...in the form of free things:
Like jewelry...
http://helenesdreams.blogspot.com/2009/11/helenes-dreams-etsy-christmas-blog.html#links
and snarky cookbooks...
http://www.thefashionslinger.com/home/2009/11/23/holiday-bazaar-giveaway-eat-your-feelings-will-ya.html?lastPage=true#comment6413077
with the snarky blogger...
http://eatyourfeelingsrecipesforselfloathing.blogspot.com/
and the sweet online bookstore that is NOT amazon...
http://us.penguingroup.com/
Monday, November 23, 2009
Free things!
Delightful giveaway. How have I not been aware of things like this?
http://kendrajkphotography.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/get-journalin-give-away/
http://kendrajkphotography.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/get-journalin-give-away/
Friday, June 5, 2009
Family Fun Day
What do you think of when you get an email entitled 'Family Fun Day'? If paintbrushes and nail guns automatically come to mind, well, then, you win.
Recently our base director, Stan, penciled in a work day for the missionaries at the IDT base. May is an ideal time for something like this because we don't get any groups. We don't have any in November, either, but that would just be cold and miserable, and I, for one, wouldn't come.
I came to this one, however. And, true to form, I got all painty. Not that I mind. The biggest project was repainting the dorms. We have fourteen of them, all the size of an old single housebuild (um... 12x12? I don't actually know). Some years ago, one of the leadership guys (who will continue unnamed...) voted that IDT paint all the buildings a wonderful, sky blue. Bright. Sky. Blue. Since the aforementioned unnamed had clout (and, lets face it, everyone agreed with him), the buildings (dorms, school, bathrooms, workshops) all got painted blue. And it was kind of good, because you could see them from miles away. And giving directions was easy, because all you had to say was 'the one with all the blue buildings' and everybody knew what you were talking about.
No more, friends. The colors now are olive and, um, dark olive. Very soothing. As you
can see. And we got twelve of them painted. And we would have gotten all fourteen, except we ran out of paint. You know, the olive one. Of course, there was more done than just that. Like the trim around the dining hall and church. And some sort of thing over the front door. What are those called? The top of a front porch. One of those. Very pretty.
I liked this whole shindig, because it seems to me that the more work you put into something, the more inclined you will be to take care of it. Hopefully, that will be the case with us.
Though I don't think I would like to get all painty too often. Getting it out of your hair is such a pain.
Recently our base director, Stan, penciled in a work day for the missionaries at the IDT base. May is an ideal time for something like this because we don't get any groups. We don't have any in November, either, but that would just be cold and miserable, and I, for one, wouldn't come.
I came to this one, however. And, true to form, I got all painty. Not that I mind. The biggest project was repainting the dorms. We have fourteen of them, all the size of an old single housebuild (um... 12x12? I don't actually know). Some years ago, one of the leadership guys (who will continue unnamed...) voted that IDT paint all the buildings a wonderful, sky blue. Bright. Sky. Blue. Since the aforementioned unnamed had clout (and, lets face it, everyone agreed with him), the buildings (dorms, school, bathrooms, workshops) all got painted blue. And it was kind of good, because you could see them from miles away. And giving directions was easy, because all you had to say was 'the one with all the blue buildings' and everybody knew what you were talking about.
No more, friends. The colors now are olive and, um, dark olive. Very soothing. As you
can see. And we got twelve of them painted. And we would have gotten all fourteen, except we ran out of paint. You know, the olive one. Of course, there was more done than just that. Like the trim around the dining hall and church. And some sort of thing over the front door. What are those called? The top of a front porch. One of those. Very pretty.I liked this whole shindig, because it seems to me that the more work you put into something, the more inclined you will be to take care of it. Hopefully, that will be the case with us.
Though I don't think I would like to get all painty too often. Getting it out of your hair is such a pain.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Changes and stuff
I'm sitting alone in the dining hall, over an hour early for church. This is, it seems, the only way that I can write for this blog relatively undisturbed. Actually, though, I have an office, which effectively hides me from the world, but I get too lonely in there, so I content myself with conducting my business in the dining hall. This works pretty well for everything except meetings.
Upon further reflection, I suppose I am a glutton for disturbances. Or maybe it is an echo of my time in the Junior High ministry, where I knew everything that was going on at every moment. Does this make me a busybody? Probably. The missionaries seem pretty good-natured about my quirks.
