Set Free

Monday Semi-Holiday

It amuses me to use Miscellaneous as a blogging category, because it points up how many of my days fall into the "pudding without a theme" classification.

I call it a semi-holiday because while we slept in (The Princess is still sleeping, in fact.) and are in no rush this morning, I must attend a meeting with the Trustees this evening, requiring the donning of my game face. It's a week heavy on meetings, three of which are in conflict with each other on Wednesday. I have not yet determined how to be in Old Mill Town, City By the Sea and Far-Off Village Where Interim Ministers Meet for meetings at 9, 11 and 10 on the same morning. I'll be in Old Mill Town, discussing church activities and a possible mission fundraiser with the Women's Fellowship, since I meet with the church's Mission Committee later on the same day.

Another reminder that this is a work day for some: our beloved dog walker arrived for Molly and Sam at the usual time. This is one of those Monday Holidays that is not a slam-dunk for the entire world, and she spends the whole day juggling dogs whose people have to work with dogs whose people are away and remembering not to go to dogs whose people are home (or going to dogs whose people are, in my case, and I was not sorry to see her, not one little bit).

Meanwhile, I have some goals for this day.

While The Princess continues her enchanted rest, I will:

• fold towels
• look at next Sunday's lectionary
• put in some laundry
• look ahead at texts for the next few weeks and see how they tie in with Stewardship (marginally, as it turns out, but that won't stop us)
• fold more laundry (there will be even more to come, however)
• write a skit for next Sunday having to do with Time and Talent, to include our Wednesday Wizards (retired gents who volunteer around the church every week) and a tall ladder symbolizing our Stewardship theme, The Year of the Stre-e-e-etch.

Later we must:

• buy proper rain gear for The Princess, who is going with the 7th grade to a leadership camp Wednesday through Friday
• peruse the blue jeans at a store for big gals that, unbelievably and supposedly, carries petite lengths -- not so much now that I've paid for all the very successful shopping for The Princess. Maybe next week.
• celebrate in a small way that my jeans are too loose at the same time imagining a day when I won't shop at the store for big gals (did this, nevertheless)
• take the dogs out again before I leave for work and make a walk with Sam my exercise for the day (as my knee and the Health Rider are still not on speaking terms, but walking seems to be okay) Well, kind of. Sam and I went. Molly is horribly lame and I'm debating what to do with her.

Meanwhile, I ponder my future. Discernment goes on, in the midst of the Miscellaneous.This house now feels big instead of just right. What will my next job be, and when will it be time to go there? What, really, does God have in store for me? I have some hints, but many things need to happen first before anything will feel assured.

What are you doing today?

Sunday Snippets

• I've had a lot to do this weekend. There is one thing left. I am out of steam.
• Snowman visited this church today. Let's just say it wasn't his cup of tea: musically, theologically or personally. I encouraged him to get off the bus at the Methodist church next time.
• This afternoon The Princess did her homework. I did not complete my task.
• Pure Luck went to a gym in the Mitten-Shaped state. If he has a day off, why shouldn't he be able to come home? Oh, it's 13 hours by car. That might be why. I told you, I'm out of steam.
• Would someone come over and help me pick up the 73 pairs of shoes The Princess and I have scattered all over the house?

Testing, 1...2...3

I returned home to find:

1. my laptop still won't turn on despite a new power cord and battery
2. my blog's main page has disappeared
3. I need the email files on my laptop for denominational stuff

This is a test post to see if I can get something on the main page.

WAIT!!! I GET IT! I ONLY KEEP A WEEK'S CONTENT ON THE MAIN PAGE, AND I'VE BEEN GONE FOR A WEEK!!!

Easter Detritus

(Click the picture for the larger version on Flickr.)

