Curtain call!

My mother-in-law is AWESOME.  She does custom window treatments and pillows, and also all sorts of cool stuff that she sells at her Voncile's Originals storefront on Etsy.

Over Christmas she and I went fabric shopping to finish out our living room.  (Up until today we've had the wrong size curtains hanging on bent spring rods, just so folks couldn't see in at night.)  She offered to make us new curtains for our new house!

And today, TODAY, the philosopher and I received our amazing gift in the mail. 

She managed to make beautiful roman shades out of a sheer fabric, so the room is still nice and bright during the day, but not a fishbowl at night.  And the faux roman shade valance is a perfect fit.

Even the cat approves of the matching new pillows (and trust me, that's saying a lot).

Thanks, mom!  We love you!

Christmas Prayers

There are many things that need prayer these days, and there are many things to be thankful for, as well.  So.... what's at the top of our Christmas thankgivings and prayer requests?

Prayer: The philosopher still doesn't have a full time job.  Of the two positions he applied for this fall, he finally got a rejection email from the school in New York.  (Would it be wrong to say that's a thanksgiving too??!?)  We have yet to hear from The Happy Southern School, but he does know (through the grapevine, as it were) that he's still on the short list.  They're calling references for other candidates, and I expect they'll do phone interviews with them soon.  I hypothesize that if no one measures up to the philosopher, then they won't bring anyone to campus and their will be much rejoicing in our house.  But if they do bring someone to campus, it could likely be late January before we know anything.  So prayers for dealing with the stress and anxiety, and prayers that we can finally settle down to be Wherever We're Supposed To Be.

"Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in thy Son's Name:  We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ear to us who have now made our prayers and supplications unto thee; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will, may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth of thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen"

Thanksgiving: Even without a full time job, we're getting by.  God has been good, and we're not in need of anything.  I read so many stories every day of families right on the edge of losing everything and families that *have* lost everything, and I praise the Lord that we are comfortable, and safe, and warm. (Well, safe except for the cat, who likes to lie across doorways at night like a large fluffy trip-monster!)

"Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may he unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen."

16 Years and Counting...

This past Saturday was our 16th wedding anniversary. He spent it in South Bend, Indiana, attending two conferences (one on, erm... open theism, I think, and the other celebrating Alvin Plantinga). I spent it here in Alabama, madly painting the bathroom and building new vanity doors and sewing a new shade.

Something to ponder - why do I always take on a huge project when he goes out of town?

So we are in the process of purchasing him a new vehicle. Our 2000 Focus became an organ donor after the wreck (no one was hurt, and that is a Good Thing), and now we're looking for a early 2000s Ford Ranger to replace it. And yes, I've already named it.... "Strider". ::grin:: Anyway, since we're paying cash for the truck, I didn't want us to spend money on fancy gifts. So I got the philosopher a salad spinner. Nerdy, you say? OF COURSE!

But I digress. He actually spent nearly 14 hours in a car on Sunday, driving home. He didn't have to do that - he had an offer of a place to sleep at about halfway. But he wanted to be home, and I am Very Glad. That was the best present he could've given me. (Well, that, and he's promised to cook some tasty meals in the next few days!) Actually, what's even better is that he returned from his weeklong trip renergized, mentally recharged, and ready to get back to work on The Book.

Sometimes the care and feeding of a moody philosopher can be tricky, especially when their batteries are drained. So this past week was really a blessing for both of us, even if it meant we'd be apart on May 22. And even though we're still in a place of uncertainty in our lives, and where we should be, and what *exactly* we should be doing, right now All is Well.

Happy 2010! My resolution for the year...

(Wow - it's been a while since I've posted anything. But maybe that's because I was on vacation and almost never turned on the computer? Naaaaaah.... couldn't've been that!)

...is not to make a resolution! ::grin::

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, actually. Mainly because, well, I can never keep them. I'd rather commit to something achievable, and do it with the help, participation, and encouragement of my better half. Last year we started reading through the Bible together every night, and that is a Good Thing we still continue to do.

