Can I just state for the record that vacation days are awesome? I had the day off today, and it has been such a good day. I slept in a bit, and spent time reading, writing, and (well, in the interest of transparency, yes, playing Castle Story) this morning. I spent the afternoon listening to Christmas music, and tackling chores were long overdue to be tackled. And now I have given myself permission to no longer be productive, in spite of all the other chores I could be doing right now. I found my kitchen table – which if you’d seen it when it was missing, you would understand to be the feat that it was – and that is enough for right now. Keeping it chill for the evening is more important than my seemingly endless task list, and I’m so grateful for the long lesson I’ve had these past few years in learning to listen to myself, and to not feel one whit guilty for choosing rest over work.
That said, I have seriously considered on at least four occasions today the merits of some sort of a grown-up sticker chart for chore accomplishments. I am a self-admitted over-achiever, and I like checking off boxes; if they happened to be sparkly boxes on a wall chart, it would just be all the better.
I am not a fan of chores. (Perhaps it’s a side-effect of having to do them all myself, all the time. I mean, seriously, this is one of the down-sides of singleness that DOES NOT get enough press…) It occurs to me that some sort of a reward system might be useful.
photo courtesy of ©Depositphotos.com / anskuw
The problem is, as the maker of said chore chart and reward system, I could arbitrarily change my mind about how many (read: few) chores merited something I actually want – which would likely end up in me ordering more books than I have time to read, and the dishes and the filing continuing on in their “rarely completely done” status, only worse.
So – ixnay on the ore-chart-say. But if I ever do get married, please do be sure to mention this idea to my future husband. It will likely mean the difference between having clean socks or needing to stop at the store for new ones on our way to work.
(For the record, I am being slightly ridiculous. I have never actually purchased new socks because they were all in the laundry. Jeans, maybe. But socks? No way.)
I was thinking about including this entire thought in my 7 Quick Takes for the week, but it turned into a way longer thought than the word “quick” might imply – so if you missed it earlier today, please check out my post from this morning on the St. Jude Novena for Protestants. (I would be particularly interested in hearing from my Catholic readers about some of the questions I’m asking!)
One of my favorite … occasions? events? moments? … sacraments – in the life of any church I’ve ever been a part of it is baptism. We have a service coming up in just a couple weeks at my church, and I’m so looking forward to it. This post from Sarah Bessey this week – more than metaphors: on bearing witness to baptism – pretty much sums up why.
New music discoveries! Disclaimer: I haven’t actually looked up the lyrics to all these songs, so listen with discretion, okay? But I really love the sound of rose ave. – a new album combining the talents of Pink and City and Colour as you+me. You can learn more about the project here, and in the meantime, here’s a glimpse of this album’s awesomeosity:
I also really love this take on Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods” by Chase Holfelder:
Last but not least – thank you so much to those of you who have joined my e-mailing list and/or liked my Facebook author page. Thanks to your exclusive opportunity to vote, my e-book (still hopefully due to be out as of November 29th) now has a cover! If you’d like a copy of this devotional and haven’t yet subscribed to my mailing list, please feel free to do so now, either by checking the box when you comment, or entering your contact info in the “weekly updates” box below or to your right). (And if you’re truly anti-mailing list, liking my Facebook page will also gain you access to the link to download the e-book.)
Here’s a sneak peek at the cover:
cover photo courtesy of ©Depositphotos.com / Krivosheevv
I’m still debating as to whether or not to use my real name or my nickname for the authorship – I’d love your thoughts on that! 🙂 In the meantime, wish me luck / pray for me! I’m only about 1/4 of the way through, and there’s a LOT of footnoting to do as well.
Thanks, friends! Have a good weekend!
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
