Quick Takes, Volume 46

Here are the Quick Takes sponsored by Jen at the Conversion Diary.

1. 
   
   I have been so busy since September, I just don't know if I will ever feel relaxed. I promise myself, no retreats in 2010! At least not the teaming part. I would like to go on a marriage encounter with my hubby and I might like to go on a Charismatic retreat. But no teaming. I need a year off.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   So many bloggers I have followed are checking out of bloggy land. I guess you can reach a point where you have said everything you have to say. I wonder if that would ever happen to me? It seems unlikely. I just need time to say things better. And not having grandchildren at this point and having my son grown already and doing okay and having my mom still living on her own and nobody else except hubby who spends his own time on computers I hope to have more time in the new year to do it better. I intend to shake things up a bit, get a new look, a new outlook. (I would love to see an English teacher take on that run-on sentence starting with a conjunction. Yes, Virginia, I do know English, I just don't care to use it all the time.) If I don't succeed then it will just be more same old, same old, and that's okay too. I have low expectations.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   I discovered some things about myself whilst out on retreat last weekend. I like to be with people in prayerful settings. I like to laugh with sisters in the Lord. I don't mind occasionally being the center of attention. I really should stop trying to be perfect, because it ain't so much gonna happen in this lifetime.
   
   
   
4. 
   
   I have a casual friend that I longed to be closer to. I thought if I could just get closer to her, I would have found a true heart friend. But, something happened in the past couple of weeks that revealed something to me about that person and my own longing to be her friend. I suddenly recognized that we would never be close friends. We aren't supposed to be, I think. (I will freely admit that I could be wrong.) But, I saw this person for who she really is and I recognized that I always thought she was better than I am, but that is not true. We both have our strengths and weaknesses. The part of her that resists intimacy with me is the part that makes me feel less holy, less worthy, than she is and that part is why we can never be really close friends. But I think we will always be friendly. {And, no, Old Woman, I am not in any way talking about you. This person I am speaking of has actually hugged before in real life.}  I guess that I found some more self-esteem this past weekend on retreat.  A gift from the Lord.
   
   
   
5. 
   
   I don't have a lick of Christmas in my house yet. Not a lick. (Lick isn't a word that I use in real life, but it seems to fit here for some reason.) And it isn't because I am so Advent holy. I almost put the cat with the Christmas lights at the top of the blog because at least I would have something decorated. But after about 5 minutes of that I decided that the cat from last year with the Christmas lights would be a lie because it would imply that I had done anything toward Christmas. And the truth is, I haven't bought a gift or hung a garland or lit a light or even bought the cards to send. I hope to do something about that this weekend. I hope to do something. Anything.
   
   
   
6. After focusing on the retreat for so many months I have no sense of time. I can't think of what week this is. I can't catch up. Time is hurling out of control. I don't feel like I need to slow down. I need to catch up. Run, run, run.
7. If you can be boring, or like to read boring or just want to join in please leave a comment for Boring posts for Saturday. That would be tomorrow. In bloggy time.