72/775

That's hours and miles ...




So last weekend was yet another in our marathon of spring/summer weekends. We started out Friday evening stopping in Ada for Kappa Phi's Degree of the Rose. Then we headed to Marion, IN to hang out with Dave and Abby Burden. Marion is about forty minutes or so south-west of Fort Wayne. Tyler had fraternity business with Dave, who took over Tyler's job in the fraternity (secretary) at the last Conclave. Abby and I had a really nice time visiting too. They've been working on remodeling their house and, while they feel like they still have so much to do, it looks great and their hard work is evident. We slept in Marion on Friday night.

Saturday afternoon we took off for New Philadelphia, OH, 5 hours from Marion. We stayed with Garry and Deidra Lute that night. I felt so bad that we got there so late ... but it was good to see them. We hadn't seen them since last August at their wedding. We stayed up and chatted for a while. Deidra gave us the grand tour of their new house - which they are also remodeling. She bought it sight unseen by Garry just a couple of weeks before their wedding. They've finished ripping out the lathe and plaster walls in the entry and have re-drywalled and are waiting to paint. They still have a lot of work to do - but their house will be beautiful when they finish. The old woodwork alone is gorgeous.

Sunday morning we went to church in Urichsville with Deidra and her family. It was really good to see Mom and Dad Dudgeon again, as well as her little sister Diana. We then took off and headed for Wintersville/Steubenville, OH - an hour further east than New Philly. My step-mom's mom died on Thursday night and we wanted to go out for the showing at the funeral home. I know it meant a lot to Dad, Syl, and my siblings to see us there. Dad was shocked ... but, like we said, there's nowhere that's too far to travel for family. It was good that we went. I just wish that we could have stayed for the funeral on Monday - but that wasn't practical, we needed to work on Monday. So we left the funeral home around 3 and headed towards Columbus. Why?, you ask. Because at that point in the weekend, we'd rather make the 3 hour drive to my mom's house than the 5 hour drive back to ours. And it was Mother's Day ... couldn't hurt to see as many of our moms as we could. So we had dinner in Columbus with mom and stayed there Sunday night.

Monday morning we went to mom's school and Tyler taught her fifth graders some cool things about math. We started that tradition while he was in grad school and we've just kept it going. Mom usually takes the math enrichment kids, so they just eat up everything that Tyler talks about. She had a bright group again this year ... I was impressed with the way they followed and asked intelligent questions. I also haven't missed a year of my life without getting to mom's room at least once a school-year. The visual on her kids just makes her stories so much better! We left around noon and headed straight to school to pick up Sophie. So, by the time we got home from our Monday evening church meeting, we'd been not home for 72 hours and put 775 miles on the car. While it was a good weekend - I certainly wouldn't recommend that much travel in three days time. :P

Chocolate Chips

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day! How exciting! Celebrate today with cookies ... or just eat them by the handful ...

What a yummy day!

A Mish Mash of Info ...

- 38. That's the total number of pounds I've lost in the last year. Woo Hoo! :) That's major progress towards my 100 pounds lost goal. And, I'm right on track. I figured that it would take me about 2 and a half years to really make the life changes necessary to keep up with this forever.

- JESUS! Oh so much to say ... So the video in the previous post is short, sweet, to the point, and HILARIOUS!!!!!! It was a total accidental find. And a laugh we totally needed. Tyler and I were reading some things online about this movement. Intrigued to find several holes in his "platform" ... we searched on YouTube. And found this ...

Wow ... holy cow dude ... people can really twist stuff huh? I won't post it here, but the piece that's done by the Today Show was informative too. And Tyler and I sat and watched in amazement. Slowly, we realized that there's a reason God isn't smiting US. He's too busy watching out for the real loonies out there ... So I'm really interested to hear what you may or may not have to say about the Growing in Grace movement/religion ...

- So we're 1 week into a 7 week crazy land. Yes, that statement was confusing ... allow me to clarify. Last weekend was the first of the out-of-town crazy booked weekends. Tyler had an Aflac state meeting in Dayton on Friday. His meeting went well. While he was busy meeting the new state coordinator, I spent the afternoon with Jenette and her two lovely children. Poor Ethan was still not 100%, but he's still a good kid. Little Kara (11 weeks old now :)), is soooooooooo adorable. She's such a sweet little baby! So Tyler's meeting only went 4 hours instead of 5, whew! I went back up to Dayton to pick him up and we returned to Jenette and Aaron's house. (As a side note here, they live in a subdivision. Not one of the newer ones where every home looks exactly the same, but a subdivision none-the-less. I did not get lost going in and out of their neighborhood different ways than the directions that Google gave me. I also didn't have trouble following the directions in the first place - except for not being able to find the street that Jenette forgot to mention was necessary to get to her house in the first place :P. Haha! Tyler gets lost in there every time. YES! I am better at not getting lost!) They ordered a pizza for dindin ... killer pizza ... Fox's. It was yummy. Having time to hang out was fun. Saturday, we went to a baby shower. It was way cool. Josh and Ann had their shower at a park and did a cook out. It was a family affair too. Everyone just kind of mingled and played with each other's kids, it was super nice. Tyler and I talked on the way home, and it was exactly the kind of shower we'd like to have someday. We were planning on coming home Saturday afternoon, but we were totally exhausted. So we stayed another night. Jenette and Aaron left to run some errands and left us with the kids. Tyler played with Ethan on his Star Wars game. I think they had fun ... Ethan sure seemed to. I sat with Kara while she slept. Then she woke up and the little stinker was starving but refused to take her bottle. Oh well ... the fight that she put up refusing the bottle just gave me more quiet time while she was eating. She's such a happy baby! Tyler was really sweet to take some time with her too. He's really good with kids. He'll be a good dad someday. Aaron made enchiladas for dinner and margaritas. They were killer good. We mostly just hung out. But truth be told, we needed that relaxed social time. We don't often get that. We left Sunday morning around 9. Which was great because it gave me time to crash before I left at 2:30 for a bridal shower in Ada. It was really good to see the girls that were there. Yay for weddings! Tyler and I are really looking forward to this one. One of many this summer ... Then last night I had a jewelry party to attend. Another fun one. I needed that social time too.

- Upcoming events: Trip to Marion this coming weekend. STE business. Then another jewelry meeting Monday, and a new group starting up at church. Next weekend my mom is coming up. We're going to take Gramma out for lunch for mother's day ... yeah ... late, but the only time we could fit in in. The weekend after that is Memorial day weekend and we have a family function. Then, the first two weekends in June we have weddings. I keep thinking that we already have plans for the third weekend in June, but I can't remember what ... oh well ...

- So this was way longer than I expected. I need to get moving again on laundry. Today is rug washing day. I also need to find some lunch ... and I have to pick up Sophie at 3 today. Later ...

JESUS!

3:30 Brain

Yeah ... I've been bad ... sorry about that. Truth be told, I've been going through some stuff and just haven't felt like posting about it ... However, my lack of motivation leaves my loyal reader (Is there more than one of you? :P) with nothing to read. Bummer for you ...

So it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm up. This is the second night in a row for this awful sleep pattern. Last night I was up sick at this time ... tonight ... well - let's just say that not only am I up sick, I had quite the dream that I just couldn't shake.

So ... what's going on? ... Well ... We're working on getting the office in order for what Tyler thinks will work best for him and Aflac. It's an absolute mess right now ... but it will get there. What is done and where it will be is nice. And we've both been really good about just getting rid of stuff we don't need and/or use. I've been on a real kick of "get rid of what we don't need/use ... get it out of our house" recently ... I must say that I know this isn't completely unfounded ... I just don't know the full extent of what's causing it yet.

DOC called. My second pair of glasses is in. I can't go down there to get them this week. I can't go this weekend. I can't go next week. I can't go next weekend. You know what? ... I pretty much can't get away from Findlay (except for all of the stuff that's already booked) for quite a while. So mom's going to pick them up and mail them to me. I have been blessed ... truly. Mom is an absolutely incredible woman. She's more than I could have ever wished for or imagined a mom should/could be. Don't get me wrong ... she's not on a pedestal or anything ... we've had our rough times. But we're where we are now in our relationship because of the way she's been willing to redefine it over time. We most certainly don't look like what I think most mother/daughter teams look like. And I think that we're closer than most ... which can be a problem at times (for everyone ... sorry sweetie ... I know). Mom and I are more friends than parent and child. But I know I can still call and talk to my mommy if I need/want to. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

We're going to be crazy busy for a while. We have a baby shower and a bridal shower this weekend. I'm skipping small group on Thursday to have dinner with my Big Sis (who hasn't been in state since our wedding almost 3 years ago). Usually I wouldn't skip ... but it's been 3 years since I've had a chance to spend time with her. And she graduated a year before I did ... so it's really been almost 4 years since we've had good quality time together. Next week I have a meeting every night. We're headed to another STE meeting next weekend. Then we start in on the wedding marathon of the summer. I know I'm looking forward to it. It's just harder when we have to go go go ...

I do have some more to say ... but I'm tired. I've finally cooled down and finished my water. Hopefully I've seen enough HGTV to clear my head tonight. Sorry about the long time between and then the length of the post. I'll try to be better ...

Changes

So Mom came up last week. She was here Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I must admit that the visit was nice. We all went to a Sedar meal on Thursday night. I miss regularly attending. It was nice. Friday, Mom wanted to buy some new pants for school. So we hauled up to Toledo to a mall. It was nice to spend the day with Mom and Tyler. She found some great pants and a couple of skirts to wear to school. She's still on the hunt for shoes though. I found a really flattering sun dress. The zipper was broken though. So we got it for a big discount. I have already changed the zipper out for a new one ... I just need to sew the hook and eye back on the top. I was hoping to wear it this coming weekend ... but we'll see. Maybe Friday night. Tyler got a couple of dress shirts and a new tie. All three of us found new spring jackets ... like nicer than a windbreaker ones. I really dig mine.

