It’s going to be a busy day, so I may be absent from Xanga for most of it.  I thought I’d better do a quick post this morning, though, or I might not get it done.

Yesterday was pretty good.  I worked around my house and ran to Meijer.  I cleaned some stuff, made dinner, and ironed in the evening.  We actually went to bed about 10:00, and I slept really well.  It’s been a while since that was true on a regular basis, so I’m really enjoying that!

I’m back to CU today.  I have a grand total of 15 class days left.  I counted yesterday.  Two classes this week, 4 full weeks, and Monday of finals week = 15.  And at least 7 of those days are work days or workshops.  Lovely!

I’m actually going to try to make it to chapel today.  Alistair Begg is speaking this morning, and I love to listen to his messages (and his accent!).  But that means I have to actually get a couple of things done in my office before 10:00 am.  I think I can do it!

Other than that, I can’t really think of anything exciting to tell you all.  I love that it was about 40 degrees outside when I got up this morning.  Spring might really, truly be on the way.  Yippee!!   Happy Wednesday to you all!

I really love this book of essays.  Norris is a poet, and she spends a lot of time thinking about Christians and Christianity in her writings. She doesn’t always come to the same conclusions as I would, but hearing her perspective has been very valuable.  I’ve read this book a number of times.

Eric left for work this morning at his normal time.  He went in late yesterday (so late that someone called, after he left, just to make sure he was coming), but he needed the extra sleep mostly.  He’s not enjoying his job these days; last night, just as we turned the light out, he commented that it was “only Monday.”  It is hard to watch him not enjoy what he does, though, especially because most of the time he really likes his job.  But hopefully, this phase will pass when a lady on maternity leave comes back in a few weeks. 

Yesterday, I ran some errands in the morning.  I got a new library card and a new battery for my phone.  I also finally found a refill sponge for my mop.  This errand turned out to be harder than was necessary.  I checked the mop before I left, which indicated that I should get “Refill Type S.”   So…I go to Meijer, find the mop aisle and discover that the refills aren’t labeled by letter.  Instead, the refill bags say “fits broom 045” or some other number.  So how am I supposed to match my broom (which doesn’t have a number on it) to a refill (which doesn’t have a letter on it).  Grrr…..   Anyway, I did find the right one (good guess on my part), so that was a small victory. 

I also did some laundry yesterday (which means I should iron sometime today!), wrote some, made dinner, cleaned up dinner, watered plants, and talked with my sister on the phone.  It was a good day!

Today, I need to run to the grocery store, iron the clothes I washed yesterday, and clean the bathtub.  It’s my last day of Easter Break, too, so I think I’ll try to fit in some relaxing as well!  Happy Tuesday!

From the weekend…

My husband challenged me the other day to focus more on the light-hearted or upbeat realities of life, instead of always spending time on the “deep, dark, mentally-challenging” ones.  So, in homage to Eric, here are some of this weekend’s interesting items:

• Eric still has his soul patch.  It still looks a little odd on him, but we decided that’s because his haircut is too “normal.”  If he went spiky, then he’d look totally ‘with it’!

• Friday night we hung out with my parents over at Karen’s.  Karen & Erik were there, too.  Jason was keeping my parents pretty entertained with smiles that might actually have been smiles, instead of gas.

• We drove out to the farm on Saturday afternoon. Pam gave me a basket of primroses for an Easter gift (the boys got candy).  Eric grilled filet mignon for us for dinner (they’d just butchered a huge bull!), and we sat around the table after dinner, laughing and telling stories.

• We were late to the sunrise service because the clocks weren’t right in our bedroom.  Oops!

• The Easter services were good, though the music leaders at my in-laws small, country church remind us just a bit too much of The Culps (Will Ferrell/Ana Gasteyer characters from SNL), complete with a drum machine.

• I’ve never sung “Celebrate, Jesus, Celebrate” with a drum machine before.

• We drove home in the early evening and spent the evening relaxing on the couch.  We were in bed by 9:30 and slept in this morning until 7:30.  So nice!

So that’s the brief recap.  Today I have a number of little things to get to, including some errands.  Eric left for work just a few minutes ago, so now I can start to figure out how to fill my day!  Happy Monday!

It’s Good Friday.  I don’t have to go to CU today.  I’m very glad about that.  It’s funny, though, that until CU went to semesters, we had classes on Good Friday when a lot of secular schools took it off.  Oh well…we get it off now!

Yesterday morning, I worked around my house.  I started laundry, took out the garbage, cleaned up the kitchen a bit, vacuumed the upstairs, caught up the money program we use (I was WAY behind ), and did other small jobs along the way.  I felt very productive!!

After lunch I had my doctor’s appointment, and I decided on my way home that I felt like shopping.  So I went to Target.  And I bought myself stuff.  I never do this.  But I wandered around the store for over an hour.  I almost bought some jewelry but didn’t.  I may go back for it though…  Instead, I bought a cute spring top, a new white cardigan, a small umbrella to put in my office (my other one broke), and 3 pairs of shoes.  I got some soft black flip-flops, and two other little cute pairs.  See…

The sandals were surprisingly comfortable (I don’t usually like wedges).

