Weather

Last night, I stepped outside and exclaimed to Jonathan, "It smells like California at Christmas out here!"

"They call it Fall here," was his reply.

Nursery Mural

So, when I was painting one of the murals at the church, our associate Pastor, TyLacey said to me, "When Josh and I have a baby someday, you'll come over and paint this exact same mural in the new nursery, won't you?" Big grin on her face the whole time. "Ty, you don't make enough money for this mural..." Big grin on my face.

So several months go by, and who should become pregnant with her first child? I thought about it and approached her with the idea. She and Josh were totally up for it, and suggested that I do it while they were away on vacation for ten days with friends. Ten days? No problem, I thought. I've got the whole house to myself, no job to worry about scheduling around, no problem. We discussed the theme, mostly revolving around animals - you know, jungle, Noah's ark, even the Australian Outback came up - until I pointed out that most of the animals we could come up with were either brown or gray. We thought about it for a while, and came up with the Garden of Eden - that way, I could put animals from Australia, Africa and America all together. No naked people, though - this mural was only early into the sixth day of creation. :)

Let me tell you right now that I was completely delusional. By the time their vacation rolled around, I was working in a temp position (at GHC, mind you...), and it got extended (surprise) - into the vacation week! Not wanting to make them hurt at GHC, I said I'd work a little to help compensate, but that I'd already committed to this mural. I don't know HOW I thought it was all going to happen - evidently I think I'm Superwoman.

So anyway, I'm working like a crazy person, trying to get the mural done by the time Ty and Josh get home. Each day at work is interesting, at least - my co-workers all wanted to see the painting process I'd made each day. Add into that the difficulty of actually getting into the house (wrote down the wrong code to the garage door); spilling tea all over all my painting clothes, so all I had to work in were high heels and a skirt/blouse combo; their refrigerator/freezer lost power, so I had to clean out the melted everything; a friend's 7-year-old's birthday party; unexpected family from California came for an over-nighter; and they had major construction on their street, blocking everywhere, so even getting to the house could be a challenge.


One day, early in the process, one of my co-workers commented on the number of animals I was painting, and asked how many there were. I had to pause and count - I'd never actually counted - I just kept adding them to the room until it looked right. That should have been my first clue. I counted 21... Yeah, that's how I reacted when I realized it, too. Oh yeah - add to that a palm tree doubling as a growth chart, a big tree for a monkey to hang from, various branches for the koala and owl, and sundry grasses and leaves for the elephant, zebra and giraffe to hide behind. There was also a lion, a lamb, a hummingbird, a mouse, a frog, a butterfly, a turtle, a flamingo, a bluebird, and Duchesa (yes, our dog - she'll be the little guy's best friend now). Finally, there was an extra-special addition of the Green Bay Packers "G" emblem sitting in the bamboo with the panda.


You've got to know Josh to know that this was an great way to find myself on his bad side. (Or at least on his "sister-brother" side...) You see, Josh is an avid Minnesota Vikings fan. Vikings. Minnesota. Not Packers. Josh will proudly wear a purple Vikings jersey into church on crucial Packer vs. Vikings game days. The man has no fear. I wouldn't have thought of adding the emblem, except that in our pre-nursery meetings, Josh had been absolutely adamant that there should be NO combination of green and gold anywhere. Not even pastel yellow and pastel green. (Nevermind that they painted the room yellow, and grass is definitely green, but whatever...) He never said that I couldn't paint a white G. Never. I listened very carefully.


So, yeah - on the day before they're to come home, I'm fully starting to recognize the reality of my time/painting ratio (as in, let's get up before the sun, maybe there's some way I can possibly get this done before 9pm...), Ty calls to say they're coming home 5 hours early - at 4:00. My mind scrambles. (Could have been lack of sleep, but for sake of argument, let's say it's because it was me thinking frantically.) By this point all the animals were done - it was all the finishing touches (like having trees to put them in) that needed to be done. Plus I needed to clear coat the whole thing - three times. It was at that point that I realized even if I was Superwoman, paint still needed time to dry, and that the mural was not going to be done by the time they got home. I picked the things I thought would make it look most complete, and got started.

