Rocky

I love squirrels. To me they are not destructive rodents, instead they playful critters that have provided me countless hours of entertainment. In Ohio we put squirrel feeders in our front yard, and we sit at our dinning room table and watch the squirrels every day. They chase each other around and stand guard over the feeders until the next bigger squirrel comes and takes their place. For Christmas we got my Dad a new squirrel feeder with a huge glass jar for the squirrels to eat in so that you can watch them better. It took the squirrels a little bit of time before they got brave enough to use it. I am not exaggerating when I say that we waited in anticipation for weeks for the squirrel to start using it. When they finally did, calls were made that went like this:

Erin: "Guess what I'm look at right now in the front yard."
Dad: "What?"
E: "A squirrel in the feeder with the glass jar."
D: "Nooooooo."
E: "Yes."
D: "You can actually see him in the jar eating?"
E: "Yes, he is in the jar eating."
D: "Nooooooo."
E: "Yes!"
D: "Take a picture! I'm missing it."

When I went to Bowling Green squirrels scampered all across campus. There was an albino squirrel for a while, and it was like you were given a badge of honor if you were one of the lucky ones to spot it on campus. (It was hit by a car before I got to see it. There was an article written about it in the BG News when it died, unfortunately their archives do not go back that far for me to link it for you.) Watching squirrels play has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

This is why I am being completely serious when I tell you the day a squirrel showed up in our back yard, I felt like God sent that squirrel to me. I walked out and there he was perched on the wooden fence watching me as he ate food he had pilfered from our compost. A couple days later I watched him drag a rotten pear out of the compost to his little nook behind our trash cans. When I found an ear of corn in the back corner of our fridge, I put it in his spot on the fence, and I was rewarded the next day when I came home a saw him eating it.

I named my new friend Rocky (after the mountains). If I'm working in the back yard he sits up in the neighbor's tree and watches me, and we make polite conversation. I tell him about the squirrels at home, and he asks me why I'm not bring him more food. One day when I put the trash can back in it's spot near his nook, he was not happy and chided me rather loudly from his tree branch.

This is Rocky's friend Oscar. I'm pretty sure Oscar was put there to scare Rocky away, but they became friends instead. Oscar is a really good listener!

Botanic Gardens

My friend Kaitlin and I went to the Botanic Gardens thanks to some free tickets! We felt as if we traveled from the world of Jane Austen to Narnia to the desert to Hobbiton to the rain forest. These picture will do more justice than my words ever could.

 

 

 Kids laughing and playing in sprinklers and rolling down the hills. Better that any of the flowers we saw.

 

Jane Austenish

 

 

 

The Entrance To Hobbiton

Mountains and Lighting and Mumford and Sons

One of the hardest things that I have to do since moving to Denver is saying goodbye to my friend Jacintha. She and I went to Bowling Green together, and I moved here a month before she had to move back to Ohio. Before she left Jacintha and I got to spend a wonderful day together in Fort Collins. On our way back to Denver we decided to detour through the mountains. The sun was just beginning to set, and we put Mumford and Son on for our traveling soundtrack. What happened next we both consider to be a huge gift from God to bless our hearts. Lightning and thunder. We watched and listen to a thunderstorm stay just in front of us. It lite up the sky and silhouetted the mountains. We found a Chick-fil-a for a late night snack. Finding ourselves in a blinding downpour, we caught up to the storm on the busiest part of the highway. The day was spent reminiscing about Bowling Green, remembering life changing conversations, awkward moments, and being so grateful for the people who have molded into who we are today. Such sweet memories.

Here is a picture Jacintha took on our mountain drive.

Looking Past My Teddy Bear

If you read my last blog post, Keys, you saw that at the end I gave a little rant about octopuses. They have been made into adorable stuffed animals and cartoon figures, but in real life they are terrifying and in my opinion, gross as heck. Super slimy with eight legs that will suction cup you to death. Why oh why do we make them cute and cuddly? (If you happen to actually love the real version of octopuses, please don't take offense.)

Same goes for Bears. Stephen Colbert has proclaimed a war on Bears for this very reason. We let kids hug their teddy bears and fall in love, yet let a kid hug a real bear and chances are they will be eaten. The grizzly man was convinced that Bears were just misunderstood, but even he was eaten by a Bear.

We like to take things like Octopuses, and Bears, and many other things and portray them as much safer than they really are. We take all of the fear out of them and think of them as comforting and cuddly. I was thinking about this, and I realize that I do the same thing to God.

