In which I tell of all the living I've been doing lately

For the last week I've been so busy living life, I haven't really had time to write about it.

Last Thursday we participated in a homeschool Christmas concert. It was being put on in a small town theater about two hours away from here. We were, once again, the big shots from out of town. Our part of the concert went well, in spite of the fact that 1) we had all been taking turns being sick --too sick to practice-- in the weeks leading up to the concert, and 2) I had a violin string break right before our turn on stage. Aack. Fortunately, I usually keep spare strings, so I was able to fix the problem, but GuitarGeek and the concert host took turns telling jokes to keep the audience occupied while I frantically fitted a new string and tried to tune it. Talk about adrenaline.

Oh, and 3) I was in the middle of my turn for the Big Cold, and was working on laryngitis. If I sang very quietly right into the mic and concentrated real hard, I could make my voice come out and keep it from cracking. Mostly.

After the concert, all the participants were invited for chili at the Baker's house, and we had a great time. The chili was just what my cold wanted; the friendship was wonderful and heartening. Therefore we didn't manage to tear ourselves away till after midnight. Which means we didn't get home till after two, and didn't get to bed till three. It's actually good we go to bed as soon as that, since we heat our house with wood, and we had to re-light the fire after being gone for twelve hours and get the stove going good before we could sleep.

Friday evening Hubby and I went with our friend Swede to a bible class we are considering enrolling in. While we were out, it began snowing. And snowing. At the end of the class another friend invited us out for a bite. Actually what he said was that he and his wife needed a fix of "cheap tacos." Oh how I wanted to go! He jokingly said we'd be done by midnight or one-- and I knew how close to the truth that actually was-- and the three o'clock bedtime of the night/morning before rose up and taunted me. Plus, the roads were fast becoming unfriendly, so we regretfully declined and made our slow way home.

We got home around eleven and ending up waiting up till midnight anyway for MandoNut who was driving out from the Big City a hour away to spend the weekend with us. He hadn't made it yet because of the snow. But he got here, and we all headed to bed, knowing we'd possibly be snowed in in the morning.

Saturday we finished putting back the chaos from the painting project and cleaned house, all in between long, interesting conversations with MandoNut.

Sunday we had a crowd of friends over for worship/music/prayer/fellowship, and soup, so now our living room has the drum set and the guitar rig and the bass rig set up in it. This is not the first time I've been grateful for our open living space, our expanding table, and our versatile sectional couch!

Yesterday, LovelyDaughter and I went Christmas shopping. In spite of my optimistic hopes, we didn't get it all done. We weren't able to head out till mid-afternoon, so there just wasn't time. However, my cold, in addition to causing me to lose sleep at night, has greatly reduced my stamina, so it was just as well. I actually only have two gifts left to get, and the candy for the stockings, and I may do that this afternoon.

I had hoped to have the re-decorating all done before Christmas, as sort of a Christmas present to myself, but I think it's too much pressure to put on myself. I might get the ceiling done, if I can do it around all the music gear. I'd better find some BIG tarps! The trim will have to wait till after Christmas, I'm thinkin'.

It's been good. The big family Christmas gathering is next Sunday, and then we're home free, and MandoNut might come for Christmas, and maybe Swede, and LovelyDaughter and I will spend time together in the kitchen making all kinds of good food for all of our guys and it will be good. Very good.

TT# 15: Books Never Written

Cleaning out my ancient emails the other day, I found a "conversation" with several friends where we had exchanged ideas for silly book titles and sillier authors. I think I remember something like this going around when I was a kid. Here are thirteen of the ones we came up with, including the ones that came in the original forward that got us started.

How to Write Big Books, by Warren Peace

I Lost My Balance, by Eileen Dover and Phil Down

The German Bank Robbery, by Hans Zupp

I Hate the Sun, by Gladys Knight

Prison Security, by Barb Dwyer

How I Won the Marathon, by Randy Holeway

The Lion Attacked, by Claude Yarmoff

Take This Job and Shove it, by Ike Witt

How to Say No, by Ida Wahna

Scaling the Empire State Building, by I.M. Skaird

The Art of Skyscraper Acrobatics, by Howie Duzzit Idunowe

Cowboy Cooking, by Chuck Waggon

A History of the Mennonites in Siberia, edited by Wiebe, Friesen, Fast

[These last author names are real names, by the way, and they are also the punch line to a local joke which is: "What do you call three Mennonites in a snow bank?" When you pronounce them correctly the answer sounds like "We be freezin' fast!]

