Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine earrings 

I was 38 years old before I got permission to pierce my ears. The year it finally happened my oldest child, then in 6th grade, bought me these lovely Valentine's earrings. I wear them about once a year.

I just got back from the grocery store. I told Gary I was taking him out to dinner. We only went to KFC, and really I was just doing that to make him go to the grocery store with me. I decided this was a guaranteed way to make sure I got chocolate for Valentine's Day.

He's not all that romantic, but I'm the person who wants a vaccuum cleaner for an anniversary present. I think romance is basically overrated, though an occasional unexpected gesture is appreciated. I'm happy to be married to my best friend who doesn't think I'm stupid.

Speaking of gifts, Rachel called this afternoon to say she had gotten a dozen white roses delivered to her at college. No, not from her true love, but from a boy who is belatedly showing her his love and affection. It made her happy. She also said that Valentine's Day is a good day to be a school teacher--she got several gifts from her students.

Valentine Sunday

Gary playing offertory 

A few months ago a work colleague mentioned to the choir director that Gary could play the piano, so he was asked to provide special music one Sunday. Those who know decided he had more rhythm than Perry Como, and therefore, he was asked to play again. Today's song, "I Love You, Lord" seemed to fit in just right with the holiday weekend.

But being the perfectionist that he is, he couldn't bear to perform when there were two notes obviously out of tune--he's been griping about them for several weeks. So what does he do? He skips Sunday School and tunes the wayward strings. (No, he didn't tune the whole piano, just the notes that were in the key he was playing in.)


Gary tuning piano 

Valentine's Weekend Continues

Michael the Archangel

Today we drove to Plano to have potluck lunch with the Encore group from our old church, Kimball Free Methodist. The meal was at the new home of John and Shirley Collier. John is getting more famous by the day since he received the commission to make a memorial sculpture for a Catholic church that was on the edge of the 9/11 disaster. After a wonderful lunch, we drove to the Biblical Arts Center where John's four large sculptures are on display this month before they get shipped to NYC. John gave us a personal tour, providing commentary about each of the four statues. After a general explanation of how he was chosen to do this work, he gave us a simplified explanation of the complicated process that an artist goes through to change his clay sculpture into plaster and then into bronze. Then he revealed some of the hidden little secrets:

• the foundry workers who cast the bronze were allowed to write their names on the back of the board that the Joseph statue is holding;
• the serpent that is being hacked apart by the archangel Michael has a head with ten horns, but the head originally was to go on one of the other statues and became disformed when John accidently put it on its peg too roughly;
• Mary Magdalene is standing like John's mother used to stand;
• Joseph has a mole on his face in the same place John's dad has a mole.

Valentine's Weekend Has Begun

Gary consulting with Russell Cook

Several days ago Gary decided to take this afternoon off work. He blocked it off in his electronic calendar, and no one asked for a meeting. We came home at noon and ate lunch, then drove to First Methodist church in Irving to attend the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music. This festival included hammered dulcimer workshops, which Gary didn't attend, but we poked our heads inside to see what one would be like. You have to bring your own dulcimer--which he has--and your own stand--which he doesn't have. He also doesn't yet have a carrying case.

We paid our $10 each and that allowed us to attend the afternoon concert and the crafts show. The crafts show was really just mom and pop booths for selling acoustic instruments and accessories. There were some cool things there, and Gary looked very carefully at all the books. After talking to him for 10-15 minutes, Gary ended up buying one book from Russell Cook who also autographed it.

We left after 5:30pm so that meant dealing with Friday afternoon traffic, but our journey wasn't long, so it wasn't too bad.

In other news of the week, all reports from Rachel seem pretty good. She had an evaluation on Wednesday and wasn't completely happy with it, but not too unhappy either. She is definitely learning a lot from student teaching, and really thinking hard if this is what she wants to do as a career. We are proud of how she has stepped up to the plate to get up early every morning, be prepared, and stay late many afternoons to finish up. She is learning that life as a Kindergarten teacher is anything but routine--something goes wrong every day that must be dealt with. One day it was snow. Another day it was spilled ranch dressing. Another day it was an absent teacher. Today it was an irate parent and a stranger trying to find a child who didn't exist.

