October 2010

Man. What a month this was. Not much went according to plan. Then again, I never took the time to do much planning.

We had 2 trips to Houston. We had about a weeks notice on each trip. They were both good trips. One full of fun surprises and one surprisingly full of smiles. Tears too. But not without smiles...

I threw up for the first time in who knows how long! I'm happy that it was bright pink. I had just taken some Pepto Bismol, so the pink was a nice cherry scented touch. Eww.

I lost a few pounds. Gained a bit too. I had a gain yesterday that I deserved every bit! Too much food in the office this week. And weird tummy urges after being continually emptied out for 48 hours.

I dressed as an M&M at school on Friday. THANK YOU MARIE for letting me borrow that costume. It was perfect. Free and easy, and absolutely comfortable since I wore my walking pants and a comfy 3/4 sleeve tee underneath.

I tried a couple of new recipes.

We had a Rockband 3 party.

We discovered the best burger in Texas.

I had a couple of pumpkin chai's. Maybe more than a couple, but who's counting, really?

I did some incredibly helpful journaling.

And I am happy to say that I am ending the month full of desires for a healthy November. I hope to do some walking and lots of fruit/veggie eating. I need to get a good jump on Christmas shopping. I have no idea if any crafting will take place. My allergies seem to be much more dominant this year and I can't imagine pulling all of my supplies back out after I put them all away for the party yesterday. I hope that changes... but we'll see.

I am feeling extremely ugly these days. I just feel so BIG. Because I am. I would like very much to change that.

Okay, I'm off for some water and to search for a cough drop.

If I Only Had A Brain...

Seriously. I am finally making time to blog and my head is so exhausted, I can't think of anything to say. What a week.

I am TRYING to make some ornaments. I want to do the Holiday Open House again this year, and I have SO many ornament ideas, but I just haven't had any time to work on them lately. And this weekend will be no different. Actually, I think I can do some tomorrow night, but then I have to put all of my things away because we are having a Rock Band 3 party on Saturday night. It's with our care group at church. I have no idea if anyone is coming, but we are making fajitas and we bought the game. I am hoping to get all of my supplies back out on Sunday afternoon and get busy on those ornaments! We'll see what happens though...

My food has been all over the place this week. After being sick for two days, I was down a few pounds, but then all of this food showed up at work. I ignored it for a while. And then I ate some when I was hungry. And then I ate more when I wasn't hungry. Today I had the best bagel I've had in a long time. Maybe ever. That's because it came with low fat pumpkin cream cheese. Drool. But I had already eaten breakfast. If those bagels hadn't been there, I wouldn't have thought of food at all. I would have been just fine until lunch. But they were there. And they were too loud to ignore.

And we had a totally unhealthy dinner tonight and tomorrow is the Halloween parties. So there's not much hope for a loss on Saturday. But I am still going to the meeting. And I plan to track every bite starting Saturday. We are having jambalaya for lunch and fajitas for dinner, but there is no reason I shouldn't be able to stay within my points with those two meals.

I wish I had a week to myself. Not 24-7, but during the days. I wish that I were not working for a week and could spend my days crafting and thinking and blogging and organizing this crazy mess that is masquerading as my mind. I need some time to think. To sit with a cup of coffee and a pen and paper. I need to make some goals and put them down in writing. I need to look at my schedule and make it more livable. Or... how do I say this... a better life? I need a routine that involves exercise and vegetables! I need to try some new healthy things. I wish I could find an exercise that Brett and I can do together. Or something that I can do myself that won't take too much time away from him. We never seem to have enough time. Which is weird because we give each other all of our free time! Well, mostly. But it rarely seems to be enough. Sigh.

I know, I know. This is life. It get's harder, not easier. Fuller. Richer. Or at least, it should. I want the things that are filling my life to make it richer. Not just denser. Sigh.

I have been 29 for 5 months now. 5.5 actually. I had big plans for this year, and they aren't quite going according to plan. It's not too late, but I don't want to waste anymore time.

