musings on church and gardening

I really didn't understand any of this four years ago. Now I get delicious, sadistic, unsanctified delight out of pieces like this.
To be honest, I am not sure what to do about church when I graduate. I have the church I'm a member of which is great but there's not really a place for me to serve, and honestly I don't fit the profile for their stereotypical member. And there's the deaf church, which I love, but I'll confess I love me a good praise and worship song once a week. And then there is searching for other churches. Dad wants me to look into the Wesleyan churches. 1. I don't know that there are any in the area (I am in Baptist land after all) and 2. there's a Calvary Chapel in the area I want to try. Not saying I'll join it not saying I won't. God bless the Wesleyan's and all, but while I am unsure its something I want to figure out on my own. I have so many voices telling me what I should and ought and should think about. I'm tired of direction and suggestions and 'feedback' and 'accountability' (code for we're not going to tell you in a Matthew 18 way, we're going to wait till we're P.O'd at you and then give you a long sermon for how horrible you are and how our way is the best).  I'd like just some good old fashioned love and support. Honest truth. Is that me being unteachable and rebellious? Well paint it how you want its how I feel and I'm being honest. Which apparently people don't like anymore.

Sorry I've had a massive allergy attack the last four days and its developing into a sinus infection. God bless antibiotics and steroids. However my sudden dependence upon drugs is concerning, 'cause I didn't grow up popping pills. Granted the stuff I have been taking is needed. And medicine is wonderful when you need it. However I still feel like my body should be sufficient to ward of allergies etc. without drugs. So its an adjustment. Which is what the last three years has been apparently. So all that to say I'm tired and more cynical than usual.
However today is going to be a good day. I am going to class then going to my new job at the Crisis Pregnancy Center inputting donation information, and we had a huge amount of donations over the weekend. And I'll be working with older women which I love doing. Then I have my other job in the dishroom. Not my most favorite occupation ever (in fact I'm sick of it) but my bosses are awesome there and the pay is alright.

And I don't have pictures but a lot of the veggies I planted have sprouted! The green beans are HUGE. The cucumber hasn't sprouted yet so I don't know if its just taking its time or dead. The herbs still look bushy and happy, a few sweet peas have sprouted and the lettuce looks happy. I love growing things. I'm not all that successful yet at it. But for me there is something so wonderfully refreshing and lovely and peaceful in a garden. When I'm doing work there and getting my hands dirty and smelling the green I feel a sense of purpose and peace like I do when I'm being obedient to God.
- the good feelings are rather quickly taken away by the allergy attack but I'm figuring out which dr's to go to and which steroids are helpful so you know. ;-)
(Yes that was me being flippant and sarcastic. Its how I cope)

Ok I need to get out of my jammies and ready for this awesome day.
~Princess Ouch~
p.s. this new blogger dashboard was confusing at first but I took the tutorial and I'm kind of loving it now!!!

Spring Break Review

My school starts early in the year but has its spring break at the same time as the county's elementary schools so that the profs can have vacation with their families. As a result, spring break started Thursday and Friday Kyle and I went to the First Friday party he has with his friends he graduated with. The drive there was lovelier than usual, as Kyle took the 'back way,' or the more windy, hilly, country-side-and-wildflower filled way, because he knows how much I love over-hill-over-dell routes :-D

The First Friday party was refreshing and fun :-) It is made up of graduates from the same Christian College Kyle went to. Several are getting their Master's degree but a couple have settled down into their jobs - such as teaching Jr. High or Spanish. Our conversations ranged from goofy to serious to ridiculous to ridiculous plans morphing into actual plans for future First Friday parties. Kyle spent the night at his friend's cabin in the woods (which could be a show-home for Bass Pro Shops or Scheels) and I spent the night at our First Friday hostess' house. She and I talked for a while after everyone else left and caught up on what was going on in each others lives. It was very encouraging without the sour aftertaste of condescension or stress of having to acknowledge each others 'council'. Simply sharing and encouraging and listening. Haaa so refreshing!

