Friday, August 31, 2007

Friday 2

Are you glad to see this summer end? Why or why not?
This has been one of the most stressful and difficult summers in a long time.
Yes I'll be glad to see it end.

Name one or two things you're looking forward to this fall.
Our own house. Hubby starting work...

Having a horrible two days.
Feeling hopeless and depressed.
Prayers please.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Awesome Lyrics

I love to look up lyrics on the internet
because I can never figure out what the singers are singing!
So I heard this song on a Kohl's commercial
and then again on DisneyRadio.
I was sure I'd heard them wrong...but, I didn't, "cuz I'm awesome".

I’m a leader,
I’m a winner,
And I’m cleaner
Cause I’m awesome
I don’t need you
cause I’m neato
and I beat you
Cause I’m awesome
- from the Dollyrots

Start your engines!

Ladies and gentlemen...
we have a start date! October 24
and by extension a leave date for my job, right?
and an appointment with a realtor
who pretended that we'll be able to find and close on a house
in the time allotted.

Here's the question though...
should I leave the job before we visit/househunt for a week...
or should I try to keep my job until about a week before we go.
Part of the question is money but most of the question is about sanity!
People...what will I do for two weeks if I don't work?
Once I get there, I'll have plenty to do just getting us settled,
BUT
Part of me wants this endless commute thing to STOP.
I know I am the crankiest human being alive by the time Friday rolls around.
But the security of an extra paycheck
and unstructured time to worry and pace
makes me think that I should work as long as possible.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Soup! Enjoy!

The playground near my mom's has a great play-structure
It has a tower and slides, a steering wheel and ladders.
But underneath, they built a little window.
Flash uses it as a take-out window.

Yesterday as I sat on the nearby bench he yelled
"Mommy! Your soup is ready!"

Why is it always soup?

I went over, and retrieved my leaf-with-woodchips concoction
and asked what today's soup was.
"Its green chocolate soup. Here is your four dollars "

Why does he always say four dollars? And why does he pay me?

"Enjoy! Take care!"
And I went back to my bench to play-eat,
under the watchful eye of my young chef,
who had climbed up to the steering wheel/deck area.

Friday, August 24, 2007

CultureVulture Friday5

One of the revgals spent the week at Summer School studying the Gospel and Western culture, looking at art, literature, music, film and popular culture in their myriad expressions.
Not feeling like a high-falutin' answer to any of these...we'll see. And the spiritual journey thing...I don't know ladies...sometimes I feel like a passenger in this journey.

Name a
1. Book - Spiritual book. Spiritual book? Um... I find it fascinating that all these thousands of books have been written about one man, one book. I'm gonna go with, hmmm Simple gifts : great hymns, one man's search for grace by Bill Henderson.

2. Piece of music - Oh I don't know...Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffet? No no no. Um, whats that one by Rascall Flatts? I'll find it.

3. Work of art - I have this painting painted by a friend of my grandmothers of pink azalea bushes that were ruined by Hurricane Hugo. She'd gone through a depression and lost a lot in that storm and the twisted branches and the pink flowers. Its an amazing painting. Knowing its story makes it even better.

4. Film - How about Groundhog Day? Love that movie, it has humor and a message too. At the beginning he's only living for materialsm, then he helps others and develops his talents and then he gives it all up and he just lives, and then life continues for him. There are messages in it, right?

5. Unusual engagement with popular culture - Well, the film might have been one, right? I have a "performer"streak in me, and I love a good storyteller, professional or otherwise. Imagine the confidence, the memory power, to be able to do that.

That have helped or challenged you on your spiritual journey.

Bonus: Is engagement essential to your Christian faith, how and why?
I'm not sure I understand this one but I guess that the music and the sermon affect me most at church. I do not enjoy stained glass much. I'd rather my church was sparse with big plain glass windows. I like hymns that we sing aloud together and I like the catchy upbeat ones best. I am not against modern music, I just haven't seen it done really well in a church setting. I did see a fantastic signing choir once and I recommend seeing one if you can!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Lunchtime!

