Author: jenzug

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Bryan Zug, Geek of the Week! – Seattle P.I.
Big shout out to the man of the house for this nomination by his peers!

Who Needs a Manual to Write Real Good? – NPR.org
A hilarious grammar tongue-twister to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Strunk and E.B. White’s Elements of Style, the grammar manual used by millions of students.

Wear a twitter shirt! – twitshirt.com
This cracked me up. I’m such a nut I might actually consider buying one if I find a most excellent twit to wear! If you follow twitter, what is your favorite tweet you’d wear on a shirt?

Susan Boyle has it – Britain’s Got talent
Several friends pointed me to this video of Susan Boyle auditioning for the UK’s version of American Idol. She looks like a sturdy German farm wife as she takes the stage, drawing snickers from the young audience and mocking from the judges (which include Simon Cowell). But this confident woman with a dream to sing for a large audience surprises everyone, and the conversation has enlightened us all to our chronic ways of judging a book by its cover.

UPDATE: Is Susan Boyle ugly? Or are we?

watch this space

roasted strawberriesWow. That was quite the flu bug. It waxed and waned then struck again with a vengeance of ear aches and sinus infections in Ruthie and Bryan.

Me? I came down with it on Monday, and it was Saturday before I could take a shower without needing a nap.

By Tuesday my flu was in full swing, but Ruthie was feeling better. So I did what any sane person would do when everything down to her hair hurts – WE WENT TO THE ZOO.

I’m pretty sure if the gorillas were allowed to roam free they would not act this stupid.

The makers of Ibuprofen should pay me money out of their marketing budget, because for about three hours that morning I felt like a normal person.

AND I TOLD THIS TO EVERYBODY I SAW – which may or may not have made me look like a crazy person.

Shortly after lunch I lost Ruthie. We were there with a friend and had four kids between us. If you’re ever in charge of multiple children you know the counting game you constantly play in public – one-two-three-four – over and over again. But after lunch I only came up with three.

WHERE’S RUTHIE? I said.

Squinting into the bushes, spinning around in circles, looking for that blond hair bobbing.

WHERE’S RUTHIE? I shouted again.

My friend masked a snicker and nodded down to my side – I was holding Ruthie’s hand.

And that’s how I knew it was time to go home.

—

But now it is Tuesday again and I’m busy digging myself out of this pile of laundry and clutter and bills and receipts.

I’m also working on a writing project with an actual deadline that is only two weeks away, so watch this space for more news on that.

—

The strawberries pictured above were roasted under the broiler and served with chocolate pudding, just a little gift from me to you. Try it!

Three out of four Zugs recommend you stay the hell away.

sick

Guess what! It’s April! And you know what APRIL means, right?

DING! DING! DING!

I’m sick.

Oh, you don’t remember? You don’t remember LAST April when I had THE FLU? And it turned into PNEUMONIA? And I was sick for an ENTIRE MONTH? And almost DIED?

Okay that last part was a little exaggerated. But I FELT like I was dying.

But at least Thomas is learning his math through the experience. He’s the only one not sick right now, and boy does he know it. He’s all “THERE WAS TWO PEOPLE SICK BUT NOW THERE’S THREE PEOPLE SICK BUT I’M NOT SICK BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE FOUR.”

It’s a den of viral slime in this house. First Ruthie was sick. Then Thomas was sick. Then Ruthie was sick again. Then Bryan was (still is!) sick. I’ve been taking care of everyone while they all lay around watching bad Disney, but now that I’m sick do you suppose I’ll get to lay around?

At least tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny. I can take the kids to a park and pass out under a tree.

weekend sun

blowing bubbles

What a gorgeous weekend! Our first spike into the 70s and it was purrrrfect. I spent the weekend filling in holes Lucy dug in my garden and digging up part of the lawn where the dirt was so compact grass wouldn’t grow anymore.

And? There were bubbles.

I created this mosaic over at Big Huge Labs, thanks to a link from Dacia. It was so easy, I’ll definitely try that again.

What’s the weather like where you are? Did you have a fun weekend?

end of an era

I’ve held a gym membership for about five years, now, and during that time ownership changed three times – from something I don’t remember, to American Woman Fitness, to Pure Fitness, to L.A. Fitness.

