Integrity depends on Consistency

HOLY COW....are you kidding me? I mean this is so good I am going to have to quote it directly from Beth's study guide. We are so living this, right now! Me and so many people I know. It's all about consistency!

"The lifeblood of integrity is becoming the same person no matter where we are, no matter who's around. When we become the people of integrity, everything we are on the inside is obvious from the outside. The Latin word for "integrity" literally means "entire." The essence of the term is wholeness and completeness. Integrity is "the quality or state of being complete or undivided." You can see therefor, how much integrity depends on consistency. Integrity not only calls us to live inside-out, it keeps the outside from coming in. Consistency in our walk and in our talk becomes a transportable cloak of protection around us, going anywhere we go. Life becomes so much simpler when there aren't so many costume changes."

Could those words not be more amazing? Could they not speak volumes. I think it's important to be culturally relevant, so the world doesn't pass you by, or to be aware what are kids are being bombarded with. However it's a constant balance to be culturally relevant and consumed by the culture we live in. But back to the whole integrity thing. I have been one to live with integrity my whole life. That doesn't mean I did not and have not fallen from grace a time or twenty. It seems though God has called me to a higher purpose, and when I feel the need to "keep up with the Jone's", or do what is blatantly not part of Gods plans, something generally goes terribly wrong. So apparently God knows what he is doing. That quote I need to plaster everywhere to remind me what God has called me to be....and to be consistent....
Ok so this weeks study, just about made my brain blow out my ears. Anytime I study anything that directly connects to the endtimes, I'm slightly creeped out, yet intrigued all at the same time, and I want to know more. God puts me in those kind of situations time and time again. Good stuff....

Oh at first I thought Beth Moore calling me "beloved" would creep me out almost like getting a hug, well I'm getting used to it, and I am getting used to hugs.....shhh....that doesn't not give you permission to be hugging all up on me, so back off whoever you are....crazy hugging fools!

I know!

I am aware of what time it is. Don't remind me. I'll be worthless and grumpy tomorrow. Me thinks Perry has grown or gained weight, and me thinks the meds are not as effective as they once were, or they are wearing off sooner and since I get home later, I get him non-medicated. And the seemingly handsome, however sometimes not so helpful husband sat upon the couch while I fought over homework. When he could have had it done or almost done before I got home, which would have been good cause he would have been MEDICATED. So I was tapped this evening after more than an hour of homework battles. He doesn't mind doing it it's just he has the attention span of a nat after 8pm. So he'll write a letter then pick the eraser off his pencil or humm the star wars tune they play in the Bar area, or the Darth Vader march song. Yes there seems to be somewhat of a healthy addiction to Star Wars going on these days. God give me patience as we head into the do too much trilogy of days for the next 2 months. That actually means I have stuff going on everynight but Monday and Friday for the next 2 months. Keeps me off the streets.

Baby Rocker?

I'm really not sure how these things happen they just do. I am the original headbanger.....DON'T YOU FORGET IT LITTLE BROTHER....!!!

God Knows me!

So I had big plans to talk about being a lemming and Vera Bradley and all thing senseless an meaningless. But thought I'd take a more meaningful route. So the P-man is playing Upwards Basketball again this year. I am faced again with the question is this the right decision? He is still COMPLETELY clueless that there is a ball in play and that there is even a game going on. He's afraid of the ball, during a game he won't even touch it. Which honestly is for the best cause if he got it he probably wouldn't know what to do with it. It's very likely he'd grab it then sit it on the floor and watch it spin.....I'm serious.....There are a few brief moments during the game when he'll realize oh, I'm suppose to be guarding #25 or whatever number, then he'll jump in front of that person and shuffle back and forth and wave his hands wildly. Then his mind takes over and he's back in Perry land. The good thing is this year he for the most part is on the right side of the court more often than last year. And he moves with the pack of players so it appears he is aware of what is going on. It would be so much easier to not have him play basketball. Less embarrassing as I know the other parents are like why is this kid playing? It would be so much easier to avoid those many experiences that make me uncomfortable. If I did that, how many experiences would Perry miss? How many experiences would the people around him miss? How would his coach ever get to interact with someone like Perry? His coach from last year saw him at practice, and said..."it's so nice to see his smiling face again..." Athletics wise Perry offered nothing to the team if anything he gave many baskets away. Yet he offered a lot to his coach, it gives them the oppurtunity to not just work on plays but to work one on one with Perry to give him what he needed to feel a part of a team. It gives the boys the oppurtunity to know someone like Perry, and for them to teach what they know and what comes natural to them...and to reach out to someone who is a little different. And they do....those are the moments I am glad I don't avoid and I push myself to EXPERIENCE. Rick and Dick Hoyt are the hugest examples of Experience...

Miss me?

Ok since I'm pretty good at blogging everyday, I guess I wasn't missed. But internet surfing I do, quite a bit of, and as you can see by my post from yesterday I was giving something up. I have limited myself to 2 hours per day to be done in the evening.......HOLY CRAP IS THAT HARD. For some it would not be hard, but that break at work at lunch time when I catch up with my cyberspace peeps, and then the oodles of time I spend blog reading, message board reading, e-mailing....who knew I was an addict? Then what happens is you get on someones blog and you start reading comments, and then you click on the name of the commenter and low and behold looky there they got a blog, so then you read theirs...and the cycle becomes endless. Or they got cool links on their blogs pretty soon you were reading Stacy's blog, and now you are trapped in the land of Steve don't Eat it....how does that happen? It's not that the stuff I am reading makes me more dumb...or is it dumber...or am I dumb cause I don't know from reading blogs? Anyways lets go with dumber, because I'm not, for the most part the blogs I encounter, folks are fairly profound and have something genuinely useful to add to my life and wealth of information. However....they do consume quite a bit of my freetime...thus the reason it's something significant I can limit for 6 weeks. Notice I am "limiting" and not "eliminating".....crap...that would just be nonsense...cyberspace would miss me.
So how did all this happen. Well Beth Moore mentioned fasting from something during the first half of the study. Encouraged but it wasn't necessary. I knew for me, for it to make an impact I'd have to do something tangeable and take her up on her encouragement. Instantly I thought internet...then said naw that isn't an issue. Then it show'd up again in my head in the shower this morning...and then in the car....whatever, those are the only two places I can escape Perry's never ending noise making and my mind is free to hear what the heck God's saying. So then...listening to Erwin today, and he said "it's one thing to listen to what God is saying, it's a whole other thing to actually DO what God saying...." SNAP......dude I get it....God I hear ya, guess you weren't kidding. I don't want to end up like those poor schmucks at the tower of Babble....and start speaking another language even I don't understand....it's been done, so I'm gonna be a doer and not just a listener....nuff said....

So if you are looking for me during the day in Cyberspace I won't be around till evening for the next 6 weeks, do not panic!

Daniel

How more timely could a study on Daniel be than right about now when I am in budgeting hell, and forced to give up spending money as I know it. It's not just any study on Daniel but a Beth Moore study on Daniel, which I've been told are awesome and entense all at the same time. I can't begin to tell you how amazing and dynamic she is, if I could just get my hands on the book I need I could get this life transforming thing rolling here.

Anyways I'm considering giving up something to go along with this 6 week study, not sure what yet any suggestions? How about staying up late? Food? That's way too predictable...I need something that'll make me sweat, and feel God's work in my life.....internet??? Oh boy...I'm gonna have to go pray.