Thursday wasn't a fabulous day for me. My new job laid me off. Grr. Just until business picks up though. I think that the boss thinks that's going to be a lot sooner than I think it is. Oh well. I am still nannying after school. I do really enjoy that.

Tyler had a couple of really great productive meetings on Thursday. Things are really starting to move for him. That's so encouraging to see.

This coming weekend is Conclave. We went down to Ada last night for Brotherhood so that Tyler could answer any questions or concerns they might have. I was surprised that they had almost 2 hours worth of business that involved us being there ... and they kept going after we left. It was really good that we went though. I know Tyler feels that way. I know that it was good that he was there to field some of the questions and concerns that the brothers had.

So we're in Indy this weekend. We still don't know what time we'll get there. I know we were both hoping for sooner rather than later ... but it looks like he might have to go to some Aflac training thing in Delphos in the afternoon. We're both really looking forward to the weekend. We're having dinner with JT on Friday night. He and Tyler were in the same pledge class. He's the alumni delegate for E. It will be good. I'm sure there'll be plenty more changes for me to share after Conclave ...

In the meantime ... I have a TON of work to do and errands to run before Friday morning.

Heels and Hopes ... Both High

So I wear heels to work now. That's pretty different than the tennis shoes I wore to school to work, to clean to work, and to nanny to work. My feet hurt today. They don't want me to put them back in heels ... but yet ... heels I must.
Yep. You read that right. I have a professional job. I'm back to working bridals. There's a really well established business in Tiffin that just expanded to Findlay. They took over the old I DO! building out by Olive garden. The owner is super nice. I really enjoy working with her and for her. She did a wonderful job remodeling the space too. It looks like how I think a bridal shop should look too. There's only one downside that I've spotted ... For now, until she can justify hiring more people, it's just going to be the two of us working. She doesn't want to be left alone in the evenings. So for a while ... I'll be late to our evening activities. Bummer ... but Tyler and I talked about it. I don't want to give up the shot at a full-time job because I have no short-term flexibility with my schedule. I am so tired of having to split myself 2, 3, even 4 or 5 ways just to make not enough money to even make a dent in helping with the bills. Yesterday, I made more money than I do in a full week of nannying. I just don't want to loose that earning potential - especially while Tyler's still getting his feet under him.
So ... the long and short of it ... I'm happy about the job. I'm not thrilled about the hours - but I know that they're just short-term. So this is a good thing. Okay ... I have to leave for work in about 2 hours. I should get busy around here. I find that I'm just not motivated to do housework when I don't get home till 8:30. Imagine that. :P

Second Chances ...

Okay ... so I have an interview tonight at 5. I'll post more about it afterwards ... I'm still kinda superstitious about sharing too soon. Let's just say that this could be a very good thing.

In the meantime I'm washing windows and doors, cleaning the bathroom, and cleaning up my mess in the kitchen from sewing world.

Now ... what to wear ... hmm ...

Switchfoot and Switch Plates

I find myself in a bit of a reflective mood today. And here is what I find myself reflecting upon (it's by Switchfoot) ...

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
Yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life are you who you want to be
This is your life are you who you want to be, yeah

This is your life, are you who you want to be, who you want to be yeah
This is your life, are you who you want to be (who you want to be)
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

And you had everything to lose

For those who aren't Switchfoot fans it's called This is Your Life. I loved this song. Mandy played it at JZ's funeral. I couldn't listen to it for a while. I can again ... and that makes me happy ... but that is beside the point and neither here nor there. The real reason I've been thinking about it lies here: Am I living like I want to live? For the most part - yes. I am happily married. I love taking care of my husband and our home. I enjoy one of my jobs ... I tolerate the other one :P. Tyler and I have wonderful friends. We enjoy our jOURney church. We are blessed. And yet there's a part of me wondering what it is that's not quite right. I find quite the call here to really live like today is it. I wonder how our lives and world would change if everyone honored today for what it is truly worth. Hmm ...

(And now, because I'm not so sure that deep reflection is working for me today ...)

On to the switch plates part of the title. It's spring. That means spring cleaning. I LOVE this time of year. I LOVE that I have the luxury of spending a large chunk of time cleaning our home and making it sparkle. Don't get me wrong. I do clean on a regular (read "weekly") basis. There's just something different about this time of year. The kitchen is gorgeous. I am so thrilled to have the inside of our appliances clean. (Yeah ... I know ... it's the simple - well dorky - things that please me.) The cupboards are clean ... inside and out. The bathroom is just as clean. Today's mission is: you guessed it - switch plates. No one ever thinks to clean where our dirty little fingers leave marks. Also on the list today - the insides of our washer and dryer need washed out, the furniture needs vacuumed, and the shower needs scrubbed down again (Tyler ran mop water for the floors in the bathtub after I cleaned it the first time ... oh well ... today's cleaning should be easier.), and I'm thinking that will probably be it in the time I have for today. Tomorrow I'll have more time.

And on a bit of a side note here: I don't understand why people freak out at the thought of sending your child to a friend's house when that friend has the chicken pox. That's what mom did to me ... I survived. Seriously - better to expose your child and get it out of the way when he's between like 4 and 9 than have him in college and ridiculously sick. Seriously people.

Okay ... on to switch plates ... :P

Yes. In my last post I promised that I would comment on the whole Jesus tomb thing on Discovery. And I will ... I haven't had time to re-watch the show so that I'm not just making smart comments and laughing here ... and so be patient. It will come.

In the meantime - jOURney discussion was really good this past week. We talked about the Good Samaritan and Mary and Martha. So here's what I got ... (yes, I shared some of this - but not all on Sunday) Sometimes we want to do it all. We want to be the Samaritan. But sometimes we can't do it all. No matter what we want ... so what we can do is something. And we shouldn't belittle what we can do. At times we need to sit at Jesus' feet, because that is what is most crucial at that time. We don't have to have a perfect home or a seven course meal prepared for our guests ... we just need to sit with them - and be. Here's the real lesson for me. I far too often get caught up in my to-do lists and forget to just be with the people in my life. I am blessed that the people in my life are still there when I remember to look up from the chore list. And I realize that. But where does the balance lie? The chores need to be done. I'm only able to do those chores and other things on my lists at certain times of the day. I still need to be able to sleep at night. So where is the balance? Where is the time that it's permissible for me to work on checking off the things on those lists? I don't know that answer yet. The times that I think it's okay ... well ...

So speaking of my lists ... I have made serious progress recently. The ironing was all finished before I went to bed last night. The laundry is finished. I need to wash the rugs in the house. I'll do that while I'm washing the floors this afternoon. I'm behind on Chrysalis work. I know that I am. But Tyler's been really busy with work and fraternity stuff on the computer. I always feel bad when I need to be on the computer and he's busy. But I need a serious chunck of time ... and I'm just not home that much when he's gone. I must say that I miss my laptop. I miss the days when it was still working. Ahh well ...

Okay ... off to school. Hopefully there won't be any petty cat fights between the monitors today. (You'd think that adults could conduct themselves as such, but apparently not.) Then quick hour home for lunch, washing floors and rugs, and paying bills. Pick up Sophie, run her to dance, stop at Curves for half an hour, dinner, and Bible discussion group. Wow ... it sure looks like I'll be busy today ... oh well. That's how I like it.

(Andrea or Ryan - I'm almost finished with your alterations. I need to stop and pick up some thread for your dressy pants - I didn't have anything that would work. Hopefully I can bring your clothing back to you tonight. :))

Thoughts and a Song

The thoughts shall follow at a later date and time. Tyler and I watched the Jesus tomb documentary on Discovery last night ... I would like to comment on that ... but my brain is just not there right now. In the meantime I'd like to share with you the lyrics to a song that is playing in my head right now - My Savior My God:


I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

Yes living dying let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring
That He who lives to be my king
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

Crazy

So that last post was kinda cryptic. Sorry about that. I really have been going crazy around here though.

So I've recently started a new medication ... and my body isn't crazy about it. It's been a whole week since I've been to work. I hadn't been to work all that consistantly before that either (still getting over that grr flu). Last Friday was the last day that I really felt okay. Not great ... but okay. I have been trapped in the house and on the couch since Sunday afternoon. I am however making progress. While I'm not working today (a large part of that being that I NEED to be at the Chrysalis board meeting tonight), I am capable of sitting up. That's progress. Even last night, I couldn't sit up for more than 5 minutes. Today, I've been sitting up for a good hour now.

And now on to other topics.

Holy cow the fog was nuts yesterday. There was a good chunk of the morning that you couldn't see my car parked in the driveway from our kitchen window ... which is no more than 20 feet away. CRAZY! They tried to run schools on a 2-hour delay yesterday, but then ended up cancelling all together. I can't blame them. It was near impossible to see down to the end of our street (about a half of a mile) until afternoon ... even then, the fog didn't really clear till 2 ish and then was back in full force around 6. Major crazy. Tyler kept me posted on the state of the fog every time I spoke with him yesterday.

More in the crazy weather realm ... today's wind is nuts! I seriously just felt the house move. Seriously.

So Tyler's in Cincy today. This is his last training down there for a while. I know he's tired of driving down there all the time. I'm sure tired of him driving like this. He'll be home tonight. That's a good thing. At least it's not an all day deal this time ... just an afternoon.

