Lint versus Lent

Lint is the stuff you take out of your dryer and throw away - or if you are my students you have a blatant disregard for properly disposing of this laundering by product.

JUST PUT IT IN THE TRASH!!

                                                             

 Unless you are one of those lint artists...then by all means, keep it, in fact, come get mine, it is on the floor next to the trash can...that's right.... next to it. Like those people who walk right past the dish washer to put their plate in the sink. Infuriating. 

                                                 

Lint that floats in the air and pills up on your sweater, it sticks to you. You often don't know its there until someone picks a piece off and says "Oh yeah, you just had a piece of lint right there...I got it for you."

I feel like during Lent we are doing that with God. He is pointing to a little tiny piece of lint on us and saying "You've got something right there, can I help you get it?" Not that what we are giving up/refraining from, etc is something that needs to be picked off and thrown out forever. Maybe just moved or changed - or given to that crazy cat lady down the street that makes catnip filled pockets of light blue lint for her cats.

I gave up seconds last year and I am doing it again. It was hard last year and it is hard this year. Each time I really want more I try to be thankful for what I have and pray to God and tell him that I do not need more, He is enough to fill me.

This doesn't mean I am starving myself...dinner plates are 9'' in diameter around here, there is plenty of space for a filling meal on there.

This doesn't mean I don't slip. I had a snack the other day - a handful of cashews, then I got another. Then I thought "Crap, I got seconds on snack time."

For me this is all about being thankful and finding contentment with what I have. My husband has a job right now and I am trying to be thankful that He and he are still providing for us. (upper case and lower case..get it? He=God and he=Cody)

I am trying to not go overboard, which is hard because there are fancy dinners I want to cook and sweets to bake, and well....to be honest. Clothes I want to buy for myself and daughter, home furnishings to purchase to update my home, paint because I am tired of the color.

This is called "Covered Wagon" and is the current living room color.

Color I want in the living room/kitchen.

I am not being thankful that I have a home that does not have lead paint, that I have furniture that is safe and clean,  clothes on our backs that are not in disrepair and are clean. Also, that we have a way to clean them, Even if they come out wrinkled and with a little lint on them. I bet after Lent I will be a little wrinkled too, but I hope this Lent sticks.

Glad it wasn't me!

You know those moments when you are like...Geeezzzz I am glad that didn't happen to me.

I have one of those for you....not for me, because it happened to me.

This is the snow hanging off our front porch roof.

Her in the midwest it snows frequently in the winter - crazy, right?? Just this past week, it snowed A LOT - like no school a lot - which has to be more than a few inches right?

Maggie standing in a truck tire path.

RIGHT!!

Try 8-10, depending on which farmer you ask ...it is always the same with those farmers - always trying to out do one another!




Annnnyyyways - so my sister comes home from college and decided to come to my house - only she misses her corner, not so bad but the road grater has only done one lane down the gravel road so she has to go clear around ( 4 miles out of her way) and gets stuck, did I mention she also shredded a tire on some pretty wicked ice?

So Carly and I load up - and we get in a friend's vehicle because Cody is at work and his truck is in the body shop because a different friend had a minor brain fart and backed into it. WHOOPS! So a friend of ours lent us me his 4 wheel drive truck very similar to Cody's, just in case I needed to go somewhere.

Which I did...my sister was stuck....... remember?

So I get to her, we get her lug nuts off (this is not a crude joke, these are technical terms, look em up!!) and the jack under the door of her car and my step dad gets there to help.We are laughing and joking and I hear a "clicka"...then another "clicka" and I go to our friend's vehicle...

and Carly...

fervently pressing the lock button with a very broad smile on her face as she proudly says "Mama, I do it" ......

my brain stops, my heart stops and then my brain goes a thousand miles a second

She locked herself in, maybe I can get her to push the other buttons...at least the truck isn't on, she can't get too hot, oh no, the truck isn't on, she will get too cold, my phone is in there, Caitlin's phone is dead, Mark doesn't get good reception, our friend may not answer, Carly thinks this is fun, Cody is going to be so mad at me, where is the crow bar!!

I end up coaxing her to push the lock/unlock buttons again but she only pushes the lock. She can't get the window to go down and now sees the panic on my face. I very sternly but rationally tell my sister to get a way to call our friend with the truck, if they call more than twice and can't get a hold of anyone I am breaking the truck window.

Long story short (heee heee heee) our friend is there, comes with the spare key and Carly is locked in all of 15 minutes. She of course is jamming to music and I am hollering things like, "Where is the moon?" "What color are your pants?" through the window to try and keep her entertained.

The second our friend comes around the corner and the doors unlock I wretch it open and grab for Carly and immediately begin to sob.

Not my usual tears - which fall often. No, those are civilized tears that slide down my face out of my control.

This is uncontrollable vocalization and gasping with tears pouring down my face, stinging my cheeks with their warmth and making a very damp spot on Carly's head. Carly then begins to cry and push me away saying "Ouchie Mama, too tight, squish me Mama" I don't care. I am just holding her because you don't let yourself think what if until after.

See, aren't you glad it wasn't you??

That's a Chicken!

The super bowl was great wasn't it?

What you didn't have fun?

I did...had breakfast with the cutest kid ever, played with Mags, went to church, went to a fabric store because they had $1.00 fat quarters, came home, took a nap, made a corn n macaroni casserole, went to a super bowl party, did some for-reals college homework, graded some student homework, laundry, bed.

Back up...you went to a fabric store for fat quarters...what the heck are those?

Fat quarters are a fourth of a yard of fabric but instead of the fabric being cut into four even "strips", the yard of fabric is divided into four quarters...giving it a nearly square appearance.

For those of you who like visuals

And those of you who need a real life scenario

This is a big deal?

YES, fat quarters are typically between $1.75-$3.00...these were ONE DOLLAR!! (Do you feel like you were just in an episode of Sheldon Cooper Presents Fun with Flags on The Big Bang Theory..'cause you should!)

This little adventure with my mom, grandma, and Carly was the highlight of my super bowl...Paul Harvey's "Why God Made Farmers" was a close second.

We have been talking about farm animals and wouldn't you know it - 5 minutes into shopping at the fabric store Carly decided she was bored. SURPRISE!! Luckily there was another little girl there and they had so much fun running in between tables and undertables and trying to knock down 70 year old women and break their hips...fun was had by all.

Finally I corralled my heathen and took her over to look at the cool wall hangings that looked like this...

I pointed to one similar to the above picture and asked her what it was..."K-State Wildcats, Mama" and without missing a beat she pointed to the next one and proudly said...."That's a Chicken!" Oh yes. The KU wall hanging, she thought, included a chicken.

 

Close enough.