I ain't Cheap!

But my groceries were. Ok so I did something I thought I wouldn't ever do again, and I'm not sure it was worth it. I went to Aldi's, I haven't shopped at Aldi's in 6 years or so, only because I've not really had to, until my inability to stretch the $80 a week grocery budget. I'm just not able to make it work at Krogers. So I headed to Aldi's to see what I could do. Granted I got quite a bit for super cheap, but I don't think it was worth it. 49 cent bread, and it's not bad, not quite as fiber filled as Sara Lee, but it tastes like bread. 52 fish sticks for $1.50, that Perry doesn't seem to mind eating, but I don't think he's met a fish stick he didn't like. A bag of frozen french fries for like 1.00, seemed to be eatable by the P man, eggs for 50 cents, snacks, like blue tortilla chips, fritos, BBQ chips, pringles, all for under $1. So we'll see this was a wierd week, not typical as I had to purchase party food for our New Years Eve Party, we have horsdorves for dinner so that's not typical food I normally buy. Oh and I got like 6 good looking porkchops for $4...that's 2 meals at our house. Dang I hate groceries on a budget...any tips. Oh and I'm not consistant on the coupon clipping so don't even suggest it.

Life has Come to This?

Ok so I thought I'd start the new year off, scrapping and posting highly intelligent thought provoking blog entries. You've been warned this video could seriously change your life!

Year in Review

So I was looking over last years blog posts. And I'd say the most significant things that happened in the past year was Perrys diagnoses, and him not getting into Springer. So good to have that to look back on and see God moving through it all. So cool. I said in one post that if Perry didn't get into Springer that I'd not only be disappointed but I'd be devastated. Seems that God protected me from devastation. Seems with him not getting into Springer, it gave me the oppurtunity to put some trust into the public school system and let them see what they could do for him, and I am more than pleased with the results. Seems God put all the right people in place, and it worked out better.
This verse was fairly significant.....
1 Samuel 14:7 "Do all that you have in mind....go ahead, I am with you heart and soul."
So significant I put it at the top of my Christmas letter. I think I'll keep it in mind for the beginning of the new year. Perry has seemed to have matured this year as well, doesn't stress me out quite as much and seems to have learned to respond to me more often than never. So heres to a great stressfree new year......see ya 2006..........HELLO 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SWITCHFOOT

I think it's been maybe a months since I've mentioned their name so here ya go. The mans budget is keeping me from getting this new album. I couldn't even get it at Target with my gift card cause they didn't have it dang it...so then there this.


Forgot to mention OPERATION HUG THERAPY UPDATE: I'm up to at least 15 hugs now, folks you haven't seen in 10-15 years love to hug. Some more than once. Plus I don't think they know my issues with hugs.

Getting Old

Ok so hooked up with some High School peeps last night for dinner. We spent some time checking out photo's from the Class of 86's reunion, and protested that there is no way we are that old. There is no way that we even look that old. I am at least 100+ pounds heavier than I was in High School. Not a pretty sight! So my 20 year reunion is in 10 months. I could lose some serious weightage in that amount of time, and I could look stunning right? Man weightloss is so hard, and I'm so not motivated. All the girls at dinner last night were um skinny....dang I hate them! I certainly don't want to be the fat girl at the reunion.

Have to say though it was so much fun hooking up with folks from High School. Many of them I did not hang with in High School, so we were all from different social groups, it was very interesting. How we each have led different lives, yet had one common bond we went to the same school. For some reason that made us seem comfortable around each other. It was funny as we shared photos, I'm thinking, how funny I have those same pictures taken from a different perspective. Or we'd talk about our extended family and we'd be saying the same kind of thing, like our parents are crazy or getting old, or we don't speak to that person for whatever reason. We all go through the same things, no matter what social group we were in, in High School. I think this reunions going to be so much fun, in the mean time we make new friends, and find old ones.

Christmas Round 3 of 3

The third and final round of Christmas brought lots of fun gifts. I knew about all my gifts from the folks. Hate not being surprised, but I guess it beats the alternative of running all over town returning ugly clothing. Ron got me 2 DVD's, 3 pairs of socks, a T-shirt, a hat. All of which were a surprise. I got Little Miss Sunshine....now one of my favorite movies! And Christmas brought the completion of our first 3 ugly dolls. Perry designes them by making a drawing. I turn the drawing into a pattern, and cut out all the pieces. Then Geegaw sews them.


This one is Maddies. Our first drawing adapted into a pattern. Her name is Flo, and she enjoys picking flowers.


This one is Perry's. His name is Snarf, he enjoyes eating french fries, watching movies, and eating the tires off of Matchbox Cars.

This one was made for Zack. His name is Reese, and his favorite passtime is warming peoples hands. Keep your eyes peeled for more ugly dolls....to be created as the artist, gets a spark of genius. This idea was adapted from the orignial uglydolls. www.uglydolls.com, then also from Kelli Crowe, we thought it was such a great idea as we were fans of the originals to begin with. We couldn't wait to make our own.

Christmas Round 2 of 3

Butterfly Kisses!

Christmas Round 1 of 3

Maizy got a pretty handmedown sweater from Fatso today. Doesn't she look pretty with her new sweater, and her new hairdo?

Christmas Thought

Think about it:

Did Mary know she was kissing the face of God?

Christmas Madness

Ok I'll admit it he sure is pretty! He got his hair did today. Wanted the dogs to look pretty for the holidays.

Beautiful

Ok because I'm so exhausted I've lost the ability to think, I'm just going to post video's from now till christmas. Um...am I coming in clearly? Is this thing on?



Operation hug update: 9 hugs total. I initiated a hug to a fellow non-hugger Jen, before we wrapped gifts at the mall. She totally had the very familiar "don't hug me look", but I did it anyways....ha ha.....I'm still not a hugger.....I'm trying...but it's still flippin wierd. Dang hugging wierdo's.

Hate Me....

Ok not my usual feel good love my shoes song, but a good song none the less.....I like it a lot.

This is not a Test

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON. POSTS TO THIS BLOG WILL BE FEW TO NONE IN THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS. PLEASE PRAY I DON'T LOSE MY MIND IN ALL THIS MADNESS I HAVE CREATED FOR MYSELF. THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Perry won 3rd place overall in a drawing contest at Ron's work. They had to submit drawings depicting each of the companies core values. Perry chose respect. He drew a picture of his Daddy in his work uniform, and simply said on his picture "I respect my Daddy." cute! So Ron didn't even know we entered. These are for a calender so they chose 12 pictures from the entries to represent each month, and then chose the 3 winners from those. Perry got a month, but we aren't sure which month. But his big winnings was $100 gift card to Toys R Us.....how cool is that. When he was first told I don't think he was able to fathom the amount of money he won and all that he could get with that. So we went to Toys R Us today so he could spend his gift card. First of all who knew it would be a madhouse this time of year, something about Christmas or something. Well it was like he was on a shopping spree....as he could pretty much buy whatever he wanted and was able to purchase lots of things, as his interests are not expensive. Legos, Transformers, Bionicles, Cars, and dragons, he got it all. One of the things he's wanted for a while is an I-Fish....it's a interactive fish that responds to your voice and petting. Plus you can plug an I-Pod into it and it'll dance. Not to mention it seems to enjoy my singing too. Very fun. So it appears aliens have taken over my home.

