What's in Your Oven?

I heard the oven beep tonight, and I assumed my dad was making pizza rolls. My mom didn't know what he was making, so she opened the oven door. You'll never guess what was inside.
His watch!
Wait-what? Watches don't go in the oven...
He came walking into the room just then, and I said "Daddy, is that your watch in the oven?!"
His reply? "Yes."

Huh?

I asked him why his watch was in the oven.
He said "Well, it's having some moisture problems. I'm hoping I can solve it without cooking the watch." (I didn't point out that he would be baking the watch)

A New Sewing Project!

I have a new sewing project (assuming I can figure out how to use the sewing machine the Schmitts gave me)!
There's an event in February-Military History Fest, previously known as Reenactor Fest, and we're planning on attending. They have a ball in the evening, and you can dress from any time period you want. I'll be doing my usual 16th century garb, but if I decide to go to the ball I really, really wanted to the 1940s. All my patterns for 40s clothes happen to be in a faraway storage unit in Illinois, but Rebecca Schmitt offered to loan me some patterns.
I'll be making this dress and coat, and the hat.
The dress pattern is from 1939, so obviously it would have been used in the 40s too, so it works perfectly for what I wanted. My color scheme is going to be rather patriotic, which works too!
I chose a red fabric with small white dots (I've always liked the fabric but never had anything to do with it) for the dress, and I'll be using a dark blue linen for the coat and the hat. So, hopefully I can get it all done in time!

"Crazy Love"

I wanted to share a chapter from the book I'm reading- "Crazy Love"
The chapter is chapter one, and it's called "Stop Praying."

Stop Praying

What if I said "Stop praying"? What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God's presence with words. That's what fools do. And often, that's what we do.
We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry. The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of Him. It may seem a hopeless endeavor, to gaze at the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation, we see His "invisible qualities" and "divine nature."
Lets begin this book by gazing at God in silence. What I want you to do right now is to go online and look at the "Awe Factor" video at www.crazylovebook.com to get a taste of the awe factor of our God. Seriously - go do it.

Awe Factor Video.

Speechless? Amazed? Humbled?
When I first saw those images, I had to worship.I didn't want to speak to or share it with anyone. I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator.
It's wild to think that most of these galaxies have been discovered only in the past few years, thanks to the Hubble telescope. They've been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them.
Why would God create more that 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, "Wow, God is unfathomably big"? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be, "Who do I think I am?"
R.C. Sproul writes, "Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God."


That's just the beginning of the chapter. The rest gives you some more amazing things to ponder. As for the rest of the book, I don't really know. So far I've only read chapter one!

I thought the video was pretty cool. But you know what? You don't have to look at space to stand in awe of God. You can stand in awe of Him in many places. Mountains would probably be my personal favorite (but having been born in Colorado, that's a given), but I think any nature setting will do. Personally, I like sunny, open places. They just feel happy!

Bless You!

I was reading about the Monist philosopher Anaximenes. A Monist believes that the basic "stuff" of reality is one thing and one thing only. Air, water, fire, and so on (though Pythagoras thought it was just numbers).
Anaximenes thought it was air. He theorized that one's breath is linked to your soul.
This lead me to read about when people sneezed. Apparently people used to think you could sneeze your soul out. Yep- you sneeze and your soul comes flying out of you. This is why people would say, "Bless you" or some such. (This also makes my mom wonder if mucus was thought to be part of your soul. Eww!)
I've read about this before, but today it stuck me as more comical than usual. And then I realized that if I were with someone who believed this, I'd be considered awfully cruel. And people would probably think that I didn't care about my soul!
But I have to wonder something else: What did they think if they had a cold? Or if their allergies were acting up? Or if they sniffed something and it made them sneeze? Did they think to relate the sneeze to being ill or to scents? Or did they think that they were being punished by potentially losing their soul?
I also wonder if anyone ever got really sick. Maybe they spiked a really high fever, and without modern medicine it caused mental damage. Lets say they had sneezed a few times during this illness. Would people think their mental damage was from being sick, or would they say "Oh! Poor Billy here sneezed and lost his soul. Now something is wrong with him!"

It's things like these I always wonder about...

Times

"Times" is another Tenth Avenue North song, and possibly my favorite of theirs.
I wasn't going to post it tonight, but then I was playing around on SongMeanings (which can be a pretty cool site, just to see other people's views or interpretations of songs) and found a comment someone left about it, and I wanted to share that.
Here it is:

"I think we can feel both sides of this song. The verses belong to anyone who has ever believed in God, lost faith in Him, hid from Him, loved Him, yearned for Him, questioned Him...

