suziebeezieland

bright star

{all images from Bright Star or Jane Campion's Production Scrapbook

My friend Michele came over last night and we watched the movie Bright Star. I had never seen it before. Have you seen it? It's very well-acted, and visually stunning. 

It has lots of whispering and looking and pretty words.

While I was watching it, I was thinking about that famous bit of criticism about Keat's Edymion by John Croker, who wrote:

There is hardly a complete couplet enclosing a complete idea in the whole book. He wanders from one subject to another, from the association, not of ideas, but of sounds . . .

That's how Jane Campion's direction feels in this, too, but purposefully.  It feels like a Keats poem.  I bet that was the idea. There is not a lot of exposition. You just jump in and have to figure out what is going on.  And some of the shorter scenes feel like photographs in an album, flying by.  I liked that bit.

I knew going into it that it would be sad, of course, because all three of those Keats brothers had TB, and because all three of those later Romantic poets (Keats, Shelley, and Byron) had such horribly tragic lives.  That has fed the appeal for their poetry, I think.  So the sad parts didn't blindside me.

I wasn't sure what else to expect.  The trouble with biographical stories about great writers is always that they don't do much of anything. They sit around and they write. Sometimes they frown and throw paper in the trashcan.

But there was a romance here worth writing about, I guess.  Although, as I watched, I didn't find myself connecting to the love between Keats and Fanny.  The character of Fanny didn't move me, because I didn't respect her. (Although Abbie Cornish's acting is great, and of course her gowns are wonderful to look at.) So their romance didn't do anything for me. (Most critics think his Odes, which he wrote in 1819 when he knew Fanny, were his best and most important poems.  She was an important muse, even if their romance didn't get to me.) 

I don't think I'll recommend it to people in general, or even to you all (except for specific literary-type friends who wouldn't want to miss anything about Keats).  I'm just not all excited about it like some other period pieces I've seen lately, like, say, Little Dorrit or Cranford, which I recommend to anyone I talk to. :)

But what has been in my head today as I think about the movie is the romance of the character of Keats himself, and his poetry. That was worth watching the movie for, for me.

When Keats (played by Ben Wishaw) stands very still, so quiet and sick and poetic and disheveled (and his face is wonderfully changeable, so that no one scene of melancholy looks quite like the other), you can imagine anything romantic you've got inside your own head at all, and place your ideas onto his character, and make him into someone very interesting, indeed.

sausage strata

I am often not excited about cooking. I'm usually pretty excited about eating, however. :)

I like making strata a couple times a year when I have to take a breakfast somewhere for something.  It is good, easy-to-make peasant food. (That is always some of my favorite food to make.) If you are not familiar with strata, it's a breakfast casserole made of layers (strata) of bread, cheese, eggs, milk, and optional ingredients such as a meat (sausage or chicken or ham, usually), maybe a veg (broccoli, onions, tomatoes) and some spices (strata usually calls for mustard, either dry or Dijon). 

You leave it overnight to soak in the fridge once you assemble it, so that the egg/milk mixture gets all gushy down into the bread, then you bake it in the morning.  So it's great if you have to take breakfast somewhere.  Which I did, this morning. So last night I made a strata, and this morning I baked it.  

Here is a basic recipe for a sausage strata, but you can see that you could really do this on the fly yourself with no instruction whatsoever, and substitute different ingredients. :)  

Brown a pound of sausage and drain/paper towel off the excess fat. (I used pork sausage, but you could use any sausage that you like.)

While that's happening, butter a 9x13" pan, and then add a layer of day-old (or older) bread. My favorite bread to use for this is French bread, but I just used Oroweat 7-Grain here, and it's fine. Cut it into cubes. (Include the crusts!) You'll need about 4.5 cups. (I'm sorry about these photos. It was last night, and my kitchen has those pot lights that cast eerie shadows.)

Then add a layer of cheese. I used two cups of sharp cheddar.

Then mix 10 eggs (slightly beaten) and 1 quart of whole milk together.  Now add seasoning to this egg/milk mixture: I added one teaspoon of dry mustard, 1 teaspoon of salt, some pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder. (I didn't have an onion to saute last night, but that would be even better.)  

Now just pour the egg/milk mixture over the bread and cheese, and top it with the browned sausage.  Cover it up and stick it in the fridge overnight to soak, and in the morning bake it at 325 for an hour.  Here it is assembled but uncooked:

I am sorry there is no photo of the finished product. I grabbed it out of the oven, rushed out the door this morning, and forgot to take a picture.  Just imagine the "before" pic with melted cheese.

Do you have any good strata recipes/suggestions? Feel free to share them with us if you do.

shopping for time, part 4 of 6

Here is the third tip in Shopping for Time:

Sit and Plan (Taking a Personal Retreat)

The authors write, "The idea is to set aside an extended time once or twice a year for study, prayer, and evaluation. In other words, take a personal retreat."

Have you ever had such a personal retreat before? I haven't. I mean, I've had extended time alone before, but I haven't used it to plan anything out. I think maybe I played video games. Ha. I'd like to do a whole weekend like this some time.  Anyway, they explain that you can do this whether you can swing an overnight away, or a full day, or just a few hours. I went with the "just a few hours" option and did it this week.

Again, I encourage you to read the book. You will use this time to evaluate your life. The authors suggest that you tailor their suggestions to your own style, and use their ideas to get your own ideas flowing.  In a nutshell, here is their plan:

Step #1: Get a pen and a piece of paper (or a laptop) and begin by listing your priorities. (Make sure you're alone and can be alone for long enough to complete this.)

