Best Day Ever.....

If you have been reading my blog for some time now, you pretty much know that Stampaway is the highlight of my summer! Love it! I may never use the stamps I purchase, but the smell of rubber, and the possibilities it all brings, just brings me great joy! I always come away inspired and ready to conquire a multitude of art project that all involve, ink, rubber, paint, embossing powder, and the possibility of catching something on fire. I always haul in my lute spread it out, sniff the new rubber that now needs to be mounted and catalogued, and then begin to make plans for my stuff! Heres to hoping that this year I actually do great things with my l lute and not find it in the same bag it came in just before stampaway next year.

You will see in the picture above my lute from this year. I didn't buy as much rubber as I usually do, as you can see the only random rubber pieces are on the left and then the sheet on the right....which are cute little christmas stick people called inklings.....oh I got big holiday plans for those little guys. In the center you will notice some chick tracts, this was a total impulse buy, I already have a collection of these from when I was in high school. I knew exactly where that collection was, but the fact that they were being sold at a rubber stamp convention in an assortment pack made me need to buy them, and in the event I had duplicates I could use them in some sort of altered artwork, possibly mail art. (yep I had them all....) These tracts now crack me up, they always have a "turn or burn" message, which I'm sure is what some folks need, but I think the majority of folks want to feel loved, and not be told they might burn in a firey pit called HELL! Oh.....sorry read one too many from my collection......Oh and yes that is a stripedy sock monkey purchased at Carmens Veranda, along with the plastic screaming Mini.....you squeeze her and she screams REALLY LOUDLY....I'm taking her to work when someone calls and is freaking out about their furniture that is likely made out of sawdust, cardboard and glue. Ok, Ok, Ok what is the recipe for BEST DAY EVER?

Awaken at aproximately 7am

Depart home alone with approximately 50 premade ATC's, a small amount of cash with the Visa back up.

Stop at Starbucks, Grande Cinamon Dolche please!

Recieve phone call from Julie, wondering if I was in line yet? Thank you technology...no need to wonder when I get there if Julie is here yet.

Find Julie...set down Latte.....begin trading.....trade half.....Connie arrives, I'm officially tired of ATC trading, why'd I make so many?

Finally we get in......we agree to head to the top floor first....good thing cause that's where all the good stuff was. We spent 3 hours on the top floor and nearly all of our money. Met up with Jennifer, Jana and crew....ooo'd and aaaah'd over the over abundance of Owl stamps....resisted the owls and went for some cute birdies instead.

After 3 hours on the top floor, and rubbing booties with way too many ladies with large butts, I wasn't sure I could do the bottom floor. Caught up with Stacie on our way downstairs...got all chatty....then headed to the bottom floor.

Ran through in record time....we were out of money and out of steam....and lets be real folks Connie's a nursing mother she was losing something else if you know what I mean!

Ran through the bottom floor in record time....again tired and hungry.

Julie went home to help the teenager get new jeans. Connie and I headed to Lu Lu's, and split a plate of noodles.....(heaven)....

I head home access the damage I did to my wallet, stayed well within my means.

Head to Kenwood Mall (why?). Didn't intend to buy anything just window shop.

Went to Dewey's for dinner.....MMMMMMMM.....favorite food round 2. Then came home.

What a fabulous day.

On a side note....I am not a big Reds fan, at all so how do I end up going to the game twice within a few weeks for free?? Because it's the only way I'd go that's why.....

SUPER FAN!!!!!!

A Great Day for Blogging

It is 8/8/08 so that's pretty stinkin cool. Heres why, 8 is my favorite number. Yep sure is, people go through their list of "what's you favorite?" When they get to number I say 8, always have. Not because the amount, not because of anything except for the way it looks. Apparently from what they say on the web, and you know anything that's on the web is FACT....it's a lucky number.

So I snagged this sweet picture from Flickr, cause no good blogpost is complete without a picture. Just so you know if I read you blog and you go for more than a paragraph without a picture, um you lost me. Just saying. I call that too wordy. Keepin it real here folks! Ok 2 days off Ashton's here and we're gonna go kick it. How you might ask? By going to my work, (yeah the place that is my day off from) and picking up heavenly cookies for my BFF and her roadtrip. Oh and a storage device for P's stuffed toys. Wish me luck, and send up some words that the folks who got their catalogue have not made their way to the land of plenty of inexpensive furniture.

Random Summer Fun 08

We had a fun week. If it wasn't enough that I got to see a Beth Moore Simulcast this past weekend, which was so so good for my soul. We had a fun weekend on top of that. Perry hung out with Ben 3 days in a row which made them both quite happy. Perry had fun at Maddie's birthday party. He was 1 of 2 boys. Connor kind of stayed clear of the girls or was shooting them with a super soaker, Perry just hung out and played with them. Oh and his world became complete when WALL E arrived in the mail today at Geegaws. This was kept a secret from me by everyone so Perry could surprise me. I have to say WALL E is my favorite Pixar movie so far. Perry agrees.

Need for Speed

So we purchased an external hard drive almost a month ago. Ron's fear of most things electronic leaves the task of moving stuff to it to me....."hello free-time".....So I've been dragging my feet since I know that moving 9 days worth of music and podcasts to the external hard-drive would in fact take hours out of my life. WHICH IT DID.....to ensure proper moving of all files and to not lose any of our precious music, a check and re-check had to be done. I am happy to report everyting itunes related is now on the external hard-drive, and I feel the need to lock it in a safe or something. I'll definately feel that way when I move the pictures there....yikes.

Glad to see everyone enjoyed the mail-art fun! I must repeat the banana was not real.....it was plastic people. Oh and don't worry if you responded to the previous mail art e-mail there will be something 3 dimensional landing in you mailbox soon, remember the free time....not a whole lot of that going around, besides Guitar Hero must get played!

Spent some time with my friend Connie the other night, we made some ATC's for Stampaway. She was in much need of some adult interaction, a 2 year old and a newborn, oh and the 6 year old, all girls....and the husband was out of town for a week....yikes she was quite desperate for some grown-up time. I'm happy to report she's in better spirits, and looking forward to Stampaway!!! As I am, love the smell of fresh cut rubber.....mmmmmm.....

Produce Mail???

That's right people, that's exactly what happened I put a Banana directily in the mail after I decorated it with STOLEN banana stickers. I had some help in this quest. Ok so they weren't necessarily stolen. It doesn't say anywhere that you actually have to purchase banana's to get the stickers.....besides who needs 4 stickers on one bunch of banana's anyways??? No one, so whoever purchased banana's on the Friday or the Monday a few weeks ago, may have been shorted a few stickers. Do common folk even appreciate the funny stickers anyways? Mail artists like myself however....see them as a challenge and subsequently ART! Oh and the helpers.....my BFF Layni and Fam, she got about 12 stickers during her weekly visit to her grocery establishment, and I went to the same place a few days later and got about 12 more. Don't give away the place since I am in the process of investigating them for a Cub Scout fundraiser, they may find me untrustworthy if they knew I was part of the banana sticker bandits. Oh by the way it ain't real....it's one of my favorite things.....plastic food!!! Ok time to panic, Cub Scout planning meeting was this evening which means time to buy school supplies for Cincykids and my own kid and that also means SUMMERS ALMOST OVER and my tan has faded.......OH my heavens which means it's almost Christmas!!!!! I'm so over being a grown up!

