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Category: Living my Life

Should I Trust Them With my Brain?

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Dot

Lately I have been receiving email offers from a website that advertises the use of brain games to keep seniors’ grey matter active and supple.  Much like crossword puzzles are supposed to do.

The website advertises “a training program to challenge memory, attention, and more.”  Originally developed as meditation techniques for stress reduction, it reportedly has been found to also be valuable as cognitive therapy.

The ads became intense during December, appearing in my email box 3 or 4 times a week and finally offering me 15% off the enrollment price.  I have never bought a game on the internet, but I clicked on the button, curious to see how much it might cost for me to rejuvenate my brain. Who can say what that would be worth? Nevertheless, I declined their offer which subsequently expired on December 31.

Late in January, the ads/pleas began to appear again. This time the offer was 25% off for enrolling. In urgent tones I was warned again that this discount would not be around forever.

My question is this: Don’t they remember that I declined their 15% offer? Have they forgotten? Might they also benefit from the games that are supposed to enhance their thinking processes so that their brains are operating at full capacity?

If they can’t remember something that happened only two months ago, perhaps I will invoke the old adage: Physician, heal thyself.

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Thoughts about thermostats

Posted on February 2, 2014February 2, 2014 by Dot

Once, as a first grader, my youngest son asked me, “Did you have to take a piece of firewood to school during the winter?” I explained that I did not attend the Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie.

My ‘grade’ school had a boiler deep in the basement of the building where only the boys in class were sent to fetch the janitor. (Fine by me!) That boiler, fueled by I-don’t-know-what, provided heat to radiators in each classroom very efficiently and reliably.

At home our house was warmed with gas space heaters with clay covers over the open flames. These did a very good job of keeping a room toasty.

Later came the floor furnace, a burn hazard for toddlers. And eventually it became financially possible for most homes to have central heat, a furnace that put warm air evenly throughout the whole house.

Thermostats had always been available for furnaces. Early on, people needed to control the temperature in mills and factories so the mercury thermostat was invented way back in the 1600s.

Somewhere along the way it was discovered that electricity worked well and was safer so that is what is used now. The temperature in our houses are even throughout each room. We can program changes into our thermostat so the heat (or air) adjusts itself without our giving it another thought.

And this is nice, but when there is a power outage it isn’t just the total electric homes affected, virtually everyone is without heat. Because with no electric power to the thermostat, there is no way to turn on a gas furnace.

And I guess I’m here to ask, Why Not? Why is there not a mechanical starter on a gas furnace? If there were, then during a power outage the emergencies would be lessened because those with gas furnaces would have heat in their houses. Fewer people would be in a crisis situation.

Wouldn’t that be a good thing?

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The 12 Days of Christmas

Posted on January 5, 2014September 17, 2017 by Dot

We have all heard the song. But most of us spend 40 days (or more) preparing and then celebrate only one day of Christmas. I used to be one who dismantled the tree and put away the decorations on December 26. But over the years I came to understand and embrace the meaning of Christmastide. Now my tree stays up at least until Epiphany (January 6) and I enjoy the last few days of an old calendar year and the beginning of a new.  This is my diary of the just past 12 Days of Christmas.

On the First Day of Christmas (December 25) my youngest son and I spend a quiet day exchanging gifts and enjoying each other’s company.

On the Second Day of Christmas I confess I visit the stores, buy another gift and mail a package to a grand who won’t make it to Grandma’s house this year. (I know — I should have done all that already.)

On the Third Day of Christmas I drive over the (Arkansas) river and through the (Saline County) woods to spend the day at Couchwood, home of my BFF.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas I watch the movie The Nativity. This has become one of my Christmas traditions.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas (Sunday, December 29) I lead the Adult Bible Study for the Wesleyan Seekers, my Sunday School class, the story of Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the temple for dedication. The aged Simeon recognized the baby as the promised Messiah.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas I welcome with joy my eldest daughter, the first of the holiday guests to arrive.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas (December 31) five more children and grands arrive, making our total 8. We exchange gifts, eat pizza and party food and finally toast the new year, 2014.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas we gather for brunch, asking God’s blessings on the absent family members, thanking Him for His love, for family and all our blessings.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, all is quiet in the house. Everyone has gone to their home or back to work. I try on a new sweatshirt, peruse a new book, watch a new dvd, take a nap.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my sister and I visit a friend whose sister (who was also our friend) has passed away.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas I have mincemeat pie for breakfast and spend time reflecting on 2013 and setting goals (not resolutions) for the coming year.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas (Today, January 5) I gather with my church family to worship God who sent his Son to earth to be our counselor, guide, friend and Savior.