And now I will go lay down ... I have reached my limit of sitting up time. Just one more thing ...

Welcome to the world Kara Diane Aldridge! Congrats Jenette and Aaron!

And Now ... A Song ...

I am slowly going crazy ...
1 ...
2 ...
3 ...
4 ...
5 ...
6 ...
Switch!
Crazy going slowly am I ...
6 ...
5 ...
4 ...
3 ...
2 ...
1 ...
Switch!

I hate when I don't know what's going on ... and I'm not talking about in the world ... I'm talking about in myself. This whole emotional crap is stupid. I don't understand what my problem is. Grr ...
And the worst part of it all ... It's upsetting my relationship with Tyler. We're fine. But thanks to stupid head ol' me things are tense and rough. And it's all because I can't answer what the heck my probem is ...

stupid ...

It's a B-E-A-U-Tiful Day

And not because of the blizzard-esque conditions outside of my window ... and not just because there's a snow day and I still get paid for working today ... but the real reason ....

It's officially baseball season!

And that makes me a VERY happy girl. Pitchers and catchers report today ... ahh ... as of noon today ... it's a beautiful thing. And at noon tomorrow they report to the Cubs training camps ... ahh ... then my team will officially be in season ... The Indians report later this week ...

It's the most wonderful time ... of the year ...

The "S"s of my Life

... and there are three ...

1. It's SNOWING. It's pretty. I'm a sucker for snow. Although there's a part of me that admits I'm only enjoying it as much as I am because I don't have to go out in it. Why you ask? Don't you have jobs to go to today? ... why yes ... but ...

2. I'm SICK. I was sick like this at the start of the year. Twice in January. Seriously ... what's up with me? ... Fevers twice in the same month? I'm feeling a little better right now, but I was up almost all night ... grr ... I hate when I'm up all night. Do you realize how much NOTHING is on in the middle of the night? Seriously - from 3-5 am I had nothing to watch. And I just wasn't in the infomercial mood last night. Being up all night leads to ...

3. I'm SLEEPY. But I can't sleep. I hate that restlessness that comes with sickness and the inability to sleep ... ahh well ... this can't last too much longer. I don't have time to be sleepy or sick. And so I shall will my healing processes into hyperspeed and I'll be able to work tomorrow. I can just tell it. I shall will myself better and then will be able to go to Cincy on Saturday for STEBowl. I just know it.

(okay ... I might have more to say - but I'm too tired to try and figure out how to word them with "S"s and I don't really want to break away from my theme right now. I'm out ... )

The Heart of Our Lord

In Luke chapter 7, you'll find the story of a funeral procession for a widow's only son. In that time, women didn't own property or really have the ability to care for themselves. The fact that she was a widow meant that she was relying on her male children to take her in and care for her. This was a funeral for her only son - so she was pretty much out of luck. Being that she was son-less and a widow, she'd probably be forced into begging or prostitution to provide for herself. Being that there was a good chance she didn't own any property, including her home, she would probably find herself homeless. It is a scene of deep sorrow and desperation. Luke 7:13 says, "When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
What a picture of the heart of our Lord. Here we have a real life tangible example of how much our Lord is there for us. Jesus' heart went out to the widow, and his heart goes out to each and every one of us.
I have to say, we've had a rough month. Three people in our world have passed away. While we were not super close to two of them, our hearts still hurt for those left behind. Yes we're still grieving for Z ... and yes, most days are good days and most memories make me happy ... but still ... it's a lot ... Teresa passed and left a husband and three young children. Roger passed and left a wife and three children (23, 18, and 13). Whether the passing was expected or not it's still hard to face ... and it still hurts my heart.
Here, however, I find comfort. For in the lowest moment of this widow's life, Jesus' heart hurt for her and went out to her. So for us, in those moments of desperation and loss - in those times where we can't understand why - how incredibly comforting it is to know that God's heart goes out to meet us there.
Now, being humans and by our nature, we get in the way of God and God's workings. So here I pose a question to you ... How much more comfort and solace could/would we feel if we didn't get in God's way?

29

days till pitchers and catchers report.

I am happy.

Life is good.

Baseball is almost here again.

How I lost the last two weeks ...

Friday morning, January 5, 2007, Tyler and I received an aweful phone call. A very dear friend of ours and his mother were killed in a car accident the night before. He was 25. I'd rather not dwell on it right now ... I will however say that JZ was one of our best friends. In the 6 years we were blessed with his friendship, we were also blessed with a lifetime of memories. I know that we won't loose those, because he will live on in all of our friends and in his widow, Mandy. His memorial service was on Monday the 15th. It was really nice. I think that we all needed it, and I know it was what he would have wanted. Yes, there were tears (a dear friend was ripped from our lives too soon), but they were far outweighed by the laughter that day.

And I'll give you, and myself, a moment to transition .......................

So I should be at work right now. It's Thursday, so I should be at the school working lunch ... however Tyler left for work this morning and took my keys. Of course, he has his keys too. So that leaves me with no keys. So here I am, not working, just chilling ... figured it was past due time for an update.

So, what else has gone on around here in the last couple of weeks? ... Things with Kayla are going well. She's social and honestly, after having two guys in the house while Nooner was living with us, it's a treat to have two girls. Tyler's training with Aflac this week. He was in Cincy Tuesday and Wednesday. It was really nice to have someone here with me while he was gone Tuesday night. He'll be there Friday and Saturday morning too. It'll be nice to have Kayla here then too.
Things with jOURney are really moving along too. Public launch is this Sunday. Check out the webpage (link on the side of my blog). Kayla's been a real gift in that area too. She's been so willing to just pitch in where ever. She's also been coming along to gatherings on Sundays and Bible discussion on Tuesdays. It's been really good to have an outside perspective. Tuesday night on the way home from Bible disucussion she said something to me that was wonderful to hear ... she said that she feels like she can just be with the people here. These people she's met she feels like she's gotten to know, like she'd acctually want to come back and visit them ... like she's not just here for a month and she hasn't just met them. She feels like they're being real. WOO HOO Y'ALL!!!!! That's what we're going for. We strive so hard to be authentic, but we don't really have anyone new or outside of our little group of friends to tell us how we're doing ... and apparently we're rocking out on the right track. :)
Things with the school are going great. They've been so understanding of me needing a bit of time off to help with whatever I can for Mandy ... they've been so good about letting me not work because my temp job won't let me have days off without swapping them for a Tuesday or Thursday. Kayla and I were talking about this the other night ... we don't know when we started not expecting the best from people. And it bums us out that we don't anymore. It shouldn't be that way, we shouldn't be shocked when someone is sweet and understanding ... but it does ... and that's not cool.
Things with Sophie are going well too. I am so blessed by that family and the time I get to spend there. It's a bit of sanity for me. It also allows me to serve where I know I am needed ... and Becky expressing her appreciation is nice too ... not necessary ... but nice to hear that I am helping out.
Things with the temp assignment are poopy. The woman who's admin I am doesn't seem to know for sure what I'm supposed to be doing for her. She wanted someone to make sales calls, but she's also given me 700 other things to do and track too. I'm doing the sales paperwork, tracking inventory, requisitoning supplies for the crews, tracking that, marketing plans for online sales, cost analysis on those, dealing with some outside side sales for another company, phone calls, tracking and recording $ sales amounts daily and month and year to date, and filling in for the receptionist while she's at lunch. So yesterday, the woman called me into her office and yelled at me for not making enough sales calls. But she's the one who has me following her around and doing a ton of other stuff for 3 hours a day. I'm only supposed to be there from 9-1 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, there are very few days that I acctually get to leave at 1. Usually it's more like 1:30. Which is okay ... it just severly shortens my lunch break (I have to leave to get Sophie at 2:15). Yesterday, I left work after 2 and had to go straight to school. The woman had a clear understanding that I cannot stay and work indefinately when I started there. She knew I have an afternoon job and that I have to leave to pick Sophie up at 2:15 at the latest. She understood that I have to leave at 1 on days that I have Sophie. I know she got this. Yesterday, at 1:45 when I reminded her that I really had to go, she gave me yet another huge pile of work that had to be done yesterday. It was after 2:15 when I left yesterday. I had to go straight to school yesterday. I hate having to do that. My head hurt so bad yesterday because I didn't have any food after my breakfast at 8:15 that morning. Why didn't I eat? I wasn't allowed to stop working. grr ... Oh well ... as soon as Tyler starts making money on a regular basis I'm out of there. I am so looking forward to going back to the school five days a week. Then I can pick up more seamstress work and a couple of cleaning jobs maybe. I am however, going crazy there ...
... and holding down three jobs is getting old (and tiring) very fast ...

Okay ... so before I completely wrap this up here I have two more things to say:
1) Cole Wright is home and adjusting well. Please go read about it. It's been so uplifting and such a blessing to keep up on the happenings in the Wright's adoption world. You can read it on Trevor's blog (linked on the side of mine).
2) Ryan and Andrea Clements are two of the coolest people around. Their son Reese is up there too. Monday night they made dinner for the three of us. It was major yummy chicken tacos. So we're sitting there after dinner and the kid is going on and on and so Andrea thought to change his diaper (he's almost 2). But on her way upstairs with him and he says, "Front Poop." Yeah ... front poop ... apparently since he knows the word "poop" he has decided to clarify which poop he's doing - poop or pee ... yeah ... sweetness all around. We laughed and laughed and laughed. It was fabulous! We also watched Cars. Super cute, we hadn't seen it yet. I'd watch it again. Andrea also made carmel popcorn for during the movie. It was perhaps the most amazing thing I had eaten since the chicken tacos a couple of hours earlier. mmm mmm good ...

