Crazy Christmas Carol Dream

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Last night, I had this crazy dream. Dwane (my sister’s husband) and I were leading a church service. Dwane is one of the music leaders at our church, and he was performing that function in the dream. We were singing “The First Noel.” After a few verses, Dwane asked me to come up and sing a solo. Here’s some background information…

1. While in a church service, it’s not good form to not comply with a request from the pulpit.
2. I don’t sing very well.
3. I like to sing, but I sing the bass part. I’ve sung bass so long (since high school), it’s very hard for me to sing melodies. My ear, and thus my voice, wants to sing the bass part. So, I’m not a great choice to sing lead melodies.

So, like a dutiful church go-er, I go up to the pulpit as Dwane requested. There in front of me is a book. It’s a book of “mis-heard Christmas carol lyrics.” Yup, not the real lyrics, but specifically wrong lyrics. The book is also printed in a “Ye Olde English” font. So now I have to sing the melody to words that aren’t correct, and words I can hardly even read!

Of course, the result is awful. I can’t sing the right melody, and keep drifting into the bass part. I can’t read some of the words, so I’m making some of them up. Sometimes, I’m skiping words altogehter in an effort to keep up with the music. Finally, I decide to sing all the chorus as “Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.” (In the book, there are different words for each chorus. I figured “The congregation can’t see the words, so they won’t know if I’m singing the written chorus or not.”)

Then I woke up.

Friday Fill-Ins #90

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1. There is no need to get so testy so quickly.

2. Where in the heck did the boys drag my shotgun off to?

3. Making a gigantic mess out of the whole thing is all I managed to do.

4. Prospects for investing aren’t looking so hot right now.

5.“Feel the funk, y’all; have a good time!”  is the message.

6. Simplicity and tranquility are elusive.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to supper out with the family, tomorrow my plans include playing a gig in Brunswick,  and Sunday, I want to enjoy the company picnic!

My Life of Luxury

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On the way to work this morning, I was listening to the news on NPR as I usually do. It seems they’re running some features on living in Maine, and the costs of doing so. Yesterday, they had some admitted left wing economist (yes, the NPR reporter said his guest was left of center) say that the average Maine household earned $45k a year, and it it took, on average, $50k to live in this state. I mumbled something at the radio, and went about my day.

Now, this morning, I yelled at the radio. This morning’s economist was talking about the price of health care and day care. He mentioned something about how some people have the “luxury” of having one parent stay at home full time with their children.

Listen, buddy: It’s a choice, not a luxury.

There’s nothing luxurious about working your regular day job, and then going home and working on your home computer, designing web sites for extra scratch. There’s nothing luxurious about spending your Friday and Saturday nights miles away from home and family so you can earn money to take the kids out for a donut on Sunday morning. Sure, my ’95 Ford Taurus wagon has leather seats and air conditioning. And hey, I’m not knocking it. I wouldn’t consider it luxury.

No, instead, my wife and I made a choice. We decided we wanted to raise our kids with one parent at home. In my case, Susan felt lead to be the one to stay home, but it doesn’t have to be a “mommy only” thing. So she stays home. I go to the office. We both work hard–just at different things. Our home is modest; buying a new couch is something that requires some thrifty shopping. Our cars, though not heaps, are both over 10 years old. Our vacations don’t require plane flights to anywhere. Our last meal in a “fancy” restaurant was paid for with $50 worth of gift certificates that I bartered for with web design work.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m not claiming poverty–far from it, in fact. But very often, things need to be put in perspective. My family has a full time parent at home. Though we’re not poor, we’re a mighty long way from Obama’s $250k rich, and a mighty long way from McCain’s five mil rich. And yet, we somehow figured out how to be able to keep Mom home with the kids. It’s far from a “luxury.” It’s a choice, a decision. If you really want to do it–if you really believe it’s the right thing to do–you can make it happen.