If you’ve been around The Pile for awhile you may remember the love affair I had with American Woman Fitness, which was located about three blocks from my house. That was an amazingly friendly, small, intimate space filled with all variations of Woman – fat, buff, and everything in between. They also had a high population of Muslim immigrants who worked out in full length skirts and head coverings, made possible because there were no men allowed in the facilities.

Sadly, American Woman couldn’t make it work as a business and had to shut down. Members like myself who had paid for a year in advance were transfered to Pure Fitness, which was bought by L.A. Fitness shortly after. I was guaranteed the American Woman membership rate for a lifetime, but nothing about the equipment, classes, or staff measured up to the blissful experience I had at American Woman.

So when my membership came up for renewal last week I had a tough decision to make. I was actually using my membership at L.A. Fitness, but I Hated it with a capital H.

Here’s an example of how shitty their customer service is:

One day early on in the L.A. Fitness take-over I decided to try the morning yoga class, but I don’t have my own mat. Previous gyms have provided mats so I asked the pretty boy behind the desk if there were mats available in the yoga room.

He answers, “No,” so quickly I barely have the question out of my mouth.

Other boy behind the counter looks puzzled. “I thought there were black mats in there.”

“No.” says the Pretty Boy. “We don’t have extra mats.”

Other boy says, “Then what are those black things in the gym? Aren’t those yoga mats?”

“No.” says Pretty Boy.

I’m all What. The. Hell.

Suspicious, I peak my head into the yoga room. And?

THREE STACKS OF BLACK YOGA MATS.

This is not an isolated incident. I’ve had other similar experiences with L.A. Fitness’ customer service, and have lamented with friends over their poor experiences as well.

Realizing I only used the gym for its treadmill, sauna, and ability to shower without wondering whether my kids have climbed the refrigerator looking for candy, I decided to let my membership lapse.

I am no longer a gym member.

I am sad about this – I do like going to the gym, but I just can’t justify the expense when all I use is the treadmill.

But!

God is good, and all hope is not lost. A kind and generous friend is passing on her treadmill to me. The Greatest Chiropractor in the World gave me strength training exercises using my own body weight. And it’s SPRING!

Who needs a gym now? NOT ME.

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Book Update – Conversion Diary
A great post from another writer about finding time to write in the midst of Life: “…good writing is possible under all sorts of circumstances…”


Where the Wild Things Are movie trailer
YouTube won’t let me embed this in the blog, so definitely click through to watch it. I’m so excited! (And so is Thomas).

Seattle Needs 700 volunteers to help the homeless – Mars Hill Church
“teams of volunteers will be sent out to various parts of the city, and will speak with every person they meet to determine if they are homeless. If they are, the volunteers will ask them to participate in a survey to help the city understand their needs. Volunteers will need to commit four hours on the evening of April 13, 2009 and one hour of training prior to the evening of the assessment.”

filmwell.org
Friend Jeffrey Overstreet partnered with others to launch this new blog – essays and discussions of “cinema off the beaten track.” Check it out!

“renew my will from day to day…”

We sing this song often in our church, but it became particularly relevant during the five weeks Bryan was out of work. It often seems that stress begets stress, and things began to fall apart a little between us in that season. We pressed through and we’re all good now, but I wouldn’t change a thing even if I had the opportunity. Jesus took those really shitty circumstances and revealed areas of my heart that longed for things other than Him.

Anger and fear welled up in me as I began to feel like no one was on “my side” – lost friends, lost income, and at the time a husband who didn’t seem to understand me. I felt alone and discouraged and afraid of the unknown future. But Jesus revealed himself to me through his word and gave me peace so perfect I felt as if I floated through those days on the drunkenness of his holy spirit.

The sweet melody of this song and the lyrics of total surrender filled up that empty reservoir of peace each week, and I’m grateful to our faith community for producing such excellent music that refocuses me on Christ each week.

