to facebook or not to facebook?

it is a question. i suppose i will. mostly b/c i miss my andrew david...and b/c solomon probably has one. ...ugh. i just know i don't "network" well, mostly b/c i'm not online enough to make it (IMHO)...proper.

...
..
...
..
...

i'm a nut.

digital camera update: okay, so here's the deal. i'm like 800 "points" away from a free one from my chase visa. so, right now i get triple points for every dollar...i figure if i use it to get my gasoline and groceries for the next week, it'll be in-hand by february. cool huh? i think so. Jesus loves me the best - i'm His favorite. ;)

okay - i'm changing the subject. here is a list:

• one large head of romaine
• two orange bell peppers
• one red bell pepper
• about four eggs, past the "freshness" date!
• one small bottle of horseradish
• one-quarter of a bottle of Lea & Perren's Worcestershire
• half a bottle of sesame oil
  

what, you may ask, is this all about? some strange youth ministry experiment? (sounds like me, but not this time.) a new miracle cure for headaches? nope. this is what my lovely beasties pulled out of the fridge last night and left on the kitchen floor...and the living room floor...and on my bed...and in their fur... [sigh.] we have a child-lock on the fridge for a reason, it's really ridiculous how often we forget to latch it. thank God for vinyl floors - i LOVE my floor! it's so easy to clean. and also, thank GOD the mess didn't travel into the florida room b/c i'd cry if sesame oil got into my slate.

so last night, i stood in my chinese-steakhouse-smelling house, my slipper'd feet amidst the romaine and eggshells, and asked myself, "is this okay?". the Immediate answer was "no", but i was surprised to see how quickly i was able to get to the Big Picture answer..."yes".

for someone who doesn't "do" maintenance very well, i sure do surround myself with things that desperately need to be maintained. i guess if it was okay for me to just shrug things off and say, "i just don't 'do' maintenance very well.", i would send these dogs packing, dust the dirt offa my hands and learn my lesson, but i don't think that's the lesson i'm to learn. it's never been "okay" for me to say that. my lack of discipline with maintenance has never been a good enough excuse for...anything, really. so, now i try to remember that the fridge NEEDS to be latched and focus on controlling my temper and my sour attitude when things go south... and when i do that, it's okay.

just a side: notable items that the mutts did NOT pull out of the fridge last night: kelly's grapefruit (i don't blame them!)...and the collard greens. hahaha - that makes me laugh.

anyhoo... lots of things have been going on here, but in my efforts to not write whole "books" in my catch-up entries, i'll maybe post one a day for a few days and then we'll (hopefully) get caught up.

so, here are some topics for me to cover in the near future:
THE CHILI COOK-OFF
"FIXING THE BEAST" or MY FORAYS INTO HOLISTIC HEALING
THE ANNIVERSARY
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF JUICING
DR PATRICIA SAYS I SHOULD SNIFF MORE...WELL, WE ALL SHOULD.
...
..
...
..
...

upon further reflection, i pick THE ANNIVERSARY
January 4th was our 10th wedding anniversary. :) to celebrate, we invited folks (george and lori, bob and lourdes, chris seibert, kelly's grandparents and justin and robin gaynor) to the russells for dinner and a story. in total, there were 16 of us there, including the russell family, (a)erin and ourselves. it was a slightly crazy day b/c the 4th fell on a sunday and it's problematic to prepare a meal for 16, at someone else's house, after 2 services at church...and also taking into account the wrenBeast and her schedule. thank goodness i have a kelly and lots of friends. :)

on the menu: flank steak with arugula and dijon potatoes...and carrot soup. for drinks, we had fruit punch (guava, papaya and orange juices with some ginger ale, pineapple slices and pineapple sherbet) and freshly juiced fuji apples, besides the regular water and coffee faire. chris brought his favorite - garlic bread... and also he brought a cheeseball and crackers. :) and i was able to secure a pound of ahi from "the boys" for a poke appetiser. also we had tons of fruit to nosh on and oh yes - ann marie made coffeecake and a grasshopper pie for dessert. :)

