They're Alive!

As I write this I just realized that I forgot to open the greenhouse this morning so the following may not apply after today when my seedlings are fried but...


They are alive! My little plants are all sprouting. Granted these don't even have true leaves yet but hey, something is happening and it makes me very happy. These photos show our lettuces but I have cucumbers and zucchinis too (multiple types) and I saw that a few other things were getting ready to break the surface as well.

I am not going to say the "g" word this time when talking about my weekend plans. Perhaps that will keep the lovely weather from taking a weekend break. Our plans include:

Greg: Has to attend an American Chemical Society conference on Saturday. His PI pretty much made it known that the whole lab would be going.

Alexis: I have BSF in the morning (just 4 weeks left) and then I will be attending a "townhall" at church where they are going to share progress and answer questions about our recent vision campaign. Greg was supposed to go with me but I have Alice to keep me company instead. We have to hightail it there from BSF so I hope we make it in time. Then in the evening we are both heading to Queens for Suzan's birthday party. Sunday is church and "other" things if weather permits.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I have to run out and find a gift for said birthday girl during lunch. We are having cake this afternoon, shhhh don't tell her!

Look What I Made

In an effort to get some stuff done around the house I decided to multitask last night. While watching Alias last night (Oh great, now Sidney has an evil twin) I pulled out the sewing machine and finally got some mending and sewing projects crossed off my to-do list. I fixed some trousers, sewed some ribbons into my duvet cover so I can tie the corners of the comforter in there and keep it from shifting around on us ( I have wanted to do this for YEARS!), and I made a BED BUDDY. Awhile ago I was looking through a catalogue and came across this:


They call it a Bedside Saddle but I prefer to call it a Bed Buddy. It is basically a pouch that hangs off the side of the bed to hold things like magazines, reading glasses, and remote controls. It is held in place by the mattress. I had to have this thing, it is so perfect for me. Our bedroom isn't wide enough for our bed and 2 night stands (thanks NYC apartment living) and I am not allowed to have the night stand on my side of the bed because I have a tendency to turn off the alarm clock in my sleep and then Greg is late for work (we learned this the hard way.... several times). So this is perfect for my side of the bed. I can keep the things I need handy but out of the way. But the one in the catalogue was $88! For some fabric that hangs off the bed? I can do this!

So when I was at the fabric store last I bought some heavy felt because that is what it looked like in the photo (turns out it's canvas, oh well). And last night I stitched one together.

As you can imagine it was pretty simple to piece together. I did all the parts in double layers of felt to give it strength. And here it is on the bed holding a couple of my things:

Now I have a place to put all the stuff I like to have handy so I can stop bugging Greg to hand me things from the nightstand. I love you bed buddy! And you only cost me about $8!

Scrapbook Update-Layout 24

With all the rain outside it made for a perfect scrapbooking time inside. Just as I was settling in to work on my next layout (a trip to Washington DC) the mail came. Now a month ago I broke the cardinal rule of trying to use up ones stash, I joined a scrapbooking club! I know, what was I thinking? Well this club has some neat stuff and it is a 3 month at a time club so I figured it was low commitment. Take a look at the Jenni Bowlin Studios kit I got in the mail! I decided to challenge myself and use the kit the same day for my layout. Here is how it turned out:

When brainstorming the color scheme for a trip to our nations capital I was of course thinking about red, white and blue but the photos from the trip were all pretty gray in color (thanks to all that marble used the build monuments!) so I figured any colors would work. Why not orange and blue. Plus the stars theme is TOTALLY American right?! I was pleased to have used so many embellishments on this layout: ribbon, photo corners (I had to use photo corners!), chipboard letters and stars, glitter!, and a star stud. The layout is from the BH sketch book and all the supplies except the photo corners came from the kit. I used a couple new techniques on this layout as well so here is my commentary.

Altered chipboard-Chipboard is all the rage in scrapbooking and I did use it once before but this was my first time using naked chipboard and covering it myself. I couldn't help but wonder as I was cutting out the letters from patterned paper (to glue to the chipboard) why I wasn't just going to glue them directly to the page. I mean dimension is nice but is it that important? After they were glued and dried I sanded the edges to clean them up a bit. Overall this process did involve liquid glue which is messier than I like but it wasn't too difficult or time consuming.

Glittered chipboard-This project made me realize I am a lazy scrapbooker. I think this is why I never got into painting on my layouts (a popular trend right now and paint was included in my kit so I will probably try it out eventually). I am to lazy to deal with the mess it leaves, and the time waiting for things to dry. The glittered "D" did not go well at all. I think I used the wrong kind of glue the first time and when I tried to go back and fix bare spots the letter turned out all lumpy and gross. So I scrapped off the glitter to try again but first I practiced with the star. This time I used a glue stick and it worked better so I tried the glue stick on the D as well. It worked ok. I ended up sealing the glittered items with diamond glaze because I didn't trust my glue to hold in the long run. This I may never do again. Really messy and it probably took an hour to make the 2 glittered elements. That is way more time than I am usually willing to spend on embellishments.

