Budgeting Blues

Arrrgghhh!!!! I'm so tired of dealing with money. I'm really no good at it! I always spend too much on things like FOOD.

I feel like we need to go back to the Larry Burkett envelopes. Grrrrr.

He Did It!

John was able to save an important account for his company! He's the current "Golden Boy" and we'll ride the enjoyment of that as long as we can. His boss was wanting to take him to dinner, golfing, etc. . . told him to take the rest of the day off. He received kudos from the top of the company on down. I keep saying, "Cross our palms with gratitude!" ;-D Truly, God has used this company to more than meet our needs. We are so very thankful.

My Dad called from Arkansas yesterday and we chatted for about 30 minutes. His double-wide trailer had arrived and he was sitting in the shade, watching them put the two halves together. He talked with me about his plans to build a deck by the end of next week, where the garden will go, and other items. I'm beginning to feel thankful that he's out of California at last and at least a LITTLE closer to me. I'm currently talking to the family about driving out and seeing Dad at Christmas. That would be great!

Anyone know anything about Harrison, Arkansas?

Tea for Me!

I just love how God cares about the smallest details in our lives.

This summer, we vacationed with two other families in North Carolina. Us ladies visited the Biltmore House and had high tea at the Biltmore Inn. I had this jasmine tea that was so heavenly. .. tastes like herbal tea, but with each sip you breathe in the aroma of jasmine. We wanted to find out how to buy it, but left before the waitress could give us the web site. I was disappointed!

Flash forward to my birthday. Ruby Bowyer gave me this adorable tea infuser and [drum roll] a container of Jasmine tea! OH, heaven! She said she found it in California. Since most of the writing on the tin is in Chinese characters, I'm going to check out the local Asian market to see if they carry it. I LOVE loose-leaf tea, and the weather WILL eventually turn cooler so I may enjoy it on the porch.

Thank You, Abba!

It's extremely embarrassing when an English teacher has so many typos.

Job Alert 2

Well, John's going to Cleveland in a couple of weeks for interviews. This is for the Property Services Manager position for Florida, the job he originally wanted before this other thing crops up. His feeling is that he'll be doing both jobs until one starts to demand more than the other (not impossible, I hope!).

This is so exciting for him! He's headed to Cleveland for all the interviews, which means this promotion is really happening (truly, he's the one his boss has slated for the job). I've been calling him "Executive Man" all week, formerly known as "Substrate Man." I'm excited for him!

I know we'll help keep him grounded and real, as will all his friends. He knows that with one word from me, his buddies will be on him like [enter favorite John saying here] and snap him out of it.

Oops

I was obviously still sleepy when I wrote the blog below. I meant MONDAY, not MODAY. Just what IS a Moday, anyway?

Moday

What a great weekend with my family! I feel like we celebrated my birthday all weekend long. Now I have to do extra chores around the house to make up for it. Still, I feel so blessed!

It's Monday, and that means back to the grind. I love the English class I have today. . .they're all 5th and 6th grade and they're so cute! They don't talk nonstop (or pass notes, or WHATEVER) like my intermediate class. I love them.

Thought I'd post this picture of Kelly and her friend, Kate. It's too cool.

I wish she had gotten her eyes from her Mamma!

Wow!

A surprise party for me! I was completely blown away!!! I'm still (obviously, it's almost 1 am) excited about it!

I can't thank everyone enough for coming. Beth Anne and Stacie did such a fabulous job! I had NO idea.

My favorite gift has to be "Splat the Cat." The Rigels made a cat, complete with wounds and tire marks, to honor my Free Cat picture. I'm so glad someone else's sense of humor is as twisted as mine!

Matt Snyder was my personal photographer. Can't wait to see the pictures.

The Eulogies were hysterical!

A million thank yous to everyone who came, for the gifts and gift cards. . . .I've truly never had a birthday like it!

Wasp, Yellow Jacket, or Hornet?

I don't know the difference between the three, exactly, but one of them stung me yesterday and my arm is still hurting. I have much more compassion for Mark Liebert and Ty who were both stung repeatedly on our vacation (I think Scarborough was stung, too). There was a nest under our mailbox and when I shut the flap, it flew out and stung me! My bug lady took care of it for me (happened to be coming that day) so the mailman was safe.

Ty has been stung about 6 times in his lifetime. Ouch! It's nothing like a bee sting or an ant bite!

Other pictures

Top pic: Definite Zero

One thing more

I have the girls up. Here's Ty - Senior picture. Thanks, Shaan Ware!


Ty has a concert this weekend in Kissimmee. Go Definite Zero! www.myspace.com/definitezero

Trek

We have such a young group of JV kids at AWANA this year. We have averaged 11 kids per night, and only 4 of those are 8th graders. Wow. It makes for a different dynamic, but it makes it interesting!

I'm thankful for Zach, Matt, and Tyler playing worship music for us before we start. I hope these kids get a glimpse of the joy of worshipping God through music! JVers are so self-conscience. . . it will take them a while to loosen up, I'm sure.

Stephen Gann has also been incredible! He's much more friendly with the kids this year. I appreciate him so much!

Now we just need a director. I still feel the majority of the burden falls on me, though I was hoping to only teach and listen to verses this year. I don't want to sell these kids short by giving them a so-so club year.

Job Watch

So, John comes home and talks about this new job possibility with his current company. Evidently, he came up with some brilliant ideas that his company wants to pursue. There will be only 4 people on this team nationwide, and he'd be one of them. This would probably mean a lot more travel for him.