This year is a bit more nebulous. It's all about Healthier Eating. Now, I call this nebulous because we've been changing our diet slowly for the last few years - really since we joined a CSA farm when we lived in Virginia. When you get local, in-season produce delivered to your home every week, it becomes a motivation to actually EAT it. You don't want to waste the money you've invested in the farm share, and more importantly, the fresh produce is darned tasty!

We've been members of Grow Alabama now for a while, and we feel the same way about this CSA too. (Heck, we haven't bought produce in the grocery store for months!) So that certainly increases the quick access to produce. But we're also big meat eaters. And bread/rice eaters. And I must admit (in my opinion) that chocolate really should be a fifth food group. So this year, I want to increase my good foods, and decrease those things we really like but really shouldn't have.

For those of you who are fan of Good Eats, the host Alton Brown lost a lot of weight over the last year, not by dieting as we understand the term, but reorganizing how he ate. In a recent episode he made some food group lists, which I'll copy here:

Daily
- Fruits
- Whole Grains
- Leafy Greens
- Nuts
- Carrots
- Green Tea

3 times a week
- Oily Fish
- Yogurt
- Broccoli
- Sweet Potato
- Avocado

Once a week
- Red meat
- Pasta
- Dessert
- Alcohol

NEVER!
- Fast Food
- Soda
- Processed meals/frozen dinners
- Canned soup
- "Diet" anything

That's pretty basic, and straightforward. I'm pretty good on the "Never" list, because I don't consume the first three anyway. I use canned soup in recipes sometimes, but I'm much more fond of making my own. It's the final one that I have problems with. I'm a diabetic. And I keep sugar-free cookies and such because it keeps me from eating things even worse for me. So I'm not sure how much impact one sugar free cookie or one small piece of sugar free candy a day would be, but I also think that if I cut ALL sweets out completely I'd go 'round the twist and start hurting people. ::heh::

So this year, I think we're going to work towards a more balanced way of eating. Less meat. More fish (the flash-frozen salmon you get at Sams is quite tasty, and easy to cook with). More greens - and hey! - the spring season for dark leafy greens like kale and mustard/turnip greens is right around the corner. More whole grains and fewer processed starches like white bread and white rice. I'm not like Alton, I don't need to lose 50 pounds. (More like five...) But I also want to maintain my healthy-ish weight and help keep my diabetes in control.

So I may write blog posts about foods we discover, or recipes we find especially tasty. (There's this mushroom lentil casserole we made over the holidays that was absolutely fantabulous....!) This isn't going to become a food blog. It will still have a completely random theme of "whatever is on the librarian's mind at the moment", but expect more foodie bits. 8-D

Anyway, to all my friends in blog-land, have a blessed 2010!

Giving Thanks...

It's been a while since I've posted anything - nothing new to report, I suppose. But I did want to take a moment and reflect on the Thanksgiving holidays, and to give thanks.

1) I give thanks to God every day for the philosopher in my life. He keeps me on my toes mentally, challenges me to be honest in the way I think about life, and keeps me warm. I don't know what I did to deserve him, but I am blessed every day to be his wife.

2) I give thanks for family - we spent Thanksgiving day at a family reunion (on the philosopher's side) and got to catch up with lots of folks we hadn't seen in years. A good time (and a full tummy) was had by all!

3) My dad and I watched the Alabama/Auburn game together on Friday, and the FSU/FL game on Saturday. The final scores were a mixed bag, but I give thanks that I live close enough to spend fall Saturdays watching football with my dad.

4) Sunday we went to church - I give thanks that we live in a country that allows freedom of religion! We also had lunch with my mom and grandmom Sunday afternoon - I'm thankful to be close enough to be able to see them on a regular basis, too.

5) And finally I'm deeply thankful for far-away friends - my life would be considerably more boring without y'all!

Anamnesis

I learned a new word today! Anamnesis (The philosopher would be so proud... well, he would if he actually read my blog. He's of the firm opinion that if I want him to know something, I should tell him face to face. He doesn't believe me when I say I'm much more eloquent on paper!)

Anyway, new word. I especially like the "Encyclopedia" entry in the link above.

