While Visions of Home Improvement Gift Cards Dance in Her Head

The blog has suffered a bit in November and December - NaNoWriMo and a rather harrowing holiday season got to me. However, I do want to thank everyone who has offered a comment or stopped by, or just lurked silently in the shadows. I will try to be more regular with the writing in the New Year.

I'm especially grateful to those of you who have offered advice on what to say to people who are hurting. Much of your insight came out of your own pain, and I'm thankful to be able to partake of your wisdom.

I head off to the wilds of Oklahoma tomorrow (via a plane - no 16-hour drives for me, thank you) to spend some lovely days with the best family God could have possibly given me. We will watch movies, play cards and dominoes, rearrange the logs in the fireplace, make rotel dip late at night, and laugh and talk and hang out in our pajamas.

May you all be so blessed. Take care and have a Merry Christmas!

Scrappy

Yesterday began a little saga in our world that I hope ends soon. Hamish, my gray and white cat, is mysteriously sick. He's been sick everywhere (although not quite on the scale of Caleb ), but still sick enough to make us empty the bottle of Resolve.

I thought perhaps he had eaten a bug or something and just needed to get it out of his system. But the sickness kept going through the night, so this morning I determined to take him to the vet. I hauled out the Pet Carrier and attempted to stuff him (gently) in it.

Hamish wanted none of that. Normally he is very compliant and will usually walk in it of his own accord. But somehow, today, he knew. And thus began our battle. As I pushed, he anchored his claws on either side of the little door and hung on for dear life. I managed to get the front half of him inside, and he hooked his back claws into the carpet. There was no hissing or biting, just a very determined effort to not go in there. He twisted, he turned, he hung on.

Finally, I had to call in the big guns. Younger Bro is pretty much the Cat Whisperer in our house and he tried the belly-rubbing, gentle-talking, firmly guiding method. Hamish didn't squirm nearly as much, but he let him know it was not going to happen. We were just about to consider wrapping him in a towel when YB succeeded in popping him in the carrier.

Once inside, he settled down complacently and didn't even let out a meow. He's a good car rider, so there were no problems there. The vet can't figure out what is wrong with him, although she took X-rays and there are no obstructions. They are going to keep him the rest of the day for observation. She told me he's sitting in the surgery ward at the moment (due to lack of space elsewhere) and is very happy looking around. Apparently he has won over the staff with his sweet demeanor.

I learned a couple of lessons today:
1. Don't wear a black top while attempting to wrangle a gray and white cat.
2. Never kiss the top of your cat's head while wearing lip gloss. He won't like it and neither will you.
And just for general purposes,
3. Always open the seal on your tub of yogurt facing away from your body.

The Garden State

Sometimes in life you are pulled off your normal, routine path and find yourself on a little detour. Which is the only explanation for why I ended up on the side of a road in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Saturday night.

Let me explain: I’m on the domestic missions committee at my congregation, and we have been looking for areas to help plant a church. We found a group of young couples who have started a congregation in New Jersey, so a few of the other committee members and myself flew up there for the weekend to check it all out.

The people and the church there were great – I enjoyed getting to know them better. After meeting most of Saturday afternoon, we were invited to a progressive Christmas dinner that evening, traveling to four different houses all over town. We followed one of the couples, so everything was just fine until, on our way to the last house (the dessert house, as luck would have it), we got to talking in the car and then discovered that our point man Hyundai was no longer in front of us. Calls on mobile phones ensued, directions were given to pull over and stay put, and we had a long wait until our intrepid navigators finally arrived and led us back to the right place.

Fortunately, a lot of chocolate was still available (I was worried we would be so late it would be gone.). But the whole experience made me think about how rich my life is in experiences and what God has blessed me with. When I spoke with these earnest young people about their cost of living and the strain of their daily commutes I realized how thankful I am for my home in Nashville and the world I’ve been blessed with here.

For me, I need to take a step back at times and understand that my life is full of blessings. I got up this morning in good health and put my own two feet on the floor without any assistance in a comfortably heated home. I have plumbing that works, friends to call on in a crisis, a church home that is fantastic, and a family that would do just about anything for me.

So, thanks, New Jersey. I don’t know why visiting your state made me realize how much I like my life in the South and have epiphanies of gratefulness but it did. Now, concerning your Turnpike….

Curl Up with a Hot Cuppa and ...

When my mother asked me for my Christmas list I realized that minor appliances, linens, and furniture topped it. Which is rather boring. Who gets excited about a Dust Buster for Christmas? Sadly, I do.