Bottom of the Pecking Order

I've been watching my bird feeder quite a bit on these cold winter days. (I know,I shouldn't complain, I live in Dallas.) Sometimes there is just one bird on the feeder at a time. Then another bird comes along and the first one flies off. But other times I've seen four or more different species on the feeder at the same time. But they don't stay for long with each one eating from his own corner. No, they fight each other off. The male cardinal beats the female cardinal who beats the juncos who beat the sparrows. The sparrows do seem to be at the bottom of the pecking order. Jesus must have known that when he said, "yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without the Father's consent."

This has gotten me thinking about life.

Sculptures

What are you reading? 
We enjoyed having Rachel home this past weekend. We met up with her SNU friends at Border's Bookstore in Hulen Street Mall in Ft. Worth on Sunday afternoon so she could get a ride back to school. These sculptures were outside the bookstore, and they make pretty good advertising. (For the record, Rachel did NOT want to pose for this photo, but I did warn her it might show up in the blog.)

We attended a Superbowl Birthday Party for our friend Bob who teaches history at UTA. His wife, always full of contradictions, served "trailer trash food" (her term, not mine--hot dogs and nachos) along with champagne. The men mostly watched the game and the women mostly talked about upcoming weddings. Our friends John and Shirley were there too, and we heard first hand about John's sculptures on display at the Museum of Biblical Arts until they are taken to NYC for placement at a Catholic church on the edge of the 9/11 site.

The Kiss

The Kiss 
If you look at this photo hard enough you can find it.

We went to a wedding at our church yesterday afternoon. It was fun. Lots of church folks and lots of people from work were there too. Rachel and I served the punch, and out of all those people only one wisecracker came up and said, "Give me a punch."

At the last minute Rachel found a ride home for the weekend so she could attend this wedding. It was fun to hear her tales of her first two weeks of student teaching. She said the second week went better than the first. She starts "real" teaching tomorrow, so I hope the weekend at home hasn't worn her out. If you know Rachel and are reading this, please pray with me that God will give her strength, wisdom, and all that she needs to do a good job.

White Kitty

White Kitty 
I think I figured out why all the birds have disappeared.

Starlings

Starlings 
This is not a very inspiring photo, and startlings are not very inspiring birds. They are considered a nuisance by many. Yesterday I identified a new bird, a Harris sparrow, but I don't have a photo. They are similar to all the other sparrows, but a bit larger and they have a black chin. The bird book says they have a small range, just our part of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the winter and central Canada in the summer.

Today I started the income tax process. There are always a bunch of preparations that have to be done before filling in the forms. I'm hoping for a refund to help make another college payment.

Have I mentioned that I'm ready for the sun to shine again?

What is This Creature?

I don't know 
Should I admit I found it in my kitchen?

I'm just about ready for the sun to shine again. It seems like we've had a solid week of rain or at least of heavy clouds. I'm one of those people who is sensitive to sunshine.

Not much news to report today. My next project is to do the taxes. I will probably start on that this afternoon since it is too rainy to take my afternoon walk.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Happy Birthday, Andrew! 

No, today is not Andrew's birthday, but today I got some photos of it. Andrew's girlfriend went to Ethiopia right after Christmas and was there for his birthday. I was quite impressed how she managed to organize a surprise party for him, complete with balloons and roses at the airport and a meal with friends at a restaurant. Today I got a CD of photos from her trip, and thought this one would look nice in my blog. I aso received a wrap/scarf/skirt from Kenya which is cool.

I talked briefly with Rachel this afternoon. She said student teaching went pretty smoothly today--the two troublemakers were absent! She told me the other day she was interviewed and photographed for a blurb in the school annual on student teachers.

Carolina Wren?

Carolina Wren 

Actually, I don't know for sure if this is a Carolina Wren or a Brown Creeper. They both are brown with a white eye streak and they are next to each other in the bird book, so I guess they are similar. I think the coloring is more like the wren, but it was acting like a creeper as it climbed the tree that holds up my clothesline.

