Friday, September 3, 2010

I Had a Prophetic Dream




This happens to me a couple of times a year. I had a dream that I knew I was supposed to stay asleep until the end of.

In the dream our house was burning down. Scott, Andrew and I were playing a game in an upstairs bedroom and we saw the house catch on fire from lightning. Although it looked different than our house now, it was still a duplex and our landlord neighbors were in the dream. The thrust of the first part of the dream was that I couldn't get anyone to take the situation seriously. At one point Andrew said, I don't care about my stuff, you can just buy me new clothes and stuff.

My parents were suddenly there in the dream and they were just sort of milling around outside watching curiously. I spent precious time trying to get Scott and Andrew out of the house, to think about if there was anything they wanted to save, to try to get them to believe anything at all needed to be done. Finally I got them out. I was exhausted.

While they dithered around talking with my parents I decided to try to save our memories. The books weighed so much and no one would help. Finally a stranger came along and helped me carry a couple out. I realized after one heavy trip that I was probably only going to be able to get one year of it out. I exhaustedly put those books and one other posession, which unfortunately I have now forgotten, on the floor of my car. I moved my car away from the house, which was now visibly blazing in the basement.

I asked around and no one had called the fire department yet. They looked annoyed when I asked, so I called them myself. The dispatcher said she already knew about the blaze and they were busy, would get there when they could. Alot of families were in trouble. She was annoyed with me too. You could tell she thought I was making too big of a deal out of it.
Soon the house on our side was gone completely. There was a deep hole next to the basement and the basement was filled to the brim with water (apparently the firetrucks did eventually arrive, but with no fanfare) One fireman said, You know, you are gonna lose everything.
By this point in the dream Andrew and Scott were gone.




I ran into a woman outside who asked if I was missing anything after the fire. I said I was missing everything, even my loved ones, and she said she had some of my things. She handed me a red plastic wrist band and told me to come to a certain place in a few days to "redeem" my things and she listed the thing I had put in the car along with my scrapbooks, a quilt I had made, and a few other things. I realized she had taken these things out of my car so that later I would pay her to get them back. I was furious. No one else seemed to think anything of it.




I went around the corner to my parents house, put my few memory books left in their spare room and thought about taking a shower. I realized I had no clothes to change into. My mom came in and said, "I see you have piled a bunch of your crap in the spare room." I told her I was hoping I could sleep there for one night. She seemed annoyed but didn't say I couldn't. I realized that it was late and that I hadn't called the landlord at work to let him know of the disaster. Then it dawned on me that they had their parent's dog there and that he had probably perished in the fire. I was sick about it.

I ran back to the house and knocked on the door, to find him home in the livingroom watching a sports game with some male friends and his wife upstairs taking a shower. In another upstairs room was Josie and Debbie. They were playing a game and laughing and talking. I came in and started to tell them what had happened, first the landlords wife, and then Josie and Debbie. The landlords wife said, "Whatever, that's okay" in a light and airy tone. Josie and Debbie were annoyed when I talked about it, and when I started to cry for the exhaustion and frustration and loss, they got mad. Debbie said something about me making such a big deal about it and Josie rolled her eyes and was downright mad. They left in a huff as if my behavior was too drama ridden and unworthy of their attention. I trudged back downstairs to apologize to the landlord and explain it wasn't out of our carelessness, it was a ligtning strike. He was busy and didn't seem to really care. He said it was okay in a distracted dismissive way.

I wondered if the insurance had been truly switched over by Scott. I wondered where I would stay. I wondered where everyone I cared about was and why no one took me seriously. I finally was allowed to wake up.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

New Beginnings

Sunday, an hour before we moved, our church prayed for this new home to be a marker of new beginnings in our lives. Already, after less than two days there have been so many blessings. Above are some pictures of the outside of the house. Isn't it lovely?
One of the new beginnings is that on the first morning we went out and sat on the patio and had our coffee and woke up together. Andrew joined us a little later and then last night requested that we make it a morning routine. We enjoyed it again this morning, just a half hour between 7:30 and 8am, but a nice way to wake up and have some sweet family time before heading in for our chores and school. I think we are all looking forward to this change!
Probably the nicest new beginning is in Andrew. He has been cheerfully helpful, he's been leaps and bounds more responsible, and it is a thing to behold. Yesterday when we came in from the patio he went to work on his room and got it in tiptop shape, including making both beds to perfection and hanging up his dress clothes.
In the afternoon he had his friend over, and they played in the sprinkler, then hung the towel up on the line, rolled up the hose on to the rocks so it wouldn't kill the grass and put their toys away in the garage, shutting the garage door. What a treat!
We did give him his own key and he loves locking up after us if we leave the house, which is quite helpful, because with three doors I can see myself forgetting to lock one!
Today we start up school again after four days off. I believe we will see even better improvements there!








Sunday, May 23, 2010

A little sentimental, I say goodbye




This move has come together so fast, I haven't had much time to process it. Last night and this morning I find myself thinking about it more, and I'm a little sad.