Here are some close-ups of the layout.

*******
I also got some new paper trays but am having a hard time incorporating them into my scrapbook area. I really could use some more space BUT that isn't going to happen so this tells me it is time to purge purge purge my area. I do love organizing! But it is nice to have my 12x12 cardstock up off the floor. I was thinking this morning that I could put my 8.5x11 cardstock on the trays with the larger pieces. That would at least free up a quarter of a shelf.

Rain Rain Go Away!

*****I tried to post this yesterday but blogger was down for repairs in the afternoon so I will try again.

When I said it was going to rain over the weekend I wasn't kidding! We got almost 4 inches of rain in 2 days. There were flood warnings for the greater New York and New Jersey areas and apparently the rivers are still pretty high. It is supposed to rain off and on until Wednesday. Here is what happened in our garden as a result!



Well we stayed home and stayed dry. Aside from going to BSF and work for me and the Lab for Greg we hung out at home watching videos (King Kong and Narnia) and worked on projects around the house.

Hopefully the weather will be better next weekend for gardening. The weekdays have been fantastic but the last 3 weekend have been pretty sad and gray.

**** Tuesday: It did rain more yesterday but today it is really sunny and beautiful. There is still a thundershower warning for the afternoon. The garden paths have all dried up and hopefully the ground will be dry enough to stand on this weekend.

Weekend Update

Well I have been a bad blogger this week with few photos and no real information. I got off on a bad foot at the start of the week. I have been feeling very overwhelmed by my life lately. So many things to get done but when I am home I feel too rundown to do anything but sit on the couch. Yesterday after work I vacuumed the apartment and made dinner which that felt like a major victory. Partly I think this is do to poor quality sleep so Greg and I have been working this week on making sleep time more successful for me by sticking to a set bed time, trying to get up at a better time, and doing things like keeping the room cooler and stuff like that. It has been working pretty well so far. I had been having a really hard time falling asleep the 2 weeks prior to this but since we have been making an effort this week I have been falling asleep quickly. Now I am working on staying asleep. I have issues with waking up in the night because I am too hot, my arms are asleep, etc. That has gotten better this week too.

This weekend I was planning to garden (am I sounding like a broken record yet?) but it is supposed to rain all day Saturday unfortunately. That means my plan is changing to include my weekly layout, getting my mother's day suprises packaged and ready for the mail, and reorganizing my scrapbook space to accommodate some new paper trays I bought and received this week. I also bought the stuff to make a tofu cheesecake so I may do a little baking too. I actually have to come into work on Sunday to help with a really big experiment in the lab. They need as many extra hands as possible. I don't really want to but I didn't have a real reason to say no since I go to church at night. I also have to help with the same experiment all day Monday. I usually spend my lunch on Monday preparing my bible lesson for BSF so that means I have to be 100% ready by Sunday night. So I will add that to my weekend goals.

Speaking of baking, the weather has been gorgeous here. We made it into the 80s this week and it has been glorious because the humidity hasn't set in. I wish all of summer would be like this week! What does that have to do with baking? Well, now that spring is officially here it means we won't be able to use our oven much longer (we NEVER use it in the summer) so when I did my meal plans for this week and next Greg and I dug some of our favorite oven recipes to enjoy one last time. Last night was an enchilada casserole and tonight Thai seitan curry in filo dough (my favorite). This weekend we will have our last homemade pizzas and next week we will finish up with a pasta based casserole. Plus the cheesecake! Maybe I should bake some cookies and freeze them for Greg. Hmmm. I love meals from the oven, I will miss them over the summer!

I hope you all have a great weekend and I will be a better blogger next week!

Garden Update

Well Greg was a dear and spent the afternoon yesterday clearing weeds and debris from the garden. We still have a lot of work to do but it really helped a lot. We also found a scuttle hoe hidden in the shed which is a big help.

The big news is that as of this morning all the seeds are planted in the greenhouse. Well not all the seeds, some are direct sow but all the ones that can be started early are planted. Hopefully we will begin to see some growth in the next few days.

Yippie!!!

Scrapbook Update & T-Shirt Instructions

Greg and I were sick during the Easter weekend with a nasty stomach bug but I managed to get this done the afternoon before it hit. This is a layout of the New York Botanical Garden train show. I managed to use photo corners (of course!), printed ribbon that I have had forever but have NEVER tried before, ribbon slides, stick on brads, letter stickers, and a pre-cut tag. I also pulled out some new Basic Grey paper that I had drooled over when I was with Katie over Christmas and finally broke down and ordered a month or so ago. I think it gives this layout a classy look. This is of course a modified BH layout from the latest sketch book.

And for those who wanted to try the T-shirt instructions here they are. Of course this photo is horrible and impossible to read (hey, it is a photo of a t-shirt for goodness sakes!), but you are in luck because my dear friend Alice found out these instructions are on the Martha website and you can view them here. Happy Folding!!!

Random Thoughts

Well I had to post this picture of my parents taken last weekend in the Tri-Cities. They are just the cutest couple! I love you guys and miss seeing you all the time!