Progress is being made on my holiday to-do's. I've got my Christmas cards halfway completed. I just finished my labels, I just have to print them. Copy my letter and give them a stamp and off they'll go. Ron assures me the budget will allow for me to finish my christmas shopping next week.....Lord I hope so, otherwise folks will be getting a big fat nothing, and nobody will like me. I think he will allow me to make puppy chow (powdered sugar, chocolate, peanut butter on some cereal, yummy goodness), so how ghetto would it be for every one to get a ziplock (generic) of Puppy Chow? Ha! Goodness I hope I don't have to stoop that low.
Send up some words for my SIL's mom she's in the hospital not doing so well last I heard. I'm sure some prayers from many strangers would be most appreciated.


Hug Update: 8 Total hugs recieved since Operation Hug began. Sneak Attack Hug from Connie last night upon leaving Stacie's house at 2:30 am.....we are scrappin maniacs.

COLD!

Ok so we went from the 60's to FREAKIN FREEZING in like 2 days. And this morning being stuck in traffic for 2 hours....NOT FUN. I was cold at work all day, got a little warmed up when I got home but had to work on christmas card stuff, and it was cold in the basement in my "scrap-studio"....now I am slightly chilled.....I just want to be room tempurture, without the chill. All of the sudden I feel like I have a week to get everything done for Christmas....which I sort of do, I guess....it's more like 2 weeks till the acutal day, but I get together with friends before that so I have to have gifts for them ect....I feel so behind....anyone else feel that?

I recieved my first mystery card. If your name is Kristin, and you live in Florida....how do I know you? Not to mention you said to e-mail you, but left me no e-mail address. Your handwriting was familiar, and you wrote directly to me like you know me well....except I have no clue who you are. I feel horrible, the card seems so personal. So if you are Kristin....gimme a shout and let me know how I know you. And remember if you have moved inform people you moved and give them your new address, it's the polite thing to do......Cousin if you are out there and reading my blog, I know you were moving to Florida.....how about an address?

Budgeting Update

Well I actually used cash at the grocery this past weekend. You would be shocked at what little you can buy on a limited amount of money. Maybe I just need to be a smarter shopper. Oddly enough I found there was no vegitables in the house. Except for frozen peas....barf....hate peas. Bought them only for Ron. He asked why did you buy peas (which I did a while ago) if I'm the only one who will eat them? Um....why should you be deprived, just because no one else likes the tiny little barf balls. Well he got a veggie with his dinner the other night and I did not. Perry has mastered the skill of getting Geegaw to take him to McDonalds almost daily. Which means the food rations can be stretched further....it's all part of the master plan.

12 x 12 page

12 x 12 best one, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

I never do 12 x 12 pages, but I did for this project. Click on the page and it'll take you to the other projects. Thanks for everyones support. Sorry my blog is lame lately bloggers got some issues so I'm not able to add any interesting flare or change the font colors....hopefully these pictures will upload.

Amazed by You....

You dance over me while I am unaware
You sing all around but I never hear the sound

Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
And how You love me

You paint the morning sky with miracles in mind
My hope will always stand
For You hold me in Your hand

How deep how wide
How great is Your love for me

Ever get the feeling during worship at church that it's just you and God? I do pretty often. God knows that's where he has my full attention, during worship music, now matter where I am, but mostly during sunday morning worship. Such an awesome feeling. These lyric really spoke to me this morning, I think he was preparing my heart for the disappointment I'd feel later in the day when I didn't make the RMH design team....bummer...just not my time is all, but I'd be lying and cold if I said I wasn't bummed. My attempts to wow those doing the voting, just didn't make the cut. The votes were close so that's not to say I didn't miss out by one vote. Or not....doesn't matter in the end I scrap for me....my family too, but mostly me, and I really did a great job as far as I'm concerned and that's what matters. For some reason Bloggers not letting me post pictures so I'll do it from Picaso. Thanks to those who put up with my stress this past week when I was preparing my projects, you gave me great support.

Bugfree

Well we've all been treated, except Ron, um he's bald. Everythings been washed, and mom has picked teadiously through my hair, (she's got skills from when Ashton had the dreaded bugs in Kindergarten) and declared me bugfree. Now if they descover them again it's the punks at the bus stop....or again they are being harvested under his scalp. I'll tell you what though my scalp has never looked so clean. So all the projects have been posted for the Design Team gig at RMH....yowza that's some stiff competition....everyones so good and so different. I'm having a tough time choosing....argh...now I know what the current design team has to go through when theres a contest. I did a 12 x 12 layout, man that was hard, but I pulled it off. Regardless win or lose I'm really proud of my entry, I stayed true to my style and thats what matters to me.

I swear I'm not Icky.....

I love photo's like this....his face is so sweet. The boat is sweet too. Ok so here is what is causing all the damn stress...not the only thing, but it is rather stressful. LICE IS THE DEVIL!!! There I said it and have lost quite a few hangout friends now, I'm sure. Thankfully quite a few of my blog faithfuls live across the country so they can't get it. OMG.....4 times this boys been sent home 4 times I've washed bed clothes, dude I have mayonaise in my hair.....my house has never been cleaner......who in the heck is rubbing heads with my kid and reinfesting him every other freakin day??? Um my husbands BALD.....so it ain't him. I think those little parasites are sprouting from his scalp. They are coming from inside his head or something. They are mutant inside the head lice....those bastards.... 

Stress

Stress has cause a ginormous zit to form on my chin, and damn does it hurt. I'll be done with Stress saturday so until then, blogland could be very very quiet. Good news, we found our book of Christmas Questions. We have another book of questions around here somewhere, but this one works for now....I'll pick one....

#247 What has been the greatest blessing in your life since last Christmas?

I like to start of deep.

Surrender Some More...

More on Surrender at church this morning. The story of Joseph is such a great story about surrender. Genesis 38ish....through to 45ish. The coarse of history would have been forever changed had Joseph not surrenedered the way he did, there'd be no christmas, or Jesus dying on the cross, and we'd never know anything about grace. Here's a great video, a whole lot of irony, and people who could learn a thing or two about God's grace...

Weekend Kitty Love

I think she likes her new tent..........................................

Disregard our dorky dog flannel sheets. This picture of Baby Tiggie is hilarious. The tent is a pet tent from target, best 2.50 I've spent in a long long time. When the cats not using it it makes a nice club house for the Doodle Monster.

New Shoes

Dude is a cutie! Not to mention the loveliness I got in the mail from Ebay today!
This song is perfect. It's pretty much lyrics I would write if I was a song writer....not to mention it makes me want to dance. LOVE THIS SONG! Oh and these shoes too....

Surrender

Didn't I post recently? I mean since the haircut? Am I losing my mind or what. Technically tomorrow is friday...in workland anyways....woohoo! Tonight was the last Alpha of this session....always sad to see it end, but it'll be nice to come home after work on Tuesdays. I enjoy so much meeting new people through alpha and getting to continue to pray for the folks long after they are gone. You learn a lot about people in 10 weeks. Some you see the changes immediately and other the changes may not take hold for years. It's great to be able to pour into these peoples lives what I've learned over my spiritual journey. It's good to know all this knowledge I've gathered over the years is useful, not just to me but to other people.

