F5: Thanksgiving Thoughts

This one's from Jan, at the RevGals:

The Cure

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.

--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?

Retail therapy works, sometimes, although there's always a price limit...we're one hospital bill from being debt-free, with the exception of our student loans. Woot! I also bake or make something new or try to do something constructive. That said, this summer's unbloggableness left me unable to do any of those things. When mulleygrubs go on too long, I recommend meds. Seriously.

2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?

I will go from the church's community meal (covered dish for those of us who are members and open to the whole community) where I will graze to a friend's home for the meal, football, and general relaxing. We're staying home this year, which is not the norm, but we're kind of looking forward to resting a bit.

3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?

Turkey and dressing, of course! My family traditionally also has tofurkey (yep, tofu turkey) and really good mac & cheese for my brother-in-law, who is vegetarian. Mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese on top, green bean casserole, corn, butter beans (when I can get them), fresh rolls, pumpkin pie and a chocolate pecan pie pretty much round it out. This year, I'm bringing mac & cheese and the evil-goodness crustless fudge pie to our friends, and a sugar-free low carb pumpkin cheesecake to the church meal for our diabetic friends.

4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?

I love it. Love family, love the sense of impending Christmas--in a church the size of Ann Street, we basically go from Christmas party to Christmas party from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I love that most people seem to be extra kind and charitable this time of year.

5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?

My health, my family, my friends, my work...pretty much everything!

BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.

You know, Aunt Bert's a character!
Her Thanksgiving always features a HUGE turkey, which sometimes has to be finished in the microwave. Don't tell her I said so, but it's almost always dry...but we love her, so we eat it anyway. And then there's the year she forgot to remove the little bag of giblets (innards, she calls them) and cooked them inside the turkey. That canned gravy's not so bad...
Dinner is scheduled for two pm but often we don't eat until closer to three. There's always some last-minute something to take care of. The dishes almost all match; the "children's table" is populated by the oldest and youngest family members, with all the rest sitting at the "grownups' table. We usually don't get up from the table until well past four and sometimes as late as five, because we're all talking and laughing and no one wants to be reminded that there are all those dishes to be done. Everyone always finally pitches in, and then there's football to watch and snacks to graze on and naps to take. There are more than enough leftovers to go around, and everyone eats well for the rest of the week. And a good time is had by all, most of all Aunt Bert, who loves entertaining, and always is.

Newsletter article for today:

Ponderous Thoughts

“Time, it goes so fast when you’re having fun.” --The Bangles, “Manic Monday”

It’s an 80s moment for me this morning…this song is the brainworm of the day.
Don’t know what a brainworm is? It’s that song or fragment of a song (often one you dislike) that repeats endlessly in your head. Brainworms can be contagious (email me or leave a note on my Facebook wall if I spread this one to you), and sometimes they can be stopped. One recommended cure is to sing or listen to the song all the way through. Sometimes that works. Other times, the best you can hope for is to switch it to some other song you dislike less.
Apparently, not everyone gets these, or gets them with the frequency Ben and I do. Maybe it’s because we both like to sing along with the radio in the car or with music at home. I generally leave church with a hymn in my head; strangely, it’s rarely one we’ve sung. It’s more likely to be one on the page next to one we’ve done that morning. For example, yesterday (and replacing “Manic Monday” in my head as I type this) “Come Christians, Join to Sing” was the brainworm—not the whole song, just the “Alleluia, amen” at the end of each phrase. Can you hear it?
Christmas music, for some reason, also gets stuck in my head, which is why I just give up after Thanksgiving, tune the truck’s radio to an all-Christmas station, and get it over with. But I don’t start Christmas (except cookie-dough making and gift shopping) until after Thanksgiving. I read a blog by a woman who started a network last year called “Grace in Small Things,” which I have shared here before. Every day she and other members of the network try to post five small graces in their lives, in an effort to keep their minds focused on looking for things to be thankful for rather than giving in to frustration and depression. It’s a good exercise; I haven’t done it on my blog nearly as much as I would have liked.
So today, here are five (more) graces in small things I am grateful for:
1: the unconditional love of my dog
2: the youth group’s excitement over Pilgrimage
3: that people feel welcome to wander in to my office
4: the seashells on a shelf in my office
5: that the current song in my head is now “Surely God is with us”
Anne

