I Went Walking With a Viking

Because we had a few days of chilly and rainy weather, I was glad that we finally had a nice day yesterday. Hubby and I were so excited to finally get outside and escape the four walls of our house, so we took a walk after we had lunch, while our daughter was finishing up her schoolwork for the day. I waited outside for him in my usual quarantine gear -- leggings and a hoodie -- and a few minutes later, watched in amazement as he and our dog emerged from inside the front door.

After 17 years of marriage, I pretty much know not to be surprised by what he does, but he finally managed to catch me off guard. As you may have read from one of my previous posts, he enjoys getting looks from our neighbors as he wears a sarong on warm days. Today was even better as he came out of the house...dressed in his Viking regalia, complete with his carved walking stick.

Yes, my husband does medieval re-enactment with a bunch of other people who enjoy dressing up and doing the same thing. They are part of a group called Dagorhir -- watch the movie Role Models and you'll get a better idea of their thing. Yes, he camps out for a week every summer with his fellow band of nerds and they beat each other up during the day with foam padded weapons and then cook dinner and party at night. Yes, I have witnessed this wackiness that they do when they practice -- and yes, while it's nerdy, his fellow nerds-in-crime are a bunch of great gals and guys who have become like a second family to him, and he's bemoaning the fact that he probably won't get to camp with them this summer because of quarantining. And yes, I have probably gotten some bit of information incorrect about what it is that they actually do, which he will gladly explain to me in great detail after he reads this!

Covid-19 hasn't totally dampened his spirits as he decided to let his nerd flag fly today when we walked...and yes, you may ask, we did indeed receive some interesting looks from people we encountered on our walking circuit. And no, I couldn't even socially distance myself from him because every time he saw someone approaching from afar, he grabbed onto my arm -- I was his handler that provided some semblance of normalcy to his geek-ness.

Because, well, pics or it didn't happen, here he is in his regalia!

But as I think about the walk, there's two things that come to mind:

1. at least he didn't wear his Viking headgear or metal armor, because that would have been really attention-getting; 

2. I wonder what kind of fun attire I can wear the next time we go out for a walk to give him (and our neighbors!) a laugh 😄 If you have any suggestions, let me know!!

Day 2,579 of Quarantine - TGIF!

It's the end of the world as we know it week five of quarantine, and we had lots of fun this past week!! Hope you also found exciting things to do to pass the time. Here are some of ours - bonus points if you can guess which family member did which activity 😂

• Practiced our British accents
• Taught our dog to eat spaghetti "Lady & the Tramp" style
• Meowed at Alexa (fyi, she meows back; you can even purchase an assorted "box of meows." and no, we didn't...that may come later in quarantine)
• Gave each other tattoos with eyeliner and sharpies. Since one of the members of our household is 14, at least one of said tattoos involved body parts and/or bodily functions. 
• Cooked an entire Easter dinner from scratch
• Got dressed up for absolutely no reason; some of us even wore makeup! And one of us decided to wear pants!!!
• Binge-watched Glee and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (which is awesome!)
• Ordered AXE body spray from Amazon that our BF wears so that our room and pillow smells just like him (note, this isn't recommended by the adult members of the household as it tends to travel throughout the whole house)
• Saw friends and family from a distance -- special thanks to friends who dropped off food to us this past week and family who provided Easter dinner since we couldn't enjoy it together
• Had an anxiety attack when we saw a black sock that was peeking out from behind the dog food bin and thought it was a mouse
• Sang and danced along to Disney sing-along on TV
• Wore sarong on walks around the neighborhood. Enjoyed funny looks from neighbors.
• Played indoor basketball
• Made frozen lemonade smoothies in Nutribullet - extra yummy with a touch of OJ. On tonight's menu: White Russian Smoothies!
• Took dog on 327 walks around the block. Dog now will literally not leave our side.
• Got out of Facebook jail then went off on the Chief Cheeto
• Made fart noises with putty
• Attempted to drink a gallon of water every day. Note: the adult members of the household believe this was done to take numerous breaks from online schoolwork.
• Applied to get medical marijuana card
• Purchased dress shoes online that will look cute with clerics during internship pink bathrobe
• Watched Easter worship services online in our jammies; we all sat together on the couch so it was *almost* like being in a church pew 
• Attempted to match the meowing sounds of our cats. Cats are now eyeing us up suspiciously.

