the bag lady

If you are not a bag lady, like I am, then read no further.

But if you are drawn to a well made bag with beautiful fabric and great organization, the go check out my friend Karen. She makes custom bags, and they are fantastic. I personally own 5, and gave my sister one for her last birthday. Karen does beautiful work, and has an eye for what will just "work" in a bag. She makes purse-bags, messenger-bags (both for boys and girls), knitting-in-public-bags, coin-purse-bags, wallet-on-a-string-bags, and many more.

She's having a giveaway right now to celebrate 15 years of being in business, so head on over to
www.zoesbagboutique.blogspot.com
and see what she's got going on.

I may have to see about ordering another bag...
K

not so new years

Confession of the week: I really don't like New Years. Yes, I've cheerily said "Happy New Year!!" to several people this week. And I don't hold a grudge. But, I really don't feel like this time is the NEW YEAR. It still feels cold. There's no change in the weather. The school year is not even half over. I am still sneezing from packing up the fake tree and putting it back out in the garage. And, yes, I still have lights up outside.

Even though it technically is a new number I write on my checks, I don't FEEL like anything is new.

This week I was thinking about newness, and longing for the real beginning: Fall. Even though I'm not Jewish, I am totally down with the idea of Jewish new year. In Fall, there is a delicious change of seasons. In Fall, the school year is new and laid out in front of me like a blanket full of possibilities. In Fall, it's my birthday. Fall is the best part of the baseball season.

I've been on the Fall=new year schedule for my entire life: first in elementary and high school, then college and grad school, then teaching school. I think at this point that the new year is wired into my being as starting in the Fall.

As much as I love the tantalizing possibilities of the NEW YEAR, I think I will still celebrate in the fall. Maybe from now on I will do New Year's resolutions on my birthday. A new year, a new age, a new resolution to start fresh.

Happy New (middle of the) Year!
K

a little laugh

Mom sent this to me awhile ago, and it made me laugh.

Hope it makes you laugh too...

K

pigs

Have you ever noticed the connection between Christian high holy days and pork? I was just thinking about this today, and it occurred to me that the traditional meal for both Christmas and Easter is ham. Christmas ham, Easter ham...just wondering if there is a connection. I'm thinking it must be cultural, because I don't think this was true for the early church, like 2,000 years ago. Did 1st century Christians gather around the family table on Christmas and have a big ham dinner???

Just a thought.
K

quietude pt. 2

Today is the first day I haven't had to rest after going up the stairs.
Today is the first day I haven't been out of breath in the shower.
Today is the first day I felt like getting out of bed.
Today is the first day I thought about going out of the house.
I've had pneumonia.

Pneumonia is ridiculous. For the past week I've had such a hard time breathing, it almost defies words. When you know you are getting better because your breathing time at the top of the stairs is much less than yesterday, that's pneumonia. When you have to do breathing exercises just to stop coughing and take a breath, that's pneumonia. I have to say, I'm not a big fan.

Last night it occurred to me that I am really grateful for many things, and breathing is on the top of the list. Family is just above breathing. They've been taking care of me for the past few days, and it has been nice to have a little help. I would be lost without family, and am very lucky to have the family I do.

If you can avoid pneumonia, please do. Breathing is important.
K

on my recent quietude

I haven't written much lately. You know how it goes: it's a busy time of year, there's lots of stuff to do, blah, blah, blah.

But I DO have 2 things to say.

My 4th, 5th, and 6th graders had a concert last week at school. We got a holiday concert ready, and it was magnificent. They were awesome!!! This is in NO way related to the fact that I am their director - for reals. I am SO proud of them and how they truly rose to the occasion. 6th grade especially, because I assigned them the most complicated piece in the whole thing, and they really pulled together and did a great job. I am continually awed that I can ask for bigger and better things, and they step up to the plate and deliver. Their hard song was Jingle Bells, but the music was to several different tunes from The Nutcracker. These are not easy melodies to sing, and they sang fantastically.
The other reason I am so proud is because all of my kids in the concert sang the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah. When we finished the parents all lept to their feet and my principal had a tear in his eye. Granted, it was several keys lower than the original, and in 2 parts (instead of 5 or 6) but they rocked it. Many adult choirs can't sing this piece well, and my elementary kids stood right up and did me proud. I can't say enough how grateful I am for following me, and for doing a great job of it.