WALL-E

P and I saw this last week. I actually didn't fall asleep, which is a first for me since I always fall asleep during a movie at home and in the theater. It's really cute and has a great message for kids and grown ups.





WALL-E reminds me a lot of Perry. Who would be content in this world to build towers out of garbage and collect random objects. WALL-E is also afraid of unpredictable loud noises.

Why God?

This falls under the catagory of, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to question God, and hopefully he doesn't mind if I'm just mad at him right now. Katie Reider (see link on right) passed away this morning. See full story here. (warning read while listening to her beautiful voice and you are guarenteed to fall the heck apart.) Just as it just didn't seem fair that Rachel was taken so soon, it just doesn't seem fair that Katie was taken too soon. She had done way more living than Rachel and had 2 babies. Not to mention truly blessed by God with a beautiful voice, and extremely talented. Story from the local paper.


The very first time I heard Katie sing was at church. The Vineyard was recording it's very first worship CD, and she wrote and sang a song on it. It was also my recording debut (I was in the audience.....you can hear me I swear...) for some reason I think they called it the "grape jam" not sure why probably because VCC is wierd. I remember I e-mailed Dave, he was then associate pastor or worship leader then, and asked him who she was cause her voice was amazing and that song was the coolest I'd ever heard. He said she was a young girl who came a very talented family, and don't be surprised if she did great things some day. I think that may have been 1994 or 1995? A few years later she and her dad performed as part of a play at church, he acting as a crazy lounge singer (again my church is crazy) and she singing the most amazing version of silent night I had ever heard.

She made a name for herself locally in the 10 years that followed. She has a huge fan base in Cincinnati and Columbus, along with little pockets of people all over the US, and 4 albums can be found on Itunes. She had an amazing voice I own a lot of her songs, and was amazing to see live I saw her only twice in concert once with her brother Robbie. When she became sick I started following her story and linking others. I was certain she'd pull through, I'm sure she gave it all she had. It just stinks for the Reider family......Katie's mom Gaile just passed away almost a year ago. I will be praying for her family, as most of them have had an impact on my whole life. Her dad Rob I watched on the Bob Braun show with my dad when I was a kid. Katie and her beautiful music. Gaile speaking at womens events at church helped me grow spiritually. Robbie the best worship leader in the whole world......worship music helped me grow more than anything else. Amazing family....they don't deserve so much tragedy. Sorry God maybe I'll find a way not to be mad tomorrow but right now....still mad!

I've lost my Mind.....literally

Ok so my weekends activities included going to dinner and my former boss's house in Indiana with a couple of my co-workers. It was lovely and we had a good time talking about how wack many of my co-workers are. Sorry folks if you actually read my blog, which I don't think you do, but the majority of you are straight crazy. So while at said grill-out/dinner to-do, I was telling a story about some of my previous employment. And couldn't remember when this employment was, as in COULD NOT REMEMBER YEAR, TIMEFRAME, NOTHING.....it was a little scary. So yesterday we went to another grill-out, this one was with the fam, at a previous co-workers house (Kings Island Peeps for those who know my life) and again we were doing a little bit of "remember when" and there was a lot of people whose names I couldn't remember......Decided on the way home....sweet Jesus, I must be dying. Seriously people, I have a mind like a steel trap, I remember faces, names, people I may have briefly ran into in 10th grade and spoke two words to. I'll see someone like that at the grocery store and I'll be like that's so and so and they used to do such and such.....for real.

So it's now time for what I'd like to call Operation Brain Stretch! AKA Sexton's Read! Perry's reading a chapter book about WALL-E, so far he's completed 3 pages...not bad for one day. Ron's reading some book about Zombie Wars....stimulating I'm sure. And I'm reading a book about......ready........HOW KORN FOUND JESUS.....that's right you heard me. It was either that or a book by Fannie Flagg, which I've read a few of her books back in the day. Ron wanted me to get a book he would read. He said he might read this one, so there ya go.

So as part of the Korn tribute I offer you a list of some of my favorite Korn tunes, for you listening enjoyment. Be patient with Shoots and Ladders cause it's got some wicked bagpipes at the beginning that are awesome....but then he kicks up midway through....by far my favorite!


SeeqPod - Playable Search
My brother will be so proud!
Oh and we must never forget.....

If you listen to none of the Korn tunes you must listen to that one, with Amy Lee freakin amazing!

Summer Fun....

I never did say anything about Perry and Daddy's adventures at Summer Camp. Let me post one picture to entice you to return tomorrow cause I gotta take off to work!

Precious child. Sorry I wasn't there. Well maybe just sorry I wasn't there during the day for the fun, except for the part about climbing cardiac hill to go swimming, or the part about the food that is less than desirable. More about camp later!

Grouchy People.....GEEZ!

Ok so heres the thing, the more challenging my job becomes the more I love it, don't know why but it's true. Management can be completely jacked up on many different levels, I can end up on register for 3 hours, but I still love the challenge of my work. Maybe it's because there was so much about Life insurance that was way way way too challenging and I didn't understand half the crap I did, now I have control over a lot of stuff, and understand completely 100% of what I do, strange how that can make a difference. And for the most part I can make the most unhappy customer happy and satified, doesn't take much. A few people are like oh this place is so jacked they'll be closed in a year......bahaha....NOT..I see the inner circle of this crazy nonsense you call IKEA. IKEA has brand recognition, people will travel for hours to shop at IKEA, and buy a muffin tin with the IKEA logo on it. You can piss off 100 people, but you have 200 more that don't care what it is if it says IKEA they will buy it and spend a lot of money to do so. So heres what I say to my grouchy co-workers.......SHUT UP.....already, I'm having fun!

I'm saying that now, but the changes that are coming in the next month, I may change my mind. Lets just say theres a good possibility some crazy personalities are about to colide and it may not be very pretty. I intend to hang in there but I suspect there a a good number of folks who will not hang in there. Stay tuned!

Lets be real folks, in the infinite words of my homegirl Kristi, my life is straight busted. Or more importantly the admin. area of your beloved IKEA is busted! It's feeling the ripple effect of Leesa's departure, see blog below because apparently you people either forgot to pray or God needs her elsewhere. I'm so over that....just get shit figured out and leave me alone so I can make happy formerly pissed off customers! So on with bigger and happier things. Looking forward to the Beth Moore simulcast....go here and click on Beth Moore if you are interested. (then e-mail me and tell me you are going cause as of now I'm going by myself, no pressure) It's worth every penny, I've been before, as well have done 3 of her bible studies and in 2 days your life will be changed, she's amazing!

Beth Moore Live- Check that out for more details.

Up for a Challenge?

Ok I have some three dimensional items I'd like to challenge the postal system with. Oh you better believe a little something will be showing up in Mrs. Moo Mail's mail box, but I got 3 others that need to get some art too. So heres the rules. To accept this challenge you have to:

1. Enjoy something funky showing up in your mailbox
2. Be willing to challenge the postal system yourself
3. Be able to take a picture of the item upon arrival and e-mail me a photo

Any takers? If so e-mail me your address. Yoda0419@gmail.com

Unleashed....