The main question I posed to my group was "What does Surrender look like to you?" because I like to make them completely uncomfortable on the last night. Such amazing answers, showing me that growth was inevitable. To me you ask, what does Surrender look like for me? Sharing my life with others. Being so sold out to Jesus that seeing him in me is just a given. As in I don't really try, it's just there and comes natural because that's just who I am. My faith weaves it's way through every aspect of my life. That to me is what surrender looks like. So now I pose the question to you friends, and faceless strangers, christians and those who aren't....yet....
What does surrender look like to you? However you would interrpret that question. Don't be shy, you can always answer anonymously. And yes from time to time I like to make even my blog readers a little uncomfortable, because I believe that's when we grow.

Why be Trendy when you are already cute?

Ok I seriously want to cry. Love Love Love his hair long, and it was just getting to the point where it looked really cute. But alas there are somethings that happen in life that make you question the need to be trendy. There are somethings that make you say....ok there are ways to prevent certain things from happening. Details aren't important, but making the haircut decision was me acting like a grown-up...and honestly he could care less. He looks cute either way, but the Luke Skywalker heading towards a rock singer was so so cute!

Before

Before

AFTER

Thanks to Geegaw for the spontaneious venture to Great Clips this morning.

My Good Heavens....

Ok so why is Christmas all the sudden 6 weeks away? I've not purchased 1 single gift. I've not made 1 single christmas card. Although I was suppose to get started this weekend, but my friends who I was suppose to hang with the entire day on Saturday....both of them sick! Whhhhaaa.....we were all looking forward to it too. I did get some ATC's started that are due Dec. 1st. So I was creative and that felt good. Seems we are making progress on the Dave Ramsey budget hell....theres a light at the end of this extremely long tunnel. I did some tweaking and saved us hopefully 400 dollars a month.....cha ching.....seems mortgage companies are in the business of making folks happy and not just always begging for money. That and I reduced the cellphone plan, and put the electric bill on even billing....BINGO... Tried to get the man to shell out some dough for a little entertainment....but he held on tightly to the funds....and mentioned that Sex is free......Riiiiight....

Thankfully the only thing P has requested for Christmas is a Gross Out Doodle Monster....ahhhh yes it sure is fun having a boy. Man last week was a busy week, I had something planned every single day but Wednesday.....all at church....MADNESS....

Woohooo Congrats to my girl Rachel Ray who won Iron Chep America tonight.....love that show!

Hug Update: Total of 4 hugs received since operation hug therapy started. Kind of slow going. Maybe I need a t-shirt or a pin or something.

Ha Ha Ha....

I thought I'd let you guys linger on Connie's comment for a bit. LOL..........Pregnant??? Yeah right. Um it hurts a lot....I mean a lot, for those of you who have never experience childbirth, sure worth every minute of it, but MY GOOD LORD THAT HURTS! So no the answer is NO I am not pregnant, nor do I want to be anytime soon.

It's really not top secret just hard to explain unless you are inside my head or know me really really well and even then it's really hard. I would venture because it's hard to explain, it's clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, because when that happens human words to describe the feeling just aren't adequate. Make sense? Just really feel like God's got me heading in the right direction. What that entales and what that involves is still not clear really, just seem to have some sense of peace and clarity. Thanks faithful blog readers for joining me on this ride!

Cupcake Love.....

So Ron says why did you make cupcakes? And I say because they make me happy. He didn't believe me, he thought I had an alterior motive. No seriously just to make me happy that's it and it totally worked.
I am pretty sure God's doing something cool. Yeah like I've never said that before. Well it's true, except I'm not sharing because it'd probably freak out about half (like 2) of my general view audience. So I'll just keep it on the DL (that's downlow for the other half who ain't hip) until I feel comfortable to share.

Relationships.......

It just keeps coming up all over the place time and time again. The desire and need for authentic relationships in my life. I don't ask for it, it just happens. I don't bring it up, it seems to be forced upon me. Maybe that's what the hug therapy thing is all about? Ok so whatever too much deep stuff!

So the man got to me yesterday dang him. I think he was just messin with a women with hormonal issues. Nothing he did any different than he does any other day, usually I can take it and disregard any harsh words that come my way. But yesterday....I was shredded (for lack of a better discription) so it brought on the mean reds, and I felt chaotic and disorganized. So I decided to correct this with a little food love..............I'm not saying this is the answer to cure all. I'm just saying these are little bits of happiness and it worked. Now they aren't anything like Shimelles cupcakes because she gets quite creative with her little bits of happiness, however they are far more creative than I had planned. I wanted to do marble cake with vanilla icing. I was really feeling marble cake, but Krogers wasn't agreeing with me. As a matter of fact grocery shopping on a Saturday evening proved to be a bad idea, as apparently everyone grocery shops on Saturday during the day since they took all the stuff. Including all the marble cake mixes. So I got chocolate and buttercream icing. But when I got home, I happened to have a box of SPICE CAKE MIX......so spice cake with buttercream icing......perfection....and happiness, and not boring like chocolate or vanilla. And no one told me how yummy buttercream icing was. So I'm off to be creative with some papper now that I am over my mean reds.

Hug Update....

Maybe the week of Halloween wasn't the best week to have "operation Hug therapy", since I have recieved 0 hugs from anyone but those who live in my house. Funny thing is the person who gave me the idea by saying that I was the "anti-hug" girl I actually saw this week, when I went to Columbus to see Switchfoot. She gave me NO hug....what's up with that?? I mean I didn't solicite a hug, which is just generally not going to happen. I'm not there yet, I am working on the actual hugging itself not the how to get a hug. I mean are their rules other than the ones I imposed. I mean are there "the general public just knows this" type of rules that I just don't know about since I'm not a hugger? Is there a certain stance, if so can I get a picture? Do I have to give the "I need a hug look"? Cause I don't generally need a hug persay, I just don't really want to be that person who gives off the ultra violet don't hug me vibe. Maybe it's just a non-hugger can't be turned into a hugger....could that be it? Kind of trying to put a square peg into a round hole? Time will tell.

*ETA: Hug update, 2 hugs from non-family members, 1 was a blog reader, the other I doubt reads my blog. The weekends not over...tomorrows church and there will be the true test!

Cosmos in Chaos

Bulletin board in Computer room, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

I've taken Stacie's Challenge serious and done expose many parts of my home to the general public so show you what Cosmos in Chaos is all about. If you click on the photo, it'll take you to a whole set. Check out the challenge here. Anyone can play and this is a super easy challenge. Be sure to click on all the notes I put on my picture they promise to be amusing.

DANA CARVEY

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, originally uploaded by Luke S..

No lie he looks dead on Dana Carvey doesn't he? Wonder if he gets that alot?

Switchfoot - Stars

Switchfoot - Stars, originally uploaded by Luke S..

I meant to do it more like this. Ok so I'm a little obsessed. So sorry Connie, if you'd just read my blog you'd be aware of the concert, and you could have been like HEY I WANNA GO...and we could have rolled out together. Figured not a whole lot of 30 something women like myself is crazy enough to travel 1.5 hours away for a concert on a weeknight. Heck you only live once. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Switchfoot

Switchfoot
Originally uploaded by Luke S..