Okay ... I think that's plenty for now ... sorry it was so long ... I think I'm going to take care of some business/cleaning around the house. I couldn't go to work today ... so I might as well be super productive around here instead.

a week's worth of ramblings ...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Best of luck with all of your resolutions and keeping them. I hope you did well keeping last year's. (Not to toot my own horn here ... but I did keep mine pretty well ... I didn't loose as much as I could have, but I did loose almost 30 pounds last year. That's not too bad :))

Okay ... so I haven't been on much. This time of year is crazy for everyone ... so I figure it's not so bad.

I'm happy and relieved ... Trevor, Lori, and Emma are home safe and there's one more Wright on the way next week ... prayers for that trip for them ... (They're adopting ... click on "Trevor's blog" in my links on the side ... read the last month's worth of entries.)

I'm recovering from perhaps the strangest "flu" bug I've ever had. We came home from Journey on Sunday and I was so sick ... my skin hurt, I was nauseous, I had a fever ... I was sick. I was up till about 4 am just miserable. I finally slept from about 4 till about 9 and then was up. I was still weak Monday morning, but today I'm pretty much feeling fine ... I do feel bad because I was supposed to spend the day with Sophie, but I didn't know how I'd feel today. I didn't want to get her sick. So I called yesterday and cancelled. I'm glad that Becky's home with her today.

Tyler has to go to Dayton today. His meeting is from 1-4. He thought it was from 11-4. A couple of days ago his Aflac office head guy (I know ... a technical term it's not ...) called to ask him how he was getting down to Dayton. Apparently Chris's father-in-law is also an agent who is going down to this start-of-the-year shindig. So Chris called to offer Tyler a ride. Wow ... nice one there God. I am always amazed as to His ways of showing us that we're on the right track here. Not only is Chris a very religious guy ... but he's living out his faith ... and Tyler is benefiting ... at least that's how I'm choosing to look at this. We're not spending any money today on Tyler's trip down ... nice ...

So our Christmas was good. It was nice to have both of our moms here. Family Christmas at Gramma's went well too. It was REALLY nice to see my cousins. I haven't seen them since I was in grade school ... wait ... I saw the younger one once when I was in high school. Stephen, the older brother, brought his girlfriend with him. She was sweet. They met while he was in Mexico running some resort thing ... she's not so great with english yet ... but she's getting there. The two of them seem happy. And that's good. :) We have yet to get together with Dad and Syl (they're coming here the last week of January), Gammy, and Al.

Kayla's here. I'm glad. I hope she finds Emory Adams Park okay today. She's doing her geriatric pharmie rotation at Blanchard Valley. She has to take the hospital shuttle from their overflow parking back there. She went out last night to find it but didn't go far enough down the street. She got to Main St. and thought that she'd maybe one too far and got discouraged. I'm really looking forward to having her here this month.

So Ford's funeral is on tv right now. It's very simple compared to other Presidential funerals, or at least that's what they keep saying. The pagentry still strikes me. As simple as it may be, it still seems elaborate. I know he was a president. I know he deserves honor ... and even perhaps on a national level. But something still doesn't sit well with me. And it's not just Ford's funeral ... it's all of these national funerals ... am I un-American for feeling this way? ... I don't know ... I can't imagine having to grieve in public like these people do. It almost seems as though it's too much for them at times. I know it's hard to bury a loved one. I know it's hard to grieve. Part of me can't help but wonder if thoughts of "Keep it together, there's a camera right there" or other things of that nature are in their minds. And in that case, are we robbing a very private moment from this family who is stuck in a public eye that is often unforgiving and way too nosey? ... I don't know ... just something doesn't seem right ...

a little hodgepodge

okay ... making this fast ...

- house is almost ready. floors and bathrom need done ... everything else all set.

- jammies are done. still have 5 more sewing projects to finish. only 3 of those have to be done tonight. (the other 2 have to be done by Christmas)

- our friends that are in ukraine adopting have been posting a lot this week. it's been really encouraging, exciting, and uplifting to read all of their updates and experiences. if you want to read all about life in ukraine, click on the 'trevor' link on the side of my blog. and go back on their blog till you hit around the 12th or so ... that's about when they left ohio.

- moms are coming. mine around 1. tyler's around ... when she gets here ... her drive is much longer than my mom's ...

- still have one piece of a gift for the family exchange tomorrow to finish up. i'll really try to do that before it's dark outside. (i wouldn't hold my breath it i were you ... i certainly am not going to.)

- i had probably the most restless, freaky, scary, uncool, and all out disturbingly haunting last night. i was only in bed last night for 5 hours ... and now i'm exhausted.

- work today till 1. then picking up miss sophie from school at 2:30.

- this whole not capitalizing and speaking in fragments doesn't really bother me today. huh ... must be because i'm so tired ...

- in case i forget or don't get online in the next couple of days ... merry christmas!

- must go shower now ... have to leave for work in an hour.

In Review

Okay ... quick post of my week in review. I need to be getting ready for work ... but oh well ...

Temp assignment is going well. I had a good day at work on Friday. I did a lot by myself ... and that was nice and peaceful. I'm looking forward to being able to work my whole shift without having to rely on someone to tell my what to do and how to do it.

House is all decorated. I know it has been for a while now. But now there's pretty packages under the tree. We still have a couple of things that need wrapped ... and we need to get on that so that the wrapping stuff can be cleaned up.

The office is almost all cleaned out and the closet emptied. We need to get some of our clothing out of there. I've been through almost all of my stuff ... but Tyler needs to get through his. Then the closet will be ready for Kayla to come next month. We need to get the furniture moved around and the bed put up for our moms this weekend.

I had dinner with a friend on Friday night. Thanks Becky. I had a really good time. I also thoroughly enjoyed the lights tour and mini Findlay history lesson.

Saturday night Tyler and I had dinner in Lima with Alex and Rachel. It was good. I think we needed a night out. Thanks for taking us guys! We hope you had as nice a time as we did. Then we were out till around 1 am running around shopping (groceries, and Donna's gift for the family exchange). Even after we split from Alex and Rachel, Tyler and I still had a really good time. It's amazing how much fun you can really have running around Wal-Mart in the middle of the night.

Progress on the Christmas jammies is slow but steady. I need to get through them by the time I leave Becky's tomorrow. that means that I have a whole set today and a whole set tomorrow. We'll see ... I'll keep my fingers crossed. I am pleased with how they're turning out though.

Okay ... I have to leave for work in 45 mins and I haven't eaten yet and am still sitting here in my jammies. I really should get motivated and moving .... huh? ...

Request

So I don't usually do this ... but it really hit me what it said ... so I'm going to pass it on.

This is quoted from a high school friend's xanga site:

"Please pray for my friend Jess. Both her parents passed in a car accident on December 11. She's 18."

So ... even though we don't know her or who she is ... she sure needs prayer right now. And for a long time to come ...

Carmel Apple Strudel Pancake Bunt Cake Squares

Sound good. And I wish I knew if they were or not. But I've never acctually eaten any ... or seen any for that matter ...

So Thursday night we didn't have our traditional Small Group. It was just myself and my husand and one other couple - the pastor and his wife. Now, here it would be good to say that thanks to many reasons, Terry and Caddie are more like friends and older role models than they are like our pastor and his wife. And for that I am regularly thankful. Anywhoo ... Thursday night they took us to dinner and a movie. And, for the first time in a long time, Small Group was acctually open and chatty and centered like I think it should be more often. So we went to see The Nativity Story. Pretty good movie. The directors did a good job painting the background and the oppression that the Jews felt under Roman rule. Some things weren't Biblically consistent (as in they were out of order ... or just plain in contradiction to Luke ...). But all in all ... a good movie. And a very enjoyable evening. Both Tyler and I were in despirate need of a "normal" activity. Now, so don't get me wrong here ... this time of not being able to go out to eat or pay to see movies or shows has been really good for us. We've both grown incredibly. But, for a while now, I've been so ready to be able to do those sorts of things again with eachother and with our friends. And so ... knowing that ... and being so uber wonderful and all ... God has given us those opportunities recently. We went to Fort Findlay's show thanks to my costume production for them. We went out to dinner and a movie thanks to our small group. And Friday night we had some much needed socialization too ...

We went down to Ada for Kappa Phi's Sing-A-Thon. Now, when I was in school I never really looked forward to this particular service project. My sisterhood did some other things that I liked much better. But, when I was in school ... no one wrote and preformed a rock opera. And Carmel Apple Strudel Pancake Bunt Cake Squares was indeed the title of one of the songs. It was fabulous. Thank you Seth and Quinn for sharing your crazy world and mad talents with the rest of us. It was amazing. Way better than I could have imagined. And I loved the fight scene. (Yes, that's right ... there were actors and scenes and costumes AND all new original music.) Tyler and I thought we'd go down for they're hour (7-8 pm) and then take off. But we hung around chatting till about 11:30. Not only did we get the chance to hang out with really super cool people that we just don't get to see anymore, but there were plenty of alumni like us, and even sweet new pledgies there. Tyler had a chance to hang out with a couple of the STE pledges. I know that was enjoyable for him ... and he's double bonus points on their interview sheets (b/c he's an alum and a national officer). I even got the chance to do a couple of KP pledgie interviews. (So in both STE and KP all of the pledges have to interview all of the brothers/sisters while they're still pledges. We, KP, won't let the pledge class through till all of the interview sheets are turned in. ... or at least that's how it used to be.) I too am bonus points ... ahh ... to be old ... (And AliP ... call me ... Maria's Tacos awaits us :P)

Okay ... I need to get ready for work ...