ann marie and i went shopping on saturday - the boys for produce and fish and flowers, mario's for the steak. then on sunday, after church we all worked our little tails off to finish everything before people started showing up at 6. (a)erin made the soup - it rocked amazingly! ann marie helped with the potatoes and the salad (she washed like 2 pounds of arugula!...it's actually a lot...). i made the punch and the poke, alexandra lois juiced the apples, kelly and zach covered the tables with butcher paper and set out the crayons, greg and kelly grilled the meat. to set the tables, we brought over all our glass plates, big ones for dinner-ing, small ones for appetisers and dessertness, bowls and dessert dishes for the soup. all the plates and bowls were varied and mismatched, but it didn't matter b/c they were all glass anyways. :) and i was finally able to use my glass punch bowl and even greg drank out of a punch glass with his pinky out...[for a second]. the tables were funky looking - my mismatched glassware with ann marie's good silver and butcher-paper and crayons... but i liked it. it was fun and sparkly and good. :) everything was awesome, and then after dinner i told the wedding story. only (a)erin and alex (and kelly!) had ever heard it before and it was nice to finally have kelly there to help out with details and such. all in all it was a most splendiferious day - i'm very glad we did it. :)

okay, this has been a long post - thanks for reading. i'll be back later. i hope you all are having a marvelous day and please know that i'm praying for you and your various adventures... :)

i love the holidays, but

...i really don't like what i let them do to my schedule. :)

so...what's been going on in the past 2 weeks? oh, much...but nothing much out of the ordinary. the Christmas Eve Service was marvelous - the Lord always pulls these things together, even though at the next-to-last rehearsal things look dire and dim. :) it was amazing, all the kids did so well! ...what else? oh, i don't know... Christmas came and went - that was pretty mellow and uneventful. except that i was sick, so it didn't seem as...jolly...as usual. but it was okay. :) no biggie. at some point, the russell family, (a)erin, dominick and the nothnagles played a pretty heated game of catchphrase. that was pretty good. it know it sounds simple - playing games with friends... but we're all so busy, i really value the few moments we have to just hang out and enjoy each-other. :)

the rest of my hours and days have been spent on the usual - housework, ministrywork, workwork... and dogwork. we have since found out that the wolf can (and DOES!) scale the fence freely, so we now keep her in the house as much as possible. this makes our twice-daily running sessions mandatory, especially on work days and heavy ministry days. it seems that if we don't run the energy out of her, she becomes quite the destructive force in the house. the other day i heard a scrabb'ling in the kitchen and i peered around the corner to see my whole dog in the kitchen sink. all 65 pounds of her, completely in the sink. not just two paws - ALL. it was crazy. it was like the day i found her on top of the truck. but in the house. anyhow, she keeps us very busy, as you can tell. :)

2 days ago, i went to the library. here is what i got:

• DVD: fame (don't watch it - tons of cursing and lots of other stuff that i forgot about!)
• DVD: mickey blue eyes (hugh grant trying to be a mobster. pretty amusing.)
• DVD: the fugitive (tommy lee jones totally makes the movie, IMHO)
• DVD: don't bother to knock (marilyn monroe as a phychopath. crazy.)
• DVD: cat on a hot tin roof (haven't seen it yet)
• audiobook: "a member of the family" by cesar millan. (i'm not so convinced this guy could whisper ANYTHING to my wolfdog and make it stick. unless he said, "hey there, Destructo! just do whatever you want, whenever you want to... oh yeah, and make sure you run away when you get caught.")
• july 2008's VOGUE (for more button-faces)
• september 2008's REALSIMPLE (for wardrobe inspiration. lately, i've been standing in the aisles at World Thrift without the foggiest idea what i'm looking for. i think the holidays made my fashionbrain go haywire and a little, classic help never killed anyone [i think!], so...)

speaking of button-faces, i was hoping to find a good pic of hugh jackman in that VOGUE (it had an article on Australia in it), but no such luck. i have just recently watched him in Oklahoma. the dude is crazygonutsMADtalented. i can't imagine his life.

oh...it's really late and i feel that i'm just babbling now. i'm sorry if i am; i just didn't want another day to go by without a post. :( okay, i'm going.

much love, guys...
myself :)

PS - we went and saw "Seven Pounds" tonight. idk how i feel about that movie yet.

