Then and Now....

It's only been a year. Last year we were camping for Ashton's 12th birthday, like we have every year since she was like 6. This year it was a "Red Carpet" party by her request NO CAMPING???? What? The Red Carpet deal makes her look way too grown up. She's now 13....YIKES....how'd that happen. Teenagers scare me.
Wearing make up and dancing. Did I do that at 13? I don't remember wanting boys at my birthday party that was for sure. It was fun sitting with the boys, and listening to things they like to talk about. Music, concerts, girlfriends (although that was kind of scary, yet enlightening, since they were nice boys.) That don't mean I don't wanna camp next year. It was fun for a year now back to what we do best, campfires, swimming, hiking, Scootering, being dirty and sweaty, not caring who was going to see us. Yeah I like camping a lot. Did I mentions she is now 13?? Ok so speaking of teenagers, I've not changed my mind they are a little disturbing now a days. So to get over my fear of them or dislike for them I decided to saturate myself with them.
I volunteered for SOS. That's 5 days of a whole lot of teenagers, I should be able to get over my fear of them by praying for them. Oh goodness....PRAY FOR ME!

MEET.......

MY BIG GAY BROTHER!!!!!

Ok so he ain't gay. But this picture sure makes him look a little light in his loafers. Besides that's totally a quote from the movie Heathers....dang that's a good movie. He's definately not gay. Although I call him Kelly, which he hates. But I've called him Kelly my whole life, why change now cause he's a man who wants to be called Milt? Hummmm....Milt or Kelly....I prefer Kelly because everyone I know whose named Kelly men and women are cool so what's the big deal? Oh he has some cute kids too. That's them there the ones with the same color hair. Yeah they're cute ain't they? The one with the reds hat on is mine and he's dang cute too.

I'm fine.....Really...fine.

It's just a little bump in the road of life. Nothing we can't recover from. I know these things happen for a reason, just not sure what that reason is and "why me". God will need to turn up the volume a bit if he's trying to talk to me. Or maybe I need to take some time to be quiet and freakin listen. Yeah that's it. I am feeling generally better than I was when I posted the last entry. Still a bit stressed, but much better.

I know I am loved by many when I post a blog entry like that one, and get 4 e-mail wondering if I'm ok, wow, feel very blessed thanks to my peeps sending me some love!

Prayers Please....again...

Send up some words for me. I feel amazingly overwhelmed, and it feels almost worse than the "mean reds". Feel a little out of touch with God, and not sure why? So if you could pray for me that I might find my way in this screwed up world, and feel a little more secure, and firmly planted.

Embarrassment.....

Apparently I am an embarrassment to some people. Well what they would define as embarrassing and what I would define as embarrassing are 2 completely different things, so to them I say WHO GIVES A CRAP! Shit happens, lessons are learned, and something good comes from it, nuff said now get on with your life! Yeah, I am specifically no sharing about the embarrassment to not further humiliate myself.

Poor "P" had a head-ache tonight so after dinner I layed down with him and fell asleep, didn't wake up until 11 pm.....a wasted evening to say the least, considering it's 12:30, and I have to get up in 6 hours. How does life go by so quickly?

Ipod Anxiety

It's crazy what ipod addiction can do to a person. Ron's died today, even has a sad face on the screen. According to the good people at ipod, he's got 6 days left in his 1 year warranty....so we'll be making a dash to the Apple store to restore his ipod loveliness. My advice to ipod owners of the world....DO NOT DROP IT.....Ecspecially if it's out of warranty, which mine is. Which means if I drop it, and it crashes forever....I have to buy a new one. Just something I can't live without now. Nuff said.

Finally a respectable wedding. Seems when you are in you 30's, wedding invites are few and far between. Since everyone you know is now married, except Abby and I'm working on that for real. So if you will recall the wedding's we've been attending in the past year weren't all that....well.....traditional. So tonight, Ron and I stepped out like respectable folks and attended a respectable wedding, with a respectable reception. The church was beautiful! The bride had 8 bridesmaids......cool.....I had 7! Love big weddings. The food was PRIME RIB, along with really good sides.....Bruschetta and other yummy goodness for hordeovers. OPEN BAR, so once again a weekend of drinking, I'm becoming quite the lush....NOT! Oh and the reception was at the Music Hall ballroom, gotta love that. Last time I was there was for Great Americans Christmas party, and then it was packed, it looks kind of empty for the reception of maybe 200....but it was nice. Ron and I had fun. Justin is a guy from Ron's national guard plattoon, they spent quite a bit of time together while they were in Louisianna. Strange bond army dudes have with each other. They can go months without seeing each other hook back up and it's like they see each other everyday. It was a nice time. These guys are at least 10 years younger than us. Most of them. Theres like one other guy who is Ron's age the rest are early to mid 20's, so funny the difference. Makes you feel kind of old!

Hello Poochie....

My good Lord it's like having a newborn. Likes to sleep a lot and likes to play at wierd hours.....like right now it's 1:16 am.....I had him out for a while playing he was crashing on the floor at my feet, seemed like a nice time to put him in his cage for night night.....now he's not so tired....won't be long and he'll be sleeping with me. I'll need a container for all my flippy's, that are nice and chewy to a puppy. He got a hold of Perry's favorite black flippys and chew'd the strap in half...now Perry's sporting a new style....duct taped flippys....it'll be a trend.


Good news, everyone can get on with their lives now I passed LOMA....the first freakin test anyways! Only after 4 trys, who the heck cares I passed! Thank God....one more and the insurance Gods will leave me alone, and let me get on with my non-ambitious life.

Glutton for Punishment

Ok that test that made me feel real dumb last week. Well I'm re-taking it TOMORROW! Lost a day since I thought today was tuesday. So much prayer is needed so that I don't further humiliate myself.

Ouch!

The puppy finally stopped crying thank God. I'm afraid to go in the area of which it is.....cause my good heavens...it was loud, and Maizy is none too pleased. They seem to get along ok, Puppy wants to play with Maizy....a little too rough....Maizy's not a big dog, so she doesn't know what the hecks going on. We just got home from camping all weekend. I am exhausted, and am going to bed like now. Had me a little Boones Farm this weekend, thanks to Layni....(she spares no expense for her best friend, LOL! She knew I'd like it...since it tastes like freakin Kool aid) so ok ok....more than a little a whole freakin bottle except for the cup that Ron had. The rest was all consumed by me. Does you good to get your drink on like once or twice a year so this is one for me. Best thing is to be outside, where you can make use of recreational wheeled objects. This is who this wheeled toy is meant for. He can barely make it go, but he loves it. This other photo however is who it's not for.....there is a weight restriction on those things. It held up quite well, but I am getting a bigger one. Layni rolled out on her roller blades, me on Perry's Scooter and Ashton on her scooter. Crazy!

spam

This skit makes Perry lose his mind.....he gets to giggling so much he can't stop. I have to admit it's dang funny!

It's all about Being Honest!

