A Coupon Mishap... Redeemed

Once upon a time, I was an avid couponer.  I would routinely spend at least 30-60 minutes per week scanning ads, making lists, and clipping coupons.

Many circumstances conspired to interfere with this hobby. 

For one, it became a bit less thrilling as time went on.  Then, the downward spiral of the economy combined with the rising popularity of couponing began to affect the value of coupons that were available.  (For example, when I first started couponing, I could at least once per year find a coupon for 1.00 off chocolate chips.  Now the most common one is 1.00 off 2, and .25 ones have also been found).  Finally, I embarked on a journey to change the way we eat, and it really worked.  We hardly buy the processed foods that are profitable for couponing these days.

In any case, I somehow ended up with almost my entire coupon collection scattered across my office floor in an extremely disorganized fashion.  Even an INFP can only put up with so much!

Today, my long-suffering husband agreed to assist me in organizing the office.  As he sorted through the coupons, I exhorted him to look at the fold of the coupon inserts to see the date they were published.  Somehow, to him, this translated as "Look at the fold of the coupon inserts to see when the coupons expire." 

Alas, my entire collection of coupon inserts made its new home in the dumpster before I realized what was happening!

On the plus side, my office is now very clean.

Faced with a range of possible reactions, I chose not to freak out in this instance.

I will look at it as a new start.  A chance to begin again and really evaluate how I spend my time and make my shopping lists.  A chance to actually keep things organized.

We will begin by rebuilding the coupon stash and avoiding shopping at regular supermarkets for the month of January.  We will stick to the Farmer's Market and the health food store, hitting Publix only if we really need to.  And no, chips do not count as an emergency.

2013 beckons...  I'm not much for resolutions, but I saw someone posting intentions the other day, and I like that idea.  But instead of just intentions, I will be more intentional. 

And I think this is a good place to start.

Awake, my soul!

There's something about the Advent season that awakens me, a cold, brisk wind pushing across my soul.  Maybe it's the change in liturgy.  Or the change in seasons.  Or just change.

I find myself wanting to write again.  I look for the beauty that swells just beneath the surface during this season.  The anticipation is ripe, full, bursting with color and flavor.

This really has not much to do with Christmas as it is celebrated here.  Not shopping and crowds.  Lights and decorations only tread lightly, leaving not much of a footprint.  No, this is a mystery, full-fledged, waiting to break forth.

In Advent, we wait for what has already come, and we wait for what is yet to come.

And in that sense, Advent is not over yet.  Though Christmas has come, and Advent is another year away, still we wait.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Peace from Chaos

Cleaning has never been my thing.

Cooking, yes.  Making a mess from art projects, definitely.  Sitting amidst the clutter lost in a book -- oh, yeah.

But cleaning has always seemed boring, repetitive -- something to be put off--indefinitely, if possible.  Dust seems to gather, dishes pile in the sink, a dark ring of dirt build-up forms around the rim of the sink, whether or not I attack it with the weekly or daily prescription of cleaning.

And what more important things I could be doing with my time!

Since I've had my own house, though, I've found some rhythm in the dailiness of these tasks.  True, I'm no model housekeeper, but there is something soothing about putting things where they belong, cleaning surfaces till they shine, sweeping away the crumbs from the meals of our lives.

Kathleen Norris echoes in my mind as I learn the liturgy of folding and putting away clean towels.  A sweet Sabbath peace settles over the house.

Tomorrow, the piles will slowly begin to reappear, the dust will start to settle, the dishes will pile up in the sink once more....

But tonight...

we will rest.

The Lost Are Found

I may have mentioned before that I am an INFP.

In other words, I can be scattered.  I am good at coming up with big ideas, but not necessarily following through on little details.  I get inspired.  Very inspired.  Then I get depressed when reality does not seem as inspirational as it should.

Also, I lose things.  Many things.

When I was very young, I would get stacks of books out of the library.  In classic INFP fashion, I would then straw them from one end of the house to the other, reading as I went.  Perhaps it is no surprise that on the day the books were due, I had some difficulty collecting them all to return to the library.

