A (Very) Short List

Tags

bloggers, blogging, cardiac arrest

1. There are rumors of snow on it’s way. I am secretly hoping for a blizzard. Just a little blizzard, enough to have to stay home a couple days and snuggle in by the fire.

2. I miss blogging. I know my commitment is over, and I don’t have to blog every night, and truly, the new year couldn’t have come at a better time (January, really is a good time for a new year), my stress level at work has skyrocketed (no worries, it’s temporary, just a couple projects to get through)…The problem is, I’ve noticed that I don’t unwind in the evenings as well as I used to. I try to contribute to cleaning and food and laundry, but mostly I just wander around and look for something to do, and tonight, after leaving work–on not the best note–I decided to catch up on my google reader to unwind. I read through a few of my favorites and then the next up was a new one I added recently written by
a friend of mine.

Without giving away too much, my friend had a heart attack last Friday morning. This is a woman I see almost every day. She is full of life and crazy love, and has worked so hard over the last two or three years to change her life and live in health and wellness. She will continue that mission from now forward, but with a twist. I think she might not let others get away with settling for the lifestyles they lead, if their lifestyles are leading to disease and death. Each time I talk to her she is very clear that this experience will have a purpose in her life…and in others’ lives. She is a wonderful writer and has been writing her experience in a painfully honest fashion, right from her hospital bed. I am so proud of her and her daughter who’s 911 call literally saved her life.

I have a feeling any slouching in my health regime will not go unscrutinized from here on out. And that’s just fine with me! Accountability is a good thing.

Bring it!

Milestone

Tags

800th blog post, amazing grace, blogging, buliding a house, milestones, postaday2011

This is my 800th post.  I thought it called for a little celebration.  So I called in a band.

Sorry, I’m such a dork.

Actually, I thought it should be significant, being a nice round even number and all, but I had no idea what to blog about for the milestone in my blog world. So, I did what many of us do when making big decisions, like where to eat dinner, or getting opinions on a certain movie or book…I turned to facebook.

I asked what I should write about for my 800th blog post, and this is what I got.

All great answers! Especially Kristy’s. She deserves to be written about, my best friend’s niece. I’ve spent a few Thanksgivings with her at K’Lynn’s house, and she WAS my first Words With Friends partner…

But then, it’s hard to dismiss God’s powerful work in my life. There is little cliche symbol that looks like this:

He > me

I’ve seen it scrawled on bathroom walls and in graffiti on the sides of rail cars, and though I’ve noticed it, never gave it much thought. Last year a friend of mine who claims no connection to Christianity or to God came to work one day having seen this little message somewhere and it totally blew her mind. She drew it out on a post-it note to show me and her eyes teared up. She said she couldn’t shake the message. So now when I see that little two word message I think of my friend and I marvel at the things God uses to nudge us and remind us that yes, He is indeed greater than us.

I am humbled, grateful, and daily I am amazed at His saving grace and His sustaining power. God is about relationship and for the past few years of my life, the learning theme for me seems to be Restoring Relationships. Broken relationships are rarely easy to restore, and frankly, left to myself, I wouldn’t take the risks. But I sense God’s direction and nudging toward a person I have hurt or been hurt by, take those first faltering steps to respond, and the mending of fences and building of bridges begins. It’s grueling, hard work.

I started this blog almost 6 years ago, December 3, 2005 for the main purpose of sharing with my parents the progress of building our house. I’d stumbled across a few blogspot blogs looking for knitting patterns, and I asked Caleb if he knew anything about blogging. Together we sat in the kitchen of the rental we were temporarily living in, and he set up my blog and created my first post for me. It was a test post and with a picture of Josh.

I then began documenting our house building starting with the house plans, the paint colors we’d chosen, even posted a video of the trees coming down the day we broke ground.

 

There have been birthdays, funny stories, funny pictures, a few vulnerable posts in which I’ve bared my soul.

In between the mundane and trivial that I post are the big things:

The same summer we were building was the summer Caleb and Hannah got engaged and I began sharing the changes in our family.

The next year’s highlight was their wedding.

Of course I can’t leave out the Birth of Nora the little miss that has come into all our lives like a tornado and turned us upside down!

Another wedding this year,

and soon the birth of another baby.

There will be one more wedding someday and hopefully, more babies. There will deaths to grieve, holidays to celebrate, family dinners to laugh about. More birthdays, bragging rights to photos I love, and stories of children who say the funniest things.

I’ve been asked why on earth I blog, and really I don’t know. I just know it’s become a habit for me,
something I do to wind down at night,
and a way to mark the big things and the small…

…in this life of ours.

