Author: jenzug

Fall Y’all! Bloggy Giveaway

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketI had no idea that such a thing existed, but apparently you can get lots of things for free on the internet this week! At the urging of Kristin, who has become quite the give-away addict by all accounts, I am participating. Yipee!

I am giving away a brand spankin’ new copy of Anne Lamott’s book, Grace (Eventually). If you love essays of humor and off-color thoughts on faith, then this is the book for you.

How do you win?

You comment here, on this post. That’s it. See how easy that is? You just say hi, I want to win this book – and make sure I can find you by way of email or website, and I will let you know if you’ve won. You don’t even have to be a blogger to win. You just walk in here like you own the place, and that’s it.

I will even pay to ship you this book – even if you live in Australia. And you know who I’m talking about. How can you beat that?

Oh, and I should probably say that you can only enter once. I just know you are dying to own this book, and will go to great lengths to win a contest here on The Pile, but please restrain yourself an give everyone a chance. You have until Sunday, November 4th at 11:59pm West Coast time to leave a comment, and then I will draw a name from the hat on Monday.

Not interested in this book? Surely you will find something over there that tickles your fancy. And it’s all free!

Also, Bryan wants me to be sure you know that by giving away this book we in no way endorse euthanasia. If you want to know why I bring this up, you’ll just have to win the book.

[This contest is now closed.]

NaBloPoMo: Thirty Things I Love

I finally came up with a theme for NaBloPoMo, and made my first post over there as a preview. Here is an excerpt:

Several ideas came to mind when considering what to focus on. I recently began a campaign to lose forty pounds and have been going to the gym four days a week. I bought a new Bible and thought I should try to read it every day and reflect on what it has to say. I thought I would slow the pace of my life down and spend quality time with my daughter, writing about the adventures we have together every day.

All of these things are important to me, but for reasons of practicality or sheer boringness to the reader, none of these seemed like the theme.

Then it hit me last night as I was soaking in a hot bath (all good ideas come to me at the most inconvenient times) that I should write about the Thirty Things I Love.

[Click here to read more.]

I’m pretty excited to embark on this adventure, and already have fourteen things on my list. I’m hoping it will establish a habit for me to see the joy in all things, even the mundane and frustrating.

Though I wasn’t thinking about this specifically when the idea hit me, I believe I was subconsciously influenced by the current sermon series at church, The Rebel’s Guide to Joy. Through it, I’ve been pretty convicted for being ungrateful and having a complaining heart.

Help.

Adding yet another set of dried out markers to the land fills of this Earth. My kids will not keep the caps on their markers, and Ruthie refuses to color with crayons.

Any ideas? Because at this point I’d rather keep the markers and toss out the kids.

Baby Steps

Slowly but surely I’m adding new things to my routine so they are more likely to “stick.” This summer I hired a cleaning lady to come once a month to do deep cleaning in my house. The first time she came it took her eight hours to power through the grime, and I was a bit horrified. After that initial visit it only took her four hours each month.

Part of her routine was to change the sheets on our beds. And in full disclosure here, I will admit that my sheets were only changed once a month during that time. But to be totally honest, that was more often than they were getting changed before she started coming, so every four weeks was an improvement.

Her services were a gift to myself and our marriage, and intended for the summer only. I hesitated to let her go this fall, as our house was always so clean and refreshing. But for reasons of paring down our budget for leaner times, and for reasons of sticking to the original plan of summer only, I was on my own again.

As of this writing I have changed our sheets every Monday for three weeks, and I am frighteningly surprised to find that it is really not that big a deal. It’s not difficult, time consuming, nor a pain in the neck. I just take off the old sheets and put on the clean sheets – takes about ten minutes per bed, and then I wash all the dirty sheets and towels in the house.

It just goes to show me how bogged down I tend to get when looking at the bigger picture of Getting Things Done, but when I break it down into small duties it feels ridiculously simple.

Next on my list is the bathroom – I’ve only cleaned it twice since the housekeeper quit coming, and I do not want this experience with my shower again.

What things do you get stuck on? How do you get unstuck?

IGoCraZ

Visit NaBloPoMo
This year I’ve decided to participate in NaBloPoMo during the month of November.

Ah, what was that?

NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth: Post every day for a month.

I set up my own page at the NaBloPoMo site, and will likely make all my daily posts there with occasional links from here to remind you that I will be engaging in too much of a good thing, and likely going mad because of it. I’m still working out in my head how I want to use the time/space, as in, I’m thinking I might like to write on a theme for the month.