A few things on my mind this Easter Monday:

• Why were there so many police cars out yesterday, prepared to pull speeders, early on Easter Sunday? Were the police cranky about working on a holiday? Or do they have it in for church goers?
• I think the Easter Lilies played havoc with all the small tubing in my head.
• Although I am charmed by the notion that Hannaford and Wild Oats closed (or closed early) for Easter, I was grateful to find Whole Foods open, since we were lacking a few components of our Easter dinner.
• Ditto the beautiful pale pink narcissus I bought at Whole Foods.
• Where were the police cars this morning when a car passed me on the right in an on/off-ramp area?
• If you've never heard a song before, but it keeps coming up over and over again so that you feel you need to give the lyrics some thought, does it count less if someone sang it on American Idol?
• (Does it help that it was famously sung by Nina Simone?
• What is the madness that dictates so few lavender jelly beans in an assortment?
• I am what may only be described as bone-dog-tired.
• So tired, in fact, that when the phone rang and I heard the voice of The Father of My Children, I didn't know why he was asking whether I heard him honk.
• (This is the night the children go to his house for dinner. Every week.)
• I hope you won't mind if I mention that I still miss Pure Luck, even though I saw him on Friday and will see him this Friday, too.
• What's on your mind tonight?

Slightly Pathetic Bullets of Thursday

I had hoped to write something interesting today, but all I can tell you is the following, in no particular order:

• Going back to work when you are still not 100% takes all your energy.
• A nap at 4:30 p.m. helps in some ways and hurts in others.
• I hope Snowman and The Princess will not practice clarinet and xylophone in adjoining rooms at the same time ever, ever again.
• Especially not right before, during or immediately after a 4:30 nap.
• A good thing about the xylophone is it's always in tune.
• #1 Son's mustache is beginning to twist.
• I suppose as long as I don't have to groom it or kiss it, it ought not matter that much to me.
• He'll be portraying Matthew Brady in a play this summer.
• Matthew Brady had some pretty impressive facial hair.
• The Princess has improved her xylophone skills significantly since the Christmas Concert.
• She could be heard over what seemed like thousands of other instruments at the citywide Band Concert tonight.
• A joke courtesy of The Father of My Children, upon seeing Handbells on the program--"Isn't that a violation of the separation of church and state?"
• Jokes like that one make the children groan.
• I would prefer a pun, and that's saying something.
• I have two sermons to preach on Sunday, and I need to rest my voice and the rest of me tomorrow and Saturday.
• American Idol still fascinates me, in a horrified sort of way.
• I'm considering claiming sleep as my new Lenten discipline.
• The supersonic bedtime cough syrup is almost gone; I may have to call the doctor for a refill.
• Whenever I get to see Pure Luck again, it will be a good thing.
• I'll try to write something better tomorrow, before I forget how.

Still Coughing After All These Days

At the risk of seeming repetitive, I am still sick.

We enjoyed meeting Dos' parents.

I preached this morning, but managed to withdraw gracefully from other commitments for this afternoon.

I actually took a nap.

Now we're watching King Arthur, which is dreadful.

I had bronchitis once, and I feel pretty similar at the moment.

Tomorrow I am calling the doctor, I swear.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Think You Have the Flu? What Are Flu Symptoms? Know the FACTS

Fever

Aches

Chills

Tiredness

Sudden symptoms

Um, yes.

I was just a shade to the left of vivid at a church meeting last night, not in color, but in proximity to the sort of delirious mania I tend to exhibit when running even a low-grade fever (which is all I usually run anyway. Even with strep, I had little to no fever.)

I am tucked up on the couch with interim ministry materials.

Many thanks to Snowman for bringing me soup.

#1 Son lost his phone, so if he should read this, I hope he'll find a way to get in touch with me tomorrow, which will be his 21st birthday.

I know it's true that I gave birth in 1986, but it somehow seems wrong, nevertheless.

My graying hair looks much better in the downstairs bathroom mirror than in the upstairs; do you think it could be the new fluorescent bulbs in the former? (They give the skin a certain jaundiced tone, but they're good for the hair.)

It is 8 degrees here, with a wind chill making it feel like -13.

Although the weather is a little less frigid where Pure Luck is, he fully expects to wear his Ninja Snowsuit at work tonight.

I'm still the #1 Google search for ninja snowsuit, but that's probably because no one else ever thought of writing about such a thing.

Yes, something resembling a delirious mania.

