Archive | September, 2013

A Monday funny.

23 Sep

Happy Monday.  Want to hear a funny?

Yesterday in worship we had a dear, sweet, awesome, intelligent elementary schooler as our reader.  She is so smart and confident to go in front of church and read hard words and oddly-structured sentences.  She did wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful.  I can’t emphasize that enough because now I want to tell you about one mistake she did make.  It’s too funny not to share and even her mom and I laughed about it afterwards.  She, however, had no idea what she said …

This was the verse from 1 Timothy: For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

She struggled with the word Gentiles.

I’ll let you guess what she said instead.

Friday Favorites!

20 Sep

I’m back in the southeast corner of Minnesota after Mabel and I had a sleepover last night in the cities.  I played with my friend, Sara, and Mabel played with her friend, Kimber.  A good time was had by all, canine and human alike.  Onward –

I made this.  I had a metal piece from my high school days that was used for this exact purpose – magnets and photos and reminders and quotes and all sorts of stuff.  This week I added fabric [polka dots, of course] and some spray adhesive.  I also used spray adhesive to do this to my auction lampshades.  I’ll show you the final product sometime soon.

Here are six apps for iphone and ipad for the home cook.  Why, yes, I would love to save my favorite wines to my phone … now if only I could get iOS7 to download …

Here is one of my favorite pairs [zucchini and lemon] mixed with ricotta and fettucini.  How delicious does that sound?

Did you watch New Girl and The Mindy Project this week?  They are both back with new seasons.  I’m so happy regular television is returning.  It’s like going back to school after summer vacation and seeing your friends again.  [Except my friends are fictional and on my very small television.  They are doctors and teachers and pirates and geeks and Phil Dunphy.]

When I was in education courses in college, we would talk about – when teaching – giving both examples and non-examples to help students grasp a concept.  Want a non-example of Friday favorites?  I was watering flowers this afternoon and was stung by a bee.  A bee!  A bee just came up and flew into my slipper and stung me.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been stung and I’m not sure how to feel.  Should I be angry that my ankle now throbs with the pain of a bee sting or should I feel guilty that the world has one less bee in a world that already has a struggling bee population because this bee felt compelled to inject me with its venom?  Either way, it was not my favorite.

I think that’s all I have for you today.  How are you spending your Friday night?  Doing something exciting?  I hope so.

Do you want to know what I’m doing?  Ready?

I’m writing a sermon and doing laundry.  That’s right.  It’s about to get crazy in this parsonage; I just brewed coffee – the non-decaf kind.  Look out!  I must work tonight because tomorrow is reserved for the kitchen at the Blooming Prairie Serviceman’s Club.  Hand me an ice pick and I’m going to make me some aebelskiver.  [I’m helping out jD’s church at their annual aebelskiver dinner.  I’ll be an expert at pancake balls by the end of the day.]

Happy weekending.  Please don’t kill any bees.

 

Shhh –

18 Sep

It’s a wordless Wednesday.

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$11.

16 Sep

Here is what $11 bought me at our church auction:

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I bought this portable coffee container for $1.  I scrubbed and cleaned and disinfected and now it looks pretty good.  The colors really go well with my kitchen scheme so it sits on top of my refrigerator.  And now I can take coffee to share on a picnic!  [Hey.  Want to go on a picnic?]

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These lamps?  $1.  Can you believe no one else wanted these beauts?  You can?  Okay.  Sure.  But with a new lamp shade and a coat of spray paint, these will be awesome.  Mark my word.

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A pineapple spoon rest to sit on my stove and hold my cooking utensils!  This piece was free.  It came in a box of things Marilyn bought and she let me have it.  Score.  It goes with my pear and apple curtain.

Okay.  This dresser needs a little TLC but I’m always looking for a project.  And … it was free.  No one bid on it and so it was taken to my garage where I vowed to make it useful again.  And I will.  [And if I completely mess it up?  I’m not out anything.]   It will be perfect in my guest room when complete.

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Little plates/candle holders/something.  I thought they were cute.  According to the price tag on the bottom of some, they are old school Pier 1.

