there's no place like gnome.

It is here.

I hope this day and the next couple find you with those you love.

It’s been a busy few days leading up to the holiday, as I’m sure it has been for you too. Last minute shopping and wrapping. Grocery shopping and worship planning. Christmas cards were not sent … again, I had high hopes that the time would present itself and it. did. not. I love and appreciate all the cards from you I have received – they have brightened my days.

Last night was my favorite candlelight service and this morning a Christmas Day service. From there, it was the second year I didn’t/couldn’t head home to Wisconsin for the holiday. With Thursday being so close to Sunday, the drive and stress about the weather both seemed too much. I am super sad to not be home with family but have been savoring a long day of pajamas and relaxing. (Brunch and lasagna too, with a hospital visit in there for good measure.)

Merriest of Christmases to you!

I’m not baking any cookies for a couple reasons. First, I am gifted enough sweets to feed a dozen of my closest friends. (Come on over!) I feel little need to add to that delicious pile.

However, I am also not baking cookies (or anything for that matter) because my oven is out of commission. Because this happened on Sunday night –

See, with a dog in the house, sometimes I hide/keep food items in my oven. You know, things like plastic cutting boards. And then, sometimes, after a week of non-use, I turn on the oven to bake bread and forget to remove the food items.

Opps?

It was my own darn fault and luckily the flames were small. I caught it early and the fire extinguisher was nearby. I’d never used a fire extinguisher before; good thing they are user friendly. And good thing I don’t have a bird. I just learned that the plastic fumes would have been super bad for my fictional bird. It could have killed Chirp. (That’s what I named my fake bird. Oh, and I should credit that information about birds to Mister B.B. – a resource in bird-lore and many other things.)

So I am not doing any baking. I still have a little more plastic cutting board to scrape off the bottom before it can be used again. I also continue to vacuum and wipe up the fire extinguisher dust that covered the kitchen (including inside the fridge because, you know, I was putting away groceries when I suddenly realized I needed to check the oven). From this time forward, you can bet I check the oven every time I turn it on.

And that, my friends, is my dumb Lindsay move and why I’m not baking Christmas cookies.

Thanksgiving was two weeks ago and I haven’t told you about the annual Thanksgiving Day Bake-Off held at the Danielson gathering. Cousin Connor and I have chosen a theme and hosted this bake off for eight? nine? years now. It seems that though Connor and I lose a bit of steam each year in the planning of the event, the rest of the family won’t let it die. This year our theme was cinnamon & social justice (Don’t ask.) and I won by default since Connor decided to not actually enter a dessert. Mine was an apple dump cake with protest signs. It was quite delicious, if I don’t say so. #pinterestwin

I also baked a bunch of mini pumpkin pies for the boyfriend’s birthday. (His request.) And wouldn’t you know – the BBQ (boyfriend birthday quilt) was finished on time and loved by its recipient.

After thanksgiving, Mama Leanne came to stay with me for five nights. We shopped and completed projects and she helped me get ready for an open house I hosted at the parsonage. We explored the surrounding area, including a stop in the cutest, smallest little town named Stockholm across the river in Wisconsin. They have a well-known pie shop; you betcha we stopped.

I hosted an open house at the parsonage and the next day was my birthday. Dave treated me to dinner in Rochester and then we stopped outside of Hayfield to take in a Christmas lights display that has quite the reputation. Lights set to music; you tune your radio to a certain station when you drive in. It was pretty darn awesome. After the lights, we ate cake that Dave baked. He baked me a cake. A cake with dinosaur sprinkles. What more does a girl need?

(This post is quickly becoming all about food.) Last night, Dave and I finally made a dish we have talked about making FOREVER. Fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce. Thank you, Pioneer Woman, for a delicious recipe. It was pretty splendid. Dave’s creeper skills are also pretty awesome.

Life just seems to continue moving at a pretty constant/busy/insane pace in all aspects – work, creative, and personal. It’s mostly all good things but phew. I’m holding out for a few days of rest after Christmas. (And to think Christmas Eve is two weeks from today! Cue freak out.)

Hey guys. So, can we just forget about the fact that I haven’t blogged in, like, forever? For no real particular reason, it has seriously been forever. Okay. Moving on. (I will mention that it feels good to be back. Maybe it will become a semi-regular habit of mine again. But don’t hold your breath … )

It’s my birthday today. I’m 31.

