Once - Falling Slowly (Oscar Winner 2008 )

I was so excited to see this song win last night at the Oscar's! If you haven't seen the movie "Once," put it on your Netflix queue. You won't be sorry- it's such a sweet movie with some truly wonderful music.

Breathe, Breathe...

Well, the meeting was every bit as adversarial as I had feared, but it is over. Thanks be to God.

I'm still, three hours later, feeling wound up and a bit nauseated. We still have to report our action to Presbytery, which is going to loads of fun, I'm sure.

Most of all, I'm saddened by the need for it all.

I'm Not Looking Forward to It...

I wrote, rather cryptically, here a few weeks ago about an issue that was making me lose sleep. Well, it is all coming to a head tomorrow morning at our Presbytery committee meeting that I moderate. Everyone involved could use prayer.

Although I know that what we need to do is going to be incredibly painful, I know that it is absolutely necessary. We would be unfaithful to our committee's purpose if we didn't act and, worse, the larger church would have to deal with issues later if we let things slide.

Crap.

Why did I agree to moderate this committee anyway?

Duped...

I'm feeling like a real ding-dong...

I guess I'm just too much of a good girl who follows directions because when they said Pre-Kindergarten registration at the local elementary school began at 8:30 am, I believed them. So, I arrived at 8:15 am, thinking I would stand in line, only to find out that other parents had come much earlier and had been allowed to register. My daughter is sixth on the waiting list. I guess we'll be paying for another year of pre-school.

And last night while watching the news, I found out that I had been duped into signing a petition to get an anti-affirmative action initiative on the ballot. I know I should have asked for more information, but I was in a hurry to get to the grocery store when the woman approached me in the parking lot. She said that it for a civil rights initiative. Apparently there are a lot of people who, like me, were misinformed so, there's an investigation. Perhaps it won't even get on the ballot now.

Oh, brother....

So far, no ice! Yay!

Oh, Please God, No.....

They are forecasting another ice storm tonight. Oh, I hope that it bypasses us because our city hasn't yet recovered from December's storm. This was our back yard back then. I really don't want to wake up to this again...

Although we have a new roof, we're still living with a hole on our ceiling that we've covered with cardboard until the restoration company can come fix it. They've got lots of people to deal with, so we have to be patient.

There are so many, especially lower-income folks who were given the middle finger from FEMA, who have had to deal with so much more. They haven't yet even come close to cleaning up all the debris. We just can't take another storm.

A President's Day Meme

This is from Songbird. How better to honor President's Day?
Herewith, five Presidential questions.

1. Can you name the American Presidents we are honoring? Bonus: Any idea when their real birthdays are? (Don't look it up.)
Yes, Washington and Lincoln. I can't think of Washington's actual birthday, but Lincoln's was February 12- same as my Daddy.

2. Why do you suppose car sales are an important aspect of our President's Day observations in the U.S.? (Feel free to be whimsical.)
Well, it certainly would be one way of "honoring" our current President, by hanging around car salesmen and buying a Hummer.

3. Have you ever been President of a club or organization? How did that feel?
Yep. When I was a teenager, usually it was very exciting to be elected and then would kind of suck to have to do the job. Gratefully, since then I have not been President of anything.

4. If you could have dinner with any President of the United States no longer living, who would it be? Any particular questions you would like to ask? (Please feel free to substitute a nationally appropriate elected leader, such as a Prime Minister.)
hmmmmmm..... I guess Harry Truman because I would like to ask him about what he was thinking and feeling as he made the decision to drop the bombs on Japan.

5. On a more serious note, what are the qualities you hope for in our next President? (As above for those who live in other countries.)
I hope the President is honest, a peacemaker, inspires with hope rather than with fear, is able to mend ties abroad, but, above all, has wisdom. Also, I hope the President cares more about the country than getting re-elected.

ETA: Is anyone else having problems with the "spellcheck" and "add image" buttons on blogger?

A Stream of Consciousness Post

The main reason, besides sickness, that I haven't been blogging much lately is that I have been self-censoring a lot. All of the sudden, I am finding myself intimidated and I don't know why.

I need to get over it, so for just this one post, I am going to make myself not self-censor, and just write..... the good, the bad and the indifferent.....I think bullets will help me not worry about complete sentences....

• If the people in my church were any tighter with money, they could shove coal up their butts and poop diamonds. They are sitting on a half million dollars in a foundation, nearly $160,000 in CD's (roll-overs from past years' budget surpluses), and healthy pledges for a church this size. However, you ask them about spending any of that money and they get these panic stricken looks on their faces. When I have asked them to dream about how God might be calling them to use these blessings, they talk about pew cushions. It's frustrating. I feel like I need to preach Luke 12, the parable of the man who builds up his barns.
• We need a new mattress, so after church today I went to look at some mattresses at a store close to my house. I laid on several beds and there were a couple that I liked a lot. So, I asked the salesman for a piece of paper and a pen to write down the names and prices of certain mattresses. And he said to me, "No, you have to bring your own pen." I thought he just had a dry sense of humor and waited for a moment for him to grin and say, "Just kidding," but he didn't. I said, "I just want to write down some prices...." He interrupted my by saying, "Well, bring your husband by...." And I interrupted him and said, "I don't think so." I felt like I was in the Twighlight Zone. I guess he didn't want my money.
• My husband and I are going on ten years of marriage. It's hard right now. Sometimes I just want to run away. How not to become a statistic?
• Our roof has been replaced from the ice storm damage, but we're still waiting for the interior work to be completed in our dining room. Right now, we have some very pretty wallpaper that was here when we moved in. It has to be replaced because they had to cut out part of the wall becasue of water damage. Of course, the wallpaper we have now is out of print. I've never been a wallpaper person, so I'm thinking about having them paint instead. But then we have to pick out colors. I don't want to make decisions right now.
• We are finally mostly healthy, thank God. Thanks for your well-wishes.
• My kids are playing together peacefully right now, thank God. I think that they have been picking up that I'm not very happy right now. I have to protect them from my dark mood because it's not their fault.

Okay, I'm reading back what I've written and I am resisting the urge to press "delete" like I have a dozen times over the past month or so. Forgive the messiness of this post, but I fear if I don't post something real right now, I might not again for a long time.

We're Spending Valentine's Day in Bed....

...but not in a good way. We're sick.

There's a nasty virus going around and it decided to visit us. My husband's been flat on his back for three days and I'm about as bad.

Hope your day is better!

John McCain - Yes we can music video response

The Barack Obama "Yes We Can" video made me cry. So did this one, because it's funny and, sadly, true to what McCain believes about this war.

Welcome Home, Wyld!!!

Join me in welcoming Wyldth1ng home from Iraq! You can find his blog here.

Wyld, thank you for service and we're glad you are HOME!