Effortless Effervescence

Source: Camp Cocker, a Los Angeles based cocker rescue group who specializes in rescuing dogs from high kill shelters.

A friend on LiveJournal posted this sweet story. It made me cry (good tears!) and I think it will move you, too. I’m sharing it because I know folks often think that their little gifts are so insignificant. Making dinner for a family who’s lost a loved one, $5 to the local homeless shelter, a holiday card to a lonely neighbor - sometimes these small gestures are all we can give, and we feel as if it’s not enough. Perhaps we’re tempted to give nothing at all, because what difference will it make in the grand scheme of things? Well, this story will hopefully convince you that you don’t have to be Bono or Oprah to make a difference - those little gestures add up! So don’t wait until you’ve won the lottery to reach out. Give what little you can, out of the fullness of your heart, and be blessed by the good you do.

Pssssst! There’s more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary. Check ‘em out!

Take 1: Greetings from sunny lovely Virginia Beach, VA! Perhaps you heard about the Nor’easter that slammed the mid-Atlantic coast last week? Well, it was everything the weather channel says it was and more - high winds, tons of rain, and a general pain in the butt for people who want to, say, leave their houses to go to work or buy groceries. I ended up taking the day off on Thursday and getting a ton of chores done around the house, which felt heavenly, but I was twitching with cabin fever by the end of the day. And I didn’t realize until I woke up on Sunday and was stunned to see a big, brightly shining orb in the sky that we hadn’t had any real sunlight for four days. Now that’s depressing. Mental note: never move to Alaska.

The storm managed to provide some entertaining moments, like when our neighbors’ trampoline ended up in our tree, but it wasn’t without casualties: my brother flooded his car on Saturday, totalling it, which really bummed him out. Now, that car, a Saturn Ion, belonged to my older sister for ten years and my older brother for two or three before it finally ended up in my younger brother’s clutches. It had 260,000 miles on it, so it’s not a big loss. Still, it was sad to see such a faithful friend go to that great junkyard in the sky. *hums TAPS*

Take 2: So according to Sarah Palin’s recently released memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, all those rumors about tension within the McCain/Palin campaign (which, IIRC, Palin herself denied at the time) were true after all. After reading that, I think I finally understood one of the reasons that I was so adverse to the idea of voting for McCain. I had other reasons of which I was wholly certain, but I also felt a latent uneasiness about McCain and Palin and couldn’t quite figure out what was causing it. Now I realize that the rumors of discontent coupled with the insistence that, “No, we’re one big, happy family!” that came from campaign officials, PLUS McCain and Palin’s forced smiles and overly affectionate banter reminded me very much of my time in the cult.

When I was working at Christ Church, nearly everyone who brushed shoulders with my pastor and his minions (which included me and all my friends) noticed that there was something Not Quite Right in the way that he treated us, in the way that we catered to his every whim, in the way that we insisted, “We’re one big, happy family!” Our forced smiles and overly affectionate banter didn’t hide the fact that there was something Not Quite Right (actually, make that something Gravely Wrong) and I remember getting the same feeling from McCain and Palin. Any time something reminds me of those cult dynamics, I take that as an indication that I should run in the opposite direction.

Now, that is not to say that Obama and Biden are BFFs or that they were so much more genuine and honest and real than their rivals were. I’m not even getting close to alleging that one candidate was perfect and the other was the antichrist (but there’s lots of other blogs out there that DO if that sort of cow patty floats your boat). All I’m saying is that something inside me didn’t like the Republican ticket last year because they gave me the willies. And now I know why.

(Book cover image released by HarperCollins to the Associated Press)

Take 3: Do you guys realize that Christmas is just weeks away? I realized it yesterday, and I had a small panic attack. I love the holidays, but I feel wholly unprepared for them this year. I have to figure out what we’re giving folks - I have some ideas, but not a lot - and then, oh yeah, I have to buy or make the things we’re giving folks, and that requires spare change and time, both of which are in short supply right now. I always tell myself that it’s okay to not spend a lot of money, that it’s the thought that counts, and I shouldn’t let my holiday gift-giving choices be dictated by guilt - but still, I have a hard time doing that!

I will say that I’m VERY proud of myself for deciding to scale my Christmas card list waaaaaaaaaay back; last year I sent over 100 cards, and now that stamps are what, 44 cents apiece, that means I’d spend $44.00 on just MAILING the cards, not to mention the cost of the cards themselves! It occurred to me that spending that much money to send cards to loads of people I don’t know that well OR know very well but talk to every single day makes no sense. I’ll send cards to family members and old friends that I don’t talk to often but with whom I want to keep in touch, and call it a day. GO ME.

