Patience! Patients! in the Hodgepodge

Okay, folks who said they missed the wordier me last week.  You might just be eating your own words this week!

1. What's something that has recently 'tried your patience'?

Getting this quilt block right. I made a practice block since it was new to me, and I didn't want to mess up the better (and very limited) good fabric.  This block is called by a few different names , Snail's Trail being the most popular. I got a couple pieces out of order and it sure tried my patience to unsew not just once but twice. (I'm not always a quick study.)

2. Do you think patience comes to us naturally or is it something you have to learn as you grow? On a scale of 1-10 generally how patient are you? (1=I blow up at the drop of a hat and 10=I've got all the time in the world).

It is definitely NOT a natural trait, or else it would not be named with the fruit of the Spirit . Humans are, by nature, impatient.  Any hungry baby will prove that fact. Fruit is only produced with growth. That said, some personalities are more easy-going and some people are very good at hiding their feelings of impatience.

I've definitely grown in this area over the past several months, and that is by God's grace. I don't get rattled as easily, am slower to blow up, and feel genuinely as if this fruit is finally becoming more characteristic of me.  So, at this moment, I'd give myself a 7.  


3. Share about a time when you felt like you could fly. Or a time you wished you could fly. Or a time you felt like you were flying.

Yes, this is a G-rated blog, a family-friendly blog, but honestly the first thing I thought of was how my husband makes me feel on the horizontal. There, I said it.  Did I make anyone blush? (Kids, if you're reading this, I don't apologize.)  Okay, moving right along...

4. Your favorite song with the word fly in the title or lyrics, or your favorite song that relates to flying in some way?

I have a vivid memory of riding Big Wheels with my sisters and friends in the huge, wide-open basement of our apartment  complex when my dad was in seminary, circa 1972.  There must have been older kids around who were singing or playing the song, "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane, " because it wasn't exactly something straight out of the Baptist hymnal. And I learned it very fast.

 "I'm leaving on a jet plane, 
don't know when I'll be back again.
Oh, babe, I hate to go..."  

I think right then and there is when my wanderlust started. The thought of being able to go away with no concrete plan of returning somehow buried itself in my inner core, because I often go there in my mind.  Off and away, see ya, I'm going exploring and I'd rather be spontaneous with flights.  That's never ever happened because I'm so daggone responsible-- and kind of being a wife, mom, and employee ties me to certain planning. 



5. What's in your fall picnic basket and where are we picnicking in your neck of the woods this time of year?

Royal Farms fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese in a thermos to keep it hot, some pistachios, some cut-up kiwi and a banana. And a slice of the cake I made a couple weeks ago,  Jewish Apple. I made it using this recipe, and snapped a photo. I also sprinkled the cake with powdered sugar without dirtying a sifter (which I don't even own).  Just put about 1/4 cup 10x sugar into a ziploc baggie, closed it, poked holes in it with a fork, and --voila!--a disposable sifter. 

  
I put it into a brown box for a friend who is battling cancer. Thought she could use a jazzy gift of the edible kind to go with the Paula Deen stew I made. 



6.  Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

Carpentry.  I would customize shelves and drawers for my sewing room, for starters. I'd put up window trim which I think  is  lacking .  I'd make crown moulding and have my tall men install it everywhere in the house. 


7. What's something you think is too expensive to justify buying lately?

Airfare to Florida . We wanted to go visit our girl over the Columbus Day weekend because my son had off school.  But at about $350 a pop, a three-day weekend was simply too short to justify that outlay of cash. 



8. Insert your own random thought here.

My hubby has a very serious  heart surgery coming up.  We haven't met with the surgeon yet, but he's one of the three best in the world and he's at Hopkins. One doctor there called him a "ticking time bomb," so I'd imagine after we meet with the surgeon on November 4th, we'll be scheduling surgery ASAP.  Without it, my beloved  man risks dying of a ruptured aorta, just like his mom and  one of his brothers did before Hopkins began a 20-year genetic study of this connective tissue disorder in the family.  (They said we are famous there. Great. Doesn't everyone want to be famous for a faulty gene?") 

His two older brothers have had this same surgery by the same surgeon we'll have, and the success rate overall is 98%.  Still, the very words "ticking time bomb" have made us ever mindful of the brevity of life.