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Over the past couple of weeks I've had a few e-mails and comments regarding my well-being so I wanted to let you all know that everything is okay and give you a little enlightenment on my blogging hiatus.
On our way to school one morning, the following conversation took place:
The Boy: Mom, Lent starts today.
Me: Yeah, I know.
The Boy: What does Lent REALLY mean?
Me: Well, umm, you know, it represents the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.
It was at that point that I realized that I am failing myself, my kids and especially my God. I decided right then and there that I was going to take full advantage of the Season of Lent and better myself through Christ. That night, I went home and dusted off my Bible (which desperately needed it since it probably hadn't been opened in a few months) and prepared to start an on-line Bible Study. When Sunday rolled around, I practically jumped out of bed to get ready for church (which meant also dusting off my church clothes since we hadn't been there in a while either). For the first time in my life, I was excited about getting up early on Sunday and herding three kids out the door. During the service, I felt like Pastor J. was talking directly to me and only to me. I genuinely wanted to be there and my heart had opened up and I could, for probably the first time in my life, truly feel the love of God.
I really have missed all of my bloggy friends but I have been using the time that I would normally blog in to do my daily Bible Study. I have been going back and forth between two on-line studies and today I bought "The Purpose-Driven Life" by Rick Warren. I am excited about starting that and it says that it is really helpful to read it with a friend or group so if anyone is interested in reading it with me, let me know.
So anyway, that is where I have been and what I have been doing; I'm sure you can all understand. Ha! I guess you could say I gave up blogging for Lent. Well, except that I just blogged.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
2008 1950 Thinking
I'm sorry, but I find this wrong in so many ways. Today, as I was browsing MSN, I ran across this article. I was very open minded when I read it and, I admit, many of them make perfectly good sense. When I got to the end, I thought "that wasn't so bad" so I clicked on the next article. It was then that I had to say "Whoa. Wait just a cotton pickin minute".
Let's analyze a few of these, shall we?
1. Wife: Take care of yourself
Husband: Groom yourself
As the wife, we are supposed to "Eat healthy foods, maintain good grooming, and exercise regularly." and he is supposed to "Check the ears, nose, neck and yes, feet for hair or other growths that shouldn't be there."? That is just not right. We are supposed to keep ourselves in shape yet he can have a beer gut as long as he doesn't have nose hair sticking out?
2. Wife: Say thank you, often
Husband: Thank her for putting up with you.
Why can't saying thank you often go both ways? "Thank you for sorting my dirty clothes and washing them on your days off work." "Thank you for cooking our meals." "Thank you for cleaning the kitchen after cooking our meals." "Thank you for filling my car up with gas."
3. Wife: Cultivate friends and interests outside your marriage
Husband: Get away from the family.
"Make time for friendships outside your marriage." I agree with this 100% for both husband and wife but why is it that men are supposed to "Get away from all your responsibilities and go camping or on a golf outing with the guys." to rejuvenate themselves? Don't we all need that weekend away from the family and responsibility every once in a while?
4. Wife: Let him have "guy time"
Husband: Put the kids to bed.
We are supposed to let him "relax, enjoy a hobby, or socialize with friends. If your husband loves football and you don't, don’t bug him about it." while he should "Once a week give her the night off and put the kids to bed by yourself." Let's see, last I checked, a football game on tv lasts almost 3 hours. Tucking the kids in takes, on a bad night, 30 minutes. Also, football is on Sunday, Monday and Thursday during the football season and that is just on network tv. Let's not even go into ESPN coverage!
Now, before you go thinking that I am trashing my husband, I'm not. I just think that these articles would be better perceived (by me at least) had they been published in the '50's not in 2008 where a large majority of families have both spouses working and in some, it is the wife that works outside of the home.
What do you think? Am I wrong here?
Let's analyze a few of these, shall we?
1. Wife: Take care of yourself
Husband: Groom yourself
As the wife, we are supposed to "Eat healthy foods, maintain good grooming, and exercise regularly." and he is supposed to "Check the ears, nose, neck and yes, feet for hair or other growths that shouldn't be there."? That is just not right. We are supposed to keep ourselves in shape yet he can have a beer gut as long as he doesn't have nose hair sticking out?