Take 4: Another source of holiday stress is that I tend to agonize over what to buy for my stepson. For instance, do kids still like The Berenstain Bears? Now that CJ is in kindergarten, I feel it’s my duty to line his bookshelf and turn him into a tiny little nerd, and I love the idea of giving him some of books that I enjoyed as a kid - but I’m not sure if he’ll like the books as much as I did! Unfortunately, I usually find myself spoiling the dickens out of him because I can’t stop buying seriously awesome stuff and because I have stepmommy guilt because we live so far away and can’t see him very often. I have to remind myself of the valuable piece of information I learned when we visited for his birthday in July: he thought pretty much every present we gave him was The Best Thing Ever, but he actually played with the action figures we picked up at the dollar store waaaaaaaaay more than he did with the more complicated (and more expensive) toys.

Take 5: I do have ONE Christmas present ready to go! Take a gander at my second finished crochet project: skinny pom-pom scarves in black and gold (of course) for one of my Pittsburgh in-laws, and modeled by yours truly. (I make ‘em look good, don’t I?)

Take 6: And while I’m cleaning out my digital camera, I might as well post some pics of my furbabies, right?

Please note that the five-month-old puppy is now bigger than her 2-and-a-half-year-old brother. Please also note how torn and stained my couch is. This is the price of having a small zoo in your home.

And here’s a pic of three of the five cats doing what they do best: EATING. I fill up four or five bowls with dry kibble every morning, and less than 24 hours later, they’re all empty. It is possible that Indy (the orange tabby bowling-ball-shaped guy on the right) is eating more than his share, but the kittens are definitely putting a dent in the food stores. Especially A.C. (not pictured, sorry), who compared to her brother Randall (he’s on the left in the pic) is quite a little butterball.

And in case you’re wondering, the cat in the middle does NOT have a tail, just that little nub you can see in the pic. He was adopted at age 4 by Jon’s ex-GF, so we have no idea if he was born that way (possibly a Japanese Bobtail or a Manx) or if he had an accident and lost the rest of his tail. It’s just part of his mystique. (And let me tell you, he has lots of mystique!)

Take 7: Audience Participation Tell me, what are you looking forward to about the holidays this year, and what’s giving you some serious stress? Do you have any strategies for eliminating holiday stress (like my slashing-the-holiday-card-list)? If you do, please share!

Pssssst! There’s more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary. Check ‘em out!

Take 1: Today my company is having a fundraising picnic to benefit The ALS Association. For those of you that don’t know, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) is “a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of … the nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement.” I’ve personally known two different people who were diagnosed with ALS; one was an incredibly talented and kind man who passed away two years ago and the other is a young husband and father - my age! with two little kids! - who is still battling the disease. It sounds trite to say that these two wonderful people don’t deserve such horrible suffering, but it’s true.

The ALS Association’s mission includes not just medical research but support and assistance for ALS patients and their families. If you have the resources, would you consider donating to the ALS Association?

Take 2: A church in a bar? Yes, Virginia, it does exist:

[Kathy] Price, who grew up in her father’s street ministry and coffee house, said she watched her dad minister to the homeless and the lost, joking that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” A few years ago, Price said she became obsessed with the Catholic Saint Katherine of Sienna, a 14th Century figure known for preaching in pubs, and felt moved by the Holy Spirit do to the same thing.

I think it’s brilliant. I have often said that Jesus met people where THEY were. He didn’t sit in a tidy building with mauve carpet and oak pews, waiting for folksto show up at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, in their best clothes with their hair combed just so. It’s become clear in the past, oh, half a century, that lots of people are interested in God and spirituality but totally disgusted with organized religion. Now, we could argue about how it’s unfair of these people to judge all Christians based on the bad behavior of a few priests and pastors and televangelists, and we could say that following Jesus is all about going outside of your comfort zone, and good golly, if people can’t be bothered to get up early on a weekend, how will they ever “die to sin” and “pick up their cross”? Those arguments ignore the reality that some people have been so damaged by religion that they just CAN’T meet God within the four walls of a local church - but they want to meet God. I believe that God “gets” that, that he’s providing new and different ways for people to get to know him.

Take 3: Has anyone read The Lost Symbol yet? Is it any good? I really enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (though the movie was a bit of a disappointment) and I thought Angels and Demons was really good, too (though slow at parts). I’m not sure I’m willing to pay full hardcover prices for the next installment in the saga, but if someone tells me that The Lost Symbol rocks like a Geo Metro driving 70 mph through a Nor’easter, I might be persuaded.

