A Pretty Good Weekend

It’s been an interesting weekend!

First off, I got my Blogger for Word working again! It occurred to me in the middle of the night last night that perhaps what I needed to do was see if Blogger was a toolbar that could be told to come back. Sure enough! There it was, and there it sits nicely in my Word again. Very cool!

Yesterday after the church service there was a committee meeting. (This is not uncommon. Probably the most uncommon part was that there were only two committee meetings scheduled at the same time.) There has been a controversy involving this committee, and my understanding was that the controversy was going to be attending the meeting. Again. I managed to miss it last month, but really couldn’t do that this time. (Though another member and I were contemplating playing hooky to do something even more fun, like bungee jumping or beating our heads into the nearest brick wall.) However, the controversy didn’t come to the meeting, so we had a fine time, made some necessary decisions, and adjourned to enjoy ourselves in other ways.

Saturday was really cool. There was a wedding at my church! (Anyone who wants to see pictures can see some by an actual professional photographer at http://tinyurl.com/ga2xq.) The wedding was very sweet. There were about four women sitting together (one of them being me) and when G’s (the one in the gold) voice kept breaking with nerves and emotion, we were all going “Awwwwww” together. It was in many ways a traditional wedding, though of course it doesn’t make for a legal marriage. (The injustice of that makes my blood boil.) The company was wonderful. I had a great, wide-ranging discussion with my friend Leah, who I just don’t see often enough any more. (She acquired a boyfriend and an afternoon/evening job.) We discussed reincarnation, Tarot, and history, among other things. Later, after dancing began in another room, I snuck off to do my actual job of putting together the Sunday morning program, and several friends found their way to the office. We had several of our own little parties.

I got a chance to talk with my one friend that I haven’t seen in a while and do a small amount of clearing of the air, which was great. We also talked knitting. (I really need to see that sock!) And several of us discussed the only negative aspect of the whole thing (aside from the discrimination of not letting this couple be legally married), which was that the Negative Influence was there. She was, in fact, one of the female attendants. (Grooms-maids? Matrons of Honor? I think maybe Women of Honor.) Said Negative Influence took advantage of being there to make an unpleasant remark to me – in front of her five-year-old daughter. Being the bigger person, I ignored both her and it. Although I did tell several friends, since our silence has always been one of her weapons. DH suggested she thought she was hurting my feelings. (Ha! That ship done sailed a good three years ago!) At first I thought perhaps she was hoping to provoke me into causing a scene which would certainly make her look like the victim she’d like to be thought, especially if it happened in front of her daughter. But really, I’ve decided that it was a case of nerves. Here she was, in a building full of people who would vastly prefer to never see her again (including, I’m told, one or both of the wedding couple!). And she was going to have to stand on the stage and try to look happy, when we all know she’s quite miserable and getting more so all the time. Plus her two older children were participating in the wedding procession. (They were adorable, especially the daughter.)

Being the bigger person, as I said, I can almost (not quite, but almost) feel sorry for her. Perhaps a few more months of a healthy church community will get me all the way there. In the meantime, I pretty much treated her as if she were what DH calls her: The Furniture. As in, when she came to a performance of my women’s chorus, “The Furniture is here.” This was a suggestion of a friend, and it works wonderfully. Furniture, after all, is not harmful, as long as you stay away from the sharp edges. It can even be useful on occasion. But, you know, it is necessary to have strong boundaries with furniture. You can’t allow it to take over your house, office, or church. It needs to stay in its correct place and perform its designated function. The headboard of your bed, for example, is not a couch or table, nor does it get to decide it needs a new mattress every year or something. And if it misbehaves, breaking, or poking you when you’re not looking, or trying to become the dining room table when it is clearly a coffee table, you either fix it, move it on to the next owner, or (if neither is feasible), retire it. Yeah. Furniture.

I left the church building Saturday night a very happy woman. This was a good thing for DH, who managed to not make it to the wedding on time and was in danger of justifiable homicide. However, his life was spared by the wonderful party and a Starbucks card. (Note: I can be bought with white chocolate mochas. Or yarn. Should anyone need to know that.)

This morning I replied to the Yarn Harlot’s post of today with a weather comment. Because I am just crushed to discover that it can get as hot in Toronto as it gets in Texas. (I suspect not for as many days in a row or as often, though.) And she actually replied to me! (You’d think a 52-year-old woman would be too old for hero worship. You’d be wrong.) I think people in the next county over could hear me squealing!

Oh, and here’s something that’s also helped my depression and irritation. This week I took a look at what sort of TV will be attempting to entertain me this summer, and frankly the picture is bleak. More non-real reality TV. More reruns of shows I didn’t want to see the first couple of times through. Bad movies. So I joined Netflix for at least the summer. Whether we’ll keep it longer than that remains to be seen. I’m on the one-at-a-time plan, since it’s the cheapest. And I’ve already made a queue of a bunch of stuff, most of it various mystery shows and some musical things. The first DVD arrived Saturday and I watched it yesterday. It was a disappointment – a British mystery series that was (deservedly, I’m afraid) short-lived. I liked the actresses, but the plots were beyond obvious and silly. The next one is a better reviewed British mystery, The Midsomer Murders. I hope to be watching that by Thursday, and I hope it’s better than the first one! This gives me something to look forward to all summer, which is a good thing.

I’m also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Mother’s Day present from DS, which he thinks is The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I don’t mind stretching Mother’s Day out for a few weeks, but there’s a baby due in a couple of weeks at church and I need the book for the pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket! I was thinking the baby was still a month away, but I was told that a couple of weeks ago and amazingly the same amount of time has elapsed for the mom and baby. Now, this being Texas (have I mentioned the quote from the Mexican-American War general before), the baby can surely wait a few months for a jacket. But I would like to get started on it before he actually grows out of it. I sure hope it will be here tomorrow!

And I’m preparing for my Tarot course, which starts next week. I need to go this week to various bookstores and look at various Tarot books. I also spent some awake time in the middle of the night last night worrying about where my Tarot kit had disappeared to, but found it in the dining room this morning. So that’s good. I do need to get a book or two, so I can make handouts for the class. One thing I’m looking for is an online place where those without their own deck yet can go to draw a daily card. Any suggestions? I’m also thinking I’ll get DH to add whatever it is my computer needs to have added so that I can scan cards. I could then do the drawing myself and everyone could study the same card. That might be better. Dunno. But suggestions for various useful Tarot 101 places online would be welcome. And there’s one New Age store that folks keep telling me has moved to a new place. However, its online presence lists the same address I remember it at. I should track them down and see if their Tarot selection is still good. Maybe Wednesday would be good for all that.

And that’s the news from my Own Personal Lake Woebegone. Things are currently looking up!