Flash was staying with my mom for a long weekend a couple months back.
My mom cooks.
She cooks well too.
And she cooked a hot lunch for Flash each day he was there.

On the last day, she told him he had been good and she'd take him to McDonald's for lunch.
Normally he'd be very excited about that.
He said "Mommy knows how to make peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. Do you know how to make peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches?"
She laughed and told him that she had taught me how to make them!
And they stayed home and had peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches together.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Update:


Hubby sent out the "email to everyone" that details our plans.

Lots and lots of neat little messages came in

from friends and family who are excited for us!

Hooray!


And its my birthday

and I am wearing cute new shoes,

sent by my Mother in Law!
(she replaced the ribbon with a fun green with polka dots one)

Spies like them

Bourne Ultimatum was fantastic by the way.
And we adults are not the only ones who love those movies.
Kids love spies.
Think SpyKids (1-3), Cody Banks,
Kim Possible ( and her pal Ron Stoppable)
and Alex Rider (the books are fantastic; the movie...ho hum).

So the kid in front of me wants books like that.
And he's read Alex Rider,
and those books by McNab (traitor and paycheck)
and the young James Bond novels.
And he's not old enough for
Ludlum, Clancy, or even real James Bond novels.
Not interested in fantasy much (thinking Artemis Fowl here, but he's read them too),
and not interested in the superhero angle either (Chance Fortune, or Ordinary Boy).

The kids that read the most are so much harder than the ones who "don't like to read".
Theres the challenge that one book could turn that kid into a voracious reader.
But the voracious readers, um...like me, we just get pickier and pickier.

So, I told him.
"Until you get a little older, or someone writes something new,
I think you will have to write these spy books for yourself."

Friday, August 17, 2007

Word Association Friday5

This one is patterned off an old Friday Five written by Songbird
Below you will find five words.
Tell us the first thing you think of on reading each one.
Your response might be simply another word,
or it might be a sentence, a poem or a story.

1. vineyard - Martha's Vineyard. A great vacation spot.

2. root - Root, Root, Root for the home team, if they don't win its a shaaaame!

3. rescue - Rescue Heroes, hands down. Some of Flash's favorite toys.

4. perseverance - Harry Potter. I just finished listening to book7 on CD this morning. Perseverance for reading and rereading the series and also for the characters, doing what they had to do to finish off Voldemort.

5. divided - multiplied. I am in a "school is coming" frame of mind here at the library. Everyone is coming in for their last minute Summer Reading. And all the books on those school lists are OUT!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Dogs

Give your dog an extra pat and an extra treat today.

I used to live in Atlanta where Michael Vick was king (I mean quarterback)
and the stories that are coming out about the dog-fighting scandal he's involved in is just awful. A fellow on the news was talking about how badly they treat the dogs,
teach them to be cruel,
cage them,
about stealing backyard pets as "sparring partners",
victims really.
Its just awful.

Give your dog an extra belly rub and a treat.
Simba would recommend two or three treats.
Max would reccommend a walk around the block and a chewie.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Well

We've talked, argued, cried and prayed.

Its a go!

Details are being hammered out.

Looking at houses, getting my professional license there.

Daycare or preschool for Flash.



He keeps asking if his toys can come to our new house.

He knows we wouldn't couldn't leave Baby Pooh or "Baby Brother" (a doll)

but what about the Rescue Heroes, the trains, his Jimmie Johnson racecar, his treasure box full of Pull-Ups "Cars" collectible cards?

Yes, yes! Of Course!



But I am finding that I am living just fine without all the stuff we've packed.

With only a few exceptions.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Ever thought...

