Ch-ch-ch-changes

Not to be confused with ch-ch-ch-chia pets.

Lots of things changing right about now. New job, new town, new apartment. Good gosh everything is so new. I feel kinda new too. Which is weird because I'm still me and life is still life and well nothing has officially changed yet . . . . but I still feel different.

Maybe it's the knowledge that I'm about to do something that I've always wanted to do but never really admitted to myself (or others for that matter). Maybe I'm finally moving out of the place of transition and man does that feel good. Maybe this excitement and newness I feel is because as a friend told me, it's been dark for so long and the light is finally shining through.

Funny, it's feels like spring to me with all the new things popping up and yet a winter chill is moving in to town. Maybe my time to bloom is in the dead of fall and winter.

In all the changes I know I've dropped the ball on posting, at least the posts where I share my heart and mind. I'm still the same ol Kpinion so you know I've got something up in my head tumbling around. Hopefully it will make it's way to paper and I can share it with you.

But for now, I'm in the middle of changes, and it feels good.

Normal Friday night in Texas

Burgers on the grill

Tailgating

Sweatshirts

Hot Chocoloate

Numb bottoms from sitting on COLD metal benches for a couple hours

Homecoming football game

Normal Friday night in Texas

Overheard

"I'd like to pray for all the widows because I know what it's like to be a woman alone."

Oh, did I mention that this jewel of a statment came from a SECOND GRADER.

We train them well

It's Homecoming week at my school (and no we don't celebrate with mums). Today I arrived to find a rather distrubing sight, my principal's head affixed to the body of Jessica Simpson. Somehow this is supposed to encourage school spirit . . . . ummm yeah.

As I tried to convince my favorite second grader that that was in fact a life size cutout of our fearless leader, she informed me that it couldn't be him because . . .

"Nuh Unh , if it was really him he would have arm pit hair."

Yep, I walked away with a little bit more confidence in the future of our country and the impact I'm making on that future.

Voted most likely to . . . .

Trip and fall in front of her entire class reunion.

HA, how appropriate would that be if I had not only been voted that in high school but if it had come true. Especially because I never hit the cash bar at the reunion, so my fall would have been due to my special aformentioned gift of falling and not induced by any foreign substance. Alas, I did not succumb to the falling skills, a great success story for me.

But I was voted something . . . . Most changed female.

There was a bit of irony in the fact that I won this award because I'm pretty sure it was based on outward appearances only and yet if I am changed and quite a bit from who I was 10 years ago. But when you're at your high school reunion, the fact that you weigh about 60 lbs. less and look pretty good in a dress can win you a mini-bottle of cheap champagne.

So this weekend I ventured back to high school and it wasn't that bad. The people were generally the same save for a few years of age on all of us and a few years of life under out belts. I was one of those people that liked high school. Far from being miss popularity or homecoming queen, I was friendly with the masses and involved in the whole high school scene. I was what you might call "normal" as was my high school experience. It was fun to catch up with old friends and reminice about old times, even that time in elementary school when my mother played get-away-car-driver for a house tp-ing adventure that involved three boys sneaking out of their house and jumping in my mom's mini-van A-Team style (oh those where the days).

One thing I realized though is that high school was high school. I have good memories of many of these people and they played a role in who I was back then, and yet as I looked around the room there are only a handful of people that I still share a friendship with and I'm ok with that.

One of my old friends, upon hearing an exchange between two classmates, remarked that we are all adults now so why are we talking to each other like we did 10 years ago. I reminded her that for tonight we're all somewhere inbetween high school and adulthood, at once 18 and insecure and at the same time in out late 20's and establishing out lives. It's a weird place to be, back in the past and yet present in the future.

It was an interesting weekend to at one point get a glimpse of the road ahead with a new job and a new journey and at the same time, looking back at where I came from and who I was. Well that, and I didn't fall down.

A long road

Patience is not a virtue I come by naturally. This is often proven when you get me in a car as long road trips can often push me over the edge. I just want to get where I’m heading and not have any obstacles in my way. And when you stick me in the middle of a traffic jam, oh goodness look out, because the beast inside might come roaring out.

The ironic thing is that I’ve felt like my life has been one major traffic jam the last year or so. I’m on the road, heading toward something, and yet stuck moving at a snail’s pace, if even that. The mile markers seem to taunt me as they mark my slow progress of movement. And yet on Friday, it seems the traffic cleared and I got a glimpse of the open road ahead as my long sought destination finally came into sight.

