O, lovely orange

Oh, yea! It's Hoopfest!

Oh, crap, it's Hoopfest.

This is the time of year when our thoughts extend to finances, taxes, the rising cost of living, inner city violence, and global warming. Yep, Spokane's own salute to the street ball tournament that honors the scrappy, the skilled, the wiley, and the willing to risk all for the chance to win-----a t-shirt.

I have a beautiful friend who gets great joy from watching her children play this game. They get a hotel room every year and wring every smidgeon of fun out of the entire weekend. I don't know how to do that.

When I'm downtown, I get completely distracted by wondering at all the young girls with half their clothes on, wanting to eat from every food booth I walk by, getting to the next game on time, remembering who has my cell phone and if I'm supposed to call someone with some important info, remembering where Starbucks is in proximity to my courts, seeing if my clothes are still clean enough to be in public since I'm supposed to be a grown-up, and straining to hit any store with the word "Clearance" or "Sale" visible from the sidewalk. In light of all this significant mental occupation, how am I supposed to concentrate on a game played by whining little girls who cry about getting shoved around in the 90-degree plus heat? And that's just the men's bracket.

This year I'm bringing my mp3 player, an umbrella, a loaded VISA card, and my camera--and I'm keeping my cell phone, thank you very much. Huck, dribble, drive, fake, screen, post up, block out, and use those boards--you are all this wonderful potential blog fodder.

It's Nice to Be Us...

We did something kind of different yesterday, five of us Ya-Yas. We accompanied Cheryl to a hair appt and two doctor thingies. While Tina and I waited through her fake haircut, Tina sat in the other salon seat where I massaged her scalp with my fingernails. Then it was my turn, and she gave me this fabulous neck and shoulder payback--eeYUM! Tina was captivated by the antique books and relics in the hutch. I like when her childlike earnestness draws me into her world. Lunch was traumatic for me, and I was genuinely grateful to be surrounded by friends who cared enough to invest time and heart in settling me back down. [I forgive your bad attitude, you cranky cashier.]

I do agree that it’s probably easier to be heartless, but He made me sensitive, so this is my cup. Fortunately, He drank first, and He took it in hot and full so that I wouldn’t get burned.

The art we saw at Annie’s work place was so interesting--a destination spot all by itself! Thank you for the sweet welcome and for the personal tour! You are one beauty-full chica! Wishing you standing O's on your show, too!

I noticed that we get looks everywhere we go—the doctor’s office, library, restaurants, just everywhere. It must be fairly unusual for five women to go places together. It begins with noticing two of us, usually in front, and then a scan that takes in the other three, and then the realization that we are all together.

And yeah, we ARE altogether lovely!

I miss you the most when we say goodbye. XO

what I like

• having my family home and I'm in the kitchen baking
• getting to stay in on a stupidly cold day
• Ya-Ya time
• drop-in friends who take me out to dinner
• savoring a warm book
• how my dogs love me no matter what
• Grace
• the color of my cat's eyes
• when my family likes what I made
• a bargain wardrobe
• salmon-colored roses
• milk chocolate when it's bendy but not melting
• a full yellow jacket trap
• thinking of better days for Jewelee
• imagining Jamara having a good day
• justice
• but I like mercy more
• my daughter's auburn hair
• an honest answer
• Napoleons
• novel arrangement of words
• buffet pants
• when Kathy is content and appreciated
• father-bride dances
• seeing something familiar in a new light
• baby belly laughs
• the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk
• knowing I encouraged someone
• one wrinkled hand in wrinkled hand
• real butter
• gel pens
• clear pictures of my kids' faces
• Jylle's exuberance
  
• quiet kindness
• campfires
• Jewelee's sense of humor
  
• Glenice's heart
• Rosie-isms
  
• Tina's face when she's thinking out loud and planning something fun
• lovin' on Chelsea
• Cheryl's excitement
• Kim's love for me
  
• the color of Jeannie's eyes
• good manners
• the first heavy snowfall
• the first warm spring day
• croissants
• vibrant color
• shiny things--even fishing lures keep me busy
• pumpkin pie with Breyer's vanilla ice cream for breakfast
• getting a card with a picture in it and something handwritten
• Brett's one-liners
• homemade soap
• being able to give spontaneously
• Josiah
• Stephanie's singing
• the smell of cut grass
• getting facebook & myspace messages
• magenta
• my mom's laugh
• kidding with my dad
• seeing Alan's joyfulness
• knowing Jeny's such a beautiful person
• French silk pie
• seeing my kids run
• capturing a good picture
• loping on my horse
• saying "fluffles"
• mandarin oranges, sweet watermelon, and crisp grapes
  
• Ryrie's "dumb" voice
• handmade quilts
• when I hear Your voice and really listen
• family movie night
• watching one of her brothers patiently teach Jylle something
• Annie's blog
• mexi-fries
• intimate moments
• sunrise in my back yard
• sunset in my front yard
• watching my kids tube
• watching my Kevin water ski
• chenille gloves
• See's chocolate-chocolate butter creams
  
• my front porch swing
• Shasta daisy plants
• happy endings
• Kev's excitement about deer & elk
• when my kids do stuff without being told
• unexpected kindness
• helpful neighbors
• clean comedy
  
• the word "sugarplum"
  
• steelies (maybe I should include this in shiny things...)
  
