Friday, May 8, 2009

Leftover Fridays

I used to love going to potluck meals as a kid.  Maybe it was the fact that there were so many varieties of food available.  Where else can you put meatballs, fried chicken, three kinds of rolls, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and enchiladas all on your plate?  As I've grown older (and wiser) I've come to fear potluck meals, and that's not just because I believe that the dishes could have been prepared around pet hair.  We don't have potluck meals at my church and I do not choose cafeteria style dining.

When I worked for a camp full time we had a weekly chapel service and meal that we would enjoy together.  That meal was made up of a smorgasbord of everything leftover from the previous weekend's conference and retreat groups.  I usually made the mistake of choosing the first food that looked both safe and somewhat nourishing.  Oddly enough, most of us would cross our fingers for meatloaf.  It was a safe option.  Otherwise you might fill one of the little sections of your styrofoam plate with something that's just "meh" when you could have found the one secret awesome item of the day.  

Today is potluck Friday.  I brought some random items and hope you will supply the rest.

1.  Last Saturday night during service a third grader brought up close to $20 to put in the offering.  He placed each small bill in slowly and then turned to walk away.  His shoulders sagged and he took a deep breath before turning back around and pulling out ten more dollars.  He threw the bills in the bucket and said quietly, "Aw screw it."

2.  I'm wondering if any of the new movies out are worth seeing.  I tend to just go to the movies with a group of young moms now who want to see things their husbands wouldn't want to see.  Thus Bride Wars and 17 Again were the last two movies I saw in the theatre.  Someone please help.

3.  Has anyone ever read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard?  It came highly recommended, not to mention  that it won the Pulitzer Prize.  I can't get past the 2nd chapter.  Is it worth pushing through?

4.  The high was 105 degrees here yesterday.

5.  I'm looking into U2 tickets.  Which performer would you pay the most to see?  How much would you pay to see them?

6.  I've watched the new Pride and Prejudice more times that I care to say and unlike my sister, I am not a repeat movie watcher.  What's your go-to-movie to play in the background or watch multiple times?  (Just to change things up I put in the A&E Colin Firth version the other night.)

7.  What was your favorite book or series to read as a child?  I was taken in by The Babysitters Club, American Girls, The Mandy Series, and of course... Jeanette Oke books.

8.  I have had two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my entire life.  I have no desire to increase that number.

9.  Check out this recent study that found that out of all the discretionary items, broadband internet was the last thing a consumer would give up.  I personally went without internet access for 6 months  out of '08-'09 so I wouldn't be in this same boat.  You?

10.  I went to lunch yesterday for a co-workers 30th birthday.  Everyone started talking about the age they have dreaded the most.  Three people threw out the number 26.  What in the world?  (Everyone at the table was between the ages of 26-31.)

11.  Anything else my day might be missing?

And that's all I've got.

9 comments:

hootenannie said...

1) HILARIOUS.
2) I haven't been to a movie in the theater since "Slumdog Millionaire" on Christmas night. And I loved it. But other than that, I'm just watching documentaries from Netflix at home. No desire to see "Star Trek."
3) Annie Dillard writes SO beautifully - but it's heavy, and slow-going for me. I haven't read "Pilgrim." But I love her short essays!! I highly recommend "Teaching a Stone to Talk."
4) I will never live in Arizona.
5) I paid $100 when I was in high school to go see NSYNC. I would do it again - but not for NSYNC. Probably for the Dixie Chicks, though. Or Patty Griffin.
6) I don't really watch movies more than once - except for "That Thing You Do."
7) I, too, was a fan of the BSC and Jeanette Oke. Nancy Drew terrified me.
8) I hate PBJ. Love the PB. Hate the J.
9) Addicted to the internet, right here.
10) I don't like being 26. It feels very in-between. Very awkward. Very "past the traumatic early 20's," but not yet "comfortable being singlemaybeforever."
11) Um... I have a stuffed kangaroo AND koala on my desk? And both hold Australian flags? But I've never been to Australia?

shannonmichaelis said...

i want to see U2!!!!!!!!

Hilary said...

We've got tickets to U2 here in Paris (not to make you jealous or anything :)

Valerie said...

Chapel/lunch this week involved BRUNCH, aka french toast, pancakes, waffles, bacon, quiche, muffins, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, bagels, and fruit. It was amazing, you should have seen everyone's face as they came in the door and saw we were getting such GREAT FOOD!!

1) I will be telling this story to my friends tonight.
2) Are you insinuating that 17 Again was a BAD movie?? Not possible. Also: there are no good movies out right now. Thank you, spring. When summer comes we will be blessed with the popcorn flicks, followed shortly by awards season! Holla. I'm looking forward to: HP&HBP and Time Traveler's Wife. Sqeeee!
3) Can't say I've read that one....
4) Sick.
5) I can't think of a single musician I would pay anywhere CLOSE to that sing. MAYBE Debbie Reynolds. Really I think I would only pay that much for a Broadway show.
6) My go-to repeat viewing movies are A League of Their Own, That Thing You Do, and Little Women. For tv shows it's obviously Gilmore Girls. For randomness, it's the special features on LOTR.
7) Read and re-read American Girls and BSC more times than I could possibly calculate.
8) LOVE me some PB&J! Though I've gotta give props to PB&HONEY. Absolutely amazing. Will change your life. If you like peanut butter...
9) I have the internet on my phone, I am that addicted.
10) I kind of dread 25, a little bit. A whole QUARTER OF A CENTURY old?? WHAT?
11) Clay and I went to Pic-n-Pac for lunch today. Gotta love the Pic! N Pac!

Austin and Ashley Evans said...

love. you. to. pieces.
miss the pic-n-pac! loved that comment!
i havent been to a movie in over 2 years - is that pathetic?
miss you more than words could say! you are my sunshine!

Katie said...

I rarely go to movies any more, so can't help you there. But You've Got Mail is my go-to movie, though I could probably recite most of it from memory.

I had trouble getting through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - but I thought it was worth it in the end.

I loooved the BSC, American Girls, Little House on the Prairie, the Anne of Green Gables books, Nancy Drew and Janette Oke. (Yes, I was a book-nerd child. Some things have not changed.)

I love being 25 and, so far, am not dreading 26.

That's all I got.

Prosso said...

2. Star Trek.

3. If you don't like a book, I'm all for not reading it. Life's too short.

4. That's hot.

5. I'd pay a lot to see a funny broadway show or a really good symphony doing music from video games.

6. Samantha watches both versions of P&P too. I can always watch Just Friends, Bring It On, Stick It, Definitely Maybe, Speed, Miss Congeniality (I was briefly in love with Miss Michigan), SWAT, Snakes on a Plane.

7. This Christian series about a family that lived in Hawaii.

8. I just spent a few minutes doing the math, and I think I've had 2,840 PB+J sandwiches. Yeah, I'll have some more.

9. Running water. When I was in Uganda I didn't miss electricity that much but I didn't like using a latrine.

10. Being 11 was horrible. I think 26 will be maybe the best year of my life, not the worst.

11. My two favorite quotes. "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." O Wilde

"Lord, grant me chastity, but not yet." Saint Augustine

Prosso said...

I'd also pay a lot to see Steve Martin.

Unknown said...

how did i not know #8 about you? i could eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day and not get tired of it!