Extravagant Generosity

Countdown to moving day, T minus 7 days to pack & prep. I’ve not done much yet, other than decide to focus on the bedroom first, packing EVERYTHING except for clothes to get me through the week. I’m in the process of laundering summer stuff so I can put it into the totes it will stay in until it’s warm enough to get back out again. I managed to get myself up, showered, and dressed for church on time today, and went for the first time in about 6 weeks. As a church, we are finishing a study called Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. It’s a 5 week study, and obviously, since I missed the last 6 weeks, I’d missed the other sessions (though I do have the book. Somewhere). Today’s lesson (and sermon) talks about Extravagant Generosity. In all honesty, I do have trouble with that, right now. Not simply because my pennies are so carefully pinched and budgeted, but also because, well, frankly, I believe that I have practiced that in the past, and while often I didn’t see the results of those actions, there have been some instances that I did see the results. One of those instances was helping someone get out of what was (so she claimed, though now pretty much all she ever told me is suspect) an abusive marriage, including paying for a car repair on the way, making sure she had a place to stay, insurance on her car, and food in her belly “until she could get back on her feet”. What I didn’t realize was that while she made as much money as I did, from the day after she arrived (as she had a job already lined up via transfer within her company), she had no intention of contributing to the household, car insurance, or anything else, and that she would repay my generosity (kindness, stupidity, whatever you call it) by trying to steal from me. Another instance I helped someone that needed it, and that backfired on me as well. My generosity in the last 15 months or so has put me into a poorhouse, homeless, save for some awesome friends willing to take me (and my cats) in. While I am loathe to even consider practicing much of any kind of generosity, I also realize that I find myself now on the receiving end of just such Extravagant Generosity. And for that, I am grateful. I am fully aware that I need to put my anger at the people who took advantage of my giving nature behind me, and move on. I will. Eventually. One is easier and less fury inducing now, and that one I’ve gotten to where I’m not quite as angry at her. The other, well, it had a much more far-reaching effect, and that one will take more time. Today, a pirate friend was asked by the owners of Weston Gardens to bring a crew and “take the ship” during their Cooking with Tea presentation. There was a previous invasion, back in March, which I missed because I was in Midland at the Celtic Festival, so today was my first experience. The gardens are awesome, and I would love to do more exploring and photographing than I had the opportunity for today. (will try to get pics posted later in the week) The audience seemed to enjoy it, and I think it would be great for us, or at least Captain Greybeard, to come up with a more practiced routine, that we could do instead of totally flying by the seat of our pants. After we determined that we would be unable to move the ship from the mud and sandbar, we released the prisoners (no royalty, so they were essentially of no value anyway), left the ship where it stands, and headed to Burleson to invade Golden Corral, which is always amusing. None of us thought about it being nearly Halloween until a customer asked me if we were dressed up for it. At any rate, the storms are headed this way, I’m pooped, and the cats are already snuggled up on the bed, so I’m outta here folks!

Playing Catchup Part 2

Let's take a look at my To Do list before Faire starts on April 4th, in no particular order:

• Make a pattern for wrap pants off the pair I borrowed from a friend 10 months ago
• Sew 2 pairs of wrap pants using above-mentioned pattern
• Make favors using my new stamp and fimo clay
• Sort out the tote full of accessories
• Pack the garb tote for opening weekend after narrowing down what to wear to 3 or 4 outfits to choose from
• Charge camera batteries
• Get the toiletry bag packed for the season

Now, that doesn't even include the sewing I need to do before 3rd weekend, and then that for Final weekend (Memorial Day).

So the weekend after NTIF, when I *should* have been home sewing, or making favors, or sorting garb & accessories, I went to Midland. If you are at all familiar with Texas, you're probably thinking MIDLAND???? Why on earth would anyone go to Midland voluntarily? My best buddy lives about an hour and a half south of there, and one of my favorite pipers' EJ was performing with his band Clandestine at the Scottish-Irish Festival out there, so we decided it would be a grand time for us to get together, giggle, shop, and hear some rockin' Celtic music. I flew out to Midland and Darla & her boyfriend (who shall henceforth be referred to as SFB, I'll let you decide what it means) picked me up at the airport on Friday afternoon and we headed directly to my favorite candle shop The Candle Cafe. I was quite restrained, as I was flying home and didn't have a lot of extra space in the suitcase for candles. I came home with her newest cherry scent, amaretto, and and aspen woods.

We stayed at a motel that I'd booked (and prepaid) online.

Yeah, note to self, NEVER THERE AGAIN. It was a "Suite" yeah, this is the bedroom. There was an 18 inch or so space between the beds. Note the lack of a nightstand... yeah that was in the corner near the foot of the bed on the left. The space between each bed and the wall it was up against was about 3 inches, at best. The closet, which clearly should have had a door, did not, simply because there isn't space for it to open , or if it was open, to close, so they just took it off completely, apparently, it doesn't show in the photo because it's to the right of the bed on the right. These next 2 shots are from the bathroom, which DID have a door, with a locking knob to boot!

Love the peeling wallpaper and water damaged ceiling... scary, when you consider we were on the 2nd floor of a 3 story motel. Clearly they are "remodeling" or something. Especially lovely is the use of MASKING TAPE to tape the seam at the wall & ceiling in the BATHROOM

Yeah, pretty isn't it??

The coffee pot didn't work, which doesn't matter to me, since my coffee is Dr Pepper, but SFB was cranky on Saturday morning. The festival itself was fun. Smaller than NTIF, really probably less than 25% the size of NTIF and maybe half the size of Texas Scottish Festival, but hey, Go Permian Basin for having a Celtic festival! Probably 90% of the vendors I'd seen the previous weekend, but they are awesome vendors, and I found stuff that I either didn't see at NTIF, or caught a glimpse in passing but didn't stop to look, or I looked but left behind for whatever reason. I made some awesome purchases that I'll get a lot of enjoyment and use out of.

We won't go into SFB making a complete ass of himself at dinner at a little Mexican restaurant trying to show off his Spanish skills by talking to the obviously ASIAN waitress in Spanish, and then deciding to publicly proclaim that all of his relationship problems are my fault. Whatfreakingever. Yeah, there's a reason he's SFB!

I flew home Sunday afternoon in time to get to Burleson for dinner with friends after their Pirate Invasion at Weston Gardens, and was still home by 6 to do laundry and start getting ready for the week.

This past weekend I had lunch and time to hang with my friend Erin wandering through Joann's looking for fabrics for later in the season sewing projects. Sunday I went to Benbrook with some Faire Folke for rat pucking practice and visiting. Sunblock Nazi (that would be me) FAILED and I wound up with a bit of sunburn around the top of my forehead and on my arms. Poor Isa's face is peeling already from her burn. Sad thing is, we BOTH had SPF 70 sunblock with us, and just didn't use it! Yeah, epic FAIL for me!

OK that's enough rambling for one night... Gardening posts start tomorrow or Friday....