• making someone laugh
• nice comments
• 
  

Happy Birthday, my Caro

First a little catch-up:

• Homebound for longer than I can ever remember. Becoming a hermit, so must be aware not to keep the light hidden.
• Brett: China this summer, great grades; Ryan: possibly pursue a career as a PA ; Jylle BB & Passport to Purity weekend
• Precepts Study on Daniel (love how entwined the scriptures are, how they support one another and lead me on to other searches, other of His Truths; I like the dailyness of getting into it and knowing the other ladies will have been doing the same; I like how other questions and info come up on study night, not just reading the answers to all the questions but relating one chapter to the next and then the next and seeing His heart and nature revealed. I’m becoming familiar with the specific words in one chapter at a time, and I seek His Spirit to reveal what He’s written down for us to know).
• What We’re working on now: Being freed from sin for the privilege of serving. I’ll start wanting something until satisfying my big ME is my focus. That’s the goal, to have and to hold that satisfaction. Slowly over days or weeks it dawns on me that I am not satisfied… like needing dinner and the popcorn I’ve been eating is the ticket—only it’s not, and now I still need dinner AND I’ve stupidly eaten 1,000 senseless calories. Think “Lean Cuisine for the soul.” The satisfaction I think I want tastes a certain way, feels a certain way, and I’m coming to identify it before IT feeds on ME. What Jesus did for me put to death my enslavement to sin and the need for addiction to selfishness. Because He opened my prison cell, I am free to pursue a satisfaction this world pays honor to with its mouth, but disdains in its heart. I am free to serve. THIS tastes a certain way, feels a certain way, and I’m coming to identify it as the dinner I’ve been wanting for a long, long time.

Living there all the time sure doesn’t happen overnight though, does it…


===========================


You make me smile
You make me wonder
You make me listen
You make me think

I love when we swing
I love when we snuggle
I love when we’re “in our zone”
I love when we’re close

You flip my switch
You snap my cracker
You swish my basket
You float my boat

I love your sparkle
I love your stride
I love your knowledge
I love your courage

You peanut my butter
You sugar my tea
You white my rice
You lyric my melody

You drive kinda hard
You like to hug a long time
You make me crazy
You keep me sane

When I make you blush, I grin like mad
When I make you happy, it’s like a gold medal
When I make you laugh, my heart sings
When I make you cry, I taste the salt

We’ve come a long way
We’ve been through a lot
We’re growing into children
We’re growing into Love-ers

I never now what's coming next
I never know if I'm doing it right
I never know your true pulse point
Until in childlike manner you tell it so

You remind me of rosebuds
You remind me of thistle
You remind me of Heaven
You remind me of Joy

I celebrate the day we met
I celebrate the day we first snuggled
I celebrate the friend I have in you
I celebrate today, the day you were born


"May the God of peace make you holy through and through. May you be kept in soul and mind and body in spotless integrity until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is utterly faithful and he will finish what he has set out to do." ~1 Thess 5:23 (JB)

S.O.C.E.D.

Shopping on Christmas Eve Day (SOCED) is the least stressful shopping day of the year. Everyone finished their lists on the 23rd, and now the only people in the stores are those who forgot "one more thing." When it's only one thing, there are virtually no lines, and if there is one, it doesn't take long! *zzzip* Even the traffic is lighter.

Two years ago when I engaged in this little tradition of SOCED, I had coffee at a popular espresso place with a dear friend, and there were only a couple of people at the other tables. Right off the bat at the first store we hit, they were giving away real wreaths for free. At the mall, I bought all the 18 people on my list their gifts at the same prices I would've paid the day before, but without the blood, snot, and migraine, and was helped by sales clerks who were thankful I was not a family. (Y'see, one shopper on the 23rd represents an average of 4 other shoppers who are also in the store somewhere with their own lists and armloads to check out. They recognized me as an SOCED-er, the rare and coveted breed of customer.) I'm glad to see them--they're glad to see me--the beautiful symbiotic symmetry of capitalist consumerism at its best!

Ah'm a happy girl with this little gift to myself... Merry Christmas to me! And to y'all, too!