Oh my goodness what a teeny tiny nightmare. I hate it when systems switch things up and it takes you forever to figure out the new way of doing things, Blogger, google, Flickr are working together in harmony. And look finally am able to post this off the hook photo, from Flicker by Luke S. Dang I love technology....and Switchfoot.

Meant to Live for So much More

I think I love him. Now I know I love him. Ron doesn't mind, it's rockstar kind of love. Partied like a rockstar last night. Must crash pronto so no one gets hurt. I'm way to old for partying such as that. Switchfoot was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.....and I've seen my fair share, Billy Joel and Garth Brooks to name a few. Switchfoot by far the absolute best more tomorrow......ZZZZZZ.....

TOMORROW...24 HOURS...

May I suggest when carving a pumpkin you make the opening at the bottom. I can't claim the idea as my own I learned it from Martha Stewart. I don't care what you think about her she's freakin brilliant. I've been doing it that way for years.

Fun fall weekend. Was suppose to go camping but bailed since it rained all day on Friday and was cold and windy saturday, but today was beautiful, and more of the same for tomorrow....when I go to columbus to see.......


SWITCHFOOT!!!!
I can't wait I've not been this excited about a concert in ages. I hope Abby's as excited as I am. I just hope I don't cry, which I sometimes do when I get overly excited. So pray I hold it together and don't lose my dignity. Oh and that I get to meet the band!

15 Years and counting.....

Good thing I married a man who gets better looking with age. 15 years and he's way better looking than when we first met. Heck we both are better looking. I'm just fatter, and he loves me anyways. He's balder, but he'd look funny with hair. He's got a nice head to be bald.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY....um 2 days ago....my bad!


*hug report. No hugs recieved, other than my husband and my kid.

Hug Therapy

Ok so Abby (one of my best friends) says I give off this ultra violet "don't hug me vibe", that scares people. Fact is I'm not much of a hugger. According to Abby I need to be....a hugger. Quite the scary concept to me. So heres the thing, if you are reading this you have permission to give me a hug, when you see me.
Couple of rules:
1. If you are a co-worker, you may not hug me, cause that's just plain wierd.
2. If you are married to me, it's a hug and that's it....nothing more.
3. If you are my kid you can hug me anytime, no questions asked.

Free Hug Video

Ok so operation HUG THERAPY is in full effect.

*This can be canceled with no notice.

Mean Reds....

I had a major case of the mean reds today. It was brewing all weekend, but came on really bad today at work, ecspecially towards the end of the day when I'm all alone. Thankfully Abby was e-mailing me keeping me in check so I didn't fall apart and lose my mind, which I suppose would have been ok since after 5pm no ones around to see. I did hold it together and as soon as I got outside, and got some fresh air, they were gone. Not sure what all that means, but hopefully I don't need medicated.

Sometimes I get this overwhelming sense that God is preparing me for something really big. Like right now thinking about how big it could possilbly be is almost too overwhelming so I choose not to think about it. Theres so much knowledge tucked away inside this small (very small) brain of mine it's amazing I can even sleep at night. And it's not just all God stuff, it's Learning disability stuff, therapy for that stuff, memories of high school days, pop culture, music, scrapbooking, details about scrapbook celebrities lives I pick up from looking at layouts, end-time stuff, prophetic stuff, biblical stuff.....good Lord....Life insurance stuff, marital stuff, finanicial stuff, cub scout stuff, it goes on, and on.....nutrition stuff, dog stuff, cat stuff, seriously there are days when I think my head is going to explode. I went and heard some cool missionaries speak tonight, and was thinking the whole time wow this is great information, and prophetic and biblical, but wow I know too much, now I got this burden to tell people what I learned...yet could I ever do it justice and not look like a babbling idiot. God's doing something, not sure what, and why me....but here I am use me....whatever that looks like.

And then theres this....CUTE KIDS ALERT.....It was so cold yesterday but they had fun walking around Kings Island anyways.

2 Dogs?

I suppose having 2 dogs is better than having 1 dog? At least my husband is trying to convince me of that. Poor Maizy....she looks frightened doesn't she? She rarely is behind the gate alone with Kipper, cause Kipper thinks she is a chew toy.

Kippers not too terrible he's just a big dog. And to think I used to not like Maizy, now I do. I really prefer the kitty, but I'm trapped in the house with 2 dogs, and 2 boys....UGH....

And now I present to you Peter from Chronicles of Narnia, his clothes are a bit to big, but fighting that battle caused him to lose a bit of weight. LOL

Countdown....

TO SWITCHFOOT BABY!!!!!!! 10 DAYS! I totally can't wait. I've not looked forward to a concert so much in many years. Probably since....Billy Joel...which was a very long time ago. Seeing Bono on Oprah last weekend closely matches the excitment. That was flippin sweet. And to be able to share the excitment with my peeps was priceless. Connie is a big U2 fan just like me, so it was way cool that we got to watch Bono together. I think I may have scared Cyndi with my excitement, she's not known me for very long....now she knows. Hee Hee....I was over the top. As I will be when I see Switchfoot!

I had a meeting at school today to go over the OT/PT goals. Which was more interesting than the other academic related stuff. Appears he has weak trunk musles. Which you'd never know unless you knew what you were looking for. He tends to compensate pretty well for his weakness's which I guess anyone would. Weak trunk muscles relates to a weak pencil grasp which translates into handwriting difficulties among other things. So we have a whole list of things we can do at home. Love people who know what the heck they are doing, makes me feel like my kid is cared for.

Ron made it through his 6 weeks of small group....he came through unharmed and not divulging any of his dark secrets....ha....as if he had any. I'm proud of him for hanging in there, and I think he'd even do it again someday. In the meantime you'll find him hanging out with the Handiman crew at church, helping out low income folks fix things. Check him showing God's love in a practicle way. He's showing me up, better do some outreach!

Hi-Lo discoveries

So today was another DTMT, and I was wiped out. Still not totally recovered from the weekend, plus Daddy and Perry got home from a den meeting just before I did at 9:30...long night for everyone. So we skipped homework, every once in a while due to busy lives this is ok, besides he got an A on his spelling test last week after a few weeks of not doing so good, so it's all good. We took some time before bed to share "Hi-Lo", High point of your day....and Low point of your day. He shared the high point of his day today was going to Mrs. Copelands room and putting on his weighted vest, and then the low point this is when I decided "Hi-Lo" is a good idea.....he said the low point was when the kid on the bus who sits next to him keeps hitting him and hurting him, and he doesn't know how to make him quit cause no matter what he does he can't hurt him cause he's stronger......yikes.....so my kid appears to be being bullied. I don't know the full story since it's hard to get everything out of him. So send up some words for Perry, he's a small kid and I can see where bigger kids would mess with him. Had we not done Hi-Lo he may have never told me, and just delt with it. I sent the assistant principle an e-mail, lets hope he's not the one whose starting it.

Hung Over.....

