frustrating morning

I went out for my run/walk this morning.  To my surprise, I ran all the way to the end of our lane.  That's almost a half mile with a steep uphill at the end.  Somewhere just past that, there is a dead skunk.  I think the skunk picked a nice final resting place because later, on the way back, I smelled something like honeysuckle just before the skunk took over.

A fox and I almost had a close encounter.  I turned the corner and there he was.  We both checked up momentarily, then he continued his run into to the woods and I kept to the road.  Somewhere at the bottom of the hill, I realized that my phone app hadn't called out the mile.  I first suspected that it was still on silent from the night before (Em's Top 20 Banquet.)  I looked and saw that somehow I had paused it almost immediately after I started.  I was not pleased.  I had never run that entire length of our lane before.  I turned it back on and kept on.

I try to run facing any oncoming traffic.  That way cars don't sneak up behind me on my side of the road.  At one point I heard a car behind me and could see one ahead of me.  I kept waiting for the one behind me to pass, but it didn't.  I looked back and it turned into a driveway.  But there was one just behind it.  It never passed either.  The oncoming car was still in front of me and I don't know what the guy behind was doing.  I ended up getting over into the ditch because it didn't look like the car in front of me wanted to drive too close.

About  then is when I picked up a satellite.  Something that buzzed started to orbit me.  I don't know if it was a bee or a deer fly, but I didn't want to be stung or bitten by either.  At times like that you understand the wisdom of breathe in through the nose.  I didn't want to consume the buzzing moon.  I figured it would have a harder time being inhaled than swallowed.

Today's run/walk was recorded as .8 mile shorter than Wednesday's, but it was exactly the same distance.  The map looks like I jumped over two houses.  But I just walked/ran while the app wasn't looking.

It's definitely been a while since I've been here.  Em is graduating next week so this week is full.  Last night was class night.  She was received the trigonometry award, the Spanish II award, another one that I couldn't hear, and the overall math Hall of Fame.  The Hall of Fame award meant that when it was over (at 9 p.m.), she still had to stay for HoF pictures. . . and then pick up her cap and gown.  Neither of us had eaten before because she had to be there at 6 and by 9:30 she was starving.  I don't think we got home until 10.

Tomorrow is the Top 20 Banquet.  Em is #3, Class Historian.  I remember going with Andra 6 years ago.  It's always a competition among the students to see who can invite the favorite teacher before someone else takes him/her.  Em's teacher of choice just found out that he has a recognition ceremony for his own child that night and had to decline at the last minute.  She found a replacement in a hurry.

This will be a big year for Em.  Later this summer she is going to Romania on a mission trip. Then she'll be headed to Mississippi State.  Things are changing.

I'm trying to change a bit myself.  Instead of walking in the mornings, I'm trying to speed it up and run a bit, too.  I went 3 miles in 48:10.  The pace got progressively slower, which doesn't surprise me a bit. I started out at a 14:14/mile, the next was at 15:48 and the last was 16:17.  However, I was still moving when I got home, so I guess it's
 all good.

Time To Create

January is a tough month for me.  As a bookkeeper-type, January is one of my busiest times.  There is end-of-month as well as end-of-year stuff that just has to be done. Financial statements and contribution statements. And then there is the scariest part of all:  year-end payroll processing with W-2 forms and 1099 forms.  That impacts people in a big way.  It's got to be done correctly and in a way that the IRS will accept.  And all of these things have specific deadlines that have to be observed and fit in to the regular day-to-day schedule.  I always feel as if I run through January at top speed and just manage to cover all that needs to be covered.

The worst part of all that rushing is that I don't have time to sit down and learn something new.

Today, I think I've finally caught up to where I need to be. *Sigh*

And I'm going to learn something new!

I've downloaded Audacity and I'm going to learn how to create some customized song clips for our Children's Large Group Sunday School.

Creativity takes time.  There are ideas to hatch, processes to learn, visions to catch.

I think I'm ready ......... at last ........ it's time to create.

How Much Is Too Little

Over the years, I've received several gifts from church members.  Some were for Christmas and some were ... well ... just because.  Last month I received a book from a couple in our church.  The title is "Breakfast with Jesus" by Greg Laurie.  It is filled with short devotionals, each based on one or two verses from the gospels.  The chapters are short, designed to do just what the title suggests: get your day started with the Savior.

Today I read what Mr. Laurie had to say about Luke 9:16-17. It's the story of Jesus asking His disciples to feed over 5000 hungry people. So often we focus on the boy and his lunch with this story. This time the focus was on the disciples.  Luke's account doesn't mention the boy at all.  When His twelve asked Jesus to send the crowd away to eat, Jesus replied, "You give them something to eat." (v. 13)

Somewhere along the way, the guys had missed an important point.  They had seen Jesus give life back to a dead girl and give sight to a blind man.  They had even seen Him give good wine to a wedding party (so they knew that not all His miracles had to do with people and their health!)  Jesus had a history of being able to do exactly what needed to be done, and yet they didn't ask Him to do anything other than send the people away.

