Kristi Recommends...

I love discovering a great book, CD, or movie and then telling somebody else about them so they can "discover" them, too! So here are some recent discoveries that I recommend, if you're interested.

The Holy War by John Bunyan. Actually, I read this years ago, but recently felt like reading it again. It's not as well known or as readily available as "Pilgrim's Progress," so I ordered a copy from Amazon. John Bunyan obviously knew Scripture and the Lord well. I gained a clearer picture of God's love for us (Mansoul) and Satan's design to destroy us. I also like how he puts names on the characters, like Mr. Conscience, Mr. Willbewill, Mr. Carnal Security, etc. It helped me to be aware of "Diabolonians" that may be lurking within my walls that need to be dealt with.

Music:

Nella Fantasia as sung by Il Divo. Gorgeous song presented by four gor...uh, handsome Italian guys. :-)

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone. That's the name of the CD containing some of the most gorgeous music I've heard. Ennio Morricone is an Italian film composer who arranged his music for Yo-Yo Ma, who in turn made his cello just sing the music. I really love the first piece, Gabriel's Oboe, from The Mission. Several ice skaters skated to it during the Olympics.

Isabel Bayrakhdarian is an Armenian Canadian soprano with a gorgeous and versatile voice. If you hate opera singers, you'll probably hate her, but I found her much more enjoyable to listen to than some other sopranos. She sings on one of the tracks of Lord of the Rings, so you've probably already heard her. I have her CD, Azaluo, which contains a bunch of Spanish songs.

Celtic Woman is a cool CD full of Celtic and other music sung and played by five very talented Irish women. The arrangements are beautiful and the music is easy to listen to.

Great Weekend

We had a great weekend with Jill and Jed here! We shopped, ate out, played games, talked, laughed plenty, danced an Irish jig, feasted on roast beef with the family, played a piano duet at church, and went to a couple book stores. You can find a much more detailed narrative on Jill's blog.

In other local news, I discovered a cat repellant spray in our closet that has been keeping Cheeky off the rug! Hooray! Not cool, though, that he decided to use the floor in my parents' closet. The saga continues.

I'm playing my harp in a music competition this spring! I'm so excited. I actually love practicing hours on end to prepare for something. Just praying my back and arms cooperate.

Dinner calls.

Music Room Pictures

Funny how a new piece of furniture justifies rearranging the whole room! The table against the wall is what I got yesterday and what you see in it is stacks and stacks of piano and vocal music. The little table by the window is full of harp music. I just got the Tuscany picture framed, too, and love how it fits in. All the cherry and mahagony looks so beautiful in there. Decorating is such fun!

Of Holiday Weekends

I tried and tried to find a picture of a cat wearing overalls and a straw hat, but failed. Evidently, you can buy little overalls for a cat, but I doubt I'd get them on Cheeky without losing some skin or fingers.

This was a four day weekend for me -- hooray! A year ago I was in Hawaii soaking up the sun and beauty, but here I am soaking up cold Washington winter. Not that I have anything to complain about, compared to my Eastern friends, and especially since we had a lot of lovely sunshine last week. But Friday and Saturday were super cold and windy. Today it was cloudy again and spitted a bit of snow and sleet.

On Friday I helped put on the Sweethearts' Banquet at church. I arrived at the church around 10:45 and spent the morning and afternoon setting up, decorating, overseeing skits, practicing music, and keeping the young people on track. As I mentioned earlier, we did an Italian theme. Everything turned out great! We rented "Roman" columns and had lots of ivy and grape stuff everywhere, which looked very cool. Rachel did a smashing job on all the Italian food, and the program went very well. Usually we have a speaker or video of a very marriage edifying nature, but this time (partly because we didn't know what else to do), we went for a more light and entertaining program. As I watched people laugh their heads off, I realized that was exactly what they needed to do. Laughter lightens cares and draws people together. So praise the Lord everything went well!

I got home about midnight that night, exhausted and cold. I slept late on Saturday and spent the day reading, catnapping, and generally recuperating.