After that, my mom limited me to two books at a time.  I could usually keep track of both of them.


Remember the camera?  Yeah, me too.  Well literally, not a week after I wrote that post, I was packing for a beach vacation, and what did I find wallowing in the bottom of my closet among flip-flops and sneakers and sandals???  MY CAMERA!  Yes, the very same camera that was thought to have been lost in New Hampshire was really only lost in my closet.  And no, numerous interrogations have not yielded any information as to why it was there.  I literally had not seen it since that trip...

Then there was my J hook.  For those who do not crochet, crochet hook sizes are labeled in letters.  So a J hook is just a hook for crocheting that is medium-sized.

Anyway, last year sometime, I took a notion to teach myself to crochet.  Again.  (Another classic sign of an INFP -- starting projects and not finishing them.  Yeah.)  Well, the crochet pattern that I found required a J hook and some thick yarn.  I found the thick yarn.  But the J hook had mysteriously disappeared from my case of crochet hooks.  I vaguely remembered taking it out to do some project, but who knew where it had ended up after that....

I went to the craft store to buy a new J hook.  I ended up buying an I hook by mistake.  Then I gave it up and just used a K hook.  Alas...

Just yesterday, my J hook was resurrected from the bottom of a bag containing materials for loop weaving with a plastic loom.  Who would have guessed?

Rereading my blog posts, I noticed my enthusiasm at the beginning of the summer.  How much writing I would do with so much time in which to do it!

My last post?  A month ago!

Apparently, stress motivates writing more than lack of stress.  Who knew?

I think perhaps it is too late to change my personality.  I will always lose things.

But the sudden inspiration of finding lost things is all mine.  And I am OK with that.

My Camera is Back... and So Am I!

As you may recall, I left my camera in New Hampshire last September.

So, to punish myself, I had to wait until I could save up enough to get a new one.  Thus, my mostly picture-less posts up till now.

Fortunately for me, a lovely deal site called Plum District, offered an amazing deal where I could get a very basic camera for less than half price.

Needless to say, I jumped on it.

So now I have a camera again, finally! *cheering*  It is not a great camera, but it is a camera.

Not only that, but I am about two weeks into summer, which means I will have much more time to write.  Hooray!

Now, on to the story!

My sister, niece, and I went blackberry picking on Saturday.

Ellie was excited for her first time picking berries!

And also a little silly!

But very excited!

We had a great time wresting the berries from the bees and other crawly bugs.  Ellie alternated between running up and down the rows of bushes and finding berries that she could reach, announcing with gusto, "Here's a BIG, fat one!"

What else to do with delicious, fresh-picked blackberries but make a superb dessert for Father's Day?

I call it...

Sarah's Famous Berry Crisp

(adapted from a Blueberry Crisp recipe from Peas and Thank You)

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups of any berries (I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and, of course, blackberries)

2 T. brown sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

sprinkle of nutmeg

1/2 c. oats (can use gluten free)

2 T. almond flour (made from ground almonds -- you can use whole wheat flour if you like)

1/4 c. toasted almonds (I used the slivered almonds and toasted them in the toaster oven)

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 t. salt (optional)

2 T. butter

Instructions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Wash and drain berries and place in a small casserole dish or 8 x 8 baking pan.  If you are using strawberries, quarter them before placing them in the pan.

2.  Sprinkle berry mixture with two tablespoons of brown sugar, the cinnamon, and the nutmeg.  If you like, you can also sprinkle some vanilla or almond extract over the berries at this time.  Mix well.

3.  In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, almonds, remaining brown sugar, and salt.  Cut the butter into small pieces.  Use a pastry cutter to mix in the butter until the mixture has small chunks.

4.  Sprinkle topping over berries.

5.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Delicious!



 Indeed, it was well received by the Patriarch.  And also his loyal subjects.

So ends a blackberry adventure well begun.





The Center Holds

    "Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..."

