Everyday Life

Categories Everyday Life

I complain too much

Leave a comment by

I just have to say it.

I complain way too much.

I am blessed beyond compare, yet I spend so much time whining.

For now, I’m thankful for lunch with Kathy and Jon, hanging out on the dock with Beth, conversations with Grace, Reg’s with the W’s and Cait and Anna and the aforementioned, a huge hug from Ashlyn, time spent with the Ericksons and their guests, a bonfire at the other W’s.

And that was just today.

Really? I think I have something to complain about?

Think again, Rebekah. God has given you immeasurable blessings.

Praise Him.

Categories Everyday Life

Doppelganger Sitings

1 Comment by

The third grader appraised me silently before she approached.

“Do you have a sister in high school?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Does she go to Lakeview?”

“No, she’s in Lincoln.”

“Oh,” she was visibly disappointed. “Because I saw someone who looked just like you at Lakeview last night.”

I laughed and explained that I must have a doppelganger in town–which led to a fascinating discussion about doppelgangers with a group of three third graders.

“Does everyone have a doppelganger?” one girl asked.

I was refilling my water bottle, minding my own business, when the resident’s comment forced my attention.

“How are things in Neligh?”

A bit confused, I answered “I’m sorry?”

“How’s your family?”

“They’re doing well, thank you.”

“Is your dad still…”

He must have seen the confusion on my face, for he stopped and explained.

“There’s a really good Christian man with nine or ten children in Neligh–and, well, you look just like his oldest daughter.”

“Oh, sorry–I’m just the second of seven, not the first of nine or ten.”

I laughed it off, wondering how much my full skirt and long hair had to do with the mix-up.

I can go months, even years without being mistaken for someone else (or having someone else mistaken for my sister)–yet I ended up with two doppelganger sitings in as many weeks.

Has anyone ever told you that you have a doppelganger?

Categories Everyday Life

Archived

4 Comments by

Every morning, the e-mail arrives in my inbox “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Here are your ___ matches”.

Every morning, I delete those messages unread.

Perhaps I’m an odd duck among eHarmony subscribers, but I don’t initiate contact with guys.

Why not?

‘Cause I’m there to be found, not to find. I’m interested in marriage–and I’m a complementarian.

So I ignore those messages unless I get the one saying “So-and-so wants to get to know you.”

Then I’ll log in and communicate with the ones who want to get to know me.

Except that sometimes, when I get bored, I’ll read through the matches who haven’t contacted me, archiving the unsuitable ones.

After all, I reason, I’m doing those guys a favor–decreasing how many matches they have to sort through.

So…what does it mean if you’ve been archived?

  1. Your profile does not evidence that Christ is the center of your life.
    The one thing you are most passionate about should be Christ. Always. It’s wonderful that you love your family or your job or hard work or sports (okay, maybe I have a harder time with that last one). But you should be most passionate about Christ. If you aren’t, you aren’t for me.
  2. You don’t want kids
    I want kids. You don’t. I don’t know why you don’t want kids but I do know that I could never marry a man who didn’t want kids. Why lead you on?

There you go. That’s why I archive.

Short list, huh?

I keep it that way on purpose.

A profile is a tiny snapshot of someone’s life. There’s no way that I can know enough (apart from the above) from the few questions on an eHarmony profile to give a definitive yes or no to a guy.

Which means that I ignore bad grammar (or at least try to) and give the guy a chance. After all, I know people who have terrible grammar who are nonetheless wonderful people.

I ignore a silly choice for the last book you read and enjoyed. Truth be told, I know some very intelligent, well-informed people who aren’t big readers. And that’s okay. I’m not going to nix you on the basis of that.

I ignore mentions of video games and sports (even though I’m not much of a fan of either). So I’m not a fan. That doesn’t mean that my boyfriend or husband couldn’t be (well…honestly, this one’s hard for me. I’d have to see what being a fan of sports and/or video games looked like in order to determine that would be okay.)

The point is, there’s a lot I DON’T know based on the eHarmony profile. Which means I’m not going to be picky about getting to know guys initially.

Turns out, the more I experience in life, the more I agree with that one guy in that one book our college/career women’s Bible Study read last summer.

The most important area of compatibility is Christ.

29 Dimensions may increase the odds that your “matches” will be compatible in that one area–but really, it’s that one area that counts.

Otherwise, you’ll be archived.

(In the course of writing this post, I discovered one more automatic archive item. If your favorite author/preacher is Joel Osteen, you’re going to be archived. No ifs, ands, or buts.)

