Time to update-- not that I have a lot to update about.
This past Sunday was our last day teaching the second grade. I made them cookies, which several of them turned down-- more for everyone else, I say. :) They were a fun bunch to teach, and as much as I like the idea of not having to come up with something to keep their attention for an hour every week, I'll miss teaching them.
I cleaned our blinds on Saturday, which made me wish we had a yard and a hose. The reason for that is, I rinsed them off in the shower. It took the combined efforts of six bath towels to clean up all the water off the floor, but we have clean blinds now on all our windows, so I suppose it was worth it.
My bike tyre is flat; I've been getting a lift to work the past few days. While decreasing my chances of getting killed on my way to work, this arrangement also decreases the excitement and adventure in my life.
We leave for Scotland in just over a week, and I'm pretty sure everyone will be happy to be free of me for a couple of weeks. Everyone at work now (forcibly) knows almost as much about Scotland as I do. It will be a quiet place with me gone...
17 August 2006
Cycling in the rain
Wow, five posts in four days. I've gone crazy!
This week (can't remember if I've written about this or not) I've been cycling to and from work. So far, so good. Of course, this week we've also gotten more rain that we've had all summer. But I'll take it. In fact, on Monday night I really thought it was going to pour down, so I prayed, "If I have to get wet, so be it. Please let it rain." Well, the Lord kept the rain away until after I got home, anyway, which I appreciated, although I was 100% sincere in my prayer. I got sprinkled on Tuesday evening, and today, the rain started after I had already arrived at work. I was happy about that, because it's bad enough to arrive at the office in a T-shirt and shorts, without adding being completely drenched to the mix. I was all set to ride home this evening, but one of the girls in the office talked me into leaving my bike behind, offering to take me home tonight and bring me back tomorrow morning. So I accepted, which turned out to be good, since it did start raining while we were coming home.
So, I need to buy: 1. A poncho. 2. Reflective tape of some sort. 3. No, that's it. I'd like to have a basket, but that isn't paramount to my safety, so I can't call it a need.
Three weeks until we leave!
This week (can't remember if I've written about this or not) I've been cycling to and from work. So far, so good. Of course, this week we've also gotten more rain that we've had all summer. But I'll take it. In fact, on Monday night I really thought it was going to pour down, so I prayed, "If I have to get wet, so be it. Please let it rain." Well, the Lord kept the rain away until after I got home, anyway, which I appreciated, although I was 100% sincere in my prayer. I got sprinkled on Tuesday evening, and today, the rain started after I had already arrived at work. I was happy about that, because it's bad enough to arrive at the office in a T-shirt and shorts, without adding being completely drenched to the mix. I was all set to ride home this evening, but one of the girls in the office talked me into leaving my bike behind, offering to take me home tonight and bring me back tomorrow morning. So I accepted, which turned out to be good, since it did start raining while we were coming home.
So, I need to buy: 1. A poncho. 2. Reflective tape of some sort. 3. No, that's it. I'd like to have a basket, but that isn't paramount to my safety, so I can't call it a need.
Three weeks until we leave!
15 August 2006
Eight o' clock
Well, as anyone who knows me at all can attest, I am not one for forwards. I do not enjoy being told that I am a selfish person because I refuse to annoy 30 people in my address book with a false story about someone dying of a ingrown toenail. I do not believe that all my fondest dreams will come true at 9:12 am tomorrow, but only if I send this to 7 people and make a wish. And, finally, I refuse to believe that "something cool" will pop onto my screen as soon as I send this on to 100 of my closest friends and relatives.
However, this one I liked. And rather than send it to an inbox near you, I am posting it on my various blogs in the hopes that someone will read it and join in. I don't intend to follow the instructions to the letter; however, our nation needs prayers, and the thought of even a few people joining together to pray at the same time is an exciting one. So here is the (tidied up and grammar-checked) forward:
During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour to collectively pray for one minute for the safety of England, its people, and for peace.
There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in the US.
If you would like to participate:
Every evening at 9:00 PM ET (adjust for your time zone), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for peace in the world.
If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.
May God bless and keep you.