There are changes in the air. The weather is finally getting warm (excepting the afternoon winds that bring in all the dust), I am enmeshed in preparations for the Summer of Service, and several of my friends are leaving-some forever.
I didn't used to take goodbye's too badly. Maybe I was more easygoing then. Now, though, I am finding goodbye's to be rather difficult. Or maybe it is the continual hope that the goodbye won't be for always that is so tough. Either way, I just don't like it.
My friend Jen (of the faithful blogging which always seems to evade me) is departing for the States. She's been here for a year and a half, like she promised. She's been the housemom for La Paloma for a year and a half, which is no small feat. Don't misunderstand me. The Manzano family is stellar. I love being an honorary Manzano. But some of the girls that come into the house are damaged, and for many of them the only consolation they get from life is to damage in return. It is not an easy job to love them. Jen, however, has managed to do it, and most of the time she's done it quite gracefully.
And Carol-and her family, at whose house I have practically lived for the past year- is leaving for Canada. There is consolation in this, however, because they're coming back. Then they're leaving again. Then, hopefully, they're coming back. Again. Its all very complicated. Something to do with school, and M.A.'s, and stuff. At any rate, I hope fervently for their return. Carol is my workout buddy. Without her I would never exercise. What I am going to do without her to prod me, I don't know. Maybe learn self-discipline, or something.
Upon further reflection, I suppose I am a glutton for disturbances. Or maybe it is an echo of my time in the Junior High ministry, where I knew everything that was going on at every moment. Does this make me a busybody? Probably. The missionaries seem pretty good-natured about my quirks.
There are changes in the air. The weather is finally getting warm (excepting the afternoon winds that bring in all the dust), I am enmeshed in preparations for the Summer of Service, and several of my friends are leaving-some forever.
I didn't used to take goodbye's too badly. Maybe I was more easygoing then. Now, though, I am finding goodbye's to be rather difficult. Or maybe it is the continual hope that the goodbye won't be for always that is so tough. Either way, I just don't like it.
My friend Jen (of the faithful blogging which always seems to evade me) is departing for the States. She's been here for a year and a half, like she promised. She's been the housemom for La Paloma for a year and a half, which is no small feat. Don't misunderstand me. The Manzano family is stellar. I love being an honorary Manzano. But some of the girls that come into the house are damaged, and for many of them the only consolation they get from life is to damage in return. It is not an easy job to love them. Jen, however, has managed to do it, and most of the time she's done it quite gracefully.
And Carol-and her family, at whose house I have practically lived for the past year- is leaving for Canada. There is consolation in this, however, because they're coming back. Then they're leaving again. Then, hopefully, they're coming back. Again. Its all very complicated. Something to do with school, and M.A.'s, and stuff. At any rate, I hope fervently for their return. Carol is my workout buddy. Without her I would never exercise. What I am going to do without her to prod me, I don't know. Maybe learn self-discipline, or something.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Time Management
...does not include waking up at 5:30 for prayer and going back to bed at 8 for a two hour nap.
"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sometimes all it takes is Canasta
Contrary to popular belief, this has not been a bad week. That is, some bad things have happened, but the general tone has been mild, or even upbeat.
Except for that day I found my car vandalized and tires punctured and battery and stereo stolen (I think they made a mistake with the stereo. It was breaking anyway).
And except for that time I almost punched an angry teenage girl with serious temper issues.
And maybe except for that time that same girl decided that the best way to punish me was to ignore me completely.
Actually, that last one isn't so bad. At least, I don't mind.
The bright side of things are as follows:
I am surrounded with little children who love to cuddle and are full of refreshingly innocent observations.
I get to hang out with Jen.
I have rediscovered my penchant for maintaining a sort of controlled chaos.
I have realized once again that I actually do like children.
I also like adolescents, but I like them better when they like me.
And I get to play canasta from time to time with random visitors.
Also, I have discovered that waking up at five thirty for prayer is not as detrimental to my health as I had previously imagined.
And Tani comes back tomorrow. Which relieves me of at least the pressure of being the coolest one in the house.
Except for that day I found my car vandalized and tires punctured and battery and stereo stolen (I think they made a mistake with the stereo. It was breaking anyway).
And except for that time I almost punched an angry teenage girl with serious temper issues.
And maybe except for that time that same girl decided that the best way to punish me was to ignore me completely.
Actually, that last one isn't so bad. At least, I don't mind.
