Settle for a Slow Down

Has it really been over a week since my last blog? I didn't realize it had been that long. It has been a crazy week. Christmas was a great time. We went to my brother's house for Christmas and on Christmas Eve day my nephew who is 10 months old took his first steps. We were all so excited! He's a precious little boy and the cutest thing I have ever seen. He is such a happy baby. He will just smile and giggle over everything especially his sister. She can make him laugh like no one else can. It's really cute to watch. Santa was very generous with everyone this year and everyone was very pleased with their gifts. But now that Christmas is over I'm ready for the new year. I just now have to take down all my decorations. That's the worst job but I will be tackling that this week.

My brother and his family are actually on their way up here to Nashville as I type this. Every year he brings his youth group up here for a one night trip. My brother loves Nashville and is so proud of it so he likes to show it off. He takes them downtown and then they will probably head over to Opryland Hotel and then he lets them run loose at OpryMills. They seemed to enjoy it last year so I hope they do again this year. There are about 15 kids this year coming. All the boys are staying at my parent's house and I'm keeping all the girls. I think there are about 7 of them along with my sister in law and niece so I don't know I'm going to cram all those girls into my one bedroom apartment but we'll make it work. The thing I'm most worried about is the shower and getting ready the next day. That should be fun.

Saturday I went walking with my dad at a state park near his house where there is a walking trail. It's a 2 mile trail that circles a lake. It's so beautiful. I've walked there before where I've seen deer cross the path right in front of us. We didn't see one this time so we were a bit disappointed about that. But it's a beautiful trail. It circles a lake but the path itself is basically in the woods and so it's covered with trees. I've decided that it will be my new place to walk. Walking along the trail I noticed how peaceful it was. I couldn't hear any cars or sirens from the fire trucks or police cars. It was really nice. It made me realize that one day I don't want to live in the city. I was talking on the phone last night with someone and they asked me if I could live anywhere in the world where would it be. I didn't name a certain city, state, or country but I said somewhere peaceful. Somewhere where there are mountains and lakes and close enough to the city for the conveniences but far enough away where I can't hear it. I want to live somewhere where the stars aren't blocked by the city lights. This person basically said the same thing. I was born and raised in the city but the older I get the more I think I want to live in a place where my windows don't rattle because someone is playing their music so loudly I can feel the vibrations. I want to live someplace where I can't hear the firetrucks and police cars every five minutes and where there isn't a helicopter or airplanes flying over my apartment. I would settle for a small town. I grew up in a small town and it was more peaceful than where I live now. I loved the small town I grew up in. It's a pretty town. It's not that I don't like living where I do because I do but I think I'm just ready for somewhere a little more slower paced and peaceful. I was telling my friend last night that the perfect place in my mind to live is in a beautiful white house with a porch that wraps around it on some land big enough for a small lake or pond preferably at the base a hill or mountain. Wouldn't that be a great place to live? Maybe someday.

An Ode to Tammy Taylor

Today's blog is dedicated to one of my very best friends in the entire world, Tammy Taylor. Sunday is Tammy's birthday and I thought I would help celebrate that by giving you a glance of the type of person she is in my blog. So really this blog is just for her.

I met Tammy about six years ago when she started attending our church. She quickly became involved in the music ministry and quickly became a precious person in not just my life but everyone else whose ever met her. She has an unbelievable voice and can play the keys off the piano. I'm only slightly jealous of that. :-)

Somehow Tammy and I became friends very quickly. We realized that we had a lot in common. We both grew up in FWB preacher's homes. We both have one brother who we love with all our hearts but irritate us to no end. We both have one niece and one nephew who are the apple of our eyes. We both have a serious love for TV and movies. I mean serious!! I got her hooked on NCIS this past summer so now after every show we text each other to say what an awesome episode it was and talk about how much we love Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly. She's my movie buddy. We always make plans to see them as they come out and drool over the hot movie star in it. We both have a love of reading...especially Karen Kingsbury's books. Awesome. She's also the fastest reader I have ever seen. Instead of her buying the books I've been letting her borrow mine. There was this series that we were reading. I was at the end of the series and she was just starting so I gave her five books to read. The very next Sunday she gave me two of them back. She read them both in one week!! I was astounded, impressed, and amazed! We also have a huge love of music. It is something that was part of our upbringings. We both have sung in church our whole lives with our families. We both still sing in our church and occasionally we are able to sing together in a trio with my mom. Tammy is also the one who introduced me to country music. She started taking me to the CMA MusicFest for the big concerts at night and I've been hooked for life. We missed last year but hopefully we can make it this year. But thanks to her I've been blessed to have Reba, Dierks, Brad, Keith, Carrie, Taylor and others all in my life. :)

Tammy and I always have a great time together and I know that when I'm with her I'll laugh until my side hurts and have tears rolling down my face. She is the one person that I'm truly myself around. She's the one friend that I know I can be myself around. She's also the only friend who honestly knows my deepest dreams, desires, and burdens. We can go one minute from talking about boys, books, music and movies to talking about what the Lord has done for us and what scriptures mean the most to us. I love it that we can be so silly and act goofy and then the next we are talking theology and how this scripture or that applies to whatever we both are going through at the time. That's a true friend.