Good Lord.....to say the Holy Spirit was unleashed at SOS would be the understatement of the Summer!!! This was my 3rd year serving on the prayer team.....ok need I remind you that my blog is all about being honest. Which could very well mean a little bit of a background story. I've been a Christian for 30 years, over these many I've seen a lot of stuff, and there are a lot of come to Jesus stories. I went to Ichthus many years as a teenager and they'd always do an altar call at least one of the nights. Then I went to Ichthus as a grown up, and was a youth leader.....Altar Call night came, and I was moved by the number of kids who went forward, until one of the kids in my group said...."most people just go forward for the free stuff....." DO WHAT? The thought had never occured to me, I was scarred. And now I've scarred many of you. I do believe in that moment I became suspicious of every rotten teenager I encountered, and decided teenagers were not my gift. So that was like 12 or 13 years ago.......I stayed away from teenagers for 10 years, I think I needed to mature a little and grow spiritually myself. 3 years ago I volunteered for the first time for SOS, I joined the prayer team for one night. I figured I don't really have to like teenagers to pray for them, if anything I can make a difference by praying for them. So I jumped in, and fought through my sinicalness, and did just fine. Not to mention had a blast and decided I'd go for every night the next year. So the next year I did one night of security and the rest prayer, slowly my fear of teenagers began to dimenish. Now this year, seems I've learned how to hear Gods voice, and how to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit better than I ever have before. Either that or the power of the Holy Spirit was super powerful this year....which it could be both. Seriously the HG shows up year after year.....this year....it was off the hook. Kids were praying for the gift of healing and immediately using it, I'm for real, we saw it happen. I was way more comfortable praying for folks this year and watching to see what was happening. I love that the Vineyard (Karin Maney-trains most everyone how to pray) teaches us that it's ok to ask while praying what they are feeling....or to share tentitively what we feel God is saying. It's so awesome to get and give feedback! Seriously I can't wait till next year, and if you have a teenager plan now. If you sign up in March you get a discount. Check out the Art and Faith blog link on the right. For a photographers perspective, and Stacie's first SOS. Oh and check out the Vineyard website for video of todays service which was an awesome recap of SOS great video footage. Just click on this weeks message.

In other news I got my wig busted. All the gay men at work love it so that means I must look fabulous (well only one gay man...but whatever)
Here's the before and after. Picture #1 is at the Mugrages 50th Anniversary party with Weezer who also has a fabulous new haircut. She is always making crazy faces for pictures....but I look good.....kind of....Picture #2 is my best attempt at putting your arm out and taking a self portrait after many hours working at IKEA. Excuse the blemish, and the multiple chins.....I am far more fabulous in person! Oh and picture #1 I am sporting a grown up frilly shirt....as in not a t-shirt which is what I usually wear but a non-t-shirt sort of shirt with ruffles and poofy sleeves....I know...I was looking like a girl everyone was shocked. It's not everyday folks are still together after 50 years, had to represent.
While we are on the subject of life and fabulous people....best transition really.....my fabulous boss Leesa is quitting IKEA....taking a job at Honda, I'm sure it's better....or not....how could it be IKEA is awesome. It's possibly management screwed up and didn't treat her right or something, I didn't ask for the details cause honestly I like not knowing. However if you are the praying type.....how about you pray they offer her loads of money to stay or something.....we have about 6 days to keep her there so get to praying people. She's the best boss I've ever had, and IKEA is stupid for letting her go. Everyone she's in charge of is pretty much super sad and frustrated she's leaving, she is definately NOT replaceable. There are some changes in life that are just no fun, and if we could make them not happen we'd go to great length......so pray people!

Did you say Dancing Cows?

That's right people...it's time for SOS. Oh and this year 820 smelly teenagers, add in 1500 volunteers, and you got yourself some straight up nasty bathrooms. God bless the VCC custodial staff, cause teenagers are gross! Gross however they live in this F'd up world so God definately needs to pour out some blessings on them. But before he did that Family Force 5 show'd up and got things started in a super loud and off the hook way......had never heard them, had heard of them cause I know a few teenagers so their name got thrown around in a few conversations. They rolled up on stage and I was like HOLD UP, these boys got some talent. Loud talent.....whole lot of screaming....but talented, and I loved it, made me shake my booty! Oh and they had some dancing cows! Which was amazing and went right along with the cow theme Stacie started for the summer!


That's just a sampling, I stuck it out for an hour of that craziness....yeah I'll need that to be my next full album download!
Tonight the Holy Spirit show'd up in a huge way and I was blessed and blown away at my lack of fear to pray for folks and just allow the HG to speak through me, I prayed for a lot of kids tonight. Send up some words that God will continue to use me, and my peeps to love on some kids till Friday!

Tidbits of my Life.....

So as expected IKEA cut hours. Shouldn't last long since the new catalogue comes out in late July I believe. So I'm going to enjoy the time off since it is summer and not complain. However, I am broke people so if you want me to do anything....which you should cause I ain't working so I can kick it with my peeps. Try and make sure it's free fun then you won't feel guilty for not paying my way. Just sayin!

Super important fact of the day. I SCORED 100% ON "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT" ON GUITAR HERO. This is big news people....why you might asks? Because my homeslice Connie, who just had a baby the other day (place image here).....by the way...has been playing GH2 for longer than me, scores usually 98 or 99 on every song she plays has yet to get 100%. I am rarely if ever an over achiever...if anything I am usually an under achiever....not this time people it's on now!

Cute quote of the week: As said by my 11 year old to his Daddy while mommy was at work. "Daddy, I know why you love Mama so much.......because she's so beautiful!"

Ok I'm losing sunlite....I'll say something important tomorrow.

Moo Mail!

About a month ago, Stacie gave a shout out to some peeps in regards to a mail art challenge. She collected address's for anyone who cared to partake in this activity. Stacie and I took a Mail Art class a few years ago where we sent and recieved all sorts of fun art via the mail. It was fun to recieve 3 dimensional art pieces from all over the world, some from England and Austrailia. So I took the challenge and prepared a flipflop, and threw it in the post.

Well she may have had to rack her brain to top that one, but oh my friends she did! I present to you what arrived in my mailbox Saturday Morning. That's right I think a plastic cow with decoupage fabric on it, lipstick, eyelashes and a NOSE RING, completely tops a flip flop! Now it's on.....I have something in mind but feel free to e-mail me any ideas you might have.

Kudo's to Stacie who was a big chicken last time to mail a wooden letter and put it in an envelope. Moomail came with no covering....just as is....it's all about pushing the postal system to it's limits one plastic object at a time!

Inducing Panic one bottle of water at a time.....

So I was hangin out at my favorite scrappin website, seeing what folks are up to. One of my peeps sends a shout out about smart plastic. So now come the PSA via me.....Apparently according the Matt on the today show, his experts stated any plastic with a #7 on it is pretty much unsafe to use EVER???? Oh and super smart people who know this stuff created this useful document. So then I've been freaking the heck out because I get attached to things that make me happy. And this bottle makes me happy. It's pink (a dark pink) looks red in the picture. It has the life is good guy on it, and it has a cool pink spash guard so that I don't end up with a face full of water everytime I drink. I use it almost everyday for tea or water. So after I saw the segment and read the documents I went and ran to my faithful friend that happens to be a water bottle. Only to find it has the dreaded #7 on the bottom. Which Mr. Waterbottle expert stated you should never use anything with #7. That's just great, no wonder I can't remember shit, and have hormone issues (don't even ask people you don't want to go there) I'm poluting my body daily with poly-something-or-other. Then I found this document, and the panic was over. Oh and the people at Nalgene, have it plastered right on their home page. Apparently Matt stirred up quite the commotion! My question is this.....Who do we believe? We have to trust educated people cause we can't all be that dang smart to know what chemicals are where. And obviously Nalgene is going to dispute it since they want you to buy their bottles. How do I get involved in these things anyways. I need to isolate myself.....heading to the basement to play guitar hero and pretend none of this happened. The hormone issues must be from some other chemical I'm polluting my body with, I'll let you know when I find out what that is. Probably has something to do with toothpaste or laundry detergent.....

