How Random Can I Get In One Post?

Good evening friends.  I don't usually post on Sundays, but I have so much swirling around in my brain I feel the need to do a little purge.  So please bare with me.

I bought an iPod docking station for our office at work.  The silence in there can be deafening sometimes, so we all concluded that a little music was needed.  I put together a playlist of over 150 songs, and the playlist below is the best of the best that I am obsessing over right now.  It's a clever little mix of good background music with just a few upbeat songs that you can sing along too, but not lose your concentration on.  I made a CD for the car and is it just me, but do some songs just sound better and are more effective in the car?  Songs in the car get me all twisted inside and emotional.  #6 and #9 are incredibly good at stirring up emotions.  #10 and #11 are pop songs that I'm too embarrassed to admit to liking though.  If you guess what they are I'll send you a prize.  Kimmie and Gerry are not allowed to play along though.

Speaking of songs, we visited our old church today.  For various reasons, one being the music, we missed it there and decided to give it a try this morning.  Of course the band pulled out all the stops and played an incredible set which included two of my favorite songs, Hosanna and Love Song.  Now you want to see someone blubbering while cruising along the freeway, drive next to me while I listen to this playlist.  Oh have mercy. 

Off the subject of music, and on to the subject of fruits and spices and heart-warming smells.  I learned a trick last year, yet again from my friend Sarah, on how to make your house smell so delicious and brilliant you'll literally never want to step outside.  Take an orange and apple, slice them up, and add them to a sauce pan filled with water, along with some cinnamon sticks and cloves.  Simmer all day long, occasionally filing the pan with water again as it simmers down.  You just freshen up the batch every couple of days or so.   

I promise you your house will smell so incredible you will run to the store and stock up on cinnamon sticks and cloves.  It's the perfect combination of all the scents of fall.

Speaking of stocking up, I buy the Tampico brand of cloves and cinammon sticks, found in the Mexican foods aisle at the grocery store.  It's loads cheaper than the regular spice aisle brands and since you're not really using them for cooking, there's no need to get the "highest quality" you know?  Actually, I use quite a few of their spices and they work just fine.  Anyone else ever buy this brand?

I almost threw this tea pot away.  We got it as a wedding gift over 11 years ago and it has sat on top of our stove for all these years, and subsequently was covered with cooking grime.  I constantly tried to clean it but I could never get the grease off.  It grossed me out so much that I was going to go buy a new pot this week (the one I was eying was over 40 bucks).  A light bulb went off this afternoon though and I boiled some water and added it to the sink with a couple of scoops of OxiClean and let it soak for an hour.  Well what do you know, it turned out all shiny and new, so sparkly I can see myself take a picture in it.  Hi friend, I forgot just how pretty you were :)  40 bucks saved, thank you very much. 

To end the night, I will leave you with this:
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 
1 Peter 4:10
I've been thinking a lot about this verse from our service today.  I'm praying about it.  I'm realizing how much it relates to this post and how much work we have to do in this life to be the models for our children.  I feel challenged, I feel intimidated and overwhelmed, but I feel positive. 
And with that, good night.
p.s. as always, I'm linking up to my sweet friend Heather's Life Made Lovely post, because even though random, this post was about lovely things for the senses, no?