Make My Day

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So Jack over at Slightly Off Center gave me the “Make My Day” award. Here are the rules:

(1) give this to people whose blogs mean something special to you – or give it to the blogs whose persons mean something special to you
(2) leave a comment on their blog so they know they got it
(3) you get to pick the number of times you give it

Jack gave her award to three blogs, so I shall do the same. These awards go to:

1) My beloved wife. She makes my day, every day. (In case you haven’t seen it, I did “Reasons For Love” a few years ago. For 52 weeks I listed 3-4 reason why I love Susan. Then, when it was all done, I made a page of those reasons, which you can go read. I actually get quite a few hits here from Google for “reasons to love someone.”)

2) My sister.

3) Amy and her Badgroove. There’s almost always something new over there every day. Go check it out, especially if you’re into NASCAR. (I don’t go there for that part.)

Now, if you look over in my blog roll, you’ll see many other of my friends. I encourage you to visit each one. If you’re a friend in the the blog roll, and didn’t receive this prestigious award, odds are it’s because you’re not posting much. C’mon Jim, put up something fresh!

One Word

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Answer the questions using only one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Your significant other? Curvy!
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Mom
5. Your father? Dad
6. Your favorite thing? Drums. (No, chocolate! No, Susan! This is too hard!)
7. Your dream last night? Forgettable
8. Your favorite drink? Milk
9. Your dream/goal? Doctorate
10. The room you’re in? Living
11. Your fear? Dis-eyeball-ment
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Older
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Skinny
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? Book
17. Where you grew up ? Maine
18. The last thing you did? Youtube
19. What are you wearing? Clothes.
20. Your TV? CRT
21. Your pet? Cat
22. Your computer? Running
23. Your life? Happy
25. Missing someone? No
26. Your car? Taurus
27. Something you’re not wearing? Bra
28. Favorite Store? NKM
29. Your summer? Over
30. Your favorite color? Purple
31. When is the last time you laughed? Today
32. Last time you cried? Past

Susan’s MI-5

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1. Would you rather have one great friend or 5 pals?

One great friend.

2. Are you better at remembering names or faces?

Faces, but there’s a funny story here. Yesterday, I was coming into the office. A customer was coming out. He said “Hi Bill.” I didn’t recognize him. I said “I’m really sorry–do we know each other?” He said “It’s me, Jim K.” Well, I’ve made changes to Jim’s website for the last couple of years! The difference? “You don’t have a hat on!” I said. “I didn’t recognize you without it!” He admitted it was very rare for him to be without a hat.

3. What books on your shelf are begging to be read?

My Bible is on my desk. I read through it, then start again at the beginning. I’ve decided that every time I do it, I’ll pick a new translation.  I’m currently in Proverbs of the NIV. I’m also 2/3 of the way through a cookbook my sister gave me almost two years ago, and a non-fiction account of the “Paul is Dead” scandal Susan bought me for Christmas last year.

4. Will the world be better or worse in 100 years?

Doesn’t thermodynamics declare that it will be worse?

5. Is your best friend now anything like your best friend from childhood?

No. My best friend now is a 36 year old mother of three. My best friend then was a 10 year old boy!

Friday Fill-Ins #89

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1. I enjoy breakfast.

2. The housing market is something I wonder about often lately.

3. In your heart, you knew I was the one for you, even as I passed you quickly, you kneeling at the milk cooler.

4. Take cheap chicken fingers, add a little Frank’s hot sauce and you end up with a kicked up kids meal you can actually (almost) enjoy.

5. Life has gifted me with a wonderful family.

6. Having the kids go to Grandma’s house is an instant vacation.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to possibly watching a movie with Susan, tomorrow my plans include house cleaning and a trip to Bar Harbor (a gig) and Sunday, I want to see what happens, as I have no real plans!

Weekend Wrapping

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Well, I rather enjoyed my weekend. I can’t really remember what happened Friday evening. I know I ended up working a little late helping a web customer, but I don’t remember what happened after that. I remember being really excited, though, as I had the whole weekend off: no work, no gigs. I may have done some web work.

