Make your own video

Hey - I just made my first video online - and I'm posting for the first time! I got the pictures from National Geographic's Photo of the Day - http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

I'm bad...make that good!

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Sally in MySpace

(think Muppets -- Pigs...In...Space!)



Yes, I have ventured into the hard-bodied world of MySpace. I was talking about it with 6th graders, and wanted to see what it was all about for real.



Check me out!



Sally's profile

(Ah, the beauty of a professional hair stylist and make up artist!!)



On MySpace (thanks to my sister Stacy who is one of my three friends - feels like H.S. again!), I have also been introduced to a great band and a great solo artist - check them out and give them a listen!



downhere

I like their song Not About Wings, which seems to no longer be on their MySpace page, but it is on their band website. You'll need to click to download Thunder After Lightning, then you can have a little listen.



Kari Jobe

I've been listening to her songs posted here as I type this, so I now love all of them!



All of this in the name of professional research! I'm amazed how many 20-somethings request to be my "friend." Following my own advice, I do not accept anyone as my "friend" that I do not know (or at least who isn't my same vintage! Haven't had any requests from anyone claiming to be in their late 30's yet.)

Not About Wings

So, I was playing around on MySpace tonight after talking to a class of 6th grade students about social networking.... I knew my sister had a page, so I went looking for her, saw she was online, and wanted to send her a message, but you need to be a member to do so. So, I thought this would be my impetus to try setting up a page and get a little "primary source" knowledge. By the time I figured it all out, my sister was no longer online. So I called her. (Guess I could have started there, but where's the fun in that?!) I had to call her, because I couldn't log off MySpace with my profile reading "single" when I am excruciatingly happily married! Thankfully, it was almost as difficult for her to find the "switch," so my librarian "hunter" ego wasn't too damaged.


So, all this to say, Stacy had a song that started playing when her page opened, and it is beautiful! You must give a listen to Not About Wings by downhere. (no longer available - check out their main webpage here)



Here are the words:

Not About Wings
by downhere

Wake dove,
stretch your feathers,
Worry not love,
how far you could fall.
Fly now, darling find how;
A broken wing can feel the best to soar on.
It's not the perch you've climbed to reach,
But the broken wing that's made you meek;
that's when He lifts you high.

Chorus
Believing is not about seeing,
Faith is not about reaching,
and on this journey I keep learning,
Flying is not about wings.

Sparrow trapped by a window,
every resource spent for just one goal.

It's not by work you find your escape,
but in your defeat when you seek his face;
that's when He lifts you high.


How nice is that? Love it!

The Edge

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Blossom

And then the day came,

when the risk to remain tight in a bud

was more painful

than the risk it took to blossom.

- Anais Nin, Danish diarist

Always questionning...

What is community? Who are "we" as we pray "Our" Father? How much do I really want community? How much do I prefer my quiet and solitude? Where is the balance of solitude in community? Where, when and how can the community speak into my solitude - the things I am choosing to struggle in and through all alone?

How will naming my fears aloud bring healing and light and revelation and freedom? How many fears are only fearful when kept in solitude and silence to fester and grow and overwhelm me?

HP 7

Here is a picture of Dariya and me just minutes before midnight, July 21 as we awaited the release and sale of book 7, the final installment - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am dressed as Mrs. Weasley and Dariya is Luna Lovegood (thankfully, Dariya is just as smart, but not nearly so ditzy as Luna!).





Loved the book! It held surprise "fixes" to problems the other books presented, and I always love a happy ending!

count down clock

Here is the Timeanddate.com countdown for my life in graduate school (assuming I stop blogging and finish my paper before Sunday)

http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?month=8&day=5&year=2007&hour=17&min=0&sec=0&p0=219

Surrender to What Is

Surrender to What Is at inward/outward

Today is the beginning of the end...leading to a new beginning. I hope the thought from the above blog posting can be my focus both today, through the end, and into the new.

Today I will finish (God willing) my final graduate school paper for my Library and Information Science master's degree. Part of me does not want to begin the work(thus I am here) of finishing well. Because then it is all done, gone, over. I am having a hard time finishing this. Ending well. But I am so excited for what lies ahead. I am living in a place of tension, trying to stay present to all that is swirling around me in this moment.

VisualDNA

I saw this website in an article in the Star Tribune. Too cool - this is so me!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Excellence

The gold embossed letters spoke to my needless worrying over the last month. I have passed my Minnesota State licensure tests with more than flying colors. On the test where I spent too much time writing the first essay and then had to scramble through the rest, I received a special commendation for scoring in the top 15% of people who have taken that test in the previous years. An "E" for excellence will appear alongside my score - showing the world what a big brain I have!! (or at least my great capacity to BS with the best of them!!) :)

Isla Mujeres

Island in the Carribean - what more do you need to know other than when is the next flight? Our friends own Sea Cliff, a great vacation rental property you must check out if you want a quiet Carribean vacation!!