It is so easy to remember the safe characteristics of God, to think of him as a dotting Father, to camp on the stories of Christ loving on children and dining with prostitutes. To celebrate the verses in Zephaniah that declare that God rejoices over us with singing. The reality is that we are also commanded to fear God. 

Philippians 2:12-13
 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Psalm 128:1
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!

I've been reading through the old testament this year, and God is indeed scary. People are struck down for what seems to be the smallest of sins. There is war upon war. Oh and there is also that little story of a flood that wipes out the entire population, save Noah and a boat full of animals. What do we do with this God who is worthy of fear and trembling?


I know for a long time I just didn't dwell on the scary side of God. I would steer clear of Acts, because I didn't want to think about Ananias and Sapphira. I made excuses that the Old Testament was a different time, a different covenant. The reality is that God is constant and never changing, and the fearsome God that the Israelites worshiped it the very same God I talk to everyday.

It is also true that God is only good. There is no evil in Him and so these parts of God that are scary, they too are worthy of my praise. They are to be embraced and rejoiced over. It seems very strange to celebrate some of these things, like a flood wiping out the worlds population, or a woman turned to a pillar of salting for looking back at her old life, (however wrong her old life was) but this is what I am learning to do. I am learning to rejoice over all of who God is, not just the parts that are comfortable and easy. I am learning to look past my teddy bear aside, and to see the bear as he truly is.

Keys

Just a super quick post to show you my latest Pinterest inspired project. I now have a key to my home in Denver that looks identical to my key for my home in Ohio. There is no way I'm taking my Ohio key off my key ring, so I wanted to find a solution to differentiate between them quickly. I at first thought to pick up those cheesy key covers, but Pinterest offered a much cheaper and more attractive solution:

Nail Polish!

Coral for Denver, Teal for my Ohio barn, and brown sparkles for my Ohio home. The technical name of the brown sparkles is Warm and Fozzie, and it is currently on my fingers and toes as well. 

Oh and the carabiner is a moose obtain many years ago from a Caribou Coffee... so I guess is actually a caribou. The point is no, it is not an octopus, they are cute and all in their cartoon/plush versions, but the very real octopuses totally creep me out. Who decided to make them cute and cuddly?

Wash Perk

There are so many fun locally owned coffee shops in Denver. Thanks to my friend Kaitlin, I m now a fan of Wash Perk. It is my favorite coffee shop... so far. It is very community driven, with bulletin boards covering the walls, and local art for sale. There slogan is Coffee, Conversations, Community, I love it! The coffee is great, but what I love most is the atmosphere. It's in a residential area away from all the busy roads, its quiet but still busy. I can really get a lot of work done there. Also it is dog friendly, there are spots to chain your dog to where you can sit by him and drink your coffee. Last time I was there, there was a Lab that reminded me of Jack, and it was all I could do not to go and get a dog right then and there. The best part of Wash Perk is that it is on Ohio Ave. Come and visit, and I will buy you a drink.

Before and After: Desk

A couple things that I have been needing for my room is a desk and chair. Though I do love Ikea, none of the desk options that they had were what I was looking for. I decided to try and find a desk a thrift store that I could gussy up and make my own. Thanks to Yelp I found an awesome store in Lower Downtown (LoDo) called Cash from Clutter. When I walked in the door I was offered a beer, and the woman who owned the place was so helpful and accommodating. I found just the kind of desk I was looking for and an amazing wooden chair on casters. My total for the two pieces was only $45, which was way under what I had budgeted.

I loved the chair as it was, but I really wanted to do something special with the desk. after a little research on Pinterest I had my game plan. Here is the desk before.

I started to sand the desk by hand, and God bless him, my neighbor, Mike, saw what I was doing and offered me the use of his electric sander. I don't think I would have made it through the project without that electric sander. I spent the entire first day sanding, and even part of day two.

Next I stained the top and the front of the drawers. I had originally planed to paint the drawers gray, but I was loving the stain so much I couldn't stop. I also painted the drawer pulls a brass color. Some day they might be replaced, but I like the effect for now.

Last I primed and painted the body of the desk.The whole project took a total of four days, and three trips to Lowes. (Thanks to Mom and Dad for decided to return that huge Christmas tree and for the resulting Lowes credit you bequeathed me.) Here is the final result.

Before and After

 

I love it!!! It looks great in my room and will look even better when the room is painted.