk for 30 minutes every morning. I clean house, run the vacuum, scrub floors, clean cat litter, dust, sweep the garage, do laundry, cook, and all things necessary to keep a home for me and my two cats. True I can’t do all the things with the vigor I did when I was twenty years younger, but my doctors say I’m doing great.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for the stamina, health, and life that God has given me. And I know the body is designed to age appropriately. But it is a shock to look in the mirror in the morning and what I see is not what I feel. Thus, I thought of the words “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” If I were to feel the way I look, I might become the old woman who sits in a rocker with a shawl around her shoulders all day. While that may happen one day, for now I choose to appreciate every day, every breath and live and love. I pray every day for God’s leading, for the Holy Spirit to fill me to overflowing, and for me to not be a stumbling block along the path I walk. I am grateful for all the Lord provides.

And, so, I turn from the mirror, and carefully open the book cover waiting for God to fill the pages. I am a book, and God is the author.