there's no place like gnome.

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!

It is a small kind of accomplishment, I suppose.  Lizzie Bennet, Pride & Prejudice

I’ve had this blog post in my head for a while, to keep you abreast of what I have accomplished of late. And since I’ve thought about this blog post, that quote from P&P has been in my head all the day long. Small kind of accomplishment, I suppose. 

Okay. Small kinds of accomplishments, aka projects and happenings, here we go. 

I finished mod-podging this paper mâché pumpkin with fabric scraps. It is September now; pumpkins are allowed, right?  (The white one is from my garden.)

 My stack of English paper pieced six-point stars keeps growing.   

 
 Dave and I finally found this geocache in Austin. It literally took us four bike rides to the coordinates to find it. Fourth time is a charm.  

 I gained a new piece of furniture – a gun cabinet my dad made while he was a youngster. Dave, my super handy boyfriend, helped me add shelves. Now, it’s no longer for guns but for fabric storage in the sewing room, holding fabric stored in shop bins from my dad’s shop. 

I baked this loaf of bread in my pretty blue Dutch oven. (Colder weather means the Dutch oven comes out.) It was as it looks – crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I recommend the recipe. Mmm.  
 Also – I made my first pot roast and quilted a quilt. Tomorrow, my accomplishment will be leading cowboy worship at church. (Hey!  Tomorrow marks four years here. Crazy!) 

Life is busy.  Life is good. 

(Two blog posts in one month?  Please. Don’t fall off your chair. Somehow it’s true.)

It was quite the lovely weekend, blog friends. I hope yours was equally lovely. 

Mine began with a Target run with Pastor Paige.  It’s been f-o-r-e-v-e-r since we’ve been friends who actually see each other.  Next, we went to Carter’s house for supper, crafts, and a movie outside projected on the house. It was pretty spectacular to be with friends doing such fun things. 

On Saturday, Austin hosted its big arts festival which included some sort of attempt to bust a record for bubble blowing.  Dave and I biked downtown to participate, however using ones breath to send the bubble into the air was not necessary because the wind itself did it for you.  It was so super windy!  There were also SPAM samples a la fancy (coconut encrusted SPAM with pineapple chutney? not too shabby.) and local artist displays to admire. 

 I came home Saturday evening to a lovely birth announcement in the mailbox. A birth announcement for the newest addition to my favorite Montana family. Along with the pretty, pretty pictures was an invitation I am beyond honored to accept. So honored.  

 Today – Sunday – was busy, busy. Church at Red Oak Grove with a service of sharing the Detroit trip with the congregation. Off to the local care center to lead worship and drink coffee. Sewing, watching my newest show (the quite enjoyable The Newsroom), and deciding to finally do something about the abundance of tomatoes my garden is producing.  Hello, oven roasted tomato sauce. So excited to try it on pasta tomorrow.  It smells wonderful!

I’ve started a collection on my kitchen counter. Every $5 bill I come across goes in the jar.  That’s the rule. As Dave and I plan our NC roadtrip next month, I campaigned for a stop at Pink Castle Fabrics in Ann Arbor, one of the coolest, most awesome modern quilt shops ever.  (Or so I guess.  This will be my first time there.). Must. save. money. (Campaigning for this stop wasn’t super hard since I’ll be playing pinball for a couple hours in Pittsburgh.  Quilt shop for pinball arcade.  We’re even.)  

Oh, and I should mention that my pinball-playing boyfriend is a serial killer.  According to my mom’s dream (nightmare?) she had, he kills people by strangulation or – wait for it – throwing furniture on them.  I mean, really, makes sense since his family owns a furniture store. Abundance of weapons, you know. 

Ahh.  Good weekend indeed, even if I do need to keep an eye open for flying furniture now. 

It’s time for an update, eh?  An attempt to include nearly all of summer in one blog post. Here we go –

My mom got married. I surprisingly took, like, zero photos of the ordeal. But she got married!  It was grand! I went to Detroit for the national youth gathering and had a pretty great time with 30,000 other Lutherans. (It’s always particularly fun to run into friends!  Lots of friends!) After being gone for those two weeks, I was grateful to come home and stay home for the last couple weeks. 

But being at home doesn’t mean it was without adventures or projects. 

Emma and Molly came to visit. We went to the sculpture garden in Minneapolis and ate on a rooftop in Uptown.  We also had organized craft time and went out for Mexican food.   

I painted this chest coral.  It now resides by my bed.  (And now, of course, I have a new quilt on my brain to tie the bedroom colors all together.)

