2017 Project 365 – Week Forty-seven

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… We had a nice vacation after Thanksgiving, but I found out today that my position at my company has been eliminated (they’re restructuring). I’ll work until the end of the year, and then I’ll have severance to last for a little while, but now I need to learn how to look for a job again. I’ve been with this company for almost 16 years! Fortunately, I have some good friends and family who are in a position to help point me in the right direction. But I’m in a bit of shock right now, which is why I’m doing this post before it really sinks in & I’m not able to function. Although I am GREAT at compartmentalizing, so that might not ever happen.

Things to regret: a) that Mary Kay order; b) we live toward the bottom of a hill, so this winter it might get interesting having to drive to work; c) I’ve gotten used to sleeping later in the mornings since I don’t have a commute. Things to be thankful for: a) We have already moved back home where we can get the maximum support from our families; b) I have already had my hip surgery and it’s mostly paid for; c) I actually have been thinking recently that I would be more productive in an office environment instead of working from home.

Now, let’s look back at the Time Before (I found out I didn’t have a job):

Sunday, November 19^th         

A Sunday collage. Firstly, I did such a great job of parking at the nursing home that my Aunt Mimi made me take a picture of it. I know! I’m amazed too! Secondly, a Prayer of Confession to kick you in the gut. Thirdly, my lunch as I waited for choir practice. That cookie dough stuff is Fabulous.

Monday, November 20^th                       

I had gotten into bed & realized that I hadn’t taken a picture today, so I took an “artsy” one of my comforter. The other day I flipped it over & started displaying the geometric design, because flowers are for spring & summer.

Tuesday, November 21^st                                       

That time I tried to make a present less “Shelby’s Wedding from Steel Magnolias” by putting a fancy bow in it. Things went horribly awry.#icantparkorwrappresents

Wednesday, November 22^nd                                

Oh noes! I hope this isn’t an advance scout! 

Thursday, November 23^rd                            

I think you guys probably all picked out Ryan in the picture, but just in case…

We had a great meal, with all the usual food suspects. I love that our youngest member insisted on leading random folks around by the finger – so cute.

After the meal we had a bridal shower for my nephew & his fiancé. She was mostly hilarious, but when she opened the personalized gift from my sister-in-law she teared up & that made the rest of us tear up. Welcome to the Wallaces Britt!

Friday, November 24^th                   

We drove down to the beach today. This is the view from our balcony. Ahhh…

Saturday, November 25^th                       

Things I did on my beach vacation: wove in the ends of a completed project, chilled in the shade of a ginormous umbrella that Dr. M rigged up on the balcony, and started a new project.

Here are some random beach pictures. Other than a couple of walks, and going out for dinner, we mostly stayed put on the balcony and enjoyed decompressing. I love the beach this time of year! You’ll have to wait until next week for more photos, but for now, you should go to Dr. M’s post with all the dogs we saw on the beach. They all had a blast, and we loved watching them.

I hope everyone has a great week with no unpleasant shocking news! 

A Post From The Edge (of South Carolina)

Yesterday we drove down to North Myrtle Beach (technically, Cherry Grove). It’s the first trip we’ve made since we moved last March. We were more than ready to get out of Dodge! We head back home on Monday, so some time this next week I’ll put together my Project 365 post & you can see how absolutely lovely it is here.

For now, I’m going to show off a new skill! I have never been able to figure out how to load pictures onto my blog from my iPad, but today I finally found the right website with the right information. Lo and behold - the Wallace Family Thanksgiving photo!

If you look closely, you’ll see a photoshopped head in there. Because although most of the meal went off really well (shocking, since I was in charge of organizing it), I forgot to assign someone to bring any drinks other than tea. My cousin’s husband Ryan went out to grab some soft drinks and wasn’t there for the family photo. I felt really bad about it, so I grabbed his head from another family gathering (hey, he still looks the same!), and plopped it into this picture. I’m pretty pleased with myself. Except for the part where I forgot about drinks...

Here is the poem I read, written in May, 2011, so many of you have already read it before. I just wanted to record it here so that next year I can remember & not read it again. I decided that it had a Thanksgiving theme to it, so it was suitable.