It has finally warmed up here in NYC. I think spring is officially here. We have had several warm days in a row (in the 70s yesterday) and I am confident that my heavy coat will stay in the closet for good. I am hoping that this weather holds for the weekend so I can get out in the garden.

There is no BSF this weekend because of the Easter holdiday so I am planning on making Saturday my garden day. We'll see how it goes. No matter what I am going to get those darn seeds planted if it kills me!

On the Martha Show (airing right now) she told us how to clean our stainless steal cookware using a product called Barkeepers Friend. I found a can of it at Kmart last night and took it home to use on my pots. These pots are so stained they are black on the bottom (I think from using too high of heat on our gas range). Pretty bad! Well this stuff really works! I have gotten the worst pot about 90% clean on the outside (the inside is brilliant again) and one of my smaller pots is back to looking new. I didn't think it was possible. I would check this stuff out if you have stained/charred cookwear. For copper cookwear she recommended squirting ketchup on it, let it sit then rub off. I have also heard of using salt and half a lemon. I don't have copper cookwear but if I did I would give it a try. Also another funny thing I remembered about our visit to the show. Martha likes Eminem! They played his album during the commercial breaks!

Well, it is Good Friday and I am heading to church at 5pm for service and then possibly out to dinner with my dear husband (who I never see anymore). I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter Holiday as we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

OH, the magic of television!

Well, yesterday I took the day off of work and went with my friends Alice, Connie, and Sandy to a taping of the Martha Stewart Show in the afternoon. We met for lunch before hand and then headed to the studio.

After a long stint in the "holding room" where we had refreshments (NOT homemade by Martha), signed release forms, and got "pumped up" by the audience wrangler we headed into the studio. We were seated in the very top row. The audience prep guy was a commedian who entertained us while we waited for the star herself to show up. He was pretty funny.

The set looked just like it does on TV but it was cool to see in real life. I always thought her show was live but no, it is taped before a live studio audience. Our show will air on Friday. The special guest was Wynona Judd but she couldn't be there for the taping so they did her segments earlier and were going to add ours in. In the end I don't think they got us on camera at all. They didn't do very many audience shots. Probably because they had 2 different audiences and they don't want anyone to notice.

We watched a segment on decorating lamp shades (ugly and a really short segment), cleaning cookware (could have been useful if the segment was more than 2 minutes long), and making a passionfruit souffle (which I don't eat). It was more fascinating seeing how a show is made than seeing the show itself. There were about a million production assistants in the studio doing who knows what, at one point they held up little signs that said speed up or slow down in addition to the teleprompters, and we saw the stage managers instructing Martha on what to do for each bit during the commercial breaks. At one point the director was in the kitchen set and started eating some of the props in the background (jelly beans in a giant vase). The segments were REALLY short. Probably because they air at the end of the hour where segments are shorter and commercials are more frequent. At one point in the souffle making Martha put the suffles in the oven and then when she went to pull the cooked souffles out they weren't done so they stopped production so the food could keep cooking. So to kill time Martha took questions from the audience. Alice asked a great quesiton about cakes.

When it was all over we each got a cheesy T-Shirt as a free gift. I was hoping for a new car but hey, beggers can't be choosers. The only good thing (no pun intended) about the T-shirt was that on the back they had printed Martha's instructions for folding T-Shirts. I loved them. I refolded all of Greg's T-shirts this morning (like 50 of them) using her technique in under 10 minutes. It is fast and easy and they take up a lot less room and look great. I guess that made the whole trip worthwhile.

Garden Update

Ok, in my defense it did rain ALL day on Saturday so our garden was a giant swamp. I probably could have weeded a little bit but when the paths are all flooded and muddy it really makes it pretty difficult. So how did I fair on my goals:

1. Buy soil at home depot and price wood and compost.
Turns out Greg had a whole bag of potting soil left over from last year so I just used that instead of buying anything new. We will have to deal with the wood and stuff next weekend.

2. Make the paper seed pots. (we have a paper seed pot maker. They are nice because they can go right into the ground and they biodegrade)
I did this! See above. I actually made 2 trays worth which Greg thinks is way more than I will need. I even filled one trays worth with the potting soil. It was a little damp from being outside so it will need to dry out a little. I hope to get some seeds in the soil this week. Right now I am sorting all the seed packets to figure out which should be sown directly to soil and which can be started indoors.

3. Spend a few hours cleaning up the garden beds.
Remember the rain? I of course didn't get to this part but I did take a picture of the garden on Sunday. Sort of a before photo:

I know what you are thinking. "How wonderful that you planted grass in your pathways". Um those are weeds, not grass. We are debating right now what to do about the pathways. They have really poor drainage so they flood really easily. We had wanted to do newspaper and straw which the garden books recommend but we can't find any straw in our area.

Next you are thinking, "what a lovely chain link fence, and in such a warm brown color!". Yes, the rusty fence is a pet peeve of mine. As you can see all the neighbors put up newer fences next to ours but of course we can't take it down. So really nasty weeds grow between the two and cause all kinds of problems and are impossible to get out. I have a secret plan on how to handle this. We will see if Greg goes for it.

