Things I love… this week

• Feist singing the “1234″ song on Sesame Street
• My new found obsession with beatboxing.  I can’t really do it, but I have an image of myself that is much cooler and could do it. I think I’m more obsessed with the idea.
• Regina Spektor,  Counting Crows and Todd Agnew on my ipod
• Christmas crafting. I am planning to make stockings for E, Andy and me. I am also planning to make stuffed animals for E and other little friends. Then there will be aprons, fabric baskets and t-shirt stenciling… good thing I’m starting now.
• Elliot trying so hard to say new words
• The Electric Company
• Craftster.org
• Dreaming of a new teeny, tiny laptop
• Trying to come up with appropriate “material” for the funny festival this year
• Mulled wine
• “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
• Elliot’s first official word (see video)
• Wicked Good slippers
• Craft bazaar season is here!
• Recipe sharing with Kali

Life has been SO full lately.  It has been full of commitments that mean less family time.  Too many days of Andy walking in the door and me just getting ready to leave. Oye. Things will be different this month. Lots of good winter family time ahead. I am so looking forward to it. And then my parents are coming up for Christmas. It will be nice to be with family for Christmas, its been a long time. I hope they know what they are getting into– coming up to Fairbanks in December.

I love this time of year. Winter has just begun and there are parties to look forward to, gifts to make, recipes to find, and reasons to celebrate with friends.

Recommendation: Something to put your coffee in

I have had the same travel coffee mug for 9 years. I got it at Target when I used to work there in college. It was $18. I thought that was a very extravagant coffee mug purchase at the time. However– it lasted 9 years! The past few weeks it’s started to leak around the lid and I have had embarrassing coffee stains on my shirt… too many times.
So I’ve been searching for a replacement and found one I am very excited about.

JOEmo XL Time Capsule Mug = AWESOME

It’s double-wall vacuum sealed, stainless steel and it closes tight with a lid so you can throw it in your bag without spilling. AND… it keeps drinks hot for 6-8 hours. AMAZING. It even comes with a basket for loose tea. Versatile and functional! I love it!

Since last time…

Since last time:

- I had Vacation Bible School at church. A very crazy, and good week.

-  Elliot started walking along furniture.

- We traveled to Wisconsin & Iowa. We attended both State Fairs… and Iowa wins. They mostly have the same stuff, but ISF is just roomier and nicer. I feel like a traitor, but nothing will ever replace the nostalgia of the WSF for me.

- My sister, Kali, moved back to the US. We got to visit with her in WI. Good to have her stateside.

- Elliot started (finally) crawling on all fours (instead of the army crawl).

- Andy and I got to go to a Packer’s pre-season game at Lambeau with Kali and Dad. It was pretty awesome. I’ve never been to a game there. Even if it was pre-season, it was exciting.

- Elliot got to visit with all of his aunts and uncles. He’s got a lot of people who love him.

- We celebrated Elliot’s first birthday. He had his first piece of cake. It was from Hyvee. I am a little sad that it wasn’t a homemade cupcake… but it was vacation. He just about swallowed the piece whole. It was very entertaining.

- Elliot went on his first “big boy” swing.

- The school year started– which means I have been VERY busy at work getting Sunday school, youth groups, bible studies, etc. all up and running. I am serving with WONDERFUL people this year and am excited about what the year will bring.

- I went on a Confirmation class retreat. It was, once again, a good time. Great kids this year. We’ll see what God’s gonna do.

- Elliot finally started getting his front two teeth so he doesn’t have fangs anymore:

- Our friends Heather & Cody had their twins! Cynara and Dalton… and they are perfect. Their baptism was last Sunday and I got to make the cake (white cake with raspberry filling & vanilla buttercream)!

- Andy and I went on a real date last night! We got tickets to see Natasha Leggero at the Blue Loon. Should was good. Funny and so not a Fairbanks girl, but she pulled it all together. Dinner and a little comedy. I like it.

Now that life is getting back into a more normal routine, I hope things slow down a bit. The past couple of months have been  a blur. I think the pace of life will become more regular now that we’re moving into fall… and then… gasp!… winter.

