Lazy Sunday

It's been a quiet weekend here in Normal.  We managed to be a Beck-free zone yesterday, mostly by keeping the TV off all day, and watching a DVD in the evening.  So we didn't have to see or hear that little Nazi douchebag defiling the steps of the Washington Monument on the anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream Speech" -- nor were we subjected to his little lap dog Sarah, or reports about either of them later in the evening. Sadly it appears neither of them were struck down by lightening for their douchbaggery -- I suppose God is much more tolerant, loving, and patient that I am.  Good thing for the Beck's and Palins of the world.


And we are enjoying a pretty lazy Sunday afternoon now.  Went to church but I wasn't preaching so got to just sit there for the most part. Then we had a potluck after the service which, okay yeah, I had to set up for but then I got to eat yummy food.  Some people signed up to help with clean-up afterwards, which they did a great job doing, so I only had to do a little bit which was good because usually I do most of the clean-up at these things and then my legs and body hurt afterwards.  But today I sat and let the clean-up people do the job they signed up to do instead of managing everything and it was nice. And it all mostly got cleaned up, so, yeah.  Good times.


I got to sit and eat and visit with Tasha and Chrissy and David and Bob, and that was nice too. It was kinda hot in the coffeehouse but other than that, it was a nice time with tons of great food (I LOVE potluck food) and Tasha made sweet tea just for sweet lil ole me, which was divine.  Then we came home and have not being doing a whole heck of a lot, which is nice. Tomorrow is my day off so it's kind of like my weekend now, with swimming and grocery shopping the only thing on the agenda for tomorrow.  Then back to it on Tuesday, with a drive to Springfield for a meeting with my fellow presbytery commissioners to plan for how to deal with the upcoming overtures that need to be approved, blah blah blah. That will not be fun, but dinner later that evening with C and E will be!


But I shall not think of any of these things now, because it's Sunday afternoon and there are still a few hours left before Bob passes out, so I shall enjoy them.  Perhaps by watching a Clooney movie with Bob.  What more could a girl want than to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with her first and second husbands?

Penelope Anne

I like not needing to change the music today, or the background, as I share more about my new great niece.  Frankly, it was difficult for me to find music for Penelope.  Penny Lane was a no brainer, assuming they call her Penny instead of Penelope.  The other one is a song I've never heard before by a band I've never heard of, but it's growing on me.

We have no idea why they named her Penelope.  My mom, Great Gramma P-Dub, was supposed to go see her last night with my brother, Penny's Grampa.   Not sure if they did or not, but if they did, Mom was going to ask where the name came from.  


Here's a new picture of her, texted to my sister, emailed to me:

This was taken by Penelope's second cousin, my niece, Laura,
who was the first member of our family to meet Penelope,
and who cried throughout the whole visit, which I find very sweet.

I think she kind of looks like her grandfather, my brother, who I am enjoying calling "Gramps" to no end.  Ah hell, she looks like a baby, that's what she looks like.  Kind of a cute one for only being a day old when this was taken since, let's be honest, newborn babies are normally kind of smushy-faced and not all that cute. But this one, she's kind of a cutie pie already.  I wonder if I have that blindness that comes when a baby is born into your family and no matter what you see her as beautiful?  I am fascinated by her double chin.  Hey wait, maybe she looks like me!?!  I am still not sure about her nose.  But yeah, she is kind of cute isn't she?

Hi there little peanut!  I wonder if she'll talk to me the way Chelsie talks to her Auntie C in her "We Are Family" blog?

A few more pics from today, when Great Gramma P-Dub and Great Aunt Betsy visited.  Okay, I have to say it, she's damn cute!

Great Aunt Susan!

When it rains, it pours.  Just over two weeks ago I turned 50, and now I am a great aunt!  


My brother's daughter Kim, and her husband Jason, welcomed Penelope Anne Berg to our family at 11:30pm PDT, August 26, 2010.  What a lucky baby.  Not only does she have this big, loving, crazy family, but she was born in a "beginning-of-a-decade year" just like I was (1960), which makes it soooooooo much easier to figure out one's age.  


Too bad she was born a few days too late to join the other Leo women in the family.


Welcome to the family, Penelope Anne!

Penelope Anne and her Daddy, Jason.

Wow. Wow?

Lately I've been upset/worried about all of the anti-Muslim bashing going on because of the proposed Islamic Center to be built two blocks from Ground Zero.  I preached about it. I FB'd about it, posting links to Jon Stewart and Huffington Post articles.  Trying not to overdo it but oy, it's so scary.  I feel another Krystalnacht coming ...


