rachel’s blog

My sister sent me an email this morning with a bunch of pictures of food… made to look like animals. There were eggplant penguins, green pepper frogs, cauliflower sheep, and more. The pictures are from the “Play With Your Food” book series by by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann.

You can see some of the pictures HERE… but the email my sister sent me had a lot more pictures. If you want me to forward the email to you, either leave a comment here or drop me an email.

This was yesterday’s “Close to Home” comic on my page-a-day calendar…

I feel quite certain that somewhere in the world, a Mennonite has already tried this… or has at least thought about trying it. Haha. It reminds me of the Fritter Car that was supposed to be here in town a few weeks ago, raising money for MCC. It runs entirely on used vegetable oil.

Speaking of MCC, here’s a goofy movie clip I recently found called “Secondhand Pants,” which promotes MCC thrift stores. Hats off to my mom for managing one of those crazy places! Oh, and be sure to watch the clip all the way to the very end for a tiny treat.

Who came up with the idea that a baker’s dozen is 13? I’m pretty sure that a REAL baker’s dozen is only 11… because every time I take a dozen cookies out of the oven, I want to eat one!

Fortunately I don’t usually give in to the temptation, because unlike our childhood friends Frog and Toad, I do happen to have some willpower. (I also have only forty-seven freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies…)

I’m sure there are a lot of women who would pay big bucks to look ten years younger than they are. I am not one of them. In fact, if I could somehow put a few ounces of my All-Natural Youthful Appearance in a bottle and sell it on eBay, I probably would — because when you’re one month away from 28 and you’re still getting extra attention from socially-awkward teenage boys, that’s a problem.

OK, not boys-plural. Boy. Singular. Remember the kid I mentioned a few months ago… the one who works as a checker at the grocery store… and was so happy to see me… and got all excited about watching scary movies on Friday the 13th? Yeah, him.

This evening he started in on his extra-friendly chatter before I had even handed him my discount card. Fortunately, we were soon interrupted by a girl from my church who will be heading off to college in a few weeks. When I told her that I want to have her over for dinner soon, along with a couple other girls (who I referred to by name), the kid at the register said in a fake-girly voice, “Ooo, and then you can have, like, a girls’ night!”

I was so surprised by his comment that all I could think to say was, “Uh, kinda… except that I’m ten years older than they are.”

“No you’re not…”

I looked at him wide-eyed. “Actually, I am.”

“How old are they??” he asked.

When I told him that they had just graduated from high school, he said, “Well, so did I…!”

His Obviously-I’ve-Just-Proven-You-Wrong tone of voice seemed to suggest that his recent graduation should somehow prevent me from being ten years older than he is. Unfortunately, the logic just doesn’t seem to be working out in his favor…

Ahh, this is the life.

Last August, when I finished two years of youth ministry at my church, I was given a gift certificate that I’ve been hanging onto ever since. Yesterday I finally used it to buy a hammock chair. The only problem with it is that as soon as I sit down in it, I fall asleep!

As a woman who hates to spend money (which is NOT an oxymoron, guys), shopping for furniture is a painful experience. I suppose that’s why at the age of almost-28, I’m still sleeping on a hand-me-down twin bed… and I don’t own a dresser. I’d like to change both of those facts, but I’m not going to fork over $1000 (or more) to do so. Seriously, I could think of a thousand other things I’d rather do with a thousand bucks.

Anyhow, while talking with a sales associate at one of the furniture stores I visited this evening, I had a funny slip of the tongue. She wondered if I wanted to see a certain style of bed, and since I was mildly distracted by a group of people nearby, I responded, “No thanks, I don’t think I’m interesting.” Oops. I immediately realized what I had said and we both had a good laugh… and concluded that maybe I am interesting after all!

As all of my faithful blog readers know, three and a half weeks ago I moved out of the apartment where I had lived for three years back to the house that I own. The people who moved into the apartment after I moved out invited me over for supper this evening.

During dinner, the phone rang. Carla got up to answer it, and then said, “It’s for you.” For ME?! It was a guy from the local video store, offering me one free rental within the next thirty days. In return, I offered him my new phone number.

That was the first phone call they have gotten for me, and this evening was the only time I’ve been there since I moved out. What are the chances?!

Given the size of planet Earth, I should be glad that one of my favorite places in the world is a mere 38 miles away. It isn’t a popular tourist destination or a world-class city — it’s just a little church out in the country.

I started attending there ten years ago when I was a sophomore in college, and continued to worship and serve there for the next four years, until I decided that I needed to be plugged in to a church in my own local community. A few days after the events of September 11, the church had a special time of sending and blessing for me during the annual church retreat. In the year or so after that, I attended a couple special events at the church, but I hadn’t worshiped there on a Sunday morning in almost six years… until today.