The bright side of things are as follows:
I am surrounded with little children who love to cuddle and are full of refreshingly innocent observations.
I get to hang out with Jen.
I have rediscovered my penchant for maintaining a sort of controlled chaos.
I have realized once again that I actually do like children.
I also like adolescents, but I like them better when they like me.
And I get to play canasta from time to time with random visitors.
Also, I have discovered that waking up at five thirty for prayer is not as detrimental to my health as I had previously imagined.
And Tani comes back tomorrow. Which relieves me of at least the pressure of being the coolest one in the house.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Re-entering the chaos
As I began typing my heading, the letter 'c' on my keyboard came loose, so I will have to avoid using it until I can find someone to put it back on for me. Except that I just fixed it myself. I am so self-reliant! They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I will add to that and say that it is also the mother-or close relative- of productivity.
I am going to tell you about my day. And any of you who know me will know that I spent nine truly fabulous (and hard and interesting and loving) months living with the Manzanos. And, if the choice were mine, I would have no qualms about coming back to live and work with them. I kind of look like them anyway, and I have no problems considering myself one of the family. So everything I am about to say is said out of the abundance of the love that I bear for them.
So, the Manzano patriarchs have flown the coop for the next ten days with one of their children, leaving the other eighteen or so to the tender mercies of Jen, Tani and myself. And Tani leaves on Sunday, as well. There is a sister graduating in Nevada, a brother graduating in Texas, and general birthdays to attend in California. So I have returned to my former life for the time being, cooking and cleaning and homeworking and making sure the kids don't kill each other. I also try to fit in a game or two of Scrabble.
Today was my first day back, and I am- who am well acquainted with Manzanos and the inner workings of this house- found, to my shock, that I have misplaced that easygoing grace that characterized my former time here! Let me explain.
I have signed up to make dinner tonight for a woman in the community who is expecting her eighth child (tomorrow), and that has been hanging over my head a bit today. I skipped working out this morning because sleep is just too sweet to pass up sometimes, and when I think of what today held for me, I consider it a wise move. At eleven I came over to the M's, and played some Scrabble whilst the kidlets who didn't have school today (the Mexican school system is a study in fickleness) made tortillas and lunch (which was mole, which was DELICIOUS). Then Karen came over, much to my delight, and entertained us with the story of how she went to pick up her son from the Catholic school today, and the boy had randomly decided to attend Mass at the church eight blocks away without notifying anyone(they're not Catholic, and when I consider the length of the Mass compared to the attention span of the boy-he's eight- I think he might have learned his lesson, or at least received a punishment worthy of the crime). Then Tani left to get the kiddies who WERE at school, and I watched the others trickle in from their respective schools (they attend several different ones, depending on their level of education, language, and ability). Chaos reigned. Then it was time for Homework. Do you realize, Reader, that I haven't done sixth grade math since, well, sixth grade? And do you also realize that the teachers hadn't actually explained how to solve the problems to the child? Karen, still waiting for her spiritually-minded son to make an appearance, undertook to help Luis with his math, God bless her, while I observed and made an occasional helpful comment.
Then Tani took the older kids to play soccer and I took the younger ones to the kitchen, to clean. That was two and a half hours ago. I think Luis and Elvira just finished washing the dishes. They were in a 'resturaunt' and they were putting on a show for Maribel, whose attitude had caused her to be relagated to her bed. Also, Yadira had to go to a friends house for a school project, and Lydia hadn't actually put the bag of flour in the cupboard. Or on it. Or even near it. And I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce for the spaghetti for the family that is expecting the baby, so I opened lots of random unmarked cans (go donations!) that happened to be enchilada sauce, and some tomato paste, and mixed it together with sugar and various spices until it tasted something slightly resembling spaghetti sauce, all the while voicing 'encouragement' over my shoulder to the two unfortunates (see above) who had been put to doing the dishes.
Thus ends Act II of Day I. Once the kids return from soccer, we will begin Act III, which invoves dinner and church and cleanup and bedtime.
And you have to believe me when I say that I love this chaos. I just need to remember how much fun it is. And I think most people will agree with me who have experienced it. I also need to start wearing an apron, because I think I irrevocably stained my shirt with tomato sauce and that black stuff that the fire makes on the bottom of the pans.*
While it's quiet, I am taking the chance to tell you all about my adventures, and the crazy, lovely disorder that reigns supreme and makes being here just that much greater.
