Mad Cleaning Results!

Well, here are the results of my mad cleaning from last week...

Now, mind you, these were taken in the middle of the madness because I didn't think about it until later. This whole cleaning and rearranging episode of my life is two years in coming.

I am SO happy this is now done!!

This is the Living room stuff in the freshly done dining room. The kitchen is off the picture to the right.

This is the Living room - Mid clean/r

earrange. We were previously using only 2/3 of the room and the back of the room was a table with printer, a giant gorilla, and the two bookshelves you see there.

We are now using the whole room and it is GREAT living space! (I've been watching more and more HGTV...can you tell???).

Well, our gigantic message FINALLY made it into the kitchen! Oh no! Watch out...he looks like he could have a huge appetite!

Too late!

And it's done! I had to unplug all the electronics and then hook them all up. I was pretty impressed with the fact that I got them all hooked up and everything worked!!

Now we have space...We're even going to try and have the Bible study here now!

And theres the other side of the room!

On to the bedroom closet...the only part of the bedroom I have talked. Again, I neglected to take a before picture but you have to trust me, everything in there was just thrown in there...and after four and a half years of living here I'm sure you can imagine the mess it was in...especially to my college roommates that know the mess I am capable of.

Okay, turn your head for this one. This is the empty "storage" part of our closet. Half our closet is used for storage because it is 90% of the storage we have in this apartment. It isn't that it is a small apartment...we just have too much junk. Now that it's cleaned out, it seems a lot bigger.

Next one...

Again, tilt your head and you can see the final result. I know...it still looks a little messy. Its not tho.

Until next time...

What have I been doing?

Well, I've been done with my Masters for two and a half weeks now and there still is some sort of a sense of relief. It's hard to say though, because this time of year is always without school.

What have I been doing? Well, my apartment has been neglected for the two and a half years since I started this endeavor and so last week, I spent three and a half days cleaning my apartment. I started with the bathroom, moved in to the dining room and kitchen, migrated to the living room, and rounded the finishing touches in the bedroom. I do have pictures of middle and after (as I forgot to take before pictures) but I will have to post them later.

Among the six garbage bags of junk I found that now belong to the local landfill or a donation center, I also found $0.31, my favorite necklace from Fiji, a $15 unused itunes card, my library card, my closet shelves, stains on the carpet (can't all be good right???), TONS of dust, and my sanity (although, that could have come with the fact that I am no longer doing homework).

What do I do at work now? Many of you know that I have spent many-a-night on my third shifts doing homework. I have written several papers and read entire semester's worth of reading for several classes (including collateral reading) all on the overnights. I have now done 4 overnights without the aid of homework. I have watched 6 movies and have crawled my way through the first half of Moby Dick (part of that was already read).

So what are my plans now? Finish Moby Dick and next on my reading list (which technically I've already started) is "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith" and as you can guess, it's about culture in ANE (exciting!! new term I learned in Seminary: Ancient Near East) during Jesus day. I'm also tackling the adventure of finding a job, filing for licensure, and soon studying for the NCE (National Counseling Exam).

Above all, I'm not only enjoying all the new knowledge I have just downloaded into my brain, I am also enjoying feeling the tension in my body melt away AND enjoying allowing my newly filled brain melt away into mush. One of the lessons I learned outside the classroom was that I did my Masters WAY too fast...not that I didn't learn anything, do well, or that I regret it but if I would have done it slower I wouldn't have been as stressed out (to the point of loosing my hair), would have learned more, and I probably would have done even better.

What an exciting adventure it was! I can't wait to go back to school! ...Stay tuned!!

Well, Its Done!

Well, it's done! My Master's Degree is complete. I turned my last paper in Thursday after my final final exam. I got my grades back and they passed me. I'm just waiting on the diploma.

Now what? I have 4 weeks off and then I get a real job. I am going to use that time to develop a business plan to open a private practice with a friend and fellow graduate and start my life.

My final GPA: 3.328.

Ghetto Quoteboard

For those of you who remember, here they are. For those of you who don't, I'm not going to explain it. In no particular order, with comments as necessary for prosperity (punctuation as on the quoteboard)...

