Nothing Much

I drank painful quantities of  incredible wassail on Thursday night. INCREDIBLE. We found the most magical apple cider in the world. I don’t think future wassail could ever top that.

I have a prophetic egg-shaped alarm clock that is really fun to spin like a top. That’s right, prophetic. I’ve had the thing for one week and it has done 4 crazy “Ummm… OK, wow” things already. Hey, if God wants to talk to me through an alarm clock, I’m game.

New Jersey is really funny. My news magazine had a little story snippet about a two-hour stand-off at a bank… between the police and what was apparently a really threatening CARDBOARD CUT-OUT. Way to go, NJ!

The socks I am wearing right now are ridiculously warm. I can hardly stand it. But I didn’t properly warmify my feet last night when I left the house, so I figured I owed it to my feet to over-warm them tonight.

We’re about to reorganize our fridge. That makes me really happy.

Timothy Edwards fascinates me. I know I probably shouldn’t be so impressed… but he seems super smart for being so tiny. (Though tiny is also beginning to seem rather huge.) It’s REALLY fun to watch him organize things. He has a gift! (It made my organization-loving heart really happy.) And he’s super cute. Especially when he’s wrestling with his dad. Watching that little guy was one of the highlights of my night.

I’m a little sad about the fact that I will be out of town on my birthday. But I’m really excited about being in Montana for Christmas. I hope it snows in KC before I leave… REALLY huge drifty flake-clusters of glory… that’s what I’m looking for. And it has to snow in Montana on my birthday… it just has to.

I glitter-glued happy trees tonight.

Wendy: Yeah, but I don’t think that makes me weird.
Christine: It makes me different.
Wendy: I know, it’s weird.

OK… so maybe it was funnier when it was way past my bed-time. Wait… it is past my bed-time. Oh well… whatever. I’m still amused.

I am in one of those “stay up late crying” modes. So I thought a random blog post would be a nice diversion for a little while. But now… back to the prayer room.

Toilet Paper

Thought I would take advantage of that little non-frisbee disc again. This was on my mind…

Oooh… what’s that frisbee-looking thing?

I just jumped on here to write a really quick I’m-still-alive post when I saw something that looked like a happy red frisbee in the media menue above the post text box.

Naturally, I was quite excited to see something that looked like a frisbee. I thought, “Wow… can I add a frisby to my post now?” So I decided to scroll over the pretty little red disk to see what it really was.

“Add Poll”

Yeah… that was disappointing.

As much as it falls short of the glories of a blog frisbee, I thought I would still give the poll thing a try. I don’t really have any brilliant ideas for the poll. (Believe me… I would have put a frisbee to much better use.)

So… here it is… my new poll:

The …

I wasn’t trying to be mysterious or create suspense there. I was actually talking about the dots themselves.

I would call them an ellipsis, but I virtually never use them to signify omission of words. I use them for pauses… when a comma just doesn’t seem big enough.

And I apparently feel the need to pause quite frequently in my writing.

I blame the habit on Misty Boone (now Brua). I’m 98% sure that I got it from her (back in my days of constant IM conversations). Misty introduced me to the wonder and beauty of “…” when I was a junior in high school (plus or minus a year).

And now, it is a habit that I cannot seem to escape. I think a lot of that inability is due to the fact that I love them so. My “…”-signified pauses.

I have to cut about half of them out when I am writing, because they become so frequent. And it seems too informal and sloppy. Well, not informal and sloppy enough to stop using them. But informal and sloppy enough that I don’t want to put them on every line of text that I type. Even if this is a simple blog.

Yeah… so I just wrote a post about dots.

Oh. They Weren’t Kidding.

So, I was driving home from the Liantonio residence tonight, when I got caught in a bit of traffic. I was stuck in a 2-mile portion of Highway 76 (in PA) for 30 minutes. Yes… 30 whole minutes. And it wasn’t until the last half-mile or so that I actually saw anything resembling contrstruction work.

I think they were actually doing circus rehearsals out there. I saw men running around with little unicycles and colorful outfits. What else could it be but the circus?

OK, so maybe they were putting lines on the road. But I like the idea of being stuck in traffic because of an open-air circus rehearsal… on the highway… in the middle of the night more than simple road construction. I mean, seriously: Which one sounds more interesting to you?

As I was driving along, I finally spotted a sign (the first indication of actual construction work). The sign read:

Construction
Just Ahead
2 Left Lanes Closed

Now, this is a fairly standard construction message. Lane closures. They happen on highways everywhere.

