Wait, What am I Supposed to Be Doing Here?

A sketch from Sunday's sermon.  I find it interesting that I could draw a soldier's uniform from memory, but I had to look up the design of a volley ball...

On Sunday one of our Pastors was speaking to us about discipleship.  In the introduction to the topic he said often times we have  a faulty idea of what discipleship truly is and it would be just as silly as getting suited up to fight in Iraq and then someone giving you a volley ball and telling you to go  out and do what you were equipped to do.  He made a great deal of awesome points, but one of the ones that struck me right off the bat was when he noted

You are always making disciples and you are always in the process of being discipled.  You are either doing it towards making them like Christ or like the world in that your life is teaching others how to live. Whether its at home, the church or at work

That was fairly sobering to me as I immediately thought of some "trivial" (by the world's standards) behaviors that were not leading others to see that I am submitted to a risen Lord.

Even though I was really convicted by what I heard, I was also incredibly encouraged as I learned that discipleship isn't actually as difficult as often we make it in our minds.  If you'd like to know more.  Take a listen here...

(he made the soldier comment in the first service, this is the second service and he didn't use the same illustration)

Deep Fried From Within

A friend of mine posted on FB

"Does anyone else find it a bit strange that KFC sponsors The Walking Dead? Soylent Green is People????"

I suppose they're positioning themselves to be the preferred food in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse. 

Hopefully with any luck, if you subsist on fried chicken during that time, you'll have the good fortune to to be tracked by some health conscious zombies, then they'll leave you alone.

At Least its Beginning to LOOK a lot Like Christmas

I wish the weather would make up its mind.  This year I would actually like to participate in Christmas. I even want to go out and get a tree.  which for me is HUGE.  Im pretty much a Christmas scrooge (message of God's gift of His son to save the world notwithstanding) The last actual tree I got was in 2003. since then I've been using a chintzy fake tree I got at Rite Aide the year my mother found out she was really sick.

She was always a HUGE Christmas fan. She could wrap anything and make it look so professional, and she loved getting people gifts. I think it was frustrating for her to spend the last six years of her life with such a humbug, but we put up with each other.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't completely without Christmas cheer, just not to match the degree of her enthusiasm.

It was the week before Christmas when she finally got the news that she had cancer and most likely a year left to live.  She had just moved back in with me from the hospital.  My house wasn't decorated (in fact it was a mess, the plumbing had backed up while I was out and I spent a lot of the night cleaning up water that had gone down the hall to my bedroom.  to make matters worse, her stuff and my stuff were everywhere so she had to sleep on the couch (and I on two chairs pulled together)  I decided that for this time, she needed something to make her happy. I was going to get her a Christmas tree.

Except, no matter where I went, there was not a tree to be had. the lots were deserted, there wasn't even a charlie brown branch in the garbage.  My good intentions were foiled by my poor timing.  I had wanted to get a tree, decorate it quietly while she slept and have her wake up to Christmas, but it was not to be.

So I went to Rite Aide, I don't know why but it wasn't for a tree, but as I walked in, just to the right side of the door, there it was,  an artificial tree, marked down from 79 bucks to 50.  It was a sign!  or at least it was a Providence-- fake though it may be.  I took it home an the next morning mom had her Christmas tree.  I think I was actually more excited about it then she was.

Thats been my tree for the last seven years.

For some reason this year though-- something changed, and I walked into the living room just before Thanksgiving, and the ghostly smell of pine needles stung my nose, and though there was nothing there, I realized it was time... time to get a real tree.  Time to actually... well actually decorate the house!  What's this? who am I and what have I done with Carole?

So Im contemplating getting a tree, though I do confess its a bit difficult to think of Christmas when the weather is so helter skelter. I wish the temperature were more in the Christmas spirit and quit blowing hot and cold.  I hear its supposed to maybe rain on Wednesday-- so I will settle for that, and get my Christmas tree on the way home tonight.

oh wait... I better find my tree stand first. Okay-- tomorrow.  Even though its supposed to be five degrees warmer by then.

