things I have accomplished today:

1. Got up when the alarm went off (ish)
2. Started work at 9am
3. Sudoku
4. Crossword puzzle
5. Laundry
6. Meeting
7. Gym
8. Put 3 articles into my chapter (!!!)
9. Ate some leftovers

And I hate to leave it at 9 things, but that's all I've got. 

And it's only 7:17!!

Enterprise

There is a city in southeastern Alabama named Enterprise. Back in the day, the economic/agricultural livelihood of the city was from cotton, like a good bit of Alabama. Then one year the Boll Weevil came to town. And ate all the cotton.

In response to this devastation, the people of Enterprise decided to switch their main crop over to peanuts. And everyone lived happily ever after. 

Especially the boll weevil, who got a statue made in his honor. 

See?

I went to school at Auburn University. At Auburn, Homecoming is a BIG DEAL. Pretty much everything to do with football is.

The ladies that want to be homecoming queen go through (what I consider to be) a trying ordeal.  They spend the week leading up to the vote walking around in a dress suit, surrounded by a posse (who are all also wearing suits), soliciting votes.  They design cards to win votes, and these are actually highly sought after because they have coupons to local restaurants on the back. They also make a giant version of the cards and prop them up in trucks and park them downtown all week (apparently the ticket ladies respect this sacred tradition).  All this craziness and I never cared.

Until...

2002 when Amy Beth Hulsey (Biomedical Sciences major)* ran. She was from Enterprise. Her card was pink. I don't particularly care for the shade of pink she used. So I was even less likely to vote for her.  But then I read her slogan. 

"Vote for Amy Beth! She's Unbollweevable!!"

I was sold. I think that was the only time I voted for Homecoming Queen. 

She won, of course.

---------------------------

*I think this is the right one. I couldn't find a chronological listing to triple check.

Also, this post is dedicated to Gina Henker. 

Purge

I am planning on moving in about 2 months. 

I don't have a place lined up, because apparently that's not how they do things up here. You look, you sign a lease, and move in all in one week. Or something like that.

I'm really looking forward to this move. Really.

I can't wait to make a cozy home for myself. Just for me! No compromises, no awkward dance over how to load the dishwasher, no putting up with someone else's art or taste in music.

I am also really excited to purge my belongings of the things that I don't need or even really want. And to organize the things I want to or should keep. 

Really excited. 

I'm somewhat of a pack-rat/magpie.  I keep things around for a while, and I tend to compulsively buy 'shiny' things. But lately I have been thinking about simplicity. I have been craving simplicity. 

I want simplicity because I want to have a comfortable home with a place for everything, and everything in its place. And since I want a one bedroom apartment, and I'm a graduate student, that place will be small. I want to have what I need and no more. 

I want to HAVE simplicity - to carry it around with me - because I want to have the freedom to say no when I face the temptation to buy the newest cleaning phenomenon, that same shirt in 5 different colors, another purse, or the trinkets that somehow make it into my shopping cart.  

I want to be free from my possessions. I want order.

Thus, the purge. Eliminate what I don't need. Organize what I do.

Because really, it comes down to trust. Do I trust that God will provide for what I need? Or do I think that I need to get it all for myself? Instead of holding onto things and grabbing for whatever catches my eye, I should be clinging to God and reaching out for His riches.  When I do that, I get the best of both worlds - spiritual glory and earthly necessities.

Goals check-in

What-ho!

Given that it is half way through March, I thought this would be as good a time as any to check in on my February goals...

They were:

Finish Harry Potter #5
Project365 & BibleYear
Try 3 new recipes
Run at least 12 times
Don't buy any CD's, mp3's, DVD's or books

I have now completed all of the Harry Potters, so that goal = check.

I have continued with my two every-day-for-a-year goals, so check.

I lose track of which recipes I tried when, but I have definitely been cooking for myself more than I did in 2008. I'm going to call this one a check.

I got a cold and got lazy so I have NOT been exercising much. So that goal = blarg

I didn't buy any new media! Not even since March started! so that one = check.

I didn't make any new goals for March. I was lost in other things at the time, I guess.

I did, however, make some commitments for Lent this year.  I grew up in a Southern Baptist church. I don't know if all SB churches do it this way, but ours never mentioned Lent. So my exposure to that part of the church calendar has been relatively recent.

For some reason, I felt compelled to observe Lent somehow this year, and I was thinking about what that should look like for me when my pastor gave a sermon on the historical reasons and components of Lent.

According to my pastor, Lent should include three things: 

• Almsgiving (giving to poor)
• Prayer
• Fasting
  

So with that guide, and the ideas and themes that I had been musing over, I plotted out a roadmap for my observation of Lent.  Also according to my pastor, Lent is to be between each person and God. So while I have told a close friend or two about my commitments to hold me accountable, I haven't broadcast my goals, and I don't want to here either. But I do want to say that I have been contemplating simplicity in a materialistic society this year.  If you have any insights on living so that your camel could make it through the needle's eye here and now, I would love to hear them!

Comment away!

WWJD

This past weekend I watched Lars and The Real Girl, which I had been curious about since I saw a trailer for it about a year ago. 

The punch line of the story is that Lars treats a life-size, realistic, sex doll like a real person and his girlfriend.  Her name is Bianca.  The family doctor, who has training in psychiatry, advises Lars's (Lars' ?) brother and sister-in-law to play along. They agree, the brother reluctantly, and visit his church to make the priest and leadership aware of the situation and ask for their help.  The leadership, made up of several old people, have a problem with a sex doll and begin to refuse.  One spunky lady tries to convince them that it's no different from pretending that one guy's wife wasn't a kleptomaniac etc. and then the priest, wisely speaks up and asks "What would Jesus do?"

Lars and Bianca (the sex doll) are in church on Sunday. 

The rest of the movie is about the whole town playing along with Lars as he works out his issues with being an active member of a community and family. 

The whole thing could have easily been a farce, a harsh, unkind treatment of people with delusions.  Instead, we see a family, a church, a community, a person come together with compassion.  Each person faces some of their own struggles when confronted with Lars and Bianca, and each person manages to come out on the other side a better version of themselves. 

I highly recommend it.