Home again, home again

So here are a few of our adventures:
seeing wild turkeys and flying squirrels and a beautiful buck (deer) within feet of the home we stayed in...
going to the Lees-McRae College Wildlife Rehab center to see all kinds of animals needing care, including a possum that was raised as a pet (giant rat, cuter than I thought, and soft!), an owl with one wing who nibbled on Ben's finger and put her toys away very precisely, a partial albino red-winged hawk (so pretty), a turtle named tripod, a peregrine falcon, a variety of songbirds, and a student catching mice who had escaped from a shipment meant for feeding the animals, and made a home some of the enclosures. So far 4 of the mice they'd caught were pregnant...which I suspect means a winter of catching mice. If the pictures come out at all, doubtful since I used neither flash nor tripod, I'll try to post some...
many hours spent at Mountain Grounds, our second home of the trip...they were our source both for internet access and for Ben to watch football. Their hospitality was amazing. Thanks, Dale, Michael, Ally, and Jessica, and all the rest of the crew!...
visited the Penland Craft School. I'm dying to go back and take a class on bookmaking or printmaking or maybe glass...or all of them...
rested in a wonderful hospitable home, with a comfy bed and everything we could need...
cooked great meals, and ate great meals out...
had a really nice, relaxing time together...
took naps on the loveseat with a thick fleeceblanket. Who knew that would be the most comfortable way to sleep? My back loved it!...
held a mouse funeral...
finished the first chapter of my dissertation (two days after the chapter 2 deadline, but I finished!!!)...
missed my puppy...
celebrated Ben's birthday...

Guess it was pretty busy for a vacay, huh? But a good time was had by all.
All except for Lamont the mouse, anyway.

Happy and brave

I regret to say that one of our mice passed away sometime today. He was taken from us suddenly in the living room. Funeral services were held this afternoon, with the Revs. Anne and Ben Sims co-presiding. The text was from the pilot of "The Cosby Show" and included the words, "Lamont was a good mouse, happy and brave. Our rodent friend will be interred in the Avery County landfill early next week.
No flowers, please. Condolences may be left in the comments.

On another wildlife note, we've seen flying squirrels and wild turkeys today. They live outdoors, as we really prefer our wildlife do. Although we are fond of the mice.

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Its true, I'm away, and won't be blogging for a few days. We're staying in the mountains in a borrowed home and sharing it with a couple of mice. Call me crazy, but we think they are kind of charming...they come out to visit in the evenings and see if we've dropped any crumbs, which we are careful not to do.

Friday Five Livesaver Edition

From KathrynZJ:

In honor of BE Three I thought I'd offer up a Friday Five of lifesavers. I'm going on our cruise (are you?) because I am excited about meeting up with my blogging buddies again, I am interested in the speaker and because when I went on the first one my life was saved (okay, that may be a little over-dramatized but if you saw me getting on the boat and then the difference when getting off the boat you would know of what I speak).

I don't expect - or need - another life saving moment but I want to support the conference.

Of course lifesavers can come in all sizes and with far less drama. I would readily admit that I have considered a person (children's sermon substitute), the location of a bathroom, and a beverage (the last diet coke in the back of the fridge - score!) all to be lifesavers at one point or another.

And so today I ask you - dramatic or fairly common - what have been/are your lifesavers:

1) Your lifesaving food/beverage.

In the past it was Dr. Pepper. I haven't had any in over two years, but like any soda addict, I still crave it. Chocolate, though, is my real life-saver. As my senior pastor commented (again) yesterday, even though I'm off caffeine as much as possible, if I were to give up both coffee and chocolate, no one would want to be near me.

2) Your lifesaving article of clothing.

Depends on the moment. Chilly morning: my new hooded toggle sweater jacket. Warm morning: sandals and t-shirts. When my back's bad, as it has been this week: Crocs.

3) Your lifesaving movie/book/tv show/music.

Oh, there are many of these. The Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Tim let me lose myself when I need to (book 12 is on my desk...W00T!). The Message, when I need God to speak to me in simple words and phrases. Chris Rice and Rich Mullins, as always, for music. Movies: too many to count. I find wisdom in a lot of them. "About a Boy" and "The Dark Crystal" come to mind.

4) Your lifesaving friend.

This is easy: Tonya. Even when the distance between us is measured in thousands of miles, as it has been for the last 5 years, one phone call is all it takes to remember how close we are. She was here last week--lots of fun, lots of playtime, and lots of shopping! Just the therapy I needed.

5) Your lifesaving moment.

My classmates threw me a lifeline last night. I am way behind on my dissertation and planning to use part of my vacation (starting Monday, yay!) as a writing retreat. There's no real reason for me to be struggling except it's been a very stressful summer and fall. So last night, via email, we started to plan a get-together in January. It may fall through, but I was so happy that they were willing to come to Beaufort. It was just the morale boost I needed! And I hope we can work it out. I didn't realize how isolated I was feeling (and yes, I did it to myself, but still...) and they made it all better with just a few emails. If you read this (TW, for example), know I love you guys, and you really did save me last night.