Instead of a list of holiday gift suggestions, I'm going to leave you with a list of what's on my bookshelf at home. Going on the hunch that quite a bit of bloggers also happen to be avid readers, perhaps you'll find a good read you weren't expecting. And I apologize that I will not be conveniently linking every book to a helpful website where you can purchase it. Just throw the name into Amazon's search engine or something, and I'm sure they'll help you out. (Did I ever mention I am a lazy blogger?) So, for better or worse, here it is:

On Writing, by Stephen King - Frankly, what can come out of this man's imagination scares the stuffing out of me. Clowns were already on my hit list, and then we got It. But this little gem of a book is one of the few I've actually enjoyed about writing itself. He won't give you a formulaic plan or anything like that, but it's very encouraging to any budding novelist. Also, the producers of Lost are big King fans, and you'll actually find some stuff in here that, hmm, sounds vaguely familiar if you are a fan of the series.

A Walk in the Woods & Down Under by Bill Bryson - I love good travel stories, and Bryson just nails it. His other books are good as well, but these two are my favorites. Whether he's contemplating a bear attack or sharing a train compartment with annoying passengers, these are hilarious. Bonus: You learn about another country and don't even know it. Beware his penchant for evolutionary theory. It only pops up rarely, though.

The Amelia Peabody Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters - Start with the first one, Crocodile on the Sandbank. Not only are they fun mysteries, but also I've learned a lot about the British occupation of Egypt and Egyptian history.

The Cat Who Series by Lillian Jackson Braun - Fun, quick reads. Perfect for an airplane.

Stillwatch and Where are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark - In my humble opinion, her earlier works are a bit better than her later ones. I think I own all of them, though.

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of the Islandby Lucy Maud Montgomery - The whole series is good, but I remember my relief and satisfaction when she FINALLY realized Gilbert was the one for her. Whew.

The Sue Grafton mysteries - This is the alphabet mysteries featuring Kinsey Milhone. They are full of detail and well-paced and plotted.

A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel - Very absorbing, sometimes hysterically funny, memoirs of growing up in a small town. The author is able to capture the viewpoint of a child who's quite content to walk to the beat of her own drummer.

Up and Down in the Dales, The Other Side of the Dale, and Head over Heels in the Dales by Gervase Phinn. I found these books in Scotland. Phinn was a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales in England and his encounters with children, head teachers, and the staff he works with are all engaging. Anyone who has ever worked with kids, or has kids, or knows just how hilarious kids can be when they are at their most earnest and honest will enjoy these.

The Hamish MacBeth mysteries by M.C. Beaton - These all start with Death of a _____. Set in a little town in the Scottish Highlands, they are more about the characters in the town and Hamish himself than the mysteries they revolve around. I like this series a lot better than her Agatha Raisin one. Agatha is just a character I cannot love. But Hamish, well, you kind of want to go on a date with him…

Maeve Binchy - Flat out, this woman is a great storyteller. She's able to weave different character's viewpoints into a great narrative that doesn't lag. Circle of Friends is still my favorite - and although the movie was decent, the book is way better.

Timeline by Micheal Crichton - Another one where you need to ignore the movie. At some point, while reading this book, I realized he had made me read several pages about quantum theory and I didn't mind it - I was still absorbed in the mystery. So props to Crichton for that.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - I'm always amazed at what can come out of someone's imagination, and the ability of the author to pull you along is incredible. You almost feel like you are Henry himself, shooting from one year to the next.

To the Vanishing Point by Alan Dean Foster - For the those who want their road trips with a little more spice than usual - check out this family's trip down a road they never intended to travel. My favorite part is when the highway patrol man sucks the oil filter clean and they realize that, perhaps, all is not what it appears to be.


Jane Austen - Enough said. One day while visiting a fellow missionary in Loughborough, England, she said, “Do you want to visit Chatsworth? It's where they filmed a lot of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice.” And I swooned and pretended I was Elizabeth roaming the house and gardens - but without the fetching empire-waisted dress. And no Colin Firth coming out of a pond. But still.

J.K. Rowling - I resisted Harry Potter when he first came out. I don't know why. Then I fell in love with him. I remember standing in Heathrow airport with The Sorcerer's Stone tucked under my arm and an 11-year old boy walked by me with the exact same book tucked under his arm, except in the UK it's called The Philosopher's Stone. We had an exciting discussion about our different book covers and where the whole series was going. Any author that manages to create impromptu book clubs in random international airports between people of different nationalities and age groups deserves a mention here.

Have fun!

P.S. I apologize for any mistakes in author names or book titles.