Sorry in Advance to my Friends Who Have Cats

Im not a fan of felines.  Think about it, if a cat were a person, would you want to be friends with them?  Disdainful, mercurial, sneaky and demanding. Yet put it in a tiny fur coat, give it a soothing motor boat sound and you invite it into your house for tuna. Often I have friends who say, "You'd like my cat, he/she's more like a dog than a cat"  as if they know deep down inside that there's something wrong with being a cat.  The truth of the matter is, that a cat is a cat, no matter how dog like they seem-- and in the end, if push comes to shove they will expresses their contempt for you by using your bed as a litter box.

Im a dog person all the way through. Loyal, protective,  short memories and always happy to see you.  Yes they poop in your house on occasion, but at least they look contrite about it when it happens.

I saw this on my newsfeed this morning and of course I had to come up with something for it.
"Last year, our cat Jerry became the $2000 Cat. This year, he is now the $4,000 Cat. Stop eating toys!!"

Gangsta Cowgirl

Laura is my forever friend. Even though we have come in and out of each other's lives since 10th grade, we just pick up where we left off.  This latest run has actually gone the longest since high school and its been lovely.  Because of FB I have gotten to get glimpses into her beautiful children--now almost in college-- as well.  This morning she posted this "It never fails to amaze me when I learn something new about my kids. I got in the car to pick up my son from soccer practice and as usual, after borrowing the car earlier in the day, my daughter left the seat in the "wrong" position. She also left the radio on the country music station. bwhahaha. According to her brother, she's been listening in secret for ages!"  

I wonder what Laura's parents would have been posting about her on FB if they had had it back in the day?  

Fill to Be Empty

I just heard this account in a sermon about obeying God and I was like "ooooh... yeah... that makes perfect sense.  Duh"

Mortal Combat

"Kill sin or it will be killing you." John Owen

The morning I woke up and thought about the line from Shawshank Redemption "Get busy living or get busy dying"  I guess that's why my friend Karl's status update appealed to me today.  What choices we make, obedience/disobedience it all has consequences.  Even though it may seem like a sunshiny day at times, if one's eyes are open, life is never just a walk in the park-- rather its a cautious trek through the dark forrest where one must be armed, and ready to do battle to sin's death or it will do battle to yours. 

Getoffamylawn!

I am not much of an animal person--dogs not-included-- (though I have been known to be a bug Buddhist every now and again and set the occasional spider free rather than kill it) so I find the unmitigated gall of the neigborhood squirrels to be... well unittigatingly galling.  Every year around this time, these fat shiny tree rats spend the last two months of the summer eating walnuts from my neighbor's tree (which hangs over my driveway) leaving a huge mess to clean, then once they have denuded that food source, they move over to MY back yard and start eating my avocados....

Now I wouldn't mind sharing with the fuzzy little creatures, but they are not sharers. they subscribe to the "if I lick this, then no one else will eat it" school of scavenging.  They take several bites from the luscious fruit, throw it to the ground and move on to another one.  Later they come back to the ones on the ground and finish them off.  grrrr... well, not before I have to clean up the dozens of discarded nibbled fruits they've cast aside for later or I will step in them and track them in the house.

what's more, when I walk out into my own back yard, they stand in the tree, twitching their fat shiny tails, and chatter angrily at me-- as if they were the old man in those old films that was saying "get offa my lawn you good fornuthin kids!"

A friend of mine said to me once, "Well, they were here first" to which I replied, "yes, but they're not paying the mortgage, I am..."

Well, I will have the last word! my avocado tree is dying and soon the squirrels will have to go squat in someone else's tree and cuss at them.

Sigh... sounds like we both lose on this one.

Without a Hitch

I have a friend who's getting married at the beginning of next year.  She recently sent me a message saying "Hey!!! I have set a tentative March date (though we'll know for sure in about a week after we tour two more venues!) Will you be able to join us in March? Because aside from marrying Phil, that would basically make my life" to which I replied "Are you kidding? You have to ask? Wild Horses couldn't keep me away... I mean they would have to trample me and kill me--"

Well today she posted on FB

The venue is all booked!! Gettin hitched March!

