H, W, & W

It doesn't work. The whole "early to bed early to rise" thing, that is. Though not exactly scientific in its method, I now offer the personal experience of the last month of my life in non-support of the early/early adage. You see, for the better part of the last month, I have both gone to bed and arisen early. Result: I was sick all month, I am significantly poorer, and if I'm any wiser I can't see how.

Of course, I was sick before I started going to bed earlier. So I suppose it was too late for sleep to prevent the illness? And I'm finding it difficult to link my sleeping pattern with my voracious $$ swallowing vehicle. Then, self-assessment isn't a great way to measure wisdom, is it?

See what I mean about non-scientific methods?

All In A Day's Vacation

Never mind about coming over for a slice of pie. For one, it's gone now. Secondly, our house personifies "organized disaster" at the moment. There are a few corners, just in this living room alone, in which I'd rather not be caught in a fire drill. The whole effect might give you the (false) impression that we are not on vacation.

I think I've had a taste of every kind of vacation in my life. The road-trip-motel combo, the airplane-amusement park combo, the stay-at-home-and-take-local-day-trips combo, the camping-adventure, and even the guess-we-won't-bother-with-vacation-this-year non-adventure. And then there's the working-vacation combo. Now that is what I call redeeming the time.

One year, we spent our working vacation putting in grass in the back yard. It was October and the ground was frozen. While we were hard at work in an icy cold windstorm, a falling tree almost caught Mom underneath it. After expressing gratefulness that she was still alive, we went back to work while the wind howled and finished our job for the day. It was one of the best vacations we ever had.

This year, we have enjoyed a significantly warmer, but much less orderly, working adventure. We call it "unpacking," mostly because it IS unpacking. If you ever find yourself moving with any great frequency and leaving your belongings in storage for extended periods of time, you also may find yourself unmotivated to unpack your belongings as soon as you move into a new home. Some items we own have literally not been outside of a box for five years or more.

So, you may ask, why keep such belongings?

We wonder the same thing, and our last week of vacation has been well used in reboxing many items. This time, for the thrift store. Hooray for purging!

Thanks Again

It has been a cozy Thanksgiving holiday. I greeted it with all the delight with which newly regained health invigorates one. One reason I've posted so little this month can be blamed indirectly on the energies I've had to divert to battling a nasty nagging illness that struck me down. I plunged into cooking when I arrived home from work on Wednesday, but found that the quick enthusiasm of my newly regained health was not quite equalled by my only gradually rising energy levels.

Bummer.

Ah well, I satisfied my body by an early bedtime and late arising the following morning.

Thanksgiving itself was a pleasant round of the familiar mixed with a consciousness of another "first Thanksgiving" in another new place of residence.

Mid-morning, Dad, Mom, and I got the turkey in the oven. Mom, mixing the stuffing up, announced with concern that it didn't taste right. Dad, coming to the rescue with his taster available, commented that she "always says that." Her look of shock was a sight to behold, "I DO?!? What do you always answer?" He smiled, "That it always tastes just perfect!"

It did, indeed, turn out perfectly. Possibly the best stuffing that has ever touched my palate.

Everyone was on hand when it came time to mash the potatoes. For some reason, it is the most popular job available. Theories to explain this phenomenon will be entertained.

We used the fine china for the first time in several years. The last two Thanksgivings, as we remembered vividly, it was in storage.

Among our family traditions, we debone the entire turkey on Thanksgiving day before we consider ourselves done with cleanup. For the last several years, deboning has been my department. This year, Peter helped me. Slowly picking through the the carcase of the turkey, I caught Peter looking longingly out the window. I quickly divided out two healthy piles of meat. "This one's yours," I informed him, "and this one's mine. We'll race."

Several productive minutes later, Peter suddenly said reflectively, "Katie, I've been working a lot faster since we started racing." *pause* then, accusingly, "Katie! Did you KNOW I would do that?"

What can I say? It's not for nothing that I'm the oldest.

Several hours after dinner, we regathered around the table to enjoy pumpkin CHIFFON pie. About 300x better than average pumpkin pie, we serve the lightest, fluffiest pumpkin pie you've ever eaten. As usual, we discussed and unanimously agreed on this very point. John took the cake this year by declaring, "Saying pumpkin pie and pumpkin chiffon pie are anything alike is like saying that grapefruit and grapes are alike."

