For the past 6 months, I have been trying a new way of shopping which involves menu planning according to store specials each week and using coupons to reduce the cost of the items we use. I spend about 3 to 6 hours a week researching, cutting and shopping. It’s a part-time job that pays very well. I’ve cut my food and household supplies expenditure from $600+ a month to $300 a month.

There are various sites to find shopping lists, coupons and ideas. In most of the sites, there are forums where I can find people who are a whole lot more interested in couponing than I am. Occasionally, someone will suggest something that is not ethical, ie copying coupons, faking a zip code to gain a coupon, etc., but for the most part these sites are self-policing. One of my favorite, and most helpful, sites is run by a very nice woman who intends her service to be a type of Christian ministry and writes from that perspective. In my own observations (and my own interpretation), several of her fans continuously praise her good deeds and fanatically police the threads for anyone who is showing a hint of less than perfect couponing behavior.  They, of course, proceed to call out that person and demand the comment be deleted.  These legalistic comments really have begun to bother me, because in the name of what is right and good, pride and judging have become the norm. If I were to create my own couponing site, which I am thinking about (it would be very limited), I would also struggle with comments and how to manage. However, I pray I would choose to let God be God and not micromanage or allow others to micromanage. In our daily lives, including shopping and couponing, we are all called to do what is right, work by the rules in place and treat each person (including cashiers, store managers and owners) as our neighbor.

So, ,this week I’ve been thinking about exactly who is my neighbor?  The answer came to me this morning: everyone, apparently! In celebration of another paycheck, I headed for the drive-thru line at Starbucks this morning, with Kirby riding shotgun. In the line in front of me was my “neighbor”.   God speaks through license plates, apparently. Too funny!

Are you a coupon shopper? I am! I’ve been into coupon shopping for many years, but got pretty serious about it during the recent market crash of October 2008. Funny thing is that, with two in college next fall, I had been thinking about trying to find a part-time job, but knew that my back/leg wouldn’t tolerate anything more than my current full-time job. As I became better at my shopping, I soon was realizing $200 to $400+ a month in savings: exactly what I had hoped to earn with part-time work. Want proof of that? My husband even agrees with me, so it must be true!   The one downside to couponing is that I have to be physically up to pushing the cart, which doesn’t always happen.  Actually, pushing the cart is one of the sure ways to fire up my compressed nerve.  Thankfully, I get out to the stores most weeks and my household can also help me out.

My typical week includes double coupon days at Rainbow (Wednesdays and now Saturdays), a trip or two to Walgreens for their many specials and register rewards and a trip to Target (usually every other week, actually).

Anyone else participate in this crazy fun? Oh, and my favorite website is: Pocket Your Dollars. It is run by fellow Twin Citian, Carrie Rocha. She does a great job with her site; it is easy to read and contains lots of coupon links. She’s on Twitter, too.  Check her out!

Time to start blogging again. I’m excited! Are you? I’m sure I’ve lost nearly all my readers. So I’ll just write for me. I am really happy about that right now. I also blogged more about this at my other blog, Be Strong in the Grace.

I used to blog a lot.  Back in 2004, it was my lifeline to people and conversations not available in my daily life.  Blogging was a way to work out many of my thoughts, reflections and questions.  For a while it poured out of me.  After about two years it tapered down.  Now, its rare that I post something to my blog.  I don’t feel badly about that except I regret not keeping up with a good thing.  I haven’t worked out all my thoughts, but I did wrestle through much of my personal religious history.  Now it’s there for all time, floating in the internet.  My interests have turned to more current events and I’ve found Twitter meets my needs better than blogging, at least for more immediate processing of events and ideas.  It has been rather ironic to meet a new Lutheran blogger through Twitter.  Her writing reminds me of the things I wrote about in my initial blogging days.  Most of the Lutheran converts I’ve discovered on the internet are men, but this one is a woman.  I’ve tended to keep in touch with many of the few good Lutheran bloggers and writers I’ve found over the years: Devona, Mollie, Elle…many more, and now Dawn.  So, I’m thankful to have found her and I really do treasure the sisterly fellowship of Lutheran women writers and bloggers.

Smudge has a thing for sinks and tubs.

