winter list.

2 Dec
Walking about in my yellow coat, taking advantage of the necessity of scarves, and loving the white snow that has fallen, I think to myself, “Winter.  You’re not so terrible.”  Granted, yes.  I realize the worst is yet to come … but let’s make the most of it, shall we?  That means –
The unveiling of the winter list.  
It’s in no way final.  Adjustments are guaranteed.  But, for now, this is what I have on this second day of December as my goals for the winter season.
a. build a snowman.     b. venture to the Holidazzle lighted parade.     c. go sledding.     d. make, share, and eat hamballs – Mary O. style.     e. attend the St.Paul Winter Carnival.     f. volunteer at Feed My Starving Children.     g. create, address, and mail Christmas cards.  (Wonder if you’re on my list?  Email me your address!)     h.  try my hand at these.     i. shop for a real Christmas tree at those places with the strings of naked lightbulbs – but not actually buy one.     j. organize a quilting bee/club of sorts.  (All are welcome; maybe a bit of a ‘learn how to quilt’ organized get-together.  I’m thinking January.  Details still to be determined.)     k. visit every one of these places, hopefully with my dear friend, Sara.     l. a trip on an airplane to somewhere warm?  (In the works … )     m. roller derby?  I’ll be in the audience.     n. twirl in the falling snow, a la Winona Ryder in Edward Scissorhands

shenanigans.

1 Dec
I’m sure it’s what my mother thought.  Shenanigans.  
She walked into the kitchen the morning of the Lindsay-Emma-Molly sleepover and found us eating these:

They tasted no different than boring pancakes.  Perhaps, they even tasted a bit better because of how awesome they are in rainbow colors.  Oh, the possibilities of food coloring gels.

three ladies. two cakes. one goal.

30 Nov
We tried.  We attempted.  And we succeeded.
Two of Krissy’s boys had birthdays this past week and I convinced Krissy that we could make cakes that would look and taste just as great as the ones bought in stores.  Plus, it made for a fun Wednesday night of laughs and cursing at marshmallows.
We melted marshmallows.  Added food dye and lots of powdered sugar.  Mixed, kneaded, and dominated the sticky substance.
Sponge Bob and Batman were the finished product, along with a hefty dose of accomplishment, a big powdered sugar mess, and high fives.

a word bubble conversation.

29 Nov

be thankful on paper (4).

29 Nov
Okay.  I cheated.
I didn’t use paper.  I didn’t send out a thank you note this past Wednesday as I had promised to do.  
Want to hear my excuses?
You’re right.  They’re just excuses.  They don’t change the fact that I failed at my assignment.  *hangs head pathetically*
While I wasn’t thankful on paper as instructed, I coordinated some thankfulness on chalkboard instead.   (Does that make up for it at all?  Please?)  Chalkboard word bubbles to be exact – word bubbles which I made after finding this blog post.  So incredibly fun with so many ridiculous uses!
Ready? 

I don’t have a word bubble to say it but I felt so incredibly thankful for my family and friends at home this past week.  They’re good, great, and grand.  Marvelous.  Hilarious.  Loving.

They. are. awesome.

missing: new blog posts.

25 Nov
Happy Thanksgiving (Or, as my three year old cousin, Logan, would say, “Happy Fanksgiving!”) and a gooble, gooble (Mispelling purposeful.) to you and your families today!
I’ve been home in Wisconsin for the week and will be here until Sunday.  Anticipate new blog posts – including my slightly-altered version of being thankful on paper – upon my return to wireless internet and St.Paul.  It’s been a great week at home, complete with culinary accomplishments, sleepovers, and general merriment. 
To be continued …

retiring the fall list.

19 Nov
Thanksgiving is less than a week away.  Snow has fallen in the Cities.  (Check off the scarves, boots and puffy vests!  They’ve all came out, along with the green mittens.)  The fall list needs to meet its end.  We had a good run.  Winter list?  Coming soon.  As for the remaining items left undone – 
{ get lost in a corn maze }
{ bake a pie }
I simply failed at this one.  Oh well.
{ prepare a pot of chili, beer bread, invite friends over to enjoy }
{ step on the crunchy leaves }
{ sew a baby quilt }
{ homemade pizza on the pizza stone }
{ attend a wine tasting }
{ make and share these }
{ 10k training – the hiatus is over – it’s back on }
Well.  This is on.  And then off.  I have been enjoying a weekly pilates class … which is my lame excuse for not running more …
{ find a fall festival }
{ cabin weekend. a hike to the fire tower }
{ scarves.  puffy vests.  boots. }
{ read a for-fun book }
I’m working on this but it’s simply not complete yet.  I’m about halfway through Mansfield Park on my kindle.  The latest joy of the kindle is that I can adjust the type size and set it on the treadmill.  Gym time has become my for fun reading time.  Love it.
{ cheer on the twins from target field }
{ take a stroll around a lake } 
{ pick my own pumpkin.  carve.  light. }

be thankful on paper (3).