Last night I took Zach, Jessie, and Zoe to a promised trip to the ice rink! As we watched the Olympics opening ceremonies last week, I mentioned something about ice skating and learned they'd never done it. So I suggested I ought to take them sometime and they totally lighted up at that. It worked out nicely to go last night. They were so excited! I expected to get them started on the ice and sort of show them how to do it, but they went boldly out on the ice before I even had a chance to! Zoe took to it like a duck to water. Falling down a few times didn't phase them at all; in fact, Jessie proudly declared afterwards that she'd fallen down six times! I'm no Michelle Kwan, but I can generally stay upright and move along at a decent speed. I was feeling more and more comfortable and even thinking I was doing pretty good, when WHAM, I tripped and went down flat, landing hard on my right knee before I sprawled. Fortunately my hands were in gloves or they would have really burned, but my knee still hurts. Of course that happens to be the same knee that has been pummelled in bike accidents, car accidents, and volleyball crashes. Aaargh! I lost some of my enthusiasm after that, reflecting a trifle bitterly on how easy the Olympic skaters make it look. All they're worried about is landing their quads and triples, and I'm worried about skating in a straight line without falling down!!

Anyway, the kids had a blast. I was a super indulgent auntie and bought them drinks and chips and McDonalds food afterwards. Then I decided to rent a movie. I couldn't find "Cool Runnings" but settled on "Beethoven" which they enjoyed.

Today we slept late and then went to a fun furniture store. This place not only has a ton of furniture, but it's also laid out very interestingly with all sorts of cool things to look at. My mom got a little bench for the front hall and I got a sofa table thing that has shelves and drawers in it. It's for my music room to store my ton of music. It's a lovely cherry wood that matches my harp perfectly and fits into the room beautifully, so I'm quite happy with it and glad to get my music in order.

So that's my exciting weekend in a nutshell. We're looking forward to having Jill and Jed here next weekend!!

Oops!

It appears I rejoiced to soon. I returned from my symphony concert last night to find a little spot on my purple rug. Aaaargh!! So much for my theory. I guess it's good-bye to fame, riches, and dry rugs.

Eureka!

For several years now, my cat Cheeky has had a weakness for rugs. Especially bathroom rugs. Meaning he likes to use them instead of his litter box or the outdoors. In the summer it's not especially a problem because he's outside a lot, but when the chill hits in the fall, he disdains to set paw outside. I tell him to think of poor kitties in other countries who have to live outside all the time and forage and hunt for their food, but he's unmoved.

So I've had to keep my purple bathroom rug hanging over the tub except when I take a shower or company comes. But just recently, my mom got a new navy blue rug for the laundry room and he peed on it! She was rather put out. She'd be quite happy if Cheeky went hunting and never returned. Grumbling, she moved it to the garage step on the other side of the laundry door. Well, sometimes he goes out to the garage to sharpen his claws on the tires of the cars, climb on top of the cars, and do his prowling tiger thing. During one of these explorations he found the rug again. Oops. Loss of kitty privileges.

But this last week he really transgressed. My mom just bought two beautiful little rose colored rugs for her bathroom. She was quite pleased with her purchase and had paid a decent price for them. Up to now she's had white rugs which Cheeky apparently didn't notice. He seems to prefer color. So she was out one day this week when I happened to use her bathroom. Imagine my horror when I notice a little wet spot on one of the pink rugs! Gasp! I hurriedly threw both of them in the washing machine, praying they would get washed and dried before she returned. They did, fortunately, and I then closed her bathroom door to prevent further mishaps. But then I had to explain to her why her door was closed. Heh heh, she had a veritable hissy fit over it.

It happened again to both rugs and now she doesn't put them down. And last night I came home to see one of her white rugs on the washing machine with a big yellow spot on it. So much for the color theory.

Several days ago I decided to try an experiment. We haven't been able to find any animal product to deter cats from urinating. There are deodorizers, but that didn't work. So I started thinking of what might deter Cheeky. He doesn't like chemical odors, so I tried to think of what chemical I had that wouldn't spoil the rug at the same time. Then it hit me: hairspray! Some hairspray asphyxiates me, so surely it would work on him! I took out a can of cheap hairspray and sprayed it all over my bathroom rug and left it out. Guess what? He hasn't touched it! I'm still kind of waiting, seeing if my theory really works, but am cautiously elated. I told my mom she should do it to her rugs.

Can it be I have discovered a product that would bring joy to pet owners everywhere? Think of the potential millions I could make off this product! I just take nasty hairspray, rebottle it, and give it some apropos name like um, Pee-Away or Cat-Be-Gone or Magic Carpet Spray or...? Any other ideas? I can't believe no one else has thought of something like this!

