Wednesday, January 21, 2015

15 Things

Gargling salt water is like driving on ice. You really have to stay focused.
Lindsay Airey, sometime last week

Here are 15 things we did this week in Detroit that we wouldn't have done if we still lived in Southern California:

1. We mouse-proofed the house with peppermint oil (we found traces of a horrifying little pest gnawing at our pita!).
2. We need an extra 5 minutes (at least) to get out of the house in the morning (layering up and windshield ice-scraping!)… as you'll see from the hot-off-the-press photos below, more like 10 or 15 at this point!
3. Lindsay cleans dishes constantly (shout-out to Courtney Rutenbar who did dishes constantly for 10 of us last year!).
4. Tom bikes to work.
5. We "went" to church (we've been hosting house church gatherings for the past 7 years in SoCal).
6. We ran home from church in snow flurries.
7. We celebrate a weekly "date day" (or sabbath), pressing the pause button on activity, drivenness & productivity. Ok, maybe it's usually more like half a day… progress, not perfection!
8. We were in multiple committee meetings for the upcoming World & World Detroit School.
9. We worked out our bodies at Roberto Clemente Rec Center (while exercising our souls with Janice, who sheds loving wisdom about cough ailments and thrifted snow boots).
10.We ordered "the usual" (large pizza with diced tomatoes) at the Albanian-family-owned Papa's Pizza for $5.
11.We witnessed the demolition of 4 homes on our street.
12.We ate lunch with an energetic & charismatic 60-year-old great-grandmother.
14.We delivered 20 gallons of water to what resembled a house--boarded up windows and no front porch.
15.We continued to wait for word on whether or not we qualify for Medicaid.



3 comments:

  1. This is such a great list! So many opportunities for growth and challenge (some of which would find me curled up in the fetal position!). Love you guys!

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  2. Love this list!!! And by the way it doesn't get as cold in CO....wink wink. But I have been dying to know if the peppermint oil works for mice, since we have had this problem in our house as well?

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  3. Kristen, #1 has already had me fetal (as you know)…and then some! I'm curious which would be pushing you most that way: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7? And Stac…don't know yet, but so far so good! I think I may have gone a little overboard, as our whole house smells like one big candy cane at the moment…. we heard from friends that it has worked well for others' chronic mice problems in the past - one woman sprinkled it around the perimeter of her kitchen (& had it soaking underneath the sinks) & it apparently kept them away for 2 years! One can only hope that will be the case for us! Let me know if you need more specifics!

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