—

Here are the lyrics:

My God and Father, While I stray
by Charlotte Elliott

My God My Father while I stray
Far from my home and life’s rough way
Oh Teach me from my heart to say
Thy will be done

Though dark my path and sad my lot
Let me be still and murmur not
Or breathe the prayer divinely taught
Thy will be done

But if my fainting heart be blessed
With the Holy Spirit for its guest
My God, to thee I leave the rest
Thy will be done

If thou should call me to resign
What most I prize, never was mine
I only yield thee what is thine
Thy will be done

Renew my will from day to day
Blend it with thine and take away
All that now makes it hard to say
Thy will be done

Then when on earth I breathe no more
The prayer oft mixed with tears before
I’ll sing upon that joyful shore
Thy will be done
Thy will be done

Thy will be done (hosanna)
Thy will be done (Thy kingdom come)
Thy will be done (hosanna)
Thy will be done (Thy kingdom come)

Hosanna (Thy Kingdom come)
Hosanna (Thy will be done)

Thy will be done
Thy will be done
Thy will be done
Thy will be done
Hosanna (Thy Kingdom come)
Hosanna (Thy will be done)

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Saving your kids’ memories – reluctantentertainer.com
As a former scrapbooker turned digital media user, I don’t actually do a lot of scrabooking anymore, but I still want to create a physical space for my kids’ memories. This idea seems to take the time-intensive creative road blocks out of making these memory books, and is actually something I can sit down and do while watching American Idol in my dark basement.

Do you have a clutter cemetary? – clutterdietblog.com
Yeah. It’s the tiny spare room off the kitchen – the room we never use and I wish to be part of my kitchen! I think knocking down that wall would really solve my “clutter graveyard” problem, don’t you?

Eff It – Schmutzie.com
What an awesome post about finally letting go of all those unrealistic expectations we hold ourselves to!

Tell Stories – The Rabbit Room
A friend sent me this article. Stephen Lamb posits that while pulpit preaching has its place, God is often met through experience and story, therefor we all need to be aware of how we “preach” the gospel through the living of our lives.

Re the essay excerpt from Wangerin, Bryan says, “That essay by Wangerin is one of my favorites of all time on crafting a life of incarnational Gospel — always surprised by how little circulation it gets — and then am conversely surprised when I run into instances where folks think of it as important.”

Most Powerful Words: I need help – difficultseasons.com
It’s not difficult for me to ask for help – I do it all the time. I also love to help other people, but have learned that not everyone finds it as easy as I do to ask for help. So now I go looking for ways to help, knowing that not everyone will initiate with their need. But I love this article on asking for help – for those who find it difficult to ask, Jim gives you this awesome script:

Here’s a script where you can just fill in the blanks: “Hi. My name is ______ and I need your help. What I need help with is ______________. Can you help me with that?”

Happy Birthday, SuperThomas

Thomas

Thomas, today you are four years old. I can hardly believe we’re here already! You inspire me every day with your generosity. When you experience something amazing – a taste, a view, an object – your first reaction is to want to share it with someone.

“THIS IS SO GOOD, MOM, YOU HAVE TO TASTE IT!”

“WOOK AT THIS DWESS, MOM, WET’S GET IT FO’ WOOFIE!”

IMG_0348.JPGYou are slow to warm up to new situations – it took you three three months to say hello to Daniel at the bus stop, and four months to stop clinging to me at preschool drop off. You sit back and assess a situation or person, determining who will be one of your trusted peeps. But when you make a determination, it seems to be a set relationship.

This year you also claimed a “best friend.” You ask to see him on a daily basis, and tell me you wish he was part of our “famiwy.” Your sleepovers and park dates are filled with Light Sabor wars, kung foo fighting, and SuperHero rescues. Knowing your intimate, faithful, and dedicated personality, I imagine this friendship lasting many years despite attending different schools in the future.

Like most sibling relationships, you and Ruthie are love/hate, but mostly love. You adore her, and you protect her. That time we went to Santa Cruz beach and Ruthie ran in and out of the surf? You were so worried for her safety that you screamed at me and pushed me toward the water to stop her.

