kimana517 | (no subject)

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+ Today was a long day. I'm glad it's nearly over, and until it is, I'm chillin' on the couch with Isaac and Seth, watching Supernatural season 2, which none of us have seen since it originally aired. Tomorrow should be much better, because it begins with breakfast at IHOP with mi familia, before AAAC head out for 2 weeks in CT (the losers).

+ Speaking of the couch, Isaac and I have changed its name from "The World's Comfiest Couch" to "The Couch of Forgetfulness", because when you sit on it you forget everything you needed to do.

+ I need to get a cute, warm hat for NC. I really want to crochet one, but it's been a while since I crocheted anything, and I've never crocheted in the round. Anyone have tips on how to do that? I've also never used a crochet pattern (I always just winged it making scarves and potholders), so I'm rather intimidated. I found a ton of patterns I like though, and this one is the one I want to start with. I have a nice, soft white yarn to make it with.

+ It has become clear to me that I am an absolute church snob. I am so completely in love with my church that whenever I visit another, I find myself thanking God repeatedly for mine... and criticizing the one I visited. I know that my church isn't perfect, but man, when I'm not there I miss everything from the lack of typos in the bulletin (the main reason I can't quit as secretary - I am the typo and text box defeater!) and PowerPoint (as well as the not-cheesiness of the layout/background) to the on-key, on-rhythm music, and especially Ken's preaching. Out of the 100+ preachers I have heard in my lifetime, I would put him in my top 3. I know preaching preferences are totally subjective, but for me, he's it. I'm so glad we found that church!

+ What is your criteria for buying Christmas gifts for friends? A friend of mine was asking the other day. I always buy gifts for my family, and those are the only people who definitely get anything from me. Apart from that, I usually just get things for people if I see something that I really think they'd like. For example, I sent Charity a gift because when I saw it, it screamed her name. (Actually, it screamed mine first, but it didn't fit me. Hehe.) I hate when people feel like they have to get me something because I got them something. I mean, yes, I adore getting gifts, but not for guilt reasons. So I guess that's my gift philosophy.

+ We ate Wendy's for dinner tonight and it just decimated my stomach. I will remember that next time I get a craving for their chili.

+ Last night I couldn't fall asleep until 2:45am. That's the first time that's happened in a while now, and I forgot how utterly boring it is. Then I woke up at 9:30. Still, despite that I wasn't tired today, and I haven't had any caffeine. Weird.

+ I put some of my Christmas money to good use today to take advantage of NY&CO's storewide (online) half-price sale combined with some coupon codes. I got one of these in gray, one in white, this in green, this, this in purple, and these in black, all for about $60 shipped. I needed some more PJ pants, and I have an obsession with cable knit sweaters, so I'm excited.

+ I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Apart from breakfast, I have absolutely nothing planned. I'd like to go for a long walk or bike ride, clean up the house a bit, and get Isaac a CVS card. That will be a good day.

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"+ We ate Wendy's for dinner tonight and it just decimated my stomach. I will remember that next time I get a craving for their chili."
lol, I pretty much can't eat any fast food anymore, besides the odd Southern Style Chicken sandwich from McD's, which is surprisingly amazing. The rest tends to put a halt to my metabolism for a few hours. Not cool. Subway is good, because there is an almost complete absence of grease.

That's sad. I love fast food. Hehe. A lot of it does get to me sometimes, but very little hits me like this did last night. Ironically, Subway is one of the ones that always messes me up. I still eat it though. Hehe.

Craving for Wendy's chili? You mean people have that?? lol

Well, I suppose it was more of a craving for chili in general, and it was 8pm so I didn't want to make mine (which is of course the best) because it takes an hour, and the only other restaurant with good chili is Steak n Shake, but the nearest one is in OP. So, Wendy's was it. But their chili is really not that bad... except for what it did to my stomach.

+ I put some of my Christmas money to good use today to take advantage of NY&CO's storewide (online) half-price sale combined with some coupon codes. I got one of these in gray, one in white, this in green, this, this in purple, and these in black, all for about $60 shipped. I needed some more PJ pants, and I have an obsession with cable knit sweaters, so I'm excited.

Well played, BB, well played.

Uh... thanks? *raises eyebrow*

I am a Church snob too. :) It makes traveling difficult. Not that I travel much, but when I do, I miss my Church so much, Sundays are almost depressing!

I get frustrated with the feelings of gift-buying obligation that fly around at Christmas time. I have gotten to the point of only buying for my parents, Dick & Peg and I save my money all year long for that express purpose. Besides the fact that I am a really lousy gift-buyer (meaning that it's hard for me to think of something to buy everyone), I just don't have the money to buy gifts for everyone, even if it's my family! Our family is too big for that. :P I figure my parents deserve the most because they have bought for me all of these years and never do anything for themselves, so I want to be able to give them a lot in return. As for Dick & Peg, they are my very dearest friends, and so I always get something for them too. But then I draw the line there, and that's it.