Tammy is my sounding board. She's the one person that I vent all my frustrations to. Anything that has to do with church, work and other friends. She listens to every word and then helps me to see reason where I don't see it and helps me figure out a way to find a solution to all my troubles. Something I've learned is that she loves her friends and family and is the most loyal person I know. I know that she is always there when I need her. If someone hurts me she is like a spider monkey jacked up on Mt. Dew. It's rather humorous. When we found out that my mom could possibly have breast cancer she was the first person I called. She was such an encouragement to me and told me that everything would be alright, which it was. She is also single like me (not to pour more salt into that wound). So we always complain to each other about men and how much they are missing out on two quality Christian girls. Tammy would make an awesome wife (to someone who either travels or works nights...which ever works best for you) ;-). So men, if you are reading this, I can tell you that she is a girl worth having in your life and you just don't know what you are missing. Believe me, after certain conversations...you want this girl in your life. :-)

She's just the type of friend you always want in your life and you hope that you are the type of friend that she's wants in her life. Last year she lost her father to cancer and she is a self-proclaimed daddy's girl. It was a very difficult time for her and I had never felt so helpless than I did then. You always want to have the right words to say but all I could do was listen and pray and hoped it gave a little comfort during a dark time. I also learned that she is a very strong woman. Seeing her go through that I saw a strength I never saw before. Only the Lord could have given her that and I greatly admired her thought it all.

What I'm most impressed by Tammy right now is her determination. She recently went through a weight-loss surgery and has lost almost 50 pounds! I'm so proud of her. Her and I have talked in great length about our weight and she was determined to lose it this time and felt like surgery was the best option for her. She can only eat a cupful of food at a time and if you only knew how her and I ate before you would know that this was a drastic change for her. See, when we would have our movie night we always met for dinner before and we just didn't care what we ate. We were always trying out the newest places to eat. So to go from that to what she does now has to take so much determination and it only inspires me to make a change in my eating as well. Not as drastic as what she did but to at least do something.

I know these thoughts might have been jumbled and not worded in the best way but I wanted you to know a little bit about the person that I'm so privileged and honored to call one of my very best friends. So Happy Birthday, Tammy! I know that this year will bring you so much happiness and blessings that you never dreamed. Thank you for being my friend and for always being there in all my bad times but also in all my great times as well! Savannah, here we come!! :)

I've Got Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

It has been cloudy and gloomy for almost an entire week now. We are in need of serious sunshine. If it's not snowing then I want some sunshine! You can tell in people's attitudes also that they need some sunshine. It's just been really depressing lately.

I'm sorry that I've been sort of absent from the blog recently. I've been busy but I also I just wasn't in the mood to do some typing. The weekend was really good. Saturday night I went out with some friends to go see Twilight. It was an alright movie. I really don't see what the huge hype is all about except that they think the main character is a hottie. He didn't do much for me. Maybe it's because I'm not a teenager anymore. :) Every time the main character would come on screen the girls would scream and sigh loudly. Then after the movie the credits were rolling and there were a group of girls standing there looking at it and one said, "Okay, we can go. I just had to see his name." Ha! Please! I had no desire to see this movie since it was about vampires but it was alot better than I thought it would be. It was a very clean movie. It wasn't gory at all and there was only one scene where there was some blood. I think I might want to read the book now since the books are always better than the movie version.

Sunday morning was our church's Christmas Cantata. It turned out very well. I was pleasantly surprised. I was really worried because our last rehearsal was a bust but the performance turned out so good. We received so many compliments. I'm so glad its over with now and we can officially retire this program. If we never do it again, I'll be a happy person.

Last night I finished the last book in a series that was phenominal. None of the books were tied together but it was a series by the author Debra White Smith. The series is called First Impressions: Austen Series. She has take some of Jane Austen's books and modernized them. They were really good. It makes me want to read Jane Austen's books. I've only read part of Pride and Prejudice. I'd like to read more of them now. Debra White Smith also has a series that I've started called The Debutante Series. I believe there are only three books in that one. I've read the first one called Heather and now I'm getting ready to start the next two. This series is about three wealthy friends who solve mysteries. They are also Christian books. They are a really good read. I'm trying to branch out on my reading as well with other authors. I tend to just stick with the one or two that I really like so if you have any suggestions on authors to read, please let me know.

Winter Wonderland

This is what it looked like at 6 pm last night here in Nashville. After complaining yesterday that Nashville doesn't get enough snow I was proved wrong! It rained most of the day yesterday but than about 5 pm it started snowing and a few hours later we had about 2 inches of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful! Around 10 pm last night I went out on my balcony and there were people from my complex out building a snowman and sledding down a hill.

I stayed in last night since it the roads were getting bad here. That's something that bugs me about Nashville. They wait until the snow and ice are already here before they decide to put the salt down on the road. In the north they start putting the salt down before the snow gets there so it doesn't have a chance to stick to the ground. But anyway, it was so wonderful last night. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate turned off all the lights except for my Christmas lights and nestled on the couch in pj's with a blanket and watched Survivor (which was awesome...I love Sugar!!). After that I watched a cheesy Christmas movie on Hallmark. It was a pretty delightful evening.

This morning I woke up and this was the aftermath of all that snow. It was beautiful. My apartment complex's parking lot was iced over as you can see in this picture but it wasn't bad to drive on. The main roads were all clear but the sideroads were a different story. When I got on the road that I work on I slid right through the stop sign. I work right across from a mall so I had seen a couple people from work had parked there so I just slid into the parking lot. I called my co worker to tell her that I was here I just didn't know how to cross the street to get to the building. Luckily, one of the men who work in a different department was able to make it to work and he crossed the street and helped me to the building. I felt a like a little old lady but at least I didn't fall. I wore boots today but it's not for snow...all fashion. :) It was a poor choice today but it's so cute with my outfit. Our work has our Christmas luncheon today so I had to dress a little cute. But now it's 9:04 am and the sun is out and the ice is starting to melt off the road so at least we won't have trouble getting across town.