It’s been about a year or so since I’ve known that my time at my current job was coming to an end. There have been so many amazing things about working at my school and so much growth in me as a person. As I look back, I can’t imagine having any other role or place to work for the last five plus years. And yet, I could feel my heart moving on, my sights being set elsewhere, and the closing of this door. It wasn’t an easy thing to realize because with it came the pain of leaving something that had become not only comfortable and stable, but a home with a family that I had grown to love and cherish.

To be honest, this last year has been hard and the road has been rough. I’ve found myself in a place of transition that has stretched me and strained me. I’ve also found a hope deep inside my heart that I was afraid to admit existed or to believe could be fulfilled. And yet on Friday I got to experience the surpassing goodness of my God as He provided an answer to my heart’s yearning.

On Friday I was offered the position of the Children’s Ministry Director for a church in Ft. Worth, Texas. There is no other way to describe this entire experience other than to say it is “TRIPPY”. From running into an old friend at a wedding, to mentioning I was looking at ministry positions, to having a whirlwind few weeks of interviews and meetings, to feeling completely unworthy and unable, to being assured by friends that God is bigger than my abilities or my inabilities, I have seen the leading and provision of an Amazing God who is always at work on the behalf of His children.

It seems only fitting with all of this happening in my life that I am reading through Hebrews and came to chapter 11 these last few nights. Coined the “Hall of Faith” by some, it lists those who have gone before us “by faith”. I read through the lives of normal men and women just like me, simple and faulted people, who, for no other reason than faith in an all-powerful and good God, were blessed beyond measure and took their place in the story of God’s master plan for mankind. Each person exhibited the definition of faith given in verse 1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hopes for, the conviction of things not seen.”

And as the destination of my long road trip of late becomes clear, I realize that this road was marked by faith: faith that God does have a plan for my life, faith that the qualities and gifts He so graciously gave to me are for His glory, faith that He will lead me and bring me to the places He has ordained, faith that He will continue to teach me along this road, faith that even in the midst of frustration and hopelessness He is there always beside me guiding my way, and faith that even when I can’t see and when I don’t understand, He is working on my behalf because of His great love for me.

So one journey on one road is ending and another is about to begin. I know that this road can only be lived “by faith” and yet I trust that He will continue to walk this one alongside me just as He always has.

Oh and by the way, I am so amazingly excited that upon getting the phone call that I was offerend the job, I literally started jumping up and down and was equally screaming and speechless at the same time.

To steal a tagline from a good friend:

God is good.

Where everybody knows your name . . .

Or that you order a grande non-fat, no-whip mocha.

Sunday morning I made my scheduled stop at Starbucks (yes I give money to the entitiy that will soon take over the world and I'm ok with that because they give me legal addictive substances that warm my insides and wake me up in the morning) for my regular coffee order (if by coffee you mean a swanky milk filled frothy substance with a hint of chocolate, hmmmmm).

As I approached the counter ready to give my drink request in the proper order (because I read though the nifty guide pamplet they had a while back, yes they did have one of these giving you suggestions on how to place your order, yes I did read it - I even took it home with me, and yes I still order in this fashion, don't judge me I like to do things the correct way) the guy behind the counter amazed me by saying my order before I could. Now I'm sure that my reaction was a bit on the "crazy" side, because I clapped my hands and said with probably a bit too much enthusiasm that I had always wanted to be a regular and have the coffee guy (barista if you must) know my order before I said it. He smiled the smile of someone who thinks the person in front of them is just a tad bit crazy and mentioned that I looked familiar. I took that moment to amp up the crazy factor by telling him I remembered him when he worked in the kiosk across the street at the grocery store. He smiled again and promptly forgot my order for all future visits.

But I left with a special warmth in my heart because I had become a REGULAR. Now if only they would play my personal theme song when I entered the store that would just really push me over the "I can't believe this is my life" moment of joy.

Tall Girl

I would like to preface this post by saying that it was inspired by one Emily and her triumph of mowing (trust me I'll tie my post into hers in one way or another)

I am neither amazonian (thanks Ben) nor am I midgie, I'm just on the verge of being tall. At a towering 5 foot 9 inches (which I've been since about 7th grade) though I seem to have been taller than all my roomates. One in paticular referred to me as "Tall Girl". This term of endearment often was followed by some request to reach something just out of her arm span. She was a little on the short side, ok maybe 5 foot 2, so I was a giant compared to her. In fact, I lamented to her once upon seeing our shoes lined up at the front door that a normal sized person lived here and then the largest possible human being in the world.

