On Our Way To Crazy

Feb 1 – Snow snow snow everywhere. Read lots of books.
Feb 2 – Snow canceled school and allowed a rare mid-week lunch with one of my favorite kids.
Feb 3 – My awesome husband brought me lunch.
Feb 4 – We made turkey meatloaf and crash potatoes for dinner and almost died from the deliciousness.
Feb 5 – Super fun and much needed girls night out.
Feb 6 – Nice, normal, non-stressful Saturday. Spent the afternoon with Jeff Bridges and some Sour Patch Kids.
Feb 7 – The power that had been out all morning came back on just in time for us to barely make it to church.
Feb 8 – My friends were very good to me. And I was thankful.
Feb 9 – My friend Steffanie had her second beautiful daughter, Elliot.
Feb 10 – Avett Brothers, all day long.
Feb 11 – Texas got a ton of snow and every single person I know called to tell me about it.
Feb 12 – Girls sleepover! Cookies and games and glitter and general hilarity.
Feb 13 – The kids were awesome on our service project. Then we had really expensive cheese cubes and listened to a barbershop quartet.
Feb 14 – We tried some new things with the youth group format and it went really well.
Feb 15 – Breakfast for dinner.
Feb 16 – Had an unexpected and really good talk with a band wife.
Feb 17 – Had a beautiful Ash Wednesday service at church followed by Olympic snowboard watching at Flying Saucer with the band.
Feb 18 – Saw a really cute high school production of Nunsense.
Feb 19 – Long, delicious dinner with friends. Tempura avocado, crab salad, crunchy salmon, japanese bbq chicken, lots of wine.
Feb 20 – Saw Jennifer Knapp open for Todd Snider in what may be the greatest pairing ever.
Feb 21 – Had a really interesting discussion in care group about what it looks like to share your faith as an adult.
Feb 22 – A friend gave us tickets to a benefit for Porter’s Call, an organization very dear to us. It was a really cool night full of stories.
Feb 23 – Read Don Miller’s new book. Loved it.
Feb 24 – Got to be silly and a little gossipy with coworkers at lunch.
Feb 25 – Saw a freaking amazing Waterdeep show AND got to meet them afterward.
Feb 26 – Delicious sushi dinner with new friends.
Feb 27 – Took two long walks with my boys.
Feb 28 – Ate a greasy fried lunch and ran into fun friends at the mall.

For a couple of people have never taken Valentine’s Day particularly seriously, we had a whole mess of stuff going on this weekend. I am wiped out.

It all started Friday night with a youth girls’ sleepover at our house. Thirteen girls and two adults crammed into our tiny house, with all the pillows and blankets and games and movies and marshmallows and kool-aid and glitter that come with them. It was out of control.

We played a rousing game of Celebrity (which included references to both the Andrews Sisters and BILL CROSBY, which I took to mean Bill Cosby but actually meant Bing Crosby, apparently my junior high girls were born in in the 1920s) before tackling a Valentine’s cookie making project. I thought it was going to be simple – roll out the dough, cut out the hearts, bake and decorate. No problem. Somehow, instead, we ended up with a mountain of oily batter that would not shape into hearts no matter what we did to it and flour everywhere. EVERYWHERE. It was all over the kitchen, in their hair, on our clothes. Messy messy messy. Fun fun fun.

After not nearly enough hours of sleep, we got them up and headed over to a nearby assisted living center for our monthly service project. The kids sang old hymns and visited with the residents, and were overall just full of awesome. I was really proud of them – for a lot of them it was their first time to do something like that, and making conversation with people in those situations can be pretty nerve-wracking. But they did a great job.

We got home mid-afternoon, just in time to turn around and go to a Valentine’s event our church’s men’s ministry put together. It was exactly what you think it was – dressed up old people, roses, cheesy love songs, linens, tiny desserts. But it was oh so much more. There was a barbershop quartet. There was a picture of our pastor dressed as Elvis. There was contraband wine snuck in from the hotel restaurant. There was an under-the-breath Delilah reference that made me cry from trying not to laugh.

It was… not cool. But we had fun with the other four people there under the age of fifty, and we learned a valuable lesson – sit in the back corner where no one can see you. And bring a flask.

We celebrated the actual day by doing nothing, thank goodness. We had a good morning in youth group, a quick lunch, and then spent the entire rest of the day reading, napping and watching the Olympics. We ate sweet tart hearts and pineapple salsa and it was glorious.

The Ballad of Love and Hate by The Avett Brothers

Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
My vacations ending. I’m coming home late.
The weather was fine and the ocean was great
and I can’t wait to see you again.

Hate reads the letter and throws it away.
“No one here cares if you go or you stay.
I barely even noticed that you were away.
I’ll see you or I won’t, whatever.”

Love sings a song as she sails through the sky.
The water looks bluer through her pretty eyes.
And everyone knows it whenever she flies,
and also when she comes down.

Hate keeps his head up and walks through the street.
Every stranger and drifter he greets.
And shakes hands with every loner he meets
with a serious look on his face.

Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow.
Carrying with her the good things we know.
A reason to live and a reason to grow.
To trust. To hope. To care.

Hate sits alone on the hood of his car.
Without much regard to the moon or the stars.
Lazily killing the last of a jar
of the strongest stuff you can drink.

