Coldsaladpalooza 2010

It's that time of year.

The kitchen is hot by 10 a.m.

All I want to do at dinnertime -- when the kitchen is approximately 5,692 degrees -- is take something out of the fridge, throw it on the table with some fruit and homemade bread, and say "VOILA!  DINNER!".

So, my blog friends, you are invited to help me out with this goal.  On Tuesday of next week, bring all your best cold salad recipes to me.  Bean salad, chicken salad...whatever is good and filling and assures that I am not standing over a hot stove at 5 p.m.

If you have a blog, post your recipe(s) on Tuesday and I'll have a linky here for you.  If you don't have a blog, you can cut and paste into my comments.

Won't this be GREAT?  I am envisioning an August full of restful, hot evenings.

Femina

Here's a good blog to read if you have the time.  Nancy Wilson has been smacking them out of the park recently.  She doesn't mince words, so be prepared to say OW a few times.

A sampling:

Beach Treats
More on Beach Wear
So Your Daughter's Going Off to College

The last line of that last post: 
 "So am I saying girls shouldn’t go off to college? Not at all. Dumb girls should not go off to college."

Every Act of Obedience is An Act of Worship

"I only wish I had understood this years ago," I said." I have made prayer too much of a luxury, and have often inwardly chafed and fretted when the care of my children, at times, made it utterly impossible to leave them for private devotion-when they have been sick, for instance, or in other like emergencies. I reasoned this way: 'Here is a special demand on my patience, and I am naturally impatient.  I must have time to go away and entreat the Lord to equip me for this conflict.' But I see now that the simple act of cheerful acceptance of the duty imposed and the solace and support withdrawn would have united me more fully to Christ than the highest enjoyment of His presence in prayer could."

"Yes, every act of obedience is an act of worship," he said.

"But why don't we learn that sooner? Why do we waste our lives before we learn how to live?"

"I am not sure," he returned, "that we do not learn as fast as we are willing to learn. God does not force instruction upon us, but when we say, as Luther did, 'More light, Lord, more light,'- the light comes."

I questioned myself after he had gone as to whether this could be true of me. Is there not in my heart some secret reluctance to know the truth, lest that knowledge should call to a higher and holier life than I have yet lived?

--Stepping Heavenward, Elizabeth Prentiss

And Now For Something Completely Different

HT: Abraham

Frugality Means Fixing Things

...instead of buying replacements.  We've had a rash of appliance near-deaths around here lately. 

Instance #1:  Ben walks backward through kitchen not realizing that the dishwasher behind him is open.  He falls backwards, landing hard on the door.  The dishwasher still works, it just closes terribly and makes way more noise than it used to.


Solution:  After taking apart the whole thing (voiding the warranty -- which doesn't cover child-induced damage anyway), trying to bend it back, and realizing it wasn't going to happen, Kelly and David order new hinges.  They arrive a week later.  David installs them and the dishwasher is almost as good as new (there are still a few little twinges that we notice because we know they're there).

Total cost:  $32

Instance #2:  Vacuum finally gives out after seven years of heavy-duty use, including new carpet that shed like the dickens when we moved to our current house.

Solution:  Local repair shop determines it needs a new roller bar and belt.  Kelly says thanks so much, offers to pay them the $10 fee for diagnosing a problem, but they refuse it.  Parts arrive from online shop about two weeks later.  Kelly installs them; vacuum is resurrected.

Total cost:  $22


Instance #3:  Five year old gas grill has had a faulty electronic ignition since year two.  Lighting with a lighter suits the family just fine, but recently the burners quit.  

Solution:  Kelly disassembles grill, gives everything a good scrubbing and puts it back together.  Burners resume working and ignition now works intermittently.


Total cost:  elbow grease (literally -- I got pretty dirty doing this.  I really should do it more frequently.)

Instance #4:  Kelly decides that the kids need a computer station in the schoolroom for the upcoming year.