My cat is sick. I’m one of those people who cares a little more about her cats than many. Why do I like cats? Many reasons, but one good one is because they purr. I especially like when I lay down and put them right on my chest. The sound can drown out my worries. Cats definitely know when you are sad… except when they are sick. Then its you coming to them and snuggling. This is sounding like a 5th grade essay, I know, but I am reflecting tonight on just why I love my cats so much. Since this illness began on the weekend, I’ve held off  taking my sick one to the vet. Either he’s just sick and will get better or he’s dying. Either way, I just couldn’t bring him to a place that scares him. I am sure I’d end up paying $500 and either take home a recovered cat or end his life in a cold sterile place. Monday morning, I’ll head off to see Dr. Chuck or Dr. Bob; neither of them will rip me off and I will trust their judgment. If you’re so inclined, pray for Smudge.  In the meantime, I’m cuddling him and syringing Pedialyte into his mouth.  Good thing my babies are grown!

Update: Smudge’s breathing declined rapidly and he died late today. I did what I could, but he ended up having a tumor in his lung along with severely compromised lungs. I prayed for help and I received his swift death. God is still good.

Tonight we will send away 2009 and the 2000’s and welcome in 2010.  This decade was pivotal in my family.  We won’t be featured in any history in review, but I think our experience is fairly typical of many families.  My children grew to adults, I said goodbye to youth and faced the reality of mortality (40 to 50 is a huge change, admit it!  My hubby still thinks he’s 18, thankfully.), our daily lives became affected by the internet and cell phones, we discovered the great joy of the sustaining Gospel message as preached by confessional Lutheran pastors and finally found a real church family, I realized that the Republicans weren’t who I thought they were and Ronald Reagan’s shoes still haven’t been filled (and his absence is louder than ever), I became heartsick as I realized that I am (or was) participating in racism despite my denials and repented for that, I realized that much of the wealth of the 1990’s was a lie and stealing from our future ability to prosper, and finally, I have more hope now than I did in 2000 because I have learned not to put my hope anywhere except in Christ crucified for our sins.  Not in works, government, political parties, religious leaders, presidents, money, markets, objects – just Christ crucified.  I am hopeful in the next decade because most of the 18 to 20 year olds I know have their heads on straight and are humble before God.  My prayers will be for them to stay that way.

I love hockey. I love watching my son, Erik, play hockey. Even if he never goes any farther than high school hockey, I know that he will always enjoy the game.   It’s little wonder since I was raised in a hockey family.  I spent much of my time watching my brothers and my dad play hockey.   Girls just didn’t play hockey back then, so I figure skated and loved it.

It is my experience that hockey players never stop playing hockey. The many old-timer hockey leagues testify to that love. My dad is an accomplished hockey player, although he chose to leave professional hockey for a bill-paying, family-supporting career in financial planning. Actually, my mom tells the story a little differently; he got traded to somewhere in the southeast and she informed him that she wasn’t moving the family anywhere for hockey. Keep in mind that minor hockey league players in the early 1960’s made very little money. One of my dad’s favorite stories is the joy of winning a crate of General Mills cereal for scoring a hat trick during a game. It was standard practice for the winner to donate his crate of cereal to charity, but my dad brought it home for his family to eat!

A little background on guys who still play hockey

1966 St. Paul Steers became the nucleus of the 1967 World Team – my dad is second from the left on the top row. The guy with the eye patch now works at my husband’s high school as the athletic director. He had just LOST his eye to a puck a few days earlier, but kept on playing! Can you fathom that?

1967 World Team – There’s my dad with the lovely white helmet. It was a Swedish prototype.  Few, if any, players wore helmets.

The above photos are from Murray Williamson’s excellent autobiographical website. He writes:

In 1960, at Squaw Valley, the US Olympic Hockey Team won the Gold Medal . At that time it was an upset over a Russian team but even more so over a highly favored Canadian Team. At that time Canada and Canadian players dominated hockey at all levels. After that Gold Medal victory the US National and Olympic teams went on a six year drought. After successive 6th place finishes in 1965 and 1966, the AHAUS international Committee led by Bob Fleming and Walter Bush, accepted a proposal to make the USHL senior league St. Paul Steers, the nucleus of the 1967 US National Team. It was a team with proven success and a league to play in. Thus began a six year era, interrupted only in 1969, which returned USA Hockey back to a level of respectability in the International and Olympic arenas.

Another great resource for hockey stats, past and present, is The Internet Hockey Database maintained by Ralph Slate.

These guys still play hockey!

There is a good article in the Minnesota Hockey Journal, The Really Good Life , by Pat Sullivan. (click on the December 2004 archives and select the article name.) The article focuses on a more famous hockey player than my dad, but not because he was better. Wendy Anderson went on to become govenor of Minnesota.

