'Tis better to give than to receive

I never realized how true this was until last night. A group of us from church delivered Thanksgiving food and other groceries to some needy families in the area last night. I think there were 27 families in all. My small group took food to 2 families. One of the families was truly, truly grateful. You could tell my the tears in their eyes. The couple has 4 little girls age 6 weeks to 4 or 5 years old. They had just moved to the area recently and neither of them work right now as they have no transportation. There is no phone in the house. I never realized how blessed I am to have the things that I've got. This was a family that wasn't going to have Thanksgiving until we stopped by. I feel so blessed to have been a part of their happiness. And to think that I almost didn't go.

Take a few moments to look around you. Notice those in need. Help them if you can. You will be blessed more than you'll ever know.

What's the point?

I don't get it at all. Don't see the appeal. Why on this earth does someone want to buy a Hummer for her husband without knowing if he really even wants one? Even better, why does someone want to buy one at all? Just seems like a big waste of money to me. And I have to sit here and listen to it. Gripe over.

I started practice files for MT work this last week. I'm really excited about the work. I'm shooting for March to be out of this office job and either in a part time office job and part time MT or full time MT and subbing some days.

So looking forward to Thanksgiving. My parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law will be here next Wednesday. I can't wait! We'll send Clayton to their hotel room Thursday after he gets home from work so he can sleep while we cook.

We've been quite the busy bees this week. I spent all day Saturday with my friend doing some shopping. Too bad it wasn't for Christmas. Just general stuff that we need. Sunday was church. Monday, I got a phone call from said firend (ha-that sounds southern! and yes, i realize it's misspelled). Clayton and I were planning on going to her daughter's soccer game that night. Her husband wanted to know if we wanted to go out to eat with them before the game. Now, this is not so unusual, except that she and her husband are separated (for the moment...looking good right now for them to get back together) and we've only done one other thing with the two of them (and their children). I was excited. We also got together with them last night to eat. (Way too much eating out this week). Her husband offered us some centipede grass that he had cut from around the sidewalk and driveway, so we went to her house to pick that up and ended up staying around talking. I'm really hoping that this turns out to be a good thing...that they get back together and that we all do stuff together often. It's really good to have IRL friends to do stuff with as a family. I didn't realize how much so until this week.

Now that I've caught you all up on my life (sorta, anyway), I've got to get to preparing Mission Friends activities for tonight. We're making tambourines and an imitation patchwork quilt. Should be interesting.

Good news!

I had an email waiting for me when Clayton got the computer up and running yesterday. Not just any email either. This was from a lady who owns and operates a medical transcription company. She's interested in hiring me if I'm interested in working for her! I'm definitely interested. My only drawback is that I won't be able to do anything until around 8 PM-after Andrew goes to bed. I hope to eventually be able to transcribe part time and work outside the home part time. Maybe get to where I can transcribe full time 3-4 days a week and substitute teach the other 1-2 days and take classes for a teaching certificate. The good news is that they'll 'hold my hand' a good while-until I get the hang of it and have about 98% accuracy. Yipes! That's pretty accurate! I'm confident I can do it, though. The account she would need me on is flexible-I could choose how many files and what days to work. I could do just one a night if that's what I wanted. (That would probably be best to begin with anyway). I'm hoping to have more concrete information from her this afternoon when I get home.

5:35 AM

I heard a click and 'Mama?' so very early this morning. A few seconds later, I was looking my blond haired, blue-eyed child in the face. I wish I knew why I have a child who likes to wake up so darn early in the morning. My alarm doesn't go off until 6:00, so why must he get up before it? Even when the alarm has the opportunity to go off when it's supposed to, I usually crawl back into bed for a few minutes. At least he was in a good mood.

Since I've been up so long already, I'm starving! Too bad I didn't stop at Hardee's like I thought about doing. I had to settle for peanut butter cookies. Not the best breakfast, but they sure were yummy. Lunch isn't until 12:30 and I've got several errands to run while I'm out. Guess it'll be fast food for me today back at the office.

Woohoo!

Tie-dying went very well tonight. We have no white on the fabric, but at least we ended up with different colors. I was very glad. Oh, and no messes either.

I am having a time getting Andrew to stay in bed after we tuck him in. I think I had to put him back in bed 5 times tonight. Ugh. He's finally out like a light.