Have a great weekend!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It is freezing today! I mean it is chilling me to the bone. It's been raining for the past two days. Man, if that was snow I would be in heaven right now. I wish it would dump a foot of snow here. I miss the snow. I'm originally from Illinois and I'm used to having snow every winter but Nashville hardly gets any. Oh we get the occasional flurry and we have had our moments of getting so much snow that people are stranded on the interstate for hours but we don't get enough down here. Now I'm not sure I could live in the north anymore. I have become more of a baby when it comes to cold weather the longer I live in the south. A few Thanksgivings ago we spent it with my mom's family in Joliet which is about 45 mins southwest of Chicago. My grandmother is buried there so on Thanksgiving morning we all decided to go visit her grave. It was a beautiful sunny day with no clouds in the sky but it was c-o-l-d! The wind was blowing at least 100 mph (not really but you get what I mean here.) Of course, I didn't own a "real" winter coat so I wasn't properly bundled up. I was numb from head to toe. Our family made fun of us and called us ...well, I don't think I could repeat what they called us but they thought we were pansies for complaining about the cold.

Today is finally a slow day here at work. We had board meetings all this week and then I also had to be a part of orientation for some new missionaries that we hired. But everyone has gone home and now there are only three of us at work today. It's really nice. Tomorrow our office is having our Christmas lunch. We usually meet for dinner at a nice place but this year we decided to have lunch and then have the rest of the day off of work. I'm excited! We are going to eat at Maggiano's Little Italy. It is an unbelievable Italian restaurant. The food is fantastic and the atmosphere is wonderful. We always have a great time when we are there and we are usually so stuffed that we need to be rolled out of the place.

Saturday I plan on doing my Christmas shopping. That's right...I haven't even started yet. I need to make a list of what I want to get everyone and hopefully I can tackle the entire list on Saturday. I hate waiting until the last minute but I couldn't do it any other way this year. Sunday is our church's Christmas Cantata. I'm not looking forward to it actually. I wasn't very happy about doing this because it was the same one we did last year and frankly, we stunk! To be honest, we still stink but not as much as last year. Last night at church was our last rehearsal for it and it didn't go very well. But I'm sure at the last minute we will pull it together and it will be fine. I just hope we don't do this again next year. If we do, I'm boycotting. :)

Big Baby

*I wanted to post this video directly onto this post but I couldn't figure it out. If you know how to do that could you let me know? Thanks!

I saw this video on Yahoo and thought it was hilarious. I didn't watch this game so I really don't know the circumstances surrounding this. I'm sorry but if you are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game I don't want to see you cry because a teammate yelled at you for playing crappy. Just my opinion. Enjoy! :-)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Video-Glen-Big-Baby-Davis-lives-up-to-his-nic?urn=nba,127483

Fabulous Weekend

I had the best weekend! Friday night I went over to my parents to help my mom decorate her house for Christmas. I pretty much shaped her tree for her. It took me forever. Her tree is one of those where you have to put every single branch on there and then you have to shape it as you go. It took awhile but it looks really good.

Saturday my mom and I had plans to meet a friend at noon and we went to tour Cheekwood. It's a mansion in the Belle Meade section of Nashville and it was gorgeous. We ate at the Pineapple Room Restaurant first for lunch. Their food was wonderful. While we were we saw a lot of red hatters there. It was a sight to see all those women wearing purple sweaters and red hats. They were laughing and carrying on. They seemed like a fun bunch. After lunch we went on down to the mansion and took a tour of it. They had it decorated nicely for Christmas. All their Christmas trees were themed. The time you could take pictures were in front of the trees. The second floor was more of an art museum. It wasn't that interesting to me but they did have some Faberge Eggs on display. They were exquisite. After touring Cheekwood some members of my church and I went on a Christmas Lights tour. We went to some very nice homes in Brentwood and Franklin and they were decked out in lights. They were beautiful. I just enjoyed seeing some of those homes. We went to homes that were worth close or over $2 million. I can't imagine living in a house that big. We ended the tour at George Jones's home. He had nice display of lights but I wasn't that impressed. Everyone seemed to have a really great time. We sang Christmas songs and laughed with each other. It was a great night. The only thing missing was a cup of hot chocolate.

Sunday night I missed church (gasp!) to go to the Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood concert. I know it was so bad of me but I never miss church...ever. A friend of mine had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to go so I went. It was awesome. We had really great seats. I mean you could see their faces we were so close to them. The music at times though were more loud than the singers so that was a little disappointing but it was still a great concert. I was able to get some good pictures.

It's been busy in my office today. We are having board meetings this week and we also have two new missionaries that are being approved during this meeting. Tomorrow they will go through orientation and I have a part in their training session. The ladies in our office will be going over to our General Director's wife's house for lunch tomorrow. I enjoy going over there. She goes all out for these things. She's a talented decorator and her home is gorgeous so I can't wait to see what she's done for this luncheon tomorrow.

I'm meeting my parents to go walking. I made a New Year's resolution for 2008 to lose weight so I better get started on that. :) Actually I make a resolution to lose weight every Monday morning but that's usually blown by breakfast. I'm determined though to lose weight this time. I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon and bought only healthy food and have vowed not to have carbonated drinks. Now if only I can get myself off of sweet tea when I go out to eat. That is my biggest weakness. Maybe if I say it outloud and tell the whole world I'm trying to lose I will be kept accountable and really work hard at it. I really do want to lose weight so I'm determined to change my lifestyle to do it. After I finish walking I have Bunco tonight so I'm prepared to not win another prize. :) I never win but that's okay. I go for the fun with the girls.

Santa Baby

My sister (in law) called me the other day with a story that has bothered me all week and just broke my heart. I mean it just hurt my heart and made me so sad. The other night my brother and his wife took their kids to downtown Northport for a Christmas festival that they were having. I guess they go all out with people dressed in Victorian garb and all the stores really deck their shops out in Christmas decorations. She said that it was really nice and so beautiful. Well, they were supposed to have a Santa Claus there as well. My niece, Anna, will be three in February so this is the first year where she really understands the whole asking Santa for things and believing in the whole magic of Christmas. (Yes, I know as Christians that isn't the reason we celebrate Christmas, but she's 2!!) Anyway, Anna Grace was so excited about seeing Santa because she wanted to ask him for a Barbie purse. She's really into Barbie this year. She was so excited to see Santa to ask him for this one and only one thing.

