Archives for 2009

The Crafts-man

September 14, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

Even though there was major flammage Scott didn’t let it stop him from creating a few more bottles. Here they are in the yard. Unfortunately I can’t get a good picture at night when the candles are lit.

His latest project was our metal table we had put outside. We bought the coffee table for $10 at a store when we first got married. It’s a metal table that had a scratch. We just put a magazine over it and called it done. Over the years it’s been moved around quite a bit, staying in the playroom most recently. Scott put it outside last week and then very randomly decided to put a checkerboard on it. I walked out to find him drawing lines and putting down tape. I actually think it was inspired by the tables in Cracker Barrel.

I thought it was awfully cute albeit a bit crafty for a handy man’s afternoon project.

Posted via email from Amy’s posterous

Twitter and Facebook: We’re Taking a Break

September 13, 2009 by Amy 7 Comments

Words seem to fail me today. Coherent, flowing words anyway.

I haven’t blogged about it much but we have decided to attend North Rock Hill for the foreseeable future. Both Scott and I feel so peaceful, just so right about this decision. I look forward to church every week and just know that God is moving and speaking to me. I have a list 3 pages long now of all the very specific ways I hear Him speaking lately. Many at the church, some in books, some in songs. The amazing thing is all 3 pages boil down to about 5 themes. God is speaking. I think I mentioned several posts ago that I’m hearing all these thing but I wasn’t sure how they were tying together. Well, today, a few of those things came together in the new series at church called “What if”.

The church is basically launching a 10 year plan for the church. It’s a plan for the church to refocus and become an Acts church again. To quit talking and do some walking. To stop looking at number and dollars as a guide and looking in the community and people around us to see if we’re successful as Christians. It’s all the things that have been so close to my heart and in many of these things God has been speaking to me about. I couldn’t be more excited about this new series and being a part of this new direction.

And in preparation for this, the pastor has asked everyone to fast for 40 days and do a devotion they have prepared. Something like Lent. We’ll be giving up something that takes up our time and attention and replacing it to focus on God.

I’m giving up…

*Big breath*

Twitter and Facebook.

I was just going to do Twitter but I knew I’d just start posting my updates on Facebook and defeat the purpose of refocusing so I’m just doing both.

Now, I am going to continue to check in on my non-personal Twitter accts for the purposes of my other blogs. It just happens to be the way I get information so I can post those. I see those blogs as a part-time job and I don’t plan to give those up. For these 40 days, I’m going to stop sharing of myself and try to share it with God. I’m going to stop getting affirmation from Twitter and Facebook and get it from God. For 40 days, I’m just going to stop. God has already been speaking and I just know if I can give even just a few more minutes a day to concentrate on Him He’ll speak even more.

So that’s that.

It will be a bit of a change for me. I keep up with many people through those sites. Many keep up with me. I foresee many more emails and phone calls but that can and will be good.

So, here we go.

Starting now.

FridayNightLightsFan.com. Yeah, I did.

September 11, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

Did I even go a week after letting Melrose Place Blog go before I created another site?

I can’t help it. Friday Night Lights has swept me off my feet and I have every intention of promoting the heck out of it. I would go on and on about how good it is but I think my post the other day pretty much spelled it out.

Kaitlin, who got me into this whole thing, is working super hard with me to get everything up to speed.

So first of all, watch the show if you aren’t!

Get the DVDs (yes that’s an affiliate link):

Friday Night Lights – The First Season

Friday Night Lights: The Second Season

Friday Night Lights: The Third Season

Or check out

surfthechannel.com (although they don’t have every episode)

And…go visit the new fan site and follow us on Twitter!

Make Your Own Font

September 9, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

Awkward Moment #3

September 9, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

I’m so good at sticking my foot in my mouth. This one wasn’t so bad but still, it brought heat in my neck.

So I’m in TJ Maxx tonight looking for a purse. There are several really nice ones but they’re $160. I do not spend that much on a purse. I do not even spend 1/4 of that on a purse. While I’m looking for a decent $19.99 purse, a lady comes up beside me. She’s about my height, maybe a little taller and well, bigger. Not grossly overweight but you know, a healthy Southern woman.

We make small talk and complain about the price of the purse. You can tell she’s very down to earth and would probably talk with anyone that stood long enough to listen. As we continue to look through them here is our conversation:

Her: Yeah, sometimes I come in here and catch some clearance ones. I certainly can’t afford these. Maybe if I didn’t eat for a month I could buy it.