I'm heading off to start diapers on their final rinse before they head to the dryer. Love CD'ing.

Yipes!

Is it possible that my not-quite-two-year-old is potty training himself?

Last night after putting a dry diaper on him, he stripped it off and marched himself into his bathroom. (This is not unusual). What was unusual is that his dipe was dry and that he sat his little hiney on his potty and actually peed in it! I was so amazed. Now, mind you, after I put his dipe back on him he promptly filled it up. Not a pleasant thing.

Another yipes! I am taking on the challenge of tie-dying with 3, 4, and 5 year olds tonight. Fortunately, our project isn't large. We will be dying a piece of fabric that is about 6" square. Should be interesting. We are learning about India in Mission Friends this month. We've learned that the people there dress in silk and they tie-dye things. I took Andrew's playsilks a couple weeks ago and the girls just loved them. (Thanks Allyson!) I'm keeping them with my stuff in case we run out of other activities to do before we run out of time.

It's about 10 minutes until quitting time, so I've got to start getting things ready to shut down and leave. Adios.

I'm not sure how much longer I can sit in this office with the negativity that flows around me. I've still not reached desperate, but I think I'm getting closer. I've been here for three years now and have been trying off and on to get out ever since. I don't have particularly high intentions for myself-I just want to make enough money to pay the bills. If I could do that working part time then I certainly would. I'd like to be able to spend more time at home with my son. It's really aggravating to want one thing but have to do another.

Oh, and the negativity begins again. It's not her fault. It's always everyone elses fault. Can't take the blame for anything.

Got to get outta here.

Remembering

Remembering all my friends who have lost little ones. You are all in my thoughts today.

I just wanna crawl back into bed

This has not been a good morning. Andrew was up at 20 'til 6 this morning. His normal wake up time is about 20 'til 7. I put him in bed with me since he wouldn't lay back down in his. We managed to stay there for about 30 minutes before he was absolutely ready to get up. So we got up, I jumped in the shower and the fit throwing began. He actually did okay while I was in the shower. After I got out of the shower was when the real fun began. Andrew took out his paci (presumabley to brush his teeth-we never got to it because of the fit) and somehow knocked it into the sink. I'm trying to get him off the durn thing so I wouldn't let him have it back. He pitched a fit. Cried and cried. I ignored, I comforted, I did whatever I could to get him to calm down. Nothing worked until I got his shoes on him. Then he tried to take his shoes off and threw another fit while I put them back on him. I got impatient and yelled. I hate yelling at my child. I feel sooo bad when I get impatient and yell at him. I mean, he's not even two yet. He's still learning. However, he does know when he's doing something he's not supposed to. He's got a look when he's thinking about doing something he's not supposed to. He'll have his head down and then cut his eyes up at me just before he does whatever forbidden thing it is. At least I have warning.

It's Official

I'm boring. I've been removed from blog line-ups and not even added to others. Can't win 'em all. :D

I had a three day weekend this week. Actually, a three and a half day weekend. Daycare called just as I got back to work from lunch to tell me that Andrew was running a fever. So I left to pick him up. On my way there, they called again to find out if I was going home first. Wha??? My kid is sick and they want to know if I'm going home first. Then she explained...Andrew had thrown up after they called me the first time and they didn't know if I had any extra clothes for him. I told her where to find them and continued on my way. So, he ran a fever for the rest of the day and then was fine the next day. I stayed home with him even though he was no longer running a fever and hadn't thrown up again. I'm not used to this SAHM stuff, so I was exhausted by the time Monday rolled around.

This weekend should be fun. Some of my internet friends are meeting at this zoo (www.hollywild.com) Saturday. I haven't been there in awhile, so it should be fun. Andrew hasn't been at all. I think he'll enjoy it. Clayton has to work Friday night, so he won't be joining us.

Still looking for something new on the job front. I've sent my resume to a couple different places but haven't heard anything. Just gonna keep looking until something comes up. Still undecided about going back to school for a teaching certificate. It's still in the back of my head, though. I think I would enjoy it. (Why couldn't I have started realizing this while I was still in college?)

Time for me to get back to work. UGH.

Is it too early?

