Waiting room

I remembered something awefully funny from my annual exam last Tuesday and had to share it here.

Short, but jaw droppingly silly.

I take my "bag of crafts" with me when I am gona be waiting, so I can crochet. Why yes, I will make a lovely old lady SOMEDAY..so hush.  Well it helps me mind my own business too, cause if I just sat there I would talk to some stranger about life.

There was a lady about 40 years old waiting with her younger relative of some sort. They were talking loudly about to each other about things that sounded like they both already new, but wanted everyone else to know, too. You know the type. Talks just to hear their selves. Again, hush. I know that is easily my type, too.

There was a mexican family that spoke very limited English. A man, a woman, and their little 2 year old boy. He was very curious and exploring the waiting room. Very cute and quiet. So, the 40 year old loud woman decides its necessary to try to get him to talk. She loudly asks him his name. No response. She loudly asks him how old he is. No response. She asks him if he is gona talk to her. No response. She asks his parents his name. Asks his age. Asks if he is shy. They said, "No." This goes on for a good 10-15 minutes. When she decides to see if he wants to be read a book that is on the coffee table. He shows no interest. But she is not the type to take no for an answer. So she reads the title of the book to him. "Stranger Danger" OH it was too precious! The laughter died down after a few minutes and she was back at it trying to get him to talk to her.

I think she just should have brought her crocheting. Nuff said.

Party Animal

I am such a party animal.

I get Tuesday evenings to myself now. Was gona be our "date" night, but I have been ditched for the teens and the gym at church. We were not doing good at spending time together on Tuesday's anyway, so it's probably good to spread the guy around a bit.

So, what do I do with my blessed alone time? Well this week I had a tooth prepped for a crown, went to the library, and then picked up some groceries. When I got home I put away groceries, ate leftoever dinner that was still sitting on the table from the rest of the family that I made before I left, but did not have time to eat with the family, and then put away the food and started dishes. Then of course I got on facebook and started bloggin this.

Last week was JUST as thrillin. But replace the library and the Dentist with my annual Gyno exam.

I need to get a life! Well atleast on Tuesdays.

Alien three legged monkey!

My family must really love me. They must to put up with my kooky antics. I have been planning a birthday party for a week or so in my mind. Then a couple days ago I decided "Why not?" I threw a "Not birthday party". How much wierder can I get?

My family loves this idea, cause not only can we take time to remember a friend dear to me, but they get cake and ice cream of course. Don't worry Joel, we will eat enough that you don't have to feel bad for not wanting a single bite ...  :-)  Even Lindsey was excited and sang Happy Birthday to you, Joel. When the camera charges up you can see the rest of the fun.

Around here I have been looking for "excuses" to make cute cakes... but they need to be "genuine" excuses. Not made up ones. Kooky ones, yes. But never made up.

So, to set it out there for those that have not been in on my planning and thought processes on this one.

We are throwing my online friend a birthday party, Joel. I met Joel in an online kids game and he was a monkey. So the party has a monkey theme. Joel lives in Nebraska and will not be at the party, he will not partake in the cake and ice cream, nor will he get to open his gift on his birthday either. I am queen of proscratination after all so it was mailed Thursday at 9pm. He does not even know I am planning this or doing this. The party will be over before I post this. He may not even see this until after his actual birthday. So, you wonder why? Cause I like to make cakes and I like to think of my friends and do wierd crazy things "for" them. I already have requests for more "Not birthday parties" for other friends...sorry guys that was a one time thing to do because the circumstances were right. I also don't see a repeat of the virtual birthday party any where in my future. I like to keep crazy things special.

I will add pics and possibly a video of us singing happy birthday to Joel...ya I am crazy like that. Hopefully this is as fun to read about as it has been to do! Enjoy!

OK...so the party is over and the fun was, well fun!

We decided to have the party "right" and have dinner too! Sorry Joel we did not spring for Taco Bell. Corey made the dinner though. He cooked steak and mac n cheese. I added corn to the mix to try to be a bit more healthy :-)  Here is "your" plate.

As you can see I got out the "fine" throw away china for you! After all I had to do dishes in the bathtub afterwards. Also I cut your steak up...lol. Anyway of course this is actually my plate..but whatever..it was fun playin around.

After dinner I milked the goats while the kids cleared the table. Then when I came in I actually made them clear the table, cause you gotta know my kids are not gona clear the table while I am not hawking over them. I did the dishes in the bathtub (yup no kitchen faucet still). Then we sang Happy Birthday to you, Joel.

OK so here is the "Three legged alien monkey". Corey named the cake after I asked him what he thought of it. Sigh.
Some other "party time fun" pics.  Yes it is Chocolate cake...I knew you would not mind Elaine picking the flavor since you would not eat it anyway ..hehe. Then of course we ate ice cream in your honor, even though you may not have partaked.

Collin was crossing his eyes and I think Elaine was cheesing a bit too much..lol.

I tried to upload the video of us singing happy birthday and the camera died! no extra battery means waiting. OH well. Not sure I can figure out how to get it on here anyway. anyone else know?

