after the meme

ha - i read on a couple of tags i did after the meme that they felt the same way i did after - "why did i write that? what will they think of me?" and then i went "duh, why in the world would you be embarrassed about any of that here - you blog on sexual addiction - you've knocked down those walls already - anyone who reads your blog knows this about you already!" :D

get to know me meme

boy grows up has meme'd me, and i've been in such a writing funk lately i think this could be just the thing to get my off my proverbial butt.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1) What was I doing 10 yrs ago?

1998. wow, that seems like a life time ago. i had just given birth to my son. my daughter was just turning 2 and we had just moved into part-time youth ministry at a tiny little plymouth brethren church. i thought life couldn't get any better. boy was i wrong. it was the beginning of the worst 2 years of my life. i was undiagnosed post-partum and had moved into a community that loathed me. it was the beginning of the relapse of my addictions (sexual & food) and the end of my sanity. aren't you glad you asked? :p

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Blog this.
2. Go stateside for groceries (dairy products in this side of canada are horrible!).
3. Buy a new bra - why is it that is always a place we loose weight??
4. Book the rock climbing gym for my kids birthday party.
5. Hit the library.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

my food plan is only meals, but i have just found dried, unsweetened mangoes from the bulk barn and i am enjoying them as part of my meal - yummy!!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. start a non-profit helping people in poverty & addiction take steps into a fuller, richer life.
2. fund as many organizations that are truly helping people trapped in poverty.
3. realize that god loves me way too much to trust me with a lot of money, because if i'm really honest i'd probably dive head first into any and every addiction on the planet....

5) Three of my bad habits:

1. wasting time on the computer
2. avoiding the things i'm supposed to do
3. re-hashing every social interaction i have and analyzing it to death becoming more and more paranoid that everyone hates me, i should have kept my mouth shut and i should never leave the house again...

6) 5 places I have lived: (i'm anonymous, so i'm going to be vague, just because i'd like to stay that way...)

1. eastern iowa
2. chicagoland
3. southeast wisconsin
4. maritimes, canada
5. pittsburgh area

7) 5 jobs I have had:

1. file clerk for a busy medical clinic in high school - i loved that job!
2. camp counselor
3. baker @ camp
4. closet/storage organizer/designer, store manager
5. chamber maid (lasted one weekend - for some very wealthy people who had a summer mansion in our town - hated it, had to wear the little white dress & serve them their after dinner drinks - the place smelled like bengay and made me feel like i was an extra in a movie)

8) 5 peeps I wanna know more about:

deb
penni
tex
steve
hope

summer reading meme

found this in the achieves over at julie's blog - one hand clapping - i remember reading her blog when she mentioned a science fiction/fantasy series (outlander - by diana gabaldon) that i have been meaning to read - and as i'm headed to the library with a need of good summer reading i did a search and found this - whan to play? here's the rules:

* Bold the ones you’ve read.
* Italicize the ones you want to read.
* Leave in normal text the ones that don’t interest you.
* Put in ALL CAPS those you haven’t heard of.
* Put a couple of asterisks by the ones you recommend.

(UPDATE - I liked Julie's/Erik's suggestion of putting (++) next to the ones you've seen the movie or TV show of, so I added that too)

(UPDATE 2 - bold & italicized don't show up in bloglines, so you'll have to click through if you care to see what i've read)

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)**++
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)++
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)++
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)++
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) **++
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) **++
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) **++
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)++
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A FINE BALANCE (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)++
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)**
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)** (will be seeing it soon!)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) - one of my favorite books of all time!
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)++
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone(Rowling)**++
17. FALL ON YOUR KNEES (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)++
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)++
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)**
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)**
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)++
24. THE LOVELY BONES (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)** (can't wait to see the movie - hope they do it justice as it's one of my favorites!)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)**++
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)++
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH (Ken Follett)
37. THE POWER OF ONE (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much Is True (Wally Lamb)*****
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)*****
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)*****
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)**
43. CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible **
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)++
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)++
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)**++
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)***
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)*** (just finished it - no one should go to africa without reading this!)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. ENDER'S GAME (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)++
56. THE STONE ANGEL (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)++
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. FIFTH BUSINESS (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)**++
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)++
72. LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)++
75. The Secret Garden(Frances Hodgson)++
76. THE SUMMER TREE (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)++
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)++
81. NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. REBECCA (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. WIZARD'S FIRST RULE (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)++
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. THE STONE DIARIES (Carol Shields)
89. BLINDNESS (Jose Saramago)
90. KANE AND ABEL (Jeffrey Archer)
91. IN THE SKIN OF A LION (Michael Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)++
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)++
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. ULYSSES (James Joyce)