Sorry....so dang Busy...

Oh my gosh, I'm busy. I'm busy with work, camping, birthday party, end of school, preparing everyone for summer camp. Just before summer camp is SOS which I am working at the whole week, and can't wait. I wish every teenager I knew would go to SOS, it's such a great experience for the kids, like no other. Ok off to work, promise to update more often, as time allows.

Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz and Colbey Calet, should hook up, or maybe they have and I juSt don't know it. This the latest full album I'd like to buy. So if you owe me a gift...this here album on the itunes would be SWEET!

The one where Dave Ramsey gets thrown under the bus.....

Sorry Dave. Not sure what happened after taking Financial Peace. We were good for many months, even paid off a student loan we were chiseling away at for over 10 years. Then we got a little extra cash flow from Mr. IRS, and all the sudden we lose our damn minds. Budgets are for smart people, apparently neither Ron or I are smart. I'm sure if you are a regular reader you've determined that considering my poor grammer and bad spelling. Ha! Not so smart, but a really quick wit! So for mothers day, after much pleading, and researching I talked the man into Guitar Hero III, because I was in a former life a Rocker chic.
I am quite good at easy songs so far, I tried moving on to Medium level, and when you add a 4th key all hell breaks lose! So I'll stick to 3 keys for a little while longer. Seriously though we either need a bigger TV or we need to put it up higher, because no one looks good with their chin to their chest playing guitar! So because of my guitar playing buzz, I unintentionally washed and dried my cellphone. Honestly am I the only one whose ever done this? I hear folks drop them in the toilet all the time.....ewwww.....but that's probably a quick wet...in out sort of thing (I hope). Apparently several gallons of water flushing through it and then a quick spin in the dryer for an hour isn't exactly the best thing for your cellphone. So headed to the phone store for a accessment of the damage...it was toast....sims card erased, and I lost all my peeps....NOOOOOO.... in this day and age, that's where everyone is, if they ain't there they don't exist. So if you are a peep of mine, and you've not sent me your digits and care to ever hear from me again. E-mail me your digits or you are lost forever. So I upgraded to a blackberry (hello Mr. IRS). Was a bit afraid to tell the man who I knew wouldn't be happy considering it was twice as much as I needed to spend, however theres a sweet rebate of $100 bones after 90 days. Predictably he was real mad...even hung up on me...yelled...was annoyed, but knew he'd lose eventually and began to research the phone I got.....SHOCK...it was a wise purchase. No one can resist cool and affordable technology, so the man had to have one for himself and scored one for an early fathers day gift. Oh and he had to get the better one, with a flash, and has video capabilities.....WHATEVER!

Go find this....

So Ashton and I planted a letterbox for Pack 969. Someone has actually found it and logged in on the letterboxing website. Very cool. Now you people GO FIND IT!

Now for the Hard Stuff

Tomorrow begins the 2 day grieving process. I've been coping fairly well, trying not to think about any of it. I created a very cool card to help with the coping process.

Gone too Soon!!!!!

Warning this blog post could suck....royally....but newsflash life sucks royally sometimes. So I've dealt with some sucky funerals in my day. Grandparents are the closest death I've dealt with, and the childhood friend I lost to suicide that was the suckiest of all. But a family members child....this could potentially suck, and suck bad! My cousin (technically 2nd cousin) Rachel lost her life in a car accident last night, I can't continue to skirt around it sorry. My attempt to busy myself with a busy Saturday to try and control my grief has now come to a screeching hault and I am faced with the reality that a beautiful 15 year old girl is no longer with us.

So I am preparing myself for a fairly crappy week. I'm not sure how it could not be.

What I did to get my mind off things today?

We had a busy busy Saturday on tap. We went and participated in the Clean Sweep....cleaning up the Miami River banks. I had mentally prepared myself that this could potentially be yucky since often this river can be rather stinky, and where we were going was near the sewage treatment plant, that to me just sounds stinky. Good news no funk smell at all. It was actually a beautiful day. And bonus, they must have had a crew of volunteers yesterday because we didn't score that much trash. I mean a stove, a fridge, an old rusty washtub and some remains of a rusted out car, and a few tires were our big finds. Oh Oh Oh, the best of all was when one of our Tiger cubs emerged from the woods with a shopping cart basket. So stinkin cute. 10 year olds rarely want to cooperate when I'd like to get a cool photo of them in the storm sewer. Thought it'd be a cool shot of all of them peeking out of the concrete circle. However no one cared to listen to me. I am fairly certain they see me as Perry's annoying mom who is always taking pictures. Like here this is a cool photo Ron caught....and then theres one of the little mud mongers red gloved hand in the shot. Right if I had photo shop I could chop his hand off as if it was never there and I am sure some software on here could do that. However if they would just care about my desire to get a decent shot this would not happen. They are precious angels who have fun together....but um they are 10 and they are dirty and they smell bad. Today required 2 showers.....2 showers for a reluctent 10 year old is no fun for anyone. So in observance of the fact my weeks going to suck....I shall end the day by consuming a banquet dinner (the suckiest of all meals) at 11:15 at night because I did not have time to eat dinner tonight.

No stink smelly 10 year olds were required for this cool shot I got.

Please pray for my family as we head into a week of mourning. Pray for my cousin Monica as she grieves the loss of her baby. My dad's side of the family is a close knit bunch, and this kind of death is going to be hard on everyone. Hug you kids a whole lot tighter tonight, and consider waiting on letting them drive.

Video Share...

OMG....this is dang funny! I love Natalie Portman!

What I'd call Perfection.....

SWITCHFOOT LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and getting lost in the woods with my favorite teenager! Well it wasn't out intentions to get lost in the woods, or be frightened by the unsuspecting man who came up behind us.

We scared the poor man with our screams more than he scared us. It was so funny! It was not our intentions to leave the cellphone in the car. Our plan was to plant the letterbox and head back to the car. So there was no reason to bring the bottle of water with us, it was a short hike. Then the trail we had never traveled before beckoned us, seriously how long could it be. It said at the beginning of the trail, some kind of loop which usually means you end up back where you started. We missed the part that it was 1.5 miles, and we weren't completely sure it was a loop??? Because we are both ding bats (me a grown up one), and neither of us have a good sense of direction. Thank Goodness for the compass on my watch, except I didn't know what direction we should be heading in. Hee Hee....Needless to say 1 mile into it, we weren't sure we would ever see our car again, and then we spied the thorny tree near the letterbox we planted, we had indeed made a full circle. Woohoo.....next time we might want to take some water....maybe a snack. We plan to explore the part we missed next week, which means we'll be lost again!

Don't Ask....

