Random Musings

After our robbery last summer, I finally got in gear at the beginning of winter and started finalizing the process of learning more about self-defense. The more I learn, the more I realize there is to learn. But the biggest surprises have been the discovery that many of my pre-conceived ideas are wrong. Idea #1: Small guns are better. Whenever I envisioned myself as a gun owner, I always thought I'd have the tiniest gun possible. Boy was I wrong! The day I had some introductory lessons with a friend, I kept eyeing the smallest handgun they had (which in my opinion still wasn't small), and when I finally got to hold it and learn to shoot it, I absolutely hated it. HATED it. It felt awkward in my hand, I was scared of dropping it or shooting myself, my fingers more than swallowed all the safety feature buttons, and I felt myself becoming apprehensive. When my friend handed me her personal handgun later, I thought I'd hate it even more because it was SO big, but the instant...

This past Friday when we had sleet and freezing rain, I spent a good chunk of the afternoon bird watching. Bobby was working from home so he had the computer, and instead of tackling the myriad of tasks before me, I found myself continuously stopping at the kitchen window to watch the influx of cardinals. I've never seen so many at one time. a Papa cardinal on top of the dog pen. Notice the ice on his wings & feathers? And a Momma cardinal, before she flew in to check out the dog food. I don't know if this is a boy or girl, but there were quite a few "teenagers".  It seemed only the Poppa cardinals went to the bird feeder. And all the rest hung out beneath the feeder. I counted at least 7 at one point. And I was NOT happy to see the hawk fly in the pine trees down by the pond. My zoom wouldn't go far enough, but you make out it's image a little in the center of the pic. Thankfully we left all the chickens locked up that day.

Many years ago I stood on the second floor of the English building and watched below as about 100 Chinese men dig up a small section of cement with shovels. It reminded me of an ant hill,  as the men wore navy or black and were scurrying around the work place. The road needed to be repaved, which meant tearing up the existing road. One small section of the road would be closed, dismantled, removed and then swept before they would move on to the next section. Road projects took forever. I asked my students about it one day, pondering why they didn't just bring in machines to do the work and have it done in a week, as opposed to a year and a half project. They looked at me horrified and replied, "And put all those people out of work?" I've thought about that many times since returning back to my homeland. I've watched ATMs become so commonplace that banks have cut back on the number of bank tellers needed. Cashiers in grocery or department stores become less as se...

Whistle Stop Quilt Shop closed this past week. Since it wasy located way out on 1010 (where it intersects with Kildaire Farm) I only went there when I needed a fabric I knew my two favorite stores wouldn't carry. They had the most impressive selection of antique-replica fabrics (which were already gone when I found out they were closing) and a lot of country/antique style decorations throughout the store. It was a calming place to shop, with plenty of room to move around and think. I'm sad they're gone, and it was even sadder watching the store owner struggle to keep back tears as her regular customers came in to say good-bye. Meanwhile, a new quilt shop is opening in downtown Cary (where ETC crafts used to be). Rumor has it they'll be carrying new, modern fabrics. I may have to pay them a visit. :) My machine is now back and in working order, and I'm really struggling with what is the wise and practical thing to do as far as machines and money go. My machine wo...

The ladies in our church have started reading through Jerry Bridges' book Respectable Sins . I'm on chapter four and so far it has been both an easy and difficult ready. It's been easy in the sense that Bridges is not preachy nor theological deep in this book, but difficult in that he's not hesitating to deal with the areas of our lives where we actually live. Early on, he addresses the fact that disobedience to the commands of God is actually rebellion against the authority of God. We're challenging his laws and decrees, which He has the authority to make.  I've always pondered the verse from King David that said, "Against you and you only (talking to God) have I sinned."  The sins of King David impacted many, many people, but in all honesty, God is the only one we can truly sin against. People may wrong me or hurt me, but their sin is against God's laws, not against me. That's not an easy thing to digest. And along those same lines, while...

