joys of the week.

11 Jan
The joys of this crazy busy week include, but are not limited to —
. explaining to a table of women at the care center why my gloves have holes in them.  [They’re touch screen phone gloves – my finger and thumb are meant to be exposed.]
. morning walks with Ms.Mabel.
. a busy office – people have stopped by!  During the week, ROG can be a pretty dull and lonely place.  Yesterday we had a gov’t employee, doing water samples [He was delightful.] and an internet man, who gave us hope that in one-two months, he can give us high speed internet.  [But not until then.  We need to wait for a new tower to be put up.  But there is hope!]
. a feeling of competence at my job.  [Funeral number two is on the calendar for Saturday and I feel much more prepared and able this time around.  That feeling of competence is my joy; the funeral is not.]
. new photos in frames.
. laughing at the incredibility that Alaska is short on shovels.  It’s just wacky.  [Ben is working unlimited overtime to get snow off roofs.  I just can’t imagine.]
. dreaming about owning snowshoes.
. we’re all about buying mosquito nets at ROG this month.  [In fact, I hung mosquito pictures all over the church.  They won’t go away until we buy nets!]  In worship I put together a big metal bucket with netting and during the offering, kids are invited to come up and throw money into it.  [Make it noisy!]  There were adults handing coins to kids and even one woman who gave me a handful at the communion rail.  I LOVE me a church uniting for an awesome cause.
. lunch in Owatonna tomorrow with a crew of friends.
. gusto postcards like the one below.  [A nearly daily email I discovered via my friend, Megan, over at S&S.  It’s always cute and inspiring.]  I love my gusto – “the passionate, ridiculously wise, unflappably optimistic part of you that’s brimming over with a zest for life and the adventure that it is.”

Blooming.

9 Jan
Have you met Blooming? [a la Barney Stinson saying, “Have you met Ted?”  HIMYM is on the brain these days.]
We’re getting to know each other.  I’ve been to the hardware store. (I’m a grown up now who must buy salt for my water softener.) I have toured the schools. I go to the library for Internet (I went today and was reminded how fast internet can be. Cross your fingers – an internet provider is coming tomorrow to do a survey and see if he can provide us with our missing link to the outside world. In fact, I blog from my phone because this wifi from my phone isn’t working at all right now. ugh.) and to the care center to hang out with with congregational members. I go over to my friends Paul and Bernice’s house. (Paul fixed my barstools. They always invite me in for coffee and treats.) I’ve had pizza and dinner at the Pizza Cellar. But my favorite place in Blooming?
The Highway Roost. Beth is the owner and she’s super. They serve sandwiches on homemade wheat bread. It’s the place to be around the noon hour, or at 9am for coffee on the first Tuesday of every month. (The pastors in town gather.)
I mourn that there is no fancy coffee supplier (like another small town i know) and that town is not within walking distance but all in all, it’s a cute little town and I’m beginning to find my way around. (And now you can’t say that I never introduced you.)

paper.