The next morning Kyle's Brazilian friend picked me up and took me to the cabin in the woods where Kyle and his host had cooked the four of us breakfast. There was bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits, coffee, and orange juice. It was delicious however I couldn't help but laugh that it was made up of three proteins and a carbohydrate. It was GOOD, but definitely man-food ;-) Really delicious man-food ;-)


Came back to the 'Ville for Easter and checked on my plants. The house plant is from my friend's mother and then I bought the two herbs - basil - while grocery shopping. I took them with me later on in the week but the one basil for whatever reason died and half of the other one died. So I went back to the grocery store at the beginning of this week and replaced the basil. I was a little disappointed, as the first one had really cool variegated leaves, but this one didn't. To make it up to myself I found lemon verbena and rosemary so bought those too. I found a bunch of pots in the basement of the house I'm renting (with 4 other girls!) and planted lavender, sweet peas, columbine, peas, cucumber and lettuce in them. The lettuce sprang up during spring break and a few of the beans have as well! Confession I am super excited. I will confess I've put lots of prayer into them that I don't kill them as the year goes on!! :-)

I spent Easter with my very dear friends Amber and Mz Pat and Mr. Dudley. This is the third year I've done so and it was lovely as always. :-) Most of the guests are related to Mz. Pat, and then there's Amber and me, and also a Ethiopian lady Mz. Pat met at a Brazilian restaurant. I pigged out on the homemade dip for the chips in the kitchen while Mz. Pat and her daughters prepared the lunch and Amber and I updated everyone on the latest drama, gossip and frustrations at school (we're terrible, cynical seniors. I hope we'll be more grateful once we graduate... but we'll see)

I thought I had a training for my new job on Monday but it turned out it wasn't until Wednesday of this week, so I picked up my plants and dirty laundry and headed south to my boyfriend's parent's house for the week of Spring Break. Its the second time I've been there this semester, so it was good to be back after so long. Glorious days of sleeping in, going to bed early, and getting homework done. Monday Kyle surprised me and took me to Natural Bridge.

We bought ski-lift tickets after Kyle gave me strict instructions that we would not be buying any of the homemade, fresh, delicious looking fudge the gift shop advertised with a vengeance. After we got to the top of the bridge he asked me if I wanted to go on the trail to the right, like everyone else, or the one to the left, which no one was on. I decided to go to the left. Well, the lady down in the gift shop told us the trail to the right took about an hour to hike on. The trail to the left however was not mentioned. Three hours later we made it back to the parking lot where the car was. :-D Oh well. We like adventures and scenic... isolated... places :-D

Tuesday Kyle, his parents and I got all dussied up and drove to Louisville to see one of my favorite music groups:

It was funny because Kyle took me there a year ago when they were in town but we weren't dating yet... so lots of 'remember when,' or 'did you ever think a year ago that...' :-D

Wednesday we drove to Nashville to pick up my car from Pap, who'd been trying to figure out why the power steering on my car was capriciously going out. He got the air conditioner fixed but apparently the part needed for the steering is not made anymore and located in an area exTREMely difficult to get to. So I'll just be building my arm muscles whenever I drive unless they find a junked car and a very adventurous mechanic ;-) I was able to get reading done for my Interpreting Wisdom Literature class :-D Kyle's parents and I went to see the high-school rendition of Grease Thursday night, and Friday Gail and I both had some kind of stomach flu. Despite this I started and finished a book and wrote a book report for my book report, and got some writing on another paper done. So all in all it was a good Spring Break :-)

Mirror Mirror review

So I've been working on the same research paper for the last two weeks, and I'm glad I started early because I've had the worst writer's block. Amber has been awesome (as usual) and last night while I was trying to make progress (and failing) she finally was like, 'you should come see Mirror Mirror with me. I'm meeting another friend, and we'll spot you.' So after she kept bringing it up for literally two hours I capitulated.