PSS - oh wait - this is really cool! you know how i wanted a digital camera? well, the Lord gave me one... i think. i'll come back and post details later, i promise. :) yay!

tired, tired, tired...

2:07 PM
in the Sanctuary
status: bushed. all in.

i've just watched the 2nd run-thru of this year's Christmas play/presentation/thing. i think we've got like 5 bazillion kids on stage...and i like it that way. :) this year there is a drama, a little girls dance, an older girls dance, a special vocal song (to a track) and another song involving vocals, 2 violins, a flute, a classical guitar, 2 kids on the piano...and a triangle. it just keeps getting better and better. :)

so...that said, i'm free to do just whatever i want for a while. i think i'm going to head over to the russells for hall decking and tree trimming (otherwise known as "falling-asleep-on-the-couch-while-everyone-else-decks-and-trims").

...
..
...
..
...

i've just sat here (for a LONG TIME!) and tried to think about what else i should be doing, but it's like my brain is stuck. i end up just staring at the screen and nodding. maybe i'll be more impressive after a nap i mean, decorating. :)

quick update

yesterday was very busy (sorry for the non-update):

1. woke up (7:00 AM) and ran the dog @ church
2. got ready for work
3. work 9 AM 'til 5 PM(check back on dogs at lunch)
4. run home to get dinner stuff and laptop and feed the dogs and other such quick things
   
5. prep for Christmas rehearsal, then Christmas rehearsal (6:30 PM - 9:00 PM)
6. run home (again!) to check on dogs and grab gym stuff
7. meet bob @ the gym for more torture
8. home to grab the puppy
9. more running @ church
10. home for the last time, feed cats, puppy-proof the house...bed @ 12:30 AM

today isn't going to be much slower, i guess. was up @ 6:00 to run the beast (tried to run her on overlook for the first time; it's a good 3/4 mile straightaway. i think it'll work out well...), made my green lemonade and then took kelly to work. after work we've got the preschool Christmas program and then youth group (of course). i think we're going to try to make it an early night b/c of high school final exams and the early 8:00 AM call time for the Ladies Tea in the morning. if i'm able to crawl into bed by 1:00 AM, i'll be stoked. :)

speaking of the Tea, i'm pretty happy about my ensemble. i think i scored the whole getup (@ world thrift) for less than $20 - Scott McClintock floor-length, powder-blue/silver-y, silk skirt... vintage navy pumps (2-inches? maybe? not too bad.)... white, medium sized men's business shirt, long-sleeve... and the best of all - one navy cummerbund. i'm going to leave the shirt untucked, cuff/scrunch my sleeves to just above the elbow, throw the cummerbund just below the bustline, pop the collar and - voila! it'll rock...i think. i'll have to paint my face...and i haven't quite figured what to do with my hair, but the way Michele cut it last week, i can just leave it down and it'll be marvelous. (thanks again, God, for always giving me amazing hairdressers!)
...
..
...
..
...
again, i'm struck by the absolute usefulness of a digital camera. (le sigh...)

okay, well, i'll never get there if i don't jump into the shower and have a very productive day at work. ta ta, all...

PS
holy mackerel - i think i have library fines! [wilts a bit] aww maaaan....

PPS
i absolutely love "it's hard to find a friend" by pedro the lion. the whole album.

the prodigal has returned

as if by a miracle, when kelly came home for lunch this afternoon, she was in the yard. panting heavily, but in one piece.

thank God.

now all i have to do is figure out how to keep her home from now on... (oh boy.)

9:38 and all is...strange

today began with a text message. from bob henry. at 6:36 in the morning (thanks, buddy). the text instructed me to call this number: (603) 413-4133. i did. that, my friends, is the foreshadowing to what i fear will be a very very bad day.