The green/blue ones are children’s sized, but they were the most cushioned and are really cute.  So I bought them both!

Anyway, after Eric got home, we went and decided on and ordered a headboard for our bed.  I like our choice. It will also allow us to match it easily when we decide to buy other bedroom furniture.  Of course, we have to wait two months for it, but since we’ve waited almost 4 years, I think I can manage.  We ate out on our way home and then crashed for a while.  We ended up watching Ratatouille and then heading to bed.   We even slept in this morning, so that was nice!

My feet hurt this morning.  I might be my shoes.  But maybe I just need a pedicure/foot massage…

I’m done with CU until next week.  Because we lost last Monday’s class due to snow accumulations, I had to push back the due date on the annotated bibliography.  So I have no classes and no grading until next Wednesday. Lovely! 

I have my yearly appointment today.  I’m so excited.

Other than that, I have a pretty open day.  It is garbage day, and I should start the laundry.  And I might clean my car out (it’s getting gross).  Tonight, Eric and I might go over to a furniture store to see if we can find a headboard for our bed.  It was part of my Christmas present from him, but we haven’t gotten it done yet.  Maybe tonight!

I was pretty brain-dead after classes yesterday, so the rainy ride home actually worked for me.  I just the slightest headache, and I couldn’t focus very well all evening.  Eric & I went to Auto Zone and Home Depot just to get out of the house, and while he changed windshield wipers and such on his car, I tried to read.  After about 20 minutes, I tried to work on the computer.  And after about 10 minutes, I gave up on being productive and watched television for the rest of the night.  Apparently, I only had enough brain power to keep up with Jon and Kate + 8 last night!

I think that’s all I’ve got for this morning.  Happy Thursday!

I really don’t mind that it rained all day yesterday and will probably keep on raining all day today, too.  It’s halfway through March, and it’s been 40-50 degrees for the last week.  I think I’ll just celebrate the hope of spring’s return!

Yesterday was a good day, overall.  I did a little work around the house and on the computer.  I ran to WalMart and spent a fair amount of time (and money ) there.  Sadly, even though I found an entire aisle of clearance shoes , I couldn’t find one pair that both fit and looked cute (even from the children’s shoes).  *sigh*  I love shoes…

I also hung out with Karen in the afternoon and chatted with her.  I let Maggie (the dog) take a nap on my lap for a while, but when she got down I wouldn’t let her back on me.  It was driving her nuts!  I guess she thought she was my pack leader…

I spent the evening on the computer and talking to Eric.  It was very relaxing and nice.  Nothing like QT with the husband to end the day well!  I also got to read for a while, and I turned my lights out just after 10:00 pm.  I was tired!

This morning is a normal day, but my last day of classes this week.  Eric shaved off his beard this morning.   I love when he grows facial hair.  However, he did leave a soul patch.   For those of you who know my physicist husband…that doesn’t necessarily fit.  But he thought it would be fun to see what his coworkers will say.  Silly boy…

I was chosen to have the campus photographer come to one of my classes today to take pictures.  I have to think of something nice enough to wear today.  I should get on that now…

Happy Wednesday!

I’ve been reading this book every night at bedtime during Lent.  I wanted to do something that would lead me to the cross and remind me what this season really is.  I never do the “give something up” for Lent; I don’t really know why.  Perhaps because such goal-setting only feeds my tendency to “do” the Christian life on my own and to “do” it to please God or impress others.  Not such a spiritual motivation for the Lenten season, huh?

Anyway, as a well-bred Baptist, I have grown up in churches that didn’t really do much for Easter.  They didn’t ignore it, generally, of course.  And I do remember a particular sermon Pastor Jackson preached on the fact that Jesus was buried at all (which was unusual for those who were crucified).  It was a very interesting way of getting into the Easter story.  But, I have come to realize that I do not, mostly from lack of practice, have a real sense of purposefully pursuing the cross and resurrection at Easter in a meaningful way.

My current church, which has many good things about it, has pretty much ignored holidays this year.  We didn’t have a Christmas service, and two Sundays before Christmas, we sang one medley of Christmas carols.  And that was it.  Now it’s Easter, and we are having an Easter sermon (which we are supposed to invite people to, according to the letter from the Pastor that we got last week).  No Good Friday service, no communion.  Just a Sunday morning sermon.  It seems oddly insufficient for the magnitude of all that the cross represents.

I only started thinking this way in the last few years.  My husband was raised Methodist, and my in-laws are part of a wonderful Methodist community church.  It was that church, and my MIL, which introduced me to my first experience with Advent at Christmas and a full-week celebration of Easter.  They do services on almost every day of Passover week.  They aren’t long services, but they come together, and they walk the road with Jesus, one day at a time.  I’d never seen anything like it.