I should post something just to let everyone know I'm here and I'm thinking about posting, connecting communicating but everything is the same pretty much and the same in our case isn't necessarily a great thing. We wait. We live our of laundry baskets (frankly, thats the same) we sleep in strange beds. walk our dogs on leashes in the backyard. commute and commute. Different toys.
Insult to injury. We are waiting for the church we visited and accepted to get itself going...but other churches keep calling and some of them sound really good, closer to family, more pay, and one of them near enough that I could keep my current job. I don't know if we should abandon the fish we've got...sort of, and hope that one of these bigger fish come through, or if I shouldn't push my luck.
And of course its hubby's decision, really.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Friday5STRESS

Today's Friday 5 is about stress
and I have to say that I am almost officially stressed out.
What do they say are some of the biggies for stress?
Um Moving, new jobs...stuff like that.
So this is so appropriate!

1. First, and before we start busting stress, what causes you the most stress, is it big things or the small stuff ?
Does it matter?
I tend to be more of a big picture person so big stuff mostly.
I am not going to freak out over a stain, running out of toothpaste or those sorts of things. Although I also don't get totally bothered by things like in "The Day after Tomorrow".

2. Exercise or chocolate for stress busting ( or maybe something else) ?
Exercise. What's that?
At the moment my time for exercise is curtailed by a 3 hour per day commute.
Chocolate is fabulous and more time savvy! See I'm saving time!
And I can always multitask with chocolate.
My commute hasn't been as stress inducing
as I thought it would be, thanks to CD-books.
My job is crazy but strangely calm and familiar right now so that helps too.
Diet cola, fancy painted toenails and the Chick-fil-a on my way home seem to helps also.

3.What is your favourite music to chill out to?
I don't like mellow slow music, never have.
Has to be bouncy jangly beats for me.
Not really into music for relaxing I guess.

4. Where do you go to chill?
I would go to the porch, with some iced coffee or tea
and watch everyone go by or read a magazine.

5. Extrovert or introvert, do you relax at a party, or do you prefer a solitary walk?
Party! People!
If I'm not throwing the party especially,
and if I'm not in charge of figuring out what my boy is up to.
Solitary walks are wonderful, on occaision.
Family walks are also wonderful.

Bonus- share your favourite stress busting tip!
Well, having established that this
stress-busting thing is not my forte,
I am open to suggestions that are not too new-agey or mellow.
I will share that Hubby and I are having a date night tonight! And TGIF!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Update...

Well, its coming together.
September will be very busy
as we navigate past candiating/finding a house/examination/ordination/ moving
and Hubby starting his first call.
Three different states also.
Wow.

My Summer Reading Dance Party!

Everyone has some event that they look forward too that seems a little hokey, right?
I can't be the only one.
If you look in Chase's Calendar of Events
you'll find festivals celebrating everything you can think of,
and some things you would never think of!
My Dance Party is one of those things
and no its not listed in Chase's.

The playlist is ready:
YMCA
Crazy Frog
Move it (from Madagascar)
Chicken Dance
Macarena
The HamsterDance
Cha Cha Slide
Hokey Pokey
Do the Dinosaur
Limbo!

Oh yeah!
The 5-7 year old set will be dancing the afternoon away!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Harry Potter spoiler!

I loved it.
I really did.
But I wanted to know what happened to Luna.
The epilogue was fantastic but...
I wanted to know what happened to Luna.

So... CREATIVITY TIME!
What do you think happened to Luna?
(or your favorite who wasn't mentioned)??

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Some have asked...

Its getting better.
My family is very upset...and that gets me down.
Haven't had the courage to tell my Dad and stepmom yet.
But I told a few at work who are THRILLED for us, and jealous at the location!

Chocolate Cherry cake

1 pkg. Chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

350 degrees
9x13
30-35 min

easy easy easy
based on a recipe from the Cake Doctor
(Check one of her books out of the library! They're very good)

Oh!
And perfect because I am an Aunt again today!
Hubby's sister had a beautiful baby girl this morning!
6lbs. 10 oz, 21 inches at 8:43
We're calling her Baby Cousin 'round here!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Update

Packed
Moved out
visited church
accepted call from church...far far away
heartsick