I'm ready to start planning my Thanksgiving meal. We've got both of Clayton's brothers coming, his SIL, our nephew, my brother and SIL, my parents, and at least one of my grandmothers coming. Maybe a stray international student that goes to North Greenville College with one of Clayton's brothers. It's October 1st. I think I need to start planning. I'm not much of a planner, but when it comes to big things like this, I need to know what's going on and who will bring what. Or if I'm doing all the cooking. (I don't mind that...at least we'll have stuff I like!) I know for sure a turkey and my grandmom's dressing. (Note to self: Get grandmom to make it and write down the general directions for future use). Cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato souffle, and creamed corn will also be on the menu. Hmmm...what else do we need? Maybe mashed potatoes for those who don't like sweet potatoes? Some kind of brown and serve roll. Oh! And dessert! YUM. I could go for some Thanksgiving food right now.

Deciding on the menu is the easy part. Getting my house ready will be the hard part. My house looks like a tornado hit it all the time. This is what happens when you have an almost 2 year old living there and parents who would rather spend time with him than cleaning. We need the carpets cleaned before anyone comes over. Straightening up and all that won't be too difficult if we take it a little at a time and do it often. We've got lots of clutter. Maybe it's time to start decluttering? I'm a packrat, so I hate to get rid of things. If I even *think* it could be used later, then it doesn't get thrown away.

Not only that, we get mail for my BIL who is in college and Clayton's parents who live in Argentina. We really need something to collect their useful mail in. (Bank statements and such-credit card apps get shredded). We could probably also use another bookshelf for the box of books that still remains packed in the computer room. No more wall space though. Maybe we just need to revamp our closets for storage space. You know, the kits that have shelving and stuff. I know Clayton could use something like that in the computer room where he keeps all his uniform stuff. Hmmm. I'll have to approach him with that idea.

Andrew cracks me up lately. He's so funny. I take him into daycare every morning and he has to look at the new little baby in his room. He gets the funniest look on his face when he looks at her. He doesn't quite smile. It's like he's trying not to smile. Too cute. He amazes me some days. He banged his elbow on something this morning and comes running to me saying 'babow, babow.' Besides his elbow and the normal body parts kids should know, he knows where his chin, knees, and ankles are.

All right, I've got work to get done before time to go home this afternoon, so I suppose I should get to it.

Slacking Again

The procrastinator/slacker in me is coming out. I've got several things that need to be done this afternoon and I'm obviously not doing any of them at the moment. Mission Friends has to be planned for tomorrow night. I've sort of gotten started on that, but I still have tomorrow, right? I need to make a grocery list as I am going grocery shopping tonight after work. I really need to finish the dresses for Melissa's Abbey. I can't do that at work, so that will have to wait until tonight at home. (I was supposed to finish the 2nd one last night, but I was glued to the TV all evening because of the threat of bad weather. I'm such a chicken when it comes to bad weather.) Laundry needs to be done, the living room picked up, Andrew's room picked up, and dishwasher loaded and run. I've also got Sim City 3000 and a couple of books waiting. I'll get around to all of it eventually...

I was able to get through to my parents Thursday morning before their phone went out. They survived Hurricane Ivan, but it isn't pretty. I've been checking www.pensacolanewsjournal.com off and on for the last several days to see the pictures of what Ivan did. It's so sad to me to see all these familiar landmarks destroyed. I've also been reading the updates. My parents have been without water, sewer, and electricity since Thursday. They're going to have to get a new roof because a pine tree limb fell through theirs. Another pine tree missed the house by about 2 feet. New carpet is in order because of the limb through the roof.

On a happy note, my grandmother, who weathered the storm with my parents, has power AND running water. My family was able to take showers Saturday night. They also got a hot meal a few doors down at my great-aunt's.