Next thought, "Wow, you have your own shed for storing your gardening tools and such. How lucky!". Nope, the shed is a giant metal junk holder that belongs to the landlord. All of the gardening supplies and tools sit out under our porch, hence the wet bag of soil I got to dig in.

Scrapbook Update

Well I taught the scrapbook class on Saturday but by the time I got home I had a pretty bad headache (perhaps because of the rainy weather) so I had a quick lunch, took some drugs and hit the bedroom for a nap. Greg came down with a cold on Friday so he spent a couple hours at school and then came home and took a nap with me. When I woke up I felt much better but chose to have dinner and watch a movie (aka relax) instead of working on any of my other weekend plans.

On Sunday I threw this layout together and it was so perfect because all of the little squares at the bottom were extra pieces I had taken to the class on Saturday so I used them all up on this layout. I also challenged myself to use 5 embellishments and I think I did it. I used photo corners, letter stickers, paper flowers, ribbon, staples, brads (2 different kinds). Whoo hoo that was 6-7. This layout was really quick and easy because I copied the color scheme and stuff from the explosion book I just taught AND because it is a direct scraplift of a BH sketch from her newest book. Here are some close-ups for your viewing pleasure (they won't fit side by side)!

Craft Club Success!

Well, my explosion book class went great! It rained all day Saturday which meant it was a good day to stay in and do crafts. 6 woman showed up for the class so we had plenty of room to work in Kelly's apartment. Everything went really smoothly but what do you expect from a room full of BSF leaders! They follow directions, I mean GUIDELINES, really well! Ha! I think the most challenging part was making the covers for the albums but all the ladies did a super job. I set it up so they could make a book exactly like the sample but several woman chose to do their own thing with the colored paper and embellishments and really made their books unique. It was great to see. The whole project took about 2 hours which worked out perfectly because a couple ladies had afternoon appointments to get to and I was worried they wouldn't finish.

Rachel Hocking said she was sure that her mom would cry when she opened it. To me that makes the whole thing worthwhile! It means that someone found it meaningful.

We had a great time and everyone kept thanking me but I felt like the one who should say thank you. I loved teaching the class and when you love doing something (like scrapbooking) it is a privilege to share it with people. Maybe someone will fall in love with paper crafts and I will have a new cropping buddy!

Next month Alice is going to teach us to crochet coasters! I can't wait!

And don't worry, I still completed my own layout over the weekend to keep on track with my scrapbooking goal. More about that tomorrow.

Happy Birthday R-chle B-chle

27 years ago my little sister was born. I thought it was great but hey, I got a Hippity Hop out of the deal! Apparently I loved to pick Rachel up and carry her around until one day she was old enough to hit me and let me know she didn't appreciate that! I have tons of fond childhood memories of playing dress-ups together ,riding around grandma's house on the Big Wheels and so many others.

As kids and teens Rachel had always marched to beat of her own drummer and it seemed we had nothing in common and as such we fought a lot and didn't get along as well as sisters should.

I guess some times you just need to grow up in order to appreciate people (I know that is true of parents!) and as an adult I have come to appreciate and love the unique and beautiful woman that Rachel has become. We have never looked that much alike (which is why I was able to convince her as a child that she was adopted) but I realize now we have so much in common. We are both creative and love making things. We have the same weird sarcastic sense of humor. We are both equally as stubborn (though we show it differently). We have the same childhood memories and experiences. And it is strange but when I hear my voice recorded and played back to me I don't hear my voice, I hear hers. Now if only we had the same metabolism, I would be so much happier! She is the only sister I will ever have. Why is it when my mom would say that I thought it was no big deal. It is a big deal, it's huge!

Sister-I love you and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Love,
Alexis

Garden Update/Plan

Well yesterday I spent my precious time writing an entry about the garden and my plans for the weekend and when I went to post it Blogger hiccuped and lost my post. Argh!!! So here it goes again.....

I was walking home for work the other day and I notice that several of our neighbors down the block have already tilled their soil and have it prepped for planting! I thought I had all the time in the world (perhaps because it snowed 2 days ago!) but apparently I am behind. I had decided that I would go out and weed last night for 15 minutes but by the time I got home it was just about dark and Greg called to say he was on his way home from school so I opted to get dinner started instead. I would give it another try tonight but I really need to prepare for my scrapbook class tomorrow, SO it will have to wait for the weekend.

I did bring home some trays from work to put in the greenhouse. The ones from last year practically melted. It gets pretty darn hot in there once summer officially starts and they couldn't take the heat. These are a little heavier duty and should hold up better. So my plan for the weekend is to:

1. Buy soil at home depot and price wood and compost.
2. Make the paper seed pots. (we have a paper seed pot maker. They are nice because they can go right into the ground and they biodegrade)
3. Spend a few hours cleaning up the garden beds.