Hope you enjoyed our quarantine fun! Looking forward to hearing what you've been doing - please share in the comments! Stay safe...and don't forget to wear your mask and wash your hands 😀

It's Crazy Down Here in Lunch Lady Land

It's funny as a parent when you think you're prepared for certain things and then realize you are sooo mistaken.

I've taught college-level classes....I have a master's degree and am working on a second one, so when schools closed and all learning got shifted online, I figured I could help my daughter out. Surely eighth-grade assignments would be no big deal -- never mind the fact that the game show a few years back called "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader" clearly proved that I wasn't. But I'm taking my classes online and thought hers would be so much easier to navigate. Yeah, this mom was sadly mistaken about that assumption!

I don't know about you but it's been quite a few years since I've had to contemplate whether the eye color genes we passed on to her were dominant or recessive and in what allele formation they were. In my everyday life as an office manager and seminary student -- or even my previous life as a fundraising and marketing professional -- I very seldom graphed the slope-intercept of an equation. (OK, if we're being completely honest here, I never did. I totally forgot how to do it once I walked out of Algebra class. It's something I've never had to do as a communications major or in my MBA classes, but I didn't want to tell her that it's more than likely a piece of knowledge she'll never use again. Unless, of course, she becomes a math teacher, which I highly doubt, since her math skills are as stellar as that of both her mom and her dad 😄). And when she started talking to me about the Donner Party, I had to stop myself from asking if the party included Blitzen and Dasher, since I had a distinct feeling she wasn't talking about the reindeer that pulled Santa's sleigh. But I was glad I was finally glad I could help when she was studying the Oregon Trail and asked if I knew what dysentery was. Wow, my skills in playing the Facebook game finally paid off!

And I can now empathize that eighth grade really is a difficult time -- I remember it being one of the most challenging grades in school for me, and her counselors and teachers have echoed that to us during conferences. But almost as difficult as wracking my brain to figure out what year the Trail of Tears took place has been my other role -- as The Lunch Lady. Yes, in addition to making sure she gets up at a decent hour and gets a good head start on her lessons each day, I'm also the chief cook and menu-planner. And now that we're four weeks into these fun times, this mom is starting to run out of ideas. And the student even has the nerve to make special menu requests -- I bet the lunch ladies at the junior high don't stand for that 😁

But serving as Lunch Lady gave me the chance to get inspired today by one of the most popular Lunch Ladies around...if you've never seen this bit from SNL, hope it gives you a few good laughs! And I'm hoping it gives me some inspiration on what to cook in the days ahead...Sloppy Joes, anyone?!!

Lunch Lady Land!

Writing my way through COVID-19

Like many of us, I'm just trying to keep my head above water right now. It seems like just a few short weeks ago, I was looking forward to heading to United Lutheran Seminary's Gettysburg campus for a week-long intensive class -- for those just tuning in, I'm a seminary student who's in my last year of M.Div. classes before I head out on internship for a year and then, if all goes well, I'll graduate in May 2021 and become a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor shortly thereafter.

But then the virus hit: my week-long visit to campus turned into a week of camping out at my kitchen table and logging into Zoom while strategically trying to position my laptop to hide the containers of slime my daughter created that were looming in the background. My week of vacation to take my class turned into a longer "vacation" as I was laid off from my job, as churches are seen as non-essential businesses -- and if a church isn't open for business, then there's no reason to keep their office manager on payroll until businesses start opening back up again. And after four weeks of being at home in the midst of everything being shut down, it dawned on me that one of the many things I enjoy doing yet never seem to have time to do -- writing -- is something that I now have no excuse not to do. And especially if it helps me find some sanity and solace in what's (to me, at least) an anxiety-inducing situation right now.

