The Big Move-Out--the Continuing Saga

I wrote earlier about the big transitions going on at the Iliff house.  Two of our children moved to their own apartment.  For the first time in nearly 30 years none of our children are living at home.

We made the decision to turn one of the bedrooms to Stephanie's activity room.  So, a week ago, she spent much of the day painting.  One of the bedrooms had a color scheme heavy on orange and blue—our younger daughter’s choices.  We opted for a more conservative look—cocoa brown.   That was completed and several furniture items were moved in.  It looks nice, even if the walls are a little bare at present.

While she was concentrating on the paint job, I had four jobs:

1. Cleaning the garage.  I made a good start on this, but there’s still a lot more to do.  The first task is getting the workbench into shape before attacking the various piles.  I'd hoped to get a car in the garage before the first big snowfall, but that was too optimistic.  But I’ve got all day Thursday and part of Saturday to attack it--maybe I can still make it happen.
2. Buying desks for each of us.  That’s one project I’ve completed to everyone’s satisfaction.  I found desks, both on sale, that should serve our purposes very well.  Of course, they needed assembling, my project last Thursday evening.
3. Fix the light.  There is a very nice ceiling fan with a light in that room, but the pull-string switch no longer worked.  I took it apart with no difficulty and found the broken part.  The real trick was getting it back together with a new switch installed.  I had to undo quite a bit of my work when I’d discover I left out some part or did the steps in the wrong order.  I eventually got it all together again—and the light even works!
4.  Find window coverings.  We found new blinds at Menard’s, but we’ve had a hard time finding a valance.  I guess Steph is taking this job away from me.  She said she was going to start looking online.

So on Thursday, it’s back to the garage (unless Christmas decorating, office cleaning, laundry, yard work, etc.) gets in the way.  I do have a knack for starting a job and not finishing it.  But at least we’ve made progress!

The physical rearrangement of our house has been fun, but it’s the emotional and relational rearrangement that’s actually been more interesting.  I’ll delve into that in my next post.

Christmas Curmudgeon

I’m a Christmas curmudgeon.  I am.  And I’m proud of it.  An unapologetic Christmas curmudgeon.

I see the rampant consumerism that’s all but taken over the Christmas holiday.  I see all the effort and energy expended on things that seem beside the point at Christmastime.  And I see the instances of uncivil and anti-Christmas behavior all around.

And it’s not just the pepper spray and mob mentality.  It’s the uncaring, selfish attitudes that many have, even at this time of the year.  I have three family members who work retail.  I’ve heard their stories of snotty customers who think that it’s a major crisis (and the salesperson’s fault) that the store doesn’t have the sweater they want in their size and color.

But overall I think I’ve been quite magnanimous in my curmudgeonhood.  I’ve been walking past Christmas displays for over a month and haven’t intentionally knocked over even one of them.  I’ve shown great restraint in not shouting “Turn off that crap” when I hear yet another sappy rendition of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas” playing over the store PA.  And I mostly kept my self-righteousness to myself last Friday when I drove by stores with parking lots jammed with cars.

But like most self-righteous people, I’m not terribly consistent in the application of my principles.  While I take perverse pleasure in turning up my nose at the Christmas grab-fest that began on Black Friday, I probably begin as many sentences with “What I’d like for Christmas is” as any other person.

Still, when it’s all said and done, I don’t allow myself to get too worked up about the drowning of Christmas under the tidal wave of consumerism.  I walk by the Christmas displays in October.  I close my ears to the insipid Christmas music.  Ultimately, the way I celebrate Christmas is within my own control.

I guess in some ways I’m like Linus in “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.”  In contrast to Charlie Brown’s angst and despair about the state of our Christmas observances, I try to keep as calm as I possible and proclaim in a simple and direct way the Christmas story:

“Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings

of great joy for all the people.

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.”

Hmm.  After all is said and done, maybe I’m not so much a curmudgeon as an idealist in disguise.  Joy to the world!