* A funny side note to this: I had taken off my top shirt in order to salvage it from other unbecoming stains (I had a fairly decent undershirt on, of the spaghetti-strap variety), because I couldn't find an available apron when who should walk in the door but my friend Kim and two STRANGE MEN (of the Mexican pastor variety), to observe me in all my glory! There was nothing to do for it but pretend that I wasn't in an awkward state of near-undress, shake their hands and ignore them till Kim took them away.
I am going to tell you about my day. And any of you who know me will know that I spent nine truly fabulous (and hard and interesting and loving) months living with the Manzanos. And, if the choice were mine, I would have no qualms about coming back to live and work with them. I kind of look like them anyway, and I have no problems considering myself one of the family. So everything I am about to say is said out of the abundance of the love that I bear for them.
So, the Manzano patriarchs have flown the coop for the next ten days with one of their children, leaving the other eighteen or so to the tender mercies of Jen, Tani and myself. And Tani leaves on Sunday, as well. There is a sister graduating in Nevada, a brother graduating in Texas, and general birthdays to attend in California. So I have returned to my former life for the time being, cooking and cleaning and homeworking and making sure the kids don't kill each other. I also try to fit in a game or two of Scrabble.
Today was my first day back, and I am- who am well acquainted with Manzanos and the inner workings of this house- found, to my shock, that I have misplaced that easygoing grace that characterized my former time here! Let me explain.
I have signed up to make dinner tonight for a woman in the community who is expecting her eighth child (tomorrow), and that has been hanging over my head a bit today. I skipped working out this morning because sleep is just too sweet to pass up sometimes, and when I think of what today held for me, I consider it a wise move. At eleven I came over to the M's, and played some Scrabble whilst the kidlets who didn't have school today (the Mexican school system is a study in fickleness) made tortillas and lunch (which was mole, which was DELICIOUS). Then Karen came over, much to my delight, and entertained us with the story of how she went to pick up her son from the Catholic school today, and the boy had randomly decided to attend Mass at the church eight blocks away without notifying anyone(they're not Catholic, and when I consider the length of the Mass compared to the attention span of the boy-he's eight- I think he might have learned his lesson, or at least received a punishment worthy of the crime). Then Tani left to get the kiddies who WERE at school, and I watched the others trickle in from their respective schools (they attend several different ones, depending on their level of education, language, and ability). Chaos reigned. Then it was time for Homework. Do you realize, Reader, that I haven't done sixth grade math since, well, sixth grade? And do you also realize that the teachers hadn't actually explained how to solve the problems to the child? Karen, still waiting for her spiritually-minded son to make an appearance, undertook to help Luis with his math, God bless her, while I observed and made an occasional helpful comment.
Then Tani took the older kids to play soccer and I took the younger ones to the kitchen, to clean. That was two and a half hours ago. I think Luis and Elvira just finished washing the dishes. They were in a 'resturaunt' and they were putting on a show for Maribel, whose attitude had caused her to be relagated to her bed. Also, Yadira had to go to a friends house for a school project, and Lydia hadn't actually put the bag of flour in the cupboard. Or on it. Or even near it. And I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce for the spaghetti for the family that is expecting the baby, so I opened lots of random unmarked cans (go donations!) that happened to be enchilada sauce, and some tomato paste, and mixed it together with sugar and various spices until it tasted something slightly resembling spaghetti sauce, all the while voicing 'encouragement' over my shoulder to the two unfortunates (see above) who had been put to doing the dishes.
Thus ends Act II of Day I. Once the kids return from soccer, we will begin Act III, which invoves dinner and church and cleanup and bedtime.
And you have to believe me when I say that I love this chaos. I just need to remember how much fun it is. And I think most people will agree with me who have experienced it. I also need to start wearing an apron, because I think I irrevocably stained my shirt with tomato sauce and that black stuff that the fire makes on the bottom of the pans.*
While it's quiet, I am taking the chance to tell you all about my adventures, and the crazy, lovely disorder that reigns supreme and makes being here just that much greater.
* A funny side note to this: I had taken off my top shirt in order to salvage it from other unbecoming stains (I had a fairly decent undershirt on, of the spaghetti-strap variety), because I couldn't find an available apron when who should walk in the door but my friend Kim and two STRANGE MEN (of the Mexican pastor variety), to observe me in all my glory! There was nothing to do for it but pretend that I wasn't in an awkward state of near-undress, shake their hands and ignore them till Kim took them away.
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