Happy Halloween!

Dallas Symphony

Last Saturday we did an obstacle course for the 12 Week Challenge (where I discovered I really suck at jumping hurtles - you should ask to see my bruises). Our team (Joe and I) came in 2nd place! We then headed up to Dallas and spent some good time with my parents.

On Sunday we went to a Halloween-themed performance of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerson. Here's a picture from our seats (yes, they were high up):


At the top you can see a person playing the Fisk Organ (has blue lights on it). It was neat, but because the concert was geared toward children and we were in cheaper seats, we had a lot of disruptive children and disrespectful adults around us. That made it hard to enjoy, but there were a lot of beautiful parts.

Harry Potter

So last week, J.K. Rowling said that Dumbledore (one of the main characters in the Harry Potter series) was gay. I think I agree with the disappointment that a writer shares in this article.

edit: Even if you're not a H.P. fan, I think you would find the article interesting. Joe and I talked about it, and he said there's a whole field in philosophy about reality (and perception of reality) called ontology.

Praying Boldly

A couple of months ago, Hostias from Mozart's Requiem struck me as a great example of a bold prayer. I've thought about praying confidently and boldly, but have more difficulty doing it. This piece has a balance of pleading with God and forcefully reminding God of the promises he made. If you're short on time, I suggest starting at about a minute in (at -3:45). Sorry - the music quality is not as good as I had hoped.

kathryn

This is rambling, but I don't do it too often, so I'm not apologizing... I'm rationalizing. A lot of people's blogs look more like this!

A lot of people I know sign their emails with their name in all lowercase. I like this - it gives a less formal air to the email. But I have a hard time doing it. The main reason is that "kathryn" looks really funny to me. Seeing as "kathryn" and "Kathryn" look a lot more alike than "greg" and "Greg" or "rick" and "Rick," it doesn't seem like it should bother me so much. But it does. "kathryn" just doesn't look like my name, so signing emails that way seems very fake. So I don't think I'll do it. As a side note, "kat" looks normal to me and I have no problem using it, but few people call me that (mostly work people and Joe's family).

Sick, Stores, Music, and Plants

I guess it's been a little while since I've written about stuff going on, so I'll try to catch up.

Joe was sick for about a week (fever, lots of congestion), so not much happened that week. We've been spending time getting to know people in our ComGroup better (small groups a part of Community Church) and got away a Friday night through Saturday afternoon to have some bonding time. That was good.

In a smaller town like College Station, store openings are big. We now have a Kohl's (I had never been to one before) and a Michael's. I was severely disappointed by the latter. We had a Michael's near our house when I was in high school that turned into a MJDesigns. I could spend hours there. It has now become an awesome JoAnn's, but one MUCH bigger (2 stories!) than any other craft store I've seen. I guess Garden Ridge is bigger, but it doesn't focus on the type of stuff I like. Anyway, I had gotten Michael's confused with this MJDesigns / JoAnn's in Dallas and was let down. Their scrapbooking and cake decorating sections are both not as good as the Hobby Lobby in town. Yes, my name is Kathryn, and I do craft-type projects. (Right now the primary ones are: (1) comforter for our bed with lots of embroidery, (2) Christmas gift for Joe's mom, (3) redecorating the living room with no money.)

Joe is almost done with a recording we've been working on of Ross King's "In Need" (Joe made an a cappella arrangement). He's still working a little on the mixing, but it's nice to have all the recording done. When Joe's working on the song, usually I'm doing projects or gardening.

I bought some plants this weekend to plant in our fall garden. I have: broccoli, celery, mixed greens, buttercrisp lettuce, and onions. I also bought some creeping rosemary and basil. I think the basil will stay inside - last time the basil I got died from bug attacks (the technical term). I think I'll try to get spinach seeds somewhere, too. This Spring was my first experiment with gardening, and these are all very different types of plants than I had before. Friday night and Saturday I worked on tilling the garden (and have a nice blister to prove it), but discovered that a lot of ants recently moved in. I can't find any mounds, but there are so many that they must be living underground. I tried pouring boiling water on the places I saw them going underground, but it hasn't seemed to work. Any advice for someone who doesn't want to poison her family and friends with ant killer in the garden? I'm waiting to plant until I get that figured out.

The weather's getting nice in the evenings, which is exciting. I think we are on week 10 of the 12 week challenge, so that's wrapping up. We're trying to figure out how to keep in shape once it's over (we're not signing up for the next one). Anyone who lives in town and wants to join us in exercising, let us know!

math

I read something in an article that reminded me of a sign I almost bought at a tourist trap. It read, "There are three types of people: those who can count, and those who can't."

By the way, would you want this guy teaching your future doctor?

Here goes a quote from this article (emphasis added):

But Dr. Bill Sears, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, is a proponent of total elimination diets to allow continued breast-feeding. "It's only been in the last 10 years that it's been appreciated that these babies don't have just colic," he said. "A colicky baby is a hurting baby, and 90 percent of the time they hurt for one of two reasons: Either they have a food intolerance or reflux or both."