I had my first adventure with jury duty; I had never gone before!

Jury duty (for me anyway) involved an awful lot of sitting around, doing nothing. I was warned about this and brought books and a sketchpad with me. What they didn't say was what they'd do for lunch, and it wasn't until we got there that they suggested you pack a lunch and bring it! So when you go, bring money with you for food (there was a cafeteria and a McDonald's nearby) and take some snacks with you: cereal bars, bananas, anything you could snack on without bugging the people next to you and put away quickly if you were called suddenly.

I learned to...

Make friends. Everyone else there is bored out of their minds just like you. And basically nobody wants to be there, so right off the bat you have a lot in common. When we were dismissed for lunch (it was a slow day, so they gave us 2 1/2 hours) I headed down to the cafeteria and plunked my stuff down at a table. After convincing the cafeteria guy to make me some french toast (!) I went back to the table to find 4 other women sitting there too. It was the strangest thing; we never exchanged names but talked about everything from our jobs to doing something creative in our lives to religion. maybe being kind of anonymous made it easier for everyone to open up.

Speak up. I asked the jury selector guy nicely if I could be put on a short case since I worked for a smaller company, and I was determined a "hardship" case and got sent home the first day. So no, I never actually made it to be selected for a jury, but I did get to see a lot of the process at work.

On the way home, I got a little lost because I'm not the greatest with directions. I remembered something one of the women at lunch had pointed out, that on the way there was a "Smile" sign. I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, until I was lost and trying to drive and read a map at the same time. I looked up in desperation to see a huge building with the whole side painted black with "SMILE" painted in absolutely huge letters on the side. And then I knew just how to get home.

I gave a talk on Renewal for a wonderful retreat at my church. Although I'm no stranger to getting up in front of people, usually the words that come out of my mouth are not written by me... this was a whole different ballgame.

I learned to write, and rewrite, and practice over and over again. I took advice from the retreat leaders on how to make it better, and then I practiced some more. I was told a trick I knew from my diva days, of looking just over the tops of people's heads so they think you're making eye contact when you're too scared to do it for real. I printed my talk out in big type with lots of extra space and page breaks in just the right places. And then I wrote in the margins on every page:

Smile! Slow down. Look around the room. Breathe. {I'm not kidding.... on every single page. All over them.}

Before my talk started, a few women took me into a side room and prayed over me. I felt so much calmer and ready to do anything... and then I gave my talk and it was great! I didn't have to worry about looking people in the eye; I just said what was from my heart and it all worked out fine. I was given this piece of advice: Do your best and let God do the rest. And that's exactly what happened.

:: knitting

In my never-ending quest for knowledge, I've been learning how to knit. My first project was supposed to be for my 4-year-old god-nephew, but I misjudged a little and it fits me perfectly instead! (Subconsciously... maybe I wanted it to be too big!) So I've been wearing it and I just finished making a smaller one for Joey with a big meatball of a pom-pom on top.

Picking out materials can be intimidating... I started with #7 knitting needles and some yarn that was dyed different colors in the same ball... I figured that would be my starter set and when I had a real project I would get the materials I needed then.

I learn better when I see someone do it (and those instructions were greek to me), so I took my #7s over to my parents' and we had a little knitfest while we watched a Trading Spaces marathon. I started out doing a little swatch with mom. She taught me how to cast on, how to do a knit stitch and a garter stitch. (Basically, there's one stitch and you learn to do it forwards and backwards). We practiced variations: knit 1 purl 1 makes a seed stitch; done behind each other they make ribbing (like on the cuffs of a sweater). A row of knit followed by a row of purl makes the stockinette stitch. I learned how to take out my many mistakes and get back on track.

For my first project, I picked out a very simple pattern. (Here's the link.) The page proclaimed it was a "Kid's Cap First Knitting Project." What I didn't realize was that it wasn't a beginner's project to make a hat for a kid, it was a project for a kid learning knitting. I figured this was a plus; if a ten-year-old could do it, so could I! And I did!(Twice!)

I personally like stripey yarn because it makes for a very colorful project without having to switch to different colors of yarn. I made the two hats out of yarn that was dyed varying shades of blue and white; it made for interesting patterns. I now have a basket of supplies next to the sofa in the living room and a new hobby that's relaxing and creative.

:: making a fire

We've just completed our addition, and part of it is a fireplace. I honestly don't know what we did without it. Anyway, after a cold weekend when Paul was away, I realized I didn't know how to make a fire myself, so I set about learning right away. And who better to learn from than an Eagle Scout?

Important stuff: Always check that the flue is open first. A smoky livingroom is no fun. After that, you put your firestarters or newspaper under the grate. Then arrange your kindling and your logs on the grate. Light the newspaper {honestly, I used to think you lit the log on the top and it just magically started up} and reposition it with the poker if it's not catching fire. Other good things: make sure your wood and kindling is dry, don't ever use lighter fluid {ala Homer Simpson}, and make sure there is no poison ivy on the wood because you can breathe it in when it burns. Poison ivy in your lungs = bad.

After your fire is roaring and crackling, snuggle up with a polar fleece quilt. And then get the Boy Scout in your life to get you get a big mug of hot chocolate.

:: graffiti

This is not what you think! Graffiti is the language you write in to use a Handspring or Palm Pilot. You can get an idea of what it looks like here.

To help me in the almighty pursuit of organization, I now am the proud owner of a Handspring Visor Neo. It's smoke-colored. It's see-through. It lights up at night so that when inspiration strikes me at 2am, I can scribble down my ideas without getting out of bed {already done this} or waking up my hubby. This is part one of the great plan to sell my artwork: get organized. I have a list of promotional websites, a big to do list, and my little address book, and it's all right there in the palm of my hand.