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bucket list.

18 Apr
There is a congregation couple at Grace that recently took a trip to Italy. As the woman was sharing the experience with our Bible study group, she kept referring to her husband’s bucket list. They went to Pompeii because it was on her husband’s bucket list … it made me think about what would be on my bucket list.

Urban Dictionary defines a bucket list, tactfully as always, like this — “a list of things you think you might need to accomplish because you feel your own mortality closing the door on you; you feel insecure about your life and therefore make a list of things to get busy on.”

I’ve decided to make one. Here’s my start:

Visit South America
Fall in love. Marry. Have babies.
Become a published writer.
Write a blog. Bribe people to follow it.
Grow my own garden.
Take a dance class.
Read the entire Bible.
Plant trees.
Play broomball.
Visit Austrailia.
Learn to play guitar.
Go kayaking.
Host a murder mystery dinner party.
Canoe the Boundary Waters.
Cut down a Christmas tree at a tree farm.
Make my own hummus.
Go on a camping trip.
Paint a room a crazy color.
Own a dog.
Make my own kinder eggs. Temper chocolate.
Take a volun-tourism trip.
Go snow-shoeing.
Watch LOTR extended versions, beginning to end, in one sitting with a friend.
Sleep outside.
Sip coffee for hours at a European cafe.
Visit old Quebec City, Canada.
Purchase and then use far too much a digital SLR camera.

… to be continued.

uni-tasking.

18 Apr

We brag about our abilities to multi-task; here’s a perspective against it that makes me think, “huh. makes sense.”

Taken from [hold this space], a blog written by a religious leader in Australia:

“There was a great article hidden in yesterday’s paper about the fallacies of multi-tasking, particularly as it relates to creative, non-linear work. The article gave all the common sense reasons why multi-tasking is damaging: when we multi-task we ‘do by rote’, disabling our capacity to reflect and change what we do, which is of course the most critical part of double or triple loop learning; things take longer when we multi-task and we lose a sense of accomplishment when a task is finished because our mind groups all current tasks together. The kicker was the line that talked about how we all think we multi-task better than anyone else, but really we’re deluding ourselves… and worse, multi-tasking is addictive, feeding into our desire for constant stimulation.

I’d like to get back in the habit of uni-tasking. I’m going to ask myself, when i begin a task, whether it’s something that’s worth focussing on to the exclusion of all else, and if so i’ll create an environment of singular focus and non-stimulation in order to do that. I think that means I have to not be afraid of being bored. I also suspect it’s going to be much harder than i imagine…”

new office decor.

15 Apr
It was Thursday afternoon and I didn’t have much on my to-do list for a change so I spent some time at the care center/assisted living facilities in Dawson “wandering.” I just wandered, talking to people I came across. I was reminded how someone, stopping by just to say hi and share a smile, can completely make another person’s day. It was a lovely Thursday afternoon.
I got back to my office around 5 and found this :

Jesus had a new shrug. A barn musical … thing. A slightly creepy doll, seated as if for counseling. Bird statuary by the phone. The fish-bubble-aquarium tower that changes colors as it bubbles.
But that wasn’t all.
These little creepy guys were chilling on my macbook.
A new afghan on the back of my chair. Though you can’t see in the picture, a small loon is next to my computer. (Necessary, of course, because the loon is apparently the state bird of MN.) And did you notice the spotlight? A spotlight, aimed directly at my face as I sat in my chair.
Snowman. Fake greenery. Wicker basket thing. Not pictured: twin bunny candles, a wicker bench, music box of sorts, picture of Jesus wearing stage make-up, and a sit ‘n spin. It was quite the sight.
The story: Every year, the women of the church host an attic to cellar sale. Basically, it’s a giant garage sale. People can bring in items to donate for the sale and the basement becomes the rummage sale. Apparently Kendall and Karen had been gradually setting things aside as they arrived, things they knew I would especially appreciate and love in my office. Unfortunately, we had to take the things back to the basement today. But I certainly loved it while it lasted.

Easter approaches.

24 Mar
It’s hard to believe that I preached my last Lenten sermon tonight.  It was our last Lenten dinner and last opportunity to sing Holden Evening Village.  Crazy to think that six weeks have flown by so quickly.  I completely dated myself (in the young way) in my sermon tonight; who knew that choose-your-own-adventure books were a relatively new development to an older congregation?  While I realize we travel towards the joy of Easter and the empty tomb (playdough artwork below by a confirmand), I enjoy lent.  I think I might miss it a little bit; my Wednesday evenings may feel a bit empty.  
C. is a pretty faithful lenten dinner and service attendee with his younger sister and parents.  Tonight, during the beginning of the service when we welcome those around us, C. reached past both his parents to shake my hand.  Then he said, in his darling four year old dialect, “Pastor Lindsay, I have something to show you.”  New shoes.  C. got new shoes.  They’re pretty cool.
As Lent comes to a close and we usher in holy week with Palm Sunday this coming weekend, it’s definitely time for an egg hunt – an egg hunt as part of an EGG-stravaganza.  Today, after confirmation, I bribed a few seventh and eighth graders to stick around with cookies and chips.  They helped me fill and then hide 60 dozen eggs.  Let me do the math for you – 720 eggs.  I think the EGG-citement went to my head when I planned this event for Sunday schoolers; what was I thinking?  There soon was no hiding space for this many eggs so the hallway floors of our three-story education wing are peppered with eggs.  It’s going to be chaotic and EGG-cellent!  
Even Jesus is getting into the egg hunt spirit — 

floody, floody?

