2025 OneThing #36 - Prep for Somers Family Summer Party

I don't have any photos! This mostly involved cleaning the house (something I don't love to do . . . but I enjoy having a clean house). I also did a rough food plan. I had asked people to bring meat to grill and a dish to share. So I made a list of condiments, beverage options, dessert ideas, etc.

It has been incredibly hot and humid, so the best part of the party (other than visiting with loved ones) is that my middle son did the grilling for me! Typically my husband does the grilling, but he was at the lake. I'm so very appreciative of Alex for stepping in.

I felt pretty good about the cleaning I got done - scrubbed the bathroom; swept and mopped the kitchen and dining room; dusted a bit; vacuumed the upstairs, stairs, and entryway; got the dishes washed; . . . I had more items on my list (because there's always more you can do!) but when I saw my brother's car outside, I asked him to come in. My rule is that I clean until company shows up. Then I can stop and enjoy people! (He said he didn't want to wreck my quiet time.)

I have been a bit too busy and/or unfocused lately, so this was a realistic (and important to me) goal for the week. I really didn't do much until Friday / Saturday, but I enjoyed myself yesterday. I love my family. And today (Monday, 7.28.2025) has been nice to do party clean-up and getting other things taken care of. It feels good to look ahead to what's coming up.

This picture has nothing to do with my OneThing, but I love my siblings (and I like photos!). This was taken last summer when our cousin François and his sweetheart Annie were visiting. I hadn't seen him since the 1970s! It was fun to chat and reconnect.

OneThing #35 - Get Pole Barn Photos Off Phone

I'm blogging this on Tuesday instead of Sunday because I wanted to do more. I should know by know! I successfully got all my photos together in one place on my hard drive. I sorted them by date into folders. I put them all on a flash drive for Louie. There are 441 pictures!

I also intended to put the "best" into a folder to do a slideshow or video . . . and that hasn't happened yet. But my stated goal WAS achieved (by Friday!) I need to be good with that and move on to this week already.

I love this picture because Titus quickly developed an affinity for the pole barn. He got to be off-leash, running around and playing inside. 

Louie and Mike plan to frame up the workshop next. I still hope to make a "greatest" hits folder to show the progress. It feels as though this has taken an incredibly long time (and a lot of money!) but I love the space and pray we will use it well for many years to come.

Oh, and now that I'm at home, I'll back up those 441 photos to our "home cloud" for further safekeeping.

OneThing #34 - Blog about Guilt

I've been meaning to make this post for a while, so I finally made it my "OneThing" for this week . . . and am just combining it with my OneThing update . . . 

I grew up in a pretty traditional family with lots of blame, shame, and guilt. There were lots of good things, too! But that feeling of GUILT has lurked in my brain for too many decades. I'm not talking about guilt for something bad I did or something good I neglected to do . . . I'm just talking about feeling guilt that something unintended occurred. As I started jotting these things on my To-Do list, I already felt a little better. It's time to let these things GO, because they just don't matter. And I can't go back into the past and do things differently.

A long, long time ago, Minneapolis hosted the National Middle School Association meeting. (I can't find the year easily because the organization is now called AMLE - American Middle Level Educators?) It was probably the late 90s or early 2000s. Since I lived locally, I helped with information. This was before Google was a thing. I drew a map with 494 / 694 / 394 / 94 to "explain" to someone trying to navigate the Twin Cities. Only I was wrong! I realized it later and felt HORRIBLE. I had wanted to be helpful and instead steered them wrong. I sincerely hope that person found a good map to use instead of listening to my confusing explanation or my bad drawing. Why didn't I just say, "I'm not really sure."?

I'm really good at "beating myself up" over things like this. Good intentions . . . paving the road to hell? Another time (similar time period), I posted on Craigslist for giving away a dog kennel. A person who worked with rescue animals asked some clarifying questions. I assured them that it was available, in my driveway, etc. and they drove out to Jordan. I didn't get the change to talk to them. After they did NOT take it, I picked it up and realized that instead of a full wire kennel, it was just the caging part to separate the front of the vehicle from the back. I felt awful! They had taken a long road trip to score a kennel to help with animal rescue and I had wasted their time. 

Another time, I saw a Shop Vac for sale on Craigslist for $5. I wanted one for the lake, since we used the big one at home enough to warrant a second one. I brought my five dollars and chatted with the young woman selling it. It was a smaller shop vac, but in excellent shape. At that point in time, I didn't really know how much they cost brand new. She said her husband / boyfriend was deployed and she was getting rid of things sitting around. As I drove away thinking what a great deal I got, it dawned on me that he might not know she sold his shop vac for $5. Should I go back and return it? What was the right thing to do? Inertia won and I kept it. But I do pray for both of them whenever I use it up at the lake and hope they are well.

One of the things that I love about being a follower of Jesus is the power of Scripture in my life. The verse that comes to mind is Romans 8:1. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." God's grace, mercy, and love have transformed my life! I don't ever want to go back to the guilt-tripping, martyrdom, blame and shame that I grew up with. 

Since I love photos, I grabbed this screen shot of those dreaded roads. I got it off Reddit, but it's basically just a map of the Twin Cities roads.

 

 

OneThing #33 - Submit Info to VA for Lou

This one is a "partial" success . . . and I don't want to share personal info online. Suffice it to say, this is still at the top of my to-do list, but I cannot do it alone. I have made progress and progress is better than not doing anything!

I will fill this entry with an old thing I did.

There was a display case at New Prague Middle School that had not changed for a long time (think years). It was dusty, faded, and mostly empty (see first pic). A teacher who had been there previously had put derby cars and race results in the case back when kids had tech ed classes.

 

I had brainstormed a list of ideas during 2023-24 with students while subbing in an eighth grade language arts class, but the kids didn't seem very interested in actually making anything happen. I shared my ideas with the assistant principal who said he would talk with the student council.

 

When I started subbing the following school year, I was discouraged to see that nothing had changed. I talked with the new industrial tech / shop teacher (whose classroom was nearby) to see what he wanted. He was fine with me doing whatever with it. Again, I brainstormed some ideas and decided to go with something that could just stay up for a while (since the case is clearly NOT attended to). 

 

I came up with this (see pics two and three) and it was the day before conferences! Several teachers passed by me in the hall as they left work that day. I stayed until 4:30 finishing it . . . can you see why I don't have a full time job any more? I'm not good at just leaving well enough alone. This was back in February 2025.

The tech ed teacher provided most of the objects in the case - cribbage boards, derby cars, etc.  I printed out technology-related and woodworking-related quotations and comics.