anyone read any of these that i've missed? please if you have recommends i'd love to hear them. a couple i'd add that i just finished are 'prodigal summer' by kingsolver and water for elephants (can't remember author) - both are intense, deep stories with rich characters - loved them - and i can't say enough about the poisonwood bible - i would make it mandatory reading for every christian and especially those looking to do mission work. kingsolver always teaches me so much as i read her books - she is a master weaver and storyteller.

8 random facts meme

i just saw that i got tagged by renee for a random things meme - here are the rules:

rules to play 1. players start with 8 random facts about themselves. 2. those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. 3. players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged. my 8 random facts:

1. i love 70/80's rock music and still grieve that i threw away all of my old albums when i was told that jesus didn't.
2. i am a reality tv junkie and very ashamed of it...
3. i love bacon. i can't figure out why it could be a binge food for me, most of those kind of foods have an emotional link and i can't figure out where this one comes from, but i know i can't make it if there isn't a recipe or a lot of people to help me eat it because i think i could eat a whole lb. of it myself (i never have, just can imagine myself doing it and how horrible i'd feel afterward...)
4. i hate small talk. having to do it exhausts me. i want intentional conversations with a purpose because i guess i don't know the rules for casual conversations that other people just seem to know so effortlessly.
5. i have always wanted matching pirate ear piercings with liam (i have no idea what they're really called, but the ring in the top of the ear - he has no interest and i'm too chicken to go and do it myself.
6. i hate the scars i have on my knees. i guess my legs grew too fast as a kid because i have three slash scars on each knee that i always assumed were stretch marks because i was fat - not because i was tall - my bean pole daughter got them this past winter and she doesn't have a stitch of fat on her. i've always been so self conscious of them because one day in the gym locker room in 3rd grade one little girl asked me what they were... they were probably red and bright back then like pink's are now - now mine are just faded white lines, but i hate them all the same. they represent a very low self image and thinking i was fat from a very early age to me.
7. i am slowly learning a larger vocabulary for emotions than i ever had before. giving voice to feelings deeper than happy, sad, mad and glad. i am anal about not allowing anyone to define my feelings with unspecific terms and will sit in silence for a moment to attempt to correctly identify the true emotion i am feeling and give it voice. the daily examen it is helping me with this.
8. i loathe cigars and cigarettes. there are lots of reasons for this that i won't go into here, but smelling them fills me with deep emotions and even some times rage.

i tag:

1. trudging
2. lisa
3. elizabeth
4. erin
5. candy
6. deb
7. martha
8. tammy jo

emerging sideways - top 5, give 5, fav 5

corner bob puts together the "top 5" blog every year and this year he's added a great twist. he's calling it "top 5, give 5, fav 5" - and everybody gets to play, not just bloggers - but blog readers too!

i you are a blog reader, and don't blog yourself you can submit your 5 favorite posts you have read this year too!

to participate we're all donating $5.00 each to the tipitina's foundation, a new orleans, post-katrina, effort to restore the music to that amazing city.

here are my top 5 for 2006:

1. mary and martha
2. the higher road
3. the thumb in my back
4. dirty little secrets - porn and the church
5. youth ministry - the next 50 years - part 1 and youth ministry - the next 50 years - part 2
   

5 things you don't know about me

my favorite irishman across the pond tagged me for the 5 things you don't know about me meme.

and on this blog where you all know so very much about me i think it might be difficult to find 5 whole things you don't know.... hmmmmm...

1. it is my deepest dream and aspiration to feed the hungry. i fantasize about a ministry that begins with a soup kitchen (gosh i hate that term) and a food bank (another limiting term) here in our community that is run so well that it can be duplicated in small towns and cities across north america (and elsewhere if they want it). i pitched my idea to tony campolo 3 years ago and he liked it so much he invited me to eastern to study and begin my project. i have furnaced this idea for over 5 years and it ties together every job i've ever had, every financial struggle we've gone through and redeems all of it. it is the desire of my heart and i just can't figure out how to get from here to there...