My own list is there in that picture up top.  I felt like an uninspired copycat because my list is basically the example they give, but the authors point out the following:

Although your list may look slightly different, it's important that your priorities come from God's word and not cultural or personal preference. We should all have similar priorities stemming from our identity as Christian women, even though we may use other words or categories to describe them.

So now I don't feel so bad for copying. :)  And the next step in the planning is very unique and personal to each person.

Step #2: Once you've made a list of your (big-picture) priorities, you're going to create a separate page for each priority, and get detailed.  Prayerfully evaluate each priority in your life, and write down how you're doing for each one.  Where are you doing well, and what needs to change?  How can you grow in each area?

The book takes a very good look at each sample priority it gives, and shows each is Biblical.  For example, for "Grow in Godliness," they quote Timothy 4:8:

. . . for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Then they suggest that with this priority, you (1) consider your practice of meeting with God ("How can I make my devotions more fruitful"?) and (2) evaluate your progress in personal holiness ("what is one area where I believe God is calling me to grow in godliness?")

So now you have this big list of things you need to work on, and your head is spinning. :)

Step #3 is to look at all you've written, and ask yourself this question:

What one or two priorities do I want to focus on for the next three to six months, and what steps will I take to grow in each area?

The authors explain:

. . . don't try to change in every area at once. This is extremely important. If you target too many areas for growth, you may fail to make progress in any of them and end up more discouraged than when you began. However, if you develop a plan to change in one area, you will be surprised at the dramatic difference it will make.

When I looked at my own list, I found two areas where I wanted to concentrate. (This certainly doesn't mean that I have it together in the other areas! It just means that when I prayed and thought about this, these two items stood out as priorities at this time in my life.)

First of all, under "loving my family," I saw a need to be much more methodical and purposeful in my parenting of Claire.

I'm always parenting her, of course, but as she gets older I have seen some character qualities that need encouragement or correction.  As her mom, I'm in a prime position to guide her slowly, methodically, and prayerfully as she develops.  I do not think I have spent as much time on this, or thought about this as much as I need to.  I also see that I have been very hit-or-miss regarding her schedule and how she spends her own time each day.

Some suggestions in the book are helping me quite specifically in figuring out what is working and what isn't working in my parenting of Claire. 

I've been thinking deeply about her training, and writing down "how to make [my] guidelines and commands more clear, [my] language more simple and biblical, and how to prevent situations in which [Claire is] tempted to disobey." 

I'm also working on Claire's dinnertime etiquette and her overall daily and weekly schedules.  And I'm helping her develop her own daily devotional time with God.

I decided that my second area to focus on would be "caring for my physical body".  I am overweight, and if I'm dead from heart disease or diabetes or any other weight-induced ailments, it will make it much harder for me to work on any of these other areas. :) 

So I've been charting out an exercise plan that fits my schedule and my preferences (actually, my preference is "don't exercise," so I'm kind of ignoring my preferences). 

I'm also working on my heart attitude about exercising.  I have noticed that I have a really snotty attitude inside me (although not outside me) when helpful people give me unsolicited advice about my weight or exercise. I always think "Did I ask you?" How sweet of me. :P So I'm working hard on recognizing that when people do this, it's because they love me and are being helpful.  They are not necessarily being critical in the way I am critical about myself in this area!

I hope these examples have been helpful to you, and that if you are able to take such a retreat, that you really benefit from examining your priorities and then figuring out how you can act on them.  I do think that I'm going to try and do a longer retreat in a few months just so that I can really delve into some of these other areas, and spend more time in the Word.

Here is something to think about from the book. It's a quote from author Jean Fleming:

Life for Jesus was short and busy, too. He lived on earth fully aware that the clock was ticking away. Jesus had only three-and-a-half years for public ministry, but this didn't keep Him from taking personal retreats. Jesus modeled and taught regular withdrawal into God's presence.  The Gospel of Mark, the most action-packed account of the life of Jesus, shows Him continually pulling back from opportunities to minister so that He could pray and listen to His father. His life illustrates that perfect life; one of retreat followed by intense involvement in the world.

not enough sleep & too much sleep

Hi!

I hope none of you are missing the excellent comments on the last three posts about Shopping for Time. Thank you so much for sharing your own thoughts, tips, and habits with us. You are a cool resource. :)

(To access any post complete with all its comments to date, simply click on the title of the post, then scroll down to the bottom to work your way through the comments. This is probably easier than clicking on people's names over in the sidebar, which just takes you to each particular comment.)

Before we move onto Tip #3 in Shopping for Time, I wanted to clarify that neither the book nor I are advocating sleep deprivation in suggesting that some of us might need to start rising earlier to best spend time with God and serve our families.  

The Biblical model for sleep seems to be that (1) we need it and (2) we should get it. :)  As busy as Jesus was, He got His sleep. He took naps sometimes, too. Remember Mark 4:35-41, when Jesus calms the storm?

On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. 

And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

There isn't anything in this passage to suggest that Jesus went to sleep for the dramatic effect of then waking up and wowing His disciples with a miracle.  He was just taking a nap. 

And scripture recognizes sleep as not just necessary, but pleasurable. For example, in Proverbs 3:24:

My son, do not lose sight of these — keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Sleep is a good gift from God, and any schedule or routine you devise for yourself should include getting enough sleep.  If you need to stay up until 11, for example, to have the time with your husband or do some particular task, I don't think you need to be worrying about getting up at 5 AM.  The admonition to rise early carries the assumption that you can get to bed at a reasonable hour!  

