Daily Archives: April 4, 2007

Plumbing at knife point

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When L12 asked me what time the plumber said he would come I answered, “Between 2 and 3pm, but you have to understand that doesn’t mean he will be here between 2 and 3 pm.” I have a formula for working out what time he will arrive and I outlined it to L12 yesterday. If they say they will come between 2 and 3 you can then expect a phone call around 3 to tell you that they are still at their previous job and will be there soon. After half an hour goes by you might get another phone call letting you know they are five minutes away. Half an hour after that they will be at your door. I got the phone call today at 3:30 and they were here around 4, just when I was expecting them.

As the plumber got started in the kitchen, I began preparing dinner. I needed a knife so I took one from the knife block then stood there with it in my hand while I answered some of his questions and watched what he was doing. He finally stopped what he was doing and said, ” Did you know you’re standing there with a knife in your hand? It’s making me a little uneasy.” I was a tad embarrassed, this is a bad habit of mine to stand and talk to people while I’m cooking, all the while waving a knife in their direction.

He was almost finished when he said, “You haven’t told me yet how much I look like Adam Sandler .” I knew he looked familiar but I hadn’t been able to put my finger on why. But he was right he looked very much like Adam Sandler and was so used to being told so, that I was an oddity for not mentioning it. We did end up having the same conversation that I seem to have with anyone who comes to work on our house. Whether it is a plumber, an electrician or whoever they always end up saying something along the lines of, ” I’ve never seen anything quite like this, I can’t see why anyone would assemble it this way.” There are tell tale signs of home handy man all over the place.

So a few hours later the faucets and pipes are fixed, I have a plumber who looks like Adam Sandler and there is probably a note next to my name on his copy of the invoice reminding him to never come alone to this address.

The gift of a day

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I was intending to end my gift of a day by telling you what I did with it. But I am only getting around to it now, four days later. When I look back on how I had spent my hours alone, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it was satisfying all the same. I am very grateful to my thoughtful friend.

To have uninterrupted, open ended time to read my bible and pray was appreciated and valuable. I try to begin every day listening, reading and talking to the Lord but it is a struggle to get going some days and an effort to keep my mind from wandering to the tasks ahead of me that day. It is often the listening to the Lord which I neglect; to read his word and really meditate takes time. My prayers are full of requests, praises and thanks, but I don’t always wait on him to hear his prompting. I was able to take extra time on my gift of a day and was encouraged by this passage from the Message.

Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me–
The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.
…But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.
He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right– everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

I don’t often read from the Message, I use the ESV, but given the extra time I had, I opened it up. The passage is from Isaiah 30 and the message is clear in either version. I need to have complete dependence on God. He takes the time to do everything right. It was good to focus on and to have that in mind as I prayed for each member of my family.

I spent a little time wandering around the internet, catching up on links and recommendations but then headed out to wander around second hand furniture shops, both the more expensive antique shops and the “that’s more like it” consignment shops. I joined Andrew and his friends for lunch at the chip van and then did a little more gazing at furniture. I was looking for a couple of shelves, one for the music books in the family room, the other for craft supplies in the basement. Of course the one for music needs to be the right colour, fit in the space, look good next to the piano. There were not as many pre-requisites for the craft shelf and so I managed to find it, at a bargain price too.

While strolling down Bank Street I wandered into my favourite clothing store, which I wasn’t planning to do, started looking at spring dresses, which I wasn’t going to do, chose a few to try on, which there was no point in doing, but hey, it was my day wasn’t it?  I found a lovely dress, right size and right colour and it was reversible.  Reversible!  As I said to Andrew later it was two dresses for the price of … ah, two dresses. That’s the problem at this store, I am only willing to spend when things are at least half price, or even better, when they have made their way to a consignment shop.

I finished the afternoon happily pottering at home, Andrew and I ate out and then we picked up the children. As is often the case when they are at my friend’s home we were treated to a choreographed dance/gymnastics number when we arrived. Of course we had to try out the new formula one racing game before we left.

When I woke up on Saturday I was back in the real world.