Lent - Eating for Cheap

So for Lent this year we are giving up eating out. So far we haven't managed to keep to this as we were behind in getting groceries, but tomorrow we start. Except if we go out with friends or if we are severely behind in getting a meal - then we'll do something like Subway. So today grocery shopping was a real event - not just picking up a few items but actually planned meals. We got great deals on meat - only because we filled up on the discounted items - you know the ones that have the little sticker with a buck or two savings. I don't care - we freeze it right away (and sniff it before we freeze it just in case!). But it does feel weird going through the cash with all this discounted meat. Years ago we used to shop with my parents and this was when "no name" items were still a newer idea. My father marvelled at how my cart was filled with black and yellow boxes - all no name. His cart is top of the line, tried and true brands that they stuck with for 20 years. I tried to tell him that its mostly the same brands anyway but he couldn't bring himself to buy the generic!

The other thing I am going to try to give up is tv - I'm too embarassed to say how much time I spend in front of it - part of it is because I'm addicted to my Nintendo DS spider solitaire game - since I'm playing the game whatever crappy show is one is fine until a better one comes on. I have run out of mainstream shows so I am not watching channels I normally would not watch!

As for the picture - not mine but I swear that the person who posted it on flicker must have been in the same "grocery store" as I was in up in cottage country - frightening!

Starbucks - No Decaf at 2:00 p.m.

Went to Chapters to mooch around with a friend and stopped for a coffee. Well I was going to have a coffee - she came back from ordering and said "Don't ask, but they don't brew decaf after 2:00 p.m.". Hmm, its 7:30 p.m. This seems totally ridiculous - I could understand if they didn't serve it in the morning but not at night? Apparently, this has become a well known thing as I noticed a few blogs noting that Starbucks has stopped selling decaf at noon. Apparently demand goes down in the afternoon so keeping fresh brewed decaf on tap with a 30 minutes shelf life is costing them money. Is it that they sell less decaf or just less coffee overall? Who are the people who switch to caf in the afternoon - I'm sure they sell less cups but not necessarily a smaller percentage.

Now apparently if I ask for decaf they will make a fresh batch if I wait four minutes. I am one of those people - I will wait four minutes, I'll actually wait ten minutes. And I enjoy a fresh cup this way. I also go through the drive through at McDonald's and order Big Macs with half sauce no lettuce, or cheeseburgers just ketchup and onions. My favourite question when I order a cheeseburger with just ketchup and onions is whether I want the cheese. Uh, yeah, I do.

Medley, Or How to Ruin Two Songs

For the older crowd you may remember the "Hooked On" series of cassette tapes - basically they take the best bits of memorable songs and blend them into a long play medley of familiar tunes - very catchy. Very fast food too - who wants to listen to a whole album when you can listen to a few verses of all the best songs. With the advent of the CD with the availability to play tracks in any order and to a much larger extent, iTunes where you can put any group of songs in any order, medleys are a thing of the past. Except in a church I know.

Imagine the hauntingly moving "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" chopped into pieces with verses sung in twos with another song blended in. Now if you hate this hymn 0r don't know it - it cannot be improved by trying to sing it without another song. If you love the hymn and relate it to specific times in the church calendar, emotions or just like it because you know the words enough to think about it when you sing it, then you are stuck with a jarring experience of a whole new song. As I stood trying to pick up the tune each time we went back to the other song I got more frustrated and wondered why in the H someone would want to mess with a classic. The alternate song was a song about mercy. As my husband pointed out, who is no more musical then I am, there are already two well known songs, one contemporary and one hymn quality that were written to evoke the sorrow/joy of Christ's sacrifice by having a mournful tune in one part and a lively response in another. We don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Now, I don't normally like bashing the church when it comes to how we worship but this approach has appeared twice in a row now. Don't get me wrong - I have no problem with singing an entry from one song, singing a complete second song, then ending with the ending of the first selection. But interspering verses drives me crazy - unless we sing this particular version a number of times I will never be free to just sing and reflect, instead I am listening hard to the second unknown tune and trying to figure out the link in between the sound, tone, message and what I am supposing to expressing to God. At one point I was so frustrated I almost started laughing because it just reminded me of some horrible lounge singer - taking bits and pieces of other people's work and throwing it out there to see if something sticks. "Really, you've been a great crowd, I'm back on at 9:00 if you want to hear more."

