Of Pringles and Prayers

The day started off a little rocky. I knew Ally wasn't feeling well last night and wouldn't be going to school today since she was running a fever. Unfortunately I couldn't tell how high the fever was because my thermometer battery was dead. In attempting to fix this problem some time ago I bought a new one but it turned out that the battery on that one was dead, as well. (It took me a while to figure that out. I took Ally's temp and it registered at about 95 degrees. This had me really concerned and I was feeding her hot soup and covering her in about five layers of covers and looking up all the symptoms of low body temp online. I took K's temp and it registered about 98 degrees so I just KNEW it wasn't the thermometer. The problem became clear about an hour later when K began throwing up and shaking with chills. What happened, as I'm sure you have figured out is that the thermometer was reading about three degrees low. So while Ally was fine, despite my attempts to "warm her up", it was K who needed cooling down. But I digress)
So this morning, with concerns of swine flu on my mind, I called the doctor's office and he was out until Tues. They told me the only other doctor in the office would not see her because she was a new patient. This ticked me off. I decided to take her to the urgent care, but this means and hour drive, plus the wait when we got there. Was she that sick? I debated. She looked fine, sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. But she did say her head hurt and she had that fever.
Finally about one o'clock I suddenly had an insatiable urge for pringles to go with my tuna sandwich. I decided to go to the Qwik Check and get some of those new extreme pringles, dill pickle flavor, and no I'm not pregnant just for those that HAVE to ask. On the way out the door I decided to utilize my time alone and began to pray. I asked God to show me what to do. I just didn't know if she was sick enough for urgent care. So I got my pringles and decided I needed a new thermometer and the dollar store was just around the corner. I pulled into a parking spot and my phone rang. It was the local doctor's office wanting to know if anyone had ever called us back. I said "yes", and then we began a discussion as to whether I should drive Ally to the urgent care. She said she definitely would, and that was that. We hung up and I decided to take her. First though, that thermometer. I went in the store and my phone rang again. Again it was the doctor's office. "The doctor has decided to see you at two fifteen". I couldn't believe it. That was as clear an answer as any answer could be. And I wouldn't have to make the hour drive.
So we went to the doctor and she is fine. Wouldn't you know as soon as we got in there her headache disappeared and she showed no signs of fever. (I never did find that thermometer, they were all sold out. go figure.)
So I get home, with a big load off my mind. Now for the dog. I do not know what is wrong with my dog. It has been raining this week so he is spending a lot of time in the house. Apparently he does not appreciate this. He mopes around with those long ears and big brown eyes making everyone feel sorry for him. We have a pretty regular routine. I go downstairs and take him outside to the bathroom at about eight AM and then feed him breakfast. This has been our routine for a year.
The last three days, however, he just refuses to go. I take him out and he just stands there sniffing the air and chewing grass. I take him back in. An hour later I take him back out. Again the sniffing chewing routine. After a while this starts to get on your nerves. I don't want to spend all day outside waiting for the dog to do his business.
Yesterday he went about sixteen hours without going. Today it was twenty hours.
Finally, FINALLY he went, at about four in the afternoon. This just can't be good for him. And it irritates me. I constantly have to remind myself he is the equivalent of a two year old.
So having finally taken care of that, I decided that maybe my treadmill could be fixed. I was thinking maybe the reason it wouldn't go was that the belt was too tight. I rooted around for a while and found the correct size Allen wrench and sure enough. After it was loosened I was able to walk on it without it stopping. Immediately I ran upstairs and rooted through my closet and found my old running shoes, got dressed in appropriate work out clothes and jumped on and started running. Oh, how I have missed this. I had the music on really loud and a huge smile on my face. After a few minutes I remembered the hate part of this love/hate relationship I have with the treadmill. It didn't stop me though. Something about this machine just gets my blood pumping in a way the elliptical never did. I enjoy it. I enjoy the pain, the sweat, the ache in my knees, my pumping pulse, and the thumping rhythm of the music and my feet keeping pace.

So I'm sitting here at my computer contemplating answered prayers. Last night I watched the TV show "Deadliest Catch". I used to hate that show when it first came on but I find myself glued to the TV watching the crazy things that happen on those fishing boats. The episode was about the capsizing of the fishing vessel Katmai, which sank last October 900 miles off the coast of Alaska. There were eleven crewmen and only four of those survived in a life raft. The survivors were telling their stories. After seventeen hours on the raft which had overturned about fifty times in the night, one of the sailors completely gave up hope that they would survive. He got down on his knees and raised his arms to the sky and began to pray. At exactly that moment as the words formed on his lips, the coast guard helicopter came up over the horizon. Talk about timing! It doesn't get any better than that!
I've been thinking about that all day. God still answers prayer, folks, whether big ones or small ones. Even if he has to create a craving for a can of pringles to do it.