Flapjack Friday Faves [05.03]

Happy Flapjack Friday!  I made my family breakfast [well, sort of] this morning, in keeping with our Flapjack Friday tradition.

Today I thought I'd share some highlights of the week.

On Monday, my music lovin' son and I experienced Woodsongs for the first time.  If you're not familiar, Woodsongs is a live, taped program akin to the Grand Ole Opry and Austin City Limits.  It's recorded on Monday nights in the Lyric Theatre.  We heard Lexington's own Ben Sollee as well as Australian Kim Churchill. If you live in Lexington, you need to be a part of Woodsongs, at least once in your life.  If you're visiting Lexington on a Monday, stop in.


Quote of the week:
Hope, no matter how unreasonable, is always more preferable than despair, no matter how justified. ~ Cory Booker
Hope is my word of the year, so I had to include this tidbit.

Out with the old, in with the new.
On Tuesday, our family had the privilege of attending son Jamie's final piano recital.  I say final because I seriously doubt he'll ever play piano in a recital again.  He's headed to college as a dual Music Performance major focusing on classical and jazz guitar.  He won't have much time for piano.  So, he finished big with a number by Debussy, one of his faves.  Incidentally, daughter Allie began her high school athletic career this week, working out with the girls soccer team.  Proving she does not take after her mother, she finished first in the mile run. 

Regarding being creative, this book sounds interesting:

Daily Rituals

It includes this info:  William Faulkner once wrote 10,000 words between 10:00 a.m. and midnight.
Who knew???

Speaking of being creative.......I love a good trash to treasure story and that's what my self proclaimed video of the week is:

Landfill Harmonic:  The world sends them garbage, they send back music.

And finally, in case you think all kids want to do is eat meat....you're wrong.  A wave of vegetarianism is about to sweep this mighty nation.  Okay, maybe nothing quite that dramatic, but one school in New York is completely vegetarian now:
Elementary school goes vegetarian

This afternoon, our family is off to Red River Gorge.  A weekend of camping in scenic Kentucky.

And... I'm extremely ecstatic to dine at Miguel's tonight.  It's a semi-famous pizza place there at the Gorge.  Lot's of rock climbers hang out there.  Mind you, no one in our family is a rock climber, but they do allow folks like us to eat there.  It should be fun.  

Happy weekend.... if you're a betting man or woman, may your horse win the Derby.  If you believe Cinco de Mayo is a major holiday [yes, our family does], make some enchiladas and celebrate big.

here's hoping

Today my daughter went on a field trip to our Kentucky State Capitol.  Apparently high schoolers take field trip just like first graders.  She had a great time, even getting to pretend she was the President of the Senate, complete with gavel.  I think it was a Leslie Knope moment for her [you'll only get that if you're a Parks & Rec fan].

I'm especially proud of daughter Allie today, not because of the senate situation, but because she went off the reservation a bit.  When the bus pulled into a McDonald's for lunch, she and her friends decided to ask if they could eat at the Mexican restaurant next door.  It's a small parental victory for me for a few reasons:
#1  I dislike McDonald's.  Allie and I are vegetarians, and how can a vegetarian be comfortable at McDonald's?  No offense if you are comfortable there, it's just they go through a great deal of feed lot cows, etc.  But that's for another day.  Anyway, Allie loves french fries, and I'm extremely surprised she didn't indulge.  I am happy for her stamina.

#2  I like Mexican food and would choose it over any other 98% of the time.  And Mexican restaurants always have something for a vegetarian.  The simplicity of beans and a tortilla is lovely.  But that's how I was raised [a stone's throw from the border, as I annoyingly like to remind my children].  Nevertheless [I love that word], I'm glad she was willing to do something different.

#3  I had sent Allie on this trip with $7 for lunch.  It's all I had in my wallet and I figured enough for a field trip lunch in Frankfort, Kentucky.  She eats a rather small packed lunch everyday at school, so I believed whole heartedly she'd be fine with this amount.  Well, due to the Mexican lunch, she ended up throwing in a few dollars of her own.  I think she ordered off the dinner menu.  I guess she's not familiar with a Mexican menu's a la carte.  Oh, and she also ordered a milkshake.  So, I'm glad she took along some of her own cash.  I think maybe, just maybe it helped her realize the reality of what things cost and our choices related to them.  [wilted salad from the McDonald's dollar menu or enchilada platter?]

Incidentally, after their lunch, the girls decided to visit a Goodwill store nearby.  Whether their teachers knew about this, I'm not altogether sure.  What brings me joy, is there was a day not long ago, when Allie strongly disliked thrift stores.  She didn't like to frequent them as I do.  I'm a thrift store junkie.  What's not to love?  Allie prefers mall stores and Target and the usual teen girl scene.  But lately, she's changed her tune.

There are things you hope your children pick up from you and things you hope they don't.  I've found that how we handle different situations depends on just that, different situations.  My views on raising teenagers are different today, because I actually have teenagers, than they were when I had toddlers.  While Allie agreeing with me that thrift stores are awesome is not a moral issue, I do realize that her making purchases there will save her money, compared to buying new at the mall.  

Basically, we raise our kids in hopes they'll eventually learn to make the right choices.  Whether it's  where to eat lunch today or where to attend college in the fall.  For years, we make most of the choices for them.  Where they'll live, what they'll wear, what we're willing to pay for.  And we don't always know if our decisions are correct.  I will never have a one hundred percent confirmation that our cross town move was the right thing to do.  Understandably, there are those who would say it was a ridiculous and even dangerous choice.  People can always question other parents' motives and reasoning.  And there are no guarantees.  There are proverbs and suggestions and stories to refer back to.  But nobody can offer you a sure thing.  Because there comes a point, no matter how perfect our parental choices, when the kids start making their own.

