Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The office Grinch
Do you have a Grinch in your office? Someone who just has to tell other people that what they are doing is totally not OK? Someone who rains on every parade they come across? I can be a curmudgeon, but this person was a total Grinch. Instead of giving me "friendly advice" about not doing those sorts of emails at work (and not giving me a chance to explain that I was trying to raise morale), she commanded me to stop several times. So I did. Until now. But I've moved the communication stream from email to blog, so I can't be accused by the Grinch. I won't give her the address and I figure no one else will either (she isn't very popular amongst the folks who will appreciate this blog!)
Day two, before the Grinch showed up
Late in day one
"OOOps! She was enticed by the smell of my smoked almonds, but got a little too close! I didn't think the raisin boxes were very stable steps, but I figured she was old enough to decide for herself. She's all tidied up now, don't worry."
Still day one
I especially liked this email, because other folks at work had started to get into the spirit of the thing and made this for her. (Morale was terribly low at the time and I thought we could use a pick-me-up)
"Someone has kindly made her a waterproof sleeping bag, in case the sprinklers go off, or if the plant watering person gets carried away. Isn't it a pretty blue/green?"
The event that started this all
May 26, 2012 this little girl showed up at my desk at work and MADE MY DAY. I sent an email to local users thanking the mysterious giver.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Year 1 Month 1 Day 1
So can I still call you accountability partners if I don't fill you in on my plan? Since you are greatly imaginary, I say... YES!
Well, ok. My intention is to make something every day, perhaps for a year. I get stressed rather easily with this sort of thing, so I'm trying to avoid having too many rules right away. My first rule is that months start on the 16th and end of the 15th, because I'm an accountant in my day job and the end/beginning of a month is already horrible enough.
My second rule is more of a starting guideline. I was thinking I would tackle a new craft form each month. Which is kind of a guideline in reverse, because lately, since my job has become so hugely stressful, I've been starting new forms all the time and losing interest and refusing to feel guilty about not really mastering anything, etc. etc. etc. So this may sound like too many forms, but for me to actually stick with one for a full month might be a stretch.
I was going to crochet. I've crocheted off and on for many years, but never really tackled anything "real", always just playing around with edging something knitted, or doing little teacups or something. I've been making granny squares for a few weeks, in shades of black and white and grey. I got a used book with various patterns and I thought that, at a minimum, I could make some "sampler" squares. Well, here it is, bedtime on the first day of the first month and I haven't done anything. And then I stopped and thought about what I did do this evening (after working ten hours) and I made blondies and cookies for a party at work tomorrow. While not crochet, it is something I made. From scratch, even. I'll post a better picture of the blondies tomorrow.
I realize these are horrible pictures, but it's after my bedtime, folks! And the dog needs to be walked and I still haven't showered and I don't know what my son is up to and... goodnight.
Well, ok. My intention is to make something every day, perhaps for a year. I get stressed rather easily with this sort of thing, so I'm trying to avoid having too many rules right away. My first rule is that months start on the 16th and end of the 15th, because I'm an accountant in my day job and the end/beginning of a month is already horrible enough.
My second rule is more of a starting guideline. I was thinking I would tackle a new craft form each month. Which is kind of a guideline in reverse, because lately, since my job has become so hugely stressful, I've been starting new forms all the time and losing interest and refusing to feel guilty about not really mastering anything, etc. etc. etc. So this may sound like too many forms, but for me to actually stick with one for a full month might be a stretch.
I was going to crochet. I've crocheted off and on for many years, but never really tackled anything "real", always just playing around with edging something knitted, or doing little teacups or something. I've been making granny squares for a few weeks, in shades of black and white and grey. I got a used book with various patterns and I thought that, at a minimum, I could make some "sampler" squares. Well, here it is, bedtime on the first day of the first month and I haven't done anything. And then I stopped and thought about what I did do this evening (after working ten hours) and I made blondies and cookies for a party at work tomorrow. While not crochet, it is something I made. From scratch, even. I'll post a better picture of the blondies tomorrow.
And these are Chocolate Comfort Cookies - YUMMMM!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Fleas and Pie
It has been about a year since I last went to the Flea Market. I used to go pretty frequently with my mother about 18 years ago but as my dad's health declined, we went less.
Old junk and pie. And maybe a frozen banana on a stick. But the pie is surprisingly good. I had a slice of peach with my sandwich (icky) and it was good. Flakey crust, not underbaked, with nice, soft, tasty pieces of peach in a well-formed jell. And now a piece of pecan pie in an appropriately different crust and, while this is a bit of an oxymoron, the filling is not too sweet. The crust is holding up well under the filling. Really good pie! At the Kane county Flea Market! Might be worth the price of admission just to come for the pie! I look forward to trying the cherry and the apple. Maybe next month?
Old junk and pie. And maybe a frozen banana on a stick. But the pie is surprisingly good. I had a slice of peach with my sandwich (icky) and it was good. Flakey crust, not underbaked, with nice, soft, tasty pieces of peach in a well-formed jell. And now a piece of pecan pie in an appropriately different crust and, while this is a bit of an oxymoron, the filling is not too sweet. The crust is holding up well under the filling. Really good pie! At the Kane county Flea Market! Might be worth the price of admission just to come for the pie! I look forward to trying the cherry and the apple. Maybe next month?
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Knowing God
What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it--the fact that HE KNOWS ME. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates--in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.
There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and am I glad!), and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
J I Packer
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates--in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.
There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and am I glad!), and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
J I Packer
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