...
..
...

at approx. 7:30, we realized that wren wasn't in the yard. isaac is here, both gates are shut and locked/latched. the best we could come up with is that he went over the fence and she finally had enough height/strength/courage to follow. he came back, like he always does...she didn't. so, from then 'til now, i've been combing the neighborhood, distributing my scribbled name and number on various bits of paper from my glove-box. and praying, i've been doing a lot of that.

honestly, when the school crossing guard told me that he hadn't seen her (he had been out since 6:45-ish), my mind was fixed on this course: she was out with isaac in the wee hours of the morning until a random car/truck drove by and she left him to chase it. she chased the car until it stopped, probably by the railroad tracks. from then, who knows? the tracks are relatively quiet most of the time, she could follow them all the way to miami. more likely though, she got distracted from the car by some early-morning joggers and bolted. i've driven (on- and off-road) that whole stretch of highway, looking for her on the ground...but i can't find her. if she got hit, she would have tried to run into the brush for cover - there's no way i can comb all that. if she didn't get hit, she's still tracking somewhere. every night, we run her at least 4 miles, and she's still got energy after that. if she's gone 4 miles in any direction except northwest, she's lost. the likelihood of her going northwest is slim to nil - she would have to pass a house that she's very afraid of...

(sigh) it's all speculation at this point. is she dead, is she alive, is she free, does someone have her, is she locked up in a shelter somewhere... i have no clue. the best thing i can figure to do at this point is to get on with my day. if she's dead on the ground in the brush somewhere, i won't be able to find her. i'll check for buzzards later and maybe they'll show me. if she's hurt, i still can't find her. if someone has her, my going around in circles in the neighborhood isn't going to bring her back. if she's free-trackin'...geez. all i can hope for is that someone is able to catch her before she gets hit.

so... i'm going to print a couple of pics of her, take them to animal care and control, the city of boynton beach and the dome. if she's not in any of those places, i'm going to get my grocery shopping done. when i leave the house, i'll keep the gate open. maybe she'll come back on her own.

i went thrifting today...

came home with CDs:

• blue skies: the irving berlin songbook
  
• forever gold: ella fitzgerald
• hawaiian slack key guitar masters: sonny chillingworth
  
• experiment (mandy patinkin)
• it's christmas time (frank sinatra, bing crosby, louis armstrong)

and books:

• who knew? green hints and tips to save time, money...& the planet
• a fairy tale treasure trove (illustrated by john patience)
  
• the sesame street treasury, volume 7
• clifford the small red puppy
• walt disney's treasury of children's classics (to disect for graphics)
  
• better homes and gardens' all time favorite pies
• the time-life encyclopedia of gardening: foliage house plants

also, i brought some other books, but they're for christmas presents and will not be listed here. but they're pretty rad. and i bought my office "secret angel" person another present. it needs to be polished and spiffed up, but when it's done it will be lovely.

my own "secret angel" has been very busy...simply amazing. first, i get molasses cookies, which were fun to share with the worship team and anyone else who wanted to indulge. then i find my office sprinkled with little, golden jingle bells. they were everywhere! in my desk drawers, hanging from my desk tchochkies (properly spelled "tsatske", but then nobody would know what the heck i'm talking about...) and from the clear pins on my bulletin board (don't you see where a digital camera would be useful here?)... it was marvelous. so, i gather them all up, but i make the mistake of leaving them out, and two days later, they're re-distributed. :) i love it. also, they left one (with a note) on my music stand and i found it on sunday morning. and then, today, i find a plush reindeer with a sack-full of superman bouncyballs. yup, that's what i said. rockin'. i can't wait to find out who it is. i'm superblessed.

in other news, i cannot breathe properly at the moment. i want to say it has something to do with the fact that i had mcdonald's for lunch (looooong story). i don't care what people say, that stuff will kill you. it. will. kill. you.

on tap for the rest of the day? i have to leave for the office in a bit to make more name tags for the ladies tea. then worship rehearsal. then to the gym for more torture with bob. but first, i must see to my palm pilot (newly resurrected...after being dead for a day...due to lack of charge) and my finances.

golly, i don't have much time. see ya!

PS
the disney version of the swiss family robinson is the best movie ever...or at least for the next three days. :)