Random Bullets of Saturday

• In approximately 24 hours, Pure Luck leaves for work out-of-state.
• We may not see him until April, since this particular job is a little further away than will allow for an overnight visit.
• At least he's not going back here, where he worked the past two "springs."
• If he were going there, at least he would be prepared with his ninja snowsuit.
• I am still the top Google search for ninja snowsuit.
• Today we are expecting a high of 33 degrees Fahrenheit, which is practically t-shirt weather compared to the cold of the past few weeks.
• We had our family good-bye last night, as Pure Luck and I must attend a church dinner tonight.
• I always feel sorry for the dogs when he is leaving, as their lives become very dull in his absence.
• Fortunately, they do tend to sleep a lot during the day, even when he is here.
• On Monday I'm going to visit a doggie day care on the route to work, hoping to send them there once a week.
• I'm doing my best not to think about the fact that after this job there is another one.
• At least the second job is closer to home.
• Intellectually I am fine about the absence.
• Have you ever noticed that when you start a sentence with "Intellectually I" you really feel pretty much the opposite of whatever you are about to say?
• I'm sure we will all be fine.
• All shall be well.
• I'll make that my mantra.
• Could we teach that to Sam, so he doesn't eat anything he shouldn't this time?

My Morning Thoughts, by S. Bird

Gentle Readers,

I am writing this from the couch, where I am hoping to stay for as much of the day as possible.

The glands, they are swollen, hard and painful, whether or not they are being touched.

My ear and throat hurt now, too.

I have a gross and sometimes weepy rash on my scalp, which is apparently the site of the infection that set off the lymphadenitis. I had it right before the strep throat, too, but on that occasion the person examining me showed no interest. Last night's doctor put on purple gloves, checked it out, then sent me home with a prescription. Let this be a lesson to me to insist on more attention to the thing I believe needs attention.

I hope you are impressed that I have mixed elementary school vocabulary ("gross") with actual medical terms.

While I am grateful for antibiotics, I hate the g-i side effects. I'm just sayin'...

Bacitracin is not useful as a hair care product, but let's hope it helps with the superficial itching.

Pop-Tarts are mouth-seeking missiles. They pop right out of the box and into the toaster, then fly straight toward a person's mouth. It just can't be helped.

Why are we only allowed to use warm compresses four times a day, for twenty minutes each time?

Orange Gatorade over crushed ice tastes pretty good.

The Old Man Cat is a very good companion on a sick day. He is perched on the back of the couch giving me cat scans, and he didn't run away when the dogs came in from their walk. What a brave boy he is!

I wish I felt clever enough to do a Dr. Seuss-type poem about my ailment, because it's Wednesday, and I would love to win a prize. But I am currently uninspired.

Pure Luck thought up the mouth-seeking missile thing, so let's give him props.

It's only 11 days until Christmas Eve, and I have a lot to do, and I really need to be well to do it all.

I appreciate all your healing thoughts and kind words.

At least I get to sit in the room with the Christmas Tree.

Would it be wrong of me to finish watching The Bishop's Wife without The Princess?

Just a few things on my mind today,
Yours,
Songbird

Thoughts for a Monday Afternoon

* Pure Luck and Snowman went to a political protest the other day. Nothing has changed as a result. Do you suppose this is why Pure Luck drove to a neighboring state on a rainy day for a camping and hiking trip? And do you think he will come back to civilization someday?

* The Domestic Goddess began her labors here today. I felt just as much a creature of Chaos last night as I did when anticipating her visit here last Monday. She didn't get very far. She tells me it will get better. Did you know mopping can be problematic without a bucket? (And do you know what happened to my bucket?)

* I had every intention of sending a birthday present to spectacular one-year-old twins, but the goodies are still in the side pocket of my big canvas bag. My cats keep trying to climb inside it. I wonder why?

* The weather here is damp and chilly. It feels like fall. Why did I complain about the heat? And when may I turn on the furnace?

* #1 Son has a lot of stuff. It *is* all going back to college with him, right?

* Snowman's clarinet spent some time with Old Fellow Who Turned Out to Be the Wizard of Horns. It sounds great, and he tells me it feels great, too. His teacher, Dr. First Clarinet, wants to expand his lessons to an hour starting next week. I'm happy for him (and I'll think about how much more it costs when the moment to write the check comes).

* For some reason, we feel the need for cake tonight. Do you remember this recipe ? If you haven't tried it, you really should.

