inspirational crocs.

I clean and work in the camp kitchen wearing Crocs. It's true, there is nothing like a rubber shoe, in my opinion, to clean in. When mysterious liquids leak out of trash bags onto my feet, no problem- I've got anti-microbial rubber that it bounces right off of. They never smell and I don't have to tie them (I hate shoes that tie, so restricting...) but, you have to know while I love wearing them to clean/work in the kitchen, I do realize that they look like muppet feet. I mean, they are wide rubber shoes that usually come in bright colors.

Anyway, you may recall when I tried to wash my Crocs in the dishwasher. They shrunk nearly two sizes. It was kind of a sad day. I remember thinking, these are the perfect cleaning shoe! Yet, I feel silly buying another pair!

Kaley came to my rescue and bought me a new pair of lilac Crocs (which now have a sheen of black and silver spray paint on them), I was so thankful for my new pair and I wear them all the time (to work, of course). My new muppet feet came complete with a daisy Jibbit. You know, those little things that you can stick in the holes of Crocs. Football team logos, letter, fairies, flowers, Disney characters, you name it and you can stick it in your Croc.

Now my friends I have a new, possibly marketable, Croc accessory. Since I clean in them all the time, my friend Beth felt that I needed some inspiration on my shoes. After a busy day yesterday, I was procrastinating cleaning one of our dorms and Beth helped me along. With inspirational and motivational labels on my Crocs, I felt I could conquer any building. Who needs Jibbitz, when my Crocs help me to "believe and achieve"...

handmade.

I love handmade gifts. I, however, do not know how to hand-make many things. There is such an extra amount of beauty in something, I think, when you can look at the finished product and almost imagine its maker putting all that work and care into making it. I have always loved visiting art museums for this reason. I can't get enough of them. For some it is painstaking, just staring at... things. I can't get close enough to the art, looking at every dried brushstroke of oil-paint or seeing fingerprints forever plastered in a clay sculpture. It's wonderful, to me. And music, I love to be at a concert and watch as an artist, right then and there, creates their art. I worked at a coffee shop for a while and remember my friend saying that making an espresso drink felt like creating. She would make each drink for that particular person, creating a cup of drinkable art.

I, on the other hand, don't know too much about making things. I have tried to learn a few trades. My aunt, bless her, tried to teach me to crochet recently. She laughed, out of love, at my finished product. Mostly, I have created things only with close guidance from others. One of my favorite memories is of canning this past fall. Now, when I eat the applesauce or salsa that we made as a group, it tastes a little more delicious than any applesauce or salsa I've ever had. Because from picking the apples off of the tree or peppers out of the garden- to storing them into mason jars, it was handmade (and I had a small part in it). I love that.

Lately, I have received a lot of really wonderful handmade gifts. From people, who must full well know, that they aren't going to receive something as wonderfully handmade from me (someone who is much less crafty). And I am humbled by their kindness (and talent!).

My aunt made me scarves, friends made me pottery and ornaments and a quote (which I love as a reminder to, just "simplify") and headbands... and a man I hardly know, who shares only a love of camp and Jesus with me, took the time to carve my name out of wood. I love these handmade things...

operation: stinky wallpapered bathrooms

Two weeks ago my trusty side-kick Chaych and I took on a pretty exciting project over at camp. The "lobby bathrooms", for kind of a long time, have been these tiny rooms of wallpaper disaster. The wallpaper was done, certainly, with the best of intentions. But it was time for it to go. Quite frankly because it was urine soaked and peeling away from the walls. And the artwork on the walls was suffering a little too.

For this project I was basically told "go forth, and do whatever the heck you want". It was like music to my ears. Really. I got to take down the yucky wallpaper, pick out paint colors (!) and then paint-- and not even in my own house. I know it sounds crazy, but there is something so therapeutic about painting to me. Chaych and I, however, had no idea how long it would take- just stripping the wallpaper, alone. Thankfully my aunt came to visit. My sweet, retired, enjoying her vacation, aunt- and she was more than helpful in the process. Our friend Steph also willingly stripped wallpaper with us.