Blah. I'm babbling.

I am DETERMINED to finally get together with Jenina next week. Maybe she can help me think. She's good at that.

I am going to be an M&M at work tomorrow. I hope to take lots of pics and post them! I hope everyone has a great Halloween! I love this holiday =-)

Where Do The Weekends Go?

After spending two consecutive weekends away from home, I'm forgetting what a productive/restful weekend feels like. And next weekend we are having a party Saturday night. And the weekend after that I will be at the women's conference all day Saturday. Hmm... so I can get some rest in approximately 20 days. Great. I am SOOOO looking forward to Thanksgiving. Because I love it, yes, but this year, I am needing those two days off of work. NEEDING. You know what I mean, Vern?

So school was a madhouse on Thursday. It started out like a fairly normal day, but the first sicko came to the office at about 9:15. He was coughing. He told his teacher that his tummy hurt, but he was pointing at his chest. The sweet one has asthma pretty bad, so I called mom to find out if he could have his breathing treatment early and she said yes. Well as soon as his breathing treatment was over, he threw up. I guess when he said tummy, he meant tummy. It was a few hours later when the next one came up, but after her, we had a constant stream of up-chuckers that had us running all over the place, with gloves and anti-bacterial spray in hand. We disinfected the entire school, but it wasn't enough to keep both of us office girls from getting sick.

But that part comes later...

I left the school late, because of a mix up with the money bag, and Brett and I got on the road at about 7:15. We checked into our hotel at midnight and had a night of deep sleep in the worlds most comfortable bed.

Friday morning we slept until 9:30 and took our time getting ready. We hit up a Pappa's BBQ for our new favorite burger and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the funeral. It was easy to find and we met our friends there.

I have only been to a handful of funerals in my life. I was too chicken to attend them for a while, so I am no expert on the subject. But everyone there seemed to have the same comment when it was over... "I can't believe Scott did that". Scott, Brett's friend whose son passed away, gave the eulogy. It was so touching. He spoke proudly of how gifted his son was and spoke boldly about the imperfections that were evident to everyone in John's short life. It was so loving and so honest. And then he asked for anyone who had a story to share to please do so. Wow. This kid was amazing. He had several friends there, and honestly, they made him sound like a super hero. Full of flaws, but at the same time, so giving and so loving. Like Wolverine maybe? Equal parts inappropriate and do-gooder.

I always jokingly say that no one cries alone when I am around. I may not be able to help, but I can at least cry with you. Well apparently, no one had car trouble when John was around. He was literally like a vigilante who just drove around helping broken down motorists. He couldn't see someone in need and not stop and help. Who does that? Even AAA makes you pay first!

It was a special service and I am glad that I was there to hear it all. After the funeral, we spent a couple of hours at the families house. By that time, it was getting close to 7:00 and the non family members were making there way out the door. Brett and I spent the evening with Chris and Marie, and we had a really nice time. We went to dinner and talked about going to see Red, but ended up watching the Rangers spank the Yanks back at our hotel room.

Our plan for Saturday was to get up and go see Scott one more time. Then meet Gary and family for lunch. Then stop by Marie's on our way out of town to see the boys and pick up an M&M costume that Marie had graciously offered to let me borrow for our party day at school. But all of our plans went out the window when I woke up with an odd feeling in my tummy.

It wasn't pain. Just not right. I wasn't sure what to do, so we just took our time getting ready and I took some Pepto that Brett had brought along. After checking out we stopped at Walgreens for a necessity that I had not brought enough of and after I paid for said necessity, I went straight to the Walgreens bathroom and threw my guts up! I mean, wow! And I had just taken some chewable Pepto Bismol, so it was bright pink!

