giggles

Lost Genesis Footnote: The Story of the Mango

July 26, 2011 By heather 1 Comment

On the sixth day, God looked out onto his creation and said, “It’s pretty good, but it’s missing something.” He wanted to give man and woman a special treat, that little extra something.

He’d given them the cocao tree and knew that they would someday figure out how to pound its bean into chocolate. He looked forward to the day they’d make cheese out of their excess milk. He created the coffee bean and foresaw the day when young Malech would accidentally drop his toy beans into his mother’s boiling water. But he wanted to offer them something now.

Hence, the creation of the mango tree and its fruit, the culmination of all the succulent fruits he’d called forth into being.

And God said it was very, very good.

Some time later, after the serpent and the temptation and the fall, when God sent forth Adam and Eve from the land of Eden to the rest of the now cruel world, he displayed his magnificent mercy with one last gift: he let them keep the mango. All other fruits and vegetables would hold only a fraction of their flavor and juice, but the mango would remain perfect.

(Although why Adam and Eve wanted to taste any other fruit when they already had the mango is beyond comprehension.)

And so, to this day, the mango remains a sign of God’s mercy and a promise of what is to come in the recreation (see Revelation 21-22 for further detail).

Filed Under: giggles Tagged With: creation, mango

You Tawkin’ to Me?

April 25, 2011 By heather 1 Comment

A strange occurrence. As I mentioned before, my husband and I have been watching old episodes of NCIS via Netflix DVDs. The other day, McGee said this:

Oh, wow! You’re reading Moonstone! Hey, you know Dorothy Sayers thought that was the best detective story ever written. And T.S. Eliot called it the first true English Detective novel.

This is significant because at that very moment, I was reading (and am reading) Moonstone. Well, not at that very moment because I was, at that very moment, watching TV and doing Pilates. But you get the point.

Also, I came across this from Jonathan Franzen about writing a novel:

The more you pursue distractions, the less effective any particular distraction is, and so I’d had to up various dosages, until, before I knew it, I was checking my e-mail every ten minutes . . . and I’d achieved such deep mastery of computer solitaire that my goal was no longer to win a game but to win two or more games in a row–a kind of meta-solitaire whose fascination consisted not in playing the cards but in surfing the streaks of wins and losses. My longest winning streak so far was eight.

Ah-ha! I knew it! Even the greats cannot resist the evils of the Internet and Solitaire. I bet he’s a Words with Friends user, too.

Filed Under: giggles, reading, writing Tagged With: internet, Jonathan Franzen, Moonstone, NCIS, reading, solitaire, words with friends, writing

The Birth of an Imaginary Friend

March 31, 2011 By heather 1 Comment

“You pronounced it Saggy with an a toward the back of your throat–” as in father– “remember?” my mom said.

I remembered. And I remembered that one day, my imaginary friend, Saggy, left me. But only for a time. He returned after his wedding with Mrs. Saggy.

“Do you know where Saggy came from?” Mom asked.

I didn’t, so she revealed the mystery: when I was a toddler, strapped into my car seat as we returned home from whatever errand (side note: I also learned that as a baby, I was thrown into the bassinet in the back seat–unstrapped! How did we survive the 70s?), the cat would skitter across the driveway to the front door to await us.

“There goes that saggy cat again,” Mom would say. (The cat’s stomach sagged from an operation.) But from my perspective in the back seat (in or out of a car seat), I couldn’t see the cat.

One day, we pulled up, and I announced, “There goes Saggy again!”

We can’t figure out where I got the name Monan. To be honest, Monan and I were closer than Saggy. Perhaps that’s because Monan didn’t leave me to get married.

Moral of the story: point of view is everything.

And I’ve always been a little crazy.

Filed Under: giggles, imagination Tagged With: imaginary friends

A Little Bit Willy Wonka

January 12, 2011 By heather 3 Comments

For those of you who don’t know, we have a baby coming into the world in a little over a month. Which means I’m looking at my house with new eyes, examining things like the concrete and glass coffee table in the living room, the light switches we never bothered to plate, and the stained carpeting.

A word about my house: my husband owned it for several years before we met. And he had several roommates. In other words, it was a bachelor pad. Full of bachelors who didn’t know things like you have to empty the vacuum bag (when they used the vacuum, that is).

In other words, no matter what I do, the carpet in the bedrooms and the hallway connecting the bedrooms is in a sad state. Who would want their baby doing tummy time on this?

So my husband agreed to new carpeting. And while we’re at it, let’s put in the tiling in the bathroom.

A word about the bathroom floor: My husband and I discussed replacing the old linoleum and carpeting in the bathroom about a year ago in vague terms. One day, I got sick of it and tore it all up. Without exactly discussing this with my husband. (What? Me? Impulsive?) So we’ve had unstained concrete flooring in the bathroom since then. Which, to be honest, hasn’t looked all that bad, in my opinion. (But I adore our stained concrete floor in the living room. I wanted it throughout the house instead of new carpeting but was talked out of it by more practical-thinking people. Darn these practical people in the world.)