Last year was the first year it really struck me how shallow my own celebration of Easter usually is.  So this year, I decided that a daily visit to the Cross would help me prepare my heart more appropriately.  The book is a marvelous one (I’ve owned it for years and read it through every so often), and I’d highly recommend it.  But I do think it’s important to spend time this week really looking again at the walk to the cross: Gethsemane, the trials, the tortures, the agony of becoming sin.  Jesus did all of that because he loves me.  Moment by moment, he chose to continue on the path because if he didn’t, he would lose me forever.  I want to let that reality seep into my soul this week and change me forever. 

The best part of all…

Eric arrived home at 1:30 on Sunday morning!!  I had been in bed reading and decided to sleep some before he came home.  I woke up when the garage door started, and there he was!  He missed me, too…

As for the rest of the weekend, I spent Saturday at my parents’ house.  I did putz around my house for a while and headed down there about lunch.  We talked and took care of Jason while Karen & Erik had class.  I even got to change his diaper for the first time.  He squirted me .  I did managed to keep it contained, but Karen had to come help me out.  I guess I need to practice more before I start babysitting him in May.

Sunday was spent in the fantastic company of my husband.  We slept in and went to the second service at church.  It seemed pretty empty, I thought.  I’m not sure why.  Eric decided he wanted a Papa Murphy’s pizza (take-n-bake), so we got one of those and had that for lunch.  We spent the afternoon just hanging out together before small group last night. Then some snuggling in front of the television before bedtime (we were both pretty tired).  It was so nice to have him close enough to touch again. 

Today is the normal day at CU, though I do have to give a workshop on making good arguments this afternoon.  I enjoy this particular extra-curricular, so it should be fun.  Happy Monday!!

Only time for a short post right now (maybe more to come later)…

I’m off to CU for the day.  Again, having a schedule makes getting out of bed so much easier!  I’ll be doing a “work” day in Comp class, taking my students to the library website and showing them how to do real research with their research paper topics.  I always like this “lecture.”  I have to stop at the store on my way home today, and I have a bit of cleaning to do when I get home.  I’m hosting a girls night for my small group this evening.  I still have no idea who/how many girls are coming.  Should be a good time, though.

EDIT (10:49 am)  As for the rest of my weekend…I’ll be back in C-ville hanging out with the family on Saturday.  Karen & Erik will be around with Jason and Maggie (the dog), and Deb will probably bring the nieces over since my brother is out of town at a NASCAR race.  So we’re just going to have a big party at my parents’ house!

And most exciting…sometime after midnight on Saturday night, Eric is going to get home!!   I can hardly wait. END EDIT

Okay, need to get going.  Happy Friday!

Random Thoughts

Most importantly: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!!!

In other news:
Ps. 34:4 – “I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”  The night is always the most difficult time for me; I seem to have insufficient defenses between midnight and 6 am to combat the mental attacks that I struggle with the most.  In the dark, I can only see my own darkness, and it is difficult to see God’s light.  But even in the darkest moments of the night (literally and spiritually), this verse rings true.  Amen!

I got an email from a friend of mine last night.  I’m sure I’ve blogged about her and her family before.  They have 5 children under the age of 5 (the oldest turns 6 this month, I think), and two of the kids have cystic fibrosis.  She emailed me last night to tell me she’s expecting again, due in October, so if you think of it, pray that God would protect this little one from having the disease.

It was nice to have a schedule yesterday again.  My students were very attentive and responsive, overall, so that was very nice. I also realized that for the next three weeks (this one and the two following) I only have to work 2 of the 3 normal work days!  It’ll be April before I have to work a full week again!

I spent some time at Chris & Deb’s after classes yesterday.  It was fun to hang out with them, and Kelly invited me to stay for dinner.  Since she (at 5) would not be cooking dinner, I made her ask her mom.   Those two girls are pretty darn cute, I have to say. 

A happy thing: Eric called me briefly while I was at Chris & Deb’s, which was unexpected and so lovely!  They had left the park for gas and were getting ready to take a rougher road to see where it lead them.  But as they had cell phone service, he took the opportunity to call me.  We only talked for about 5 minutes (the service drops off very quickly out there), but it was so nice to hear his voice.  And he sounded like he was enjoying himself immensely, driving the Hummer for the first time!

Oh, and one funny story from the visit:  Holly, the younger niece, was playing with a letter game.  She pushed the “i” button.  The game said “I is for igloo” and showed a picture of an igloo.  I asked her, “What’s an igloo made of?”  Without hesitation, she piped up, “Penguins!”

Anyway, they had church last night, so we all left about 6:30.  They also let me borrow Ratatouille since I hadn’t seen it yet.  So I watched that when I got home, after chatting with Karen on the phone for a while.  I went to bed a little after 10.  Three more days until Eric comes home…I don’t know how BE made it for 3 whole weeks (and longer)!