Freecycle

I had my first experience with Freecycle this week. I didn't post about it, but my television "died" about a month ago. It wouldn't turn on any more. When you pushed the power button, it made this small sound like it was turning on but then wouldn't do anything else. Since it's about ten years old, I didn't want to sink any money into fixing it. My friend, John, was kind enough to give me a TV he wasn't using (or using much?). So, I'm back in business. But... I had a 27" TV taking up space in my house.

Enter Freecycle. It's pretty cool. I knew David had used it before up in Kansas, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I registered w/ the Tulsa group and posted it on Tues/Wed, had a response by Wed and had it picked up Thurs. So, I've determined it's a worthwhile means of getting rid of stuff... especially LARGE stuff that would otherwise cause me headaches. Thanks, Freecycle!

Well... I'm off to bed. I'm supposed to meet friends for an early morning cup o' joe in about six hours.

The Kite Runner

While on vacation, I was able to read "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It's an excellent story about friendship, betrayal, regrets and maturing. I wrote down a few of my favorite quotes...

"That's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too."

"What happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime."

"My heart was doing pirouettes in my chest."

"A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer."

If you're looking for something to read, you might want to pick it up. A movie about the book is coming out in November, though we all know the book is (nearly) always better than the movie. :)

A Road Trip to South Carolina

A friend pointed out to me today that I've fallen significantly behind in my blogging. (I agree.) So, let me catch you up a bit...

I just got back from vacation. I went to South Carolina with some friends. We took two days to drive out, and the drive was absolutely lovely. It would have been nice to have a bit more time, but as it was we still had time to "stop and smell the roses" so to say. The trees in Alabama hadn't changed colors too much, but the trees/forests in Tennessee and North Carolina were really astounding.

We drove on the Natchez Trace Parkway from Tupelo, Mississippi to Florence, Alabama...


This is a trail we hiked on the Natchez Trace Parkway...




Gorgeous! The Appalachian Mountains!


More scenic highways...


The funniest stories relate to trying to escape all of the National Forests we drove through. We finally passed a sign that said "Welcome to South Carolina." After driving and driving and driving, we hit another sign that said, "Now entering North Carolina"!! The scary part was that we were running low on gas, it was very dark and there didn't seem to be any gas stations anywhere in the forest. Fortunately we found one before we started sputtering. And, we also finally escaped North Carolina. :)

Columbia and Charleston were both a lot of fun. I got to visit my friend, Kate, in Columbia and hang with her. Then we joined up with some other friends in Charleston and did a lot of eating a sightseeing. We went on a not-so-scary ghost tour and also toured the U.S.S. Yorktown, an air craft carrier. Our hotel was lovely, and we were able to hang out there one night around a nice fire pit and just hang out.

We made the drive back in one LONG day. Fortunately we gained two hours (one from the time zone and one from the change from daylight savings)... we slept one and drove one. We left SC around 4am and arrived back in Tulsa about 9pm... only stopping long enough to eat and use the restroom.

But, I'm home... safe and sound! A good time was had by all!

The lies we tell...

A personally-entertaining quote from my current read ("The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde)

[After the main character reveals (lies) to her mother that she has a new boyfriend...]

"This, to my mother, was extremely good news. It had been of considerable anguish to her that I wasn't spending more time with swollen ankles, hemorrhoids and a bad back, popping out grandchildren and naming them after obscure relatives... In all honesty I wasn't against the idea of kids, it was just that I wasn't going to have them on my own."

Touché! :)

Insanity

Well, they say the definition of insanity is trying the same activity over and over but expecting different results. I guess I qualify. I apparently have some messages on facebook but can't seem to log in. So... I guess I should just give up and go to bed, but it's really bugging me and I just keep trying.

Btw, David... noticed you're on FB. I'd add you as a friend... if I could. :) Maybe tomorrow!

Quick updates... life is getting really interesting. I'm spending time with some new people, who keep me well-entertained. I'm going camping this weekend w/ the fam. Should be fun. I'm running again. I'm back up to two miles at a time but am working toward three. Hopefully I'll be there again soon (in the next week or two). Monica, my new roomie, has moved in. It's only been a few days, but so far so good! I can't think of anything else, though I feel there's something on the tip of my fingers...

... oh well... I have an early morning meeting and should be in bed. G'night, y'all.

The Pre-Celebration

It's not quite my b-day, but that didn't stop our small group from celebrating anyway...

Mini Mart

I passed a building today that said "Minute Mart," and it reminded me of the little "mini mart" that used to be at the end of the road from the house where I spent some of the most formative years of my life. I was thinking of that mini mart and thinking of the man who I believe worked there filling gas tanks. His name may have been Dewayne. And then "Dewayne" always reminds me of the punchline of an old knock knock joke... "Hurry up! D'wayne the bathtub, I'm dwowning."