Here is where it all began. This is the women's bathroom.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the men's bathroom because we were more than anxious, especially, to get that stuff off of the walls. And luckily, the men's bathroom wallpaper came off in large portions of happiness. This is the men's bathroom, wallpaper free!

We had just been using warm water up until this point. We just saturated the walls and peeled the vinyl paper down with ease. Then, we had to scrape up the leftover glue/paste underneath the vinyl. For whatever reason, taking down the women's room wallpaper was another story. We wet the walls and ripped tiny piece by tiny piece.

We got desperate and sought out chemicals for help. We used "Dif" spray which, on the back of the bottle had a warning. The warning read: "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer". Apparently this warning turns up on lots of things and we really had nothing to worry about. I say, no thank you.

With a little more patience and perseverance we got the wallpaper down. Our first corner of victory!

I don't ever need to do that again... if I should be so lucky.

Then, the fun began! We started painting the walls and preparing our decorations.

I had looked at lots of antique shops and consignment stores for simple bathroom decorations- but the budget quickly dwindled. So, we found things and made things...

Finally, (and almost to the point where we would do anything to get out of those little life-sucking holes, also known as bathrooms) we finished!

The men's (a gray for underneath the chair-rail called "anonymous" and a questionable blue or green called "watermark" for the wall color)...

The women's (my aunt made that fancy curtain)...

It was a fun project and I am thankful that we were able to redo those bathrooms. Again, it was definitely time, and a bit of an improvement, I think! Not to mention, it is my greatest hope that urine (sorry, but it's true) will not saturate the semi-gloss walls like it did the wallpaper. Here's to hoping!

while the men watched football...

...the girls were sewing and reading cookbooks.

We didn't even realize it at first... Traditional gender stereotypes, much?

on why i'm selfish (well, a few reasons anyway)

Like you I'm sure, my heart has been heavy for Haiti. Perhaps unlike you, however, I allowed my self to wince at the horrible tradgedy and fired off a prayer, and then, went about my days. Yesterday I popped an english muffin into the toaster and caught a glance of Ismaelle's picture on the fridge. She is the little girl we sponser and she lives in Haiti. Haiti!?!?! Suddenly I felt like dropping to my knees in prayer for her sweet life and so many others in Haiti. Then my prayer changed its direction to repentance. I felt a greater sense of care-- not because I learned more about the devastation or because I heard for the first time a tragic story-- just because I had a connection and suddenly remembered they need prayer. More prayer. They needed it before I remembered Ismaelle. I will say, as of now, there is no report that Ismaelle was injured by the earthquake. And I am thankful. But I know there are so, so many families that have lost lives or are still fighting for them.

I got irritated with my husband. Why? Because he was trying to be helpful. But he wasn't fixing my issue by making it disappear, so he was irritating. I was finishing up a project- one that was given to me over a month ago- and feeling discouraged about finishing it. At first I was shocked and appauled at myself for leaving some of it to do last-minute. Until, the girl with whom I shared a bunk for two years in college reminded me, that is how I roll. Always. Last minute. Anyway, Ben would offer his two cents and my selfishness made me (yes, made me. I had no control over it) be kind of mean to the hubs. Maybe not mean, maybe just "I'm going to shoot you a look that says, you're wrong and I'm right, no matter what we are talking about."

I watched Rachael Ray today- I don't watch it too often anymore (since her time slot got pushed back and hour, especially). I love her, as you probably know, and I am not afraid to admit it. There was a time, however, that I loved her, as she was the only woman in my life teaching me how to be domestic in my first months of marriage. I went to the RR show in New York two years ago and it was magical. Albeit magical, our taping mostly showcased crock-pots and our parting gifts included redken hair products. While I enjoyed using the shampoo, I did hope a tiny bit for a kitchen gadget. On today's show there were celebrities and there were bigger give-aways (make-up stuff, a DVD, kitchen stuff...). And it so does not matter. But, because I am selfish I thought, man, I totally got the shaft on the free give-aways! Ugh, so ridiculous that I even cared about that, for even a minute!