So anyway, a few weeks ago I posted about my elation at Prop H8te being overturned in CA, and an old friend from my HS Youth Group posted:  "so you apparently like this? interesting..."  I don't think he found it interesting at all, I think he found it disturbing (remember, I grew up in the REAL OC), but I decided not to respond.  Then yesterday I posted a link to a great story Jon Stewart did on the Daily Show regarding all of the Mosque BS and Fox News, and this morning he writes:  "are you left leaning or fully committed left handed player? Wow."  I replied to this one:  "Wow?"  I am hoping he'll respond and say what he REALLY thinks so we can talk more about it.


Now first of all, please don't run over to my FP page and comment on his comment. I don't want to start a war of words, I actually would love to engage in meaningful dialog with him, and maybe help him realize that someone he cared about and respected all through HS and College, who may be a "tad" liberal now, isn't a bad thing.  And perhaps I can offer him a different perspective than what he's used to, living as an upper-class SoCal Republican Presbyterian ... 


Why bother?  Well, I was madly in love with him all through high school, and most of college. But we were always "just friends," though very close friends.  Kinda brother/sister.  We met when I was in 9th grade at my church youth group, and became "just friends" very quickly.  He cared about me, prayed for me when I got RA, spent time with me, was a camp counselor for my HS kids when I was a youth director after college, etc. 


At the time I thought he looked like a younger Tom Selleck, who, for you young-ens, was hot at the time.  No, he was no George Clooney, but still, teh-hot for the 70's and 80's.  I was kind of cute too back then, and very skinny.  Here we are at my going away part in 1984, just before I left for Princeton.

Damn, I WAS skinny! Where did she go?  It looks like I ate her.  But I digress ...


Now back then I was not a conservative Republican -- I was already a Democrat by that time, more as rebellion than actual political savvy.  And whilst I was a good Christian girl (obviously, as I was about to give my life to Jesus and go to seminary in this picture) I was always more moderate in my faith beliefs and practices than the people at my church (where John and I met).  So basically we didn't always believe the same way even way back then, but I guess maybe he didn't really pay attention to that and, to be fair, I wasn't quite the flamer that I am now, liberally speaking.

But then I left the OC, and headed to the liberal East Coast.  And after that, well, I went to the Midwest but that's beside the point ... the point is, I GOT OUT OF ORANGE COUNTY, which is, to say the least, the conservative bastion of California and possibly the whole country.  Okay no, that would be most of Texas, but I digress again.  So I got out of the OC, looked around, saw there was a whole other world out here, and I embraced it, I swam in it, I danced in it, and my eyes and heart and mind were opened.  And though I was never a gay-basher in my youth, more of a "I don't get it" kind of gal, I became a gay-lover.  And while I was never a basher of non-Christians, more of a "well I bet God will still let them into heaven cuz God is cool that way" -- I became a universalist who isn't even sure there is a "God" and is pretty sure there is no heaven/hell.  Etc. Etc.


But Johnny-boy stayed in the OC, and did well for himself professionally/financially.  He has a beautiful wife, three kids, and a sail boat.  And he still goes to a conservative Presbyterian church -- not the church of our youth but one nearby.  He's living the dream.  And he thinks it's "interesting" and "wow-worthy" that I have different beliefs than he does.  I am pretty sure he's disappointed in me, and I am positive he disagrees with me.  But see, I know John.  Well, I knew 14-24 year old John.  And I knew his heart back then, and his brain.  And so I'm pretty sure that if we do have an open, respectful dialog, while I may not change his mind, I may just give him something to think about.  


So yeah, don't comment on his FB comments on my posts.  Let's see how it plays out.  Maybe it'll go nowhere -- maybe he'll stop responding and unfriend me.  Or maybe, just maybe, I can offer him a different perspective ...

A new table

After preaching my barn burner sermon in support of the Islamic Center in NYC at church this morning, we went out to lunch as we usually do.  Then we went over to Scott and Monica's to "look" at a table they are selling.  I had mentioned I would like to get a new table whilst dining and playing Euchre with them last week -- a smaller round one since we have an eat-in kitchen and it's not huge.  And as it happened they had one they wanted to sell, so we went by to see it and spend time thinking about it before making a decision -- and of course came home with it.  It's round, a darker brown than our old one, with four chairs that all have arms.  It's a nice small size, and can get bigger if we add a leaf.  I am going to buy some cushions for the chairs to make them more comfy and then we'll be set. We have two chairs out now, will bring out a third when P-Dub returns, and can have a fourth if we have more for dinner sometime.


We set our old table and chairs out at our curb, assuming someone would take them since they didn't want it at the CRC, where we offered them for the apartment.  We knew it would be gone before morning, however we did not expect it to be gone within 20 minutes.  They set it up with the four chairs around it, so for a brief time we had a "dining room" in front of our house near the street.  And it must have looked so attractive that someone couldn't help snatching it up right away.  I hope they enjoy them -- we did for 12 years.  Someone gave them to us so we didn't feel right selling them.  Enjoy your new home!

