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let’s pretend this never happened

I listened to Jenny Lawson’s hilarious and crazy memoir a few months ago on audiobook that I borrowed from the library, and I immediately knew I would love to feature it for BlogHer book club.

A little background – Jenny is the author of the popular blog The Bloggess, and honestly I had never followed it before she wrote this book. But I started seeing a lot of positive reviews across the interwebs, and since I’m always looking for light and funny audiobooks, I gave it a try. Oh man. It’s a trip. She says she’s saved the best stories of her life for this book, and many of them really are hard to believe. At times I was just open-mouthed in shock. (But in a good way.)

I am not a big humor connoisseur, I mean I like it but I don’t seek out funny stuff and I’m one of those people who will just say, “that’s funny” instead of laughing. So with that in mind I’ll say that I found this as funny and interesting as anything I’ve ever read. And now that I think back over it I realize that it deals with heavy issues like poverty, infertility, and mental illness yet it’s not depressing in the least. Jenny just deals with them effectively and shows that she’s learned to cope with it and find the humor in everything.

Of course I have to give warning about this book too. She herself says that she will probably offend you at some point when you read it, and for most people that’s probably true. Either with her language (yes there is way more profanity and discussion of…lady parts than I generally prefer in a book) and the subject matter can get touchy. Like I said, she uses humor in pretty much every situation, and that means she will probably make light of something that you don’t appreciate.

Anyway, after I read the book I started following her blog and because of the book I feel like I know her, especially because she narrated the audiobook herself. When I read the book this time it was a paperback version and although the experience of reading it is different, her voice comes through just as clear. There was also a bonus chapter which holds a journal of her first book tour, and it’s a lot like her blog which contains short snippets and conversations.

So basically, if you can stand some profanity and crazy subject matter, you definitely want to read this one. It’s just really, really funny.

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This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

March 7, 2013
cross stitch #1 : welcome

Okay! Today I finally have my first cross stitch project to share.

This is a pattern that I kind of improvised. I saw something like it in a thrift store, took a picture, and made my own. I chose the colors based on another painting we have hanging in our entryway. I also framed it really quickly so pay no attention to the wrinkles; obviously I have some practice to do. And can you spot the mistake in the second E? I got careless while I was watching a movie and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to fix it.

And here is where I hung it up. Someone is testing her boundaries in this photo, seeing if she can escape outside. :)

Later that day after I hung this up David pointed it out to me on his own with no prompting on my part and told me that he likes it. So! Success in my book.

March 6, 2013
meredith was baptized.

On Sunday Meredith was baptized.

So many thoughts and feelings and moments and difficulties led up to this day. Although I myself was baptized as a child, most of my life was spent in a tradition that doesn’t baptize infants but only dedicates them. That is surely what I would have done with Meredith had our church not dissolved at the time of her birth. Instead we found ourselves without any kind of spiritual dedication for her.

After a year and a half we finally found ourselves in a church home that we wanted to commit to, and I knew that it was time to include Meredith in that. The church we go to now does baby dedications as well as baptisms depending on the parents’ preference.

I thought long and hard about it, prayed, talked to my husband, my pastor, and a good friend/spiritual adviser, and in the end we decided to baptize Meredith. What it comes down to is that I now see baptism as more of an induction into the church. Without getting too deep into theology, I see it as a sign of God’s “yes” to Meredith, of our commitment to raising her in the church and our church’s commitment to helping us. It’s a more formal step showing that everything possible is being done to lead her into the Christian faith. It’s our hope and prayer to see her one day say “yes” back to God.

http://youtu.be/6d-2q3S219c

If you don’t have time to watch the six-and-a-half minute long video, you’re just missing a little mini-sermon, some crying on Meredith’s part and some desperate soothing on my part, and then a lovely moment of calmness when the baptism happened. Both David’s and my entire family were there and it was just really good.

Welcome to the Church, Meredith. We’re not perfect, we mess up, we get on each other’s nerves, we get angry and sad, but we love. We love each other, and we love you. That love is only a shadow of God’s love for us, and it is my deepest hope that one day you will love Him back.

March 5, 2013
list 4 : i’m good at

This month’s Book of Lists topic is “I’m good at.”

This was an encouraging thing for me to think about right now because the last month has been kind of crazy and I haven’t felt all that good at life. But I know that’s just the stress and in reality I am good at a lot of things.

mothering

singing

organization

nursing (both kinds)

keeping in touch

getting enough sleep

routines

There are more little things that I know I’m good at but these are the ones that came to me and encompass a lot of my strengths. On a side note, I think I look sickly or something in the Instax photo I took, but I love the way Meredith’s eyes and cheeks look here.

Next month: We’ll be posting on April 1 and the topic is “today I saw.”

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Confused by Book of Lists? Read this post! See all of my lists here.

March 4, 2013
march goals

Whew. For the past several weeks I’ve felt very off-kilter in my routines, in my relationships, and in my goals. In March I want to get back on track. The first two goals are specifically targeting my relationship with David. I am not going to have my phone out in front of him (or anyone else, including Meredith) at all because I want to be giving my full attention. The Love Dare is a book I got as a gift years ago that I barely gave a second thought to other than assuming it was totally cheesy. But last week I pulled it out and discovered that it has a lot to offer. Each day you read a couple pages about one aspect of love, followed by a challenge to act on that day, and then a space for journaling. It’s actually 40 days long and I’ve already started it, but I want to continue it this month.

Then we have my monthly quilt goal; originally I wanted to aim for getting ALL the cuts done, but I’ve never done this before and I don’t know how long it’ll take me so I settled for half. Once I get started on this it will deserve a post of its own.

Honor the speed limit is something that’s been brewing in my mind for awhile. I am not a reckless driver but I tend to go a little faster than the rest of traffic and I really just want to slow down and be more cautious in general. I feel like driving is a good starting point. My intention is not to be annoyingly strict with this, but to be aware of what the speed limit is and stay within 5 mph or so of it.

I threw the “just for fun” craft or project in there because I’ve been feeling very inspired creatively lately, but haven’t had a chance to act on it. I want to make time to do something extra this month. We’ve been behind financially for a little while and this month we’ll finally be able to get caught up and start saving again. That will feel so good. And finally: the weather has been beautiful, Meredith loves riding in her stroller, we need to be more active, and family walks are the perfect way to spend time together.

Here’s to spring being right around the corner.

March 1, 2013