Remembering the Sabbath
Earlier this year I was reading the first few books of the Bible, and I was pretty shocked at how much the Sabbath was mentioned. It wasn’t just a ‘take a rest day now and then’ it was more like – “keep the Sabbath or we’re putting you to death” So I decided I’d try and implement that into my life.
Saturday seemed the most natural to me, instead of Sunday, because it’s at the end of the week. I’m a morning person, so Sunday morning is for getting up and starting a new week. But Saturday feels to me like when you plop down on the couch with a glass of lemonade after a hot, busy day and just sigh because you can finally relax.
At first we’d make the big family meal on Friday night, but if I didn’t get cleaned up by sundown, I’d tend to leave it….. I’d just wake up on Saturday and refuse to do anything. No cleaning, no cooking – this was my day off! But that went south pretty quickly. No one had anything to eat and there were no clean dishes. We’d end up doing a McDonalds run and everyone was crabbing at each other all day. As soon as the sun set on Saturday, I’d be scrubbing down the house in frustration. We’d do all the ritual but it was hardly relaxing.
Then I was reading a forum and the woman on it said that it all came together for her when she started centering her weeks around Sabbath. She’d make sure the whole house and family was in order before Friday night. Instead of halting life, it was like taking a vacation. You have to plan to relax, or it won’t happen.
So that’s more what I’m going for now. I do have a few rules, and it doesn’t always happen perfectly, but I at least make an effort to sleep in a bit, catch up on my Bible reading, do some family activity, and reconnect with myself, my family, and God.
Here’s what an ideal Sabbath would look like….
Friday — clean the whole house. Company ready clean. All the laundry done, the dishwasher run and empty in the afternoon instead of before bed. Dust, sweep, empty the compost bowl, make sure there are drinks in the fridge, clean the coffee maker, etc. Also I see if there is enough leftovers to feed everyone on Saturday, otherwise I put together something in the crockpot and turn it on Saturday morning.
Friday night — dinner is simple. Tonight we’re having pizza. After dinner is cleaned up we do something as a family. We take a walk, build a fire, play games, read together – but no TV. I try not to surf the net from Friday night to Saturday night, but that doesn’t always happen.
Saturday — First thing in the morning I have to bring the community garden harvest to the food pantry pick up, but after that I go back to bed. Saturday mornings Andrei looks forward to video game time right when he gets up (usually it’s after chores). Brent and I get up and eat breakfast leisurely and spend the morning reading or napping or lazing around. I catch up on any days I missed my Bible reading too.
After lunch, Brent has to go back to work, and I’m trying to start the habit of Andrei and I going on a nature walk on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday for dinner, Andrei and I make big bowls of popcorn and watch a movie together – his choice. After Brent gets home from work, and Andrei goes to bed, I make a light dinner for Brent and we have an at-home dinner date. After this, Sabbath is over.
Sunday morning is an early riser again, getting Brent off to work and cleaning up from the previous day. And the whole week starts over agian.
Like I said, it doesn’t always happen this way – in fact, rarely does it all work out perfectly. But I try and do what I can and keep in mind the point of the day and do the best I can.
Now, today is Friday so I have a lot to do – have a peaceful weekend. 
Adventures at ReBike
Tonight my parents graciously lent me their van, and I took three bikes to ReBike.
ReBike is an organization here in Sheboygan that helps people repair their bikes, and also if you don’t have a bike, you can work for a couple of hours and they will give you a donated bike. Pretty cool, right?
So I took two bikes that were rusting in our shed for a donation, and I brought in my own bike which was acting a bit funky.
ReBike is located in the basement of Paradigm Coffee-shop, and they meet on Wednesday nights. So a guy came up and refilled my tires, and then showed me that the chain had come off from a pulley or something and then it was fixed already.
I had some extra time so I went to check the place out and see if I could offer my help in any way. Since I have -5 Mechanical, but +10 Non-greasy Hands, he gave me the job of writing down people that were finished fixing their bikes and taking them home.
It was pretty cool to help, even in this minuscule way, and I’m super glad to have my bike in working order again.
Camping?
http://www.vimeo.com/13693424
Brent made this video last night. I will say it is only accurate up to about 9:45 when Andrei declared “I don’t like this, I’m going in the tent” When I asked him why, he said, “I don’t want to talk, I just want to leave.” Oh well.
After that I stretched out on both ‘beds’ and curled up with all the blankets. Looking back I see that it was not a good idea to sleep outside after a week of storms and mosquito revelry. The amount of exposed skin shrunk to just my nose sticking out of the blanket top and after waking up for the 802937th time, I went inside and scared the poo out of Brent at about 3:30.
Camping Fail 
Also video embed fail. If anyone could help me out with that, I’d be eternally grateful.
My mantra lately
My mantra these past few weeks has been “people who feel bad, act bad”
I have said it to myself under my breath when Andrei melts down because he’s hungry and it’s a big trauma trigger for him.
I’ve been saying it to Brent to remind him (and myself again) when we discuss everyone’s bad day and also the discussions we’ve been having about people in Russia.