2. Wife: Say thank you, often
Husband: Thank her for putting up with you.
Why can't saying thank you often go both ways? "Thank you for sorting my dirty clothes and washing them on your days off work." "Thank you for cooking our meals." "Thank you for cleaning the kitchen after cooking our meals." "Thank you for filling my car up with gas."
3. Wife: Cultivate friends and interests outside your marriage
Husband: Get away from the family.
"Make time for friendships outside your marriage." I agree with this 100% for both husband and wife but why is it that men are supposed to "Get away from all your responsibilities and go camping or on a golf outing with the guys." to rejuvenate themselves? Don't we all need that weekend away from the family and responsibility every once in a while?
4. Wife: Let him have "guy time"
Husband: Put the kids to bed.
We are supposed to let him "relax, enjoy a hobby, or socialize with friends. If your husband loves football and you don't, don’t bug him about it." while he should "Once a week give her the night off and put the kids to bed by yourself." Let's see, last I checked, a football game on tv lasts almost 3 hours. Tucking the kids in takes, on a bad night, 30 minutes. Also, football is on Sunday, Monday and Thursday during the football season and that is just on network tv. Let's not even go into ESPN coverage!
Now, before you go thinking that I am trashing my husband, I'm not. I just think that these articles would be better perceived (by me at least) had they been published in the '50's not in 2008 where a large majority of families have both spouses working and in some, it is the wife that works outside of the home.
What do you think? Am I wrong here?
Jump!
For years, I have been trying to convince Chuck that we should get a trampoline for the kids. For years, his response has been the same. No. Way. Well, Friday night, I finally convinced him. Well, that is not exactly true. I didn't convince him to buy one. I convinced him to go over to my sisters storage building and bring my nieces trampoline over to the house.
Saturday afternoon my sister, BIL and Chuck went over to storage, got the trampoline and set it up in the backyard. If I had known how much entertainment it would provide for the kids, I would havenot even asked his opinion put my foot down and we would have had a trampoline years ago. Those kids played out there on that thing for hours on end. Even the youngest, who it seems must always be touching me, stayed out there for much of the day yesterday.
Now, here is the problem (and maybe this is why Chuck didn't want us to have one). Anyone that knows me knows that I cannot sit idlely by. I must be in the middle of anything that is going on around me. (Well, except for laundry. I can sit back and watch someone doing that and not feel the need to help.) After watching the kids having so much fun for a few minutes, I could not hold myself back. I had to get on that trampoline and no warnings of "you're too old for that; you'll hurt yourself" or "I don't want to hear any whinning when you are too sore to walk tomorrow" were going to stop me. I got up on thatbeast thing and jumped with the kids for quite a while and then got back up there on Sunday. I didn't hurt myself and while I am a little bit sore, it felt good to get some exercise. Besides, it was fun and it was something that I could do with all of the kids together.
Note: After putting on a pair of jeans that I wore last spring and not being able to button them, I have decided that I am going to make the trampoline my workout of choice. I mean, we didn't spend several thousand dollars on surgery so that I could spend the summers wearing a muumuu.
Saturday afternoon my sister, BIL and Chuck went over to storage, got the trampoline and set it up in the backyard. If I had known how much entertainment it would provide for the kids, I would have
Now, here is the problem (and maybe this is why Chuck didn't want us to have one). Anyone that knows me knows that I cannot sit idlely by. I must be in the middle of anything that is going on around me. (Well, except for laundry. I can sit back and watch someone doing that and not feel the need to help.) After watching the kids having so much fun for a few minutes, I could not hold myself back. I had to get on that trampoline and no warnings of "you're too old for that; you'll hurt yourself" or "I don't want to hear any whinning when you are too sore to walk tomorrow" were going to stop me. I got up on that
Note: After putting on a pair of jeans that I wore last spring and not being able to button them, I have decided that I am going to make the trampoline my workout of choice. I mean, we didn't spend several thousand dollars on surgery so that I could spend the summers wearing a muumuu.
