Too Englischer and new contest

The Hames contest ended Saturday, March 15th. We have a winner! Nancy Lou of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments!!

I’ll begin a new contest soon!

Original post:

For those who’ve read my books, you know an Englischer is anyone who’s not Amish or Plain Mennonite. But sometimes my life gets so entangled with today’s electronic gadgets that it’s too Englischer for my own tastes.

There are times when I immerge myself in the ways of the Amish so much that when I have to reenter my own life it feels . . . foreign.

Earlier this week, after just such a time of thinking and breathing the Plain life, I was driving by myself in unfamiliar territory. I’d finished one project and realized I needed some info before proceeding.

I quickly realized I didn’t have the phone number or name the number would be listed under with me, so at first I thought I was stuck. Then I remembered I’d received the info via an e-mail a few weeks back. I pulled off at the next spot, which happened to be a church parking lot, and began scrolling through the e-mails on my Blackberry. Within two minutes, I found what I was looking for. Paper and pen weren’t as handy as my laptop, which sat on the passenger’s seat next to me, so I opened it and took a few notes, including the phone number. I then turned off my XM radio and called them. Let me add I really enjoy XM radio. It’s not only commercial free, but it lists each name of the song playing and then lists the artist. Anyway, after ending the call, I plugged their address into my GPS, punched the reroute button, turned my XM station back on, and headed for the new destination.

Weird, weird feeling, really. I’m truly not electronically savvy, yet I find myself relying on the basic functions of those things to keep the frustration level down. All of my needs that day could have been handled differently, but the extra time spent would have been wearisome.

How convenient is it that your cell phone can have a full address book at your fingertips? –so filling out forms for a multitude of things is so much easier. Need the address and phone number of your child’s doctor, their former school, or your insurance provider’s fax number . . . from two providers ago? It’s all at your fingertips. Need access to e-mails, so you can have whatever last minute info that was sent to you? Or when you’re at work you can e-mail yourself info that you’ll need while on the road and, as long as you can find your phone, you can find the info. For someone like me who can’t keep up with papers when traveling, but never misplaces the cell phone, it removes a lot of stress.

Not long ago, when a young adult female told me she gets ten times more done in a day than her mom ever did when her mom was an entrepreneur at this same age, I reminded her she has full time help that her mother never had, modern technology.

Now if a young Amish woman made the statement that she was able to do ten times more than her mother had at the same age, I’d be very, very curious to know what caused the difference.

~HAMES~

Each Amish-made creation is a pair of curved wooden pieces that are part of a horse’s harness where traces/leads/leather straps are attached. An Amish-sewn quilted square is between the wooden pieces and it makes for a very attractive and interesting wall hanging. To see a larger photo, click on the photo, but then click the back button and not the X. These are hanging in my home, but I’ll give one of them away. The retail value of this item is anywhere between $60 and $100, depending on who is selling them;-)

For a chance for you to win the set of hames shown below, just enter a comment.

The contest is for residents within the continental United States. On March fifteenth, I’ll draw a winner from those who leave a comment below. I’d love to hear about anything you remember from your childhood that is different than how we handle things today, but if you just want to say: enter me, that’ll work just as well.
You don’t need to leave any personal info where readers can see it. You can leave your first name only and then log your e-mail addy into the correct field when leaving a comment. I’ll be the only one able to read your e-mail address.

If you send a friend to the site, have them tell me your name and number in the comment (e.g. Mary, commenter number five sent me.) and I’ll enter your name an extra time for each friend who mentions you.