Ok when I was a teenager having never had a boyfriend. I decided I wasn't going to get married until I was 35. To me at the age of 14, that seemed like a good plan. And surely it would take me that long to find someone to fall in love with. At the age of 14 I decided also that I did not want to have children. Seemed like too huge of a responsibility. Man I was smart for a 14 year old. So what the hell happened with that plan? Apparently God had something a little different in mind. I fall in love, way earlier than I was suppose to, and end up married at 22, and pregnant with that child I wasn't going to have at 27. Falling in love changes your priorities. And having a child you actually planned for really screws things up. Now you are responsible for something that is the largest responsibility you will ever have in your life and if you screw up, well the consequences are dealt with for many generations. Then not only do you have a kid you said you weren't going to have, but you actually ask God for one thats unique and different, that part God heard, so I got what I prayed for.

Ok sorry for the rant. Met with Springer School administrator today. Getting into springer ain't as easy as saying......"Childrens hospital says my kid has a learning disability, heres some money, now work your magic." It ain't that easy....might be for some but not for P-man. His IQ is low, his social skills issues aren't what they normally see, and he's got some sensory issues. He's not typical of a springer student. My hope is they will see him as a challenge and something they want to figure out....so it's going before a much larger committee, so pray the right decisions are made and I'm not begging for something that can't help him. And if that's the case then what? Since clearly the public schools aren't working all that well for him. I want him to excel, not just squeak through. Is there really a clear cut answer to this problem? Why is God messin with me, I don't get it?

Busy...Busy....

Dreadfully busy....Madame Blueberry anyone? Or wait is that "Are you my neighbor?" Yeah it's are you my neighbor, Veggie Tales miss those days. Now we are knee deep in Cars, and the movie's not even out yet.

So Loma is over for now I'll sign up and retake the stupid thing as soon as I can so I can retain what little I do know and build on that lack of knowledge. I know I ain't stupid, really I'm not I write this crap don't I? And you people read it. So it must be fairly readable, like I make sense most of the time. We're getting out camp on this weekend, so from now until we leave it's going to be crazy busy. Hope it doesn't rain. I'll camp in the rain, but it sure gets messy. Have a great holiday weekend folks.......

Warning: Not Intelligent

Ok you've been warned, heck I don't even know if that's spelled right. I don't think I'll have anything intelligent to say this evening. Go check Stacie's blog, she was rather profound and I had something profound in response to her profoundness. Could be all I have for at least a month, so keep checking back......but I can't promise what you see will be anything you want to read. So ya'll are saying why so glum chum? LOMA that's why so glum......this stupid test I have to take to prove I am worthy to continue working as an insurance administrator. I knew when I took the job almost 3 years ago, that eventually I'd have to suck it up and take the stupid test. Theres 2 of them and I've now failed the first one 3 times. How hard can it be? I work with the stuff on a daily basis. Right.....you see, I'm more like a trained monkey. Teach me the process, and I can do it, but don't ask me to explain why, or how I do it, I just do it. I do it all day everyday for 8 hours then I go home and experience real life. I have no interest other than it's how I get paid, in life insurance. Is that bad? The thing is, I like having a job that challenges me mentally just enough to keep me awake most of the time. Where I can listen to my tunes, in my own space, nobody breathing down my neck, work shows up I do it and go home and never give it another thought. I have all sorts of energy left to stress about cub scouts, school, scrapbooking, relationships, ect....because my job takes up very little energy. So the fact that I can't pass this test, does that make me stupid? In some circles possibly.....but who wants to have those kinds of friends anyways? I can think of one person who enjoys talking about this stuff......my friend Amy she could talk for hours about insurance, it's her job she's an agent, but when she starts my entire brain completely shuts down. I even know pretty much what she's talking about but, it's like my ears are in no way stimulated by that nonsense. So now you know....so don't ask "Did you pass your test?" because I don't want to freakin talk about it ok....NO I did not pass the test. I got a big fat F. Now go read Stacie's blog!

Prayers Please.....

Guess things can't always be great and wonderful. This Monday from hell, I could very much end up in tears. I am extremely overwhelmed so I am pleading for some prayers from my peeps. Thanks!

iSCRAP

Look it's like Ipod....only it's IScrap. Ha...has anyone already discovered that? It could totally be a t-shirt....wait....no I've gone and said it outloud so much for my get rich plan. I scrapped today. Yes I know I should've been studying LOMA....barf...don't ask. It's sort of necessary unless I want to fail a test a 3rd time, and pay $75 dollars. Like I said don't ask....I'm 6 chapters into an 18 chapter BORING book about insurance, 12 to go before Tuesday, it can happen. Besides I'm not reading the book I'm doing the study questions over and over....I'm thirty freakin' seven years old I am so over cramming for a test. I should be pinning blankets too, orders are still trickeling in, keep em coming, I'm just trying not to burn out my sewers since they are volunteers. We seem to be moving at a good pace and average about 5 blankets a week, I think that's really good since we all work. So ok Iscrap...... This page was my favorite.....

Then we went to dinner. Layni and I split a Bowl from Chipotle and it was like the perfect serving. I need more friends who are willing to split...so I can maintain my weightloss. Then I hooked up this sweet Cub World layout for the pictures from our fall campout. The boys have changed so much just since the fall. Dang they grow too stinkin fast!
I did two other pages but that weren't all that great so I'll spare the blog viewing public.

Dogs

Ok we've established that I'm not a dog person. My husband however is. He'd fit right in with my co-workers, primarily the ladies I have lunch with everyday. They like to talk about their dogs. It's just what they do. I usually gripe about my dog. The fact is she's a good dog, pretty well behaved, she likes to give kisses if you allow her to, but will go away if you make her get down. So anyways I'm just not into her like my husband is, that's because he's a dog person. Meet the neighbor dogs.... don't know their names because I've never asked. They are friendly enough, I give them treats several times a week, because my dumb dog never eats her treats. So they get a few treats a piece. Then theres my dog Maizy the wonder dog. Yes she got her hair did, so now she's slightly pretty. So then we go visit some puppies this evening. Ron has always wanted a big dog. Thought Maizy was big enough really she weigh like 9 lbs. And theirs the lovely dogs next door they are big dogs who don't have to live in my house and eat my furniture. Cause that's what big dogs do they eat furniture. Now all the sudden we'll have a puppy who will grow to be a mid-sized dog. He's an Australian Shepherd. Fluffy cuddly and cute.....and no he ain't sleeping with me! We've decided to name him Kipper because we like to name our animals after cartoon characters. Heres the real Kipper. This is the cutest cartoon ever for toddlers. He's got the cutest english accent. Anyways we've named the dog KIPPER!

Cube Jamming!

Ok so I'm not a huge Kelly Clarkson fan, however I believe she's very talented, and she deserves every bit of her success. This song is a good one, and the chic in the cube in the video....yeah that's totally me! I wouldn't necessarily wear a suit like that unless I had an interview or something, but I do enjoy rocking out in my cube.....kind of a funny mental picture. Oh and I'm am totally into Kelly's nose ring, I seriously want one like that for my 40th b-day.....whose with me?