We will see how this goes. I am still a little concerned that even in the greenhouse it isn't warm enough to germinate a lot of the seeds. Some require 75-80 degrees to germinate. I may need to start those in the house where it is at least 70 most of the time. I may have to put a thermometer in the greenhouse and see what the temps are during the day and night.

That is my plan and I will let you know how it goes.

Scrapbook: I have my class tomorrow at 10am. I am all done with my BSF preparations so I can focus this evening on getting my bag packed and getting the last minute things done. I was going to buy little boxes for the books to be packaged in when they are finished but I couldn't find the size I wanted and the one's I did find were almost $1 each. So I came up with another idea of putting them in glassine bags with a little sizzle and tying a pink bow. It is pretty cute (and cheap) and will work very nicely. I just hope the ladies have a good time!

Scrapbook Update

First of all the weather. It has been chilly and cloudy all week. I had to dig my heavy coat back out of the closet. But on my way to work I was noting all the beautiful magnolia trees in full bloom and thinking to myself, "it may be chilly but it is still spring". Well right now it is SNOWING! It started about 15 minutes ago and it is REALLY coming down. Big fluffy white flakes! April showers bring frozen flowers I guess. Argh! They are filming a movie or something down on the street outside of my building (I work next to a park that they like to use in movies and tv shows, especially Law and Order) so I bet the snow is really making the directors day!

Ok, now onto the scrapbook update. I did complete a 1 page layout, but it wasn't quite done by Sunday. It is funny because this blog has provided me a great deal of accountability to meet my goal each week. I was really stuck on a couple design elements on the page which is why it didn't get done by Sunday but I kept thinking, you have to get this done so you can blog about it and keep on track! So I forced myself to "just do it" with an idea I had. Letting go of the perfectionism is hard at times but I am happy with the way the page turned out. This is a page about a weekend tip we took to Eugene a couple years ago to suprise Greg's grandma on her 90th birthday. Sorry for the shiny spot on the photo of Greg and his Grandma.

Of course I love the clean lines on the layout but when I was all done and looking at it I realized it has hardly any embellishments. That would be fine except I need to use up the massive amount of stuff I have accumulated which includes tons of embellishments and here I only used 2 brads, one snap, and some letter stickers. I think on my next layout I will issue a self-challenge to use at least 5 embellishments. We'll see how it goes!

Well my Mom has been dabbling in scrapbooking recently (she is regularly a stamper). A few years ago she got the idea to take the giant box of photos my Grandma had stuffed up in a closet and actually do something with them. So many heritage photos and most didn't even have a name or date on the back. So we went through the box during one visit to Richland and she, Rachel and I sat down with Grandma and Grandpa and quized them about each photos, noting who it was, when it was taken and what it was about. We filled up notebooks with information. It was funny because sometimes Grandma would say "oh, we don't talk to them anymore" or "I don't remember that" and then grab the photo and rip it up! Yikes! Well, the photos stayed in the box a few more years untouched. I think it was such a daunting task no one wanted to start organizing and cataloging the photos. Plus, we all assumed we had endless time.

Well in 2001 my Grandpa died unexpectedly and my mom realized that time was not on her side. If she waited much longer all the people that knew the history of the photos would be gone. Plus my Grandma's memory is starting to deteriorate. So over Christmas she sorted through the pile of photos and we brainstormed a color scheme and some simple embellishments and she began a people book showing our family tree. This is just the first of several books (she has that many photos!) but I just got to see some images from the book today. Here are some example pages:

I love how the pages are all a little different but her page elements tie them all together (ribbon, ribbon slides, book plates, photo corners, and the same color scheme/family). I am so proud of her for finally accomplishing her goal (or at least getting started) and doing such a great thing for our family by recording a little of our history. She has 20+ pages done and I can't wait to see these in real life. Great job mom!

Weekend Update

Well today it is overcast and chilly. Bummer. I am wearing short sleeves, a skirt and my new shoes (below). So I obviously don't check the weather before I leave the house and instead rely completely on wishful thinking to prepare for my day.

We had a nice weekend. It turned out Greg didn't need to go into school on Saturday after all (they haven't been good about ordering the supplies he needs for his thesis research-another problem!) so he stayed home and did homework and worked on a presentation he has to give in a couple weeks at school.

I hit the mall! For those who take mall shopping for granted, I don't live anywhere near a mall (they don't really exist in Manhattan) so I drove out to West Nyak about 45min to find one. Lucky for Greg I didn't wear very comfortable shoes or else I would still be there looking around. I found all the things I need for my scrapbook class next weekend plus some other fun stuff!

I found tons of colored photo corners at JoAnn Fabrics along with some ribbons and stuff. I also bought some fabric for a project at home and some black velvet to use as a backdrop when doing photo shoots. I am hoping to play around with my camera in the next few months and develop my skills a little. I also found these super cute shoes at DSW which I am wearing right now. I love them. I guess I am a little obsessed with shoes right now. When you have feet as big as mine it is hard to find shoes that look cute AND fit. DSW has a pretty good clearance section and it is organized by size so it makes my life so easy. These are Reaction and weren't on clearance but I made an exception.