Somehow being tall also means that lawn mowing falls to you. It seems the height of the person abd the the height of the grass are all related. So after realizing that we had let the yard go - i.e. you could hide n old VW bug in the weeds and no one would be the wiser. The problem was that we didn't have a lawn mower, so being ever so resourceful I purchased one from Wallyworld. In my great wisdom I figured that all lawnmowers were the same and really just whack at the grass so I didn't need to spend all my money on something fancy or assembled.

I came home with my large box of lawnmower parts and set off (with the help of a friend who was actually going to mow the lawn for me for a wad of cash) to make myself a weed destruction machine. After some creative assembly, consisting of a lot of "this looks right" type comments, we had a fully functioning lawn mower. Well fully funtioning might not be the right word. In fact my friend's friend, who was there to witness this mowing endeavor (why does everything in my life turn into an "event") called it the "Fisher Price Mower".

So my friend sets to work attacking the jungle we called a backyard and well lets just say that if you've let the yard go then you really need more than a fisher price mower to get the job done. I've never seen someone mow with the mower at a 60 degree angle the majority of the time. The job got done, the mower survived, and I paid my poor friend much more than most lawn jockey's make for the odyssey I put him through.

Suffice it to say, I quickly became a mowing expert and could wield my little red lawnmower with amazing skills. Oh, another thing about roomies and mowing, if you own the mower you are the designated mower. Any thought of sharing responsiblity fly out the window at that point, height and ownership dub you the "official whacker of all things growing".

Inside-out and Outside-in

How did I get here? This place where everything is inside-out and outside-in. Where I limit the power of God because I know the weaknesses and inabilities of man, of myself? When did I start to believe that God can be limited by my deficiencies . . . by my fears . . . by me?

When did I put him in a box, specifically a “me” shaped box? When did I let the fear of my failure overwhelm the faith of His ability? How did “me” take precedence over “He”? I know I can’t but that doesn’t mean He can’t either. I know that I fail but He doesn’t know how to do that. I know I’m not able but that’s never stopped Him before.

When did all this doubt and fear grow into a shadow that hid my vision of Him? When did I stop hearing the words of encouragement He placed in the mouths of people I trust and believe? When did I stop hearing His voice telling me I can and only heard my own telling me I can’t?

It was never about me, about my abilities or my failures, because neither will get me very far.

He is able.

"Me" isn't anywhere in that statement.

He is able.

That’s all I need to know, that’s all I need to trust in.

He is able.

The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O Lord is everlasting;
Do not forseke the works of Your hands

Psalm 138:8

Thinking

I purchased the new Evanescence CD last weeked and I'm entranced by Amy Lee's voice. On one of their songs, Lose Control, are these two lines:

if I cut you down to a thing I can use
I fear there will be nothing good left of you

I'm not going to begin to think I understand the mind-set of the band when they wrote this song or even the background and idea behind it. All I know is that these two lines take an a huge meaning to me when I place them in light of my relationship with God.

Just something to think about.

254040

Who let the dogs out?*

ME


So now that I'm bunking at the parents (thanks mom and dad for taking in my poor soul with no place to lay her head - ha, I sound so pitiful, when in reality I'm just still in the place i like to call TransitionELL - I know I know I sound so bitter, really I'm not, I just like to be funny at times, the kind of funny that can get mistaken for sarcasm and bitterness but is quickly followed by my sweet angelic smile so you know that I'm just being funny, the innocent happy funny)

So in living with the parents and their replacement children, three of us so when we all left the nest three new individuals had to fill the void, but those individuals are dogs. Rugger (boxer, big boxer), Maggie (mutt, hairy mutt), and Sebastian (the punk dog that escaped on Sunday and led me on a wild goose chase) are my parents new *kids*.

After living alone for so long you forget what it's like to have responsibilities outside of yourself, i.e. you realize that living solo leads to utter laziness and selfishness. But when you throw three dogs into the new living situation you quickly leave those behind. Dogs need feeding, letting in and out, and of course attention at 5:00 am when they are whining at your bedroom door because they just want to talk. Really it's not anywhere near as bad as I make it out to be, actually it's fun to have the rugrats around.

So I'm off to do my duty as the official doorwoman for the pooches and let them out.

*The writer apologizes to anyone who now has this song stuck in their head on repeat for the rest of the day. Take comfort in knowing you now share my pain.

