Laundry Baby: A Musical Interlude

Laundry Baby

A parody of "Broadway Baby"
(If you're not up on your show tunes, you can find the music here)

I'm just a Laaaundry Baaaaby...

Workin' on two tired feet

Folding towels and fitted sheets

So they will be cleeeeean...

Laundry Baby

Sorting whites from greens and blues

Soaking and pretreating poos

To get them all clean.

Hey!

I'd love to lay 

Beside the bay

Oh, dressed all in white!

Indeed.

Somebody peed.

And now I need

To get my whites bright!

Someday maybe

Children will be old and grown.

Jon and I will be alone...

But we will be clean!

Hey, Mr. Beet Juice, Sir!

And you, Grass Stain, too Sir!

I don't need a lot

Only what I got

Vinegar and Borax to get out that spot!

Someday maybe

We'll have robots do it all

But 'till then, the task must fall

To one tired mama

Washing shirts, jeans, and pajamas,

All to Get. That. Laundry. CLEEEEEEE-AAAN!

A note to Future-Katie on loving people

Sometimes you just have to love someone (the verb) and the feelings come later.

I rocked and bounced and nursed and changed diapers for about eight months before I had consistent warm fuzzy feelings when I looked at Gus-Gus. I mean, there was a flicker here and there, but it was mostly like, "I think I am going to love you someday." The default feeling was, "I worked way too hard to get you here for you to die on me now, so I guess I'd better get up and make sure that doesn't happen.

Sometimes I get all guilty and ashamed because I don't like or love someone very much. I'm pretty sure everyone (or most everyone) has favorite people, which means we also have lots of people that aren't our favorites. I spend a lot of my time thinking, "So-and-so is really nice. I should really hang out with her/do that nice thing for her. I wish I was a nicer and more friendly person. If I were Katie-with-a-heart-of-gold, I would become fast friends with people immediately, and remember everyone's names, and write thank-you notes, and make meals for people when they're sick. Alas, apparently I do not have enough room in my cold, cold, heart for another task, no matter how noble it is. Because if I did, obviously I would have done it by now, right?"

Katie-with-a-heart-of-gold, friend to all woodland creatures.

Future-Katie, are you listening? STOP DOING THIS.

Just do that nice thing that Katie-with-a-heart-of-gold would do. Even if it feels awkward. Even if you feel guilty about not doing it two weeks ago.

Because sometimes you do the nice thing, and magic happens. That person becomes one of your favorite people. They are really grateful, and you get relationship XP, and the next thing you know, you're bosom companions.

And sometimes, you do the nice thing, and it's just awkward, and you and that person remain not-exactly-friends forever.

But either way, you loved that person. Because love is a lot more about what you actually do than how you feel.

I mean, don't become a Stepford-Smiler or anything. Don't bury hurt deep inside and become bitter, acting like you love someone and despising them in your heart. But if you don't have the purest, most-honorable feelings before embarking on a noble deed, it's ok to still do the noble deed and let your feelings catch up later.

As Kara once said, "Feelings are a lot like kitty-cats. They're fun and snuggly, and good to have around. They are not bad. But you can't let them run the house. Otherwise the bills would never get paid and the house would be a mess." Kara is a wise woman.

Also, Future-Katie? Remember the pixie cut disaster. Do not repeat.

Love,

Thirty-minutes-ago-Katie
(ok, An-Hour-Ago Katie. It took thirty minutes to make that MS Paint illustration.)

Good Friday: A Disciple's Psalm

Where are you, Father? I cannot see you.
We are lost.

I am worn out from groaning; 
all night long I flood my bed with weeping 
and drench my couch with tears. (1)

What have we been building, all this time? What have we been working for?
We have left our homes, our families.
We have given our time, our prayers, our money, our families.
We saw His power, we recognized His greatness
We believed He would change the world.
And now we have nothing.
The world is the same, and we have nothing.

Our wound is incurable, 
our injury beyond healing. 
There is no one to plead our cause, 
no remedy for our sore, no healing for us. (2)

How could we have been wrong? Your power was so clearly with him.
He did marvelous, amazing things.
He changed us - changed me. We knew he could change us all.
He changed so many, but they have all left.
Some are teaching others - some have lost faith.
Our numbers are few, so few.
So much fewer than the hundreds, the thousands; we are scattered.

Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire. (3)

Where are you, Father? What are You doing? What could You possibly be doing?

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (4)

Where do we go from here?
Return home - try to teach what we have learned.
Or stay, clinging to each other as those stranded at sea
desperate, afraid, and hopeless.

How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, 
are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter's hands! (5)

How could this be the end?
We listened to Your voice. We followed You.
You led us here, and now we are lost.

Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? (6)

In everything, we have sought to listen to Your voice
and follow Your commands.
Have we done wrong?
Show me where we have faltered, and I will repent -
I will pay for it a thousand times over.
Only do not withdraw your favor from us;
let your presence remain with us.

Do not cast me away from Your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me. (7)

They have murdered Your servant, my Lord.
He was innocent and they called for his blood.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked 
swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (8)

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.(9)

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. 
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, 
so great is his unfailing love. 
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. (10)

I remain confident in this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. (11)

(1) Psalm 6:6\
(2) Jeremiah 30:12-13
(3) Nehemiah 1:3
(4) Psalm 10:1
(5) Lamentations 4:2
(6) Exodus 14:11
(7) Psalm 51:11
(8) Habakkuk 1:13
(9) Habakkuk 3:17-18
(10) Lamentations 3:31-33
(11) Psalm 27:13-14

Morning Dance Party: Jesus is My Friend

We haven't been posting the videos lately (Gus got sick, we went out of town, blahbity blah) but we have been dancing every day, and Gus has really come to expect it. I just say "Morning Dance Party!" and he smiles, and he gets all excited when I turn on music any time of the day. Resolution = success.

On Wednesdays I do all my church volunteer work, so it seems appropriate to dance to this today. I try to load it all on one day to help with boundaries and all that jazz...but I've done a lot already this week, so Gus and I might go to the park after all. :)

If you haven't seen this video...well, you're welcome.