7 Jan
Michael Scott: [to classroom of students] Paper is the future.  Write that down.
[students noisily type on their computers]
This post is brought to you by paper.
I mysteriously become a subscriber to odd magazines.  Last year, it was a magazine called Fresh Home.  I just started getting it in the mail.  In fact, I’d never heard of it.  Then a letter arrived, apologizing that Fresh Home would no longer be published and the remainder of my subscription year would be filled with Taste of Home instead.  Okay, well … great?  [But I never even signed up in the first place!  Why do you send this to me?  How did you get my name and address?  What’s going on?]  Now, all the more mysteriously, I’ve begun to receive another magazine with no clue how or why.  The second month of it arrived in the mailbox today.  According to the mailing label, my subscription to Money ends in November 2012.  [Scorecard for 1,100 funds?  Yesssss.]
I went to an ordination today.  Love me some scripture on yokes.  [And love me the art on the bulletin cover.]  Friend Sarah from seminary has been called to a church in Colorado and was ordained at her home church in Alexandria, about a three and a half hour drive from the grove.  Paige, Mabel and I made the drive.  [It was going to be too long a day to leave Mabel at home alone and my attempts to find someone to let her out were unsuccessful.  She does love car rides … so I think it was okay.]  The service was absolutely wonderful [emphasis on absolutely and wonderful] and it was great to catch up with my seminary roommate, Jeanette, and a favorite professor, Karoline.  On the way back, Paige and I met up with jD and Lauren for supper in Owatonna at the Asian Kitchen [real place] next to the beautiful people Starbucks.  Fun and fried chicken with rice was had by all.
Sometimes I think waiting until 8pm on a Saturday night is the best way to write a sermon.  [Half sarcasm, half truth.]  I sat down after arriving home, focused in with an episode of HIMYM, and kicked out a sermon in, oh, two hours.  It still needs tweaking and a conclusion but I consider it a small sort of accomplishment that I’m blogging and not frantically writing right now.  Thank you, Holy Spirit and old-sermon-from-which-I-recycled-three-paragraphs.

what strangers tell me.

6 Jan
Smiling is Elf’s favorite and apparently I don’t do it.  I must walk around with a scowl or frown because on more than one occasion, I’m reminded to smile by strangers.  I can think of three examples from the past couple months.  [And there’s more where they come from.]  
Example the first.  Working the Lutefisk dinner at First Lutheran in Blooming a few months ago.  I guess I wasn’t smiling or looking at all like I was enjoying myself because a fellow worker – who I did not know – came up to me and told me, “It’s okay to smile.” 
Example the second.  Fall Theological Conference.  I meet a pastor for the first time.  We’re in the same dinner group and then at the same hotel room party that follows.  [Hotel room party.  That makes pastors sound cool.]  He honestly tells me that he found me intimidating when we first met.  You know.  I could stand to smile.
Example the third.  I went to St.Paul tonight for a date with my stylist.  [He rejected my hair proposal and I’m not sure I like the fall back plan.  Haircut approval pending.]  I arrived on Grand Ave. early enough to walk down a few blocks to Cafe Latte for dinner.  [$9.58 spent out of my $50 January fun money but their chicken caesar pasta salad is always worth it.]  As I walked down the street, a man passed me in the opposite direction and said, “Smile!” as he walked by.  [It worked.  I did grin.]  And for someone to take the effort to say that to someone they don’t know – to someone whom they don’t know what the reaction will be – is weird.  Is there something about my non-smiling intimidation that oddly makes me approachable?  I’m confused.
I guess I need to pay more attention to my facial features and the emotions they convey.  [This isn’t really news.  I’ve always said, while pointing to my face, “I don’t control this.”]  I guess I need to smile more.  Feel free to remind me.  Apparently I easily forget.  

Little Women.

