this week

Monday afternoon we had an absolutely delightful thunderstorm. I was actually caught up on housework so grabbed a book and stretched out to read. And then the ceiling shook. Badly. And our smoke detector that has not worked for several (umm...wow...years) started going off. And the lights flickered/popped. When all was said and done, we lost our answering machine and two landline phones, my external hard drive and part of my sanity.
After spending 1.5 hours on the phone with AT&T, replacing a cord, spending an entire DAY copying files that I had not got around to backing up yet, and finalizing some design work that needed to be done soon, I made it to Best Buy today. Turns out AT&T was wrong. There was nothing wrong with our computer, nor the internet card. There was one setting that re-installed itself, and it worked fine. My hard drive...we were able to salvage its guts (and yes Richpo the Magnificent, if you're reading this, I realize that's not the techie term for it). I did have to purchase a new skin for it, but all its contents are now safe at home on my desk, still in their new box.
So we now have internet (after a brief and frustrating experience of the computer not wanting to recognize the keyboard so I could re-login to everything!), and I am so very thankful that we didn't have to get a new computer or send this one off for a month again while we wait for repairs. I had actually entertained the possibility if we had to replace our black and silver monster, then perhaps it was time to disconnect from the world. And that is an interesting and perplexing thought indeed. I'll save those ponderings for another day. Meanwhile, it's good to be viral. :)

popular weekends

Have you ever noticed that when you want to do something, it happens the exact same weekend of something else you want to do?
For example: the weekend of July 14-16, our first "free" weekend in a while
Kids Exchange (a consignment sale) at the Fairgrounds
Coin & Stamp Show
Barrell Racing
"This Day Forward" in Valdese


It's as if someone makes up a list of all the things we might be interested in, and plops them down on the calendar for the same weekend. Realistically, everyone probably just looks at things the same way (it's the first available weekend after the holiday, it's the last weekend before year-round schools have totally kicked into gear for the new year, and well, it's summer).

Does anyone else have a hard time planning a vacation around events, activities, work, and church?

when people make me crazy

It's not hard to make my blood boil. It's really not even that difficult to aggravate me. And unfortunately for me, we've officially entered the crazy season.  It starts small - people I don't know stopping and asking if they can hunt/fish and continuously badgering when I say no, but then it begins to escalate. Like this:

• You don't have church one Wed/Sun night (or stay home sick) and find people parking in your driveway or traipsing through your yard to the pond because they think you're away at church.
• People hide their cars behind houses up for sale and walk through the weeds in the nearby field, then cut across the dam, so they're not "on" your property.
• They're not going to fish at your pond, but are hiking to the other one. 
• And when you tell them they don't have permission to be at the other pond, they respond "The man who lives there gave us permission." (Um, news flash, Bobby's mom, who is a widow, doesn't grant permission, either; and even if she did, she'd tell them to drive through HER yard, not ours which is a mile walk at least from that pond).
• You see me, or my husband, come outside to talk with you, and you take off running.
• You give my husband the finger when you leave.
• You scratch off in your car, slinging gravel from the dirt road everywhere.
• And the ultimate kicker (from the teenage couple swinging on my swing): we didn't know this was anyone's property.

And people wonder why I'm not always thrilled to have a pond behind my house.

first of the season

Last night the first catfish large enough to spend time cleaning was caught. 3lbs, 14 oz.

Congratulations, Jacob!

hogwash

I'm a tad irate this morning.
Reading the newspaper can sometimes do that for me.

I understand that throughout life there will be things we change our minds about.
Our opinions modify with maturity, experience, feelings, education, and sometimes even through stupidity.
But just because I change my mind about an idea, or philosophy, or a political candidate, or belief, does not make me brainwashed, sick, brain-damaged or incompetent. It simply means I changed my mind. Perhaps I recognized I was wrong. And if that's the case, then I've learned something.

It is so bizarre to me that people will call themselves "recovering Evangelicals" as if a belief system is an illness. Being an Evangelical simply means that you have a set system of beliefs that influence how you live. It's called a worldview. Everyone has a worldview, even atheists. Atheists who become a believer of any religion do not refer to themselves as "recovering atheists". You recover from an illness. You change your mind about your beliefs or ways of living. Perhaps there's the rub. If beliefs are an illness, then the no-longer believing believer doesn't have to admit that a) they changed their mind, b) they were WRONG (gasp!) or c) they were stupid, naive, unthinking or whatever else the case might be, to be swallowed up by such shallow or convoluted thinking. BUT, if such a previously-held belief was the result of brain-washing (and what does that say about you to begin with?), then it's an illness, and it's not your fault. 