Well, they found a Santa. Jenny said that he looked homeless though. She said he looked so scraggly. He was making kettle corn and just looked terrible. Anna went up to him and said so sweetly, "Hi, Santa!" Well, the man just ignored her!! That hurts me more than anything. I can just picture her all bundled up and looking as cute as can be and so excited to see Santa and then he just ignored her. I wanted to drive down the 4 hours to Northport and strangle this idiotic man. How can you ignore a little child who is obviously excited to see you because you are dressed as Santa? If you do not accept the responsibility of the meaning of the coat you are not worthy to wear it! So Jenny grabs Anna and says that he wasn't really Santa and they will find him a little later. They finally spot a Santa walking towards them and Jenny stops him and says, "Can you talk to my daughter?" So the guy who I was told looked to be about 20 years old squats down to get eye level with Anna and proceeds to pull down his beard and says, "Hi there!" What?!? You have got to be kidding me. No, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"? No, "Have you been good this year little girl?" No, "What would you like for Christmas?" Just a simple "Hi there!" Please. Again...if you can't handle the responsibility of the coat...don't put it on. So Anna didn't get to tell this Santa either that she wanted a Barbie purse.

When they got in the car to go home Anna started crying that she didn't get to tell Santa that she wanted a Barbie purse. At this point in the story I almost started crying. I was so sad for my precious niece. Jenny told her that she went back and told Santa that she wanted the purse and Anna exclaimed, "Thank you, Mama!" But I was so sad for her. Luckily, last night they took Anna Grace to the mall and let her sit on Santa's lap and yes, she did ask for her Barbie purse. God bless us, everyone!

One..Singular Sensation!

This blog may only pertain to the single gals out there today but it may entertain others. If you've ever lived by yourself then you probably feel my pain but I've had two instances happen to me since I've been living by myself. Things that I never would have thought twice about when I was living with other people.

The first thing happened to me in October. We were having a bridal shower for a couple in my church on Sunday night. We were all supposed to bring finger foods. Well, I found this really great beef and cheese dip that you serve in a bread bowl. It is fantastic! I absolutely love it. You can make it low fat and no one will even know...or you can make it real fatty and it tastes even better. Anyway, one of the ingredients is mild pepper rings. So I've cut up all the other ingredients and have put everything together except for the pepper rings. I go to open the jar and I can't get it to budge. I wipe my hands and the jar of any wetness and still nothing. I mean I am moaning and grunting and still...nothing! So I grab the slip grip thingy and use that. Still nothing. I mean this thing is not wanting to give at all. I did everything I could to open this stupid jar besides throwing it up against the wall which is what I felt like doing. I was so upset. I was upset because I felt like this little weakling. I was upset because I'm 31 and should be married by now so I could make a man feel empowered because he could open a jar of pepper rings. I was upset because this is an important ingredient to the recipe and now I couldn't add it. So I just said forget it and the useless jar of pepper rings is still sitting in my fridge! Every time I open my fridge door and spot this crappy piece of junk I get mad all over again! I should just throw it away so I don't lose my religion every time I look at it. If you are wondering about the dip. I didn't add it. It was a little dry than it usually is but it still tasted good. My mother noticed though. She was like, "What's missing from this?" I couldn't bear to tell her that she birthed a girl who was beaten by a jar of pepper rings. You are probably saying, "Janice, why didn't you go to a neighbor?" Would you?! I was embarrassed enough in front of myself let alone a complete stranger! At this point I still hadn't met any of my neighbors. I've only met one couple and that was this past Tuesday when I literally ran into them on the steps. Anyway, they are a nice older couple who live on the third floor. Wouldn't you know that the gentleman is the man who wakes me up at 5 am every morning revving his truck up! He's really nice and friendly so I can't complain anymore. :(

So the second thing that has happened to me happened this morning. I was curling my hair and I don't know how I did it but I rolled a piece of my hair in the curling iron and when I went to undo it my hair was stuck in the iron! I looked like Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond when she was getting ready for the ESPY awards and got her hair caught in the curling iron and her husband left her there because she was late. Very funny episode. But anyway, I about started to panic because I was afraid I was going to burn a clump of my hair right off my head and then I would have a bald spot on the crown of my head. That would have been so beautiful! :) I tugged and twisted the iron and finally it released my hair. I did pull quite a bit of hair out in the process but at least I didn't burn my hair or my scalp in the process. Now, this happens to every girl at one point or another in her life. But why I thought having someone else in the house with me when this happens would be better I don't know. It's not like anyone else could have done anything about it except make fun of me and call out my stupidity of getting my hair stuck in my curling iron.

Yes, being single and living alone is very adventurous and entertaining. Oh, I have one more story. I can't remember if I've told this on here or not. The weekend after I moved into my apartment I was sitting on the couch watching TV when a movement on the wall caught my eye. It was a the biggest blackest spider I had ever seen. I hate spiders. I'm not as afraid of them as I am wasps but I hate them. I didn't quite know what to do. The spider had crawled up the wall behind my entertainment center and then onto the ceiling. So I do what every girl does. I screamed and then called my mommy. I was like, "MOM! THERE'S A SPIDER ON MY CEILING! IT'S BIG AND BLACK!! WHAT DO I DO?!?" (I use all caps because I'm screaming on the phone. She says, "Kill it." Really? Thanks, mom! I could have thought of that. I also at this point didn't own a fly swatter so I didn't know what to do. So I took a dining room chair and a flip flop to try and do battle with this spider. Now the spider is directly above the entertainment center so there is no easy way for me to get to this spider. So the genius that I am I climb up on the chair and took my flip flop and threw it at the spider. Now during this throwing I managed to somehow come up off the chair and turn it on it's side. So here I am mid-air and I realize that I will be landing on this chair. So I did what most girls do. I screamed and then landed on the chair kicking over the coffee table in the process. Don't ask me how I managed to do this. I bet those poor people below me thought I was either coming through their ceiling or Nashville was having an earthquake. I landed hard on the chair but I was okay. I was bruised for several days but nothing was broken. Did I kill the spider? Eventually. I managed to kill it with Windex. I sprayed the web out of that spider.