2. following si's lead (who wants a sinus transplant) - i want a skin transplant. i have severe rosacia and adult acne that scars far too easily, it can be masked by cosmetics, but i loathe them and miss the days (pre-baby) of my peaches and cream (what my mother used to call it) complexion. i dream about contacting someone like oprah who wants to do a show on REALLY BAD SKIN and get some new dermatological wonder treatment i could never afford.

3. i have visions. not all of the time, but about 3-5 times a year i am given intense images that usually explain something very important in my life or community. liam is the only person i've really ever told about it. i am in a community now that would be open to them, but it is so strange to me that i still doubt them. the most important one i've ever had was last year at this time when i saw a long, back lit hallway, and there was this person walking down it very slowly. the closer the person got the more i could see why they were walking so slowly. they were dragging their left leg, and their left shoulder was dropping and as they came closer to me i realized that their left arm was deformed and twisted.

as they got closer still i could see it was a man, the light started to hit his face and somehow i knew it was jesus. he had a stroke and the whole left side of his body was paralyzed. he kept walking toward me and got about a foot away from me, the dropping face deformed, spittle running off the side of the mis-shapen lips and i looked into his eyes and a tear ran down the right side of his face.

when i looked into his eyes i knew that this was a picture of the body of christ. the church, that one half of it is paralyzed from fulfilling it's full potential and it broke his heart. it moved me so deeply i cried for days.

see, that's why i don't tell anyone.

4. wow, this has gotten really heavy... so i need to think of something more light-hearted... i love to sing, and have a pretty big range, but i have no ability to harmonize. i am a follow. when someone stands next to me i follow every lilt and note they sing instead of what i'm supposed to sing myself...

5. i am a dumpster diver. my hubby calls it 'shopping at curby's' and i just plain old call it garbage picking. my house is literally FILLED with unique finds that i re-purpose and reuse and they are mine (and the ones i get most compliments on) and i love them. my favorite piece is a cool old dresser that the paint is all chipped off of (i've sanded it) and we've removed 2 of the drawers and it holds our t.v. everyone who sees it wants one. i guess it's part of that redemption process that thrills my heart.

so there - those are my five things... i can't believe i told you that stuff, i just couldn't figure out what else you didn't know... :) thank you si - it was fun to play!

i tag hope, claudia mair, erin, deb and connie

christmas carol meme

patchouli tagged anyone who wants to play in the 'favorite christmas songs' meme, so i thought i'd bear my soul and confess my greatest shame... i have a dolly parton christmas cd that i listen to every christmas. (hangs head in shame)...

the thing about it is that i hate country music. it's just not my thing. at all. zilch.... maybe the dixie chicks latest album - but other than that none. never. except this crazy christmas cd - and it makes it feel like christmas, i don't know why.

so i have 2 lists - the cool list, and the dorky list...

here's my cool list...

1. sufjan stevens - o come of come emmaunuel
2. bruce cockburn - his whole christmas cd
3. plankeye - jesu bambino (it's beautiful)
4. jars of clay - little drummer boy
5. lost & found - joy to the world

dork list:
1. amy grant - (yes, i know, but it's christmas) - breath of heaven (mary's song)
2. bing crosby - would it be christmas without adeste fideles (or mele kalikimaka??)
3. dolly parton - o little town of bethlehem
4. sandy patty - bethlehem morning
5. wayne watson - (okay, now you know all of my christmas secrets...) - one christmas eve (such a wonderful song about keeping the little sparrows out of the snow)

shameful, eh? now you know ALL of my secrets!

i tag ya'll!

I meme

thank you sarah louise for tagging me as i have tons of other things i should be doing, but would rather blog...