In the Ditch

Saturday morning, I joined eight other members of Middleton Community Church in our final roadside cleanup effort of the year.  Earlier this year, we adopted a stretch of Country Highway J a short distance from the church.  The road winds through rolling countryside, with farms, homes, woodlots, and fields all around.  It was a bit cool and overcast, but otherwise a pleasant day to be outside.

We divided into four teams.  Two teams started at the ends and worked toward the middle.  Two teams started in the middle and worked toward the ends.  When the teams met, they turned around and picked up the other side of the road.  A very sensible way to do it!

I worked with Dale Slusser, who’s been attending MCC for a number of years but only recently joined.  He went on our mission trip to Jamaica in June 2010.  He and I, along with Tim Coughlin, were roommates.  We called it the “old farts’ room” since we’re all, well, old farts!  He’s also a regular participant in our Interfaith Hospitality Network ministry, housing homeless families in our church building for a week, three or four times a year.

It was fortunate that Dale was able to be a part of our cleanup effort.  Usually, on the weekend before Thanksgiving, he’s in northern Wisconsin, hunting deer.  But the start of the hunt had to be delayed a day, since the landowner and hunting buddy had to attend his daughter’s wedding!  Poor planning on her part, we agreed!  Still, it was a small price to pay for such a momentous occasion.  Best wishes to the bride and groom in their new life together.

Dale won the award for the most trash collected.  I didn’t actually see all the other bags, but I can’t imagine anyone finding more stuff.  He picked up a lot of bulky stuff: cans, large sheets of paper and plastic, and a quart-sized beer bottle (who drinks beer in quarts?)  I seemed to specialize in cigarette butts.  I must have picked up about two dozen Pall Mall butts.  Whoever, you are: start using the ashtray in your car!

In about an hour, we were all done.  That project is done now until spring.  A small, simple way to keep God’s good earth more tidy and beautiful.

(Click here to see pictures of our clean-up on Middleton Community UCC’s Facebook page.)

A Fall to Remember

Yikes!  Can it really been so long since my last post?  Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything.  I’ve never been a diary keeper, so daily (or even weekly) posting hasn’t become a habit yet.  I’ve got a number of articles in mind now, so I should be set for the next few months.  Here’s the first one.

It’s been an eventful fall for the Iliff family, with a number of past and future happenings:

1.     Graduation.  On September 22—his birthday—my son, Steven, received his Master of Business Administration from Globe University.  It was the culmination of a long process that began several years ago.  He was unemployed, one of many caught up in the economic downturn.  Unable to find a job, he decided to use his time to pursue further education.  Barely a month after he started school, he got a call from an employment agency, telling him they had a job for him!  So, for the last couple years, he’s been working by day and going to school by night.  His graduation was a great celebration for our family!

2.     Baseball.  It was great fun following the Brewers this year.  After a slow start, they found themselves in late July and went on an extended winning streak that eventually led to a division title.  It took me back to 1982—the year of Steven’s birth—when the Brewers also had success and qualified for the playoffs.  That year, I watched the playoffs with infant Steven swaddled and sleeping on my chest.  Unfortunately, the outcomes were all too similar—both years, the dreaded Cardinals sending the Brewers down to defeat.  But one thing was the same—I got to watch the games with my son.  Now, we’re focusing on the Packers.  Dare we hope for the same success this year as last?

3.    Empty nest.  Today, Steven and Sarah began “The Great Move-Out.”  Sarah, our middle child, moved back home this summer after several years in Milwaukee, attending school and working.  She made the transition back so that she could attend graduate school at UW-Madison in social work next year.  She’s been living with us for the last few months as she got her work and financial situations stabilized.  Steven, too had been planning to move out, but had had difficulty finding a roommate.  So they found each other!  Today (November 15) they picked up their apartment keys and began moving small and fragile items.  Tomorrow afternoon, Steven and I will move the big stuff!  He’s reserved a U-Haul truck that we’ll use to pick up their new furniture on the east side of Madison and to transport their belongings from our house to their new home.  I’ve told them they need to take everything with them.  If they leave it behind, it might not be there when they get back! 