Love takes a taxi, a young man drives.
As soon as he sees her, hope fills his eyes.
But tears follow after, at the end of the ride,
cause he might never see her again.

Hate gets home lucky to still be alive.
He screams o’er the sidewalk and into the drive.
The clock in the kitchen says 2:55,
And the clock in the kitchen is slow.

Love has been waiting, patient and kind.
Just wanting a phone call or some kind of sign,
That the one that she cares for, who’s out of his mind,
Will make it back safe to her arms.

Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door.
Weary head hung, eyes to the floor.
He says “Love, I’m sorry”, and she says, “What for?
I’m your and that’s it, Whatever.
I should not have been gone for so long.
I’m your’s and that’s it, forever.”

You’re mine and that’s it, forever.

I am completely in love with my DVR. Have I mentioned that lately? There are many, many household items I would sacrifice if it meant I got to keep the DVR. It is amazing.

My job includes a fair amount of ‘busy work’… I am my own assistant, and I do a lot of data management and related tasks both for the youth group and for the church at large. Because I work from home a couple of days a week, I like to have some stuff logged on the DVR to watch while I work. The nature of those logged shows changes with the seasons. Sometimes it’s sitcom reruns, sometimes it’s late night talk shows, sometimes it’s bad MTV reality. Don’t judge me.

Lately I’ve been on a Masterpiece Classic kick. Particularly, Emma. And, oh, you guys. It is just perfect. The only film version of Emma Woodhouse I’ve ever seen is Gwyneth Paltrow (and, you know, Alicia Silverstone). This one (played by Romola Garai) has a much different feel… she’s confident and strong and I just love her. I am completely thrilled with the entire thing. Also, I wish we still had balls with choreographed group partner dances that everyone just knew. Also also, Dumbledore.

The other habit I get into is recording movies off of the Independent Film Channel. But that doesn’t work out so well as I am not a big movie fan. I like some movies, and the ones I love I really love. But I’m not really a movie watcher. I get bored. And I usually record a bunch of movies, let them sit for ages, and delete them to make room for something truly important, like America’s Best Dance Crew. And yet, somehow, I’ve accidentally watched two Woody Allen movies in the last several days. First it was Annie Hall, which I really enjoyed, mostly because of Diane Keaton. (Has anyone ever noticed how much Katie Holmes looks like a young Diane Keaton?) Then I watched Hannah and Her Sisters, which I didn’t realize was Woody Allen, but was also a good one. I didn’t even know I liked Woody Allen movies.

There are several more movies waiting for me that will probably never be watched, and I’m sure I will give up on Masterpiece Classic for a while once Emma ends. But for now, my DVR compulsions are serving me well.

Jan 1 – I read two books and Aaron made me pancakes.
Jan 2 – We celebrated our ten years of dating anniversary with delicious garlic basil butter sauce. It was on something, I’m sure, but I don’t remember what.
Jan 3 – Good discussion about goals with the kids.
Jan 4 – Bought some awesome new boots.
Jan 5 – Pancakes for dinner. 2010 is the year of the pancake.
Jan 6 – I survived an overwhelming day.
Jan 7 – I survived an even more overwhelming day and had delicious sushi with friends for lunch. Also, drove in the snow and did not die.
Jan 8 – Ate at Chuy’s with Aaron and a band guy and we got TWELVE FREE SOPAPILLAS.
Jan 9 – The Cowboys won a playoff game.
Jan 10 – I learned I am no longer a young adult. It’s a good thing, I promise.
Jan 11 – Insomnia led to staying up crazy late watching music videos with a friend.
Jan 12 – The song “Caves” by Jack’s Mannequin knocked me on my face. In a good way.
Jan 13 – I learned the word ‘qhapffin’. Don’t try to look it up.
Jan 14 – I acquired the most perfect pair of pink plaid slippers in the history of the world.
Jan 15 – Girls dinner out for restaurant week! Melon salad and curried salmon and crazy wine and berry cheesecake and so so much laughing.
Jan 16 – Spent a wonderful evening with some of my college girls. They make me so proud.
Jan 17 – Had a really interesting discussion in youth group about Haiti. I have some sharp kids.
Jan 18 – I talked a lot today. It was necessary. And good.
Jan 19 – Avett Brothers, Avett Brothers, Avett Brothers.
Jan 20 – We played Celebrity with the kids and I laughed so hard I WEPT. They rule.
Jan 21 – Today was very interesting. I will not tell you why.
Jan 22 – Played basketball for the first time in ages.
Jan 23 – Kari sent me an inappropriate text. Or should I say… sext.
Jan 24 – Our biggest Sunday morning ever! I know it’s not about numbers, but sometimes numbers make you feel good.
Jan 25 – Homemade chicken tikka masala.
Jan 26 – Finally finished my Christmas returns and found some great deals on much needed new clothes.
Jan 27 – American Idol reminded me of the awesomeness that is Shai.
Jan 28 – Super fun and looooong dinner out with friends.
Jan 29 – Snow day! We watched movies and made cookies and played a thousand rounds of Phase Ten.
Jan 30 – Snow day again! We got stir crazy and went to Target and bought $5 war movies.
Jan 31 – The Second Annual Manes Family Grammy Party was a success! We had glow sticks and 3-D glasses and a beer incident and more dip than you could ever have the chips for. Awesome.