Bloggers

Tags

bloggers, blogging, blogs, postaday2011

Introducing: a couple new, and new to me, blogs to check out:

My Uncle Jack, Dad’s brother, started a new blog Clipper Ship Log a couple weeks ago. He is still fine tuning, but I’ve already learned things I didn’t know, like my uncle is a poet, he watches birds, and he worked for the US Geological Survey about a hundred years ago. Just kidding, Uncle!! Only about 55 years ago or so. Give or take a decade.

Another blog I’ve started following by Stephanie Stout Staley. Stephanie was in our youth group in Brush Prairie Washington when we away to Bellingham 19 years ago. She is an amazingly talented young woman who describes herself as a “full-time wife and mom and part time English Professor”. WHAT!?? A girl in my youth group is an English Professor!? That’s just not possible because that would make her XX years old and then that means…oh yeah. That’s right, I’m 49 and usually ok with it. Until I run across a young girl I once know who has remained 18 years old in my mind all this time, only to find out she has three kids and is a college professor! Sheesh. Slow down! Actually, Steph, you look exactly like I remember, only better. Just beautiful.

When I joined the ‘Post a Day 2011′ project that WordPress rolled out last December I started reading several bloggers who had also joined. One of the two or three that I added to my Google Reader is Judith Baxter. A woman who lives in New Zealand, who is a wonderful writer, and deep thinker. She works with Grief Counseling and lives a life rich in relationships and wisdom in her golden years. (I hope that was okay to say, Judith). Judith comments often on my blog and I always look forward to what she has to say on hers. Someday I hope to go to NZ and meet her face to face!

This is another one I added to my Google Reader: It’s Not All About Me, How Quickly I Forget. He writes mostly about leadership and management, but also some family and spiritual lessons as well. I love his writing style and always feel inspired to be a better leader when reading him.

I’ve tried to get my Dad to start a blog, but so far, it’s a no go. He has too much on his plate with taking care of Mom and going to school. Dad is a wonderful writer and a life-long learner. Maybe someday I’ll talk him into it and when I do, I’ll link to it here! (Just a little plug for you Dad!)

A Few Thoughts

Tags

bloggers, blogging, cuisinart food processor, fasting and praying, paleo diet, postaday2011

1.  If you read last night’s blog post, please go back and read Cutzi’s comment.  Seriously.  So funny.  This, My Friends, explains why she and I ‘get’ each other.  You’ll know what I’m talking about.

2.  Today I scored a Craigslist find.  This purchase is the SOLE reason I put the craigslist app on my phone.  Because I’ve needed/wanted/longed to/ simply had to replace my Cuisinart Food Processor which limped along for a couple years as long as we remembered to keep this one little plastic part and mckiver it back into place each time we used it, and then last year sometime, that one little plastic part went in the garbage when we had (extremely) helpful company helping clean up after dinner.  Now that I’ve found my replacement processor I’ll think about uninstalling the app.

Maybe.

Tomorrow.

2.  When I got home from work, this was waiting for me:

Cutzi recommended this as a must-read.  And so I shall.  (please ignore that bottle of wine in the background.  not sure how that got there, I was seriously NOT staging this photo.  Honey!!!  Did you put that wine there???)    I’m a bit of a health food freak, but not the granola and nuts kind.  Just real health, really.  And I’m always excited to find something to challenge my thinking and my habits, so here goes.  I’ll let you know what I think.  Whatever that’s worth.

3.  This weekend I would like to go to either the zoo or the tulip fields.  Although, I do have a plan now, how to upgrade my camera, and hope to do that within the next couple months and would like to wait both of those excursions until then.  Problem:  the tulip fields won’t wait.  and my zoo tickets expire April 30.

Quite a dilemma.  Right?

4.  This morning at about 5:30 I noticed that Rick forgot his lunch.  He works very long hard physical hours and I felt sick that he’d left with no food.  I was ready early enough that I considered taking his lunch to him, but considering I’d never been to his work place, it’s probably 45 minutes away, and wasn’t sure I could even get inside, decided to let him figure it out.  Then, tonight when I mentioned it to him, he told me that, no, he hadn’t forgotten his lunch.  He chose not to take it.  He decided to fast and pray while he worked today and he mostly prayed for me.   And he pray for me things and ways that God would work in me that I have to tell you… God does hear the prayer of a righteous man.

Can I just say, to you younger girls who are still single and not sure if and when or who you will marry, if you find a man that will choose to fast and pray for YOU….well…you will have riches this world can never ever offer.

A good man is hard to find.

And now…my brain is done thinking for the day.

Amen.

Five On Friday

Tags

blogging, paleo diet, postaday2011

Five Things On My Mind:

1. Yesterday it was snowing on my way to work. This morning it was sunny and beautiful. Tonight it was cold and raining on my way home. I never really know how to dress this time of year. I just want April to make up it’s mind. Please? Thank you.