And now, how about you? Do you have any ideas for imaginary books written by non-existent authors? I'd love to hear them!

Today's Episode of The Good, The Bad, and The Bright (Side)

I woke up today feeling both good and bad. I had energy and motivation, and was in a good mood, deep down. But I also was fighting a cold, which made me tired and grouchy; which seemed to make my whole day play out the same way, and for a while I couldn't decide if I was having a good day or a bad day.

However, there's a bright side to everything. For example, the bright side to being energetic while miserable is....um, is.... that at least I'm getting something done, in spite of it...?

Well, it was easier to spell it out over the rest of the day. Like this...

Good: We remembered to get cereal yesterday so we could have breakfast today.
Bad: We forgot the milk.
Bright Side: We had biscuits and hot tea instead.

Good: I got a batch of bread baked.
Bad: In the process, I dropped my yeast jar on the floor and spilled dry yeast everywhere. And I didn't feel like cleaning up another mess!
Bright Side: The jar wasn't full, so it wasn't as big of a mess as it could have been. And I didn't spill ALL of it, so I can still bake a couple more batches of bread.

Good: I got the trim off the wall by myself.
Bad: I put two dinks in two of the freshly painted walls trying to maneuver that long piece of trim.
Bright Side: They can be touched up, and will blend in with all the other older dinks.

Good: Cleaned out the heretofore unknown mouse chewings and droppings back in the corner behind LovelyDaughter's art desk.
Bad: We have MICE???
Bright Side: I think the mice are long gone, but if not, we can set mouse traps.

Good: The back and underside of my rolltop desk is clean.
Bad: I'm still trying not to be grossed out by how much spiderwebby dust there was. What kind of slobs are we?
Bright Side: At least it's clean NOW.

Good: I got the rolltop desk moved away from the wall.
Bad: I had to nearly break my back and the desk doing it myself before anyone would come help me, even though I asked for help.
Bright Side: At least it got done, and I didn't really break my back. And the desk may have been cracked already.

Good: I got all the furniture moved, and all the painting done.
Bad: Everything is in huge chaos, and it all has to be put back.
Bright Side: The chaos is not bothering anyone but me, so I think I'll chill. It will get done, in time.

Good: Estimated time painting one wall-- 20 minutes.
Bad: Estimated prep time, including moving furniture, taking apart the homemade brick-and-board shelving, laying out newspaper and dropclothes, cleaning up the dirt and cobwebs behind the furniture and off the walls, and assembling the painting supplies-- one to two hours, depending which wall. (And that doesn't include how long it's going to take me to put everything back.)
Bright Side: At least the painting is fast. Imagine how long it would take if the painting itself took as long as the rest of it.

Good: The paint color I chose looks wonderful on the living room walls.
Bad: It doesn't look so great on the wood floor where I dropped a large splot of it.
Bright Side: I think I can scrape the splot up. The floor is oiled, and it appears the paint did not actually soak in. I hope.

Good: I got lots done today.
Bad: I'm too tired to go to a Christmas party we are invited to tonight.
Bright Side: We just found out the road conditions are pretty snowy and icy, so we probably wouldn't go anyway. (It's a 90 mile round trip, approximately, which can be miserable in bad weather.)

Actually, It looks wonderful in here, in spite of the chaos. So far, incredibly, it's turning out like I pictured, so I can hardly wait to make the rest of the trim and put up the curtains, and get the furniture rearranged. Even though it's taking much LONGER than I'd hoped, and is much more WORK, because of all the CLEANING I'm ending up doing, it's still good. It's going to look like a new and much cheerier-- and cleaner-- place when I'm done.

Final assessment: BRIGHT.

It's Cold and Dreary Outside, But Warm and Sunny Inside

I've been working on getting my re-decorating done in time for Christmas, and it's been a long slog. Somehow this has turned into not just re-painting, but a cross between fall house cleaning and moving. The dust I've found! The spider webs! The papers and books and catalogs and magazines I've had to DO something with! The re-thinking of furniture placement!