I AM: finding my way
I WANT: to exercise more
I WISH: i had better skin
I HATE: mean people
I LOVE: family
I MISS: my dad
I FEAR: going crazy
I HEAR: my wind chimes
I WONDER: why god didn't make things clearer
I REGRET: not finding my voice sooner
I AM NOT: going to break my abstinence today
I DANCE: when no one is looking
I SING: hymns really loud from memory
I CRY: when i find redemption stories
I AM NOT ALWAYS: confident
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: a home for my family
I WRITE: about where i'm at as honestly as i can
I CONFUSE: liam's emotions with my own
I NEED: to find a spiritual director
I SHOULD: be writing the two emails i am avoiding
I START: a lot of things i rarely finish
I FINISH: more than i used to
I TAG: neritia, renee, stephanie, anj, tammy jo, deb, hope

blogging family tree meme

okay, i'm doing a meme - and you're ALL TAGGED! writing about jen this morning reminded me of my adventure into blog-land, finding this new world of people who actually think like i do - it was like breathing fresh air for the first time!

jen and renee were the two women who inspired me and gave me the courage to actually do it myself. i want to say thank you to them today! thank you jen lemen! thank you renee altson! it is because of you that i am a member of the blogosphere.

i just realized that one of the male species was integral in this process too - mike todd - you rock. i think mike's was one of the first blogs i ever read. thank you mike, i'm so glad you're waving and not drowning!!

who inspired you? note them on your blog and say THANK YOU!! if you notify me i'm going to try to put together a 'family tree' of bloggers.

google picture post

1. The city and state of the town you grew up, no quotation marks.

2. The town where you currently reside.

3. Your name, first and last, but again, no quotes.

4. Your grandmother’s name.

5. Your favorite food.

6. Your favorite drink.

7. Your favorite smell.








ht to my favorite scent twin renee

four things meme

my favorite rocket scientist rob at unspace tagged me for the four things meme. i'm feeling a bit blocked again words wise, so these are always good at jarring things loose:

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. File Clerk/Receptionist @ a Medical Center
2. Closet/Organizational Store Manager
3. Switchboard Operator/Receptionist @ College
4. Inventory Control/Shipping/Receiving @ pharmacy

Four Movies I Watch Over and Over Again:

1. The Princess Bride
2. Whale Rider
3. Shrek (one, not two)
4. The Shawshank Redemption

Four Places I'’ve Lived:

1. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
2. Hamilton, Ontario
3. Dubuque, Iowa
4. Oak Park, Illinois

Four TV Shows I Watch:

1. Survivor
2. Good Eats (althought we don't get it up here anymore)
3. Martha (it's what the kids and I watch together since Good Eats isn't on anymore)
4. Gilmore Girls

Four Places I've Vacationed:

1. Orange Lake, Florida
2. Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, British Columbia
3. Massanutten, Virginia
4. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Four Websites I visit daily:

1. Bloglines
2. del.icio.us
3. google
4. BBC

Four of My Favorite Foods:

1. Carrot Ginger Muffins
2. Raspberries
3. My homemade Drop Noodle Soup
4. really good cheese

Four Places I'd like to be right now:

1. Linwood House
2. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
3. Italy
4. Orlando - it was a wonderful vacation memory with our family

Four Folks Now Tagged With This Meme: (if you've already done it and i missed it, sorry!)

1. Hope at A Song Not Scored for Breathing
2. Erin at Biscotti Brain
3. Sarah Louise at Pink Sneakers n'at
4. Clint at Friar Tuck

globalgirl dream meme

connie at dawsonwood has shared her answers to idelette's dream questions and i've been stumped with writing lately - so maybe this will jar something loose...

Three places I'd love to go

1. Africa
   
2. GB - i covet every year when everyone posts they are headed to greenbelt - i would one day like to join them.
3. Vancouver - to see stephanie again for a time when she is not working so we can relax and play and maybe even cook together.
   

Three things I'd love to do

1. like connie, i too would love to be safe enough inside my skin to dance in public - no ballet or performance, just freedom of movement without being so self-conscious and encumbered by my lack of rhythm.
2. paint/sculpt/throw the clay - actually just to find my medium - i know it's out there, or in here, or somewhere - i just haven't found it yet
3. to find those whales migrating through this season and feel the joy and freedom of their existance. it's as close as i'll ever come to being the whale rider - but it will be enough.
   

Three things I'd love to accomplish

1. plant a community
2. create a third space coffee house
3. write and publish all of the books floating in the atmosphere of my brain
   

Three skills I'd like to acquire

1. the ability to focus long enough on ONE project to see it to completion
2. the drive to gather enough like minded people together to cast a vision and harness the power of the collective brain trust to bring light, life and hope to a community.
3. the ability to trust those around me enough to allow them the freedom from my co-dependency so that i am not terrified they won't need me if they don't NEED me like they do right now.
   