Have I ever mentioned that Google is my favorite search engine ever? Cause it really and truly is. And one of my next favorite websites is www.allrecipes.com    Can't remember that special recipe someone told you and it's NOT in your inbox?  Chances are, they'll have it. And that my friend, is totally awesome. Especially when you're hosting a baby shower the next day at your house and you cannot find the two recipes your friends gave you ANYWHERE. Those cards aren't with my books, in the box, or in the drawer with the kitchen towels nor on the flour canister. But all recipes had both of them (or at least something eerily similar). And at 6:36pm on a Friday night, that is rejoicing material. My third favorite website (and this list does not include Blogger nor Facebook) is a tie between Pinterest and Twitter. I visit Twitter more, and I like the news snippets (I follow BBC because the British reports more international news than the US media does) as well as the ...

On Wednesday nights we've been studying the names of God in the Old Testament. Last night was one I knew, Jehovah-jireh (The LORD Will Provide), and yet it couldn't have been a more timely reminder or study. Bobby and I have two close friends who are both fighting cancer right now, one terminally. I also have a cousin and a blogger friend going through the same battles.  After eating lunch with Wendy yesterday, I knew why she had been SO heavy on my heart last week, and my heart still grieves for all she and so many others are facing. So it was quite comforting last night to be reminded of God's provisions. As Pastor Mike threw out scenarios at the end of class and we responded with Scripture that supported those claims, it was nice to hear and think of verses that remind us of His presence in the times that aren't the best. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you ; ~ the first line of Isaiah 43:2. A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord direct...

During my childhood, I was blessed to know many women who started new hobbies/careers late in life. So even now, I'll say "When I grow up, I want to..." and people, especially kids, will look at me in the strangest way. Two years ago I had a very startling reality check that should I live to my eighties (when most healthy people in my family seem to die), then my life was halfway over. While it was shocking, it was also a very good motivator. I've started doing some things I've always wanted to do but just never seemed to have the time for. I don't know if I will ever do any of these things, and some of them are NOT realistic at all, but here's my future career list: quilt shop owner restaurant owner nurse, working on something like the Mercy ship an author a publisher house supervisor at a children's home As you can tell, I won't accomplish most of these. And that's okay. But I am VERY thankful to live in a country where education...

Nothing is cooler than to watch the face of a kid learning to read. Everything is new and exciting and you can see the comprehension covering their face as they finally grasp what a word is. When my nephew learned to read we could not take him anywhere without him sounding something out. I was reminded me of that a few weeks ago. Some friends were over, and their daughter who is learning to read stopped as they were heading out the door. Her head was tilted up and she had a puzzled look on her face. Her mother could not figure out why on earth she was dwaddling, but I knew. Above the entrance to our living room we have blocks (printed to look like Scrabble letters) that spell out our last names. She was sounding them out, trying to figure out what it spelled. When you think about it, BRYAN is a very strange word for a beginning reader. We don't play Scrabble that often because it takes so long, but I loved the decor look. What could be better for two word lovers? Another reas...

First, and most revolutionary...my sewing machine is "fixed"! The paradigm of my world no longer feels unsettled. I'm cautioning myself not to get too excited, as I've watched the repairman demonstrate, but haven't actually put layers of fabric (as opposed to his one) with batting under the needle to quilt. But he did replace the needle clamp, and told me I must be a very clumsy seamstress to have 4 needles and half a dozen pins inside the bowels of my machine. Little do you know, sir. Little do you know. Second, this weekend has been another one of those "double-minded" times. Friday night we attended a basketball game at Bobby's alma mater (and they were honoring his brother's class and basketball team...the school's first state champs...1976) and as I watched all the kids running around and playing, I had to struggle to watch other things and keep my focus and not be consumed by the "I wanna kid so bad, Lord" craze. Then Saturd...

Several weeks ago there was a big hullaballoo about a UN treaty on disability rights that was being voted on by our nation. We vetoed it, even though many Republicans such as John McCain and Bob Dole heavily supported it. I follow Rick Santorum on Facebook, and he adamantly opposed it. I'm not going to repeat some of the things he wrote, but it had me very concerned. Yesterday Bobby received a copy of the New Mobility magazine, which we've never paid for, never ordered, tried to cancel, and yet we still keep getting it. The editor had some very rude and scathing things to say about Republicans, the south, and the biased hatred among people who opposed this bill. So I did what I should have done several months ago. I spent forever trying to hunt this treaty down (would you believe NO news media, pro or con,  had a link to it?!) and see what it said for myself. The more we're around politics, the more I find even "good" people distort what documents actually say...