Tomorrow, January 6, is Epiphany, a remembrance of the coming of the Magi and an indication that this child was born for every race and culture. As our pastor said this morning, “The Wise Men found Jesus. It was worth the trip.”

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Fourth Sunday in Advent

Posted on December 22, 2013December 22, 2013 by Dot

Every year at Christmas time, the media is full of human interest stories. Many of these stories are followed by a plea for assistance to provide a meal for a family, a special toy for a child, or some other effort to insure some individuals a pleasant holiday. Then, the narrator usually ends with, “After all, that’s what Christmas is all about.” And, while all of these activities are worthwhile, and I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t take part in them, none of this hits the mark of what Christmas is really all about.

Surely, one of the first Bible verses that we heard in church was John 3:16. “For God loved the world so much, he sent his only son …” Wait a minute! I have children, each one dearer to me than life. He sent his son? He loved  me so much that He sent His Son? Is that what Christmas is all about?

That’s it. Christmas is about God coming into the world as a baby. It’s about His life, His miracles and, yes, it’s about His death and resurrection. Christmas is about the Holy Spirit in our lives every day we live.

The Good News is: What Christmas is all about is available to each of us. Even if we don’t find that special gift for our child, or we are not with family we love, or we are with family that’s dysfunctional, or we eat a peanut butter sandwich for Christmas dinner.

Because Christmas in all about Love so great it is impossible to contain.

Have a blessed Christmas.

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Third Sunday in Advent

Posted on December 15, 2013December 15, 2013 by Dot

Each year we bemoan the commercialized event Christmas has become. And while it concerns us that the celebration of our Lord’s birth is used as a marketing ploy, nothing seems to change. We still dart about in a nervous frenzy in an effort to ‘get ready for Christmas.’

Are You Ready for Christmas?

Are you ready for Christmas? That’s the question we hear
‘Most everywhere we go this time of the year.

Heaven knows, I’m not ready, is the usual reply,
Why, I haven’t baked — not one single pie.

I haven’t had time to put up the tree …
Christmas just couldn’t come, were it left up to me.

I’ll decorate the house, but first I need to clean,
And find just the right spot for the new Christmas scene.

I have to bake cookies for a party at school.
I signed up last September; I must have been a fool.

I’m making a costume for my child’s Christmas play
And the dress rehearsal is — well — later today.

We’re having choir practice almost every night,
I’m invited to three parties; there’s no end in sight.

There’ll be last minute shopping; the mall’s open until ten.
Then, Christmas Eve Communion — if I can work it in.

What? You say there is more? There’s something I missed?
Well, tell me what it is. I’ll put it on the list.

My Christmas is too small?  I’ve left out a big part?
You say there’s a miracle that should happen in my heart?

Have I been too busy to celebrate His birth?
Do I really want His peace in my corner of the earth?

I’m not ready for Christmas. I’ve left one thing undone:
Preparing my heart for the gift of God’s son.

If I own His peace and love all the year through,
Then Advent is more than a list of things to do.

Are you ready for Christmas? Stop right where you are
And look for the Christ Child, the Manger, the Star.

© Dorothy Hatfield 1994
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Dot Hatfield

Dot Hatfield

Dot Hatfield is a member of the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame and a Certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church. She is the author of 7 books.

Dot’s Books

  • Worth the Candle
  • Did Anyone Read My Story?
  • An Ordinary Day
  • R.I.P. Emma Lou Briggs
  • To Find a Home
  • The Last To Know
  • Every Day a New Day

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