Monday Meanderings

After being up several hours, my eyelids still want to involuntarily close and transport me back to sleep. It truly does feel like a Monday morning.

There was a big fire in our hometown last night. We're six thousand miles away and heard about it while it was still raging. We were skyping with our daughter, who she said she'd just seen the news on facebook. So we hopped on over to facebook too and saw some stunning photos posted by Jennie B. from our home church (you can see more on her flickr).

Sad to see such an historical building destroyed by fire. Chicago Water Grill, the nicest restaurant in town (no, nicest in the whole COUNTY), and Mays Furniture were both burned almost to the ground from all reports. We hope Wayne decides to rebuild or relocate the CWG to another building in the area; it would be really sad to lose it altogether. Mays Furniture was a long-time fixture downtown and our hearts go out to Doug, Philip and the rest of the Mays family.

We're also mindful of all the jobs lost as a result of the fire. All their employees are now out of work, right before the holidays. And we know how hard it is to find jobs these days, especially in Michigan!

Earlier in the day I had clicked on a link from our son's facebook status; it's a presentation of "The Geography of a Recession" -- let me just say: SERIOUSLY SCARY! [If you haven't seen it yet, you really should go over and push the PLAY button. I think this could force a run on antacid tablets; nothing like a visual to bring home the seriousness of the situation.] So while looking at photos of the fire my thoughts turned to how Michigan is all purple and dark gray on the map; they have the dubious distinction of having the worst statistics in the nation I think.

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The weekly soccer game was right before our evening meeting yesterday and you can imagine the aroma of a dozen sweaty teenage boys crammed into a small space without much ventilation and a soaring heat index. But we're so glad they're staying for the teaching time!

It rained some last night and is still overcast today. The rain cooled things down a wee bit, to the point I can sit in front of the fan and not continue to sweat. I'd really like to be able to sing that old chestnut, "Rainy Days and Mondays" except in my case they wouldn't "get me down" but would make me want to dance the happy dance.

I'm waiting for a decently cool morning so I can make granola. But no way am I turning the oven on in this heat.

We have a 15% off coupon good for Wednesday at Easy in Cordoba (kind of like Home Depot) so the plan is to use that toward some much needed additional fans for the house.

What I really want is to buy a walk-in freezer and move into that.

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5MinutesForMom is hosting a gigantic Christmas giveaway. Which I'm not eligible for since I don't currently reside in either the U.S. or Canada. We do keep a mailing address in the U.S.; do you think that would count? No, I didn't think so either.

I really enjoy the big giveaway carnivals; a fun way to share some of your blessings, and be blessed by others. My favorites are fabric and quilty-type giveaways.

Or swaps.

I'm fairly quivering with anticipation while waiting to receive my quilt in the mail from the Four Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap. I have no idea who made it or where it's coming from since this was a secret swap. The one I made and sent should be arriving at its destination any day now.

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I'm re-reading the Mitford series. Life's pretty hectic and there's not a lot of time to read, but I can't imagine a day without reading so it's fun to go back and re-read these wonderful books. If you've never met Father Tim and the folks of Mitford, you don't know what you're missing!

Father Tim gets a big kick out of how Cynthia views all of life as an adventure. Once in a while he'll ask her, "Is there anything you don't like?"  She always has some mighty fine answers.

So in the spirit of Cynthia.... I don't like droughts, fires or unemployment.