Because I have no idea why on earth I am blogging. Spent the weekend camping with the Cub Scouts. Volunteering is hard hard hard work. I am not the greatest volunteer, I'll admit that. But you can see why folks don't volunteer, you often feel under appreciated. I see folks who put themselves out there ALOT, and get burnt out and bitter. Told myself on Friday I wasn't going to do that, and that I wouldn't beat myself up if folks didn't like or appreciate what we had planned. Regardless, when you look at the pictures of those cute little 10 year olds (and under) and see how dirty they are and exhausted from playing so hard, all the hard work is worth it. The fact that my body hurts from running around in the woods and climbing a steep hill more than once to go in the creek..........I think that's worth it too. With that I think I might go pass out right about now.

But not until I share a few photo's from this weekend. All the boys in our den had these boots to run around in the creek with. Talk about dirty boy cuteness!

Joey brought his dogs out on Saturday! Talk about sweet and cute! And they were good for puppies too. I am now going to go pass out.

Overwhelmed

I don't know if it's my worklife trickling over into my homelife (honestly that's never happened) or if it's just that time to be completely overwhelmed. Work is crazy busy. I think since it's now been open a month, the fact that a lot of people have no clue what the heck they are doing it catching up to my department and we are feeling the heat. For the most part people are super nice and super patient. But then there are the few who expect you to give them so much to compensate for our screw up. Or the people who really don't have a problem yet want to create a problem so they can get free stuff....come on as if we don't smell you coming! So that's work, and because of work and wierd retail nonsense hours, my house is a "hot mess"! And I've been slacking in my committee chair duties because I can't be at anything cause I am always working when the world is living their lives. So I found this song by David Crowder, and if I close my eyes and just listen, God makes me feel so much better. He knows my needs and rarely gives me more than I can handle. He does however enjoy stretching my limit a little bit more all the time.

I'm dumber Now.....

Ok guilty pleasure. If you can even call it a pleasure. I'd like to refer to it as mindless TV viewing. I am happy to admit I didn't watch this seasons Rock of Love from the very beginning. Therefor not a whole lot of time was wasted on becoming dumber. It did not take many episodes though. I couldn't stop watching, because I had to see if he chose the dumbest bimbo I've ever seen on TV. Seems super mean and wrong. But holy crap 5 min. of watching her the nicest person would feel the same way. I will say if I ever am super sad because a hot rock star dumped me, I will say the same thing she said. "OMG...I want to totally roll up in a ball and eat a lot of ice cream...." BRILLIANT!
So will I waste time on watching the reunion show, and see one of last seasons girls beat up the bimbo that was booted this season. Man might be hard to pass up!

Mother Nature Wins....

OK need I remind you that discussing the weather on ones blog is unacceptable and well....lame...except when you are super happy it's warm out, and then Ohio decides to have (as Joe at church so gracefully put it) a second winter?? You know what that's just mean! So we had hiking plans. And because I am hardcore if I have hiking plans and it snows we hike anyways cause what did I say.....I HAVE HIKING PLANS.....people know this about me. So it rained Friday night more soggy yuckiness, and our plans were for Saturday, hiking without the kid, to create clues for our letterboxing adventure in a few weeks for the Cub Scouts. So we unloaded the kid at Geegaws, and off we went, camelbacks for of ice water, notebook, GPS, and 3 layers of clothing. Seriously it was the nicest, most peaceful hike we've had pretty much ever. We weren't all super romantic and dorky because we were kidless, we walked at our own pace, taking in everything on a trail we'd never been on before. It was lovely. We even discovered an abandoned old cemetery in the middle of the woods. I inherited that from my mom, the fascination of old cemeteries full of dead strangers. It's fun to read the old gravestones. Speaking of beautiful strangers, I found more abandoned strangers at the Antique Mall. I wish I had loads of money so I could buy up all the old photos. It makes me so sad to find scrapbooks full of old photos being sold for money in antique stores. If that's where my scrapbooks end up, I will come back and haunt my family!
Ron and I aren't all that in to antiques. We like a few random items, but we aren't one to purchase furniture or decorate with antiques. We like to score lucky little things like an old Cub Scout handbook, or vintage Cartoon glass's. My friend Abby and her brothers collect cartoon glass's. I was told long ago I could play along with them but never really went hunting till yesterday when it was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I didn't want to jump right in and go with Looney Toons glass's which is mostly what they collect. Instead I went with "Camp Snoopy", sold at McDonalds in the 70's. They were $3 a glass and I scored 2. I was told by Abby part of the fun is to make sure you spend less than $10 a glass. Ok, game on!

Get Up and Dance People.....

Do not let the fact that IT RAINED AGAIN AND MY BACK YARD IS A GIANT MUD PILE, keep you from getting up and shaking your BOOTY!

Happiness....

I requested on Facebook the other day..."can it please be spring already?" And tada...it's spring! What a fabulous day! The new Student Union is now open at church and we walked over to check it out after church. Made me excited for SOS...my one chance to act like a teenager for a few days and then get on with my life. Something else cool I discovered today, you can go get your "wig busted" and help drill a well. I could use a haircut, but I doubt the man would fork over the dough for me to go get my hair did, that just happened about a month ago, and I've had to spread those things out to like every 3 months, to the point that my hair pretty much look ridiculous...otherwise I'd have to go to Great Clips, don't even get me started!

Other things that bring happiness. The magnolia tree in the front yard is blooming. Perry being

Not much of a dare-devil did not climb up there, Ron had to place him up there.

When I was his age you wouldn't have been able to keep me out of that tree. He did get daring at Harbin Park last spring and was climbing a small tree and fell, then I knew that was it. Although this even he and Daddy road around the block, he on his Big Wheel and Daddy on his razor scooter, he asked Daddy to give him a big push, and the Big Wheel flipped backwards, and he scrapped up his back. He got back on the big wheel and road on into "town", (a street with a couple business's near our house, he calls that town), so now he has a cool battle wound.

I think I may have won the battle with the Robin who has been trying to build a nest above my mailbox. She does this every year. This year I decided if she's going to build a nest she'll need to pay rent and/or apologize to the mailman for pooping on the mailbox. She wasn't having any of that and went right ahead and began "attempting" to build a nest. Which I would promptly knock down every morning when leaving for work. Then as I would be getting in my car there she'd be pirched on the outside light starting all over again, and Ron would knock down what she'd done all day long in the evening. Seriously people this went on for a good two weeks, it looked like we had a huge pile of hay on our front porch till we finally swept it up this weekend. She wasn't a very smart Robin since she could have saved herself many trips in search of dead grass since there was a huge pile of it on the porch...duh! Theres a quite a few perfectly good trees for nest building in my yard. The funny thing is one morning after nest distruction I get out to my car and theres bird crap all over it....funny funny...then Ron who is far more anal about his car ecspecially after washing it.....She bombed him too....I think the war may finally be over since no nest attempts have been made in 2 days. We have been enjoying the nice spring weather everyday it's been warm to say the least. I scored a letterbox today on my lunch hour. I won't tell you where but I hear it's the coolest place on earth. And it's pretty much one of the coolest handmade stamps I've ever seen in a letterbox!

HOT HUSBAND/CUTE KID ALERT!!!!

Easter Cuteness

 

In case there was any Question.......

I really love playing around on this new website I discovered. So while investigating some of my favorite bands I came across this....




For anyone who is the parent of a boy this song will be ecspecially meaningful to you. Doesn't matter what Karen sings she sounds beautiful!

Spring Break Love....

Something I am enjoying this spring break is.....Ron's on vacation...so he's been staying up late. Each night Perry goes to bed with me and we snuggle and fall asleep together. Then Daddy puts him in his bed when he goes to bed. I know that kind of lovin ain't going to last for much longer so I'll take what I can get.