The other I'll have to write about later. I'm still beaming about what a great concert that was.

smell

Today I was printing out my Christmas letter. You know, the one that says basically that nothing much happened this year...
Anyway, as the pretty green Christmas-y stationary was coming out of the printer, it had a smell. Not a BAD smell, but kind-of a weird smell. Like the mimeograph machines from elementary school. The ones where the ink is purple, and it would often rub off on your hand, and I always had to smell the freshly mimeographed sheets when they were handed out.

I just had a smell memory.

It was kind of odd, but a little comforting at the same time. Made me feel like I was in Mrs. Auble's 1st grade class all over again.

I think it is funny how some things - feelings, smells, songs can instantly transport you back to a much earlier time in your life. How your person holds all these memories inside, from the life you've lived up 'til now, and in one split-second a random smell or song or feel of a blanket can bring this all flooding back. When our brain memory fails us, our senses keep those memories just under the surface.

Just thought you'd have a mimeograph memory in there somewhere too.
K

a goodbye

My friend Beth wrote a beautiful post yesterday. Our Friend passed away late Wednesday night, and she said everything I could say, but so much more elegantly. We'll miss you Michelle.

snow

I have to honest, I have NOT enjoyed the weather for the past few days. We've had snow. Pretty constant, but not heavy, snow. It's snow that's kind of like powdered sugar. It dusts everything, and makes things much more pretty than they are usually. And, I will admit that this is a HUGE improvement over the "soggy-mashed-potatoes" snow we had a couple weeks ago. That was awful!

I do like the way that the snow covers everything, and makes the mountains look spectacular. It was a stunning drive to work this morning.

But I think that the snow is my least favorite part of the Colorado weather. Maybe if I'd learned to snow ski before I got out of High School I might be a little more enthusiastic. But...not so much.

I guess I will enjoy the parts I can, and wait until we have some more sunny days, and not-so-bitter cold. Did I mention that it was 10 degrees when I drove home this afternoon???

O Lord please help me to not to go nuts before the weather changes...

time

I've been thinking a lot about time lately, and how blessed I am to have so much of it right now. For as much as I really love my teaching job and the kids I get to see every day, I equally love that it comes with built-in time off. This Thanksgiving week has been a great vacation. I've spent time with family, decorated the house a little bit, had some friends over, took some time to get over the cold I had for the past 2 weeks, and so many other things.

So, even as I've been thinking about how grateful I am to have some extra time right now, there are some who have run out of time. Today I went down to the hospice in-patient unit to visit with a friend from church who doesn't have much time left. She has been fighting cancer, and fortunately her fight is almost over. Good because she's in a lot of pain, and the amount of medicine she's on makes her pretty out of it. Not good for her husband and her 2 young kids. As I sat there with her and just held her hand and prayed for her and her family, I was thinking about how we all end out time here on earth at some point. I was thinking about Grandma Bev and when she was in Hospice care. Thinking about what it was like to care for her in the last few weeks of her journey. Thinking about how sad I am for the husband and 2 young kids. Thinking about how blessed my time on this earth has been, and if I ended my journey today, that would be OK. Thinking about my sister and how sad she will be when her friend finally passes.

This whole week has been a gift of time, and then at the end of it I got a reminder that our time IS limited. We just don't know how limited it may be. As the thoughts of gratefulness and sadness and mourning and determination to make the most of my time all swirl about in my head, I hope that from now I choose to make my time worth it. Worth something. Worth talking about after I'm gone.

Serving at the Rescue Mission's Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless was a good start. But maybe I should not just focus on others once a year, but find ways to do that kind of thing more often.

Time is so precious.
K