Friday, January 25, 2008
A Disappointment of Great Proportions
For days we watched the website looking for change. Every time we checked, we got what we were looking for. 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%. and finally, 70%. It was practically a sure thing! We gathered around the television last night and watched as the weatherman assured us that ice was imminent. We were all giddy with excitement at the thought of an unscheduled day off from work and school. I headed off to bed knowing that I would have to get up at the normal time but would be able to go right back to my warm, comfy bed after I did the responsible thing and checked for school closings.
I slept the night through and when the alarm went off, I jumped straight out of bed instead of hitting the snooze button 3 or 4 times. I practically skipped to the back door just knowing that the porch would be covered in ice. I flipped on the light and what did I see? Nothing that I wouldn't see any other day of the year. Yeah, I'm at work.
I slept the night through and when the alarm went off, I jumped straight out of bed instead of hitting the snooze button 3 or 4 times. I practically skipped to the back door just knowing that the porch would be covered in ice. I flipped on the light and what did I see? Nothing that I wouldn't see any other day of the year. Yeah, I'm at work.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
My "Inno" Self
I have seen this done on a couple of blogs before but had never tried it so when I saw that it was cool enough for Zoes Dad to do it, I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a shot. Here is what your supposed to do:
Now, I have a Pioneer Inno (hence the title "My Inno Self") and it doesn't have a shuffle option that I could find so I had to change things up a little. I set my player to list all of the songs and then I closed my eyes and held down on the up and down arrows until my finger started to hurt. Whatever song it landed on was the song I gave for my answer. I PROMISE, I did NOT cheat even though some of the answers came up looking like I must have.
Q: What does next year have in store for you?
A: Waiting On the World To Change by John Mayer; Who isn't? Maybe I should take a more pro-active approach to it.
Q: What does your love life look like next year?
A: Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse; Not sure what this means.
Q: What do you say when life gets hard?
A: One Last Breath by Creed; I think these lyrics say it all:
I'm looking down now that it's over
Reflecting on all of my mistakes
I thought I found the road to somewhere
Somewhere in His grace
I cried out heaven save me
But I'm down to one last breath
Q: Song that reminds you of good times?
A: Caught Up In You by .38 Special; Since this song was from 1982 it more likely reminds me of old times.
Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?
A: If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting
Q: What song will you dance to at your wedding?
A: With Arms Wide Open by Creed; I would hope that my arms wouldn't be open if I'm dancing with my husband. Unless of course we were dancing like this couple.
Q: Song that reminds you of your first kiss?
A: Nothing Left To Lose by Matt Kearney; Fitting I guess but at this point, being a first kiss, there was still a LOT left to lose.
Q: Your favorite saying?
A: Thanks For the Memories by Fall Out Boy; I think I need to coin this as my new catch phrase, don't you think?
Q: Favorite place?
A: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone by Paula Cole; When I find where all the cowboys have gone, that will be my favorite place.
Q: Most Missed Memory?
A: Let Me Go by 3 Doors Down; hmm.
Q: What song describes your best friend?
A: Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; MKay.
Q: What song describes your ex?
A: No Sleep Till Brooklyn by The Beastie Boys; this was actually one of my high school boyfriends favorite songs
Q: Where would you go on a first date?
A: Right Here by Staind; Well, since I'm sitting in my office, I can't say that this is exactly true.
Q: Drug of choice?
A: Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park; Folks, I promise I did NOT cheat.
Q: What song describes yourself?
A: Boulevard or Broken Dreams by Green Day
Q: What is the thing you like doing most?
A: High by James Blunt; So much for Breaking the Habit, huh? Again, I promise you I did not cheat.
Q: The song that best describes the president?
A: Thinking About You by Norah Jones
Q: Where will you be in 10 years?
A: Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett; Wait, the question was 10 years NOT Monday. Think I'll try this one again. Broken by Seether/Amy Lee; Broke I can see, but Broken? Hmm.
