The Loftin Show

Killer Spider Pics

2011-07-14T10:37:00.001-04:00

For those awaiting pictures of the spider mentioned here...

The only way I had to trap the spider overnight.
It's legs curled up, so all you can see is the massive body. Well, and one leg got "removed" by the mug landing on it. Haha, when I lifted the mug that next morning, all I saw was the one leg on the floor. Definitely thought the spider had somehow escaped til it dropped down from being stuck on the inside edge of the mug. Delicious.

Intro to Flying Goldfish Lessons

2011-07-12T22:27:00.000-04:00

I'm currently in a season of full-time support raising for my new job as a Candidate Coordinator at Pioneers. You can follow along with me here as I begin to share some of the lessons I've been learning.

Google+ Pressure = More Blogging!

2011-07-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

Now that I've got a link on Google+ I feel pressure to not just think about blogging, but to really get going. So that I feel freedom from my perfectionism... These posts will be random snippets from my life with no other common thread than they're part of my life which a college friend affectionally called "The Loftin Show."

Here we go! (again) :)

I'm worse than Bob!

2011-05-14T01:26:00.002-04:00

I just had a 15 minute stare down with a ginormous spider here at my parents' house in the woods of rural Alabama. It was on the wall, but not a flat wall where I could slap it and kill it with a shoe. No, it was on the one "original" walls of this shed turned "bunk house/cottage" that has deep and wide indentions, so I couldn't get to it til it crawled to the floor. I had NO weapons other than some decorative mugs my mom had put out here, so my plan was to just cover it with a mug since I cringe at the thought of a crushed bug underfoot, not to mention the size of its big black body was like my ring finger knuckle! Well, slow poke spider decided to gain some speed all of a sudden, thankfully in the direction opposite me, but unfortunately that put him back on the wall. Ugh! I stood there and stood there watching it, because there was NO WAY I could go to sleep out here with that thing still alive, but if I left the bathroom to get a better weapon he'd totally seize the opportunity for a quick escape. At the last minute, as it crawled across the door to my bedroom, and just before I started to scream and yell "DIE!" I got in a few good sprays with my Nioxin Root Lifter. It was either that or my Clinique Happy and the root lifter is less expensive, plus it's not in a glass bottle lest it be dropped in the midst of battle. I'm not sure if it was the stickiness, the fumes, or simply the shock from the spray, but the awful beast slowed down enough for me to yell "die" several more times and squirt it incessantly until he made his way back to the ground where I was poised with the Better Homes & Gardens mug. Who knows if its dead or alive, but I am certain that I'll be safe for the night. Ah, what an adrenaline rush!

Assuming the nasty thing is still there in the morning, I may post some pictures. Either way, I hope Bob never has to stay in the bunkhouse alone. He'd never make it out alive.

Personal Space

2011-04-04T15:04:00.000-04:00

I'm currently homeless, by choice, but homeless nonetheless. This has it's ups and downs. One positive is that I will indefinitely be free from the responsibility of cleaning the bathroom. And while that in and of itself makes the uprootedness bearable most days, today I've realized that I'm missing personal space.

It's not so much that I need time away from people or that I need them to not stand so close to me. :) I think I miss feeling freedom to relax somewhere. And maybe that's not even it, but either way, I was about to send out an email to my Core Prayer Team asking for them to pray for God to provide relief in some way from this stress of not having a personal space when the girl I'm staying with tonight randomly told me that her husband is going to be out late this evening, so it's just us.

Perfect! She is even more of an introvert than I am, and they just got back from a long weekend away to visit his family, so I know that she'll be great with just chilling tonight and I will feel free to relax. Thank you Lord for knowing what I need before I even ask. You love me so well!

What's in a name?

2011-03-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Maybe I should have heeded the warning.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

2011-03-17T12:58:00.000-04:00

What do you do when you discover this morning's coffee in the microwave at 3:47 in the afternoon?

You re-heat it, again, and add a little 'a this...

And a little 'a that...

