Plastic Bag recycling

PJ asked what I'll be doing with my plastic bags and an ironing board and the answer is ironing them together so that they form a thicker sheet of plastic. Then I'll make something. At least that's my hope!

There are posts on this kind of thing all over the place. But this is probably the best explanation of how it's done. I think it's a pretty cool idea if I don't kill too many brain cells with the toxic fumes. So, we'll see...

Show and Tell

The parents of Baby B decided before he was born that they would do cloth diapers. Better for the environment, and while it seems to be a bit expensive up front, they have saved quite a bit of money in the long run. Up until a week or two ago Baby B was still wearing his small cloth diapers and diaper covers ok but they were getting snug. Having helped organize a diaper shower for these friends, I did a bit of research into some of it and explored lots and lots of online diaper stores. Who knew such variety existed? One of the things I learned was that lanolized wool (lanolin is natural in wool but the processing of wool tends to strip this from the fibers) is a great diaper cover. It is somewhat water-proof and the lanolin neutralizes smell and acid (I think). So all you have to do is hang up the cover when it gets wet. And then wash them every week or two and add lanolin in because it can get washed out. Nifty, eh? Except that these wool diaper covers can be twice as expensive as the other diaper covers. So, I had endeavored to make some (or maybe just one) cover for Baby B. And I got yarn and I made one before he was born but it shrunk down to nothing. And lo, we were sad. But this weekend I pulled out my yarn, and in particular, the second skein of yarn I had bought to do a diaper cover. And I tried, and succeeded fairly well, in following a pattern I found on the webternet:

And so now I need to ship this off to Baby B so he can use it. Or so his mom and dad can use it. But I'm pretty pleased with how well it turned out.

And, I had a little bit of yarn left over so I tried to make a rabbit:

Yeah, that mess of things, that's all the crap that is piled on my footrest. My feet don't rest on it so much these days. But you can also see different things I'm working on like a cross-stitch and recycling plastic bags. Someday, when I get an ironing board, I'll fuse them all together and make an awesome reusable bag out of them.

Anyways, I think he's pretty cute for a first attempt and no pattern.

The Return of Joe

Remember my friend "Joe" who had been away from work for a while with health problems? I saw him yesterday, back at work. And even though it made me a bit late for class I listened to him and gave him a hug. I'm glad he's back. It certainly put a smile on my face.

Also, a fun little fact. This afternoon as we were celebrating my boss lady's birthday, the guys that are working on fixing a crack that runs from the entire length of the building in which I work managed to cut right through the brick, drywall, and wood into our office conference room. They had no idea until someone from our office ran out and told them. Good times.

Now if we can only convince them to work on making holes big enough for windows.

Lazy

This weekend I didn't do much outside of my apartment. Saturday morning I led SE at the church. It was a last minute request and I was a little hesitant (last weekend had just been So Full) but as no one else was available, I said okay to the KB. The last time I was supposed to lead no one showed and then I couldn't get the keys to work at the office and I drove around for the next 24 hours with 9 cases of water in my back seat and trunk, and considering that I drove about an hour for a party that night, it wasn't fabulous for the gas mileage. Good times.

So, I was hesitant. And I waited. And one person showed up - the head pastor. Which was nice. It's nice to know this is something he likes to do and just shows up sometimes. I felt like U of C was the place to go - Freshmen had begun arriving that week and I was sure some of them would be milling about. He knew the perfect place to go and we unloaded 8 cases of water in about an hour. It was frantic and really lovely. Even though I may whine beforehand, once I'm into the thick of things I always remember how much I love doing SE.

After all that crazy activity I drove up to the 31st Street beach and hung out on the pier for a while. I studied some but mostly just sat (slept!) in the sun like a lizard, recharging my battery. It was glorious. Then I went home and tried to unpack a little more.

Little by little I'm working my way through all the boxes that are still hanging around in my apartment. Or I'm just shoving them out of the way. Seriously, I've had a box of I don't know what sitting in the middle of my kitchen since Dad and I drove up here from Texas. I moved it every time I needed to get into one of the cabinets below the sink. It's been moved from the kitchen floor at least.

Sunday I figured I had done enough for God by telling people that He loved them on Saturday morning so I stayed home and watched Sunday Morning and all the political shows. Why are all the good political shows on on Sunday mornings?

Somewhere in there I crocheted a few things. One was a little bunny. The other thing I hope to get mailed out to it's new owner soon. The bunny isn't bad for a first attempt but could be much better. I'm not very good at following patterns so even if I had found one it would have made no difference. I'm a hands-on trial-and-error type. I also didn't have the right type of stuff to fill it with so it's not nice and fluffy. At some point I'll take a picture of him and share. I also went through lots of old yarn and decided to toss a bunch out. That's really hard for me to do. Because I might want it someday? Probably not.

And the Bears got their collective asses kicked last night by the Cowboys. Rex was his usual, unreliable self. Sigh.
I'm afraid to talk to my father.

Tasty

I just needed to share with folks.
Last night I made cinnamon rolls. Because the recipe was right there staring at me every time I opened up my cupboard and got out pasta or... pasta. Right there on the side of the two boxes of the Jiffy baking mix I'd purchased. So I bought some cinnamon on my latest trip to the most fabulous little corner store in the world. And last night, after discovering that the opened box of mix had insects as did the pancake mix (so sad), I opened up the bug free box and whipped up a batch. Aren't I all Mrs. Cleaver?

And they turned out quite a bit like a cinnamon roll should be. It was exciting.

Ahoy!

Me mateys, 'tis Talk Like a Pirate Day!
A holy day for Pastafarians everywhere. And just plain fun for normal people.
So slap on an eyepatch, work a few arrrgh's into your vocabulary.

