While telling a story, I caught myself laughing at the end and was reminded of how I sometimes find that habit annoying in others. Fact is, I probably do it all the time. Fact is, I'm not that different ( Read more... )

Regrettably, I've got a bug that just keeps hanging on. Started to feel it a little before we headed out to ultimateswing's wedding in Arizona last weekend, and it's still with me. Thankfully, it hasn't kept me out of work; the worst part is that the sinus side of it caused me to lose some hearing on our return flight last Sunday, and that still hasn't been 100 ( Read more... )

We started 2010 with a whirlwind trip to visit both our families (first in Alabama, then in Iowa), and I'm just now starting to feel the beginnings of a normal rhythm settling in. Don't think I'd have changed a thing-travelling in January is so much simpler and less expensive than taking the same trip in December, and it was the right time to spend ( Read more... )

We had a great visit by quiltlady (barlow_girl's mom) this past weekend, affording us the chance to play tourists in our own hometown. Friday we toured Theo Chocolate and rode the Ducks, and Saturday was mostly downtime for me while she and Amy went to the farmer's market, checked out some yard sales and fabric stores, went for high tea at Queen Mary, and attended ( Read more... )

We moved back into the bedroom yesterday, which also allowed us to reclaim the living room and set up barlow_girl's new desk (she hasn't really had once since before we married, which is a total shame). Feels so good to have things shape up and stabilize a bit ( Read more... )

Seriously off the wagon in regard to journalling, which is a real bummer since I'm likely to skip over so much good that's happened in the last week and instead camp out on how I'm feeling now-which is pretty sad. Not that anything terrible has happened, and certainly nothing that could be put in the category of suffering. Rather, it's just a ( Read more... )

Better is open rebuke
    than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
    profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

-Proverbs 27:5-6

barlow_girl and I were rebuked yesterday, absolutely rightly. The amount of courage it must have taken our friend to pull us aside and call us out is stunning, the kind that may only (and in this case, almost certainly did ( Read more... )

Even if it weren't tradition to give thanks at this time of year, I'd like to think I'd be doing so based on how great this week has been. Some highlights:

• A smallish-but-rich meeting with other Community Group leaders Sunday evening.
  
• Attending Operation Nightwatch's annual Hero to the Homeless luncheon with friends and co-workers on Tuesday.
  
• Going ( Read more... )

Lots of reconnecting yesterday. Spent a few hours in the morning and early afternoon with heartflyte and family-great to see them and the kids. The little ones were real troopers considering how not-kid-oriented the outing was. Thankfully Pella has playgrounds and such; had they made the trek all the way to Eddyville, they might have been woefully restless ( Read more... )

We're in Iowa for the weekend to attend my twentieth (!) high school class reunion. Our travel has involved planes, trains, and automobiles, in part as a way to keep costs down (questionable) and in part as a holdover of my original desire to make it a train trip vacation (way too expensive). The end result has us taking the train from and to ( Read more... )