If you do have some discretion over the hours you keep, and sense that your priorities might best be served by getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier, then maybe you should do that. :) (It does sound like several of us are thinking through our status as "nightowls" right now.)

That said, I think our Cathy made an excellent point when she said that sleep can become an idol in our lives. I know that it has been one of mine. I am deeply in love with my pillow and my blanky and my mattress. :) 

As with anything, I think we need to always be open to the Holy Spirit and to "disruptions" in our routine that are actually life itself, rather than what we think of as "disruptions". (Our routines can become idols, too! A routine is there to serve you and help you be disciplined. It's not there to run your life and make you an inflexible robot who never listens to God.)

There are a lot of Bible verses warning against being too fond of sleep. If you thought Martha Peace was blunt, read this passage from Proverbs 6. Ha ha. :D

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.

And Proverbs 20:13 says:

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;
open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

And just ten chapters after Jesus fell asleep on the boat and His disciples complained that He didn't care that they were perishing, look what they themselves did as Jesus faced His death:

And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 

And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 

And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.

And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

As Cathy commented from her own experience, God is able to give us rest even when we are being physically deprived of sleep.  

He is always able to give us what we need -- time, rest, resources -- to do what He wants us to do.

So we can glorify God by sleeping (good sleeping should be our "norm"), and keeping good hours and resting our bodies unless there's a valid reason not to.

And we can glorify God by not sleeping (which should not be our "norm", but which will sometimes happen for good and Godly reasons), and by not making an idol of sleep.

Next time we'll talk about taking a personal retreat to sit and plan. :)

Stay tuned!

shopping for time, part 3 of 6

I am thoroughly enjoying all the discussion on yesterday's post about Tip Number One: Rise Early. It's good to hear what your thoughts and experiences are about getting up early. I have also learned that suziebeezieland women do not like being called "lazy and selfish". Ha ha. :) Good stuff! Thank you so much, ladies, for taking the time to interact. :)

Tip Number One was necessary before Tip Number Two (which is the most important tip).  Here is what the authors say:

The reason The 5 AM Club, or rising early, is the first essential tip for becoming a savvy time shopper is that the second shopping tip -- sitting at Jesus' feet -- is the most important. And implementing the first tip is often the only way to make the second possible.

So tip number two in Shopping for Time is the most important tip of all when it comes to managing how we spend our time:

Tip Number Two: Sit Still (Sitting at Jesus' Feet)

The expression "sitting at Jesus' feet" comes from the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible. Do you know it?

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

I remember reading that story for the first time when I was a kid, and thinking to myself, "God is in her living room, but Martha is doing the dishes." :) I think I got it when I was a kid!  I understood that Martha's priorities were off on that day.

As an adult, I understand Martha much better now. Oh, the tyranny of the urgent! I bet God could be in my living room, and I would go do dishes. I can see myself doing that.  I get so task-oriented sometimes that my priorities get messed up.

The authors of Shopping for Time go on to explain:

The key to becoming a successful shopper of time is to make our first priority that of seeking God through His Word and prayer. No extra hour of sleep, no "urgent" task we must complete, no service we can do for others is half as good a bargain as this one. In fact, notice it's the "urgent" tasks that distracted Martha from the prize deal in front of her and left her "troubled about many things."

And they quote C.S. Lewis, who wrote:

It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them back: in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

Do you like that imagery of the things we need to do each day rushing at us like wild animals? I have often thought that the reason I like to linger in bed in the morning is because as soon as I get up, I get attacked by wild animals. :) (I don't mean Bob and Claire! Ha. I mean the things of the day.  As soon as my toe touches the floor, the day begins in full swing. Arrh, help, I'm being eaten by a lion!)

Seeking God in His Word and through prayer gives us, as the authors note, "wisdom, peace, guidance, and strength." Jesus says in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Yet, as the authors write, "our daily temptation is to bypass the good portion that Mary chose in favor of our own resources."

If you are disciplined about spending time daily in the Word and in prayer, good for you, sister. Keep going. :)  You will spend eternity in fellowship with the Lord, and you're wise to make it a priority now.

If you want to put "sitting at Jesus' feet" into your life, and aren't sure how to start, let me give you a couple simple suggestions.

Having a Bible-reading plan will help you be consistent and organized. Closing your eyes, opening your Bible randomly, and poking your finger at a passage really isn't the best way to experience God's word. You kind of miss the context and big-picture of things, going at it all willy-nilly like that. 

Here is a plan that I and some of my friends and folks at my church use. The authors also recommended it in Shopping for Time.

It is called the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan and you can print it out here.

(A Scottish minister by the name of Robert Murray M'Cheyne came up with it in the mid-1800s.)  Each day you will read two passages from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from either the Psalms or the Gospels.  So in one year, you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.

If you'd like a plan with less daily reading (you will get through the Bible with no repetition once in a year), you might try Through the Bible in a Year, which you can print out here.

There are some other Bible-reading plans here, including the two I've just mentioned.  There is no "best" plan .  .  . just pick something that will help you get into the Word and stay in it.

If you get behind on any of the dated reading plans (for instance, if you start now and have missed the entire month of January), don't sweat it. If you are a perfectionist with some OCD tendencies, just make yourself ease up and keep reading even if you are no longer on track with the correct date.  Bible reading plans are to serve you, not the other way around. :) 

So if you get behind, either (1) catch up on what you've missed one day when you have time to read, or (2) cross out the dates and just read the Bible chapters in the order given on the days you can, and cross out what you've already read so that you know where to start next time.  Just keep reading.