I haven't thrown up in a loooong time. I just have a pretty strong stomach. But this one made up for years of going without. So I got to the car and Brett made a few phone calls canceling all of our plans. We did stop at Marie's to get the costume and she gave me some anti-nausea medicine that I don't know how I could have made it home without. We still had to make 4 stops for me to run to the bathroom on the way home. So that extended our trip. And then we hit a killer storm in Dallas! So that slowed us down. When we got home, I ran to the bathroom and then crawled in bed. After all of that, I was still really surprised when Brett woke me up at 7:30 and took my temperature. I had a fever of 100.8, which isn't super high for most people, but my regular temp is a little low. I run an even 96.8. So there was definitely something going on!

The first half of today was pretty much the same. We stayed home from church, which I really hated to do, but I couldn't stay out of the bathroom for more than 30 minutes. Michelle recommended Immodium AD and it has been a big help. My stomach still has occasional stabs of pain, but it is mostly false alarms, thank goodness!

Brett and I are both pretty tired, and I think this week may be challenging. I am going to battle the tireds by praying for my loved ones. We have a lot of friends with prayer needs right now, and I find that praying for others helps me to focus less on unpleasant things in my life. Rest will come, and until then, God will sustain me.

On that note, I'm off to bed! Well, I need to switch the laundry first. But then, off to bed! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

On The Road Again

It is my first time to ever have mixed emotions about going to Houston. It is always a blessing to see our loved ones there and I am usually super excited when I am preparing for the trip. But tomorrow, only 5 days after returning from Houston, we will be driving there for a funeral. It is a sad day.

John, the son of Scott, who is one of Brett's best friends, passed away after a car accident Monday night. He was in his early twenties and he was a good kid. He made some poor decisions in his short life, and the last five years have been full of struggles for him and his family. But bad decisions are made by good people every day. And John was good. I am thankful to have known him, though I admittedly didn't know him well. I only had opportunities to interact with him on three separate occasions. The most recent was on Memorial Day when Scott and John drove here to get Brett's old car. It wasn't in very good shape, but Scott and John are the car savvy type. John needed a car, so he was the perfect next owner for the vehicle. Brett cared very much for John and he is feeling the loss very deeply.

This week has been dominated by the loss of our sweet friend. Monday night was hard and neither Brett nor I slept much. Sometimes, a sleepy Kim is a grumpy Kim, and yesterday was one of those times. It was a sad day, and all I wanted was to come home and rest, but we had an obligation arise that kept me on my tired feet, struggling to keep my eyes open, until 9:00. And then I had some computer work to do when I got home. But today was better. Work has been very full this week and Michelle has been very kind about the situation. My being gone on Friday is going to make the day difficult for her, but she isn't giving me a hard time about it. I hope that I get a lot done tomorrow so that no one has cause to be frustrated with me on Friday.

We will get to our hotel around 11 (I hope) tomorrow night and the funeral is at 2:00 on Friday, so we will have some time to rest up after the long drive. Brett wanted to stay the night on Friday as well so he could get as much time in with friends as possible. We will probably leave after lunch on Saturday and get home Saturday evening. That means another weekend not spent at home, and another week of being behind, but maybe I can catch up next weekend. There's always a chance, right?

I'm off to bed. Pray for Scott and his family on Friday. I cannot fathom the loss they are feeling. I think I would feel empty... even knowing God is in control, grieving takes time...

Hope everyone is having a blessed week!

Every Day Is A Winding Road

That Sheryl Crow. She really knows her stuff.

First off, do you remember last weekend when I said that my goal was to walk three times and blog at least twice? Have you noticed you haven't heard from me since? Probably not... you're too used to not hearing from me. Sheesh!

Well it was a weird week. Not terrible, but it felt like two weeks. Long. The Fair feels like two weeks ago rather than last Saturday. And then I had a rough Wednesday night which turned into a REALLY rough Thursday. I am so thankful to have a husband who is ALWAYS willing to be delicate with me when I am fragile. It was a rough day, but he brought me back to sanity Thursday night, and Friday was okay.