Solution:  Rather than purchase a new computer, David digs out an old laptop with a faulty keyboard and mouse.  He buys a wireless keyboard and mouse and installs them.  Computer works perfectly.

Total cost:  $30

Have you rescued anything from the trash heap lately?  Saved any serious money?  Share your story!

Hosanna

This is from Andrew Peterson's last album, Resurrection Letters, Volume II.  It describes the tension of man's condition so beautifully.  AP's next album officially releases on 7.27, but you can pre-order it at the Rabbit Room store right now.

I am tangled up in contradiction. 

I am strangled by my own two hands. 

I am hunted by the hounds of addiction. 

Hosanna!

I have lied to everyone who trusts me.

I have tried to fall when I could stand. 

I have only loved the ones who loves me. 

Hosanna! 

O Hosanna! 

See the long awaited king come to set his people free. 

We cry O Hosanna! 

Come and tear the temple down. 

Raise it up on holy ground. 

Hosanna!

I have struggled to remove this raiment, tried to hide every shimmering strand. 

I contend with these ghosts and these hosts of bright angels. 

Hosanna! 

I have cursed the man that you have made me, 

as I have nursed the beast that bays for my blood. 

Oh, I have run from the one who would save me. 

Save me,

Hosanna! 

O Hosanna! 

See the long awaited king, 

come to set his people free. 

We cry O Hosanna! 

Come and tear the temple down. 

 Raise it up on holy ground. 

Hosanna!

You have crushed beneath your heel the vile serpent. 

You have carried to the grave the black stain. 

You have torn apart the temple’s holy curtain. 

You have beaten Death at Death’s own game. 

Hosanna! 

O Hosanna! 

Hail the long awaited king, come to set his people free. 

We cry O Hosanna! 

Won’t you tear this temple down, raise it up on holy ground. 

O Hosanna! 

I will lift my voice and sing: you have come and washed me clean. 

Hosanna.

Proof of Life

Nutella

For an explanation of this series, go here.

To add your photo, link up below!

The World Must Be Peopled

Our friend Tom is one with whom we've watched many a flick over the five years we've known him.  One of the films we had the most fun with was Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing.  It's definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it -- the lush Tuscan setting sweeps you up and makes you feel like you're on Italian holiday.

One of the subplots of Much Ado centers around Benedict and Beatrice, two headstrong individuals who chide those around them for falling in and out of love, and most notably chide one another.  They banter back and forth and declare their distaste for one another until their friends essentially trick them into falling in love with each other.  When the trick is revealed, Benedict is asked if he will still marry Beatrice.  His response:

"The world must be peopled!  When I said I would die a bachelor, 

I did not think I should live till I were married."

After the movies were over at our house, we frequently came back to the topic of love and marriage with our single friend Tom.    He carried his singleness well, but it was a title he would rather trade in for "married." He wondered if he would ever be married.  He rolled his eyes in disbelief when we told him that yes, really, she is out there somewhere.  He sometimes sounded a little like Benedict.  But that is where the similarities end.

You see, Tom had the good sense to go and fall in love all on his own.  And the lady in question had the good sense to love him right back.

And tomorrow, he will be a bachelor no more.

Congratulations and Best wishes, Tom and Angela.

We love you both very much!

Community

I think the idea that you can have an intentional community is about as misleading as saying you can have an intentional life. If you're going to have a decent and stable community, you've got to produce the cultural and social forms by which to deal with the unexpected and the undesirable. The intentional community idea assumes that when you say love your neighbor as yourself, you have some kind of right to pick your neighbor. I think the ideal of loving your neighbor has to take on the possibility that he may be somebody you're going to have great difficulty loving or liking or even tolerating.

Wendell Berry -from an interview in Mother Earth News, 1973

HT:  Sandra

Cartoon Love

We were introduced to the music of Randall Goodgame through his Square Peg Alliance comrades, Andy Osenga and Andrew Peterson.  Once again we have found a musician who cares deeply about his art and lets it reflect God's glory.  We're still delving into his catalog of albums, but so far they haven't disappointed!