Dreary Tuesday

It's raining outside and all I want to do right now is curl up in bed with a good book and a good movie, and some popcorn, and a dublin dr. pepper, or maybe a corn dog from the state fair. I'm suffering from a dry spell on the posting bit right now, there are things churning in my head (hello have you known me to ever stop thinking) but they're not resolved yet in a way that I could express them to you. In the meantime (and I know I've been meantiming a lot lately) I offer you the deep fried offerings of one Texas State Fair:


Beef & Beans Fire Bowl – A fired-up, one-dish meal made from ground beef, spicy beans, corn, crushed red peppers and Hotter N Hell seasoning covered with a baked-on jalapeno cornbread top. Not for the weak-hearted. Or the weak intestined.

Cajun Shrimp On A Stick – Spicy shrimp in a custom Cajun batter, fried and served with a choice of dipping sauce.

Candy Apple Turnover – A flaky turnover, filled with apples, crushed red candy and brown sugar, is deep fried and topped with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries On-a-Stick – Fresh strawberries are skewered on a stick and dipped in deliciously warmed chocolate.

Cinnamon Praline Bananas Foster -- Caramelized banana rum sauce poured over Blue Bell Cinnamon ice cream, covered with whipped cream and topped off with a rich pecan praline sauce.

Deep Fried Cosmopolitan – A delicious fried pastry is filled with rich cheesecake and topped with a sweet & tangy cranberry glaze and a lime wedge. Served on a stick.

Donkey Tails – Large all-beef franks, slit on one side and generously stuffed with sharp cheddar cheese, are wrapped tightly in a large flour tortilla and fried until golden brown. Served with mustard, chili, or Ruth's salsa.

Down Home Banana Pudding Cheesecake – Created for people who like the rich flavor of homemade pudding or the elegance of cheesecake, the ingredients include bananas, pecans, cream cheese, brown sugar, coffee liqueur in a vanilla wafer crust. Served on a small plate. Small plate? Have you ever seen anything small at the fair?

Fernie's Fried Chicken n' Waffle – A toasted 7" round waffle, brushed with melted butter and topped with three extra-crunchy honey-battered chicken breast tenders. Served with syrup or white cream gravy. Sweet and salty.

Fernie's Fried Choco-rito– A flour tortilla – stuffed with marshmallows, coconut, candy bar pieces, caramel morsels and cinnamon – is dipped in pancake batter and deep fried to a crispy, crunchy outside and sweet, gooey inside. Drizzled with honey and topped with whipped cream.

Fernie's Fried Mac 'n Cheese – Texas-sized bites of macaroni & cheese, covered with a layer of garlic & herb-flavored bread crumbs, are deep fried until crispy outside and hot & cheesy inside. Served on a stick with a side of dipping sauces. Fernie needs to get his/her cholesterol checked.

Fried Avocadoes – Hand-battered chunks of scrumptious avocado are breaded and fried to perfection. Choice of dipping sauces. A culinary hit in California. California? Hello uh we're in Texas here, if it ain't fried and once moowing we don't eat it.

Fried Baked Potatoes – French fries right out of the fryer are topped with a choice of queso cheese sauce, bacon bits, chives or butter.

Fried Cinnamon Crispas – Hand-cut strips of flour tortillas are crispy fried and dusted with cinnamon sugar.

Fried Coke– Smooth spheres of Coca-Cola-flavored batter are deep fried, drizzled with pure Coke fountain syrup, topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry. Served in souvenir contoured glasses.

Fried Pancake Sundae – Tasty country sausage bites wrapped in a light pancake batter, deep fried to perfection , topped with whipped cream, lightly glazed with hot fudge sauce and finished with a cherry on top. Pineapple and strawberry glaze options available.

Fried Praline Perfection – Guaranteed to melt in your mouth. Plump coconut and pecan pralines, battered and fried to a rich golden crust. Served warm with powdered sugar. If it doesn't melt do I get my money back?

Hast Texas BBQ Nachos – Fair-famous Hast Texas Nachos are topped with BBQ beef and covered with a special-recipe sauce.

Melon Monroe – Honey dew melon sauce ladled over chocolate chip ice cream, topped with whipped cream then garnished with two fried-dough, shaped "legs" filled with a special caramel sauce. Served fresh out of the fryer. "Some like it hot !" (Midway - across from Lost Children) So just look for lost children and you'll magically find food made to resemble legs, this is of course disturbing on so many levels.

S'mores – A new twist on a campfire favorite. Two graham crackers are pressed together with a marshmallow crème filling, skewered on a stick and dipped in delicious chocolate.

Texas Cajun Steak On-a-Stick – Tender morsels of steak coated in a spicy Cajun batter, fried golden brown and served on a stick with red or white dipping sauce.

