there's no place like gnome.

October 31st it be – a day for pumpkin pancakes and handing out candy.   This post is also for Grandma – she sent me a letter inside the cutest Halloween card saying she’s been waiting for a blog update. Here it is!  Hi!  (As of right now, I plan to be home for Thansgiving so I’ll see you then!  Count me in to bring a dessert; Thanksgiving day is Dave’s birthday so I’ll take care of the birthday treat.)

Pumpkins were carved last night. Dave’s pumpkin wouldn’t stand up so it’s a face on its side … which turned out pretty cool.  I made this for supper (I recommend it!) and then we watched Inside Out – super cute and funny.  Tonight we’ll hand out candy at Dave’s house and then, delightfully, I’ll get an extra hour of sleep!  So excited.  

 What else is new since the last blog post, you wonder. Last Sunday was confirmation Sunday. Four young people were confirmed in a lovely church service.  

 I got a new tea kettle. It’s very exciting. Really. It is. It was a gift. A beautiful green Le Creuset tea kettle. Be still, my heart.  

 What else is currently bringing me joy?

• The new season of Homeland. 
• Having a few nights at the sewing machine. 
• The annual fall theological conference for the synod’s pastors begins tomorrow in LaCrosse. It’s always a good time with colleagues. 
• A new polka dot Fitbit band. 
• It’s lefse season. 
• Finding a pair of shoes that I had forgotten about and loving them.
• Discovering a new, sneaky way of hemming jeans that works incredibly well. I have jeans that are the right length!
• Dreaming of doing this in my back entryway.   

Happy Halloween and happy-extra-hour-of-sleep day!  Hope it’s both spooky and restful.  🙂

Two quilts have been delivered to their respective baby girls. The first to Miss Charlotte, daughter of my friend Sara, and the second to Miss Hadley, daughter of my Montana pals Joel and Melissa.  Check and check. Both babies are well into the infant stage at this point; I was pleased as punch to get them finished before they started walking!  (That’s the new baby quilt goal. Before they walk, I hope to have their quilt completed.) 

   
And for a quilt in progress?  This is the current state of my coffee table. It’s always in progress, one paper pieced diamond at a time.  

It’s not often I talk about work on the blog anymore. I don’t necessarily know why. (Maybe because, uh, I just don’t blog very much anymore?). But tonight I need to process in writing so here I am. 

Tonight we kicked off Wednesday night family night/Sunday School/whatever you want to call it. Our Sunday morning education program simply was not working anymore and we had to try something new. So we chose to try Wednesday night. 

My wise ministry friend told me to look for small wins when I told her we were trying something new. Look for small wins. Don’t call it all off because it doesn’t work as you planned. Stick with it. Small wins. 

There were definitely small wins tonight. Parents blessing their children. Families we haven’t seen in church for many weeks came tonight. People who belong to the same small church but don’t know each other interacting. There were definitely small wins. 

I’m trying hard to let that be my focus. Not the fact that this evening has stressed me out all week. Not the fact that there were lots of squirmy kids doing their own thing. Not that we budgeted time incorrectly. Not that I can’t help but wonder what everyone thought and if they are going to come back next time. 

Trying new things is exciting – and I’ve been super excited about it – but, boy, is it hard too.  Trying something different than what has been done for decades is not easy. But I also believe it had to be done. We need to try something new … so small wins. I’ll take ’em.  We try this again the first Wednesday of November. Hoping for more small wins then too. 

Ice water always available. 

The control of the tv remote. 

A kitchen to cook in.

My own bed. Mabel. 

A room for sewing. 

The coffee beans I prefer. 

It’s funny how a week away makes you appreciate those little comforts of home all the more. I’m excited and I look forward to vacation … but at the end, coming home again is its own kind of (lame) excitement. 

I was away last week, riding shotgun in a car for thousands of miles. Here’s how the epic roadtrip Dave and I took went down:

Austin to Edgerton. Depart after work.  Hi, Mom. Night one. 

Edgerton to Indianapolis. Hi, sister Emma (who goes to grad school there).  Let’s eat pizza for a late lunch while the car tires get balanced. 

Indianapolis to Asheville, NC. Rain. Late night of mountain driving. Tunnels!  Hotel. Night two. 

Visit the Biltmore (and get soaked in the rain) and the Asheville Pinball Museum. (Guess who put that second destination on the itinerary …) 

Asheville to Winston Salem. Nights three, four, and five with Dave’s brother and his family. 

Daytime exploring in Charlotte: Billy Graham library & NC Aviation Museum. 

Coloring and playing trains with Dave’s niece and nephew. Lots of coloring and trains. 

Winston Salem to Pittsburgh. More pinball excursions. Eat supper in a church-turned-brewery-restaurant. Night six. 

Pittsburgh to Michigan. Visit Pink Castle Fabrics in Ann Arbor (one of the few modern quilt shops in existence). See Dave’s childhood home, feed carrots to donkeys, and eat supper with Dave’s parents. Night seven spent on an air mattress at the apartment of Dave’s childhood friend. 

Last day: early morning departure (Dave had ants in his pants which led to a 5am packing of car and leaving. I slept in the passenger seat.), survival of Chicago traffic, and safe arrival home to MN.   

The week went by so incredibly fast. I feel like I blinked and was home again. Hours upon hours of driving were filled with car games (We found every license plate but Alaska & Hawaii – of course – and New Hampshire and Nevada.) , Harry Potter on audiobook, conversation, and watching the mountains pass us by. (Though most of the trip it rained and made looking out the car window gloomy and difficult.) I also passed time by binding two quilts and basting a whole lot of EPP diamonds! (I did a total of, oh, five hours of driving. The rest was all Dave and me quilting.)

It’s now back to life as we know it, appreciating a little more the comforts of home. And hitting the ground running at work as church is a busy, busy place these days. Here’s hoping the time away restored me enough through rest and relaxing to get me through the next weeks!