Here is an excerpt:

They don’t play in front of sold-out crowds, but they used to. They can’t skate like the wind, but they once could. They won’t go short side with a 90 m.p.h. shot, but at a point in time . . . well, you get the drift. They are the Minnesota Old Timers and, at any age, they are one of the most accomplished collections of players around…So it came to be that a star-studded group of “has-beens” would meet every Sunday to play. Their equipment wasn’t going to be banished to the attic or the garage shelf. For them, many of whom were Minnesotans by birth, hockey was central to the good life in Minnesota and could never be turned off.

It wasn’t about the bright lights or big crowds. There would be no more of that, which was fine. The desire to compete, to get a good skate in, to put a pass on the tape, to score a goal, to stop a goal, those itches would never go away. With some of that great hockey fellowship after the skate to cap the day off, the good life would hum week after week and a hockey sunset would remain a distant thought.

A butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker. One of the more enjoyable aspects of seeing the Old Timers come together was the opportunity to witness new life chapters being written. They all knew what they once were. What had they become? Where were they going?

It is an impressive list of players, including former college players and/or Team USA players — Gary and Larry Alm, Craig Falkman, Mayasich, Jerry Melnychuk, Dick Meredith, Jack Morrison, Al Peterson, Bob Schmidt, Larry Stordahl, Austin Sullivan, Jim Westby and, of course, Anderson.

My dad is second from the right. Yes, he still wears a helmet, a more fashionable one, but they all took off their helmets for this photo.  Congratulations to my dad for being chosen to proclaim, “Let’s Play Hockey!” before tomorrow night’s home Wild hockey game.

He was chosen because he is one of the to play on both the Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul Saints of the International Hockey League in the  1961-1962 season.  My dad still plays hockey 2 to 3 times a week, and is an accomplished 4.0 USTA tennis player.

He has set for his family a fine example of living life to the fullest according to the gifts God gives you. I love you, Dad!

I was away from Twitter on the now infamous Balloon Boy Day. Is the father guilty? I don’t know. I am still not convinced that it was a complete hoax. It may have been a hoax gone wrong. I think the prosecution would have a hard time proving it beyond the shadow of a doubt to a jury. The basis for my reasoning comes from my experience as the parent of two very active children (now grown), and from years of working with young children with adhd, autism and other behavioral disorders. The sheriff, on the other hand, is already completely convinced the other way. Either way, that family is in for a very difficult time.

Today my son and I visited a small private school an hour or so north of us. It was a rainy, dark day, but it was a beautiful campus and pleasant company. We have a few more places to visit before deciding, applications and finances aside.

My extended family has been ELCA/ALC members for 35+ years at one of the largest churches in MN.  Just from family knowledge, I can tell you that two of the group of largest ELCA churches in the Twin Cities area have either already voted or are in the process (with clear consensus) to leave the ELCA.  Oddly, I don’t see this reported (yet) in the local news.    The votes are 100% due to the issue of clergy.  Over the weekend, I asked my father-in-law, a cradle Lutheran and lay leader, if his rural congregation had decided anything about membership.  He replied that since he is also a sinner, it isn’t for him to judge others.  Argh! The passive (passive/aggressive?) nature of the Norwegians is explanation enough for how remaining congregants justified the other issues for so long.  For myself, I left in 2002, mostly due to objections over lack of doctrinal teaching and formal instruction in confirmation (I was a confirmation leader, as well).  Communion diversity also bothered me, though I had never been formally instructed in the doctrine of close communion.  The other thing that had bothered my conscience was the replacement of Lutheran teaching materials with Reformed.  In a Lutheran church, you really can’t get much more diverse that to have a curriculum that states faith by grace alone followed up by the sinner’s prayer!

What opened the door to all this?  Well, first there was the Garden of Eden!  From the time that the snake suggested to Eve a different way to be with God, God’s people have always had to deal with false teachings and misleading notions.  From my layman’s research, the predecessors of the ELCA left the Grand Tradition long, long ago; its American roots are in the later 1800’s and can be traced back to Europe. (I highly recommend Smith and Leppinen’s, What’s Going on Among the Lutherans, for a detailed explanation of how each synod came to be.)

As far as where any departing ELCA churches might go, the more conservative synods are nearly NEVER considered as an option.  Among even the most conservative ELCA churches, the doctrine of close communion is firmly rejected.  And the notion that women can be pastors is firmly rooted, even if rejected in practice.  We do get former ELCA members, but it is often our day school that draws them to our church.  My own current church is one of the largest ELS congregations in the country, even at a fraction of the size of my former ELCA church.   Both giants in their respective synods, my old church lies down the road about one mile from my current church.  Most in the ELCA have never heard of the ELS, let alone our church.

Excellent post by Lars Walker at Mere Comments, Confessions of a Lutheran Refugee.