February roundup

what I'm loving, what I'm reading, and what I'm writing

This is one of those “what’s saving my life right now” posts, except that feels so dramatic because obviously it’s not actually saving my life. I just love it a lot and it’s super helpful. I always feel the need to explain myself. #enneagram9

What I’m loving

What’s figuratively saving my life right now is the Notes app on my phone. It’s the digital equivalent of Post-Its, which I also love. I never buy the packs with all yellow. Why be just one color when you can be pink, blue, green, and purple too? I am one of those people who invest heavily in office supplies. I love them. I am picky about my pens (fine point only) and I love the smell of a new notebook. When I was packing up our Asheville house to move back to Virginia, I found a gallon-size Ziploc bag full of Sharpies. I had multiples in every room. Does this make me old?

(I actually have more than this. There are three in the kitchen and at least five in the laundry room junk drawer, plus one in my desk and several in the garage. I have a problem.)

One of the things I love about the Notes app is that it shows up on my Mac and my iPad so I have my reminders wherever I am. Can’t do that with a Post-It or a brain. And since the last update, there’s an “undo” button, so when you backspace and it suddenly goes really fast and deletes a line you didn’t want to lose, you can get it back. I can’t tell you how many times I lost part of a much-needed note with that out-of-control backspacing. I have a hard time with apps.

And speaking of that, I’ve been struggling with Pinterest lately too. Anyone else? Why is it that every time I click on a pin to open it, Pinterest wants to know if I want performance metrics? What are they even? And there is no way to say no. Seriously. You either click on “manage account” or you sit there staring at the screen trying to find a way out. I don’t want metrics. I don’t want to do anything with my account other than see the recipe, please. Is Pinterest going to fix this? I hope so. Is there a way to turn it off? If you know what it is, please do tell.

That’s just one of the reasons I’ve started printing recipes on actual paper with actual ink. If you have your recipe on paper on the counter, there are no popups, no videos, no cookies (unless you are baking them), the screen doesn’t go dark, and it doesn’t jump around. (Is this just me? I look away for a minute and when I come back I’m at a different place in the recipe. Why?) I don’t have to remember which board I pinned a recipe on—breakfast? brunch? bread?—and I can write modifications on the paper version so I know what I did last time. This has to be an old-person thing.

But back to Notes. I have a whole folder of Notes that are recipes, and almost all of them begin with names: Leah’s chocolate chip cookies, Deb’s rye bread, Tiana’s pot roast, Katelin’s cowboy cookies, Kelsie’s Energy Bites. I get to remember where I had a thing, and it’s like a friend reunion right there in my kitchen. A reminder of all the sweet ladies who have blessed me over the years.

I have a Note that lists all of Ben’s ridiculous sayings, like “six ways from Sunday” and “since Moby Dick was a minnow.” I have a note where I wrote Daddy’s obituary and one that’s an inventory of everything I canned in 2022. That was the year I bought two boxes of peaches that were a lot bigger than I thought they’d be and we are still eating them.

I have a poem by Robert Frost just because it’s a favorite (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening) and the outline of a message our missionary to Ukraine gave to RMO in 2020. The very first Note in my phone has the code for our F250’s door because even though we’ve owned it for ten years, I will never remember that 5-digit number.

One Note is my daily list that always stays at the top, and one has all the grandchildren’s birthdays. There is an essential-oil tick-spray recipe, a bucket list of hikes, and some thoughts on the fact that God made a help for the man, but not one for the woman (see Gen. 2:18).

When I was young, I could have remembered a lot of this, but a sure sign of getting older is the urge to write everything down. I know my memory, and it is profoundly unreliable. If I have an idea and think I might want to write about it, I have to record it or it’s gone. Instantly. Sometimes it disappears into the ether before I can open the app. If you ever see me repeating a phrase out loud while fumbling with my phone, it’s because I am trying to remember the thought until I can type it in a Note. I am old.

Anyway, I love this app.

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What I’m reading

Have you ever read a book you couldn’t wait to tell people about? I read the first three chapters of one recently and I’m recommending it already. My friend Becky Beresford’s first book will be released March 5, and I can’t wait for you to get it. She Believed HE Could, So She Did takes all the current cultural advice and turns it on its head, pointing us back to what God actually says. “Follow your heart,” “believe in yourself,” and many more are brought into the light of scripture with so much grace and kindness. This message is so needed today and it is given is such a loving way. Perfect for adults and especially appropriate for teens being bombarded with these messages daily on social media. Preorder here and read the first chapter for free!

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What I’m writing

And finally today, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be married to a visionary, and specifically MY visionary, I wrote about it here.