All this to tell you that we ("we" meaning, really, my husband because have I mentioned that I’m eight months pregnant and not allowed to lift much? Darn this pregnancy that forces me to not lift many fingers and be completely spoiled) moved all our furniture from the bedrooms into the rest of the house.

Which means that as of right now, our bed is situated directly in front of the HD TV in the living room. A dream come true for my husband. If he has anything to say about it, I may not ever get my bed back into the bedroom.

It feels a little bit rebellious and a little bit Willy Wonka.

Filed Under: baby prep, carpeting, giggles

Frolic and Play the Eskimo Way

January 10, 2011 By heather Leave a Comment

I had planned on joining High Calling Focus with some silhouette shots today, but nature intruded on my plan.

And I couldn’t be happier about it.

Yesterday, we trekked to church in the rain. By the time we left, snow graced our bit of the world.

How often do you get to see cacti covered in snow?

Filed Under: giggles, photography, winter

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

November 29, 2010 By heather 6 Comments

Unfortunately, I don’t remember what it was.

Last week, something very funny happened, and I knew I needed to blog about it so you could all share in my laugh. But I was on my way to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. I gave myself strict instructions to write a note to myself so I could blog about it this week. But I promptly ignored my instructions. This was too funny to forget, I thought.

I forgot.

It just happened last week! I’ve gone through my week time and time again trying to remember, but alas, it’s gone. A shame, because I’m pretty sure it was something silly I did that we could all get a good chuckle from.

***

Last night, while watching a Hallmark Christmas movie on CBS (my movie and music standards drop significantly when it comes to Christmas), I realized the perfect job for me: a Christmas tree farmer. I’d care for each tree like it was my own, naming it, grooming it. And when the time came, I’d help each family find their perfect tree. People would come from many states because of my reputation. I’d also always have hot wassail available.

Except maybe I’d drink all the wassail. I consumed almost an entire pot by myself on Saturday.

(For those of you who don’t remember, I have four trees every year–three fake ones and a real one. I name them all. This year, I almost got a fourth fake tree to add to the collection when my sister-in-law told me about a crazy $30 sale on prelit trees, but they were sold out.)

***

I ventured out on Black Friday this year. But it doesn’t really count because, as I mentioned afore, we were at my parents’ house. They live in a smallish town, so Black Friday isn’t crazy like Dallas. This is why I had to go: my dad and husband decided to go to Best Buy.

Have you seen my husband at Best Buy or Fry’s? Dangerous.

So I went to keep an eye on them. Next door, Shoe Carnival was having a buy-1-get-1-half-off sale.

"Don’t you need new shoes?" I asked Chris.

So we went in. This really isn’t that significant except two things struck me as minorly funny.

One, Chris didn’t get any shoes. My dad and I walked out with a pair each, though. While there, I remembered that I don’t have winter black shoes. So I bought a pair of black comfy Sketchers.

Which brings us to minor funny number two.

"Those are winter shoes?" Chris said. "And you say you’re from the northeast." (He’s from Colorado.)

"I’m contextualizing for Texas. In Texas, winter shoes are non-flipflops." Although, really, sometimes you can wear flipflops in Texas in winter. At least I do.

I don’t know why that struck me as funny, but it did. Also, I love Sketchers. I can’t help myself. They’re so comfy!

***

I’ve always had weird dreams, often involving serial killers (I’ve chased serial killers, been chased by serial killers, been a serial killer, etc.). Now these weird dreams are taking a turn for the pregnancy. A couple of weeks ago, I dreamed that my belly button popped out exactly like a turkey timer–long and T-shaped and all. I kept trying to push it back in because I’m only six months pregnant and so obviously not done yet.

Two nights ago, I dreamed that I could take the baby out of my tummy and put him back in. Like a kangeroo. It was very convenient.

And scene.

Filed Under: Black Friday, Christmas, Christmas tree farms, dreams, giggles, random thoughts, shoes

An Actual Real, Live Blog Post (Cue Applause)

July 1, 2010 By heather 8 Comments

I took exactly two photos in Jersey this trip. This is one of them.

The other one you probably would be even less interested in because it’s of my niece and the family dog. Both with Phillies hats. (I call Brandy the family dog because though she belongs to my parents, we’ve all adopted her. All except for my husband, who in general is not a fan of dogs. Unless they’re the dogs that lie around all day with no energy.)

To sum up: beach, greasy foods, a winning Phillies game (with a walk-off homerun–we ordered that in advance). Exciting stuff.

The good news is my travels are over. Which means a return to routine. Which, oddly enough, means a return to interesting things to say.

Isn’t that paradoxical? It seems when my life is more interesting, I have less to say. When life settles into the mundane, I become Chatty Chatterbox once again. I think it has something to do with the posture of contemplation. (In fact, I already have some thoughts churning regarding this. You could say I’m contemplating contemplation. Don’t worry. You know I’ll share.)

So until churned contemplation becomes solidified into something resembling butter, I’m signing off.

