Holiday Busy

I'm posting to say I am alive, well (at least better than my car is doing these days) and just too busy to post. But I changed my picture for winter. And it's crazy cold in Idaho, by the way. More long underwear, please!

When it snows, it's not much, but where there's no sun hitting it, it stays A LONG TIME! Brrrr!

I would also like to extend my thanks to the Pandora users in our crowd--it's been brilliant for Christmas music in the office. Sweet!

The Days of Turkey and Mickey

Hope everybody had a terrific Thanksgiving. The Slussers certainly did--we were thoroughly Disney saturated from Thursday afternoon until Saturday evening, and it was awesome. Everything was so cool, but to top it all off we had the perfect hotel room that faced the fireworks. There's nothing better than sitting on your bed in your jammies and drinking a latte while you watch amazing fireworks!

The day before Thanksgiving, I had the yummiest turkey I have ever tasted at Michael and Joanna's. It was an Alton Brown evening, with his turkey recipe, cranberry dipping sauce, and mac and cheese. I wanted to eat until I passed out.

On the spiritual side, here's a link to a very cool sermon. It's by Major Ian Thomas. He's a Brit, and he can be a bit of a yeller at times, and it's from many years ago, but I think it's a terrific message and I really appreciate his delivery and passion. It's almost an hour long, so download it, and give yourself some cool time to listen if you are so inclined. Well worth it.

A Grain of Wheat

I was sobbing by the end, alone in a Chicago apartment, tears something akin to what Marilyn described on her Saturday post. I am a stubborn, tough grain of wheat. Praise Jesus for His patience.

The Weirdest Life

Does anyone else think I have the weirdest life? I am in Chicago, headed to California in a week and a half, back to Idaho, back to California, back to Idaho for 3 days, then off to Africa. And the Africa trip got booked in a matter of hours yesterday. I know there are people who dreamed of travel for their work, but I never did. I don't hate it, I don't love it, I just think it's weird. I was supposed to be a spinster school teacher. Weird.

Anyway, that's what's in my lonely little head here in Chicago tonight. Missing everyone, may I say. And I have discovered an interesting way to gauge my loneliness. I watch more reality televsion, which I despise. It's like finding something more painful than missing my family to take the edge off my brain. I spent tonight flipping back and forth between "America's Next Top Model" and "Dancing with the Stars", trying desperately to make sure I didn't miss the results at the end. Now I have "The Biggest Loser" on. I need an intervention.

"The Biggest Loser" folks are having a tough time because they are lonely and they miss their families. Amen, people. I bet you wish you could drown your sorrows in Fritos and a Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, like me. Neener, neener, neener! HA!

Pumpkinpalooza and Oregon and Foxes and Skaggs and Risa was an awesome weekend. Beth's boys are huge and kind and funny and stayed up late to see me arrive. We watched cartoons together on Saturday morning, and Will made me a bagel and coffee. I felt like a million bucks. Matt and Beth treated me like a jewel, and Beth trusted me to make cream puffs for the 'palooza meal, which means more than 28 years of friendship can say. Never mind that they didn't come out right and we had to turn them into moon pies--the love was there, baby.

The Skaggs' new biscuit is a precious, hefty, healthy, smiley guy, and makes Chris and Rebekah smile in ways I wish I could have taken picture after picture of. And I love talking to them. Plus, they took me to a place where I had homemade suasage for lunch, and a McMenamins Scarecrow ESB (that's an Extra Special Bitter ale, you poor jealous people...). Never mind that I had such a nice time visiting with them that I almost missed my plane! More on that later...

Risa looks beautiful, sucks on spoons when she cuts onions, and just frankly makes me laugh. Sitting with her in church was great. And my sweet Oregon friends all go to an awesome church. I have loved my two visits there. I think the pastor is a man wonderfully in touch with God, and that there are special, precious things happening at that church. It was just the right place to be that morning. Terrific service.

Missing the plane...I was SOOOOOO close! Chris and Re and the little monkey (Rebekah was my fav of the day 'cause she had him in the little monkey sweater I sent them--too cool :) came in the airport when they dropped me off, and we got to chat over coffees. We were at Coffee People, and I had some drink called the Velvet Hammer--it's a Mexican mocha. It's so yummy smooth, and the Skaggs and I were having such a good chat, and I knew I hadn't gotten enough of all my pals before I had to leave (though I am sure their Sluss-meter was plenty full!), and my senses got totally dulled. Chris even said at one point, "How are you doing on time? I don't want you to be late. You still have to go through security." My plane departed at 4:15 pm, and in some subliminal event, my brain decided I didn't have to be at the GATE until 4:15 pm. Um, how often do I fly? HELLO!

I said, nah, we're fine, and kept right on chatting. Then, practically in the middle of someone's sentence, I said, "I gotta go!" Hucked the emtpy coffee cup, hugged goodbye, and tried to look smooth going down to security. To the longest security line, the slowest security line, I have seen in a long time.

I am a moron. I stood in that line sweating, heart pounding, mad at no one but me. I was about to miss my plane, and the entire fault was mine. I couldn't believe it. I got through security finally, and ran to my d-i-s-t-a-n-t gate, thoroughly expecting to be told that they were pulling my luggage off the plane, and I would need to pony up a wad of cash to reschedule a flight. Huffing and puffing, I arrived to a completely empty gate, one guy standing at the door to the jetway--and he let me in. I was the last one on the plane. Sweaty. Red-faced. Breathing hard. Holding up my pants because I didn't take the time to put my belt back on after security. And it's a Southwest flight--the only seats left are in the middle...

"Can I, huh, huh, sit next to you, huh, please, huh, huh?"

People like that :) A grumpy school teacher let me in, bless her ungraded papers.

I had the best weekend! I love you Cartlton-Newberg-Oregon people. Thanks for make me feel so loved I didn't want to leave!

Durn-blasted Devin

I have a whopper of a sinus infection and I leave in 24 hours for a three-week trip (two weeks of work in Chicago, one week in Californy for Thanksgiving and the splendiforous visit to all things Disney). I have things I have wanted to post for a week about my lovely trip to Oregon to see the Foxes and Skaggs and Risa, but getting the work done for Chicago and being slammed with a cold that has morphed into the dizzy mass my head is now (did nothing on Halloween all day but stay home, drink too much Nyquil and pass out over and over--FUN!), have kept me from writing. It's Saturday afternoon, and I still have work to do for Chicago. But I dangerously took a few minites to check blogs.

And durn-blasted Devin had that celebrity collage in there. I couldn't decide which made my sinus-impacted head pound more, his likeness to Tony Blair or Gene Simmons. And Marilyn had the beautiful matches of Keanu and Renee, so, of course, I had to go do it. Curse you, Parkers!

I did discover some fascinating things about myself though. No matter what picture I load, I look like Toni Morrison. Not so bad, in a fantastic, literary kind of way. And I kinda dig the Queen Latifah comparison.

I do, however, now know I need to keep my eyes open wider in photos, or I look like Roseanne Barr or Winston Churchill. Excellent reasons to continue to avoid reproducing :)

The good news for Roseanne is that she can still get work, playing me in the future made-for-TV movie about my extraordinary life!

http://www.myheritage.com

http://www.myheritage.com

Homesick Blues

It's just some blues, nothing worth raising a squawk about.

Things come in cycles. I had a whopping busy few weeks before I left for California, so not too much sad had a chance to take hold. I got a tummy-full of it on the Sunday before I went to California, while I was sitting in church with one of my favorite MAF families. Just came on all of a sudden. The last several days, by contrast, have been like a little ongoing homesick song playing in the background.

You know it's silly when you are throwing laundry into the washer and as you toss in your denim shirt, worn last at Sea World, you miss everyone.

Then I made the mistake of watching "Babe". I popped in the video last night, but only got as far as Babe getting to Hoggett Farm and sleeping his first night alone and spluttering out, "I want my mom." Had to turn it off. Made me cry.

Tonight I turned on the rest of it while I ate dinner. Got all sad when Hoggett gave away the sheepdog pups and Fly was missing them and Babe asked if he could call her Mom. Bummer. More homesick.

And I'm not embarrassed to want my mommy! I have a wonderful one! And a wonderful family. It doesn't mean they don't make the inside of my eyeballs itch sometimes, but they are my favorite people in the world. I miss having them around the corner. Life felt a little easier, and a little sweeter, that way. That's all.

I still wouldn't make a different decision about coming to Idaho, because it would have meant leaving MAF, saying "no" to Jesus, and missing all kinds of neat opportunities. It just turns out my tears aren't all done yet.

Shopping with Sluss

I spent my Friday evening shopping. Want to know what it was like? Let's just say I am not completely over my homesickness yet. Here's a summary of the night out in the Sluss brain:

• I miss Joanna--I was in Family Christian Store buying my Christmas cards, using my coupon from the mailer. We did that together last year.
• I miss Holly--I see all the teacher presents in Family Christian and think of her.
  
• I miss Mom--Family Christian Store is next to a Paper Cottage scrapbooking store.
• I miss Michael--I pass an REI on my way to Target.
• I miss Dad--As I pump gas next to the REI, I smell the Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden and other restaurants up and down the road. Daddy would take me out to dinner.
• I miss Liann--She would be going into Target with me, saying, "Sluss, do we really need to stop here? Can't we just go home?"
• I miss Denver, Poncho and Born Dancin'--there's Halloween candy all over Target, and I'll miss Halloween with them this year.
  

Fill in the remainder of the evening with many other "misses" and you pretty much have it. So, big fun for Sluss on a Friday night out. It was actually fine. It's just that, for me, even running errands and buying stuff is more fun with someone or if you are going home to someone.

Church today was good. This was church number four or five I have tried, and I really enjoyed the teaching. I wish the worship time would have been a little more serious, but I hack on people all the time for being hung up about worship styles, so I think I will pipe down and take me own advice. I sat with a family from MAF that I only know moderately well, so that was fun.

The pastor spoke about the kind of leadership outlined by Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:7-18. It led into a bit about comparison, and what a waste it is to compare any of our abilities or habits or skills or disciplines horizontally, one person to another. We should only be comparing ourselves vertically, to Jesus. I was thinking about us as a crowd of friends, because we seem to do a fair amount of horizontal comparison, in the nice way of course, by saying things like, "I so wish I had as much energy as Holly," or, "Why can't I write like Elizabeth?" or, "If only I were as patient as Joanna."

The only comparison should be vertical, to Jesus, and we will always come up short. Isnt that the best news? I am totally serious--that brings the most amazing peace to my soul and puts my striving to rest in a way that makes no logical sense, and is absolutely not self-defeatist. It blows me away that the one who made me knows I can never in this fallen form live up to all I dream of, but He says I am wothy of running after Him and He will give me the strength to do it. I love it.

And an interesting tidbit for the day: If you have a Fat Tire Ale with dinner and then take an Ambien, you are pretty tired. Not so tired to forget to do things like blow out any lit candles, but perhaps too tired to remember to turn off your electric mattress pad warmer that gets your bed all nice and toasty before you slide in. You wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times trying to figure out why you are boiling alive from the feet up. Eventually you figure out that something other than your own body temperature is at work and you slam the controls to off.

Roll over, drool some more.

Life is good.

There's a New Kid in Town

I love when people do what I say...

I had a little visit home to the mountain this week, which was lovely, of course. One of the perks was pestering Holly into starting a blog. She wanted to argue that she isn't "super brainy" enough to have one. That's a crock, but I spent my time instead pointing out that it's really become a means for a little bunch of us to stay in touch with one another's lives.

And she's got quite the rockin' life going on right now! So, you'll see a new link to the right, and you can even click right here to visit Mrs. Preston's cool new site, Happy Teachers Come From California.

So, those of us who were pestered into blogging by a friend, make a quick show of hands, please.

Yeah, that's mine waving in the air, too.