November 21, 2008

If I had a million dollars...or two

So when Allen and his co-workers finally hit on the idea that has Google sprinting to their door with a checkbook in hand here are my plans. (It's good to plan for these things you know so they don't hit you by surprise.)

What I would do with two million dollars:

1. Buy a fairly modest house - You can skip the granite bathroom big enough for a roller rink so long as I get my windows. Having an acre or so yard would be great too.

2. Invest in a couple or 50 acres close to/adjoining the family farm.

3. Label one sock under the bed "Think about using this to buy a ski-boat/bowrider."

4. Label the other sock under the bed "Think about using this to by a camper of some sort."

5. Buy two dresses from Stop Staring

6. Put all the rest in fairly secure assets.

7. Not argue if Allen wants to buy me a strand of pearls.

November 19, 2008

Advent anticipation

There are several reasons why I'm looking forward to advent this year. One of which is that I think our pastor is going to do a great job preaching through Advent and Christmas. Although we haven't talked that much about it I think he sort of understands the strange mix of nostalgia, longing, and childish glee that makes up the Christmas season. I'm glad because I've always struggled with a deep longing for the holidays to be "good." And of course it was never good enough. The awe with which a youngster sees the beauty of a Christmas village displayed on a hutch only makes the bad times that much more jarring. There are more expectations yes, but I think that Christmas is somehow by it's very nature beautiful. The Light of the World comes down to earth and suddenly any bit of sordidness, any unresolved frustration or bitterness, is thrown into sharp relief. It's like a picture of a lovely women only the painter drew spiders crawling up her arm. It's beautiful and horrible at the same time. Anyway, I've struggled with that balance for a very long time, and I'm hoping this Christmas I'll finally start getting a handle on it.

Other things to look forward to this advent.

Christmas decorating. This year I'm going to help a friend of mine decorate. So decorating my small-ish 1970's apartment here in my thrifty, creative wife fashion then on to my friend's historic house to decorate inlaid wood paneling with a lawyer's wife's budget. Yeah I'll end up doing my thrifty thing over there, but who doesn't want more decorations to put up a Christmas? Besides my husband? That notwithstanding we are also going to go decorate Mamaw's place down at the farm. This is something I have been looking forward to ever since we did it for the first time last year. I even bought her some more lights to hang up outside. Light hanger-uppers included of course :D

Beyond that: cookie making -some with my friend's kids. Looking forward to that. Visiting with family. Opening presents with my in-laws. Going down to the farm for Christmas dinner with the family. Looking at lights. Christmas party at Workplay. Being part of the candle-lighting liturgy at church. Yeah, it's going to be a good Christmas.

November 9, 2008

Things I like

Things I like after a series of long weeks:

Sleeping in

Rosemary Clooney

A tidy living room

Hot cocoa with rum and whipped cream

Pizza with grandparents

A good detective story

My green couch

The promise of a leisurely sabbath picnic tomorrow.

November 5, 2008

faith and new things

So last night I was feeling a little bit sick to my stomach about the thought of Obamessiah actually being president. McCain may not have been my choice, but I was at least familiar with the brand of large gov, war hawk, hands across the isle conservatism he offered. Obama.....is an unknown quantity. Potentially less war. More abortion. More paranoia about gun owning families. More bad economics. However, at least he can't say he's doing this as a Bible-thumping conservative, and maybe this will wake up a few of those Bible thumping conservatives who like to view voting as a sacred duty and would sooner miss taking the sacraments than missing an election. Anyway, scooting over to femina to see if I could find a dose of post-election sanity I found several women -none of them hysterical- saying "now this is going to be interesting to watch." It reminded me of that passage from Habbakuk where the Lord says, "Behold I am doing a new thing," and as Christians I am supposing that an appropriate response to that would be, "Praise the Lord." I'm still not happy about the elections, but I think I have a little more perspective now.

Blue Tuesday

Well Allen and I went and cast our apathetic votes for a bunch of people who in the main we'd rather not see running. We did cast a couple of votes on principle which came out as such votes often do. All in all a rather depressing day. All that's left to do is figure out whether we've landed in the frying pan or the fire. Dress appropriately kids, 'cause either way it's pretty warm.