However, this one I liked. And rather than send it to an inbox near you, I am posting it on my various blogs in the hopes that someone will read it and join in. I don't intend to follow the instructions to the letter; however, our nation needs prayers, and the thought of even a few people joining together to pray at the same time is an exciting one. So here is the (tidied up and grammar-checked) forward:
During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour to collectively pray for one minute for the safety of England, its people, and for peace.
There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in the US.
If you would like to participate:
Every evening at 9:00 PM ET (adjust for your time zone), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for peace in the world.
If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.
May God bless and keep you.
13 August 2006
Shopping
I accidentally went to Wal-Mart yesterday.
I don't mean by "accidentally" that I tripped and that's where I landed, or that I was unconscious and was carried there or anything. In fact, I was out shopping for back-to-school trinkets for the cherubs in our Sunday School class, and spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so in Mardel picking up pencils, stickers, etc. But, Wal-Mart is across the street from Mardel, and I needed a new drink holder for my bicycle (the old one was broken in my accident last fall, and gradually more and more pieces fell off of it to the point that it was no longer viable as a drink holder). So, in what I can only suppose was heat-induced madness, I thought to myself, "I'll just pop into Wal-Mart while I'm here and get a new drink holder." Also, I decided to look at the prices for decaffeinated tea, since my normal grocery store charges much more than I'm willing to pay, but I'm planning to make the switch to decaf as soon as my current stash is gone.
Now, I am not normally a WM shopper. I really don't like it there. They may have low prices, but that doesn't make up for the huge crowds and poor customer service. And going at night, which I used to do, doesn't really help that much-- the crowds may be gone, but the service is even worse, if you can believe that. Plus, since they do all of their stocking at night, the peanut butter you need may well be hidden behind a huge pallet of Windex.
Anyway, I made my way across the street, to the WM parking lot. Now, I seriously don't know why anyone would bother trying to actually park in that lot. I personally, if I had a car, would park three blocks away and walk, because that's about as close to the door as you can get, anyway. After I chained my bike to a convenient cart corral (one of the cycling perks), I went to stand in the queue trying to get in. Seriously, there were so many people going in and out, that there was a literal queue at the door. Once inside, it was a trek of several minutes to get to the bicycle section. Not because it's such a large store, but because half of the population of Lubbock was inside (I'm supposing the other half was at the other WM in town). And apparently quite a lot of people needed bicycle drink holders, because while there is normally a wide variety of said drink holders, there was only one yesterday. I poked around for a while to see if there were any others lurking somewhere, but no such luck. I also got to have a nice conversation with a woman who was in the bicycle section on the same errand, and I was amused by a small group of people nearby who were buying a bike for a young man (presumably, a new college student) who doesn't have a car. They were getting extra inner tubes and all sorts of gadgets, while he looked like he just wanted to take his bike and go. Meanwhile, the conversation ran something like this: "And how will you get to ____ on a bike?" "Well, I guess I'll go on X street, up to Y stoplight, then turn left..." I felt kind of sorry for him, and contemplating telling these rather flustered ladies that you can, in fact, go just about anywhere in this city on a bike, but I decided that would only bring their flusterment upon myself. So I headed for the self-checkout and out the door. It was only when I got home that I realised that I still don't know how much decaf tea is at Wal-Mart.
Moral of the story: Never, ever go to Wal-Mart on a Saturday. Or any other day, if you can help it.
I don't mean by "accidentally" that I tripped and that's where I landed, or that I was unconscious and was carried there or anything. In fact, I was out shopping for back-to-school trinkets for the cherubs in our Sunday School class, and spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so in Mardel picking up pencils, stickers, etc. But, Wal-Mart is across the street from Mardel, and I needed a new drink holder for my bicycle (the old one was broken in my accident last fall, and gradually more and more pieces fell off of it to the point that it was no longer viable as a drink holder). So, in what I can only suppose was heat-induced madness, I thought to myself, "I'll just pop into Wal-Mart while I'm here and get a new drink holder." Also, I decided to look at the prices for decaffeinated tea, since my normal grocery store charges much more than I'm willing to pay, but I'm planning to make the switch to decaf as soon as my current stash is gone.
Now, I am not normally a WM shopper. I really don't like it there. They may have low prices, but that doesn't make up for the huge crowds and poor customer service. And going at night, which I used to do, doesn't really help that much-- the crowds may be gone, but the service is even worse, if you can believe that. Plus, since they do all of their stocking at night, the peanut butter you need may well be hidden behind a huge pallet of Windex.
