Hello Company Girls and RevGals! Although I don’t know where the summer went fall is my favorite time of the year, and I’m very happy it’s on our doorstep. At RevGals for the Friday Five kathrynzj asked: What are 5 things that the beginning of September mean to you?

1. HALLOWEEN IS IN 32 DAYS!
2. I get to dress up!
3. Brilliant fall leaves
4. The wild feel the wind gets in the fall.
5. CREATIVITY: this is my most creative time of the year.

Not much has happened this week. I spent some down time after all the traveling we did in August. Maid service came in and gave the place a good scrubbing, and I am so happy everything is clean, and I feel like I can keep up now. The hot and muggy weather is back, so The Hubby and I decided to stay in this weekend. Plus we have plenty of projects to work on. I did buy hot dogs and we are ready to go on grilled dogs and burgers.

Happy Labor Day to those in the U. S., and I hope everyone has a good weekend.

How can it be September? is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Good morning Company Girls and RevGals! The Hubby and I are getting ready to leave for Las Vegas tomorrow for the Magic LIVE conference. There are classes and lots of performances. I plan on going to the performance, but I don’t want to be at anything where I might learn secrets. I don’t want to know how it’s done because I want what I see to be magic. We’re staying at the Orleans, which has a beautiful pool. When I’m not attending magic performances, you will find me poolside with a book and the notebook I’m writing my novel in, and an alcoholic beverage might be beside me as well. I’ve been saying for the last few months I plan on being poolside with a book and a mojito. But I’ve never had a mojito. Mojito is just fun to say: Mo-heeee-toe. So next week, I am going to see if I actually like mojitos, and if that would be my poolside, book reading beverage of choice.

This has been a great week. I’ve gotten a lot done. For three weeks in a row I posted to my blog, so I’m back to regular posting! Whoo-hoo! This week’s post is on Jesus and Syrio-Phoenician woman. For churches that follow the lectionary, this is the Gospel Reading, and I thought one of my takes and a friend’s take on the passage might help some pastors who want to preach the Gospel reading. I also wrote seven pages on the novel! And started translating Colossians for the upcoming editorial meeting I have with The Christian Godde Project. Plus there was all the shopping and glamming up to go to Vegas: I got a haircut and my brows done. Tonight I need to paint my fingernails. The toes still look great from the pedicure I got while we were in Nebraska.

Today I need to make a Target run to get the last few things we need and clean the house, so the cat sitter doesn’t have to walk into a mess (and I don’t have to come home to a mess). I want to write a few more pages on the novel today too, since I didn’t work on it yesterday.

Here is the reason why I thought today would be a good day for the Company Girls and the RevGals to get together. Terri made gratitude the RevGal Friday Five this week. She shared this powerful May Oliver poem then issued a challenge:

The Place I Want To Get Back To

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
and when they saw me

they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay,
let’s see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground, like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but, anyway, harmless;

and so they came
on their slender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring to me that could exceed
that brief moment?
For twenty years

I have gone every day to the same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering.
Such gifts bestowed,
can’t be repeated.

If you want to talk about this
come to visit. I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.

(Mary Oliver, “Thirst”, Beacon Press, 2006)

For this Friday Five I invite you to offer five gratitudes you recognize in your life.

Here are my five:

1. We get to take a vacation this year! (It’s been 2 years.)
2. The migraines are under control.
3. I’m back to writing and I have some great creative mojo flowing through me.
4. My husband: I waited a long time to get married, and he was worth every second of the wait. I am his ezer cenegdo: the power equal to him.
5. The gorgeous weather we’ve been having Chicago and getting out and enjoying it.

I have a favor to ask: if you have sometime this weekend, could you read my post on Martha: The New Testament Church: Built by homemakers like Martha? I’d love to get some feedback on it. Thank you.

What are you grateful for?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Because Company Girls and RevGals Should Do Coffee Together on Occassion is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Kathryn writes about vacations and staycations:

I’m wrapping up a two week vacation that has taken me from beach to basement.

WHAT?

It’s true, I took a week off of work to clean out the basement. Sadly, to look at a before/after photo would not make it look like my time had been used wisely. Just about everything is still down there, it’s just in a different pile. BUT… our church rummage sale this year is going to be very, very blessed.

I’m wondering if anyone else out there takes a week off of work to do a different kind of work:

1) Have you ever ‘staycationed’ in order to work on a project? If no, would you?

Yes. In fact, a couple of years ago I took the week between Christmas and New Year in order to clean out the office and other odd jobs that needed to be done but never got done.

2) What project did you or would you tackle first?

The office needs to be shoveled out and organized again. It’s the place where we throw everything that doesn’t have a home.

3) Any other projects?

I would also like to clean out the cupboards in the kitchen and get some things arranged in a more natural order of how I use it. Oh and filing–the mountains of filing that need to be done. Oomph.

4) What are the pitfalls of a staycation for you?

I don’t work on the projects, I use it as an excuse to watch TV and movies.

5) Never mind this staying at home business, where do you want to go and what do you want to do there?

I want to go to Ireland, rent a place and stay for three or four months. Living, writing, and exploring. In fact that is my long term game plan: to pick a region and go there live there for a few months then come back home. Ireland is just a the top of the list.

You can see what projects other RevGals are up to here.

RevGal Friday Five: What to Do, What to Do Edition is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

So, what’s up, Rev Gals and Pals [and Company Girls]?  How are you spending your summer?  (I know, some of you are in a different hemisphere and it may be chilly…sorry!)  Are you experiencing fire or floods or tornados?  Vacationing?  Working harder than ever?  Experiencing change?  Longing for change?

Share five things that are happening in your life, personally or professionally or some of each, in this season of life.

1. My big summer thing are all the sinus headaches and migraines I’ve been having this year due to the funky weather Chicago has been having. I’m not the only one, and it looks like we’ll just have to tough it out.
2. I’m determined to finish my novel this summer.
3. We’re going on vacation in August to Las Vegas for the Magic Live convention. Hello pool, mojitos and lots of great magic.
4. Trying to figure out how to grow more houseplants and herbs without using soil. Hydroponic units are expensive, and I’m thinking there has to be some sort of soil-less mix I can use in pots. I’ve been researching and hunting down viable options.
5. Looking forward to my glasses prescription getting in. Hoping it makes working on the computer easier.

To found out what other RevGals are doing go here. And go here to see what the Company Girls are talking about over their coffee.

RevGals Friday Five + Company Girl Coffee = Summertime Friday Five Fun is a post from: Shawna R. B. Atteberry