June | 2005 | The View from My Chair 2005 June | views of life expressed by a woman using a powerful wheelchair

June, 2005

Chocolate!

June 29, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Now that I have your attention… I like chocolate and there are times when I can’t get enough of it and times when I won’t even touch it. It’s been weeks and weeks since I had any really good chocolate. When I say good chocolate I’m not talking about a Hershey bar or Cadbury’s or anything else you can find in a drugstore. Sees dark chocolate — is the only kind I like. Don’t even bother with Godiva because it doesn’t even come close. There are two Sees candy stores near me but I can’t get any candy from them right now because it’s too hot. When the temperature reaches 110° you can’t buy chocolate and bring it home because it melts. Bummer. I guess I’ll have to wait until I find an excuse to go to the mall because at least I can eat a couple of pieces while I’m there.

Chocolate Reminiscing: About four years ago I had a really bad case of pneumonia/bronchitis. I managed to stay out of the hospital but I was really sick and Norm didn’t want to leave me alone at home even for just an hour. At that time we had a small accessible van rental business we ran from our house. Norm often delivered vans to the airport or wherever the customer needed it. We got a call one day from someone who needed a van to pick up a friend who used a wheelchair. He wanted it delivered to his hotel but Norm explained his concern about me and asked the man if there was any way he could come pick up the van from our house. During the conversation the man asked about my health and wanted to bring me some candy to cheer me up. Norm told him I liked Sees candy. To my surprise the man showed up that evening with a 2 pound box of chocolates. What a nice gentleman.

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To Blog or Not to Blog?

June 24, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Blogging has become something that I truly enjoy — both as a reader of blogs and now as a writer in my own blog. It’s my own personal soapbox in the universe. I wish I had more readers and commentors on what I have to say, but then I might find myself in a more difficult situation. I feel enough pressure as it is to write something for my blog even though there really isn’t much of an audience here. I think the pressure is of my own making because I am inspired by so many great writers of blogs and often feel inadequate to the task.

One of my favorite bloggers, LaShawn Barber, is asking a similar question today. Sometimes I want the traffic she generates on her blog because so many people comment on what she has to say. But then I remind myself why I started my blog. I blog because I desire a place to share my thoughts, my insights, and my opinions on my daily life, my faith in God and current events. Since I’m not being paid to do this (although many people do blog for profit) I have the luxury of choosing when I blog and what a blog about. If I had a larger audience (more than just my husband and my parents and the occasional friend here and there) I might feel even more pressure to write something of substance to others. For me the importance is that I have the opportunity to write my thoughts and share them in a public forum. My hope is that someone else will get something out of my endeavor. If not, then it certainly will keep me out of therapy! (Just kidding.)

Maybe someday we’ll get away from our computers and just go back to conversing in the public square. I think that’s why we blog — because we have lost that forum to our busy lives.

3 Comments:
At July 05, 2005 5:49 PM, sarahk said…
blogging is my favorite hobby i’ve ever had. don’t worry, the readership will come, it just takes a while.

At July 05, 2005 5:50 PM, sarahk said…
btw, i did read the part that it’s ok to not have traffic. but traffic is also a real boost to the spirits if you ask me.

At July 05, 2005 6:06 PM, Karen of Scottsdale said…
Yes, I do love traffic on my site!

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Thunder and Lightning and Liberal Justices Run Amok

June 23, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

It’s that time a year again here in Scottsdale (Phoenix Metro) — monsoon season. Tonight we had our first storm of the season and it was a doozy. The wind kicks up and dust and debris swirls everywhere as we hear rumblings of thunder from the sky. The dark mass of clouds moves over and heavy rain pours down. I like to watch the storm from under my patio cover in the backyard but this time I had to go inside because 40 mph wind gusts drove the rain right into the patio and nearly blew me out of my wheelchair! The storm brought about lots of lighting and over an inch of rain. That’s a lot of rain in the desert! Unfortunately, the lighting has started a fire on a mountain probably 10 miles away in Paradise Valley. The mountain has many multimillion dollar homes on it — I hope they have insurance. At this time news reports indicate no homes have been hit. Another fire that has been raging for several days is about 25 miles northeast of Scottsdale in the Cave Creek area. Many people there have lost their homes. I do enjoy the thunder storms we have this time of year by I must admit that they can be hazardous at times. My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes.