Happy...

...Half Birthday to Me!! Yup, today I turn exactly 26 1/2! Not exactly a red letter day, but I always notice anyway. I can't believe how quickly the past six months have flown by!

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day, which is so refreshing and rejuvenating after the weeks and weeks of rain we've had. The sky is brilliant blue and the mountains are showing off their snowy splendor. This morning I played ball with my nephew Will in the back yard and then ate my cereal while sitting on the back step. It felt SO good, even though it was only 40 degrees!

Lori is in NH right now, so we're watching the two boys today. Actually, Zach is off with my dad to work, while Will is happily playing here. I'm so glad he's finally outgrown his terrible twos and become a sweet little three year old! I'm sure Lori's rejoicing, too. When I have kids, I think I'll just skip all the bad stages. Hmm...maybe that doesn't work.

The Olympics start tonight!! I want to watch the Opening Ceremonies and catch as much figure skating as I can. I remember watching the '92 Winter Olympics and cheering on Kristi Yamaguchi. Wow, that's a long time ago.

I've got to go to work!

Guess Where I'm Going?

We used to take a lot of road trips across the country when I was younger, and we would play various games to help pass the time. One of our favorites was "When I go to Jerusalem, I'm going to take an...apple, banana, cat, dog, elephant, frog, grape, etc." Each person would add something according to the alphabet and go through the whole list. It did get tedious, but accomplished the goal of helping the miles go faster.

But NOW I can say, "When I go to Jerusalem..." for real! Since I first went there in 1999 for a study tour, I've longed to return, and now the dream is coming true! I just bought a ticket this morning to spend about 10 days there in April, visiting Lisa and seeing that heavenly city. I'm hoping no unrest or terrorist attacks will send me to the real Heavenly City while I'm there, but I feel confident in God's direction. I mean, not that I don't WANT to go to heaven as soon as I can, but I have a certain affinity for life, too. What's exciting is that I'll be there for Passover, Good Friday, and Easter! I can't imagine any better place to be for those events.

Did anyone see that commercial during the Superbowl showing these football guys in various places and poses saying, "I'm going to Disneyworld." It was like they were practicing for the commercial, trying to get the perfect nuance. They'd say,
"I'M going to Disneyworld!"
"I'm GOING to Disneyworld!"
"I'm going to DISNEYWORLD!"
"I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!" Said one guy enthusiastically, then shaking his head and muttering, "Nah, too much."
It was funny.
Anyway, yesterday I started practicing:
"I'M going to Jerusalem!"
"I'm GOING to Jerusalem!"
"I'm going to JERUSALEM!"
"I'M GOING TO JERUSALEM!!"

This will definitely give me something to look forward to, something that will brighten up the routine, ho-hum, winter days. And no, I'm not taking any passengers in my suitcase!

Sad Superbowl for Seahawks

Boo-hoo, we lost! I tell ya, I bet everyone's going to be a lot more sober (more or less, depending on the alcohol quota) tomorrow than they were last week around here! I actually watched the whole game and was quite engrossed. My dad explained it to me, so I was able to understand a lot more what all was going on. I've never paid much attention to football before, but this was a definite exception. We were pretty disgusted with the referees. The Steelers did not deserve that second quarter touchdown at all!! Maybe they still would have won, but they would have had 6 fewer points. I'm sure they must have bribed the referees. Even the announcers didn't agree with all the calls. Anyway, good game, and I'm sure there are many elated Steelers fans tonight. (pouts)

Man, those Steelers looked like beer-bellied monsters next to our fit and trim Seahawks! And what's with the long hair on the one guy? Gross.

Now we're totally exhausted. Lori's family was over last night to celebrated Zoe's birthday. We ate tons of food, especially of the non-healthy variety, and had a jolly time. Today was church and later the game. We had a family over from church to watch with us. They left soon after it was over. So now it's only 9:00 and I think I need to go to bed. I've totally O.D.'d on junk food this weekend and I really need to spend, like, several hours on the treadmill tomorrow!

Monday morning cometh. Back to the grindstone.

Of Bad Rehearsals

I've been meaning to post about my rehearsal experience on Wednesday night. Or make that non-rehearsal experience. I'm playing in just a few movements of Faure's Requiem and that's all I do for this program slated for Feb. 12. So I went to one rehearsal a couple weeks ago and they said I probably wouldn't be needed again until the rehearsals the week of the concert. But I understood that the personnel manager would let me know for sure. When I didn't hear anything, I emailed her a couple days before this rehearsal. No response. So I called and left a message the day of the rehearsal. No response. So after a day of indecision, I decided to just go anyway and be on the safe side.