I've got the kitchen and dining areas painted, and now two walls of the living area, and I'm happy to report that my two shades of yellow are looking nice, as I'd hoped, and not overwhelming, as I'd feared. The lighter shade looks very sunny and happy, as I've mentioned before, and the darker shade is almost the exact shade of buckskin, and looks very cozy and warm. And now, though the project is not yet completely finished, the house feels bright and cheerful, even on these cold, gray days we've been having lately.

The great thing is, not only do I like it, but so do all four of my kids. I think Hubby likes it, too, but he's reserving his judgment till it's all done and he can see if it grows on him.

If all goes well, I will try to post pictures eventually, so you can see what I've been up to.

Of fairy tales, and children, and the kingdom of Heaven

Last night LovelyDaughter and I dug out our video of "Frosty The Snowman." I think maybe --heaven forbid-- we're getting too old to watch it. Because we started noticing things we'd never noticed before. Hence, the following list of:

THING ONLY ADULTS NOTICE about the story of Frosty

1. The explanation for the snow being special is

a) it's the first snowfall of the year
b) it's Christmas snow

So which one is it? Or is it special when the first snowfall happens at Christmas?


2. The kids are in school till three o'clock. But then later we're told it's Christmas Eve. Since when do kids go to school till mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve?

3. And then, when Karen hops the train with Frosty, she's only concerned about getting home for dinner, not getting home in time to have Christmas Eve celebrations. Strange kid.

4. Nobody in the story ever closes a door! (Except of course when the evil magician slams the door on Frosty and Karen. So... what, the door doesn't open from the inside?) Not even Santa when he comes to rescue Frosty and Karen, but then a few minutes later he goes and OPENS the door and lets a cold breeze in. Who closed it?

5. When Frosty goes belly-flopping, he must have turned to ice. Otherwise, wouldn't he have done what all other cartoon and movie snowballs do, and gather more snow and turn into a monstrously HUGE snowball?

6. When the ticket agent at the train station makes up a ticket to the North Pole he lists many of the stops along the way, including Hudson Bay and Nome, Alaska-- which are at opposite sides of the continent! (I know this was probably put in for the humor, but still...)

7. When Santa brings Karen home, he leaves her on the roof! Poor Karen-- stuck on a snowy roof. And there's not even a chimney for her to go down!

These are all aside from the total improbability of the entire story,

And yet-- "Frosty" is still a cute, fun story. It's a modern fairy tale, complete with a hero, an evil magician, a funny sidekick, a damsel in distress, a rescuer, plenty of magic, and a happy ending.

We all rejoice with the kids when Frosty gets to keep his hat.

We worry with them about getting Frosty to a place where he won't melt, and agonize with Frosty when Karen needs to get warmed up.

We are relieved when she finds a warm place, and infuriated when the evil magician is so small-minded that he sacrifices Karen's and Frosty's well-being for the sake of getting back his hat.

We cry with Karen over Frosty's demise.

We're thrilled when Frosty is restored.

We laugh delightedly to see Santa play his trump card of "no presents EVER" and shout "Yes!" when the evil magician succumbs to the threat.

We're glad at how easy it was to get rid of him forever, since really he was just a selfish, overgrown child, and not that evil, really.

And then we love having the story all wrapped up tidily, with Karen brought back home in time for Christmas, and Frosty, we assume, going to live with Santa forever, where he'll never melt.

(At least, all tied up tidily except we don't know how Karen is going to get down off her roof in the middle of the night-- but never mind that.)

Of course, I don't actually do any of these things OUT LOUD. After all, I'm over forty. But somewhere the little girl in me IS doing those things.

And that is one of the best things about Christmas-- It brings out the child in all of us. And wasn't it Christ himself who said that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become as little children?

In this season, we are very close to the kingdom of heaven. Here's hoping you enter in.


[Image from Classy Announcements]

TT#14: My Dream Christmas List of Things to Give and Things to Get

Thirteen Things about momhuebert

I wish I had plenty of money this time of year (well, any time of year actually....) because of all the things I wish I could get for my husband and my kids. But I don't, so I can't, and more's the pity.