It 12:00, Ty called to say that Josh wanted her to tell me, "That we're about an hour away..." What?!! "...but I won't do that to you. We're actually just leaving Chicago." After my momentary heart-stop, I said, "Okay," like that was totally fine, and went into hyper-mode. When she called again at 3:00 to say they were an hour out, I had come to the realization, and accepted, that I really, truly wasn't going to be finished. I concentrated on cleaning the room up, putting away my tools and paint, and vacuuming up all the dust. I sat down for a few moments with a Haagen-Daaz ice cream bar, checked the batteries in my video camera, and waited for my friends to return home.


At almost 4:00 on the dot, Josh and Ty walked in the door, with pregnant Ty hollering "Hello!" and racing to the bathroom. Evidently, bouncy baby boys do that to a bladder.... They greeted me with a warm hug, let me start the video camera, and proceeded down the hall for the moment I'd been working toward for the last ten days...

Me: "Alright, what are you guys doing?"
Josh: "We are coming home from vacation, and we are coming into the baby's - WOAH!"

So went the "oohs" and "ahs" for quite some time. I won't bore you with the whole thing, but suffice to say that they were VERY pleased, and their reactions were exactly what I had hoped for. Including when Josh found the G. He found it in less than a minute, "What?! No! No! What?! Lindsay! Oh!" There was a moment where he just looked completely baffled before he popped off with, "Lindsay, I TRUSTED you!" Ty laughed so hard, I thought she would need to hit the restroom again, but she just clapped her hands in glee and continued to check out the room. Josh dismissed the G and joined her. We had a great afternoon, talking through the week, both mine and theirs, with them exclaiming over the room several more times.

Ultimately, I spent a few more days in the room (I told you I was delusional about the time it would take, right?), and was even able to sit down with my friends for a couple of meals. It was a fantastic experience that I will treasure for a lifetime. And I'm not doing it again... at least, for a little while. I need some sleep!

Goodbye, Dear Friend

We had to say goodbye today to our dear sweet girl today. Duchesa (said "Du-kay-sa), was 11 years old, in our lives since she was 5. She was the best dog we could have ever hoped for. The worst thing we could remember her doing was stealing a Quizno's sub off the table - who could blame her? We had tons of names for her - Darg, Dargie, Dog, Dog-quesa - but mostly, "Quesa" and "Quesadilla". Someone once said, "As in Spanish for 'cheese'?" Yes - she was a cheeseball, always good for a laugh, but she was also so much more.

She was the peacemaker of the cats, and the comforter of our tears. She could always make us smile, even on our darkest days. She was terrified of thunder and fireworks, didn't like bananas, and loved graham crackers and Velveeta. She loved walks, loved food, and loved children. She was an enemy of no one, and a friend to everyone. She made lots of friends in the neighborhood with her goofy personality and sweet smile. We already miss her so much. We were blessed with her presence. May you all have a similar friend in your lives.

Old and New Again!

Jonathan and I had been commenting recently that things were starting to feel kinda tight. Not dangerously or anything, but we weren't exactly sure where we'd be getting the little extra we'd like to have. A little over two weeks ago, I got a call from my temp agency. The message said something to the effect of, "Your last assignment, GHC, is in need of a temp for a couple of months - we're calling to see what your availablity is..." Available for GHC? Heck yeah! So I am happily temporarily employed by accident in this economy - in my old position - while the gal who took my old position fills in for someone out for surgery, and I fill in HER position! Isn't God great??!!

Lemonade! Oh Boy!!

Mom and Dad are in Wisconsin!! Dad and Jonathan are watching the basketball game, so Mom and I decided to go for a walk on the bike path tonight that runs past the backyard. It seems we have some strong marketing-minded young entrepreneurs in our neighborhood...









Man, I am SO disappointed...

Speaking of Creativity...

So, Lindsay has just posted on creativity.... them bugged me to post to the blog (since I rarely get around to it).

We had a very creative Easter at Church - a 24-foot bridge across the front of the sanctuary:

Brass and Choir

Praise Team and Praise Choir:

It was a wonderful service, and I feel blessed to have such talented people volunteering to lead worship at Asbury.

Less than a month later, on May 2, I presented a 20th Anniversary Concert in the afternoon. It's hard to believe I've been in music ministry for 20 years - I started May 1, 1990 in a little church in Rotonda West, FL. It's been a wonderful (if sometimes difficult) journey, and I'm blessed to be able to do what I love for a living. Below is a clip of the first piece of the concert, my Toccata on "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" (otherwise known as Lobe den Herrn')

I'll have more video to post when I've had time to do the editing (and yes, I'll try to post more often, but honestly, Lindsay writes much better than I do!