--W.B. Yeats "The Second Coming"

I am an introvert; my mind is always busy.  It rushes and chatters, a waterfall over rocks, leaving me desperate for silence.

For something like seven years, I have practiced Centering Prayer, a Christian contemplative practice somewhat akin to meditation.  I have practiced, I should say, in hopes that some day I might get better at it, might access that mind-peace that so many claim they find in it.

To no avail.  Instead, I spend countless minutes chasing mind monkeys, and occasionally stumbling upon a smooth lagoon of soft waves and sweet breezes.  But only occasionally.

This morning was no better.  Amid the background noise of my darling hubby watching Sports Center in the next room, and my cat purring loudly at my side, I settled down for prayer.  The kitty then decided that my prayer period could only benefit from her methodically sticking her claws into my leg as she kneaded my thigh.  Finally, fascinated by some video or other on the computer, my loving partner began to blast some sort of mechanical noise over the murmer of the TV.

I could only laugh to myself and attempt to refocus.  Surely, Lord, you are in the midst of things falling apart.

I felt the prayer period was a mega-fail.  I spent more time refocusing than focusing.  Just how was I to meet God when I could not even hear Him?

Oh, well, try again next time, right?

And I headed off to work.  I was surprised to find, though, that the time of day when I usually start to get a bit frazzled, hadn't arrived quite on schedule.  I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting it to appear any moment. 

But it did not.  By the end of the day, when I checked my state of mind (this only sounds strange if you've never taught in an elementary school classroom -- you do not have time to check your state of mind during the day!), I dipped deeply into a clear calm in the core of my soul.

And where did that come from?

Many teachers of Centering Prayer say that there is no "wasted" prayer session.

Perhaps they are right, after all?

What I'm Reading...

I have always been an avid reader, from the time my chubby hands could barely hold the book that I had memorized and was now "reading" to anyone who would listen, and it amazes my husband how I can read multiple books at the same time.  It amazes me how he can not read multiple books at the same time!  Here is a peek into my current bookshelf.

The Art of Slow Reading by Thomas Newkirk.
Bought for me by my principal as a "professional development" tool, this book surprised me in the first few pages.  It graduated almost immediately to a "reading for fun" book.  (Shhh -- don't tell my principal -- I don't think we're supposed to enjoy "professional development.")  Newkirk begins with the premise that when it comes to reading (and many other things), speed is not necessarily an advantage.  He proceeds to demonstrate in voice-laden exposition six practices that help readers to literally wallow in good writing.  If you are a reader or a teacher of reading, this book will inspire you!

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
I've enjoyed reading several accounts of life in Afghanistan and have been amazed by its troubled history and the immense personal strength of its citizens.  This story, told by an American journalist, displays the beauty of bravery in the most powerless citizens as the Taliban conquered the country.  This book  courageously lays bare the facts but weaves a thread of compassion throughout the narrative.  I am still early in the book, but I am looking forward to developing a relationship with it as I continue to read.

The Gospel According to Moses by Athol Dickson
This is my second attempt to read this tangled mass of exposition and narrative.  I had to get about fifty pages in before I could sense the rhythm of the book, but now I am determined to finish this time.  Dickson tells the story of his visits to a Jewish Torah study (Chever Torah) and the insights it provided him about his faith.  Although the prose is clumsy in places, I applaud his open mindedness to questions and ability to tie together the threads of Judaism and Christianity.

Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan C. Merrill
This book makes me a bit uncomfortable in a sense, but I figure that in discomfort there is growth, so I push ahead anyway.  This is not the Psalter, and I cannot read it as such.  But there is beauty in what it is -- a reimagination of the Psalms from a certain point of view.  I take issue with certain key phrases that Merrill uses, like "ego," which I feel has no place in poetry.  However, she does manage to capture much of the rhythm of the original psalms with a certain contemporary flair.  Not a read for the faint of heart or even for people whose roots are deep in fundamentalism.

So there you have it -- a tiny taste of what I'm reading.  What are you reading this week?