Yesterday was WAY more than okay! First off, I started my day by sleeping until 8:00 and then going to Weight Watchers. I was WAY over my weekly points allowance because, hello, I went to the Fair. But I had been very careful the rest of the week (minus Thursday night when we went to On The Border to fix me). Careful, but not always certain because I had to do some estimating on several meals. I stuck with small portions because I was uncertain of the point values for the main course, and tried to get in lots of veggies. I am happy to say that I had a loss at weigh in! Only .6 pounds, but it felt like a real triumph =-)

And then Brett and I stopped for a quick, yet AMAZING, lunch of burgers from Pappa's BarBQ, and then hit the road! Yesterday was the birthday of one of our beloved Houston friends. We surprised him by showing up at his birthday dinner and it was a wonderful evening of friends, food and fun. By the way, if you are in the Houston area and have never eaten at Palotta's in The Woodlands, do what you can to remedy that. It was delicious! Every single dish on the table looked good, and they had a huge selection of lighter choices that even had WW points listed. What a nice surprise! And funnily enough, it is right behind the Pappa's BarBQ there.

When I had my mini breakdown on Thursday, Brett had second thoughts about us making the Houston trip. It was just a rough week, and the thought of starting a new week without having any rest at home was daunting. But I suggested we go ahead and make the trip, but make it a day trip! The dinner wasn't until 6:30, so we got on the road at about 1. Everyone had busy Sundays planned, so the party wrapped up a little after 11. We stopped for gas and some caffeine and were back on the road at 11:40. We made it home right at 3:30 and were sound asleep by 3:40. We mostly slept until 10:30. After an easy lunch and some last minute meal planning, I hit the grocery store and am just about ready to be productive. I have already unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and am about to start laundry load number two.

Then, for the most important matter of the day, I am updating my resume so I can send it to a principal. There is a new school opening in Irving next year. They won't start interviewing until January, but I want to be on that last. 90% of the hires will be existing Irving ISD teachers, but I am not going to be discouraged by that. I am boldly praying specifically for that art teacher position, and I will continue to do so until it is filled. Because every day is a winding road. Our lives can change with every breath we breathe, and I know that God still has a plan for me. A plan that doesn't include me working in an office the rest of my life. Or at least, I feel pretty strongly that that is not His plan. I want to be an art teacher and own my own company. And it is not for anyone on this earth, myself included, to tell me that I can't accomplish that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I Still Love...

Looking at my wedding pictures =-) I just flipped through some on the computer looking for one in particular, and I LOVE all of the pics of me with my bridesmaids. I really am so blessed to have so many amazing women in my life. How did one girl get so lucky???

I also love Fall. I haven't written an I Heart Fall declaration blog yet, but I've enjoyed reading them on everyone else's blogs! Most of my reasons are the same:

1. The relief the cool weather brings after a long hot Texas Summer. And also the memories the cool weather stirs in me. Memories of football games after school at Crockett Junior High. They really are some of the best memories of my life. Back when freedom came in the form of being unsupervised on metal bleachers for an hour and a half cheering for friends who weren't old enough to thing that they were cooler than me because they were on a team and I was in the choir. Go Cougars =-)

2. The colors. Not just the leaves, though I could stare at the leaves for hours. But the sweaters! The purses! The jewel tones that are always in season when the air turns cool. I'm in LOVE with these colors! They sing to me!

3. The pumpkin flavors at Starbucks. This is a BIG one for me! I love pumpkin! In fact, has anyone else been fighting the urge to hoard pumpkin now that it is finally back in the grocery store??? It was really hard to only buy one can this weekend.

4. The Holiday. There are a lot of sub-points to this point. I love Halloween. I love the costumes, the candy, and the fantasy that goes along with dressing up and celebrating. I love the movies – Hocus Pocus, The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and most of all, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's the great crossover film: half Halloween, half Christmas. Which leads me to my next sub-point. I love Halloween because it feels like the beginning of my FAVORITE THING EVER... Christmas =-) I love Christmas. I love it for a million reasons. And once Halloween is here, Christmas is just around the corner, ya know???

