What to Say, What to Say

For my fellow bloggers out there, do you ever struggle with deciding what gets written and what stays private? I'm not talking about names and locations and things like that; security is important! I'm talking about  topics. What do you ponder in your heart and what do you process on the world wide web? What do you keep between you and God and what do you share with others? I'd love to hear ideas.

Today my lovely discipler and I met for coffee. Sarah disciples me, and it is the most incredible thing ever. She is so, so lovely and discerning, and her heart for the Lord just teems from her every word! When we meet, I catch her up on life and then sit back and listen; she is so wise and insightful, and she knows how to speak exactly to the core of a matter. I love her, and I love hearing the Lord's heart from her. So good.

She told me about love and how love is a sacrifice and love is sacrificial. Wow. Emotions and feelings are fine, but love is higher. Love cannot be wasted; love is an eternal investment.
let's just sit here and let that sink in...

You Thought I Forgot...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, in the space of 12 days, I've lived in 3 states. Left my Midwest home with the grandparents and went to my Other Home in the South, spent a fabulous 10 days there, and then flew to my Home in the Northwest. Oh, and in case my body's time zones wasn't completely screwed up yet, I went to see the midnight showing of the Hobbit. Yup. Totes awesome.

At home, 3 of the 4 of us offspring are reunited under one roof. And we are raising said roof with laughter. Can I just say that I'm super grateful that my family likes each other and that we enjoy being together? This is not always true for everyone, and I'm glad it's true for my family most of the time. What's better than laughing with your sisters? So anyway, here are a few examples of the hysterical antics going on around here:

Scene: J is going to braid my hair. I'm in a text conversation but the phone is plugged in and is just out of reach.
Phone: *ring!*
Me: I've got a text.
J: Leave it and hold still.
Me: What if it's a marriage proposal?
J: Say no. Anyone who proposes over text is not worthy.

Scene: I'm working on a craft; it's a canvas with letters and glittery paper.
J: you should make that into confetti.
Me: that's weird...but let me try it.
*a few minutes later, I have made it into confetti.*
Me: J, come and look at this!
J: that's not what I was going for.
Me: I didn't ask for your opinion; I told you to look at it.
J: *raises her eyebrows* oooooh, ahhhh.

There will be more antics as soon as Sister E gets home tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Beyond Freaking Excited

Well, dear readers, tomorrow I take a little plane ride {two, actually} and arrive in my Other Home. Heck to the yeah. I'll be there tomorrow through Tuesday the 11th, so I don't think you should expect anything from me. Not here, not facebook. Probably tons of pictures on insta.gram, so watch out! :)
In the spirit of Christmas and giving and keeping resolutions, I will try to post extra once I'm in my Original Home. Also, I will try to post some pictures from life in the past few months.
Anyhow, it is now time to focus on work and not how freaking excited I am to go to my Other Home. Holy smokes. Been counting down basically since I left. Bought the ticket about 3 months ago. Counted down days for about a month. Started counting hours with AJ last night {LESS THAN 36!!!}. Yeah. I'm excited. But I'm not getting paid to be excited. I'm paid to work. So hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go. Peace out!

Variety

My friend L and I played Hand and Foot earlier this evening, and now I am thinking about how variety really is the spice of life. I know, this is random, but stay with me! I personally enjoy my Other Home’s version of Hand and Foot {speaking of, AJ, add that to the list! almost 5 days!!!} while my bio family plays their version. L plays Kanasta, another variation. Any my friend Jessie plays an extreme version of H&F.
But think if we all played the same version. What if all the rules were the same? There would be no laughter, no dialogue about “this is how we do it”, no hmm, I like my way better but I’ll be nice and play your way moments. There would be no give and take. Granted, there would also be a more level playing field {sorry, L!}, but even when L hesitated to ask me a question in the first round, she still beat me at the end of Round 3. So there. The point is moot.

In other news, I get to see my dad tomorrow!! He’s actually probably at the airport right now, and in the morning I will be picking him up. The company I work for asked him to come and be a part of their company SWOT, which I think is super cool. So in less than 12 hours, Hello Dad!
Also in other news, I’ll be in my Other Home in practically 5 days!!! Right now it’s 5 days and 90 minutes, but if you count my flight landing at close to 7pm, then it’s…less than that! It’s after 10pm; please don’t expect the mathematical part of my brain to be on right now.
And more other news: BBC’s show “Miranda” is hysterical. I literally laugh out loud multiple times every single episode. There can be some innuendos and some not-so-veiled innuendos, but other than that, it’s a hoot. I love it. My family first discovered it when we were in Spain, because there were only 10 English-speaking channels and you gotta do what you gotta do. But we loved it, and I think it is, as the mother character always says, “such fun!”
Final news: it is time for Bek to say goodnight. Peace out, homeboys.