It has been a slow day here, I think I'm ready for Gary to come home. I did get some reading done and a project caught up, so I haven't been lazy the entire day. And I talked to two out of three kids, and they seemed like they were doing well. Maybe the third one will call tomorrow.

Cancer

I'm home alone tonight. G. is out of town on a business trip. If you look at the top of this blog, you will see that its point is so I can talk to myself. So that I am doing.

I just got an email from a relative, a little younger than I, saying the tumor they cut out of her leg was indeed cancer. Treatment options are still being explored, but range from radiation to amputation. I just phoned the parents of this relative to tell them to check their email.

And besides that, I just got the results of this. It said there was a "questionable area" and would I please phone for an appointment.

I feel a little sad. Good thing I've got this blog to talk to.

Too Rainy for Birds Today

Uncle Martin and Aunt Helen visit Texas 

After work today I drove to DFW to meet good friends who were having a 4 hour layover on their way to Guatemala. They were our very first supporters and have stuck with us for many years. They had never been to Whataburger, so that is where we went for lunch. The weather was terrible today, lots of heavy rain, so my drive home along IH360 was slow and crowded, but it was worth it to be able to see our friends (and their friends too). During lunch I explained to them what blogs are, so if they don't lose the URL before they get to a computer, they might see themselves here.

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove 

Today's bird is a mourning dove. I should have saved that one for a day when I'm sad. I'm not sad; in fact, I'm happy. The weather has been lovely, I enjoyed a visit from a friend today, and Rachel's email today said each day is getting a little easier than the day before. I'm thankful to God for helping her get off to a good start with student teaching.

Cardinal

Male Cardinal 

The weather was so beautiful here today, warm and sunny. Soaking up the sunlight on my afternoon walk feels good.

I've just about completed my house rearranging that started before Christmas. Today I added a CD player to "my room" and reengineered the futon to make a lovely reading spot (except the cat seems to have taken it over).

The Robins and My Chickadee

Mr. and Mrs. Robin, with cousin Charlie--no relation to Big Bird 

Today was Rachel's (she's one of my chickadees) first day of being Miss Rachel, the Kindergarten teacher. Well, she's not a real kindergarten teacher, but she's getting close! She started student teaching a private Christian school called School for Children (doesn't that seem like an odd name?) This assignment will go for 6 weeks I think, then she will switch to 2nd grade at a public school for 6 more weeks. She has to be there at 8am and gets off at 4:30 pm, except for Tuesdays when she has to stay until 5:30pm. She called me briefly this afternoon to say she had gotten through the first day OK, and she sounded happy but tired. She said her day might go smoother if she figured out the night before what she was going to wear. She also figured out why teachers wear sensible shoes :-)

We are so proud of her to reach this step, and we continue to pray that God will strengthen and care for her, and guide her regarding decisions for her future.

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee 

I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell the difference between a black-capped chickadee and a Carolina chickadee, but my bird books tell me that only the Carolina ones live in Texas.

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We have a new pastor at our church. Today was this third Sunday and he talked about greed, which got me thinking about the opposite: generosity. Generosity is not so easy as just being physically generous. It is harder to be generous with your love, mercy, time, compliments, and interest in others. The point the pastor made was about being generous with one's privacy or private space. In other words, the willingness to let others take up the time one has to themselves.

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed junco/slate-colored junco 

I'm still experimenting with my new camera, and a tiny camera like mine isn't intended to take closeups of wildlife, but anyway--you can at least tell this is a bird, I hope. I haven't seen many birds today--the homeschoolers' football game that has been going on all afternoon in my backyard might have something to do with it. :-) The weather has been beautiful today--mid 70s.

"You did a good job..."