We laugh a bit and she starts to walk off. I’m bent down, looking at the last one on the rack and say very slow and sarcastically, trying to be funny: Come on, you don’t need food!

She laughs as she holds her belly and says: You’re right about that!

Me, realizing what I had said, put my hand on her shoulder: Aw, I didn’t mean it like that!

We both kind of laugh it off and she even continues to talk to me on the next aisle but geez, “You don’t need food”?!

Flammage!

September 8, 2009 by Amy 7 Comments

Ok, here’s the deal. Monday at the festival we went to we bought these outdoor candle holders. They are made out of a large glass bottle. They cut the bottom off and then hang a chain through the top, attach a key chain that gets caught in the bottle neck that holds it up and then below that and inside the bottle they hang a clear candle holder. We bought two to hang above our hammock/sitting area outside. It was driving me crazy because they were very easy to make. Figure out how to cut the bottom off the glass and you’re golden.

And in comes YouTube!

So of course Scott being as handy as he is I had to get him to do it. AND me being the blogger I am, I had to get it on film. And whaddyaknow, Scott didn’t mind.

So I recorded twice. Once on the square bottle. The second is a larger round bottle. The first two tries didn’t work. He doused it with acetone again and tried a third time. This is where we see quite a bit of flammage. And warning. Apparently I’ve watched TOO much Friday Night Lights because my Southern accent is LOUD and CLEAR.

Wow! I still freak out a little when I see it! We were NOT prepared for that.

The Shack

September 8, 2009 by Amy 6 Comments

I won The Shack from @scrollmotion on Twitter. It’s a full-form book as an iPhone app. Yep, I read the entire book on my phone.

And at first I didn’t know quite what to think. Honestly, up until this morning I thought the whole thing had really happened. Or at least someone thought it had happened. And I didn’t know how to fit all of that into my theology. Yes, I can be gullible and naive like that. And if you’ve read it, you probably know that the foreword is written as if it’s all real. That Mack exists and his friend Willie wrote the book for him. It’s quite deceiving if you ask me. I had not read one review on the book before, during or after reading the book so I was just sitting with what I had read.

I believe in God. I believe in God in three persons. I believe that he wants a relationship with us through his son Jesus Christ. In fact, I’ve been challenged lately on just how intimately he wants to know us. So much of that part of the book rang true for me. I believe he CAN leave a letter in someone’s mailbox if he wanted. I believe he CAN transform a shack and make someone walk on water. But there were some things that bothered me.

God as a woman? Nope. He is our Father. God is never disappointed in me? Um, no. He flooded the whole earth because he was sick of his creation screwing up. Mack’s father in Heaven? I doubt he had made a conversion in his drunken, poisoned stupor (I know I’m going out on a limb on that one, but it was just something I questioned). God not sending any of us to hell? Definitely not. All of us as a unique light? Possibly. I don’t know what Heaven is like but that sounds a little New Age for me.

So yeah, I was questioning things.

After this morning, I realized that the ideas in the conversations were real but the author used a fictional story to tell his conversations with God. And I can appreciate that. I actually agreed with a lot of what he said. But not all of it.

So do I recommend the book?

I think so. I definitely don’t recommend all of its theology. What I do recommend is if you read it, please, please, please use it as only a springboard to challenge what you believe. Go back to the Bible and find the truth for yourself. For that matter, ask God yourself what He thinks. That nagging feeling I had about it should have been my warning sign. But with many truths present, it’s hard to distinguish. I’m reminded of the Da Vinci Code. That was a fantastic book. I highly recommend that as a read. But I don’t recommend you glean your theology from it. If nothing else, read The Shack so you are an informed reader. I hate when people put down something they know nothing about. It’s just like this Obama speech. People were up in arms about it. Lots of water but no fire. Know what you’re debating. Have an open mind. Be able to actually converse about it.

All in all, I’m glad I read it. I think if nothing else, I’m reminded one more time that God wants an intimate relationship with me. He’s a good God. And He’s especially fond of me.

Friday Night Lights

September 8, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

This is long. If you don’t want to read it, the whole post can be summarized in one sentence: Watch Friday Night Lights.

It is also not spoilerish so feel free to read it if you haven’t watched the show.

