What are you thinking about today?

I'm still here I promise! I haven't blogged in for-e-ver. But here I am. Not a thought in my head...straight off the cuff, grab a cuppa coffee here we go.


Today I'm busy packing to fly out to the royal wedding.
Not. Really.

Are you into it?

I loved Diana, I still swoon when I see pictures of her in the dress.
But I'm not so much into this coming wedding.

Sure, I'll tune in to see her dress and the highlights, but really, it's not a big deal on my radar.
There are so many other things worth focusing on.

I know a lot of people that are walking through some serious stuff. Stuff that hurts. And it makes me think about where we would be if not for the love and comfort of God.

I'm not about to get all preachy on you but if you are hurting, and I know many of you are, I just want you to know that God cares.
He does.
If something is heavy on your heart, it's heavy on His too.

Bring it to Him. Chat about it with Him.

1 Peter 5:7 says:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.

Pretty straight forward stuff.

Not sure what that had to do with the royal wedding, but thank you for roaming on my bunny trail with me.


What are you thinking about today?
Sue

I told you I was not a night owl

So my husband's watching 3 different shows which is not unusual but tonight I would like to watch the Grammys and check out all the dresses and raw meat that might be worn.
He's not interested.
Currently we're watching the logging people cut down trees.
They just had a near miss that almost took the life of some young man but he narrowly escaped.

So I thought I would ramble on about nothing blog.

Many of you know that I'm a morning person. Which may sound mildly impressive with the whole "she rises before dark" thing hanging over our heads, but at 9 pm it's pretty pathetic.

I put Lauren to bed at 8 and then go back up the stairs three times for the usual questions:
1. What day is tomorrow?
2. Where's Macy? (the dog that sleeps with her every night but somehow always disappears at 7:45)
3. Is the monitor on?

After that, I am spent. If there is a fourth call for me, I almost start to cry. I'm just sure that the long walk up the stairs will be more than my legs can carry me and I will tumble to the bottom in a tired heap.

Which makes this post a dangerous thing to do. I'm curently only operating on 3 brain cells, and they've been worn to the edges today by Lauren's constant coughing and questions.

She asked me all day long if she has a cough OR if she was sick. Which is it?
And because I know that if I say she is sick, it will instantly become a much bigger deal, I try to stick with, "you just have a cough." To which she replied, "so am I sick?"

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So I rubbed Vicks into her chest, filled her vaporizer and tucked her in.

Tomorrow's a big day.
No, not Valentines, the carpenter's are finishing my pantry re-do.
Currently I have everything from my walk-in pantry displaced all over my kitchen counters and table. Not sure why but we had this overwhelming need to put custom shelving in all our mainfloor closets. It will be a great feeling when it's all done. But for now, it's just looks like I should be on Hoarders.

Ow. I just rubbed my eye. Vicks.

Speaking of Valentines. What a terrible time for me to be on a sugar fast. Ugh.
You may not want to talk to me tomorrow, I plan to be quite bitter about the whole situation.

Yes, I know. It was my decision. But it is starting to feel like a poorly timed decision.

My dear friend and trainer Casie (check out her brand new blog) is set on getting me healthier. First she encouraged me to start running and then she tricked me convinced me of the benefits of fasting from sugar for a couple weeks. Really, she's sweet and I love her bunches, but sometimes I wish I could be right...that chocolate cures all.

Speaking of chocolate.
Spring is coming.

I can not wait.
But I am a litte concerned about my gardens this year. When I say gardens, I mean flowers. Every year I think I might plant a vegetable garden but the garden fairies beg me not to make them watch it die an agonizing death.

I'm concerned about the newest addition to our family. Zoey.
She is our 5 month old German Shepherd. When she was 2 mos old she dug through the snow to my tulip bulbs. The ones I bought at Lauren's school for a fundraiser. They were the really overly priced nice ones promising huge beautiful flowers.

Instead, they became chew toys.


Speaking of snow, I hope ours all melts this week when it warms up. They are calling for near 40 degrees! Practically summer only colder.


Well, I know this didn't make much sense but I'd better stop now. I just yawned and my vision blurred. We're watching something else now. Still no Grammys.


Have a good night and a Happy Valentines Day and if you come walking by my house with chocolate you'd better watch out. I have a 5 month old German Shepherd and will tell her you look like a tulip bulb. The rest will be history.

A Story with No Redeeming Value. Really, not sure you should waste your time on this one.

I need to warn you, there are no redeeming qualities about this story.
It is just a snippet of the strange things that happen to me on a daily basis.

Denise, has crazy stories about her boys and family.

I have peculiar stories about the people that find me. Grocery stores, gas stations and even, as you will see, restrooms...