IMG_0082IMG_0083

You follow her everywhere and do what she does. This sometimes gets you into trouble because you don’t evaluate whether your choices are foolish or wise, only whether Woofie did it. My prayer is that your conscience will override the strong draw of your sister’s leadership, and you will one day speak into her life regarding some of the choices she makes.

thomas roars like a lion.jpgI think your challenge will be to believe in yourself and to trust your instinct. You are thoughtful in your determination, and quiet in your execution, but your ego bruises easily and you worry what people will think. I’m confident Jesus will lead you through all this, and I think you’re already working out what that looks like. When I make a decision that puts you in tears, your question to me often is, “Does Jesus agree with you?” And when I say, Yes, Jesus gives me wisdom to be a good parent, you are satisfied.

I love you, and I love being your mom. I’m continually aware that I walk a fine line between leading you and raising you to be a leader. I want to support you and nurture you in a way that bolsters you up as a man, but still cuddles and snuggles you like a boy.

And your dad? You are WAY INTO your dad. Every morning when you wake up you ask, “Where’s dad?” Every night when he comes home you skooch your chair around the dinner table to be right next to him. And on the weekends you LOVE to run errands and do GUY STUFF with your dad. Sometimes you even climb into his lap with your blankie and your thumb and chuckle just a little bit – you are so content in that space it brings an uncontrollable giggle up through you. I LOVE that – the happiness and contentment that expresses itself in a bubbling over of laughter.

In closing, know that I want to encourage your natural curiosity. You are filled with striking questions and keen observations. Here are a few of the things you’ve said to me over the last year:

Why does the sky change colors?

How did Scout get up to heaven when there’s nothing for him to stand on?

How do things melt?

Why does Jesus live in the sky?

Hey I know! We can send the [broken] spoon up to heaven for Jesus to fix, and then he can shoot it back down to us!

I wish I was Jesus or a Super Hero so I could save people.

Daddy I need to change my pants so I have somewhere to put my gun. (he needed a pocket).

Daddy, can we break our car so we have to buy a new one over there and I can play in the Spiderman house? (re the Spiderman jump house in the used car lot)

I wish there was a machine that could make it so the WHOLE WORLD could watch Clone Wars!

carbon dating

Recently I made a list of one-hour projects, and this weekend I spent an hour (and a half) cleaning our refrigerator. As a point of reference I’m trying to remember the last time we ate corn on the cob, but I honestly can’t recall. I know it was likely in the summer, but which summer is still in question.

At any rate, I found two decayed ears of corn that had fallen behind the shelving and were wedged behind the veggie drawer, so the last time I cleaned was either before last summer or the summer before THAT. Sadly, both options are possible.

The good news is, the money we spent on this brand new refrigerator was worth every friggin’ penny, as every drawer comes apart (including the decorative facing), every shelf comes out, and the glass shelving separates from the plastic casing that holds it in place.

Which means?

No nasty drippy unreachable goo. It’s all spotless, now, as if we just bought it.

Cleanliness has never been my strong point, as we already established when the contractor couldn’t determine the color of the grout in my bathroom.

But when YOU come over to my house? I always clean. I promise.

trust

One of the most challenging insecurities I have is to feel misunderstood. Or related: to not be heard. Or a variation: to be heard and understood, but disagreed with.

I’m often so convinced of my rightness that if you could just understand what I was saying, if I could have the opportunity to restate my point from 42 different angles, then everything would be fine and you would agree with me.

Many times my rightness can be in question and I’m just a stubborn cuss. But other times I actually CAN be right, and that’s when my frustration builds up even more, turning to anger and bitterness.

These situations turn out to be agonizing, what with all the energy spent trying to be heard and understood.

But recently I’ve picked up on a very distinct theme in my studies: God can see everything.

Revolutionary, I know.

As I find myself feeling certain I know True Things, as I find myself arguing with others over these True Things, as I find myself pulling out my hair over these True Things not being perceived as True as I see them, I read some interesting stories in Genesis.

I read about Hagar, the pregnant maid who ran away when mistreated by her master, Sarah. She cries out to God in her anguish: “You’re the God who sees me!”

I read about Isaac, who had to fight Abimelech’s men for fresh water in the desert. God reassures him, “I am the God of Abraham your father; don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.”

I read about Jacob, who was tricked and swindled on many occasions by his own father-in-law. He submitted to the mistreatment until God said, “I know what Laban’s been doing to you. I’m the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go hom to your birthplace.”