I also am very in love with my husband these days. I'm always in love with him, but the last few days have been especially sweet. He brought me roses at work on Friday, by the way. Just thought I'd mention that =-)

Okay, back to my emails. Just wanted to stop and say I love things. haha!

A Day With Big Tex

I did it! I went to the fair =-) A few people were nervous about me going by myself. The only part I was nervous about doing by myself was riding the train and bus to get there. It's been years since I have taken the train anywhere, and I was probably nervous back then, even with a group! Doing it by myself was really intimidating for me! But the traffic would have stolen half of my day. And the parking would have stolen literally half of my money. I had $40 to use for the day, and a lot of the parking is $20. So I put on my big girl panties and rode the rails!

I actually started my day by sleeping til 8, then snuggling with Brett, and then going to Weight Watchers. I chose not to go last weekend because I really needed some rest. My food was good last week, but the previous weekend had been less than stellar, so I didn't know what to expect from the scales. I'm thankful to say I was down 1.4 which brings me to a total of 16.6 all together.

So what did I do after my successful weigh in? I went to the fried food capital of the world (or at least the state). And let me tell you. It. Was. Good.

Here is what happened.

Saturday was not a regular fair day. It was Baylor vs. Tech at the Cotton Bowl. Because of that, the DART schedules were different, adding to my nervousness about being able to navigate my way to and from the fair. And the route was also different. Normally, you take the TRE to Victory Station and then take the green line to Fair Park. Well, to accommodate the extra passengers, instead of using the green line, there were "shuttles" a.k.a. DART buses, at Victory Station and when we stepped off the TRE, they herded us to the buses. The buses took us straight to the fair, but instead of dropping us off in front of the Music Hall, like the green line usually does, the buses took us to the back entrance of the fair. For people going to the game, that was SUPER convenient. And it actually ended up being convenient for me as well!

The back entrance is where all of the rides are, and lots of games, and LOTS of food vendors. There are pretty much food vendors all over the place, but at the back entrance, there are TONS of vendors. It's like the restaurant row of the fair. I had heard people say that the lines for Fletcher's Corn Dogs, the pride of the State Fair of Texas, were super long! Well I went to the first Corn Dog sign that I saw, and I was just lucky enough that they were actually Fletcher's. If it had been another kind, I still would have eaten it. But Fletcher's are the best. The last time that I went to the fair, which was three or four years ago, I got a foot long corn dog. It wasn't a Fletcher's but it was tasty enough. But after my experience on Saturday, I will never again go for anything other than Fletcher's when at the fair. It was the most delicious corn dog I have ever had. And I LOVE a good corn dog!

And the best part is, because I was at the back of the fair, there was no line at all! Okay, there was one lady in front of me. So practically no line. I walked right up and got a corn dog and bottle of water for 15 tickets. Later, while making my way up to the Music Hall, I passed a huge vendor that was all Fletcher's and there were probably 80 people in line. So I got super lucky!

I left the train station at 11 and got to the fair at noon. The musical started at 2, so the first thing I wanted to do was eat. My plan was to find a corn dog first and then the fried chocolate. There were descriptions on the website of the foods that won awards this year, and when I read this one, I knew it was the treat I wanted to find: Fried Chocolate – A white chocolate mini candy bar and a cherry are stuffed into a mouth watering brownie, dipped into delicious chocolate cake batter & deep fried to perfection. The finished product has a warm just out of the oven taste! Topped with powdered sugar and a rich cherry sauce and served with chocolate flavored whip cream.

Hello. What could compete with that??? So I made my way through all of the booths and headed to the section of the park where the guide said this heart stopping confection could be found. I looked and looked, and alas, never found it. The clock was ticking and I wasn't sure how fair I was from the Music Hall, so when 1:00 was creeping up, I decided to seek an alternative. I saw a sign that said ice cream and went to investigate.

