I Am Lisa

Take The Simpsons Personality Test and find out which Simpsons character you are...

I Am Lisa Simpson

A total child prodigy and super genius, you have the mind for world domination. But you prefer world peace, Buddhism, and tofu dogs. You will be remembered for: all your academic accomplishments Your life philosophy: "I refuse to believe that everybody refuses to believe the truth"

I think this was pretty accurate although I'm sure I was one question away from being Marge. ("Don't look at me. Just because I'm holding a pair of scissors....Scissors which I need to, uh, to... gussy up these curtains.")

First Cuts

In case you missed the American Idol results show--and you care--and you read my blog (does that leave anybody???): We said goodbye to Becky O'Donohue, Stevie Scott, Bobby Bennett and Patrick Hall tonight. I don't think any of them will be missed too terribly.

One irritating thing Ryan Seacrest kept saying during the show: "That just goes to show that no one's safe." Of course no one's safe--they're all going to be eliminated, save one. That's the whole point. I know, I know: I'm not supposed to actually listen to the words coming out of his mouth, they're just there to fill space.

That's a Wrap

I've been motivated to post to my blog today because at church this morning I learned that a blog is a "frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts." I was convicted about the "frequent" part. This is my 64th post to this blog in its 10 month lifetime. I don't know if you'd consider that frequent. So anyway that's what I learned at church today. Seriously, we just started a sermon series called "blog: Big Lessons on God". You can download the service as a podcast at the NewCov site. (Or you should be able to within the next day or so.)

After church, my husband finished up a project he's been working on for me: This very cool wrapping paper rack (pictured here), with storage for ribbons, bows, etc. and gift bags too! We designed it together, he built it, and he just installed it this afternoon. (Sorry ladies, he's taken.) So, I spent some time transferring colorful paper products from a big plastic bin into this new rack and I made a very interesting discovery: I have a WHOLE LOT of gift bags. Multitudinously more than I thought I had. (There are more than what is in this picture.) This led me to ponder the reason for this. (Why can't I just leave it at I have a lot of gift bags?!) I keep and reuse bags from gifts I receive. (I hope that's not bad etiquette or something.) I rarely buy gift bags, so most of the ones I own once contained gifts for me or someone in my family, but probably me. I like gifts. Feel free to send me one. But not in a gift bag please. But to get back to my pondering: Based on all these facts, I came to the conclusion that I have received multitudinously more gifts than I have given. So I think I'm going to start giving more gifts. I'm not going to invent holidays or anything like that. But I think there are probably times when a gift would be appropriate yet not expected, and I'm going to start erring on the side of giving. Not just to deplete my gift bag supply, of course, but because I really do like giving gifts. And I don't want my new rack to break under the stress of holding all those bags!

My Idol Picks

The final 24 have been chosen. (Of course I'm talking American Idol.) Here are my picks:

Who I like:
Kellie Pickler
Taylor Hicks
Chris Daughtry
Will Makar
Stevie Scott

Who I think will win:
Paris Bennett

And Another Thing

A few weeks ago I volunteered to lead worship for my Thursday morning women's Bible study. It's something I had thought about doing, but didn't think I could commit to at this time for various reasons. But in a matter of about an hour a few weeks ago, each one of my reasons became invalid. So last week was my first week. Every little mistake I made (and there were about a hundred in the three songs), I just cringed internally, and kept smiling and singing. At one point, I looked out and noticed that the women were singing, some of them looking like they were really worshiping. That was a very cool moment. Immediately afterward all I could think to myself was "I'm never doing this again. I'm never doing this again." over and over. I kept telling myself not to say this aloud because I knew I would feel differently by the next day. And I did. All I can say is that God is VERY big. I feel so incapable of doing this. (Much more incapable than I thought I was!) It is refreshingly humbling. There's something about laying it all out before God and saying: This is all I've got. It's yours if you want it.

Twelve hours left until showtime. At least Simon Cowell won't be there!

I'm Back

... Not that I went anywhere. I was here. At the computer. On the internet. Everyday. It's terrible really. It's as if I was driving by your house on a pleasant day, and you were there in the front yard watering your lawn, and I didn't even bother to pull over and say "Hey, don't you have sprinklers?" And there have actually been things to blog about (about which to blog?) and I just thought it would be easier on me to not blog. But no. Blogging provides some sort of release. My problems become yours. I walk away relieved and you walk away laughing. We both win. And I don't even have to pay you.

So here's my bloggable story from two weeks ago. After Bible study, I went out to lunch with some friends. (At DiCicco's on Nees for those wondering now and those who will wonder after reading this.) There were about 12 of us: half adults, half kids. The place was full (and rather small). We were talking and laughing and eating. This man got up from his table in the middle of the restaurant, came toward our table, looked right at me and angrily said something like "It's really inconsiderate of you to let you kid make so much noise in here" and he motioned to my two-year-old son. I was shocked. Certainly my son was making noise. So were the other kids (and adults) in the restaurant. But enough noise to warrant this rebuke? When the man started talking, I seriously thought I must know him from somewhere, that he was joking. When I couldn't place his face and he kept talking I realized he was serious. It was like in a movie: Everybody in the restaurant stopped eating and talking and was just watching. I tried to control the simultaneous rage and tears that were welling up inside of me. "Do you have any suggestions?" I asked, wondering if he could come up with something short of duct tape. "Yes I have children," he blurted. "I didn't ask if you had children. I asked if you had any suggestions." My question caught him off guard and he stammered a little. "I'm not a parent. I... I mean, I'm not the parent. I just think you're being inconsiderate." He turned around and went back to his seat. I turned back to my friends and tried not to totally lose it. (I didn't want the guy to have the satisfaction of knowing he disturbed me so deeply.) Everyone else in the restaurant was apparently afraid of getting yelled at, so conversations started back up very quietly. The hostess at the restaurant told one of my friends that this man eats there regularly and has yelled at other customers before. That made me feel a little better. This was such a surreal experience. I kept replaying it in my mind for the next three days. I hate doing that. But it really was an awful experience.