"You guys live in the ghetto!" -Katie Wisniewski (originator of the Ghetto)

"Kick 'em in the nuts and walk away." - Denae

"Good Ghandi" - Denae

"I feel so bad. You guys shouldn't have to live here." - DC Maintenance man

"Wow, you look big from here" - Kelly to Carol, 1.5 inches away.

"I need to move my Bible out of the middle of the floor — its being a stumbling block" - Sarah W

"Will you leave my mouth alone?" - Carol Hiner

"The garbage disposal is vomiting!!!" - Denae Wittmeier

"Our insides match!" - Sarah when she discovered the similarity between Carol's and her dress

"I have to get out of this chair: its making me dizzy!" Sarah

"Where do they expect you to sleep?" - Dad Wisniewski

"I wanna be a girl!!!" - Kelly

"This place isn't so bad. I wouldn't live there, but it's not so bad." - Anonymous

"Yay God!" - Denae after small and large demonstrations of God's greatness

"...Thingie..." - Sarah about anything.

"Most of us were not us for most of our life. Were you-you? I wasn't me!" said by Carol as Sarah shakes her head

"Do you have smoke detectors?" - Mom Helms

"Oh shit! This hurts like the Devil." - Denae when getting her finger caught in the garage door

"Its the ghetto~I can't take a shower in the ghetto!" - Kelly

"Let's go for it baby...I need some orange juice!" - Denae t-ed off (BIG TIME)

"I'm such a spaz" - Denae

"Now is not the time to be conservative, you're wearing a bed sheet!" - Kelly Helms

"Sioux Center has a ghetto?!" - Dr Veenstra

"For the next time you girls burn something on the stove" - Mom Helms

"I'm talking to myself and I don't know how I'm going to respond!!!" - Kelly panicking about working too much; upon being informed that the leak would be fixed

"What just happened here?" - Carol. "An act of God" - Denae.

"That person got bit by two penguins! How lucky can one person get?!" - Sarah W. Who else?

"Look at us - all sitting around crocheting and reading like a bunch of old maids. We could be the Golden Girls!" (i.e. us when we're 90). - Denae

"Who needs TV for entertainment? We have Kelly!" - Carol

"The ghetto doesn't have ghetto sauce? I'm confused" - Kelly

"They expect you guys to live here??" - Dad Wisniewski

"That's ridiculous!" - Carol and Denae on boys

"Dial 8! Dial 8!" - Carol waking up to a fire next door (Sept 11, 2001; approx. 45 minutes before the towers were hit)

"In the ghetto, we need all the safety measures we can get." - Kelly

"I'm scared to use your bathroom. I've been holding it all morning." - Mom Wittmeier

"Oh goodness, I just made some trouble." - Denae breaking the blinds

"You guys live on the wrong side of the tracks." - Josiah Murphy

"You know you've made yourself at home when you can bring over the tea kettle" - Sarah

"Wanna hear a funny story?" - Denae

"Hey check this out!" - Kelly; "I don't wanna check that out!" - Carol (about a strap/strapless bra)

"We're paying how much for this?" - Carol

"I'm a bad influence on myself" - Kelly in a struck tone

"I can't tell what persons are anymore!" - Carol how you can tell she's been proofreading too much

"I've lost my owner's manual. I don't know how to operate myself!" - Sarah (she did find it moments later)

"Oh Denae changed her head." - Kelly

"Fire! Fire! What do I do? - Kelly reacting to the pan melting on the stove

"I actually feel clean today! I took a shower in the other apartment." - Sarah

"I just wanna be the syrup" - Denae

"I find philosophy really easy. you make some statement that you don't fully understand and everyone else does then, five minutes later, you get it." - Kelly

"Oh I guess your hair does feel jelly" - Kelly to David Hjelle after Denae put gel in his hair

"No offense, but your apartment is kinda crappy." - Matt Hilbelink

"Did you steal all the sleep I didn't get?" - Sarah

"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. T'would be a pity to damage yours." Wesley; Princess Bride.