And I only had one glass of wine all weekend. Which was on Friday night. I have a scraphangover, and well I should I did 14 pages and 1 card. Madness! Not to mention a HUGE case of "strange-bed syndrome", and I am beat down, tired. I think I've slept 4 hours in 2 days. Would have had much more sleep last night had it not been for some exstrenuious circumstances and the fire alarm going off at 6 am at the hotel we were staying at. My good heavens did that stir up a lot of drama among other things for those with an upset stomach (it wasn't me). Thanks to my friend Cyndi for making me evacuate the building, had there been a fire I would have felt safe and cared for. But since there was no fire I was delirious and annoyed staggering around the parking lot like a drunk....of which I was not. Thanks to Layni for going back into the non-burning building with me while others continued to stand outside and freeze. She then rechecked to make sure it was all clear, and I went back to bed....only to be awoke again a few short hours later by Layni's mother (BC) looking for the conference room key......arrrghhhh....and then again an hour later by housekeeping......DAMN IT PEOPLE I JUST WANT SOME SLEEP....so that's where I'm headed now....I leave you with a layout from the weekend.

Those Moments....

Ok it's the end of another DTMT, and I'm alive and full of energy. Why yes I am aware that it is almost midnight.....whatever I'm not tired. Ok heres a question to ponder. Why is my kid still awake for one.....for two....why is he talking to himself and then cracking up laughing? My first instinct is to yell "go to sleep".....but then I'd miss out on the free spirited cute laughter.....I'll just let him go he'll fall asleep eventually.

Music...

Man I love music. The right music can make or break your day! I was lucky enough to catch Austin City Limits saturday night and it was coldplay, it's the second time I've seen that one, last time being on Christmas Eve. The song with Michael Stipe and Chris Martin is priceless (the video above) that is an amazing song, that I'll probably have on repeat tomorrow. I love Chris Martin, not for his good looks, because he ain't all that handsome, but for the passion he appears to have for his music. He's not trying to look good, he's just enjoying what he's doing, and sings from his gut....Michael Stipe that's pretty much a given, everybody knows that....right?

Fun Day!

This is one of those shots that's just perfect. The lighting....everything. I love this picture from the Renessance Festival today. Thankfully we had free tickets. (I know the Mayor)....otherwise

We would not have gone. This is a people watchers paradise. Theres plenty of normal folks and way way more freaky folks. If my "do not draw attention" husband hadn't been with me I would have been taken pictures of freaky folks all day long. I did manage to take one picture of a stranger. When you zoom in on this one, you can see the layers of this womens outfit....and her crazy hat. Plus she was in need of some dental work. I do not think she worked there, but you never know. If you notice Perry is in the left hand corner of the photo.

Spelling....

So there was a bit of induced panic the other day. I was stressed and tired. It happens. Plus I've been a procrastinator this week. Majorly. So I waited too late to begin homework, plus I made him write too many words. Anyways we made it through the week, tomorrows friday, and he did a practice test and got them all right with very little help, so the agony we went through the other night is well worth it. Tis Hell no more. Lets just say we defeated hell with a little HG action. That's Holy Ghost for those of you just joining this party. Just means we pray....we are praying type people. Thus the reason Perry's got awesome teachers this year. Good kind caring people who seem to understand he's different and willing to work with that, and do whatevers necessary. I can't help but think about those parents who have a kid in Kindergarten or 1st grade, who have just figured out their kid has learning difficulties, and they are completely lost like I was. Fairfield really needs an advocate, just someone whose willing to point these people in the right direction. Some parents just give up way too easy. I'll pray for them, it's what I do.....

Because of procrastinating this week, it seems every dish in my house is dirty. So I should get to that.....domestic duties are never done!

It's Cold.....

And I sent my child to school with shorts and a t-shirt....and crocs. Is that bad? It was hot yesterday, now it's cold. I pay no attention to news reports or weather reports. Oh he did have on his rain coat too. I didn't know there was a school shooting at an amish school. I don't know, nor do I care about politics. Thanks mom, for the good laugh about what Hilary said....really sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut.

Ron's made it through week 4 of The Call small group, and he was actually more comfortable last night. And even said so, said that last night wasn't as deep as the week before. I think he's mistaken. Life stages is far less deeper than surrender. But maybe coming to terms with what stage you are at and where you'd like to be, has a whole lot to do with surrender. Yikes.....

I've had a couple folks mention they read my blog due to the mass e-mail I sent informing people of popcorn sales. Although they weren't able to leave comments without joining blogger and then could do so. I have it set up so that crazy people trying to sell me stuff can't leave anonymous comments. So if you wanna give me a shout, or leave me a comment send me an e-mail or call me.....ahhhhh the dreaded phone call.....I too rarely talk on the phone anymore, but theres some peoples whose voice I like to hear from time to time. I sure miss hanging with my friends and family, everyones lives are so busy it seems. But I love you all even if I don't get to see or talk to you. Send me an e-mail and let me know your thinking about me....I love that!

Charming....

Conversation had after midnight on Saturday after a YMCA lock-in......

"Mommy I can't wait until I go back to the "new" Y again so I can lock myself in a locker again because that was so fun!"
"Um lock yourself in a locker? You locked yourself in a locker? Do you think that's a safe thing to do?"
"Yes, it's fun...you get inside and you close the door, and you just breath and breath, and talk, and then a nice lady hears your voice and opens it and lets you out. That was so nice of her wasn't it?"
"Right....I'm thinking that's a bad game to play....."

So at the next lock-in when we can't find Perry we should probably check the lockers, he's probably in there breathing, and talking.

He's extremely lucky he's charming. Otherwise one might just leave him in that locker!

Hell.....

Wanna know what hell is? Hell is 13 words 3 times each by a child with ADD and his medication has worn off. Yep that's what I'd like to call hell. Unless I sit on top of him....meaning directly behind him looking over his shoulder....otherwise we'd be up till midnight as he daydreams in between letters. Praying for patience here...but dang I'm tired and annoyed. I asked politely if the man would do some of my laundry, since I'm on homework patrol. He didn't protest so that's cool. He certainly didn't volunteer for homework patrol. Which is for the best really since his patience is less than mine, and he'd let him spell words incorrectly and call it done.

Erwin did a talk a few weeks ago on Hell. Man that man is truely blessed with God's word. I've learned so much from listening to his podcast. I feel like I'm finally starting to "get it", but not completely I'm not completely there. I'm definately being molded into something far greater than I can imagine I'm sure. Why else would I have all this awesome knowledge in my head. Just so Life Insurance would seem insanely boring, because my head is filled with far more interesting things. Like how God desires a relationship with every human being, but he will not force himself on us, it's completely our choice. God will never override your will. It's completely our choice. I think that's pretty cool. I wouldn't think it was cool if I didn't choose God because well then I'd have to live with the consequences. Which the way I see it would be Hell....for real Hell. Which would = a room full of kids with ADD writing spelling words 3 times each for many many many hours. Thank you God for loving me enough to gently knock and wait for me to open the door. So that I might have patience for the small mind I am helping to form.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
Rev. 3:20

Dog

Don't let his good looks fool you. He's freakin crazy! 

