Just. Breathe.

It's Saturday morning. My daughter is earning money cleaning the house, and I'm doing some other stuff. TV is tuned to music videos, and one of my new favorites just came on: Martina McBride's "Teenage Daughters": I ain’t complainin’ But I’m tired, so I’m just sayin’ What I think And if we’re being honest Than honestly I think I need a drink [It's a little early at the moment, but sure! Sign me up!] My baby’s growin’ up She think’s she’s fallin’ all in love And that I hate her At seventeen, she’s just like me when I was seventeen So I don’t blame her [I'm blessed that this isn't completely accurate. She's only 15, and I'm pretty sure she knows I don't hate her. BUT, I do remember 17, and it's not hard to project a little.] Remember when we used to be Everything they'd ever need We had them believing we were cool It’s like it happened overnight We’re always wrong, they're always right We used to be the ones bre...

That's a misleading title...It should be "A short list of stuff I've learned about having a group of people over to your house for something" but that didn't fit in the space I had. 10. Always have extra toilet paper in every bathroom of the house. Doesn't matter if the party is one hour or all day -- you're gonna need it. 9. There is no such thing as "too many potatoes" -- especially if they're mashed. It doesn't seem to matter if it's 5 pounds or 10 pounds...they're ALWAYS gone. 8. Having teenaged girls around for cleanup is an excellent idea. If you can pay them in dinner rolls and dessert, that's an extra score! 7. Speaking of dinner rolls, they will not rise on command. Apparently yeast has rules, and begging has no effect. 6. Ice. Remember the ice. Preferably BEFORE you're out. Just a suggestion. 5. Watching people who don't know each other get to know each other is one of the best parts of having peo...

I went upstairs to get some Easter stuff out of a closet early this morning, before coffee. Sitting on one of the boxes was this little book I recognized but hadn't seen in a while. I grabbed it along with the Easter stuff and went on my way. [Do you remember when EVERYTHING had this angel on it?] When I took time to flip through the book, I remembered that I used it to take notes during sermons at our "new" church, starting back in 1999.  Notes from 2000 -- quite a few weeks represented there. Continues on through 2001 -- here's a note from September 9, 2001:  Psalm 118:7-9 -- have confidence that God is in charge. That was a truth to remember a couple of days later. A few other headlines caught my eye ("Regaining Credibility," "How to Provoke Your Children" -- good times!) and I found a sweet card from a friend. Notes stopped after May 26, 2002. A bunch of blank pages made up almost half the notebook. That was a pretty tough year, so maybe th...

I'm planning. I'm planning a meal. I'm planning a special meal for special people. I love this. It's not like I only plan special meals once a year. But when it's time to do it, I just get this warm fuzzy feeling of joy. A few weeks ago I got to do it for a group of girls staying the weekend, and it was just as much fun. This will be for Easter and my mom will be here. Brisket? Chicken? Both? What kind of bread? Oh, and sides! Don't think about dessert yet. I'll browse known and unknown recipes, thinking about what works together and what sounds fun to make. I never used to do this. I remember the first Thanksgiving I hosted at our house. I was a wreck. I made Mom come in two days early to help me figure out what I was doing. I had the wrong kind of cornbread for the dressing, and I don't know how anything was actually finished in time to eat it. I think that was about 7 years ago. I've gotten a little better since then, I hope. The cooking is ...

We went to the arts festival yesterday. We try to go most years and have been often enough that we recognize some of the artists by face, not just by work. And the art is amazing. To see what some 200 artists create -- every single one of them different in some way -- is mind-boggling. Sure, there are a bunch of photographers...but not a single "duplication" out there. Sculptors in clay, metal, wood -- several may make vases or bowls, but none exactly alike. Then there's the guy that uses spark plugs (sparkplugguy.com) -- I think he might have a corner on that particular market. Where do they find inspiration? I don't mean once -- sure, see a beautiful sunset, and even I can be inspired to take a photo. I mean the inspiration to work 150 hours on one woven table base, to know that the colors and pattern is just what it needs to be (tinasbaskets.com). Reading the artists' descriptions of their work and how they see a piece in nature or in the materials they use -...

This is potential. Someday this will be a salad. Right now, it is a little bundle of green among several bundles. I grin every time I go outside and see how much it's grown since the day before. These guys have potential, too. Basil, dill, thyme...there's some cilantro and parsley in the barrel, too. They survived the wind of the last week and eventually will wind up in a sauce or a salsa or something yummy, as long as I don't forget to water them in the Texas summer. But I think THIS has actually reached its potential, and then some. I didn't believe the experts when they said mint is a weed with better PR. I'm not sure there are enough days or enough rum to make enough mojitos to use all this in my lifetime! Drop by if you need to pick up a cutting -- I don't think I'll miss it.

A year and a half ago I finally joined the Facebook nation. Now it looks like I'm jumping on the blog wagon. I like the idea of blogging. I've always liked the idea of journaling, and have had sporadic success when I make up my mind to journal as a way to keep my sanity. But if I edit myself on the off chance that someday I meet a terrible fate and Gibbs and Dinozzo have to go through all my stuff, do I REALLY want anyone to read what I think? So do I ever really write the truth in something private that stays in a drawer in my room? And if not, what on earth makes me think I'll be honest blogging? Or maybe it's not that kind of blog. I don't have to use this venue to throw my opinions on everything to an unsuspecting world. Lord knows there's enough of that going on. And while I know a little about a lot of things, I'm not an expert on any one thing that would fill that gaping hole in the web -- and if anyone knows what topic isn't already covered s...