But what to do? Does one register a "no vote" and let the Worship group know you don't like what they do? That seems wrong - maybe everyone else likes it. Do you just suffer through it? I've been praying before worship because I just can't connect. I can see why people change churches over worship - but that is definitely not the answer either. So, in this too there needs to be grace. I am going to remember this for the future though - openly discussing feedback allows for different opinions to be heard - the good and the bad. If I am the only one that doesn't like this style then I can live with for the sake of others, but I'm selfish enough to assume that lots of people don't like it!

I'm so confused....

I have finally figured out how to add a feed to my homepage. Sort of - I actually usually operate without a home page and now have one so I have my feeds accessible.

Technology has totally gotten ahead of me. I no longer know more than my friends and find myself totally confused outside of my safe zones on the Internet. I have also determined that my capacity for memorizing passwords and user ID's has been reached. I had to go into Yahoo to subscribe to flicker and realized that I didn't have a clue what my sign on was though I used to used to go into the church admin group all the time. I was able to pull it up - along with another username I have used in the past. Yahoo was trying to give me a Yahoo email address - what! I can't possibly take on another, I already can't keep up with the few that I have.

I have purchased a router to go wireless and a new printer/scanner. I haven't hooked either up yet and I have a vague feeling of panick at the thought. I'm sure something won't be compatible and I will face the frustration of trying to figure it all out.

Meanwhile, I really want to be able to create a very simple website - I'm thinking of taking a course with the TDSB but really, do I want to commit the time?

Ministry Update

I went to a church that is related to our church who is also searching for a pastor. They are smaller and much more diverse and could probably due with some help. I have offered to help behind the scenes somewhere - as long as its not with children or youth.

They were very quick to take my offer and I have already helped them go through a grant application for a summer student. I am hoping to get to sit in on a few meetings to give them an outsiders point of view - this will work well for both of us as I can do this with the understanding that I am a student so I can ask obvious questions without offending anyone and point out confusion again without offending. So I am looking forward to this and will see how it plays out.

I am still working in my role at my home church. I have to say I am concerned that the church is not going to continue in the vein they started in - the worship has already become dated in a short time and one of the rumoured offers to apply for the pastor's position is offered to someone who will not be able to continue the process that has been started. We will likely go backwards a bit of distance before we move forwards. I've also noted some of the younger more innovative people are gone.

I'll do my best on my end to keep us moving outwards and being salt and light!

What's Up

My phone line has an annoying crackling noise that comes in wet weather so it is a very time consuming and patience requiring process to get onto the Internet - if I get on I have to cross my fingers that I can be on long enough to get my messages downloaded before I lose the connection again.

So I am enjoying my half hour free access at the library! And enjoying free magazines - ooh, I miss subscribing to half a dozen magazines like I used to. My favourites are also expensive - like Harpers and the New Yorker (they keep cutting the price hoping I'll come back but I just can't justifiy it.

Also had my first mammogram today - at the insistence of a friend - I was going to wait for the 50 year mark. I guess being fuller has its advantages because I've had more painful moments sitting in front of the TV! It was a very good process - I got there a bit early and was actually out 3 minutes after my appointment time.

We started looking into those alarm buttons for people who risk falling. My mother-in-law insists she doesn't need one. We have a few weeks with her in Rehab to convince her - there is no way she should be living without one - she has fallen at least four times that we know of - twice breaking a hip.

I'll stick my ministry updates in a later post so people not interested can skip those - I will say that I think my sermon on Wednesday in class went well - we'll see what the prof says!