Okay. Re-reading the fried chocolate description reminds me that I am sure it is a tasty treat. But I have to say, I don't think it could have been better than the alternative that I found. It was called a Pokey-O. And it was insane. The ice cream booth I went up to had ten flavors of ice cream and ten flavors of cookies. You pick a flavor of each and they make what is called a Pokey-O, but what us common folk would call an ice cream sandwich.

Holy hot fudge sundae Batman! It was SOOOO good! I chose the chocolate flavored cookie, which was called Brownie Fudge, and a flavor of ice cream called Happy Tracks, which was vanilla ice cream with a swirl of fudge and Reeses mixed in. The cookie was so gooey and the ice cream was PERFECTION! Together, they made what is sure to be the tastiest sweet I will eat this year. Possibly for years to come!

With Pokey-O in hand, I continued through the fair. I had in mind that I would be able to take my time and stop and see some of the street performances. Well, I probably would have had time for one or two if I had come across any. But I didn't. I made it to the Music Hall just before 1:00. I was certain that I had chocolate on my face (totally worth it) and didn't think that I had time to go exploring and be back by 1:30, which is when I thought they would start seating. And there were already lots of people inside the building. So I just went inside. I found a bathroom, de-chocolated my face, (it was just a tiny bit of chocolate on my lip) and then found a seat next to a TV showing some behind the scenes from the show. I didn't realize until I sat down that I was a little tired. So I don't regret the choice to come in early even though it means I didn't see any acrobats or break dancers or hula dancers.

I am SOOO happy to say that the musical was GREAT! I have always liked the first Shrek movie. In general, Dreamworks films kind of make me cringe. They are advertised as family pictures, but I find that they sometimes have a bit too much adult humor in them. Not anything that a five year old would catch, but certainly something that a 13 year old would. I prefer Pixar. They just feel like safer choices overall. But when I saw Shrek for the first time, I just really enjoyed it. And the musical was really great. The performers were all outstanding. The actor playing Donkey played Tom Collins in Rent on Broadway for a while. Not the original, but he held the role for a while, and his voice was AMAZING! All of the cast members were good and the sets were especially fun. Every inch of the stage was covered, whether they were in the swamp, a castle, or a field. It was very colorful, as were the costumes. And of course, it was funny. Not every song was mind blowing, but the finale was a ton of fun!

I was seated next to a man and his daughter. She was probably 3 and was adorable. He called her Dani. And he was a hoot! A seriously loud laugher. Two old men in front of us kept turning around and glaring at him when he laughed, but I liked being next to him because it made laughing even more fun!

It was 5:00 when I got out of the musical. I wouldn't have minded some roasted corn, but getting home is what I was most nervous about, so I decided to follow the crowd and head back home. I had tickets leftover, but I gave them to family who was going in as I was going out, so they didn't go to waste. The trains home were CRAZY crowded, but there were DART officers at both stops, so thankfully, I made it home just fine. Brett picked me up from the train station at 6 and I was home by 6:30.

It was a fun day and I am so happy that my husband was comfortable letting me go alone. Next year, West Side Story will be showing during the fair. That is one I can't let either of us miss. But we won't go on a game day. The fair was fine with the extra crowd, but the transportation was like a giant sardine can. Brett would have freaked out.

Church was great again today, and I am going to be positive and say it's going to be a good week. I have some work to do at home and some crafting to get busy on. Next weekend we have lots of fun happening! More about that later =-)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! My goal this week is to make time to walk three times and to blog at least twice. We'll see how it goes!

A New Sermon Series

Church was SO good today. Our pastor is out of town, building churches in Nicaragua, so the Men's/University minister filled in preaching. He preaches quite often and he brings the Word every time. Today was such a great message! Apparently, we will be spending the next six weeks in a single chapter of the Bible. Romans 8. Jason told a really cool story about this chapter and how it affected a ministry leader once, and I am really excited to spend the next month and a half there.

