It's been awhile.

While I was in The JoAnn Fabrics store this afternoon purchasing pre-punched paper for my 2024 garden journal, I said to myself, "Self, you should start blogging again. Start with your garden stuff so you will not only have a paper journal for receipts and seed packets, but you will also have an electronic journal of 2024 you - gardening and doing life."

It was such an encouraging conversation with myself that here I am. Back blogging. Yeah me. Yeah you for reading my back-to-blogging post. 

So much has happened since my last post (which was 1,008 days ago)... The hardest has been that my lovely Mom went home to Heaven. I didn't realize how frequently we would chit-chat, text, private message each other, send ridiculous Pinterest pins... I honestly didn't realize until I all the sudden could no longer do those things. 'Tis true the whole "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." <-- Isn't that some sort of 1980's ballad? Probably by Chicago. 

I've become a crazy plant lady. I went from a curly spider plant, a jade plant, and a philodendron to now having many more. And by many - I mean A LOT ALOT! 

In the last 2-ish years, I've gone from dabbling in gardening to setting up a shelving unit in my kitchen, borrowing my friend's grow light & heat mat. I went from cherry tomatoes and catnip to growing peppers, broccoli (which I did not listen to my mom and planted it too late last summer which caused beautiful plants without the vegetable!), calendula, green beans, peas, and zinnias. This year I'm going to go all in by attempting to grow all my salad veggies. I have the aforementioned grow light, shelving unit, and heat mat currently in the middle of my kitchen. The seeds were planted yesterday (01/27/2024). I'm waiting on another order of seeds - mostly veggies with a handful of flower packets and some herbs. 

Speaking of herbs - I'm going to try to grow dill because I want to try making my own pickles as my favorite pickles from Canada have gone up in price in Joe Biden's America to $12.00. YES - TWELVE DOLLARS!!!!! I've never grown dill and I've never made pickles so more on that in the months to come. 

I've also never had thyme plants...as last summer a chipmunk helped himself to my tiny baby thyme. Thyme is planted and I'm just waiting to see the baby plants emerge from the soil. 

Let's see what else...

Through Compassion International, I'm pen pals with a sweet girl in Bolivia. Her name is Mari. She is 10 and loves to craft. She sends notes with a drawing about what is going on in her world. This summer my church is taking a trip there to visit the church plant; unfortunately I'm unable to go on this trip...however it is on my list of places to possibly visit in 2025. 

I'm flabbergasted that today is the last Sunday in January. The days were long and kind of sad as we celebrated my mom's first birthday in Heaven. I'm often unable to articulate how my heart misses her. The grief, the sadness, the loss, just hits me out of nowhere and I'm unable to stop the tears. Her birthday was one of those days. 

We are currently going through the book of Romans - verse by verse at church. I must say I'm loving this study! We wrapped up chapter one today. 

My friend asked me if I wanted to go out to brunch this morning after church. Ummmm...is my hair naturally curly? Of course, I want to have brunch and discuss ALL THE THINGS!!!

February is next. The Groundhog will make his appearance on Friday and say there will be 6 more weeks of winter. Who does that rodent think he is fooling? It's the Midwest. It's winter. 

I suppose this is enough for now. I'm going to go plant my chive seeds. 

Happy Sunday! 

Wild berry kombucha EVERYWHERE and bird defecation patterns

Something woke me up at circa 2:15 a.m.  I have not been back to sleep since...

Do you ever not listen to that little voice in your head that says, "Don't do that..."  or maybe it's more of a "you should double-check the internet" and you don't...

A couple weeks ago I bottled kombucha flavored with wild berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries).  Said berries are not in season so they were a splurge but since it's in the name of my gut health, I totally justified the splurge.

I did not note the day the bottling occurred.

I left the berry mixture on the counter for a couple days. 

Add to the couple days a couple days...

When I went to put it in the fridge, I said to myself, "How MANY days has this sat out?  Four?  Five?  Six?  I wonder what will happen if it sat out too many....perhaps I should check the internet." 

