It Does a Body Good

I have this thing for milk.
I pray I never become lactose intolerant.

There are days when the only thing that is going to quell the urge to shovel things down my gullet is milk. Cold Cold milk.

I'm pretty sure it's hormonal, but I haven't figured out which part of the cycle is craving it... I'll have like a week where I'll drink nearly a litre a day, then a week where I don't even think of it, then a day of OH MY GOSH I NEED MILK... and it'll never be enough milk, and I'm sloshing inside.

This is one of those weeks where the milk is going fast in the house, except I've been at work a lot so I've been drinking it there. Early this morning I was getting ready to head to Breakfast Club and needed to have a first breakfast. Breakfast Club doesn't start till 10.  I was hit with a wave of Finish.All.The.Milk. When this sort of thing happens, it's like I'm trying to win a chugging contest. My mouth opens and things go in and... well... it's almost embarrassing.

This morning there was only a quarter of the bag of milk left, so I indulged myself in a guilty childhood pleasure.

Drinking right from the bag.

I can almost hear my mother yelling at me.

I opened and greedily poured the bag into my throat... In the first second I knew there was something wrong. by the time I could start to react I'd already gulped twice... three times... the bag was nearly empty as I was able to pull it away...

pull it away before the biggest of the chunks from the bottom of the bag fell in my mouth.

yeah.

that happened.

Shudder.

I think I can probably make it the rest of the day without another drink of milk.

First breakfast

A million years ago,  or according to my archives- 3 years ago,  we folded our "BELLS" group.

Blessing, Eat, Listen, Learn, Sentness

Sort of a liturgy for us hobbits.
Something to use to gather with other likeminded folk and give direction and intention to our togetherness. 

Sentness has always been my favourite to reflect on. Where have I been sent?  Where have I seen God's hand in my life this week?  As someone who has decided to consciously seek joy, this is an activity I can really sink my teeth into.

I miss our old BELLS group. Life got too busy, and some people felt they were carrying the lion's share of the effort to keep it running. We all were burnt out. And it started to feel like a burden. Funny,  because we all came because we were burnt out... or had been burned and needed a safe place to figure out our own faith.

Before BELLS we were doing church at GTI, before that we had a home church... before that ...  most of our group just didnt "fit" in.

Tomorrow a group of those hobbots are getting together again. We haven't got any plans for anything other than breakfast. No books to study,  no video series to learn from, no expectations, no ... anything. Just breakfast,  breaking bread. So of course we're calling it "the breakfast club".

I'm excited to be in community again.
F you 2013.

The best Christmas Carols

I have two students right now taking uke lessons.
Two young girls, 9ish... funniest age ever.

Christmas is still a little ways off, but it's a refreshing change to have a series of songs where the generation gap hasn't left a giant rift. Honestly... what do kids listen to? I'm lost every week trying to find songs that we all know!

My second student is still quite new to the ukulele. She had a cognative growth spurt over the summer and is suddenly catching on really quickly- the music is starting to make sense and her fingers are "listening" to what she wants them to do. This year we're actually playing full Christmas songs without either of us ending up in pain.

There's still a generation gap... even in the classic Christmas tunes.

We were learning Roudolph last week. An easy tune, it means we can belt out the words without having to think too much... We had a little talk before we started...

Me: I want you to sing as loud as you can and do all the echos

Student: At my school the kids always sing the part about going down in history like Justin Bebier. I don't want to sing that.

Me: You don't have to sing that... sing about someone famous who will be famous forever- for all of history.

Student: ummmmm.

Me: Well, when I was growing up we said "like Christopher Colombus"... He's written about in a lot of history books.

Student: ummmmm.

Me: How about "like Oprah"?

Student: Who's Oprah?

(I'm dieing laughing): Really? Oh dear! Seriously?? Am I that old? Are you that young? Sheesh. ummm... How about "like Leonard Cohan"?

Student: Well, that makes more sense.

(This time I'm dieing laughing and due to overwhelming joy): ok.

Student: I'll probably just go with Justin Bebier.

 Me: sigh.

A little later we're talking about favourite drama games...

Student: Well, what about "fluff"?

Me: Fluff? Never heard of it.

Student: (dieing laughing) Really? Oh dear! Seriously?? Are you THAT old?

The lesson is nearly over, so we give Rudolph one more go... and get to the last line... Sweet student sings with gusto...

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in hiiiissssss-tooooooooorr-eeeeeeeeeeee
But not like Oprah!

a lesson in patience

This morning I was excited.
I woke up early ready to go get my new car... I woke up early and discovered I'd forgotten to buy dog food too.

My appointment at the bank- for the car- wasn't scheduled till noon but my dog demanded food, so I wandered my way downtown. Too early for the bank. Too early for even the dog food.
I reached into my wallet and discovered my secret stash.

I've been making sure I always carry two bucks for the bus. Just in case. Somehow I've gone 8 months without a vehicle and haven't taken the bus once. I mean, I've tried to take the bus. I've gone to stand at a bus stop only to be picked up by a friend along the way. So my two dollars in coin has sat in my pocket/change purse for months... I decided to bid it farewell.

I bought myself a fancy coffee and waited for the pet food store to open.

And it started to rain.

And I thanked my lucky stars that I was picking up my new car today so I wasn't going to get wet in that rain.

And I got my dog food.

And later I went to the bank.

And my car wasn't ready... so I rode my bike in the rain.

Again.

 At least the coffee was worth it.

drip drip

I think that tonight was my last wet ride home from work.

After 8 months of being a cyclist, I'm headed to the bank tomorrow for my bank note made out to tune of a new (to me) vehicle's cost.

Part of me is sad that I'm caving and getting a car. I  mean, at one point I'd toyed with the idea of going a year without replacing the sunfire. Going 8 months is still a huge thing... really. In a small town with a terrible transit system, it's nearly unheard of. Our transit would get me to work 5 mins late - if I took the first bus- and I'd have to walk 3 blocks to get the bus... it takes me less time to ride the 3.5 km to work. The last bus of the night finishes nearly an hour before the end of my evening shifts..

I tried to take a taxi one morning. It went to the wrong address, so even though I'd woken up 2 hours early in order to call and reserve a ride on a terribly rainy day, I ended up being 10 mins late for work.

I'm pretty excited to pick up my new car. Road trips and visits to the forrest with the pooch... ug. the freedom to go to a different grocery store!

The new vehicle doesn't have a name yet.

It's pretty much the exact opposite of the two door sunfire... I feel like it's the car I'm always suppose to have had. Yay for my Honda CRV!