Blessed beyond Measure

Ok wow...wanted to acknowledge the fact that I am truly blessed. As in knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt I am heading in the right direction kind of blessed. It's such an amazing feeling. Today I went to my mailbox at work, and there was one of those big interoffice mail envelopes. Doesn't matter if it's work related or not "Big Mail" excites me....at work or at home a big envelope gives me that "Oh it's something big" kind of feeling. Usually at work it's not all that exciting, but I had a feeling today for some reason. So I open it up and it's a torn off half of a peice of notebook paper, with my name written in red marker.....ok not very business like, strange way to deliver a fax of some sort, so it wasn't that....and it's folded in half with staples around the outside. Felt a little big like a ransom note. I open it up and a $20 bill falls out, so then I'm thinking it's a blanket order. But it's not, it's a donation to Perry's tuition fund. And an annoymous note came with it. Just saying the saw my ad on the bulletin board and didn't want a blanket but wanted to make a donation. What? Really? Wow, that's pretty stinkin' cool...Blessed indeed. Investigated a little bit, but something told me annoymous meant just that......So we'll say it's from God.....thanks God, and God's messager whoever you might be, maybe you'll stumble across my blog, THANK YOU SO MUCH......it means a lot to me knowing there are people like you in this world. In other news my friend Connie had her baby. Bit stressful getting her out, but no major complications. We're happy she finally arrived. Meet Emily Grace Petertonjes......pretty name for a beautiful, perfect baby girl.

New Family Member.....

So I tell my friend Abby she needs to find a man. Plain and simple, she's single and she don't like it so she needs to get out there and find a man. Do things that would require her to socialize with single available men. I told her she needed to do something to begin this process at least once a month and in no time at all she'll find that Mr. Someone. Well she's made that first step in the process. Meet Abby's new man. Yes he is a bit hairy. And he makes funny noises when he's petted to inform you that he's enjoying it, but he sure is cute. The best thing about this new man of Abby is that he can be caged. Nothing like a man that can be caged!

Your Song....

So I went to the WC tonight and I don't mean the water closet. I went to the Womens Community Meeting tonight, they've been doing it monthly since September and finally I got to go. It was nice and the women leading worship Julie, could seriously sing. She also gave her testimony that was significantly moving. And shared that in her time of despare instead of getting wasted (like she wanted to) or getting pissed off, or just wanting to die....although she had all those feelings in a matter of minutes, she chose to worship. Not call up you best friend and vent, or trash the person who had wronged her. She chose to cry out and cling to God. Alone just her and him. This is not a new concept to me, but I don't think I've ever heard it verbalized. Like someone actually saying it now gives me permission to do that, although I think I have before. She said the song for her that she cried out to God (rather elequently I might add, with some amazing power) was "Bless the Lord, oh my soul" You know the one that goes....."Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name....." Very nice....try it with your eyes closed, and completely focused on God. Except that ain't my song, my song that I sing in those moments when I am crying out to God (thankfully it's not been recently) is "I surrender all...." That one works for me, and yes I have had times on my face before God crying out, because I didn't know what else to do. "All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give, I will ever love and trust him in his pressence, daily live....I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed savior, I surrender all...." Do you have a song? If so what is it, leave comments I know you people read this thing! We won't discuss my pissed off song....you know the one.....by Limp Bizkit? I never said I didn't have a scary side! Thank God I know more God songs to cleans me after a good round of Limp Bizkit!

Unproductive

Ok why is it now that my husband is working days, and is home I suddenly feel unproductive? Almost like I have a guest in my home. So so so wierd. I have cooked dinner every night but one so far this week. Impressive huh? Blanket selling is absolute madness I hope to have pictures to share over on the other blog, I'm up to 27 blankets. Feels good....I feel successful....just hope I can keep up with it.

Scary and Damaged.

It will be hard to every find another show as good and as well written as Greys Anatomy. OMG....that show gets better everytime. The music, the storylines, the character developement, the hot babes....I could go on and on. You are cracking up one minute and crying the next. Tonight I felt like I was crying from way down deep, like it made my heart hurt, the writers get you that involved in the characters. And I was hurting just for a one time character. They are good they are very good. Meredith (character from Greys) always has a reoccuring quote almost every show. This week it was "scary and damaged", of which she is, and it made me think. Aren't we all? I mean everyone has a story, and if we were all to share those stories, we would find more times than not, we are all scary and damaged. But then there are those of us who are Christians.......(yeah how could I not go there, it's perfect)......damaged yes we are, but theres something about grace and forgiveness that makes us a little less scary. Man I love that show!

Buena noche mis amigos

In honor of Cinco De Mayo, we read our most favorite book of all time. And if you've never read this book run to the library and get it, it's the funniest most engaging story you will ever read. LOVE IT! It was introduced to me by my friend Melissa, she has a 4 year old and a 2 year old and one on the way. She visits the library frequently. We were at a wedding actually, right after son #2 was born. And suddenly, in the midst of the fancy cocktail party style reception she begins to discuss in such an enthusiastic manner this little Siamese cat, as if he were a life long friend. I had to get the book as soon as I possibly could. And then asked for it for christmas. Now Skippyjon Jones is part of our family. I never get tired of doing my best spanish accent.

I'm gonna Blow....

I'm sick of my house smelling like a dogs ass.....
I'm just saying. Ever get to that point when things are going so well you just come to the end of the line and anything and everything can and will set you off. Or maybe that's called PMS. Ok don't like the dog. We've established that. But if you are the said party who DOES like the dog, and you forget to put her in the cage before you leave the house, she will poop on the floor and probably pee on your dirty clothes pile. The dog is going to the first willing party who will take her, I've had it. I like animals in my home but not if they like to use it as a toilet. Even cats have been sent away because of this, and I like cats better. She's outside right now, on the porch probably wondering if I will ever let her in. She's lucky I scheduled her a hair appointment for tomorrow. Maybe I'll neglect to pick her up. First one to say I'll take her gets her....better hurry she sure is purty!

Check Me

I'm one of those multiblog people. And you said it'd never happen. I am gaining quite the following so had to create a "Blankets for Perry" space. So when you get a blanket take a picture of it's primary user and I'll post it on the blog. A whole lot of blanket love. I suspect we'll be up to 20 orders by the end of the week. Hopefully I'm not losing track.

I know it's almost 3 am....

Shut up I know! I've been asleep, but woke up since I fell asleep with my kid and hadn't done all the things you are suppose to do before going to bed. Woke up in all of my clothes, and an entire herd of stuffed animals surrounding me. How can a person sleep like that? So thought I'd blog for a moment and then go back to bed. Holy smokes, you know that whole God thing and the positive praying thing, how many times do I have to tell you people it works. I am completely amazed at the power of prayer. So someone bought the Hello Kitty blanket hours after it was posted. No bids on the other, but folks often wait till the last minute. So who knows. I had the bright idea to post a little something about blanket making on our electronic bulletin board this afternoon around 3 pm, I had 6 orders before I left and then 2 others from scrappin peeps, this is all within 24 hours. God knew that if something didn't happen with the blanket money making endeavor right away I'd be discouraged. So he hooked me up, I have no doubt about it. So if you wanna jump on the blanket train you better hurry before theres a long waiting list. Any theme is possible. If the material exists I'll find it!