No kidding! My only consolation was that Ken was gone at our church last week, and the elder filling in for him is my least favorite guest speaker (his sermons are entertaining, but sooooo shallow), so I really didn't miss much. I always always miss my church when I'm elsewhere - which, I think, is how it should be. But I have been to a few other churches I didn't really dislike - such as my friend Sarah's. So I know there are other good ones out there, but for me, my church is THE ONE, ya know?

Oh, me too. I adore buying gifts for people, but I used to like it so much I would want to buy for people but not know what to get them, and I'd get frustrated. So now, apart from family, I really only buy when something calls out to me for someone. Typically the better I know someone, or the more I know their style, the more likely they are to receive something from me. And yes, I knew you would buy for Dick & Peg! Of course. But isn't it nice that they are good enough friends that if, for some reason, you couldn't get them anything at all, they would still love you just the same? =o)

You'd probably die of a coronary in our church then. It's a 200+ year old building with old wooden pews, the bulletin is one page with a front that has the same picture on it every week, copied a couple times over. We have a band of misfits, you never know who's going to play, but they always sound good and they have hearts of gold. There's no air conditioning in the church. The dishes in the kitchen don't match. We have an overhead for the music and old hymn books in the pews. One of the bathrooms doesn't have hot water. We have approximately 10 coat hooks for roughly 100 people. The sunday school rooms are in the remodeled attic. The pastor's office is in a trailer that was installed behind the church.

But, everyone gets along with everyone else. No one is pretentious. People come in their mud boots and jeans and God still loves us no matter what we're wearing. Our preaching is Bible centered. The worship is genuine.

And I wouldn't trade any of that for anything.

Oh, not at all. I love old church buildings more than any other, and apart from the uncomfortable-ness of non-padded pews, I adore sitting in seats that have been used for worshipping the same God for years and years. I like picturing who sat there before me. =o) And I love the smell of hymn books. I would rather have books than poorly-done PowerPoint, which is a distraction. Plus, when you have books, the people in the congregation who can read music often sing the harmonies. I miss that.

Also, I grew up in a church planting family. I know all about not knowing who's going to play (although usually it was my mom) - all that matters to me is that they're on key and on rhythm. Although, in small church plants, that was not always the case (though it was if it was my mom). Hehe. We still joke about one pianist in our church in IL who was not so great, so she would always really slow songs down. THe hymn "Glad Day" is supposed to be peppy, and we always sung it like a funeral durge. LOL.

The lack of A/C is common in northern churches; that's how I grew up. Although, I think we did have a window A/C unit in IL, which is good since it gets as hot there in the summer as it does here in FL. Why would you need hot water in the bathroom? I love mismatching plates and silverware. Everyone who eats at my house asks why we don't have matching silverware. I tell them I like it that way and did it on purpose. (Salvation Army silverware, baby!) If I could get all different dining chairs I would do that too, but no one will sell you just one cool chair.

I can worship anywhere. My family's church plants met in City Hall, a hotel conference room, a storefront, our basement, and the local middle school. My church now meets in a shopping center. I don't care what the building looks like, or even if there is one (there isn't at one of the churches we work with in El Salvador). I wasn't saying I care what the place looks like, I was saying I like on-key music and accurate preaching, and preferably no typos in the bulletin or PowerPoint, because they distract me. And last week I was wondering if the caps lock button was stuck on the church secretary's computer because everything in the bulletin was all caps, as was the PowerPoint. (I've noticed that mixing a grammar nazi and graphic artist together is not a good thing. I am both. LOL.) I usually find myself at other churches where the pastor's message is totally shallow and/or all the passages are taken way out of context - which means that although what he's saying might be morally correct, it isn't what God is saying to us through that passage. That's my biggest thing - the preaching has to be accurate to the author's intent. I think there is only one other church besides mine in all of Jacksonville that actually does expository, contextual preaching. My family church-hunted here for 9 months before finding the one we attend now.

In fact, before Isaac and I moved back to Jax in 2005, we had been attending a church with a tiny building that hadn't been redecorated since the '70s. The music was awful, and we were the only couple under 40. But we went there because the pastor was very good.

And BTW, you can come to my church in your swimsuit if you want, and while people might be amused, they would still welcome you and try to get to know you. A lot of people wear shorts, and I often wear jeans. My brother always wears jeans or jean shorts and a plain white t-shirt. We always pick on him for mixing it up when he wears one with a pocket. LOL.

So I guess I said all that to say that I think you misunderstood me. I guess when you boil it down, I just want accurate preaching, and the rest are preferences. The thing is, I haven't been to any other churches recently that have accurate preaching. So I would be completely happy in your church if the preaching is Biblical. =o)

Ah, okay, I must have misunderstood you, then.

Let me tell ya, when the little bathroom in the back of the church is freezing already, ice cold water isn't pleasant! And it's because of that that little kids don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom in there. ;)

At least it's not called the Makeout Couch. (Was it Esther who used to have an icon of a fainting couch? One day, I dubbed it otherwise and every time I saw it ever after, I had to make a joke about it. Poor thing.)

Crochet... uh... find someone else who knows how and have them make it?