Take 4: On Tuesday, Jen at Conversion Diary posted an open call for folks who don’t celebrate Halloween to explain why. This is a touchy subject for me, because I was the daughter of someone who didn’t celebrate Halloween, and at age 30, I’m STILL a little annoyed about it. (Yes, I know I have issues, thank you.) I left a looooong comment about what it was like for me to be the only kid in my public school class to come in to school on November 1 without a big bag of candy, and it got me thinking about how parents sometimes make the mistake of expecting their children to become defenders of a faith that the kids don’t fully embrace or even understand.

Stay with me here: Becoming a person of faith (no matter what faith that is) requires a lot of thought, suffering through crises and recovering from crises, spending time on the mountain, communing with God, examining arguments, cycling through belief and disbelief, and eventually coming to a place where you feel like maybe you kind of know who you are and what you stand for. I think that some Christian parents (I can’t speak for other religions, as I haven’t discussed childrearing and religious instruction with very many Buddhist or Hindu parents) want to raise children who are “strong in their faith” but the parents’ interpretation of that is “never, ever questioning the dogma I’ve given them or straying from the path I’ve laid out for them.”

The problem is that no child will ever truly have a strong faith in ANYTHING if he doesn’t get a chance to question EVERYTHING. Questioning is hard for the questioner; how much harder it must be for the questioner’s mom and dad. We don’t want our kids to make bad choices. We don’t want them to reject the faith that means everything to us. But we have to let them dissect that faith and think about it critically if we want them to be able to believe it, and someday, defend it.

I don’t think I’m done thinking about this. I’m a little bit fascinated. Your thoughts?

Take 5: Remember how cute and teeny little Miss Anastasia was? Well, I took her to the vet last night and she now weighs 26.8 lbs. In the ten weeks we’ve had her, she’s more than quadrupled in size! The kicker is that I had her in the vet’s office LAST Thursday to be weighed so I knew which level of heartworm preventive to get for her, and at that time she only weighed 22.3 lbs. That’s right, y’all, she gained four and a half pounds in seven days.

She’s still cute as a button, though. And I found out something last night: those no-pull harnesses? I thought they were a gimmick, but they’re NOT. Ana was soooooo much easier to walk in her harness… though getting the harness ON her was a challenge

Take 6: To prove once again that not-so-old adage, “If you can think of it, it’s on the internet,” I present to you the crochet pattern for a bunny rabbit beer cozy. No, I am not lying to you.

Take 7: I’m having a baby! I debated about whether I should share this news on a public blog post. I mean, I’m only six weeks in, and I wondered if the entire internet needed to know my reproductive updates just yet. I thought, “What if something happens?” Well, if something happened I’d be really sad but I’d probably learn a few things and knowing me, I’d want to share those lessons with… well, the entire internet. And I want to share things with you now, like all the nifty baby websites I’ve found and the cool products I can’t wait to try out. Most of all, I just want to say: WOW. I’m going to be a mom. That thought is so big and so wonderful that I can’t keep it to just myself. It’s so wonderful that I kinda have to tell… the entire internet.

Photo credit: take 4 and take 7.

It’s that time again! TGIF, y’all. By the way, if you’re looking for new and interesting blogs to read, be sure to check out the other quick takes over at Conversion Diary.

Take 1: My cat Fluffy took a shower with me this morning. Okay, not really WITH me, but she was in the tub licking the water off the shower curtain when I came into the bathroom to get ready for work. It doesn’t matter whether the water in the kitties’ bowl (or even the doggies’) is fresh and clean and cold, Fluffy still wants to drink out of the toilet (and leave wet pawprints on the seat) or from the tub. Anyway, she leapt onto the side of the tub when I turned on the water for my shower and sat there, between the decorative and the functional shower curtains as I scrubbed and shaved. Luckily, I’m not one of those people who gets freaked out when animals see me in various states of undress.

Take 2: Of course this cat-in-the-shower story deserves an LOLcat, and the re-telling of ANOTHER cat-in-the-shower story. My dearly departed Siamese, Oatmeal (that’s her below and to the right, by the way), hopped in the shower with me not once but twice - within the same week - when she was about seventeen years old. I was washing my hair when I heard a slip-thump behind me, and I turned to see my cat drinking the water that was swirling down the drain. It was the most ludicrous image I just had to laugh. She bailed as soon as I moved because the water stream shifted and she started getting REALLY wet, but she came back the next morning. I wondered if this was a new trend for Oatmeal and if I needed to start closing the door when I showered (which I didn’t do because I was living alone at the time and because the cat’s litter box lived in the bathroom), but no, after two mornings of co-showering, she was good.