If you take a minute to look back on when I first started this blog, it was more than 10 years ago. Go ahead and read some of the entries if you want to see what was going through my head as I struggled with being a new mom who was trying to juggle all that was going on in my life at the time -- which I loved, even though it was a struggle. I loved it because juggling is what I've always done. It's what I know *how* to do.

First job at 16 just because I wanted to earn my own money, even though I was in school and my parents took care of what I needed? Sign me up! Full-time job and part-time job on the side, just to keep active? Yes, please! Kid and husband and time with friends for drinks and business functions and church activities and PTA meetings and running to Target at 10pm just because I needed a change of scenery? Why, of course. That's the kind of gal I am....or was. And now, the big decisions facing me each day are what color of leggings to throw on (today is dk. grey), what to binge-watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime (a resounding YES to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and a "don't waste your time" on the train wreck that is Tiger King), and just like everyone else, do I need to shower or can I just douse myself with Bath & Body Works, throw my hair back in a pony and call it a day (ummm, I called it a day today 😜).

So yes, while some of you may be loving this quarantine and capitalizing on the opportunity to organize your sock drawer or spices, KonMari your closets, or redo your pantry or window frames or anything else you can buy from Lowes and Home Depot, that's just not me. Yes, I have countless things that need done around the home but so far haven't found any interest in taking on said projects, although I do love the creative outlet of making lunch and dinner for the family as we all take a break from our online classes (Morgan's junior high home school and my seminary classes) and Tim working at home.

This is the first time since I was 16 years old that I haven't worked, and it's really a weird feeling. It makes me realize that I put a lot of my identity into what I did for a living. It also helps me see that even though I'm a person who doesn't like a lot of structure, I also hate being bored and need to keep busy and have some interesting things to do -- otherwise, my mind goes into overdrive and anxiety sets in.

It's also an odd time because FOMO was a very real thing for me for quite a while. FOMO -- fear of missing out. If you've never had it, it's basically the feeling that someone is out there having more fun than you. Doing something cooler than you. And that there is probably something more interesting or exciting happening out there than what you're doing right now and you're missing out on it...this is a great explanation of it! But the quarantine has been the best cure for FOMO because there simply aren't the distractions for our time, our energy and our attention -- and realistically, no one is doing anything too terribly awesome right now, since we are (or should be!) all inside, taking care of ourselves and our families and focusing on what really and truly matters.

In fact, the only ones who are doing anything really cool and awesome right now -- and which I have absolutely no desire to miss out on because I chose a different career path! -- are the nurses, doctors, and health care workers who are caring for those in the fight against covid-19 and those who are researching a cure. They are the real heroes and the ones making a difference right now. So, if anything, the quarantine has helped me realize that the only things I'm truly missing out on are the human interactions we take for granted: giving someone a hug after church....having lunch with a friend....visiting my father-in-law...leading worship....chatting with our bible study attendees and making coffee for them. But I'm also fortunate that, in a time of social distancing, I get to social distance with my husband and daughter because, even though we drive each other crazy at times, there's nowhere else I'd rather be right now....especially since the daughter is 14 and usually only surfaces from her room when it's time to eat 👧😄

Speaking of family, it's getting to be dinner time so that means time for being creative in the kitchen. Tonight is stir-fry Asian veggies and rice noodles -- if you have any meals you've made during quarantine that you've enjoyed, feel free to share!! Pics of dinner coming tomorrow...in the meantime, stay safe and wash your hands!!