In light of today’s decision by the Supreme Court allowing cities to take away one’s property for commercial purposes I wonder which is worse — losing your home to a lightning fire or having the city declare your property rights null and void so someone can build a condominium or a retail center? I think the latter would be worse because you can get fire insurance for your home and property. Unfortunately there is no such thing as insurance protecting you from our liberal Supreme Court who are taking away our rights little by little as they legislate from the bench.

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Tuesday Afternoon Adventure

June 21, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Last week Norm and I tried to visit the new Chick-fil-A that opened here in Scottsdale but the drive-through line was two blocks long so we decided to wait another day. They opened a couple of weeks ago so I decided that we would have to go in the middle of the afternoon in order to get in to such a popular place. I have been working very hard the last several days on a project and, since I reached a point where I’m waiting on review of the work thus far completed, I decided it was time for something fun. It was nearly 2:30 p.m. when I realized I had not had lunch so today would be a good day for a middle of the afternoon visit to Chick-fil-A.

Norm loves to drive me around so we got in the van and off we went. I noticed the outside temperature indicator showed 110°F — yes that’s hot! Twenty minutes later when we got to Chick-fil-A the temperature indicator showed 117°F and it sure did feel that way when we got out of the van! Even though it was really hot it was sure worth the trip. I ordered their original chicken sandwich, waffle fries and an unsweetened iced tea and all of it was good! Eating that chicken sandwich took me right back to the last time I had Chick-fil-A which was about 26 years ago. I was living in South Louisiana at the time and we were visiting friends in Lafayette. We went to the mall and had Chick-fil-A for lunch. It was good then and it was good now. I will definitely be returning to Chick-fil-A. It’s one of the few fast food places that is as good, if not better, than it was when I was in high school

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111924515417029385

June 19, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Update 6/21 4:24 p.m.: Thanks to the persecution.blog I learned that the convent has been closed and the monk/priest has been suspended from the priesthood and excluded from monastic life as well and being indicted along with four nuns in the murder of Irena.

While scanning the news today I came across this tragic story about a Romanian Orthodox priest who ordered the crucifixion of a young woman living in a convent. According to the news accounts the young woman had come to visit a friend at the monastery in northeastern Romania and decided to stay in the convent. She had been there for a few months when she had a public argument with the priest. She was punished with the help of the nuns and had been shut away in a room for several days, her hands and feet tied and without food or drink. The young woman, Irena, was found dead, gagged and chained to a cross, on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance. The priest is unrepentant and said he ordered the crucifixion because the young nun was “possessed by the devil.” He now faces murder charges.

What these people did this woman was as far as it could be from Christian teaching. Here’s why I think so:

1. Was this woman demon possessed? I do not know although the news accounts said that she was suffering from schizophrenia. That does not necessarily mean she was demon possessed nor does it mean that she wasn’t. In reading the Bible we find that Jesus and the apostles encountered many demon possessed people who suffered all kind of symptoms such as raging anger, uncontrollable physical movements, uncontrolled speech, and foaming at the mouth. You can read for yourself about these accounts in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. In none of these accounts do we find that Jesus tormented or physically abused any of the demon possessed people he encountered. He rebuked the demon or demons and commanded them to leave the person’s body. It was only the demon who harmed the person’s body — not Jesus and not those who followed him and cast out demons in Jesus’ name.

2. Crucifixion in the time of the Romans was a form of capital punishment. Jesus was crucified on our behalf so that we would not have to pay the penalty for sin which is death. In order to receive God’s gift of grace and forgiveness for our sins we have only to ask. Nowhere do I find in the New Testament where we need to be punished in order to receive forgiveness or favor from God or to be released from demon possession.