Saturday came ’round, and Susan wanted blueberry pancakes. Duly made, I then proceeded to get things ready for a dump run. After that, we did some furniture shopping, and stopped at the farm market again. By the time we got home, it was after 2pm, so we had a late lunch of pizza. By suppertime, we still weren’t very hungry, so we put the pork chops and corn on the “back burner” for another day. Then it was lazy time in the evening.

Sunday. Breakfast. Church. A brief outing to set up someone’s WIFI router. Ma’s birthday party. A trip to the cemetary to “remember” Dad. (Incidentally, I’ve been “remembering” him a lot these last few days.)  Just a short time at home, and it was time to head back to church for the monthly supper. Evening services, then home.

Hmm. Although it’s only three short paragraphs, this weekend seemed abundantly filled with things to do. Maybe my memory two days later isn’t so hot.

Amy’s “Life List” MI-5

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Amy says: I was inspired by an article in SELF magazine for this week’s MI-5.  The article was called “Create Your Happy-Life List” and this list is derived from the little workbook box in the article.  That box gave room for four answers in each of six boxes. I only used four of the boxes and added my own question to the list.  Feel free to give as many or as few answers to each question as you like.

1. Every day I would like to: (examples given were: get my heart rate up, sleep for 15 more minutes, be loving to my partner)

~I would like to spend more time in prayer. I try to have prayer time every morning, and I say grace before every meal. On and off through out the day, though, I fall short. In my job, working with customers (and frequently angry customers), I should take time to shoot up those “bullet” prayers before talking with someone. I should take a moment to get myself ready before talking to someone who’s mad, or before I need to offer words of correction to a staff person.

2. Every week, I would like to: (examples given were: cook a meal from scratch, pamper myself, spend time alone)

~Spend some really quality time with the family. By the time I get home from work, I really only have maybe three hours to spend with the kids before they need to go to bed. Factor in the nights that I leave work a little late, and the weeks that I’m gigging on the weekend, and quality time to go do something fun is really hard to come by. I should schedule family time into my week.

3. Before next year, I would like to: (examples given were: clean out my closets, take a class, track my spending, plant an herb garden)

~Own an impractical car, like a fire engine, hearse, ambulance, or convertible. Or maybe just a scooter.

4. Before I die, I would like to: (examples given were: start a business, try skydiving, go skinny-dipping, make a difference in the world)

~Visit the Holy Land, UK, and Italy. Get a Masters or Doctorate. Figure out how to get someone else to pay for aforementioned education. 🙂 Learn the basics of Hebrew and Greek. Maybe start my own drum fabrication business.

5: How likely do you think you will be to complete any of these goals? Which will be the easiest? Which will be the hardest?

~Traveling will be the easiest. There’s not much to it: get on the plane and go. Learning Hebrew and Greek has already proved a little tough, since I can’t find anyplace that teaches them locally. (The one place that teaches Hebrew–the local Synagogue, didn’t return my calls.) Starting my own business would be easy. Keeping it alive would be hard–very hard. I think the toughest one would be my Masters degree. I don’t really need it for anything. I can’t afford it. I don’t have the time to pursue it. I don’t see it happening.

Friday Fill-Ins #88

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This week I’m going to use rather obscure song lyrics; you can fill them in with the correct words if you know ’em…but wouldn’t it be more fun to do it a bit differently?And…here we go!

1. If I was to walk into your life, would you recognize me, since we’ve never met?

2. Catch a bright star and place it in your living room. (You’ll save on your light and your heat bill!)

3. And you can send me that $50 bucks you owe me.

4. I’d like to forgive you for that time you smashed up my kitchen cabinets with a baseball bat, but I’m dealing with a memory that never forgets.

5. I’m the innocent bystander / Somehow I got stuck in traffic behind the bait truck.

6. What’s keeping us apart isn’t selfishness, it’s the fact you’re in Thailand and don’t have a driver’s license.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to an evening at home, tomorrow my plans include going to the farm market, and Sunday, I want to listen to the wind and the rain!