SICK

I hate being sick. Yesterday was my day off, I took P to IKEA since he was dying the check out Smaland, and the store. "IKEA is the coolest place ever..." According to the P-man. He apparently didn't notice the 10 min wait to check out, the parking natzi's that instruct you to park 8 miles away even though there are closer spots. The ginormous line for Cinamon Rolls....which made it impossible for me to get one and I wanted one and then the 8 mile walk back to the car....um it was my day off!!! So then we went and saw Horton which I heard was quite good but because of the sickness, and the potential fever I was running I slept through much of it. Upon arriving home I slept for many hours running a low grade fever, with the chills. I forced myself up to finish making 11 Easter cards for my co-workers...cause I'm crazy like that. My fellow work was most appreciated. Although now the fever is gone and I have no voice...try talking on the phone to people with damaged furniture with no voice...."IKEA'S after sales phone sex line, what's damaged..." Ha...I didn't call anyone today. Did as much as I could without calling. Hopefully I have a voice tomorrow.

Emotion

Oddly enough...or not so oddly enough, I think that's just a saying. I'm super happy. Life in general is good. Like I feel happier than I've been in a long time. I work crazy hours, I'm broke as hell, I rarely get to watch TV, I haven't done anything creative in weeks, and I need to empty (Ron's job) and load the dishwasher tomorrow. Just goes to show, one can have quite a few negatives going on in their lives and still be super happy. And this song, Ron gave me (cause I asked for it....geez dude can spend .99 on his wife for her b-day) for my birthday, it's BEAUTIFUL.......

Um...I'm 39...

Holy Crap how'd that happen? Oddly enough I feel younger than I did last year. Maybe it's cuz, I'm working a funner(is that a word) job, with younger co-workers who think I am their age? I attempted to party like I was their age last night for St. Patty's day....yeah....um why does my favorite sweat jacket smell like beer? Not smoke but beer (smoking ban in ohio) It was fun, but old girl couldn't hang after 12:30. Something about strange men (as in strangers) doing a little "grab ass"....hey...get off dude! Other than the occasional grab assidness (new word bonus), and the occasional ass clown, it was loads of fun. We have what's called imports at Ikea (co-workers from other Ikea's in other states who are showing us how to roll Ikea style) and we had to show them how to have fun in West Chester....or the Dub U C....LOL. As if me being a middleaged married women knew how to have a good time in the Dub U C.....yet recalled the Brazenhead being mentioned by some young folks once, and I rolled past it last year on St. Patty's day....I was correct in my assumptions, and it was all the way live. And now the folks from Philly, LA, Boston....and other places think Ohio folks know how to party. Not to worry, I had only 2 beers...small ones...and was home by 1:30.....respectable and responsible, that's how I roll.
HAPPY B-DAY TO ME!

Ikea's Grand Opening

It was 3 days ago and I've just about recovered. Although today was way busier, but today I didn't have to work 10 hours like I was required to do on Grand Opening. You can hit my Facebook and see the photo album there for a run down of the festivities. Or to get a run down of a true grand opening experience you have to go HERE, to see just why a person would camp out for a grand opening. He captures what the experience truly felt like. Very cool!

Fun With You Tube!

Oh my goodness I saw this video a while ago. But then I saw Jimmy's response last week and it's just dang funny. All the bad words are bleeped out but Parental Discretion is advised.


Seriously this one is even funnier!

Birthday...time to Celebrate..

Technically it's a week away, but I generally like to celebrate for the whole month. After all....I've scored free noodles from Noodle and Company and free Ice Cream from Cold Stone. So feel free to send me other coupons as well, oh free cake from Gold Star....it's a free food extravaganza Birthday. Oh it'll be the 9Th anniversary of my 30Th birthday....I know I know....gasp....Stacie's preparing me with information from Skincraft for the nose piercing for next years birthday....she tested the waters and apparently it doesn't hurt. Good to know.

Tight Security?

It's because of crazy people like these that I have to show up at least 30 minutes early to work for the next month. Why you might ask? Because I have to park off site so the customers can take up all the parking spots and then some. Apparently some customers will also be parking offsite with us and taking the same shuttle. Which therefor means not trash talking on the shuttle. These are the folks who show'd up today because they could, and camp out 2 days before the store actually opens. I took the photo from afar because I was a tiny bit scared they'd wrestle me down and take my badge. I have to say they are being treated nicely since they now have 4 heaters out there to keep them warm. Even though the rules said "no heating devices or fires of any kind." That's ok we'll provide them for you. Oh and let me show you a crazy shot of a few of my co-workers hanging at a local bar after work where trash talk is permitted and a lot of it goes down. Left to right you have Kristi...newbie....fitting in wonderfully. Matt, likes to party, nuff said. And Amy, my new homey....whose nickname is Trixie (for a reason)...ha ha..super sweet, one of those people who is aware that I'm not down with hugs but gives them to me anyways. That's a horrible picture of her she'll kill me. So I'll throw up
another one. This one is from the all store party.



The all store party was off the hook. Ikea folks know how to get their party on that's for sure. Oh and big ginormous bummer, Friends and Family day was snow'd out. Ikea was going to let the show go on and the Police shut them down, something about a level 3 snow emergency. I was ready to go snow and all. Oh well, we'll get to practice out customer service skills on the general public now. Yikes!
So don't try and go to Ikea, before Wednesday unless you intend to camp out the security is tight. This is the same security who strolled the store the whole time we were building. While Amy and I were building in the front of the store a few random folks walked in asking how to get a job....um where was security then? Happy shopping people and don't harm anyone on Grand Opening....

All you need is Love....

Sing it Kylie!

Seriously theres nothing cuter than my niece getting her sing on. The big finish with her eyes closed is the best!

Adjustment....

So the reality of retail working is coming at me full force, next week. I left my availability as open, and flexible so I'm working a few evenings....gasp. And I'm off during the week and working on Saturday....again gasp. Life is not as it used to be, where I could listen to 10 podcasts during a week with no problem. No podcast listening for me right now. I hope I can get to that point where I can work it in to my day somewhere.

Friends and Family is Saturday, if you didn't score a pass sorry I only got 4 and gave them to those who would disown me or those excited about Ikea coming and had never been. If you are desperate to get in there on this coming Saturday let me know ASAP and I'll see about any extra pass's folks need to give up. Grand Opening is a week from today.....if you go either this Saturday or anytime in the next few weeks be nice to my co-workers they haven't a clue what they are doing. And for God sake people if you go on Grand Opening buy a freakin' Hot Dog it's only 50 cents and the IFS (Ikea Food Service) folks are trying to break an Ikea record.
Oh and do not be JEALOUS OF MY SWEET SHOE HOOK-UP!

The Fun Never Ends.....

I am tired tired tired. And I am pretty sure that this is just the beginning, of how tired I will be for the next few months. Someone remind me again why I've gone back to retail? I will say if I think I'm tired, I need to thank my lucky stars I am not a manager and I do not have that kind of responsibility or stress. Remind me of that once they figure out I have leadership skills....the answer is gonna have to be a big fat NO! So I just spent 4 days with Ikea peeps, having my head crammed full of all things that are job related. Canton, MI folks are awesome, they have a great team and I do believe we have learned from the best, I just hope we can form a team that is bonded that well. Now I'm off to an Ikea party....then I go to work tomorrow cause I do love these people (not that dang much...but geeze)
Heres a glimpse into my life right now....When I'm not at work.