So I came upstairs to clean the kitchen and get used to the new table which, I like, but I am very not used to yet!  In fact I wanted us to keep the old one a day or two in case I changed my mind, but I was voted down by Bob, who evidently got two votes to my one.  While cleaning off the counter I noticed the peaches I bought last week were getting overly ripe, so I sliced them up and made a peach pie, which I can smell from the oven. It's almost done.  We had a nice big lunch so perhaps we'll have peach pie for dinner?

Anchor Babies and Mosques

http://www.someecards.com/ 

I'm supposed to be writing my Reflection, which I am doing, but then realized I hadn't blogged in two days so here I am.


I am basing my Reflection on all the crap going on in our country related to xenophobia and, more to the point, racism against people of Arab descent -- okay, well, Muslims -- and all of the backlash against building a Mosque, a house of prayer for f'sake, two blocks from Ground Zero.  Not to mention the new move to repeal the 14th Amendment so "terrorists" will stop birthing babies in the US, which grants the baby US citizenship, so they can go back to their "terrorist" country and be raised up to be adult "terrorists" who are American citizens and come back and, well, I suppose terrorize us.  (We all know why they are really trying to get rid of #14 -- it'll open the door to getting rid of the Right's biggest target -- Social Security.  But I digress.  *See below if you want to know what the hell I'm talking about.  Yikes, I'm in a mood!)


I am using a passage from Luke about Jesus healing a woman in the temple on the Sabbath as my text.  HA!  That'll be quite a feat (to connect them).  Actually, it's pretty easy.  If you are here Sunday you'll be amazed, and inspired!  Or possibly confused.  In the meantime, I am sickened as I do some research.  Such ugly bullshit being flung in all directions.  My favorite is Sarah Palin tweeting her disapproval of the Mosque a couple of weeks ago, and then supporting Dr. Laura's 1st Amendment rights after her use of the N-word on her radio show -- um, WHAT?  Oy.  Sometimes I just wanna smack some people. 


To watch this, you'll need to mute the lovely "Imagine" that's playing.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Moment of Zen - Sarah Palin on NYC Mosques
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

*Phil Davis of Phil’s Stock World has an idea about the real agenda:

According to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (oh that thing),  right there in section 4, is the statement that: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."  So we’re stuck with those Social Security obligations (the ones people put money into their whole lives on the good faith that the US Government would take care of it for them and pay them back when they retire) unless we can figure out a way to get that 14th Amendment repealed so we can default on that obligation. 

Well thank goodness once again for our Conservative cousins because House Minority Leader, John Boehner, is already on the case and has suggested repealing the 14th amendment under the guise of blocking citizenship for children born in the US to immigrant parents….It is now becoming clear that the ENTIRE anti-immigration mania, from the day Bush first suggested a fence between Texas and Mexico, has really been about mounting a back-door attack on Social Security - the true enemy of the right since it’s founding in 1935. 

Back to the real world

Okay well technically I was not "off" work for the last week but let's just say that while Betsy was here, I didn't do a whole lot of it!  But that's just between you and me, dear reader. Don't let the people I work for hear about it or there will be hell to pay I'm sure.  hehe.


Bob and I came home to a quiet, empty house yesterday afternoon from the airport.  No Mom. No Betsy. Just me, Bob, and the dog. And the balloons which still are floating in the living room (sometimes we think it's a person swaying to the breeze of the ceiling fan). Betsy called from her layover in Dallas and we all shared a Patron shot together one last time.  Then we had dinner, just the two of us, some television, and earlier to bed for me than I had hit the sack in days (midnight/1am was most common while Betsy was here -- I hit my pillow by 11pm last night). Fortunately the pool at the gym is closed for some reason (has been all week) so I could sleep in without the guilt and catch up on all my lost sleep from the weekend.


So I slept until 8am, which is late for me, and then got up, showered, and headed into the office to sort through mail, get some things ready for the returning students, who started moving back in to ISU already, and then a quick run to the grocery store before Bob got home from work.  We'll have a quiet dinner (grilled burgers) then some TV before Bob passes out.  Then some TV for me before I pass out.  Pretty boring, and quite a let down from the excitement of the previous week.


I did have a fabulous birthday celebration that lasted for days, but now with everyone gone and no more birthday cards showing up in the mail, I guess it's really over.  Which is good since I'm 50 now and I should probably limit my excitement.  So I'm easing back into work, first with preaching ("reflecting") on Sunday, and then with my student programs beginning next week on Thursday night.  I moved it from Wednesdays to Thursdays so maybe some PRIDE kids will come -- it will totally cut-in to my Thursday night TV watching but if I get some new students it'll be worth it.  Kind of.  ;-)