The first order of business after they move out will be to clean the garage.  It’s been a warehouse for the last four years and needs to be cleaned and straightened up.  There are a number of things we need to get rid of, like an old chest freezer and a broken-down couch.  Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to get two cars in there this winter!

After the garage is finished, then we finish our remodeling work in the family room (trim work, touch-up painting, and a new big-screen HD TV) and convert a bedroom into an office/TV room/activity room (old TV and new desk goes there).  Down the road comes bathroom and kitchen remodeling!  They’ll be the subjects of extended postings when they happen.

It’s a time of great accomplishments, but also a time of big transitions.  We’re excited for our kids and also excited about this new chapter in our lives.  I’ll keep you posted!

Into the Woods

I just got back from a week in the north woods.  There’s nothing quite like it.  The majestic eagles flying over, the plaintive call of the loons, even the wind in the pines—I feel myself relaxing just writing about it!

In addition to my wife and I, we spent the whole week with my mother and part of the week with my sister, her daughter-in-law and her three-year-old grandson.  What a treat it was to spend time with them.  The three-year-old kept us jumping, moving from the sand to the water to the boats to his trucks and back to the sand.  But we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

It’s become an annual event, spending a week at Camp Balsams, our church-owned retreat just west of Eagle River.  The cabins were built in the 1920s and retain much of their rustic charm.  But then, we don’t spend a lot of time inside the cabins.  We went kayaking almost every day and walked around the lake (a little over four miles) every other day.

This was the first time in the ten years we’ve been making the trip that we saw a black bear.  But we didn’t just see one, we saw four!  We saw the first two while driving back to the cabin after supper out.  A mama bear and her baby ran across the road ahead of us.  We saw the other two during a brief trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Saturday and Sunday.  One ran across the road near us and we saw the other one outside the restaurant where we ate Saturday night (that one maybe didn’t count—the restaurant had a feeding station where its patrons could see the bear).

During that quick trip to the UP, we revisited the Porcupine Mountains where we had spent part of our honeymoon 31 years ago.  It’s a beautiful area, snuggled up alongside the Lake Superior shoreline.  We were treated to several beautiful vistas during our two days of hiking.  The final day didn’t end so well, however—my wife fell on the homeward leg of our walk and fractured her left arm—not the way you want to end an otherwise relaxing and enjoyable vacation.  Still, we were glad to go and glad for the experiences we had.

In September, I’ll be going back to Camp Balsams for a few days.  I’m already looking forward to it!

The Week of Cake

Last week, it was the Week of Cake.

On Friday, July 1, I conducted a wedding rehearsal, which was followed by a dinner at which they served a bread pudding (technically not cake, but work with me here).

Then on Saturday the 2^nd, there was the wedding, and of course after the dinner there was—cake.

Then on Sunday the 3^rd, we hosted fellowship time after worship, and since it was my birthday on the 4^th, my wife thought it was a good idea to serve—cake.

That afternoon, we drove to my older brother’s house in western Wisconsin to celebrate my mother’s 91^st birthday and, of course, they served—cake.

Naturally, there was leftover cake from Sunday, so a typical afternoon snack during the week was—cake (sometimes with ice cream).

Then on Saturday the 9^th, we traveled to Lake Sherwood in central Wisconsin and stayed at a cabin owned by my wife’s aunt and uncle.  There were close to 20 people there.  Naturally, one of them was celebrating a birthday, so we had—cake.

The final straw was Sunday, when we had a cookout to welcome home our 25-year-old daughter (she’ll be living with us for a few months as she establishes herself in the Madison area).  For dessert after the cheeseburgers, we had leftover pie from the weekend.

Nine straight days of desserts.  That bloated feeling won’t go away.  My shirt collar seems tighter than it was a week ago.  I’ve known for a while that I could stand to shed a few pounds (okay, more than a few).  This week’s orgy of sweets has made it clear to me that I need to make a change.

I know it will be a challenge.  For most of my life, I’ve been on the See-Food Diet—I see food and I eat it.  While it’s certainly been good, I am seeing more and more that it hasn’t really been good for me.