2. I watch the weather forecast app on my phone every day, all day. I want to go to the tulip fields before the daffodils are done, and I still want to go to the zoo, and I even have 2 free tickets that expire on April 30. Ok, 2. was really part of 1. but this is my blog, so…

3. My friends Jim and Jan and Rick and I started planning a new blog last year and even created it, but haven’t published it. It’s called As Seen On TV, or something like that. Actually, it’s not called that, but I don’t want to give it away just yet. The idea for it came when Jan had prepared a couple meals in a row for us that she got from cooking shows on Food Network. We all came up with this idea that we would take turns cooking and I would take photos and write about our meals on our blog, but the problem was that I don’t really watch food network shows. I like to get my new ideas for recipes from blogs, mostly from Pioneer Woman Cooks. So I was stumped how to mesh the two. Well, guess what! I don’t have to worry about that anymore thanks to Ree’s announcement in THIS POST from today. Scroll down to toward the end where there’s a nice long paragraph with no pictures. I know, I know, you’d rather just look at pictures, but trust me. You’ll be as thrilled as me, and you too might just lay awake all night planning your new blog venture based on this news! We can use Pioneer Woman recipes AND Food Network recipes, because she will be ON Food Network!! It such a win/win. For me. And for Jim and Jan. And, really, it’s all about them. Ahem.

4. Speaking of food and recipes, I have changed how Rick and I eat on a regular basis since sometime last fall. We read a book called The Schwartzbein Principle that changed how we think about food. A couple weeks ago when we had my work department over for a party and I made cupcakes and key lime pie, we were licking beaters and spatulas like small children in the 1800′s, it had been so long since we’d had sugar, and we laughed at each other because it made us realize how much we’ve changed how we eat. We have cut out sugar and white flour, almost completely. I say almost because occasionally, like tonight, of all nights, we’ll order a Tino’s Calzone to share which is made of the most scrumptious folded over pizza dough…mmmmMmmmm…and of course, the occasional Birthday Cake, but at least we are not eating refined sugar and white flour (our rule is no white food except eggs) on a daily basis any longer, like we had for most of our lives. There is some really valid science behind this, and my friend Cutzi listed some books on her facebook page (again for me, thank you Cutzi) that I plan to purchase and read:

Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet

5. My sister and I have talked morning and evening since her surgery and each time we do, she sounds better and better. She is still in the hospital, but she is doing well and sounds upbeat.

And this is good because we have many more adventures to go on together!

Happy Five on Friday!

STATS

Tags

blog stats, blogging, postaday2011, wordpress

One of the things I love about blogging on WordPress is the Stats page. I can’t help it. I’m addicted to my stats. It tells me all sorts of cool stuff, like,
~of course how many hits I have for the day (or week, or month, etc…),
~my biggest traffic day (the day Pioneer Woman put a link to my blog on hers. I know, I know…I’m kindofabigdeal),
~how many posts I’ve published (572),
~how people find my blog; for instance, what other blogs or sites have links to mine, but also, it lists what words or phrases are typed into search engines that lead them to my blog.

So imagine my puzzlement when I see that someone had typed into a search engine “negative opinions about lent” and my post about Lent came up. Ok, I get that in the first paragraph I use the word ‘lent’ and ‘negative’ in one sentence, and I understand how search engines work (believe me, I’ve seen all the anti-google commercials put out by Microsoft’s Bing.com), but I was stunned, nay, SHOCKED! that my sweet little post quoting my Dad’s observations and experience about his first Ash Wednesday service would produce a positive hit for a negative search!

Oh wait.

I think I get it now. I started my post out in a somewhat negative tone, searching for what I might be trying to communicate, and through my own thought processes, reading the words of others, listening to what God might be trying to teach me, reached a very positive outcome.

I’m learning that sometimes, what we end up finding is not at all what we set out looking for.

At least I hope so for the person who was looking for a ‘negative opinion of lent’ and came across my blog.

On Transparency

Tags

anxiety, authenticity, blogging, postaday2011

I’ve been thinking a little (yes, just a little, otherwise my pretty little head might hurt) about this whole blogging thing.

It’s occurred to me this week that we bloggers only tell the things we want you to know. We only show you the pictures we want you to see. Unless you know me in real life, you have no idea if what I’m presenting, what I’m REPresenting is real, made up, authentic, or spiritualized.