Some themes that I’ve considered are these:

  • reflecting on a scripture passage
  • tracking my workout/diet record
  • recording all the ways I give into or give up control (the bad kind of control!)
  • doing something fun every day just with Ruthie, and writing about our adventures

I still have a few days to mull it over before we begin, so if you have any votes or others suggestions please leave them in the comments. I think the trick will be finding a topic that will be both relevant to me and interesting to the reader (i.e. it will be a long month if all I’m writing about is how many minutes I ran on the Monotonous Machine of Monotony, and Oooo! I had a salad for lunch! Yawn.).

Also, if you are one of my blogging friends – sign up to participate! Do it! Go sign up right now! And if you don’t have your own blog, go sign up anyway, because in signing up they give you a blog of your very own to use! Go on! Take that 30 day challenge like the guy who ate supersized meals at McDonald’s for a month – pick a topic or theme and explore it every day for 30 days.

Go.

Sun Kissed

My kids have been outside playing for the last hour and a half – ever since we got home from church. Earlier this week I had to lock the doors to keep them outside, and now that they should be napping, I can’t bear to drag them in.

I have, in general, lacked this balance in parenting, this bending of the rules for the sake of a rare sunny day in Seattle. But today I relent my need to control a schedule, and I let them play until they decide to stop.

The number of the day is five.

This weekend we have the kids from our babysitting co-op all night and all day tomorrow so our friends can get out of town. Which means we have five kids. Which means I’m making breakfast for five kids. Which means we’re taking five kids trick-or-treating at our neighborhood Halloween party. Did I mention these five kids were all under the age of five?

Without a doubt, I’ve been having a total blast so far!

Tonight we huddled around my tiny kitchen table while the kids watched me roll out sugar cookie dough between two sheets of wax paper. Then they watched me cut out cookies in the shape of bats and pumpkins. Then after baking, they watched me ice them all with orange cream cheese frosting.

A better person would have probably invited them all to decorate their own cookies however they wanted, with frosting and sprinkles, and such. But to be honest, that thought never crossed my mind until I sat down to write this post. At the time, they all seemed excitedly patient to eat their bats, and I was content to be in control of the mess and design.

But despite this, I’m very pleased with myself for providing such a fun activity (even if they did just watch), and for actually having fun doing it. I have no doubt that I am this close to full abdication of control during good times.

diaper stash

Every morning when Ruthie wakes up, I remind her to throw her pull-up into the trash and put on her underwear. I didn’t think this task needed to be clarified any further – it seemed straightforward enough for a rational person like myself. But apparently it did, because today I found about two weeks worth of used pull-ups stashed in a pile in the back of her closet.

When Bryan found out, this is what he says…

Bryan: Ruthie, the next time we find hordes of used diapers in your closet, I’m going to give you 50 million spankings, a time out for ten years, and withhold food and water. You’ll have to eat grasshoppers.

Ruthie, after considering this for a moment: Nah!!! You’re joking!

Bryan: Okay I’m joking, but that’s REALLY GROSS.

Divine Intervention

I went to the gym yesterday, then after dinner the kids and I walked to the library and the cupcake shop. By the time I got everyone settled into bed I was too exhausted to clean the kitchen, and my shin splints hurt too much to stand up anyway. So for the first time in a couple weeks I spent the evening on the couch watching t.v. – a recorded episode of Austin City Limits with the Decemberists (a lack of cable has returned me to my geeky love for PBS).

And just now as I think about how I spent my evening, I do not feel overwhelmed or guilty. I still had a basket of laundry to fold, and dishwasher to empty, and a kitchen to clean – but given the hard day’s work I had already put in, it just seems logical that I did what I could and rested in the fact that today I can finish.

This is a much different feeling from times past, when I shuffle about all day not knowing where the time has gone, and feeling stressed that I have so much left undone. I think I knew deep down that I was dragging my feet and allowing myself to be distracted.

I’ve been reading Proverbs lately, which is a book full of wisdom for the wise and warnings for the foolish. Here is what struck me in the last couple weeks:

The one who stays on the job has food on the table; the witless chase whims and fancies (Proverbs 12:11).

The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work (Proverbs 12:24).

A lazy life is an empty life, but “early to rise” gets the job done (Proverbs 12:27).

After resting on the couch, I just assumed I would get a second wind and be able to get up and do what needed to get done. But when Bryan turned in around 9:45, I decided to follow him up to bed and watch t.v. until I fell asleep. But who am I fooling when I think this? What usually happens is that I stay awake long enough to watch Sex and the City reruns at 11, then I might as well watch the beginning of Letterman at 11:30, and before I know it it’s midnight and I’ll be hitting the snooze button in six hours.

Well, last night my cable mysteriously went out when I went to bed (we have the very basic cable that gives us a clear picture for all 15 channels we get), so all I saw was static. It was just working fine downstairs, and this morning it’s working as well. But last night I think God must have pulled the plug to prove a point, because I fell asleep right away, and when my alarm went off at 6am I bounced right out of bed.