You don't recover from a faith. You simply stop believing parts or all of it. It's that simple.

book review

For Christmas one of the books I asked for was Entertaining Angels: Stories and Ideas for Opening Your Heart and Home by Annie Chapman and Heidi Chapman Beall

Some of the things I liked about this book:

1. She addresses up front the cost of hospitality. It's not easy. It takes time. It uses up resources, both financial, emotional, and time. She uses a lot of different Scriptural passages to address all of these areas, from David's statement that he wouldn't offer anything to the Lord if it cost him nothing (II Sam. 24:24), as well as a quote from a preacher that "Some of you want to take authority over demons and devils and yet you haven't even taken authority over the dirty dishes in your sink or the piles of laundry waiting to be washed."  Diligence and perseverance in the little things enable us to serve in greater things.
2. She includes a lot of simply recipes (and most of them we've had in our Apples of Gold meetings from church!)
3. She addresses areas of hospitality we often ignore: meals and assistance to the sick, gestures of thoughtfulness to those grieving, activities to and for her children and their peers, welcoming guests, among others
4. She's honest. She talks about times she failed to be a great, or even good hostess, as well as some times she didn't exercise wisdom in her younger years in attempting to be a good host and entertain strangers.

What I didn't like:

1. There's nothing biblical equating hospitality with frills. I don't think we need to use our best dishes and have everything perfect to be hospitable. Her advice to get help if needed, (hire help, which isn't an option for many cash-strapped Christians), almost runs amok to Christ's rebuke of Martha for asking Mary to help while she was "fellowshipping".
2. While she readily admits some areas put her out of her comfort zone, I'm not totally convinced of the wisdom in stepping out of comfort zones. From personal experience, stepping out of comfort zones can sometimes cause more harm than good. I'm not so certain that we should waste time attempting to develop gifts we don't have when God has enabled us in other areas. Don't get me wrong. I think God can use us mightily when we're forced to depend on Him for strength, but I've seen too many situations where people have tried to make things happen and ended up doing more harm than good.
3. Following a command of Christ, such as showing hospitality, is not a reason to be stupid. I think we should feed the hungry and help the homeless, but I'm not going to go invite people off the street into my home for Thanksgiving dinner or to spend the night.

Sometimes I wondered if in attempts to make this book a little thicker she was stretching to add things under the hospitality umbrella. And I would have liked to have seen a more common-sense, practical how-to instead of personal stories that most people can't or won't replicate. The book's an interesting read, but I don't know that it's one I'll keep long-term.

eating my elephants

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

Many times when I over-commit to things, then regular life (laundry, housework, etc) gets thrown on the back burner. By the time I've fulfilled my obligations, I'm not only tired, but I'm also a tad overwhelmed with conquering the jungle that surrounds me.

One of the local quilt shops has a quote they put on their monthly newsletter and weekly e-flyer: Quilt thirty minutes a day and you'll not only get your projects done, but you'll be healthier and happier!

I don't know about the healthier part, but I am finding if I tackle things in small increments I am more willing to face them and seem to get a lot more accomplished. Sometimes I wind up working much longer than my allotted one hour or thirty minutes, but that's okay. It's nice to see things slowly coming together (or in the case of my ironing pile, slowly shrinking!) or becoming more organized. 

And, I'm learning to take things one bite at a time. :) While cleaning my art/sewing room, which requires re-organizing since stuff got tossed/pulled/shoved during my frantic 3-month sewing craze, I found myself wanting to drop everything and start working on a project. You know, like "Oh, if I go ahead and cut out this pattern then it'll be ready to sew as soon as I finish the other six projects in the process of being sewed!" I refrained. That makes about as much sense as using every fork in the drawer, filling each one with a bite of food, and lining them up to be eaten in turn. I couldn't help but thinking if I died this week and my mother and mother-in-law had to come sort through this room, they would die. I even thought about moving my little cork board from the computer room to the sewing room and designating a project a month until the end of the year, but we all know I'll simply work on a different project or get side-tracked with life. My husband also likes to remind me that I have no concept of time. And all of those things are true.

So I'll keep plodding a little a day, eating one bite of this elephant at a time. The questions is: How many elephants can I eat this year?