Growth

Very interesting to see growth in other peoples lives as well as your own. I am speaking of spiritual growth. So this is what week 3 of The Call is about life stages. Seeker....follower....owner....reproducer. This is where it got a bit boring for me, we've heard it a few times before this. Granted my church is primarily made up of folks who have been coming for 2 years or less, so just cause I've heard it don't mean everyones heard it. And when you here it again you could very well be at a different stage. What's interesting to me is the folks who embrace christianity as a mature adult, start off as a seeker and want to jump right on over to reproducer. Sometimes they can be a bit stuburn about it, you can't skip stages, you gotta go through the crap too....it's not a fast process, growing your faith takes some time trust me I know. All this labeling sounds very cult like I think.....however it's kind of nice to know where you are on the spiritual growth spectrum and where'd you like to be. Some may be perfectly happy to stay in the followers stage......some folks would like to stay a toddler too, and never be potty trained, but you gotta grow up sometime. Besides God calls us to be reproducers, which looks different for everyone. Ok when I look at it this way it's not so boring. Watching other people learn and grow and seeing God for the first time in different aspect and how he shows up in other peoples lives....sometimes they don't even realize it....so so so cool. That's the good stuff right there....not even boring. When you truly know what's going on and how God manifest himself, man that's way cool.

BORED...

Ok so I have a whole weekend where nothing is planned. No real plans other than a meeting for me on Sunday evening. So why do I feel so bored and depressed. Here I have a weekend I can just spend time at home and do nothing. What did I do? Moped around and took naps. I did absolutely nothing productive. I think a lot of it is that I am on a complete and total financial lock down. Any other weekend where I had nothing planned I would have taken that time and gone shopping. Well I'm in this Dave Ramsey total money makeover hell, and therefor I'm not allowed to spend any money. AS IN NO MONEY......yeah I'm pretty much dying. So when I had to run to Krogers to pick up a sponge for the sponge mop, I snagged me a Rachel Ray Magazine. I was excited about the opportunity for a quick trip to walmart to pick up a few things, so that I could sneak in a few things too, just to make it look like I was shopping. It felt good.....satified my needs.

Then at church...I'm bored too. This might be because God's getting ready to do something really big?? Preparing me, so I'm not overwhelmed. We're doing this Call thing, where everyone's reading a devotional written by leaders with in the church, then we have a message on Sunday and everyones in a small group during the week. To me it's a bit repetitive. As in all that stuff repeats a lot of what was in the chapter we just read. Guess they figure if you've heard something about it 3 times and had the opportunity to discuss it, maybe it'll eventually sink in. I guess maybe some of what Dave said in his message today about once you become a Christian who is now a "reproducer", you can get bored. Yep that's me, I'm bored. At a really bad time. I prayed for 5 years for my husband to attend church with me, and now he has for about 7 years. Then I prayed for God to really show up in his life, so that he could really understand how I feel sometimes, and not just be a warm body at church. Well now he's starting to get all this cool God stuff, now that his wife is a bored reproducer. See I've reverted to language your average Joe probably doesn't even understand, not only am I bored I've now officially become BORING. ugh.....Pray for me....pray for whatever big thing God's got planned he'll reveal even a little bit of it to me, so life will get interesting. Or I'm gonna become some crazy partying drunk....cause then life would definitely be interesting. LOL.....yeah right.

Life in Order....

Feels wierd that life may actually get on track. This whole getting out of debt thing of my husband and the "Dave Ramsey hell" it has placed me in feels not too bad. It's thursday, and I've not spent a single cent on food out at a resturant. I'd venture to say I may have lost weight, except for the 2 latte's I've had this week along with the blueberry muffins thank you Starbucks.

So small group for The Call night 2, was good. Ron appeared to be more comfortable, and seemed to be taking the challenge of being the first small group participant to not utter a word like a champ. He managed to only say his name during the entire session. Didn't seem wierd at all, since he wasn't the only one. He did engage in small talk before and after so he is socializing.....who knows by week six he'll be offering to have a word of prayer......if that happens it'll be because he got the holy ghost for sure! He had no answers for all the questions, something about "he can't come up with answers to questions about his feelings real quick like that." LOL....although he had all sorts of ideas on how to draw people out who aren't talking, afterwards....LOL. Which I already knew the strategies, since I've been an Alpha facilitator for 3 years and was a small group leader for 2 years. Sometimes "drawing people out" just isn't appropriate, they'll talk when the time is right. Why he's got all this advice when he's the one not talking is beyond me. Dude it's ok to not talk, trust me you are getting plenty by just listening.

Real Life....

Have I talked about how much God loves me lately?? Have I? I mean seriously that whole switchfoot thing well that was clearly a God divine appointment. And then I also mentioned, my self inflicted latte ban. Why would I do that to myself? When a 2 minute trip through starbucks drive-thru can happen every single day with barely any effort whatsoever, it's like some sort of cruel and unusual joke. So then Ron hands me todays mail. Which included an unmarked envelope from MN....I know no one in MN. But it felt bulky like I was recieving a credit card....big no no in the world of financial peace. I open it and it's none other than my 2 starbucks gift cards I got from reward points at my bank. THANK YOU GOD! He knew it was too hard for me. That's real life baby...you can't make that stuff up!

Funny....

Thought that God hooked up that Starbucks with the superfast drive-thru service, but after a week of being brainwashed by Dave Ramsey.....I'm convinced it's Satan! Ron and I both have been listening to Dave Ramsey's podcast. Normally he has a talk radio show in the evening for 3 hours. But with a podcast you can get a whole hour commercial free...woohoo...
Ron got his book Lord help me, so I think Ron's began the baby steps to financial freedom.....I'm doomed. Unless I can stick it out long enough to get debt free, then I'll be allowed a latte or two, I think. I can't live like a pauper forever right? So the mans very much on my nerves about money again. This time I think we might be on the same page. So the challenge initiated by myself for the week. Can we go a full week without purchasing any food from a resturant. Including STARBUCKS. Plenty of food in the house. Lunches will be packed this week. Yowza....anyone wanna play along. Come on it'll be fun. Not to mention rewarding. That just means more money saved for latte's at a later date.

So I was contemplating on going to the Switchfoot concert in Columbus at the end of October. It happens to be on a Monday which is a crazy day to travel to columbus to see a concert. But if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you'd know what a huge Switchfoot fan I am. So I keep going back and forth in my head "is it responsible?", "will I be neglecting my family?" Is it too crazy to attempt such nonsense? Well God shows up again, and this time I think it was for real because it was at church. Today's message was what are your wildest dreams? Now seeing switchfoot in concert is a wild dream but I wouldn't say it was my wildest, plus I'm thinking he was going for way more complex, more like what has God really created you for? And what are you doing to pursue what God has planned for you? Except I'm sort of a simple minded kind of girl, with simple obtainable dreams really. So at the end of the service, his message took a rather intense turn....and I got my answer. I'M GOING TO COLUMBUS BABY! So click on that, and if you have an hour check out the whole service. If you only have like 30 min fast forward to the message, it's a good one, but if you wanna just see the message from God to little ole me.....fast forward to 55 min. sit back and watch the magic. Close your eye and listen. But don't cry like I did.....it's late and your eyes will be all puffy in the AM. And if you aren't a switchfoot fan, that song.....man oh man....it's one of those songs that grabs you, speaks to your soul, gets you really thinking. I mean not just dang my life sucks kind of thinking, but am I really doing what God created me to do, and if I'm not what am I going to do about it?

I love you Starbucks!!

Ok so a few years ago I was doing a full on Starbucks boycott because they charge so much for coffee to be yummy. I was getting my coffee at Super America for 89 cents instead of 3.90 for a grande latte. Something happened, fall at Starbucks is what happened, and all the yummyness that goes with that. I started getting the occasional Pumpkin spice Latte last year....you can even go fat free and it's just magic, worth every cent! Well guess what happened? So we're doing that praying everyday "God what would the abundant life look like in my life?" A Starbucks with a drive-thru right by the exit where I get on to go to work.....that my friend is what the abundant life looks like. It's gotta be it, because a bad morning suddenly turns into a magical happy morning with a 2 minute trip thru the drive thru....it's gotta be a God thing what else could it be?