Roomies...

Opossum

I wrote this poem after another dead animal was found in Matt's yard. It seems he sent (as always) a picture of it along. I'll have to see if I can find that. :) I should also note that the poem was inspired by a few lines from Matt's email, which effectively are the last few lines of the poem.

Opossum (an original poem)

This one died near the hyacinth bush,
Under the colorful crepe myrtle, which has yet to bloom.
I can’t be sure what caused his demise…
Maybe a cardial-infarction?
An advanced case of tail cancer?
Or a broken heart?
Who’s to say?
It was surely a sweet, though possibly short, life.
Let’s hope he hasn’t left behind a family…
Two baby opossums and a loving mate,
Who wonder why he hasn’t returned with dinner.
He met an unfortunate end here in my yard,
Under the crepe myrtle, near the hyacinth bush.
But, I laid him to rest.
Under the stars.
In a dirt hole.
Next to the bird.
And the other bird.
And the rat.
And the squirrel.

2:07

It's 2:07AM, and all I can say is I'm tired. Tired physically (wanting to sleep) but mostly tired of itching from this darned poison ivy. I've just been laying in bed these past 2-3 hours scratching my arms, legs and anywhere else that happens to itch at the moment. Grrrrrr.

The doctor prescribed me some steroid pills on Monday, but I was hoping by now the itching would have subsided. No luck.

So, since I'm up, I thought I might as well blog. I'm sure there's something I could blog about that you might find interesting, but I'm not quite sure what that would be. Maybe a poem? Maybe a funny story? Maybe just some unintelligible rant?

Life's not too bad right now (save the itching). I'm enjoying some new friendships, planning some trips, doing some new things... trying not to answer all the unknown questions of my life just now. I figure they'll be answered at some point, so I might as well sit back and just enjoy the ride. :) I guess that's all I have to say right now. Say a prayer for me as I return to bed and try to actually sleep!

Good night/morning!

The Midnight Drags

Sorry for the paucity of email lately. Maybe I've been busy. Or, maybe I just haven't had anything to say. Or, maybe there's been so much to say that I haven't even known where to begin. :) Regardless. Here I am, typing away, doing my best to satisfy the masses...

So, the most immediate thing on my mind is the insane "itchiness" being caused by my most recent run-in with poison ivy. Grrrrr. It's driving me insane. I'm trying to avoid another steroid shot, but I may have to give in and get one tomorrow.

Last night was quite fun. I ran out to Fort Gibson with a friend who has a Jeep. We took the top off, and I got to experience the wind in my hair and the feeling that I could easily fall out onto the highway. It was exhilerating! We didn't have much time there, but caught an amazing sunset and the full moon, which we enjoyed on the drive back.

Then, we met up with a couple of other friends and headed out to the midnight drag races! What a crazy place! Quite an interesting crowd... from the guy with the shirt on that said "I'm a Keeper." to the girl hanging all over the guy right in front of our car as we waited to get in the gates. I think I needed to show a little more clevage to really be "appropriately dressed" for the drag races. (Maybe next time...) There were some pretty crazy cars out there, but I think my favorite was a kind of pale green Chevelle. (Dad... you would've loved it! David, you too! Next time you're in Tulsa, we'll have to go out!)

I'd write more, but I'm about to scratch myself to death. I need some relief!!

Love it!!!

Check out my favoritist new commercial...

In Cold Blood

Well, I've finally set to reading an American classic, "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. It's been on my list of books to read for some time (though I reviewed my list of "books to read before I die" just yesterday and couldn't find it on there). I think my particular interest in the book is the fact that it tells the true story about a cold-blooded murder of an upstanding family in a small Kansas town in late 1959. I seem to remember from my college days that the murderers stopped in Emporia, KS to buy some supplies. Very creepy. Indeed, the book is relatively creepy. I've determined that I can't read it too closely to when I go to bed. And, I also think it's reviving some of the sleeping difficulties I noted right after our break-in last fall. However, I'm curious enough to know what happens to push on through. I like this particular quote, as it reminds me of those nervous nights last fall...

"Imagination, of course, can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in."

Lessons I Learned from my Deck

My Memorial Day weekend project was to rebuild the deck on the back of my house. When I say "my" project, I really mean my Dad's project. :) Since my Dad's a home builder, he's definitely the expert, but other family members (me and my sister, primarily) aided him as best we could. We didn't get finished, but there was some definite progress made.

There were two concrete steps off the back of my house that provided a considerable amount of work to remove. We rented a jack hammer for a couple of hours and (again, my Dad) chipped away at the steps. I used the jack hammer briefly, but that was mainly "for the experience" (according to my Dad) and "for a good photo opp" (according to me). But, as I was sitting back watching my Dad hammer away, I was saddened just a bit. The deck was pretty much unusable as it was, but even so, those steps have been my friends for the past three years that I've owned my house. I was reminded of the times I sat on that back stoop talking on the phone or just contemplating life. So, though I was excited about the new deck, it was a bit difficult to leave behind those stoops.

