Return from Missioning

I'm back. (I love living in a house rather than a mobile home.)

I'm exhausted. (I love sleeping in my own bed.)

I'm nowhere near as sore as I anticipated being. (Apparently, shelving on low shelves and weeding share the same muscle set.)

I'm clean. (Using a grody school locker-room for daily 3-minute showers that are either 120-plus degrees or 50-degrees--but never both mixed together!--does not promote good hygiene.)

I'm footsore. (I probably walked 5 miles every day, and/or stood for 6 hours every day, this week.)

I'm appreciative of the weirdest, smallest things. (Privacy while showering, small mosquitoes, having just one child--and a son!--of my own, bedroom windows more than 10" off the ground, not having to shout a color every time someone burps....)

Roll With It

When life is too much, roll with it, baby
Don't stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby
Hard times knocking on your door, I'll tell them you ain't there no more
Get on through it, roll with it, baby

Steve Winwood (not an artist I like, but, well, the lyrics fit)

So.

Beast is in Memphis on a last-hurrah business trip this week. He got a call this afternoon from his boss. Apparently the past week...? Specifically last Tuesday? Forget it ever happened.

As in "Nevermind."

As in they aren't laying him off after all.

Confused? Yep. Relieved? You betcha! Corporate America is weird.

Yay

You are being loved
You are being loved
Right now at this very moment
You are being loved
You are being loved
Right now you are being loved, loved, loved
You are being loved, loved
You are

With every breath that you’re taking
And every beat of your heart
Even while this song is playing
Whatever you do
Wherever you are
There’s a song being sung over you

You are being loved (There’s a song being sung over you)
You are being loved (There’s a song being sung over you)
...

Steven Curtis Chapman

FINALLY--

HAPPY
HAPPY
2009
!!!!

Because I love this story

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Mirabile dictu*

Mood: Fabulous!
Hair: Braided while wet, so staying put for a change
Eyes: Generally very good
Listening to: "Smalltown" (Chumbawumba) -- when the computer isn't being stupid

My cataloging cart is CLEAR!! The only things on it are weird things I'm waiting to do when my brain is fully functional.

Today, I'll round out the day working on one or two of the projects that have been hanging fire for months/weeks/days.

---

Urban Word:

Doom Buggy: 1. A car that is wrecked, totaled or not drivable.
2. A very old car that needs a lot of servicing.
3. A car that is a lemon.
4. Any car that either looks like it will, or has fallen completely apart while someone was driving it

I'm beginning to think that my little pick-em-up is morphing into a doom buggy. Everything is breaking this year. Boo.

---

* for the non-Catholic/non-Latin savvy

Dance is NOT overrated

We're home

Mood: Probably the best I've felt in months
Hair: In desperate need of professional help...or even shampoo!
Eyes: Good
Listening to: Beast snoring through the NASCAR race

I'd have written before now, but we were totally exhausted by the time we got home to stay last night and I worked all day today.

We are psyched, sunburned, and stunned from a wonderful week working with various urban ministry sites. There are some amazingly wonderful people doing some good work in Milwaukee to make life better for people who just need a leg up. Props to Raymond Rivera and Sister Clara Atwater to name just two.

Personal memory moments:

• blowing up at the site leader for arranging the smallest group to clean up the biggest post-dinner mess on the night with the least amount of clean-up time
• blowing up at two girls who were were standing precariously on a second-floor window-sill hanging up wet towels over Beast's C-pap (feet on my pillow and Bible, and pressing on the aged window glass for support...it was totally justified, but handled poorly)
• watching Sparky's eyes swell nearly shut after throwing mold around all day while cleaning out a flooded room (THANK YOU GOD for the nudge to pack a Large Bottle of Benadryl!!!)
• one of our girls' commitment to mentoring two younger girls on their faith walk
• realizing that I shouldn't EVER pay retail for a vase or coffee mug but should hit the resale shops because they have hundreds (they actually throw away coffee mugs they get so many!)
• being prayed over by a real saint
• gaining a son (by adoption)
• goofing with a fun(ny) guy who spends his day reclaiming gang-bangers of every stripe
• lying on a large flat rock baking on the beach after an hour of mid-morning walking on the edge of the water
• locking the keys in the car and crying over the situation
• being called a "day brightener" by one of the other adult leaders; apparently, our appearance at the worksite halfway through each day caused her to realize that she was going to survive. Not sure what that was about, but I do know that keeping her half of the group on-task was like herding spiders
• having sore feet EVERY DAY--hobbling for the first 10 minutes every morning, including today
• NOT having sore neck/shoulders
• watching all of our kids outshine so many others on the trip as they grew stronger in their faith and melded as a group
• growing my own faith, and learning some wonderful new songs
• so many others....