So we did have a busy weekend, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Friday we went to the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta and laughed for a solid 2 1/2 hours at "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged." We met up with some fellow Stand Firmers, Matthew (aka mousestalker) and his delightful wife. Much fun was had by all! It's amazing. We met folks with whom we have a lot in common, we went to the same college, we have similar religious beliefs, the same opinion of what makes food nasty (it's all about texture!)... and we never would've met if it hadn't been for blogs. How cool is that?

Saturday was my father's birthday. Happy birthday, dad! In three weeks we'll start up our Saturday Football days again, and I'm so looking forward to it. Go Noles!!!! WooHoo!

Sunday we headed south to my sister-in-law's house. Her family has grown by one with the addition of Milton the puppy, who was *completely* worn out at the end of the day by our niece, an active 2 1/2 year old. My mother-in-law was there too, and it was wonderful to visit with her as well. We arrived home late to the indignant protests of the cat. I had neglected to feed her before we left, and she was extremely cross. (as an aside - she had plenty of dry cat food in her bowl. I merely neglected to use my opposable thumbs to pop a top on a can of food.) Finicky beast.

So I have two days of work this week, then I get my last "mini-vacation" before The Holidays. I can't believe it's August already. So I'll leave off this rememberance of things past and work on completing today's projects!

Vacation!

"Vacation, all I ever wanted, vacation have to get away....."

Well, it's a vacation from WORK, anyway. We're not actually going anywhere exotic, or doing anything fabulously interesting. But it's a few days away from the library, and that indeed is a Good Thing. But, we will do some fun things, like...

*Visit the philosopher's sister who lives a couple of hours away
*Go for a hike on the Pinhoti (this time Salem Church Road to the High Point trailhead)
*Watch movies and do some scrapbooking (yes, at the same time)
*Lounge in the hammock (or maybe even *in* the pool if it's really hot)
*Cook something fun, bake something tasty
*Complete one designated house project (as yet to be determined)

So there you go. And off I go!

Happy Birthday!

No, it's not my birthday but the philosopher's. We're celebrating with dinner out. I already gave him his present... new hiking boots. Though we may go shopping for a new weed whacker this weekend, that in no way counts as a present. It would be like him giving me a vacuum cleaner! I told him yesterday that this weekend was his. We'd do whatever he'd like to do, whether it be hiking or talking philosophy or reading Tom Clancy, J. K. Rowling, or Stephen King (oh wait - that would be me. He'd probably be reading Wodehouse or Charles Taylor). As of last night, he was still considering all the possibilities!

A Random Aside:

We received TEN POUNDS of napa cabbage in the most recent farm delivery. Holy cabbage, Batman!!

UPDATE:
So, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. We went to his favorite coffee shop for lattes and dessert. We went hiking at Cheaha State Park (and found ourselves trailblazing off the wrong trail. More on that in a later post.) My mom took us out to lunch on Sunday. We spent time by the pool, the philosopher on a float and me in a hammock. It was a great weekend!

15 Years in a Flash...

So, the philosopher and I will be celebrating 15 years of marriage this Friday. I can't believe it's been FIFTEEN YEARS. Wow.

We started dating in 1990, both still in college and young and crazy like most college kids are. We graduated, and he asked my father's permission in my dad's study (not realizing at the time that my dad's guns were hanging on the wall behind him. ::heh::). He promised my dad he would always take care of me and treat me right. He proposed on the beach near his hometown and I was completely clueless, even when he went down on one knee, until he pulled the ring out of his pocket.

We lived a very sparse and poor life our first few years in Miami and Tallahassee. Then we moved out of our comfort zone (well, ok, out of *my* comfort zone) to Virginia. We bought our first house. It was in need of major TLC, and we doled it out happily, learning how to strip paint and frame new walls and hang insulation and do plumbing and electrical repairs. I cried when we sold our stone cottage, but we moved back to the deep south and that made it easier.