Pimping Blankets

At least that's what my brother would call it. That's right people I'm on e-bay. Blankets for Perry, is finally started. I started with 2, and have 2 more in reserve to put up once those get going and I am more confident. I am all about using my kids cute face to sell some blankets. Now if you are a blog fan you have the advantage of just requesting a blanket. You can even request a specific theme, and we'll whip it up for you no extra charge. And if you are local I'll just bring it to you. For the low price of $20 or a hefty donation to Perry's school tuition fund will get you many blankets you make the call. Maybe you know a person whose having a new baby....perfect gift. Maybe you have a relative in a nursing home, and the afghan that Aunt Betty made is getting kind of ratty because it's made of yarn and they keep spilling soup on it, these wash up real nice. Maybe you have a preschooler who has a tough time taking naps, well if they had their favorite character to sleep under they might take that nap a little easier. I'm just saying.....PIMPING BLANKETS!

Blankets for Perry

Ok I hope to go "live" with these on ebay tomorrow. If all goes as planned except, I had really planned for a cool photo shoot of the blankets on the clothes line with Perry's cute face peaking through. It appears the weather isn't cooperating. So hopefully tomorrow or I'll just do more pictures like this one. I hope to get $20 a blanket on e-bay. They are 54"x44", one side is flannel the other cotton. My mom sew'd them. They are bigger than a recieving blanket, but perfect for a baby blanket. Plus they are big enough for an adult also. These are perfect to take to summer camp, or for kids who are in preschool and have to have a naptime blanket. I have many that I use all the time. This one's up for grabs if anyone wants it $20 plus shipping unless you are local then I'd just hand deliver it. I hope to make a decent amount off them to offset Perry's tuition cost for Springer School.

Yipeee....

I am doing quite good. I picked out recipes, and bought groceries for those recipes. Go me! Even got me some Fuze, and it was quite yummy and 10 for 10 at Krogers. So today I made Amish meatloaf, for Ron and P to have for dinner, since I was going to a Birthday Party for a friend. Plus now we can have it for lunch tomorrow. This is one of those instances that for years you don't like something and now all the sudden you do. My friend Abby asked me if I'd ever had a cold meatloaf sandwich? I was like gross first of all meatloaf is yucky but cold? But then I was like hummm that might be good, and I tried it and it's off the hook for real! So tomorrow I am looking forward to cold meatloaf sandwiches. I made it with Ground Chuck so it's semi healthy.

That's Better...

I figure if I have the accountability of my blog, and informing the masses of what I consume on a daily basis, it won't be quite as embarrassing if I just eat sensibly. Today....Breakfast, oatmeal, and skim milk (TADA...ALL HEALTHY), Lunch Campbells soup in the hand creamy potatoe, crackers, and a bag of popcorn. (all healthy), and some carrot cake (semi-healthy), Dinner, spaghetti, meatballs that were kind of yucky (at my mom's church), salad, and more cake. Not too shabby, I'm on the upswing.

Dude I'm trying!

So it wasn't exactly a healthy day. After my vow to the blogging world, I still had a hard time being healthy. I desperately need to go to the grocery store. Healthy would be a Kashi granola bar, and a cup of tea for breakfast. I had, a couple bites of Perry left over oatmeal (healthy), a package of little chocolate donuts, and a cup of starbucks, the coffee had splenda in it....(healthy), then for lunch I had Ham and swiss (healthy), on a crossant (not healthy) with lettuce and tomato, and Mayo (not healthy), with some fruit salad (healthy). Then for dinner....did I mention I need to go to the grocery. I tested out a scouting camping recipe, made mac and cheese (less milk and butter it normally calls for) mixed in taco meat with corn. Called it dinner....LOL.....it was actually good and my kid ate it. Oh and I had a pop with that concoction. So this weekend......hummm.....grocery maybe a little Jungle Jims action.

Cleansing???

Ok so last night I had Burger King, decided to get onion rings because they had them and I wanted to do something different than french fries. Neglecting to recall that my body doesn't care for onions. So I paid for it today, nothing to tramatic just not your normal bathroom day that's all. I'll spare you the details. So after that episode, and this always happens to me, I make a vow with myself to begin to eat healthy to avoid such cleansing experiences. So Perry and I had our last appointment at childrens today. He had his quick breakfast this morning yogurt and a poptart....(trust me, pop tarts are NOT a common occurance in our house), I had one donut hole and went back to bed after he got on the bus, thinking we'd have time for lunch before his appointment. Wrong, we went straight to childrens. So I was starved afterwards at 2:30pm, he was slightly hungry. So I considered stopping at a resturant where they actually serve you, in an attempt to get something a little more healthy than you usual fast food. He however had other ideas. We pass White Castles and he exclaims "I WANT WHITE CASTLES." Far be if for me to deny the child his dose of slyders. Only after having the #4 on my tray with the amazing sweet tea, did I recall the effects that slyders have on ones body. Again I'll save you the details. So suffice to say my body will be sufficiently cleansed come tomorrow, that would be an understatement. So here goes my plea to all the blog fans, which is like 4-5 people who will own up to it. Join with me in my quest to eat healthy. Excersize regularly, and freakin stay away from greasy foods with onions. Any advice, recipes, ideas would greatly be appreicated. My cupboards are just about bare since I've not been the grocery in 2 weeks so starting to eat healthy right now would be a good time to start. I need easy stuff that could be made and consumed just like fast food. And doesn't look funny so my kid will eat it too.

Told You it Works!

So last month I blogged about a different way of praying. I've blogged quite a bit about Springer School, and how ideal it would be for Perry to attend there. Although the tuition is for those who are rather wealthy, of which I am not. Not to mention I'm not so good at budgeting. We are very much a pay check to pay check kind of family, very little savings going on from this household, I am lucky I remember to tithe....I know I know...but I'm being honest. So I did the whole positive praying thing for Springer and all it entails. I filled out the short financial aid form for the tuition and sent it off saying a brief yet meaningful prayer over the envelope itself, and didn't hear anything for a whole month, and then only heard something after I e-mailed the director. The beginning of my discouragement. Feeling kind of like no news is not always good news. Then finally the business director and I played phone tag for literally 2 weeks. Even more discouraged. Thinking ok maybe this isn't going to happen. During that 2 week phone tag period a women who is a Springer parent contacted me with encouraging words about the school and what a blessing it has been to both her youngest children. Ok seems promising but can we even afford it, what about the transportation...blah blah blah....all along thinking to myself those are small teeny tiny details that God will work out because this is most definately what's best for Perry. I have never doubted that. Then the business director finally got to speak to me after I called him on his cellphone. They decided to award us 50% financial aid.......THIS IS AWESOME! That is a large sum of money! The rest is completely doable! It'll be hard but it's doable. Mom and I are going to make blankets to sell to raise some of the money. I just made one tonight and it took me an hour, so this could be a decent money making venture. But how all of this came together is sooooo much an HG hook-up! I mean from the budgetting part. I mean granted I've stretched that 20 dollar budget past it's actual amount pretty much every week, but I'm not spending near the amount I was spending before the man came down on me. So that just shows me I can do it. That happening in the time frame that it did before I actually got word from Springer is no coincedence. It was all part of God's master plan. All sorts of other little things happening when they did is a clear sign that God's got big plans for that little man, and I can't wait to see him when he finally has an oppurtunity to shine. Be sure to check back here to see ways you can contribute to Perry's Tuition Fund.

Happy with Myself!

