happy stuff.

it’s concert season here and mr. h-s and i shocked ourselves earlier this month by purchasing tickets to go see two concerts in the span of less than a week. (the shock was the total sticker price for 4 tickets. ouch.) we then later learned about a third concert (in that same span of a [...]

this morning, as i backed out of a parking space, i looked down the street to see falling yellow leaves dancing through the air. it’s one of those moments that don’t happen very often and which you can’t capture on film (unless you’re pretty lucky or engineer it) and which will have to remain a [...]

this week i went to see ben folds. i like his music okay–sometimes it seems a bit repetitive (but some might just say that he’s got a unique style and he sticks to it), so i wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the concert, but…wow. he is absolutely fascinating to watch. i have never [...]

here is one of the collages i made this past weekend at women’s retreat. it is heavily inspired by claudine hellmuth’s book and i freely admit it, but i still like it. what do you think? can you read all the words? it’s hard to get a good image of it…. i’ve titled it, “mr. [...]

stayed home from work sick today. i’m having a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for lunch. mmm…. sandwich cut in half, dunked in the tomato soup for each bite…. then the classic dilemma–what to do with the rest of the soup? it’s never so good by itself–too acidic. oh well. we’ll see if the [...]

ah, the women’s retreat. my favorite church retreat of the year and the envy of all of the mennonite men. it starts on saturday morning, ends sunday by noon and it’s a time to relax (we pay camp staff to cook and clean for us and everyone leaves the kids at home) and chat and [...]

yesterday, my boss gave me a taste of a graham cracker she had purchased from the whole foods market bakery. yep, it was a graham cracker made from scratch. it was freakin’ amazing. nothing like your average nabisco honey graham or even my new favorite “go-go grahams” from the organic aisle. it was a buttery, [...]

last night as i got into my car to leave work, my clock said 6:06. i had to sing a few lines of the mennonite national anthem.

today i had record (at least for recent history) attendance at both of my storytimes! there were 20 people at my early program for babies and toddlers and 33 people at my regular storytime afterwards! either they were all excited about the “field trip” to the pumpkin patch or… i’ve found a new following. all [...]

so my friend asked me on friday if i’d like to go to chicago (about 2 hours away) on saturday evening for dinner with a mutual friend of ours and a trip to ikea. i love that i was able to say yes and that we were able to go and have a great time [...]