So, I went to Target last week to finalize my Christmas shopping. I went alone. It was glorious...being alone. I cherished every minute.

As is always the case, I stopped into the restroom as I walked into Target. May or may not have anything to do with my coffee addiction.

I walk into the stall and...and then I hear these women talking. I can tell it's a women (30-ish) with her mother. The daughter is complaining about a "lump."

A lump in her breast...the mother seems completely uninterested, as if she's just tired of hearing the daughter speak. I would soon understand this sentiment.

She asks her mother to feel the lump and asks what to do about it, the mother nonchalantly says, "it's probably nothing."

Then the woman explains that the lump is painful.

About this time I walk out of the stall and say, "if it hurts, you probably should get it checked out."

Her eyes got big as saucers and she exclaimed, "REALLY?! Do you think so?!"
She was obviously thrilled that someone wanted to engage her in this discussion.

"Yes," I said. "I would check it out."

"Do you think it's a lymph node?" she said, pointing to the lump.

"It sounds like it," I replied. "Have you had sinus problems at all?"

Again...she pracically leaped at me..."YES! I have! I've had a sinus infection and terrible drainage!"

She then went on to describe the drainage.

About this time, a friend that I have not seen in many years walked in and we both screamed, "HI!" and hugged!! My friend walked into the stall as the woman then asked me to feel her lump.

"Feel this, right here, what do you think?"

By now the woman's own mother walked out of the restroom leaving me there to feel her breast lump.

Hesistantly, I put the back of my hand on her lump area-ish.

"Yup, it's a lump, it could be that with all the sinus problems your lymph nodes are pooling and swelling," I explained.

Then.
It got even more uncomfortable.
Yes...this is possible.

She told me the story of when she was 19 (now 31), how she had a one night stand with a guy. She never should have, she explained, but it just happened.
Now, several years later, she found out, that he gave her h*rpes.

Yes.
This really happened.
Right in Target's bathroom.

I expressed my sadness at her unfortunate mistake.

What... else... could... I... do?

About this time my friend walked out of the stall and started washing her hands behind me.

I encouraged the woman to get the lump checked out and to have a Merry Christmas while she was at it.
She thanked me profusely for all my advice and walked out to find her mother who had probably driven away by now.

I turned to my friend who was drying her hands, shaking her head and giggling under her breath.

"I don't know how these things happen to me," I said.

We both burst out laughing and then spent 20 minutes catching up on the past 10 years.


So there you have it.
A glimpse into an experience that I wish was unusual for me.


Do these things happen to you?
I'd love to hear about it if they do! :)

I told you this story would have no redeeming value, but I am over at the cafe' today if you want to read my post, it might redeem your last 5 minutes. I hope.

How's your little light doing?

Friday Fluff~ Lots of Random with a Side of Ranting

I haven't done a Friday Fluff in a long time! Basically it's a post about a whole lot of nothing that is swimming around in my brain.

If you are totally bored, grab a cup of coffee and enter my world.

God is great, coffee is good, people are crazy.

People ARE crazy! And I admit, I'm right at the front of the line with the crazies.

But, why do some people insist on living their life in dysfunction?

It's not like they've never heard about God's peace...but apparently it doesn't appeal to them.

Yes, I know they are just so deceived that they don't see the truth for what it is...blah, blah, blah.

Maybe it's time to put your big girl pants on and grow up.

(Ok, that was not random, that would qualify more as a rant...guilty. Go ahead and tell the world about it on your facebook page...that's where all the rational people settle their disputes right?! Ooops, ranting again...time to move on...)

*******

Let the randomness begin...

Mothers, do you ever find yourself saying the craziest things and when you hear them come out of your mouth you just shake your head?

Just yesterday I found myself saying:

"NO! I don't want to draw an igloo!"

I mean, what is wrong with me?

Do I have a problem with igloos?

Maybe it's the cold I'm avoiding?

Why am I so opposed to such a simple task?

Maybe because I was up to my elbows in dishwater.

But still, a better mom would have dried her hands and drawn an igloo.

*******

Speaking of drawing, Lauren drew a portrait of me the other day.

She made me hold perfectly still for this...I'm not kidding! I was scolded if I even tried to itch.

She would stare at me for what seemed an eternity then turn and draw my nose which as you can see is practically a perfect interpretation of my actual nose.

Then she came and lifted my hair and said, "I can't wait to have big ears like yours."

I didn't think I had big ears but I'm never pulling my hair up again.

I do agree with Facebook friends who saw this and said that I am looking noticably thin. Might need to double up on the chocolate.

*******

I went for an oil change this week. It really brings out the crazy in me. Something about driving in that garage with a huge hole under the truck freaks me out.