If you find yourself salivating, come on over. We'll have pie around more or less continuously for the next week or two.

Just before shutting down operations for the night, I carefully packed the china away for another time. Mom, watching me, wondered which of her children should inherit her china. John and Abigail answered simultaneously, "ME!" "I love your china," John said. "Ha, but your wife might not," Mom threw after him as he left the room.

"She will," his words drifted back confidently and we ended our day with laughter to share and full of thankfulness for each other....just the way we are.

Katie's Not-To-Do-List

November 23, 2007

1. Leave the house.

2. Go shopping.

Thankfully....

I was developing a lovely Thanksgiving post this year, but it is definitely still in developement. It may or may not ever see the light of day.

But I can't let this day pass entirely without mention.

I am grateful, this year, for a day of remembrance that gives me time, leisure, and additional incentive to stop and consider all that God has done for me...to "be still and know" that HE is GOD!

What are you thankful for this year?

For Future Reference

* Performing an activity that creates open wounds beneath your fingernails and following it up by slicing lemons is not recommended. The sensation that will result may remind you of that caused by cutting your knees on barnacles, and then continuing to swim in salt water.

* Don't forget that 10 x 80 equals 800. Remembering may save you an embarrassing moment or two.

* If you suffer from insomnia, don't bother seeing your doctor. A sure-fire way to ensure for yourself a good night's sleep is to make yourself in any way responsible for any part of putting on formal banquets every other night for a few days. Bonus points if you are the last one to leave. And if you want a dreamless sleep, plan to follow the final banquet with serving an informal lunch for forty the next morning and then returning home to prepare dinner for company.

This concludes your November edition of Friendly Tips from Katie. We will now return to our regular programming.

It's Beginning To Look...

...perhaps a bit much like Christmas.

Despite my uncertainty about being quite in the holiday spirit so early, I found my fingers flying through a familiar Christmas carol when I was playing the piano on Sunday. And though I rolled my eyes a bit at the Christmas displays that grace Wal-Mart's aisles perhaps a bit too soon, I smiled when "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" blared through the speakers.

At home, I have been smiling every time I walk into the kitchen and see the traditional Christmas wish lists of the three younger ones prominently attached to the refrigerator. They're all three typed this year for the first time.

John, always the first to plan ahead, put his list up first--several weeks ago. (Perhaps he sympathizes with my hope to get my shopping done ahead!) It is headed with his first and last name (I guess he doesn't want us to give anything to the wrong "John") and divided neatly into "wants" and "needs." Among his "wants:" "memory for my computer"--and a lot of other computer stuff. He boldly added an "airsoft gun" to the list, but Dad already crossed that out by way of hinting what he is NOT getting this Christmas. His list of "needs "is topped by big capital letters reading "TONS OF BOOKS" and followed by little tiny letters describing a need for "clothes."

Abigail, next to finish, was specific, precise, and practical. Except maybe when she added "Dickens, entire set" to her list. Well, and I'm a little unclear on the specs for the"flat, large boards" she wants. Unclear, and downright curious. Maybe when she reads this, she'll elaborate. She did, after all, have the foresight to put extra lines on the bottom of her list so she could fill in any afterthoughts that might occur to her.

Peter finished his list just today. He divided it into "needs" and "wants"--but no needs are listed, only wants. From start to finish, his list implies that he is easy to please. "Nice pens (any coler) [sic]." "Bike or the (things for the bike I have to ask dad)." I suppose if we want to brighten Christmas with bike parts, we'd better go shopping with Dad! "Big bag indeain corn. [sic]" His word processing skills need a little bit of work, and so, obviously, does his spelling. Which is why he probably won't be getting the truly unambiguous wish that appears in large, underlined letters smack in the middle of his list:

"NO SCHOOL"

If The Shoe Doesn't Fit

If you were to identify one of the darker strains in my existence, you might summarize it under a label like "a tendency to assume false guilt at the drop of a hat."

If you've never exerienced false guilt, let me assure you that it can get rather overwhelming trying to keep the peace of the world by blaming all its problems on yourself. And feeling guilty every time you say "no" to anyone doesn't help along a peaceful existence either.

God reminds me freqently that it is His job to convict me of sin. And that I am in sin when I assume His jobs as my own. One of these days maybe I'll have learned it for good. "If the shoe doesn't fit, Katie," I'll no longer have to say, kindly, but oh-so-firmly, "don't wear it."