Just as I was about to leave for work this morning, David phoned. He was at the Presidential Inauguration, calling to brag a little and to tell me he had purchased a new coat yesterday so he could stand to be out in the cold. He had found some Taylor friends with whom to attend, and by the giggles in the background, they must have all been girls. He said someone wanted to tell me something, and then a stranger's voice came on, "Hi, my name is Lisa. I just want to tell you you have a wonderful son. You've done a good job raising him,..." I thought this might be a joke, so I asked her how old she was, as in "Are you old enough to make this judgment?" She assured me she had children older than my children, so yes, she was qualified to say. When David got back on the phone, I asked him if he had paid her to say that and he said, "No, I just saved her place in line."

A week and a half ago another person said something similar. We were attending an open house in the neighborhood, and one of the older gentlemen there looked over at Rachel and said, "Wow, she's come a long ways. I remember when you came to Dallas and she was just a toddler who had some problems. You've done a good job with her, you've been good parents." It was kind of him to say so, in spite of times when I don't feel like I have done a good job.

I do give thanks to God for his work in the lives of our children, and I pray for them every day, that they will "see Him more clearly, follow Him more nearly, love Him more dearly, day by day."

Bird Watching

It is bird watching season again, where are the birds? 

I have rebooted my computer about 15 times today.

I'm playing around with my camera too, trying to figure out if I can take bird photos with it. Stay tuned.

Holiday and Dinner Out

We had a day off work today so we spent it wisely: slept in until 9:30 (of course I was up several times putting the cat out, letting the cat in, feeding the cat, turning the faucet on for the cat, shutting the faucet off--but I digress!) then Gary and I each started separate cleaning projects. He worked on cleaning up his office, as he promised me he would do. Now it is 12 hours later and it hardly looks like anything was done, but he assures me it is all about infrastructure, or something like that.

I moved two bookshelves, two cupboards, and stuff in two closets, continuing the domino effect that started before Christmas when we gave Rachel's bed away. The result is now we have a music room with piano, dulcimer, guitars, African drum, flute, French horn, and lots of music and music books. (There is also a corner cupboard with toys for the two little African boys to play with when them come to visit me.)

And now Rachel's old bedroom has been converted to MY room--my computer (plus two other computers seldom used) a futon for guests, a dresser now being used for sorting stuff that comes for David or Andrew and the closet with off-season clothes. Eventually, I may move my rubber stamping stuff in here too, or even my desk for doing the family finances, but I'll have to think on that for a while. My computer is now situated in such a way that I can see the TV in our bedroom, so I can do two things at once :-)

We worked hard on all this today, then went out for a late dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Why did we go there? Because we had a $20 coupon, of course. Gary had steak and I had shrimp. Nice change from Taco Bueno :-)

Rachel made it safely back to school last night but couldn't get her computer to work. Late this afternoon she phoned the computer services guys, and they came to her dorm to check out the problem. And indeed there was a problem, something about a blade in a server for rooms 1-6 in the dorm. They fixed it, and now she's happy. She had her first day of teacher seminar which lasts this week, and tonight stared her once a week class on The Exceptional Child. (That's what I had--a pile of exceptional children.)

I've still got a couple hours of stuff to do to complete my house rearranging, but tomorrow it is back to work, now that Christmas vacation is finally over.

Modes of Communication

I just got off the phone with Andrew in Ethiopia. It was a terrible connection. I could hear only about every third word he said. We were trying to talk about some Very Important Matters, so it was frustrating not to be able to converse easily. But what do I expect? It is the other side of the world! So I asked him to write to me, by email, the Very Important Details so I will be entirely clear about what is going on with him. "But I want to talk about them," says he.

This exchange was related to the rest of my family and then following conversation occured:

"Yeah, that sounds like me and X."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, given the choice between talking in person and talking on the phone, X would rather talk on the phone."
"Really? Hmm, given the choice between talking on the phone and writing an email, which would X choose?"
"Email."
"Really? Hmm, given the choice between email and not communicating at all, which would X choose?
"I get your point."

Found, parts I and II

That which was lost, has now been found. Do I get a finder's fee? No, I get to go shopping. Old Navy, here we come.

And there was a good conclusion to this lost story, too. The store manager from JCPenney's phoned the next morning saying he had found her keys. The car was still there, and my friend left for China as planned.