I don't know if it was because of the lack of G at the end of gettin-- or the fact that Jessica rides horses, the thought that "hitched" can have multiple meanings sprang to mind.

Looking forward to being there!  Hopefully I won't find her tied up to a post... awk-ward.

The Perfect Hostess

A piece of my childhood died today.  RIP Hostess Brands Inc. Maker of the Twinkie, the Ding Dong and wonder bread: the bread so highly enriched that if you took off the crust you could completely crush it into a small dice sized cube and say, drop it into your Kool-aide.

While I can honestly say I haven't had a Twinkie since I was approximately six or seven,  I still have a slight pang as I see them sail into the sunset... First the Time Lady and now this? And I know others have felt the same pang of melancholy-- a lone box of Twinkies showed up on our snack table today as a reminder of kinder and more carefree days: when we didn't have to watch our cholesterol intake or worry about our widening waists and bottoms.

Yet for all the wistful thinking bygone days and the confections therein-- the rampant snack cake hoarding I see on the news perplexes me.  I mean--They're Twinkies.... they have a half life of 50,000 years?  With that reasoning, the Twinkies I ate as a toddler are still coursing though my bloodstream to this very day.... do I
really want to add more to it?

You can't go home people...  You can't go home.  The Twinkie has had it's day and like our childhoods, may they rest in peace.

Its a Jungle Out There

a friend of mine posted on FB how with both her and her husband being tall with long legs it was like a gazelle and a giraffe in bed together... it made me laugh to think about it

Trying to Hit a Moving Target

A friend of mine posted on Facebook "Perhaps I would be able to take today's politicians more seriously if they wore monocles. Alas, they do not." which I thought was rather funny considering that a few weeks back she jokingly posted in her status that she was not hoping for more from the debates-- except maybe a Unicorn.

While my young friend's humor amused me, it did make me think of recent stories I've heard on the news regarding the GOP's thoughts on how to make themselves more relevant to the people who didn't vote for them... to me it was just as frustrating as listening to the Democrats try and cram bible verses into their speeches after their Bush took a second term.

But I guess that's just politics for you.  Im glad that I base my voting decisions on viewing issues in light of my informed conscience and not on what a human has to say or do--- which is often based on what other humans have said or done.  

--and my conscience is based on the bible.  While I know thats appalling to some.  At least I have the comfort in knowing that unlike popular opinion, God's word doesn't change.

Tonight We are Young

you know how sometimes the people we care about do things that we don't care for? When that song "We Are Young" came out my roommate listened to it over and over and over and OVER and over and --well, you get the point.  The day after she moved I heard the song on the radio and I cried like a baby because I missed her.  It's now one of my favorite songs.  Happy Birthday Sassy lady Duckling butt!  thank you for the fun and adventure !

Oh Banana Farts...

I am a big fan of bananas.  Why not?  They are a great source of potassium as well as both providing options for physical humor as well as brilliant costume design.... well maybe not brilliant.  But this one thing I have against the colorful fun fruit;  They have like two days that they're any good to eat.  Blink and you miss the window. I prefer them when they have just turned yellow, no green-- no brown little ant like spots--then they are peeeerfect.  I used to get three bananas at a time and sure enough only get two before the last one went past the point of no return.  To me, eating an overripe banana is like eating a slug. blehhhh-- not that I've eaten one, though I HAVE stepped on one--and I wouldn't want THAT feeling in my mouth.  At least I learned that it could be frozen for banana bread later.  (the banana, not the slug)

Well my Banana diaries inspired a status on FB which in turn inspired a quick doodle...

At least since penning the doodle I can add to the banana's list of benefits-- Cancer fighting fruit...

That is if I could choke it down

Swept Under the Flag

Yesterday I was at a wedding shower when I heard with deepest sadness that a friend of mine's brother in law had been severely wounded in Afghanistan when he and his partner were on patrol and fell into a deep well.  I learned that he was going through the slow and painful process of recovery near his home in Texas where he was surrounded by many other young vets who were severely wounded, missing parts of their body forever more to be changed from this moment on.  Nobody talks about the war any more  since its been going on since 2003 and it's become just like the weather.  Since we always have it, why discuss it?-- I mean unless it's very severe. I don't know if its a knee jerk reaction to not cover the sacrifices of the young men and women overseas, as if not mentioning it wont foment picketing and protests.