Mirror Mirror is a rehash of the Snow White tale. Or at least, that's what its presented as. Well, it starts out with the Queen narrating how Snow White was born in an attempt at a British accent. Then Julia Roberts lapses back into her normal accent and announces this is HER story. Which is fine. I'm always up for a new twist on an old story. The new twist of traditional villains being just 'misunderstood' instead of wrong is kind of getting old, (i.e. vampires are just sparkly vegetarians, dragons really aren't the enemy [I do love that movie btw] and rebellious youth really are taking a stand for what they believe in, not actually being rebellious) but hey I'll see how they twist it this time.

Well, the movie leaves you with a happy feeling but Amber and I also left slightly dissatisfied. I mean we'll totally watch it again. Great costumes, amazing scenery, the score was good. The acting by certain actors was reeeeeeeally well done (i.e. the prince [spoiler alert] being put under the spell of 'puppy love') and I did really like Julia Roberts. I always like her acting although a lot of her movies have very trashy elements or just plain not worth my time. However I did like how they left the villain as the villain, and the princess was girly. At first.

However, there were some confusing things. The movie is directed by a gentleman who has a very very Indian name, which would explain the Bollywood wedding dance at the end of the movie. However the costume designer was Japanese. So the same scene in which there was a bollywood wedding dance, the main actress wore a blue dress with a huge bow in the back which made the outfit look very kimono-ish.
The second trouble is the girl. She comes across at first as a very delicate, graceful, girly character. You know, that girl in the dorms that you love, who is very compassionate and quick to tears, and who you are always afraid you will break if you shake her hand too hard.
However, half way through the movie she dons a Catherine-Zeta-Jones-in-the-movie-Zorro outfit, learns sword-play and Jujitsu, and begins to plot to 'take back her Kingdom.'


But the thing is neither Amber nor I felt she could really put it off. She was too sweet at first it wasn't believable and then all of a sudden she was supposed to be a warrior princess. Alright alright I'm all for women learning swordplay (I did it myself for a short time when Dad was in the military). But the part that really got me was the line when they are about to face 'the beast' and Snow locks all the men in the house. She bids them adieu thru the door latice with tears in her eyes and says, 'there are so many stories where the prince saves the princess. Don't you think its time we changed that?'
SERIOUSLY?!
Just for the record, all those tales she referenced in which the guy saves the girl are so rare these days they could be listed on the endangered species list!!

The men were all too dumb to figure things out, except for the band of dwarfs every now and again. The king and prince were bewitched by the queen and needed Snow to save them. In a word, another fairy tell falls prey to the Feminist movement.
And then we saw the trailer for the new 'Brave' movie. The setting is in 'a society defined by tradition.' and yet one girl has the courage to stand up and change her future! And Amber and I looked at each other and I asked,
''Where on earth is this drive to rebel against such a 'traditional culture' coming from?!"
"I don't know. I mean, good gosh just give us another Cinderella already! I'm sick of these power-girls. It is okay for the girl to be rescued and cared for by the guy! Good decent guys are OKAY to have!"

It was a cute move that had some great lines and definite laughs. However I don't think Its something I would spend money on to bring into the home permanently. I wish the 'tradition' that is being depicted as so toxic could be unleashed a little more. I like it. Not an overbearing amount obviously. But enough here and there to allow for chivalry! And respect for men and Caucasian societies.

My condolence is that I have a good friend who I can commiserate with and find good ol' fashioned romances and fairy tales that don't belittle men or erase the value of gentlemen. And I have a very honorable boyfriend who values my strong willed nature and independence and intelligence - and STILL is a gentleman and opens doors for me and will carry the heavier load of groceries and let me cry on his shoulder simply because I'm overreacting to a bad day.

I know there are still people out there who don't buy into all the feminist bull crap and conformist 'every one is special' crap. However, they all seem to be rather complacent to it. I wish we could have some movie writers and directors with large budgets who would stand up for tradition and values.

Which, speaking of which, if you want to see an EXCELLENT movie with GREAT acting, good humor, and a moving tale (bring a box of tissues) GO SEE OCTOBER BABY!!!!!!! It is SOOO good!!