A long awaited Girls day out

On Saturday afternoon I went to meet my friend for lunch. We had been planning this get together since last December. Somehow we managed to push the time forward for various reasons; illness, work, scheduled travels etc. I’d been thinking about calling her since mid-week to set up our meeting for Saturday. I wanted to do something different this Saturday instead of the same old Saturday stuff besides our lunch outing was well overdue. It was a very good day; the sun was shining, it was about 70 degrees and calling me out to play. It’s a good day for the outdoors and fun and laughter.

Of course I woke up and it’s Saturday morning and I didn’t make the call. As I sat over coffee thinking about how I lost another opportunity to visit with Barb my phone rang. Oh yeah, it was her! Weird right! Of course I was stunned and I blurted out, “you’re gunna live a long time! I was just thinking about you”! (The old saying, right) I explained my failures this week and we laughed about it. We went ahead and set a time to meet. Yeah!

We met at two o’clock and had a great day. We talked, laughed and enjoyed the company over lunch at Panera Bread. We discussed all sorts. As we ended lunch, she made a comment to something we were discussing that I had never heard before. I found it very profound. We had such a hearty laugh. I decided to write the phrase down. I didn’t want to forget it because I wanted to share it with you. We then went shopping and mall hopping until late evening talking and laughing as we went along. She is such a trooper.
So anyway here is what she said.

She said, “Humans are like tea bags; never know its strength until its placed in hot water”.

Believe me, I though I knew a lot of idioms because my grandmother was the queen of maxims. I said it before; my grandmother always had a good ‘line’ for us for everything. But this was a new one for me. It got me thinking. This is so true! You know, until you are faced with a tough situation you don’t quite know your resolve. But one thing for sure, you know you have to get through it. And so you pursue it with such vigor and strength. You find the angles because you must survive. When you are on the other side of the problem you then reflect with wonder and amazement on how you got through it. I guess it is another way of saying, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The tea bag idea though is more poignant. I like it!

How many of these have you heard before and how true to form do you think they are or your encounters revealed?

Here are ten common aphorism
Never judge a book by its cover
Necessity is the mother of invention
One never know the looks of a lousy cat
Cross that bridge when you get to it
Never sell your self short
Be careful what you say/do when you are at the top because you don’t know who you will meet on your way down
What goes up must come down
A promise is a side pocket to a fool
A hard ear makes a soft (sour) behind

Please share your favorite idioms with us!

Thanks for a wonderful day! Thanks for the memory!

Saturdays

It seems that I’ve been having car problems for a couple of weeks now. I guess I need a new car! Unfortunately that’s not possible right now. I am open to donations though!

Saturdays are the days I have to do without the car and get the errands done as best as I can. I can drop off the car at the mechanic early in the morning and then make my way around town. For one thing, my mechanic is close to the market where I shop so I can do the other errands, get back to the garage drop off the bags and walk over to the market. Today I was not in a mood to do much. The car would also not be ready early. My plan was to walk to the market and pick up a few things that I could easily carry back on my own. Of course my plan didn’t work out or ever does. I can’t remember going into a store to pick up one thing or a planned set of things and walk out with just that or those items. I’ve even tried to take just the amount of money I needed, based on an estimate from previous purchases, and still manage to come back with other stuff. Anyway I guess that’s the way it is.

Anytime I catch my self in this situation and make the comment about picking up more than I intended to, I get the Amen Chorus from the folks around. Does that happen to you? Or should I say do you find yourself in that predicament? Well, every other person that I make this comment to always echoes the same sentiment. “Yes I do.” There are times when I am on the cashier’s line and I hear the comment coming from other shoppers. I usually chime in and get a laugh at the situation. This might be a curse or an unconscious act, a program. If you enter a store or market or shop you will leave with more than you went in for or need. Maybe the advertisers or store planners has us pegged. We are doomed. Should we change this behavior or be concerned about the extra items, well except when it cuts into your budget? We don’t need therapy or anything, do we?

I always make the excuse that I could use the things or I might need it soon or it’s a good price, or it’s cute and it’ll look nice ‘over there’. We all know that we can find use for anything at any time; we also know that it’s not a bargain if we don’t need it, even if it’s a good price and, we are all too vain. So any way I had to call my husband to come get me with the 10 bags I manage to assemble in the market. It’s a good thing that I didn’t have much to do out this day as I am sure I wouldn’t have had enough dough to do it all. Well, maybe I would have stuck to the plan of picking up the few essential things I went to get, and maybe two more things. Just two or three!