Texas Waffle – An extra large waffle is freshly cooked and topped with whipped cream and a choice of chocolate, strawberry or pineapple sauce. The extra-large part must be what makes it Texan.

Texas Trash – In response to fairgoers' requests, this to-go sack of less-than-whole Hast Texas Nacho chips is served up in a white doughnut-style bag.

Wedgee's – Frozen chocolate-covered Wisconsin cheesecake-on-a-stick offered in Turtle (caramel) and Key Lime flavors. And I thought this was only a cruel prank to pull on friends.

Continuing the theme

I need to read more children's books. They present such amazing truths and life lessons and yet I wonder if I ever truly got them as a kid. Now as an adult (cough, cough) I think I overlook the depth hidden in the simplicty. So for your Friday reading pleasure I present a child-like poem with adult gut busting truth.


Oh, the Places You'll Go!
by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Shel Silverstein

I remember memorizing this poem in the third or fourth grade and reciting it to my class. In child-like wonderment I pictured this sidewalk that seemed to extend off to the horizon, and if you followed it for long enough you will find the wondrous place of soft grass illuminated by a crimson sun where you could rest with the birds in a peppermint smelling wind. I wanted to find the end, the finish, the great finale of the sidewalk that held every step we took, that measured with each crack and line a new journey, and that led off to the unknown and unseen future.

And yet as an adult I still marvel at this poem, at the desire to know the end of the story, the completion of the journey, to find that place where the sidewalk ends. And yet it is also a struggle, to want to know the ending, always looking ahead at the path in front wondering where it leads. I struggle to know how things end, how all the different parts play out. In movies I’m frustrated when you see the two main characters walk off into the sunset because I want to know where they go, what happens to them next, I want to see where their sidewalk ends.

I approach God like that at times. Show me where the sidewalk ends, show me how the story finishes, show me the big picture. And yet that’s not how we live our lives. There’s a very important word in sidewalk. Walk. You have to walk it, you have to travel it square by square, moving forward, taking in what’s surrounding you, and remembering what lies behind. We walk with a walk that is measured and slow, we follow the chalk-white arrows where they go, and we’re always walking towards the place that the sidewalk ends. We wonder and dream of what it is like, there where the sidewalk ends, and yet we walk along always following, but often never knowing the ending until we find our feet standing in the grass with the warmth of the sun on our face and the sweet smell of peppermint in our noses. We walk as children knowing without seeing where the sidewalk ends. We walk by faith knowing that the ending is so worth the journey.

It's about time . . . .

that I highlight one of the great geniuses of a little appreciated film genre, Lego/Playmobil films. Jimmy is a missionary in China but he crafted his talent long ago when he still lived in the states.

Funny, heart warming, action packed, his films span every emotion and can rouse you to cheers and tears from one moment to the next. His most current project is a scene from the movie Rent (or the Broadway play if you are so inclined to be a bit snooty). Check it out as well as some of his earlier work he has posted on his site (select any of the picture links on the side bar, specifically the ones showing lego/playmobil action figures).

And for your linking ease please click below on his name to be transported immediately to his site.

JIMMY

Case of the Mondays

Monday, how I have a love/hate relationship with you.

Since it's monday and my brain is still back on saturday afternoon around 2 p.m. I thought I would take a moment and make a small confession to the blogworld.

Don't judge me by this but you may laugh (but only because I gave you permission).

So I moved this weekend, and thus had to clean out my fridge (because spelling refridgerator takes a bit too much effort and it always looks wrong - and probably is). I moved in to my "old place" three and a half years ago and had to do the whole cooler shuttle to take my old food to my new place. At that time I transported about 12 Healthy Choice frozen dinners that I bought one day in a mad craze of easy healthy eating (and they were on mamouth sale). I then realized that I really don't like the tast of Healthy Choice microwave meals with their rubbery veggies and grey colored meat so they stayed in my freezer becoming a possible 5th grade science project. Every time I opened my freezer (to reach for the Lean Cuisine microwave pizzas - a much better option), the edamame (effinmama for JCol), or the Blue Bell Ice Cream (how I love thee, let me count the ways, oh wait I can just look at my hips and see how much love I have for you) I would have to face the dozen or so Healthy Choice dinners mocking me for my insistence of keeping them and yet not eating them. So Saturday I claimed victory over the frozen dinners and had a short memorial service as I sent them to a far better place (the garbage can). So my confession is that I had a dozen frozen dinners in my freezer for over three years, after moving them from one home to another and only the task of moving caused me to throw them away.

Again, don't judge me, but you may laugh (with permission only).

So any confessions you'd like to share this Monday?