snow!

my first ipod video!
Of course, now that I've figured out how to take the video and upload it to the computer, the ground is now covered and it's coming down nicely! I might have to post another one later today!

8 years ago...

2002

2010

Have we changed or what?

it's happening again!

For middle school I attended a Christian school where we had to wear a uniform every Wednesday for chapel. 1st -12th grade probably had 100 students total. Chapel was basically church. We song a few songs, then listened to a sermon. One year, we had three different preachers all preach the same sermon outline: I. Sin will take you farther than you want to go. II. Sin will cost you more than you want to pay. and I've never been able to remember point III. Each pastor had their own references and illustrations for the points, but all three had the exact same outline. Needless to say, there were numerous jokes about preachers selling sermons to other preachers so they didn't have to write their own. I made the mistake of repeating one of the jokes at home. My mother did not find this funny in the least, but instead informed me that if I had heard the same sermon outline three times then God was trying to get something through to me and I had better start listening.

Last week Jr. Church's lesson was on Sanctification, and its key verse was II Thessalonians 2:13b: "...God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." Last week the emphasis was on the Holy Spirit and the truth (Scriptures), and yesterday followed up with a lesson on prayer, how to pray (using the Lord's prayer), and its importance to sanctification. Then last night our small group study was on how the way we battle to live holy lives, and the main points were: knowing the Scriptures and prayer. Today I'm reading through Facebook and a dear friend of mine posted this: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." God knows best how this life should work. Want to experience true "freedom and happiness"? Learn to say, "not my will; but thy will. If you don't recognize the last part of her quote, it's from the Lord's prayer, and was one of the main points of yesterday's lesson. I have no doubt that God is trying to get something through my thick skull.

If I had to choose one adjective to describe 2010, it would be convicting. I feel as if the Holy Spirit is sifting and sifting and yet I'm still so lumpy and rocky it's almost unreal. So today I'm putting my combat boots on. It's time for business.

value of a dollar, part 2

This morning we had a discussion about chickens.
In case you didn't know, egg production is dramatically linked to sunlight. The shorter the days, the less likely you are to get eggs. (It takes a chicken a day to a day and a half to create an egg.) Commercial chicken farms will install electric lights on timers during the fall and winter to keep the chickens laying. Most hobbyists don't do this because it decreases the lifespan of the hen. So now that you know some of the basic egg laying facts, you'll understand that we're getting next to no eggs out of our 7 hens. And obviously we're not getting ANY from Ugly (our rooster).
So that led me to ponder whether or not it was worth the cost in feed to keep the chickens if they're only putting out in the spring and summer. And again, like the last summer we had the Belarus kids, I was reminded that the value of a dollar is much more than 100 cents, and is actually relative to our personal values.
Watching our chickens was compared to watching a movie at the theater. If we replaced the cost of feed with going to the movies, we could both go to the movies once a month. Suddenly the chicken feed doesn't seem quite so expensive. Meanwhile, if you get bored and don't have money for a movie, you're welcome to come watch my chickens in the afternoon. I can guarantee it'll be a pecking plot.

shows of the season

I've never been a big tv person. Growing up I watched The Cosby Show every Thursday night that we didn't have band practice. During the summer I'd watch Perry Mason at lunchtime with my Dad, but other than that, I don't really remember watching a whole lot of television. So I find it strange that there are a few shows I actually enjoy watching now.

Survivor - a friend of mine was an ardent Survivor fan. Our last conversation actually took place after church on the Sunday night of Survivor's first season's finale. He was ardently hoping a certain person wouldn't win. After his death, I watched the next season just to see what he had been so passionate about seeing. I found it to be a great quilting show (one you can not have to watch the screen every minute to know what is happening) and have seen most of the seasons since.

The Good Wife - I've missed quite a few in this series because it comes on after my bedtime. (Yeah, I know. That's sad.) I've contemplated not staying up and watching the show and simply buying the dvd set when it comes out. But why pay for something I can watch for free? I've also tried watching it online during the day, but they don't update the episodes until almost a month after it has shown.

Numbers - Again, this is a show that comes on after my bedtime, but since it's a Friday night show, we get to watch it about half of the time.

And, a show that we don't get since we don't have cable (I discovered it on vacation) and Target had a DVD set for sale is: The Cake Boss! I must confess, I was bad and actually bought this, though I haven't watched it yet. And if you haven't seen it but you like creative things, you will have to come over and watch it with me. But I can't help but wonder how much those cakes cost. Such labors are very time intensive and can't be cheap. And I also think it would be cool to work in a family business. Then again, maybe not.