19 Mar

God said to Noah, “There’s going to be a floody, floody.”

God said to Noah, “There’s going to be a floody, floody.”
“Get those animals” *clap* “out of the muddy, muddy,”
children of the Lord.
The waters are rising as I encountered my first detour due to the lakes that have appeared in fields and overtaken roads.  I ran across more than a few of these barricades on my way south to Marshall today.  It’s crazy to drive out of Dawson and see the water standing where there never were any lakes or rivers previously.  There are many closed roads and many more places where the water is growing dangerously close to the roads.
There is a river that runs through the south of Dawson and though I have no pictures to share, the river has swelled immensely in the past days.  This is nothing new to Dawson and houses in the dangerous flood plain have since been moved but it seems a few houses/many basements are still threatened.  I’m still not sure that I know what a sump pump is but many conversations have centered around the machine of late.  Hopes are that the chilly day today has perhaps helped slow the growing river.  
Hopefully we can fast forward to the last verse of the song soon –
The sun came out and dried up the landy, landy.
The sun came out and dried up the landy, landy.
Everything was *clap* fine and dandy,
children of the Lord.

strengths.

17 Mar
My supervisor and I went over our six month evaluations of my internship in the course of the last two days.  Under “Strengths” my supervisor wrote the following, among other good things —

“She also provides sumptuous treats to spoil us during our staff meetings.”

Today it was a strawberry rhubarb jam tart.  Yum.

It’s been froggy here.

14 Mar

The fog has rolled in around Dawson nearly every day for the past week.  Combine the fog with the rain and the melting snow and it’s been a bit miserable in terms of vitamin D.  Worries of flooding have surfaced.  Maybe this will be my first opportunity to sandbag?  We’ll hope for not but the spring will tell.

another summary.

7 Mar

Say you were to approach me tomorrow.  Say you asked, “So, Lindsay, how was your weekend?”  

I would say, “Hey!  Thanks for asking!  It was pretty good.”  
If that answer wasn’t long or detailed enough, here’s how I would proceed:

– I saw Avatar.  Finally.  It was wonderful and I may or may not have shed a few tears behind my 3D glasses.
– Buttercrunch almond toffee.  Success.  The first candy I’ve made that required a candy thermometer and fancy things.  Packaged and ready for the mail tomorrow.
– New fabric for one yard wonder constructions.  To begin with grocery totes.  Excited.
– A good part of my weekend was spent wearing these around my apartment, trying to convince myself that they’re not too big for my head and that they weren’t a stupid purchase.  This picture is for you, Emma.
– A Sunday of two baptisms.  Beautiful babies welcomed into the body of Christ.
– I ran two miles.  Like seriously.  Two miles without stopping.  I impressed myself.
– New biscotti recipe.  Epic fail.  Added chocolate on top.  That makes everything better.
– Watched Thursday night’s episode of The Office twice.  Props to the show; it was better than I have come to expect this season.  (“Wrong baby!  Wrong baby!”)
– Saturday night quilting/chatting.  Perfect.

This week’s wisdom.

27 Feb
1. Teaching fourteen third graders to make paper cranes is not a walk in the park.  I found a youtube video online that went through it s-l-o-w-l-y step by step.  As we watched the how-to instructions, they screeched at me, “pause it!  pause it!”  “I don’t get it!”  “I need help!”  Needless to say, we ran out of time.  Looks like I’ll be doing the beginning steps of fourteen paper cranes to catch them up when we continue on Wednesday.
2.  Using a prop such as a banana dog will become the talk of the town.  After using Webster as a key part of my sermon on Wednesday evening, he was mentioned at a women’s circle study the next afternoon and a Pampered Chef party I attended the following evening.  I’m thinking people will now associate me as the owner of the banana dog.
3.  Egg coffee.  Never had I heard of such a thing until the women of Mary Circle educated me.  I think it sounds rather disgusting but they emphasized over and over how “pretty” the coffee is when made this way.  That’s what I like to drink – pretty coffee. 
4.  “Don’t worry, Sweet Pea.  I’ll find you a man.  A rich man with one foot in the grave and the other one on a banana peel.”  This is what H. told me while I visited he and his wife at home.  Always a joker but also a gentleman.  He helped me put my coat on when I was ready to leave and made sure I had a Little Debbie cupcake for the road.

mi amor.

19 Feb

Spanish conversation hearts.  De nada.  Mi amor.  
and Linda?  Unda?  (the yellow one in the bottom left)  
Any other clue to what that might say?
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