* Do you think people will tease you if you apply makeup at school? (That one is from The Princess.)

* I think your mother will freak.right.out. if you apply makeup anywhere outside a rousing game of dress-up. That's what I think.

Edited to add:
* There are 3985 comments on this blog since I moved over from Blogger last September. I am thinking up a prize for Commenter #4000.

Random Bullets of Thursday

* The problem with taking Friday off is that I really need one more day to do my work for Sunday. Would I do better if I took Monday off instead? Because, seriously, I'm tired of having work spill over to Saturday. But I also remember writing sermons on our one kid-free night when I used to work on Fridays, so maybe this is better.

* Luna the Beagle went home this afternoon. I miss her, although I'm sure I won't mind sleeping freely on my bed tonight.

* The Father of My Children provided a 200,000+ mile Honda for #1 Son to drive to work this summer, so we wouldn't have to wait up for him on nights he is bussing tables. But it has an unfortunate habit of refusing to start. Which means we have to go downtown and jump start the car. Today I drove him to work.

* The other two children have been staying with their dad this week and will be back tomorrow. I have not done anything useful around the house in their absence. Tomorrow will bring a flurry of laundry and housecleaning. (Sounds like a great day off, doesn't it?)

* I remember a time when I had so little to do in my life that having the children go to their dad's house would precipitate a crisis. This is no longer true.

* Sometime this weekend we will be seeing reverendmother and her family. That is why the cleaning must occur. I don't want to be one of those scary people whose house you won't go to with a baby. It will be my second blogger meet-up this week, as we had a delightful dinner with the Scribbler-Blues on Tuesday night. When I mentioned the upcoming cleaning frenzy, Phantom asked innocently, "You didn't clean for me last time, did you?"

* Do you think she meant that in a good way?

* I have a great idea for a dramatic reading for Sunday, which I have not yet written, but thank goodness I have readers who are good at picking things up quickly, who can manage if I e-mail something to them on Saturday afternoon.

* Two of my wonderful lay readers, sisters-in-law, had a mock squabble over who would be the Woman with a Hemorrhage and who would be The Earth. I still haven't decided. I'll know when I start writing and imagine their voices saying the words.

* I love writing for people when I know how they will sound. At some point on Sunday morning, one of the readers will say something spectacular in exactly the way I heard it in my head, and I will crow with delight, and we will all be happy.

* But first I have to write the spectacular words...

* As soon as I finish here, I'm going to do a little knitting. I'm working on a sock that is going to be stunning, and when it is finished, I'll post a picture. I love it!!! I hope that enthusiasm will help me continue to avoid Second Sock Syndrome.

* I have become a knitter with a stash. I've begun thinking of finally cleaning out a box in my walk-in closet that has been there since I moved into this house in 1998, just to make room for more yarn storage. So it's a good thing, right? Also, I'm looking for a place to put more bookshelves, because I am amassing a collection of knitting books.

* If you wanted to find a cookbook in my house, you would have a hard go of it.

*********************************
We have an update: one child is coming home, because Aunt Flo is making her first visit. Did this have to happen while she was at the other parent's house? Sheesh.

Happy June 1st!

St. Casserole wonders what we would do if we had all the time in the world this summer?

Here, things really do slow down in the summer as far as church goes. People go away to their camps; worship is even less formal than usual; I don't keep office hours. I go out on the early morning walk with the dogs, before it gets too hot, then start work a little later.
I feel very free, have more time to go and sit with our homebound folks and really take my days off "off."

This summer I am going to knit doll-sized sweaters. I have a whole book of patterns. We are planning an American Girl table for the church fair. I also have a whole box full of beautiful sock yarn that just came in the mail from a website recommended by one a new knitting friend I met at the Festival of Homiletics.

In summer, I finally read all the books I have been putting in a pile since Christmas. I keep adding to the pile, saying, "I'll have time in the summer." #1 Son often adds books to the pile, things he loved and wants me to read so we can talk about them. The ones that are work-related always get short shrift compared to the novels or other interesting non-fiction books.

If I had absolutely all the time in the world, I would learn to play the guitar again. I thought I would find time last summer, but it didn't happen.