There you go. In memory of all the good times and in forgetting all Manicotti.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is the concept in which there are two thought pattens that do not coincide and yet one is working to replace a dysfunctional one with a more functional one. Such as a juvenile offender moving towards a life without crime: there is a dissonance between the thoughts he once had and the ones he needs to have to reform.

So I'm experiencing that. I have 12 days left and once again my college/university days will be behind me. I'm ambivalent. But I'm also having a bit of trouble figuring out why people talk as if getting a Masters is sort of an exclusive club. I understand that it takes work to achieve this level of education, but really, they talk about it as if it's like the honor roll. I've never been smart enough or able enough to actually be listed on any sort of honor roll!

Grad School (let's specify my Masters), my Master's Program, felt easier than college. If you look at my grades, you would agree with me. I graduated college with a 2.89GPA and as it sits, one semester shy of completion, my Masters GPA is 3.12 (I am expecting two A's, one C+, and a B I think this semester so it should go up a bit). And to boot, I have also achieved the Dean's List one semester. How does that happen? I hardly seemed to break a sweat most semesters (we'll all not count Fall Semester 2009...we're just thankful that is over) and I actually did ALL my reading except the reserves for Systematic Theology 1 and 3. I also read at least one extra book (one not counted in anyway for my Masters), generally speaking a novel but some non-fictions, a semester for the past three or four terms (I read two this semester: Screwtape Letters and The Count of Monte Cristo).

Its not to say that I'm not proud of myself or anything like that but many of my fb-friends have expressed how proud of me they are and although I'm extremely grateful to have friends that encourage the crap out of me (thanks Denae, you were probably the one that got me through that Fall Semester...remember the 12 papers, 12 reading assignments, 1 presentation, 3 -or 4- exams, one final project, and 30 days to do it?) I'm just not sure all the pomp-and-circumstance is not overkill. I just want to say, it didn't take that much work. I, for the first time in my life, not only breezed through school, I also thoroughly enjoyed it and don't want it to stop.

So for all of my wonderful cheerleaders out there: THANK YOU SO MUCH!! In 12 days, I graduate and my free advice stops. (Sorry, my prof told me that was a liability.)

Pumpkin Pie and Shell...From Pumpkin, NOT A Can

My first Thanksgiving in Fiji (about two or three weeks after I arrived) was definitely one of thankfulness. I had been warmly received, had started budding new friendships, and had found out that no one else except me (and one other American I had met) had EVER tasted turkey. It was time for Thanksgiving. My one American friend knew how to cook a turkey and make great stuffing and I had brought with me a cookbook called "Cooking from Scratch Overseas" which had all the other ingredients and recipes for the rest of the meal (along with ketchup, laundry detergent, play doh, deodorant, and shampoo among other things). Mind you, the recipes were written for those who have very few modern convenient kitchen things and it may seem like its the 'long way around', I've let you know what I did in diversion from the recipe. So here goes: the recipe to Kelly's very first pumpkin pie, from a real, fresh pumpkin and not a can.

Pie Crust (if you don't have one already):

2.5 c flour

3/4 c shortening

1 tsp salt (I generally skip this)

*5 tbsp cold water (if flour is heavy, it may take more water, I recently ended up using seven or eight tbsp).

Mix flour and salt. Cut shortening with two knives or food processor using plastic blade until mixture forms pea-sized lumps. Sprinkle water a tablespoon at a time over the flour; mix with a knife until lumps begin to stick together. Press the mixture into a ball. do not knead dough. Put on slightly floured board. Flatten ball and roll out. Makes 1 two-crust pie, 9 inch (I used it as a 1 - one crust pie crust and it was fine)

3- Step Pumpkin Pie (and mind you, this is the best pumpkin pie recipe I have ever had; ** to ** means I diverted from the recipe and this is what I did):

1.5 c cooked pumpkin (instructions below)

3/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt (I skipped this and it was fine)

3 eggs

1.25 c milk

1 (6oz) can evaporated milk OR 3/4 c rich top milk

1 unbaked pie shell (above)