Last year, when I turned 30, I joked that I was having a third-life crisis. That feeling of doom and gloom surrounding life and what I thought it should be and wasn’t propelled me into a pretty great year. They are saying 30 is the new 20 …

In the last year, I –

Learned that red hair highlights are so me.

Bought a church pew. Because why not, right?

Tried lots of new things. The boyfriend thing, the motorcycle thing, the bicycle thing, the geocaching thing, the gardening thing. I love and will continue in all of those adventures except the motorcycle deal.

Traveled to Ireland! (And Glacier National Park. And Pennsylvania.)

Became at home and happy in this call and parsonage.

And you know, lots of other things. Lots of other good things. 30 brought a year of crying exponentially less than the year of 29. Let’s raise a glass to that.

And while the glasses are raised, here’s to a great year of being 31.

My sewing machine broke.

BROKE.

You know how I’ve been frantically sewing with every spare minute?  Trying desperately to finish the BBQ by the boyfriend’s birthday which is next Wednesday?  I get home and, on days when I’m not at church for meetings or off with Dave, I go straight upstairs after supper and sew, sew, sew.

Until last night.  When my sewing machine broke.

Sigh.  I called a guy and I take it to him tomorrow morning.  The BBQ is really close to being done – maybe a quarter left to quilt and then binding.  A friend offered to lend me her machine and the quilters at church did the same.  I could take one of their machines home to use in the meantime if I wanted.  However, I didn’t take them up on their offer.  At least not tonight.

I’m not feeling super well.  The sluggish, chilled, not-myself kind of not well.  Maybe – just maybe – this not feeling super well is a sign of me running myself ragged.  Going, going, going.  Maybe – just maybe – I need a night to sit on the couch under a quilt that’s already complete, and just be.  Relax.  Breathe.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve done that.

[Or maybe the not feeling super well is just the beginning of really not feeling well and sickness will overtake me.  But let’s hope not.]

And so that’s where you’ll find me tonight.  Not ironing or quilting or cutting. But cuddling with Miss Mabel.  Chilling.  Sleeping.  The sewing [and Christmas cards. and cleaning. and laundry. and annual Thanksgiving day bake-off research.  and everything else.] will still be there tomorrow.  I’m going to let it wait until then.

Estate sale Saturdays are my favorite.

Dave and I headed to Rochester for not one, but two estate sales just around the corner for each other. It was the perfect morning to go about galavanting through other people’s houses and taking their things. Dave bought a pair of sawhorses for $1. I walked away with the following for myself:

New (to me) Pyrex. It’s actually old; vintage I suppose one could say. I simply can’t help myself when I see Pyrex in any shape or color. I buy it all. I’m running out of space. (But do you see the casserole dish? It’s inside is, like blue! I haven’t seen one like that before.)

Next, I spied and claimed quickly as mine this bright red pig cutting board/trivet. It definitely belongs in my kitchen.

And, finally, a couple new metal trays for my wall of trays in the kitchen. Have I shown you my wall? It’s the best because they are light, easily found second hand, hung with 3M strips, and, while they bring cheap funky color to the room, they also double as magnetic spaces. The new two will likely cap off the collection and the wall.

Estate sales most certainly are the best. Today, our galavanting was timed perfectly too, because just as we returned to Austin, it started to snow big flakes of fluffy wonder. We spent the rest of the lovely afternoon eating soup and making a batch of beer (I have declared myself to be Dave’s sous brewer.). We only went out again, likely in the worst of the 3-5 inches of snowfall expected, because there was a YEAST EMERGENCY. I repeat: YEAST EMERGENCY. At least that’s what Dave jokingly said to the guy at the home brew place in Albert Lea that we had to run to quick to buy the proper kind of yeast for this specific lager. It’s okay; the emergency resolved itself with the purchase of proper yeast. All is well in the brewing world again. There will indeed be beer.

Say what you will about the white stuff. And my tune may very well be very different in a couple weeks or months. But, for right now, the snow makes me giddy.

Lorelei Gilmore always claims she can smell snow. She loves snow. “The whole world changes color,” she says. Lorelei and I are on the same wavelength. (Now if only we had the same closet of outerwear. I love Lorelei Gilmore coats.)