I've quoted him before in a blog post, and while he's a fictional tv character, he does offer truth:

"You fake your way through it. And hopefully you

don't raise a serial killer."

That, my friends, was said by Phil Dunphy of the program Modern Family, regarding raising children.

While yes, there are some guidelines in the bible, and there are books out there and child psychologists with sound advice, parenting can be a big, {here's hoping} experience.

Here's hoping.........
they don't get lost
they like at least one green vegetable
they don't become a bully or get bullied
they don't take themselves too seriously
they take you seriously
they don't get emotionally involved with a thug
and on and on

While we haven't "faked our way through it" all, I'll admit there's more faking than I'd prefer.  More than anything, there's a lot of {here's hoping} they learn to make the right choices.  And a lot of prayer.  And more hoping.

joy thief

I often think of happy people as being naive, almost ridiculously carefree.  And aren't all the cool people melancholy?  Artists, musicians, deep thinkers.  They're generally not always smiling.  They're serious and focused.  To me, it's almost like it's perfectly fine to be happy as a child, but once we're grown up, we need to lean towards the {un}happy.  We need to grasp the scope of the world's problems.  Plus we begin to realize what the thieves of joy are.

You've probably heard the expression:

"steal my joy"

As in.....

• nothing can steal my joy
• I let my flat tire steal my joy
• don't let circumstances steal your joy

Maybe you haven't, but in my past I attended a lot of women's ministry type groups, and it seemed to be a standard saying.

Lately I've had a few of those "joy thief" situations.  Car issues.  Expectations.  Emails.  Nice opportunity/bad timing.  The normal anxieties and issues of life.  The winter season.  Cooking sessions that didn't turn out as expected.  Crazy, out of control eyebrows. 

This morning I came face to face, if not literally, then close, to three very real reminders that I should be happy.  Really, really happy because I have so much to be happy about.  On my morning commute I saw not one, not two, but three different scenes that were vivid representations of the joy I should be shouting about, instead of dwelling on the sublime.

Yet, alas, it seems to be so doggone easy to complain, to feel sorry for myself, to question why I can't simply drive a 2013 Lincoln Towncar.  [not really, I've no desire for a Lincoln]

I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  So far, I believe Gretchen and I could truly be good friends if we knew each other.  The thing is, Gretchen, before becoming an author, went to law school and once upon a time was a clerk for none other than Sandra Day O'Connor.  She has a husband who seems to be a great guy, two daughters and she lives in New York City.  And, as I mentioned previously, she's an author [which would be my career of choice, .....right after folk music star].  Why wouldn't Gretchen be completely joyful 98% of the time?  Well....you'll have to read the book to get the full gist.  So far it's great and I've ordered a journal she created to work through with my fam, or at least my daughter.

But.......she did share one thing that for many of us, would quite likely steal our joy on a regular basis.  I won't tell you what it is, but it has to do with her spouse and makes me realize that all of us, no matter how lovely our life looks to outsiders, have things that bring us down.  Often there are really good reasons for this.

Part of my focusing on the word HOPE this year, is learning to concentrate on JOY.  It's hard to be hopeful if I'm not joyful and vice versa, really.  I know people say there's a difference between happiness and joy.  And that we should be content, not necessarily happy.  I've even heard someone say [again, in a women's ministry group] that happiness is overrated.  I'm not sure that's the case.  Really, what's so *#^% bad about being happy?

Isn't that why we have weekends and cupcakes and picnics?

Honestly, I'm working on being {happier} because when I'm happy the people around me seem to be happier too.  Yet, I often feel this distant sense of guilt when I'm happy.  Almost like, "why do you have the right to be, when there's so much suffering in the world?"  Sure, it's part of being an American:  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  But, I'm not sure the rest of the world thinks too highly of us Americans and our pursuits.  It's hard to keep it in perspective.

Again, maybe to be happy is to be naive.  Or maybe to be naive is to be happy.  And I've been accused of being naive a few times. 

knock.on.the.door

When I recorded this entry on hope, I completely forgot about a recent incident.  A month or so back, a man knocked on our door.  It was dark out; I was making dinner.  My husband opened the door and the man outside explained he needed money.  My husband told him about a place he could go, not far from our home, where the man could spend the night.  The man proceeded to ask for a ride.  My husband told the man he could easily walk there, which is the truth and it wasn't an exceptionally cold or stormy night.

We have often seen homeless men walk down our street.  The HOPE Center is not far from us, as is the Community Inn, both of which allow for overnight stays.

I realize it is best to not give homeless people money, especially when they come to your door.  I also know my husband not giving him a ride was a good move.  Yet I think back and consider what the best response scenario is.

My husband works at Lexington Rescue Mission.  I also work for a non-profit that deals with families in tough financial situations, as well as homeless people.  So we've got some expertise.  We're not coming from a place of naivety.

So I wonder......

Should we have little kits ready to give out to down and out people we encounter in our neighborhood? You know, a bottle of water, some granola bars, an apple, directions to New Life Day Center and Lexington Rescue Mission?  Is that a practical response?

What gets me about this time around, as we've encountered homeless people frequently, is that this guy was bold enough to walk up on our porch and knock on our door.  Maybe he hit up the entire street; maybe he just chose our house.  I don't know.

Basil of Caesarea wrote, “When someone steals a person’s clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to those who need it; the shoes rotting in your closet to the one who has no shoes. The money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”

If HOPE is my word of the year, if HOPE is what I'm aspiring for in my neighborhood, I'm not sure how to handle it when opportunities come knocking on the door.  Are directions to a mission enough?  Should I clean out my cupboard?

This video shows how a little creativity and ingenuity can change a person's situation:

Here's to HOPING......