Aw man. I typed out this whole long thing about Hurricane Ivan and I lost it somehow. My parents should be preparing to sit this bad boy out right about now. They live in the western panhandle of Florida. I can imagine it all now since I've gone through it quite a few times. My dad will be picking up all the clutter outside that will become projectiles once the wind picks up. That is, unless he's at work picking stuff up off the floors and lower shelves since they flood everytime it rains. My grandmother will either drive to my parents' house or my mother will go pick her up. She'll have everything of importance with her. They'll hang out in the living room/kitchen until the weather starts getting really bad and then they'll camp out in the hallway with all the doors closed. They'll have the radio plugged in listening to people call in and tell how bad it is at their house. It was always neat to listen to what was going on it other parts of the county. They'll do this until the electricity goes out, and it will go out. I can't remember a time when it didn't go out during a hurricane. They should have plenty of batteries to put in the radio so they can hear the updates and to put in the battery-operated TV to get the ocassional pictoral update. They'll munch on non-perishable snack foods until the worst is over. They should still be able to cook since the stove is gas. If not, then they'll still have the gas grill for cooking until the electricity comes back on. (Whenever that may be-they're predicting longer than just a few days since crews are still working elsewhere in Florida). Anyway, I feel that my parents will be relatively safe in their cinder block house. The only thing I'm slightly concerned about are the two or three huge oak trees in their yard and the neighbor's yards. I'm praying that they stay put. I'm sure I won't rest easy until I know they are okay and after we get through whatever will be left of Ivan.

May sound hypocritical

Since I'm complaining, BUT...Why must everything be a complaint? I've been sitting here in the office just about all day listening to my female boss complain. And loudly. 'It's not my fault that I applied checks to the wrong accounts.' (Um, then WHOSE fault is it if YOU are the one who does the accounts receiveables?) 'I don't like the way this is worded.' Then reword it. 'I don't think this is a word.' Well look it up and see. I'm just very aggravated with her at the moment. One of the many reasons I'm looking for a new job...

Loved my day off yesterday. I spent the whole day playing with Andrew and cleaning part of my house. It was great. I was actually able to work around him some and get most of the living room cleaned up and dishes in the dishwasher and laundry done. I was hoping to get some other stuff done, but we're supposed to go to someone's house after I get off work tonight. Maybe we won't stay too long.

Tomorrow night is my first night teaching Mission Friends. I'm so excited. I've picked out of the book what I'm planning on doing. I've just got to prepare everything now. I've got stuff to cut out and pictures to find. My big problem will be finding calendar pictures of the beach on such short notice. Hopefully my teacher friend, Amy, will have some for me. If not, I'll figure something out.

Okay, Fine!

Here's a blog entry. So I'm slacking. Nothing noteworthy has happened in the last week or so. Still waiting to see what positions will become available at the local schools. Won't know anything until early next week probably. Bible study has ended until January. I'm glad I went, but I'm also glad I'll have my Tuesday nights back for awhile.

Ummm, Clayton should be moving patrol areas in the very near future. Woohoo! He'll be in the area in which we live. I'm excited about that because he *may* be able to come home for a late meal break about the time I'm getting Andrew and myself ready for the day.

I am driving to Atlanta Saturday to see my brother and sister-in-law. My parents will also be there, so that's a bonus.

It's time to shut off the computers, so I shall have to blog more later if anything interesting happens. Or if nothing interesting happens.

Still searching...

No teacher's assistant position for me. The top salary is quite a bit below what I make now. My friend is keeping her eye out on the employment bulletin board at her school to see if there is anything else listed that I may be interested in. There will most likely be more jobs posted after the 10th day of school. They've got this 10 day rule. If there are a certain number of students on the 10th day, then positions may be added. For instance, if her mom's school has 1000 students on the 10th day, then they will most likely be adding a full time guidance clerk position. Her mom is working both the guidance clerk and the attendance clerk positions. If this happens, I will probably apply for the guidance clerk position. As of last night, it wasn't looking so great, but there's still all of next week. (The 10th day will be Friday, Sept 3). I think more than anything, I really want to have more time to spend with Andrew. I would love to work a 9-10 month job for the school district. I would also like to have more time in the afternoons to spend with him. Evenings are SO rushed at my house.

Watch this space for updates. :)

A Possible Opportunity

I've got possibly exciting news. I was talking to my teacher friend the other night and she mentioned that her principal announced that there are some positions open for teacher's assistants at her school. There are two open for kindergarten and one for special ed. She said my name popped into her head when the announcement was made. She's going to give the principal my name and number. I'm really hoping this works out for a number of reasons:

1. It will help me discover if teaching is what I really want to do.
2. I'll get all the school holidays off.
3. I understand that the benefits are good.
4. I'll have the summers off.
5. If I do go back to school, then I'll be able to take classes in the afternoon after school gets out.

My only condition right now is pay. I have to make at least what I'm making now or we'll have problems with our budget. I've been ready to leave my current job for awhile. Maybe this time it will happen.

