California Dreamin'

Remember how a couple days ago I said I'd rather be at Josy's House in California?

Well, now I am. And yesterday included a visit to Micah and Laura's house and a tour of Micah's school.

They have flowers on the trees here. In January. Plus, walking around in jeans and a sweater, I was actually a little warm. It is very hard to remember why it is I am leaving again in a couple days.

Bad Blood

The NY TImes is doing a series on diabetes, with some really interesting information. This disease is somewhat of a mystery still, but trust me: its deadly. What really caught my eye was today's article on the healthcare system: It is more profitable to treat the complications of diabetes then to prevent them (like many other diseases, I'm sure). Of course, the "complications" include things like amputation, blindness, and heart attacks.

If you know someone with diabetes (a fairly likely situation) or if you are in a position of pastoral care, please visit the main page for the NY Times series here, and, if you are so inclined, visit the American Diabetes Association as well.

*shooting star* "The More You Know..."

Four Things From Frog

For fun, Frog forces "Fours"... yeah, thats all the alliteration I can manage this morning. So, without further ado:

Four Jobs I've Had
1. Setting up soccer goals for the Rec & Ed program. This was a great job - we had to get up early for sixteen-year-olds on a Saturday morning, but we got to go out to breakfast while the kids played, and still got paid for that time!
2. Camp counselor, teambuilder, program director. All at the same camp, so that still counts as one.
3. Door to door canvasser for PIRGIM. Yeah. That lasted three days.
4. Episcopal Priest. Current.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
1. Newsies
2. West Side Story
3. Bring It On
4. Casablanca

Four Places I've Lived
1. Ann Arbor
2. 1234 White Street. Yeah, the pizza guy wouldn't believe us either.
3. Seabury-Western cement block housing
4. My pretty condo

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch
1. Crossing Jordan
2. Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals
3. ALIAS
4. Gilmore Girls
(this season of West Wing is driving me nuts, otherwise that would be on there too)

Four Places I've Been on Vacation
1. Ireland
2. Minneapolis
3. The Bay Area
4. Badlands

Four Blogs You Visit Daily
1. Frogblog
2. Anglobaptist
3. AKMA's Random Thoughts
4. RevGals

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Artichoke-Sundried Tomato Pasta
2. Ice Cream, any flavor without nuts will do, chocolate is especially good
3. Pizza House Chapatis, hold the mushrooms
4. Chicago-style pizza. Deep dish, not stuffed.


Four Places You'd Rather Be
1. Josy's house, California
2. Back in bed, especially if Luke hasn't taken the flannel sheets off yet
3. at the movies
4. somewhere sunny and warm, like a beach in Hawaii or San Diego

Four Albums You Can't Live Without
1. All That We Let In - Indigo Girls
2. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - U2
3. One of my Carrie Newcomer cds, but I'm not sure which one
4. Family Tree - a mix that Si & I made last spring

Four Vehicles I've Owned
1. A pink and purple bike with a basket
2. A pink Plymouth Sundance that was supposed to be purple
3. A red camaro. Luke inherited it from his grandfather. Technically, it wasn't mine.. but we got married before we sold it.
4. A little car with Santa in it from my Christmas stocking

Four taggees
1. Stephanie
2. Janellen
3. Mark, cuz hes on vacation and has time
4. Hillary, cuz I know shes reads this and she should post too

In Today's NY Times...

So, it seems like I've been talking a lot about Luke's accomplishments on my blog lately.. but he's just doing so much! Here is the latest in his trend of publications:

New York Times Letters to the Editors

Not exactly the kind of thing one puts on a CV, but still exciting.

Day Late, Dollar Short - Friday Fives

Where does that phrase come from, anyway?

I am, in fact, a dollar short. I wanted to buy a snack yesterday when I was driving around and I could've sworn I had a dollar in my purse. Unfortunately I did not. I was sad because I was craving one of those candy bars with the pretzels and carmel and peanuts. But then we had soup & salad supper for Epiphany at church, and it was lovely. And much better for me.

Later, I might have something to say about that TV show thats getting so much buzz... but, it conflicted with the Pistons game, so Daniel was taped but not watched yet in our house. I'll just be a day behind.

I am also a day late with the Friday quizzes. And one will be a bit short. Here goes...