I spent part of Saturday putting together the kits for the scrapbook class and I am about 90% done. I think I may make a 2nd little book as an example during the class. The woman will be sitting at 2 separate table so this way each table will have a change to look at a real life example.

My seeds also came in the mail on Friday so this week I am going to begin working on getting some of them potted and into the green house. Greg has already started clearing brush from the garden so we are on our way.

Other than that our weekend involved movie watching, scrapbooking, mixed CD making, eating, serving communion at church, cleaning, and a nice nap. Pretty standard for us. I noticed no one left any comments on my last post even though I specifically asked you to. I am going to assume that means none of you read books, just my blog. And that is OK with me!

T.G.I.F.

Spring has sprung!!!!! Ok, that may not be official from a meteorologist's perspective but we have had several sunny days in a row and today it is 70 degrees out (not in the shade of course but still)!!! WHOOOHOOO! I love it! It makes me want to go shopping for spring clothes and sandals and makes being indoors working a bit difficult.

Speaking of shopping I am heading to the mall tomorrow to get some supplies for my explosion book class. I officially have 7 woman signed up to take my class so this weekend I am going to assemble the kits. As I mentioned before I am over 50% done because I cut a lot of things out as I was designing but I do need to get some ribbon (white and pink/brown) and also some more GlueDot-Minis. While I'm at the mall I will also swing into Target and some other shops and get some stuff for the house. They also have a Home Depot out there so I may stop in and price wood for building raised garden beds. We'll see. Greg will be at school so it is my chance to shop and browse. Something he hates! I just hope it is sunny out on Saturday so I can drive in the sun and sing along to the radio. I miss that about commuting by train, the karaoke aspect.

Greg had a major set back in regards to grad school this week. He was informed that he can't do thesis research for credit over the summer (it isn't "technically" offered). Of course that isn't written down anywhere and no one seemed to make the connection when he was planning his schedule during his advising sessions. This really puts a wrench in his plans and puts him in a very difficult position with his current lab. He is going to petition for a special exception but doesn't feel very optimistic about it. If they refuse he may have to suspend his research for the summer and the PI (Principal Investigator aka boss) of the lab he is working in will probably be pretty unhappy about it. Plus some other stuff this week has made him feel really burned out and like he is treading water and not progressing as he would like to. If you feel led, please pray that God would work this out and Greg would see the outcome, no matter what it is, as a positive thing. A break for the summer may be good for him, even if it means being in school longer. Also, prayer for stamina and perseverance would be helpful too. It is hard putting in 12-14 hours day in and day out (including 6-8 hours on Saturdays) and it is beginning to wear on him.

I have had a pretty good week this week. I've been productive at work and I am pretty far ahead on my BSF preparations so I have actually had time to read BOOKS on the train instead of working on my lesson plans. I am currently reading "You: The Owners Manual" which my mom gave me for Christmas. It is a general health book written by the Dr. who was on Oprah a bunch of times with body parts (maybe you saw it). It is ok, so far. He keeps harping about this new medical breakthrough everyone should be using. It's something called "exercise". I don't know, I may need to wait for more research on this before I incorporate it into my life! It is a little scary because there are all these issues that people "over 30" need to be aware of and in a 3 months that is me! My body is apparently going to fall apart on June 24th! Anyway, I am supposed to send the book to Rachel when I am done so I figured I should get going on it. What are YOU reading? Post it in comments (yes all you lurkers, you know who you are!).

Above is a photo that Suzan took of me today in the lab. I am still growing my hair out. It is just long enough to put in a tiny unstable ponytail (I have my parents to thank for my jumbo sized head). For those who haven't seen me in a while here you go! Have a great weekend!

Retreat Notes #2

Here the final 2 sessions from Jean Nystrand's talks.


SESSION THREE

Isaiah 53
The suffering servant

Aim= Adore Jesus, and worship the sovereign one who planned all this.

*A biblical servant- A trusted member of the household. Holds great responsibility and confidences.

I.
The servant exalted
53:13-15

*He will act wise, be exalted, be sprinkled, be disfigured, silence kings.

II.
The servant despised
53:1-3

*Addressed to returned exiles and those who benefit (us).
*Not noticed by the world.
*Passage doesn’t mean Jesus was unattractive, but that he was a regular person.
*Despised, pitiable.
*The people go from failure to recognize him to full rejection.

III.
The servant wounded
53:4-6

*People believed he was cursed.
*Jesus wasn’t just punished; he was doing WORK on the cross.
*He provided healing form sin (this passage does not suggest a promise of physical healing but spiritual healing), spiritual cleansing. Physical healing was NOT purchased for us on the cross. He proved a cure for the disease of sin.
*God treated Jesus as if all sin in history had been committed by him. He was wounded for me.

IV.
The servant cut off
53:7-9

*Jesus was a willing and submission servant.
*Unfair trial, no physical descendants (sorry Da Vinci code, it’s pretty clear here).
*Honored with a rich mans tomb.