One thing I would love to do if both cost and time were no object would be to have a camp of my own, move the kids and dogs and husband out of town to a lake for several weeks and unplug. (I say that, but you will all remember that I have taken my laptop on every trip longer than one night I have taken in the past year.)

Most of all, I hope to have some fun!

Tuesday is the New Monday

(To be read responsively.)

This morning at the dog park, a dog peed on my pantleg.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Due to a misunderstanding, no one has burned last year's palms to create the ashes we need for two services tomorrow.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Somewhere in this house I can smell cat pee, but I can't locate it exactly.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

I'm really hoping there won't be more animal pee in my day, but

Tuesday is the new Monday.

I really need to sit down and do the checkbook and bills thing, but I'm mildly frantic as I prepare for Ash Wednesday and the rest of Lent.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

It's time to pick up the kids and start the afternoon schlepping.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

I forgot I need to do an expense report for my housing allowance for the Council meeting at 6:30 tonight.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

I also need to print something out, but we have no paper at home. We've even used up the last of the Christmas Stationery, which works great if you put it in the printer upside down. (Ask #2 Son. He used the last sheets for homework this morning.)

Tuesday is the new Monday.

We really like to have pancakes for dinner on Fat Tuesday, but I don't see that we will have time since I have to go early to the meeting to print out that report.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

There is always IHoP, I suppose. Or Denny's.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

But we really don't have time for that, either.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

And then there's the state of the world. But you know all about that.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

At church, this sort of litany of miseries would probably take a turn for the better at this point.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

But I'm not going there. Let's try again tomorrow.

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Lessons I Have Learned

*Getting to school late because the dogs were misbehaving is a good way to avoid the playground.

*If you're a child who behaves well all the time, principals, vice-principals and teachers will always give you the benefit of the doubt. This does not necessarily mean they will do anything about the boy who kicks you.

*The boy's parents are, however, a different matter. They allow as how they will punish him. (Is their speed in reaching this decision one of the reasons he kicks in the first place?)

*A boy who kicks is "not cute anymore."

*An upsetting and embarassing day in fifth grade may well be followed by one in which nothing happens.

*A Buffet R13 B-flat clarinet is not necessarily a Buffet R13 Greenline B-flat clarinet.

*The only party to the purchase who didn't know this was the one who placed the order.

*People with eustachian tube problems are just like Buffet R13 clarinets when they are not Greenline clarinets: both require a boost in the humidity in the winter months, which is to say both the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor and the clarinet teacher recommend the purchase of a humidifier. Do you suppose there is a store running a 2-for-1 special?

*Concerts may not be played in the order advertised, so there is no possible chance that I will be arriving late when #2 Son plays tonight. I will be delivering him there early. I'll bring some knitting.

*The same husband who hears you say you will call if you won't be home by 4 and calls you when you're not home at 4:10 may also have heard you say you were taking the afternoon off when nothing is further from the truth.

*It's all very well to hint that you want a certain item of jewelry for Valentine's Day, but jewelry featuring heart-shaped decorations tends to sell out early this time of year for some reason.

*If you leave the car windows open for the dogs while they are sitting in your car outside the church, and then your husband picks up the dogs, but you don't think about closing the windows again, snow and rain will come in through those open windows.

*If you rent past seasons of "24" from Netflix and watch an episode while working out on the elliptical machine, there is a high probability of staying on the machine for 42 minutes.

*If you want to hang in there for two, you need to work your way up to it.

*And if you stay up late working on your devotional piece about Jesus walking on water (John 6), it's entirely possible that you won't remember what you had in mind for your sermon on the healing of Peter's mother (Mark 1) when you have to hurry and choose hymns because the person who copies the bulletins is standing and waiting for you to finish.

Short Takes from a Chilly Day

Take One:

It is early morning. Picture our heroine folding her clean laundry and putting it away, meanwhile making a pile of her socks to sort when all else was arranged properly. Picture our heroine reaching out for the cute little sock with the Bernese Mountain Dogs on it, adorable Bernese Mountain Dogs who are performing agility-related maneuvers. Picture our heroine recoiling in horror at the discovery that the adorable dogs are sodden with the revolting and repulsive pee of the cat.

(Would you like a candy heart? As seen at Jane Dark's.)