It made me think about life a bit... how it's comfortable to hold on to the past, even when I know it keeps me from moving forward. But, sometimes you have to remove the old before the new can take hold.

"God, let me be a person who bravely lets go of those things that keep me from experiencing the newness of your grace and mercy."

The Miseducation of Krista

Isn't it funny the things God uses to teach us? If you've read my post from April 29th, I've been working on not worrying as much. I've had several situations this past month or so that could have caused me a lot of stress and anxiety, but I've chosen not to get worried or stressed out about them.

One of those is one of the teams I sort of lead at church. It's called "The Crew." Late last month, right after preparing our May schedule, I had three people call and tell me that they were going to be able to help with it any more. Three may not sound like many, but we were already running a fairly tight ship with only about 10 helpers. So, three people, each serving twice a month had a pretty significant impact on the team. That's something I usually would have been really worried about... until I had a chance to find enough helpers and rebuild a schedule for May. However, I decided to trust God to take care of it. And, I knew that (no matter how few helpers we had) week-to-week things would still get done somehow... whether I worried about it or not. So, last week I was telling someone about the three new helpers we've had in May... one new person each week, and it dawned on me that I DID NOT HAVE TO TRACK ANY OF THEM DOWN! I really thought to rebuild the team, I'd have to spend some time on the phone begging for help. But, instead, each of these people either contact me out of the blue or just happened to mention to me that they were looking for additional ways to help out around the church!

What an incredible blessing! All it took was letting go of it and leaving it in God's hands! You thought I would have learned that by now!

"Thank you, Papa!"

Don't get on my "bed" side!

I drove home tonight after work and lifted my garage door like I always do. Instead of finding the empty garage, I found my bed... perfectly assembled and made up. Hrmmm... that's unusual. I normally sleep in my bedroom. (head scratch) It didn't take me long to realize that my roommate is a traitor and assisted my "friend," Chris, in moving my bed out to the garage. He was in the office this afternoon. When he mentioned that he was going to stop by Blockbuster to rent a movie I owned, I naturally told him I would loan him my copy. (Big mistake.) Truth be told, had my roommate not been home, I probably would have had a temporary lapse of judgement and given him my key. Fortunately she WAS home, so the disruption was limited to the bed.

The whole reason that happened is because several weeks ago I had help moving his scooter into a 20' box truck. That would have merely been funny had not his scooter been stolen before in the past. (I had that piece of information but, personally, still thought it was funny.)

Of course, that was egged on by him hiding my keys in my kitchen cabinets the last time he was over for small group.

And that was retribution for something I can't even remember, though I'm sure whatever that was was retaliation for when he took all of my light bulbs from out of my light fixtures and hid them around my house (everywhere from my sugar canister to my underwear drawer).

I'm sure there are more stories to tell, but... you get the idea. :)

Mango-induced rash

A bit of explanation on the last post... I've had a bit of a problem with mango salsa since last summer, though I assumed it was related to the jalapeno or cilantro. Well, after a bit of extensive research this weekend, I think I've linked it back to the mango. That's incredibly disappointing, but I love mango!

But, after eating a whole mango Sunday night, I've developed a poison ivy type rash. I did a bit of research on-line and discovered others with similar experiences...

I loved you once...

What a sweet affair... once or twice a year, you and I would share some heavenly moments. I can hardly believe it's over. It's been only 24-hours since you last touched my lips, but I think I shall never forget you. I loved you once, but it's not meant to be. I'm sure I'll see you around, at dinner parties and in the homes of friends. I'll catch a glimpse of you from across the room and remember all that has passed between us. A tear will invade my eye, and I'll be forced to look away. But, I must leave you forever. My health depends on it. Thank you, mango salsa, for the good times. I shall never forget you.

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Take this quiz, and let me know how you fare...

Things to say...

Wow... I've been working for my church for a year now. It doesn't seem like that could be possible. "Happy Anniversary, Me!"

I bought a pair of pants this week in a size smaller than I ever remember wearing!! I'm sure I passed quickly through the size once pre-puberty, but that memory has long escaped my awareness. Regardless, it feels fairly exhilarating. :)

I've been reading "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning. Great book! I'll have to share more thoughts/quotes from the book at a later time.

I took advantage of Tulsa's public transportation for the first time last Saturday. There's a Tulsa Transit bus stop two blocks from my house. Who knew?! It was an enlightening experience. I've only really used public transportation in populated US cities and foreign countries, so it brought a more urban-feel right to my doorstep (or at least as close as two blocks away). I encourage you all to check it out!

I don't know what else to tell you, other than... I'm going to bed here shortly. So, goodnight, friends!