If you have never read the Bible regularly before in your life and aren't willing to jump into a big year-long reading plan right now, I recommend just sitting down the first day and familiarizing yourself a little bit with where the books are (ask my sister, I spend five minutes every Sunday morning trying to locate Ecclesiastes even though we've been in that book for a couple months now) and then reading through the book of John (it is in the New Testament and comes after Luke and before Acts) over a few days. John will give you a good overview of Jesus' life and ministry, and maybe you will then be ready to start a more systematic study of God's word.

If you feel like you'd like some good, substantive commentary to go along with your daily Bible readings, I recommend Donald Carson's For the Love of God.  Many folks in my church enjoy this.  Carson uses a slightly modified M'Cheyne plan to get you through the Bible in a year, and offers some excellent insights into what you're reading. The book is in two volumes, available through Amazon: Volume I is here and Volume 2 is here.  

Whatever else you read during your time with God (devotional books, for instance), make sure you're reading the Bible itself, and not just a book about the Bible. :)  (Those are often superb but should be supplemental.)

We'll talk later about our prayer lives in more detail, but as you seek to establish or maintain a prayer life now, consider using the simple acronym "ACTS" to get you organized as you pray. This little trick has been around for years, but it's pretty helpful.

A stands for adoration (praise God for who He is),
C is confession (confess your sins to God),
T is thanksgiving (thank God for the blessings in your life and for all He is doing), and
S is supplication (give God your requests for you and others in your life). 

I use this acronym to remind me to pray for these things. I do it in the order of the letters "ACTS" so that I am spending time first praising Him, then thanking Him, and getting my heart straight with confession before I present my needs to Him.

I hope this is helpful and encouraging! 

Time spent at Jesus' feet is not wasted time. :)

shopping for time, part 2 of 6

Without further adieu, here is Tip Number One in Shopping for Time.

No, wait, I do have some further adieu. I should remind you that this book is written from a Christian worldview.  I believe the general principles in this book are universal for believers in Christ, but may not appeal to you if you have a different worldview. (Here's a review on Amazon from one such reader, which I think says it well.)

And the details of carrying these general principles out will differ for each of you.  The practice will look different for each of us.  The authors are very sensitive to this.  They are sensitive to the fact that different women are in different seasons of their lives, and that "early will look different for every woman reading this book." If you are ill or have a little baby or other sleep-depriving situation, you may be up so late for valid, unavoidable reasons that tip number one will have to be postponed in your life.

So please, no riots in suziebeezieland.  :)

So without further further adieu, here we go, although by now you've already guessed it:

Tip Number One: Rise early.

Like maybe 5 AM early.

Remain calm, I said. :D 

The mother-daughters authors started The 5 AM Club in their own lives (and since then, they've inspired women across the country to start their own 5 AM clubs) to (1) ensure that they had time to read the Bible, pray, and meet with God in the morning (this was the primary reason), and (2) to be available to help meet their families' needs in the morning.

(I should interject at this point to say that if you bristle at the idea of "serving your family," or "meeting their needs," this is not the book for you.  I think it's a shame that the word "serve" has become so loaded with negative connotations.  It is true that terrible abuses of power over the centuries have tarnished the true Biblical notion of service.  But selfishness has also made the idea of service less attractive to us. Which is too bad, because it's an awesome privilege to serve each other.)

Some of you have such incredibly full schedules that your hours already necessitate rising early, whether you want to or not! I salute you gals. :)

So this tip is probably skewed towards stay-at-home moms or other women with more discretion over how they spend their time. 

The authors make a point of saying that there is nothing inherently more spiritual or Godly about getting up at 5 AM (or 6 AM, or 7 AM).  That's not a Biblical principle, so they don't say that it is, although the BIble does contain examples of early rising as a wise choice in life.  

What the authors do say is this:

The goal of the 5 AM club is simply to promote the benefits of rising early -- both for your spiritual life and the life of your family. Early, though, will look different for every woman reading this book. We just call it The 5 AM Club because this is what time we try to roll out of bed.

And if you choose to rise very early, of course it shouldn't be a point of pride with you.  Early risers aren't better. :D

The book talks at length about the benefits of rising early and the logistics of making it work (including their mom's six-point-strategy for waking up early), and so if you are feeling intrigued by the idea, again, I really recommend you read the book.  (I'm not selling the book or endorsing it officially for them! And I'm not running the links to the book through my Amazon Associates account. Ha.  I just don't want you to miss out on something really good, and my summaries aren't as good as the real book!)  

I think I just want to appeal today to those of you who, like me, have always considered yourself a "night owl". 

I want to challenge you to join me in rethinking this idea.  

Here is the passage from the chapter that smacked me right between the eyes.  I don't want to give anybody any false guilt, and only you know if this description fits you.  But there is also real guilt that can serve the purpose of convicting you of habits in your life that need correction, and if this makes you really uncomfortable, like it did me, that might not be the worst thing that has ever happened to you. :) Ready? Here goes.  The authors here are quoting another author named Martha Peace:

I have heard of women who pride themselves on being "night people". That means they have trouble getting up in the morning because they come alive at night. They may stay up till all hours reading, watching television, or pursuing some sort of interest. The next morning they are too tired to get up and care for their family . . . These women are not "night people". They are lazy and selfish. Who would not rather stay up late to do whatever they please and sleep late the next day?

