My Life as a Novel

First, there's this: a blanket I'm making for my friend Anna for her baby (Harper) who is due in March.












Secondly, this: flowers in my office. Very nice ones, at that. It's a big arrangement leftover from church on Sunday. Flowers are nice -- particularly roses! :)

Labels: flowers, photo, Work in Progress

Budgeting. It's been our New Year's Resolution to do better about The Polk Family budget this year. Which really, this resolve came at a great time, being that January always brings with it a few big "annual bills" that make it a tight money-month anyway.

A small list of items was removed from our "regular shopping list" - among those things were rawhide bones for our dogs. Instead we went with the more economical Milk Bones. But, you see, treats and rawhide bones ... they're different. Treats are the things that our dogs will sit for - tails wagging, and eyes fixed in anticipation. Rawhide bones are items that are made for dogs to chew on for lengthy periods of time. I'm not sure who "invented" the rawhide bone, but I'm pretty sure he owned beagles.

Because this is what happens when you stop budgeting for rawhide bones. They find stuff to chew on. First, Andrew's cell phone. Then an ink pen - which burst and stained a blanket -- fortunately it was an old one. And now:




This post is for entertainment purposes only. Seriously, don't buy my dogs a rawhide bone.

You are wise if you see this movie ASAP. (And I will not retract this recommendation.)

Labels: movies, Music

IMG_1092

My husband is turning into quite a "sport" when it comes to having his picture taken. This first picture was taken the other night at church and I caught him with the rarest non-smirking nearly-smiling look I've been able to capture so far!

The Duh Face

And this picture was actually taken by our friend Dave and I just think it's so funny I decided to share it with you. Dave just got a new internship at an ad agency in San Francisco and wanted to get a picture of Kyle's "Duh Face" to possibly use for a project he's working on. Who knows? Maybe my husband will be a famous billboard model in California! Ha!

I feel embarrassed even putting these pictures up next to each other, but I'll get there one day. Either way, what a stud, eh!?

Labels: photo, The Hubby

Sometimes the creepiness of a church office is just too much.

Just now, a family came into my office for a box of food. (The church where I work has a food pantry that is very busy.) A girl hung out in the office with her toddler for a few minutes, while her step-dad walked down the hall. She told me that they had been to the Salvation Army for some assistance, but they didn't offer any help. "That lady up there, she needs deliverance. She's got evil all over her."

I'm totally using that line.

A few minutes later, her step-dad came back into the office and as he walked through, he accidentally closed the door on his grandson's fingers. The little boy's mom bent over and picked him up to comfort him, and the kid was crying pretty hard. (It's a very heavy door.) Granddad grabbed the little boy's hand to survey the damage. No broken skin, and his fingers were moving, so he did what most parents and grandparents do as a cure-all - he kissed the boy's fingers.

The little boy stopped crying and gave the man this look of "What in the world are you doing?"

Immediately, the man started dancing around my office singing, "I got wonderful healing power ... the power of the Lord is on me ... "

And then I gave the man the look of "What in the world are you doing?" ... and then they left.

Labels: Good for a laugh

How in the world did this happen?

82% Barack Obama
79% John Edwards
79% Hillary Clinton
78% Bill Richardson
77% Chris Dodd
70% Joe Biden
66% Mike Gravel
66% Dennis Kucinich
58% Rudy Giuliani
51% John McCain
44% Mitt Romney
40% Mike Huckabee
36% Tom Tancredo
28% Fred Thompson
22% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

For the record, I think I may be registered as a Republican voter.

Labels: Good for a laugh, politics

I may have been a bit hasty in my decision to "endorse" the aforementioned book. I'm still going to finish it. I may or may not choose to blog about my reasons for retracting my endorsement. But if you want to know ... of if you have read/are reading the book, I'll be happy to get your thoughts and share mine.

In March of 2006, I took a trip to Greenville. I was supposed to be attending a conference for my job, but the conference was canceled at the last minute. I found myself with quite a bit of time on my hands, so I called up some friends.

On a quiet afternoon spent in conversation with good friends, I was introduced to this book.

My friend Andrew was reading it. He thought it was worth his time to introduce me to it. I wasn't ready for it yet, so I'm sure I did that polite smile and nod thing ... and the subject changed.

I was at a bookstore last week and I found myself in the presence of the book. I remembered it. I've had conversations with Andrew about it since that "fated" day in March of 2006. I read the back. I read the foreward. I read the Author's Note. I bought the book. I finished the second chapter on my lunch break today. With tears running down my face.

I'm very scared of this book. It begs too many important questions. "What would the world look like if we truly believed, as the apostle Paul figured out, that we no longer live, but only Jesus lives in us (Galatians 2:20)?" "What if Jesus meant the stuff he said?"'

Seriously. What happens to me if I begin to take Jesus at his word? Did I mention I'm scared of this book?

My favorite passage thus far:

... I sat puzzled, grieving over the state of our church. "I think I've lost hope in the church," I confessed, brokenhearted, to a friend. I will never forget her response. "No, you haven't lost hope in the church. You may have lost hope in Christianity or Christendom or all the institutions, but you have not lost hope in the church. This is the church." At that moment, we decided to stop complaining about the church we saw, and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of.