God still answers prayers

I've got a friend who has a son just a few months older than my son. He has vision problems. About a year ago, his vision tested at -8. He's been wearing glasses and doing patch therapy for the past year. (His mom puts a patch over the good eye for a few hours a day). She asked for prayer for him Sunday night at church. She prefaced her request by saying that she was going through the Bible study Believing God and that last week, she felt God telling her that if she would bring her son up Sunday night then He would improve his vision. She did. She felt again that she needed to bring it up at Bible study last night. She did. We all prayed for her and her son last night. I got a call a little while ago from her sister-in-law that his vision went from the -8 of a year ago to 5.5 today. I'm not sure what the numbers mean, but I do know that going from negative to positive is an improvement. Praise God!

The V.P. is in town...

The V.P. is here today for a lunch/fundraiser. Clayton is one of the lucky officers blocking off roads that the V.P. will be traveling on today. He'll pretty much just sit there all day. That's my interesting news for the day.

I got myself on a committee at church. Never been a committee member before. We're working on a policies and procedure handbook for our nursery areas. Seems there isn't one in place. That will be taken care of in the next couple of months.

I'm teaching Mission Friends this year. This should be fun. The other lady with me said that if I would plan everything then she would do the actual teaching. Sounds like a plan to me. I've just got to find out if we have a book to go by. I've got posters and games, but no book to tell me about the missionaries. I can't plan/teach without a guide.

I've been thinking a lot about this going back to school thing. I'm thinking I'll probably do it. The best plan would be to wait until next fall when there are more scholarship/financial aid opportunities. I haven't yet received the information I requested, so I think my next step will be contacting the school...

So proud of myself

I drank 48 oz of water yesterday. That is not an easy thing for me to do. I've already had my first 16 oz today. I made a yummy low-fat meal last night for supper. I brought the leftovers for lunch today. Tonight's supper will be low fat stuffed shells. YUM. I can't wait.

I have never been so excited to go to the grocery store as I was last night. I couldn't wait to leave work to go grocery shopping. I was getting all the ingredients I needed to cook the meals I have planned for this week. The whole reason I was excited is that we're trying all new things this next week. I like cooking new things that I *should* like.

Oh, the other thing I'm proud of is that I spent my lunch hour walking yesterday. I went to the mall and walked the perimeter. Clayton told me last night that one lap is a mile. I plan to go back today to walk again. I may look silly walking by myself, but it's exercise and I need it!

Losing Weight

I so suck at this. I've been trying (sorta-there's my problem...only sorta trying) to lose weight for a couple months now. I keep fluctuating on my weight. I'm not able to keep it down. I've tried just watching what I eat with no guidelines. I exercised for about a month. I'm just having trouble sticking with it. My plan (new one today) is to head to the library on my lunch hour and check out a couple books on nutrition. Hopefully I can find some meal plans/recipes that will give me guidelines for healthy eating. I've decided that that is the only way I'm going to be able to stay on track.

My first start today was to lose the peanut butter M&M's on my desk. I didn't eat the first one of them today. (Thanks, GMS for the motivational questions). I've also had my first 16 oz glass of water today. I read somewhere to drink water when you're hungry and wait 20 minutes. If you're still hungry, then eat something. I'm still hungry, but since it's so close to lunch time, I'm going to wait. My lunch isn't the greatest today. I've got a ham and turkey sandwich on honey wheat bread and sour cream and onion chips. I should have brought a peach with me instead of the chips. It's time to start rethinking my eating habits. Tonight's supper is supposed to be chicken, but as of 7:00 this morning, it was frozen. I completely forgot to take it out of the freezer last night. We'll probably eat it tomorrow night.

Here's to getting info about eating healthy!

Becoming Armed and Dangerous

Oh, how last night's Bible Study affected me. We listened to Beth Moore talk about God's Word being alive and active in us. We are to 'inhale' the Word of God. Inhale as in breathe it in, keep it in our hearts. Then, we are to 'exhale' it. Exhale as in speak it. As a Christian, the only thing that will intimidate Satan is what comes out of my mouth. He's not a mind reader, so what I think about circumstances isn't going to do any good. What I must do is speak out. This truth hit me SO hard. I'm not one to say what I think/believe very often. I'm not one to pray out loud in my own personal prayers. I've been told by several people that praying out loud in their personal prayer time has done so much for their closeness with God. For some reason I'm intimidated to do it, but I asked God last night (out loud) to take away my intimidation. He did! I truly believe He heard my prayers last night and that He was right there with me as I talked to Him.

