Thursday, March 5, 2009

Whole Wide World (Wreckless Eric)

In preparing for my Sunday School lesson, I have gone back to my card-making binge. It's like a recreational drug: something I do when I don't really want to get any of my actual work done because it's mildly overwhelming and slightly boring all at the same time. It's something that I can pass the time with and enjoy...but it's a little habit-forming. I've even pulled my roommate into the arts and crafts abyss (thankfully here I don't mean that dreadful song, with the nearly-as-dreadful music video) with my fancy cardstock and paper-cutter and silver metallic Sharpie marker. The thing is, it started with Sebastian's Valentine's card, and - back to my recreational drugs metaphor - has since spiraled into harder, more intense crafty things. The cardstock, paper-cutter, fancy lime green envelopes, photo stickies, and sharpie are all recent investments. In fact, there may be another experimental plunge into paper-making at some point. (Gasp!)

I now digress into a link to what I hope will be a clip from Reefer Madness. Something about it seemed highly apropos here. Hilariously enough, the narrator sounds like he could have jumped into Sid James' place from this Look at Life clip. Love it.

But yes: arts and crafts-like activities are highly entertaining. The fact that I've made this little book markers for my Sunday School class' lesson this week on personal revelation just proves that I belong back in Primary. I taught the CTR 5 class and loved every minute of it. I made them little cotton ball/paper clip sheep for one lesson on Ammon at the waters of Sebus protecting King Lamoni's flocks. They loved that one. There was a week before that when I made them little candy-filled paper bags that they decorated with me in class. It was the scripture about, "though your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow." Of course, scarlet and snow were both blank spaces and we glued red fabric flower petals and cotton balls into the space...and then tried very hard not to eat the candy until after closing exercises were done. I think I was the only Sunday School teacher in the history of my home ward to come for my lesson each week armed with my guitar. It was fantastic.
I suppose something has to take the place of the fact that I haven't gone out to buy muffin-making ingredients lately. Pumpkin muffins, in particular are the weakness. Of course, if decent blueberries or cranberries weren't so deuced expensive, I'd go in for some of those as well. I may need to make a last-minute run before everyone leaves for Spring Break and just sacrifice for my berried muffin craving. And a strong desire to bake.

College has domesticated me...I now find myself trolling the kitchenwares aisles in Target or getting excited to pass something like Pottery Barn Furniture or Williams-Sonoma. I've always had a fondness for window shopping (and actually shopping) in IKEA, but this has grown in the years since I've been away from home for such long stretches. I can only imagine what it'll be like when I have a flat come autumn (or summer...fingers crossed for the NMM internship!): resurrecting my rusty-yet-servicable sewing skills to make curtains (definition: I can sew a straight line and piece together a pattern, but I can't cut it out and I'm horribly impatient working with satin), or buying a cast-iron skillet to make cornbread. The real goal to test my domestic wings is that I want to orchestrate a full-fledged expat Thanksgiving Dinner. Make the turkey, bake the pies, make the cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, etc. It's a mission. A mission of the same calibre as trying to drive across the whole of Botswana for an hour-long TV show, or race a bike, boat, car, and public transport across rush-hour London.

...and now I have been sucked in by the lure of watching Top Gear on YouTube. Curses, interweb: you win this time.



"I'll get you next time, Gadget! NEXT TIME!..."

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