There's some parenting show coming on after the Olympics that have funny previews, but I seriously doubt we'll attempt to add anything else to our crazy life. After all, if I miss half of the shows from my "favorites", what makes me think I'll have time to watch anything else?

when i retire

I know this will never happen. But in my dream world, when I retire, my life would look like this:

7-8am - get up & going
9am - read the paper & whatever else suited my fancy
10am-12noon - sew or quilt
12noon-1pm - lunch with friends
1pm-3pm - computer/art/garden
4pm-5pm - nap
5pm-7pm - cook, eat, clean
7pm-9pm - watch tv or projects
10pm-midnight - write or read
bed!

Would that not be an awesome life? There'd be no laundry or housework 'cause I'd job it out (now you KNOW I'm dreaming, especially since those things cost money AND are very private things for me!), so all my free time would be spent "playing"! How cool would that be?

Meanwhile, as reality sets in, the idea side of my brain has kicked into high gear. Every time I turn around I think of something else I'd like to be doing (and I can guarantee you ironing is NOT one of them!). It doesn't help that my Keepsake Quilting catalogue came in the mail today. I did turn down a gazillion pages, but I'm resisting the urge to order anything. I also shocked myself (and Bobby) by not signing up for a more detailed applique class. Not that I don't want to (the patterns are SO cool) and not that I won't in the future, but I really do need to tackle and finish a few of the projects I have going on at the moment.

Bobby's quilt is in the frame, though I must confess this 2 day applique class fueled a fire and I now have 220 6" squares cut and about 150 hearts for appliqueing onto them. (enough for a twin size quilt) They'll go into my sewing pile for when I have a little bit of time to work on something small. I won't tell you how many of those projects I currently have going.

My art room is 3/4 clean and somewhat organized. Who knows? Maybe by the end of February I'll not only have it ready but will actually be working inside!

And as for reading...so far I'm actually keeping up with my reading for the church's class! I'm a little behind on some other things, but so far so good.

Now if I can figure out a way to siphon the fish food flakes off the kitchen floor that I dropped yesterday without having to throw them all away, I'll have actually accomplished something today!

wrappers

This past week I've thought a lot about packaging.

Outward appearance isn't everything, but it does make a big difference. As an idealist teen it always aggravated me that boys gravitated toward the pretty girls, whether they had brains or not. I could understand why they were interested in the girls who had a nice personality and were pretty, but the mean ones? By college I realized I was interested in outward appearance much more than I ever dreamed possible. One of my fellow first shift cafeteria workers would show up downstairs at 6:30am in clothes that had not been ironed (and mind you...they looked as if they had been wadded up wet and then stuffed in a drawer!), and her hair brushed but not fixed. Her mindset was that her clothes were clean, they matched, she was clean, her face was washed, so what else did she need to worry about? Mind you, she was very smart and very nice, but her appearance drove me crazy!!! I wanted her to at least look like she cared about herself. (and to be fair, the last time I saw her she had "grown up" and had on neat clothes and her hair was combed into place).

At a funeral I attended this past week, one of the family members showed up in blue jeans and a t-shirt. Most of the family was aghast. You know, that's just not the southern thing to do. If you don't have black or grey dress clothes, then you wear your Sunday best. It's one of those unwritten laws that are floating around out there. It was interesting to see the different reactions. Some people thought it was downright indecent. It's not like the person couldn't afford dress clothes even if they didn't own any. But I could also hear my great-uncle saying, "Why buy clothes I'm only going to be made to wear one time?" (He would wear a brand new pair of overalls to weddings and funerals.) A part of me thought the person was brave. You're emotionally miserable, so why be physically miserable as well? (Can you tell I'm not crazy about dress clothes?) Others wondered if he was trying to make a point, and if so, what it was. Meanwhile a small part of me was wondering what all the fuss was about.

Packaging...in design they say how you package and market a product will determine how it sells in the beginning. After the initial purchase, then the product has to sell itself. You can have the most appealing design and packaging and an irresistible marketing campaign, but if the product itself isn't worth anything then people will never buy it again.

And it makes me wonder how people perceive me. Do I come across as friendly or stuck-up? Are people willing to give me a try? Is there any substance past my outward appearance to make me interesting?

As a child I used to worry about being given robes of white to wear in heaven. I am a very messy person, and anything I own that is white inevitably winds up stained. Can't you just see me standing before Jesus with a fruit stain from the Tree of Life on my robe?

Wrappers...wouldn't it be cool if we didn't have any in heaven at all?