But here’s the amusing part. There only were TWO lanes. What… were they going to close all of the lanes on the road?

I hate sending food back, BUT…

The beef and cheddar sandwich I just tried to eat was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever attempted to force down.

For starters, I don’t really like Arby’s Sauce. It’s too sweet… and weird. Some places put it on the beef and cheddar; some don’t.

Well, this one did. In fact, it was dripping with the stuff. Oozy orangeness gooping down the sides of the bottom bun.

Secondarily, as the name would imply, the cheddar sauce is an important element of the Beef and CHEDDAR sandwich. Important.

Well, the degree to which my sandwich lacked cheddar far surpassed the degree to which it was over-abundantly glopped with Arby’s sauce. At first, I  thought, “Oh no… did they just give me a roast beef sandwich? No… then why is there all this Arby’s sauce? I’m confused.” So I pulled the bun off to investigate. One small glop of cheddar sauce sat in the middle of the bun. One small glop. You coudn’t even see cheddar from any of the edges.

There was no way I could spread it out to cover the sandwhich. It was as spread as it was going to get. Even if I ate from the central location where the cheddar resided, I would encounter more Arby’s sauce than cheddar.

I tried to eat it. Oh how I tried. But it was so completely disgusting that I just couldn’t do it.

So we drove back to Arby’s. And I complained. And they made me a new sandwich.

Any guesses concerning the cheddar presence on my new Been and Cheddar?

That’s right… it was dripping globs of cheddar sauce, each of a magnitude that surpassed the entire cheddar presence of my last sandwich.

There was probably 4 times as much cheddar sauce on the wrapper than on the first sandwich… BEFORE I touched it and caused cheddar to squish out the sides.

There was more cheddar on my face (post-eating) than there was on the first sandwich.

There was more cheddar on my pinky from one of the globs that dropped out of the sandwich than there was on the first sandwich.

There was a sickening amount of cheddar on my sandwich.

I guess they wanted to be sure that I wouldn’t come back again.

I’m Not Perfect? What?

So, apparently, I am not perfect. I know, shocking.

Anyway… I just noticed another manifestation of my falling-short-ness. I used the wrong to/too. Yes. I, Christine Wasinger, typed “to” when I meant to say “too”.

Ugh… it’s painful.

Random Thoughts

- My personality type (INTJ) is supposed to be pretty rare — 1-2% of the population. I now know at least 7 of us. (And I’m pretty sure I don’t know the personality types of 350-700 people.)

- Passivity is a big deal. There are few things more attractive than a man who puts himself out there, walks out leadership, and takes appropriate risks. And there are few deterrents stronger than passivity.

- The other day, I was shaving my legs and thought to myself, You’d better slow down or you’re going to cut yourself. About three seconds later, blood was streaming from my ankle.

- I really love my friends… amazing people.

- I spent 3rd through 8th grade at a truly incredible school. Thank You, Lord, for Hellgate Middle School (& Elementary School). Yay, district 4!

- INFJs and INFPs are each supposed to make up roughly 1-2% of the population. Probably 1/2 to 2/3 of my closest friends/favorite people are one of these two personality types.

- Communication is a very good thing. Even if it’s a little painful and awkward at times… it’s so worth the pain and effort.

- I like chai tea. Yes… I like it a lot.

- I don’t even comprehend the beginnings of the insane prophetic promises that the Lord has spoken over our community. God, I believe You… help my unbelief!

- I think I’ve finally come to appreciate my curly hair. It took 25 years, but I’ve sort of figured out how to work with it. I still hold by this fact, though – thin, curly hair is a pain in the neck.

- Sometimes God answers my prayers with a terrifying quickness. (Sometimes He doesn’t.)

- Trader Joe’s is a wondrous, happy land. Why have I always lived in sad places where they don’t exist?

- I held Ezri Anna Kremer for about 20 minutes the day after she was born. The Lord did something crazy in my heart in those 20 minutes.

- I REALLY want Amber to move back to Kansas City. Lord, sell her house.

- These are the wrong shoes to wear with these Jeans. Oh well. I’ll change later.

- I like beautiful things. And the Lord let me see lots of them when I was in PA.

- It’s amazing how much blood will flow from a tiny shaving-induced nick.

- Money is filthy.

- I love baking.

- These jeans are going to drive me crazy. Must change jeans or shoes! Must… change!

- It’s amazing how much shaving nicks sting. I’m really glad that I have only inflicted these silly wounds on myself a handful of times.

- Relationships are hard.

