Mandy Knits a Lot and other musings from a pastor's wife

If you've ever met me, you know I am a quilter. I love to do it. I love to teach others how to do it. I take pride in my work. I am my own worst critic when it comes to precision. Those of you who have received one of my quilts as a gift know that it was a gift of love. I put my heart into my work. Even though I do my best, I know that I am not just a quilter. That is only part of my identity. God made each one of us to be more than what we do. We are more than what we enjoy or what we are good at. He put His whole heart into His work. He made each of us to serve Him and to share His love with others. My pastor husband gave a quote Sunday night and, although I can't repeat it verbatim (I wrote it down), its premise has stuck with me. Here's the quote: "There are two things that always awaken in me, when I comtemplate them, the sentimental sublime. They are the starry heavens and the moral nature of man. Oh, God made them both, and all there is of the sublime in e...

Some things just need to be said out loud. So today, I'm writing it down. I don't like country music. Nor do I like rap, Southern Gospel, or jazz. I don't care for tomatoes, cucumbers, or Shredded Mini-Wheats. Not that any of those things are inherently bad or that I insist that others do without them, it's just me. Maybe if I gave rap a chance or once again tried to eat a cucumber, I might change my mind, but I don't think so. Those are my preferences. I don't care for the sound of rap music nor the flavor of a cucumber. But I don't think that those who like rap or cucumbers are bad people. God made the world with all sorts of people in it and not 2 of them are alike. When it comes to the things of God, several things (and there are others) are not up for negotiation--the truth of Scripture, the faithfulness of God, the never-failing love of Jesus, the need for regular fellowship with other believers. When it comes to the preaching and studying of God...

It's been way too long since I've enjoyed blogging. I know that noone reads my stuff but it's sometimes a relief to express myself this way. I'll be back soon, don't worry.

I'd like to start out by saying that I have a fantastic extended family. I am one of 14 grandchildren ranging in age 40 something to 10. When everyone gets together, it's quite a crowd and we have a great time. I love my family. However, a little over a year ago, one of my cousins got arrested. He got into trouble and ended up in the Leake County jail. His court date was this morning. I went. Not once in my life have I ever stepped foot into a courtroom. The only experience with a courtroom that I have is from Law and Order. (I must say that it's not that far off, just not so dramatic.) Well, I watched as person after person pled guilty to the crime that they were accused of. The judge asked them questions that made them very uncomfortable. It ran the gammit--drugs, rape, assault in prison. As I sat there and watched the judge pronounce sentences, I thought I'd be OK when they brought my cousin out. When they brought him out, he looked square at me. He mouthed "Hey...

There have been times in my life when nothing testing or trying has occurred for a long time. The past couple of years have not been like that. Just this past month, my daughter Elizabeth just turned 2. Her little life has been eventful. It all started with her. While I was still pregnant with her, the doctor discovered a mysterious cyst growing in her abdomen. He did not know what it was--he gave me 3 possibilities. He sent me to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who also gave me the same 3 possibilities. So after ultrasounds every 2 weeks, the cyst continued to grow to be about 10 cm (yes, that's 4 inches--softball size). At 37 1/2 weeks, my doctor decided that she needed to be delivered by section because he just didn't want to take chances with the cyst. Seh was delivered fine and seemed to be completely fine, except for a bigger than normal belly. After we were released from the hospital, we went straight (and I do mean straight) to the Children's Hospital in Jackso...

Just a few months ago I would have called anyone that rode their bicycles out onto the open road nutty, crazy, fruity, looney, insane. But people do it. Everyday. Now I'm married to one. Nope, it's the same husband I've had for about 9 1/2 years, but he's now joined the ranks of nutcases. If you've kept up, (and that's fairly easy to do) you'll recall that on July 4 he rode 70 miles on the Natchez Trace from Hwy 16 outside of Carthage, to Jackson, and back. After that, he decided to try a real, organized, bike ride. So he chose one that took place this morning--Bikes, Blues, and Bayous in Greenville, MS. It was a 62 mile/100 km ride that took him through the rolling flats of the Mississippi Delta. It started at 7:30am and he finished sometime after lunch, not sure exactly. But the point is, he finished. He told me that a lot of people didn't finish. There were ambulances around to haul off the overheated cyclists. This morning the National Weather Servic...

Everyone has a great childhood memory. I have many. One of the good ones was Jello Pudding Pops. We've all seen people make fun of Bill Cosby doing the ads for them. However silly the commercials were, Pudding Pops were AWESOME! They were completely delicious. Well, one day Dave and I were talking about them so we decided to go get some. They did not exist. We did internet searches. There were no Pudding Pops anymore. We were a little saddened and disappointed. A few weeks ago, I happened to stop by the frozen section of Wal-Mart to get Matt some Popsicles and what did I see? Pudding Pops!! I know the people around me thought I had lost my mind. Really, how many people get excited in the frozen food section of Wal-Mart? I did and I'm not ashamed. There were Pudding Pops in my freezer that night--at least for a little while. We just finished our second box and they were gooood! Every bit as good as when we were kids. Every bit as good as Bill Cosby promised!