Now, I'm going to wake Beast up and tell him that if he's sleeping he should be in bed. :-)

---

Urban Word:

fake the funk: (v.) To act with a false ethos surrounding oneself in an attempt to win respect from a certain influential party.

I'm not cynical, just realistic: I wonder how many kids were faking the funk this week. Time will tell, I guess.

Breakin' my arm

Mood: Exuberant
Hair: Clean, curled...whatever
Eyes: Dry but ok
Listening to: Better Than Ezra--Desperately Wanting

Awesomely weird afternoon.

The reason I'm "exuberant" is that I just figured out a way to keep a file on Stupid Schedule Nazi Tricks that's pretty much not going to be found by anyone at work.

Can you guess? Can you? I love technology: it's a Google Document! Google is saving it for me, and I'm virtually certain they could care less that I'm compiling a CYA list. Over the past 24 hours, I've spent time with at least four individual people who want to create their own, or a joint one, or who just are so incredibly pissed off at her ongoing antics.

The first entry: [S.N.] late to her shift at circ meaning [Librarian H] was 10 minutes late to her shift at Ref. and I was unable to leave the Ref desk till 2:15

Petty? Yes, but here's the text of an email we all received last week from the boss(which she promoted from the evaluations she did with people):

After discussing evaluations we thought that we would share some comments with everyone that might be helpful: This is the comment or request that we heard most frequently: When you are scheduled in a Department – Children’s, Reference or Circulation - please be there on time. And, really be present, not working on other projects or wandering away to other areas. Remember, service to patrons is the always the first priority. If you need to leave for a few moments, be sure that the desk is covered and that people know where you are going.

I *heart* Google!!

And, weird email today, too. Just...unbelievable. I need a "clueless" branding iron.

OK, back to the books.

---

Urban Word:

WSD: "Write Shit Down". A popular method of organization. Works equally well in one's personal or professional life.

Perhaps, rather than RIP, I will ask my descendents to engrave WSD on my tombstone. It's good advice no matter what the purpose.

Confirmation

Today is Confirmation Day. Each of the mentors is supposed to spend a minute or so introducing "our" confirmand. Here's what I've written about mine:

How can I sum up [D.]? A few of you know her already, and I hope that many of you at least recognize her. [D.] began her journey with [our church] when she was in middle school by coming to [youth group], about four years ago. Over the years, she has become more involved in lots of other church-related events here.

But, this is the unusual thing: [D.] had already been confirmed at ... [the] Methodist Church before she began attending here. Normally, when joining our church anyone who has been confirmed simply transfers membership. However, [D.] really felt that she would prefer to take another run at learning about what it means to follow Christ before joining our congregation.

Getting to know [D.] has been an eye-opening experience for me. Each time we met “for an hour” we usually spent 2 or 3 hours together because we’d always end up talking about school, the future, and (shhhh!) boys.

However, her faith is solid and clear. She has accomplished spiritual growth and learning by her own choice and with her own drive: for instance, in 2007 she read the entire Bible in a year on her own. I think that shows her determination and craving for discernment and direction from God. I hasten to add that she is also a lot of fun to hang out with, and may be one of the most realistically cheerful people I know.

