Busy Nothings

Since I got him right after church this morning with Ein Feste Burg still ringing in my ears I decided to name my new beta fish Luther. Isn’t he cute?

I have little faith in congregations. Of the five congregations I have been a communicant member of, three have treated their pastors horribly. One of those pastors was my dad. This Nov. 22 will be the 8th anniversary of my dad’s death from Mesothelioma, cancer caused by asbestos exposed in the parsonage basement. The congregation didn’t want to spend the money to remove it. It was removed a few months after Dad was diagnosed for a mere $600. This whole situation has left me hurt, confused, and angry, but tonight 3 hours accomplished more than months of therapy could.
Tonight was our church’s Harvest Potluck and auction. All the proceeds go to improvements on the parsonage and church. I had to go, and Sean willingly came with me. It was amazing. Not only did I win a cute, fuzzy moose pillow for a whopping $67, but to witness the generosity of the members was astounding! A fishing trip with pastor went for $500. A handmade knife for $175. A 2′ x 2′ Christmas quilted wall hanging for $125. Two bottles of $10 wine in a handmade basket went for $90. 15 handmade fishing lures sold for $50. The list goes on and on and the people just kept outbidding each other! Even my packages of 6 handmade cards went for $10 each! Thrivent agreed to match funds up to $1300 but I’m sure all the auction items went for at least double that. It was crazy. People were bidding and winning items they had no idea what they were going to do with or who they were going to give them to. And all this to take care of the pastor’s house. There really are people who care about the living conditions of their pastor, and I am just so blessed to be a member of this congregation. I write this with tears in my eyes. I will remember this day and treasure my moose pillow probably for the rest of my life. What an amazing evening. To God be the Glory, great things he is still doing!!!

My $67-towards-the-parsonage moose pillow!

Today my thoughts are with the Internet Technicians at ACS. At 5 p.m. they will be minus one very intelligent internet tech genius, a.k.a. my hubby. YAY!!! Sean starts his new job as an IP Engineer on Monday.

To celebrate this momentous occasion I made a “Yay!” cake. What is a “Yay!” cake, you ask? A cake for no other reason than to celebrate something really great. I hope it becomes a family tradition. Cakes are for more than just birthdays.

If you’re wondering how the WELS Women’s retreat went, it went. The speaker was awesome, but I was disappointed in the music and group discussions. I was hoping for a more uplifting worship time, but the music consisted of people’s favorite hymns played really slow. My friend and I left early when it started to snow which turned into a blizzard by the time we got to the windy pass through the mountains. Those who came back later said we were smart to leave when we did.

Today and tomorrow I will be down in the Kenai peninsula at the WELS women’s retreat. I expect that I shall come back with a few good recipes, a more submissive attitude, and a new pair of knee pads.

I am a housewife. I love being a housewife. I love it that my house is always clean, my husband goes to work after a hot breakfast and wearing clean clothes. I love it that I can save us money each Christmas by handmaking 25 presents. But, just to contradict the title of this blog (the most common response I’ve received after telling other women I’m a stay-at-home wife), I thought I’d outline my “sit around” schedule from yesterday:

5:30 a.m. Shower and get ready for “work”
6:00 a.m. Make breakfast for hubby
6:30 a.m. Eat breakfast with hubby
7:00 a.m. Spend time with hubby
7:15 a.m. Pack hubby’s lunch
7:30 a.m. Take hubby to work
7:45 a.m. Go to Walmart to buy toilet paper, paper towels, and black thread.
8:15 a.m. Drive to clients’ house on the other side of town to teach piano lessons until
11:30 a.m. Plan Treble Choir with clients’ mom
12:30 p.m. Go to church to practice organ for Sunday
2:00 p.m. Stop at home quickly to grab movies and return them to Movie Gallery
2:30 p.m. Go to Michaels to get mat with 40% off coupon
2:45 p.m. Go to pharmacy to get CPAP mask part (too expensive)
3:00 p.m. Go to bakery thrift store for bread
3:15 p.m. Drive up to north side of town to other pharmacy with cheaper CPAP mask part (I saved $10!)
3:30 p.m. Hang out at JoAnn’s for 45 minutes (this was the fun part of my day but I didn’t buy anything even though scrapping stuff was really cheap)
4:15 p.m. Go to bank to deposit $$
4:25 p.m. Go to Post Office to mail package to brother
4:45 p.m. Go pick up hubby from work
5:30 p.m. Finally home!!!

Bon bons? I didn’t even stop for lunch! And I still didn’t get to the library or the music store!

…to my hubby who is now an IP Engineer!!! No more crazy internet customers to deal with!

…and my husband declared that Alaskan muslims have it too easy. To fast from sunrise to sundown in October? That’s only 8 hours without food–less if you’re in Fairbanks. Sean said a REAL muslim would fast in July in Fairbanks where the sun never sets!

Well, sort of. We got a remote starter installed in our truck today. After the last 2 Alaskan winters the idea of going out to start the truck in the cold darkness doesn’t really appeal to either of us. So now, with a touch of a button, our truck beeps at us and starts up. I actually tried it out while sitting in the truck and it was pretty cool. If only the remote was on a watch and the truck could talk…

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go hear and see the symphony perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the “Ode to Joy.” The fact that Beethoven was deaf and mad and could still write this masterpiece is pure genius. I love Beethoven. He really was the bridge between the Classical (think Mozart) and Romantic (think Chopin) periods and was so forward in his compositions at the time they weren’t always accepted. Adding soloists and a huge chorus to a symphony? Switching the Scherzo and Adagio movements? Unheard of! Add to that the double fugue in the finale which Bach probably never even thought of and it is just–I don’t even know the word for it!!! What an experience! I’d blast the CD in my apt. while at college but that doesn’t come close to this performance. WOW!!!