4 Jan
I never read Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Little Women, as a teenager. All I knew about it was what I had seen in the movie years ago [which I loved as a teenager because I thought Christian Bale was dreamy]. In recent years, I also make Friends connections to Little Women. Joey reads the novel, trading his The Shining with Rachel, after first asking, “How little are these women?” When he starts to get sad -as one likely does while reading Little Women – he puts the book in the freezer.
I started reading it on the kindle because it was free and a classic and something I had never read. It started out a bit slow but then, suddenly, I found myself drawn in. I was hooked. In fact, there was one morning while I was on vacation that I read for a good three hours, unable to put it down because Beth was sick and Laurie about to propose his love to Jo. [“I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo, couldn’t help it, you’ve been so good to me. I’ve tried to show it, but you wouldn’t let me; no, I’m going to make you hear, and give me an answer, for I can’t go on so any longer.”]
I think a lot of my attraction to the book is that I want to be Jo. Jo is the second oldest, brave, independent, speak-your-mind sister of the four. She’s a writer and dreams of a life of happiness instead of money. Jo doesn’t need money, though she’ll sell her hair in order to give money to those who need it. She goes off to New York, a new city, by herself and finds herself having adventure, meeting new friends, and learning much about who she is. We have similar views on potential futures of marriage [“An old maid, that’s what I’m to be. A literary spinster, with a pen for a spouse, a family of stories for children, and twenty years hence a morsel of fame, perhaps …”] until she meets her German professor. [I’ll keep looking for mine.] I’m simply fascinated by her character.
After I finished the book, I watched the movie again. It’s been years since I’d seen it and Emma gave it to me for Christmas. Foregoing book-to-movie comparisons, it’s as good as I remember. Theodore Lawrence is still pretty dreamy and it still bothers me how Amy is played by two different actresses [to show span of time I suppose] while the other three sisters are not.
Having read and loved Little Women, I wonder what other classic novels I’m missing out on. Recommendations? I might take this list to the next level – I’ve only read three of them. I downloaded Wuthering Heights today which only brings me to another Friends reference … you know, about the robots in the novel.

day by day.

2 Jan
Last year at this time, I assembled an index card daily calendar journal of sorts.  [which I learned how to do here.]  I chopped index cards in half, labeled each with a day, and put them in order in a box.  The idea was that each day, I would write down the year and something that happened that day.  [Samples: yoga is good. history test – nailed it.  freaked out about 1st call. crabby pants day – uh oh. etc.]  I had my doubts that I would actually carry it though.

Lo and behold, as we begin a new year, I start the 2012 line on each index card, underneath a 2011 line.  It will be fun this year to look back on 2011 and can only imagine what fun it will be five years down the road [if I continue]. I love stuff like this.

Any interest in giving it a try?  I have the stamp.  Just let me know and maybe I could hook you up with a set of cards … 🙂  [provided the response isn’t too overwhelming.  dividers and holder not included.]  [my dividers are simply cardstock.  holder is a ceramic fruit container from Crate and Barrel.] 

a special delivery.

2 Jan
I had known it might be arriving, knowing also that I would be out of town over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday when it was scheduled for arrival.  I found this between my back doors –

My kindergarten penpal from Dawson, C., delivered a thanksgiving wreath made especially for me!  How cute and wonderful is it?!  Looking at the leaves, C. and his family have pretty much identified everything that goes on a ‘Lindsay is thankful for’ list.  It’s hanging on my wall in my dining room right now and it may just stay there through next fall.  Even more – there were awesome snowman cakepops on my doorstep – the cutest I’ve ever seen.  [It’s not just one cake ball on a stick – you know – but three stacked cake balls to make the snowman!]  I put them in my freezer and will try with all my willpower to maintain a no-sweets-January.  But come February 1st, one of those snowmen is mine!

C., I’m pretty sure you’re not reading this but I bet your parents might.  Know that there will be a letter coming your way soon!  I hope you had a great Christmas and drive back to Dawson!

new year. new goals.

1 Jan

The year of two-zero-one-two.