One thing [D.] has reiterated many times in our confirmation time together is that she doesn’t know the names of many people in our family of faith. I know that we welcome all newly adopted members just as we welcome those who grew up with us. [D.]—or “Braids” as she was called on the [mission trip] last summer—will be a joyful addition to our congregation.

I'm really proud of her. She is a delight, certainly not without her faults--she is, after all, a teenage girl--but she has helped make the past 6 months a little more bearable.

Life...or something like it

Mood: OK so far
Hair: French-braided (out) from yesterday, slept on...i.e. sticking out all over
Listening to: Sparky counting his money and talking to himself in his room

Random news:

• We had extra kids at youth group last night: boys! Yay.
• We also have a LOT of extra food, most of it of the "junk" variety. Anyone need any chips??
• We raised almost $400 for Souper Bowl, and the final "score" chose the team that actually won last night. Awesome!
• All the spaghetti is cooked for Wednesday's dinner at church. And no one got hurt doing it.
• We have a Roomba. I'm going to use it for the first time today. Beast has been playing with it all weekend. It's my turn today!
• I met a blog-reader on Saturday via Meebo who lives in Prague. Hi, A.C.! I love the Internet.
• Beast's parents are still doing well.
• My sister Jean is probably not going to have DBS, because she has the 'wrong kind' of Parkinson's. She's debating being a guinea pig for the rest of the people who have her sort of PD and having the DBS done anyway.
• I'm having home-made (by someone else) M&M cookies for breakfast. w00t!
• We got MORE SNOW last night...sigh.... It has been a really white winter this year.
• Survivor starts this week. Beast is boycotting it until one of the "favorites" (so-called) is voted off. Hopefully that will be early, like this week!
• There are a lot of dishes to do. Good thing I like washing dishes!
• I also have a note on the calendar that I'm supposed to call this week about Sparky's 'booster.' I don't know what booster that means. I hope his doctor knows!
• Perhaps I'll clean off my desk today.... [insert insane laughter here]

Most importantly, 15 years ago this morning I woke up realizing that my life had changed irrevocably. Beast and I were suddenly responsible for decisions regarding the care and feeding of a sleepy little red-haired critter. And there were decisions to make that very first morning. It has been a surprisingly fun ride for the most part. Happy birthday (yesterday), Sparky!

Why I 'do' youth group

I got a semi-panicked email last night from one of the girls in our church youth group. I answered her back but didn't expect anything of it since there was no school today. This just popped into my emailbox (also, welcome to teen-speak):

[cat.],

thank you sooo much for helping me out with this one. now i think that i know what i am going to do. i really like the idea of spending more time with him, and getting to understand his intensions. and now that you pointed out that all guys like to talk trash about each other, i am starting to realize that it more. [like re-thinking about previous things that have happened]. tomarrow[being saturday] i have been invited to go and see a movie with him and some of our other friends, and i am hoping to get to understand him better then.
thank you sooooooo much for all of the advice, this has really helped A LOT!!!!

love you TONZ

-[orlie.]-

p.s. see u sunday!!!

All I really did was reinforce that she needs to get to know the guy better, trust herself, and don't make it too complicated. So, now I'm going to go upstairs and take a bath and go to bed.

A good day

Why?

• I slept till almost 9 (ok, it was in the recliner for most of the night, but...).
  
• I'm almost half-done with Christmas cards.
  
• I spent a wonderful afternoon with someone who is becoming a dear friend in spite of being close to the same age as Sparky.
  
• We bailed on a party after driving 30 minutes and still having 2/3 of the way to go. It's snowing, a beautiful sparkly snow...and it's brutally slippery. Now that we're back home (we went about 25 miles in about 80 minutes, round-trip), we can appreciate how pretty it is outside. Between our departure and return home, it snowed almost 2 inches more in our driveway. A good night to stay home and blog.
  
• My Amazon order shipped.
  
• I may have found all the pictures I've, sporadically, been looking for over the past several months. Beast seems to have known where they were all along, but he didn't know that was what I was looking for.
  
