weekend reading

I sadly realized today that my "free" weekend isn't quite as free as I would like for it to be. Elections for Wake County are next Tuesday, meaning I have to read the election official's training manual before then. I think I can skim through it in an hour or two. I intentionally didn't sign up to work the help table, so that's a whole section I don't need to read.

And of course, there's the "love me" book that our ladies are reading at church. I think our first meeting on that one is in 2.5 weeks. I'm actually at the beginning of Chapt 3, so I'm not to worried about having the 6 read in time. Not yet anyway.

AND it's the first Saturday of the month, so I'd like to make a quick trip to the "hazardous" landfill to dump off all these empty and half-empty paint cans that have been hanging out at our house for um, well, several years.

I did wash a few windows and siding today, though I've still to tackle the garden, shrubs, and flowerbeds. But hey, there's always next week...right?

oh my....

When I had my painting fiasco a few weeks ago (where what should have been a 2 day job turned into a week long nightmare), I used some of the extra orangey-brown paint on one section of the kitchen wall. Yes, just one section. The backsplash area behind the stove was absolutely atrocious and no amount of cleaning was helping, so it went from white to dark. When I pulled the tape away from the outlets and wall edges, it also pulled some of the tape away. :O(
I've briefly looked at the tiles in Lowe's, quickly trashed the advertisements claiming tile is out and tin is in (not for my kitchen!!!) and even briefly entertained the thought of painting something on paper for directly over the stove, covering it with Plexiglas, and then just touching up all the edges with the dark paint. But while we were at the Southern Home Shows, I saw these custom tiles a family makes. The husband creates the ceramic tiles, the wife paints them, then he refires them to finish them. Of course, custom tiles aren't cheap. I looked online at other companies, and the more I saw the more ideas I had. I might still check out wall paper murals, though Bobby's not crazy about anything behind the stove that could be a fire hazard (such as a painting, etc).

They had many tiles like this one. They also had pigs, cows, horses, and just about anything you could imagine.

This is one of their larger works that is embossed (where parts stand out like a sculpture). They had a whole section on display at the show that were small tiles of the vegetables only. (One 4" tile would be a yellow bell pepper, one would be a tomato, two would make up a carrot, or corn, etc). But if you're putting them together, she can do a display such as the one above.

These two I found online by two other companies. While I love the historic kitchen one, (and the brown baskets would match the brown wall on the sides), I think it might be a bit much. And I LOVE the realistic painting of the tomatoes.

Realistically, unless I buy tiles at Lowe's and paint them myself (which wouldn't look anywhere as lovely as these), it will be several years down the road before this home project could be accomplished. I get to fill in at my old job 2 days a week for a few weeks this next month, and a small part of me would love to put that income towards this project, but my head reminds me there are other priorities demanding it. Maybe by the time I finally decide what I want, it'll be time to start!

fyi

Yesterday while we visited the History Museum to see my sister-in-law's cooking demo, then on to the Fairgrounds for the Southern Home Show, approximately 4,000 people gathered in Durham to observe 112 organizations put on the 25th NC PrideParade. After reading the article in the News & Observer, then going on-line to view the PhotoGallery of the event, I went to the group's website where they proudly displayed the parade's sponsors:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
• Capital Chrysler Jeep Dodge (in Garner)
• WholeFoods Market
• The Duke Center for LGBT lifes
• Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams
• Legends Nightclub
• AARP
• Food Lion
• Chapel Hill Visitors Bureau
• The Capital Corral
• Raleigh Greater Visitors Bureau
• QNotes
• Weaver Street Market

After tonight's lesson where one of the many points discussed was not only God's love but also his holiness and anger, it was interesting in a sad way to see the number of churches involved as well as the misinformed Jesus impersonator in the parade who claimed Jesus was silent on the matter of GLBT.

not so rechargeable batteries

As a teen, one of the very few things I liked about the Bible verse "...wonderfully made" was that I could be absolutely exhausted at night, and yet when I woke up in the morning I would be totally refreshed. It was as if God had made sleep to be our body's charger for our energy cells. As I moved through college and abused my body with too little sleep and too many work hours, that quickly changed. Maybe it's old age. Perhaps it's simply overdoing it, but regardless, my body no longer recharges overnight the way it used to.

This morning was one of my "owie" mornings where my body whimpered for more sleep and creaked and groan with every move. After sitting through an hour and a half seminar this morning, my body definitely needed some movement. It was overcast, but nice outside, and I figured my hour break before the next seminar was perfect for walking the hilly sidewalks where Wake County holds its election officials training. If I can do 30 minutes on a stationary bicycle or 45 minutes of water aerobics, certainly I can walk for 30-45 minutes! Wrong, wrong, wrong. After five minutes I was hurting. At ten minutes I was almost limping. At fifteen minutes I was wishing I could sit down and never get up again. At twenty minutes I admitted defeat and prayed I would make it back to the vehicle for my binder for the next session. I survived 25 minutes of walking and then gladly quit. Even after sitting for 2.5 hours, my feet were still avidly complaining to my brain on the way to my car.

Maybe I'm just having an off day. Perhaps I'm still so woefully out of shape that I'm just not up to this yet. I like to think my body batteries just need a little extra charging.

identity theft

When I was a teenager it bothered me greatly the number of "hypocrites" in the church. What disturbed me even more was how sinful we believers were even after salvation. I yearned to be totally sanctified (without dying, of course). I didn't get the whole point of the war with our spiritual and fleshly being, thinking that salvation should not only wash us clean but keep us that way as well. (Yes, I know that's not even possible with clothes, but I'm just telling you some of my thoughts from a few decades ago.)

So imagine my surprise when I get to chapter three of the book being read by the CBC Ladies' Book Club. (Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick) The thought of us stealing Christ's identity was both a surprise and enlightening. On the one hand, it's both neat and exciting that we identify with Christ enough for people to call us "little Christs" (what the word Christian actually means), but at the same time it explains why people get so disgusted when we mess up...they really want Christ. And while we can model our lives after him (or steal, borrow, use, or imitate his identity, if you will), the reality is: we are not him. Perhaps that is why the word hypocrite is thrown so loosely and freely at the church. People are seeing traces of Christ, and mistakenly think they are actually seeing him. When our true broken nature comes out, they are disappointed. It makes you want to hide, which is also a new concept for me.

Hiding is something children do. The very idea of hiding behind someone or something seems cowardly and childish. And yet that is what we are supposed to do with Christ...hide ourselves in Him. It's a very different image from what we're taught as children. Songs such as "Onward Christian Soldiers" come to mind...images of bravely pushing onward despite of everything around you. The prophets of old taking on thousands of unbelievers...but we're supposed to hide?

Books that challenge our focal points aren't easily found. Fitzpatrick has a way of expressing things that is forcing me to re-evaluate some basic principles and assumptions, which isn't a bad thing. How cool would it be if at the end of a year or two of reading and devouring the contents of this book, our personalities were so radically altered that others would think we had a new identity?

BWAAAKKKKK!!!!!

For the first time ever on the Bobby Bryan farm....our chickens laid an egg!
Not that I'm excited or anything.

The Wonderful Thing about Parents Is....

parents are wonderful things!!!
One of the blessings of a childless home is the quality time I can spend with my parents as an adult. In college I remember being embarrassed to call and ask for help with things, and now nothing pleases me more than being able to work alongside my parents. The last day they were here I actually felt well enough to work outside, and thanks to Dad and Bobby, the chicken pen is now TOTALLY finished!!!

Dad measuring the open door (which we'd been covering with half a sheet of plywood).

Dad with Mom, the Queen Supervisor.

And the finished product!