Roses, Pizza and My Best Ever Response to a Telemarketer

Last night Darin surprised me when he arrived home from work. He was carrying a beautiful bouquet of roses and my favorite pizza:


Clearly he was paying attention to the movie Finding Forrester when William tells Jamal that "The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time."

Let me just take this moment to say that I love my husband! And not just because he does nice things for me. But in all fairness I have to admit that the nice things really do make me swoon.

Minutes after Darin arrived home, the phone rang and I answered. The following conversation ensued:

Erika: Hello?

Telemarketer: Hello, may I please speak to Darin?

Erika: Ummm, may I ask who is calling?

Telemarketer: This is LaVonne and I'm calling from Iowa State University. (They call Darin often and ask for money... apparently they're not confident that his parents gave them enough when they paid his tuition!)

Erika: (smiling) Well, I'm sorry LaVonne, but Darin just got home and he brought me roses and dinner, and I'm not sure if I want to share him right now!

LaVonne: Awwwww! I'll let you go! You have a great night!

That was by far THE best thing I've ever said to a telemarketer.

Christmas in July

This week I started one of the more challenging of all the knitting projects I have undertaken. At Purls the Yarn Studio (the yarn shop where I work part-time) we're working on putting together a collection of knitted Christmas items to display in September to give our customers ideas of items they can start and hopefully have completed by the time December comes around. My contribution? An Aran Christmas Tree Skirt. This pattern comes from a beautiful book that any knitter would appreciate called Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick.

I decided it was about time that I show you some of my knitting, so I'm going to give you a peek at my Christmas Tree Skirt in progress:

To complete this pattern, I'll be repeating this "wedge" about 10 more times and finally I'll have the full circle and it should be ready to adorn the trunk of a tree. My hands are getting tired just thinking about it. The thing is, I'm realizing that if I complete this and leave it on display at the shop for awhile, it is quite likely that a customer may see it and want to make one as well (that is the idea, after all). Aaaand, that means, I will have inherited the responsibility of teaching that customer how to make it. Uh oh. We'll see how this goes!

Thanks for humoring me and letting me share my project with you. I think that after displaying my very feeble attempt at spinning, I felt the need to show you something I actually can do!

A Big Weekend

Well, it has been a weekend filled with lots of excitement so far! To start off, yesterday I enjoyed a fun get-together with my little knitting group that I started with some teenage girls and ladies from my church! It was a special treat because we had the chance to learn a little bit about spinning wool from one of the gals in the group, Marie. After a first attempt at spinning I'm wondering if I'll prove to be a much better knitter than a spinner. Perhaps you should look at it and judge for yourself:






I'm not going to give up, yet. I think I'll keep trying it when I get a chance to hang out with Marie again and spend a little more quality time with her and her spinning wheel!

Then (and I realize I'm granting you license to tease me by admitting this) Darin and I attended our Barnes and Noble's midnight release of the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter Series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And, um, here's a picure of the book being placed in my own little hands at around 12:25 AM this morning:

Not to chase this rabbit trail too much, but a few years ago after much reluctance I picked up the Harry Potter books for the first time. I had concern as many do about the subject matter centering around magical elements/themes, so I decided it was time to just go ahead and check it out for myself. I was plesantly surprised and found my personal concerns calmed, and have grown to love these stories as much as I have loved Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy and C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. (By the way, for an interesting take on how to tackle issues of faith regarding the Harry Potter books, check out this read: Looking For God in Harry Potter by John Granger.)

So most of today, Darin and I have been taking turns reading this new and final Harry Potter book. It is clearly Darin's turn right now, as I am blogging right now and not reading it. I'm getting rather anxious for my turn again, I must say.

And lastly I am happy to announce that I bid on and won my first ever item on eBay today! I found a cell phone identical to the one I had lost (see my last post). I am pleased to say that I won it and spent under the budget I had decided on for myself.

In light of this success, I have prepared a short acceptance speech:

(Ahem) First off, I'd like the thank the nice man and his wife who decided to purchase a new cell phone before their old phone suffered much damage, enabling them to put it up for bid. You helped to lift my spirits as I was mourning the loss of my pink and rather hip phone.

Secondly, I'd like to thank my sister, who encouraged me to get over my hurdle of having never used eBay before, and advising me with wise bidding tips.

And lastly, I thank my husband who stayed by my side as I entered in the winning bid. Your loving support is invaluble at a time like this.

Well, folks, it's been fun. But I believe it's about time for Darin to hand the book over. Goodbye for now!

The Best Things in Life Are Not Things

I realize that title may come across as a little trite, but an experience I had today made me think of that little phrase. I first came across those words years ago when my mom gave me a magnet with that inscription.

My cell phone is missing. And after making several phone calls and looking into the situation, it is looking pretty likely that it has been kidnapped. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I was rather emotionally attached to that phone. I had only had it a little over a week. It was pretty much the only item among my earthly possessions that made me feel sort of "hip". It was one of those ultra-slim phones, it was pink (a nice bonus) and because of my long-time use with my particular wireless phone company I was even able to get a free "blue tooth" ear piece to go with it. I was really getting rather puffed up with all of this technology.

Aaaand, it all came to a screeching halt this afternoon. My phone is currently deactivated and reported as stolen. As a result anyone who may try to call (until I reactivate my old phone) will be greeted with a message that could easily leave the impression that the phone is shut off because of a lack of payment.