Hotel Rwanda

Today was kind of unusual for me, different from my usual routine. It started out the same, went to work and R. went early with me too. (She's been working during her Christmas holiday to make some spending money for next semester when she won't be allowed to have a job.) We decided yesterday to go to a movie today which is in limited release called Hotel Rwanda. The only theater it is showing at is on the north side of Dallas, but it is located just feet away from one of the light rail stations. So we drove 8 miles and parked the car at the nearest mass transit station, then paid $2.50 for an all-day pass, and rode the train to Mockingbird station. After we bought our movie tickets we ate lunch at the Noodle Kitchen. R. is not an adventuresome eater, so she had a chicken sandwich! I had something called Thai Pad Ew, or something like that, which was fried noodles with broccoli, sprouts, and chicken. It was good.

The movie was very intense, very good. Some of the movie was easy to relate to since we have lived in the third world. But we never had to live in a place where there was so much killing and tribal hatred. The most moving point of the movie was when the UN peacekeeper had to tell the story's hero, "We think you are dirt." "Pardon me, who is we?" "The west. We don't care if you kill each other off. Our governments have told us to pull out."

Tonight we carpooled to Bible study in Waxahachie, and on the way there I volunteered to tell about the movie I had just seen. The point of the movie was reinforced: the people in the car with me had never heard of the Hutus or the Tutsis, though it was only 10 years ago and a million of them were killed.

Annual Painful Pancake Test

I had mine today. They bring a mobile unit right to our work, so I was there after a five-minute walk, and it is mostly paid for by our insurance. Except for the misery of the test itself, it couldn't be easier.

That reminds me of once playing Taboo with a couple in their early 70s. Carl was trying his best to discreetly describe the word "mammogram" only to discover that he had misread the Taboo card which said "monogram." Pretty funny.

Don't Know What an Autoharp Is?

I've already had a random twenty-something admit that he didn't know what an autoharp was. Here is a random photograph
of one from the internet. And here is a random website that tells about them.

Really, they are not a beautiful sounding instrument, IMHO, but they are useful for school music teachers who can't carry a piano around with them to class.

Autoharp

Remember those fine instruments? In the midst of my somewhat bad mood and complaining about shoe shopping and losing things, my husband said, "We can be a hillbilly band--I'll play the hammered dulcimer, and you can be the autoharp."

Shoe Shopping

isn't quite as bad as shopping for bras or swimsuits, but it is painful, nonetheless. Especially when the feet that need to be shod are size adult 5.5W or children's 3.5W. Over the space of this Christmas holiday, I honestly think she tried on 50 pairs of shoes in 7-8 stores. Two pairs were actually purchased; one for $90 and one for $10.

Lost, part II

I was watching a Firefly* episode tonight when the phone rang. My friend had lost her keys. Either locked inside her car or lost inside JCPenneys. She doesn't need this hassle right now; she leaves for China day after tomorrow.

*a western set in the future, on TV for awhile, before it was cancelled

Lost

One of the shopping gift cards has gone missing. I think we've already spent $50 worth of our time looking for it.

Shopping

I hate shopping. I know, I'm not the typical woman. But my daughter loves to go shopping. She got money for Christmas gifts so she could buy "professional" clothes in anticipation of her semester of student teaching. Apparently part of her grade is how she is dressed. Anyway, we went shopping today and she got shoes and a suit.


Does she look like a kindergarten teacher?


I think all the little boys will fall in love with her :-)

Christmas Photos

I'm still experimenting with my camera and the new upload photos feature with Blogger. Here are photos of Christmas gifts.

David got a stethoscope from Rachel:



Rachel got a cell phone from Mom:



Linda got a funny book about editing from Grandpa:



Gary got a hammered dulcimer from everybody:

My New Camera

I got a new digital camera for Christmas from my little boy. He has a real job for the first time in his life, and is using his megabucks to be generous to me. Good boy. :-)

I also just discovered a new way to post photos on Blogger, without having to first post them on my own website, so this job just got a lot easier. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure my new camera out. Here are some of my current efforts: (click on the photos to enlarge them.)