Take Two:
The United Church of Christ has some new insurance forms for churches to submit. They mail a packet on Jan. 13th and demand the return of the forms by Jan. 27th. Bear in mind that the 13th was the Friday before a three-day weekend. We are about 8 or 9 states away from the mailing point and received the packet on the 18th, as I recall. How much time do you suppose this left churches on the opposite coast from the mailing point?

I was reminded by the local insurance rep last Wednesday, the 25th, that the forms needed to be in by Friday, the 27th. That's hilarious, isn't it? Considering I hadn't even read the letter at that point (small matters such as the Annual Meeting having intervened), it wasn't so much a reminder as an intervention. Of course, then I was home with a sick Princess for two days. Did I think about the forms? Surely you jest.

Today I sat down to fill them out. They were worded in the oddest sorts of ways. I called in to ask a question. The person on the other end of the phone essentially told me to Drop Dead. She refused to put me through to anyone who could answer a question. "Since it was due last Friday, just do the best you can and fax it today." Thanks a lot. I think I'll be writing a letter to the UCC Insurance Board to ask whether they think this is a good way to keep churches in the system. There are other companies that might be inclined to give us better customer service. I get letters from them almost every day.

Also, I really enjoyed my trip to Staples to fax the darn thing. Because, guess what?!?!! Little churches don't come complete with fax machines, and neither do their pastors. What was the name of that company offering us insurance at a better rate?

(That wasn't really short, but I don't care.)

Take Three:

After the fax, The Princess and I went to Pet Quarters, in search of Nature's Miracle. I bought a gallon of the kind that is specifically for cat troubles. It cost $29.99. The directions told me to saturate my soiled clothes with the stuff. The cost of this major-league peeing event: $20 (two-thirds of the gallon bottle), a few new grey hairs, and the humiliation of revealing my cat-parenting failures to two young clerks. We have now moved on to “wash normally.” I’ll let you know how it all turns out…

Take Four:

It's 27 degrees Farenheit here in City By the Sea, and it's dark. Too dark. Pure Luck has gone for a walk. Never mind that there is snow covered with ice all over the place. The Senate voted to end debate. He needs to work it off and walking is the only way. There could, of course, be worse ways to do it. I'll try not to worry about the possibilities for slippage out there.

Take Five:
Why am I bothering telling you all these things? Because I really ought to be writing three more reflections for the RevGalBlogPals’ devotional book, due today. Adding the images really made the time go by. Thanks for playing along with this round of Procrastination.

A few quick questions

...because I have a breakfast meeting at 8...

*If you never got to the bottom of the comments for "On a Lighter Note," please take a look at Rana's addition to it. Any more ideas?

*I didn't get around to making a New Year's Resolution until yesterday, the day most people were giving them up. As I confessed in St. Casserole's comments:

My resolution is to stop using the laptop in the kitchen...The worst thing is, I pull stuff out of my work bag, and it starts to pile up on the kitchen table, until a cat walks across it and maybe knocks it over, and everything in the pile falls onto a chair or the floor and makes a big--well, you get the picture. The kitchen table, at this moment in time, is a hazard zone.

The big issue is that I bring work home and find myself thinking work thoughts when I really need to be thinking mom thoughts, especially at breakfast. Also the pile.

Are you resolving to do anything in this New Year? How's it going?

*This isn't a resolution, more an invitation. Pure Luck would really like me to join him in hiking Mount Chocorua, where we got married, sometime this summer/early fall. He would like me to do it without dropping dead. I am in agreement that not dying on the way up would be best. It's a little early in the season for hiking smaller mountains, so I'm committed to using the elliptical, which had been pining for me the past few months. How many revolutions of the elliptical do you think are equivalent to climbing a 3500 foot mountain? (I'm up to 1450 in 35 minutes.)

The trick is deciding to exercise in the evening. I used to do it first thing in the morning, but since I suffer from that newly famous condition, morning grogginess, it didn't go too smoothly. It took too long to get started, and I would be fussing at the kids while they were getting ready for school. Now my only problem is mustering the energy to shower...

If you're working on the exercise thing, what kind are you doing?

*The exercise is seriously cutting into my knitting time.