The RevGals Friday Five: Housewifery
St. Casserole and I would like to know four household products, utensils or appliances that have served you well and truly. For item #5, please share with us one of the above we should never, ever, under any circumstances purchase or expect to manipulate, use or otherwise operate successfully.

1. My 8" Wusthoff Classic Chef's knife. I love it, I use it for everything. Its a great shape, the handle is comfortable (not too big for my small hands), and its wide enough to use for smashing garlic or pitting olives without cutting my hands.

2. My big wooden cutting board with the grooves for handles. This board is huge. Like my buddy/idol Rachael Ray says, if you have a big cutting board, you can just make little piles of stuff as you go and you don't have to worry about when you chop things. Also, my brilliant husband had the idea that we only chop on one side of the board. That way, we can flip it over, and have a nice wooden board for serving stuff. It usually doubles as a cheese tray.

3. Um... I hate cleaning. I don't really do it, if I can help. Luke, on the other hand, hates grocery shopping. So... you'll have to ask him about the rest of the things that are supposed to go on this list.


Tripp tagged me for another Friday game. He even emailed me to tell me. Wasn't that nice of him?

The Friday Feast (via Tripp)

Appetizer Have you ever seen a ghost or an angel?
I was simply going to say no, but AKMA's answer was so perfect that I will simply defer to him.

Soup What is your favorite board game?
My favorite game is Apples to Apples, but it only has cards and no board. So, to really answer the question, I will have to say Trivial Pursuit.

Salad What was the last movie you saw that made you cry?
Narnia. I cried at the beginning when all the children were getting on the train. I actually thought that was the hardest part of the movie to watch.

Main Course What would you do if you had 3 months off from your job?
Travel. We had dinner with friends this week, and they are going the most amazing places this year! Japan, South Africa, Alaska, maybe Turkey, maybe London... they invited us to go along on a trip. It got me antsy to go some place interesting.

Of course, the next time I take three months off work will probably coincide with the arrival of a child. Which won't be for a while, in case anyone is wondering.

Dessert What kind of shoes are you wearing today?
Well, I'm inside at the moment, so I'm not wearing any. But when I leave for the store in a few minutes, I will put on my red leather Mary Jane-style shoes from the Bass outlet in Michigan City. Red shoes rock.

Sound Wave

The recording session was incredibly sucessful. In just four hours, we laid down six or seven songs! I was so impressed with the focus and talent of the group, of our ability to work together and be creative, without anyone's ego flaring up - and have an incredibly fun and sacred time doing it. Of course, I shouldn't be suprised at all. These are the same folks who spent summers together caring for kids and trying to teach them something about our faith in God and Christian community. Those lessons seem to have sunk in. Anyway - there is still a lot of work to be done. We are going to add some percussion tracks and things, but we hope to have the cd produced and done in a few months. Not bad for amateurs!

In other audio news, Luke made a brief appearance on our favorite NPR show yesterday! The Diane Rehm Show, out of American University, is fabulous because Diane Rehm is just an incredible interviewer. She usually covers a current event or issue in the first hour of her show, and the second hour is devoted to something more cultural - an author or actor or book discussion. Yesterday's current event topic was the minimum wage. Have I mentioned here that Luke just had an article accepted for publication on this topic? Its his first solo-publication, and we're very excited. Anyway, Luke called in to comment on the show and got through. You can listen to him on the archive here, if you like. Its a good show to listen to anyway - it is likely that this issue may be coming to a ballot near you next November. Perhaps I will have Luke write a guest-post here to get further into it.

In even more audio news, the Sacristan is attempting podcasting. He has an mp3 up of his sermon on the Feast of the Holy Name. Funny... we both quoted Romeo & Juliet in our sermons. It will be a rare week when Fr Jeff and I quote the same things, and I'm sure his biretta is spinning at the thought. Of course, Micah points out that just about everyoen quotes Romeo & Juliet on this feast becasue its simply a great quote. Nonetheless, I'm excited for this... innovation... and if anyone has the tech skills to lend him a hand, please hop over and do so!

Finally, on a non-audio note, this is the week of General Ordination Exams. All y'all are in my thoughts and prayers this week. You're more than halfway there now! Good luck to you all!