And enjoy as you realize, yet again, that thankfully you ARE becoming your mother after all. :)

Collaborative Painting with The Jennifer Smith Gallery

2011-02-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

This is my contribution to the collaborative mural that was created at The Jennifer Smith Gallery's booth at today's Parents Palooza event. I may or may not have been 20+ years older than any other contributer, but I don't think that matters when you can't tell the difference between my painting and theirs. ;)

Thoughts on life as a "Stay at Home"

2011-01-27T12:08:00.000-05:00

What's on my to-do list? The most exciting things for today include

1) working on the upper left corner of this puzzle...

2) soaking my kitchen trashcan in bleach-water and then scrubbing it clean...

3) and reading back through my Perspectives books. My goal is to be caught up with weeks one and two by the end of the weekend. When I took Perspectives four years ago, I had no one to discuss the articles with, but I now have several friends taking the class, so I want to take advantage of this opportunity. Plus... I have a little bit of extra time these days. :)

Strengths Finder 2.0

2010-03-20T17:52:00.000-04:00

I've heard about this book for the past several years, but thanks to a friend of Cafe 1040, I've now been presented with the perfect opportunity/excuse to purchase it! :)

At the end of April, this kind gentleman will bless our International Staff with a group analysis of our strengths and how we can best work together. In preparation we each are to take the Strengths Finder test which I did today.

After all of the warnings to put what you truly are not to select what you wish you were, I nervously opened the website to begin my test. I HOPE I did it right! Haha, how on earth could I have done it wrong, right? (Somehow the more they warn me to go with my gut and the first answer that comes to mind, the more I second-guess myself. Ah! Such stress these self-report tests are to me!)

Thankfully, I realize that there are bigger issues in the world, so I jumped in and took the test. It only made me skip ONE question, which was an incredible success for me seeing as how they only allow 20 seconds for each answer... and really, I think the one that I took too long on was when a phone call distracted me. After successfully completing 99% of the questions, I was informed that the following are my Top Five Themes:

Learner
Belief
Competition
Intellection
Strategic

I'll post the explanations for each separately, but assuming I didn't unintentionally give false answers, these probably explain alot about me. :)

Pre-Neti Pot

2009-12-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

Alright friends... I've had sinus contents for the past 6 weeks+ and I'm ready to be able to sleep well again. I'm done with my eyes being an outlet for my sinuses and I'm done with my throat being a drainage pipe, so I'm finally gonna' try the Neti.

I was at least 17 before I really got okay with blowing my nose, so this is a fairly big deal for me, but so far 99% of my advisors have said they swear by the Neti Pot, so here goes nothin'!

So I like to plan

2009-11-08T22:33:00.003-05:00

Actually, I like to plan so much that sometimes I enjoy the fact that I've coordinated my schedule more than enjoy the events that I've got scheduled. And, YES! Of course I've already purchased and begun filling in my 2010 planner. You better believe it is color coordinated with my new work journal. (I also love buying journals... not really the writing in them part. I just like office supplies in general, but this journal was justified since my boss told me to buy it!)

This weekend I had zero plans which was perfect for this introvert who has a FULL week planned out. First, I'm hosting a dinner party on Monday night. Then Wednesday I'll be joining a couple for dinner at their new house. Thursday is Italian Wine Tasting at the High Museum of Art. And Friday night is dinner and a night out with my Spain friends in honor of Robin's visit this weekend!

I just love going over and over "the plan" in my mind, and I can't wait to make sure all the particulars are recorded on the appropriate day in my planner. :)

Curtains are up!

2009-11-07T12:55:00.009-05:00

Last night my trusty screwdriver and I successfully installed a curtain rod.

Due to my lack of a power drill it turned into a lengthy process during which a few screw heads got stripped :), but I enjoy fixing stuff and being handy (including changing the power cord on our dryer), so it was a very relaxing way to spend the evening.

Food, Inc.