I believe with all my heart that God is doing a work in me. Why? Because there are so many things trying to get in my way, trying to distract me from what I need to be doing. What is He doing? I haven't the first clue right now. I'm playing the waiting game. And while I wait, He'll prepare me.

Thank you, God for what you are doing in me. Help me to see You in all situations in my life. Help me not to get so caught up in myself that I miss You and Your work. Amen.

Monday, Monday

I can't believe it's Monday already. The weekend flew by. Saturday morning wasn't the greatest because Andrew was cranky and I was ill. I had no help since Clayton was sleeping. Gotta love 3rd shift work. Andrew cut his nap short, thereby cutting MY nap short. He didn't want what I made him for lunch. He wanted my Kool-Aid pouch and chips. I finally got him to eat part of his pb&j and then shared the Kool-Aid and chips. After a couple more hours of agonizing crankiness/illness, we left for the pool. A friend from church and I had arranged the week before to take our kidlets to the pool she's a member of. What a blessing that was! Apparently all Andrew and I needed was to get out of the house to improve our moods. We came home happy. I walked in the door to the announcement that I only had about 45 minutes to take a shower and get dressed. WHAT?! Turns out that BIL and his wife decided to invite themselves over for supper. Fortunately, they were providing supper. I can handle that. We get along well and since they were bringing the food it made it all that much better. I ended up crashing when I put Andrew to bed. Company still there and everything. Oops.

Last night was interesting. We had a substitute preacher since ours is on vacation. Let's just say that it could have gotten really bad had anyone at our table made eye contact with another. I just about had to walk out anyway to keep from laughing out loud. We were all SO bored. I hate to say that about church, but in this case, it was so true. Ended up going out to eat at Fire Mountain grill (owned by Ryan's Steakhouse) after the service. My new friend from church joined us. We had a great time.

I really hate being used to sleeping by myself. It makes the two nights Clayton is home difficult sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love it when he is home, but having to share the bed again is not always easy. Last night was one of those tough nights. My brain just would not shut down. I tossed and turned until 3:30 when Clayton finally decided to go to the living room. If I wasn't tossing and turning, I was having weird dreams. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Scared Slam to Death

Clayton and I talked last night about what I want to do with the rest of my life. One thing was certain, I do not want to spend it at this desk in this building. I took some classes last year for medical transcription, but that hasn't panned out. I would like to work with children, so I started thinking about a teacher's assistant. He asked me why I didn't want to just be a teacher. My response (as it is every time he asks this) was "because I can't teach." So he asks me how I know this.  I don't know this. I do not have a teaching certificate, so I haven't taught. I'm scared that I'll fail. But, in the bottom of my heart, somewhere, there's a calmness when I think about being in a classroom as the teacher.

As a result of talking about this last night, I've gone to the library and checked out a couple books about teaching and careers in education. I've also looked over the course requirements for elementary ed at our local college. Much prayer and consideration will go into making a decision. Hopefully I can decide before the spring semester will start, although I may wait until next fall for optimum financial aid packages. It's a lot to think about when you've been out of college for 5 years and have a family.

Blog Problems

I posted yesterday and it's not showing up. I got an error message when I tried to post, so it didn't take. Oh well. I'm sure no one wanted to read about my Thanksgiving in a Box lunch anyway. (It was YUM for anyone who does care).

Funny story: We went out to eat Wednesday night at a fish camp. Meals are served with fries, hush puppies, coleslaw, and pickled onions. Tea is served with lemons. Andrew was sitting at the end of our booth in his high chair and started reaching for the lemons. Fine, I gave them to him. He started sucking on one and decided he didn't like it. Then the sourness hit him. He shuddered and reached for something else to put in his mouth. Decided that something else would be Clayton's pickled onions. The child loved them! He sat there and ate onion piece after onion piece. I laughed so hard at him that I almost cried. Okay, so maybe it's not as funny as it is amusing. And you probably had to be there.

Visited the dr yesterday about the redness and swelling on my face. Yep, it was an allergic reaction to something. Reaction to what? Who knows. I've got meds to take until it goes away.

