questions about halloween

Thought to follow is probably not politically correct, but I have no where to express it. So I express it here:

How do you even celebrate Halloween? What is it that you are even celebrating? I legitimately do not understand this for the vast majority of humankind. What is it you think you are doing and why?

End scene.

Petoskey in the Fall

Last night Kelsey, Karol & I drove up to Petoskey and stayed overnight so I could go to my neurologist appointment this morning. After I got finished at the appointment, we headed downtown for a bit of shopping. One of my favourite stores in the downtown area is a kitchen supply called Cutler's. We started there, went to Symon's General Store & then went to American Spoon for lunch. I had always wanted to try it, but last time we were there it wasn't open for the season. They use locally sourced farm produce to create a menu. It was delicious!

 We took our time driving home leisurely through Charlevoix and Traverse City. Saw some beautiful sights along the way. It was almost like we had a pre-weekend, weekend!

shadows & light

Well, all in all, today felt very successful. I was able to teach Sunday School and stayed through all of church. I was so exhausted, and barely heard the message, but I made it. And when I got home (in an effort not to fall asleep) I made myself spaghetti for lunch, watched a movie, talked to Grandma, played some games, made bread, and did pretty much anything else to keep my eyes open. It was a battle, but I won. Here's a couple of photos from the beautiful afternoon. Hoping for a great day tomorrow, too!

kung fu par-tay

Just wanted to show off a couple of photos from our Kung Fu Panda movie night last night. The kids seemed to really enjoy the candy bar and were pretty much glued to the movie. I think they felt special and had fun being at my house.

Today was a pretty good day. It took me a little bit to get going. I can definitely feel the past couple of days in my muscles, but I got everything put away and our house all cleaned up. I also did a very grown up thing and applied for a credit card. So yeah. Basically a productive Saturday. Tomorrow will come early (praying I sleep!) so I better hit it now.

photos photos photos

Prepare for a photo heavy post! I always love spending time at Dad and Mom's house; it is refreshing, and I so appreciate my family. Realized I haven't posted the photos from my time spent up north so here we go!

 Boardwalk at Wolf Creek Trail with Courtney

 Court did my makeup :)

 Precious sister :)

 If this isn't autumn glory, I don't know what is!

 Grandma and I had a good afternoon looking through All Recipes & Food Network magazines for recipes to include in my new recipe binder. She thought I should try to make Bacon Brownies ha.

 Ready for Melissa's baby shower!

Saying goodbye at the end of my time is always really hard. It takes me hours, and I am never ready. I think that is a beautiful thing about home. I can never get enough of it. I would never want to lose that feeling. I am thankful for a home full of people I love so much that I always want more time there. Going home always reignites a determination within my core to be my best self... constantly pursuing more full relationships and peace/joy-filled interactions and attitudes.
I love where I come from, and I love where I am, and I love where I am going.

House tour

Not sure if you have seen this yet, so I thought I would pop it in here. :)

Also. This is my face recently. In case you have forgotten? Oh, I am a strange one.

when oblivion calls

Blogtrack: Oblivion by Bastille
I'm sitting in a cozy clean house with only one load of laundry left to do tomorrow before I declare my decluttering officially finished for this round! Feeling quite accomplished tonight. My favourite fall candle (Autumn Hayride) is lit, but I actually earlier carried incense through the house like Grandma used to do. I found some that had such a strong scent memory for me that I had to try it out. Such a pleasant scent that is lingering. So I'm sitting by candle light and by white Christmas lights listening to some quiet music and the dishwasher running. It was quite brisk today, but Kelsey tells me that it is supposed to be warm next week again. Oh, Michigan.
This weekend I have the house to myself as Kelsey is at a coaching clinic. I'm not quite sure what I will do with my time. I'm hoping to update the bulletin boards in the kids area at church tomorrow, but I pretty much don't have anything else planned. Maybe I'll make some rolls or a coffee cake or something. One thing I'm going to do tomorrow is not watch any "screens." No TV, Youtube, etc. I will listen to music and use my computer, but not to watch videos. Just want to take a bit of a tech break. I need to figure out what we are doing for a dinner that we are hosting in a couple of weeks so maybe I'll plan that. Who knows? But right now, I'm off to bed.

soul care

eight

Today I feel very accomplished. One meeting down for church leadership, three children's events put on the calendar, only one room left to clean in the house and a little bit of vacuuming, worship team practice, Dexter's nails cut, and a little energy to spare. I got my prescriptions ready to be filled tomorrow, and everything is ready to be taken to the second-hand store for donation.
Tonight I also talked to Oliver for awhile. Last week I called him and left a message apologizing for some unkind things I had said about him to our mutual friends and my resentful feelings toward him over the past few years. I wanted him to know that I am not angry, and I was wrong to treat him the way I did, no matter what perceived wrong he had done to me. He had texted me back that night and asked if it was okay if he called me this week so we could talk, and I agreed. I wasn't quite sure what this conversation would be like, but as soon as we got on the phone, he thanked me for leaving the message and apologizing, but said that he immediately wanted to call me back to say that he knew that a lot of my feelings were warranted because he knew he had behaved like a jerk. And then he, too, apologized. Which was like wow. Who would have thought that we would end up at the point where we would both be able to say, "I was wrong," and truly mean it? It meant a lot to me. But that conversation out of the way, we caught up on life, and it was just nice. I've always hoped that I would be able some day to look back on the last couple years of college and remember more of the good parts than the bad, and I think today's conversation was a huge step in that direction.
Well now I'm off to bed. It's a nostalgic sort of grey day that I always try to keep busy on. I think I succeeded in that today. Always...

simplicity

This evening was our IF: Pray event. This morning's symptoms were still intense, but it had mostly subsided by 3:30. I guess I was too in the thick of it all because I totally forgot to take any pictures of the evening. Oops. We had four tables set up in the fellowship hall with vases of baby's breath and a floating candle in the center of each. We put up a strand of clear Christmas lights, and I set up a wooden drink cart as an info station with one of Grandma's lace tablecloths over it, the information in picture frames, and some more baby's breath. In the corner of the room, we put down a rug and had our stools on it and podium in front of it. With the help of Pastor Bev, I made coffee for the ladies, and we had a good two hours of prayer, discussion, and worship. I am very glad that we did it.

Something I've been considering for awhile (the major principles I've been considering for years) and have finally decided I'm going to try to implement to some degree in my life is minimalism. There is so much about my life that seems unmanageable and especially living in such a small space, it seems like my possessions can kind of take over the space if only even a couple of things are out of place. I pared down when I moved here, but I think it is time to pare down again with the mindset of not replacing unless I am in a different season of life that calls for a true need of an item. I know that my greatest peace of mind house-wise is when my kitchen is clean. But if all my areas were simple to clean and had ample space because I had only exactly what I need.... Yes. That is ideal. So I've been reading up and watching YouTube videos about how to start the decluttering process, how to create a capsule wardrobe, etc. so I can figure out what parts of living light are a good fit for me. I sorted one bookshelf today. And then I took a break and read one of the books before putting it in the 'get rid of' pile (The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo). And tomorrow I will continue.
(21 Benefits of Owning Less)

Rough changes

It has been a very long week of icky feelings. My new medicine is hard to adjust to. There is a lot of pain and illness. And a lot of me trying to get by and get things done in spite of it all. I hope each day that I am getting better and more acclimated, but we shall see how it all turns out after the next week.
It all leaves me feeling a bit uninspired. I'm trying to keep the joy up and my productivity up, but it's hard. Even right now I am having some trouble with sentences. So I think that is it for now.