Preheat oven to 400 F

FIRST STEP: Wash pieces of fresh pumpkin (scrape out seeds and soft pumpkin around seeds) or squash and place, unreeled, in pressure cooker with rack in the bottom. Put in water even with the rack and pressure for 10-12 minutes. it is much easier to peel cooked pumpkin or hard squash after cooking. **I do not have a pressure cooker nor have ever used one, I used a large/deep pot, cut up the pumpkin into smaller pieces and cooked it like a potato: boiled it until it was soft and tender, drained it, put it in a strainer mashed it with a potato masher after peeling it (I don't think it would be wise to use a hand mixer, it takes little effort to mash it), and then measured it out. I got 4 pies out of my pumpkin.**

SECOND STEP: Place cooked pumpkin in a colander to drain and cool. Drain mashed pumpkin in a colander for several hours. Excess liquid drains out and you will be left with a thick pumpkin puree perfect for any pie or pudding recipe. The drained-out liquid and add it to soups and stews or use it as the liquid in baked goods, since it should be rich in vitamins. Peel the pieces and cut into smaller sizes to press into a measuring cup. Put the milks, measured pumpkin, sugar, salt, and spices into the blender jar and turn on to "mix" for a few minutes. Open the lid and add the unbeaten eggs; blend everything together well. **Instead of waiting several hours, when I mashed the pumpkin into the puree, it naturally drained. I had peeled off the skin of the pumpkin with a knife (it was too hot to do it by hand) and by the time I had finished that and mashed it, it was fine. This works just the same if you do not have the time/desire to wait several hours**

STEP THREE: Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 400 F about 50 minutes or until a knife blade inserted into the center comes out without the mixture sticking to it. The pie may seem a little soft, but it will set as it cools. This makes a deep pie with plenty of custard or larger more shallow one. Serve with toppings if desired!

Fresh pumpkin can also be cut in half and baked in the oven at 325 F for about an hour or until insides are soft. scrape out the pulp and put in the blender with the other ingredients. You could cook it in the microwave oven too.

The color of the pie is lighter than if you use a canned pumpkin - just to warn you, you didn't do it wrong, it just looks a little different. I hope you enjoy it all!!

Nostalgia

I went through some old mementos from my days at YFC (both WOO — World Outreach Office — and YFCGR — Youth for Christ Grand Rapids) and I ran across my stack of letters.

My stack of letters is roughly 4 to 5 inches tall sorted by the girl who wrote them and year. Stuffed into the mix were "LifeChange" one-page blurbs about how a girls life had change through the ministry and were meant to be posted at fundraisers. I am still in awe about how God has worked.

So many girls.

After briefly looking at certain ones, I laid on the floor to do my sit-ups (all 240 of them, working all abdominal muscles in rotating fashion...upper, side, lower and then girly push-ups incase you're wondering) and I realized that God had shown mercy on me when He prompted me to pull these out for the first time tonight...nearly two years later.

I don't think they conveyed the impact all those donor-dollars (nearly $180,000 in the five years with YFC). I read them now and I am privileged to not be so close to the situation that I can understand it from an outsider's perspective and yet I still have vivid memories of the day I was fortunate enough to receive those letters. I see both sides of the story.

There is incredible intensity in the words of those letters. I sit here and absorb it and lingering next to these memories is the day I cried in the Cornerstone Library over the loss of never receiving another one. I literally wept while chatting on Facebook to a friend who could have been a million miles away but was close enough to put her hand on my shoulders and say, "I hope everything is okay" as she clung to her backpack and walked out the door. Thank you Rita for sitting in Ithica, NY speaking to me and thank you to the unnamed CU student for walking out the library at just that moment. That was the moment, I was mercifully blinded to the intensity of those words in the letters until now.

God has shielded us from most of the intensity of the balance the lives around us. This is intensity captured also in one letter a donor wrote to me days after surgery where he was shown the mercy of being able to receive life from another. Intensity captured by a young girl on the humble shores of a distant island who was shown greatness in the ordinary. Intensity being revealed in an office across town to a woman to whom she trusted in God to heal, and he did. Intensity brought on by a life in crisis that is unfolding in an uncontrollable and unpredictable pattern that most likely will lead to abandonment.

We cannot sit knowing what we know, fellow Christians, and if there is one thing that I want to impress upon you, is that this intensity that we see is, in actuality, only a twinkle of the intensity we cannot see.