Anyway, I made my way across the street, to the WM parking lot. Now, I seriously don't know why anyone would bother trying to actually park in that lot. I personally, if I had a car, would park three blocks away and walk, because that's about as close to the door as you can get, anyway. After I chained my bike to a convenient cart corral (one of the cycling perks), I went to stand in the queue trying to get in. Seriously, there were so many people going in and out, that there was a literal queue at the door. Once inside, it was a trek of several minutes to get to the bicycle section. Not because it's such a large store, but because half of the population of Lubbock was inside (I'm supposing the other half was at the other WM in town). And apparently quite a lot of people needed bicycle drink holders, because while there is normally a wide variety of said drink holders, there was only one yesterday. I poked around for a while to see if there were any others lurking somewhere, but no such luck. I also got to have a nice conversation with a woman who was in the bicycle section on the same errand, and I was amused by a small group of people nearby who were buying a bike for a young man (presumably, a new college student) who doesn't have a car. They were getting extra inner tubes and all sorts of gadgets, while he looked like he just wanted to take his bike and go. Meanwhile, the conversation ran something like this: "And how will you get to ____ on a bike?" "Well, I guess I'll go on X street, up to Y stoplight, then turn left..." I felt kind of sorry for him, and contemplating telling these rather flustered ladies that you can, in fact, go just about anywhere in this city on a bike, but I decided that would only bring their flusterment upon myself. So I headed for the self-checkout and out the door. It was only when I got home that I realised that I still don't know how much decaf tea is at Wal-Mart.
Moral of the story: Never, ever go to Wal-Mart on a Saturday. Or any other day, if you can help it.
12 August 2006
Four more weeks!
So, we're now inside a month until we go to Scotland. I am looking forward to this trip so much-- coming back to Lubbock is going to be very depressing afterwards. Ce la vie...
So I go into work on Thursday morning, in my usual "morning" mode (happy, but not particularly talkative), all ready to start my day, and the woman who sits next to me starts talking about what she thought the terrorists were doing, how it was probably meant to be on the anniversary of 9/11, and I stop her by saying, "What are you talking about?" She has, you haven't heard?, written all over her face. Well, I generally don't watch the news in the morning, ever since Katie Couric left the Today show, and because I also discovered what a great time of day that is to read my Bible or chat with my husband. Anyway, Marcha gives me the readers' digest version of the plotted terrorist attack, which sends me scrambling to the BBC news website. And throughout the day, my co-workers all expressed varying degrees of concern about our impending trip. For me, though, I'm not worried. Partly because Jesus said, "Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" which, admittedly, has some disturbing implications in this particular situation, and also because Paul wrote, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." And on a purely silly level, if I die on my way back from Scotland, at least I will die happy.
Finally finished a baby blanket for my newest cousin, who is now three months (and ten days) old. I rarely finish blankets before the baby is born, and I would like to be able to say this is the record latest finish, but it isn't. My record is four and a half months. I suppose I could say my friends and family are used to me by now...
So I go into work on Thursday morning, in my usual "morning" mode (happy, but not particularly talkative), all ready to start my day, and the woman who sits next to me starts talking about what she thought the terrorists were doing, how it was probably meant to be on the anniversary of 9/11, and I stop her by saying, "What are you talking about?" She has, you haven't heard?, written all over her face. Well, I generally don't watch the news in the morning, ever since Katie Couric left the Today show, and because I also discovered what a great time of day that is to read my Bible or chat with my husband. Anyway, Marcha gives me the readers' digest version of the plotted terrorist attack, which sends me scrambling to the BBC news website. And throughout the day, my co-workers all expressed varying degrees of concern about our impending trip. For me, though, I'm not worried. Partly because Jesus said, "Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" which, admittedly, has some disturbing implications in this particular situation, and also because Paul wrote, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." And on a purely silly level, if I die on my way back from Scotland, at least I will die happy.
Finally finished a baby blanket for my newest cousin, who is now three months (and ten days) old. I rarely finish blankets before the baby is born, and I would like to be able to say this is the record latest finish, but it isn't. My record is four and a half months. I suppose I could say my friends and family are used to me by now...
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