Thanksgiving in a Box

Oh YUM! I got take out from one of my favorite meat and three places today. Every Thursday they serve turkey and dressing. Veggies were green beans, creamed corn, and sweet potato souffle. YUM! I'm 'bout to finish it up now.

Angry skin has returned. It never really went away. My face looked a bit better yesterday, but my arms were red and hot. My face is now red and hot again. And swelling. Let's not forget the swelling. I had someone at church tell me I may be allergic to MSG. Who knows. Hopefully the doctor can figure it out this afternoon. I finally gave in and made an appointment with my family doctor. I hate going to the doctor for seemingly stupid things. (This seems stupid to me because I'm just red and swelling, nothing major-I hope). It's not hurting me as much as it is annoying me. Oh, did I forget to mention my eyes burn when I close them and that I've got chills? Maybe it's not as minor as I think it is. Here's hoping for answers.  

Oh, Glory!

My computer has been updated and the water heater part has been picked up. I'm so excited. I left a rather annoyed sounding message for the computer guy about an hour and a half ago. Maybe I should leave annoyed sounding messages more often. It got results.

Believing God: wrapping my brain around it

So, I'm doing this Bible study by Beth Moore on Tuesday nights and it's really changing me. Some stuff I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around, but I'm sure with time I'll get it. The very first thing we did is a five statement pledge of faith:
God is who He says He is.
God can do what He says He can do.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
God's word is alive and active in me.

The first 3 things I don't have too much problem accepting. The fourth one I believe, but am I willing to put it into action. I dunno yet. That's what we'll be learning about with this week's 'homework.'

I really like a couple things that Beth has in the book. One comes from Ephesians 1:3-7. She tells us that "In love I am...Blessed, Chosen, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed, Forgiven." These things are all in the scripture. These things are who I am and what I need to remember when things come my way that aren't easy to handle.

Last night she warned us that Satan figures out what we are most afraid that we are and then sets about to confirm it. For example: If I am afraid I'm a bad mother, then that is what he's going to set out to prove. He's going to get inside my head and tell me all these things I do that makes me a bad mother until I start believing him. Once he gets me down, he's gonna keep me down as long as he possibly can.

God wants us to hold on to Him for dear life. We are to be strong and courageous, not full of fear and discouragement. He says it in His Word. The only way we can do that is through faith in Him. Not an easy thing, but I'm learning.

 

Computer Guy and Plumbing Supply House

Not happy here. I've been waiting for the computer guy to show up and take care of the antivirus software on my computer for a total of 3 weeks now. He was called on the 6th and said he would be here on the 7th. Never showed up. He FINALLY shows up on the 14th and installed software that interfered with my logging on to AOL. I hate AOL. It's what we use here at work, so I don't have a choice. Back to rant...I called him and he told me how to delete the software and says he'll be back in the morning to install something different. It's now been TWO WEEKS since he had me delete the software and he STILL hasn't shown up. Called Friday to say he would be in Monday. Um, it's TUESDAY now. No phone call to say he isn't coming. If it were up to me, I'd be finding a new computer person. He'll be getting a call from me after I go to lunch today if he still hasn't shown up. The bad part about all this is that the office manager was warned by someone else who uses him that he's unreliable. Why do business with someone you KNOW is unreliable? It boggles my mind.

Now, on to the plumbing supply house issue. I've had this salesperson calling me for about 3 weeks now needing a part back. He says he will come pick up the part himself as soon as I can find it. So, urgent call from him yesterday  morning. He NEEDS the part ASAP-that day. So, I start hunting for it and find it. Call him back. He says okay, he'll get someone to come pick it up. You guessed it, the part is STILL sitting on my desk waiting for pick-up. If I had any clue where these people were located, I'd take it back myself. For something that was so IMPORTANT to get back, he's sure taking his time to get it back. He may get a phone call this afternoon as well.  

Such a Follower

So I'm a follower. I really like the idea of keeping my random thoughts somewhere besides my head. Like I can remember them there anyway. So, here's my blog, started today.

On to other news in my life. My face is swollen and beet red. I think I'm having an allergic reaction to the sportwash that I use to wash A's dipes in. My theory is that I got a little on my fingers last night and then touched my face. An antihistimine is doing nothing to change the swollen-ness of my chin and cheeks. I hope it goes away soon because it's really irritating.