Q: Your love life right now?
A: My Immortal by Evanescence
Q: What is your state of mind like at the moment?
A: Is It Any Wonder? by Keane; Once again, I'll give you the lyrics:
Sometimes it's hard to know where I stand,
It's hard to know where I am,
Well maybe it's a puzzle I don't understand.
Q: How will you die?
A: Show Me the Way by Peter Frampton; Maybe you could just tell me instead of showing me. K?
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4. NO CHEATING.
Now, I have a Pioneer Inno (hence the title "My Inno Self") and it doesn't have a shuffle option that I could find so I had to change things up a little. I set my player to list all of the songs and then I closed my eyes and held down on the up and down arrows until my finger started to hurt. Whatever song it landed on was the song I gave for my answer. I PROMISE, I did NOT cheat even though some of the answers came up looking like I must have.
Q: What does next year have in store for you?
A: Waiting On the World To Change by John Mayer; Who isn't? Maybe I should take a more pro-active approach to it.
Q: What does your love life look like next year?
A: Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse; Not sure what this means.
Q: What do you say when life gets hard?
A: One Last Breath by Creed; I think these lyrics say it all:
I'm looking down now that it's over
Reflecting on all of my mistakes
I thought I found the road to somewhere
Somewhere in His grace
I cried out heaven save me
But I'm down to one last breath
Q: Song that reminds you of good times?
A: Caught Up In You by .38 Special; Since this song was from 1982 it more likely reminds me of old times.
Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?
A: If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting
Q: What song will you dance to at your wedding?
A: With Arms Wide Open by Creed; I would hope that my arms wouldn't be open if I'm dancing with my husband. Unless of course we were dancing like this couple.
Q: Song that reminds you of your first kiss?
A: Nothing Left To Lose by Matt Kearney; Fitting I guess but at this point, being a first kiss, there was still a LOT left to lose.
Q: Your favorite saying?
A: Thanks For the Memories by Fall Out Boy; I think I need to coin this as my new catch phrase, don't you think?
Q: Favorite place?
A: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone by Paula Cole; When I find where all the cowboys have gone, that will be my favorite place.
Q: Most Missed Memory?
A: Let Me Go by 3 Doors Down; hmm.
Q: What song describes your best friend?
A: Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; MKay.
Q: What song describes your ex?
A: No Sleep Till Brooklyn by The Beastie Boys; this was actually one of my high school boyfriends favorite songs
Q: Where would you go on a first date?
A: Right Here by Staind; Well, since I'm sitting in my office, I can't say that this is exactly true.
Q: Drug of choice?
A: Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park; Folks, I promise I did NOT cheat.
Q: What song describes yourself?
A: Boulevard or Broken Dreams by Green Day
Q: What is the thing you like doing most?
A: High by James Blunt; So much for Breaking the Habit, huh? Again, I promise you I did not cheat.
Q: The song that best describes the president?
A: Thinking About You by Norah Jones
Q: Where will you be in 10 years?
A: Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett; Wait, the question was 10 years NOT Monday. Think I'll try this one again. Broken by Seether/Amy Lee; Broke I can see, but Broken? Hmm.
Q: Your love life right now?
A: My Immortal by Evanescence
Q: What is your state of mind like at the moment?
A: Is It Any Wonder? by Keane; Once again, I'll give you the lyrics:
Sometimes it's hard to know where I stand,
It's hard to know where I am,
Well maybe it's a puzzle I don't understand.
Q: How will you die?
A: Show Me the Way by Peter Frampton; Maybe you could just tell me instead of showing me. K?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Another Random Post
* We had our Four Year Planning meeting yesterday with Als advisor. I won't bore you with the details of it, but do you know how frustrating it is to have someone not listen to you when you KNOW you are right? I kept trying to tell this woman something and even showed it to her in writing from the schools own course catalog but she still wouldn't listen. She had this idea in her head that she was going to blow through this meeting quickly and just put Al in pidly antey basic freshman classes but I was having nothing of it. Chuck did the smart thing and excused himself early so as not to get in the way of the daggers that were shooting from my eyes. Just to give you an idea, here is a little snippet of the meeting:
That was pretty much how the entire meeting went. I wanted to scream!