This blog just got CPR after a 10-year hiatus

In a class I had this semester for Spiritual Formation, one of the requirements was that we kept a daily journal to see how we connected with our spirituality and a spiritual virtue that selected us. My virtue was courage, so every day I had to stop to think about how I would be courageous and somehow demonstrate this virtue...and I had to write about it in journal. I learned two things from this exercise: 1) It is awfully hard to sit down, old-school, with a pen and paper and write out your thoughts when you are used to typing everything on your computer and thinking as you type. It makes it difficult to think the same way (at least for me!) when you are writing vs. typing. 2) I realized I missed blogging and sharing some of my thoughts, musings, and ponderings as a way of expressing myself. After all, I was a college journalism/PR major who used to do a lot of writing for my various professions and that has now gone by the wayside to a great extent, and I miss the creative outlet. So I am going to attempt to post on a semi-regular basis, given that I'm often rather pressed for time.

While it's impossible to capture everything that's happened since I last blogged, here's a quick synopsis since I last posted, in case you've read my previous posts:

- I left my job in fundraising at the university because I traveled a lot and wanted to be with my daughter more....oh, and the Jerry Sandusky scandal happened and let's just say that was a difficult situation to deal with, both personally as an alum as well as professionally as a development officer.
- I began working as the development and marketing director for a non-profit health and human services agency that focuses primarily in senior living. I worked there for four years.
- During that time, I met many clergy and became more and more involved in church and in our regional synod. I took classes and became a lay worship leader and loved learning about the historical aspect of the bible and the history of religion -- which is totally different from what I learned growing up in a more fundamental church background.
- I sensed a possible call to ministry but kept telling myself NOOOOO, I can't give up a good job and go back to school. But God had other plans that happened without my doing.
- I quit my full-time job and took a part-time job that I found out about -- as a church secretary! -- and am now in my second year as a Master of Divinity degree student at United Lutheran Seminary. I have another full year of coursework then a year of internship -- and if all goes well, I will be ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in 2021 in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
- My daughter was little when I first started writing this -- she's now 12 years old and my worries about potty training and being a bad mom for putting her in daycare have evolved into worries about boys, hormones and girls who are asshats bullies.
- Dork and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary this past October. When I first began my blog, marriage and parenting were both really difficult for me. I often felt overwhelmed and unsupported. But through the years, I discovered that support comes in a variety of ways. People grow apart, or they grow together....and we have grown stronger together. The rough times have made us stronger, more understanding, and more supportive of one other. We are a family unit of three and we have one another's backs without exception.
- I lost my mother-in-law three years ago and my dear mother last year. I miss them both and grieve the loss of my mom every day, but I also know she is at peace and that I'll be reunited with her and my dad someday.
- As part of my faith formation for ordination, I'm required to complete Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), where I am taking classes on chaplaincy and serving as a chaplain at Gettysburg Hospital until April 2019. The whole process is probably one of the most challenging and often uncomfortable things I have done in my life so far, but I am learning so much from it -- how to minister to people who are hurting, who are grieving, who are scared, and just being there for them. And I'll share more about CPE -- as well as my journey through this path of seminary! -- as I continue to write. Thanks for walking with me on the path!

back yet once again

yeah, i know....in my post this past january, i started writing a blog entry and was so excited to be back here once again with full intention of keeping up my writing. so here it is six months later and i'm just getting around to my second post...and i only stumbled upon my blog site since i was reading a friend's post and had to log into mine to be able to comment on hers.

but i've had quite a bit of good stuff happen over the past six months or so to write about....last december, i started my new years' resolutions (i don't like the pressure of starting in january, so i kicked mine off a little early!) with four general resolutions for the upcoming year. i've posted these to the fridge so that i have to look at them every day. here's what they were/are:
1. eat healthier
2. move it!
3. write a book
4. learn something new

so far, i've actually kept going with two of them and am working on a third. starting in december (although i did cheat a bit over the holidays) i decided to cut out sugar in a big way....no more just grabbing a cookie or a piece of candy without thinking about what i was putting in my mouth. i also started checking out the labels of what i was eating....after reading some books focusing on food and eating habits, and seeing movies like 'super size me' and 'food inc.' i got a bit skeeved out at all of the preservatives and chemicals that are in our food and what it does to our bodies....so now, instead of picking up the quick 'ready-made' convenient foods at the grocery store, i use a lot more whole foods and make things from scratch. it was a bit rough getting used to at first because yes, it does take more time...but now that i'm used to it, i actually find that i'm more creative in the kitchen and enjoy it a lot more. after all, it really is more fun to make a stir fry and throw in whatever veggies you want and season your chicken however you want it rather than relying on lean cuisine to do it for you.