But, the bridge, the rest of the song belongs to God. That's His love letter right there. That's Him telling us that nothing will separate us from His love. When we hate Him (God, I can barely type that) and when we're numb... bitter... unforgiving... ashamed... hurt... scared... rejoicing... loving... praising... singing... dancing... laughing... whenever, wherever He will always be with us."

And the lyrics:

"I know I need You

I need to love You
I love to see You, but it's been so long
I long to feel You
I feel this need for You
And I need to hear You, is that so wrong?

Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.

Now You pull me near You
When we're close, I fear You
Still I'm afraid to tell You, all that I've done
Are You done forgiving?
Oh can You look past my pretending?
Lord, I'm so tired of defending, what I've become
What have I become?

Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.

I hear You say,
"My love is over. It's underneath.
It's inside. It's in between.
The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel.
The times that you question, 'Is this for real? '
The times you're broken.
The times that you mend.
The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend.
Well, My love is over, it's underneath.
It's inside, it's in between.
These times you're healing, and when your heart breaks.
The times that you feel like you're falling from grace.
The times you're hurting.
The times that you heal.
The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.
The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.
I'm there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.
I'm there through your heartache.
I'm there in the storm.
My love I will keep you, by My pow'r alone.
I don't care where you fall, where you have been.
I'll never forsake you, My love never ends.
It never ends."

Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh."

You Are More

I really like most of Tenth Avenue North's music, but there's some songs that stand out more than others.
I really like "You Are More"

My mom and I were listening to a Tenth Avenue North CD in the car, and she thought a fun youth group activity could be trying to find the verses that inspired popular Christian songs. See if they line up theologically. That could be interesting.

"There's a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she's wandered
And the shame she can't hide

She says, "How did I get here?
I'm not who I once was.
And I'm crippled by the fear
That I've fallen too far to love"

But don't you know who you are,
What's been done for you?
Yeah don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

Well she tries to believe it
That she's been given new life
But she can't shake the feeling
That it's not true tonight

She knows all the answers
And she's rehearsed all the lines
And so she'll try to do better
But then she's too weak to try

But don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,

You've been remade.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

'Cause this is not about what you've done,
But what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

You've been remade
You've been remade.
You've been remade.
You've been remade. "

So, Luke is saving up for an Xbox. He decided that the best method to earn money would to be go out and search for snow shoveling jobs. A pretty good idea with all the snow we've had lately. And he's doing really well, he's averaging a little over $10/hour. Yesterday he really overbooked himself, so he hired me to help him with a job. Even with my help he ended up not being able to do a job. But on the way home a neighbor saw us carrying our snowshovels and ice chipper and asked if we were looking for jobs, so we found another one that probably only took about 15 minutes, and the guy gave Luke some snow shoveling tips.
Luke shared some of the profit with me, and he is so close to being able to afford his Xbox. One more good snow and he'll have it.
He's hoping to grow his snow shoveling into a lawn care service too, for the summer. He's mentioned it to a few of his customers, who are interested.
He's been doing some work for a Dave Smiskey, who calls Luke to schedule his snow shoveling services. He even taught Luke how to use his snow blower.
Luke is quite proud of himself, and he should be! He's doing a great job.

Too cold!

My bedroom gets WAY too cold! The past several nights I've been freezing, and last night was particularly bad!

I ended up wearing flannel pajamas with a sweatshirt over my flannel pajama top, a regular pair of socks and a pair of fuzzy socks, and I had a fleece blanket that's two layers, plus my sheet, other blanket, and comforter, and I was still kind of cold! Unfortunately my head was really cold too, but I really don't like putting blankets over my head. I feel like I can't breathe! I sort of arranged the blankets over my head so that my face was still sticking out and I felt like I could breathe...mostly. But it wasn't ideal. I wonder if I should take to wearing a stocking cap in bed...

Maybe I should just ask if I can put a space heater in my room. That would probably help.

For tonight though, I have an empty 2 liter bottle to fill with hot water.