Ten things I'd really love to have

1. a location for our third space/coffee house/art studio/meeting room/performance stage
2. a home that is really our's to stay/live/nurture/become rooted in
3. financial security so we can share/build/give/create
4. a new, comfortable mattress
5. a nice long harvest table w/ sturdy, old, comfortable chairs to build new memories around
   
6. current laptop & printer
   
7. art studio w/ supplies
8. pink & buck's bedrooms designed and finished like they dream of
9. REALLY WARM SLIPPERS! (my feet are always freezing)
10. 2 sturdy, reliable vehicles owned outright

Three relationships I'd love to nurture - wow, this one is harder than i thought it would be...

1. the friendships made here online and at the path - amazing people all of you
2. my daughter pink - my son's relationship seems more natural, i need to work at my relationship with my daughter, and i want to make that a priority
3. our new community here, can't be any more specific than that right now i guess

this is only step 1 - the rest will take some time and meditiation. i may or may not share them with you all depending on how personal (or if i actually get it done).

seven things meme

from renee

Seven Things to Do Before I Die
1. get off this continent and see the world.
2. write books and get them published.
3. plant a community.
4. paint on canvases.
5. start a storytellers circle.
6. open a coffee house.
7. go whale watching.

Seven Things I Cannot Do
1. keep my mouth shut...
2. tolerate cruelty.
3. fake anything.
4. remember things that fall off my radar without a list or a reminder.
5. absorb information that is not organized well.
6. math.
7. listen to christian radio.

Seven Things that Attract Me to My Husband [romantic interest, best friend, whomever]
1. liam's eyes
2. liam's legs (solomon like towers of ivory... sorry, too much information??)
3. liam's laugh and sense of humor
4. liam's giant hands that make my man hands look feminine
5. liam's lips
6. liam's loyalty
7. liam's childlikeness

Seven Things I Say Most Often
1. crap for crap (strongbad...)
2. !()%*)$#
3. make yourself some dang quesidiLLas napoleon!
4. let mommy finish her blog post and then i'll be able to help you.
5. no buck, it's pink's turn to play nintendogs.
6. hey babe, (what i call liam) could you_______________???
7. is that workin' for ya?

Seven Books (or series) I Love
1. travelling mercies, anne lamott
2. let your life speak, parker palmer
3. a tree full of angels, macrina wiederkehr
4. the wounded healer, henri nouwen
5. life of pi, yann martel
6. my name is asher lev, chaim potok
7. pilgrims regress, cs lewis

Seven Movies I Would Watch Over and Over Again
1. Pride & Prejudice (BBC version)
2. The Princess Bride
3. Napoleon dynamite
4. Shrek I
5. Moulin Rouge
6. LOTR
7. Veggie Tales - A Snoodle's Tale

seven bloggers to tag: hope, stephanie, keith, stephanie, tonya, erin, connie

needs meme

i LOVE this meme!!! it made me laugh all along the way - some of these 'needs' are so spot on it's shocking! some are just outright silly! just type your name and needs in " " into google and see what you NEED today! here's mine (i've bolded my favorites):

needs your help.

needs feeding, bathing, dressing her.

needs to tone down her foul language.

needs drapes for her window because the shade is all gone and the sun is bright in the afternoons.

needs to know that there is no correlation between the degree of freedom within a society and its actions in external affairs.

needs to start knitting ski masks.

needs to get real and get off her pity pot.

needs to understand that the Majority of the folks in that state DO NOT agree with her.

needs one of us to go over there, and show her a good time.

needs to eat better so that I can stay healthy.

needs no introduction.

needs her own site.

needs someone to warm her up a bit, she seems cold.

needs that much control.

needs a home.

needs our support.

needs clothing!

needs and craves attention.

needs some extra shampoo and another pairly of manly hands to give her follicles a good going over.

needs to speak a little faster and Garcia needs to sit up and not slouch as she does.

needs love.

needs to go to school.

needs a makeover.

needs to know you haven't forgotten her.

needs to tell stories. (MY FAVORITE!!)

needs to spend some more time on the Stairmaster.

needs to have more opportunities to expand her horizons.

needs a little math refresher.

needs to stop living in fear - help her Father.

needs a new pair of socks.

yipee, i've been meme-ed!

renee has tagged me for a new meme floating through the blogosphere. it cheered me up immensely as i needed to think about something other than 'here'.