Do you think it's possible to drive and knit at the same time?

12 Days of Christmas

(or 12 learnings of the last 24 hours or so)

1. A Yankee Swap--for a party or group meeting, each person brings an inexpensive, wrapped gift. The gifts are sometimes numbered. Each person draws a number at random. If the gifts are numbered they are distributed singly, beginning with #1. If not, Person #1 chooses a gift to open. When the proceedings move on to Person #2, he or she may keep Present #2 or swap for Present #1. And so forth. Obviously, it's better to have a higher number, as you have more choices. At the very end, however, Person #1 gets the pick of everything.

2. People often bring presents they didn't like to a Yankee Swap.

3. Sometimes that includes stale candy.

4. The Princess came with me. As it was her first Yankee Swap, she did not know the stale candy rule. There was no polite way for me to warn her.

5. Candles are very popular at Yankee Swaps.

6. Angels are very popular items at Yankee Swaps, particularly when they are also bells.

7. A 10-year-old girl (who drew #3) is likely to want her mother (who went last save for #1 at the very end) to trade for the angels that are also bells.

8. But her mother, who is not only the pastor but also a kind-hearted person, seeing the disappoinment of the mentally handicapped adult daughter of a Guild member at getting three homemade candles, and presently in possession of a tin of Winnie the Pooh cookies from the Disney store, will likely swap for the candles, thereby teaching 10-year-old-girl that we sometimes sacrifice at the Yankee Swap.

9. A 10-year-old girl has it in her to be a good sport and to enjoy smelling the fragrant and colorful homemade candles with enthusiasm shortly after spitting out the stale strawberry cream.

10. A dark blue candle with the fragrance "Christmas Essence" and a yellow-orange candle with the fragrance "Frankincense" make nice additions to the nativity set on the mantelpiece, especially when arranged there by a 10-year-old girl.

11. Retired ladies bring better food to potlucks than busy working women. This particular group has a tradition of "reckless" potlucks, in which no one signs up ahead of time. They nearly fainted dead away when the pastor arrived with a hot pan of nachos prepared in her own kitchen.

12. Although we got to bring home the rest of the nachos (which #2 Son polished off after school today), we also ended up with two containers of egg rolls and half a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It remains to be seen whether these last will be consumed.

Hopes and Fears

Have you ever had a Tarot Card reading? In the Celtic Cross spread, there is a position that some readers call "Hopes and Fears." I'm feeling a little of each today.

First, some hopeful things:

1) The nice tenants are moving out of Small Church's parsonage, which is a disappointment. The rental market in City By the Sea is a bit soft at the moment. But in the past 24 hours I've had five calls from potential tenants and feel more optimistic.

2) Baby, the cat who peed, has turned into Baby, the cat who purrs. Feliway seems to be working well for her, and therefore working well for all of us.

3) #1 Son found a ride home for Thanksgiving Break, so I don't have to do a 7.5 hour round trip to pick him up Wednesday.

4) Pure Luck likes my hair color; he just didn't like how flat it was after the hairdresser blew it dry.

5) I finally got interested in planning worship for the Advent and Christmas season. Talk about cutting it close!

6) I had an inspiration in the shower about worship this coming Sunday. I always try to make the Sunday after Thanksgiving something amusing, since it tends to be a smaller crowd. Two years ago we adapted a puppet show in the Sunday School curriculum about cleaning the house for Advent, and one of my deacons came into the sanctuary during the reading of the Scripture lesson running the vacuum. That day is a fond memory for many people, some of whom thought she had lost her ever-loving mind. It's hard to live up to that one, but I came up with something I'll share later in the week; Pure Luck, who occasionally will be a reader at church, agreed to be part of it.

A few things still causing some concern:

1) #2 Son borrowed a nice merino wool sweater from his dad, an old Brooks Brothers v-neck. Last night he threw it in the wash with his other clothes. Then he put it in the dryer. Let's just say it's a wee bit smaller than it was. Is it time for me to learn how to block a sweater?

2) I've started The Princess' Christmas sweater (a Weasley), and I love the yarn, but may I just say that size 5 needles are really small and I'm worried about whether I'll find enough knitting hours to get it done.