Then Jesus did what He is still doing:  He asked His guys to give Him "what they had, regardless of how little it seemed." (BwJ, pg.37) I've never looked at this story quite from that point of view before.  Jesus doesn't want something from me that I don't have.  He just wants what I do have... right now, on hand... and He'll make something miraculous from that.

O Christmas Tree

Today was the day I had set aside for beginning Christmas at our house.  The girls had told me (in no uncertain terms, I might add) that they did not want to put up the artificial tree.  So I set off this morning to find the real thing.

It didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would to pick out THE one.  I was even able to install the roof rack without assistance as I waited for a young man to trim the bottom and bring it to the car.  As nice as he was, his tree-tying skills need work.  After he was safely away, I re-tied the ends with real knots and prayed the middle was secure.

The tree is now safely home and having a drink on the front porch.  While it was resting, I thought I'd tidy it up a bit. Caught in its green tresses was foliage that had been shed by some of its former neighbors.  I found pine needles and leaves from at least 2 types of oak.  Up next to the trunk, I spied what I thought was a wad of grass.  As I pulled it out, I realized it was an empty nest.  I don't know if it has ever secured a family of little birds.  It appears still loosely woven rather than pressed together from habitation.  I was tempted to leave it in place, perhaps filling it with a small glass occupant.  Then I concluded that the temptation to the feline members of the household might be too much resist. 

PPP - Portable Phone Pocket

Remember Carol Burnett?  If you're a generation younger than me, you would know her as Miss Hannigan from the movie version of "Annie." If you are my age or older, you would just know her.  She had one of those stage variety shows that were so popular in the '70's. One of the things I remember most about her is that she had the man who designed her dresses to put pockets in all of them.  Not the clothes she wore everyday, but the gowns she wore on stage.

I understand completely.  Not all women's clothing has pockets, or even a single pocket.  I hate that. I don't particularly like purses and I certainly don't want to carry one every waking moment. But since I have a family and they expect me to be reachable at all times, I needed a phone pocket.  It seemed like a great idea for a new knitting project.

I knew that it would be something that got a lot of use, so I didn't really want a fuzzy yarn.  Mr. H had a spool of twisted nylon twine in his shop.  It seemed like the perfect thing to use. I measured my phone and got my knitting needles out.

It turned out just like I had envisioned! It's not often that one can say that about a project.

It's been about a year since I made the phone pocket.  The nylon twine has held up beautifully: no holes, no worn places. Perfect service. I realized that the cord was a bit too long, so I just knotted it to take up some slack.


Recently, I decided I needed something to hold my iPod Touch.  When I exercise, I like to listen to something. We have a rowing machine in our bathroom, but there is no view to distract my mind.  There is a radio in there, but the machine generates so much noise that I can't hear it.  The seating position of the rowing machine makes using regular pants pockets an if-fy proposition.  The iPod kept inching out and falling onto the floor, causing the earbuds to pull out of my ears. I needed another PPP - a Portable iPod Pocket.

I got it cast on Friday night. Then Saturday, while we were on the way to the family reunion, I got it almost finished.  Only one end of the strap was left to attach. I had planned it out on a 3" x 3.5" piece of graph paper in the back seat of the car.  That plan included grafting one end of the strap to some open stitches with Kitchner stitch, which meant I needed my cheat sheet and some undistracted time :)

I got it finished Sunday night and tested it Monday morning.  I like it!

Click HERE if you'd like a PDF of the pattern.

Treasure from my Grandmother

In the process of remodeling our bedroom, I have discovered treasure.  I was cleaning out the cabinets that were formerly part of the office, but are now the other end of our bedroom.  Over the years since we built the house, those cabinets have become overstuffed with little bits and pieces of every crafting project we've attempted.  It was really like a walk down memory lane:  fabrics I used to make little toddler dresses for the girls, church and school assembly program costumes for the entire family, and little crafting supplies accumulated over the years.  

Buried in the back of the least accessible cabinet was a big shopping bag.  I remembered it as a bag of silky fabric, cut into pieces that my grandmother intended for a quilt.  I pulled the bag out and opened it.  The fragrance of my grandmother's house escaped into the room, overpowering the new carpet scent.  It seemed like a magic moment.  Then I discovered the buried treasure.  I didn't realize that she had been well on her way to achieving the actual quilt.

As I was looking to see if there were enough pieces for me to try to finish her work, I noticed that some were attached to each other.  As I tried to pull a square out of the bag, it reminded me of the old magician's trick of the long, long scarf coming from his sleeve.  It was a quilt topper, mostly hand basted, but a few pieces were just pinned together.  It was exactly what I was picturing in my head as a bed covering for the new room.  There are Van Gogh prints hanging on our new gray walls, mostly in hues of blue and green and violet. This would be perfect.  I couldn't resist spreading it over the old comforter to see what it would look like.

This photograph doesn't really do it justice.  The colors are more mellow, not nearly as harsh as they look here.  It hangs almost to the floor on both sides of our queen size bed.

When I dug deeper in the bag, I found another one!

It isn't quite as big as the first.  It hangs down one square's length on both sides.  The pieces on this one are machine sewn.  It looks as if there are enough triangles in the bag to make at least one more row.  I hope so.

Now the question is whether I've got what it takes to finish the job or if I need to get someone else, more experienced, to make these treasures functional.