Well, enough of all that. I think it is high time that my sob story comes to a screeching halt. It is, as I said earlier, an EARTHly possesion, and not worth any more of my energy! I'm just thankful that I'm even able to have conveniences such as cell phones, computers, air conditioning, and the list goes on.

There are far better gifts among my possesions... mainly the gifts of relationships with people like you and more than anything my relationship with the One who hears and answers my prayers: the Lord Jesus. I don't need a cell phone to get in touch with Him!

By the way, Mom, thanks for the magnet!

"Miss" Jane

One of the things I love about having grown up in the south is that for the most part children are taught not to refer to "gown-ups" by their first name alone. Now they don't always necessarily address adults with their last name, but they at least attach a title to the first name. For example, I would most likely be introduced to a child as "Miss Erika" and so forth.


One of the things I love about living in a house that was built in 1911 in a neighborhood that is considered "historic" is the variety of neighbors I have. Take for example, my next-door neighbor, Jane. Jane is 93-years-young and still lives in her large, beautiful home independently. Her husband, Vincent, went to be with Jesus several years back, so I did not have the privilege of knowing him.


Let me rephrase that-I did not have the privilege of meeting him. At times I feel like I actually know him from all the wonderful stories I hear about him and how she misses him so deeply.


But wait a minute... I'm straying from my point.


When I first met Jane almost four years ago, I was new to Des Moines and a 22 year old bride-to-be. I wasn't living in the house yet, but would often come over to help Darin with the remodeling projects he was immersed in to prepare for me to join him when we got married. The first time I knocked on the door and introduced myself to my soon-to-be next door neighbor she garnered my full respect.


And I knew she would always be not "Jane" but to me she would be "Miss Jane". Little by little other neighbors on the street have started to refer to her as Miss Jane too!


I imagine you'll be hearing more about the wisdom I'm learning from Miss Jane in future posts as I have learned enough from her to write a book, but I wanted to at least make the introduction.


So here's a picture of Miss Jane and me celebrating our April Birthdays together on her front porch. Miss Jane was 93 on the 30th and I was 26 on the 9th!

On knitting, Hummels, and remembering my Great Aunt Rhoda.

Greetings! Welcome to my new blog! (Thanks, by the way to my sister, Kelly and her husband, Greg for inspiring me to do this... I think it will be fun!) This first post is going to be a little on the long side. This will not be typical.

I need to give you just a little background before I get right into this post... a good story ought to be set up properly, after all:

• Knitting is a hobby that I took up when I was going through the transitions of leaving my home in San Antonio, Texas for Des Moines, Iowa and experiencing my first year of marriage. Knitting gave me something to do with my hands while I prayed and fought back occasional tears! Three years later, it is still something I love to do and even inspired me to start a new ministry with teen girls at Grace Church and landed me the most fun job I've ever had at Purls the Yarn Studio.




• My husband, Darin, is the most generous person I know. From him I've learned a lot about hospitality and being generous with both my time and money. HE learned generosity from his parents Dan and Judy. Here is their picture:
  
  
  
  

Awhile back they took a trip to Europe. And, being of the generous nature they are, they wanted to get something special for their kids and kids-in-law. So they asked Darin for a recommendation of something I would really enjoy. So here's Darin's thought process as I imagine it when he attempted to answer their questions:

"Hmmm, what's something European that Erika would like? Smething cute and European because Erika likes "cute". Hummels are European. Hummels are cute. Oh, but wait Erika also likes knitting. Hmmm..."

Finally he answers his mother (tongue-in-cheek), "I don't know, find her a knitting Hummel!"

Judy chuckles. "What are the odds," she muses," That I would even find a knitting Hummel? And even if I did, Hummels are just a tad over our souvenir budget..."

Upon Dan and Judy's arrival home from the European vacation, Judy animatedly recounts to me the tale of walking around peering into shops on her trip and actually spotting a knitting Hummel! She was tickled. It wasn't something she could realistically get for me, but just hearing her exciting tale of actually seeing one and how she thought of me in that moment, was priceless.

Now, fast forward a year or so: A couple of weekends ago, I drove 5 1/2 hours to meet my grandarents Gene and Ann in Decatur, Illinois to be with them for the funeral services of my Great Aunt Rhoda. It was a special time to be with them in my grandpa's home town during what was probably his very last visit there. We reminisced about Aunt Rhoda and the legacy of kindness she passed to us. During this weekend they discovered that in her will she left them her entire Hummel collection. Mama Ann and Pampa (as I refer to my grandparents) gave me one of the Hummels and shared with me their plan to give one to all of their kids and grandkids to have as a memory of Rhoda. Here's a picture of myself with Mama Ann and Pampa in Decatur:

At that point I remembered with fondness a Hummel that my Great Uncle Ted gave me years ago. (He also passed away not too long ago and thankfully I had the chance to meet him, but sadly I didn't have a chance to know him the way I knew Aunt Rhoda.) I just took delight in now having the two Hummels-- each one coming from one of Pampa's siblings who are no longer with us.

When I came home from Decatur, I went and found the Hummel from Uncle Ted, so I could display them together. I took the little figurine that I'd had long before there was a trip to Europe and long before I knew how to knit. I dusted her off, took a look and was greeted with this surprise: She's knitting.

There's a lot to discover if you just pay attention to the details.