there's no place like gnome.

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.

I particularly enjoyed about today:

1. The cutest little three year old came to Sunday School for the first time today.  He joined the group eagerly and Grandma watched on for a few minutes before walking away to wait in the nursery for Sunday School to be over.  She didn’t want to go too far; she wanted him to know that she was close as he adjusted.  Well, that didn’t end up being a problem because later, Grandma came back to pick up her grandson and he didn’t want to leave.  He loved Sunday School!  I love that he loved Sunday School.

2.  Like days of old, Paige and I met up this afternoon for a movie.  We saw The Way, Way Back.  I laughed.  I cried.  I leaned over at the end and told Paige that it easily was a top ten movie for me.  I want to see it again and again.  If you can, go.  It’s delightful, funny, endearing, lovely and … I’ll just stop.  I can’t say enough good things.

3.  I grabbed a sandwich from Jimmy John’s for a quick dinner on the ride home.  The drive-up window man was quite a talker tonight.  It’s probably the longest conversation I’ve had with a drive-up employee.  Probably the flirtiest too.  I enjoyed it.  *cliche winky face*

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post.  I spent $11 at the church auction on Saturday and I’m going to  tell you what I have to show for it.  Tomorrow.

Throw-back Thursday OR

Signs that Lindsay was always destined to be a blogger.

I was recently going through a couple totes of things from my school years.  There were lots of goodies – Solo and Ensemble medals, a plaque signifying that all the work I’d put into graduating with a 4.0 paid off, crayon pictures, and penmanship practice from kindergarten.  And then there were my first published works – books written and illustrated by me, published by the Rascal Publishing House [aka laminated and spiral bound at the elementary school].

My first book was about my cats.  The second was about our family cabin.  What I want to share with you is the author biography at the back of both of these books:

Foregoing that attention to cats, it’s funny how even in first and second grade there is evidence of the person I would become over two decades later.  Reading, publishing books, and PENMANSHIP.  What second grader says that?

It’s safe to say that already by age 8 I was on this path to life with a heavy, loved emphasis on reading and writing and books.  That whole “Lindsay likes to draw when she’s at home” though?  That never really materialized.  And even as a first grader, I can’t say it was that great, as seen in this scene from My Cats –

Cats?  Beavers?  I can hardly tell.  They are nice, but sometimes they aren’t.