Ouch! I felt like I had been knocked over when I read that.  I know this is true of me, although it hurts to admit it.  As the authors sum it up, "If we are not morning people, then chances are we are simply on a night owl's schedule."

You know where I'm going with this, right? I have spent over one month thinking about The 5 AM Club, and have come to the conviction that in my own household, for me, 5 AM actually is an optimal time for me to get up.  

I challenge you to find anyone on the planet less likely to get up at 5 AM on a regular basis than I am. :) Do you know Bob and Claire's nickname for me in the morning? They call me "sleepy lump-lump."  They say it lovingly, but that is what they say, because in the morning, that is what I am! I am a sleepy lump-lump.  Think of a big ol' panda who is rolled up in a ball sleeping.  That's me.  I barely speak before 10 AM. I just grunt and chew on my bamboo shoot. So if I can do this, anyone can.

So. Would any of you like to join the 5 AM Club with me? (Even if your 5 AM is 6 AM?) Please don't answer now. Think about it and pray about it, and when we're done discussing the book, I'll post again on the 5 AM Club, and see if any of you are interested.  I am going to start this coming Monday morning, and I'll let you know how it goes.

If you don't have a problem in this area, and are already getting up early to spend some quality time with the Lord and to help your family, you have my deep respect, and I salute you. :)

shopping for time, part 1 of 6

Hi, chickies. :) 

I've been wanting to talk to you about a book I read recently called Shopping for Time (recommended to me by my friend Charity), and am finally sitting down for a bit here to do it! I think we need six days to give it its proper due, even though it is only 94 pages long. 

This book is not your average "get yourself organized in a jiffy" book, but, rather, focuses on the bigger, lifelong issue of making wise choices regarding our time and priorities.  

It is written from a Christian worldview.  The authors are Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters, Nicole Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, and Janelle Bradshaw, who also write and maintain the Girltalk blog.   

I highly recommend this book if you are concerned with making good choices about how you spend your days.

The subtitle of the book is "How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed," but to be honest, I think this is not a great subtitle.  :) The phrase "do it all" has such specific, superwoman connotations, I think, and doesn't jive with the book's premise that we're really NOT called to "do it all." Rather, we're called to do what God has in mind for us each day.  Here's what they say:

We can accomplish everything God has ordained for us to do in this life. (Hint: It's probably not half of what's on your to-do list.)

So maybe just ignore the subtitle. :)

The Introduction explains that not only can we accomplish what God has ordained for us each day, but that we can do it in "a peaceful, joyful manner, and get sufficient rest besides."  

Chapter one then explains this concept of "shopping for time," which is actually a Biblical concept. (I will mention that because I'm not a big shopper, this sustained metaphor of "shopping" didn't really grab me at first.  When they started fleshing out this metaphor and showing the Biblical basis for it, I saw that it was substantive.  So if you're not an enthusiastic shopper, don't let the metaphor make you miss the excellent content.)

The following info is my own paraphrase of the authors' content.  I really recommend that you read the book yourself.

In Chapter One, the authors spend time looking at Ephesians 5:15-16:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but wise" means to approach each day circumspectly rather than blindly. The choices for how we use our time are either "unwise" or "wise". Pretty straightforward. :)

"Making the best use of time" means to "buy up, rescue from loss, or improve" the use of time, and suggests we should spend our time each day as carefully as we would spend our money. (Or more carefully, if you're bad with money. Ha.)  The writers acknowledge Ecclesiastes 3:1, which says "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."  Every woman goes through many different seasons in life.  Depending on the season you are in, your best priorities for how you spend your time will differ.  A mom with a nursing baby is going to have different priorities for her time than a mom with kids in school during the day, and an adolescent girl is going to have different priorities for her time than a woman going through menopause or working outside the home, etc.  

God sets the boundaries for each season of our lives, and is in complete and sovereign control.

"Because the days are evil" means not only that we live in a fallen world and are daily exposed to evil, but that we will struggle with evil in our own hearts, and that each day brings its own set of troubles (Matthew 6) we will have to face.  This evil around us should not instill fear, but should instill carefulness, and encourage us to make Godly choices with our time.  In John 16:33, Jesus says "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

The book then goes on to list five, meaty (it appears I prefer food metaphors to shopping metaphors! ha.) tips for making the most of our days.  

Tomorrow we'll discuss tip number one. 

Tip number one is going to kill you, but hear it out. :) Stay tuned!

the out-of-sight, out-of-mind girl & the open storage solution

I did, indeed, clean house like a wild woman yesterday, and I would not blush if you dropped by today. (Not that that is the point of anything, but we'll talk about that more tomorrow and Friday (unless the power goes out because we're having rainstorms) when we discuss the book Shopping for Time, and the big-picture issue of stewardship of our time.  I hope this is helpful and valuable to some of you.)

But today I thought I'd just chat a bit to you girls who, like me, are out-of-sight, out-of-mind girlies. This has really become apparent to me in the past couple of years:

I pay attention to things I can see, and I pay less attention to things I can't see.

Usually, if you come to my house, what you see will be clean. (Let's forget yesterday, shall we?) But if you were to open closets or drawers, unless I've just had a big organizational session, you are likely to be injured by the mess.

I will never forget the expression on my mom's face last year when she opened one of the big utensil drawers in my kitchen. It was priceless.  She didn't say anything, but I know she must have been thinking, "Wow, how does this girl cook?" (I don't, mom.)

She managed not to get impaled on a bamboo skewer in her search for the vegetable peeler, so that's good. 