Preach!

Precisely one week ago today, Kyle and I were in a mad dash to complete a lot of preparations, made easier by the presence of some early-comers to our Annual New Year's Party. New Year's has become an annual thing for Kyle and me. You may think I'm joking when I say that Kyle starts making plans for this thing in August of each year.

The history of this annual shindig dates back to when 2001 became 2002, I suppose. My best friend Anna and I rode to Hampton to spend a quiet weekend with Kyle and his extended family. It was a very small beginning, which included Anna and I losing to Kyle and Mack (his stepdad) at Spades. I was a spoiled-sport because they introduced house rules in the middle of the game. But whatever. I'm over it.

The following year, Anna and I packed it up and headed back to Hampton. This time, Kyle and I had the idea that Anna should meet our friend Matt. They met. Matt was charming. (But it didn't work out.) Philip was also there. This was the year that we began to see Philip's love of fireworks coming out in him. We bought them and Anna and I ended up watching from inside. Boys and their Roman Candles. Will they ever grow up? On January 1, we all watched LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring and then went to the movie theater to see The Two Towers. Kyle and I were engaged that night.

The following year, we were still not married yet, and Kyle was living in Greenville. So the party grew to include his roommate, Andrew. Anna brought her brother, JJ. There were several other people -- added to those who had been the year before. This year, there was Cranium -- which we all hated. Kyle had asked for white chocolate covered pretzels, so ... that with chips and salsa was probably the extent of our "buffet". Oh yes. And I believe this was the year of the peach-flavored champagne that so tainted our spirits. I understand it was gross, though I did not partake. And, of course, fireworks. We shot them off in an apartment complex parking lot across the street from Kyle's apartment. It was freezing. The girls watched from the back of someone's Blazer.

And the next year, we were married. As 2004 turned to 2005, we celebrated in The Mission House, the house Kyle and I were renting at the time. Matt and Philip and JJ and some other family and friends from our area came over. We played Halo on the big screen in the church we were living behind. And THIS was the year of the H Bomb. This firework filled the entire empty lot between the house we were renting and the neighbor's house. We all stood with our mouth's hanging open while it went off for what seemed like a full minute. We played Taboo. Jonathan Edwards dropped the notorious F-Bomb which we still chuckle about from time to time. And during this entire party, our dog was missing. Kyle and I took turns riding the bike all over town calling out for her.

And in 2005, we were in our "new" house. Lots of friends came down from Greenville. There was a repeat performance of the H Bomb. There was more food. And we played Poker until 6 AM. (And just for the record and not because I'm bragging, but the winner was the female hostess of the party.) I remember there being a little "I Heart Huckabees" earlier in the evening, but I'm pretty sure the poker game was the "big event" that year.

And in 2006, it was a similar story, only that year, add in a little Ben McGowan and a whole lotta Wii. We got our money's worth out of Rayman's Raving Rabbids at that party! There was lots of food and a few more new people. Add in a little Arrested Development and you've got a party!

And in 2007. We were contacting all of our friends to let them know of our plans when Jonathan Edwards said, "Man, this is going to be like Polkapalooza!" And the term stuck. Polkapalooza it definitely was. You see, 2007 has been a good year for we Polks. We added QUITE a few new friends to the guest list and were somewhat concerned about how everyone would fit into our little house. Enter Clay Jernigan and you've got:

Labels: holidays, photo, Polkapalooza

I haven't exactly figured out how this "blog this" feature works from Flickr yet, but .... here's a picture from church last night. And some more are here.

And, by the way. That guy right there? That's Clay. And Clay got his own blog. Check him out at www.ClayJernigan.blogspot.com

This holiday season went by entirely too quickly. In list format, here's what all happened that I didn't blog about:

• Andrew moved in at the beginning of December. So now we have a roommate.
• We participated in the First (Annual?) Charleston Unsilent Night. It was fun. The music was interesting to me, enjoyable to my husband. We bowed out early, as we passed the Mellow Mushroom, where we were to meet our dinner companions.
  
• I was able to see The Santaland Diaries (for free!) at the American Theater downtown. I love David Sedaris and this play "read" exactly like his books. It was pretty hilarious. But, like his books, had a few moments where your mouth falls open and after the lights dim, you sit back and all you can say is, "Wow. He's got that right." (I should also mention the part was played near-perfectly by Matthew Bivins, of Jump, Little Children fame.)
  
• My office was closed for two weeks, wherein the entire place was remodeled: new carpet, new paint, and an office that is all mine and no longer shared with a coworker as it has been for the four years I've been at this job. I don't know what to do with all this space, but I'm sure I'll adjust.
• Kyle and I catered my office Christmas party again this year. It went very well. Kyle is an excellent cook, and I think we're finally figuring out our roles in this catering thing. We work well together.
• Puppy deliveries: They've all been made. We do have one puppy left at our house, but Bill & Julia are coming over to adopt him tonight. (I meant think about adopting him, but let's be realistic ... they're taking that baby home with them.)
  

Labels: dogs, holidays, photo, Roommate

... to share with my new stalker.

Labels: dogs, photo