Not So Glee-ful

Forgive me.  I don’t usually slip into commentary on random social phenomena, but I’m feeling compelled.

My husband and I have become fans of the fox show, Glee.  We loved the first season, and raved about it to everyone we knew.  The plots were funny, and the music was outstanding!  We expected more of the same from season two, but have thus far been tremendously disappointed.  I can’t exactly remember what the theme of the first episode of this season was, but this week’s episode was “Brittany Spears”.  First of all, just gag me with a rusty spoon.  The show was trashy, and the music seemed to require very little talent. (I’m not musical, but my husband is... and he was even more appalled than I am!)

I’m young, at least if the 25-30 group is still considered to be young.  And I would have guessed that I was in the show’s target audience, but I think the producers must be aggressively seeking followers from the younger crowd. Well, that’s fine and good--everyone wants to reach as broad an audience as possible--but at what cost?  Seriously, if next week’s show is as bad as this weeks, we’re out.  I wonder how many folks my age and older are suddenly feeling too old for the show?

Of course, you have to contextualize to some extent.  The idea is to make whatever product you’ve got marketable to as many people as possible.  But at what point do you jeopardize the integrity of what you had?

I guess this is how older church members feel when the church is changing things, working to bring in new/younger members.  Or maybe I’m just much more of an “old soul” than I realized.   Either way...what have they done with my Glee?

 

A Delicious 30 minutes

I’ve been sick off and on for a year.  Nauseated more morning than not-- and no, I’m not pregnant. (Yeah, Yeah...I’m going to the doctor tomorrow...finally!) But what I’ve not realized is how much I’ve been missing out on by curling up in a ball morning after morning.  The last few days, I’ve been nausea free and have been blown away by how much I enjoy those early morning moments--the few minutes before anyone needs me.  I’ve started having a cup of coffee in my chair outside, just as the sun is rising.  My doggie often comes with me, and together we watch the morning come in.  Somehow this few minutes sets the pace for the rest of my day...and it’s delicious.

 

The Best Surprise

On October 2 of last year, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had a lumpectomy later that month, and then did the whole chemo/radiation cycle that has become such a part of many people’s lives.  And despite still feeling a little more tired than she did, she’s doing really well.  But more than that, she’s a survivor.

So of course, when she mentioned doing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, my mental wheels started spinning.  She planned on running it, and I decided I would run it with her.  But later, she casually mentioned that she hadn’t felt up to training for the run, so she thought she’d walk instead.  I made a new plan.

I learned that she was going to have a whole team of folks from her work that were going to walk with her, so my sister-in-law and I thought it would be fun to get a team of her family together to surprise her.  We’ve plotted and planned for weeks...and somehow managed to keep the fact that 12 people were sneaking into town a secret.

She was positively blown away when we all met her just before the race... and it was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen.

 

How Ipad changed my life

With everyone else, I sorta smile when I see Apple’s commercials that say, “There’s an app for that!”

But what I didn’t realize was just how true that seems to be...or how much those “apps” would change my life.

For some reason, ipad has helped me get both my professional and my personal life organized in ways that I’ve never been able to achieve before.  As a minister, I’m always going lots of different directions, and sometimes I didn’t know whether I was going or coming. But with apps like “Daily Notes” and “ToDo” I can make all sorts of lists.  I can keep record of what I need to do, and what I’ve accomplished, as well as pertinent information on a variety of subjects.  There’s even an app called ipastor that helps me keep up with my church’s ministry needs.

In my personal life, I’ve gotten my cluttered, disorganized, and perpetually messy house under control.  I use an app called “Home Routines” to help me figure out what I need to do each day so that the house never gets too bad.  I’ve even got all my recipes organized so there is no more digging through cookbooks, but instead everything is at my fingertips, and sortable by cooking time, occasion, or ingredient.

But perhaps my best accomplishment is that I am now virtually sticky-note free (which is phenomenal considering that I used to have them EVERYWHERE).

Organize your life? Take control of your “stuff”.  Yeah, there’s an app for that.