 I finished a quilt top, started another (or four).  I’m currently smitten with my epp (English paper piecing) project (below), though progress is slow. It will be at least a year in the making. (It’s my work-on-away-from-home project.  No sewing machine required.) I went on a fabric shopping adventure in the cities with Marilyn and her daughter. I bought more fabric. For more projects. Oye.  I have a problem. 

 I entered my hexagon quilt in the Mower County Fair, which was this last week. It was an experiment; I’ve never really entered anything in the fair. The quilt received a third place ribbon, which also means I’ll be getting a check for $2 in the mail.  My mom told me not to spend it all in one place.  

 Speaking of the fair, Mabel has been going to dog obedience classes through 4H with one of my neighbors. Yesterday was the dog show.  For those of you who know Mabel, you know this probably would not end well.  But, actually, she did fairly well!  Alex took home a couple blues in different events, in addition to a reserve champion in showmanship.  

 This summer, I’ve rekindled my love of reading. I seem to go in spurts; I read a lot or not at all. I’ve devoured a number of fiction books this summer and currently am reading The Fellowship of the Ring everyday while I eat breakfast. You know I’m a HUGE Lord of the Rings dork but I’ve never been able to get into the books – until now. I love it. 

Day camp returned to Red Oak Grove this summer for three Wednesday’s. We had a big crowd this year and lots of fun, including a water blob!

 My garden is kicking out produce to keep me full on tomatoes and zucchini. Anxiously awaiting the first butternut squash and sweet potatoes!  

Dave was gone for a week at Sturgis which then kinda meant we were attached at the hip those first few days he was back. Fun included (*cough* checking out a pinball machine for sale in the cities and then) dinner and a movie at a fancy theater, the tractor pull at the fair, and another dinner out in Rochester with gnome beer!  These last weeks of summer will prove to be busy too. Movie plans with Carter and his family in Owatonna, a drive-in movie, and soaking up time outside. A vacation is in the works for the end of September, which will be a nice pause in the busy of fall. (Road trip to NC, baby!)

So there you have it. Summer in a blog post. Of course, that’s not everything.  It’s been a good summer and – like everyone will say – it has flown by!  Now here’s hoping I post again by the end of fall. 

Freedom!  Independence!  The day we remember the signing of an important document!

The day I declare war. 

On the rabbits. 

Last year, my garden remained unharmed and uninhabited by such creatures. Perhaps it was because it was the first year it was there. Perhaps because at that point in time, they believed Mabel to be a ferocious warrior dog. (They have since learned otherwise.) But this year is different. They have attacked. 

I surveyed my garden this afternoon to find it drastically changed from yesterday. Many carrot greens, one pepper plant, and two sweet potato plants – gone. Ate in their prime growing season. Add this to damages done earlier; only yesterday did my investigation into the bush bean plant disappearances come to a head. There was also the strawberry incident of early June.  Rabbits. Evil rabbits. 

(Why don’t they eat the lettuce?!  I’m not going to eat it all.  Is that too stereotypical for them to eat a little lettuce?  Just, please, not the sweet potatoes!)

Game on, rabbits. Game on. Your eviction notice has been served. You have one day. 

(Because that’s how long it will take me to buy and install a fence.)

Goodness gracious.  I’ve been gone again.  It’s been a month!

Where was Lindsay in the month of May?

+ You heard I got a new couch.  It’s great.  I love it.  But it obviously changes the whole living room scheme.  I “found” a new side table (*cough* It has been living in the storage room of the parsonage since I moved in.  I figured if no one had come to claim it in the last three and a half years, it was no one’s favorite piece of furniture and it could be mine.  It was kinda falling apart and required some tlc and wood glue.  Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s from like three pastors ago anyways.) and made it my own.  (Spray paint!)  New pillows were sewn, which Mabel has adopted as her own, and a new slipcover for the ottoman.  I also acquired a new chair and moved the old furniture out.  We’re making progress and I like where it’s going. 

    + I finished two quilts – two quilts I’ve been working on for the last, oh, year and a half or two years.  They both hung, unfinished, on my upstairs railing for months before I got the gumption to get ’em done.  And now they are.  And they make me happy.  (Except for that one teal fabric, which happened to be in both of them, which happened to run when washed even with color catcher sheets.  Grr.  The rest of that fabric has went in the garbage.)   

 + May was busy with work.  I had work commitments every Saturday but one.  (And, if we’re honest, it started to make Lindsay a little cookoo.)  Wedding, baptism, synod assembly, crazy work.  Hoping for June to be a bit quieter with the ability to reclaim my days off.

