Caution! Construction Zone

No one can accuse me of being a lazy bum this winter break. Ever since the completion of finals--actually before--I have been working on my room. Call it a "deep spring cleaning/total revamp."

I started out by going through everything that could possible hold something. Soon, it took on the appearance of a tornado aftermath zone: bulging trash bags of "why did I ever keep these?"; Trader Joes bags stuffed full of "let somebody else have them"; and even a couple (only 2!) boxes of "save, but not sure where to put it yet."

Sorting. Hey! Trust me, this looks pretty good!



Look! Wood! I was wondering what the desk was made of. (smile)



In addition to purging, cleaning, and otherwise dismantling and reconstructing my room, I decided to paint it. After all, it has been 8 years since the last paint job (Mom did it while Dad and we girls were on a weekend camping trip).

Deciding what to paint was the hardest part. Originally I wanted to go with a venetian theme, and paint a mural on my wall. But as the spring semester loomed closer, I abandoned that idea and instead decided to buy one of those "stick-up" wall murals. But then, again, I realized that wouldn't be the wisest use of $70. Next I wanted brown, but I forgot that my room is on the ugly side of the house--which doesn't get much light, except in the morning. So that idea quickly joined the others.

Jackpot! I got it! I'll do a spring green garden theme (hey, look at that, I'm a poet...). Now what color green? I didn't want something dark like C's cool-sage green (still got the light issue to worry about), but I'm not a brighty-bright person either. I finally settled on two tones of warm yellow-green (the circled colors below). The darker shade--"Zen Mist"--will cover the bottom 1/3 of the walls, and the lighter shade--"Sassafras Tea"--will cover the upper 2/3 of the walls. Between the two will be a swirly border (I designed it myself) in "Swiss Coffee."



Before



After Primer



Top color



This afternoon, I finally got the first coat of paint on the bottom 1/3. I only had a half-an-hour to do it in, so the cutting-in has to wait 'til tomorrow.

List of things to do tomorrow:
-Cut in edges and baseboards
-Paint 2nd coat
-Cut out border stencil
-Trace stencil on wall--if paint dries well.
-Paint border--I hope!

After the walls are finished, Dad and I get to move on to the bedroom and closet doors, the door frames, and the baseboards. When that's done (I hope by a week from Saturday) I can move my furniture back into my room. (It's challenging to be starting school, buying books, doing homework, working, and painting, and not have a place to put anything.)

Coming soon to a blog near you...curtains, lamp shades, and coat racks.

Better than Cold Stone® Milkshake

I just made the BEST milkshake ever—thanks to my brother-in-law! While down for a visit, he shared with us about his “protein shakes” (a.k.a. glorified milkshakes), and I decided tonight—as odd as the recipe sounded—to give it a try. After all, if it went bad, I could just toss a cup’s worth of milk and ice cream right?

Well, I don’t need to say that the result was astounding! Islands, In-n-out, and Cold Stone, in my humble opinion, have some of the best shakes around (trust me, I was allowed a milkshake every time I got braces on or off, and whenever I had teeth pulled—so I’m a valid authority on milkshakes); but I have never—and I mean NEVER—had a milkshake as good as the one I made tonight.

Basic recipe:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)

My shake:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)
+
1-2 spoonfuls chocolate syrup
1-2 scoops peanut butter
Shredded coconut

Blend a couple scoops of ice cream, 2 eggs, and whatever else you want, together until smooth. Add the milk only after you’ve blended everything else—and use it sparingly. I added chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and a scoop of shredded coconut. LR adds a scoop of protein powder to his.

I know: “raw eggs in a milkshake?” I was a bit put off by the recipe too at first, but LK loved the shakes her husband made; and she’s not one to eat raw eggs—except if it involves chocolate-chip cookie dough…but that’s another story. The eggs are responsible for the great texture—not to mention the protein! Did you know that one large egg contains 6.3 grams of protein? So a shake using 2 eggs has 12.6 grams of protein—wow!

I have no idea what the calorie count is on these things, and I really don’t want to. Hey…if it’s got 12.6 grams of protein, who am I to complain?

P.S. Grandma, you'd like one of these!

Culture Shock

Yes, I know. I’m not from a different culture, but I can still experience culture shock. I feel like the past two weeks have been chock full of it for me.

In Romans 12:2, Paul states that we are “not [to be] conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” What does that look like?

This verse has been repeatedly brought to my mind over the past two weeks as I’ve had my eyes opened to the hideousness of the culture we live in.

My Spanish instructor said she would give us extra credit (applied to our final exam no less) if we went to a play that she was performing in. It was a comedy called Fuddy Meers, and she played a stroke victim whose speech came out backwards (“haa toke king tall baa” = Had a stroke; talk backwards). She did mention—because she knew some of us might be sensitive—that there was a little bit of swearing in the play, but that she was the primary swearer. Since I could barely understand the sample lines she gave us, I figured that I wouldn’t even hear the swearing, so why not take advantage of a fun way to earn extra credit. Mom and I went on a Saturday afternoon (I even traded work shifts so I could get off early to attend). Well, let me just say, that the play was NOT a comedy, and if that was only a little swearing, I don’t want to know what normal is. Just about every-other word spoken was vile, and the verbal implications were full of wickedness. In short, the play was utterly foul. What was almost just as shocking was the number of people who laughed at this wickedness! How could the crowd find humor in something so obviously evil?

(By-the-way, Mom and I left during intermission and went to the Bible Bookstore—which was having a sale.)

I was shocked! I’ve heard profanity before, but never anything as concentrated or foul as I heard that day. Ever since that play, I have been extremely sensitive to any swearing I hear: be it a casual passer-by at school, or in a song at the grocery store. I physically cringe when I hear it now.

A second “culture shock” episode happened at work. I was tutoring two girls who were prepping for their English final, when one of the girls stopped, looked at me, and said something about my appearance that I assume she thought was a compliment. I’m not well versed in popular slang, so being unsure as to exactly what she said (it sounded like a compliment), I responded: “Thanks—I think. But that’s off topic, so lets get back to how to write a thesis….” It wasn’t until I got home—and googled the word she’d used—that I fully realized what she’d said. That was her definition of a compliment? I was extremely disturbed and offended!

But should I really expect anything other than twisted thinking and speech from this world? They are blinded by the god of this age, and the depravity of their own hearts.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
- Jer 17:9

It’s only by God’s grace that I am not saying and thinking the same things they are. I am so thankful that God, in His mercy, reached down and plucked me out of my sin, replaced my heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and continues to grow and shape me into the likeness of His character.

To end on a lighthearted note, I want to share a genuine cultural “boo-boo” that took place at work about three weeks ago. I’m not joking!

I was wrapping up a tutoring session with an ESL student, when he turned to me and said he’d seen me before. “Really?” I responded. (I didn’t recognize him). He went on to say that I had come to his class and given a speech for the Writing Center. I mentioned that it must have been several semesters ago because I hadn’t done that recently. He replied:

“Yeah. You were kind of fat then, but you’ve got skinnied now. What did you do: start working out?”

You just gotta love those ESL students!

Next time: God’s grace in the gospel.