In Case You are Wondering

I don't know how it is that an elderly woman, on many meds and already having suffered a broken hip can be up walking around and ready for Rehab. I still have lots of questions about how she will manage at home - she is not feeble enough for a nursing home but really not totally safe on her own but it looks like she will beat all of the odds and be discharged in better condition then how she went in. This isn't a criticism of the hospital system but rather the nature of our frailities as humans. We end up injured with a tired body needing meds to keep everything in balance. Then we add the trauma of surgery, the possibility of post op infections and the emotional toll and you end up with some sad cases where the person's health is never really back to where it was.

Which means the stubborn nature of my mother-in-law has won out once again. She is already annoyed that we won't let her have a deep fryer and insist that she use her walker. Now she has proof that she is invincible. It should be an interesting conversation to convince her that she has to wear a panic alarm. I would hate to think of what would happen if she had fallen with no one around - especially since she tried to jump up right away and say she was alright though she obviously needed an ambulance!

Meanwhile, my own mother is determined to age before her time - 20 years younger and I'm convinced if she could she would buy one of those little scooters that whiz around you at the mall.

How Classy?

Standing on the street with a smoker - I noticed an adult video shop that strangely did not have the windows all covered up. It was downstairs from the street so from where I was standing I could see very little except for the bargain bin. As I pointed out, what on earth ends up in the bargain bin? The ones where the acting is really bad? Or maybe the ones where the plot is just too unbelievable?

After a few smoke breaks I finally noticed something else that must have been bugging me in the back of my mind. At the bottom of the stairs is a hanging plant. A fresh, live, healthy looking plant. I try to imagine the owner determining that a plant would be just the thing to show that this is one classy place. Amidst the sleaze and corrupt fantasies is this hint of natural life.

I have often ranted that I can not tolerate fake plants anywhere near a pulpit. It just bugs me that in a place where we are determined to hear the truth (even if we aren't ready for it) we try to jazz up the place visually with fake greenery.

So you can imagine I have found this hanging plant rather distracting....

The best place to chill.

I had a great time this week going to a local bar and hanging out. Regulars go to have a drink, shoot some pool and generally see what's up. Its like Facebook but in person - there are people you might have ties with and others that you only know by sight. In general converations ebb and flow based on the topic and who is there (and who isn't). Best of all the music isn't blaring, the bathrooms are clean and the bartender is on his A game - showing interest as your glass empties but not hovering.

Unfortunately I can't afford the empty calories to hang about all day. But it is Wi Fi capable and I do need a place to work out some of my sermons which take so long to get "just right". And its close to the subway. However, it is the personal haunt of someone close to me and so he has squatter's rights. Why can't there be more places like this?

Cottage Dreaming...

I have this dream. We own this modular home (trailer home for those in the know!) that is 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It needs a lot of work - we have one room where we need the drywall replaced. I want to take out carpetting and replace it with linoleum in some areas and in others with wood.

I need to clean out the underneat, put up wainscotting around the outside while also ensuring proper ventilation - tons of vents given the square footage.

None of this work is possible for us because we just don't have a clue. C has done some work around the place which is not bad but for what we want we need professionals.

On the other hand, when we first bought the place we pictured it full every weekend and lots of weeks with people from the church and friends who would be interested in using it. Originally when we were looking around Prince Edward County I had imagined an older house that could be used by the local church for meetings if needed.

Now my dream is to find a family that could live in their and do the work in exchange for rent for a year. With the economy being what it is, maybe this is possible but it is so idealistic - I can't imagine a lawyer wanting to tackle this. How would we work out whether the work was fair in exchange - how would the person staying keep disciplined enough to keep on working while livng in there - how much gas will it cost me to heat the place? I keep thinking that this should be a good idea somehow. Maybe I just have to sink the money into it and then rent it out to recoup some of my expenditures.

Worse, the assessed value just went through the roof, I bought it for less then half the value it is now listed as. There is no way it is worth this, I can't imagine the land going for anywhere near that and mobile homes are a dime a dozen.

So, I am keeping this an open idea - maybe there is another plan similiar that I could put into place. If I had known that I would leave my job I never would have bought a separate property - at the time it was perfect for the few overlapping days off my husband and I had to get away - but now its an unused luxury.