Filed Under: blogging, giggles, New Jersey, Phillies

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

June 16, 2010 By heather 6 Comments

A short essay to my fourth-grade teacher about what I did on my summer vacation*:

This summer, we went to Long Island (population 3,000), an out island in the Bahamas. We discovered many beautiful and sacluded sicluded empty beaches. Sometimes we would play on the beach without seeing anybody! We spent most of our time at Dean’s Blue Hole, a sink hole that dips 633 feet a couple of meters off the beach. The man who holds the world record for the deepest free dive achieved that here.

Dean's Blue Hole

Here are some things I did at Long Island:

ate fish I caught (namely tuna, grunt, and bonita)

played hide-and-go-seek with pilot, parrot, tang, yellowtail, trigger, and other random assortment of fish
made friends with one particular fish–Danny–who liked to swim circles around me when I was still and tucked himself under me when I swam (if you’re reading this, Danny–hi!)
saw fish fly (also fish fry, but we covered that)
survived an incident with the reptile that shall not be named (hint: it tempted Adam and Eve and God foretold that there would be animosity between it and women forever; my fears are biblical)
tasted the best mango in the world (delivered to us by some locals from their trees on almost a daily basis; if you’re ever in Long Island, I recommend the kidney mangoes)
encountered several barracuda and lived to sing about it (All that night and all the next / Swam without looking back)

Here I am, relaxing nonchalantly on my raft above the blue hole (you can see by the color change where it drops off into never-never land). Notice the barracuda (which I conveniently circled for you) about five feet from me. This was not the scary encounter because (1) I did not know at the time that he swam nearby (my husband neglected to mention it to me while he photographed us) and (2) I was out of the water–not snorkeling mere feet from him.

read several books on my Kindle since the Calvin Festival (can I say how much I love Niall, my Kindle? I didn’t have to cart tons–and when I say “tons,” I almost mean it literally–of books; watch Shelfari for upcoming reviews of my favorites)

We had lots of fun, and I can’t wait to go back. And that’s what I did on my summer vacation.

*I wonder what Ms. Harle is doing these days?

Filed Under: Bahamas, giggles, summer, vacation

In Which the Prodigal Returns

April 5, 2010 By heather 28 Comments

In one M*A*S*H episode, B.J. bets Hawkeye that Hawkeye can’t go an entire day without cracking a joke. Hawkeye nearly falters numerous times throughout the day, especially with the comedy of errors going on between Winchester, Margaret, and Winchester’s old commanding officer, but he makes it. And at exactly midnight, he picks up the PA mike and lets loose on all the jokes he’d held inside during the day.

I’m picking up the PA mike and letting loose.

Beginning with Ash Wednesday, I abandoned my blog, as well as Facebook and Twitter. The journey since then has been unexpected.

When I told my mom I was giving up social networking for Lent, her first response was laughter. "That’s not much of a sacrifice!" she said. Of course, offended and defensive of my cyber peeps, I asked what she meant. "You rarely go out as it is," she said.

Turns out, she thought I meant all social interaction. She has these crazy fears that I’ll end up some writing hermit on some deserted beach. (There are worse things I could do.)

The first week, I’d awaken with something I just had to blog about. Then I’d remember. I can’t blog. I should blog about not blogging, I’d think (true story).

After that first week, I found joy in personal journaling (something I hadn’t done since blogging) and the extra time I had to read. Confession: this tempted me to give up social media for good. Perhaps my mom was right. I could be a hermit.

Now comes the unexpected part. About two weeks ago, I began to unravel. Emotionally speaking. Things had gotten a little stressful at the Goodman house, and I wasn’t handling the stress as well as I normally do. What was wrong with me?

Then it occurred to me: I’d lost part of my support system. Social networking isn’t about being a celebrity. It isn’t splatting my opinions for all the world to see. And it isn’t, as Coupland claims in Generation A, about finding a way to make my otherwise boring life into a story. At least it isn’t for me.

It truly is about community. You guys know me, and I know you. I pray for you and count on you. I’m the last person to argue that social networking replaces human touch and face-to-face community (rather than Facebook-to-Facebook), but that doesn’t negate the reality of the true friends I’ve made here.

As someone who works from home, you guys ground me, keep me in touch with some semblance of reality (remember this post from four years ago [four years ago? Have I been online that long?] about my penchant for other realities?). I discovered that without the interaction I have on Twitter and Facebook, my writing suffered. It got too stodgy. I lost some humor in it.

So I’m back with a new appreciation for the role of social media in my life, with a new appreciation for all of you and your roles in my life. I thought I’d be raring to talk about the books I’ve read, the music I’ve discovered, the stories I’ve lived, and to some extent, I am. But I’m more anxious to hear your voices, to read your blogs, to see you in our shared studios.

Filed Under: blogging, Easter, giggles

Winter Wonderland

February 12, 2010 By heather 4 Comments

Winter is vulnerable and naked. It has not the flourish and feast of spring nor the childhood fun of summer. It has not the vibrant colors of autumn. And in Texas, it usually has not the brilliance of a fresh snow.

But this year, Mother Nature took pity on us. She adorned us with jewels I haven’t seen since moving to this state.