February 2012
1 post
$2/day for food
We were challenges at an all-staff meeting today to try to live on $2/day for food as part of our Hole In The Gospel series. I did the math - 3 people, 30 days, $2/day - $180 dollars for a month of food.
My family’s regular grocery budget is $108 a month. In America. On the salary I get from KCC.
January 2012
1 post
I’ve been swimming for so long that it’s not fun anymore. Every once in a while the water calms enough for me to take a couple of strokes in what seems like the right direction. It’s hard to know though, when you can’t see a shore anywhere. It’s been a long time since I felt like I was making any progress. I’ve just been treading water lately. And now it feels...
December 2011
8 posts
New post @ Swimming Upstream →
November 2011
4 posts
Will someone else's life be brighter tomorrow... →
October 2011
6 posts
Helping Collin with homework and correcting his...
Me: "You should take a dictionary"
Him: I would but I can't get out my phone in class.
Me: No, I mean a real dictionary.
Him: (with real horror) You mean with PAPER?
I just still miss you so damn much sometimes.
Yep, it's about 6 months.
I’ve been on an organizing tear the last month at home. See, we move a lot. Collin and I were adding it up at breakfast today and in his 15 years, we’ve lived in 10 places. Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern to my system:
1. As soon as you move in: GET OUT OF BOXES. Unpack daily use stuff at whatever cost. You know that eventually you don’t want that stuff on that...
September 2011
7 posts
Why I Don't Cook At Home. →
2 tags
Joss Whedon: Feminist
Interviewer: So why do you write these strong female characters?
Whedon: Because you're still asking me that question.
Dear Target
What the hell happened to your website? Last time I visited, it was clean, neat and easily navigated. Now it’s slow loading, filled with giant images and words yelling at me and laid out like a magazine with a giant, screen-real estate hogging banner.
It is a terrible design for users who are looking for something specific - and that’s why most users visit the web component of a brick...
Trust your instincts.
Four years ago this fall, I made a bold choice. I was terrified, but knew it had to be done. I pulled my kids out of the public school system and began homeschooling them. Keep in mind that I’m a single mom, working a full-time, high stress job at a non-profit. That means I’m chronically short of time and money and energy. To add homeschooling to my todo list looked (and felt) like a...
5 tags
Forgiveness
“Let’s be a better person today: let’s forgive someone who wronged us-yesterday or ten years ago-just for today”
Heh. Again at first glance, I thought “I don’t do that- hold grudges. I let things go. I’m not angry at anyone.” And mostly that’s true. I don’t harbor any big ugly grudges against people. Even Jason, who frankly, I have...
Just for today
Backstory: about 5 years ago, my mom gave me a book called “Just For Today: Devotions for women that do too much” by Mari Peck. As indicated by the title, I definitely do to much and I didn’t even read the book right! I scanned through it in one sitting and put it away. I found it while unpacking yesterday and want to use it as a spring board for my daily devotions in the next...
July 2011
3 posts
Oh come ON!
My morning today was too ridiculous not to share. Yes, I live a parallel life in a Steve Martin movie. I submit exhibit A:
Sunday morning, 6 am, alarm goes off and I groggily get out of bed. Bonus: I have no voice from a week of strep throat but no biggie. I let the dog out and start the water for my hot tea and go back to the bedroom to get dressed. I get my bra & jeans on and realize all my...
The arrogance of willful ignorance →
June 2011
2 posts
Thanks Grandma!
I am finishing unpacking at my new house tonight and came across a framed piece of calligraphy that my grandma did maybe 20 years ago. The quote always resonated with me, even when I was young and had relatively few disappointments or real trials. It says,
“Be like the bird that, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs to slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she...
May 2011
4 posts
Strange Days
We are in the new house and settling in. It’s beginning to feel like home - the dog has found his favorite new napping spot as have the cats. The children love their new rooms and I love the spaciousness of the house. I love sitting in the living room on the world’s ugliest couch (that we inherited) and looking outside. It’s such a peaceful place.
Yesterday morning before the...
campterri asked: I really want to say thank you for posting the Nike Ad -- I've been looking for that text for YEARS!
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 2011
5 posts
High Tea for the Prince?
I got in to work yesterday and on my desk was an invitation. It was made in the style of a wedding invitation on pink paper with scrolly lettering. I sat down, intrigued and began to read…
It was an invitation to ‘high tea’ to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of that prince in England that’s getting married (I don’t remember his name). We were asked to bring finger...
Most Common Words In Toy Adverts - by gender →
*SIGH*
“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months over-analyzing a...”
– I saw this today. I’m framing it and putting it in my room. Look away if language offends you. It’s my new mantra.
“Work hard and be nice to people.”
March 2011
6 posts
Biggest Pet Peeve
I think I’ve just discovered something interesting. Everthing that drives me crazy is rooted in the same principle: I HATE HAVING MY TIME WASTED. Everything that frustrates me is based on that. It’s why I hate 2 hour meetings where nothing new is revealed or accomplished. It’s why I hate when anything goes longer than promised. I have to pack so many things into my walking hours...
Grief
I hate that I still stumble upon things in my world that make me think of you.
And I hate that it still makes me cry. It blindsides me and I can’t control it. No one around me understands. More than once I’ve almost called you, because you would understand. Pathetic.
I was on top of the world, and suddenly I feel like I’m being crushed beneath it. Damn you for having that much...
The Production Copy →
I’ve decided to separate out professional posts from personal ones. If you are interested in following my life as a stage manager, go to this site and subscribe. Better yet, join the conversation!
Why social media should matter to Christians
I’ve recently had a string of conversations with other Christ followers about the value of social media. In each conversation, I found myself on the defensive - trying to articulate how it was more than just a platform for self-promotion or another input point in an already information crazy world. Through these conversations, I’ve come up with a simple premise: social media is about...
EGWolfe: Humility →
egwolfe:
Observation:
Every Guru whose wisdom we seek out tends to have these qualities:
1. They work really hard.
2. They never stop learning how to improve their craft. Including the 101 level fundamentals.
I stopped into the greenroom earlier today at the Gurus of Tech Conference to refill my coffee…
February 2011
3 posts
Affirmation
Today was such a cool day. I am attending the Gurus of Tech conference with my team at Willow Creek next week and I was given the opportunity to come up early and spend the weekend with the WC production team. I got to sit in the booth with a com during rehearsal and the service and pepper their stage manager (the fabulous Chris Thomas) with questions. It was really eye opening, but not in the way...
Pathetic
I’m so sorry. Just ignore this post - it’s not my usual. But I want to get this down, so that when I’m finally okay again, I can see how far I’ve come. I never doubt that eventually I will be, you know. I’m the strongest person I know - which is quite possibly the thing I hate most about myself. I’ve survived some pretty heinous stuff in my life, which is why...
Sad and Empty
Today, I am trying to find my inner anger. Desperately. I’d so much rather be angry than…sad. I know there are things I should be angry about - I could list them - but it doesn’t sink in. It’s just a list of wrongs that feel like they’ve happened to someone else. Mostly I just feel this hole - where thinking about you used to make me smile, now I don’t know what...