I was reading through some old blog posts just now as I took my new blog layout for a test-run, and I found one from a few months back where I mentioned that a spider had taken up residence in the corner of my den. I'm sure you've all been wondering how that story resolved itself, so here is the dramatic conclusion!
The spider stayed there. It never moved. Well that's not true; when I plugged my glue gun into the outlet by its web, it scurried further away from the plug. But that's it. I'm such a chicken when it comes to spiders. Finally about two weeks ago my mom stopped by, and she kindly removed the spider and every last bit of its giant web. My mom is my hero.
Now I'm dealing with another spider. This one spins a web in the corner of my front door every day. Every evening when I come home, I knock the web down. It just really irks me that this spider is using my beautiful yarn wreath to anchor part of its web. By the time I get home the next evening, the web is up again. You would think this spider would learn its lesson. Then again, it probably sits there all day thinking, "you'd think that girl would learn."
I kind of think God is trying to toughen me up by putting these creatures in my apartment. I mean, if I ever want to live anywhere other than my sterile second-floor palace, I'd better get used to sharing my space with a few members of the arachnid and insect families. At SOS this summer, my work group spent the week helping to renovate a roach-infested kitchen. There were cockroaches everywhere. Everywhere. As in, pouring out of the walls, immune to bug spray that made us humans unable to breathe, crawling on our feet everywhere. It is truly a testament to the power of faith and prayer and doing all things through Christ that my group members and I were able to overcome our fear of bugs. My heart broke for our homeowner, who dealt with (and is still dealing with) these critters every day. By the middle of the week they hardly bothered me at all, and that is huge for me. I won't go into detail about how I overreacted when I realized my leg was dangerously close to some spider eggs... baby steps, right? But after that week I felt better about the fact that I would one day not live in my suburban bubble.
Fast-forward to tonight, when I discovered a huge roach in my bathroom and my heart nearly stopped. I'm proud to say that I didn't call anyone to come over and kill it (yes, that crossed my mind). I sprayed it to death with wasp spray (that's all I had, and I don't even care that it's not safe for indoor use). Then I wrapped it in a paper towel, double-bagged it, and said a prayer that it was really dead. But, no matter how I did it, the important thing here is that I took care of that nasty, crafty roach all by myself! Perhaps that was God's little reminder that he's still working on his plans for me.
I hope I never get tired of celebrating these little victories :)
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Working joyfully with my hands
A few weeks ago, I made a resolution to give more handmade gifts, and I am proud to report that I have actually stuck to my resolution! Here are pictures of some of the fruits of my labor:
I have other gifts in the works, but I can't post photos of them yet because their recipients don't know about them!
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| This is an Ole Miss colored yarn and paper wreath that I made for my friend Natalie's birthday. |
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| My first attempt at a diaper cake, which I made for a shower at work. |
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| Green fuzzy yarn and paper wreath... I just made this for fun, but it ended up hanging in my mom's kitchen! |
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| This is a wreath I made for my friend Amanda using a paper plate and some scraps of brown bulletin board paper... I made this in about fifteen minutes during my planning time at work! So easy! |
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Ill with want and poisoned by this ugly greed
A couple months ago I wrote a post about my efforts to stay off Facebook six days a week, and I realized that I never followed up on that. I was able to successfully limit my Facebook usage to Fridays for quite a few weeks; however, I found that I really wasn't getting anything out of it. I wasn't using my time in more useful ways, which was what I was originally hoping to accomplish. Now that I'm back to my regular Facebooking schedule, though, I do think that I spend less time on the site. I keep hearing people complain about the changes on Facebook, but honestly I have no idea what they're talking about. I pretty much just log on to check in with friends and respond to conversations. So maybe I did get something out of it--no more brainless scanning of my News Feed.