The verse that starts it all is Romans 8:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Wow. What a word. The sermon was flowing right along and then he brought it back to that verse by talking about being conflicted. That Christians are often conflicted because we can't stop sinning. We are born sinning and can't break free, even when it is what we want more than anything else. But he said that being conflicted is NOT the same as being condemned. We will always struggle with sin, but just the fact that we struggle proves that we are forgiven. If we weren't under Jesus, we wouldn't care about sinning. But no matter how many times we fall back into our sin traps, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God is serious about our sin. Serious enough that He sacrificed His son to pay the debt for that sin. And Jesus sacrifice was ABSOLUTELY enough. He didn't pay 95% of the bill, and we have to try to come up with the other 5%. We don't wash dishes in the kitchen til our bill is paid. Jesus paid it ALL.

Man. What a powerful word that was for me today. Enough that I wanted to share it here so I could let it run through my heart one more time.

In Sunday School today (which, by the way, at our new church is called ABF, which stands for Adult Bible Fellowship... it will always be "Sunday School" to me) I shared a little message. Brett and I are in a newlywed class, and our teacher has written some marriage material called Leading Indicators of a Successful Marriage that he actually teaches a few times throughout the year to nearly and newlyweds at a weekend seminar at our church. We are going through it all as a class right now because it's been a while since we have talked about marriage as a class. But since he has taught this material to us before, in the weekend seminars, the class leadership had the idea to ask couples in the class to sign up to speak about the different topics. The topics are varied. It starts with "The Marriage Seat Belt" which is praying together, and touches all kinds of things like name calling, quality time and sex. Today was "The Marriage Evacuator" which is ignoring one another.

Tyler found research showing that the number one predictor of divorce is the habitual ignoring of one another. Sad =-( It's almost hard for a newlywed to imagine. You know how when two people first start dating, everything is so exciting? You are thrilled every time the phone rings, and you hang on every word your love says to you? Well for most people, that is probably not a reality throughout the duration of a relationship. The spark sometimes transforms into sweetness. But if you have moved to the other end of the spectrum - if you ignore your spouse completely - you have evacuated the marriage. Name calling is overtly aggressive, but ignoring is aggressive in a much more subtle way. If I call you stupid, you know exactly what I think about you. But silence is left open to interpretation. If someone ignores me, I reason that they do not care about me. Silence tells me that I am unworthy, insignificant, and ultimately, unloved. That's serious stuff.

This isn't the topic that we would have chosen if the list had come to us first. Brett and I could easily share about quality time, or about name calling because those are two things that we have dealt with (in regards to quality time) or armed ourselves against (in regards to name calling) in our relationship. But those blanks were already taken when the sign up sheet made it to us. I basically picked this one because I didn't want to talk about sex. Haha. I'm not quite prepared to share super openly about that. Maybe next year! But I am glad that we ended up with this topic. It gave me a lot to think about, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to say.

I rambled a bit and cried a few times, but all in all, it was really neat to get to share with the class. Brett teaches regularly in our class, so everyone knows him. I was glad for a chance to feel like an active participant in it all.

After church we went to Crystal's Pizza to celebrate my Mamaw's 80th birthday. She looks AMAZING and still seems really happy. I love her so much, and I am very proud to be a member of my family. I really do cherish them all.

I am off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday afternoon before it's time to head back to church. Hopefully I will make time to post this week. I LOVE the fall and would love to babble about it for a bit.

Peace out playas!

Walking A Fine Line

I think there is a fine line between planning for the future and being discontent in the present. I came to that realization today after I found myself falling from that tight rope into discontentment. It was a bit shocking! I stopped myself in mid grumble. How in the world can I complain? I have a wonderful husband, a new job, AND it's my favorite time of year. I need to stop and be thankful.

