MIxed Blessing

Packages in the mail are the best! .... Except when the box that the package comes in is a Danish Kringle box and there is no kringle in the box!! For those of you who may not be Danish or Scandinavian, kringle is a thin danish pastry, about the size of a platter - shaped in an oval and has a filling in it. My uncle's favourite is apricot. I think my dad's is pecan. Mine is cherry. And Wisconsin has Danish bakeries. BC does not. Awhile ago I tried googling them in Vancouver and came up with nothing, but maybe I will have to try again. Of course, one could have them sent anywhere in the world, but.... Do you think that would be a legitimate use of the money that came in the mail today? I mean who needs eggs, milk, and meat!!? My sister, Kerstin who sent the box, is getting the box back - maybe next time kringle will be in there. She did offer to send ham but.... I don't know - doesn't quite cut it, what do you think?

Love you Kerstin =D Thanks for the box! Thank you Rich for paying for the postage.

Abandoning Ship

I have officially decided to give up blogging every day for this month. I know I am pretty close to the end, but I have to rethink some of my priorities and to be honest, I am just plain old tired. I am hoping to find out if my iron is still low - had the blood work done today, but I am dragging my butt and need to focus on the things that are important for the next few weeks. This doesn't mean I am going away too far. I do enjoy blogging! I have also cut out a few other things in which I was contemplating participating, so hopefully I can get back on track with my energy level and emotional equilibrium.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and family!!

Confessions of a game rager

Since confession is good for the soul, and honesty is a valued character quality, I will confess. I experienced game rage yesterday. And yes, unfortunately, there were outside witnesses. First, I apologize to Dave and Aneta, our good game buddies (please come back!) who saw the whole thing. Although I don't think they were under any illusions that the Geddert household is perfect.... they definitely know it now. Secondly, I apologize to Dan for.... slapping you. Yup, the horrible truth is out. I lost my temper and slapped my poor hubby.

We were playing "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" board game (junior BTW!) and the question was just CHEAP! There were 2 correct answers - I do stand by that, but of course.... I got knocked out of the game. And I was feeling competitive... and not like being teased unmercifully.... and after I left a hand print on my dear hubby, I took a brownie down to Andrew and stayed down there a few minutes to give myself a timeout. And take a few deep breaths.

Now the problem is we have to kiss and make-up.... =D

Two strikes

One more strike and I am out of the game. I have missed 2 days this month in quest for daily blogging. I have excuses but.... and as you have guessed by now, I ditched the word a day thing. It was just too much trauma for me!

Tomorrow we get back into our regular schedule. I didn't get everything done on my list for the past week, but the most important things got done. Making my Christmas gifts will be an on-going project and some of the other jobs are started but need to be finished.

Since this is US Thanksgiving week, I will write about things I am thankful for. Here are the Sunday Six:

• worship music
• the color red!
• the Pregnancy Care Center dinner on Friday - an amazing testimony and an inspiring speaker
• a fun ladies night out with yummy desserts
• a new week ahead
• God's faithfulness
  

Today's project

Welcome to the Geddert Doggy Beauty Salon!Today's business at hand is to shear, wash, clip, and trim the Pippa-nator. She is not very happy about that. But stage one went admirably well. That is the shearing and washing. She is currently sitting at my feet damp and drying. Her hair is super curly when wet. When she dries, she gets a little comb out and then the most dreaded - the clipping and trimming of the toenails. We shall see how that goes. I might end up taking her in for a professional pedicure - but just the cheap kind, no toenail polish! =)

The long and winding road

Today is newsletter day. I have buckled down, slain procrastination, and geared up the brain power.

If writing the Geddert Gazette was like blogging I could do it every day! But it is a long and winding road with cresting hills and low valleys. (Wow, I am really waxing poetic! Must have had a power surge to the brain.)

So here is how it begins:

1. I gather information from the last 3 months from my daytimer and list it under 2 categories - family and ministry
2. I open my publisher document and stare at it for awhile.
   
3. I change all the pictures and delete old text and "save as" whatever the new season is
4. I pray for Divine intervention - well, seriously I have started to pray that God would guide my words - not to exagerate, to be honest, to encourage, to inform.
   
5. I start typing.
6. I holler at Dan to send me some prayer items, "testimonials", information that he has in his brain that I don't have. This is usually where we go into the "low" points of this trip, as he is busy, I don't understand, or you know - typical communication between husband and wife trying to work together.
   
7. By the time I have all the writing and re-writing done - it has been 4-6 hours.
   
8. The fun part is done and now the tedious work begins. Stamps, address labels - Lanny's new job. YES!!!
9. Proofreading as soon as someone is home to do it for me.
   
10. I send the doc away to be transformed from a publisher doc to a pdf.
11. Printing/photocopying
12. Updating the address book from returned letters
13. Updating the email lists
14. Addressing the ones to be snail mailed
15. Writing an email intro and send out email lists
16. Nagging Dan to write intro letters to the pastors/churches - not that he doesn't want to - it just takes the perfectionist side of him much agony to get it "right".
    
17. Stuffing envelopes
18. Putting everything in the postal drop box.

Whew! The journey is done!

At the moment I am on step 8. Halfway there!

Fresh Perspective

It is quite amazing what a few days away can do for one's sense of perspective and emotional health. It was nothing spectacular. No trauma to work through. No major decisions to be made. No relational bridges to be rebuilt.

We read. We ate. We slept. We talked - I even got a few words in edge-wise. I sent Dan to the loft when he talked too much. We visited the library computer - to answer an email interview that hadn't been finished. Dan snitched my library book and was telling me about it - the absolute worst thing besides movie spoilers! We visited a quaint coffee shop. We listened to romantic music.

Dan did grammar homework and fumed. I thought through some of my roles and items that needed to be done and made detailed and organized lists. I did some journaling.

Then we packed up and came home. Rested, refreshed, and rejuvenated!