Forgot To Mention…

Hammered dulcimer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

On my last post, “Weekend Update”, I forgot to mention Ted Yoder.  Ted plays the hammered dulcimer, and he played during our church services on Sunday.  I wanted to mention him, because I thought he was pretty awesome.  So awesome that I bought all 4 of his CD’s.  I listened to three so far, and haven’t been sorry.  I am saving the Christmas one for the day after Thanksgiving.  I just can’t bring myself to put up decorations or listen to Christmas music until then, even though I know the stores are already bombarding us with it.

 

I just finished up a book study on Francis Chan’s “Forgotten God“, and our group had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about the time King David danced in his priestly underwear in front of the Ark, and his wife was embarrassed and basically told him he was nuts.  We talked about what would have to happen for one of us to ‘dance before the Lord’ in such a manner – I mean, it’s kind of ‘out there’ for most midwesterners to dance in church.  Actually, to dance at all, even at a wedding, unless they have imbibed in several ounces of liquid courage.

 

I used to have the Muppet Movie soundtrack but it was on cassette from my high school years and who knows where it is. I do, however, own “Muppets: The Green Album” thanks to my home girl, the divine Miss J.

 

Well, listening to Ted play on Sunday put me in a ‘dance before the Lord’ frame of mind.  Others too – you could see it on their faces – everyone was animated and on the edges of their seats.  And maybe it’s because he was in person – music has more of an effect on me when I hear it live than on a CD or the radio, and maybe you won’t feel the Holy Spirit move in you when you listen to it.  But I invite you to visit his website and check it out.  He’s very down to earth, and plays other music besides Christian.  One of his CD’s has his “Yoder-ized” version of “Rainbow Connection” that I love (from the Muppet Movie – yes, I am a Muppet fan.  I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you).

 

I’m always open to new musical experiences so would love to try your recommendations too if you are willing to share – what kinds of music or songs or specific artists do you listen to that you connect with on a spiritual level?

 

Blessings!
Sue

PS – tomorrow, I am back at the workout posts – I have a few things to share!

 

Weekend Update

Welcome to “Weekend Update” – the portion of my blog where I fill you in on what’s been happening on life details that I may (or may not) have mentioned in past blogs.

100 Pushups – I start week 5 tomorrow.  To be honest, I’m not sure how well I will do.  Tomorrow’s sets are 36, 40, 30, 24, 40.  Seriously?  That’s 170 pushups.  One hundred seventy.  One.  Hundred. Seventy.  Pushups.  And I have not grown any fonder of them.

SAD Light – I ordered my SAD light (SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder – basically, you get depressed in the winter due to lack of light) and it came last Tuesday.  First of all, I have to say I paid a lot of money for something that looks and feels like it should cost ten bucks.  Then, not all of the lights worked – about 6 of them did not light.  Oh joy.  My skepticism and annoyance just multiplied by a billion.

Perhaps what I really need is actual sun on an actual beach for an undetermined length of time. Like 3 months.

However, because I did NOT want to package it back up, trudge to the post office, ship it back and then pray I got my money back, I decided to try it, regardless of the 6 dark LED’s.  I have used it for 30 minutes every morning since and the first three days (W-TH-F) I felt more awake and had continued energy at night after work.  However, I did not work out two of those three days because work was hair-curling crazy, so that may have influenced my evening energy.  On Saturday, I was talking about it with my sister, who said the energy increase was probably psychosomatic, something I kind of wondered about myself.  After which, I suddenly felt exhausted and promptly went home and took a nap.

So the jury is still out on the light.  I have read that it can take a few weeks to fully kick in, so I will keep using it.  I certainly don’t mind trying as it requires no real effort on my part, and I’m just drinking coffee and browsing the internet anyway in the morning.  Oh, and ironically, the 6 LED’s are now working.

Oh yes, I did just go there.

Y-M-C-A! – Sing it with me!  I joined on Thursday after work.  Haven’t gone yet and frankly I am a little stressed about trying to figure out when I will have time to go.  I am also stressed about putting on a bathing suit in front of strangers – something I don’t mind when I am at the beach because of all the weirdos at the beach anyway – I blend right in.  At the Y, I will be donning my suit with Michael Phelps Wanna-bes in goggles and speedos, pretending I know how to swim well enough to claim a lane in the cut throat world of 5am swimmers.

I am also going to try the spin classes.  A couple of the gals from the bike club also belong to the Y, so we are planning on meeting there to take them together.  And, heaven help me, I am probably going to start running on the indoor track.  Not that running in a circle and counting laps is what I want to do, but it’s slightly less boring than running on a treadmill.

Do not bathe us! We like smelling like corn chips!

A Clean Dog is Not a Happy Dog – However, a clean dog makes for a happy owner, especially when said dog sleeps right next to said owner’s face.  I noticed an increase in the corn chipiness of the air when one of them was next to me, and decided that November 19th, the day of their next grooming, was much to far away for my survival.  They now smell like soap and doggy perfume, which I am sure they hate with the heat of a 1000 burning suns, and that they are quietly plotting revenge.  The ‘revenge’ will likely show up in the hallway when I get up in the morning.  They are masters of the well placed doggie tootsie roll.  (This would be one of those “updates” that really have nothing to do with any past blog entries.  It’s pretty much just shameless yorkie poo promotion.  Or anti-promotion, as the case may be.)

And that, my friends, is that.  Time for bed and a new work week tomorrow. Hopefully, it will contain fewer moments of hair tearing than last week!

Sue