Pounding pt. III

A little more Pounding

I have a lead again. So another resume has been printed and rearranged. Now I'm off to try to land a few more hours a week. Thursday I have the Wycliffe meeting, and the interim music leader has asked me to join the worship team. I don't want to very badly, but they need people. I warned him I'm looking for a second job, so I don't know how much time I'll have, but I'll do it for the summer.

Stop Buying New

Stop Buying New Things...
Except Underwear!

There is no reson on earth why we couldn't stop buying new until we've worn out/used up the old. So many things are being thrown away that can be reused, recycled into something new, or used up. Take clothes for instance. Tons of clothing gets donated, much of it little worn. The next time you need something, consider looking around for a good quality used item at a thrift or second hand store. Not only can you find name brand clothes for a fraction of the cost (We have Givenchy Sport in the shop for $2), these clothes are hardly worn!

How many times have we crafters started a project and run out of steam midway. What do we do with it? Either move it with us in the hope of finishing it *someday* or giving it to Goodwill, or throwing it out. The next time you want to try a new project, consider checking for ones that have been bought and unfinished. It's far cheaper. And if you don't, you can donate it back without feeling guilty for all the money you invested.

Books. I am guilty of spending small fortunes on my book library. I'm trying to check the library first, and borrow those I can't wait for (The new Harry Potter is being mailed to me once my sister finishes it). But some entire book collections get donated from estate. Lots of New Releases are read and discarded.

What about housewares, dishes, furniture, the dreaded knicknacks that some can't live without? You don't even want to know how many older sewing machines are brought in that function very nicely.

I fear I may be going off the deep end. I get depressed in malls. All of this time and energy and resources used to make *stuff* that we don't need, won't want in five minutes, and throw away. What if we all stopped for a while. Just stopped buying and buying and buying and throwing out. We should stop and go see what's still good. If you're tired of things, donate them so someone else can have a go, and find someone else's used that they can't stand anymore.

Crafty Things that I didn't know not to buy new:

1. Crochet Hooks and Knitting Needles (compare at $7, used $.10-.25)

2. Yarn, Thread and Embroidery Floss (Here: $.25 a skene)

3. Patterns. (Cost $3-12, used $.25)

4. Pillow Forms (The fabric may be passe, but the insides are good)

5. Decor and Couture Books ($25-$30 hardcover, Here $1)

Be mindful of your surroundings Obi Wan

Be mindful of your surroundings Obi Wan...er...I mean Bruce

I just saw Batman. I liked it! Especially Inspector Gordon. And Michael Cain as Alfred. And the wussy guy wearing all the blush and mascara.

I had my doubts at first about Christian Bale. He's a great actor, but I'll always picture him running around in his underwear and sneakers with a chainsaw. Thank you American Psycho.

Liam Neeson did a great job. A few of his lines were a bit Qui Gon. The battle scenes were hard to tell who was kicking whose butt. And there was no, "Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" But they threw the Joker in, so all is well.

I loved Morgan Freeman, as usual.

Lots of fun. Thanks Eric for taking me! And letting me drive the Miata. Especially after my Dad yelled as we pulled out, "She's already totalled one and a half of mine!" Very trusting.

Another nutty day

Another Nutty Day

My boss is sick, all our help leaves by 1:30, leaving me to run the store. It's going to be a long day...

Working like a dog

I'm working extra hours

to make up for the week I'm missing in August, and a long weekend I'm taking in July. Long days. And tonight is Bible study until nine.

Further Affiliation with Wycliffe

Further Affiliation

I am officially on the committee for the Wycliffe Dinner Theater First Presbyterian Church performance. I think my official duties will be congregation spokesperson, host home, and overall information for the people arranging housing, servers and dishwashers. I'm really glad I get to help out where I can.

Maybe I can convince the homestays not to give them standwitches and fried eggs.

No move in sight

Well, as it turns out...

We don't have to move out and tear up the shop just yeat. Roto Rooter seems to have taken care of the problem, and we were able to spend last night in our own apartments. I've messed up my back again, so lugging the cats up and down stairs was not going to be high on my list of fun.

I'm reading an interesting book on "Rich Christians in a hungry world" or something like it. The statistics in part one are boring. Not that they aren't good to know, but I've read other books that covered them, and put them into context, etc, without going into GNP. The second part is the biblical basis for his worldview. A good skim, though I intend to go back and read it. And the third part is the practical application, what organizations do what, etc. I intend to research his appendix. Compassion Internations, World Vision and Habitat for Humanity were on there, which I already know a little about. We'll see about some of the rest of them.

Evicted...Temporarily

Evicted...Temporarily

The flooding in the basement turns out to be completely unrelated to our little bathroom incident of a week ago. Not completely. It isn't the pluming on that side of the building that's the problem. It's the main pluming.

The shop is open, but we have a portapotty in the back for emergencies, and Nan and I are having to vacate the premises for the time. I think I'm leaving the cats there. I'll be there at least once a day to grab clothes and feed them.

Thank God I have family in town. Otherwise I'd be racking up credit card bills paying for hotels. I hope we get "vacation pay" if they have to close the shop.

This Picture Speaks for Itself

Nothing Much

Nothing Much

I'm in a frenzy of crafting and reading this weekend. Last night I read Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to compare the movie. I'm in a Lord Peter Wimsey sort of a mood, so I checked out 5 of those from the library. And today at church I nabbed G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown Mysteries. And a book on William Barclay's testimony. It might help decipher some of his theology if I know where he's been.

Speaking of which, he and I had a serious disagreement over his summary of Acts 2. As regards the Pentecost:

"On these grounds it is much more likely that this passage refers to that strange yet coveted gift of speaking with tongues. To speak in foreign languages was unnecessary. The passage says that the crowd was made up of Jews and proselyte...Now for a crowd like that at most two languages were necessary. Almost all Jews spoke Aramaic; and even if they were Jews of the Dispersion from a foreign land, they would speak that language which almost everyone in the world spoke at that time - Greek. Greek had become the world language which everyone spoke in addition to his own tongue. In point of fact, Aramaic and Greek, which the disciples must anyhow have spoken, would be quite sufficient. It seems by far most likely that Luke, A Gentile, had confused speaking with tongues with speaking with foreign tongues.

I find it hard to believe that Luke, with a Jewish mother and Greek father wouldn't recognize that the disciples, were in fact, only speaking two languages. And secondly, the passage says:

And how is it that each one of us hears them speaking in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes, Elamites, those who stay in Mespotamia in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus, in Asia, in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya round about Cyrene, Romans who are staying here, Jews and proselyte, people from Crete and Arabia - we hear these men telling the wonders of God in our own tongues.

Sorry, Mr Barclay, it doesn't sound to me like they were hearing God speaking to them in the trade language. And to quote the Central American Native who started Cameron Townsend on a mission, "If your God is so big, why doesn't he speak my language?"

That is my only real beef with William Barclay. He goes out of his way to prove that all miracles and "Acts of God" might be easily explained by natural phenomenon. I don't see why God using nature means that he had nothing miraculous to do with it "acting up." And it doesn't offend my logic that the disciples were preaching and everyone heard it in their own tongue. For two rather unorthodox examples; consider the babblefish and the Star Trek viewscreens. In both cases each party speaks their own language, and as far as they can tell, the other party is speaking the same. How they babblefish and communicators make their lip movements synch is one of the never ending mysteries of the Sci Fi universe, but it fits.

Anyone who wants to better stretch his mind around God's conundrums should read more sci fi.