Creativity Flows!

So it is with much happiness that I tell you that I have been able to release some of the pent-up creativity that I so rarely have used. I had really been wanting to do some murals since we got here. (You know, all the plain, white snow can be inspiring - for COLOR!) See January post entitled "The Upside of Winter" about colorful houses battling the war against white. Which I'm going to veer to for just a moment to show you promised pictures of said houses:

The fluorescent pink house:The turquoise blue house:
The pumpkin-colored house with maroon shutters and trim:
And our latest addition, the mint-green house with the violet first floor:

Ahem. Moving on to the topic at hand, mural painting...

I asked a couple of friends if maybe I could do their kid's rooms for each of their birthdays. No-go. Though I can't blame any of them - at that point, most of them didn't know that I had ever done ANY art, let alone murals. So, I went to the Director of Children's Ministry at church (aka: Ed). I said, "Ed, do you think that maybe sometime I could do a mural in one of the kid's rooms around here?" Silly question. Ed practically jumped across the desk at me as he exclaimed his resounding, "Yes!" That was immediately followed by, "Here, let me show you where..." He then proceeded to show me one of the tallest rooms in the building that happened to have the smallest chairs. The result was a very low-profile room with a whole lot of wall. Think desert plains. Not exactly the most cheerful room for a preschooler. Then he proceeded to show me the other six "normal" sized rooms, followed by the stairwell, the hallway, several more classrooms, and the children's library. I realized I'd just found my ministry at the church - and that we can't leave for at least ten years.

Somewhat daunted, I began work on the design for a mural for the first room, this behemoth job. Not long after, Ed informed me that the room was going to become the room for Media Ministries, and that my room would be one of the more manageable-sized ones. Fast-forward a couple of months later, and I now have a finished mural - and a whole lot of paint in my hair and under my nails. My paint clothes are quickly becoming a work of art themselves. I'm pleased with the result, and I've gathered a few more "jobs" since completion.

Observe my creation, and rejoice with me, for the color is here. I think it's pretty spiffy:

Perfect Day

So today was just about as perfect as a day can get: 70-something, light breeze, sunny. I took a two-hour walk around a couple of the neighborhoods, marveling at the color in some of the gardens. Tulips, daffodils, hyacynth, hostas, crab apples, bleeding hearts, magnolias, rhododendrons, cherry blossoms... (I know, amazing that I know these, right?) The weather is about 3-4 weeks ahead of what it was this time of year last year. There are buds and real leaves on everything, whereas last year, they were just sticks that were thinking about coming out.

We have a cute chickadee couple in our backyard. They live in the gourd, and pointedly stare at us any time we get a little too close. The male is good to communicate with his mate about the evil brown birds that try to invade and chirps crisply before zipping off after the enemy into another tree.

My porch in the backyard is now a sanctuary, complete with wicker, a bistro set, end tables, palms and a rug. Dandelions happily spring up in my grass, reminding me that they are the sole reason that my lawn is green, and smile at me as they contrast against the wild violets that poke up through the blades. The sound of a hundred birds is so loud at times that our yard sounds more like an aviary than a suburban neighborhood. Spiders have set up shop in little nooks and crannies, things with WAY too many legs drop by for an occasional visit, and ants wander freely through my bathroom, trying to find the entrance that I caulked.

Most of our windows are open as long as we're home, and the cats argue over who gets to sit in the sunniest sill. Callie will lay in one sill in the morning until her fur is hot to the touch, and grumps when the sun has the audacity to continue its journey overhead. Zoe goes cross-eyed each evening when the sun hits the floating dust particles in the air, and she attempts to catch a few.

I painted the picnic table the other evening. It was around five o'clock, and I noticed the "traffic" on the bike path seemed heavy, so I decided to count the people as they went by. In just half an hour, over 150 walked, ran, rode or strolled by. Some called out greetings, others whizzed by on bikes while dressed in suits. Duchesa happily trotted along the back fence, barking out "Hello" to select individuals.

Yes, today was such a perfect day that I had to try what so many have told me is an absolute must: I dried the bedsheets on the line, in the sunshine, flapping gently in the light breeze. No one bothered to remind me to wipe off the line first. Sigh.