Now we're in another series of "life changes" as the philosopher continues to look for full time work and finish his book. We've almost finished the TLC on our second house (I think we're fated to buy old houses and fix them up!) We've discovered new things we like to do together, like hiking and astronomy. We'll probably end up moving again with another adventure on the horizon. But through it all we've loved each other and trusted each other and supported each other. He is my true love and my best friend, and I thank God every day for bringing us together.

Top Ten Thursday

(Yes, I know this is typically supposed to be "Top Ten Tuesday." But when have I ever been determined to follow the pack?)

Ten Things I'm Thankful For

10. Cool evenings when you can sleep under a blanket with the windows wide open.
9. Carrots and peppers and tomatoes and basil growing in the garden.
8. Goldfinches in the bird feeder.
7. Hot chocolate, a good book, and a comfy chair on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
6. Legos and coloring books.
5. Clear starry nights when you can see the Orion Nebula and the Milky Way.
4. A growing church community with "Biblical Christianity, Anglican Worship."
3. Our cat, though thoroughly wicked, who will curl up next to me and purr when I'm in a funk.
2. Friends and relations, both near and far.
1. The philosopher. "For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live." 15 years on May 22. Wow.

Praise and Prayers

A blessed Easter to you all - Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Prayers of Thanksgiving

1. My grandmother is back at my mom's house, and resting comfortably. She's under hospice care now and that has been a real blessing, albiet a difficult transition, for mother. Since we sold the small commercial property grandmother owned, we now have enough cash on hand to meet any immediate needs she may have. I hope if I live to be 97, that my years can be as productive and fruitful as hers have been.

2. Along the same lines, we are preparing the family home for sale. It's listed with a real estate agency (you can see it here, if you're interested) and getting a number of showings a week. It's in a poor town, so that's not helping... but we're hopeful! The more pressing concern is the 120 years of stuff our family's six generations have accumulated - currently tucked into every nook and cranny of the house and the four outbuildings. We were planning a yard sale. A big yard sale. A REALLY REALLY BIG yard sale. Unfortunately, the burden of that fell mostly on me, a physical and emotional burden that I was dreading with every fiber of my being. So I convinced the rest of the family that we should hire an estate sale company. Praise God!

Prayers for Peace and Comfort

1. My cousin, who had been helping with the house prep, has been diagnosed with a heart problem. She's going to have a heart catheterization next week, which will hopefully ward off a possible future stroke. She lost her mom (my mother's sister) when she was about the same age as her son, so you can imagine the fear and concern she's having right now. So please pray for peace and a successful procedure.

2. A longtime family acquaintance lost her home to fire yesterday. The family is all fine - they weren't home when it happened - but it appears they lost nearly everything, including their precious dogs. (We are hoping that their oldest daughter's wedding dress - she's getting married in three weeks - was not in the house!) I pray for peace and comfort; may they rest in God's gentle embrace during this traumatic time.

Keep watch, dear Lord,
with those who work, or watch, or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary,
bless the dying, soothe the suffering,
pity the afflicted, shield the joyous;
and all for your love's sake. Amen.

I Can Stop Any Time I Want To...really!

Have I mentioned lately how much I like having regular four-day work weeks? The ten hours of work on Monday and Tuesday are challenging, of course, but by Wednesday I'm already anticipating my three-day weekend. So I have Friday (on Thursday) and then First and Second Saturdays. (And I appreciate that Second Saturday as much as the hobbits covet their "second breakfasts.") Sundays are spent at church and doing whatever I can to avoid the dreaded "Sunday afternoon sleepies." So all in all it's a good thing.

So, I must now sheepishly admit that I spent much of my weekend cataloging our books. Seriously. For Valentine's Day I gave my beloved a lifetime account on LibraryThing and one of their little CueCat scanners (yes, it's cat-shaped!) And I do believe that was The Best Present Ever for him. (He got me strawberry plants, dinner at Johnny Rockets, and tickets to see Romance/Romance, so that ranked pretty high on the cool-gift-o-meter too.) Our LT username, you ask? Catalogingjointly. As in "Married, Cataloging Jointly". (We just did our taxes, you see...) We think it's a surefire way to prevent divorce - we hardly know whose books are whose at this point (well, the stuff in Greek is a dead giveaway) and trying to separate them now would be impossible. Voila!