6 Weeks of Torture

Getting to know strangers 2 nights in a row is tiresome. Dragging my introverted husband along for the ride on day 2 is even more tiresome. Ron's first small group experience was this evening.....it was pretty much 1 full on hour of torture. He could very well be the first person in the history of small groups to pretty much say nothing. Ha! Now that's gonna be good. He answered the "ice breaker" question because he thought he had to, in which case he just tagged along to my response. After that he wasn't talking. Somehow I need to explain to him that you don't have to talk, it's not a requirement, and even if you don't talk you can very much get something out of the experience, by listening to what other people have to say. He didn't say afterwards "I don't ever want to do that again." He did however mention it could be a very long 6 weeks though. LOL.......So we're suppose to pray for God to reveal his purpose for our lives everyday for the next week. I'll let you know when I'm quitting my job!!! LOL......Not just yet things are finally getting interesting on the job front, I actually have important responsibilities for once and feel needed a teeny tiny bit. Cubeland isn't so bad right now....maybe Gods going to reveal my purpose in life insurance. That sounds just awful, I hope not. Hey God how about something a little more creative?? Oh forgot I'm not incharge.

Men!!

Why is it they can't get the organized side of parenting down? He did attempt to do homework with P tonight, I will give him that, but he is going to have more than 1 thing for homework. Besides it's all written down in his very bad 9 year old hand writing in his agenda. So I had to help finish up at 10 pm, when he's suppose to be in bed. UGH.....and I had to go search for a rock outside with a flashlight. Um we live in the suburbs not near a creek, and oddly enough even with a boy around theres no rocks in my yard. I had to look hard for a rock, but I found one.

So I now have one DTMT under my belt and it feels good. I feel accomplished and all the people at my Alpha table show'd up. Crazy how many folks have table where people don't show, or they'll leave at the break never to return. I've never had this happen....wait......last time around I did one week. But that was very strange circumstances. I love Alpha....good times!

Happy Grandparents day Geegaw!!!

Back in the day we loved to go TPing. I TP'd well into my 30's. It was like creating white beautiful art. We once did my mom's house in 24 rolls of TP, it was an amazing work of art! Geegaw was often a victim of our form of graffiti. Ecspecially once we were grown, and I know longer lived at home. Besides she always worked nights so she wasn't there to bust us. Now that I'm past 35, I strangely feel too old for TPing. Could be I don't really know anyone with big trees in their front yard. And many folks have big mean dogs or dogs in general who blow your cover. So now we go Flamingoing.......hee hee.....at least we did last night. Geegaw lives in a palacial single wide. She's as proud as Gretchen Wilson to call herself trailer trash. No singlewide is complete without a set of Flamingo's. So while Perry and I distracted Geegaw in the house, Ron "Flamingo'd" her yard. Perry sort of blew our cover, he didn't want to wait till morning for her discover them.....she loves them. I personally think it would be better with about 6 more!

Prepare yourself blog fans, it's that time again when we start......DO TOO MUCH TUESDAYS.....Ron is now joining in on the madness, and taking over as cub scout parent, at least for 10 weeks while I lead Alpha. So hold on to your seats it's gonna get crazy round here! 

Eye Doctors....

P and I went to the eye doctor this evening. I got me some Pure Vision contacts, they were kidding these mugs are clear, and everythings so crisp. Wow....I've been wearing my glass's for 2 weeks, because I was out of contacts. I had a pair, but I had wore them for a while, and figured I was pressing my luck. I'm a lazy contact wearer and someday I'll pay if I don't cut it out. I've gotten lectures on several occasions, that I'm damaging my eyes by not taking them out yada yada.....but this time....the man was in the room with me. So he heard so it's something he'll lecture about I'm sure...."um Jo are you going to take your contacts out before you go to bed?".....So I guess I'd better listen. Do you people have any idea how blind I am??? Perry's like a -2, me I'm like a -9, which is really bad. Those people who invented contacts I could kiss them, wonder if I'd be reading braile if I was this blind 100 years ago. Yikes.....Happy to be able to see thank you Pure Vision....you people are brilliant.
Ashton told me last week...."Aunt Jodi your eyes look bigger when you wear your glass's" Right.....had to inform her that, that's not a compliment. UGH.....

The Call

So we've answered The Call. Yes I said WE....crazy as it may sound. Now that Ron's on 1st shift suddenly he's a joiner. It'll be his first small group experience. He may even be forced to talk to strangers, as in people he just met and hasn't known for 10 years. So Dave has asked us to do 3 things for the next 6 weeks, 1. Go to church (got that), 2. Read a weekly devotional takes about 5 min, (I think I can spare that), 3. Join a small group. Thought this one was going to be tough for my introvert husband. But we went to the big group thing to find a group in our area, and it was fairly painless, seems it's a mix of ages, and we are actually the youngest. Which is different from the group I led for a number of years, I was the oldest. It'll be fun to be the youngins. So I've broken my rule, but it's for God so it's all good. Rule being only one night a week would be busy with running around. Now we are at 2 nights. Thursday nights is off limits, it's a good TV night so back off!

Major Friend Time.....

Abby and I kicked it today. We went to the Taft Museum, been a while and it was nice. May I recomend the new fangled self audio tour? Very cool, all sorts of info you'd never ever know about many of the pieces....loved it. Ate at the Tea Room at the museum, so classy and nice, and gourmet eating. Then Abby and I rolled out to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Had a blast hanging there. Then we hooked up with our other friend Weezer and went to Clifton, and had Indian Cuisine....yeah I don't like it. I'll try anything at least once, but unless I'm just having some Nan aka flatbread no thinks. I don't think I'm a big fan of curry or something, it was just yucky. Then we went and saw Little Miss Sunshine.....OMG......everyone must see this movie. It has got to be the funniest movie I've seen in years. It is pee in your pants tears rolling funny! The type you leave the theater saying "remember that? remember that?....yeah that was awesome!!!" Nice time hangin with my peeps.

FIRE DRILL....

I have to say how blessed I am that God completely has my back! I mean it's only the first full week of school and already I am amazed at the difference in Perry. It's all about a predictable routine and he's comfortable. One of my biggest concerns about school ever since 1st grade has been the fire drill. He would become incapacitated from the sound. He'd press his hands over his ears really really tight and pretty much keep them there for 2 days. He did this most of 1st grade until they started removing him before it would go off. They did that until the end of 2nd grade......Then this year we discussed in the IEP meeting what we were going to do about the fire drill. We decided to let him experience it maybe with some sound reduction headphones, which the district would need to obtain. Well the end of August was getting closer, and no headphones were found, on August 31st I e-mailed his special ed teacher letting her know we had discussed it and I thought he'd be fine, since he seemed to have matured, just to reassure him that'd it'd be over quick. And that I predicted there'd be a firedrill that day, since it's the last day of the month and they hadn't had one. The scenerio that unfolded was well thought out plan by a caring teacher....it's going to be a good year!
If you can't read the journalling on the page go HERE and you can read it better.