In case you need more details, I'll share a couple 1000 words with you here:

Sunrise

Sunset - the view from our romantic restaurant table

The family - overlooking Garrafon Park

(no that's not Photoshop or a green screen!)

Road Scarf

This is a fun knitted scarf pattern! Be sure to note the "Note" that you need to knit the first and last 4 stitches of each row to make the garter stitch edge. That was added after I printed my pattern - thankfully I had noticed it in the picture.

Road Scarf Pattern on LionBrand.com

Road Scarf Story

Here is my road scarf so far - I was knitting it on the "road" to Isla Mujeres.

I am using Princess by Classic Elite Yarns in Ladylike Leaf. (40% merino, 28% viscose, 10 % cashmere, 15 % nylon, 7 % angora. I would not recommend using Wool-Ease - it's not nearly soft enough for my neck!)

If you give a mouse a cookie...(or bravado dismantled)

So, yesterday, I made myself a little light lunch, and while it was heating up, I employed one of my favorite quotes - "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!" I nibbled a little on one of Grandma's Delicious cookies (see below) and left half of it for later.

When I came back from doing some of my homework, I discovered the cookie half stuck in one of the burners on my stove. A little furry "friend" must have been reading my blog about Grandma's cookies and perhaps he figured that since I am a librarian, I might actually go through all the antics of the delightful book, "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

Not so lucky here! He had already nibbled on another cookie and we've been waiting for him! (Don't get between me and my cookies!) This meant war! So I drug the "Tomcat" mousetrap onto the stove, to lay in wait for his return. John added peanut butter to sweeten the lure. And we waited to hear the deadly "SNAP." (cue evil laugh here!)

Well, there was no SNAP - and no peanut butter - this morning when we awoke. Very clever, little mouse.

But later, I was again quietly going about my homework when....SNAP!!! We had him!!

Oh, wait....I had him...all alone...just me and the rattling, scrambling mouse - still alive, trapped, and the Tomcat now stuck in the same position as my poor cookie. Now what do I do?

Three panicked calls to John later, I was armed with leather gloves, two trembling hands, a bucket (with a layer of ice in the bottom), a piece of plywood, and a pounding heart. I had to pull the burner grill off the stove, swoop up the mouse and trap without pulling it off his leg, and dump him in the bucket, locking him in with the giant sheet of plywood. There he rests until my Prince Charming can come home and rescue me.

A tiny mouse has reduced me to a quivering bowl of Jell-o.

If a mouse steals a cookie at Sally's house, BEWARE!!!!!!!! She might scream you to death!

More recipes

Some of my favorites:

Clone of a Cinnabon

Artichoke Chicken

Bacon 'n' Egg Bundles
these are too cute and fun!

Grandma's Delicious Cookies

I am going to make these today and thought I would share the secret family recipe...and the family secret that I don't know if I actually remember my grandmother ever making these cookies....

Delicious Cookies

Cream together:
1 C. margarine (we never used real butter, but I do now!)
1 C. salad oil
1 egg
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp coconut flavor (I don't use this)

Add:
3 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 C. oatmeal
1/2 - 1 C. coconut flakes
1 C. Rice Krispies cereal
1 C. butterscotch (or chocolate) chips

Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

ruling souls

Today's Daily Reading from the Rule of Saint Benedict

Chapter 2: What Kind of Person the Abbess Ought to Be
The Abbess should always remember what she is and what she is called, and should know that to whom more is committed, from her more is required (Luke 12:48). Let her understand also what a difficult and arduous task she has undertaken: ruling souls and adapting herself to a variety of characters. One she must coax, another scold, another persuade, according to each one's character and understanding. Thus she must adjust and adapt herself to all in such a way that she may not only suffer no loss in the flock committed to her care, but may even rejoice in the increase of a good flock.


Sounds like my role as a school library media specialist! (Or maybe, Jan, this is you?? Variety of characters - definitely sounds like Abbey Way! :) )


Selections above from Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle OblSB, of Saint John's Abbey, (© Copyright 1948, 2001, by the Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, MN 56321). Adapted for use here with the division into sense lines of the first edition that was republished in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversary of Liturgical Press. Doyle's translation is available in both hardcover and paperback editions.

it's a home-cooked life

tap tap tap tap tap (metal spoon on the edge of a sauce pan)

"Mom, what is that?"