If you have something to add or wish to explore this topic further with me please do so in the comments section below or send me an e-mail using the link on the right side of this page.

1 Comments:
At June 21, 2005 2:20 PM, Anonymous said…
I posted this story at persecutionblog.comThanks for the tip! Any other stories you find that pertain to persecution, please let me know. Stacy L. Harp

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But It’s a Dry Heat

June 17, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Not according to Old Spice — which released its Top 100 Sweatiest Cities List and ranked Phoenix as the nation’s top “perspiration producer for the second time in four years.”

According to this report “… the average Phoenix resident produced .76 liters of sweat per hour during a typical summer day in 2004 — more than 2 12-ounce glasses of lemonade. In a two-hour period, residents of Phoenix collectively produced more than enough sweat to equal a 12-ounce glass of lemonade for everyone in the state of Arizona…”

No wonder I don’t like lemonade!

2 Comments:
At June 19, 2005 7:03 AM, Pastor Jack, Sr. said…
Dry heat does not mean you do not sweat, it means the sweat evaporates so you do not feel so sticky. Nor is dry heat as oppressive. Having grown up in the Imperial Vally (formerly known as Earthquake Valley) where it can stay above 110 all night, I do not consider humidity to be low unless it is single digits. Having also spent 10 years in the swamps of Louisanna I can assure you that 110 with very low humidity is to be much prefered to 85 with 95-105% humidity. However, now living in San Diego I must say anything below 65 and above 75 degrees is bad as are humidity levels below 50 or above the middle 70s. O well, living in one of the best climates in the world has its tough times. Hope you all feel sorry for us!

At June 29, 2005 6:28 PM, songstress7 said…
Why do you suppose they decided to compare sweat to glasses of lemonade, anyway? I’d think… Gatorade, or something more salty/minerally would be more appropriate.

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It’s Friday and We Got Cake!

June 17, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

Last night I went online and ordered our groceries and they were delivered this morning. Each time I go on Safeway.com they are offering something new. Not only can you order regular grocery stuff but you can also order from the bakery. We don’t eat a lot of deserts around here (yeah right) but when I saw that you can order cake by the slice I could not resist. So along with all the other groceries like bag of salad, bananas, milk, cereal, tortillas, etc. there was cake! Too cute little plastic boxes of white cake (a huge cut of cake actually) with white frosting and purple frosting flowers with green frosting leaves. Yummy! I can’t wait until dinner!

It’s Friday so Norm is taking me on a date to the movies after he makes dinner, of course. I am so lucky — cake and a date on the same day!

Update: (10:09 p.m.): The cake was good and so was the movie “Batman the Beginning.”

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A Comment to My Post about Terri Schiavo

June 17, 2005 by Karen of Scottsdale

I thought you might be interested in this comment from Pastor Jack, Sr. on my posts about Terri Schiavo. I’m putting it here because I know most of you may not read the comments section on each entry.

“Having worked in a hospital counseling critically ill and dying people and their families I can assure you that the inability to respond in no way means there is no awareness of what is happening around them nor that they are unable to hear what is being said around them. I have seen people considered, by today’s standard, to be in PVS who later are able to respond tell what went on and what was said. We never discussed a patient’s condition in any negative terms in their hearing. We would however provide encouraging conversation.

We live in a world today where modern technology can keep a person “alive” by putting them on a machine that breathes for them and causes their heart to keep beating by electrical stimulus. Once it is determined that there is no hope of a person recovering from this I have no problems with pulling the plug in these situations and in fact have been involved in helping people make these decisions, both families and patients. In these cases I consider that we are simply putting a person into the hands of a loving God and letting Him determine what happens. But food and water is not something that God has provided to be generated automatically in our system. We have to ingest them and when we, or others for us, refuse them we die. One would be considered suicide the other murder.

So much for my 2 cents”

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