So far, his company has delivered on all its promises. This is both exciting and scary! I don't know why I haven't learned to trust God in all things yet. I know full well I can trust him with this as well. I can't help but fear the unknown a little. As he was describing all of this to me, I suddenly invisioned myself as a single parent (not because he'll leave us, but because he'll not be home). His job is pretty consuming right now and I already feel 85% (or more) of the burden of raising our children, because I'm home schooling, I guess.

Part of me feels I'm his "Helper Suitable" and I'm here to enable him to do whatever he needs to do. This could be an exciting career move for him! I know he'd be doing what he loves the most, and he'd do what he's been training to do for the last 20 years.

The other part of me feels like this has danger potential. I know how driven he can become. I know how hard it will be for him to take time off regularly. I'm concerned about it damaging our relationship as well, which is just beginning to mend over a pretty rough year.

Psalm 3:5, anyone?

New Mexico

I thought I'd put some pictures up from our New Mexico trip. If I had my way, we'd go out there every Thanksgiving. It was so good to be home! (See previous post.) This is Kelly and Glenna on the trail at the Catwalk in Glenwood.
This is Glenna near the water at the Catwalk. If we had thought ahead, we would have brought better clothes to swim in.

The girls and I with Dad (Grandpa Jeff). We're at a canyon area just south of Glenwood. Compared to Florida, NM is so brown. Trust me when I say it has a beauty all its own!

Brother

Yesterday was my brother's birthday. I rarely have a phone number for him, nor do I know where he is right now! It's hard. . . but I know he's doing better than he has been in a long, long time. Happy Birthday, Boyd! Wherever you are!

Lost

Ok, so we got hooked on the show, "Lost."

We don't have TV, so we rent DVDs or borrow them from the library. We've watched Alias this way, plus the first season of 24. It's great! No commercials, fast forward through the stuff we don't want to see.

The second season of Lost came out and we've already watched all of it. Well, John and I have. The kids are each on their own episode. None of us seem to be home at the same time to watch it together! The 3rd season has just started on TV, so we have to wait even longer for it to be released on DVD. What a cliff-hanger, too!

It would probably be best to find a series that has started and ended, so we can watch it all.

Or, we could find something more constructive to do. Like underwater basket weaving.

He's here!

We didn't have to wait, since Jeremy and Allie's beautiful son, Iain Mark, arrived at 6:00 am Friday morning. His pictures are so beautiful! I can only imagine how dreamy-soft his skin is. John calls me the "baby hog" and is surprised I'm not over there yet to pig him up.

He should know better! Us ladies at church have our own sneaky ways of seeing the baby. . . we bring a meal. ;-)

Congratulations, Jeremy and Allie!

Our turn to wait!

One of my favorite people in the world is in labor right now with her first child. I haven't heard any information since 10:30 last night, when her mother called to say she was in early labor. I'm certainly praying, without ceasing!

When we first came to Circle, Allie and her sisters Kelsey, Jenna, and Haylee took special interest in my children. Since John and I were both on the music team and Glenna was still so young, Allie would sit with her until we would finish our set. Most times, Glenna would fall asleep on her and either sweat or drool all over her, but she never minded! Glenna loves Allie so much to this day!

I love you so much, Allie! You and Jeremy are going to be such terrific parents. I can't wait to hold your little one and let it fall asleep on me or drool all over!

Praying and praying. . . . .

This picture has caused mixed reactions from my friends. I found it hysterical. . .not because the poor cat got run over (darn owners. . . keep your cats at home!) but because someone actually stopped and put a sign there!

Plus, those who know me, know how I feel about cats. ;-)

The house across the street, the house next to that one, and the house behind us all have cats. We're the cat highway. They're constantly coming here to use the bathroom, lounge on my bench cushions and leave their hair, and we're their trysting place. I can't tell you how many times we've heard the horrible yowling on our front porch! I've yanked open the door and sent them on their way.

It's time like this I miss Blaze the most. I would say, "Blaze! Get the cat!" and she'd lumber her 85 pound frame to her feet, charge to the door, and "escort" the cat off our property. I can't really send Jack, the schnauzer, since he's less likely to return in a timely manner.

Home

Took me forever to figure out how to make a new blog. This is crazy. I must be missing something.

I'm fighting a migraine today (dull but painful ache right now) and weird things go through my mind when that happens. For one thing, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the lady who sang in The Sound of Music. I keep wanting to say Sandy Duncan, but I know that's not it. It's not Florence Henderson either.

The Women's Retreat was wonderful. I don't like going to retreats (takes weeks to catch up on sleep) but as a discipline, I make myself go. I KNOW God has something for me there and I would hate to miss it.

Julie Andrews. Her name was Julie Andrews, right?

Anyway, I'm home, or as much as one can call it home. It's home because the ones I love the most live here!

I was "home" in June, though, when the girls and I flew to New Mexico. I've never actually lived in New Mexico, but my family is from there (only by next older brother and I were born in CA, everyone else was NM) and it will always be home to me.

My Glenna was given a pair of Durango boots for Christmas, and when we got to Mom's ranch she was presented with a pair of spurs. She immediately took them off and wore them the entire time we were at the ranch. In Glenwood, this is not an uncommon sight! When we drove over to the ranch of our life-long friends, John and Cathy Murphy, John said the most hysterical thing when he noticed Glenna's spurs: "So, Glenna. Have you been topping off the rough string this morning?" :-D I laughed so hard!

When we got back to Florida, I repeated this hilarious account to my friends.

No one got it.

No one knew what a rough string was, much less how to "top off" one.

At that moment, I felt I had come so far from home. I was so homesick!

Back in New Mexico, I was surrounded by family, friends, and the culture of my youth. Here, I am surrounded by beloved friends alone.

I don't want to leave Florida, but I DO, just a little bit, want to go back to my roots and the "suit" that fits me best.

Yes, I'm going country.