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree...

Today is just one of those days that I want over. It has been a long busy day and I didn't know if I would have the chance to blog today. My work has a board meeting next week that I'm trying to get ready for and today is a day where people are easily irritating me or I should say the men in my office are easily irritating me. I just don't have the patience today to deal with them and all their questions. I think it's because I have so much to do and when I'm extremely busy like this I don't like to be bothered. I just want to do my work and go home. Today they have been at my desk every five minutes asking me about email addresses and other non important issues. In my boss's defense we do have a conference scheduled in February for our missionaries and we have been trying to finalize things with the hotel this week but today isn't a good day for me to stop every five minutes to answer questions I answered several months ago.

Anyway, last night my parents brought my Christmas decorations over to my apartment and my mom and I put up my tree and decorations. It didn't take too long. :) My parents have a small pre-lit tree that they used when they first moved to Nashville but after we felt it was too skimpy to use in their house several years ago they bought a much larger prettier one. Since I'm broke they took pity on me and gave me their skimpy pre-lit tree. But in my apartment it isn't skimpy at all. It's the perfect size and and it's beautiful. Now I don't have a tree topper or beads, garland or tinsel to put on it but with the ornaments that I bought through the years it looks very pretty. I should have taken a picture of it to post on here. Maybe I'll take one tonight. I went over to my parent's to have lunch with my mom and when she went to Wal-Mart earlier today she bought me a tree skirt. It's very pretty and very traditional.

When it comes to Christmas I'm very traditional in the decorating. I only use the reds, greens, golds, and silver. I also love Santa Claus. I own about seven 2 feet tall Santas. Every year I get a new Santa for Christmas. A few years ago, my dad took a trip to Germany and he brought me back a Santa. That one is probably my favorite. But I don't like any old Santa. It's the old time Santas or the Santas that have a curly beard and rosy cheeks. I'm not for the Santas the are cartoon looking or the Santa that are bar-be-queing, laying in a hammock or vacationing on a tropical island. I just like the traditional looking Old St. Nick. So anyway, my apartment now feels really cozy. I love to at night turn off all the lights except for the tree lights and the lights that I have wrapped around garland that I put on top of my entertainment center. It's very cozy. Now I need to get a Christmas smelling candle. That would be the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.

This week will probably be busy like always. Tonight we have church and our choir is practicing for our Christmas Cantata. I'm not really thrilled with it this year but oh well. There isn't anything I can do about it. Tomorrow night I have got to clean my apartment from top to bottom. I've let it go for far too long. I really hate cleaning but I'll throw on some Christmas music and power through the hatred. Friday night I promised my mom I would help her decorate her house and tree for Christmas. Then Saturday my mom and I are meeting a friend and we are going to tour Cheekwood. I've never been and I've always wanted to go so I'm really excited about that. Then Saturday night we are going on a tour of Christmas Lights with some people in the church. Earlier in the year our Ladies Prayer Group went on a tour of Celebrity Homes. It was fantastic. It was just alot of fun. Our driver was the best. He was nice, sweet and funny. He also had very interesting stories to tell about each home we saw. I have pictures that I should post on Facebook. Anyway, our tour guide was telling us that their company also gives tours of Christmas lights. Some of them are of celebrity homes. I'm just excited to see Christmas lights...good Christmas lights. That was one of my favorite things to do growing up. We would each get a cup of hot chocolate and pile into the car and go drive around town looking at Christmas lights. So I'm very excited and can't wait. Maybe that will keep me from being overly irritated at work this week. ;-)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I meant to blog yesterday but I was so busy for the most of the day and then I went home early because I had a dizzy spell come on and I was good for nothing. I was upset about that too because last night I was supposed to help my mom put up the tree and decorations at her house and then tonight she was going to help me put up my decorations over at my place. But since I got dizzy I did nothing but lay on the couch all night. I hate it when I get one of those.

Anyway, yesterday was such a pretty day. It actually snowed here. Well, I should say it flurried here and quite heavily at times. It really is starting to look like Christmas around here. I think besides the Fall season Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so pretty with all the lights and all the bustling going on. It also gives me time to watch all my favorite Christmas movies. My favorite is White Christmas. I have to watch that movie every year and I probably watch it at least three times. I love Danny Kaye in it more than anything else. I had the hugest crush on him even though he was old enough to my grandfather. Then I have to watch ELF. That is such a funny movie. It's been on TV twice already and I think I've watched it both times. I also have to watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Those kick off the Christmas season for me. :) I have seen those movies dozens of times but I still laugh at all the same spots. It's so funny. This past weekend I went and saw Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. I wasn't sure how that would work with those two in it together but they were quite cute. I thought they were matched very well. The movie was pretty funny also. It was a very clean movie with limited bad language if at all. I laughed out loud several times.