Categories Everyday Life

Sorry I Lied about the Lamb

Leave a comment by

I meant it when I said that the only lamb we’d be feasting on at my Seder would be Christ.

I really intended to serve beef (and beef only).

But lamb was the only meat (apart from ham) that I could find with a bone in it.

I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to lie.

We’ll be enjoying lamb (and beef) tomorrow night.

Raw ingredients for my Seder
The ingredients for tomorrow’s Seder.
Categories Everyday Life

Daybook: When Life is Busy

3 Comments by

Usually, I have a super-abundance of ideas to blog about and not anywhere near enough days in which to put the blogging. That’s still probably true, but for the past several weeks I’ve had no time to organize my thoughts into blog format.

I’ve been saved by the never-ending Haggadah series (which was written as one long post about a month ago and then split into what you’ve gotten over the past several weeks)-but my pre-prepared posts have run out.

I’m officially on empty.

Enter the Simple Woman’s Daybook, a lovely look at what’s going on today.

Outside my window…
Darkness. Darkness when I left for work and darkness when I arrived back home.

I am thinking…
That self-pity is not an attractive look on me.

I am thankful…
That God loves me enough to bring me into difficult seasons.

In the kitchen…
Leftover dishes from the weekend.

I am wearing…
This evening’s dinner on my shirt. One of the (many) down-sides to eating on the run.

I am creating…
My Haggadah for the Seder I’ll be celebrating this weekend.

I am going…
Crazy.

I am wondering…
Whether I will be able to get enough done tomorrow to allow me to actually take off the day I allotted as vacation (to prepare for my Seder) this week.

I am reading…
Without a Doubt by Kenneth Richard Samples

I am hoping…
That I can wake up at a decent hour tomorrow morning.

I am looking forward to…
Going to a friend’s wedding in Colorado in a few weeks.

I am learning…
About Prader-Willi, the Trinity, and woodworking

Around the house…
Clothes that haven’t been laundered, sawdust and splinters from making some leaves for my dining room table, and a yard that’s begging for a cutting

I am pondering…
The number of hours in the day

A favorite quote for today…
“Your circumstances are not your life. Christ Jesus is your life.” ~Cindy

One of my favorite things…
A warm bath on a chilly night.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Taking Friday off (maybe?), having 20+ over for a Seder, decorating some blown eggs (maybe?), and seeing my brother (but not his new wife, sad face) before he leaves for Okinawa

A peek into my day life…
You don’t want to see my day, unless you’re really keen on calculations of weight loss and tube feeding formulations or completing reports or auditing supplement use…

Little Miss

But I’m sure no one would ever NOT want to look when I’ve got a picture of the Little Miss to share.

She came up for my 27 Dresses birthday party a couple weeks back and I had fun taking pictures of her after the party was over.

Don’t forget to check out more daybooks here.

Categories Everyday Life

A Classy Guest

3 Comments by

It’s been over five years since my stint as a hotel housekeeper, and most of the lessons I learned have faded from my memory.

Such is the nature of memory, even in one as young as I.

Blogging station in hotel

But a few nights spent in a hotel during state survey are enough to bring back a few notes I’d filed away in my mind from my housekeeping days.

Particularly, notes on what makes for a classy guest.

Personal belongings

A classy guest, you see, makes herself at home in her hotel room–but not too at home. She hangs her clothing in the closet, leaves her toiletries beside the sink, sets her Bible beside her bed, and maybe has a pillow or blanket of her own laying across her bed. She does not trash the room, leave her personal belongings strewn across the floor, or cover all available surfaces with half empty food and beverage containers.

?Clothes in hotel closet

A classy guest takes advantage of amenities–but does not abuse them. She acknowledges the pretty bottles of shampoo and conditioner, uses them while showering, and leaves them in the shower for the next day. Should she end up with a partially used bottle, she’ll tuck it in her bag, but she’ll never systematically empty the room of amenities every day, hoping that the housekeeper will refresh them. She might take home a bottle or two, but never seven sets of bottles.

Sewing basket by hotel chair

A classy guest honors the hotel’s property enough to leave her luggage on a luggage rack rather than hoisting it onto the bed where it’ll destroy the mattresses lifespan. She has a sense of fitness and chooses to put things where they belong instead of dropping them willy-nilly wherever they fall.

Luggage rack

A classy guest leaves the bed looking slept in, but neat. She understands that the housekeeping staff are going to make assumptions about who she is and what she does, but she isn’t keen on revealing secrets to the staff. If wild midnight romps occurred here, she’s not sharing–which the staff certainly appreciate. On the other hand, she recognizes that the staff make beds for a living–and she isn’t going to try to make the bed just for them to remake it every day.