I have kind of been in that mode lately... fantasizing about the future. About things I want to make and do and see. When those things feel impossible right now, it is easy to become discontent. I do NOT want to become someone who forsakes my life each day because I am always looking towards another day.

AND a lot of the things that I want to do, I could do right now. Mostly the making. I really feel like crafting and just haven't had any time lately. But I know that if it is really important to me, I will make time. It is already 5:12 on Saturday, the day pretty much gone, and I have a list of things that I need to do, but I am determined not to go to bed until I have done something that I WANT to do. In fact, I decided to stop and write a blog before I got busy. It's something that I wanted to do. I know it's not a must, but it is something that I enjoy that I have let fall to the side because I have been too busy. Blah.

So anyway. How is it, you ask, that it comes to be after 5 on a Saturday and I have yet to do anything particularly productive? I'll tell you! We had an impromptu shopping trip!

We are flat broke, so no way did I expect to end up with anything shiny and new this weekend. But my mother-in-law bought a piece of furniture last week that, once she got home, just didn't work in the space she had available. She bought it to be a side table, but it would work as a night stand too, and she knew that we didn't have night stands, so she decided that if we liked it, she would buy another one and let us have them for our bedroom. How nice! Here is a pic:

Guess where it's from? One of my favorite stores. Pier 1 Imports. Man. This is seriously a danger zone for me. There used to be a Pier 1 Clearance store in my city, but it has been gone for a couple of years. We still have a Pier 1 though, and I try very hard to avoid it at all costs! I LOVE this store, but it is pricey! It was SO fun to go look around there today though. And guess what else she bought me??? Randomly, they sometimes have little pieces of jewelry in the stores. I saw this ring for $6 and LOVED it. It's totally my style. Whimsical and affordable. Ha! I got the yellow one! Isn't it cute???

Last night we just took it easy. I was exhausted! For two reasons. When I was sick last week, I didn't get a full night of sleep once. I woke up coughing every night. It was rough. And then this week, I worked the office by myself for half of the week. My partner in crime, the other girl who works in the office, who is way more important than me, moved this week. It's a good thing! She used to live an hour from the school, and now she says it's only a fifteen minute drive. How she gets to the school from Arlington in 15 minutes, I have no idea, but good for her! But her moving meant that she left at noon on Wednesday and was off Thursday and Friday. I am thankful to say that I did okay on my own. I'm sure that she would have gotten WAY more done than I did, but everything that needed to happen did. So that's good news. But I worked from 7:30-6:00 on Thursday and Friday, so even though they were okay days, they wore me out!

Because funds are low, we picked up a cheap dinner last night and stayed home to watch Iron Man 2. I liked it just as much this time =-) And it brought back fun memories of seeing it at the drive-in for my birthday! I fell asleep around 10:15 and slept until 9:00 this morning. Thank goodness! I made the decision a few days ago to sleep in today and not go to Weight Watchers. I really needed the rest.

So we took it slow this morning, but I still felt kind of rushed because we had to be at the church by 12:10. They are making a church directory, so Brett and I had our picture session today! It was our first real picture together since we've been married. Actually, come to think of it, it's the first professional picture we have ever had taken. A friend shot our wedding and we have never had a picture in a studio before. Wow! So I was excited. It was kind of sad though. I thought I would look thinner in the picture. I have lost 15 pounds, so I was expecting my face to look thinner. It's funny how mirrors can be forgiving. Especially when there are only lights coming from above. Extra chins are left in shadow! But not when you are in a room full of lights and someone flashes a big camera at you. It was motivating though. I really want to stay on track and I am a bit nervous about the holidays. Hopefully I can keep that picture in mind and focus on making good choices.

After the pics we picked up Brett's mom for lunch and then stopped and shopped. It is now 5:37 and time for me to get to work. Well, maybe I can read a few blogs first! Hope your Saturday is relaxing and fun!