A few resources for you:
The official song.
The official site.
The pictures from around the world.
And a tutorial on talking like a pirate.

Avast me hartys!

Where I've been...

And what I've been up to.

So... a few weeks ago I went to hear a Chicago Symphony concert downtown.

Then this weekend

I went to an Ozomatli concert
I went to the Celtic Festival










I celebrated his birthday





















And her birthday (via the zoo)












In the breaks I've been trying to study. I'm trying to stay on top of things.

More pictures of all events at Flickr.

Do not fret

I am alive. Exhausted, but alive.

Wardrobe malfunction

I just realized that the brown sweater (yes, sweater) does not match or sufficiently contrast with the brown pants I am wearing. Crap.

Deflated

So, after all my hyper-excitedness yesterday, I spoke with someone late in the afternoon. She-Who-Keeps-Track-of-All at the seminary, lovely lady. But we determined that I have several other hoops that I need to jump through before I can actually graduate, so that might have to wait. I'll talk with some folks in the next few days to see if it's possible but I might have to put it off until next December. The problem is that I was admitted as a non-degree seeking student initially and then I took a bunch of classes. And I was only admitted as a degree seeking student last fall. So last spring was my first semester as an official master's student. And... I didn't take any classes. I had no idea how smart that was but now I think I am a genius. That or God had his hand in it all. Probably more the second. I think in total I will have taken five classes as a master's candidate. But now that means that all the extra stuff beyond the classes, the psychological testing, the fitness for ministry stuff, the Bible competency exam or paper, blah blah blah, all of that still needs to be done and it's very unlikely that I will be able to fit that in before May. Because first is the psych test, then this interview dealie where folks discuss stuff with me, and then usually the Bible competency stuff. But I didn't do the test this fall, I thought I would wait until February, not knowing how close I was to finishing up. Ah well... C'est la vie. It'll happen, maybe not as quickly as I was thinking yesterday but it will happen.

Easy...Easy like Sunday Mornin'

Really, my Sunday morning was early. 6:30 wake up call-which seems ridiculous if one doesn't work on the weekends. But I got to sing. And people said nice things about said singing which is good for the crushed singing ego. (shakes her fist at old worship pastor person in her head) It's amazing how words can scar. And not even mean or harsh words, just that it may not be the best thing right now. Honestly, I was telling myself that too, it was just hard to hear it from someone else. But the lack of anxiety with which I was able to fall into singing up front this time around has been remarkable. It is a good thing.

Another good thing? This morning I met with my academic advisor at the seminary. What we figured out was that I only have three more classes to complete. Three! In addition to the two that I am in now. So, conceivably, I could graduate in the spring! With a master's degree! It seems just like yesterday I was moaning about how long it was taking me to be accepted to the program. Just that pesky field ed stuff and perhaps a psychological test or two that I still need to get worked out in addition to the three classes. Hee.

I have to run off and add a class now...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

It hardly still seems to be summer. Perhaps it's the fact that school has started again that makes me think it is fall. And it's the fact that school has started again that made me put off vacation because of the job and all. But vacation was had - even at this late date. I spent some lovely time with Heidi and Eric. Enjoyed their hospitality and their child.

Also, this is important. Gino's pizzeria, while their pizza and pasta may be suspect, has The. Most. Incredible. Gelatto. I had it three times while I was there.

Pictures from start to finish here.

And an extra bit of cuteness right here. Every time Baby B got food (as opposed to nursing) he would start hollering and it was so hysterical to me. He was so loud, just in case you forgot he was there. So here's a yell for y'all.

Full of possibility

One of the things I attended for my "orientation" to my seminary a few weeks ago - in fact the only thing I attended for the seminary orientation - was something regarding spiritual direction. One of the rather lovely things about the seminary is that they have a program for folks wanting to become spiritual directors and every person in the seminary is required to take some sort of spiritual formation class in their course of study there, usually several.

The woman who runs the program was going through some suggested practices for seminary students because, even though the focus of study is the Bible and Bible-related things, personal development and practices can easily fall to the side of the path or become one more thing at the bottom of the to do list. Spiritual formation classes give you credit for doing something for yourself. She was talking about the importance of sabbath; not necessarily an entire day as is traditional, but some amount of time when you are still before God. And then see what happens.

I've gotten much better at this since leaving my old congregation. My life was wrapped up in the congregational life. Not necessarily in God but in congregational busyness. Friends that ran events that I felt like I needed support. Asked to help with this or that. Administrative gifts that would not go unused. Oh, and those things that I was "passionate" about. In the end, even those things to which I felt drawn, not out of obligation but from-my-gut compelled, it was all too much. And I didn't even know it.

Until I stopped.

When my hands were empty it was a relief. Time was freed. All of the 'shoulds' that had been shouting at me slowly began to quiet. Instead I listened to God and to my heart.

What happened, what came out of that empty space and out of my itchy hands, surprised me. It is the once peripheral art that has started taking up much more of my time. It's cathartic. It's communicative. It's freeing. It's nothing I expected.

Home Again, Home Again

Jiggety Jig.

Amazing to me that one can fly half-way (okay, maybe a third of the way) cross this rather large county and it take less time than actually getting from the airport to one's domicile after landing.

Time today in the plane = 1 hour
Time today on the train = 3 hours

Happy to be home with the kitties though. They seem to have missed me.

I am also thankful that my plane landed about ten minutes before O'Hare declared a ground stoppage because of the weather. This occurred to me as odd as it didn't seem that terrible of weather when my little plane landed.

Now if only I could get some decent sleep before returning to work tomorrow.

On Vacation

Hey folks, sorry that things have been a bit slow. I'm on vacation enjoying the hospitality of Heidi and Eric and the lovely boy. Will be back soon. With pictures and such.