My Church Made Me Do It!

Maybe it's that we don't have cable anymore. Maybe it's that this is the second week of major illness in our house. But I think that the biggest reason for our latest addiction is our church. My church made us start watching American Idol, and now we're hooked.

Yes, it all started two years ago. Chris Daughtry made it past the initial auditions and Hollywood Week to be a finalist in American Idol. Daughtry used to be the worship leader at our church, Evergreen. So naturally, everyone in the church was rooting for him. Our Tuesday night bible study recorded Idol each week, so we could watch it together after the study. And you had to vote! Voting was a necessity!

Last year we avoided Idol, although Dale convinced me to watch some of the initial auditions. You know, the funny/pathetic ones where people with no talent but huge egos try to be Britney Spears (not much of a stretch, except for the lack of recording contract), and get insulted by Simon. But once those were over, we were done!

Then came this year. Our TV is much more limited this year, as we have no cable. So, no HGTV, no Food Network, no "fun" channels. Naturally we watched the initial AI auditions. But then I decided I had some interest in Hollywood Week. Dale came with me. Then we decided to keep watching. While Dale denies his interest, I also notice that he watches it with me - even the nights we've recorded...

What are Feather Dusters Made Of?

So for a while, Duchess had a cheap plastic feather duster, with bright green feathers. It was her best friend. She carried it all over the house, wrestled with it all the time, tearing out feathers and leaving them strewn about the rugs and hallways. She got it stuck behind the dryer one time, and we pulled it out for her, to her great joy. But eventually the feather duster got worn out. All the feathers had either been pulled out or broken in half. She no longer felt any love.

Being good parents, we decided to buy her a new feather duster. Except the only feather duster we could find was a pricey one, with a wooden handle and naturally colored ostrich feathers. Finally we went ahead and got it, even though we really preferred a cheap day-glo duster. We brought it home and presented it to Duchess, who was filled with delight and immediately carried it into the dining room.

We knew we were in trouble when we walked past, approximately 2 minutes later, and saw at least 15 feathers on the floor. And Duchess was still wrestling with it. After a few more minutes, there was only the handle and a few feathers in the middle. I picked it up, amazed at how destroyed it was, and showed it to Dale. Duchess then leapt towards it and grabbed the feathers. The entire mass of remaining feathers came right out of the handle and landed on the floor with her. In less than 10 minutes, the entire duster had been disassembled. Wow. We need to find one of those cheap plastic ones with the dyed feathers!

Organist!

This is going to be me soon! Sit back and enjoy.

Bread

Yesterday, I made bread. Honest to goodness, made from scratch with bare hands, white bread. And let me tell you - homemade white bread is DELICIOUS! I've been wanting to make bread ever since I became a full time student, what, 2.5 years ago? My first loaves, baked in the fall of 2005 using an internet recipe, did not rise. They were delicious tasting incredibly dense bricks of bread. And that put me off for 2+ years. But I bought the "Bread Bible" on Saturday, and on Sunday I produced two loaves of airy white bread. They're not perfect. My second rise didn't go so well, so they ended up with a deep crease on the top instead of a round curve. So the slices look a little odd. But if you close your eyes there's nothing to complain about!

choosing and chosen

It was over ten years ago when I went to the Humane Society in Fairfax, VA to get my cats Shadow and Pipsqueak. When I walked in, there were cats everywhere (the Humane Society didn't use cages). I saw Shadow laying on a piece of furniture and I immediately went over and picked him up. He quietly let me hold him and pet him. Of course, I didn't know it at the time, but that was a minor miracle! Shadow just knew he could trust me. And I knew I should take him - he was already half grown (David will no doubt say full grown), and he was so sweet, but not as cute as a kitten. Who else would take him?
But I knew I wanted two cats, so I went into another room full of gray and white kittens. They were all running around, playing and mewing and being adorable. But one of them ran up to me. He stood right at my feet, looked up into my face, and miaowed loudly until I picked him up. The minute I had him, he got quiet. I put him down to look at some other kittens and he repeated the performance. He had chosen me.
So I ended up with two cats: one that I chose and one that chose me. I was talking with a friend recently about God, and we were talking about the validity of other religions and why a person would choose one over another. And I guess what I'm thinking about is the fact that sometimes we choose a faith, but sometimes a faith chooses us. Or, sometimes we choose God, and sometimes God chooses us. We had forgotten the fact that it's a two way street.