I found out that they weren't rehearsing the Faure until 9:00 PM, so I left home around 7:30 to make the nearly one hour trek south. I arrived, unloaded, wheeled my harp, stool, and bags up a ramp, through doors, down another ramp and eventually to the rehearsal room. The personnel manager happened to be standing there and gave me a surprised look. Uh-oh. She said, "You didn't get my message?" "Uh, no. What message?" She then said she'd left a message on my answering machine around 4:30, informing me I wasn't needed at this rehearsal. I was home at that time, so I couldn't understand how I could have missed a phone call. I later realized that my mom and I had stepped out of the house for about five minutes during that time, and thus never thought to check the machine.

She thought that perhaps the conductor might use me anyway, so she went and consulted him. He looked at me and told me to go home, or words to that effect. I didn't understand him at first, so stood there next to my harp with a puzzled look on my face, no doubt looking like an idiot in front of the entire orchestra. But the manager confirmed his words and so out I wheeled. She said she felt bad, but that she had left a message. Why did she wait until 4:30? I didn't feel angry, but I definitely wasn't happy and wheeled out without another word. Back I went up the ramp, through the double doors, and down the outside ramp. I loaded back up, and drove back the hour home. Alone. In the dark. In the drizzle. And feeling pretty sorry for myself and annoyed with the conductor. While I was at it, I dredged up some other past grievances over completely unrelated issues and wept silly tears of self-pity, while telling myself to GET A GRIP!! God allowed it, right? Yup.

After some sensible philosophizing, a good night sleep, a mile on the treadmill, and a day of teaching, I think I recovered. But I'm not particularly looking forward to next week's rehearsal. It was a rather humiliating experience, and it's not like I can just slip unobserved into the corner with my mammoth instrument. Oh, well, it probably won't happen again. And there's my gripey story of the week!

Polyfidelity?

Did anyone happen to watch Dr. Phil last night? He counseled a couple that had been married 20 years. The husband had recently "explored" his options of "polyfidelity." In other words, he had an affair with another woman because his own wife wasn't cutting it any more. However, he was up front with his wife about what was going on and wanted to see if he could maintain a wife and mistress at the same time. He didn't seem to understand his wife's negative reaction to the whole idea. He said polyfidelity had been going on for thousands of years and was even in the Bible. His only regret was how he handled the situation, not for having the affair. Yikes. This guy was a smooth talker, desparately trying to make himself look good and normal and okay. But Dr. Phil and the rest of the audience was not impressed one bit. Dr. Phil said that in his "Dr. Phil dictionary" polyfidelity meant cheating. Yes! He pointed him back to his vows where he promised to be faithful to his wife. He pointed out the wife's feelings, which the husband had apparently not considered. I didn't see the very last part, but basically Dr. Phil told him that he had to make a decision to either get counseling and stick with his wife, or totally leave his wife and sons for this other woman. It couldn't be a both situation. I really respect how Dr. Phil can so often get to the root of the problem and point out the stark truth. But how I wish he was a Christian and could point them to the Word! This is adultery, it's wrong, and you need to repent before God and your family!

But anyway, I got to thinking about the word "polyfidelity," which is really kind of an oxymoron word. In marriage, fidelity means lifelong faithfulness to one person. So how can you pretend to be faithful to more than one person? That's just polybologna, as my dad said.

This morning I was thinking about it, and it occurred to me that I am just as guilty of polyfidelity. In fact, all Christians face this temptation. We profess undying devotion to the Lord, our Bridegroom, while we blatantly carry on an affair with the world and/or sin, and expect Him to be okay with it. He says we can't have both. It's either Him or the world. "Getting in bed" with sin does not improve intimacy with God. All my excuses and justifications do not erase my guilt. Only the continual washing in the blood of Jesus, renewing of my mind in the Word, and purposeful growth in my relationship with Him will keep me from the wily snares of the enemy. The man on the show said the other woman was very attractive, one that men just fell out of their seats over, and so does the enemy appear -- very attractive, even fulfilling up to a point, but in the end, there's only regret, destruction, and a wasted life.

"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above."