I did not.

Today I went to open the most full kombucha and it erupted and sprayed ALL OVER MY KITCHEN WINDOW.  It got in my sweet pea starters.  It got in everything.

After cleaning up the mess, I decided to take the last 2 wild berry bottles to open them outside.

The force from the next bottle erupted and shot wild berry brew on my 86-year old neighbor's white siding.  Just a small area but the BANG from either the bottle opening or the fermented fruit impact was loud.  Praise to Jesus that my neighbor's 86 year old ears did not hear the impact.

While I was scrubbing the 6 inch area of fruit markings, my friend Nancy showed up and began asking how in the world a bird could vertically crap berries on Betty's siding.

Due to my lack of sleep, I stood outside laughing so hard that my face hurt. 

I cannot believe my afternoon erupted (pun intended) in kombucha, wild berries, and fowl pattern defecation questioning.

March 27, 2020: Day 6 of Shelter-in-Place

Today is the 6th day of our state ordered Shelter-in-Place.

My place of employment is considered essential for public health.  Thankfully I've been able to spend most of this week working from home with only a couple of office visits to complete tasks that could not be completed remotely.  

Here are some things I've learned during this week...
1. I thoroughly enjoy watching the birds in my front yard.  Every morning there are a pair of cardinals and a handful of robins flitting about my front yard.  I think they are collecting sticks and twigs for nest building.  They are singing and going out their birdliness without a care in the world.  Surely they know God's got their feathered backs.

2. Too much news is a downer.  Focus on what the World Health Organization and CDC are saying.  Listen to medical experts.  Mainstream media...well, there's a scene in the children's movie Bambi where Thumper (the rabbit) is about to say something not nice.  He pauses and tells Bambi that his mother always says that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  Soo regarding the mainstream media, I'm going to follow Thumper's mom's advice.  

3. Slowing down is a good thing.

4. Take your vitamins (C, D, and zinc) for sure.

5. Fresh air, even on a cloudy day, is good for your mental health.

6. If you tap on your picture window and wave at your mail carrier, she/he will wave back and smile.

7. I've alternated between listening to Harvest Rockford's Spotify station, K-Love, and classical music.  I've forgotten how much I enjoy classical music - it's a great background for reading.  

8. You do not have to have Netflix, Disney+ or Hallmark Movies streaming 24/7.  Turn the tv off.  Pick up a book and read.  

9. If you look for the little blessings in each day, you will find them.  Write them down.  I've started a list.  Can I be honest?  I actually was discussing an idea with Celia (my feline).  I said to Celia, "We should make a chain of hope."  And then I said more to myself, " 'really, Angie Good.  You used we as if Celia can really help you make said chain.' "  I then resumed the Angie-Celia conversation, "Except we don't know when this will end so maybe everyday I will write down something that I learned or something that I read or something I heard on the radio and I will make a paper chain."  Celia thought it sounded like a good idea; I mean, she did give a resounding "Meow" which could have been an all-in-favor-please-say-aye/meow response.  Or it might have meant that she wanted some cat treats.  Hmmmm...

10. I like my morning commute from the coffeemaker to my laptop.  There's no traffic.  No one, aside from Celia, cutting me off.  No one running the stop light at Y Blvd and N. 2nd Street.  

11. I do miss my work peeps...however we are all staying in touch via email and texting and phone calls.  Just yesterday Robin (of Batman & Robin) was telling me the printer was acting-up and printing everything on letterhead.  I had to kindly inform him that said printer does that when Paper Tray #1 is out of plain paper.  He didn't believe me so when I went in, I sanitized said printer and pulled out a very empty Tray #1.  Behind the scenes I daily go through and check the printers.  

12. (This is sort of along the lines of #11) I miss routine.  I mean I have a new routine but I miss my original routine.  I don't want to look longingly back to my old routine and miss the blessings of my new routine...but I do miss what WAS normal.  What NOW is normal is growing on me...except for the fact that I'm going to probably need new pajamas when this Shelter-in-Place is lifted.  True story.  