Thanksgiving went very well for us. My brother and his family came up for it and we had a great time. The kids were as cute as ever. My niece is so funny. Now that she is almost three she is very fun to be around. It's a fun age because you can really interact with her and her imagination is so big. Her and I sat for hours under the dining room table playing "restaurant". We watched on Thanksgiving night Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. I had never seen it. It was really good but not as good as White Christmas. The Friday after Thanksgiving we met some friend at a Mexican restaurant and then tried to brave the crowd at the Cool Springs mall. Let me tell you. We barely lasted an hour there. With five adults and two kids an a double seated stroller you cannot work your way through the mall. It was crazy!! My mom, Jenny, and I along with the kids stopped at the Children's Place. Jenny had the stroller and got trapped in the back of the store for at least 10 minutes because people would not move for her to get through. Then we tried to go to Kirkland's (one of my favorite stores) and the same thing happened except to me because I had the stroller. Then while sitting there Luke grabbed a stand full of pins and dumped them all on the floor. It was a nightmare being there. We decided to just go home. It was so crazy. They say that our country is in a recession but you surely could not tell it on Friday. I had never seen so many people at that mall and they all were carrying at least 3 bags a piece full of items. Here are a few pictures I took of us during Thanksgiving.

My mom called me yesterday saying she got the results back from her biopsy. She does not have breast cancer!! We are so excited. I had a feeling all along that everything would be okay but there is always that chance that it could have been cancer. It's a huge relief for us and now we can really enjoy the holidays. We are so grateful for all the prayers for my mom and for our family. I realized through all this that we take our good health for granted. Mom also said last night that when you are faced with the possibility at being at the end of your life you look at what you have and have not done for the Lord it makes you want to do better. You want to serve Him more than what you do already. I realized that also and have decided to take steps to serving our Lord better than what I already do. We can all do better. We should never be satisfied with our walk with the Lord and how we serve Him. We should always be striving to be closer to Him everyday. That is a big lesson I learned through all of this.

Stupid Boy!

*Disclaimer - this blog is just a bunch of rambling thoughts today and it's kind of long. :-) Sorry to bore you.

Is Thanksgiving really tomorrow? I can't believe that it is already here. Where has this year gone? But I'm excited about his holiday season. It's one of my favorite times of the year. Last night our church along with three other FWB churches in Nashville got together for a combined Thanksgiving service. It was our year to host it and it went really well. It felt like just a regular Sunday evening service and then of course we had a fellowship afterwards. You can't have a FWB function without eating. It was so good. I had a good time spending time with some of my friends from church that I haven't been able to just sit and talk with in awhile.

We still haven't heard anything yet from mom's test results. They said it could be today but it will probably be Friday or Monday so we are expecting Monday. My mom's not thrilled about going through Thanksgiving not knowing but I think she will be too busy to really think about it. Since my brother and his family are coming up mom will have her hands full with my niece and nephew. I might be cooking the turkey this year. I'm not sure. Since mom's not sore at all from the biopsy she may go ahead and do it but I might actually take a crack at it...with my mother's supervision of course. We usually split up the cooking between her, my sister (in law) and myself. We usually make two dishes a piece. Jenny makes the best stuffing and the best sweet potato casserole. I know it's the best because I'll eat it. I hate sweet potatoes and her casserole is the only one that I'll eat. I don't know what she does to that stuffing but man it's so good! I'm making my famous layered salad. It's really good if I say so myself. I have a cousin who will take the entire dish and eat it as a meal so we usually have to make two but he's not coming so I'm only making one. I also make the green bean casserole. I'm not really sure why I make that every year but I do. I think it's because I've been making that since grade school because it's the easiest dish to make...but it is oh so good. I usually make both those the night before. The casserole tastes better if you make it up and refrigerate it over night...let those ingredients gel together. The salad has to be refrigerated for 8 hours so I always make that the night before. That's fine because mom and Jenny always make theirs on the day we eat so I stay out of their way and let them do all the work. I'm not sure what my mom is making. But I know it will be good. My mom's a really good cook. Last year my parents and I went to Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving so we didn't have our usual meal which was weird but it was nice to not have to do anything. I think we are going back next year unless I miraculously get married before then. Chad and Jenny will be with her family so it will just be the three of us.

Why can the male gender be so stupid sometimes? They say that they have a hard time figuring women out...I can't figure them out sometimes. Maybe it's just me. But they can be just as moody and fickle as women. They start stuff and do things and then...BAM!...they just totally do something in the opposite direction! So frustrating. That's all I really have to say about it but just to say that they are so weird and I just can't figure them out sometimes and it just hurts my heart at times. I was talking to my sister (in law) yesterday about it and I asked her why is it so hard for me? It seems so easy for everyone else to find someone but not me. I know that I'm not the prettiest, smartest, thinnest, or most talented person out there but I do feel like I have something to offer someone if they would just stop and get to know me. What really bothers me is when I see couples fuss and fight and call each other names constantly. I would never do that. I would never treat my husband the way I see some wives treat their husbands. At least I would hope I wouldn't be that way. But you see couples like and wonder how God allows that when I would think I wouldn't be that way. Its very frustrating. OH...and on Facebook I had put as my status once that I wish God and I were on the same timetable. And some idiot man said..."I guess you better change your timetable...I doubt His is going to." Well, duh!! I know that! I was just venting my frustration at the moment about something and I didn't need someone pointing that out to me. I'm very well aware of how God works on those things thank you very much! Whew..that felt good. I've been holding that one in. I'm off my soapbox now.

Dancing with the Stars ended last night and I wasn't surprised with who won. I knew that Brooke and Derek would win from the first week. She was the best dancer from start to finish. I was surprised that Lance and Lacey came in third. They were very good from the beginning and he got better every week. I wasn't too impressed with the cast this year so I'm actually glad it's over. I just wish that we didn't have to wait until next fall for it to come back on. Since they are going on tour soon they can't come back in January or February which stinks. Now I have nothing to watch on Monday nights. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find something to do with my time.