2009-08-15T01:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I get a little confused

2009-06-22T22:53:00.003-04:00

Like... why did this recipe call for 2 (12-ounce) cans of refrigerated buttermilk??? I've made it before and just could not remember in which step the buttermilk was used. (This was while I was at the grocery store attempting to fulfill one of the last items on my long list.) For the life of me I could not find canned, refrigerated buttermilk. There's canned evaporated milk and canned sweetened condensed milk, but no canned buttermilk. Deciding that even though I couldn't remember using buttermilk last time I made this recipe, I should probably still purchase all of the ingredients so that I wouldn't have to return to Publix (where I quite successfully avoided having the bagger walk me to my car! YES!!!) So I got my jug of buttermilk, that was the best I could do instead of 2 (12-ounce) jars, and my one roll of 10 biscuits along with all the other items on the list and proudly returned to my temporary home where my confusion was suddenly cleared when I re-read this...Guess I'll have to stop by the store again after all. :)

Christian World-Famousness

2009-06-19T19:10:00.003-04:00

This week has been a big week for me... I both met a great connection for getting on Dr. Michael Youssef's calendar (ref. Church of the Apostles and Leading the Way) and apparently have Steve Fee's cell phone number.

Is this how Christians name drop?

Do you think I'm cooler now?

Would it affect your opinion if I told you that I've been asked for my autograph before? :) It's true. And it was in that moment that I realized (thankfully at a very young age) we're all just people. No matter how many people know your name or listen to what you have to say or sing (I was on choir tour in Europe... Fee probably knows how I felt in that moment... huh... we could totally bond over this) we're all just people.

I definitely do not want to discount the ministries of these men, but I do want to challenge our concept of those who are famous. As in, I have a receipt in my hand for Steve Fee's Starbuck's order. Why does that seem any cooler to me than the other Starbuck's receipt (my boss's) from that same meeting? And why do I feel the slightest bit impressive since I might get to meet with Dr. Youssef? I'm sure it doesn't make Jesus feel too loved. Or does it? Is it out of respect for Dr. Youssef that I want to meet him? And that respect comes from how he handles the truth of Jesus? So, is that honoring to Him?

Don't you just wanna' sit and sip your Starbuck's as you pick His brain and hear His heart on stuff like this. :) Haha, the Trinity must get some good laughs out of my logic! :)

Happy Weekend to you 3 readers out there. Feel free to share your thoughts or even any famous Christian people with whom you have a unique connection.

First things first

2009-04-12T22:53:00.003-04:00

I'm moving. To Birmingham. And what am I concerned about? That's right, finding a good radio station. Ask me if I have a place to live or any clue about how my big heavy furniture is going to get over there. Is that what's on my mind? Nope, apparently finding that new favorite radio station is at the top of today's list.

Oh the irony...

2009-03-11T18:19:00.003-04:00

Haha! I just have to laugh. Not two minutes after posting that last entry, the pressure washer came back to life. :) I'm really glad these guys have had such great weather to do their work these past two weeks, but I'm gonna' be even more glad the next time that it's warm/cool enough to have the windows open and they're not here.

Soothing Sounds of Traffic

2009-03-11T17:43:00.004-04:00

Sitting on the couch at home, taking a small break from work, nursing a headache, and enjoying the cool air and traffic sounds as they drift in through the window. It's a nice change from earlier when some men came by using leaf blowers to clean the building. I guess that saves them from using ladders???

All I know is that I seriously considered being "that girl" and getting up to close the window in their faces, but in order to not offend, I opted to silently watch my curtains flap around and hope that the two vases of flowers didn't blow over.

I am now truly enjoying the beautiful sounds of rush hour traffic.

On another note, tomorrow morning I'll be up bright and early to drive to Wilmington, NC for a week-long visit with my best friend and her husband. They just moved there, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they've decorated their new place (that I got to help pick out!) Maybe I'll post some pictures. Grace can help me figure out how while I'm there. :)

Who Knew?

2009-01-07T21:58:00.001-05:00

Haha, well I just re-discovered that I have a blog. :) Yes, you read that correctly. I have been told several times that I should have a blog, and I guess one day I actually created one; however, I never did post. Nor do I remember when I created it...

I'm not sure when or if I'll write anything on here again, but I do enjoy reading other people's blogs, so we'll see what happens. Mainly, I'm concerned that I'll just start typing and end up saying too much. God has graciously been developing a "filter" that fits nicely between what I'm thinking and what I actually say, but will that same "filter" work when I'm writing?

Deep thoughts.
I know.