Saturday Morning

I went outside. Barefoot.

Adult Dinner and Conversation

Saturday night, we went to a Mongolian Grill restaurant called Hu Hot. Excellent food, and even better service! Our waiter was awesome - real friendly and chatty, kinda felt like we knew the guy from somewhere else. So anyway, in the middle of dinner, Jonathan totally knocks his glass of water over on the table. Our waiter happened to walk by right after it happened, laughed a bit, and said, "I'll be right back with some more water for you - in a sippy cup." Wouldn't you know it, but the guy actually came back with a children's plastic cup, complete with lid, bendy straw, and jungle animals all over it! We are SO going back there again!!

Potty Conversation...

A little boy (about 4) to his mommy, overheard in the restrooms at Culver's restaurant this afternoon: "I think I have pee constipation. Can you have pee constipation??" Mom: "No." Me: Desperately holding back laughter in other stall.

Fresh Air is Very UNDERrated!

Ah, spring... Ahhhh - choooo! Ha!

Unbenownst to most individuals who do not experience four seasons a year, flowers are NOT the first signs of spring. No, the first signs of spring are usually vehicular. That's right - vehicular, as in: motorcycles revving by, convertibles with their tops down, extra bicycles on the bike path, vintage cars have been taken from their garage "museums", and our next-door neighbor brings his Corvette out of hiding. THOSE, my friends, are the first signs that spring is really here. Now, I'm going to go sit down and battle the mini creatures that are wandering through my house with a thousand legs each, while I hunker down for the three inches of snow we're due to get this weekend...

I'd Just Like You to Know...

...I CAN SEE MORE GROUND THAN SNOW!!!!!

Foggy Wednesday Morning

This morning I met up with a new friend to go for a walk and take advantage of all the fantastic amenities my neighborhood has to offer. The walk lasted two hours. You know, because it was nice outside - 45 degrees.

Bus Intelligence

I was driving around the other day, and one of the city buses passed me at a busy intersection, with a big ol' advertisement on the side. That's normal, but what it said was not:

"Audio and Braille Books Now Available at Madison Libraries"

WHO DO THEY THINK IS READING THIS??

The Frenzied Dance

I attempted to bring out my inner Latina tonight. Zumba aerobics class at the gym Jonathan and I are trying out this week. Evidently, there was no illegal crossing into this white girl, 'cuz the Latina NEVER showed up! (I guess being born in California doesn't actually infuse you with Latin rhythm.) There were about 25 people in the class, some obviously had their little salsa dancers with them. I was encouraged by the fact that there were a few, however, that had not only forgotten their dancer, but never met it.

We were "encouraged" by the Tasmanian Devil - I mean, Lynette - who never broke a sweat, whooped it up, and bounced all over the stage, smiling the whole time. She was shifting from one move to another, and just about the time I caught on, she was already three steps into the next sequence. "Come on, really get into it!!" Look lady, you can get my feet, or you can get my arms, but you can't get both. Taz... Lynette - wasn't very tall, but I'm pretty sure she could benchpress me, so I didn't dare walk out, for fear she'd track me down, bouncing like a Tigger the whole way.

I moved. A lot. And sweat. A lot. I probably won't be moving tomorrow. My favorite steps were the ones where we were spinning around - because it created a cooling wind. Fortunately, I managed to not fall over my own feet - or the next person's - but I can't say that my feet will ever be the same after this particular round of blisters. And 32 degrees? That feels REALLY good when you're done. After experiencing Zumba - and Lynette - I'm pretty sure that I'll be finally be able to do what my dietician has been telling me to do - drink more water, get more sleep... zzzzzz....

Folks, Lindsay Has Left the Building...

I'd just like to say that it is almost 1:00 in the morning, and I just went outside, without a coat on, in 8-degree weather, and read a sentence out of a book - by the light of the moon - and - I didn't freeze. WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING TO ME???!!!

The Upside of Winter in Wisconsin

So there's downsides to living in Wisconsin in the winter, but I've found there's a few upsides that I never would have been able to appreciate in California:

Downside: Living on a busier street can be hazardous.
Upside: Living on a busier street means we get plowed and salted first. And often.

Downside: Shoveling the walkway, the sidewalks, the porch and the driveway.
Upside: Getting to know my neighbors as we help each other out.