Well I did something I thought I'd never in a million years ever do. It's one of those ice breaker type questions, "Have you ever gone to the movies by yourself, or would you?" Normally my answer to that question would be "NO!" cause that's just plain wierd. But tonight for some reason, I was completely fine with it. There was a movie I really wanted to see, and didn't think anyone would really care to see it with me. Didn't really feel like persuading anyone really, or explaining the premise of the movie and why it would be good. Just wanted to see it. I hear about lots of movies on the movie reviews podcast. Odd movies you rarely hear anything about but they get a good review, and you wanna see it. Like the Piano from way back in the day. And now this Movie....Thank you For Smoking. It was awesome, really great well done Satire. About a lobbiest for the Tobacco industry, certainly not many of those left, for good reason, because they don't have a leg to stand on. Which this movie pretty much proves. But back to the issue at hand.....I went BY MYSELF........and I don't feel wierd at all. It was completely liberating, and fun! Like a new adventure. I didn't have to argue with anyone on what to see. I didn't have to share my popcorn. I specifically wore clothes that were comfortable and not for looking good. Like my feely t-shirt under my favorite sweatshirt that has a hole in it but I can't seem to give it up. But I wore clothes that were dreadful, so folks wouldn't talk to me and I could avoid being friendly. LOL.....I seriously upon walking in got a look, like "what the hell?" Ha! I honestly don't think I really looked that bad....I got the look before I saw my reflection and then was convinced that the looker was obviously a no class ho, cause I looked fine and comfy. Hooked myself up with a medium popcorn and large coke....ALL FOR ME! Sat right in the middle, front seats where the bar is you can put your feet on. 3 older people sat next to me with a seat in between us. Just before the previews started the older man tapped me on the shoulder.....{me thinking} crap I don't look bad enough and now a dude in his 70's is going to attempt to pick me up. Seriously the man was in his 70's, like grandpa material. And he says to me....."I like you shoes." Dude wasn't gay I swear, he was dead serious! I'm like "Ah...thanks" a little shocked a 70 year old man would compliment me a frompy 30 something mother and wife....on her BUTTER YELLOW CROCS. He said: "What are those?" I said "crocs"....he said "What?" He was in his 70's probably hard of hearing and frankly was probably shocked that I said Crocs, and then in the same sentence said you can get them at "Dicks sporting goods...." So in less than 5 minutes I said "Crocs and Dicks" in the same sentence, that poor man at that point was probably dreadfully frightened of me. But he didn't look scared he completely got it, and will probably have his own crocs come tomorrow. Said his feet get sweaty and since those shoes have holes they'd get some air. And he asked "Are the comfortable and how much do they cost...." Wow....the crocs company is going to owe me a pair in every color. I encourage you to #1 get some crocs and #2 go to a movie by yourself it's completely liberating!

Wicked

Really enjoying the Wicked soundtrack thanks to my friend Julie. Haven't loved a soundtrack to a musical this much since Annie. I loved the Phantom, but I REALLY loved Annie. I remember seeing Annie with my mom downtown. My first broadway musical, it was so magical. Man I'd love to see one actually in NYC....someday, not a hard dream to obtain, it could happen. Busy camping weekend, pray for NO RAIN.

Divine Moment

Ok Ok....don't be a hater because I replaced Jack with the Ladies, it's still a cartoon so be happy. Perry's on a Chicken Little kick, and on spring break which means Geegaws in charge so if he wants to watch Chicken Little a million times a day, and hummm the tunes through his nose all day long he can. It'll take weeks of deprogramming to fix it, but he's having fun.
The picture is one of my favorite scenes. I actually don't even like the movie that well. The characters are awesome. I love Zack Braff, and it's Don Knotts last movie. But what's with the Aliens? I don't remember the story being like that.
I'm a week behind on Erwin, so I listened to last weeks podcast today, while I walked around the block by myself. So nice. Love him, he talked about seizing those divine moments. Whether it be a moment when someone steps into your mess of a life and speaks truth into your life and you are forever changed. Or you can be that divine moment for someone else, and not even know it. I know I've had many divine moments in my life. I've been fortunate in my life to have been effected by awesome people who want to change lives. Or who just care, about you. Unselfish people who care about what you have to say, and who actually listen. Those people who make you feel like you matter to them. I'm not one of those huggy type people who will walk up to people and give them a big ole hug.....the thought actually gives me the heeby jeebies. Although I still hope I have an effect on people that they know I actually care about them. And that what they are saying to me about themselves matters in my little world. Take a moment and think about how you interact with people who are closest to. Those you interact with daily. Do you make them feel like they matter?

Holy Days

Wow what a great couple days. They were exciting holy days. It started on Thursday, when I (being not jewish, however curious) hosted a Sedar. Completely ok for Christians to honor some Jewish holidays, after all our Savior was Jewish. This one in particular has a lot of symbolism. The Jews for Jesus do a much better job. But I didn't do half bad.

The Haroset was exceptionally yummy. Thanks to Cyndi and Ben for participating, it was fun. Next year I'll know what the heck I am doing.

Good friday, I didn't go to church although I usually do. Instead I went to opening day at Kings Islands opening day. And listened to my prescious child whine the ENTIRE time, and he'd only ride the Merry Go Round.....ahhhh.....There was some cool new rides that I would have liked to ride, but he was too dang chicken. I went shopping with my mom on Saturday and then scrapped all evening with my peeps. I finished one page and did 2 others, it felt good to get some scrapping done, and have a burrito from Chipotle, (that's what we usually have for dinner when we scrap together). Then Sunday was a lovely Easter. We went to church, and HOLY crap where'd all those people come from. I attend a church that could probably seat 6000 people and I swear every seat was filled. Pretty cool I figure a large number of people were signicantly touched and possibly made a true life commitment to surrender their hearts to Jesus....cool stuff right there. The play I'll admit was sort of cool but sort of lame. But the message was very simple yet extremely powerful. Click on message and check it out. Good stuff. You know it's good when you husbands whispering...quit crying and the little girl next to you is looking at you like something is horribly wrong because you are crying. Had she taken a notice at her own mother she would have discovered it wasn't just me! Got to hook up with Stacie, for a photo op.....would be so cool if she got to move back to Cincy! But we'll leave that up to God he seems to know what's best. I do think Liam and Perry would get along great! Here that God? Wow what a fun weekend, but wait it's not quite over. Then we went to Layni's for a nice family dinner. Geegaw was there so she and BC (Layni's mom) could sit on the back porch and discuss ailments, and surgeries, while crocheting things. Layni made a yummy ham she had to babysit for hours.....this is why you pay HoneyBaked large amounts of money to do that for you. She hooked it up though. I made Jodi's Potatoe's top secret recipe.....you'll have to ask my good friend Abby for it, it's in my head but I'm not sharing it's probably a most requested recipe though. We hid 48 eggs just for Perry and Maddie they had a blast hunting them. It's nice when it's just the two of them they get along great and are so funny together. Wow this post could go on record for the most pictures posted. How about a few more....or maybe just one. Oh well would you look at that it's my HOT HUSBAND! This is a candid photo, because any other time I try and get a picture of him he's making a face, so I caught this one before he had a chance. Ain't he cute? He's mine so back off. Ok blog fans, this post should be ranked as one of the best. Hopefully it'll load properly with all the photo's.

Take a few moments and think about what Jesus did for you these past holy days.....he was by no means just an ordinary man.....HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN!