So to remedy this, at least in part, I decided to "pretend" shop.

Kind of like the game LovelyDaughter plays with her young cousin at family gatherings: go through the Penney's catalog and "buy" one thing from every page. I actually played with them at Thanksgiving, and it can get kinda hard on some pages ("well, if I were an old lady, I'd buy that pair of shoes") and pretty funny on other pages ("um, if I were a guy, I'd buy those underwear") and there is lots of laughing and joking.

What I've done here is make a list of things I know my family would love to have and pretend that I really could buy them for Christmas. Kids, if you read this: Merry Christmas!-- with all my heart, if not with money.

Somehow it scratches an itch. I have half a mind to print out all these pictures and put them on the more inexpensive things I will end up really buying, with a note: I may look like a giant bag of Skittles, but at heart I'm a leather jacket, just for you.

Anyway, without further ado, here's My Wishful List of Christmas Gifts.

First off, for Hubby.

1. These custom made Carl Dyer moccasins, called Ring Boots.

2. This suede jacket (from Territory Ahead) that looks like an upgraded version of the Carharrt work jackets he likes, only this one would be for driving around in our BMW Z3.

For GuitarGeek, our oldest son:

3. One or two or three of these shirts from The Territory Ahead.

4. This "Leather Hoodie," also from Territory Ahead. Actually, I'd like to buy him half the catalog (the men's half, of course). It all looks like him.

For LovelyDaughter:

5. This candle holder:

6. This coat (from Woolrich):

For DrummerDude, our 19-year-old:

7. This camera (a Fuji S8000fd)

8. This laptop (a black MacBook-- woohoo!)

For MB3, who is 16, almost 17:

9. A cowboy hat, maybe like this one...

10. These absolutely cool leather pants

And now, three things for myself.

11. This audio bible:




12. And this, to listen to it with:



13. Fancy chocolate (imagine that!)-- lots of it; rich, dark, maybe with nuts....

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Bizzy, Bizzy, Bizzy

I feel a little like that character in the story of Frosty the Snowman-- you know, the bumbling magician who unintentionally gave Frosty his magic hat? I can't remember the story very well, but I can hear him (unless it was someone else altogether) saying "Bi-zzy, Bi-zzy, Bi-zzy." Well, I've been busy, busy, busy, too.

Last week I painted our kitchen and dining room. And then we spent the weekend at a church conference, being on the worship team. We left everything torn up while we were gone, which was a big step for me. I'm usually obsessive about leaving the house in good order when we leave, because I hate coming home to a mess.

However, the point is, we've been busy, and we no longer have renter beige walls, we have "Golden Margarita." (Kilz Casual Colors; available at any Walmart near you.) I put up my four panels in four colors (Croscill Classics, Manchester Button-down Drapes, in Red, Gold, Natural, and Sage-- from Penney's) on the dining room window, and my plaid valance (in the same four colors; Park Designs, bought at Auntie Em's at the mall) on the kitchen window, and it all looks wonderful. Hubby is not sure he likes it. He's making me keep the old (like, over twenty years old) renter beige drapes, just in case. Grrr. But everyone else loves the new look. It feels sunny and happy; and the red, gold, natural, and sage of the new curtains just sets off the yellow walls.

However, now I don't know what to paint the living room. It is the long side of the L of our living space, and I bought "Golden Rod" for it, which is a deeper shade of yellow, but now I'm afraid it will be overkill. I don't want the room to go from "sunny and happy" to "noon time in Death Valley."

I've considered two options:

1) choose another color of paint (assuming Hubby doesn't kill this idea, since it would be a waste of twenty bucks if I don't use my gallon of Golden Rod.)

2) go ahead and use it, but sponge paint over it a couple of other colors to tone it down. I would use the leftover Golden Margarita, and maybe a tan or brown, and a green. Maybe even a terracotta/brick type color, to match our fireplace.

If I choose another color completely, then I am at a total loss what color to pick. I don't want too dark of a color, because I don't want the room to feel hard to light. Should I go with another shade of off-white, or light brown, or green (if it doesn't clash with my avocado sage green couch), or...or... oh, I don't know. You see my problem here.

I know some of you gals are great decorators and have a good eye for color. What would you do?