Oh yeah ... and Tyler has a job. He starts for Aflac on Tuesday.

O-H. I-O. Go Gators!

... becuase that Florida win was bad for Michigan. And now ... Florida is number 2 in the coaches' poll. Oh yeah ... :)

In other news -

After much work around here yesterday, the house is Christmas-ed out for the season ... all but the tree is finished. Tyler and I will work on that after Journey tonight ... or at least that's the plan. The rest of our house looks really nice this year. I'm pleased.

We have NO clean dishes. Nor do we have any space in the dishwasher. It's definately time to run that ... yet another thing on the list for after Journey.

My sewinging machine is broken. Major bummer there ... the family Christmas presents for the year aren't done yet ... I NEED my machine back. But ... it's $60 for the tech to look at it ... and I don't know that we have that. Hmm ... have to find some way around that one.

Tyler's not feeling good. His throat hurts ... hmm ...

The Browns won today :) ... Woo-Hoo 4 games this season! :)

We have yet to set up the office for Kayla's stay in January. However, there's a large TV box in there (Gramma's Christmas present from her kids). We do however need to get on that in the next couple of weeks because ....

Tyler's mom will also be up here for Christmas. We're trying to talk her into coming up and leaving with my mom ... so she'd carpool up from Columbus on Friday and then back down on Monday. That would cut her drives in half ... and it's really long a boring to drive all the way from here to WV in a day. Hopefully our suggestion will stick. Anywhoo ... with the full house going on, we'll need the airbed AND the couch for the Christmas weekend.

Oh and finally, what is up with that dancing/jumping robot on the side of the football ins and outs on FOx? Seriously? ... That's like the most retarded thing ... EVER ... (okay, maybe not ever ... but it's up there ... )

Okay ... let's see if I can manage to be productive in the next 10 mins before we leave for Journey. Wish me luck ... I'll need it today.

God's Mysterious Workings

Well ... I didn't get the job ... at least not immediately. The manager was super nice. She took over the Findlay store about 4 monts ago and, figuring she'd have to do some restaffing, just posted all of the positions in the store. She admits that she really needed to pull the ones off that weren't open ... but who appies to be a seamstress? ... right? ... So I am on the top of her list/pile. Which is good ... but not why I was sent there ... at least I don't think ...
She and her husband (an out-of-work youth pastor) moved here from Michigan when she took over the store. They can't find a church they like. They can't find any "quality young couples" (her words) to hang out with. Hmm ... I thought ... so I asked ... They're looking for something not super traditional, but not way out there either. Hmm ... we're growing a new community right now. She said that they've tried a couple of places, but they hate just being a face in a crowd. They want to be a part of a community ... they need people to live life with. (Cue the real reason why I'm here ...) So I tell her about Journey. She's kinda excited. I give her the website. She sends her husband to check it out ... hmm ... imagine that. Even she said that maybe it was a total God-thing that I came in ...
I thought about it afterwards ... but I'm thinking of going back and seeing if she and her husband would like to hang out and have dinner with Tyler and myself ...
I love getting to visibly see and be a part of God's plan. Thanks God. I needed that pick-me-up yesterday ... even if I was bummed that I didn't come home with a job ... I came home with something more ...

Interview

I have an interview on Monday afternoon ... where I was talking about earlier (see 2 posts ago). Hopefully that'll pan out. The manager there seems really nice and sounds like she's about my age. She was definately glad to hear from me and really wanted to get me in soon. Now ... what to wear? ... I know ... It sounds like a chick-question. But here's the thing ... it's a kind of trendy shop. I'm not really trendy ... so do I try to wear something as trendy as I can? Or do I wear my suit like I would to any other interview? What about just slacks and a blouse? ... See, I just don't know ... hmm ...

Here's hoping you all had wonderful turkey days! I know we did - after our power came back on :P ...

Now the official countdown to Christmas can begin. Number of days left: too few! Don't count on me for your count down. ...

Alright ... back to work. I have a lot of projects that need to be finished by Tuesday. That ... and there's college football on tonight.

Turkey and the Like ...

go eat some ...

Seriously ...

It's Thanksgiving ...

Have a happy day!

(and PLEASE be safe out there)

Another Shot

Oh, let the world crash love can take it
Oh, let the world come crashing down
Oh, let the world crash love can take it
Love can take a little, love can give a little more

Ahh ... Skillet ... I am such a panhead ... what great lyrics.

So I applied for another job. This one is as a seamstress in the mall. I could totally do that. I was listing my available hours and came up with 43 ... yeah ... and that's all outside of the hours that I'm currently working. Sweetness. So they want to set up an interview. I'm supposed to call and speak with the manager. Calling on Friday ... well now ... that doesn't feel really intelligent. But I don't want to leave it forever either ... hmm ... maybe I'll try in the afternoon sometime during a probable lull. Hmm ...

Okay ... dinner was good. House still needs floors cleaned. Grammas pants are still in need of a hem. But the dishwasher is running ... that's a start.

Happy Day Before Turkey Day!

So ... craziness has taken over my life. I shall start with last Thursday.

I went to work as usual after school as "Nanny Rachel" (that's what the girl has chosen to call me ... so I just go with it ... ). And discovered that it was my last day. Sad. But the kids' dad wanted more time with them, so he was going to take them on the days that I had them. I was bummed. But they deserve to have time with their dad ... and he with them. So I was happy about that. Then Tyler got the "Thank you for your interest in our company" letter from American Family. So that was a bummer ... Thursday wasn't fabulous. However, we went to small group that night and lots of good came from it. I know it really helped Tyler. And that's a good thing.

Friday we took off around 3:30 for Columbus. We went down for The Game. Awesome atmosphere. We could have watched it with our church at home ... but there's nothing like Columbus on the day of The Game. Amazing. We took off for campus early on Saturday. ESPNs College Gameday was broadcasting from OSU, so we went to check it out. Wonderful. Way fun. Stupid Corso picked the "Other Team" to win though. He was boo-ed for a really long time. It's okay though ... he picked Texas and Iowa over OSU ... wrong about those ... wrong about this. Wonderful game. :)

Sunday we came home. I was supposed to work at the church on Sunday night ... but I definately got sick at like 5:30 ... like all over the bathroom/barely made it to the toilet sick. So even though it was super short notice and I felt awful about it, I knew I had no business babysitting. So I had to call and cancel. Then I called mom to find out if she'd been feeling okay. (We had the same thing for dinner the night before and again for lunch that day.) No ... she wasn't doing so hot either. That's like 3 times this year that we've gotten sick like that ... so perhaps we shouldn't eat the same thing out ... hmmm ...

Monday I had to work, but wanted to get some work done around the house and also on the vests for the community theatre. I did just that. I now have all of the vests finished. The house is mostly clean (I need to do the floors tonight and clean the bathroom up tomorrow morning). I just have to sew on 10 more buttons and all 8 of the vests will be finished. I can turn them and all of my receipts in on Sunday night. Woo-hoo! I feel kinda bad that it took me this long ... but I've only taken 6 weeks ... and I've had other things to do too ... and each one takes me about 5 hours to complete. That's a lot of work ... that's like 40 hours of work on top of everything else. Also on Monday a woman who I've done a lot of seamstress stuff for called and asked me to shorten some sleeves on a jacket for her to wear on Thanksgiving. I told her I would. She came by yesterday with the jacket. I maybe spent 15 minutes on it ... MAYBE ... She picked it up today. I told her $12 ... but she wrote her check for $24. SWEET! I would have charged her a rush fee, but I didn't tell her about it on the phone on Monday. So I kinda felt like I couldn't charge extra for that ... but it looks like she felt bad about it being last minute. Cool with me.

Yesterday I got my nanny job back. Something came up and the kids' dad can't take them like he wanted to ... so I'm back on. Yay!!!!! Today I spent the whole day practically with the girl. She wants to make like a bookbag thing and has had the pattern for quite some time. Today we went shopping for all of the supplies (fabric, etc) and spent a couple of hours and I taught her how to lay it out and pin and cut. We'll work out some day soon that we can spend sewing.

Okay ... I need to make something for dinner. Tyler and I are both getting hungry. I also need to get busy on the next sewing project on my list. Gramma asked me to hem some pants for her and I promised them to her by Thanksgiving. So I shall take them with us tomorrow when we go have Turkey Day with her.

Happy Turkey Day in t-minus 7 ish hours!

What I Have to Say

Here is what I have to say. I LOVE Gilmore Girls. Now, I know that it's just a t.v. show ... but I have a complaint here ... Lorelai and Christopher should NOT have gotten married in Paris. Period. Now ... that being said ... I have some other comments. How fabulous was all the stuff with Mrs. Kim, Lane, and Zach? Amazing! They're having twins ... he wants to name them "Marco" and "Polo" ... FABULOUS!!!!! (And I will stand firm on the fact that we will NEVER name our kids that ... no matter what Tyler says!) I love Gilmore Girls. At the end they previewed for the season ... there was definitely a scene between Christopher and Luke. They were walking towards each other looking for a fight. And I say "Heck Yeah!" Luke will kick Christopher's tooshie! By the way ... what's up with Marty pretending that he's never met Rory? Totally weird.

Okay ... so Tyler and I have made trips to Delaware for Gammy two days in a row now. I'm tired of going down there ... I know that we're helping her ... and Dad ... but grr ... Oh well ... As far as I can tell, we're not heading down there for a while now.

THE Big Game is Saturday. OSU is gonna kick tooshie. More on that later. Now time for a late night nackie.

Christmas Prep ... HELP!

