Shining the light of God's word into our confused world.

Month: December 2009

My Decade in Review

[X-posted to Daydream Believer]

I can’t say that this has been the best year, bookended as it was by job loss and a miscarriage, with the deaths of two uncles and a high school friend sandwiched in between. There have been high points — I finally started a business that is well on its way to being successful; I finally finished the first draft of a novel I’ve been trying to write since 2004, and another novella besides; and I got to work at home all year, which has been a blessing. Otherwise, it’s mostly been a year of loss, and coping, and struggling to stay afloat, both financially and emotionally, and I’m ready for it to be over with. I don’t think I realized just how ready until I started writing this.

So let’s review the decade instead, shall we?

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Go, Snow

[X-posted to Daydream Believer]

I am a fan of snow only when it’s the very first snow of the season, when it’s falling and shortly thereafter, when everything is hushed and magical and clean, and it looks like the world has been tucked in with a really big, unblemished blanket. After that, the snow gets dirty and pocked and ugly, and the practicalities and inconveniences of having to live with it sink in, and I’m ready for it to go away and stay gone for another year. Which doesn’t usually happen, at least with the first snow.

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A Very Bauhaushold Christmas

[Cross-posted to Daydream Believer]

We had already decided to stay home for Christmas. The original plan was to go to my mom’s house, but I realized that it’s hard enough for us to be around babies and small children right now without having to force Christmas cheer on top of it. I know I have to get over that some time, not the least of which because I love and miss my wee nieces and nephews; but neither of us had any desire to spend Christmas day pretending to be happy when the constant reminder of what we lost meant we were both dying a little inside. And so, we didn’t have to suffer disappointment when we ended up being snowed in on Christmas day, anyway.

It was a lovely, peaceful day. I woke up before Matt and spent the morning in quiet reflection as I read the accounts in Matthew and Luke of Christ’s birth and the events leading up to it. It was nice to be able to take the time out and remember what the day was really about, instead of rushing to get out the door. Then, after a prayer of gratitude, I fired up A Christmas Story and settled in to wait for Matt to get up.

Once he did, it was present time. First we gave the pets their stocking goodies, and much cuteness abounded:

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More Like Stuper Woman

I haven’t weighed myself in, like, two years or more, so I was shocked and appalled at the number that the nurse read off to me when I stepped on the doctor’s scale on Monday. I probably shouldn’t have been. Let’s face it, my attempts at eating right and working out regularly have been pretty half-assed ever since I got married. When I found out I was pregnant I became sufficiently motivated to engage my full and substantial ass in taking better care of my body, but pregnancy diets and workouts aren’t exactly geared for weight loss.

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