It's nice that you are so in love with your church. I was not happy with the one my parents were going to before I moved, but now I love it (since I stopped comparing it to the Big Church I was attending). And btw, my church is TOTALLY better than yours. =D

Friend giving... I only do that for two or three people, because I don't feel qualified (thank you, Obama, for coining that excuse for me) to shop for most of my friends. I did pick up some trinkets for people, including you, and then chickened out and didn't send them. LOL

Ha! No. We have a makeout house - why designate just one piece of furniture ;o)

LOL. I wish! All my crocheting friends live far away.

You wish! Hehe. Seriously though, I'm so glad your parents' church is working out for you. I prayed that it would. =o)

Jerk! Send it right now! You can't tell me you got something for me and then not send it. If you don't want to spend the postage just to mail it, you can throw in an edited version of something. You know what I like. =o)

I never tried crocheting. I tried knitting. That did not work out very well. I suppose I could do it if I wanted to, but who wants to? =P

The ONLY reason you have not gotten a ton of edited disks from me is I am afraid they would not play in your DVD player -- remember us having to hook Esther's player up to your TV? =P But if you want to give it a shot, you can pick a couple of things and I'll send them to you. =)

Ha! I do. I crocheted a scarf for myself that I really like, and a potholder I use often. If I can make hats, man, I'll have Christmas gifts for everyone. ;o)

I'm sure my computer would play all of them. I have VLC player on here, and it plays just about everything.

Here are things I'm interested in, with stars by the ones I want the most:
- John Adams
* Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
- The Painted Veil
* P.S. I Love You
- Tess of the D'Ubervilles
* Braveheart
- Love, Actually
- Schindler's List

I haven't even seen Miss Pettigrew or P.S. yet, but I really wanted to when they came out. I'm thankful for any you send my way! =oD

You can also play them on your TV with a cheap hook-up. Some DVD players just hate DVR's. (So far we've been lucky -- my parents new player is just fine with them.)

Anyway, I'll run off a few of these and send them to you next week. =)

Ooh, I like that hat! If you make it, you'll have to show us when you're done.

I love buying gifts for friends, I just never have money. Otherwise, I'd buy something for everyone!

Your speaking of a lack of sleep reminded me of something I wanted to ask you. If you're able to adopt a baby first, how likely is it that you'll get a newborn?

Those clothes are beautiful!

I hope you had fun at IHOP today!

Isn't it cute? I love it. I just have to figure out how to crochet in the round, and with a pattern. Bleh. Maybe when Sarah comes I can convince her to show me how. I think she was pretty good at crocheting at one point. Or maybe it was knitting? Hmm.

I know that feeling! Seriously, I wish I was rich sometimes just so I could buy everyone I know something they'd love. Although like I said, I hate buying for people who are hard to buy for. Some of my friends, well, things just jump out at me for them, like the shirt for Charity or the clothes I got my SIL for her birthday. I probably could've come up with something for you, but I'd already been at Walmart for a while so I just grabbed a gift card. Hehe.

It's very unlikely, because from referral (when they designate a kid for you) to adoption can take several months. So, even if the kid is newborn when you get the referral, they will maybe even be a year old when you get them. Plus, you would probably only get a newborn if the mom died in childbirth. If we adopted from the USA I bet we'd get one. But I really don't care that much how old the baby is when we get him or her. *shrug*

Thanks! I adore the cableknit sweaters. Dude. And I really needed some more PJ pants.

We did! Yum. I love their stuffed french toast. And we had a great server, so we rewarded him for it, especially since it was Christmas. I love leaving big tips. =o)

I can crochet, but just in a line. Then I just connect the lines together simply. I tried doing a blanket once and only got about a third of the way done before giving up. It took FOREVER. I'd like to try again, and this time I'd probably experiment.

Hey, nothing wrong with a gift card! Thanks, btw. :)

I figured you wouldn't get a newborn. As much as I like Kate, be glad you probably won't be getting one. It's hard in the beginning, because you get so little sleep, plus sometimes the crying seems never-ending. Then again, there's nothing that beats seeing that first smile or having that little hand grip yours. And no matter how old the baby is, you'll love buying little clothes for it!

If I hadn't just had lunch, I'd probably be salivating. As it is, your breakfast sounds delish! And I'm sure your server was glad he had you. :D

Well, gift-giving is not my love language, as I have said before. I enjoy getting gifts for my family sometimes, if I have a good idea and I just know the recipient is going to love it. But I also think Christmas has become way too guilt-based. So I just don't bother giving friend gifts most of the time. Occasionally I feel bad about it, but mostly not. We can't afford an orgy of gift-giving anyway. The one person for whom I usually get a gift is

ebienic -- although this year her baby girl is due in the next few days so I might just get her a really nice baby present instead.

PS I am totally a church snob too.

I hope you start crocheting! My sister was teaching me how to knit, but I haven't practiced in so long, I've forgotten how to do it. I want to knit. That's one of my New Year's resolutions. :-)

Buying gifts....I wish I could do it for everyone, but it's simply impossible. I like your idea about buying something if it screams someone's name. :-)

*hugs* Merry Christmas, sweetie. I really hope we'll get to see each other again before too long! It just seems like nothing has worked out for us recently!

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