V.
God and servant satisfied
53:10-12

*This was God’s plan even before Adam and Eve sinned. IT IS NOT PLAN B!!
*It is the ultimate way to glorify himself.
*It was not Jesus’ perfect life that paid our debt, it was his death.
*Jesus, like a seed, had to die in order to produce fruit.
*God was satisfied and Jesus is exalted.
*He made intercession for me

Principle= He is God the savior.

**We should ponder this not just with emotion but with intellect as well.



SESSION FOUR

Chapters 57-58

Aim=True and acceptable worship flows from a high view of God

I.
God’s Position
57:14-21

*A walk from exile toward God.
*God tells us he is holy and lives in a high and lofty place. His name is holy.
*We should be contrite before him. This means crushed.
*Know in my heart that I am no better than other people.
*Strip away the garbage and know our place before God.
*God didn’t heal because the people had changed but because he chose to. He doesn’t hold grudges. God comforts, restores, and produces joy on our lips.
*The wicked face constant turmoil. Do I envy the wicked and their ways (thinking they have more fun)? When we see God’s view of them how does it change our attitude?

Principle=True worship requires putting God in his rightful place and not adjusting Him to my preferences.

*We need to use God’s word daily to show us how we are putting God and ourselves into wrong positions. Saturate ourselves in scripture.

II.
God’s Complaint
58:1-5

*Addressed to people who need an attitude adjustment. They have a faulty relationship with God. This is a heart issue.
*Problem: Selfish worship, rebellion/sin, thought fasting could twist God’s arm or be “super spiritual”, and unconfessed sin.
*True fasting means constant life of self denial in order to glorify God. They wanted a little outward abstinence but not inward change or self denial.
*We dull our appetite for God when we let too many other distractions in.
*A divided heart compartmentalizes our worship and our work/life.
*Worship should be 24 hours a day, not just Sunday.
*It isn’t enough to just ask God for forgiveness. It there was a relationship that was hurt it must be restored. It takes love, perseverance, and courage. Sin can be dealt with and restoration can happen.

Principle=True worship requires a heart open and obedient to God.

Is my heart divided? (we had a personal evaluation on this topic)
How has my worship been superficial?
What sin is keeping me from true worship?

III.
God’s Desire
58:6-14

*He wants: a compassionate, self denial life style. Blessing comes from self denial, blessing comes from giving, gain life by giving it away. This is the paradox.
*God makes himself available
*God meets outward and inward needs.
*God desires to give me joy.

**The Sabbath:

• The Sabbath frees us from extraneous things to focus wholly on the Lord.
• Trust God to care for you, your work, your home, etc. so you can keep the Sabbath.
• Sabbath practices include; self forgetfulness, self discipline, laying down idols, etc.
• Keeping the Sabbath is a heart issue not a set of rules or restrictions.
• V13 says not to do as I please on the Sabbath.
• Ask what God would want that would separate the day (This may look different for each person).
• Sabbath is a day to enjoy God.
• This will bring him glory.

Principle=True worship brings delight to God and the worshiper.

*True and acceptable worship flows from a high view of God.

Do I call the Sabbath a delight?
Is it a day to do as I please or as God pleases?
Do I speak idol words?

Sunny Day, Everythings A-OK.....

Well it is a beautiful sunny day here in NYC. It was actually 60 degrees when I left the house today so I didn't have to wear my heavy coat! It is often very sunny here in the winter but today it was sunny AND warm. This does so much to put me in a better mood. I am hoping this warm sunny day is the beginning of spring (which officially started on the 20th!).

Before I post another section of the notes from the retreat (another long text post) I thought I would post some photos I just took. One is the view from my office (ignore the really dirty window!). I work on the 7th floor and I am one office away from the corner so I can see in 2 or 3 directions. I can't actually see out my window from where I sit but I get a lot of natural light which is nice.

The second photo is my desk.

Not super exciting stuff but a slice of my day to day life!

Retreat Notes #1

For those who are interested, here are some notes from the teaching portion of the BSF retreat I recently attended. This is not a transcript by any means and often the points may seem a little disjointed. I will try and give you the overall outline of what she talked about and then the points that struck me as well as her principles and some applications. You will need to read the passages to know what I am talking about. It am posting this in several sections because it is so long.

Jean Nystrand, the Director of BSF lectured on select passages from the Book of Isaiah with the overarching question: Who is God, and what difference does it make in how I live my life?

SESSION ONE

I.
The Man, The time, The message

She provided us with an overview of Isaiah, the times he lived in, and his message. She provided a great deal of background info which I won't put here.

* Isaiah has 2 major audiences. Chapters 1-39 are a narrative addressed to his contemporaries, Judah and other nations who were entrenched in sin. This narrative is a warning to the people. Chapters 40-66 are a narrative with a different tone. It is post-judgment and speaks of comfort and redemption.

*Isaiah had a very high view of God. The word LORD appears more than 300 times in his book, "Holy One of Israel" more than 25 times along with many other names for God. It is the longest prophesy in the bible (the second longest book in the bible).

Principle=In times of wickedness and worldly prosperity God has a message for his people.

*Today that message is contained in his word. This is why we study it.

