some experimenting

I enjoyed a trip to a jewelry-making store while I was on vacation. I've found I really enjoy it! Here are my attempts so far.

my lovely new floors

It was such a treat to come home and see how the new flooring looked! Housecleaning is still untouched, but that's on my tomorrow agenda.

some post-vacation meditations ...

#1 -- 5:30 was scheduled considerably earlier this morning than it has been in the past. Gotta ask somebody what's up with that.

#2 -- I came home to absolutely beautiful new flooring ... and an incredibly filthy house. I plan a cleaning binge on Saturday. Something about cleaning empty rooms is quite empowering, so I'm rather looking forward to it.

#3 -- O'Hare ... something about that airport seems to inspire flight delays. I think I may plan to avoid it from now on!

#4 -- I've been thinking about mundane conversation -- particularly mundane phone conversations.

I don't do them well. I can remember hating talking on the telephone from my earliest experiences with it. In elementary school, one of my friends used to love to call and chat after school, and I can remember handing the phone off to my mom so I could take a break. (Since my mom's "uh huh" sounded pretty much like my "uh huh" ... I could run to the bathroom without any real interruption in the conversation.)

Now that I answer the phone at work, I find I like the phone even less. Calls always seem to come in batches, and interrupt my train of thought in what I'm working on.

About the only time I find myself looking forward to a call, it's from someone who lives far away who I don't see in person. Even then, I'm desperately searching for something interesting to talk about!

BUT ... the friend whom I was visiting is just as social as I am solitary. So she was on and off her cell phone often while I was there. As I eavesdropped on multiple phone conversations, I found it interesting that so much of it was mundane, day-to-day stuff ... "how did things work out with your car repair?" ... "did you ever find that ________ you lost?" ... things like that.

In essence ... their phone conversations were very similar to their in-person conversations.

This probably seems obvious to everyone else. But I found it very enlightening!

Then I started eavesdropping at the airport.

Same thing ... "I'm getting off the plane, will be hitting McDonalds, and then probably be home in 45 minutes or so."

Hmmm ... interesting.

I think it's a good communication technique. I DO find my friends' day-to-day lives interesting, and I want to be involved in them. It would be a good way to do that. If I could cultivate this skill.

I know overhearing cell phone calls irritate a lot of the world, but I think that's because people invariably find the need to shout while they're doing it. My theory is, shouting should only be necessary if you're trying to make the call with the phone turned OFF.

But a normal tone of voice can be used ... I think I could do this without annoying the surrounding population.

I'm going to try it as a self-improvement project.

Trinka ... .the inherently anti-social ...

cats

Let me just say ... he got in there by HIMSELF!

(and kept going back to it later.)

a few notes from vacation ...

I find myself sitting here loafing ... listening to the birds outside the window, and the family with whom I'm staying getting their kids off to school.

So far, I've had a lovely weekend retreat with the ladies from St. Philip's Episcopal church in Frisco. We went to the Protho conference center, and had a relaxing time getting to know each other. The site was lovely -- there were eagles flying over the lake, and the sun glistened on the water.

This morning, I've had a walk around the neighborhood, and thought I'd share some of it with you.

There was an elementary school just getting started for their day, and they were playing the sweetest song over their speakers as the kids came in ... "ready to learn ... yes, we're ready to learn" being sung by a kids' group.

I was amazed at the line of cars waiting to drop kids off at the school. I hadn't realized that children don't take buses or walk anymore. They even waited to drop them off at the door, rather than letting them out at a sidewalk a half block away. Fascinating to me!

In a park I walked through, there was an elderly oriental man sitting and chanting. I wish now I'd asked if I could sit and visit a bit. I always have these ideas too late to act on them!

OK ... I'm off to find coffee. :)

when I left for vacation ...

There was a toilet on my balcony. The neighbors are SO loving me right now.

Spent a while at O'Hare yesterday with broken airplanes and such-like. It was SO nice to get off the plane in Dallas and now have to get back on again. I love traveling, but I love it more when I start early in the morning. :)

Hmmm ... wonder if I've ever blogged the story about getting home from Italy? I'll have to check!

What we started with (carpet looks a lot better in the picture than it did in real life!)

Monday night - all the carpet torn up and tools moved in

Progress as of last night

radically different perceptions of the same event

Gunman shoots 30 on Virginia Tech Campus

Calls for "stricter gun control" will be forthcoming.

I personally see it as a call for sane people to apply for concealed weapons permits.

On the less depressing side ...

The contractor from church started ripping out carpet at my house today. I went home at lunch. It's going to be a MOST unpleasant environment for the next few days until I leave for Texas ... but the end result will be worth it. :) (Pictures to follow!)

When I walked in the building, one of the ladies who lives upstairs met me at the door.

"Oh, are you getting new carpet?" she asked.

"No. But you know, while I was at work this morning, someone STOLE my carpeting! And I think it was antique!" I replied.

There was a brief moment when I think she took me seriously. Maybe there really is a band of thieves stealing 30-year-old wall-to-wall carpet? :)

AND, they've started moving dirt in preparation for our new addition at church. It is so exciting to pop my head out the back door and see everything moving along. I anticipate much distraction from my work in upcoming months!

see these ugly chairs?

We were cleaning out an old barn here at church that was going to be torn down in preparation for our new addition.

There was a stack of these old chairs in there, and we were preparing to dumpster them, and then someone thought they should check and see if they were worth anything.

They're selling for $50 each on ebay.

We have 80.

Well ... isn't THAT a nice little development! They're ugly. Nobody likes them. And they're worth money.

Yippeee! The deacons are going to LOVE this development!