Saturday, May 20, 2006

YUCK!

okay, i'm not fond of the usage of all caps. i don't think there's often a need to yell in person much less electronically. but this YUCK! has to be all caps. here's why:

it's a lazy saturday morning and my favorite way to spend it is with some old movies and a yummy brunch. i'd finished brunch and the second movie was just ending when a friend called. we chatted for a while and she asked me what the weather was like so i wandered outside and sat down next to the pool and gave her the weather update. we continued talking and i was sitting there watching the pool and noticed there was a really big odd looking leaf floating in it. i told my friend and walked over next to the pool. it was not a leaf. it was a dead mouse. a really big dead floating mouse. all i could say was ooo, ooo, ooo. and then finally a really big YUCK! now normally this would not be my problem--i'd just knock on my neighbor/landlord's door and he'd take care of the dead mouse in the pool issue. but they're out of town...until tomorrow night. and i have friends coming over tomorrow. my very practical friend on the other end of the phone call agrees that i need to remove the mouse from the pool and with the plan: use the skimmer thing with (thankfully) a really long pole to scoop the mouse out of the pool and fling it off the edge of the hill down towards the fruit trees thinking
that it would land on the ground and a hawk or owl would, well, nature would take its course. i hang up with my friend and go get the skimmer.

i take the skimmer to the edge of the pool and scoop the poor mouse out. i walk the few steps to the edge of the hill and fling. the poor dead mouse goes flying through the air. but no, the plan goes awry. instead of falling to the ground out of my sight, the poor thing lands in the top of an orange tree. note to self: don't eat oranges out of that tree for awhile. and ooo, YUCK!

i think since i already have the skimmer out, maybe i'll scoop out the leaves. having nothing left floating on the top of the pool seems a helpful way to not think about truly icky thing floating in the pool. and then i look down. and there it is. in the deep end of the pool, lying on the bottom, a dead lizard, YUCK! i decide since it's on the bottom of the pool, it can just stay there...the neighbor/landlord is home tomorrow...and maybe my friends won't look at the bottom of the pool... as for me, i think i'll stay inside with computer and tv today.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

er

i have a love/hate relationship with nbc's show er. tonite's episode is a great example. the build up to the shooting was so stinking stressful...you knew it was coming but they kept building the tension and building the tension. forget must see tv. this is closer to stress me tv. i love the show so i keep watching, but i hate how they suck me in and stress me out with the storyline.

Monday, May 15, 2006

updated upcoming

updates...
  • housesitting for a co-worker who has a couple of cats and a very fun dog: a bernese mountain dog--this was really fun and mostly relaxing. and my friends were great--they did grocery shopping for me which was a total gift since i was on crutches
  • more x-rays--they decided my ankle isn't broken, but it doesn't seem to be healing quickly or well. tomorrow, i go to an orthopedic surgeon.
  • hosting a contemplative retreat at my house on saturday--the retreat was great. it was for the 20-something ministry at my church. we (myself and 3 friends) offered 2 prayer practices--imaginative prayer and lectio divina--followed by silent reflection times and group reflections.
  • the benefit for one life revolution done by our church's student ministry saturday night--the kids raised enough to build a medical clinic in musele. read more about this at marko's blog or josh's (our middle school yp) blog.
  • a few days retreat at mission san luis rey these days were a gift. i read, napped, journaled, prayed, knitted and collaged. i want more of these kinds of days.
  • speaking at middle school services on mother's day--this went okay. a few technical difficulties (no worship leaders showed up) but other than that it was really fun and the actual speaking part went well.
still to come:

ys & the west wing

one of my long-time favorite tv shows ended last night. the west wing ended its run as the bartlett administration transitioned out and the santos administration transitioned in. one of the random details that caught my attention during the show was the chief usher and his moving plan.

i've always been fascinated by social studies and civics. years ago i read a book by a former chief usher at the white house.
it's now out of print, but i still have my copy. it was fascinating. the white house is set up in a manner that the residence and institution continue operating seamlessly regardless of who is running the west wing--the presidency. presidents and administrations changed but the white house has continued operating as national landmark and host home to thousands of tourists and heads of state.

i think at the moment the staff at ys is much like the behind the scenes staff at the white house. we're entrusted with maintaining an ideal--champion the youth worker; be a prophetic voice for youth ministry in the church; train, equip and encourage the youth worker. with the passing of ownership from karla to zondervan, the administration has changed, but the behind the scenes staff at ys will continue to be true to the ideals ys has always stood for.

Monday, May 01, 2006

upcoming

stuff on the horizon for me that i'm looking forward to: