Magnolias

Magnolias

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Mess and Music, 25 January 2014

This evening I cooked a tasty, healthy dinner for us, and this is what the kitchen looked like afterward:



It wasn't even that complicated of a meal.  The red peppers in the pasta sauce were from a can, the broccoli was a la carte out of the microwave, and dessert majored on canned pears and melted chocolate chips.  To be completely honest, I looked at this mess and asked myself, "Is cooking worth it?"

Obviously, any self-respecting domestic engineer would answer: "Maybe."  Or, "Sometimes."  I do have some other-worldly friends who prioritize their family's nutrition so highly that they spend multiple, entire days of the week in the kitchen.  Hopefully their husbands do dishes for them (thank you Jay for being awesome about dishwashing, even though I don't spend that much time cooking).  I even have some friends--possibly descended from ancient Greek divinity--who claim to enjoy doing dishes.  I don't understand those friends, but I like them.

Enough whining.  On days cooking just isn't worth the mess to us, we'll leaf through our stack of coupons and get take-out.  Don't hate it--appreciate it!

Speaking of appreciating, I managed to find two pairs of shoes on a double sale today that were comfortable, cute, the right colors, and in my size.  Show and tell!


Love those red tags!  Aren't the heels lovely?  I promise they're comfortable!
The reasons I needed these shoes are as follows: 1) The two business-type pairs of brown shoes I wore regularly finally gave out after 8 and 5 years, respectively.  2) The one pair of brown heels I've had are incredibly cute but a half-size too small, really only suitable for wearing places I can sit down and kick them off.  3) I'm working at a job where I walk and stand for a few hours at a time...while not wearing sneaker-compatible outfits.

For anyone tuning in to Mostly Today for the first time since mid-December, you may be surprised to discover that I started a money-earning job on January 2nd!  I'm a part-time, interim music director for a local church, planning their Sunday and Wednesday service music, teaching and directing their adult choir, leading singing during the services, and teaching two elementary-aged kids' music classes each week.

It's been a total BLAST.  I mean it!  There is so much about this job that I love: the people, the music, the planning, the using-my-skills-and-education, the income, the way it stretches my brain and opens my heart.


Check out my office!  What's not to love?!

There are challenges of course, like figuring out how to engage 10-year-old boys in a music class when they'd really rather be wrestling and yelling.  (If you music-teacher-types have any suggestions, please comment.)  Another challenge is figuring out daily logistics with Jay, given that I'm less available for domestic engineering, but this has been pretty smooth, thus-far.  Probably the smallest-scale challenge has to do with footwork...or should I say, footwear.  But as of today that's taken care of, so I think this coming week will be off to a good start...or should I say, will start off on the right foot.

Tomorrow morning, I even get to bust out a Handel solo!  Wow.  Singing classical arias in a church service, sandwiched between Scripture readings, Holy Communion, and choral praise to the Lord?  It doesn't get much better than that.

P.S.  On second thought, one thing that very possibly does get better than that is becoming an auntie again!  Congratulations to my sister Kay and her husband on the birth of Baby C!!!  He's my favorite nephew born this year.  :-D

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Letter to Mom, 05 January 2014

Dear Mom,

It sure would be nice to be able to talk to you on the phone today!  I really identify with you when I'm involved in leading a worship service.  I think I learned a whole lot about working in a church from observing your many years as a church pianist and organist.

For example, I rarely recall seeing you flustered.  Focused, yes, and sometimes a little tense while getting ready in the morning, but you maintained an inner calm and composure.  Watching you taught me about preparing my outer appearance, too.  You always took the time to style your hair (thankfully I don't need curlers), carefully apply your eye makeup, and dress in attractive but unassuming clothing.  Sometimes I watched you get ready, and my favorite part was waiting to see which earrings you'd choose.  This morning, I thought carefully about my earrings, makeup, hair, and outfit too!  :-)

Watching you showed me what being friendly to the other church attenders can look like.  You'd smile widely whenever anyone approached you--and you had delightful ways of responding to people's various comments.  I got to use your "make a joke when someone pays you a compliment you're not sure how to absorb" method this morning.  After the service, an older gentlemen came up to me and said it felt like I'd been part of the church for years.  I smiled widely and said, "Are you saying I aged during the service?"  We got a good chuckle out of that.

You had gracious smiles during each Sunday service, even if you didn't always agree with what someone said or did.  I remember this sort of close-lipped smile you'd get; it wasn't unpleasant-looking or dismissive--it said, "I don't agree with that but I'm not going to say so right now."  I have my own version of that smile, often accompanied by me saying, "Oh, okay," or, "I'm glad you told me that."

You wanted things to be done excellently on Sundays (and always, really), on the part of the leaders and the congregation, both.  Any time there's a "clapping" song in which there's some discrepancy with people clapping on or off the beat, I remember a time you were seated off the stage with us, and apparently, the majority of the people were clapping on the wrong beats.  You boldly clapped loudly throughout the whole song on the "right" beats...with a smile!

When this morning's service finished, the first thing I thought about when I got into my car was, "What am I going to make for lunch?  I'm tired."  How you and Dad put wholesome, large meals on the table every Sunday afternoon is beyond me.  (Thankfully, Jay took the boys to get soups from a deli today, so I was off the hook!)  Sometimes, especially after you got polymiositis, you were too tired to even eat when you got home, so you'd go straight up to bed for a nap.  While I am thankfully in good health, I did still need a nap today--but I took it after lunch.

Thank you for all this--and so much more--that you taught me by example.  I'm sure you'd be proud of the way I'm using my musical and interpersonal skills during this season of my life.  I sure wish you were here to see it; but then again, if you were here, you'd be busy in your church on Sunday mornings and wouldn't ever get to see me in action!  And maybe you can see me now...from the Heavenly organ bench you sit on.  I love you.

Love,
Rachel

Friday, January 3, 2014

Bacon & Eggs, Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Jay & Rachel, 03 January 2014

This will be a quick little post because I can barely keep my eyes open, but today was such a good example of how well-suited to each other Jay and I are, that I can't pass up the opportunity to say something about it.

For Jay, yesterday and today blended together because he stayed up til 4-something this morning playing a video game (thank you, winter break!).  I got up with the kids this morning to give them breakfast, but Jay was up before 8:30 to take over--at which time I left for my second day of work!

While I spent about 4 hours up to my elbows in choral music (so fun!!), Jay let the kids do a little video gaming, but then took them to do our grocery shopping (doing all their laundry and scrubbing the kitchen were his domestic projects of yesterday).  He helped G and Z pick out a special lunch from the deli, which delighted them to no end.

I returned home just after noon, at which time Mr. and Mrs. FIL scooped up the kids for an overnight adventure, and my date-day with Jay began!  Our day out was a great combination of things we each like.
  1. We ate a snack of leftovers
  2. We went to a thrift store
  3. Where I tried on tons of clothes as Jay threw them over the dressing room door for me (this was Jay's favorite part of date-day)
  4. We left with a big bag of name-brand clothes for $12.50
  5. We went out for dinner and milkshakes at my choice of restaurant
  6. We hit one last store--Jay's choice--to look at plastic food storage containers
  7. We watched one episode of a history documentary we both enjoy (my favorite part of date-day)
  8. Jay played two more hours of video game
  9. I watched him for the first 20 minutes and spent the rest of the time sitting near him at our piano, finishing up choral music decisions
  10. Jay turned off the game and installed a new faucet in our bathroom
  11. I got into bed
Tomorrow we'll wake up without the kiddies or alarms, and then I'll probably fix a couple sprinklers and clean a rabbit hutch while Jay looks for more shopping or dishes to do.

A few questions:
  • Are we super-boring old-fogies?
  • Is Jay amazing because he cleans, grocery shops, loves clothes shopping, and installs faucets?
  • Am I weird that I'd rather work on sprinklers than go to a kitchen store?
  • Is it time for me to go to sleep now?
The answer to all of these questions is the same, of course.  YES.

P.S. For those of you who were wondering, my first days of work have been great!  I got done the big things on my list and feel like I've got a good handle on what I need to do going into Sunday and next week.  I've been enjoying meeting a few more members of the congregation, too.  :-)