F5: Footwear edition

Jan over at the RevGals poses this F5:

Too often the Friday Fives I offer up seem extremely introspective, so here's something that could be fun. I notice as I finish my sixth decade that my taste in footwear is much different than when I was younger, as comfort wins out over fashion. So look at your feet and think about what you put on them!

1. What is your favorite footwear at this time in your life?

Sandals and Crocs...I've always preferred comfort over style.

2. What was the craziest shoe, boot, or sandal you ever wore?

Crocs, probably. When I was in high school I had a pair of blue, green and yellow keds...they were cute.

3. What kind of shoes did you wear in your childhood?

I remember a couple of pairs of sturdy school shoes, but I've always had a thing for white keds.

4. How do you feel most comfortable? Barefoot, flip-flops, boots, or what?

Barefoot...which I suspect is why my feet keep getting just a little wider.

5. What kind of socks do you like, if any?

Cute ones! I have several pairs with cats and dogs, lots of polka dots and argyles, and some stripes. Also, fuzzy chenille ones for winter evenings.

Bonus: Anything you want to share about feet or footwear.

I can't think of anything anyone would want to hear, except that I think New Balance in general and the Glenwood Ave store in Raleigh NC in particular, are wonderful. Ben's physical therapist and orthotics people have recommended the shoes to him because they are very stable and have models with a wide toe box. NB also has fit specialists in the stores who never look at us funny when we say his feet are two different sizes (Some shoe store employees have been dismissive, saying, "Oh, that's more common than you think" or "Almost everyone does." Maybe so, but the vast majority of the general population only hqs to buy one pair. We inevitably buy two...one foot is an 8EEEE and the other is a 10 1/2 EE. New Balance has always been great to us, even giving us a discount to help offset the cost of buying 2 pairs to get one useful one.

Wish I had a picture...

The dog was pitching a hissy fit in the yard, using most of his peke-vocabulary: yips, barks, squeaks, and some noises that are simply undescribable--and so I went outside to see what his issue was.
There were kittens born under my house a couple of years ago. Most of them, along with their mother, were adopted by someone in the neighborhood. One in particular likes to come back and visit, and torment the dog. Sometimes he sits in the kayak and just stares at the WonderMutt to make him wig out. So that, of course, is what I was expecting the problem to be.
I looked out into the yard and didn't see anything. It being after 10 pm and the cat being black, I didn't think anything of it, until I saw movement close to the kayak (under the eaves to the right of the door). I said "kitty kitty" and saw a funny looking critter trundling away.
Not a cat.
A possum.
Glad it didn't come when I called it.

Stuff and nonsense, mostly

I'm starting to feel guilty for not blogging more often, but I really haven't had much to say. My senior pastor was out sick last week and on Monday, so I've been "stepping and fetching," as Ben would say. And now we're away from home, and I'm trying to write and not feeling much like it. There is, however, the small matter of a deadline in 2 days.
We're in the Triangle area for a couple of days. Ben's participating in a clinical study of adults with cerebral palsy, and I'm driving and keeping him company and planning to spend the time he's being tested (3 hours, they say) writing. Since my laptop, which is my primary work and home computer, is on its way back to HP for a little work, I'm using the netbook. This is what I bought it for: travel and emergencies, because the laptop's been acting up for a while. But I am finding the keyboard occasionally a little cramped.
It's not as bad as the ipod, though. I'm learning to type a little on the touchscreen, and that makes me grateful for the netbook...
So here I am. Nothing interesting is happening, except that this week I really miss my cat. The one that died 3 years ago. I keep thinking I'll get over it; there will be no new pets for us for a while, according to an agreement Ben and I made several years ago. At that point we had 3, which was too many for us. Now I feel sometimes like two is not enough...it's not that I don't love the WonderMutt, and even spooky Boo. But it's not the same somehow.
Sigh.
But other than that, all's well. I've picked up some new teas, since I'm supposed to be avoiding caffeine, and I'm curious to try the rooibos-blood-orange-chocolate one. And there are 2 new bars of dark chocolate waiting for me...probably enough to keep me going for a month or two. And yes, I'm aware that chocolate is a source of caffeine, but no one wants me to do without it. I think of it more as a required supplement than junk food. And it's all dark chocolate, so there are flavonoids and antioxidants, so that's good. I don't entirely understand what those things are, but I know they are important.
I'm going to try to work on my dissertation now...perhaps my thoughts will be a little more organized there than here!

A very good day!

Today:
church was good. I love communion Sundays, and I love the liturgy.
MYF (youth group) was great--we have such a terrific group of kids and adult leaders!
I saw Slagline this morning; he's home from the AT, very thin, but looks happy and at peace.
I worked on my dissertation; writer's block is hopefully a thing of the past!
And this post comes from my new iPod touch...a seriously fun and useful toy...I mean, labor saving device that will help me work more effectively. Yeah, that's it! ;)