Happy Thanksgiving Back! Or, a crazy crafty week

Anyone catch that line from “You’ve Got Mail”? Anyone? AJ, I know you did. That’s why we’re bosom friends and why I’m going to see you in 8 days! :)
Anywho, it is officially the start of the holiday season! Ok, technically yesterday was the start since it was the first holiday of the season, so let me rephrase. It’s officially Christmastime!!!!!! Holla!
I don’t know about you, but even before this week I’ve been shopping a bit with my shopoholic grandmother, and I’ve actually purchased or made quite a few gifts already this year. So many that I needed to make a list so that I didn’t miss anyone or double up unintentionally.
Does anyone else have that one friend that you never know what to get them, but you know you should get them something because they need to know you love and appreciate them even if you disagree on the fundamentals of life?? Well, I have that friend, and I decided that I would make her something funny…something unusual…something that is slightly awkward but I think her sense of humor is just right for it. I made her a beard. Yes.  A beard. I crocheted it; I did not grow one myself and then give it to her. Yuck times two {one for me growing a beard and one for me giving her that beard}. So I crocheted it, and found that it is like the easiest pattern EVER, and that’s saying a lot because I only pretend to know how to follow patterns, but this one I actually did follow. Phew!
the moral of the story is, since I liked making one beard so much, I wanted to make more. But for whom??? I can’t walk around wearing a crocheted beard-I have a normal-person job. {I should have discovered this pattern while I was in school, like I dyed my hair pink while in school.} But then I thought, boys!!! My friend has a few sons who are not old enough to grow beards; how cute and fun would that be to make beards for her sons! Score!
Ladies and gentlemen, I crocheted 6 beards in less than a week. Bam. That’s a) how easy the pattern is and b) how obsessed I was this week.
Two items of business follow: one the link to the pattern: right here!!! two: a picture. well, as soon as my friend(s) try on their beards and let me take a picture, you’ll see that picture. So gimme a couple weeks. :)

Well, now I only have 2 more gifts that I want to make; however, the vast majority of my yarn is at home-home, so I will have to whip some things out when I get there… speaking of which, THE HOBBIT will be in theaters in 4 weeks. Actually, 3 weeks, 6 days, and just enough hours to get to the midnight showing :D In case you’ve been living under a stupid rock {Harvard Sailing Team reference-for you, stalker sis}, you.tube the trailer and start living your life! Augh!!
Well, it’s lunchtime the day after Thanksgiving- cold turkey, here I come!
PS- I’m grateful for YOU, readers! I know you’re reading this because a) you like me or b) you’re incredibly bored, but either way, I’m happy you’re here!

Tuesday’s Travels

Alright, just to bring everyone up to speed- the office I work at most days of the week is in the Big City {relative to its surroundings, I must note}. One day of the week, however, I venture on a 50-mile journey to the office that is affectionately known as “the Farm.” It really is a farm, and a home, and offices to like 3 different companies. Tuesday is usually the day I go to the Farm, hence the title, Tuesday’s Travels.
So today I drove myself out there {usually my boss and I carpool} and while on this lovely little trip, I started to think about all the funny and wonderful and odd things that occur along the way.
For instance, at least once each direction, I smell money. And by this, I mean that I smell cow poo. told you it was wonderful.
Something else that’s wonderful is that I found a station that is playing Christmas music already!!!! AND it doesn’t get static-y way out on the Farm! Have to say, I can’t stand a radio with static. So this is a double blessing.
Another wonderful thing is the view. Now, y’all know that I love my mountains, and the Midwest isn’t exactly known for its mountainous terrain, but these sunrises and sunsets out here are pretty magnificent. I’m biased and think that the only thing that could make it better is a snow-capped mountain nearby, but for a flat-ish countryside, the view is spectacular. If you follow me on insta.gram, you saw the pic I shared this evening, although the picture looks kinda yellow-ish and the sky was really a glorious pink-purple. Alas, technology.
Finally, what is better at the end of a long trip and a long day at the Farm? Grandpa’s waffles. Oh yes. With peanut butter. and strawberries. mmmmhmmm.
on that happy note, I bid you goodnight. it’s ok to dream about waffles. Grandpa doesn’t mind.

Monday’s Post on Tuesday

Ok, I’m a day late. Yesterday was my day of rest. I apologize for all the hurt feelings out there. Which I’m sure total up to like 2. Including mine. So yeah.
Enough of self-deprecating humor and slams on this blog! Get on with Monday’s post on Tuesday!
Ok, as promised:

• our butler: Lewis was our office’s butler, and he was awesome. He is from Porto Rico and used to play volleyball. Now he walks around a hotel in a suit and makes sure that guests are taken care of.
• book signing: another gal and I worked a booth at the expo hall handing out books to the attendees, and hysterically we offered to sign the books. So a couple people took us up on our offers. The best was a guy who was picking up a book for his friend and he asked us to sign it to “baby daddy” or something like that. I signed it “Happy reading, Studmuffin!” and called it good.
• fruit leathers and their imposters: I asked Lewis for some fruit leathers. You know, the natural fruit that is squished together and looks like a tongue or something else that’s gross? Well, Lewis had never heard of it, so I tried to describe it to him and said “it’s grown-up fruit roll-ups!” So the next day, he brought me a box of variety: gushers, fruit rollups, and some other fruit-sugar-squished creation. Oh well. Good effort, Lewis!

And that was my week. SO glad to be home with my grandparents again!