I'm so sorry for those of you who stayed to the end to read this blog. It was incredibly boring even for me as I typed it. I hope that everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving and eat lots of turkey. My favorite is going back later on that night and eating leftovers. I was watching FRIENDS last night and they were doing an episode about Ross getting upset that someone at work ate his leftover Thanksgiving sandwich. He said that it has a moist maker in it which he described it as in the middle of the turkey sandwich there is a slice of bread soaked in gravy. That sounded so yummy. Maybe I should try that.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

God is so Good!

Wouldn't you know that since I was so impatient last Monday about using the Karen Carpenter song Rainy Days and Mondays that today it's raining!! So in honor of that I decided to play the song on my blog. So enjoy. I love Karen Carpenter. She had a range on her. I wish so badly that I had a smooth voice like hers. I'm an alto singer like she was but my voice is not anywhere near as smooth as hers nor do I have the range like her. I try though. In our Christmas cantata this year I have a solo and it's at the top of my range and of course during practice last night it cracked in one spot. It's really too high for me but there is no one else to really sing it. It's a beautiful song with so much meaning and truth to it and I hate that I could mess it up by allowing my voice to get shaky and crack. I so wish that I had more musicality in me but again that all went to my brother. :-( But anyway, I'm just going to keep pushing and stretching my voice that when the day of the cantata comes I will be able to get through it without any problems.

Today was my mom's biopsy. I'm so glad it's over and I know that my mom is glad it's over. We have to now wait for the results. I'm confident that it's nothing. It was a calcification that they found which is usually benign but it could be cancer so there is still that little bit of fear when you just don't know the unknown. But I'm trusting the Lord will take care of my mom and all us not just in the circumstance but everyday in every situation. God is so good!

The whole process of getting a biopsy was a little nerve-wrecking and if I was feeling the nerves it hit my mom a hundred times worse. First the hospital called on Friday to say that her appointment would be on Monday at 8am and that a nurse would be calling to give her instructions and tell her where to go. Well a nurse never called her so on Saturday my mom called her doctor's answering service and they said that a doctor would call her with instructions. Well some random doctor from another hospital called her and asked her what she needed and he said he didn't know where they went to have biopsies but he thought it was at this certain place (which he turned out to be right). So of course, my mother is getting even more nervous and anxious because she's afraid that they didn't even have her down for the appointment. So this morning at 6:30am my dad called her doctor's office again and they finally paged her real doctor and he called dad and told them where to go. So after winding our way through the hospital we found the right office. They take us back to this teeny tiny waiting room and they finally call mom who they did have scheduled for today. They told me and dad that it could be almost one and half hours before she was done but it was closer to two hours. Then while we are sitting there you hear a constant noise of door clanking shut. That is the most annoying sound ever. They clank when they open and they clank when they shut. They were clanking the whole time we were sitting there that it was making me nervous and I wasn't ever nervous about the whole situation up to that point. If there was suggestion box in the waiting room I would surely have said something about the incessant noise!But the good news is they were able to remove the entire cluster. Mom's feeling pretty good now. I'm sure that after the numbness wears off she will be sore but she's feels good. I think her nerves have just calmed down. They told us that we might know Wednesday but it will probably be Friday or at the latest Monday. I hope so. I know my mom is ready for this whole thing to be put behind her so she can concentrate on the holidays.

Tonight I have a thing to go to. I'm excited about spending some time with my friends and just relaxing and having fun. This is going to be a busy week but it will be short work week which I'm so thankful for. We are spending Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year. My brother and his family are coming up for it so it will be nice to have a few days with them where me or my sister in law doesn't have to get up and go to work.

Please keep praying for my mom as we wait for the tests results to come in. Hope you all are having a fabulous Monday.

Beat It!

Yesterday I asked you to pray for an unspoken request. It was for my mom. Something showed up on my mother's mammogram and now she has to have a biopsy. They said that there are black specks and they have formed a cluster but she doesn't feel any lumps or is in any pain. So I am very confident and hopeful that this is nothing but of course your mind does drift off to the "what ifs". You can't help it sometimes.

Six years ago my grandmother passed away from breast cancer. There were so many circumstances surrounding that situation. She was in a Podunk town with a Podunk doctor who was treating her for other things and telling her it was in heard so by the time she got to a real doctor the cancer was too far gone that there was nothing they could do for her. But of course since that was the cause of her death you tend to be a little worried when you are put in that situation so I don't blame my mother at all for being a little concerned over this. But we know that God is in control and that we are placing this situation in His hands. Mom and I didn't go to church last night for a couple of reasons. Dad told the church last night so they could pray. I'm praying that when she goes in for the biopsy that the cluster is gone. I believe my church will be praying for that as well. My church has serious clout with the Lord. We've had several people in our get cancer and every one of them has beat it. Everyone of them is cancer free now. Two women had breast cancer and one man had leukemia. Every time our church prays for healing the Lord heals. So I'm confident that will turn out to be nothing at all and even if it does turn out to be something I know that Lord is with us and He will take care of my mom and all of us. So continue to pray for my mom and that she will have peace with this.

Last night, I stayed home with mom from church so I baked snickerdoodle cookies and we watched the movie August Rush that was playing on TV. It was a pretty good movie. The ending was good and predictable but I felt like it could have gone on for a little while longer. It just sorted ended but it was still good. If you love music you will like this movie. It makes me wish I had never stopped taking piano lessons. I wish I was more musically talented than what I am. I don't play any instruments. I do sing occasionally which I enjoy when my throat isn't cracking and my knees aren't knocking together. You would think after years of singing in front of people that I wouldn't get nervous but I do...every time.