18 Nov
Week three of being thankful on paper and I wrote to my sister.  My sister is nine years younger than I. She was born when I was in fourth grade and boy, was I excited to have a baby sister in the house.  I was the ‘second mother’ – changing diapers, feeding, babysitting as I could at that age.  
As she has grown older, she’s had a different childhood than my brothers and I – not living on the farm,  or forced to do tobacco labor, and being the younger spoiled child (joke, Mom, joke) –  but Emma has become quite the wonderful and grounded 18 year old.  We share a mutual love of cardigan sweaters and scarves, not to mention a similar obscure sense of humor.  We’ve bonded through Gilmore Girls and Twilight.  We look alike; the identification of our baby pictures sometimes relies on the background or clothing to determine which is which.  But even now – I still remember one woman asking us a few years ago, “Which one of you is older?”  For real, woman?  
She’s pretty cool and more popular than I ever was or ever will be.  (cough prom queen cough) One complaint — she refuses my suggestion of Luther for undergrad next year.  Wherever she goes, she’ll do great work, make loads of new friends, and change the world.  I’m pretty confident about that.

I’ve linked my blog here – jump on over to read more notes about being thankful!

musical wkend.

16 Nov
#1.  My friend, Cassie, and I have held tickets to the needtobreathe concert at First Ave. in Minneapolis for many months now.  On Saturday, the day was finally here and it did not disappoint.  Needtobreathe was amazing with a nearly perfect set list and a completely unplugged encore.  They came back on stage with a banjo, guitar, mandolin, & minimal percussion, quieted the crowd, and sang with no microphones, no amplification.  Cassie’s reaction?  “I just peed a little.”  (She says that when she gets really excited.  Another example that elicits such a response would be today when the salad bar in the caf had spinach in addition to lettuce.)
#2.  One of the advantages of being back on campus as a senior and not working in a congregation is the opportunity to check out all sorts of worship experiences.  Country gospel?  Great.  My friend, Sara, and I drove south to Farmington to the classic Norwegian Lutheran church on the prairie.  The country gospel band had already began when we arrived (We stopped at the wrong church first.  Opps.) so we scooted up to the balcony.  There we had the perfect view of the six member band up front in their matching white shirts and red ties.  (Not kidding.)  There were moments that I enjoyed the old-style country of it all but it was during the Lord’s Prayer that Sara and I nearly lost it.  As the man with the deep voice spoke the prayer over the country twang, it was a bit too Lawrence Welk for my taste.  (To speak of Lawrence Welk and not link here would be completely unacceptable.)  Neither Sara nor I could look at each other for fear of being disrespectful in a fit of giggles; I looked away and said, “Dead cats, dead cats, dead cats,” over and over in my head.  It helped.
#3.  Sunday afternoon I met and hugged many of my favorite Dawson-dwellers at the Sounds Like Love concert.  SLL is an annual weekend choir festival for high schoolers.  Churches across the midwest send groups of musical teenagers to spend the weekend just outside the Cities preparing for a mass concert.  The Agape Singers, based in Dawson, are annual participants.  The concert was wonderful and the absolute additional perk was seeing and hugging Grace co-workers Kendall, Emily, Karen, Tammy (who all have kids in Agapes), Chris (who directs the Agapes), and many other Dawson people.  It was those encounters that prompted my facebook status of Sunday — Lindsay is thankful for many hugs today.  If smiling is Elf’s favorite, hugging is mine.

I’m a senior.

16 Nov
The top five ways I feel like a senior:
(in no particular order)
5.  The Rostered Leader Profile.  (The paperwork that will go to the powers that be to decide my placement fate for first call.)  Frankly, I’m to the point that I’d rather fill that out than do my homework.
4.  I sat in the library for an hour and a half desperately trying to complete reading for a class.  In the midst of it, I realized that I don’t think that specific reading will ever serve me in my ministry.  Not to mention I remember little of it.  I’m done reading for class.  (Really?  No … but I’m tempted to quit.)
3.  I had a paper due this morning.  I had class last night.  Instead of being the good, dedicated student and retreating straight to my apartment after class to complete the paper, I went out to the favorite seminary bar.  With my professor/academic advisor and a group of other seniors.  I was invited into the cool crowd for a night and had a blast.  (It was my first time at the seminary bar – a shock to many that I had never been.  This, however, does not mean I will go crazy and also eat the chocolate mint pudding pie served in the caf.  I’m still morally opposed to that.)
2.   I’m more focused on upcoming social events and breaks than concentrating on papers and reading.  Thanksgiving break is three days out.  Christmas break a short two and a half weeks after that.  I’ve been excitedly planning my birthday party which will hopefully include a hamball dinner with friends (I’ll be using Mary O.’s recipe if I can just find myself some ground ham in the Cities …), volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, and cake balls.  (A ball theme?  I think so.  Party hats?  Most definitely.)  A Christmas party?  Probably that too.
1.  Three weeks left in semester plus one January term and spring semester.  Pretty soon that general countdown will have a number of days attached until graduation. 
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