I'm just sure that I'll fall into the hole and never be seen again.

Once I pull in safely and breathe a sigh of relief...I quickly turn off my truck, yank my keys out of the ignition and throw them down to the floor. I know that I will accidently forget where I am in the middle of the oil change and start my truck to hear music or check the time. It will be just the moment that there is no oil in my truck and it will immediately burst into flames. So I hastily throw them to the floor.

It never fails, this is when the scary man with few teeth, listening to AC/DC's "Back in Black" approaches the truck to ask me my mileage, which means I have to turn the key on.

So I fish the keys from my floor board while he stares at me perplexed at their location.

This is when I become a frightened school girl again and nervously admit that I'm 1,000 miles over. I wait for the slap on the wrist...nothing, whew dodged the bullet. But of course he's thinking about what a loser I am for not taking care of my vehicle.

After I give him my mileage, I quickly pull the keys out and decide they can sit in the cup holder just in case I need them again.

Lauren picks this time to get up and start bouncing a basketball in the truck (it's an Excusion, we have a full court in there) and I immediately scream at her to stop because surely the bouncing ball in the truck will upset the scary men under the truck and who knows what could happen then.

I spend the time Twittering my anxieties while Lauren sulks until I hand her my phone to play games on. The scary men can't possibly be bothered by that.

Finally it's over. I drive out thankful to be done again for a few thousand miles, and breathe a sigh of relief that no one was hospitalized.

I told you it brought out the crazy in me.

******

I am leading a Bible study at my house this month on Wednesday nights, it is a great group of girlfriends and we are having a wonderful time.

This week though, for some reason my nose got a tickle. I sneezed 486 times in 2 hours. I literally held my finger under my nose as I shared my heart and soul about the beauty of a woman of faith.

It was bizarre.

I don't know what else to say except thank you to all those sweet ladies that put up with it.

I have awful allergies, especially to cats, but I don't think anyone brought a cat...at least I didn't see one.

Next week I will double up on the Claritin and check their purses for cats.

******

Ok, if you read this far, you really need to get a hobby because you are one bored woman!

But thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!!!

EDITED TO ADD:

I'm so sorry if you left a comment and it disappeared, I am using a new comment system and not sure what happened, but they all disappeared. I did read them all though and am hoping that doesn't happen again!

Day 16...how's it going?

Well, you've had four-past-a-dozen days to live up to your New's Years resolutions, how are they going?

Being an over-achiever, I started mine the day after Christmas. Of course this may have been directly related to the fact that when I stood on my new Wii Fit it made the sound that is made when someone picks the wrong door on "Let's Make a Deal". In that moment, dressed as Raggedy Ann and fishing through my purse for a paper clip, I decided that I needed to make some changes.

I've cut back on sugar and decided that moving this body a little more might be a good thing. I've found that I don't miss sugar (except in my coffee) and that moving more hurts a little-sometimes a lot. Don't worry, mochas are not a thing of the past for me, just a slight pause in the action.

Resolutions-smezolutions.
I'm not big on resolutions, I think that 'decisions' are better than resolutions. The word resolute means: 'to be determined to'. So I can be determined to read my Bible or I can wake up and decide to do it.
No matter how determind I am to do something, if I don't decide in that moment to do it, it doesn't happen, not even with "I can do all things through Christ" written on post-it notes all over my bathroom mirror.

It is good to be single-mindedly resolved to do something, but our life is really a pool of the things that we've decided to dive into. And sometimes I'm not so crazy about what goes floating by as I back-stroke through my day.

The most important thing to me is my relationship with God. Religion can cause me to regularly darken the doors of a church or open my Bible and read like a good little soldier does. But my relationship with God draws me like a moth to the flame. Hungry for what it has to offer then suddenly extinguished by the power of His presence and the majesty of who He is. At that moment I realize...that's the point...like the moth, I die, He shines.

His Word is life. It changes me. It makes me want to decide to know Him better. I want to know, what does He think about life? What is His take on the messy reality of all that is today. How do I fit? How can He possibly love everyone? I mean, look at us...really?

I resolve to decide to grow closer to Him. I want more of Him and less of me, so off to the flame I flutter and brace myself for the landing.

So it's day 16...how's it going?

Are you feeling used by others?

Here's God's response to that...

Luke 6:32-36
32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
Even 'sinners' love those who love them.

33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?
Even 'sinners' do that.

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?
Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.

35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
NIV

This is good news girls, if your heart is set on honoring God...no one can take advantage of you!
Let your heart be set free from bitterness.
If you're waiting for a "thank you"...you didn't really give.

I'm just sayin'...