Take 3: Then there was the time that I had filled the tub with bleach water to soak the mildew off of the functional shower curtain (nevermind that a new one only costs $2 - I was trying to be edo-thrifty) and Oatmeal FELL IN because she was trying to get a drink of the water. Of the bleach water! I flipped out! Luckily she was okay, but I never tried that eco-thrifty trick ever again.

Take 4: Bored of cats yet? Okay, let’s talk about dogs. My puppy Anastasia is the shoe-chewingest dog I’ve ever met! Milo has chewed exactly one shoe in all his time with us (of course, I was MORTIFIED when he did it because it was a friend’s shoe, not mine) but Ana has already ruined two pairs of my flip-flops (Including *sadness* the cute pair of black be-jeweled flipflops *woe* that I got for just $8 at Payless and wore to work nearly every day *kri*) and this morning, as I was checking my email and doing my caffeine upload, I noticed that she had settled down with ANOTHER one of the shoes I frequently wear to work! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Like a good mommy, I didn’t just scold her, I gave her an approved chew so she could soothe her teething gums and exercise her jaw without causing damage to any of mommy’s wardrobe.

The added bonus of Ana’s shoe fetish? Now everyone in the house keeps their shoes put away (most of the time) instead of leaving them scattered around the living room for ME to pick up. If I could just figure out a way to get them to pick up their dirty dishes and put them in the sink (or better yet, in the dishwasher) I would be a happy housekeeper.

Take 5: I’ve been thinking about volunteering and giving to charity and I wrote two looooong drafts of a post about these topics, and they were coming out all wrong, so I decided to let my thoughts incubate a little longer. The short version of what I wanted to say is that I think giving is important, and lately I’ve really been feeling the urge to give of my time. I’ve been feeling this way for a loooong time, but I haven’t yet made the plunge, and I’m not sure why. I think part of it is that I needed some time to further heal from being taken advantage of in my last volunteer position (official position title: Missionary to America; unofficial title: Indentured Servant to Crazy Controlling Cult Leader) and part of it is that I’m very impulsive and I’m trying to discipline myself to think things through before I make a huge decision. I tend to get excited about an idea and go all-out in my pursuit of bringing that idea to fruition, only to have my excitement (and my effort) fizzle out a few weeks/months later. So… well, so there. No resolution to this dilemma yet, just lots of contemplation. Which is probably why I couldn’t put together a satisfying blog post on the subject, LOL.

Take 6: It’s been far too long since I posted any artwork (in fact, I just realized I deleted my online portfolio the last time I revamped this blog… and though I want to get my portfolio back up, I also really need to revamp my blog layout AGAIN… but anyway) so here, have a black cat. I drew this last year (or was it the year before?) intending to scan it and use it for Halloween cards (perhaps to sell? And actually MAKE MONEY as an artist, what a concept) but I never got around to it (story of my life…). Well, Chrissy (my roommate/not-yet-sister-in-law) and I are planning on throwing a BIG Halloween bash this year, and it occurred to me that I ought to use this picture for the invites. Brilliant! Plus, for some reason, folks always love it when I give them something I drew, even if it is just a dinky little card.

Take 7: Audience Participation The woman who hosts my Bible study group has a lovely little apartment that’s decorated like something out of a Martha Stewart catalog, and I noticed this week that she’s brought out her holiday bathroom decor - specifically, Halloween-themed hand towels with cutesie witches and ghosts embroidered on them. This perplexed me a bit, because (so far as I can tell) this church seems to be fairly fundamentalist (albeit hip and cool), and most fundamentalist churches are anti-Halloween. I wanted to ask our hostess about her towels, but I decided against it because I figured I’d come across as weird. Still, I am confused. I’m not used to people who actually believe in Satan and a literal, historical interpretation of the Bible decorating their homes with witches and ghosts. So here’s a question for the Christians reading this: Do you celebrate Halloween? And whether you do or not, what’s your reasoning?

Oh, oh, oh! Audience Participation, part deux. I’m thinking of purchasing a netbook (a very CHEEEEEEEEAP netbook) since my laptop is being super-wonky and I need a reliable machine at home to waste time surfing the net and posting on my blog keep in touch with friends and family and run my AVON business. Fixing my current laptop (a six-year-old Macbook) would likely cost just a couple hundred less buying a brand-new netbook, and that additional expense could be offset by the fact that I can write the purchase off come tax time. When I discussed the purchase with my friend Kerry, she had some very good advice, and I wanted to open up the floor to other folks’ input as well. If you own a netbook, what kind is it and would you recommend it to someone else? If you DON’T own a netbook, do you have a make/model you’d really like to own? I’m looking at the Dell Mini 10, so I’d really like specific input about it, but any other insight would be helpful. Also: Do you consider virus protection and other Norton utilities to be necessary tools for a PC owner? Why or why not?