3) I'm still not particularly enthusiastic about Christmas shopping, but it seems unfair to my own kids that I have found gifts for most of their eight cousins and not for them (except the sweater, see above). Do I still have time to pull it together? Will they accept a streamlined Christmas due to the--well, due to their mother's feelings about the state of the world? I thought they got it, right up until The Princess told me she wanted to get rid of a lot of the old toys in her room...to make room before Christmas. Ack!

Four Things

The CT Scan Thing-- I was a mess going in, but the test itself was not so bad. Two sets of pictures were taken before they ever injected the radioactive dye, only ran it in during the third. The combination of a heated up bloodstream and holding one's breath is, um, explosive, but it was over fairly quickly. I think I heard about the first CT Scan within two days; I'll probably get word about this one Monday or Tuesday. It was so helpful to know you were all thinking of me/praying. Thank you so much! I must admit I am still quite anxious about the outcome.

The Distraction Thing--
Meanwhile, I've been finishing up financial aid forms for #1 Son. They actually managed to take my mind off the CT Scan for a while yesterday. Whoever thought financial aid forms and tax stuff could be a relief?

The Shoe Thing--
The Little Princess needed a new pair of shoes, or even two. She sings with a girls' chorus and for their upcoming concert she needs a pair of black shoes. We've also had to admit that her sneakers have more holes than one would prefer. After school and scan, off we went to the local shoe store where we discovered--gasp!--she wears the same shoe size I do!!! (She's almost 10.)
I picked myself up off the floor.
The sneakers were larger than mine.
I picked myself up off the floor. I looked at the black Dansko clogs (50% off!), with the cute Mary Jane-type strap, and realized that she will outgrow them before she ever wears them out. I pictured them on me. I felt better.

The Runaway Bride Thing--I've taken a passing interest in the Jennifer Wilbanks story this week. All week, the family said, "Oh, there's no chance she would have run off! She was so happy!" And then I would look at those pictures of her, with that tense, though smiling, face and those eyes that looked like a deer in the headlights, and I would say to myself, "There's more going on here." I wasn't at all surprised to hear she had run off. The newspeople this morning said, "Why do you suppose she ran?" Uh, excuse me. Don't you remember telling us over and over that she's A RUNNER?!?!!
Sheesh.

On the Verge

I'm on the verge of three weeks of vacation, the fourth week to be parcelled out later in August. When I look around the house, I see six million things that need doing, not to mention that we are in the middle of a kitchen renovation. But on this Saturday night, I'm listening to the Little Princess practice the piano, enjoying hearing stories of #2 Son's week at camp and wondering how late #1 Son will be getting home tonight from his second summer job, washing dishes at a posh restaurant here in town, Fore Street. Tomorrow's sermon, which is actually a dramatization of Luke 10:25-37, was completed yesterday, so I'm free to contemplate the lack of hot water being produced by our furnace and to doodle around with my blog.

But I'm mostly looking forward to taking the dogs out twice a day, something Pure Luck does most times, most days. That means going to the Dog Park, a place I absolutely love! You would think I had invented dogs, I am so enamored of almost every one I meet. Of course there are no two more adorable dogs than mine. I'd be no kind of dog mommy if I didn't think that way. Molly is the friendliest, most exuberant and gentlest dog I have ever known. She has never met a stranger and yet when I take her to a nursing home, she knows how to go slow and with whom to do it. At the Dog Park, she Sam is so different; it's all there in his name: Rosier's Loyal Samwise Gamgee. He is protective and, yes, loyal. When we go to the Dog Park, he seldom leaves me alone. And if my daughter is there, he is glued to her. After all, it's his job to protect the wimmenfolk! Honestly, sometimes I feel like Frodo. If I strike out for the far end of the Dog Park, he is the shadow on my left hip. I could do with a lo of that this summer.

I've got two books at the top of the pile to read in the next few weeks. One is Reading Lolita in Tehran, and the other is Anna Karenina. The latter is one of those books I've always meant to read, and this is the week coming up, I hope. I have a vision of myself spending the afternoons this coming week reading Tolstoy in a downtown coffee shop, while the Little Princess is attending an afternoon art program at Maine College of Art, on the subject of illustrating folk tales. Doesn't that sound like a vacation?