Huh. Nothing like a little Sunday morning church service to help me see the world from another angle.

So - what have my concerns been lately? Painting my classroom, thinking about school starting, playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, the community theater play I'm in, swimming, getting tan at the pool, my recent facial inflammation due to an allergic reaction to benzoyl peroxide, where to eat lunch with my kids, and Brent's preparation for his two-day RAGBRAI ride.

Pretty trivial concerns here. Not terribly life-affecting (except for the facial thing, I was on death's door...OK, not really, but I was pretty bad. I felt like a character from the 80s TV series "V").

So, then we take the crew to church and learn that another family is going to move to Belize in a year to continue ministry work. They're going to take over administration jobs at schools in the village there. They've been firmly entrenched in the church here, the town here, they have jobs, etc. And now they're moving to an impoverished country to help the less fortunate.

Sort of puts my issues on a lesser scale, eh? Brent's going to try to make it through two days of riding a bicycle across parts of Iowa. Meanwhile, the other family's going to spend two (or more) months trying to sell their house, and pack up their necessary belongings.

I'm girding up my loins to go back to work, they have to say goodbye to beloved jobs and friends.

At times like this, I'm trying to keep from feeling ashamed. See, I know there's whole world of needy people out there that I could be helping. But instead, I'm concentrated on my corner of the universe. Is that so wrong? Is it bad that I'm devoting myself to my family and community instead of poor third-world countries?

Something I will probably ponder on this Sunday afternoon while I'm at the pool, while I enjoy my children's health and my ability to afford the pool admission. Sigh.

turns into most hilarious book find of the summer - film at eleven.

So, I'm paying homage to Mr. Andrew Carnegie yesterday and I'm looking for a cookbook, because, you know, I like that kind of stuff.

I come across this title - The Gallery of Regrettable Food. Interesting. I pick it up and begin browsing the back cover, which states in big pink letters "This is not a cookbook." I am intrigued, after all, it IS in the COOKBOOK section.

After flipping through several of the pages, the point of this book dawns on me. The author has collected several vintage recipes, cookbooks, food advertisements - primarily from the 50s. Most of the recipes include pictures so heinous they need to come with a parental advisory. You all know, I'm sure, of what I speak.

Anyway, the pictures are fabulously grotesque - but the true gem is the author's commentary for each piece.

For example, above a particularly atrocious picture of a two-tiered, yellow-domed jello salad mold containing floating bits of cucumber and salmon, the author has written:

"I don't know, and I don't want to know. I just don't. It's a cucumber fun house, perhaps: notice how they seem to be pressing against the sides of the mold, as if demanding our attention. Help! We're being felt up by smelly salmon in here - let us out!

Genius. The rest of the book is more of the same.

The Gallery of Regrettable Food

The older you get, the wiser...so they say.

But in my case, in regards to exercise, it's true.

As most of you know, I finally got the fire lit last December. My husband and I would run every day...because A.) we have a nice treadmill and it needs to be used and B.) we needed to start a daily exercise routine.

So, for five months, it was everyday (just about). At my best, I was running 3 miles in about 27 minutes. So we signed up for a 5K. Cool, I'd never done it before. Once it was done, my interest in running plummeted. I haven't ran since last Saturday. And I realize this is how I work when it comes to exercise. I'm really all out for awhile, then my interest wanes. The only thing that hasn't is walking, but that's because walking can be social.

However, just because I'm not running right now doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. I'm still getting daily exercise. My newest source of enjoyment is playing nine holes of golf...I walk the course and carrying my own bag of clubs. I've noticed my pulse doesn't climb as quickly as when I'm running...but I get a bit sweaty, my legs definitely feel it, and my heart rate goes up some on certain parts of the course. When I don't do that, the kids and I walk to the public library, which is about three miles round-trip. I'm usually pushing a stroller. I've also got a dance DVD I enjoy doing and there's always 50 minutes of yoga.

I guess maybe the key is mixing it up a bit. I just can't do the same thing everyday.

43 - Minutes spent feeling guilty for going three weeks without blogging (is rough approximation).

11 - Pounds gained in the last three weeks that I've been on vacation/off Weight Watchers (is not rough approximation, unfortunately).

2 - Times I've played golf in the last two days and have walked the course and have carried my own bag (eleven pound gain is excellent exercise motivation).

3 - Pairs of good shoes found at garage sales this morning. One pair per child! I know!

0 - Hours spent today watching television. Sincerely.

90 - Minutes spent working on landscaping in backyard. Am ripping out many annoying bushes and weeds.

1 - Spade snapped in half by yours truly while wrestling one particularly tricky bush.

120 - Minutes spent at community theater working on costumes for upcoming murder mystery spoof.

12 - Dollars wasted? on home improvement magazine. Something tells me I should actually paint my walls instead of reading about it.

4 - Daydreams about my husband that are of a delicate nature.

10 - Minutes till my kids go to bed.