Wear your aprons and burn your candles!

Anne of Green Gables Chocolates

The Mountain Lake Observer may not be the most well-known newspaper in the state, but when I lived in Mountain Lake from 2000 to 2003 I was a fan of it.  Susan Meissner, the editor, wrote her weekly column in such a clever way that I looked forward to what she had to say each week.  Sue has now moved to California and is a full-time author.  I highly recommend any of her novels!  One year Sue wrote a News Year's Resolution column that was distinctly memorable to me.  She was encouraging her readers to "burn your candles."  Her goal for her new year was to stop saving things and start enjoying them.  She wrote about lovely china dishes that seldom got used and sweet-smelling pretty candles that sat in a cupboard.  She wrote about other special items she planned to start using.  This concept really hit home for me because I like to keep my nice things nice.  I save my new clothes and only wear them once in a while.  I save pretty stickers thinking I need to use them only for something super special like letters or scrapbook pages.  I put brand-new favorite books on my shelf and hardly touch them for fear of bending a page!  I hide away old art and pottery projects so I don't break them.  And, I save items from my years of traveling instead of enjoying them.  But, NO MORE!  You see from the photograph that I am now wearing my Anne of Green Gables Chocolates apron in my kitchen!  I am actually wearing it and using it!  It might get dirty!  It might get wrinkled!  But, I am enjoying it.  I got this apron in 2002 and am just now willing to start using it!  But, I love my apron.  So, my message to my readers..... "Start wearing your aprons.... start burning your candles..... start living life to the fullest!" 

A Tribute to Fire Prevention Week!

Cindy Lou and Kimberly

 Curious yet?  

A laundry basket?  

Dolls?  

Fire Prevention Week?  

Let me relieve your curiosity as I take you back... way back... to when Jennifer was a girl worrying about fires.  I had learned in school that we should have two ways out of each room and that the most important thing was to have a meeting place for the family to gather so everyone would know that everyone else was safe.  So, my parents talked me through all of that.  The little green shed was where we would meet.  My bedroom had a door directly to outside and a door to the hallway and a window I knew I could climb through.  Mom assured me that if there was a fire I would have so much adrenaline that I'd be super strong and be able to push aside the record player and speaker system that was placed in front of that outside door.  I believed her and had peace about that.  It's very important for an anxious little girl to have as much peace as possible.  And, girls like me, we need a plan!  So, I would lay in bed and rehearse my plan in case of a fire.  My yellow laundry basket lay on the floor near my bed.  My two favorite dolls were always near by too.  So, once I knew there was a fire, I would roll out of bed, grab the two dolls and throw them in the yellow laundry basket.  Then I'd crank open the window or use my super-human strength to open the outside door and I'd toss my two treasures out and follow closely behind.  This I rehearsed and rehearsed in my head.  I had my routine down!  Thankfully I never had to perform this doll-saving, meeting at the shed ritual that replayed in my head nightly.  Thankfully I grew up and stopped being so afraid of fires.  Perhaps new anxieties filled my mind instead as I grew  

Jennifer in third grade

older.  Now that I am an adult I get the priviledge of talking about fire safety with my second graders every year and answering all their questions.  It's amazing how many different "what if?" questions come up each year.  The best one this year was, "What if the Fire Station is on fire?"  As a teacher I get to teach my students the importance of having a meeting place too!  My husband Todd knows a lot more about fires than I do.  He had a house fire about 13 years ago.  Almost everything had to be replaced.  Most of the house had to be rebuilt.  Most of the damage was smoke and water damage.  Todd was able to recognize most items for giving a list to insurance.  Through that whole experience Todd learned that "stuff is stuff" and everything is replaceable.  I wonder sometimes if my "stuff" is too important to me.  I am so sentimental!  I still have that yellow laundry basket and those two dolls.  I love my stuff!  But, I know the verse from the Bible that tells me, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."