• Guilt free gaming for me tonight: I have to work tomorrow afternoon, so I feel no compunction to be a martyr about co-opting the computer tonight! :-)

I was going to write a post about the Pack

...but I just logged into Meebo and found a message which said what I was going to, only more succintly:

[22:56] Stalker [ ]: Brett Favre may be the coolest QB to walk on 2 legs. 82 yards? Are you f*cking kidding me?!

I would only add that the combined total yardage for both TD passes last night was over 160 yards. "Both." Two passes. Got it?
I love dat man! Does he not look about 10 years old in this photo?

Sparky

Haven't talked about the boy much lately.

Judging by the cranky quotient, that clearly is good news; if he were appearing more often, it would be because he was pissing me off. He hasn't been. He's been a real joy to have around for the past few weeks.

Yes. I know. The other shoe will drop, eventually. We are enjoying this period of peace and joy.

It's nearly conference-time for this semester, and we received his interim grades last week: Band, German, PE = A; Biology, English = A-; Geometry = B+. Comments? Two teachers appended attaboys, one teacher noted that he "needs to spend less time socializing." All of this, by the way, is available online, so we can track how he's doing in almost all of his classes (not gym class for some reason).

Sparky has complained about the latter class; EVERYone talks. He's frustrated because he can't hear, and although that's a class in which is grade is a solid A (although fading, I see in the online detail), he likes it. Yesterday, however, he came home quite upset: the teacher had a meltdown. A meltdown the likes of which he has apparently never seen in a teacher. It freaked him out. The guy sounds like he's had it with this class, and it also sounds as if the class has been baiting him to get him to do this (there are sophomores and freshmen in the class). I know from talking to other parents that this teacher has a bit of a reputation for being difficult.

He also let slip that he's having trouble seeing the board in Geometry, and the teacher writes small, so he's been getting the notes each day from another student. No wonder he's frustrated and not loving that class. It's been a little confusing because he's always enjoyed math, and there has been a different sort of feel to his annoyance over math homework this year. Now we know a little bit more about why. He's going to talk to his teacher today about being moved to a different desk where he can see.

Remember when talking to a teacher, asking for a little consideration or help, put the fear of God into you?


Oh, and the school district decided this week on how they are going to "load" the new high school next fall. They are doing what we figured they do: the current freshmen (next year's sophomores) will transfer if they are in the new district along with the incoming freshmen. The older kids will all stay at the Old School. So that's wonderful news for Sparky. He gets to be in the first graduating class. We were hoping they would have one class at a time start; it's a much shorter drive to the New School for us! Selfish, much? :-)

And he is leaving, so I need to say goodbye to him.

Foo-ball! Uhhh!

Hey, yo. The Pack won, beating the Eagles 16-13.

Don't sound so fuckin' surprised, all you "Favre is washed-up, over-the-hill" pundits. Hah.

The man has tied up John Elway, and will be passing him in the wins category next. And that is simply going to Make My Week when it happens. (I loathed Elway for the duration of his tenure in Denver; it was a long dry spell for me to go without cheering on the Broncos, and I blame the jerk for Dan Reeves' departure, the best coach the team had ever had up to that point...)

But I digress: the Broncos won yesterday as well. And the Bears LOST!! As Bob Costa said last night (I paraphrase): "The Bears defense was strong and did a good job. Unfortunately, the Bears offense also got off the bus for the game." I really, really, really love Bob Costas. As a matter of fact....the Bears have moved into the slot in which I hope they stay ALL SEASON: absolute bottom of the NFC North.

Two downers for the day, one relatively minor and the other a major tragedy: the Brownies lost (hugely), and Kevin Everett (Buffalo Bills) was badly injured, damaging his spine in a helmet-to-helmet tackle he made on the second half kickoff. What a terrible thing.

And that was the first week. Bring on week 2.

Thanks be

The (work) day ended well, and I came home and finished off Harry Potter. My review, for now: hmmmmm, really? I'm very tired, and I have to be at work again in 10 hours, so I should probably go to bed now.