Lebkuchen

So, John has to make lebkuchen for a school project. He invited his friend Justin over to help.
John is 15, and Justin is 14, so the two of them working on a baking project could get a bit messy. Laura Muetz asked Lizzy and I to supervise the two of them.
It was pretty interesting. John was freaking out at one point because he was convinced a saucepan was too big for boiling molasses and honey. He thought it would burn and ruin it, but Lizzy and I convinced him it would be okay.
I don't think there was a single silent moment the whole time. John and Justin were constantly yelling out worries, or singing, or making jokes, or asking questions. It was a very loud kitchen! John needed to zest a lemon, but he kept knocking around the dish he was zesting it into, so I held it still for him. I hadn't realized I'd cut my thumb, so I had a very unpleasant surprise when some of the lemon zest hit that. Ouch!
So, the whole process was pretty loud and messy, but John has the dough ready for tomorrow.
I'll help with rolling it out and slicing it up if he needs help, but I'm not helping with his next school project, which is pinning insects he's collected to a board. He can see if Luke wants to help with that.

Lucky Bear

Sometimes Lucky gets so spastic! I went upstairs to let Rita go outside this morning, and Lucky ran over to me very playfully. I was wearing my slippers, which have little pom-pom type things on the zipper, and Lucky bit one of them and tried to pull! Then he looked up and started biting my sleeves (he likes biting long sleeves!), and acting really playful. He makes this funny sound when he's playing. It's kind of like a growl, but he's also making this puffing sound because he blows air out his mouth when it's closed, and it sounds really funny.
He started biting at my hands too. It doesn't really hurt though. He used to play fetch with himself by throwing logs (yes, logs. Not sticks) or rocks into the air and catching them, and he managed to knock out quite a few teeth that way. I guess he isn't the brightest.
But he's really sweet. He has sort of an Eeyore disposition.

The Asian Adventure

The other day Lizzy and I decided we wanted an adventure (any combination of Gardner kids+Muetz kids=someone wanting an adventure). It was around lunch time, so Lizzy and I decided our adventure could be going to the Asian food store and getting some rice noodles and pad thai sauce. So, we set out with a GPS that wasn't working and delayed us by a few minutes, but we got the Asian food store and started browsing. Lizzy picked out a passion fruit juice, and I picked out a roasted coconut juice (highly recommended by the cashier). We got some chopstocks, and our pad thai supplies.
When we got home we set the water to boil, and then we decided, "hey, lets eat on the floor and act Japanese!"
We found a board and put it over a cooler to make a low table. We found a table cloth, then pillows to sit on. We looked up a traditional Japanese blessing to say before and after the meal. Then, we realized that I happen to have a Japanese Kimono, and Lizzy and some sort of Asian robe. We decided we should be dressed in them for the meal. So, I suppose while all Asian (other than the European bread), we were kind of diverse. We had Chinese, Japanese, and Thailand themes going on. All in all, it was a very worthwhile adventure.
For our next ethnic adventure, we'll probably go explore the Mexican grocery store.

I almost forgot to add this warning: If you happen to get some roasted coconut juice, be aware that it has chunks of coconut in it. You'll want to make sure you don't choke on your juice...

My first post in 2011!

Wow, 2011? I can't believe it! I remember New Year's of 2000. It doesn't seem like that was 11 years ago.
And this is my first post this year. I guess I've gotten bad about posting since we moved.
I'll have to try more often!

I know winter has barely started, but already I can't wait for spring! I want it to be warm (or at least not freezing) and the ground to be dry. I guess I have no choice but to wait a few months.
Yesterday Jeremy, Lizzy and I all really wanted to go the park and roll down the big hill. Just not in the snow. Although who knows, maybe that would be fun...

Yesterday the three of us decided to have a bit of an adventure. We realized none of us could remember when was the last time we did a somersault. I guessed that the last time I would have done one was probably in Texas, so over five years ago! Before we started, we decided to look it up on Youtube to avoid breaking our necks. We watched a gymnastics video, but we decided none of us ever did our somersaults that way when we were little. Apparently we always risked breaking our necks! We decided to stick with our old method anyway.
I went first. I did one and was quite happy. Then I decided to try doing several in a row. After the second one I crashed into the wall (it's not a very wide hallway...).
Jeremy couldn't do one. He was afraid of breaking his neck. Lizzy tried a few times, but always ended up with her legs going up the wall.
My dad came home at that point and wanted to try to outdo Jeremy. He soon changed his mind, though. He thought it might be awkward to call into work next week saying "Sorry, I can't come in. I broke my body trying to outdo my 19 year old son in somersaults."
I can see how that would be potentially awkward.
The whole thing was pretty humorous, though.

And in other news, many of us have or are getting over colds. I think my mom, Luke, and John had it the worst. Somehow I've managed to avoid catching it. Although I've lost some sleep from the others having it. From my room I can hear both John and Luke coughing in their rooms.

Oh, and I like Janesville. So much better than Custer Park.