Downside: Freezing cold basement = freezing cold bedroom.
Upside: Snuggling under an electric blanket.

Downside: White, white, white.
Upside: The florescent pink house, the turquoise blue house, and the pumpkin-colored house with maroon shutters. (Yes, really.)

Downside: No cloud cover to hold "heat" in means extra, extra cold temperatures.
Upside: No cloud cover means crisp air, and the brightest stars and moon you've ever seen.

Downside: 15,000 types of snow.
Upside: A learned appreciation for the Inuits who have names for each type.

Downside: It's snowing - again.
Upside: The prettiest glitter-fest in my backyard.

Downside: Water freezes outside, causing all sorts of issues.
Upside: Heated bird baths.

Downside: Too much closet space taken up with winter scarves, hats and gloves.
Upside: Feeling loved because it is my friends who made them for me.

Downside: Big berms of snow caused by the plow at the end of my driveway.
Upside: Watching the girls across the street running to the top of the berms and sledding down, squealing the whole time.

Downside: Cold hands.
Upside: Hot cocoa.

Downside: My eyebrows froze until they were numb while walking across the parking lot from the grocery store.
Upside:The grocery store was my first stop of the day, complete with milk and frozen food - and THEN I drove around doing errands for 5 more hours. (Yes, with the food still in the car!)

And finally:

Downside: Winter is just too white, and stinkin' COLD!
Upside: It just makes spring that much sweeter.

Love to you all!

Continued Care

So while pulling out some old nails, I took a couple of good-sized hunks out of my little finger. No major pain, but a lot of the nails were rusty. Of course, the next thing I think about are all the horror stories of people stepping on rusty nails and tetanus shots, yada, yada... So I call Mom. Mom says call the doctor. I call the doctor at 8pm, and by 8:45pm, I'm already home, complete with updated tetanus shot. I love my health care!

So Cal

Outlet shopping at Cabazon today. 4.3 earthquake just now. Correlation?

I still hate earthquakes.

New Year and Warm Days

A freezing 82 today. Brrr! No, really, it was wonderful. The last few days have been just beautiful - blue skies, clear, warm. Did I mention it was warm? I've been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours at a time each day, quietly gloating about being here. Danielle said I'm like a lizard.

Speaking of temperatures (when do I not?) - I was thinking about Thanksgiving today. We were blessed with good weather (well, not snowing, at least), so we drove out to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with my grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had the traditional feast, we ALL somehow managed to fit around the table, and we gave our thanks to God. Because it was a nice day (60s), my Uncle Scott, the pastor, said we should open up the windows. We did. Everyone took a nice deep breath of fresh air. As we enjoyed our meal, Uncle Scott says, (to no one in particular), "Boy, how many Thanksgivings can you think of that have been nice enough to open the windows?" Like I could let that slide by... :) "Um, about 31," was my reply. He kept his response short and to-the-point: "Shut up."

I drove out to visit my sister-in-love, nieces, and grand nephews (yes, grand-nephews - I have 5 of them and one grand-niece). Just three boys there today, but boy, my niece has her hands full! Did I mention that my sister lives in Huntington Beach? She does. I do not. It's a fairly long drive (an hour), on interstate freeways. BUSY freeways. With stupid people on them. I do not miss those. (Freeways or stupid people.) I've become very spoiled by my "rush hour" traffic in Madison. Two-minute stops and slows in traffic are tolerable. Stop-and-start for an hour is not. I still hate driving when there's ice around, but I found that buying a house on a fairly well-traveled road has its advantages. It gets plowed and salted - often. That means that pretty much anywhere I need to go is all on salty busy streets. Yay.

In my travels today, among other sights, I saw a couple of sign twirlers. For those of you unfamiliar with those, they are people who stand on busy intersections with big signs pointing toward some random place they want you to visit. Usually, there is bouncing, dancing and twirling involved. Today there were two on this one corner - one was for a new home development, the other was for a Mexican restaurant, featuring 3-foot long burritos for $19.99. One of the men was Caucasian, one was Hispanic. The Hispanic man was NOT the one twirling the Mexican restaurant sign. No, the holder of THAT sign was your stereotypical "white-guys-can't-dance" kind of guy - complete with a whole entire fiesta dumped all over him - sombrero and all. Welcome to southern California.