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This little puppy salt shaker came in the box with the little plates.  She might meet the dumpster.  Or a random package to my sister.

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They’re not Pyrex but they sure are cute.  Two divided dishes.  $1 for both [and another one that I think is rather ugly].

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A box of old books cost me a couple dollars but there are treasures in there.  Catechisms in Norwegian, a line-a-day journal from 1924 that its original owner filled out sparingly [February 1927: Ma papered her room.], and some other fun/unique treasures.

That isn’t the full list.  There were some other things that came boxed with the treasures above … a few things that might go away and a few things that I might find use for.  Marilyn gave me some old glass insulators that came with one of her purchases.  We’ll have to see what we can make with those.  An old perfume bottle.  Gravy boat.  Funky wooden bookends.  Etc.  Etc.

The fact that I only spent $11 on these treasures is good for me … but not good for the church.  Our auction crowd was small so many things were snatched up way too cheap.  But so it goes.  While it was a lot of work, it was a fun time to gather.  And buy some ugly lamps with potential.

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Three things –

15 Sep

I particularly enjoyed about today:

1. The cutest little three year old came to Sunday School for the first time today.  He joined the group eagerly and Grandma watched on for a few minutes before walking away to wait in the nursery for Sunday School to be over.  She didn’t want to go too far; she wanted him to know that she was close as he adjusted.  Well, that didn’t end up being a problem because later, Grandma came back to pick up her grandson and he didn’t want to leave.  He loved Sunday School!  I love that he loved Sunday School.

2.  Like days of old, Paige and I met up this afternoon for a movie.  We saw The Way, Way Back.  I laughed.  I cried.  I leaned over at the end and told Paige that it easily was a top ten movie for me.  I want to see it again and again.  If you can, go.  It’s delightful, funny, endearing, lovely and … I’ll just stop.  I can’t say enough good things.

3.  I grabbed a sandwich from Jimmy John’s for a quick dinner on the ride home.  The drive-up window man was quite a talker tonight.  It’s probably the longest conversation I’ve had with a drive-up employee.  Probably the flirtiest too.  I enjoyed it.  *cliche winky face*

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post.  I spent $11 at the church auction on Saturday and I’m going to  tell you what I have to show for it.  Tomorrow.

Friday Favorites.

13 Sep

The well of favorites is deep this week, folks.  Get your bucket.

27 Reasons the Great Lakes Actually ARE the Greatest.  I do love the Great Lakes.  One day, I want to take the circle tour around Lake Superior.

This is an article about a book – a book I wouldn’t mind reading.  What’s it about?  The history of punctuation.  Sounds like a page turner, right?  The actual book is here; it’s named Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks.  Shady characters, indeed.

Um excuse me?  Pad Thai sliders?  Are you for real?  [The sauce calls for some crazy ingredients; I’d be intrigued to try it with a more basic pad thai concoction.]

Also on a food note, how genius is it to make homemade burritos, throw them in the freezer, and then take them out when needed?  Perfect for a *cough* single *cough* gal.

Have you noticed some word art on gnomepreacher of late?  I make them on this website.  It’s easy to use and all around fun.

This someecard.  I can relate.  [So can Sara, my latest book reading buddy.]

Two words: chili tortellini.

And lastly, a fun quote discovered this week, attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald:

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.

Fall is my favorite.  Heavy quilts, puffy vests, hammocking, and scarves.  Grateful that it feels like it has arrived.

#tbt

12 Sep

Throw-back Thursday OR

Signs that Lindsay was always destined to be a blogger.

I was recently going through a couple totes of things from my school years.  There were lots of goodies – Solo and Ensemble medals, a plaque signifying that all the work I’d put into graduating with a 4.0 paid off, crayon pictures, and penmanship practice from kindergarten.  And then there were my first published works – books written and illustrated by me, published by the Rascal Publishing House [aka laminated and spiral bound at the elementary school].