5 things I plan to do before I die:

1. get off this continent and see the world.
2. write books and get them published.
3. plant a community.
4. paint on canvases.
5. become a storyteller.

5 things I can do:

1. speak the truth in love.
2. talk and teach in front of lots of people.
3. own my own junk.
4. spend time alone.
5. explain things so that others can understand them.

5 things I cannot do:

1. keep my mouth shut...
2. tolerate cruelty.
3. fake anything.
4. remember things that fall off my radar without a list or a reminder.
5. absorb information that is not organized well.

5 Things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. liam's eyes
2. liam's legs (solomon like towers of ivory... sorry, too much information??)
3. liam's laugh and sense of humor
4. liam's giant hands that make my man hands look feminine
5. liam's lips

5 things I say most often:

1. hey babe (what i call him)
2. crap for crap (strongbad...)
3. @#()$ insert swear word here...
4. i am so tired.
5. okay, break's over (cyberschool...)

5 celebrity crushes (characters more than people):

1. charlie brown
2. napoleon dynamite
3. shrek (part 1)
4. colin firth (ala pride and predjudice & bridget jones' diary)
5. ewan mcgregor (ala moulin rouge)

5 people I want to do this next (i'm picking people who i don't know very well) :

1. cheryl
2. elizabeth
3. friar tuck
4. layla
5. wilsonian

bored and avoiding doing the books...

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

16 more to go...

thanks steve!

my book report

i was tagged quite a long time ago by susie, and it slipped my mind until i read mike's post and thought, 'oh yeah, i was supposed to do that wasn't i?' so here is my book report:

1. total number of books i own:

hundreds (i love to give away books - i buy them used and pass them on - i figure the price 1/2's every time someone else reads it!)

2. the last book i bought:

a tree full of angels, macrina wiederkeihr (recommended by amy loves books)

3. the last book i read:

the hawk and the dove trilogy, by penelope wilcock (recommended by elizabeth), and now by me. it is a story in a story - a mother passing down the heritage of the family to her daughters. a heritage of benedictine monks and a window into a world of truth, beauty, repentance and redemption. wonderful!

4. five books that mean alot to me:

the first ones that cracked the door were a trilogy by henry fosdick, he was the pastor of riverside church in ny and he was very friendly to the AA movement. i'm counting his 3 little OOP books as one - the meaning of prayer, the meaning of faith, and the meaning of service (also in one collection called the three meanings)- these books started a wedge into the rigid theology of my former years.

the next would have to be a pair (see, i can't do anything easy...) the jesus i never knew and what's so amazing about grace - phillip yancy. finally someone begins to write critically about what 'the church' has been feeding us for years. it chips away, piece by piece all of the pre-conceived, easy, fill-in-the-blank answers i had kept myself safe with for so long.

when when the heart waits by sue monk kidd. this was on yac's recommend list and i picked it up at nywc before he died. i had read little non-fiction written by women and i was intrigued. as i read her butterfly metaphor i was given a gift i had never had before - wings. a process of awakening and growth, and living in the tension that took the process from my brain, to my soul.

during the last books i was also working through a gentle path through the 12 steps by patrick carnes. this book gave me my life back. it took me years to finish it, but each exercise was transforming and redeemed a lot of the broken-ness of my past.

and finally the book that i just can't seem to put down, i'm constantly referring to again and again; as it has been the keystone to giving me a 180* perspective change - let your life speak, parker palmer. if you've read my blog for long you know how he has integrated each and every one of the above movements of my life in to a harmony that makes sense of it all. don't tell anyone, but if palmer started a cult i think i'd join it...

5. two major books i read when i was a kid:

madeline l'engle - sorry, don't make me pick. her time quartet and the austin series were some of my best friends as a tween. meg and vicky were everything i longed to be. it was through their eyes and the windows into their families that i began to realize how very broken my own was. they weren't judgemental and didn't leave me feeling awkward or alone.

the chronicles of narnia & the lord of the rings - again - can't pick... these men (and l'engle) taught me that people of god didn't have to be rigid, joyless automatons - imagination, story and vast new worlds were mine to explore - truth was told in such deep ways - i knew i would never be the same. they taught me more about god and truth than any bible study or sunday school class.

oh, and i need to tag: (sorry if you've been tagged and i forgot, or if i missed you because i thought you were already tagged!!)

susan
claudia
renee
kristin
natala