Two and a half years ago, we put ourselves on a financial diet.  Much like our eating, our spending had gotten out of control—little by little, we charged more to our credit cards than we could pay off in a month.  There was never a time we couldn’t make our minimum payments, but we didn’t seem to be making much headway.  So we set up a budget that put limits on our discretionary spending, targeted our loans and other debts for early payoff, and made sure we put something into our savings account each month.  We’re well on our way to being debt-free and also having money in the bank.  Quite a change from where we were in 2008!

Our progress in that realm will be inspiration for progress in another.  If weather permits, I’m going to go for a long walk this afternoon at a brisk pace.  I’m going to stay away from all desserts for a while and will try to be more moderate in my eating.

I’d welcome any “helpful hints” that have worked for you in taking off and keeping off weight.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress as well.

The Week of Cake has ended.  Here comes the Week (or Month or Year) of Health.

Concealed Carry

Welcome to the progressive state of Wisconsin.

On June 21, the Wisconsin State Assembly approved by a wide margin a bill allowing people to carry concealed weapons.  The State Senate had previously voted in favor of it.  If Gov. Walker signs it (and there’s every indication he will), the law will go into effect this fall.

If there’s any consolation, it’s the provision that carriers of concealed weapons must apply for a permit, attend weapons training classes, and not be a felon, a chronic drug abuser, or mentally ill.  These provisions were added in part because of concerns expressed by law enforcement officials.  Cold comfort, though.  We can now look forward to large numbers of people out in public being armed.

Only a few places are named in the bill as being “weapon-free zones”: police stations, prisons, jails, courthouses, mental health facilities, school grounds, and airports past security checkpoints.

Left off the list were city halls, parks, zoos, the State Capitol (don’t even think it), AND CHURCHES.   Yes, we can now look forward to church landscapes littered with “no weapons” signs.  A sad commentary on a nation with “In God We Trust” on its currency.

What really discouraged me was the rhetoric I found online.  I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I found very little in opposition to this change.  Most of the comments were from gun rights advocates who referenced the Second Amendment.  A few of them responded specifically to a question about guns in church.  Some were a bit uneasy about the idea, but many others seemed to have no problem with it. 

What was missing from their comments (including those who identified themselves as Christians) was any reference to words like “love one another as I have loved you,” “love your enemies and pray for them”—you know, words of Jesus.  He told us explicitly to abandon “eye for an eye” thinking and rather become agents of reconciliation and peace.  Hard to do when you’re packing heat.

Another verse I could quote is one that appears dozens of times in the Bible, sometimes in specific circumstances, other times more generally: “Don’t be afraid.”  Behind some of the rhetoric in this issue is fear.  This is perhaps a byproduct of both the news and popular entertainment that gives the impression that there’s danger lurking around every corner.  Certainly, there are things to be concerned about.  Certainly, we’ve all heard of instances when people were attacked, even in church.  But I refuse to believe that those events wouldn’t have happened, that we’d be safer, if we’re all armed.  I believe we’ll be LESS safe with everyone armed. 

I’ve never owned a firearm and probably never will.  That doesn’t mean I oppose guns categorically.   I don’t.  There are a number of legitimate uses for them, and every gun owner I know is careful and responsible.   But our state has now opened the door to a much larger presence of weapons in public.  I contend that this makes us all more vulnerable.  But even more, I oppose it because it goes against the core of what I believe in: the call of Jesus to be peacemakers, to be agents of reconciliation, to love one another.

If we all lived according to that philosophy, it would be a very progressive place indeed.

Looking Out the Window

Welcome to my first entry at "Looking Out the Window"!  I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts, concerns, questions, joys, and experiences--and reading your responses as well.

There are many things to comment on: political events, religious issues, societal trends, personal experiences, and other remarkable people or events that deserve a comment.

And during the summer of 2012, I'll also use this blog as a journal of my trip to England and Scotland.

Check back from time to time for my latest post and share your own thoughts with me!  I welcome a full exchange of thoughts and ideas but ask you to refrain from personal attacks of any kind.  All comments should focus on ideas and issues.  "Hard on problems, soft on people" is my motto and the philosophy of this site.

I look forward to the journey!