+ On my first Saturday off in forever, Dave and I took a trip to Decorah so I could show him around my old stomping ground.  We biked a bit, ate ice cream, saw Dunnings Springs, and stopped for a wine tasting on the way home.  Also in the month of May, we undertook the Harry Potter series and watched each movie in rainy May’s weather, bought and assembled Lindsay’s new grill, and made salsa.  

+ I discovered the television series Parks and Rec.  Why did that take me so long?

+ I planted my garden and planted way too much in it.  Sunflowers, popcorn, lemon cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, pepper, carrots, lettuce, onions, oh my.  I planted strawberries too.  Strawberries that the rabbits sure are enjoying … silly wrabbits.  

That’s it. But that’s enough, right?  Here’s to June being a little less crazy. And here’s to June because it includes a week of vacation and Mama Leanne’s wedding!

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ll know I was all a flutter this past Saturday. I got a new couch.  It was free.  And did I mention awesome? 
Dave and I were out and about seeking the deals at the Austin city wide rummage sales. We found a few things.  A metal tray and an old painting that I plan to turn into something new. We also ran into one of Dave’s friends at a sale who then took a naked Barbie from a garage sale free box and stuck it under Dave’s windshield wiper. 

So Dave, the naked Barbie on the windshield, and I were driving around when we stopped at a house. Everything was to go. They were moving and most of the house was empty; what was left needed to go. We walked inside and I saw it. The couch. I literally gasped aloud. I was in love.  The owner saw my excitement.  If I hauled it out of there, it was mine for free. 

My practical side set in. Do I really need it?  (Maybe.) 

Will it be comfy enough to sit upon and watch a movie?  (Possibly.)

Was it at all practical? (Jury’s still out.)

Dave had none of that. She’ll take it, he said. And we were back within the hour with his trailer to haul it out.  We hauled it back to Dave’s (no time to take it to my house – we had a pinball party to get ready for that night, donchaknow) where we did carve out a little bit of time to haul it off the trailer to set it on the front yard, sit upon it and drink a beer. To be classy was our goal there, can’t you tell?  (The neighbor across the way was out mowing his lawn. Did we need help moving it, he yelled across the street, as we parked the couch outside the front door.  Nope.  We’re just fine.)

It’s at my house now, sitting in the sofa spot in front of the TV. And no, it probably isn’t as comfy as my other (hand-me-down, free, kinda-falling apart, slip-cover-required) couch but really, for as little time as I spend sitting on it watching television, that might be okay. It needs some throw pillows and a couple other furniture shifts to make it fit in completely, but Dave was right – its home is here in my eclectic decor. 

I’ll think we’ll be happy together, Mr. Green-striped-velour-ish Couch and I.  Happy indeed. 

You guys!  Someone left the cutest May Day basket on my front porch!  

  
 I woke up this morning, recalling May Days of old. I used to weave a paper basket and run down to Grandma Vera and Grandpa Sid’s house, only to drop the basket off, ring the bell and run.   One year in seminary, I made May Day door hangers of sorts and hung them on friends’ doors.   I love May Day!

I think it’s so quaint and cute and just plain old nice. It goes way back too. I think we should totally rekindle this May 1st activity!

Thanks to my surprise May Day basket dropper-off-er for bringing the tradition to my front porch!  It made my day to find a May Day basket outside my door. (Mabel kinda tipped me off that you were here and I caught the tail end of your vehicle so I’m pretty sure I know who you are … We’ll just add this to the list of reasons why you are awesome!) 

Here’s a closer pic of what was in my basket – the cutest little succulent salt and pepper shakers which will be perfect for summer picnics.  You know me well.  🙂

– to one day own and refurbish an old, small camper.

This is a dream that began last year.  And, honestly, it’s one I can’t shake.

It’s a trendy, cool thing right now.  (Not that that’s why I want to do it; it just means that examples are everywhere and that makes me want it even more.)  The trend is to buy an old Airstream or other camper and tear it apart only to put it back together.  To transform a small living space on wheels.  To pull into the campground and easily be the coolest camper there.

Like this.  Or this.  Or this.

Just a tiny kitchen/living space and sleeping space, that’s all I’m asking.  I’d be okay with tiny.  (Tiny and awesome.)  Because though I love the idea of camping, I think I would like it more when there is a camper involved.

Keep your eyes open for me, will you?

If you hear of any small, old campers needing a little love, let me know!