"What do you mean?"

"That sound usually means something good...."

I am so excited that my daughter loves cooking and that she is learning how to cook and create. And that she is learning to appreciate (having spent "hours" today slicing potatoes) the food that is placed (not so magically anymore) before her. I love that my mother taught me how to cook and that my family appreciates the time I take away (far away!) from my studies to make what I would call (stealing a phrase from Food Network) "semi-homemade cooking." Today it is scalloped potatoes and ham (a favorite of Dariya's since she was three years old she announced to me today). Oh, and breakfast pizza for breakfast (thanks again, Food Network!). And Grandma DeJong's "Delicious Cookies" tomorrow (all this studying makes a girl hungry - and in need of a study break!).

Time

John thinks that if you can count down the days until a thing is over that you are enduring, it will help you get through it more easily. Well, thanks to the Internet, I now know how many days (and so much more!) until the end of my life as a graduate student. Here you go:

227 days

According to the website, TimeandDate.com
227 days can be converted to one of these units:
19,612,800 seconds
326,880 minutes
5448 hours
32 weeks (rounded down)

I think a couple hundred of those seconds will have ticked past by the time I get this posted! Whew! I feel so much better!


Dariya wants to know how much time until school is over for her...

Duration calculation results
From and including: Monday, January 8, 2007 To and including: Friday, June 8, 2007
It is 152 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 5 months, 1 day including the end date
Alternative time units152 days can be converted to one of these units:
13,132,800 seconds
218,880 minutes
3648 hours
21 weeks (rounded down)

Gettin' Real

I spent tonight with six other amazing spiritual beings who chose to get really real with each other. This is a community I want to share my life with! They desire to put aside all pretense and be their God created selves - sucesses, failures, experiments...all of it thrown into the stew as seasoning.

It reminds me of an Open Door sermon by Stefan VanVoorst. He had a secret that he shared that day (I can't divulge it, because I promised not to - go to www.thedoor.org and order his sermon tape to find out more). I also promised not to laugh at Stefan for the content of his secret. That is what this little community desires - a space that offers the freedom and the safety of knowing we can try anything in the world, share any secret longing - and these people will not laugh at each other because we want to try, because we might fail, because we just might be crazy enough to make it work...

I think the bus might be slowing down....looks like it might be about to turn off onto this gravel trail just off to the left....not sure where we'll end up, but I sure hope my new friends don't get off at the next rest stop.

Awwwwwwwwwwww...cute couple!

Here are John and I at the Grand Canyon. What a beautiful place to rest, relax, and see God!

Unharmed

OK, Here is my first foray into blogland. I wanted to share these verses and quotes with some friends, and decided to go public. These are some verses from Divine Hours this morning that will lead me into this crazy new year. Here we go!

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
do not hide yourself from my supplication.
Attend to me, and answer me;
I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
because of the clamor of the wicked.
Psalm 55:1-3a

But I call upon God,
and the LORD will save me...
He will redeem me unharmed
from the battle that I wage...
Psalm 55:16, 18

The LORD shall give strength to his people;
the LORD shall give his people
the blessing of his peace.
Psalm 29:11

Untamed

Holy One,
untamed
by the names
I give you,
in the silence
name me,
that I may know
who I am,
hear the truth
you have put into me,
trust the love
you have for me,
which you call me to live out
with my sisters and brothers
in your human family.

from Guerrillas of Grace, Ted Loder

Jan read this poem to open our Abbey Way - New Year's Eve retreat of silence (which I could have easily enjoyed until midnight!!) I was struck by the word untamed. How often do I try to tame God by naming him? How often do I want to put a name, a label on something, so that I can categorized it and file it away? Often, naming has been helpful for me - I am a compassionate person whose gift is my tears, I have faced many walls and dark nights of the soul. But where does my knowledge lead me? As a librarian, I treasure knowledge - but to what end?

I pray my names, my knowledge, lead me deeper into the heart of God.

True Contemplative

(Anybody know anything about copyright and posting quotes on blogs? Hope I don't get into trouble, being a librarian and all!)

(in this quote - all pronouns have been changed to the feminine)
The true contemplative is not one who prepares her mind for a particular message that she wants or expects to hear, but is one who remains empty because she knows that she can never anticipate the words that will transform her darkness into light. She does not even anticipate a special kind of transformation. She does not demand light instead of darkness. She waits on the word of God in silence, and, when she is "answered," it is not so much by a word that bursts into her silence. It is by her silence itself, suddenly, inexplicably revealing to her as a great power, full of the voice of God.
from The Climate of Monastic Prayer, Thomas Merton