 The beginning of his album War and Peace is anchored by a trilogy devoted to the Peanuts gang.  Goodgame was a big fan of Charlie Brown and his friends, and was saddened by the end of the strip and the death of its author.  He set his mourning to music with three songs remembering Charles Schultz's work.

Below are the lyrics to Part One of the trilogy.  On our most recent trip to New England, we played this song no less than a dozen times.  The kids LOVE it.  They can't get enough of it.  It's very catchy, as laden with piano riffs as you would expect from a song about Schroeder.

Side note:  David loves this song for its reference to Harry Truman, who did play the piano quite often in the White House because he found that it set people at ease.  I love it for the heartbreaking line about Peppermint Patty never being able to compete with the Little Red-Haired Girl -- perhaps a leftover sentiment from my days as a Girl, Friend to Boys but never a Boy's Girlfriend.

It may sound funny but I cried

The day I found out Schroeder died

Little green piano on the floor

Won't be making music anymore

You know he was the catcher for the team

But he only threw to second in his dreams

For those little arms it was just too far to throw

But put those arms behind that piano

And he'd play like Harry Truman

Without those coke bottles

That only Marcie wore

Like Harry Truman

Without the atom bomb

Without the burden of a third world war

Lucy was fragile as a castle in the sand

But tough as a tuba, with a mean right hand

She always wore that same blue dress

'Cause she fancied Schroeder liked that color best

She'd watch him hurry home most every afternoon

Blonde hair bobbin' to the beat of a Gershwin tune

Soon his Mama'd cry, "Your supper's turnin' cold."

But he'd fill up on Beethoven

Underneath that bust of painted gold

And he'd play like Harry Truman

Without those coke bottles

That only Marcie wore

Like Harry Truman

Without the atom bomb

Without the burden of a third world war

Oooh la la oooo

Lucy had a crush on Schroeder

Oooh la la oooo

Sally had a crush on Linus

Oooh la la leee

But Peppermint Patty, with those flip-flops

And without a single curl

Could not compete with the little red-haired girl

Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown

What's it like in God's hometown

Do the angels make Lucy hold the football down

Is every cartoon a full-color affair

Since every day is just like Sunday there

And when Schroeder plays Beethoven's Number Nine

Does Snoopy still dance

Does Lucy still pine

Everybody dies, but still it always seems too soon

So I shed a tear for this cartoon

Yeah he'd play like Harry Truman

Without those coke bottles

That only Marcie wore

Like Harry Truman

Without the atom bomb

Without the burden of a third world war

Why Myth?

The Value of myth is that it takes all the things you know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by the veil of familiarity.

C.S. Lewis
in a review of Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings
On Stories and Other Essays in Literature

Shopping for Time

This summer my friend Kristin and I are co-leading a Bible study with the women of our church.  We're going through the book Shopping for Time by the Mahaney ladies.

Last week I got the opportunity to teach on the ever-so-popular topic of getting up early.  Here's a particularly convicting quote from the chapter.  It's originally from Martha Peace's book Becoming a Titus 2 Woman:

I have heard of women who pride themselves on being "night people."  That means they have trouble getting up in the mornings because they come alive late at night.  They may stay up to all hours reading, watching television -- and here I add, using social media -- or pursuing some kind of interest.  The next morning they are too tired to get up and care for their family.  Children are left to fend for themselves.  Husbands, too.

These women are not "night people."  They are lazy and selfish.  Who would not rather stay up late to do whatever they pleased and sleep late the next day?  Lazy people are often busy, but they are not busy doing the work that God has given them to do.  They are incredibly self-indulgent....  Once a young wife begins getting up earlier than her children and her husband, she will cease to be a "night person."  She will be tired at night and go to bed at a reasonable hour so she will be there to serve her family the next morning.