Oh, and then there was this earthquake in Haiti. But I didn't get a free food processor.


Why didn't the lobster share his toys?
Because he was too Shellfish.

blase' about blogging

Lately I have had the blogging blues... or feeling a little blase' about blogging. I've also been busy- my aunt is here visiting and we've been doing fun things together like painting crisp white trim together. In other words, I begged her to come visit me for two weeks and I've been putting her to work-- antique shopping, crocheting scarves, making curtains and painting (over at camp, not my house!) In addition to that I just haven't felt like it lately. Blogging, that is. I really love to write, that is partially why I have this little blog. I like to keep connected with you, my blogging friends, and I like to write- so I blog. Lately, not so much.

I do, however, feel slightly inspired to write this quick post because I am so excited about my fancy new banner. I know this girl Val. She's a wife, mom, friend, applesauce maker, beauty, artist, lullaby-singer, inspirer, writer & now blog-header-creator. I love her and I love my new banner. Maybe now the bluesy attitude I've been having about writing will just shed away!

the year of...

So, its a new year. Albeit 6 days into the new year, I am thinking through the idea of having a whole new year ahead. All of a sudden we left one decade and have begun another- and, like everyone around New Years' does, I got to thinking about what this year could look like. When I think about it, really, I think that God is so in control and I am so not. I could plan out this year, strive toward a list of resolutions (or revolutions, for that matter) and His plans for me could look so different. All that's to say, I still (six days late) am thinking I should have some goal or hope for 'ought-ten'.

There are quite a few individuals who spent a year doing something big. It was big to them anyway, and big enough to constitute writing an entire book. One woman wrote a book on her year of "Living Oprah". She honestly took every necessary step to "walk the walk of the queen of talk". An agnostic man spent a year living biblically, and took biblical rotes and rituals very literally. A Christian man, inspired by this, wrote a book on his year spent taking "what would Jesus do?" to a whole new level. Another woman wrote of her year buying only food and essentials. She purchased nothing but what she had to purchase to live basically... and maybe some toothpaste so her teeth wouldn't fall out. One man spent the year exploring the world on a bicycle.

All of these people chose a journey for one year- as crazy as some of them may sound- they committed to one year of living differently and more radically in some ways, than they ever had before.

Most years, my resolution is to stop biting my nails, once and for all. I have never been able to commit to this for one whole year.

I have thought of a few things for 2k10... mostly I want this to be the year of living more like Jesus. Really. I know that sounds like a cop-out (and it kinda is) but if I could really figure this one out, I think it would be one of the best years of my entire little life. And I will fail miserably as I am all-too-human.

Maybe this will also be the year I go all organic. But, probably not because that is too expensive.

Or, maybe I will just not dye my hair even once in 2010. Because that hasn't happened in a very long time- a year of natural hair.

I would love this to be the year of being a better wife. A few days before the new year, my husband asked me what he could do, in this year, to be better. I thought- I know one thing's for sure, I need to work on being a better wife, because the thought of asking you a question like that never even crossed my mind...

I want to spend more time with you. And you, and you and you. I miss Kaley, what, with her being some 3,000 miles away or so. I would say, you don't know what you got til' it's gone, but I did know what I had and I am sad she is gone. But having her so far away has made me so thankful for modern communication. And grateful that even with being so far- we are so close. So, if we (yes, you and I) haven't talked in a while, I'd like to, very much.

I'd like to stop and look at every sunset that happens right outside my back window.

I would like to better appreciate (and take advantage of) where I live.

I want to love well.

I'd like to love children better. Especially orphans around the world.

I would like to volunteer more. Read more. Get fit. Run more races that promote change and provide hope. Stop complaining. Be more environmentally responsible. I'd also like to see more of the world. Learn something new. Maybe a little of all these things. Not just from January to December. Maybe...