Seven Quick Takes is all about collecting random thoughts that, on their own, wouldn’t make a substantial blog entry, but gather together make something silly and wonderful. If you’re looking for new & interesting blogs to read, check out the other Quick Takes links over at Conversion Diary.

Take 1: Jennifer’s Quick Takes last week made me laugh so hard I cried. I beg you, PLEASE go read her about Trucknutz. It’s just so much comedic awesomeness I just had to share. Go on, I’ll wait.

Take 2: Back now? Great. I just wanted to let you know that on Monday evening (9/28) I’ll have been smoke-free for two months. Yaaaaaay!!! Interestingly, last night I dreamt that I smoked a cigarette. I’m happy to report that it tasted disgusting. I don’t know WHY I smoked it (and even if I did, dream logic is super weird, so knowing the why could very well just confuse me even more) but apparently my subconscious realizes that lighting up right now would be seriously unpleasant.

Take 2.5 How odd is it that I was able to TASTE in my dream? I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything during REM sleep before.

Take 3: This past Wednesday was the first “official” week of the Boundaries Bible study that I’m participating in through Reality Church. I LOVE the ladies in my group (it’s a chicks-only study) and I’m enjoying the material, but I still have the weirdest feeling about it. This probably has a little to do with the fact that the last time I jumped into church fellowship with both feet it ended rather badly. I think it’s quite fitting that the first Bible study I’m participating in after YEARS of avoiding churchiness is about setting limits with myself and others, because my lack of boundaries is one of the reasons I ended up in a cult. So although I’m pretty sure I’m on the right track spiritually, I am a little uncomfortable. But Jesus never promised us that the Christian life would be comfortable, did he? No.*

Take 4: AVON Calling! I’m challenging myself to work a little harder at my “second job” as an AVON Independent Sales Rep, so I want to take a second to point my loyal readers to my AVON e-store. I’m not saying you have to buy stuff from me to be my friend, but you know, it helps. (I’m kidding, of course!**)

Take 5: On an AVON-related note, yesterday I hung twenty product sample packs on doors in my neighborhood to let folks know that I’m “open for business.” At one of the houses I visited, I had a chance to say hello to the gentleman who lived there. He was courteous, but seemed a little shy and lonely, and also appeared to be ill. I’m trying to devise a way to reach out to him that will come across as neighborly-in-a-welcome-way not neighborly-in-an-annoying-and-creepy-way. He has a dachshund who was NOT happy to see a stranger coming up the driveway, so maybe I’ll stop by sometime with doggy treats. Do you guys have any other ideas?

Take 6: To celebrate our first anniversary, Jon and I spent last weekend at a friend’s house in North Carolina with my brother and his girlfriend. We cooked out, we ate oysters and clams, we boated, we drank wine - all in all, it was the PERFECT way to mark our first year as a married couple.

Take 7: Furbaby Update! I can’t believe how our kittens and puppy are growing. Last week I took them to the vet and found out that the kittens have quadrupled in size (they weigh four pounds apiece now!) since they came to live with us two months ago, and Anastasia has more than doubled in just four weeks - from 5.6 lbs to 12.8. Yikes! It makes sense, though, when you consider how much these little monsters eat.

Ana and Milo playing tug-of-war. It’s a typical older brother/baby sister relationship - Ana just ADORES Milo and is constantly bugging him. Sometimes he’s totally into playing with her, and other times he lets her know in no uncertain terms that she’s getting on his last nerve! He’s getting better about being her buddy, though, which makes me very happy.

Randall, chilling, and A.C. being so cute it’s just not even right. Randall is staying true to his snuggle-bug personality. Sometimes he doesn’t want to be held because he’s in the middle of playing (and he plays ROUGH!) but most of the time, if you pick him up, he starts purring immediately. He’ll squinch his eyes up and smile and let you kiss him about five hundred times. I love it! A.C. is still the adventurous one - not really into cuddling unless it’s her idea, and constantly on the move.