Anyone that has been listening to me at all on Twitter or in real life knows that I have been caught up in a new TV series Friday Night Lights. Like I needed one right? But Kaitlin insisted in my Fall TV post that I should watch it. I had heard before that it was good so I found myself at surfthechannel.com to check it out. Well. I think I can safely say halfway through the first episode I was hooked. By the 3rd episode I was ready to start a fan site. And in my world, that’s the highest compliment I can give.

I spent hours upon hours this weekend during the late evenings and early mornings (thanks 2 two sleepovers for the girls) catching up on Season 1. At episode 8 Friday night, surfthechannel.com failed to deliver an episode. Saturday morning, my first stop was Blockbuster and then Wal-Mart to find it on DVD. At that point I knew I wanted them anyway. Saturday evening, I handed them off to my parents and sister insisting they had to watch it. And they loved it too. At 2:30am on Sunday night/Monday morning I finished Season 1.

It’s so. good.

Like, really, really good.

As in, you should RUN to Wal-Mart and buy it for $14.99.

So what’s to love?

Every. single. character.

I’ll give this from a Season 1 only perspective because I’ve watched some of Season 2 and I realize things start to change…

I always start with Riggins. I love Riggins. I love that he’s the bad boy. Tall, greasy hair and screws up a lot that you want to save. I love that he is vulnerable because his parents flaked out and he has a barely supportive brother. I love that on one hand he’s a womanizer and then the other he says “Lyla…Lyla” in that Texan accent. Yep, he’s the ultimate bad boy in love with the good girl. The couple that should be together but isn’t. Do I love that he does all the bad stuff? No, of course not. But I love watching how he deals with it. I love trying to figure out what drives him. What motivates him. Who he really loves and doesn’t. Ah, I love Riggs.

Next is Matt. Matty. That’s what I call him. Cause yes, I do talk to him through the screen. Matty, that’s so sweet. Poor Matty. I love how he stutters. I love how he’s a gentleman. I love how he has no clue what to do with Julie. I love how he’s fiercely loyal to his team. I love him and Landry. They crack me up. Yep, he’s the boy you want to take home to your Mom. He’s the one you want next to you at your wedding.

And Riggins is the one you want at the honeymoon.

Just sayin’.

Coach Taylor and his wife. Can you really separate them? I love them together. I love how they love each other. I love that they make out in the kitchen. I love that she’s always right and he knows it. I love that they parent Julie together. I love the looks they give each other. I love how they care about the students on the team and at the school. I love how Coach Taylor goes out on a limb for them. I love that he goes against the rules when it makes sense.

Now Jason. I’m not a huge fan of his. I like him, yes, but I’m not as invested in him. I do love that he called out Riggins and Lyla. I love his determination although at times it can be a bit much. I just want to say “calm down” to him sometimes.

Lyla. The good girl. One that made a huge mistake. Of course I love her with Riggins. I love how she tells him how crappy he’s being. I love that she supports Jason. Even though she screwed up, she was at that hospital A LOT. I love that she tries to hold her family together. I’m not her biggest fan but there are definitely things I can relate to in her.

Smash is hilarious. I love that towards the end of the season we got to see the boy behind all the smack-talk. His character has really evolved and I like that.

Tyra. I love that she tells it like it is. She doesn’t take crap from anyone. And yet, under all that she’s as vulnerable as any of them.

Landry. I love him. I love him with Matt. Did I mention they crack me up?

Matt’s Grandma, Smash’s Mom even Buddy Garrity. I can’t help but be glad they’re on the screen too.

It’s amazing that one show could make you care about so many of the characters. Of all the shows I watch, there are NONE that have a cast of characters that I care about and feel invested in like this one.

I love the writing. It’s smart, it’s funny. The timing is impeccable. The storylines are dramatic yet handled a real way. Or maybe the storylines are just realistic and they are able to dramatize them. I don’t know. But there has yet to be a time where I say, you know, I really don’t like this storyline. Because somehow it’s not a storyline. Somehow it’s just their life. And doesn’t life have enough drama? I of course love the Christian undertone of the show. That many of the families are Christians. That they aren’t afraid to have scenes in a church. That they’re not afraid to talk about God.

So yeah, I love this show.

And that was my brain dump after watching 880 minutes of one show in a matter of days.

And I can’t recommend enough that you do the same.