Road Trip

Totally chillin....as in DAMN IT'S COLD IN MICHIGAN. So I'm totally chillin in Canton, MI. It's loads of fun, yet somewhat lonely, since we have rooms to ourselves, and I'm split up from my peeps cause they are working the closing shift. It was so much fun working today, as in, it won't be hard at all. Grand Opening is going to be off the hook, crazy busy, but I'm glad to have some instore experience before we get SLAMMED. Ok off to enjoy my room all to my self with a GINORMOUS King size bed.

Please Vote....

So in order to take our minds off the events of the past week, or for me the past few days, I'd like to draw your attention to the what I'd like to call, YOUR DOG IS UGLIER THAN MINE contest.
Trust me when I say the enemy will often show up in places you least expect, and it seems to me he's working overtime!!!!


On to the contest:

So the precious poochie on the left is Maizy. The handsome fellow on the right is Max. If either of them were able to procreate we would totally hook them up, just to see what would happen! Now cast your vote in the comment section.

Ok got the awesome oppurtunity to spend some time with Teenagers this evening. For the most part they seemed harmless.....but for the love of all things good and innocent DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU.....they're dangerous. Just sayin.....on that note....I've shared it before probably more than once, and will continue to do so when I feel I need to.....Oh and if you could just read James 1....it'll help you deal...for real!

Is Medication the answer?

I think it's this time of year every year that I feel like I'm running in 800 different directions. I talked to one of my best friends Abby the other night and she said the usual "girl what's up with you?" to which I responded, "dude....why in the hell am I so damn busy..." to which she responded, "you ain't never gonna grow up and you are always going to always be busy, it's how you are." Right....except I am a grown up and I don't want to be busy all the damn time. It stress's me out. I do say NO to a lot of things, but apparently yes to a lot of things also. So Saturday I work, theres a basketball game, theres a nephews b-day party at pump it up (which we might be missing sorry Zack), theres a Blue and Gold banquet complete with an awards rank advancement ceremony, dinner and fancy portraits, which I am helping to set up and helped somewhat coordinate and then I will be passing the heck out. And then next week I'll be out of town for 4 days which is when the basketball awards thing is and a talent show, which I will miss both, and Ron will be incharge of the running....Looking back on my life as a child which seems like a million years ago. We did as much running, I took dance class (it's why I'm so graceful) and I was a girl scout....I just don't remember being as busy? Maybe it was because I was the kid and just rolled with it while someone else coordinated. Or maybe I really am just meant to be busy all the dang time cause that's always how it's been.....I could use a vacation....if anyone wants to give me a free trip somewhere say the beach or disney.....I would be most appreciative. And for you IKEA enjoyment......go here....If you win you should probably share.

Built by Jodi and her peeps....

Ok When ya'll are fortunate enough to get your happy ass's into the Ikea...when it eventually opens. Take notice of the fancy (sort of plain right now, but once it has stuff in it....it'll be dang fancy) display podium right inside the front door. Yeah....me and my peeps, we built that. That's right WE BUILT THAT! We are now going around and replacing jacked up pieces, cause we got skills like that. I am going to miss building when I am in training next week. Did I mention I have 12 training class's....I think six of those is mean learning swedish or something. They begin using us as guinea pigs tomorrow. I'll let you know if the swedish meatballs are worth the hype. Oh and I got a splinter today and it hurt....really bad. Who knew smooshed together newspapers (which I believe is what MDF is actually) could produce a splinter. If it acts like wood....well then it must be wood.

God Show's up in Nigeria

Soon even more people won't have to spend hours upon hours a day traveling by foot to retrieve water that is infested with bacteria that could kill them. It's so cool to be a part of what God is doing halfway around the world.


I cry every single time.

Why I take Pictures

These are orphan packs the kids from SOS and Cincykids made for the kids in Nigeria.

The excitement is Intense....

Not really. Scored a spot on channel 12 news. You could totally see the zit reflecting off the shiny black BILLY bookcase I was working on. Not to mention this day I had on my dingy blue zip up hoody that many of my friends hate cause it's just dingy. My former co-worker Angie used to ask me "why are you still wearing that thing it's gross....?" She's mean...cause that's my favorite sweatshirt. It's got this black spiral paint spot on it where I had worn it while doing some sort of stamping art thing with black paint, and theres a black swirly on the boob area....but it's a super comfy sweatshirt so whatever.

Layni was kind enough to post the enquirer picture of me sitting my fat arse on the floor in my orange sweatshirt....(that one is even older than the blue one and it's fairly crusty too. They just don't make them like they used to.) I look like a giant orange pumpkin.

This picture I am posting from the the Enquirer article is of my cool new friends. That's April putting a cool bed together, (this was the second try as she messed it up the first time....shhhhh....) This bed is cool because it can be lifted up with a clicky bar thing and it holds up the mattress to make it easier to change the sheets....BRILLIANT! In the background is Tarji (pronounced Ta-gee, her mom was effected by the drugs....she even says so, but it's a cool name from an old 1950's movie.) She and Julie (pictured next to her) are not big fans of furniture building, and like to take their time because they are not looking forward to the next piece waiting for them and their allen wrenches. I'll try and remember to sneak in my camera tomorrow to get my own sneak peaks....

So much for my big Break!

So the press was at work today. Yes people because I have that kind of job. I thought, doesn't matter I can avoid them because I am working back in a far corner of the store no one will see me, and my GINORMOUS ZIT ON THE BRIDGE OF MY NOSE. Seriously people I don't get zits. I really don't. I definately ain't had one on my freakin nose since 1988. So the day I could be photographed for the Newspaper or end up on the news, I have a freakin headlight on my nose. So I am sitting my fat arse on the floor, actually on a piece of cardboard, and I'm building some sort of rolling clothes hanging rack thing....and theres this huge canon, digital SLR, with a telephoto lens zooming in on my ZIT. It was the enquirer......at least it was an award winning photographer, whom I've seen speak before. Oh and I had on my favorite orange sweatshirt. I hope it's a color photo, and dude has the decency to airbrush out my ZIT!!

Forgot to mention. I went to the movies by myself on Saturday night.....shut up I'm not wierd. You should try it. It's liberating. Didn't feel like fighting with friends who often won't spend full price to go to the movies, or are sick or are busy or just don't wanna see it. All of that includes the husband. You ever just see a preview or hear about a movie and you just wanna see it....like now....and who cares if no one does. Just go it alone. So I did....and oh so glad, cause it was a great flick. JUNO. Waiting for the man to release some Itunes funds so I can get the sweet soundtrack! Hang out at the website and you'll hear quite a bit of it, it was a great movie with great music.

Why I don't watch the news.....

I rarely watch the news. I rarely read the newspaper. I've not been watching much TV at all lately. Stacie sent me searching for this article. Which is a great piece done by the folks at the Cincinnati Enquirer. I could easily become consumed by the problems of this world. This is why I don't watch the news! It's frustrating that nothing more can be done. Not to mention it reminds me how amazingly blessed I am. I can't even begin to understand Immigration laws, and I'm not even willing to debate them because I know too little. I just know that folks feel safe to come here and make money to provide for their families back home. Because they know they can't make that kind of money where they are from.