When I took the kittens to the vet, I had them re-tested for FIV. I’ve been saying I’d rehome the kittens immediately if they tested FIV negative - I’m a bit overwhelmed by the expense (not to mention the copious amounts of urine) of so many animals - and, well, the tests came back positive. I believe that things rarely happen for No Reason At All, and I’m starting to feel that maybe God wants us to have all these animals. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some folks might think I’m a little cuckoo because I look for signs from God even in my pet’s lives, but I don’t think it’s too far out there. God created these animals, and I’m sure he’s just as concerned with their welfare as he is with mine. I believe God wanted them to have long, happy and healthy lives and that he wanted to bless me with two delightful little friends (seriously, aside from the urine issue, it’s impossible for me to have a bad day with these guys around). It’s the little things, y’all, that make me so wonderfully happy every day. And realizing that God cares enough about two little furballs to coincidentally put them into a loving home helps me to trust God to provide for all of my needs.

* There ought to be a clause about that in the Baptismal Covenant.
** Mostly.

Jennifer over at Conversion Diary asked her readers on Monday to share the posts that capture the essence of their blogs. My blog is a real grab-bag, so I picked one of my Seven Quick Takes posts, specifically this one. It’s got everything I write about - cute animals, family and friends, God, books and movies.

I strongly recommend that you check out the links on Jen’s post because there are some darn good blogs out there. I’ve been working on them for the past two days!

Yesterday evening, my husband Jon was heading out to the store when he noticed something small, cute, and furry in the gutter in front of our house. It was a baby bunny, barely bigger than a golf ball. I nearly melted of the adorable. My brother and his girlfriend came out to look at the critter, too, and we all debated about what we should do. Feed it? I know what to feed orphaned kittens and dogs, but not bunnies. Would the folks at Petsmart know what to do? Should we just put her in a safe place and wait for the mommy to come and get her? Would the mommy not come back because we’d touched the baby? (I told Chrissy this was an urban myth, but I honestly have no idea if it is or not. I sounded very authoritative, though, so that’s a plus.)

Anyway, quickly googling “orphaned baby bunny” led me to the conclusion that attempting to feed or care for this widdle wabbit myself was a Bad Idea, since baby bunnies are apparently prone to really bad tummyaches. So I called a friend who makes a habit of rescuing animals; she, too, hopped on the net and found a wildlife rescue hotline for me to call. I left a message and received a call back this morning - apparently, an experienced wildlife rehabilitator lives just over a mile away from me! I dropped the baby off on my way to work.

I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a picture of the little guy (and my camera’s battery is dead, anyway) so I turned to the net again for a photograph that would take your breath away. You see those tiny little bebes? Don’t you just wanna kiss & snuggle them? The photographer says that “they were trapped in our window well, we rescued them and returned them to their mother.” AAAAAAAAAAAAAH I WUV DEM!

See? My blog is quite often just a stopping point for pics of cute animals!

I totally missed Seven Quick Takes on Friday, so here’s a kind of make-up session of that. Only I can’t promise I’ll hit seven on the dot, I’m not sure how quick I’ll be, and this entry is going to be all about the awesome.

Awesome Thing #1: I found a church I like! To show you God’s sense of humor, it happens to be a church I avoided visiting for years because it meets in the same high school cafeteria my old church met in, and the pastor is my mom’s old pastor. And remember how I said I was feeling drawn to the Catholic church? Yeah, this place is an Evangelical, non-denominational fellowship. So not where I was expecting to end up. And it may not be where I end up - I’ve only visited twice, so who knows? It may not be my cup of tea for the long term, but for right now I’m enjoying it.

Awesome Thing #2: I baked a loaf of bread yesterday! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this. I’m really intimidated by baking, because I’ve had a couple big “oops” moments. Cooking is so much easier than baking, because you don’t have to measure or worry about things turning out just right. Bread especially scared me because it requires lots of waiting and kneading and holy crap what if my yeast it bad, etc. Well, I found a recipe for Two-Cheese Batter Bread in my Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook, which did not require a whole lot of kneading and waiting and worrying. (Apparently, that’s the whole point of batter breads, and I think it’s ingenius.) The bread was so, so yummy, and I felt wildly accomplished when I pulled it of the oven.

I also felt inspired! You know what I might actually be up to trying? Pie crusts. That’s right, y’all, I’m gonna walk on the wild side. Let’s hope I won’t cry if they don’t turn out flaky and nomalicious the first time around.

P.S. The Good Housekeeping cookbook, along with Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and Betty Crocker’s classic cookbook, which my mother gave me when I married my first husband, are the three books I visit over and over again for new recipes and challenges as well as old favorites. Favorites like Betty’s chocolate chip cookies, which I made yesterday as well!

Awesome Thing #3: Last weekend my friend Anika visited with her husband and 2.75-year-old daughter. We had a blast! Their daughter LOVED our dogs and cats, which made me happy. One of the best things about having pets is that they’re not just a blessing to us, but to other people as well. Also, I don’t have to be that interesting or funny, because folks are usually quite entertained by my kitties being silly. All I have to do is answer the door and serve something edible. Score!