One good thing that came out of Facebook Fridays was that it challenged me to find an area in my life where I really did need to make a change. I have bigger things to deal with than a slight addiction to commenting on status updates. Around the time that Facebook Fridays started, a friend (the same friend who challenged me to lay off Facebook, actually) admitted to me that his bad habit is texting while driving. I confessed that my bad habit is shopping, and we made an agreement to hold each other accountable while trying to break these bad habits. Every time he texts while driving, he owes a dollar. At the end of the month, the money is donated to an organization that we agreed on. Every time I buy a piece of clothing, I will donate 25 percent of the cost of the item to Dress for Success. I am also going to spend fall break cleaning out my closet and donating items I don't wear to Goodwill. I'm really looking forward to this challenge; as I mentioned in my last post, I want to be less of a consumer. I want to own less, to live more simply, to stop feeling like I'll be happier if I just have a little bit more. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way, so maybe by documenting my efforts here, I can inspire someone else!
I was listening to the Avett Brothers in my car yesterday, and I was struck by the lyrics to their song "Ill with Want." It's funny--I've heard the song dozens of times, but I guess I never paid attention to the words. Here are a couple of the verses:
"I am sick with wanting, and it's evil and it's daunting
How I let everything I cherish lay to waste
I am lost in greed, this time it's definitely me
I point fingers but there's no one there to blame."
"I am sick of wanting and it's evil how it's got me
And every day is worse than the one before
The more I have the more I think I'm almost where I need to be
If only I could get a little more."
Wow. The rest of the song is just as good; look up the words if you want. Or just listen to it because they're awesome.
And a quick update on my shopping efforts: I've actually been pretty good this month. I gave two handmade gifts (photos coming soon), and the only clothing item I purchased was a new shirt with my school logo to wear on an upcoming field trip. It cost about $34 (private school attire doesn't come cheap), so I owe $8.50 this month. I also have a shopping bag full of clothes that I cleaned out of my dresser drawers. I'm off to a good start, and I hope I can keep it up!
One good thing that came out of Facebook Fridays was that it challenged me to find an area in my life where I really did need to make a change. I have bigger things to deal with than a slight addiction to commenting on status updates. Around the time that Facebook Fridays started, a friend (the same friend who challenged me to lay off Facebook, actually) admitted to me that his bad habit is texting while driving. I confessed that my bad habit is shopping, and we made an agreement to hold each other accountable while trying to break these bad habits. Every time he texts while driving, he owes a dollar. At the end of the month, the money is donated to an organization that we agreed on. Every time I buy a piece of clothing, I will donate 25 percent of the cost of the item to Dress for Success. I am also going to spend fall break cleaning out my closet and donating items I don't wear to Goodwill. I'm really looking forward to this challenge; as I mentioned in my last post, I want to be less of a consumer. I want to own less, to live more simply, to stop feeling like I'll be happier if I just have a little bit more. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way, so maybe by documenting my efforts here, I can inspire someone else!
I was listening to the Avett Brothers in my car yesterday, and I was struck by the lyrics to their song "Ill with Want." It's funny--I've heard the song dozens of times, but I guess I never paid attention to the words. Here are a couple of the verses:
"I am sick with wanting, and it's evil and it's daunting
How I let everything I cherish lay to waste
I am lost in greed, this time it's definitely me
I point fingers but there's no one there to blame."
"I am sick of wanting and it's evil how it's got me
And every day is worse than the one before
The more I have the more I think I'm almost where I need to be
If only I could get a little more."
Wow. The rest of the song is just as good; look up the words if you want. Or just listen to it because they're awesome.
And a quick update on my shopping efforts: I've actually been pretty good this month. I gave two handmade gifts (photos coming soon), and the only clothing item I purchased was a new shirt with my school logo to wear on an upcoming field trip. It cost about $34 (private school attire doesn't come cheap), so I owe $8.50 this month. I also have a shopping bag full of clothes that I cleaned out of my dresser drawers. I'm off to a good start, and I hope I can keep it up!
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