Teenagers are funny

I'm driving home from work today, past the Catholic church/school around the corner from the library, and talking on the phone. Cuz I suck. But that's another post.

There's a teenage boy, maybe 15-ish, standing in the other lane of traffic (coming-toward-me lane). When he sees me about a block away, he walks futher toward the middle of the road...

...and as I narrow the distance between us, he raises his hand in the classic "Traffic Cop Stop" pose. I slow down, and start making incomprehensible noise into the phone (which is ok, because I just woke Beast up and he's incomprehensible too). I roll to a stop. What's going on?

The kid looks toward the doorway of the school. I follow his eyes toward the doorway, and see more kids in the shadows there. Suddenly one of the shadows breaks free, turning into a kid on a skateboard who flies out of the clump of his friends, past the kid in the street, and into the grass on the verge on my side of the street.

I look back at the traffic cop. He looks seriously at his friend for a minute--checking his overall well-being, then catches my eye...and beckons me to go on.

I flip the phone closed, let out the clutch and ease forward, and start laughing.

Awesome!

Music recommendation

I rarely do this, but honestly, this is a great song, if you can find it: Chris Cornell's version of "Billie Jean"Yes. That "Billie Jean." The only people who maybe shouldn't listen are those who are really wedded to the original. I know nothing about Cornell, or the reasoning behind his singing the song this way, but this is an excellent reinterpretation of what's become a classic (whether you like it or not--and I'm not a huge fan). VERY different, really awesome.

You can listen to a snip here.

Music Weekend

Last night, I was privileged to hear the husband of a friend play bluegrass with his band at a local open mic spot in town. They were good, in spite of some missed cues because they just haven't played as a unit very long and the fact that they are 100% amateurs (all have day jobs), though some have actually played in 'real' bands in the past. If you know "Orange Blosson Special" though, you'd've enjoyed 'em a lot!

Sparky is spending the weekend with a friend in the GINORMOUS city to the east. They are at a concert tonight--he told me it was an "old group," but I don't think he realized he will be listening to light opera. hee hee

Tonight is the across-the-treeline-neighbor's 4th of July concert in the yard about 100 yards away from our front porch, behind a house and line of trees. They are doing Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" right now. We've had Neil Young, Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Mellencamp covers.

They do this every year around the 4th. The band is good--not perfect, but certainly rehearsed and (the hardest part) playing the same rhythm.

I'm typing this on aforementioned porch, enjoying a drink and what feels like our own personal concert, removed from the drunken morons in the yard with the band--the drunken DEAF morons!! Really, the volume level for me is perfect.

Now switching the "Brick House." Not good, but recognizable. They are really a rock band, not a disco/soul band.

It's been a nice day. I spent three hours at work (6 to 9 a.m.) at work finishing yesterday's projects. Then I went shopping with Amy and we gossiped our brains out. The good personal news is the fact that I think between us we spent WELL under $100. Plus lunch. Thanks, Ames. Got home around 5 to find Beast mulching the gardens and the concert already started.

OK, good, now we've moved on to "I Saw Her Standing There."

Since then, I've been sitting on the porch, typing up and polishing the Session minutes from last week's meeting, watching Beast do some more mulching, and enjoying the music. Also the scratchy throat, the running nose and the tickly nose. Cuz, yeah, the music is good, the temperature couldn't be more perfect...and I'm allergic to everything alive.

The next Big Decision: when/what/where to eat.

I don't know this song. It's either really current, or really non-Top 40. But that's ok: they just segued into "Ain't That a Shame" (Cheap Trick). Hello, all you friends of mine from Teh Hometown of that band. ;-)

I need to go get some (more) wine. Cheers.

(by the time I returned to the porch, they were into "I Want You to Want Me")

Addendum: at 9:15, they lit off 20 minutes of fireworks. Big. Loud. Ground-Shaking Ones. The kind that sound like bombs. F.U.C.K.T.A.R.D.S. They are flouting all the notices everyone in town has received the past two weeks reminding us about the illegality of these kinds of things. This is the worst, the loudest and boomiest it has EVER been.