Awesome Thing #4: My friend Kerry has generously offered to help me overcome my fear of sewing. Y’all, once I figure out that dammit, I AM smart enough to figure out making pretty things and yummy foods, I will be a domestic force to contend with! We picked out some really pretty fabric to make purses for myself and my brother’s GF. They’re both gonna be pink on the outside, but Chrissy’s will be lined with a saucy tattoo-style graphic print, and mine will be lined with a Care Bears print. THAT’S RIGHT, Y’ALL. FREAKING CARE BEARS. As soon as I saw the Care Bears fabric, something broke inside my brain and I HAD TO HAVE IT.

Awesome Thing #5 Remember how I said that I don’t feel very domestically gifted? Well, either I’m more gifted that I thought I was or I’ve got everyone fooled. Kerry told me this week that she thinks my house is “immaculate” (!!!) and when I relayed this craziness to Jill, she agreed. “Your house is ALWAYS clean.” Shut up! Don’t you see the three pairs of shoes piled by the front door? The dog toys strewn about the living room? The stuffing leaking out of every pillow on the sofa, because apparently our furniture is ALSO a dog toy? The crumbs and sticky stuff on my stove? The pile of dishes in the sink?

But then I stepped back and thought, “Yeah, they’re kinda right. I do try to keep the clutter to a minimum, and frequently succeed, and I’ve learned to stay on top of little things like wiping the bathroom sink clean and sweeping the floor.” Those little things make a HUGE difference in how the house feels, and I love it.

Maybe there is hope for me on the domestic goddess front, eh? And isn’t it wild how we often think we’re terrible at something only to find out that everyone else thinks we’re doing a great job?

Awesome Thing #6 I hung out with Jill yesterday at the childcare center she directs, where we stenciled her school’s core values on the freshly-painted walls. It was great day - I love having girl talk with Jill, and it felt good to do a favor for her and her kids. Unfortunately, I had take off in a hurry because I remembered at 3 p.m. that I was supposed to deliver a meal to one of the families from Coastal Community Church that’s going through a hard time. I raced to the store and then back home to cook, and managed to deliver a chicken pot pie, salad, fruit and cookies just an hour after I’d promised to do so!

Awesome Thing #7: I haven’t smoked for 1 month, 2 days and 16 hours. That’s 404 cigarettes not smoked for a savings of $106. BOO-YAH.

Look at that! I did manage to end up with Seven Things of Awesome. Tell me, what awesome things have happened to YOU this week?

This is Anastasia Beaverhousen, the newest addition to our ever-expanding furfamily.

Click on each thumbnail to see the full size image. Isn’t she adorable? You can see from the picture with the dollar bill that she’s pretty tiny. Aaaaand since her eyes are closed in all but one of her photos, you can see that she’s spent most of her time here snoozing! She is completely undeterred by the fact that the other animals aren’t really interested in making friends - the kittens are scared of her, and Milo doesn’t really care to share his toys. But hey, making a family takes time, right? So does potty-training… I’d forgotten that having a puppy means having to watch her every second, and that as soon as you turn away the puppy poops on the rug!

A brand-new furbaby is a little bit of trouble, but a lot of fun. I’m so glad Ana came to live with us!

It’s that time again! Seven Quick Takes is all about collecting random thoughts that, on their own, wouldn’t make a substantial blog entry, but gather together make… well, something silly and wonderful. If you’re looking for new & interesting blogs to read, check out the other Quick Takes links over at Conversion Diary.

Take 1: SO MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS WEEKEND! I can’t wait. Ana, our new puppy, comes home today, and I’m meeting my net-friend Anika for dinner tonight. Yay! I promise many, many puppy pictures in the next couple of days.

Take 2: You know how I said that my laptop’s not working? Well, it actually booted up today. I have no idea what its malfunction is, and I’m not going to bother trying to figure it out. I’m compute when I can, and when I can’t, I’ll read. Que sera, sera.

Take 3: I’ve never liked meatloaf. (The food, not the singer. “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” is a stone-cold CLASSIC.) I don’t hate it - I mean, I’ll eat it if it’s put in front of me at someone’s house, but I’ve never cared to make it at home. Well, Chrissy made meat loaf last night using her mother’s recipe and OH MY GOD it was GOOD. I LOVED it. It was so good that it was ALL GONE at the end of the evening.

P.S. Speaking of the other Meat Loaf, have you seen his recent AT&T GoPhone and A1 Steak Sauce commercials? FREAKING HILARIOUS.