I don't know about you, blog-stalker, but this whole forced unplugging from all the busy-ness of life has been very good for my mental health and my overall well-being.  

We always say yes.  
We always over-book ourselves.  (I know I'm not alone in this.)

My honest to goodness prayer in all of this has been 2-fold...
1st - Lord, show people that all the stuff and all the busy-ness is draining and only filling for a brief moment.  Show them they need You.

2nd. - Open the eyes of people to see how very toxic their fast-paced, fast-food, fast-fast-fast lifestyles are slowly killing them.  Show them little moments of grace and laughter and true happiness in the this unrushed time.  Help people to get back to cooking and healthy eating. 

Stay healthy!  Stay sane during this Shelter-in-home.  We're all in this together!!!

10+ years

Last week I discovered that for YEARS someone had been scanning closed project files single-sided...never once double-checking that pages 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, so on and so forth ever made it in to the PDF file.

Did I mention it was YEARS-worth of scanning???????????  And 94.75% of the "scanned" (USED BIG AIR QUOTES) documents were tossed in the recycle bin after the odd-page-only scanning.  YESSSSSSS...don't check your work.  Better yet don't ask another set of eyes to check ya.

"I mean we don't really need the even pages," says NO ONE ever.  

My reaction to this finding....  Ever watch Friends and listen to Janice laugh?  Or Tom Haverford's ridiculous laugh which can be heard during numerous episodes of Parks and Recreation?  

That was me.

Laughing.

Good job on those odd pages though!!!!!!

#chainofhope #RAL 

It's like riding a bike.

I cannot believe that I have not blogged here since September.  

It's been *doing the math inside my brain* 114 days.

Since it's been so long, I'm hopeful that blogging will be like riding a bike.  I mean everything is like riding a bike, right?  Like you don't knit for a year and then pick-up needles and BAM you are knitting.  You don't eat sushi with chopsticks for years and then go out for sushi, pick up the sticks and BAM it's like riding a bike, right?  

I feel kinda bad about this 114-day gap between blog posts.

It's not technically  been 114 days since I've blogged-blogged as I have that 2nd foodish blog where I'm working my way through Danielle Walker's cookbooks and I'm blogging about that adventure.  Infact that reminds me that I want to buy the fixin's for her baked potato soup and make it over the weekend.  

I've missed this blog...this wonderful place where I can be me and you can be you (stalking my blog).  

I'm thoroughly enjoying the gal I'm becoming...this confident gal who is not going to be quiet any longer.  Who when asked pointed questions - she knows her worth and value and will answer accordingly.  

It's 2020.  Let's start there...because when I was a kid I thought 2020 would be the year when we lived like The Jetsons.  I'm talking space cars and a robot named Rosie.  I don't have a space car...I have a super cool Corolla named Rosie so I suppose that counts for something.  

It's just weird writing 2020.  It's weird in that I'm not writing 2019 by mistake...I'm just writing 20 (insert a pause) and then the second 20 to make 2020.  

It's winter in the Midwest...a mild winter to start which has been wonderful; however, we are now entering January and that means cold weather...snow...and ice.  It's ok though because it happens every year and then following this cold weather, we will get the beautiful gift of spring.

I actually enjoy winter.  Enjoy not in the I-heart-my-face-being-so-cold-that-it-burns way but more in the quietness of winter.  It's a gift.  

I'm currently in-between books.  I picked up 3 books today from the library.  Two of which were holds and the 3rd just looked good.  The one I'm looking forward to reading is a memoir of a mother-daughter trip to Paris.  I KNOW -- PARIS!!!!!! AS IN EIFFEL TOWER AND FABULOUS CAFES AND MEN WITH ACCENTS!!!!!!!!!!  Which reminds me that I'm not technically between books because I have a copy of a Paris travel guide at work on my desk.  It's for break time when I want to peruse Paris cafes and flag fun, funky places to see.  