So I've decided that I'm going to give my mom this lovely scarf that I've been crocheting for Christmas. Now, I learned how to crochet when I was much younger. My gramma used to knit and crochet and she taught me. However, I hadn't done it in so long that I'd forgotten how to. I went to a ladies craft night sort of thing at the church a while ago and there received a nice refresher course. Since then, I've made the scarf about as long as I'm going to ... and I've figured out what kind of tassels I'll be putting on it. (Not my choice to add tassles ... I'm not really into them ... but I know that my mom is.) However, the scarf remains attached to my crochet hook. Why, you ask? Because I did not receive a refresher in how to cast-off and finish the thing. I know ... you're thinking, "Why don't you just take it to you gramma and have her show you?" Not gonna happen. She doesn't like to explain ... she likes to just do for you ... and her arthritis is so bad that I know she hasn't knitted or crocheted in years. I don't want her to feel like she has to show me ... That, and I'm not 100% positive that she won't also be getting a nice handmade crocheted scarf for Christmas as well. So, anyone who reads this (and I have no idea if anyone really does) who can crochet ... would you please tell me how to finish off the scarf? Please. I really need to be moving on this ...
Thanks! :)
Have a wonderful day. And thank you for reading through my current rant on Christmas prep.

I Can Share

I learned in Kindergarten to share ... and that I did ... sorry I got you so sick hon! Poor Tyler's been laid up for the last several days ... :(

So Wednesday we had dinner with my Gammy (dad's mom) in Columbus. It was her 87th birthday. Wow ... she's really getting up there ... I'll see her again on Monday when I head down to Delaware for an appointment.

So here's the real reason I felt like posting ... I got a job! I'm a lunch monitor at a middle school in town. I work from 10:45-1:15 Monday - Friday. That still lets me do most of what I was before. I have to quit the one cleaning job ... but I wasn't a huge fan of her anyways. And I have to quit my morning Bible study. It's on Thursdays ... but again ... I wasn't really committed to it ...

The point is that I have a J-O-B!!!!!

Yay ... :)

Just when I finally feel like I've got it together again ...

I get sick.

So Tyler and I had to make a trip to Columbus this weekend. We left Friday afternoon - with the intention of returning to Findlay on Saturday afternoon, in plenty of time to go to Five02. Now, that didn't happen. Grr. Why didn't it happen? Because Friday night I got sick. So we stayed Saturday night and came home this afternoon. And that was a bit rough. I feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks today ... and I've improved. Oh well ... at least all we intended to do in Columbus is finished. (We had our headlight changed - still under warrenty. We helped Mom grade papers - for like 12-14 hours worth of work. We stopped in Delaware and took care of some business with Gammy.)

Now it's off to laundry. I have to get through this tonight. I always forget why I don't let the laundry go for two weeks till I have to do it after it has been two weeks. :P Thank heavens for my wonderful husband who's helping me tonight. I don't deserve him sometimes. :)

Happy Halloween ... 3ish Hours Early

Here ... read ...

Think of a Jack'o'latern.

Going and picking out the right one...
Cleaning it off...

And think of all the work that goes into carving it.

Cutting off the top at the thickest part...
cleaning all the icky stuff out...
putting a pretty face or design on it...
all that time that goes into it...
then when you're done and its perfect by your standards...
you put candle/light in it and it just glows....

Now think of this another way.

God picks out a pumpkin, one that is perfect one that represent you...
He takes it home, and cleans it, makes it bright and smooth.
He then takes and cuts off our tops, taking away our egos and exposing our insides...
inside is our 'yuckyness'...he scoops out all the gross stuff, our unhappiness, our hurts, everything to make us clean inside as well as outside.
He takes his time to carve just the right thing, the right face into each and gives us a new face...
he then places his light into us, each of us to shed his light to the world, and illuminate the world...

(Thanks Courtney)

(P.S. Yes ... the retreat rocked my face off. Yes ... I will write about it very soon. Yes ... I'm still debreifing.)

Lessons from the Blogosphere

So I really needed to hear this today. Perhaps some of you will too ... (and thanks to Miss SarahCool for posting it on her blog today)

Do It Anyway
by Roy Lessin

Others may not notice your efforts or give you recognition for something you've done. The credit may even go to someone else.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am pleased by your service and will honor your obedience.

There may be times when a job you've done will be rejected. Something you have prepared may be canceled or delayed.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I see all things and will bless the work of your hands.

You may do your very best, and yet fail. You may sacrifice time and money to help someone and receive no word of thanks.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am your reward and will repay you.

There may be times when you go out of your way to include others and later have them ignore you. You may be loyal on your job, and yet someone else is promoted ahead of you.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I will not fail you or make you be ashamed.

You may forgive others, only to have them hurt you again. You may reach out in kindness, only to have someone use you.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I know your heart and will comfort you.

You may speak the truth but be considered wrong by others. You may do something with good intentions and be completely misunderstood.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I understand and will not disappoint you.

There may be times when keeping your word means giving up something you want to do. There may be times when commitment means sacrificing personal pleasure.
Do it anyway, as unto Me,
for I am your Friend, and will bless you with My Presence.

Finally Home ...

... till Thursday afternoon ...

So this weekend was cool. My mom and I went down to the Mingus Pumpkin festival in Cincy on Saturday. I thought I'd be in a meeting on Saturday (also in Cincy), so it was a real treat to get to spend some time with my mom. Emotionally, I really needed that. There were lots of good crafties there to look at. I don't think I've ever seen so many vendors at one festival. I also got a lot of good gift ideas as well as ideas of things I could make rather cheaply and then sell too. So the fall leaves were in full bloom this past weekend. And it was B-E-A-UTIFUL down there. The air was cool and crisp. The sun was shining. Wonderful day. And the best view of it all ... from the plane ride that mom and I took. It was far too short ... only about 10 mins. But we got a view of the whole area/county. It was sooooooooo much fun too! Just me and mom in the back seat of the little plane and the pilot in the front. He was nice too.

That's about it for highlights of the weekend. Not much can top the day at the festival. Mom and I had some good time on Sunday just being. Too often people forget how important it is to just be. Take some time today for yourself to do that ...

Okay ... laundry's calling ... It's really cold here today. I think it's about 60 degrees in our appartment. Last year we made it till Thanksgiving without the heat. But it seems colder this year. And as I look outside ... it's snowing ...

Weekend Traveling ...

... really stinks when your weekly worship gathering is on Saturday nights. I haven't been home on a Saturday night since September. I miss it. It stinks. I won't be home again next weekend either. But that'll be for a super sweet reason.

So I'm leading a retreat for high school girls in Cincy next weekend. I'm kinda getting a little nervous about it. My talk prep/practice is going well. But ... there are still spots where it seems a bit ... umm ... schizophrenic ... yeah ... that's a good word for it. Also on the subject - I have NO clue how many people read this ... but I apparently need to see the movie Mean Girls before this coming weekend. I leave on Thursday afternoon. (Also on the Cincy front - I could use somewhere to sleep on Thursday night.)

Okay ... I'm tired. I'm headed to bed. Although, I forgot to pack my jammies and toothbrush when I left home yesterday morning. It's a good thing my husband has some extra clothing at my mom's house.

Happy Birthday Tyler! I love you. I'm glad you had a good day at Fall Gathering. I'll see you tomorrow night when you get back to Ohio. Travel safely please.

WOO HOO

WOO Freaking HOO!!!!!!!!
(please excuse the language)

AMY MICHELE PASSED THE TENNESSEE BAR EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's an official lawyer now!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

A-typical Kind of Girl

So I've never really fit into the "girl mold" ... and I've (almost) always been okay with that. I was reminded of this fact earlier today. (Yes, earlier. Tyler works at 7 ... I'm up then too.)

Iwo Jima. World War II. There's a new movie out - Flags of Our Fathers. Wow ... I want to see that ... so bad. I rarely say that. There are several movies that I'd like to see. But it's rare to think that I WANT to see something. I thought that when We Were Soldiers came out. I thought that when Black Hawk Down came out. I thought that when Saving Private Ryan came out.

And so I was reminded today that I'm really into war movies. And most "girls" aren't. And I'm good with that.

My Apologies

I haven't been online much. I'm sorry about not updating.

So what's new? ... I've been doing a lot of thinking. Ryan's blog touches on some of it (today's writing - which is acctually Tuesday the 10th ... dunno what's up with the date being weird ...). I commented. But that's just the surface.

In the midst of all of this thinking, I've discovered that somewhere along the way (and just in the last couple of weeks) I've become an emotional wreck. Yesterday's emotional mess I just attributed to my exhaustion. (We were at the Apple Butter Festival in Salem, WV with Tyler's mom on Saturday. It's about 6 hours from here. Jet set weekends usually take it out of people.) However, today the mess remains. I slept well. I'm not feeling really great. But I'm not tired anymore. I've also lost a large chunk of my desire to socialize. I've ignored at least 5 phone calls today. Yesterday I didn't want to go somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time once I was there. I know I was helpful. I just didn't want to be there. I don't really want to work around here either. I look at the stuff that needs done and just feel overwhelmed. I've never been this intimidated by so little work. I keep trying to tell myself that I can do it all ... really it's just light cleaning ... but that doesn't seem to work ... grr ... Eventually I shall snap out of this mess in which I sit.