It snowed for the first time this season a couple days ago. In Austin, we accumulated little more than a dusting, just enough to make the world change color. The cities – they got hammered. (I might be singing a different tune if I was still living in St.Paul.) But here in Austin, it didn’t require much plowing or shoveling. But the world changed color.

I love how bright it is and how, when I wake up in the morning, all it want to do is drink coffee and stare out the window. Snow inspires me to create and makes me crave holiday decorations. On a bright snowy day, I want to make things and make things pretty and drink coffee. (As a thought, maybe the giddiness is actually caffeine overload.) Come Friday, my day off, you can probably expect that I have begun pulling out my Christmas decorations. Maybe I’ll make some festive bunting to hang. Or a new pillow. Or … Or … Or …. endless possibilities.

Nevertheless, I’m happy and thankful to live in a state with four seasons, including winter. I like winter. It makes me giddy and full of childlike wonder. We’re best friends (at least for the time being).

Hey. Did you hear? I confirmed my first batch of confirmands two Sundays ago. It was pretty awesome.

Because the four youth are awesome. Seriously. So awesome.

They started with me as seventh graders when I was a brand new pastor with no clue what she was doing. We figured it out together. We bonded in our unknowing and general confusion. And now they are confirmed. They created awesome projects, spoke their verses clearly, and had big smiles on their faces.

They also gave me a surprise. Turns out, the Saturday before the service, they all got together and galavanted around Austin, buying me flowers and putting together a picture board of our three and a half years together. They presented these things to me during worship that day, saying nice words and giving me hugs. For nice. Really for nice. See? That’s how awesome … and thoughtful … and fun they are. I will miss them on Wednesday nights.

I know.

I know.

I have been so incredibly absent the last couple weeks. Life has been moving along at a steady pace, a pace that hasn’t allowed much space for blogging. There have been nights away for conferences, late nights quilting, trips to the cities, and a few other things thrown in the mix. I hope to update you on the happenings this week, post by post. But for today, for this afternoon, let’s start with a story from yesterday at worship.

It all started with the children’s sermon. On any Sunday when we have a baptism, the children’s sermon is centered around the baptismal font. We dip our hands in the water, say a prayer, give each other blessings. This Sunday, on Emmit’s day of baptism, his cousin was in worship. Noah is his name. (I should also mention that Emmit’s brother was there too. Walter. Walter is a great four year old. He tried to take over the children’s sermon a couple times. It’s a good thing I had a mic and he didn’t or I would have been old news real fast.)

Noah came up during the children’s sermon and we all dipped our fingers in the water. We blessed each other and then I told them to go back and bless someone else in the congregation. Boy, did that make Noah excited. He dipped his finger in the water so fast and tore off down the steps back to his family. Cutest thing ever.

THEN, Noah came up when his cousin Emmit was at the font to be baptized. At one point, I ask all the family and sponsors up front to make the sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead. Noah was all over it. What did he do? He dipped his finger in the water, like we had at the children’s sermon, and made the sign of the cross on his baby cousin’s forehead.

You practically had to mop me off the floor because it was so darn darling.

And that, my friends, is what church is about.

There has been a larger than normal appearance of fabric at the parsonage lately. And by appearance, I mean I bought it. On purpose. Because it was pretty.

Most of it does have a reason for making its way to my house. I received a large order of white yardage and various green fabric last week for the BBQ (boyfriend birthday quilt) whose top is nearly complete on the empty bedroom floor.

Then there is the chair fabric. As soon as the BBQ and a couple other baby quilts are done (One of which is on the design wall currently but I can’t show you because this baby’s mother is a blog reader and I’m not ready to reveal it yet, Amanda!), it will be reupholstery time. That wingback chair from goodwill will be getting a makeover. First I bought this fabric:

But then, upon seeing a better variety at SR Harris* on Saturday, I decided that wasn’t THE ONE. I went with this instead:

See? LOTS of fabric happening at the parsonage. Add to that purchasing fabric for another baby quilt for dear Sara and her first to be born in February (February? There are too many babies in my life I can’t keep track!) and I’m swimming in cotton beauty. And, of course, loving every second.

*SR Harris, you wonder? Sara and I stopped at their new location this past Saturday. It’s a fabric warehouse whose new locale is in Burnsville. Basically, designer print fabric at half off. With a whole lot of other fabric to dig through. Go there. It will be worth it. There is a whole aisle of polka dots!

Enough said.