- Let’s face it… newborn babies are usually pretty funny looking. Ezri, however, is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. Seriously… beautiful.

- People keep calling me a good cook, lately. I feel bad for them, that they are so deceived.

- I recently had a much-dreaded conversation with someone… and it went AMAZINGLY well. I don’t think I have ever had someone so honor me. It did wonders for my heart.

- This whole “fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit” thing is profound. It’s changing my life.

- I love Jurgen Moltmann’s books.

- Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was a brilliant man.

- “My personality is to talk loud, fast, and continually.” – Mike Bickle. Beautiful quote.

- Prayer. Brilliant.

Our Last Snowfall

A friend of mine made a brief comment about the snow that made me go, “Actually, the snow was more like this,” in an absurdly inappropriate comment on what was actually a wonderful blog post. As I was elaborating on what I perceived the snow to be like, I realized that my out-of-place comment was also getting a bit too long. So I decided to blog about it. Yes… I am blogging about the nature of the snow that most recently fell in Kansas City.

According to the way that I perceive and classify snow, there were actually four types of snow that fell that night and the following day.

First, there was that really weird, melty-wet layer. The stuff that didn’t really stick, was more frenzied in its falling, and mostly just made things wet.

Second, there was a long spell of my favorite snow… the relatively wet packing snow.

“Packing snow” (travels in packs, packs together nicely) clusters together in huge snowflake bunches as it gently falls and then gradually builds up in an amazing, soft layer of white on every surface that it touches. This is the kind that is best for building stuff. This is the kind that clings to you and hangs around a while before it decides to melt. This is the kind that lightly crunches in a coming-together (not a breaking-apart, like shattering ice) kind of way. This is the kind that makes that wonderful and glorious faint sound, as you step on it, that makes me think of winter walks through snowy, untouched fields. Oh the glories of winter. (This is also the kind that was falling when I went and sat outside that night… when I fell asleep watching it fall and take shape on the bushes and railing and cars and grass.)

It seems that a bit of powdery snow came in after the rich layer of packing snow. I’m not positive about that. But it seemed that there was some less secure, relatively dry stuff kind of blowing around on the surface for a while. (I did actually miss a large portion of the time in which it was snowing outside. I am learning to actually make a point of sleeping sometimes.)

The final layer of snow (that I witnessed) is what I think I will forever have to refer to as fairy dust. It was fairy-dusting outside.

This snow is remarkably glittery and sparkly. Even as it falls, it glistens in the air. It doesn’t flurry… it doesn’t float down. It just sparkles through the air and eventually settles on the ground. It’s final effect is an amazing shine and dimension on the solid whiteness that covers the earth. It’s kind of like adding a glossy finish to something after you have completed it. Only… less glossy (that seems to better describe wet ice) and more glittery.

When I first spotted it in action (towards the end of the snow), I didn’t even initially realize that it was snowing outside. I just suddenly stopped and was like “What on earth?” as the space in front of my seemed to be shimmering. It seriously looked like a fairy had just sprinkled magic all around me. And then I looked out toward the nearest light and realized that the “fairy dust” was everywhere. THAT was what was making the surface of the snow so much more glittery and reflective than usual.

This is pretty evident by now, and I have said it dozens of times, but I am going to say it again: I love snow!!! It’s so beautiful. It takes so many unique forms, fills the sky with beauty as it falls, and transforms the surface of the earth in an amazing way.

Even the Ice

Just like the rest of you, I’m not a big fan of falling on my butt or crashing my vehicle into large, stationary objects. Ice on the ground just kind of sucks.

But, tonight… tonight, I’m loving it.

I don’t know… it’s just beautiful. Icicles are beautiful. The once hideous plant in our front yard (now turned ice sculpture) is beautiful. The bare trees with their little drippy clear coating are beautiful. And the shiny, smooth, white fields are beautiful.

As long as you don’t have to go anywhere… the ice can be enjoyed. Otherwise dull surfaces get a chance at being shiny. Everything outside just kind of glows.

And, if you get a chance to play with it a bit, it’s really cool. Grab a chunk of what was snow yesterday but has acquired a clear, solid, and smooth outer shell today. It’s really fun to look at the interaction of the textures — the slightly slushy interior of what remains of the snow and the smooth, solid outer layer of what has melted and frozen together with the falling rain. My gloves are still drying out from playing while Jen put gas in her car tonight.

Of course, had I fallen some time in the last couple of days, I would probably be coming at this from a slightly different angle. But… while I remain gratefully vertical and can just stand in wonder at the pretty things around me… I love it.