Today I have decided to stay home from the gym. I hope this doesn’t start a dangerous pattern of playing hooky the rest of the week, but it’s the first morning that my shins have not hurt, and I’d like to give them a day to completely heal. So if you think about it, check up on me tomorrow to make sure I made it in again!

Grieving, as observed by michael azzerad

In a recent interview on KUOW’s Sound Focus, music writer Michael Azzerad reflected on his memories of friend, Kurt Cobain. His interview tapes with Cobain are the basis for the documentary, Kurt Cobain: About a Son.

Michael was so devastated by Cobain’s death, that he didn’t listen to these tapes for almost ten years after he died. Eventually, film director AJ Schnack approached him, wanting to hear the interview tapes for his documentary. So he got them out and the two of them listened to them for the first time in many years.

Michael said he was surprised to find he actually enjoyed hearing Kurt’s voice. At the time of the interviews he was relatively healthy, happy, and writing music, and you could hear Michael laughing in the background of the tapes as they talked. He said he wasn’t upset when he heard the tapes, as he thought he would be. Rather, the experience revived the many great memories he had of Cobain, and it made him laugh to think about them.

I was struck by this. Standing in the kitchen baking sugar cookies, I suddenly found myself identifying with a music writer I’ve never heard of who was grieving over the death of a famous friend. I haven’t exactly brought myself to look at any pictures of Gordy, or watch any video I may have of him, either, and I would likely crack if I heard his voice – I do miss his voice. But I was comforted that, over time, my grief will continue to morph from sadness to fondness of memories – as it has already begun to do.

Free write reflections

Argh! One day of wearing really crappy shoes last week got me shin splints, and I’m mad. I thought resting for four days over the weekend would heal them, but I was still feeling pain this morning when I woke up. So instead of running, I lumbered along on the Monotonous Machine of Monotony first, then WALKED on the treadmill for a low impact workout.

I really had to hold myself back from running once I got on the treadmill because my adrenaline got me going and the music was great and I really just wanted to take off running into the florescent sunset. But in my restraint I discovered HILLS! Yes, instead of running running running, I walked up steep ‘hills’ all morning at a very fast walking pace and ended up getting my heart rate up there pretty good despite the not running thing.

—

I read this post today by my friend Jenny, and much of what she said resonated with me. I’ve struggled with the same sort of thing lately – the unwillingness to submit my will.

After two weeks at the gym I’ve actually gained two pounds. And I don’t think it’s the muscle-weighs-more-than-fat kind of two pounds. I think it’s the I-worked-out-today-so-I-can-afford-this-ice-cream-sundae kind of two pounds.

And after several months of improved relations with Bryan, we fought this weekend. It was difficult and stressful, but we worked through it – though sadly we lost an entire day to the situation, and it set us back in many practical and emotional ways.

We are hosting a Bible study through the How People Change curriculum on Sunday nights. After our study in Chapter Two last night, I was compelled to start reading the book of Colossians. I made it through three chapters this morning before the kids noticed I was not paying attention to them, and this is what zapped me:

Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already IN – insiders – not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

and this:

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, ACT like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from HIS perspective.

In our study of the material and in our discussions last night, I was really struck by how driven I still am by the circumstances right in front of me instead of seeing the bigger picture. How I feel in the moment is what I end up basing my choices on.

We read 2 Corinthians 11:1-3 about being married to Christ. I have heard this marriage analogy my whole life, and tend to just gloss over it when discussed. But last night it jumped out at me; it grabbed me. Marriage. Fidelity. Christ’s love for us is perfect, yet we are enticed away by our own desires. What kind of marriage would I have if I continually flirted with men at the gym, or left Bryan at home to go trolling in the bars? If I don’t focus my love toward Bryan alone, we are doomed!

We have everything we needIn the notes in my leader’s guide for the curriculum it says to ask the group to name possible lovers that tempt us away from Christ. I wrote in my margin: I am a spiritual slut – I have many lovers. In the midst of so many good things, so many blessings, so many things to be thankful for, I am enticed away by things that glitter a bit more fanciful, that meet the mood I am feeling right then. And it clouds my vision with bitterness and anger when my perceived needs are not met.

I have no pretty bow to wrap this up in. All of this is raw reflection from the weekend, and I am still processing. Really, I was trying to leave a comment on Jenny’s post, and three paragraphs in I realized I had just started writing my own post. Curiously, I am not depressed or discouraged – so please don’t send me an email saying I need medication. Rather, I am grateful and encouraged that I am not given up on; that like Jenny, I can click the RESET button in my mind and try again.

Thanks for listening.