Welcome

Beggar blind man rich man fool
Teacher’s pet & satan’s tool
The watchful waiting wary too
All are welcome at the table

The first the last the meek & mild
Weakened hearts and Thursday’s child
Wicked warped and undefiled
All are welcome at the table

Ancient crones and newborn souls
Ishmael Isaac Vishnu Joe
The undecided and in the know
All are welcome at the table

Come in come in it’s almost time
I’ll wash your feet and you wash mine
Eat the bread and drink the wine
Just join me at the table!

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving...

I was supposed to write a poem for tomorrow, but my brain is empty. Instead, I'm going to share one that I wrote years ago. In the meantime, Dr. M has been bagging leaves, scurrying around preparing to cook things, and shooting the moon. Thanks to him, we might actually be ready for our family gathering tomorrow!

For now, here's the moon, plucked from a hazy sky...

2017 Project 365 – Week Forty-six

This week flew by, and we kept forgetting to take pictures. Which is just as well because next week we’ll probably have a LOT of pictures.

Sunday, November 12^th         

The only picture from today – my towel-dried hair. It looks pretty thick there, but I don’t understand how it can be given all the hair I keep finding on the floor. Sheesh.

Monday, November 13^th                       

Happy Birthday to Dr M!!! He is goofy, arrogant, has a heart about 7 sizes too big, and has seemed to make it his life mission to take care of me. I took him out to eat for his birthday, and he got a new critter (old English sheepdog) and a blanket. 

Tuesday, November 14^th                                       

No picture (!!!)

Wednesday, November 15^th                               

Dr. M & I watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which came out my senior year in high school. I had never seen it before (back then I mostly went to the movies with my mother). It was pretty funny – although not really the same high school experience that I had. Ha! Anyway, here I am chair dancing to the closing credits.

Thursday, November 16^th                            

From this day’s walk. Those blue “division” signs are all over our neighborhood. I don’t know what they mean, but my question on Facebook was “why do we have to be divided?”

Friday, November 17^th                   

New crochet project – love this color combo.

Saturday, November 18^th                       

I went to help my sister-in-law work on her floor. She’s doing this method & it looks really cool so far. My job was to tear the paper & wad it up. Very cathartic!

I CANNOT believe that this is Thanksgiving week. Am I ready? I am not. Will it happen anyway? Yes it will. I shall report how it went in the next edition of The Bug’s Weekly Digest. I hope everyone has a great week! 

You Might Want to Keep a Close Eye on Me...

The other night I woke up in the wee hours to go to answer the call of nature, as I usually do. (See what I did there? I know, I know.) After I got back into bed, I was just dozing off when I heard something out in the living room. Suddenly, I was wide awake, my adrenaline spiked, and I thought about getting up to investigate. Instead, I apparently fell asleep. Or did I?

Please note the gap in my sleep as reported by my Fitbit, from 2:05 a.m. until 3:33 a.m.

I've decided that there's only one possible explanation: I was abducted by time-traveling aliens & they were an hour off getting me back to my bed in time. It's the only thing that makes sense, right?

Wednesday Whimsy

1. Last week I went to the Google to find information about some of the dolls I had as a child (these ones here). I couldn't remember what they were called, so I just typed in Peace Love Hope. This was my favorite result. If only it was as easy as a Google search!

P.S. as Nance points out, the website for the dolls sounds like a sort of Scottish Porn label. Ha!

2. The original tassels on the hat that I made last week were too short, so I took them off to make longer ones. Later I saw this sad scene on my end table. It's saying, "Help me! Help me! I can't move my legs!" Why, yes, every inanimate object in our house does have a voice & a personality. This one is kind of pathetic.

Now, go out there & make your Wednesday whimsical!

2017 Project 365 – Week Forty-five

As you may have noticed, I’ve been playing around with my blog’s look. I’m not sure this is “the one” – for example, you can only see my banner picture on the home page – so who knows how it will look the next time you stop by!

Sunday, November 5^th         

A thread on Facebook made me remember this star sapphire that my parents gave me in high school. That makes it an antique!

Our new fall wreath. We were amazed to find one at Michaels in amongst all the Christmas decorations.

  

Monday, November 6^th                       

The only picture from today. I was practicing lifting my knee up – it’s been stiff since the surgery & this is one motion that it’s not very happy about (which makes it tricky to put my underwear on, if you want to know the truth).

