Rules and Guidelines

So, I have a lot of rules in my head. Life tends to be easier for me that way. For instance, rules about who says the mealtime prayer. General rule: If you bought the meal for everyone or if you prepared it, you can be exempt from blessing the food because you need to be blessed for the work you did with the food. After all you can't very well bless yourself, right?

 And I have a rule that for every can of diet soda I drink, I have to drink two glasses of water. When buying clothes, I need to have bonded with the article in question or I can't buy it. Meaning I have to carry it around the store and then see if I 'feel' something about it when it is time to go. I find that if I have bonded with an article of clothing then I am more likely to wear it so I don't end up buying something for the sake of buying it.

And booty calls start at 11:00pm. I actually modified that one. It used to be ten. The rule of not calling people after ten is still in effect but the hour between 10:00 and 11:00 can't truly be considered a booty call. Just rude, even if it is an emergency. And there are lots more...

Now, you might get the impression that I am neat, organized and orderly but you would be wrong. I am a total slob. But if I didn't make up rules and/or guidelines, I would get overwhelmed in my life and be reduced to doing nothing because I wouldn't know what to do. And there was probably a simpler way to explain that.

I just like having rules because then you know what is expected and when you share rules, others know what you expect of them. Things are less messy. Having said that, I don't always choose to follow my rules everytime though I generally end up falling back on them. I also have a hard time following others rules and I am not sure why that is.

I bring all this up because my former roommate, Melissa has a rule of not forgetting roommates b-days. And I didn't. I just forgot where I was in the time continuum. Melissa and I were roommates at Drew and we had a list of rules posted for us and guests to our apt. Including one about no peeing in garbage cans. And no sex on the couch. No bartering roommates for beer. And no taking Jennifer up on her offers of exploratory surgery. No one had tried to pee in the garbage cans or have sex on the couch, but I figured it should be stated as a cautionary measure. I sorta accidently tried to trade Melissa for some beer and someone actually tried to agreed to my offer of exploratory surgery.

I miss those days. :) I miss Melissa. Happy Late Birthday. I hope you had a great day out in the woods.

Annual Conference

I am finally back home again. The first part of June I was in Antlers, OK where it was so insanely hot, for Annual Conference. Our annual conferences are held in open air tabernacles. We rotate between three places, campgrounds. One in Antlers, one near Anadarko and one in Preston. The one near Anadarko is called Hog Creek. I always encourage friends to get married there. I think seeing the words Hog Creek in gold script on a wedding invitation would be so funny. I, myself, plan to get married, if I ever get married, at Preston and have my funeral service at Antlers.



This is a picture of the tabernacle at Antlers. My Mom and I got there a day early while the SE region people were still working on the grounds. We went into the front part of the tabernacle and there was this huge hairy thing on the ground. My mom walked past it but I stopped and said is that a fake spider? She looked at it and said, of course it is. Then it moved. It was an huge tarantula!!! I was busy freaking out to take a picture. The people from there were like "it won't hurt you" and then a woman got a broom and swept it out. My mom and I were like "kill it, kill it. it'll come back if you don't kill it."

So, at annual conference I was appointed to extension ministry at Clinton Church and Community Center!! As of June 27, I am a Church and Community Worker! So I don't have a church per se, but I spent my first Sunday preaching at a tiny little church outside of Okmulgee. I had planned to spend the day in bed until 3:00pm when I needed to get on the road to Clinton. Oh well.

I am trying to move to Clinton. I just got a phone call saying I was approved for the apartment I looked at last week. Moving kinda sucks. Its only suppose to be for about 6 months while work is being done on the Clinton Parsonage. But the house is considered un-live-able and condemned so I do not have high hopes for it. But I am so ready to stay still. I cannot wait til they fix the house or decide to get a new one ("they" is my conference) I want to plant flowers and sit in my back yard and get a cat. I should be there for about 8 - 10 years. So that is staying pretty still considering 3 years is the longest I have lived in one dwelling. And that was at Drew.

 I have moved quite a bit in my life and I am ready to settle down.
I also went to Kansas. Southwestern College. Where I went to UMW's regional school of mission where I got certified to teach in MS. About Indians. We are the flavor of the year with the UMW. So I have 6 hours to teach 35-50 people everything Indian. Yeah, I don't know what to say to that either.

Then I attended a funeral for one of our retired pastors of OIMC. In our conference, if a pastor or pastor spouse dies it is customary for all clergy to attend. It was way out in the woods though. Think: copperheads and rattlesnakes. Bleh. Nature is not fun. But it was a really nice service. It makes me sad. When my mom dragged me to funerals as a child, I rarely knew who the dead people were but now I do. I remember seeing this guy and his wife all the time when I was growing up.

Times are changing quickly and I don't' look forward to it. My mom thinks that as soon as a few more of the "old guard" dies that the "young people" will close in the open air tabernacles and install air conditioning. Young people not as me or my age but the late 40s and early 50s group. I can't decide what I think about it. Tradition over creature comforts. Or perhaps it is something we need to do. I prefer the way we have always done it but...

I am home again, in air conditioning, thinking about lunch. I am happy to home again. I move later this week and I have not packed. But its all good.