Thank you for being a Philippians 4:14 friend! Sharing in my joys and sorrows. You help make all of our lives more enjoyable in your own little way. I hope you realize how many people you have touched just by lending an ear to me. Add in some advice that is sometimes hard to swallow, but always from the heart and you have my monkey. Hope your birthday was as much fun for YOU as it was for US!

The time of year

This time of year seems everyone is looking back and evaluating the past year. Making changes in their lives to improve upon the mistakes they have made or to increase the joy's they have experienced.

I am no exception to this.  As part of that I get this ancey stagnant feeling about me this time of year. I yearn for growth. For a new project. For new friendships or renewed deeper ones.

Tonight as I look over the progress I have made just in these few short days, I sit back and say, "ahhh, this is good. This is life. Ups and downs. Life."

I am typing this with a cup of hot cocoa at my side that my dearest husband Lindsey brought me. I think of the lazy susan cupboard that has been broken for more than 6 months that he spontaneously fixed a few nights ago with no prompting from me. NO more kicking it to get it to open! But mostly I am thinking of our finances.

Unlike most Americans this day and age we have no credit card debt or car loans. We have a small emergency fund to draw on for mishaps. But we have not seen growth in this area in sometime. The credit cards and car loans have long been gone. We have used alot of funds to secure our new home we are in and make needed repairs to it. But I feel stagnant, financially.

We had a speaker from Crown Financial Ministries come to MOPS this last Thursday. I so enjoyed his speech and information that I came home and checked out their website. Lindsey and I have been going through the Crown Money Map. A free resource available from Crown. I am loving how it is helping us communicate about money, life goals, and more importantly connect with God again, together.

We are making a financial statement of assets and determining our net worth. Making a list of assets is an eye opener of what we really do have of value and where our money has been going. We are evaluating how much life insurance we may want to purchase. Also, we are working on memory verses together!

I would suggest to anyone going through financial hard times or lack of growth or if you just desire more growth to look at Crowns Spending Plan. We have been going through this as a couple. It has valuable information in it to help you achieve True Financial freedom. An added bonus for us has been growth together, communication, and respect.

I hope that this might help someone out there find peace.

Retreating

We will see how long that lasts. I am no good at it.

Happy Birthday?

On December 31st my dear friend Sara was getting Happy Birthday wishes on her facebook wall. Her birthday is November 8th. She very politly told the well wishers, "Thanks, but its not my birthday".

Then somehow the converstation turned to cake or rather the lack there of.  She whined that she had no cake, so I fixed that. I had the need to make a practice cake for my nieces baby shower next month anyway. So, instead I made a "Not Birthday cake".

So, with a cake this darn cute you have to have a full blown PARTY.  So, the decorating was done around 3:30pm with her husband Terry getting off work at 4pm that was perfect timing!  I grabbed a "stray" present out of the present box and wrapped it up, christmas paper of course. We stopped at felpauch and got paper plates and cups, ice cream, and pop.  Then invaded Sara's house.

All things are funner with friends, so I kidnapped her oldest daughter Courtney to stay the night and bake the New Year in. While she was getting ready, Terry and Sara were telling me how 8 year old Hannah had gone on an outing with some friends and came home with money! I said, "Oh so they are paying her to be their friend!" Terry says, "Thats why we don't have many friends. We don't have any money to pay them."  We are all laughing. Then Sara says something about me having friends cause I pay them with not birthday parties and presents.

So, Courtney I had a wonderful night of baking and then she made my family breakfast while I slept in! yeah!!!  Eventually I took her home. I was standing in the Grants kitchen and Terry hands me a stack of jeans. I say, "What is this for?"  He says, "Its your payment, we want friends too."  OH how I laughed. 

Well that is the story that goes with the next blog about the Jeans that were one size bigger than my current fat jeans, but they fit me!

Jeans

So, as most of us fluffy women do this time of year and even some not so fluffy ones, I have been examining my eating and excercise habits.

I now have carrots, salad, oranges, tomatoes, and NO cookies in the house.  I am controlling portion control as well. NO more baggies full of venision Jerky sitting by the computer to be engulfed into my mouth in less than a half hours time.  I did allow myself 2 taco's at dinner on Monday laden with lettuce and tomato. Just the way I love my taco's..yum yum.

I know I need to excercise more as well, that part will be coming. I want to work on strength training and toning. And work in some cardio too.

I know all the right answers to be healthy, but often put them to the wayside. I feel better already after about a week at this portion control and healthy food choices thing. I am reaching for an orange instead of yet another bowl of cereal. Eating 2 pieces of toasted raisin bread, instead of my normal 4.  I was starting to get my constant indigestion and heatburn that comes from bad eating and excess weight. YUCK.

I had some friends give me a stack of pants as payment to keep being their friend (long story ask me about it, its funny maybe I should blog about that too!). Well the pants fit, most of them. AND they were a size BIGGER than I was currently wearing. So, something had to give!

The scale already shows about a 10 lb weight lose. But I have always been able to drop these first 10-20 lbs very fast...then I level out. When I start adding in bad foods again and beef up my strength training/muscle building excercises.  THEN I get stuck! I stop I give up. I feel better and I want the GOOD food.

I am going on vacation in August (most likely) and would like to look 1/2 way decent in swimsuit pics! SOO, here we are trying to get back into what used to be my fat jeans and out of the WAY TOO FAT JEANS!