another thing i did on my track to a healthier life style was cut out beverages that just added empty calories. we love taking morgan to story time at b&n on saturdays, and our special treat was always hitting the cafe afterwards, for a strawberry smoothie for her and a caramel latte or frap for me. but man, when i stopped and actually looked at the sugar and calorie content of one of those drinks, i was blown away. same way with vitamin water...i love the stuff and used to drink it just about every day for lunch. and even though it's naturally sweetened, that still adds up to lots of sugar and calories that i really don't need tacked onto whatever else i'm having. sure, i still splurge once in a while, but my mainstay drinks now are water with lemon, coffee and i've even gotten used to drinking unsweetened tea and iced tea. the artificial sweeteners really aren't good for ya and end up making you hungry in the long run, so i just cut them out and don't miss them now that i have them out of my system. and the bonus out of all of this is, i dropped about 10 pounds without even trying.

but since 'moving it!' was on the to-do list, i knew that i had to supplement the healthy eating with being active. a friend teaches pilates and i took some classes and was amazed at how it really does change the structure of your body. without even dropping much weight, i could tell a difference in how my clothing fit and how toned my muscles started to become. and exercise is a funny thing....it takes a while to get into the habit of doing it, but once you do, you realize how good it makes you feel. even though i used to go the gym a lot when i was single and was pretty in shape, that slacked off when i dated my bf before dork and then when dork and i got serious, we ordered take out a lot and spent lots of time in front of the tv or going out to bars and restaurants, so the gym-going stopped and the pounds crept on.....and more crept on during pregnancy but i always had every excuse in the book after morgan was born for why i couldn't exercise, since i'm a working mom and didn't want to take time away from her. however, i'm blessed to work at a place that has gym equipment and workout facilities readily available, and it finally clicked that i can work out during the day and not take any time away from her. besides the pilates, i started walking and even running, and i even take a kickboxing class at the place where she takes karate....and i'm blown away at how good i feel and how much more energy i have, and how i WANT to exercise (yeah, i know...i can't believe i'm actually saying that). and if i don't get a chance to work out during the day, i'll go at night before she goes to bed, as i actually feel like it sets a good example for her to see me exercise and be healthy.

writing the book was third on the list and even though that hasn't progressed as well as i'd like, i discovered during a four-hour road trip this past weekend that one of my best friends has always wanted to collaborate on a book with someone, so we are putting our two brains together and working on something that will be partly autobiographical, partly chick lit and hopefully really funny! we're looking forward to the process of putting something down on paper and kicking this thing off....and hopefully it will have a better track record than my wayward blog entries!

time flies...but this is ridiculous!

yes, it really has been TWO effing years since i last blogged. why, you ask? well, for starters, life just got in the way. my daughter got older, work got busier, i got involved in more things, ad the time i used to spend on my computer in the evenings after my daughter went to bed either got sucked up by farming, offing mafiosos, or going to sorority parties on facebook. the free time in the evenings is also farther and more few between just by spending more time with morgan, since she's now older and stays up later and wants to be with me during most of her waking moments.

i also consciously stopped blogging for awhile when i noticed that i talked about someone in my blogs in a way that may have been interpreted by that person as unkind -- and then found out that person was looking at my blog on a regular basis when i wasn't even aware that they knew i had a blog...so to not come off as a bitch that was ranting, i decided to cool things for awhile. i'm back now, though; quite frankly i missed it. i love to write and i no longer write as much in my job as i used to and i miss the creative outlet...plus i have an idea for a book and i know that, to get in practice for writing a book means that i have to actually WRITE, so this is a means of getting my feet wet again! i'm glad to be back...