there's no place like gnome.

The estate sale.  It called to me.

I went back on Saturday when everything was 50% off and I discovered a few more goodies.

Aren’t these little tin plates a joy?  I shall name them Sally Jane and Howard.  They live in the guest room and will welcome you when you come to visit.  [$1/each]

Funky bowl [$1.50] and old school wooden blocks [$4].  They also live in the guest room.  Come play with blocks at my house.

I also bought a piggy bank, a couple frames, metal cookie cutters, and some flat sheets for the quilters at church.  Estate sales are the best.

Oh.  And ps.  Here is the green typing table making a home in my craft room.  Functional, cheap and green.  All my favorites.

Are you ready to die of sweetness?

I received the largest, most beautiful bouquet of flowers I’ve ever received in my life today.

They were delivered to me, stem by stem, by the kids of Red Oak Grove during the children’s sermon.

When I called the kids forward for the children’s sermon, they walked down the aisle with their hands behind their back.  As each presented their stem of flowers to me, they said thank you to me.

Are you melting?  Because I did.  I’m a puddle just thinking about it.  It was hands down, seriously the best.

It was then announced that coffee hour would be in my honor because of pastor appreciation month and they showered me with cards and kind words.  Aww, shucks.   It’s not necessary but it certainly is nice to know one is appreciated.  So super sweet.  Thanks, Groovy Grovers.*

* Did I tell you? I heard a rumor that the people of Red Oak Grove used to be referred to as the Groovy Grovers.  We’re bringing it back.  Okay.  I’m bringing it back.  Still looking to get others on board.

I quilted with the ladies yesterday morning at church.  I tied quilts for much of the morning with them.  Here’s a story:

I was tying next to Dorothy.  [I figure her identity is still protected because, well, there are many Dorothy’s.]  Now, first, you need to know that I’ve taken to wearing a very large ring on my index finger of my left hand.  I receive many compliments on it when I wear it but – truth be told – it’s really cheap and has turned my finger a bit colored from the metal.  I feel I’m committed now; I wear the ring to cover the color.  It’s a perpetual cycle.

I was wearing this ring while quilting and Dorothy pointed to it.  Is that one ring or many? she asked.  It’s actually three, I answered.  Next, she took her hand and touched my ring finger.  You really should have a ring to wear on that finger, she said.  *wink, wink*

How I wanted to reply: [sarcasm] Really?  Attending three weddings of three friends in the last three weeks hadn’t made me think about that at all!

How I actually replied: [giggle]  Yeah …

Sigh.  The Dorothy meant well.  File this under the-odd-things-people-say-to-their-pastor-that-they’d-never-say-to-oh-their-doctor.

Remember this dresser I got for free from the church auction?

It now looks like this in my guest room –

First, I glued and clamped it back together.  There were lots of pieces that needed reconnecting and reenforcing.  Next, I stripped off the icky veneer that had begun to chip and peel from the top and the sides.  Some of the veneer got tricky; I couldn’t quite get it off with a putty knife.  I read some blogs about using water and the heat of an iron but I didn’t want to ruin an iron [or buy another one for this one purpose].  Then I remembered that I had a craft heat gun from my stamping days.  Worked like a charm to heat the glue under the veneer; it came right off.

Next there was some sanding and some painting.  A few new knobs and a trip into the guest room.  The only thing I’m missing are a couple of knobs for the bottom drawer.  I’d really like to find some funky doorknobs to use …  All in all, not bad for a free piece of furniture.  I like free.

A summary of the October wedding extravaganza: three weekends, three weddings.

First, it was my seminary friend and roommate, jeanette.  She married Mr. Dan in the chapel at Luther Seminary.  The ceremony was wonderful; intimate and lovely.  I met someone that evening; she was actually in the wedding, standing up on Mr. Dan’s side.  Former Grace intern Erika and I had much to talk about; gnomes, cardigans, and all.

Mr. Dan likes legos and that’s how he proposed to Jeanette. For cute.

A reception with fun games!

Jeanette and Mr.Dan were married one weekend and then had two more receptions to celebrate with congregations and other family/friends. I attended the marriage blessing and reception this past weekend at Jeanette’s church because … [next slide]

I made cakepops for the occasion!

Unlike most brides, Jeanette is getting her money’s worth out of her dress. Weekend #3.

Jeanette’s church always serves egg coffee. It was delicious. Egg coffee and I are having some sort of wrestling match for my taste buds.

Next was my BFF from my years at Trinity in Stillwater.  Sara and I met while working in the CYF department there and we bonded over taking inflatable monkeys to camp.  Sara married Mr. Josh, a very tall gentleman who makes me laugh.  I officiated the ceremony which was outside at sunset.  Romantical.  Then, after the cake was served, I had an emotional breakdown.  But we won’t talk about that.

Last but not least was my college friend, Kara.  Kara married Mr. Clint who is kinda of crazy in a fun way and collects clocks.  They actually were married at the courthouse many weeks ago but invited family and friends to celebrate with dinner and a reception this past weekend.

Receiving a blessing for their marriage.

Phew.  That’s a whole lot of love.  I think one of my favorite parts of my friends getting married is that I feel like I gain a new friend.  This month, I gained three.  Three stand-up guys who love my friends.  They’re all fun people and make my friends happy.  That’s lots to celebrate.

I mentioned in a post yesterday that I’ve been gone on the blog.  Maybe you noticed; maybe you didn’t.  Either way I’m going to tell you where I’ve been.  You’re trapped.  No turning back.

Being all woodworky.  I think I’m getting the hang of it – and I like it.  The dresser will be ready for the guest room as soon as I can figure out how to get the remaining veneer stripped off of it …

Practicing hexagon and handquilting stitches.  I even bought a thimble!  First-time thimble owner!

My mom came to visit!  Mom and her beau, Jeff, came to spend last weekend with me and help me out around the house.  Closet doors readjusted, gutters cleaned, lightbulbs changed, windows cleaned.  Check, check, check, check.

Watching Sherlock of BBC via Hulu.  It enchants me.  He enchants me.  [But sometimes it’s too scary to watch alone at night.  I had to turn one of the episodes off and finish it during the day.]

Hanging out with firefighters.  In an embarrassing turn of events, the elevator at the church broke and left a man in a wheelchair stranded on the second floor.  We called the great guys of the volunteer BP fire department to help us out after other options proved futile.  Luckily, one of the firemen was an electrician and he was able to fix the problem before they had to actually lift the gentleman down the stairs.

Trying on children’s banana Halloween costumes.

Lots and lots of pastor meetings.  Those meetings included an all day meeting with fellow first call pastors at the synod office which is housed in this beautiful place in Rochester.  I took a walk at lunch in the beautiful day.

Laughing lots with my beloved confirmation students.  We had a great night again last night.  It’s our Lutheran year and we’re learning/reviewing lots using our sticky wall.  It’s two yards of nylon-like fabric with repositionable adhesive sprayed all over it.  Squint and see what’s written on the paper at the top?  Justin Bieber.  Naturally.  [It was from a famous-person name game we played.  We also looked up what our names meant.  So funny.  We found out one of us is furious, another is from Ireland, and one is of the sea.]

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.

It’s a wordless Wednesday.