I just wanted to share a bit of the wildlife that can be found in Walnut Grove. This morning when I arrived at the shop, this critter was perched on the glass door. (Dave's got my good camera in Romania, so I had to take this picture with my phone.) He just sat there while I went back home and got a wide mouth pint jar, a jar ring and a piece of sparkly tulle to capture him with. I think he was in a meditative trance because there was nothing to putting the jar over him. As soon as he realized he was enclosed, he went nuts. His wingspan was so large that he couldn't stretch out. He was fluttering like crazy so I knew I couldn't keep him long. I took him to the bank, the gas station, and to a neighbor's house. The only identifing information I got was, "That's a moth." I wanted a little more than that, but that was a good start. After about 10 minutes of imprisonment, I let it go. It looked like a bat flying away because it was so big. When he was sitting ...

In a flurry of activity, we got Dave and his mom and 4 other people from our church off for an 11 day mission trip to Romania. They'll be doing all sorts of things with medical stuff and activities with children. So what will we be doing? I thought about taking the kids to see my mother one day, but she's at the beach. I thought about visiting my friend Paige, but she's going to be on vacation. Since we've got shirt jobs, I guess I will stick close to home and run the business. Tonight the kids and I went to Carthage in our pajamas. It was Matt's idea and he thought he was all big time. He said, "Mama, that's the first time you've minded me."

This morning Dave left the house at 6:30am for a long ride on the Natchez Trace. Last Saturday he parked his truck and rode all that way to Jackson--about 35 miles. The kids and I drove down there to pick him up. This time he was determined to go there and come back. He did it! It took him a little over 6 hours, but he did it. His plan was to eat lunch in Jackson and then head back. But it being a holiday and all, nothing was open. So he bought a candy bar and a drink at the CVS Pharmacy and headed back. Ooo, power food! I don't know what his plan is next, but I'm just glad he didn't quit riding.

Our little side business expanded last week. Screenprinting will still be our main focus and the heart of our business. We added embroidery. This big huge machine is on a table in the spare bedroom. Many hours this week have been spent learning how to design and get things to the embroidery machine. I've messed up several things. I bent the mess out of the pressure foot. A lot of the time, I've spent deciphering the instructions. They were written by Japanese people whose first language is not English. The sentence structure and wordage is off in a lot of places. "Enable to find instruction in the manual." Translation: You can find instructions in the manual. "Frame move." Translation: The frame is about to move; remove the hoop or you'll bend the preesure foot, dummy. (Lesson learned the hard way.) The instruction manuals are full of other things along those lines. It makes for interesting reading, but not so much fun when trying to find how to do somet...

My friend Paige got me hooked on Project Runway in the middle of the third season. It comes on Bravo and if it's on, I watch it. They are on the 4th season and I've seen them all at least 3 times--probably more. Each Wednesday night at 9pm a new episode comes on. They play all the previous episodes all day leading up to the new one. Usually I let Matt watch Nick and Noggin, but he knows that Wednesday is Mom's TV day. I may not be able to watch Project Runway all day, but it stays on the TV. Tomorrow night is the last episode where the designers that are left all are showing their collections at New York Fashion Week. Of course, this is the kind of fashion that normal people don't wear but elements of the stuff comes through into regular fashion and trends. Now I don't know a lot about fashion, but I do know about sewing. To be able to come up with a design, choose the fabric, develop a pattern, cut out the pieces, sew them together, fit a model, finish the garment(...

I decided that today I'd try to finish the bathroom. The main thing I needed help with was the light fixture and the outlet. There were 2 wires coming into the bathroom, not official receptacles, except for the switch. I called my dad to come help me figure out the wiring. He ended up doing all the work because it wired so strangely. So we ran the wires down inside the walls rather than just hanging down from the ceiling. There is an official outlet and a wired in light fixture. The other thing I needed help with was removing the toilet tank so that I could remove the wallpaper from behind it and paint behind it. Dad helped me with that, too. Actually, he did most of the work on that. When I got the supplies from the building supply store in Carthage this morning, I told the man that this bathroom is so small it should be measured in square inches rather than feet. Eight square feet is a generous estimate. I tell people that you can potty and wash your hands at the same time, savin...