Tuesday, November 7^th                                       

I told Dr. M that I wanted this Ottlite lamp (you know, for Christmas), and lo & behold here it is! I love it!

Wednesday, November 8^th                               

This is one of my favorite cars from Dr. M’s N scale model train. He has three “tagged” cars – maybe I’ll do a photo shoot of them next week. Go here to see the rest of the train.

Thursday, November 9^th                            

My lunch looks alarmed!

New hat – made it for a friend. It was a lot of fun – I’ll probably make this pattern again.

Friday, November 10^th                   

I got a Peach Tea Dum Dum at the post office! It was pretty tasty.

Time to bring the plants in for the winter (or for now anyway). The average temp on Saturday was 37 degrees!

Saturday, November 11^th                       

We took Dr. M’s father out for lunch.

And then we saw this on the way home. Love these fuzzy Highland cows.  

I know that I am TERRIBLE at responding to your comments on my blog, but I love it when other bloggers do it. I’m not saying I’ll do any better from now on, but I did go back & respond on the last two posts. So, hope for the future! 

Wordless Wednesday

Pie in the Sky Thoughts...

Lately I’ve had an imaginary conversation with someone who asks why I’m a liberal snowflake (or some such). I’m not sure when I think this conversation would take place because I tend to avoid confrontation whenever possible. But I’ve been thinking about my response:

Because I believe that God wants everyone to have a place at the table, 

and I believe that our task on earth is to make sure 

that all of those welcome people can find the dwelling, 

that they can open the door, 

that they’re able to step over the threshold, 

that they can find a seat, 

that they have the proper utensils, 

that the food is sustenance, 

and that the fellowship is beautiful.

All of the things that we do that make the table unavailable for all of God’s people? 

I’m against those things.

2017 Project 365 – Week Forty-four

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing last week’s post. The concept of November hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it had better because Dr. M’s birthday is in just two weeks! This week's pictures are rather churchy. Also, there is no picture of the fabulous full moon because we had clouds & rain.

Sunday, October 29^th         

The church that I’ve been attending voted last week to change its name (from Church of the Master United Church of Christ to Peace United Church of Christ). It was a nice surprise to see the change in the bulletin.

Yet another addition to the Bug Parking Badly series. This time I was trying to back into the cut out at my dad’s house. At least I have one tire on the pavement. As my brother pointed out, the target I was aiming for is not small. Extra sad.

Monday, October 30^th                       

Dr. M was enjoying a gourmet snack of hummus and Southern Flat Bread (aka Ritz Crackers).

A new addition to the Halloween ensemble.

Tuesday, October 31^st                                      

We had no trick or treaters this year, which was expected, but still a little sad. It helped that Daddy & Sue came over for dinner. Dr. M made soda bread for the occasion – it was pretty enough to photograph. Also pictured is my Halloween outfit – two different earrings – and a crochet spider and web that didn’t really turn out like I wanted, but we displayed anyway. Not pictured: Daddy & Sue or the meal. Sheesh. 

Wednesday, November 1^st                               

And just like that, the witch has become a pilgrim!

I’m lurking outside the church waiting for Christmas Cantata practice. Yes, I’m participating in the cantata. Not joining the choir though (I can’t really do that with my current commitments). Remember how I was going to wait for a year before diving back into church?

Thursday, November 2^nd                           

My church has been doing a book study group on this book. Tonight was the last night. It is REALLY good! I highly recommend it!

I finished yet another project for me. It matches the vest I made last week. I really need to get on the ball if I’m going to make any Christmas presents!

I thought this picture that Dr. M took of the new cat was super cool!

Friday, November 3^rd                  

I saw this Great Blue Heron on my walk today! Crappy iPhone photos, but still!

Dr. M captured some of the loveliness of our street. Fall has sure been pretty around here.

Saturday, October 28^th                       

Today we discovered the RFD channel on TV and watched this show about antique tractors. Now I definitely feel like I’m home (which is funny because the first tractor they showed was in Ohio).

OK people, I’ve decided that I need my own hashtag: #thebugparkingbadly I did get back in the car & re-park it.

It feels like we’re rushing toward Christmas. I’m excited to see how it will feel different this year since we won’t have to travel for it, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the least bit ready! How about you? Can we have Thanksgiving first?