I love that place. The people at the church are some of the most amazing people I know. It’s taking me forever to write this, because I simply can’t come up with words to describe how wonderful it was to be there again this morning.

During the four years that I attended there, I was given many opportunities to test and develop my gifts and to serve others — leading worship, providing music, preaching, teaching Sunday School, chairing the Worship Committee, baking cookies with the youth (a year from now one of those ‘kids’ will have his Ph.D), picking up trash along the road, etc. I’m not exaggerating when I say that those four years changed my life.

The impetus for my return today was a potluck and wedding reception for a friend and his wife this afternoon (congrats to the happy couple), but I was just as excited to be there for the worship service in the morning. A minute or two after I walked in the door, the worship leader asked if I would read a passage of scripture. I happily agreed. As I sat waiting for the worship service to start, the worship leader came over and told me that the usual pianist was sick… and asked if I would I be willing to play piano too. Honestly, life doesn’t get much better than this.

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So today I’m grateful not only for the wonderful time at church, but also for the fact that today was a day of REST. On Friday and Saturday I spent many hours painting three rooms in my house, so my muscles were happy for a break today. Which reminds me — those of you who are subscribed to my blog via email will need to actually visit my blog to see my last post. For those who are curious, the thief was apprehended just a few blocks from where I work…

I think there may have been a bank robbery today less than half a mile from my house. When I was driving to a dinner event this evening, the bank and the parking lot surrounding it were cordoned off with the classic yellow “Police Line - Do Not Cross.” Hmm. (Ah, I just checked the news online. My guess was correct.)

If you were hoping to read some profound thoughts about crime, you’re going to be profoundly disappointed. All I have for you tonight is some more random chatter.

I got to talk to Charles Stanley today. He called me on the phone and we chatted for a bit. OK, OK. Not THAT Charles Stanley… but I did talk to someone by the same name.

Would any of my dear blog readers like some snails? I’m thinking of the garden variety, not escargot… sorry. I found one stuck to my garden hose tonight, and I’m sure I’ll find more, especially when I tear down the mini jungle that’s threatening to take over my backyard.

I love knowing what search engine terms people have used to find my blog. Did you know that if you search for “rachel blonde blog” (without the quotes) on Google, my blog is result number two? I hope that person found what they were looking for! I also love seeing where my blog readers are from. So far I’ve had visitors from 31 U.S. states and 40 countries. In addition to a few U.S. states, I got hits today from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, and Singapore (but I didn’t get to add any new countries to my list).

Speaking of Belgium, I think I’m going to have a Belgian Waffle party this weekend. Wanna come? (Shhh, don’t tell anyone that “Belgian Waffle” is a paint color!)

People have been asking me if it’s weird to be back in my house again. The answer? It isn’t.

For some reason, I actually thought it might feel strange to move back to a place where I had lived before, so I can understand why people ask the question, but it just seems really normal. I feel like I’m HOME again after living elsewhere for three years. What’s weird about living in a house you own? I mean, think about it. I moved from a concrete-block wall apartment with a tiny kitchen, four skinny windows, and the frequent sound of slamming doors… to a cute cape cod with a fireplace, a claw-foot tub, and a backyard. Why would that be weird?

I can think of some other things that might fall into the “weird” category…

Weird is getting home from work this evening and hearing Strauss’ “Blue Danube” coming from my office. I live alone. Apparently my computer (which was in sleep mode when I left for work this morning) and the CD I was playing last night decided to welcome me home with a nice serenade.

Weird is the woman who called this evening and asked to speak to Mr. or Mrs. Former-Renters, please. I told her that they no longer live here, and since she sounded like a telemarketer, I asked what she was calling about. She said she was calling from Comcast and wanted to offer them an upgrade to their cable service. Um, my renters cancelled their cable several weeks ago…

Weird is driving through a residential area this evening and slowing down to look at a deer off to the left… and then hitting the brakes to avoid hitting the deer at the right side of the road.

Weird is driving into the Wal-mart parking lot and then driving right back out again… because I suddenly realized that my cash, credit card, and drivers license were all at home. They’ve been attached to my keys for the past three years, and I recently decided to change that. I may need to reconsider.

Weird is driving past the time and temperature display at the bank this evening and seeing it flash “8:00″ and then “95.” OK, maybe that’s not really weird, but it’s somewhat unusual… fortunately.

What’s NOT weird is this super-yummy dessert I concocted this evening: a good dollop of plain yogurt (not vanilla) with a few banana slices, a drizzle of honey, and some chopped pecans. Mm-mmm…