Friday, September 10, 2010

Methodist church....

I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school, all girls Catholic high school...it's why I have an undying love of all things plaid.

And while I was raised Catholic, once I was on my own, I stopped practicing any formal religion.

I don't knock formal religion, I think it does much good for many folks. And I don't wanna go further than that cuz I don't really like discussing religion or politics... we believe what we believe based on a lot of different life experiences.

So that said - I haven't been to church in a LONG time. A really, super, duper LONG time.

Furry's mom, my mom-in-law, goes to a Methodist church and while Furry was bonding with his buddies... scratchin' their men bits and lettin' it all hang out... I told my mom-in-law I'd go to church with her.

I know it means a lot to her and it's an hour of my life. What else am I gonna do in the Quad Cities? Oh, I coulda gone along with Furry but I wanted to give him time with the fellas on his own. I didn't need to see the other fellas scratchin' their men bits.

I was a little nervous about church. Images of spontaneous combustion were floating around in my head....

I took a deep breath and walked into this pretty little church in Milan, IA.

My shrivelled blackened soul didn't burst into flame!

I didn't fall on the ground writhing in pain!

There was no smell of brimstone or sulphur!

Heyyyyyyyy - so far so good!

I met a lot of my mom-in-law's friends I hear her talk about. She introduced me to most everyone and I met the women who will be finishing our quilt. (Remember that mom-in-law / daughter-in-law quilt I'm working on? Everything is being hand stitched. Mom-in-law taught me how... her stitches are beautiful and mine look like a drunk squirrel tried it's hand at sewing. My mom-in-law finished THREE quilts in the time it's taken me to complete my half of our one quilt... that quilt?)

The women hand stitch the quilt. Their work is beautiful. I was able to see the room it'll be completed in and the loom (or whatever it's called) our quilt will be stretched across while it's worked on. I shook the hands of the women who will stitch it together bit by bit... the ladies are 88 and 91. Tiny little bird hands... paper thin skin... joints disfigured by arthritis. Amazing hands.

Mom-in-law and I worked on the quilt while I was out there. I have all my rows stitched together and now I attach them to each other and put a border all around. I'm giving myself 3 mos. to get 'er done and shipped to IL to put in the quilt line for the church ladies. They aren't gonna live forever ya know. It lit a fire under my ass.

Wait, wait, WAIT a stinkin' minute here.....

.....maybe there WAS a little hellfire scorching my un-religious butt?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Shanster: Just a question, with all this traveling you've been doing, who looks after the goats? Don't they still need to be milked twice a day every day?

That's the biggest concern I have is leaving my animals in someone else's care. Although I'm lucky to have a couple of pony club teens that live just around the corner from me so they have been able to help out when I'm gone.

Shanster said...

Hi mommyrides! Absolutely they are still milked 2x a day! Furry was home while I was in TX much to his chagrin... tho' it makes him extra happy to have me home so he doesn't have to milk anymore!

He and I rarely travel together cuz of the work around here but when we do, we have a FABULOUS pet sitter.

She is ultra responsible and while milking is not her favorite thing, she does it and we treat her well for coming to stay at our place! We bribe her with lots of good food and wine in addition to paying her.

Tho' she is usually booked so there are no last minute long weekends for us we have to plan in advance ... we booked her for this trip in July!

Anonymous said...

Going to church allowed you to meet these amazing women. Maybe you were supposed to go for that reason.
Good luck with the quilt.