Tonight I ran for a longer time than I have ever before. As I mentioned, I have to run in the gym since it's just not a smart thing to go running on the streets at night. I started out with 5 minutes of brisk walking. Then I ran 6 laps, walked 2 laps, ran 10 laps, walked 2 laps, ran 10 laps, walked 6 laps, ran 6 laps, slowly walked 6 laps, then stretched. I'm really enjoying running. The 5K is May 17. Matt calls it "The Race." He's all about Mom winning. He was a little disappointed when he found out Dave was planning to run, too. Not sure why. So for right at this moment, I'm a bit tired. So far, no specific body part hurts. It's just a general tireness. I think I'm entitled.

Do you remember in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the dad put Windex on everything? Well, when I was at Zoar, a lady I worked with gave out a Windex tip to several people. They always came back and told her how well it worked. She told them that Windex with ammonia-d would remove wallpaper, but it had to have ammonia-d in it. She said to spray it on the wallpaper and it would peel off easily. There was some amazingly ugly wallpaper in this little tiny bathroom in Matt's room. It was plaid and incredibly ugly. Did I mention that it was ugly? Here's proof. (The first picture is supposed to be turned up, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it.) The wall behind the toilet was this solid plaid and the other 3 walls had the same plaid cut into a border on the top and the bottom. This little bathroom used to be a closet so it is really small. You can wash your hands while sitting on the toilet, if you wanted to. We met the man who was pastor here when i...

When you live in the south, you can only truly judge what season it is by walking outside. Today is in the 70s and I am enjoying the front porch swing. Tomorrow it is supposed to be cold and rainy. People blame it in global warming. It's just part of southern life. ---------------------- At the corner of the block by our house, the town just put up a stop sign. Dave said they did it because I mentioned to the mayor that people fly down this road because they can go for about 5 bocks without stopping. However, probably 60% of the people who pass through this intersection don't even pretend to stop. They don't even put on their brakes. They zoom right through it. Could it be that the one patrolman on duty has better things to do than monitor the stop sign by my house? Probably so. Maybe I should pretend I'm in second grade and start taking names and putting check marks by them. I just wish they would slow down. Maybe I shold talk to the mayor about putting up a speed bump...

Last night I ran more than I ever have before. Ever. Since it was dark, I ran in the gym at church--excuse me, Family Life Center. I walked for the length of "Mr. Pin-Stripe Suit" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. After that I started a 4 lap walk/6 lap run cycle. I did that about 4 times, maybe more. I lost count. the last song I listen to is something that Randle Lowrance sings. He's the worship pastor at Zoar Baptist Church, where I used to work. Then I stretch for a few minutes. Today, I did a strength training routine from the book "You on a Diet."There's no way I could have run again today. I'll run again tomorrow, but for now, my legs and hips are quite sore.

For people of my generation, there was never a day without TV. My dad remembers getting a TV when he was young. I remember having a black and white TV in my room, but I've never been without one. Usually I can find something on that's decent to watch. However, since the writer's strike seemed to want to linger, I've been a little more hard pressed to find the shows I like. OK, just one show. Some of my favorite things to watch don't really have writers that write scripts. I love What Not to Wear and lots of old shows. But just before Christmas, Dave and I caught a rerun of The Office. We ended up buying all 3 past seasons on DVD. Both of us have watched them at least twice--I've watched them much more. I've watched all the on-line episodes from the website. So it took no time at all to watch them all. But the thing is, there's no new episodes because of the writer's strike. They want more money for new media, like on-line episodes and DVDs. That'...

After a 2 day break from running, I jumped back in again. We've got a 9/10 path of road that we run. Today I ran almost as much as I walked. I covered the path 3 times. That's 2.7 miles. I covered it in about 35 minutes. According to Runner's World, the first 2 miles of running is the hardest to work up to. After that, adding more miles is not as hard. I'm not sure if I believe that or not. The first 2 are hard, but I'm guessing that others are just as hard. For now I will try to run/walk for at least 30 minutes each day. I really want to be able to run the entire 5K. I'd really like to win. Matt wants me to win a trophy. I'd rather have a cash prize. Maybe, I'll at least get a t-shirt.

These are a few pictures of my new computer bag made from my favorite old polo. This is how I did it, if you are interested: 1. I put the shirt on one last time and determined that I would no longer wear it ever again. 2. I folded the shirt in half (tail to shoulders) and put my laptop on it to determine where the side seams would go. I marked those spots with pins. 3. Then I unfolded it and sewed across the front of the shirt near where the bottom front of the new bag would be and where the bottom back would be. This is so that I could use the inside of the shirt for pockets, but keep stuff from going under the bottom of the bag. 4. Then I sewed straight down from top to seam in step 3 on each side of the collar. This is where I will store the power brick. 5. I did the same thing on the back to make pouches for cables and the cordless mouse. 6. I then refolded it and sewed the side seams. I double checked to make sure the computer would fit before I cut. 7. I cut the excess fabric o...