Magical Breakfast

Normally I go to the gym in the morning and Andy feeds Elliot breakfast. Last Wednesday Andy wanted to get to work a little early and asked if I would feed E. He had already mixed up the cereal and it was all ready to go. Sounds good. I finish getting dressed and take E downstairs and put him in his highchair. I put on his bib and start shoveling cereal into his drooly little mouth. About halfway through the bowl I take a closer look at the cereal and wonder what it’s mixed with. (We usually mix in fruit of some kind.) I taste the cereal and it has an unusual (but not horrible) garlic-y taste.
I call Andy.

Me: “What did you mix into Elliot’s cereal?”

A: “Blueberries.”

Me: “Really? Because it has a weird garlic-y taste…”

A: “Yeah, the blueberries on the top shelf in the fridge.”

Me: “Oh, you mean the container full of bean dip?!”

So Elliot had his first taste of chipotle black bean dip. He really liked it and didn’t suffer any massive blow outs later.
I’ve since vowed to label everything in the fridge.

One of these things is not like the other

I am staring at a blank text box… having no idea what to write about. I could continue to bore you about how busy my life is– but so is yours! My life is no different. I’ve been given the same gift of 24 hours in a day. I get so frustrated when people feel that they are victims of their own schedules. So… here is me not complaining.

I asked Andy what I should write about and he said I should write about sex toys.

Imagine this scenario for a moment… There are 4 women at a table, enjoying a glass of wine and talking about the vintage and the fruity vanilla undertones of the wine and suddenly… BAM… the conversation takes a hairpin turn into comparisons of vibrators, bikini waxing, and buying batteries at Sam’s club. Imagine three women contributing to this conversation and exchanging advice. Now imagine me… the deer in the headlights. Smiling, wide-eyed, and praying that no one will ask me what I think.

WOW. What do you do in such a situation? I have no idea, obviously. I have found similar conversations happen when  certain groups of women get together. Needless to say, I have not encountered such conversations at women’s bible study at church. Ha.
The reason I am posting about this is because 1) It’s funny and 2) It’s a great example of how I feel “different” from a  lot of people. When I am with a group of people who aren’t Christians, I just feel… different. I know that’s sort of how it works but I feel like I have a hard time connecting. My life is so saturated in church that I find myself surprised when I see and hear what a lot of people are dealing with and talking about. But these relationships are important to me.  I love the time I spend with my friends “outside the walls”, but how do I balance being different and being with them.

What do you think Jesus did when he ate with Matthew and his buddies? I imagine that he met them where they were and did not compromise what he was about.

I’m working on that.

***Additional thought (7.20.09) This post is just one example of how lame I am.

I’m just sayin’

Inventory

I think when you step back and examine your life, you call it “taking inventory”. Right? Well, that’s what I’m calling it. I’ve been taking inventory of my life. How much of me is there to go around? I just don’t want to be one of those women who try make everyone around them think that they are good moms because they just don’t have one single minute to themselves. That isn’t true. Even with kids– you make your own choices. I think we have a pretty good balance of time with E and grown-up time. But we’ve had to work at it. With some of my extra time, as you know, I’ve been doing a lot of baking.

That being said, I’ve sort of struck out into unknown waters for myself. I am selling cupcakes. Who knew? I’ve completed a few orders already and have been working on ways to get my name out in the community. I had a meeting last week with a woman from the university. She has great ideas, advice, and insight about small business in Fairbanks. She hooked me up with another small business woman and I am going to be selling at the farmer’s market this Saturday. That is exciting stuff! However… back to the inventory thing…

I don’t have enough room in my life right now to take on a small business that has weekly committments. I can’t do a booth at the market yet. I have a full time  (+) job, and a family that I actually like to hang out with. So… I am working at the market this Saturday and I will see how it goes. I would like to just take orders now and then, but I need a way to get people to taste these little guys. Maybe a holiday bazaar or two this Fall. That will be enough, for now.

However exciting all of this is, I have other committments in my life that come first. Family. Ministry Stuff. My own sanity.

I know there are things that I need to get done in ministry at Zion. Even after 6 years, those things remain unclear, but I just know that I’m not finished there. So I need to focus. I can still do the baking that I love… I just need to be careful about how much I take on at once.

My hope is that no one else takes over the cupcake market before I’m ready to really run with it.