Ok two posts in one night. God is clearly in control of this blog tonight. I've now given you a lot to think about as well as a lot to pray about. My work here is done.

Why I Pray?

Because it changes lives.

One drop of water at a time.

*swiped this super cool picture off the VCC Missions blog, hope they don't mind.

Oh my aching back....

So we came up with a new and different way to study spelling words. It's called "sit on mommy's back and bounce after each letter." Or you could call it massage spelling. Thankfully the kids under 60 lbs, so he won't injure anyone. It did start hurting while bouncing after each letter, so we went with at the end of the word and if spelled correctly he could then bounce.

End of my third week of manual labor and I'm getting used to it. The transformation of the store is nothing short of miraculous. That steel tank gun I built was actually a TV table....yes with glass (extremely thick glass) shelves. It's a very nice table actually. I moved from end tables and coffee tables to beds and dressers. Which also involves wardrobes......rooms and rooms of wardrobes. I tend to head towards smallish, can fit in one box sort of things to build, just because why get in over you head if you don't have to. I'm sure there will be large items waiting for me on monday since I've now depleted the supply of small things. Since we'll have lockers with actual locks on Monday I'll take in my camera and see if I can't score a few photos for a sneek peek. Rumors are starting to stir up about friends and family day, which is before the actual opening on March 12. The friends and family day is March 8th. So you might want to show me how much you love me before then. Not sure how many folks I can invite. I've heard anywhere from like 10 to carloads? So who knows what's true. We practiced the chicken dance today at our all staff meeting.....something to do with preparing for grand opening....yikes....

Pinewood Derby

Just one more year. We have this year, which is Saturday, we race at 12:20 for any Perry fans out there. Ron created a family truckster (station wagon woodie) for the family race. The family race happens after the kids are done with the double elimination official race. The the dad's can race their cars, just so they can get their manly glory. There is a love hate relationship with Pinewood derby at this point. This is year 4, and each year there is a few dads that are just OVER THE FREAKIN TOP, and forget that it's for the boys to have fun, not necessarily for competition. There are rules to follow and there are winners, but COME ON. The love part is it's ran the same way every year and there isn't as much "fly by the seat of your pants" planning. It's mostly already done. We just pull it off.

I made muffins for my co-workers today....the ones I work with and hang with everyday. They officially love me and think I'm brilliant. Just making a name for myself that's all. Furniture builder...muffin maker....that's me. At the end of the day today I started on what appears could be a gun to a tank. I'm not quite sure. When I am finished, it's suppose to look like a corner end table with glass shelves. It's made out of steel, and requires 3 people to move it. I don't think the designer actually ever put it together. They just figured out how to "flat pack" it and saw that it was good. Hey go get a job at Ikea. They are still hiring, and if you are hired I get $50 when you tell them my name, so do that. If you are hired and I get the dough, I'll buy you a starbucks.

Honesty.....

I am amazed at the ripe old age of 38 almost 39 I still struggle with insecurity. Worried about whether people like me or not. Like I get sad to think that someone may not like me for whatever reason. Sad but true. I suppose others feel this same way from time to time, they just don't talk about it publically on their blog.....like I did just now. It's all about putting it all out there and a creating a forum for discussion. I guess if others admit to it than I'm not so bad am I. Now if no one responds then I'm just lame I guess. Whatever. Most importantly I know that God loves me, my kid, and my husband, oh and my mom, most of the time.


Happy Martin Luther King Day.....now theres a man who never questioned if God loved him. He lived out what it means to do Gods will. I want to do Gods will.....this is my soul desire. The video above was his last speech given the night before he dies. So prophetic. I love how they show he was so filled with the Holy Spirit that he had to be helped to walk away and then sit down.

Am I allowed to love my job?

I do, I really do love my job. The day will come when I am no longer building furniture, and I'll be doing actual work, which I'm not completely sure what that involves. I know it involves a phone, missing parts, returned items, and a desk with a few drawers. Other than that I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing. I can however recommmend what coffee table, or TV Stand NOT to buy because it's hard as hell to put together. Actually for the most part I've been choosing items that are square, or in one box and doesn't require assistance to move to my spot on the floor where I am working. This strategy has worked well for me and I've not run into any items that have me wanting to pull my hair out. Although my co-workers....not quite as smart as me. Or maybe they are way more ambitious than I and like a good challenge. 7 weeks away from opening day.....the momentum is building. (ha ha ha......get it....building, cause that's what I'm doing.....dang I've breathed too much sawdust)

Ouuuuuuuuch!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Stacie I totally swiped this one off her blog. But man dude is dead on. Love the part about being honest about the ugliness of life. Life ain't always pretty so lets recap the ugliness of my life for a moment shall we.

1. Does anyone realize I haven't done any sort of manual labor in oh say.......12-13 years?

2. That is a really long time ago...I was younger.

3. Walking a lot on concrete....hurts the body ALOT.

4. Ikea is 344,000 square feet. That my friends is a lot of concrete. (Imagine 3 Costcos)

5. Those racks you will see and shopping from when you shop at Ikea....I built those. (not all but a darn good many of them)

6. I have a blood blister on my finger, my feet hurt a lot, my legs are stiff, my arm muscles feel like I've been lifting weights, and theres no bath tub at my house.

Sad but all of it the ugliness of life.

Ikea is a great company to work for. The build-up process is actually very cool, and there is a good mix of all kinds of folks working. Important thing to keep in mind everyone is new, so no one is an expert. So everyone is finding there way together. Most everyone is meeting each other for the first time. The person with seniority has been there 1-2 weeks longer than me. So it's all good. Next week I'll be building furniture. I started today, and I did build 1 office chair. It took me about 30 min. which was mostly using an allen (sp) wrench. I helped another person put together this really cool looking hutch thing, once I have the catalogue memorized (Stacie the Ikea dork) I could tell you the actual swedish name. Ok my body is begging me to go pass out right about now.

If you need a part-time job Ikea is doing a Hiring Rally event at Butler Tech starting at 10am till 5pm tomorrow. Be sure to let them know I sent you. Put my name on the application and actually tell them.....theres a referral bonus.

A Glimpse at my new Job.....sort of....

This guy is off the hook. I'll definately have to check him out all week here.

Street Cred.....

I was always envious of 3-4 year olds who were allowed to pull off some Sesame Street Characters on their clothing, and it just wasn't acceptable for grown ups to be wearing Big Bird on their shirt......till now. Thank You Walmart!

New Year New Job!!

Go me! I was only unemployed almost 2 weeks. But you count all the Holidays in there it was really maybe a week. No intentions of discussing my J-O-B on the blog remember don't wanna get Dooced! Remember she got canned and made blogging her job. I'm not that talented. But trust me when I say I am way way way happier, and I start my new job on Monday. Man I've been a bad blogger. I've been enjoying kicking it with the P-man on his Christmas break and playing Zelda....I know I know....I got issues. Oh and I've been wasting a whole lot of time over there on Facebook.....thanks Stacie....good grief. I've always hated Myspace because it's always so flashy and busy...with a ton of Ads, so what do I do, I go over on Facebook and make a big ole mess. Ha! What a dork. It was fun though. I somehow tricked Ron into having a facebook account too. Now not only am I a dork, but my husband is too....woohoo....
Check me out on Facebook and then create one for yourself and then become my friend, because really it's all about having tons of friends.....yeah whatever....it is fun though, and I might smack you with a trout cause I can once your my friend.