Random Musings

We gave Bobby's great nieces and nephews books for Christmas this year (along with a small gift card to Five Below). Thankfully most of them love reading more than their parents did. We purchased a few books we weren't familiar with based on reviews, and all but one of them passed my inspection read. I did purchase one as a backup option (and because it piqued my curiosity). And I loved it. Inside Out & Back Again  by Thanhha Lai  is written in poem. It's simple, but packed with description and emotion. Based in both Vietnam and Alabama, it shows some of the confusion and chaos that comes to people whose lives are impacted by war, and how our immigration system then (and even more so now) could use a serious overhaul. Despite the deep subjects the author introduces, it is written well enough that I wouldn't hesitate to share it with Mom who prefers light reads and romances. It's definitely a book I'd like to both keep and share. Marilla of Green Gables b

The hardwood floors in 2 of our rooms in our house are showing bare wood in spots. I've refinished and polished to the point I'm done and the floors are in danger of being ruined. The floor guy told us most hardwood floor finishes last for 12 years. It's been 19 for us, so it's time to get them redone. And that means we have to move everything out of those rooms in about 2 weeks. Did I mention a lot of this stuff has been in place for 19 years?!?! So today I started tackling cleaning out the desk drawers in the study...here's just one of the antiques I found: Bobby's nieces in college don't even know what floppy disks are! All of our correspondence from when we are dating are saved on t floppies. I think it may be too late to get the information off (and I'm okay with that.) Who knows what else we're going to find?

Bobby's parents had the old, plastic, light-up nativity set. I think he bought it for them years ago, and we added a few pieces to it after we got married. Various things happened over the years, causing it to stay in one of the barns. I asked her this year if she wasn't going to put it out anymore could we have it. It's not in the best of shape. I've painted one lamb, and finished Joseph last night. Realistically, I don't think it will go out this year. I expect it to take another week or so to finish painting and repairing (baby Jesus) has 2 holes on his arms. Then I'll need to wait until a warmer day to put the sealer on it. I fear the paint I've used will not allow it to light up properly, so I'm thinking we'll go for a spotlight or two. Before: I had already painted the right side  of his head before I thought to take a picture. After: Not exactly what I had planned, but it works and I'm moving on to the next piece!

Since August I've had 3 major things on my calendar that I've kept telling myself  "Get to this point, and you can breathe."  Today is day two of breathing day. :) Sunday morning the kids from our church had their Christmas program. I can honestly say I've never had a class at CBC that I didn't love as my own. Other than dealing with active toddlers during practice (which reminded me of why we've done 2 programs in the past - one play and a verse and song or two for the toddlers), it has been a true joy to work these kids. As with any play practice, there were moments: - the day we introduced the sound system and kids were jockeying for position in front of a microphone - the practice when a sheep pretended to bite the shepherds, resulting in some serious shoving - the practice where a sheep pouted, another flipped off stage, and they crawled into an area they shouldn't be, prompting in several stands being knocked over - onto other sheep - the p