I read about Joseph, who was kidnapped by his jealous brothers, sold into slavery, and thrown into jail for something he didn’t do. After his life was restored & he was reunited with his brothers, they feared his revenge. Joseph put them at ease: “‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”

These are stories of men and women who experienced true oppression and injustice, who had to endure not just misunderstandings and disagreements, but lies, conflict, and abandonment.

Yet they trudged forward in obedience to their God, until God released them and took them in a new direction.

In reading these accounts, I felt great comfort that it is not always up to me to convince others of The Truth. I also felt great conviction that what The Truth actually is can often be distorted in my own mind. Submitting to these two realities removes the agonizing stress I was under – I am at peace because Jesus sees, and he knows the truth.

1 Peter 2:18-20 (The Message)

18-20You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

Hagar was just doing what she was told by her Mistress. Isaac was following God’s directions. Jacob was trying to woo a wife and earn a living. Joseph was a good son and a hard worker. None of them necessarily deserved what happened to them, yet each of them was comforted by God and avenged or restored.

In all of this, I continue to meditate on Colossians 3:12-14, which I wrote about here. This passage ties it all together for me, because in the end I need to Love others wildly and Trust God with abandon. I need to leave behind my sense of justice or fairness – my need to fix the situation – because Jesus sees it all, and cares for me through it, and sharpens my reliance on him in the midst of it.

I’ve said it before, but it continues to ring true: my enemy is not who I think it is. My enemy is not my misunderstanding husband or my unfair employer or the friend who betrayed me. My enemy is Sin, and I am just as sinful as my perceived enemy.

These days, when I step back and look at conflict in these terms – with compassion for those who hurt me, with contentment in being unheard, with quiet strength in my soul, with even-tempered and kind responses – I am able to imagine reconciliation. I am able to feel hope and can express love unconditionally toward those who’ve hurt me.

I can, because I see a future in which Jesus restores all that remains important.

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AIG Bonuses linked to retention, not performance – npr.org
I’m not going to pretend I know anything about any of this, so I’ll start with that. But even in my simple understanding, I was on the bandwagon of boo-ing the AIG bonuses… until I heard this story. This guy – whoever he is – succinctly explains the bonuses in question as retention bonuses, and clearly defines what this means. Essentially, certain employees were asked to stay on at the company despite its declining state, and were promised bonuses if they stayed a certain amount of time. These bonuses were not attached to performance, according to this guy, but to a contractual obligation of employment. AIG didn’t want to lose key people during tough times. The employees fulfilled their obligations, and therefore received the bonuses.

Again, I really have no clue about economics, but this seems reasonable to me in theory. I mean, if a guy really didn’t want to be there, but he was promised money to stay, don’t you think it would kind of suck to stay and then not get the money you were promised if you stayed? Yeah, I know AIG got bailout money, and we tax payers are now holding the bag. But geez, the guy was just following through.

Seems like the government and the media are hyping everyone up. Thoughts?

Economy Puts Focus on Family Planning – NPR.org
I find this to be a very interesting story on many levels, and I’m sure at some point I’ll expand this into an entire blog post. I am not pro-choice. Neither am I pro-life. I am anti-abortion. I recognize the decision to abort is difficult and tragic, and though abortion grieves me, I refuse to villianize the people behind these decisions. I’m putting this up here so I remember it, and come back to it another time with more in-depth thoughts. Any comments?

An abrupt change of subject – dooce.com
All I’m going to say is: I can relate. I wish I couldn’t, but I do.

Dinner Tonight: Comfort Food

spinach/rice2

I haven’t posted a recipe in awhile, so I thought I’d jump in with one that saved the day when I was craving comfort food. I didn’t really have a plan on the day I made this up, so I started rummaging around for what I had. It’s a throwback to my Minnesota roots, meals that contain everything in one dish – so yummy.

Spinach/rice11 lb ground beef
1 onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach
Italian seasoning
Salt
2ish cups cooked brown rice
1ish cup cottage cheese
Shredded cheddar cheese

Saute the onion, add ground beef and cook until done. Add the diced tomatoes and frozen spinach, seasoning, and salt. Remove from heat, stir in rice and cottage cheese. Pour into a 9×11 baking dish and cover with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP EATING IT.