My first book was about my cats.  The second was about our family cabin.  What I want to share with you is the author biography at the back of both of these books:

Foregoing that attention to cats, it’s funny how even in first and second grade there is evidence of the person I would become over two decades later.  Reading, publishing books, and PENMANSHIP.  What second grader says that?

It’s safe to say that already by age 8 I was on this path to life with a heavy, loved emphasis on reading and writing and books.  That whole “Lindsay likes to draw when she’s at home” though?  That never really materialized.  And even as a first grader, I can’t say it was that great, as seen in this scene from My Cats –

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Cats?  Beavers?  I can hardly tell.  They are nice, but sometimes they aren’t.

 

one hell of a good time.

11 Sep

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Retreat success.

8 Sep

There are a few words I could use to describe how I’m currently feeling:

sleepy, exhausted, delirious, dog-tired, worn out, tuckered, and happily fulfilled.

It was a crazy weekend.  It was overnight-confirmation-retreat weekend.  Seven youth from ROG went along with me to Good Earth Village camp to meet up with six of jD’s youth from his two churches.  Together we were 13 which, wouldn’t you know, is the perfect number with which to reenact the famous Last Supper painting:

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The topic of the retreat revolved around the two Lutheran sacraments – baptism and communion – along with some intentional conversation about grace.  We communed together, baptized a gnome [ … for real.  Kind of.  His parents named him Norman James.], team-built, played life size Jenga, did skits [the creativity of the skits blew me away – the awesomeness of these kids continually exceeds my expectations], and had boatloads of fun.  jD’s kids had fun.  My kids had fun.  We all had fun.  Our churches will have to plan to do more things together throughout the year; it worked out so well.

We shared highs and lows with each other before we left camp.  Every single high from every single confirmation kid was along these lines: My high is making new friends and being here.  At the same time, every single low from every single confirmation kid was along these lines: My low is that we can’t stay another night and we have to go home.

I’ll call that retreat success.  In addition to having fun, we also hope they left with a definition of grace seared in their brains.  Something like … the unconditional love of God that is free, forever, and for all.  That would be good.

With what I’m about to say next, I want you to listen really super closely because I never say things like this.  Ready?  I love confirmation. [Okay.  That was a joke.  I actually say it all the flippin’ time.]   I love my confirmation youth.  I love middle schoolers.  Weekends like this – kids like this – that’s why I love this job.

Pastor Evan officiates a gnome baptism.
“I baptize you …”
Milk and cookies snack.
life size Jenga
marble track teambuilder

Friday Favorites.

6 Sep

Are you ready?  For the weekend?  For a post of awesome internet things?  Both?

Here we go –

What’s this?  Only a timeline of the Back to the Future movies which, you may or may not recall, are my favorites!

The minute it gets cool again, this is on my menu – vegan quinoa sweet potato chili.

Maybe some pesto guacamole too.  I could get behind that.

I learned about a new app today.  Voxer is essential a walkie talkie for your phone but the person you’re talking to doesn’t necessarily need to listen in real time.  The message is waiting whenever you’re ready.  I’ve been voxing [what a fun new verb] with my banana friend, Krissy, who is back in the hospital with a blood clot in a vein in her brain.  It’s hard for her to text or type an email since it hurts to even open her eyes … and so we vox Adam Sandler movie quotes and beauty tips back and forth.  [And it’s free.]

Talking about poor Krissy reminds me that these are in the fridge.  I will bake them and mail them to her family.  [When I’m too far from friends to actually lend a hand or give a hug, I mail cookies.  It’s my default.]

Okay.  Enough messing around.  It’s time to get serious.  Have you ever … [long dramatic pause]

drank egg coffee?  I first heard about egg coffee when I was on internship in Dawson and remember being appalled at the thought.  However, then I read this article about egg coffee on The Kitchn in regards to coffee drank at the Minnesota State Fair.   I think it’s about time I tried. Want to come over and drink coffee made with eggs?  I’ll save you a twix bar chocolate chip cookie.

That’s all for favorite links.  This weekend I’m off doing one of my favorite activities – taking confirmation kids to camp!  jD and I planned the retreat together again [second annual!] and it should be a great time for both his students and mine.

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