Personal belongings on hotel bed

A classy guest leaves a kind note or a tip (or both) for her housekeepers. It needn’t be much–although coins are not particularly appreciated unless accompanied by a handwritten note from a child. Most housekeepers are raising their families on meager incomes, struggling to make do in a nation whose language is not their native tongue and whose customs are not their own. Some are refugees, some the more “ordinary” immigrants, others are honest but less-educated natives. Either way, they can use a kind word and a couple dollars to ease their monotonous days.

Tip at a hotel

Does anyone else have any hotel experience? Do you have any pointers to add?

Categories Family & Friends, Memes

Gracebug: In Which I majorly shorten Grace’s Meme

3 Comments by

My little sister Grace recently posted a meme that asked a whopping 81 questions about someone you know.

In the interest of time and, well, interest, I’m shortening it to 8 questions and using it as a way to introduce you to my little sis.

1) What’s her name?

Gracebug Joy

2) Do you get along with this person all the time?

Nope, which is what one of my old teacher’s said distinguishes a true friendship from a fake one. Grace and I are very similar, both rather passionate and emotional–which means we also tend to butt heads on occasion.

3) Has she ever cooked for you?

I believe she has-on many occasions, I’m sure, but I’m remembering a hamburger and pasta dish at my house. She cooks on occasion, but has mentioned that she feels that every time she cooks something a certain one of our brothers “one-ups” her by cooking something similar (only better, in her mind).

4) Does she have a nickname for you?

That’s a good question-I’m not sure? Grace? Help me out here!

5) How many times do you talk to this person during a week?

It depends. Sometimes several times, sometimes never. We live at a distance and I’m not much of a phone person. But we enjoy talking whenever I’m home or she’s up here, and we share the occasional text or Facebook conversation. Grace also knows that if she ever wants to talk with me about something, she can post it on her blog, of which I am a faithful reader and commenter.

6) Have you ever had a sleepover with this person?

Once upon a time, Grace slept on a rollaway bed in the school room. Then Anna and I stole her to live with us in our room. She probably will experience lasting dysfunctional sleep patterns for having spent her preschool and elementary years sharing a bedroom (and often a bed) with her teenaged sisters. Now, we have the boring sort of sleepovers, where she comes to stay at my house overnight because that maximizes time together when there’s an hour and a half drive to be made to get together.

7) Would you date this person’s siblings?

Absolutely not. Unlike some siblings of mine, I do not date my siblings’ siblings.*

8) When is the next time you will see this person?

Next Thursday, at her show choir concert (in which she has a solo part-You go girl!)

Grace blogs at A Teen Girl’s Mind. There, she shares, well, what’s on her mind. Generally, it’s angsty, emotionally-charged philosophical-political-high-school-drama-filled stuff. (Which I realize may not be your cup of tea. Fine with me, but I love her bunches and always enjoy interacting with her about what she’s written.)

* A so-thinly-it’s-not-even-veiled reference to my brother, who is dating our sister-in-law’s sister.

Categories Homemaking, Work

White Coat Woes

5 Comments by

Not every dietitian (even in my company) wears the dress-code mandated white coat. But I do.

Me in my lab coatI wear the white coat because it gives me an extra dose of professionalism, because it differentiates me from visitors, because it has pockets to keep my essentials handy.

Mostly because it has those pockets.

But finding a coat that fits me can be an issue.

If I choose a women’s coat, it’s generally intended for someone much shorter than I–and usually has a band that’s supposed to fall at the waist but instead falls inconveniently just below my bust.

If I choose a man’s coat, it’ll be long enough, but tends to fit rather like a bag on my otherwise shapely figure.

I was thrilled to find a coat that fit a little over a year ago, although I was a bit disappointed to find that it was branded “Grey’s Anatomy”.

When I went back six months (or so) ago to get a second coat to replace the one that was starting to get ratty, I couldn’t find one in my size (medium). I bought an extra-large and cut it down to size.

Unfortunately, the next time I went back, it was to discover that the particular style of coat that actually managed to fit me was no longer being sold.

My new lab coat
What’s a girl to do?

I’m not sure what most girls would do, but this girl went to Walmart and bought some white twill curtains on clearance.

Then she carefully cut her old coat (the first one, size medium) apart and marked each seam and fold. She used the old pieces as a pattern to cut a new garment from the twill and painstakingly pieced it together into a replica coat.

Finally finished, she loads her pockets and takes some pictures before preparing for bed.

(The first picture is of the store-boughten coat, the second of my newly homemade coat. I think I like my homemade one even better than the store-bought one.)