  • It is hard to say goodbye to one level living.


  • It is hard to say goodbye to my running partner being just down the hall.


  • It is hard to say goodbye to Andrew's friends being just down the hall.


  • It is hard to say goodbye to a right sized home.


  • It is hard to say goodbye to a big kitchen.


  • It is hard to say goodbye to the wood lot behind our sunroom.


  • But honestly most of all it is hard for me to say goodbye to a laundry room on the same level as the closets. Sigh. I've done 10 loads of laundry this week, washing everything I can think of, to cherish that treat a little longer.



Of course I haven't forgotten what we are saying hello to.





  • Hello to a backyard.


  • Hello to cheaper rent.


  • Hello to nice landlords.


  • Hello to a quiet street.


  • Hello to being closer to the Julie's.


  • Hello to a safer place for my bike.


  • And honestly most of all, hello to a new start, I'm quite fond of them!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Hey Minda! You're Moving in...


  • ...5 days, whatcha gonna do? Go to a concert and the library in St. Paul


  • ...4 days, whatcha gonna do? Meet friends at Bush Lake Beach for three hours!

  • ...3 days, whatcha gonna do? Take three kids to Lake Harriet for three hours & do some carpooling!

  • ...2 days, whatcha gonna do? Skip school and go to see the new Shrek movie!

  • ...36 hours, whatcha gonna do? Go for a nine mile run in the soup!

  • ...24 hours, whatcha gonna do? Drive to Farmington and spend the day at the Scottish Fair, then go out for dinner!


    Now, do you think my son will remember all that when next week the answer every day is UNPACK? I hope so!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Forgive me Louise Erdrich


So, to all my avid reader friends, I have a question to ask:
Do you have any authors who you have repeatedly refused to read, flying in the face of their ongoing popularity?

One of those authors for me is Louise Erdrich. I can't tell you why, I have no personal beef with native americans, she's an author based in Minneapolis which is generally a leg up on my booklist, she owns a bookstore. But for some reason I always scan past her books on the library shelves and move on to something else.

Tonight I looked her up to learn more about her, and try to understand what in me is resistant to her. Then I read this statement;

In 1984, Erdrich published the novel Love Medicine. Made up of a disjointed but interconnected series of short narratives, each told from the perspective of a different character, and moving backwards and forward in time through every decade between the 1930’s and the present day, the book told the stories of several families living near each other on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation.

The innovative techniques of the book, which owed a great deal to the works of William Faulkner but have little precedent in Native-authored fiction, allowed Erdrich to build up a picture of a community in a way entirely suited to the reservation setting.


Ah ha! Mr. Faulkner, a most IRRITATING writer in my experience! Maybe I had tried to read Love Medicine and this style turned me off.

I read further though and discovered her book The Beet Queen. This book focusses on a different demographic of North Dakota, the US homeland of my people. Now I am intrigued and have reserved her book from the library.

So I challenge you to find a decorated writer you have resisted in the past, research their books and find one that you want to give a try. Every writer deserves a second look, right?

April Me Update



April 2010

Run 69 miles
Bike 20 miles
Indoor bike 25 miles

Current Book(s):
The Virgin Blue
The Lace Reader
One Thousand White Women
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Current Music:
Singer/Songwriter playlist
PodRunner playlist 149 bpm

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure:
high hop beers and sweet potatoe fries made at home!

Current Colors:
pink

Current Obsessions:
finding a place to live and moving there with low drama, training for a half marathon

Current Drink:
V8 with a scoop of fiber added

Current Song:


Current TV Shows:
Lie to Me and Biggest Loser

Current Wish-List:
to trade someone our huge beautiful hardwood desk, tv cabinet and tv for a big computer screen and a smaller desk.

Current Needs:
to get off my butt and go running, or I'll be late to church!

Current Triumph:
running 11.5 miles and knowing I could have done 1 more!

Current Bane of my Existence:
How nice I have none!

Current Goal:
more body toning between runs

Current Indulgence:
nothing new

Current Blessings:
my husband
finding a beautiful place to live
healthy body during my running

Current (Fav) Outfit:
Yellow print dress over brown leggins

Current Excitement:
moving!

Current Mood
content

Friday, April 30, 2010

can I scrap again?

So I'm sure you've all noticed my absence. About six months ago scrapbooking kinda went by the wayside for me, and I've only done the bare minimum since. I had a great talk today with a friend I met at tallyscrapper, who has started her own site. She was one of my favorites back in the day, we really had a heart connection.

Also this week I had two other scrapbook sightings; we saw a house we want to rent and the landlord has a scrapbook room on her side of the duplex!

also,

My current neighbor emailed me for suggestions on great kits. I mentioned tally, but also want to bring up http://timelessdaydreams.com. Dolores always does great work and I see that she has enlisted the help of another friend of mine from Tally, Leachy!

I'm off to check out what they have going, and perhaps join them for some scrapbooking to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day.

Here is a link to Timeless Daydreams blog:

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