Setting goals for the whole year seems daunting. Let’s just start with January.
. no buy January. It was attempted and mostly successful in two-zero-one-one. Money will be spent only on groceries [see following goal], gas for Sprocket, a hair cut [already scheduled], the new Snow Patrol album [it comes out on Jan. 10th and I cannot be deprived], and monthly bills. A fund of $50 will be available for social activities. [Just because it’s no buy January doesn’t mean it’s hermit month. If someone asks me to go out for coffee – which I hope people will – I want to be able to go!]
. $75 groceries. You may not know it but I’m terrible at budgeting money, as in I don’t do it. [Please don’t think less of me.] It’s time to begin. I hope January to be a time to evaluate expenses and track groceries … and only spend $75 on them in January. [You may think to yourself, “Lindsay, you’re one person. You spend more than that?” Yeah. Most months I do because I’m not a smart shopper. And I buy many things on a whim. Like expensive cereal and duck sauce to make Thai pizza.] I’m going to attempt to be a smarter meal-planner; I’ll share some of my successes and [inevitable] failures in the month to come.  I’m up for a challenge.
. sweets no more. This one is a shocker. I will empty my house of sugar. That’s actually impossible [ie bread] – but I will empty it of known sugar offenders. No cookies, cakepops, sugar in the coffee, etc. Fruit shall be my sugar intake. [If I fail at any, it shall be this one. Game on.]
Putting those goals before me, I also recognize this in its own truth – ‘This New Year’s Eve you can lay the groundwork for continued growth without making any resolutions except one—to let go of the past, connect with yourself, to wake up, and be [resent.’  (Source: My dorky daily enneagram email tip for number twos.)  Let go; connect; wake up; be present.  Amen.
Game on, two-zero-one-two.  Game on.

a year in review.

31 Dec
On this new year’s eve, let’s review the year with a list of highlights.  [I do love a good list.]  In no particular order – 
. I made a bunch of new wonderful friends at seminary. Like awesome wonderful. One group of us went out on Thursday nights [a tradition I miss a great deal] and I learned to drink beer.
. I realized there was so much of the cities I hadn’t explored and tried to check a lot of things off my list in the last semester I was there. Snowshoeing. Roller derby. Winter carnival.  Saints game.  New restaurants.  Dance parties.  History museum.  Polar plunge.
. I graduated from seminary, moved home, and had one last summer off with lots of family and friend adventures.  Good times were had by all at the cabin, in the cousin’s pool, and at graduation parties with cakepops.
. I was ordained as a pastor – what a wonderfully lovely day.  I felt so loved.
. Hey. I drove to Alaska. That was fun/best week ever.  [Also in the travel department, I spent a long weekend in Arizona visiting college friends and completed a week-long Minnesota Tour de Friends at the end of the summer.]
. I officiated at four weddings of dear family and friends.  They were fun times of growth for me as a pastor and weddings are – in general – awesome.   [Bouncy houses, Spotted Cow on tap, and old friends!]
. Oh.  And hey – I started a new job.  I’m 28 and I finally don’t have to pay to do my laundry and I receive a steady paycheck.  [all while doing a job I enjoy]
Good job, 2011.  Here’s to 2012.
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[Which begins with me likely being in bed well before midnight.  I went out to dinner at the Pour House in Stoughton – quaint and cool – with Banana Kay and her boyfriend.  Now I watch HIMYM and talk to you.  Don’t laugh – it’s not entirely lame.  I at least left the house.]

Banana Christmas.

31 Dec
Perfect and lovely.
Here is a sampling of gifts given and received – you can’t make this stuff up.
Banana derby kit. (You take fruit or vegetables, add axles and stickers, and then race.) Banana napkin rings. (Bought at an estate sale.) Banana wine stopper. Banana luggage tag. Go Ape! card game. Raquel the Rooster. A wobbly snowman (read: groovy/likes to get down) who really likes bananas. Grow-your-own-banana kit.

I know it’s hard to believe but this part of the universe exists. The Christmas M & M commercials where the M & Ms meet Santa? “They do exist!” “He does exist!” We exist and there are Banana gifts a plenty, especially when we begin searching in February.
So then we played a major game of Spot It!  All five variations.  It was awesome and we were super loud.  The minute one of us began to lose in one of the fast-paced games, we began to say – quiet at first and ever so loudly – “Oh no!  Oh no!  Oh no!” or “Shoot!  Shoot!  Shoot!”  There never really was any hope that Dan and Marj would get sleep while the Bananas were there.

Kim: You know what would make this game [Spot It!] even better?
Everyone else: What?
Kim: [dramatic pause] Forks.
Gifts exchanged.  Games played. Jenni didn’t break any bones.  I declare it a Banana Christmas success.  
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