Anyway, the philosopher and I have added over 1500 books so far, and there are more tucked away in boxes. I really am a frustrated cataloger, or at least an addicted one (I can stop any time I want to!) But I most enjoyed the challenge of finding *exactly* the right record that matched the work-in-hand. Those few times I had to add a book manually just made my day. And I wasted far too much time "cleaning up" the records, getting the authors and editors assigned their proper terms, and making sure the capitalization and punctuation falls in all the right places. Oh, and I shouldn't even mention searching for the proper book cover .jpg to display. It's probably a good thing LT doesn't use the MARC21 standards, because I'd really go nuts then. The fact that I can add call numbers is bad enough, right?

So that's how we spent our weekend - all three days of it!

It's a fiesta (without the radioactivity)!

No, actually we're not having a non-nuclear party. ::grin:: (Well, dad and I are having one this Saturday for the SEC Championship game, and that might go nuclear, but that's another thing entirely.)

My mom has had some dinnerware in storage that I've coveted for years. Some of the pieces were my great-grandmother's, even. She'd already passed on her Lenox china (saying she never used it) so I didn't want to ask for anything else. But this Thanksgiving the opportunity arose... I was helping her clear out some cabinets and such, and she asked me if there was anything I wanted. So I mentioned the boxes of Fiestaware stored in the attic. It's a mixed assortment - cinnabar dinner plates, ivory salad plates, shamrock dessert bowls, some random serving pieces, and a gazillion small coffee cups/saucers in two different colors. (OK, that's an exaggeration. There's more like 14, but everything else is in multiples of 8, so that counts as a gazillion in dish-math.) Our "walmart china" was on its last legs, so this gift/early inheritance was a boon to our pocketbook too. Thanks, mom!!

Aesthetically, it will take some getting used to - I'm all about things matching, and now none of our dishes match. But there's a wierd freedom to that too. Our stone cottage in Virginia had a definite "Italian" theme going, with olive colored dishes and such. With the Fiesta, we are no longer tied to keeping up a color theme. The philosopher is going to build a display shelf for some of the pieces - a beautiful evergreen platter, the sugar/creamer set (blue and... er... pink-ish, I think) and the small disk pitcher, which is bright yellow. It also goes well with our new kitchen, which has light, neutral wood/tile tones. So the new dishes add a bit of spark that our Italian-color pieces didn't quite do.

Some of the pieces, like the sugar/creamer and yellow coffee cups, were my great-grandmother's (bought when they first came out in the 30s). Mother added some of the other pieces when the line was re-introduced in the 70s. So not only do I have some excellent dinnerware now, I have a little piece of my family history too. As an only child, that's really important to me (and thanks go here to my hubby for understanding that!) I have some furniture from my father's parents - a walnut dining room table and a bedroom suite - and a rocking chair from my mother's mother. Now I have something from one of my "greats," so how cool is that?

Now, those of you who are familiar with Fiestaware have heard about the radioactive red plates from the mid-20th century. You know, the ones where the red color came from depleted (or natural!) uranium. Fortunately, we don't have any of the "radioactive red," so you are completely safe if you come to have dinner with us!

Giving Thanks (in a heffalumps sort of way)

Things I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

Google Images has now added the entire photo collection of LIFE magazine to its digital archives, many that have never been published before.

Florida State's first-string safety Myron Rolle was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship - he wants to be a neurosurgeon. How cool is it that there are college football players who are also excellent college students?

Along the same lines, the philosopher and I are thankful to be visiting friends this weekend in Memphis to watch the Florida State/Florida game. (I will be even more thankful if FSU doesn't embarass itself!)

The Common Cause Partnership is meeting in Wheaton, IL to discuss creating a formal orthodox Anglican province.

The philosopher starts teaching symbolic logic and metaphysics at Samford University in January.

Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World is being made into a movie.

New Years plans are set with our favorite biologist, who will be visiting us and escaping the frigid climes of West Virginia.

And of course, I'm thankful for family and friends, and all the good things God has provided this year. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, y'all!