outWORD by Matte Downey

I am waiting for the air conditioner man to show up but since it has been 50 minutes, I guess he forgot about me. I hate it when people forget about me. I had a plumber at the house on Wednesday taking a look at a job I needed done and 48 hours later, I still have no quote from him. I hate it when people say they will do something for you and then neglect to follow through on it. No doubt I will call all these guys next week and remind them that I am waiting for something from them and they might actually GET some of my hard-earned money if they only took the time to give me quotes and pay a visit and do a little bit of work. But these are only tradesmen and I am rather easy-going and willing to give them another chance but if they continue to be rather unreliable, I will just call someone else until I find a person who exhibits a bit more drive and dependability. You can’t do the same with your friends. I could give you a big long lecture on how one must be true to their word, e...

In the past few months, I have thinking about value. Well, actually, it started out more in the realm of beauty and femininity. While I was in South Africa, I attended a women’s function and ended up being the worst-dressed female there. Egad, I had no idea that putting on my cleanest jeans and my t-shirt with the nicest logo and spraying on some smelly substance would not even come close to the power suit and cashmere sweater my host answered the door in. Oops! So it was not a total surprise when during the meeting some well-meaning lady began to pray for me that I would find my true beauty and not hate myself every time I looked in the mirror, feeling unworthy and un-beautiful. Okay. I didn’t really feel that way but was willing to take a look inside my heart and see what could be improved, so I asked God to teach me about beauty. And as I talked to some friends about it, yes, it did seem that I could improve in the area of enhancing my beauty and taking a little more care wi...

Sometimes in the middle of my day, I will stop and look at what I am doing and see what wonderful gadgets and tools I have at my disposal. Then I take a moment to thank God for those innovative and creative minds that came up with these ideas. Here are a few of my best and worst (in my personal opinion of course). Feel free to add yours. Best Inventions: 1. carbonated drinks 2. cameras 3. heating and air conditioning 4. recording devices 5. written words and books 6. pie 7. instant messaging 8. phones 9. hot air popcorn poppers 10. air travel 11. flushing toilets 12. windows 13. toothbrushes 14. paint and dyes and tints to colour everything 15. car mirrors 16. dishwashers and washers and dryers 17. antibiotics 18. contact lenses 19. fireworks 20. electricity Worst Inventions: 1. high heels 2. flowery air fresheners 3. sushi (sorry all my sushi-loving friends) 4. lawn ornaments 5. pornography 6. facelifts 7. gossip 8. bureaucracy 9. snow cones 10. clothing that wrinkles 11. pantyhose 12...