Honestly that's all that's new right now.
I've been enjoying the days beyond the #chainofhope.  The lack of condescending emails and equally dreadful comments make my heart go pitter-patter.  We are currently in the whole finding and not-finding game...but all is well.  We're muddling through.  Someone recently asked me if I missed #RAL and I honestly said, "Not even for a minute."  Truth be told - it's nice.  Stepping out of the adult(ish) 7th grade has been so glorious.  

I'm starting my 2020 year-long project of crocheting and knitting kids hats.  Three skeins of yarn are patiently waiting their turn to be hooked or needled into fabulous headwear for the children in our school district.  I need to find a place that can make - or just make myself - "You are loved" tags to sew inside each of my creations.  

As I'm wrapping up this blog post, I do want to confirm that blogging is a lot like riding a bike.  You can take a break from it but when you return, you remember being that kid on the 12-speed who was facing the gigantic hill on Rollin Highway (by Thorton's home).  You pedal to the edge of the hill and then coast to the bottom.  The wind whips through your hair and you laugh and laugh and hope you don't perish because crashing would be dreadful.  So I turned on my computer and logged in to my blog and typed and typed...  There's no wind whipping through my headbanded hair...only my essential oil diffuser pushing doTerra Cheer blend in to the air.  There's no laughing...maybe a chuckle here and there.  

Blogging.  It's so like riding a bike.  

Love this!!!!

Church is hard.

Church is hard for the person walking through the doors, afraid of judgement.

Church is hard for the preacher’s family, under the microscope of an entire body.

Church is hard for the prodigal soul returning home, broken and battered by the world.

Church is hard for the girl who looks like she has it all together, but doesn’t.

Church is hard for the couple who fought the entire ride to service.

Church is hard for the single mom, surrounded by couples holding hands, and seemingly perfect families.

Church is hard for the widow and widower with no invitation to lunch after service.

Church is hard for the deacon with an estranged child.

Church is hard for the person singing worship songs, overwhelmed by the weight of the lyrics.

Church is hard for the man insecure in his role as a leader.

Church is hard for the wife who longs to be led by a righteous man.

Church is hard for the nursery volunteer who desperately longs for a baby to love.

Church is hard for the single woman and single man, praying God brings them a mate.

Church is hard for the teenage girl, wearing a scarlet letter, ashamed of her mistakes.

Church is hard for the sinners.

Church is hard for me.

It’s hard because on the outside it all looks shiny and perfect. Sunday best in behavior and dress.

However, underneath those layers, you find a body of imperfect people, carnal souls, selfish motives.

But, here is the beauty of church—

Church isn’t a building, mentality, or expectation.

Church is a body.

Church is a group of sinners, saved by grace, living in fellowship as saints.

Church is a body of believers bound as brothers and sisters by an eternal love.

Church is a holy ground where sinners stand as equals before the Throne of Grace.

Church is a refuge for broken hearts and a training ground for mighty warriors.

Church is a converging of confrontation and invitation. Where sin is confronted and hearts are invited to seek restoration.

Church is a lesson in faith and trust.

Church is a bearer of burdens and a giver of hope.

Church is a family. A family coming together, setting aside differences, forgetting past mistakes, rejoicing in the smallest of victories.

Church, the body, and the circle of sinners-turned-saints, is where He resides, and if we ask, He is faithful to come.

So even on the hard days at church—

The days when I am at odds with a friend, When I’ve walked in bearing burdens heavier than my heart can handle, yet masking the pain with a smile on my face. When I’ve worn the pressures of the world, under the microscope. When I’ve longed for a baby to hold, or fought tears as the lyrics were sung. When I’ve walked back in, afraid and broken, after walking away.

I’ll remember, He has never failed to meet me there.

And then there were zero paperclips.

The #chainofhope is no more.  Every paperclip has been removed.  Every box on the chart marked-off.

Today was the celebration.

The end.

No more condescending emails.
No more tense interactions.

Done.
Finished.
In the words of the Von Trapps, "So long, farewell."