* As of this afternoon, my house will officially be off the market. Now, before you go getting all excited, it didn't sell, we are just going to take it off the market to give it a rest and let the real estate market try to make a comeback.
* I still have a full house. My sister, BIL, and niece (and dogs and cats) are still staying with us. Believe it or not, there hasn't even been any murder attempts. I kinda wonder what life at home will be like when they do move out. Might be a little lonely.
* I have successfully completed every song on Guitar Hero II & III at the medium level with at least a 90%. I haven't gotten up the nerve to play on Xbox Live yet because I don't want to make an ass of myself with a complete stranger. Anyone out there have Guitar Hero II or III for Xbox Live willing to have a jam session with me?
* I am thinking about getting a new cell phone. Well, actually, I'm not thinking about doing it, I'm GOING to do it. I have a Nokia 6xxx (I can't remember the exact model number) that was discontinued shortly after I bought it last year. I now know why they discontinued it; it is a piece of junk! M!crosoft had to have it's hand in the making of this phone because it damn near reboots during every call. Anyway, I have narrowed it down to (of course) the iPhone, the Pantech Duo, or the AT&T Tilt. Anyone have any experience with any of these phones? I like the idea of the iPhone but I just don't know if I want to get that far into bed with AT&T. The Pantech looks really cool with the dual sliders but the reviews said it was too plastic looking. They said the call quality was excellent and the features worked great and with a lot of speed so it was just the looks that they didn't like. The Tilt also had great reviews but I don't care for having my number pad on the Qwerty keyboard. What do you think?
I think that's all for now but if I think of anything else, you'll be the first to know!
Counselor: Okay, now you need a Fine Arts credit.
Me: (pointing at the Fine Arts block of her plan) It' right here. She wants to take Guitar.
Counselor: But she needs a Fine Arts credit.
Me: She has one. It's Guitar.
Counselor: But Guitar is not in the Fine Arts section of the catalog.
Me: (pointing to Guitar in the Fine Arts section of the catalog) It's right here and says "Intro to Guitar will satisfy a Fine Arts credit".
Counselor: But she needs a Fine Arts credit.
That was pretty much how the entire meeting went. I wanted to scream!
* As of this afternoon, my house will officially be off the market. Now, before you go getting all excited, it didn't sell, we are just going to take it off the market to give it a rest and let the real estate market try to make a comeback.
* I still have a full house. My sister, BIL, and niece (and dogs and cats) are still staying with us. Believe it or not, there hasn't even been any murder attempts. I kinda wonder what life at home will be like when they do move out. Might be a little lonely.
* I have successfully completed every song on Guitar Hero II & III at the medium level with at least a 90%. I haven't gotten up the nerve to play on Xbox Live yet because I don't want to make an ass of myself with a complete stranger. Anyone out there have Guitar Hero II or III for Xbox Live willing to have a jam session with me?
* I am thinking about getting a new cell phone. Well, actually, I'm not thinking about doing it, I'm GOING to do it. I have a Nokia 6xxx (I can't remember the exact model number) that was discontinued shortly after I bought it last year. I now know why they discontinued it; it is a piece of junk! M!crosoft had to have it's hand in the making of this phone because it damn near reboots during every call. Anyway, I have narrowed it down to (of course) the iPhone, the Pantech Duo, or the AT&T Tilt. Anyone have any experience with any of these phones? I like the idea of the iPhone but I just don't know if I want to get that far into bed with AT&T. The Pantech looks really cool with the dual sliders but the reviews said it was too plastic looking. They said the call quality was excellent and the features worked great and with a lot of speed so it was just the looks that they didn't like. The Tilt also had great reviews but I don't care for having my number pad on the Qwerty keyboard. What do you think?
I think that's all for now but if I think of anything else, you'll be the first to know!
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