More things to think about ... I'm leading that retreat in 3 weeks. I'm super looking forward to it ... but I need to nail down the talk I'm supposed to give. I must say ... when Derek (It's his youth group ... I'm taking the girls for the weekend.) and I originally set the schedule, I thought the talks were like 15-20 mins ... NOPE ... I'm supposed to go for 40. That's intimidating for me. And so, because I'm short on material with which to fill that time, I'm extending an invitation to you all - my faithful readers. It's a He-Man/She-Ra retreat. I'm talking about how we must be enough in ourselves and in God. For only He can fill the void. Society, friends, boys, commercialism, etc. preach the need for things and that we can never really be enough. My title is "Enough Already!" ... so far ... I'm short. Thoughts on being a woman of God ... These are high school girls. The rest of the weekend they'll be hearing talks on sex and what's really going on in a guy's head. There's also going to be a dedication time for them ... Another note here - I'm giving my talk at like 8 am on Saturday morning. So I want to dive in ... but I don't want to loose anyone because it's too early ... Seriously - help me here ...

One yay moment before I go ... my shirt is a size smaller than I could wear last winter. It looks pretty good on me too ... :)

Gilmore Girls Party

Okay ... here's the skinny ... I love Gilmore Girls. I completely blame Caryn for this. Tyler blames me for getting him hooked. Regardless of blame ... the season premier is upon us.

Gilmore Girls' season premier is on the new CW on Tuesday, September 26th at 8 pm. So, to honor the 7th season, we're having a party! It will be Gilmore all the way (minus the martinis ... those are pricey and we're poor :P). We'll start at 8 with a showing of Partings (the season finale from season 6) and then follow with a commercial free showing of The Long Morrow (season 7 premier).

We're going adult only on this soiree. Gilmore Girls is hardly appropriate for kids ... and we're probably going to have "adult beverages" of some kind. (BYOAB ... and make it Gilmore appropriate :P) There will be plenty of coffee! :)

It's open to all ... just let us know if you're joining us for the festivities here. Some food will be provided, but more is always welcome (again, Gilmore is the theme). We'll get you directions if you don't know how to get here. :)

(A note here ... I'm feeling compelled to mention that we don't typically have or publicize parties with "adult beverages" ... but this is a special occaison ... and it goes with the theme.)

A Few Noteworthy Notes

just some randomness tonight ... some things are new ... some I meant to put in a misc. section at the end of my last one ...

First and foremost: something very very very exciting ... I am linked on someone's blog :) (and yes dear, you do count ... but I expect to be linked on your blog :P)

Second: We've had friends over twice this weekend (if you count Monday night, which we do ... football is on ... that counts for part of the weekend). It's been really nice to have people over. I enjoy entertaining, even just casually, and even just for friends who we've known for what seems like forever.

Third: Apparently, my seamstress work for friends is beginning to pay off. I had someone just call me out of the blue, apparently just from a referral, and she is coming over tomorrow morning. That's some income.

Fourth: I've had an offer to work as a babysitter for the church's Children's Director's youngest boy. Dave needs someone to watch Henry during the staff meetings and Sunday night stuff. It's like 3.5 hours/week. But again, it's income.

Fifth: My tooshie still hurts. It's getting better ... but still sore ...

Sixth: All laundry and ironing is finished! That makes me happy. I hate ironing.

Seventh: Tomorrow (Tuesday) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arr ...

Eighth: I seem to have more notes than I originally thought ... sorry I'm so unexpectedly long tonight ...

and finally...

Nineth: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. (It's a grammatically valid sentence. Don't believe me? Here.)

Hallowed

"... hallowed be Thy name."
That's kind of a loaded line if you ask me. Yet it was the topic of tonight's five02 gathering. So the meat of the talking? ... "hallowed". What's that mean to you? When posed that question I immediately went to "holy, pure, clean" ... those signs (as in sign language) are all very similar. As a matter of fact, they are the same motion and hand position, just different letters being formed with one hand. We played the song from the City On A Hill cd ... Jennifer Knapp, her version of the Lord's Prayer ... she repeats 'hallowed' between most lines of the prayer ... very fitting.

So Ryan made a statement that really got me thinking and hit home with a lot of what's been going on in my world recently. He said that we know God's will and action on earth and in others because we know what it looks and feels like in our own hearts. It's like we know God's fingerprints because we have them on us, so we can identify them on others and in situations. So when someone is unaware of God's fingerprints on himself, does that make him unable to feel and see God at work in something? Is there some sort of responsibility we have to him, as Christians and ones who see God's fingerprints all over the place, to show him that God is there? Are we to just pray? Is there something DOable? Is that our job? Is that God's job? Please, let me know what you think. I've been pondering this for a while now ... not sure how my answers are sitting with me ...

yep ... still hurts ...

That's pretty much it ... It was really hard to sleep last night. My right hip (the one that I didn't hit on the way down) kept getting sore. I couldn't lay on my back or my left hip without seriously intense pain. I think I was able to sleep for about 3 hours ... most of that on my tummy ... which, frankly, is more suited to napping - not acctually sleeping ...

ah well ... I guess that's what I get for falling down the stairs ... :P

My Tooshie Hurts

So I was at an interview this afternoon (that didn't go so hot ... well ... at least I wouldn't want to work for the company ... no more on that) and, as I was leaving, my shoe got caught in my pants leg and so my foot didn't come down properly. The result? ... I fell down the stairs. Only about 5 steps ... but I'm sore. I'm okay - but the aches keep developping ... ahh well ... guess that's what comes from being a clumsy idiot. Dufus me sometimes ...

Now, a thought that I've been developping since I left the interview today - Why is it that people seem to hold these ridiculous views of Christians? ... See, where I was today is a place with a lot of truckers. The person interviewing me said something to the effect of, "I see you're all into religion and religious stuff. People around here swear and cuss. People around here aren't always calm and nice. So if that's going to be a problem for you and that religious stuff ..." What is that? ... Christians can't be around people who swear now? Does that not completely eliminate everything we were commissioned to do? How is it that, if we're not able to be around bad language, we're able to love on the people who need it the most? Okay, I lied. I've been toying with this since Five02 on Saturday.

The current discussion series is on the Our Father. Last week was the "Our Father" part of the prayer. Here's the thing ... "Our" means everyone. Not just the people in our circle. Not just the Christians. Not just the people who look like us. ... Everyone. The gang people, the bikers, the hate-mongers, the terrorists. ... Everyone. Yeah ... chew on that one for a while. That's been a hard pill for me to swallow - don't know that it's all the way down yet. It's easy to love on people who look, think, and act like you ... but not always simple with those who don't. However, that's not really what I was going to chat about ...

Okay ... chatting isn't my thing right now ... my tooshie hurts too much.

Please keep up your prayers for us. We can feel them.

and so it rained ...

So Tyler and I have been without work for a while now ... (I don't remember if this is all on my blog or not, so here's your recap.) He finished school in May. I was working from about the end of June till August 18th. Then the bill collectors caught up with that business ... suffice it to say - I was suddenly without work. Tyler and I have been trying and trying and trying to find work ... but God has not provided us with jobs yet ... even menial work seems to escape us. We have become accustomed to hearing the words "overqualified" and/or "underexperienced." It has really been frustrating on some levels - however not on all ...

You see - God has never abandoned us ... and we know that people are praying for us ... we can feel that. It has been one of the coolest experiences in my life to sit back and watch God provide. There was a stretch of time, 10 days to be exact, during which someone fed us a meal each day. For a week and a half we didn't have to come up with food for all of our meals. There was also an occaision where a friend gave us $50 and told us to go grocery shopping. It seemed like everything we needed was on sale that day. We got all of our "needs" and most of our "wants" for $47.95. And so we went ... living a blessed life ... and loving it. I'd like to say that I was able to just blindly trust that everything would be cared for ... but that was soooooooo hard for me. Through all of this, EVERY time we made money for work, we tithed on it. That was also hard for me sometimes. There were Sundays I thought, "we could be paying a bill with this" ... and yet we faithfully put the check into the offering plate ...

Just a couple of weeks ago I realized how far behind we were on some things ... We have credit card debt - because we need gas in our cars to get to interviews and because (for a while - until about 6 weeks ago) we'd been charging our groceries (then we pretty much stopped grocery shopping). Again, in my normal pattern, I began to worry and doubt that God would provide. Wednesday we were at friends' house and we were sharing our situation. I said that there were times I felt like praying for money to rain down from the sky. There were times I couldn't see any other way to solve our financial state. We took all of the money that we had (including several anniversary gift checks) and payed rent and 2 other very small bills that were due by the 5th of the month. We had $5 left - and I was sick at the fact that it was just one more week till more bills were due. The only income we knew about was $63 coming from my "Nanny Rachel" gig. This was Thursday.

Tyler and I spent Thursday running off and mailing resumes and cover letters for anything for which we thought we were remotely qualified. We also spent a good 3 and a half hours driving around town (and Carey) filling out applications. We didn't eat all day. (Later I learned that Tyler had some fake cheese-its while I was at work. We split a bag of popcorn when I got home at about 6pm.) I had to be at school to pick up Sophie at 2:30. I just made it. I did get paid and that was a relief, and a reminder that it wasn't enough to cover everything. I called my mom on my way home from work to ask her to help me with some sign language. (I was signing at church on Saturday - reflections on that in a later post this week.) I asked if I could call her later that evening (around 9) for reminders on the couple of signs I couldn't remember. I ended up not talking to her that night ... group went till about 10. It was nice. We had a meal (and boy were Tyler and I hungry!) and sat on the porch and chatted. The guys went inside around 8:30 for kickoff and the women sat outside ... well ... that's all in an earlier post ...