Long time no blog. This Movie is the greatest example of what Easter truly means. It's late and I don't feel like saying a whole lot although I should, considering the true meaning of Easter is what it's all about. Sacrafice. Check Teri's blog, she says it all. Much more articulate than I can be at 2:30 am!

ANY QUESTIONS?

There's something missing? Yeah I know it's a pair beige ones, canvas straps, cushy sole. I know I know....don't need them do I? But they are so cute, boys section of the shoes, Target...it's a mission. 

Palm Sunday

Wow what a really great weekend. Now the hubby seems to have somewhat of control over the finances, he seems happier. He's still trying to tame me, but I am doing better. I really needed a shoe fix, so instead of getting more crocs ($30) I hooked myself up with a few pair of Old Navy flip flops $2.50, no one really complains about shoe buying when you are spending $2.50, and everyone benefits, Perry got 2 pair and one pair for Ron, 2 for me. Let's blame it on Stacie who's in town briefly, and just the mention of Old Navy flip flops, and my mind was consumed with the color possiblities. It's a sickness really. Ashton was with me for the day yesterday so she got 2 pair too. We then watched Saw I & II.....freaky movies, really good, but dang freaky! We both love a good scary movie. We had 28 days later too, but didn't get to it. Not sure I can watch a Zombie movie alone. Ron won't watch it with me, (he's a big scaredy cat). So another scary movie night is in order and soon. One good thing about having a 12 year old over with nothing really for her to do. Oh and she is like her mom and likes to clean. She likes the end result, yeah I don't get that sickness really, so you just gotta use it to your advantage. Perry's room was off the hook, and had been for sometime. Couldn't see the floor and the it was become a walking hazard. So I threw out a price and she was all over it. She did a clean sweep extreme makeover.....Perry was over joyed and she did an awesome job. Oh and for all the Curious George/Jack Johnson fans, not to worry, I'm going to leave them up for a while because I too love them, they make me happy.

Majesty

I know it's 2 am...duh....Delirious totally rocked. Now to be totally footloose and fancy free, and somehow finaggle a trip to see Switchfoot in Columbus the day before Easter, man I'd be so so happy! Not sure it can happen...bummer....But that don't make me too old to kick it hard core and rock out....or should I say Blissful Worship rock music! Man there's nothing better.....then music that takes you into His presence....love that....So I told Layni to stage a photo with me while we look worshipful..... This apparently is how nice girls who were raised Methodist worship their savior! Yeah, Yeah, I know pretty hardcore huh?

Scrappin Shout Out

So what is it that happens to you when you give birth? Does it trigger the ADD or what? Before I had a child 8 almost 9 years ago, I could read a book. I was a slow reader like it once took me a whole summer to read Jurrasic Park, but I'd read a book from cover to cover. Now unless it's written in short choppy chapters, with lots of pictures, I can't finish a freakin book. Last book I read from front to back was Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which was a year ago. Quite an inspiring book, and was broken down in very short choppy sections, and it had pictures. Perfect for someone with ADD.

Can not wait till friday, scrappin with my peeps, and Archivers. Yes I know it's the big bad meany of all scrapbook stores. But they have comfy chairs, nice tables, they have decent catered food, and I've hooked up quite the posse to attend with me. Stacie's in town, so she said hey lets scrap at Archivers Friday night...so I mentioned it to a few she knew, then Archivers had to put someone evil on the phone with the pregnant friend, and not be helpful as far as table assignments. (so gay) So then I called in reinforcements so that we'd have a big ole gang hanging out on Friday. I think I got 8 people total to go in a 24 hour period. Insanity.....now if folks read this, maybe more will come. We get a tad bit obnoxious sometimes when we all crop together. We are sarcastic, sometimes a bit...hee hee...plus most of us have been scrappin together for over 5 years, so we know stuff and we know how to do stuff so the make and takes aren't all that exciting to us. Plus we've had a few run ins with the Archivers police, we aren't even thugs, I guess they just view us that way or something I don't know we try to be nice. I guess most of us have been annoyed with them on more than one occasion. Cause you'll call up and ask about a product you know they have and they haven't a clue what you are talking about. Or even in the store a customer will be asking about something and they'll get a blank stare in their face, and one of us who might happen to be in the store will be like yeah you got that and point them in the right direction. Anywho, we dig scrappin there none the less, so it's all good. So if you are reading this the Ohioscrapper scrappin posse will be at Archivers Friday night call and make reservations.

Who's the Fool??

Ok now who's the fool. Funny, thought there wasn't much traffic driving into church this morning. That's because everyone was ALREADY THERE! Forgot to spring forward! I swear I do this to one or the other every freakin year. Missed the baptisms, bummer. Perry and I did make it to the Kitefest....fun fun fun.....the whole sky was full of kites. We came home and managed to get our own kite in the sky. It's gorgeous out. Not going to spend it in here that's for sure!

Funny, Funny Stuff

I absolutely love it when I remember early on that it's April Fools day. I spend the first hours of the morning sceaming on how to get folks. Got my husband first thing this morning, said we were getting together with some folks he'd rather not hang with, and he was all like....ahhhh why? With a whole lot of whining....it was great....and I got to give the APRIL FOOLS shout, man I love that. Then I moved on to my brother. Told him, Ron and I got a decent bonus from the Army (yeah right) and we could go to Disney with him over spring break after all....told him we booked a hotel. So he was delighted. Poor guy, went on to tell me all the ways to save, and where to go to get good savings....blah blah blah....yeah not gonna happen, APRIL FOOLS sucker! Now kids are easy, told Perry there was a monkey in our backyard, he comes flying "where, where...." Right there see it, yeah poor kid....APRIL FOOLS....so then the torture begins, once the kid knows it's April fools day all bets are off, and it's hours of joke torture. Spiders in hair, shoes untied (um dude I wear crocs no laces), pants on fire, your noodles are talking, the sky is falling, it never ends.....but then the classic, the one that sent us straight into stitches, are you ready???? "Hey daddy.......you got hair!" OMG....now that was the greatest April fools joke of all. Well then he just got cruel, and even said...."Hey daddy, you're tall!" We then had to put a stop to the madness. Poor Ron, he's got a thick head of hair and is 6 feet tall, when he closes his eyes. Man I love April Fools Day!

My Brothers Fault....

For real. I can talk about sunshine, roses and worship music, and how God bless's me. And then become completely obsessed with a Korn song. I won't be linking them because it could very well be devil music for all I know. Very much headbanging music. This song Shoots and Ladders is off she shizzel...and dude has this super cool voice, and theres this cool bagpipe action at the beginning. And the drums, well they got a super cool beat going on. And he smashes all these nursery rhymes together as if that's the way they were meant to be. Back in the day we would have totally been cranking some Korn in the car, in the drive-thru of Burger King late at night. Doing some kind of headbanging dance, while the drive-thru worker looked on in disbelief. Who's up for some latenight drive-thru dancing, I got the ipod....come pick me up!

Weather Talk....

Ok theres a strict rule in blogland, well at least in my own head anyways...no weather talk unless it's extreme. Here's extreme...........IT'S SPRING FINALLY..........Thank the good Lord, time to roll out the flip flops and wear crocs with no socks. Is there a flip flop dance? There needs to be.

