Monday "off"

Although it's Monday, I'm feeling exhausted. Spent the last eight hours doing domestic errands with Betsy. That included yet another run to Home Depot and Ikea. At Home Depot I took an initial scout of their lighting department to see what I might use in the (old) Rectory to help it rent. There is a lot that needs updating there, and light fixtures are an easy target (so are the window treatments). There are some other details that will need to be addressed at the Rectory as well.

To tell the truth, I'm a bit annoyed that no one at the church has a made an effort to put eyes on the problem before this point. It costs us something like $1500 a WEEK when it's not rented, so changing a few sconces and window treatments is trivial. Of course, the place rented so easily last time that no one anticipated it sitting empty so long. I'm going to talk to our property management person tomorrow and see if we can formulate a plan. Organizing some kind of parish work part might be possible, but I suspect that it will take too long. We need to get stuff done ASAP. It will be an interesting exercise to see what's like to get this brick and mortar improvements to the (old) Rectory.

But the main purpose of the Home Depot part of the trip was to get trash barrels and the second part of the safety harness I need to scale the parapet on top of the bell tower. I'll need some other hardware before taking that risk, including a nice long and strong safety rope and the rope or wire I'm going to actually run up the pole.

I swung through the tools department to ogle a table saw. I've been lusting after one of these for a while. I've got several projects in mind for one of these babies. I need a little credence table, for example, that can hold a few prayer books.

Next we went to Ikea. We were quickly feeling overwhelmed, but did manage to buy some odds and ends to help our new home seem homier. Those included a few rugs, a dresser for the guest room, night stands for our bedroom, and other little bits and pieces. I also couldn't resist picking up some Elderberry juice from the Norwegian Food Market part of the store to see if it goes good with Vodka. Yes, indeed it does go well with Vodka. It's also distinctive enough to be a conversation piece when company comes.

Lest you think I've been completely domesticated with my trips to Ikea and signature cocktails, consider the dream I had last night. In it I went to Mountain Equipment Co-Op to buy climbing rope and a good knife. In the dream I spend a long time examining the various folding knives looking for the just the right blade. When you hold this kind of knife, it should beg to snapped open in a flash. It should give you the feeling of confidence, as though you could be that Man Vs. Wild guy. You want to think, yes, I could stake my life on this piece of steal.

Interestingly, I get the same feeling from the BAS I bought for myself at ABC a few weeks back. It's thinner than the pew editions, and has a vinyl cover instead of those crappy cardboard covers. Having that in my hands is real comfort. I feel even more confident with the American BCP, of course. So confident that I didn't even need it most of the time I was doing hospital chaplaincy, I had the relevant material memorized!

Tomorrow will be a big day. It starts with a walk through of the church with a contractor. Soon after that I'm having lunch with Doug C. (former Music Director at COTM). In the evening we are having dinner with (Betsy's) Uncle Michael. He often comes to Toronto on business and we try to get together with him when he does. He is a marvelous spiritual support for Betsy and me. The kind of man that means it when he says, "We are praying for you."

The more I think about it, the prouder I am of Sunday night's service. We really pulled together a marvelous liturgy. Better than I even expected. A lot of that was because Matthew did a fantastic job planning, preparing, and executing his parts. But the rest of us contributed our parts, as well. I'm looking forward to praising the whole team this week.

Right now I'm going to finish watching the Monday Night Football game that I recorded on my PVR while we were out at Ikea. God is really good to me these days.

-t