Friday, my mom called. I was worried becuase it was the middle of the day ... my mom's a teacher ... she doesn't call during the day ... she's busy. I answered the phone with something to the effect of, "It's the middle of the day. Are you okay? ... Is everything else okay?" She was fine. She called to see if we were free that night. She had some business to deal with in the area and wondered if she could sleep at our place. She's always welcome ... so she said she'd leave after school. Knowing my mom ... the "business" probably included a trip to Elder-Beerman for shoes, our local lighting store to oogle that chandelier she wants for her bedroom, a visit with her mom in Lima, taking us to dinner, and maybe to Wal-Mart for groceries. I mentioned something about it to Tyler and he agreed with me on her probable list ... So mom got to Findlay around 7 ... not bad for not leaving school till almost 5 ... We went to Olive Garden. Tyler and I were so thrilled. We saw that it was pasta bowl month and figured that we'd miss out completely on it this time around ... :) ... yummy ... (note here - sun-dried tomato parmesan sauce good ... spinach alfredo sauce not so much ...) At dinner we chatted and had a really good time (even though the kitchen was SUPER slow). Mom suddenly announced that we were on to the business portion of the evening. She offered to pay our bills for the rest of the month, fill our cupboards, fill our gas tanks, change our cars' oil, and do whatever else she could to help out - knowing how stressful and hard it is to not know when the next income is coming. Tyler and I were silent for a moment ... he spoke first saying that would be great and much appreciated. I turned to Tyler and asked him if this was as close as it was going to get to money raining down from the sky. After dinner we ran home to make a real grocery list (something other than "everything"). It took us 2 carts to get all of our groceries out to the car. Our cupboards and fridge are full. We have fresh fruit and veggies. We have bread, eggs, and milk again.

Saturday we went to brunch at Golden Corral. We took both of our cars and filled them with gas. (Which they both despirately needed.) We took Tyler's car for an oil change (mine is yet to come). Mom had to head home around 2 ... she had a ton yet to do at home last weekend. Aside from the help, it was good to see mom again. We see her a lot ... but for some reason, family is always a pick-me-up when I've been down.

Remember ... God always answers prayers. He NEVER abandons His people. Satan would like us to believe that God doesn't care, but Satan is a liar. And just for some recent proof ... Friday in a little appartmet in Findlay, Ohio, blessings (and a little money) rained down from the sky. It poured.

Girl Talk

Every Thursday (except for the 2nd of the month) Tyler and I go to our small group. We're in a group with all couples who are older than we are ... and we love it ... it's great ...

So last night we went over to the Bookmyer's house. Now, normally we start at 7 ... however last night both Bookmyer kids had soccer till 7, so we met at 7:30 - and we met with food ... Praise God! Tyler and I hadn't eaten yesterday (well ... he had some fake cheese-its and we had some popcorn ...) and we were starving! So we all sat on their front porch (us, the Bookmyers, and the Browns ... 2 couples were missing) and ate and chatted ... and it was really good. However - it was short. At 8:30 the guys all went in to watch the Steelers game. Kim, Karen, and I chilled out on the porch and chatted ...

I so needed that girl talk time. We covered soooooooo much ... and I really felt useful to them. Not that I don't feel useful ... but sometimes it doesn't hurt to get an extra dose. :) Karen has been concerned about her daughters and was looking for some reading material and music for her girls with a positive message. I recommended a bunch of stuff and even said that I'd go shopping with her sometime ... It was good.

*Other random updates here*
- We put out a ton of resumes and applications yesterday. I did get one call back already today. I have an interview on Tuesday morning ...
- Nanny Rachel is going well. I'm really enjoying it and I know it's helping them. I also know that I've hit it off with the kids.

The Wanderers

(Warning ... as I was looking at my finished entry I realized how long this is ... so ... here's your warning ... it's really long ...)

Have you ever felt like you really don't have a home ... or that you'll never see your home or sleep in your own bed again? ... I have ... and even though, as I write this, I know - without a doubt - that I will be sleeping in my own bed tonight and that our wandering is almost over ...

Friday, Tyler and I spent most of our day not doing what we knew we needed to be doing to get ready to be gone all weekend. Oh well ... I did get the 45 cards finished and packaged for the order that I promised to deliver by Labor Day. Tyler did get some of his prep for Monday's locale done too ... What we did not get done was the packing, running the dishwasher, cleaning up the kitchen, changing the oil in the car, running a load of laundry, Tyler's haircut, picking up the appartment, and all of the prep for our Monday destination (more to come on that later).

Saturday, we got up late. We were shooting for getting up at 7 and being out of the house by 10. Unfortunately, we didn't get to bed till almost 2, so the 7 a.m. alarm didn't go over well ... we got up around 9. So, right off the bat - not gonna leave at 10. Fortunately, we decided that we were just going to set general goals and we weren't going to run around and make ourselves crazy all weekend trying to get somewhere. The only real deadline and time-table that wasn't our own wasn't till Monday anyways ... So, Tyler got himself ready and laid out his stuff to pack and took off to pick up somethings, clean out the car, and get the oil changed. Two of the three wasn't bad ... the line was uber long at the oil place. While he was doing that, I straightened up the apartment, cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, did a load of laundry, packed for the two of us, and got myself ready to go. So, we left a little bit before noon. That's not so bad ... we were impressed with how much we were able to accomplish in just about 3 hours. At about 2, we got to Gammy's house (my dad's mom). We sat and talked with her for a while. She sent us to the store for some milk, oj, and bread. The Buckeyes were about to kick off when we got back from the store. We stayed and watched the first 3 possessions ... already up 21 ... So, around 4 we headed for my dad's house. I called when we were on our way because he had told us he was getting off of work around 2 and we had originally thought that we'd be able to be there about the same time ... alas - not so much ... but, as usual, all works for good and dad hadn't gotten off work till around 4 anyways. So we got to dad's around 5 and proceeded to head out for dinner. We thought that we were going to get grilled food ... but we got better. Amish Der Dutchman buffet. Monday was my step-mom, Sylvia's, birthday, so dad decided to take everyone out to eat. The food was killer ... mmm ... Syl's youngest daughter, Jessica (who's my age), came too and brought my nieces with her. Amber is 6 and going to start 1st grade today and Kaylee is just a bit more than 1 and impossible to keep up with. (Might I say here that I miss seeing my nieces as often as I was able to when I lived closer ...) It was really great to see them all again. We hung out with Dad and Syl for a bit after dinner ... and were there much later than we had expected. We didn't leave till 11. So we finally hit my mom's house around 11:30 - and we still had a ton of work to do to prep for Monday. so it was about 1:30 when we headed to bed. Now, our bed at my mom's house is my bed from high school ... so it's a full. We're both tall and overweight - we have a queen at home ... it's always a squeeze at mom's ... So we fell asleep and set the alarm.

Which went off at 7 a.m. on Sunday. And we hit the ground running again ... We were cleaned up, packed, and out the door at 9. Destination? Tyler's family reunion - Dodoridge County Park, West Union, WV. Because of our school schedules, Tyler hasn't been able to attend regularly since high school. His mom and aunt did all of the work on it this year ... it turned out wonderfully! We pulled up to the shelter house just a bit after noon. The three hour drive went smoothly and felt quicker than expected. The food was good. The desserts were better. The time with family that we don't get to see as much as we'd like was best. :) We were there till 6 and helped finish the clean up. We headed back to Tyler's aunt's house to help her unload and put stuff away. She made us dinner and we talked and worked on the last of the prep for Monday. We went back to Donna's (Tyler's mom) home and stayed there. It was probably about 11 when we got there and we were up talking for quite a while ... it was probably 1:30 when we finally fell asleep.

Monday's alarm was at 7 a.m. again. But again, we were soooooooooo tired that we ignored it. And instead, we got up and ready around 9. Donna took us to breakfast (where we've never eaten so much food at once in our lives ... or at least it felt that way ... :P) and we sat with her and talked till about 11. We headed out for destination 5 for the weekend - Freshman Activities Fair, Ohio University, Athens, OH. So all day we had thought that the directions said it would take us about 2 hours. We knew we had to be there around 1 ... so we thought we were good. I looked at the directions again - we were wrong - 2 hours 40 minutes ... grr ... So we headed off into uncharted territory and hoped that we'd still make it on time. Luckily, the directions were wrong as to the time we needed. It took us just about 2 hours to get there, find the spot, and park. We set up our table and waited on Westy. The thing went well ... we got 16 names and made some other contacts (who are on campus, like the KP president) to try and help the fraternity re-start the chapter there. Tyler and I feel like all went well ... So we cleaned up the table and headed out at 6 p.m. Destination? Mom's house. We got to mom's around 7:30 ... took MUCH less time than we thought it might. As we pulled in, mom looked at me and said, "You look tired." My response, "Mom, we left our home in Findlay Saturday morning, since then we've put 540 miles on the car ... what do you expect?" So we had pizza, stayed up to watch the season finale of The Closer, and spent some time with my mom (since, although we stayed at her house on Saturday, she wasn't home). Mom went to bed around 10, I followed abuot 10:30 ... Tyler came up around 2:30. (One of these things is not like the other ... one of these things just doesn't belong ... :P) Again ... we set our alarm.

Which I don't know if it ever went off. I heard mom in the shower and got up around 7:45. I got to spend some time with her before she headed off for a dr's appt at 9. Tyler got up around 9:30. We're still at mom's ... it's just about 10 ... I wanted to be home by noon today ... eh - oh well ... I have to be at work at 2:30 today. I start my "Nanny Rachel" job today because the kids go back to school. I have to pick Sophie up at 2:30 ... my car REALLY needs cleaned out first ...

So that's been our weekend ... I know, it's nothing compared to our friends who moved states or continents recently ... but it sure was long and tiring for us ...

I really should get off of here and get ready to go ... we're almost home ...