I’ve been facepalming when I figure out the reason I’ve been cranking at everyone has been the 80 degrees and 1000% humidity (and pms to add in)
And it’s been on my mind a lot when I am seeing so many of my friends being unable to make good choices for themselves. People hurt themselves and others when they themselves hurt on the inside. It reminds me to give grace, to assume the best intent, to cut some slack.
Of course no one in our house gets away with meltdowns or cranking at everyone. But reminding the reasons behind the behavior helps me be a little more gentle with my responses.
Sushi Chef
Goal #77 was – Make sushi
I had made sushi before but it really wasn’t that great – kind of dry and bland. But that was actually before I had ever had sushi from a restaurant before. So after I tried it for real, I knew I had to make it again.
Imagine my delight to see this in the store one day 
No cutting the nori! No attempt at making sticky rice! Beautiful and easy sushi at your fingertips!
Brent said this was cheating but it’s not his list so boo to him.
I decided I would fill my sushi avocado, cucumber, and carrots. After a long day of being out and about, it seemed like the perfect thing.
Here is a picture of my delicious sushi
Uh…. Just Kidding (insert sad music)
The first one I tried to roll, I immediately ran into the “burrito dilemma” – y’know when you try to make a burrito, and it looks like you have a good amount of filling, but the second you try and close it, your burrito shell explodes and everything just comes out everywhere. It took me a few tries to get past that. I even tried pasting two wraps together but that just made for a huge roll that was about to fall apart at any moment. You see that lady on the box, demonstrating the with the rice? I can tell you right now she has too much already. I estimate that a good amount for one sushi roll is 5 grains of rice, and about a 1/2 tsp of avocado, and 3 shreds of carrot. It might fit then.
Anyway, here is my real picture of my sushi. It still tasted good, but I think next time I’m just going to head to the Grotto (2 for 1 sushi on Tuesday nights!) Just as tasty, and much prettier
BEWARE THE SUSHI!
Turning in my badge
Today is the last day at my job. Both happy and sad.
I started here over 10 years ago – as a temp. I was previously waitressing and wanted a regular job with regular hours, so I went to a temp agency. I worked here for 3-4 months before my temp job was over, then left for a different temp position.
About three months later, the boss here called me at home and asked if I wanted to come back as a temp again, but to be hired permanently in a few months. That was just around my 20th birthday. My hire date was July 31, 2000 – so I’m just missing my official 10 year service anniversary. I worked third shift for a while, then first, then third again, then went to part time, covering 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift at different times. The longest I’ve been off from work since I was 18 was about 6 weeks when we brought Andrei home. Now I’m done. Today was the last time driving in and walking through those turnstiles. Awwwwww. Let’s get all sentemental.
Things I won’t miss:
-Covering for other people’s shifts (especially 2nd – blech!)
-Working Saturday
-Scraping snow off the car at 6 in the morning in a snowstorm
-Having to get sitters at the last minute because of last minute meetings he/I have and schedule conflicts
-Getting home and having half my day gone already and barely having enough time to clean, school, errands, cook, and all the other things I need to do every day
- Filing papers in the storage closet
Things I will miss:
- Getting paid (duh)
- Having a few hours of quiet every morning at my desk
- Seeing all the friendly faces here every day
- Having an excuse to stop at Woodlake or the local (better) post office after work
- Having a few hours off from being ‘mom’ (you know what I mean)
So what’s next for me? Nothing. Haha – like a mom’s life is every ‘nothing’. Brent sent me this article about being a ‘wingspouse’, which I think is a completely stupid name, but pretty much nails the concept. Sometimes I tell people that I keep Brent fed and clothed so he can do his job better. So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll keep house, I’ll keep Brent, I’ll be an educator and mama to Andrei. I’ll enjoy life more, I’ll sleep in sometimes. I’ll plan adventures for us all to go on. I’ll wake up early and greet the day with a smile and converse with my family over eggs and coffee. I’ll go to homeschool events that start before noon. I’ll make it to the farmer’s market more than 5 minutes before closing. I’ll go on walks early in the morning and listen to the birds. I won’t fall asleep on the couch at 8:30. I won’t be giving away my favorite time of day anymore. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time – and today it’s finally here
Craft Hope
So in that envelope that I photographed last night is a red scarf I have been working on (you may have already figured that out).
I found this blog a few months ago – Craft Hope - and was super excited participate. The blog chooses a charity project and all the readers create the things at home and send it in from wherever they are. On the right side of the blog you can see a list of the past projects and how many items were collected. The latest one (that I’m mailing in today) was a red scarf to be placed in care packages for teens in foster care that have aged out of the system. The organization helps them with scholorships, internships, and job placement, among other things. The red scarf is so that they can have something handmade with love just for them
There are a few charity crafting circles around town, but I have been thinking of ways to use (and expand) my ‘talents’ in ways that did not need a set place/time and I could work at my own pace (but still have a deadline, otherwise things would never get done). So this was exactly what I had been looking for
I can’t wait to see what the next project is!
Craft Hope also has an Etsy shop built from donated items which, so far, has raised $30,000 for Doctors Without Borders. Check it out!
hww