In other not so happy news: Best friend from high school's father passed away on tuesday. Services were on Wednesday, and funeral was this morning. I found out, today at 5pm, much to my shock. Husbands (work together) do not relay information well at all. We've not been that close for years, different interests, different lives, it happens. Theres still some contact, though. I hate that I wasn't there for her in this time. She's attended the funerals of my grandparents, and been there for me, I feel absolutely horrible. I cried, husband felt bad, but I can't completely blame him, us not being in touch can be to blamed as well. Had we been in touch I would have known he had been sick or something. Crap it just freakin sucks. I'll make a super lovely card this weekend and give her a call soon, I'm sure things are a bit crazy right now. And right now I talk about some memories. I'd say in high school he took a hand in my spiritual growth, he was a baptist minister, but we had different views on many things. He felt women should never be ministers of the gospel, I disagreed, and still do. We'd discuss different rules in the baptist church like no dancing, all these discussions led me to dig deeper in the word and come up with what I would believe to be the truth. Holly (my friend) and I once sang "To God be the Glory" in his store front church. He made Holly have a bumper sticker on her car in high school that read "If you died to night, where would you end up?" It was bright yellow with black letters. Lightning struck a tree, and it completely smashed that car. That was a fun time in my life oh so long ago, sorry I wasn't there for my friend. Ha, the only photo's I have of Holly and I are from back in the day, I think theres one of us floating around on New Years Eve a few years ago, but we both look dreadful. These are funnier anyways. Excuse the scans. Good Lord This first photo is from Junior Prom, in 1986, Holly's mom made her Scarlet O'Hara Dress....very pretty. Mine was made by an elderly neighborlady, I picked out the horrible lime green material, and another neighbor let me use her fake rabbit fur coat. UGH.....worst prom ever. My date was a fix up, God knows I wasn't going to score a date with my dorky self. He was a big jerk, and was cropped out of the photo. This other photo I am looking exceptionally dorky with my Guess overalls, a must have in 1986, and both of us in the color peach. Hold up, that's a layered look I was going for, with 2 "Outback Red" 10 button shirts, under the Guess Overalls. I do believe Holly is sporting a Forenza sweater. We were oh so trendy. Ok don't even try to discuss my hair, (it's a bob, and spiked on top???), oh and those huge glass's. Fun Memories, I miss those carefree days.

Prayer

Interesting thing happened during a huddle on Sunday. Huddle= leader meeting in vineyard terms. Someone shared about praying with confidence. And not just ask God for things, like a whole bunch of "I wants", those are kind of lame anyways, but if we know it's something that God might grant us, say like financial freedom, or healing or, someone to have a good God encounter, we don't just ask but we thank God for it already happening. Yeah I know sounds kind of nutty. I'm not saying, you should be all like ......"thanks God for hooking me up with a million dollars.", that's just freakin arrogant. You get what I'm saying, and there was actually a verse that went along with it, but I'm lame and can't remember it, so if any bible scholars are reading this leave the verse in the comments. So I tested it out, and wasn't even really thinking about it, I was just casually praying. Casually, meaning just doing my routinely lame praying in the car. I wasn't all on my face in the prescence of the Holy spirit praying I was just chillin in my car chatting. That's it. I just basically said, thanks God for taking away my worrys about our finances. That was it and I didn't give it another thought. Seriously what happened over the next few days was a little painful for me but nothing short of a miracle. My husband began to budget our money. Yes, I too was in complete shock. Not only did he budget he's got a plan that's going to last well into the summer that will give us a nice cushion so that we ain't broke all the time. Now heres the painful part. I get $20 a week for spending money. GASP.....So I am thinking of all sorts of ways to scam money. Like shopping at Aldi's for groceries which means whatever I save on groceries is mine to keep, and that means extra spending money. Except folks at Aldi's are a little bit scary. Seriously I'm not a snob, but sometimes folks can be scary. But heck 25 cents for a can of greenbeans, might be worth some scary folks. Ha! I'm totally kidding I ain't that broke. I've been there, and sometimes namebrand foods is just necessary! Oh so back to the reason for all the money nonsense.....that was from a teeny tiny prayer. I've been married for 15 years and this is the first time he's ever taken an interest in our finances. Hummm.....something happend....it's called DIVINE INTERVENTION. No telling what could happen if I fasted along with my teeny tiny prayer.

Heart for the Poor?

Me really? I don't get it. I've not had this feeling before. Am I being brain washed or is God really and truly breaking my heart? So I ended up in Church by myself this morning. It's the end of the Mercy Me series. Dave started talking about the Mt. Airy Mens Shelter, and Proverbs 31:30 Ministry both homeless shelters in my city. Many volunteers from my church provide transportation for these men and women to attend our church on Saturday night. So Dave said this past Saturday night at the beginning of his message he honored these men and women just by saying that to us they are more important than if the president of the united states was visiting. He had them stand up as he told them this, and that God had so much in store for them, to not give up. Something so so very small, and just words.....but to them...full of hope. Imagine being one of those people, whose lives have taken a bad turn and they find themselves homeless, and in front of thousands of regular folk, someone heaps a whole bunch of hope on you, and to know that a good percentage of those thousands in attendence in that moment were probably praying for you.....wow! So needless to say I cried a great deal (like now) at church today. Why? I guess because God is preparing me for that next step in this spiritual adventure. What that looks like? I have no idea, but I reminded over and over again of the verse:

1 Samuel 14:7 "Do all that you have in mind....go ahead, I am with you heart and soul."

So I continue to surround myself with people who will have my back. Can't wait to see what God has in store for me. Are you one of those people? Will you have my back? I'm just saying.....

Cleaning Again...

Does one ever get to not clean? I guess when you are loaded and you can hire a house keeper then your cleaning is less, but I would gather that even those who have house keepers still clean right? Man I hate cleaning. Found a pile of returned christmas cards. Which kind of annoys me. Like When we moved we sent out "we moved" notes within our christmas cards. We moved officially in October so a Christmas card seemed a logical choice. So why can't other folks send out we moved cards? Unless they don't want to be found which stinks. This year I've lost cousins, uncles, and friends into the postal abis. Can't say I didn't make some effort to find them, but if they don't want to be found then what's a girl to do? Guess I did my part now it's up to them. So if you are related to me, and you've moved and didn't get a Christmas card how about you send me something with a new address that'd be great. Off to clean something....probably paper scraps from my floor all over my house. He's a crazy, humming, scissor carrying maniac, and I love him!

End of Alpha

Always a bummer, but it's still bitter sweet. My tuesdays will be freed up till fall, so I'll be a cubscout Mom again. It's kind of good because then it gets me ready for spring and then summer without having to go to Alpha. I'll miss my table folks though, all very interesting and dynamic. Good to talk to Tom at the end about our experiences in different leadership roles and how God led us to that point. Good stuff, seems that I do not seek out leadership roles, ever, God just seems to lead me to them, and somehow while doing them I inadvertently bless some folks in the process of leadership. Is that what it means to serve God, do stuff you just naturally do anyways, and while doing so folks seem to get blessed. Must mean I'm doing what God wants me to do without really trying really. Theres something to that whole process. I think I might be on to something. I'm at mom's on her computer....dial up.....could be days before this entry gets loaded up. What with old folks and dial up anyways? Pray I can get my internet up and running by the weekend so I don't lose my dang mind.