For Children of the 80's

Last night David and I had a night out since some dear friends had taken all of our kids away for the evening.

We went out for dinner and walked over to University Place, where they had live music on the water.  I was initially hesitant because I dread cover bands, but this Billy Joel "tribute" band was excellent.  They are called "The Stranger" and they're based out of Charlotte.  It was a perfect addition to our night out.  We had a drink and sang every word; I am sad that we only caught the last half-hour of their set.

For the record, last night was the first time in my life I sang along with "Piano Man" with a beer in my hand.  Does that mean I've become one of "the regular crowd" now?

Overheard

Scene:  Family Sitting at IKEA's restaurant, taking advantage of the "Kids Eat Free" promotion for the holiday weekend.

Ben, looking out window:  Mom, what is that blue and yellow flag?

Mom:  That's the flag of Sweden.  IKEA is a Swedish company, so they fly that flag to remember their country.

Ben:  Oh, wow!  Cameron, that's the SWEDISH flag!

Mom leaves table to take Andrew to the bathroom.

Ben:  Dad, I can tell that this is a Swedish restaurant.  You know how?

Dad:  How?

Ben:  'Cause all the food tastes weird.

FREE FAMILY CONCERT

Slugs and Bugs LIVE is coming to Charlotte! 

On Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 6:30 p.m., Living Faith Baptist Church is hosting Randall Goodgame as he brings the Slugs and Bugs tour to the Queen City!  This delightful album has been enjoyed by children and parents alike since its release, and now is your chance to see Randall perform your favorite songs live on stage.  This event is free and open to the public.  For more information, go to http://www.slugsandbugs.com.

RANDALL GOODGAME is a critically acclaimed American singer/songwriter, some-time worship pastor and lover of silliness. He has released 6 solo recordings, and has written many songs for other artists, including 17 songs for the award winning band Caedmon's Call. Randall has written several songs for Veggie Tales (with Andrew Peterson), and he spent 4 years as the worship pastor of Midtown Fellowship in downtown Nashville. Randall and his family of 5 live in Nashville, TN.

Andrew Peterson's "Dancing in the Mine Fields"

Andrew Peterson's "Dancing in the Mine Fields"

Super cute, lovely video. Go watch it. Acoustic guitars, piano, and old married couples dancing -- what's not to love?

Thoughts on Toy Story 3

This article sums up much of what I thought:  Message to Men:  Yes, it's OK to cry at Toy Story 3.

But here’s the thing: The new wave of toys is so techno-magical, so advanced, that a lot of them basically do the work for you. They practically do have lives of their own. And that’s where the ending of Toy Story 3 touches something profoundly tender and heartfelt that’s worth getting all choked up over. The movie’s toy heroes seem forever innocent because the kind of play they inspire is innocent. With a Sheriff Woody figure, who does nothing but look straight ahead and say stuff like “There’s a snake in my boot!” when you pull his string, his glory, paradoxically, is that he himself does nothing — that he depends on a child’s imagination to animate him.

 Toy Story 3 is, like the others in the series, more a story about friendship, understanding your purpose, growth, love, and loss than it is a simple kids' movie.  It was darker than the others -- there are many more scary moments and at one point we as the audience are forced to consider the end of our little friends.  I was glad that Jonathan made the decision to opt out of this one.

As with the others, I felt a wave of motherly guilt about getting rid of my children's toys -- few things make me happier than decluttering the toy collection -- and quietly wondered if the whole series is secretly sponsored by some kind of pro-hoarding organization.

Anybody else have thoughts on this one?

It's Not Exactly...

Out of the Frying Pan

This summer I've had the joy of teaching a class on basic nutrition, meal planning, and cooking for some younger ladies from our church.  We've had an influx of young couples lately and the women are feeling the growing pains of having to please more than one palate with their cooking.  We're halfway through now -- two classes done, two to come.

During each session we talk about a certain topic and then make our way to the kitchen island and cook up something yummy.

No really, we're learning a lot.