Take 4: Because I am the best wife in the whole wide world, I bought my husband a copy of Lonesome Dove even though I kinda can’t stand it. We were watching it on AMC the other night, and I complained muchly about being subjected to the overly long, totally unrealistic Western-soap-opera-miniseries-melodrama. Then just to demonstrate that our compatibility and mutual interests only go so far, Jon said, “I sure would like to own this on DVD.” Whyyyyyy? Sometimes there’s no accounting for taste - I should know, I’m kind of addicted to Rob Schneider movies. (Especially The Hot Chick! I can watch that movie over and over and over….)

Anyway, I was in Wal-mart yesterday and they had Lonesome Dove for just $13, and I thought, “Hey, I can suffer through this crap for some brownie points.” I also bought a bottle of wine to ease my pain; I’ve learned that stupid movies become so much more tolerable when I’m intoxicated. Case in point: the first time I saw Attack of the Clones, I was drunk and thought it was a great movie. Aaaaaand then I saw it again two days later, this time sober, and was shocked at its terribleness.

Take 5: I also bought White Oleander, because I LOOOOOOOVED the book and have always wanted to see the movie, even though I’ve heard it’s terrible. I watched the first half of it with Chrissy last night (to escape the terror that is Lonesome Dove) and I didn’t think it was half bad. That might be the wine, talking, though, so I’ll let you know what I think after I watch it again. Hey, if it’s really terrible, I’m only out $3, so I can’t complain, ya know?

Take 6: The kittens just keep getting cuter - and more troublesome! This morning, as I tried to make the bed, A.C. kept nipping at my ankles to get my attention. I guess she wanted me to play with her? She certainly didn’t want to be cuddled - every single time I pick her up, she wriggles and fights like I’m torturing her with my kisses & pets! What’s funny about her little pay-attention-to-me bites is that Oatmeal, my dearly departed Siamese, used to bite the back of my leg when she wanted attention. Oh, and Squeaker, our tailless tuxedo cat? Will paw at me and even grab my hand with his claws when he wants to be petted. Which is all the time. Our animals are awesome, yet strange!

Take 7: Audience Participation I have a gross-out fascination. I’m a scab-picker, a dead-skin-peeler, a pimple-popper. I like looking at infected wounds; even as my stomach turns my brain says, “Cool!” However, I can’t watch surgery, even “fake” surgery in movies. I feel as if MY skin & muscle is being cut, and it gives me the willies. Yet I love gory slasher-type movies, and cartoonishly, gratuitously graphic combat scenes (like, say, 300). And though my stomach is strong enough to endure being exposed to all sorts of bodily fluids when attending to sick people or animals, I once nearly fainted when I looked at the bag of Type A negative fluid the Red Cross drained from my right arm during a blood drive. I guess I’m just odd. So tell me: What’s your gross-out tolerance? What makes you say EWWWW and COOOOOL?

So our first wedding anniversary is coming up.

Danny, Jon’s parents’ neighbor, breeds hunting dogs (specifically Treeing Walker Coonhounds) and his bitch just had a litter. While we were at the in-laws for dinner this evening, I suggested that Jon and I head over to see the puppies. I kept joking about picking one out and naming her - in fact, I DID pick one out, a girl who’s very timid and snuggly. I said we could name her Anastasia Beaverhousen. Well, apparently Jon talked to Danny and arranged to buy Anastasia for me - she’s an early anniversary present!

OMG OMG OMG PUPPY!

Apparently, Jon had been plotting for months (with the help of, um, ALL MY FRIENDS, those sneaky bastards!) to get me a Siamese kitten for our anniversary, since I still really miss my Siamese kitty, Oatmeal, whom I had to put down last year. But then Randall and A.C. came to live with us, and he thought, oh damn, that’s too many kittens. Well, I recently mentioned to Jill that I REALLY wanted one of Danny’s puppies, and she passed the word to Jon, and he talked to Danny… and now Anastasia is gonna be my baby!

OMG OMG OMG PUPPY!

I’m not saying I wouldn’t like another Siamese kitty, but I think that three full-grown cats are enough, and I REALLY wanted to get a little puppy sister for Milo. My brother and his girlfriend will likely take the kittens when they move out, so our menagerie won’t be quite so CRAZY.

OMG OMG OMG PUPPY!

I don’t have any pictures of Anastasia, and she won’t be coming home with us until Friday (Danny said the pups will be weaned in a few days, but I don’t want to bring her home until the weekend so we have plenty of time with her before having to go back to work) buuuuut here’s a photo of a Walker hound puppy from Wikipedia:

OMG OMG OMG PUPPY!