Technology

Internet down at home. Pray that it won't be long, since I need new podcasts like right now. Some things in life just make me happy, music and podcasts are 2 of them. Oh and happy freakin spring with 4 inches of snow on the ground......enough already!

Good God Stuff

Bono seems to keep popping up in my life. He showed up today at church in part of a speech before Dave gave the message at church. I watched the whole speech. Many say that it was prophetic, I'd have to agree. It's freakin brilliant. Bono saying what is in a lot of peoples heads, is very cool. Bono quoting scripture from Leviticus, Isaiah, and Luke, seems just so awesome to me. Makes me glad I went downtown to serve folks who are less fortunate than me on my birthday. That's not something I'd normally do. I do an outreach maybe once or twice a year and usually around the holidays. I look at it as I serve folks I come in direct contact with everyday. Serving strangers a few times a year is an added bonus. Seems my encounter at the wedding last week sort of indirectly prepared me for what I would encounter downtown this weekend. I guess so that it wouldn't seem so foreign to me. And interesting how all this stuff that is taking me out of my comfort zone is all happening during a time that Dave is doing a series on the poor at church. It's almost as if God really does know what he's doing. So how it all this ties into Perry possibly going to a special school next year provided we can afford it and why I keep thinking about 1 Samuel 14:7, that's the part I'm still trying to figure out, but it seems like it's all trying to work together. It'll be interested to see how things turn out. One of the many cool things Bono said in his prophetic speech, was "instead of always asking God to bless what you are doing, get involved in what God is doing, because it's already blessed."
I urge you to watch the whole speech by Bono, you won't be sorry, it's very enlightening. Ecspecially the part about "Religion often getting in the way of God." Love that!

EXHAUSTED!!

Ever been so tired you can't even sleep? I've reached that point. Worked for 2 hours today (mind you I never work on the weekends, how do people do it?) Then I went to Proverbs 31:30 ministry downtown and taught some women who go to this shelter how to make bookmarks. Then we all ate a meal together. Cool experience, many of the women lived at the drop in center, some possibly on the street, just come and hang out at this shelter a couple women from my church run on Saturdays. God bless's the work they do there and it was fun to share with these women, and serve them. So from there we went to dinner for my birthday, and after that Perry and I went to a lock-in at the Y, because I'm just that crazy.
Got some cool pool pictures though. I love pool pictures, something about the color of the water, and maybe the super cute kid. Interesting as we were leaving the Y after the Lock-In, there was a sign by the door, the cornerstone of the building that said Established in 1969....ha....funny so was I.

Groupie!

Sometimes you just gotta know who to talk to! Or just have cool friends with super cool connections. I scored a VIP pass to the show Extreme Makeovers Home Edition. Yeah that's right you heard me, home of a Mr. Ty Pennington! He let me take this here photo while he took a break from shooting. Reluctantly I took the photo of his shirtless self, holding a power tool. Many of you who know when I went will recall that the house was done when I got there so you'll probably out me in my big fat lie, so yeah I didn't take this photo, but it is fun to look at don't you think. Kelly and I went to Sunrise, KY with out VIP pass's excited about all that we had to look forward to. A white tent full of design team talent, shrimp cocktale, time to converse with the design team about deep topics, just to get the oppurtunity to rub elbows with someone famous, was all we wanted. Yeah that was a crazy picture. After a crazy trip on some backwoods crazy roads in Kentucky, we get to our destination, Claysville Church, where we were suppose to catch a shuttle to take up to the house. We pass through one security check, on to another. Security check #2 was a security guard who has a surprising resemblence and deminor to Flavor Flav, seriously he talked just like him not quite as wacked, but loud and crazy. So Flavor Flav told us they weren't running anymore shuttles for VIP's, and we'd have to come back tomorrow........DO WHAT?.....Kelly told lie number 1 right about now, "uh....we drove all the way from Dayton, Oh, and we can't go up?" DAYTON, OH??? LOL.....Dayton is only like 20 minutes farther than Cincinnati, why use Dayton as a lie, Cleveland would have been more pitiful! He insisted that we had to go. So hanging our heads he headed back the scary blair witch project roads back to the big city. But then we remember passing the road that led to the house it was blocked off. I suggested lets play dumb, flash the VIP's and see what it gets us. We encountered yet another not too bright security dude, who said...."uhhhh....last I heard about that you had to go up to the church and catch a shuttle......" Damn-it! I was like "what we can't just drive up there? He's like "uhhhh...NO...", so we headed up the road.....then I was like wait a minute we can't give up that easy. I said to Kelly what if we came into the church the backway.....(a gravel road we exited on) which had no security. Park our car, slide into the long line that already existed....he'll never know. Kelly had a scarf, I had a knit hat I could put on, we'll have disguises.....LOL....it's a plan. Pass up the church right pass all security check points, slide in the back way, parked our car walked up to the VIP tent and stood in front of it like we belonged avoiding eye contact with Flavor Flav. Stood next to some lovely ladies, who were wearing the famous blue shirts. They said we're volunteers. Kelly's like how did you get to volunteer? They were like we just went into the tent and said we want to volunteer. We were like OK! Walked in said nothing about the VIP at first, just said "we're Volunteers", the girl was like "oh are y'all caterers?".....we both went....."Yep!", she handed us a blue shirt, press releases to sign, we then mention the VIP, she said oh well you can't be both so I'll give you your badges just don't wear them on the outside of the blue shirt. SCORE! Crap I hope they don't expect the caterer's to have food. LOL.....we got right on the shuttle....went right up to the house got dropped off. Went in the volunteer tent to get our assignment. Right away we were instructed to take 40 meals to the house from the Olive Garden Tent to feed the workers who were AT THE HOUSE, who hadn't eaten in 15 hours. We got escorted to the Olive Garden Tent and handed off to someone else. Once we got on the road to the house area, we were completely free to roam the worksite no questions asked. Holy crap. We did get the food and take it directly to the FRONT PORCH OF THE HOUSE. To which Ty was right behind the door. After we delivered the food, we hung out on the walkway in the front yard watching Ty shoot some scenes inside the house. Everyone was standing around waiting to MOVE IN FURNITURE. Are you kidding me? But once the Pottery Barn truck rolled up, the production assistant said Maggie had hand picked volunteers for moving in the furniture. Oh well, but we hung out and watched them lay the sod, was asked if we'd like to help...but we didn't want to get dirty. If we weren't responsible adults with jobs and true groupies we could have hung out all night into the morning for the reveal. But at 10:30 pm, we decided we'd had a good enough experience, heck we scored a T-shirt.....we better get back. We got to see Preston, Paige, and Ed (the english dude, I think it's Ed)...oh and Ty....hubba hubba...he had his megaphone. There were signs all over saying "no photographs", once I felt we had a sufficent experience I started taking pictures. I figured if we got kicked out we had a good experience. No one said anything. I was a little afraid to take photo's of Ty. It was so much fun being a groupie, we had a blast. Had we not encounted the right people we wouldn't have made it as far as we did we were totally lucky because security was pretty tight. We just happened to encounter a guy who was willing to work some magic for us. What fun being paparrazzi!