The Saturday Six

One.

Anyone else have a case of nasty winter feet? Ryan was unaware that this was even a thing. It is not fair - NOT FAIR, I TELL YOU - when guys have perfectly smooth feet. Like a baby's bottom. Ryan doesn't "do" anything to his feet. No lotion, no soaking, no pedicures, no nothing. And his feet are perfectly smooth. Mine? the ones that I exfoliate in the shower and try to lotion now and then and stuff like that? Yeah. They could kill you like knives after a winter season. But my friend Cindy told me about her potion of putting a cup of Listerine, a cup of white vinegar, and adding enough warm water to fill up the little foot bath tub enough to cover your feet. Soak for 1/2 hour and then use your pumice stone (or whatever exfoliator you have) to rub off the bottom of your feet...and it actually works! The worst parts of it were: the smell of mint (gives me a headache) and cold feet (thanks, Listerine!!!) after it was over, but it really did work. My feet are no longer hazardous!!

Two.

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I have been reading the posts on Mundane Faithfulness and am learning much from the "encore" blogs they're posting from different places of Kara's journey with cancer. This particular one posted this week got to me, because it reminded me of how I used to have some really specific practices when it came to prayer...praying for certain people extra on certain days or times...and how I've gotten away from that. I'm convicted to return to these kinds of specific prayer. Thank you, Kara!! 

Three.

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Ryan and I are working on getting back into a regular workout routine, but I sense...sadly...a rough month of it coming up here, because May is my birthday month. {Tranlation: TREATS!!!!}  Sooooo...I was really excited to see one of my favorite bloggers, Katie Farrell, issue this 30 day Dashing Dish workout. I love it that it's really flexible, to fit anyone's abilities (3-5 days a week, depending on your fitness level and a choice for each day that doesn't REQUIRE that you have a gym). So I'm going to do it! It starts Monday. Who wants to join us?

Four.

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I found this post this week by Emily Freeman...and while my husband is not quitting his job {that he's mentioned, anyway}, I found the insights within her words well-timed for my own life transition. Always good to remember that while I might think I know what's coming - even in the unknown - God could have a completely different agenda that I haven't even seen yet. Thanks, Emily!!

Five.

Kind of excited about THIS news!! I've read Shauna's blog for a while now, and a new HGTV show?? OKAY!!!
 

Six.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that with the fullness of life lately...with all the pending changes...you know what I needed? {Besides Jesus, Ryan, and coffee, of course...} Some fun, light-hearted reading. Enter: Nobody's Cuter Than You...the latest memoir by Melanie Shankle.

Melanie blogs over at the Big Mama blog. {Side note: if you should happen to Google her site from your place of employment, especially if said employer has good internet filters, do be sure to Google "Big Mama Blog" because simply searching "Big Mama" will get you a big fat "site denied" in no time.} {Not that this happened to me.}

I read Melanie's first book, Sparkly Green Earrings, right after Ryan and I were married, and while it was a book about motherhood and I'm not a mom, I found myself nodding and underlining and laughing hysterically at her stories. {The one about her then-very-young daughter telling her she might want to do something about trimming up her facial hair stuck in my brain and still makes me giggle. I'm sure she'd be relieved to know THAT is the story I regularly conjure up out of all of them.}

Nobody's Cuter Than You is a memoir about friendship, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting {through her stories} the friends who shaped her into the woman she is today. From Lindsay Letterman, the first friend she ever remembers meeting in kindergarten, to her beloved Gulley, the best friend she met in college and kept for life, Melanie let me peek into the lives of the people who loved her and the things that formed, grew, and sometimes tested their friendships. She also reminded me of why face-to-face friendships cannot possibly be replaced by FaceTime friendships, and her words inspired in me the desire to return to those in-person investments the world seems to have pushed away.

Her words are wise, including reminders that "friendships are fragile and we need to handle them with respect and reverence," and her stories are hilarious. {You'll want to especially find the story in which Melanie and a prospective employer happen upon best-friend-Gulley, sawing logs on a couch in a hospital lobby.}

Melanie made me think {with fondness} about the friendships in my life, past and present, and she reminded me that "having your soul knit to another isn't for the faint of heart." But she also reminded me why it's the craving of my soul.

Heaps of wit and a good measure of wisdom is what I found printed on these pages. I'm glad I read it - especially right now - and I'm looking forward to reading the middle book in her memoir trilogy, Antelope in the Living Room, which is about marriage.