A couple years ago my sister made me a birthday card that listed things she loved about me (my favorite card from her ever) and it included "messy drawers". That made me laugh so hard.  And when I worked for a corporate real estate company years ago, my coworker Penny would come into my work area and laugh and laugh, because it always looked pristine, but then she'd open a drawer and ask "What, do you just push everything off the desk into here?" (Yes.)

But in the past couple of years, I've made progress! And it's possible. I'm here to encourage you. I just quit fighting this tendency and decided to work with it.

Aby Garvey over at Simplify 101 has been most helpful (take one of her classes or look at the photos on her blog and in her organizational notes -- so inspiring), and so was a random comment someone made on an HGTV organizational show awhile back about kids being much more likely to put their things away if (1) the container was out where they could see it and (2) it didn't have a lid on it.

"That's me!" I thought. "I'm a kid!"

So I've gotten better about using open storage. (I put that in bold because it's the main thing. Open storage. Tah dah.)

So in a nutshell, I need stuff out in the open if I'm to keep it clean and organized, but I hate visual clutter. So I want it to be cute open storage. :)

I've talked before about my love of bowls and baskets for storage, and this is why.  Let me give you a couple more examples of open storage/open organization that are currently working well for me, to my shock. :D

That picture up top is a little colander that holds the coffee pods for our Nespresso machine. It sits next to the machine, and I don't mind it on the counter because it is colorful and I like it. We use them daily, and this makes sense to have out.

Paperwork is my arch nemesis, and I continue to struggle with it, but I've gotten better! :) The main thing was realizing that the file drawer in my desk is like a black hole to me, and is really only useful (for me) as dormant storage for files. I need active files out where I can see them. This basket (thanks, Aby Garvey idea woman) has worked so well. It holds my working files (they change regularly), a little flowerpot with pens in it, my reading glasses (sitting on top of a container that holds stationery), note paper, and the composition notebooks I use to keep other things organized. (I'll talk about those some time next week.) I picked up the basket a few years ago at Target, and it just happens to hold files, so that's good. Use what you have already. :)

We will eventually redo our bathroom, but in the meantime, we lack storage, and I don't want to spend a penny on it because it's temporary. I had a chair with towels stacked on it here for years, and then just recently realized if I dragged in the nightstand that was out in the garage, it would give us an extra drawer. But anyway, the storage baskets work well, and stuff gets put where it belongs.

And finally, this isn't storage, but it's "open organization". This is the first year I've realized that I don't use closed, book calendar/ planners. I have owned awesome, beautiful ones since I was a teenager, but I don't use them! I'll use them for a week, and then nothing.

Yet year after year, I buy them, because everybody else does.  But I need the whole month out in front of me, and big, open squares, and this calendar works for me! If I'm out and about, and a date comes up, I just write it on a pad of paper in my purse (that I use for any notes I take while out) and then put it on this when I get home. I have one calendar, and that's it, and it is working.

So that's all I have to say today. I just wanted to encourage you if you are like me in this way, and feel bad about it. Don't feel bad. Just try some open storage. :)

getting motivated

We're in the middle of a very rainy week here.  It's kind of nice, because it's rare around here, this much rain, but I'm forced to face my house. Gulp.

I don't know about you, but I have had a very difficult time getting motivated to do stuff around here since Christmastime.  There is nothing actually wrong with me . . . I'm not sick, and I'm not blue or depressed at all . . . I'm just lazy. I just don't want to DO anything. I am really having to push myself to get off my patootie and work.  And I haven't been keeping up with my daily chores like I usually do. I mean, my family is fed and clothed, and we've been busy doing stuff and people have been over . . . but I feel like I'm treading water rather than really being organized.

Of course, it's that much worse after a four-day weekend. (Claire was off school Friday for a teacher in-service day, and then yesterday was a holiday.)

I was supposed to get together with my sister this morning, but I called her and told her I really needed to stay home and get caught up on my laundry, half of which needs folding  . . .

. . . and half of which needs washing. (Aren't those piles on the floor delightful? Our bedroom floor is the only place I have to sort out laundry.)

Not to mention the dishes.

So nice, really. Ack.

Those dishes are there because I didn't do them yesterday morning after breakfast, and then last night I crawled into bed at 7:30 because I was so tired, and then I gave myself a talking-to and said, alright, enough is enough, Sooz. You need to kick it into gear, girlfriend, and get on top of stuff.

And then, as a little treat to get myself motivated :), I went and got my laptop and took it back to bed with me and spent some time before I went to sleep looking through the archives of our Catherine's blog, Red Shoes, because her photos always inspire me so much. (Speaking of inspiring, here's a great little article she wrote on how paint can change your outlook and mood.) Seeing her house and shop and all that color always makes me want to decorate and rearrange furniture and freshen stuff up around here. If you don't have a little online home-making inspirer (is that a word?) like that, get one! Really, it's fun to find someone's style that you jive with, and look at their photos when you need a boost.

And I'm not going to decorate/paint/rearrange on top of a dirty house, so then I get motivated to clean like a maniac first. It's great! :)

So that's what I'm doing today before I go to get Claire: cleaning like a maniac.  I have the music up loud, and I'm just plowing through the piles of stuff, room by room, and it feels great.

But I need to get my schedule under control in a big-picture way before January ends. I need to prioritize.

And that book I read over vacation, Shopping for Time, is in my head. I think it's time to put good theory into practice! So I'll talk to you about that in a couple days. I warn you, parts of it will sock you between the eyes. It's very convicting, and it will make you think.