It’s a tight rope we walk, us bloggers. Especially when we truly want to live authentic lives. There’s really no need for you to know every tedious detail, or every down moment we have, so therefore, sometimes, in the times of tedium, the days of depression, it’s hard for us to actually get on here and come up with a quick and quirky little post (if that’s the kind of blogger you fancy yourself, as I do). Sometimes it’s just hard. Sometimes, life is hard, and answers aren’t easy. During these times we do one of two things. We either disappear for awhile, which is totally legit, valid and appropriate. Or we put forth a picture not quite real. Not quite true. We present a life, a day much brighter and sunnier than it actually is. I’ve done both of these, but probably more the former than the latter.

For some reason, the way I was designed, it’s never really been in my nature to fake it. Not that I haven’t tried here and there, but it just never really works out that well. The trick for me is to deal with the hard things in life, keep my head up, tell my story when needed, and change the names of the innocent. And even then, changing the names of the innocent never really works either. I usually call Joe, Joesph, and Rick, Richard, and Elizabeth, Betsy, and …..you get the idea. I’m a bad liar.

So, I think I’ve said all of that to say this. I don’t really have a pretty picture to post tonight, and I don’t have a funny story. I don’t even have an inspiring story tonight, but I do have some friends who are hurting and I think of them throughout the day and breathe prayers up for them for comfort and joy.

I Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.

Five on Friday

Tags

blogging, inspiration, postaday2011, writer's block

Five ways I deal with Blogger’s Block:

1.  Get on facebook and ask someone a random question.  Ok, not really.  I mean, I haven’t, but maybe I will someday, so you never know…

2.  Go to my flickr account and look through old pictures.  I really do this.  Really.  It gives me great blogging material like, how I made popcorn in my cast iron dutch oven  last weekend.

I’ve learned it’s a good way to season your dutch oven. But I admit, THIS wouldn’t probably have prompted a blog post. A little boring. I did find a couple photos there just now that I’d forgotten about and will share them this weekend.

Unless something more exciting happens. Oops. I wasn’t going to say that anymore.

3. Browse other blogs and see what inspires me, or makes me think, ‘Wow this is good, I want all my friends to see this blog’, and do a write-up about it. Like my friend Debbie’s Blog.  She just started her blog last week and has been writing every day. And although Debbie is new to blogging, she has a style all her own, and her short bursts of paragraphs leave me hanging and wanting more.
Immediately.
I had no idea.
I didn’t know, I wish I’d known.

Then.

I would have called, or emailed, or done SOMETHING to let her know I was thinking of her. But now I’m reading of her journey, bits at a time, and can’t wait for the next paragraph. As her story unfolds, don’t be surprised if I talk about her more. This is an amazing woman who has already led an amazing selfless life, and I adore her.

4. Go for a long walk. with my camera. See number 2. Which seems very small and trite and shallow after reading number 3.

5. Wait for the weekend. 5:00 on Friday always eventually comes around, I kick my work shoes off, put on my party pants and whether we have fully planned weekend or endless hours of lounging in bed and drinking coffee, something blog-worthy always comes our way.

It’s 5:00. Time to punch out and get My Weekend On!

p.s. I always write my Friday posts ahead of time, and publish or schedule to publish just before 5. I’m not blogging from work. Just so ya know.

Virtual Church

Tags

blogging, postada2011

My friend Theresa sent me an email with a link to a blog and a note that she’d been reading this blog and bawling and thought I would love it. I couldn’t really imagine what kind of blog could make me bawl, so I clicked this Life in Grace link this morning and read while I drank my first cup of coffee. And though I’m not bawling, I’ve had to wipe the tears from my cheeks as I read the story of this woman who’s house burned to the ground a couple days before Christmas, just a couple weeks ago. And my friend T is right, reading her story filled me with gratitude for my life and for the wonderful way that God guides and protects us.

If you read that post on Edie’s blog, be sure and read the most recent posts as well. Her blogging friends hacked into her blog on her birthday and left her amazing and wonderful messages of hope and love and encouragement. People she’s never met, along with those she has, reached out to her and became Christ to her, God in flesh, God with arms on to hug her and God with words of healing.

It is like being the Church in a blogging world.

Blog Love?

Tags

blogging, writer's block

I know, I know.

I’ve really fallen down on the job of keeping up my blog. I know. I KNOW!

Stop yelling at me!

Ok, so no one’s really yelling at me. But I hear what you’re saying.

I see the little looks from you on facebook.

I see the raised eyebrows in my email.

Your texts have spoken loud and clear.

Ya’ll are worried about me because

a. I never go this long without updating my blog
b. You’ve seen no photos from me
c. because I haven’t taken any in weeks
and finally,
d. I never use the word “ya’ll”

Is that even a word?

So, just to put all your minds and hearts at ease, I’m coming back. Back to blogging, back to photo-ing, and back to shamelessly bragging about my kids, my husband, my granddaughter, and my very dull and boring life.

This is my pledge to you.

Stay tuned…