Yesterday's class: Successes:                                                     Failures: Learned a new technique                             Killed my sewing machine Used a new store model                               Am now REALLY wanting a new one Have a good beginning on a quilt                Can't sew anything at home until repairs are made I've spent some time o...

Well, looks like Blogger has removed the option of uploading pictures from your computer or camera, so I may not be able to upload photos of a recently finished quilt top or fabric I'm adding to my stash (or hoard, as Bobby likes to call it). Today I'm joining two other quilting buddies at a quilt shop in North Raleigh for a quilting class. I've seen these quilts at shows where both the front and the back of the quilt are pieced (as opposed to the front being a design and the back being one large piece of fabric), but could never quite figure out how they did that without a LOT of trouble and painstaking work. This class teaches how to do that, and it's supposed to be a simple process. I'm a little nervouse about the whole thing as I'm not totally sold on the whole "quilt as you go" fad. I have one quilt my Grandmother made me that was quilted in pieces and then sewn together, and of all the quilts I own it's the most fragile one I have. I no lon...

Tonight's the big game. Bobby's nephew is a fan of Notre Dame and he will be pulling for the Fighting Irish. I challenged him to join me at his Dad's house to watch the game, but he hasn't taken me up on the offer. Nevertheless, my brother-in-law has graciously agreed to let us invade his house for the evening to watch the game. Granted, the game starts late, we're not late night people, and both he and Bobby have to be up early in the morning, but I'm a little excited about getting to watch the game AND getting to watch it on a large screen. :) Time will tell how much of it we actually stay to watch. Bobby likes to laugh that I'm not a true Alabama fan. The reality is, I'm not a big sports fan period. But when you hear people talk about football 90% of the time, it does become a way of life. Growing up, I always knew the names of most of the players, not because I watched the games, but from listening to the gazillion conversations around me. Pre-chur...

Last night we were counting days, and it shocked me a little to realize in less than 50 days Bobby will be retired. It seems unreal, exciting, and scary all at the same time. I know life will be very different for both of us once that actually happens, but with some of the health issues he's faced the last year, I think it's time. So this week his office is conducting interviews to find his replacement. I've never sat through a lot of interviews in my life, so I can't say what is a common question or proper response. But I think I can honestly say I would never intentionally criticize or offend people on the interview committee. To me that seems counter-productive. Maybe it's because I've only worked in one office environment so I don't understand the brutal opinions bantered around, but somehow I can't see offering a critical opinion on future co-workers/supervisors as a way to gain favor when seeking employment. I imagine that interviewee would probab...

Before we headed to Alabama for my birthday, I downloaded a few (okay, a LOT) of Christmas music on itunes, and started to load in on my ipod nano. Only it wouldn't work. It wouldn't even turn on. My computer wouldn't recognize it, and I finally got itunes to acknowledge it was there, only to have it tell me my little nano was "corrupt".  I think it's fair to say I was not pleased. Even though I've had it for several years now, it wasn't cheap. So when we got home from our trip (of which we had to listen to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" at LEAST every hour on the radio), I tried several fixes apple suggested. Still nothing. Today, I googled it, and tried the suggestion a bunch of kids made on a forum. It worked. (Holding the off/on button for 20 seconds...who'd a thunk it?) Yes, that sound you thought was thunder was actually me doing my happy dance. I so love google!

Inevitably when two people forge a new life together, they discover things they thought were normal can be perceived as "strange" to others. We had one of those moments today. There are many things, whether it be sayings or habits, that make my husband grin and say "Is that a White/Guyton thing or an Alabama thing?"  Sometimes I take to Facebook and find out it's unique to my family. Othertimes friends and family from home respond with "WHAT? You mean people in NC don't say/do that?!?" so we know it's regional. Since we slept in this morning and had a late breakfast, we had a late lunch, and I decided it needed to be light as well. Turns out my husband has NEVER had a pineapple sandwich. He's never even HEARD of it. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. I guess I've just eaten them when he's been at work. So after lunch, he googles it, and discovers that it is an Alabama tradition , and not something crazy I made up. After re...