But can't talk now . . . must clean! :)

my idea for a twilight sequel #3,487:edward rescues jane austen from mr. wickham

one way to help haiti

If any of you are pondering different ways to provide help following the earthquake in Haiti, I wanted to recommend a Christian non-profit agency to you called Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

Their mission statement is "Sharing the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed."

Some of you are already familiar with MAF. Their aircraft fleet is the largest fleet of private aircraft used for public good in the world.  To learn more about them, I recommend that you visit their website. (If it doesn't come up, try again later. It's being flooded right now with hits from around the world. Or try here, which is their "about" page and is less busy than their home page right now.)

MAF are often the folks who fly around government and other relief workers during times of crisis. PBS has done a feature on MAF's work in D.R. Congo, which some of you may have seen before. (They spelled Fran DeRocher's last name wrong. But that's neither here nor there.)

I have known several MAF missionaries for over twenty years, and had the privilege of working at MAF headquarters several years ago when the HQ was located in Redlands, California. (They are now based in Nampa, Idaho.) My dad was the Director of Personnel there for several years.

All that to say, I vouch for this organization wholeheartedly. :)

MAF has been working in Haiti since 1986. Currently, seven MAF missionary families, seven national staff members, and three aircraft serve 16 airstrips from a base of operations in Port-au-Prince. MAF also has one email hub in Port-au-Prince, supporting six clients.

As I type this, MAF is aware that its missionaries in Haiti are safe, but are unsure of the status of three of their Haitian staff members.

Disaster response is something MAF is very skilled at.  But that's not all they do. MAF's missionaries in Haiti are there all the time, day in and day out, and meet physical and spiritual needs all the time. All I can really say is that they are awesome. :) There are more good, official MAF videos here about their expertise in different areas.

If you are talking to your kids about Haiti, and about compassion, the video embedded in this post up top is safe to show them.  I pulled it off YouTube just to give you an idea of one of the things MAF does. It shows airdrops in Haiti in 1998, following flooding from hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike. 

It shows hope following a catastrophe, and, once the music and airdrops begin, will probably hold your kids' interest. (The very beginning might not be interesting to them.)  I showed Claire a few (very select) photos on CNN of the earthquake damage, so that she would understand, which prompted many questions and much concern.  We prayed and I answered her questions as best I could, and then I showed her that video up top to give her an idea of how people can help, and she is sending her allowance this week to MAF's Haiti Disaster and Recovery Fund. 

I also showed her some Bible verses that talk about God's goodness and sovereignty in the world.

And I do trust that God is good and that God is sovereign.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

early spring

Thank you so much for your really nice introductions! I think that may be my favorite suziebeezieland post ever.  It is really fun for me to learn more about each of you, new and old, and I will be answering each comment over the next couple of days. Thank you for taking the time to share about yourself with us. Hooray. :)  (You can still comment if you haven't yet.)

We haven't had much winter around here this year. It's weird.  Now that Christmas is over, I've decided to skip straight to spring, because it feels like spring.

Actually, it feels like summer, but I'm really not ready for summer, so we'll go with spring.

My garden is a real mess right now. Some winter annuals have died from the heat, and some spring-blooming plants have already bloomed, and some plants seem visibly confused -- do I bloom now, or wait until later?  Wait, I tell them. Real spring is even better than fake spring.

Inside, I have some really big organizational projects I need to be tackling, so instead I have been ignoring them and buying flowers and opening the windows so that it feels springier.

And I just took these photos for you a couple minutes ago, instead of folding laundry. Yay, procrastination.

We will talk more about organization and time management this week, but I thought maybe today we could just use a bit of early spring.

2010 introductions

Good morning, ladies. :) Let's do some introductions today. If you read suziebeezieland on a regular basis, please jump in and participate. 

I think if we do this from time to time, it makes suziebeezieland more comfortable and interesting. The community is always changing.

So, why don't you tell us your name, your family situation (kids, hubby, etc.), where you live (you can leave out any info that makes you uncomfortable, and you can be general in your answers if you don't want to be specific), and let us know if you work outside the home, and what you do. The basic stuff.

Then, for fun, maybe tell us the last good book you read and/or movie you saw that you'd recommend to us, and maybe tell us one thing you're hoping to accomplish this year.

You know, talk about yourself a bit so we know you better. :D Ready, go!

happy new year!

Happy New Year, chickies! I hope it's been good for you so far. I know our Resident Dude Mark is down with pneumonia . . . I'm hoping the rest of you are hanging in there. (Get better soon, Mark!)

On New Year's Eve we had a fun family party at my sister's house (her in-laws were out visiting from New York, which includes our own suziebeezieland Bianca, who I have been so happy to see) and it was delightful.

I played Settlers of Catan with my husband, my brother-in-law, and my brother-in-law's brother (Bianca's husband) and they whooped me completely. But I have all year to plan my strategy for next time.

My strategy for next time includes "not losing so bad." 

But boy, that is a really fun game. Do any of you play it?

There was a staggering array of food, including chili and cornbread, banana-nut cake (killer -- I had two smallish pieces, which somehow seemed more polite than one gigantic piece, and really I just wanted to eat the icing off it in spoonfuls, it was so good) and some cheesy popovers and some little pups in wrappers with parmesan and some other things. I don't know what all, but we ate a lot.

New Years Day, Bob and Claire and I woke up bright and early and bundled up and put hot drinks in commuter mugs and went to the Rose Parade! We went and viewed the floats after the parade last year, but I haven't been to the actual parade since I was 16, and Bob has never been, and of course Claire hasn't, either.