II.
The Issue: Whom do you trust

*The people of that time favored wrong worship of outward appearances but no inward fire or heart for God.
*They favored idolatry, had wrong values favoring materialism.
*There was great oppression of the classes and corruption.
*They had wrong alliances particularly political.
*They had wrong thinking.
*They were not trusting in God.

Principle= God is alive, active, trustworthy, and immutable
Principle=All issues of life hinge on whether we trust in God or in man.

III.
The Vision: His commission
Chapter 6 "God the holy one"

*The Lord is seated in the vision. This denotes his control. He is high and exalted. The length of a train represents one's importance. The Lord's train fills the temple showing his immense importance.
*Angels-Wings covering face denote humility, wings covering feet denote service, and flying shows that the service is ongoing and active.
*Holiness is the central essence of God's character. Holy, Holy, Holy is repeated to emphasize its extreme importance in Hebrew writing (they have no exclamation point).
*Holy-God's holiness shows he is separate from creation, morally perfect.
*How am I viewing God's holiness? Does it line up with scripture?
*”Woe to me”. When Woe is used in the bible judgment is being pronounced. Here Isaiah is identifying himself with the people around him, identifying himself as a sinner. This is his confession.
*The cleansing of the lips indicates a cleansed life. God has made Isaiah a part of His operational solution to the problem.

Principle=Isaiah was not reluctant. He immediately offered himself for service once cleansed.
Principle=Those who glimpse God's holiness and experience his cleansing are willing to answer his call.

***After what God has done for me, how can I say no?

*Isaiah trusted in God not in man.
*Who am I putting my trust in?
*It is ALL about God, not about me.

SESSION TWO

**Before beginning Jean suggested we try using our hymnals during devotions. Using the poetry and wording of the verses to help us verbalize what we feel, confess, or need. I love this idea and had actually been doing this some already but during the retreat I found a couple new hymns with such rich words that I had never noticed before. I realized what a wonderful gift our little hymnals are.

Background:
Chapter 40
*God reveals himself to the modern world through his word. This of course includes the written word but also Jesus, the living word. Hebrews teaches us that Jesus, the living word, is the radiance of God's glory and his exact representation.
*We probably won't fully exhaust the wonders and characters of God even when we are in full glory, he is just too vast and magnificent.
*But the difficulty of knowing God isn't intellectual, it is moral. We don't WANT to know what we know or do what we learn.
*Chapter 40 is the transition point in the book of Isaiah; Transitioning to a message of hope and redemption. The target audience being the captives in Babylon.
*God gives Isaiah insight into God's plan. God sees everything in the NOW because he isn't tied to time like we are.
* This book is symphonic in nature-having interweaving themes. It is not linear (a warning to us as we read it). It is poetic. Poetry is the best way for Isaiah to describe these dynamic ideas but it makes the passages difficult to translate at times.

Aim: All our categories to describe God are inadequate because God is incomparable.

I.
Isaiah's 2nd call
40:1-11

*The judgment has come. The people are devastated. Isaiah's message has changed to one of comfort.
**We see comfort as warm and fuzzy. In Hebrew comfort means STRENGTH. God's comfort is to lend us His strength.
*Isaiah tells the people: They are God's people (his covenant remains intact). They are forgiven, their sins are paid for but they didn't earn it. God will bring them home. We know that their sins are forgiven because Jesus has died on the cross for them. Again, God is not bound by time and he is stating this in the now.
*God's workings are wondrous, far beyond our own.
*Isaiah tells them: God's word is reliable, it stands forever. God is totally adequate; he has strong yet loving and tender arms.

Principle=God is greater than our most impossible task.

Do you need strength? Or tenderness? God has both!
What is your impossible task? Who are you trusting?

II.
Truth about God: Incomprehensible and Unequalled
40:12-26

*The danger wasn't that God would be inadequate for them but that the people would forget who he was.
*v12 Greatness: created the world with a word. Down to the details.
*v13-14 Wisdom: No one teaches God
*v15-17 Power: Big things to us are small to him. Anything I could offer him falls infinitely short.
*v 18-20 The Only: Idolatry is utterly foolish and futile.

*A reminder of idolatry in our day:
Putting anything else first in our hearts is idolatry.
Making God Something he is not. Putting God into our mold.

• God is not a cosmic repair man here to fix our problems.
• God is not a heavenly co-pilot here to assist us in living our lives.
• God is not a celestial Santa here to give us things we want
• God is not an interstellar grandpa whose lap we sit on and tell our problems to.

*v21-24 Not Hidden: God's power compared to man's impotence is amazing.

Principle=When we try to fit God into our categories we become idolaters.

Am I sliding God into my categories? He is incomprehensible and unequaled.

III.
Truth about God - He knows you
40:27-31

*The wrong inference is that God is too great to care. The right inference is he is too great to fail.
*Not only does God have strength and power, he imparts it to his people.
*The definition of Hope is steadfastness, strong. Taking hold of God's comfort.

Principle=God's strength and power are available to those who trust him and not themselves

**We can't know him exhaustibly but we can truly know him.