"I don't need my little brother to find me a Prince Charming!"



"My, what big feet you have."




"Mom, this CD is too big."



Kenny and friends

Trading Spaces

Rachel has cable TV at college and when she isn't studying diligently for a test, she has been known to sneak a look at those home remodeling shows. She came home with lots of ideas of how to redo one of our bedrooms in view to her moving back home after graduation in May. (That idea itself may be a topic for another blog, but not today.) Anyway, we pared her pile of ideas down to something a little more doable for a couple of amateurs without a professional designer and carpenter standing by: move the furniture out, clean, repaint (in two colors, neither of which was white!), move different furniture back in.

We started the project Thursday--a trip to buy paint and masking tape during lunch hour, then in the evening we cleared out the room (thanks go to a friend who helped move stuff--I hope your back is OK).

Friday and Saturday we worked long hours to repair, tape, retexture, paint, and repaint the walls, then tape and paint the trim. It all went reasonably well until we locked ourselves in the room and couldn't get out. I had taken the door knob off both sides of the door, but failed to take out the part that actually goes into the door frame (there must be a name for that piece, but I don't know what it is). When the door got pushed shut, we discovered we couldn't get it open again. "Not to worry," thought I, "I'll just use the screwdriver to open it." But when I started poking at it with the screw driver, I couldn't get it to turn. So I kept poking and whoops! a stray piece of the mechanism fell down into the inside of the hollow door. At that point Rachel said, "I'll crawl through the window and go get dad." So we pushed the screen out of the window (Lucky for us it is a low window) and she went and got dad (who was still asleep and leaving his girls to do all this man-work). Well, he came and grumbled at us, then we tried more screw drivers, and when that didn't work he crawled back in the window and took the hinges out--that didn't help either. Then he tore apart another door knob and latch from another door to see if that would help us figure it out, but they weren't identical. This all went on for an hour and finally I managed to jimmy the latch from the inside with a flexible putty knife--and since the hinges had been removed, the door came crashing down on my head when I finally got it open.

Anyway, our project is almost complete, and now we need to put the blinds back up and move furniture back in.

After

Room remodel nearing completion

Before

It has been a lot of work, but the end is in sight. We hope to have everything back in place sometime tomorrow.

Back to Work

We got home from south Texas in less than 10 hours Sunday night. The neighbors were kind to host a party, more or less in David's honor, a couple hours after we arrived. Gary and I attended for a few minutes, but I was too fried from driving, so we didn't stay long. Besides, all those young kids make me feel old. :-)

On Monday, Rachel and Gary and I went back to work. Rachel is resuming the scanning work that she did last summer. There is probably enough work to keep her busy for her holiday break. The office is very quiet because most people aren't working this week.

David had two days to just do nothing and hang out with his friends. He played some frisbee and last night went to a Mavericks' game with a friend. We got up at 5:30 this morning to take him to DFW and he phoned to say he got back to DC safely.

Tomorrow Laura flies to Ethiopia. We will be in prayer for her and Andrew.

Unfortunately, I've caught a cold, the first one I've had in a long time. I hope it doesn't make me feel too miserable for the project we have planned for the weekend: repainting the bedroom that Rachel wants to move into after she comes home from college. This will be an experience: I keep saying it will be a lot of work and she keeps telling me about a real cool episode of Trading Spaces or While You Were Out. We've been doing some research on homedepot.com and if we make it through the buying-the-paint process, we should be able to do the rest.

Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary

...to me! Gary gave me just what I wanted for my anniversary/Christmas: a coupon for "twenty hours of true love." Rachel read that and immediately started raising her eyebrows with innuendo, as only an embarrassed daughter can do. I quickly kicked her and said, "No, not that. He's promising to clean up his office! Yay!"

We looked out the window at midnight and what to our wondering eyes should appear? Snow and ice! It was so pretty when we woke up this morning. We had to go take photos before it melted. This is the first time in 100 years they've had a white Christmas, so they say.