It was a gorgeous day (we've had sunny skies all week) and it turns out we didn't really need to bundle up! 

All the people sitting in the bleachers around us were delightful (a bunch of Buckeye fans), and we just had a blast.

Let me make a few introductions before I show you parade highlights. First is "guy in red hat sitting in front of me." He and his wife were really nice.  His hat is featured in several of my photos.

Second is "big palm tree in front and slightly to the right of me".

I thought it looked pretty against the sky, even though some might have thought of it as a view-blocker. 

And then there were the ladies behind us, who were delightful.

One older woman was there because her grandson had bought her a ticket for Christmas. She was so excited. What a neat gift, huh? And she was a trooper, with a cane, hiking up the bleacher steps. We both agreed that being there in real life is much more fun than just watching on t.v.

And then the lady right behind me was from San Antonio, and had a really adorable accent, and was also really happy and excited, and thought we should stand up any time anything American came by, and I loved her. The woman next to her, who I think was her daughter, read the float descriptions from a magazine and that was just perfect, because I wanted to know stuff.  They were so fun, those ladies behind me.

The lady next to me and her husband were on vacation and had come down from northern California where they live up in the mountains, and we chatted quite a bit, too.  I want to live in whatever town they live in. It has 300 people in it, and sounds cool.

And then in front of me slightly to my right were these Buckeyes fans, who were great. They had a block of 60 tickets for the Rose Bowl itself. 

So I have to tell you Ohio girls right now that between this group and then then Guy in Red Hat and his wife in front of me, I didn't really get any photos of Ohio State stuff because they stood up and went crazy every time. It was so fun.

(But you know I'm a Ducks fan. Quack, quack, quack.)

What is that Ohio State cheer thingy, by the way? People kept doing it. They made an O with their arms and said something like "ooh oh" and then the other people yelled back "O-H-I-O" or something.

This church is the backdrop for most of my parade photos.

The parade theme this year was "2010: A Cut Above the Rest." Each float and band is supposed to interpret that theme in some way.

This year's Grand Marshall was Captain "Sully" Sullenberger. Man, we all went crazy cheering for him.

This parade major in the Farmers Insurance "Salute to the Bands" float was 55 feet tall, and so impressive. The parade was off to a really exciting start.

I'm not going to show you everything in the whole parade (there were 92 entries), just our favorites. But honestly, they're all really cool.

I'm sorry I don't have a zoom lens. Maybe I'll get one before next year's parade. :) I'm also sorry for the mediocreness of most of these photos. It was really sunny and I don't know what I'm doing with my camera when it's so sunny.

I don't think anybody marches as well as the Marines. They got a huge ovation.  And they looked sharp.

Here are our friends who had volunteered to be pooper scoopers. The crowds cheered the most for these guys. :) Our friend is a partner at Bob's law firm, and he and his son and son's friend were doing this as a fundraiser for the boys' high school.

The broadcast crews film the parade at the beginning of the five-and-a-half mile parade route, when everyone is fresh and the floats haven't started breaking down quite as much.

We were sitting in front of Pasadena City College, which is about halfway through the parade, I'd say, and were treated to two long breaks during the parade, followed by two towed floats. :) The Ronald McDonald House was the first one. Boy, you should have heard how loud we all cheered for the tow truck.

This is the Subway float. Do you see that guy waving at me? That's Jared Fogle! Doesn't he look nice and trim? I'm pretty sure he was waving at me to come eat sandwiches and get skinny.

Go, Navy!  We hear the flyovers every year, so it was exciting to see them this year.

I loved the Tuskeegee Airmen float. Fifteen of the original airmen were sitting on the front of the float. To give you an idea of what goes into making these floats, here's a description for this one:

To coincide with the patriotic theme of the float, tons of red and white carnations and roses, and blue iris, statice and delphiniums are used. The floragraphs will be created by using crushed sweet rice and onion seed. The eagle feathers are created from magnolia leaves, whole branches of millet, doc weed, pine cone scales, cotton seed, feather grass and pampas grass. The giant American flags made from red and white carnations, and blue statice and delphiniums. The "red tail" mustangs are covered in carnation petals, silver dollar eucalyptus, silver leaf, and poppy seed.

Red carnations 10,000
White carnations 5,000
White roses 6,000
Red roses 4,000
Blue iris 6,500

The backside of magnolia leaves used for the soft texture of feathers. Individual pine cone scales are used to create the veins in the eagle feathers. Rice paper is used to give the stars a translucent shine.

Here's our whole family's favorite float: Natural Balance Pet Foods. Do you remember the skateboarding dog last year? This year they had a few dogs, snowboarding! (There was no snow, but they were on snowboards.) I'm sad I didn't get a photo of the little puppy. A guy went down on the snowboard with him, but when they got to the bottom the puppy jumped off and ran back up the slope for more. It was adorable!

Here is the Los Angeles Unified School District All District High School Honor Band marching.

And here they are a couple seconds later, taking a little break to stretch. I always wondered if they got a break. They do! They looked pooped.

These girls on rollerblades were so mesmerizing that I wasn't paying attention to the Shaghai World Expo float behind them.

But then all of a sudden, there was Jackie Chan!

Puffer fishies.

You should have heard the wild hullaballoo for the Boy Scouts at the end of the parade. Everybody went crazy!

We're already planning next year's trip to the parade. It was awesome. :)

Happy New Year, ladies! xxoo