I thought it was ironic to be reminded of the selflessness of many the day before the nation set aside a day to remember the sacrifice of many.

It made me think of an American man I recently became acquainted with while traveling in abroad. He was a soldier over seas-- Iraq I believe, and he's a very disciplined and serious man.  As I've observed him on Facebook, I have grown in my respect for him in both his love of family but most of all His love of God.  But for all his strong words and unwavering principles, he posted a picture of himself with sitting with a smirk on his face while his two or three year old daughter put ribbons in his hair.  I love opposites-- and I guess, that's as opposite as you're going to get.


To all my friends and those I don't know

Happy Veterans Day.

your your service should not be forgotten, and remembered every day.

ps) here's a link to my short film Witt's Daughter if you haven't see it... there's a theme here-- Soldiers and their families

Call Me Mr Bond

Everybody has a dream.  Some folks dream to be an astronaut  while others dream to be a mother.  When I was a little girl, I dreamed to be a singer: now Im a storybook artist for Walt Disney TV animation working on Sofia the First-- a far cry from the five year old girl singing "Santa Claus is Coming to town lit by the red blue green spinning color wheel.

Well so much for dreams.

 However, just because our dreams aren't realized in the way we wish, it doesn't mean they can't be realized some way.  In my career as an animator/storyboard artist, I've worked on characters who sang, and even wrote a song myself for a short film I produced.  I also sing in choir at church. Its just a lesson I suppose, just because you can't realize your dream the way the world says you should, doesn't mean you can't realize your dream.  As long as you don't care how big your audience, God can always provide a venue.  One of my other dreams is to tell stories of my own... and so here I am in a short form to tell them.  A panel at a time.  Thanks for coming a long for the ride. I hope you stick around for a while

My mild mannered friend is a study in paradoxes. He's going to seminary to be a music pastor-- but secretly he dreams he's James Bond... of course the clean kind

Class Clown

Monday night is my last day of clown class (for now) and when a friend heard this he asked "So.... after Monday night, we'll be able to say "Carole, you're such a clown" and it'll be official?" to which I answered "Well, since it is actually called a physical humor class and my TEACHER is a clown, it would be more appropriate to say, there was something funny about Carole's education, maybe its because her teacher was some clown... 

Personal Persimmons

Was at the store buying Fuji persimmons when I asked a woman who was doing the same were they supposed to be eaten hard or soft. "they are good like this" she replied and then went on to add "but you must peal the skin. Otherwise they will make you constipated. Trust me, I know. I've tried it many times" uh... thank you? What is this with me and the women and their bodily functions in the stores? 

even still. i did peal it.

The Ones you Love

Princess Paraphernalia

My friend John posted a picture of a hair clip on the floor that looked strangely like a sprung bear trap. along with the picture he wrote "As a parent, what is worse: stepping on Legos or hair clips? My kid leaves her Princess Paraphernalia everywhere!

Scary Boy Stories

I went to a party on Friday night and at one point found myself being entertained by a young man and his brother who captured my attention with a couple of creepy stories.  One of them involving a haunted hotel room gave me shivers up my spine and so I told it to a friend of mine a couple of days later... she did not share my sentiments-- obviously because I told it wrong,

Hat Baby Poetry

Today my friend Jennie uploaded a picture of her son wearing a hat... she wrote "its a good day to wear a hat." for some reason, the oversized tweed fedora-ish hat on the little cherubic face melted my heart and the title of the picture inspired a poem...

It’s a good day for a hat

But what hat shall I wear?

Will it be my daddy’s baseball cap

Or one with my grizzly bear?

The fireman would sure be nice

Or my old beanie hat

Which one to pick

Which one to choose

Is it this or this or that?

Should I choose the red

Or blue

Or green?

Or the one with poka-dots?

So many different hats to choose

Cause I have lots and lots

It’s a good day for a hat

And I just can’t decide

So I’ll forget my hat for now

And go and play outside