My brother is coming in to town today. He and my dad got tickets to the Illinois vs. Vanderbilt basketball game tonight so it will be nice to see him for a few minutes. I wish he would be my niece and nephew with him but I don't think he is able to. I'll get to see them next week during Thanksgiving though.

I've got a busy day today at work so I guess I better get started.

Prayer

My heart is burdened today. All I ask today is that you pray for this very special unspoken request. I know it's frustrating when people ask you to pray for unspoken requests but sometimes those are the most needed.

So the only thing for my post today is that you please take this matter on my heart to the Lord.

I miss Mayberry...sitting on the porch drinking ice-cold cherry coke..

Yesterday I didn't make it to work. I got up and got ready but I had another one of my dizzy spells so I ended up staying home. These put me out for an entire day. It comes with a migraine and nausea. It's not fun and when they come on, I'm completely useless. So I've accepted that I just have to stay home and lay in bed or on the couch when they come on. They don't come on very often but when they do it's bad.

But on the bright side it was nice to stay at home the entire day and not do a thing. I don't remember the last time that happened. So I pretty much spent the day watching TV and doing a few loads of laundry. I didn't spend my time watching Maury or the courtroom judging shows. Those are so pointless and a waste of good TV time. I did watch Little House of the Prairie though. :) I had not seen that show in forever. Stupid thing still makes me cry but you can't help it when they are on there bawling like babies. I have a rule anyway that when you cry in my presence I cry along with you. Apparently that applies to people crying on TV as well.

The other night I had DVR'd some GAC shows that they were doing on Brad Paisley. Just to remind everyone that I'm a HUGE Brad Paisley fan. Anyway, they were showing a behind the scenes of the making of his video Waiting on a Woman. Have you seen it? It's so sweet. First of all Brad Paisley seems to be one of the most humble and nicest guy around. His songs are so good and funny and his videos are so great. They are filled with humor. Secondly, he had Andy Griffith in the video. I've heard horror stories of Andy Griffith but after seeing him behind the scenes I don't know if they are true. He was so sweet, cute and funny and he seemed truly appreciative that he was asked to be in the video. You can watch the video here if you haven't seen it. After watching the special it made me want to watch The Andy Griffith Show so I was able to catch a few episodes yesterday. After all these years it is still a good show. It's still so funny. I love it. It's a good show to base how you want to raise your children on. But it made me feel so nostalgic. Does that happen to you? I miss the more simple slow paced life that we used to live. Everyone is always in a hurry and needing to be here and there for this reason or another. People also seemed much happier and less selfish back then they are these days. That's not to say that people aren't happy these days but life just seemed easier and more peaceful back in the days of Mayberry. So yesterday was just that for me. It was very peaceful even though I was dizzy and had a bad headache. I laid around watching TV and reading a book. It couldn't have gotten any better than that.

As far as I know my week will be fairly slow and uneventful which is fine with me. I've been so busy the past few months and I know in the next month things will get pretty crazy so I'm going to enjoy the boringness in my life right now. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week!! That is mind blowing. Where did this year go? It is so true what they say about the older you get the faster it goes. It seems like we just started 2008 and now we are almost in 2009. My niece will be 3 my nephew will be 1 my brother will be 33 I will be 32 and my sister (in law) will turn 30!! I remember when I was you how people in their 30's seemed so old but that sure isn't the case now! I feel like I'm 12 most times! :) Oh well, I'm still going to embrace it and enjoy it.

Hope every one's day is fantastic!

Hold Me Close Tony Danza!!

So I'm listening to pandora.com and I'm listening to the country station I created and they are playing Tiny Dancer by Tim McGraw. Was it Elton John that originally sang it? I can't remember but what's funny is that I used to think that the phrase was "Hold me close, Tony Danza." I used to think why do they want Tony Danza to hold him close? If it's Elton John I understand. :) But I used to think that was so crazy. I mean Tony Danza was the greatest on Who's The Boss? and he was a looker. Who didn't have a crush on him?! But I just realized in the past year or two that they are saying tiny dancer and not Tony Danza. My bad! :)

Do you ever do that? Do you ever sing a song and you make up words because you didn't know the real words? There's a scene in 27 Dresses where they did that. It was so funny. Ahh James Marsden. He's so dreamy!

I am so glad it's Friday! I'm sure everyone is saying that today. It's been a long slow day for me. There is no one up front with me today so it's a little boring. Well, it's boring in between all the phone calls. I've been answering all the toll free calls today and they have been ringing off the hook! We just had a mailing go out this week to everyone on our mailing list and there have been so many people requesting to be taken off the list. That doesn't matter to me. What matters is how rude half these people are being! It's ridiculous. I didn't put them on the list and I don't know that your Uncle Bubba passed away back in 1989 if you don't call and tell us! This why I'm not in customer service full time. I get too aggravated with rude people. I don't answer this line much. The girl that normally answers it is on vacation today so I've been doing it and I will gladly hand it back over when she gets back! It's wearing me out.

Tonight I'm going to Panera Bread for dinner and then I'm going to go watch Eagle Eye at the theatre. I love Panera Bread. They have the best soup in a bread bowl! I was so happy to see one go up fairly close to my house. That was one thing I missed when I moved to Nashville so many years ago. They didn't have Panera here so when they put one in last year I was stoked!! Eagle Eye is another movie that I recommend. I saw a few weeks ago but the people I'm going out with tonight haven't seen it so I'm going again. That is fine with me. It was so good!! It PG-13 so it has a few words but not many at all and it's really clean. It's not bloody or too gory from what I can remember. It's a really good action movie.

Tomorrow we have a Nursery Seminar at the church for everyone who works in the Nursery. Carol Reid from FWBBC is the speaker so it should be pretty good. We are trying really hard to get all our classes at church top notch and I hear she has really good ideas on how to make the Nursery more of a teaching center than just a babysitting service. It should be interesting and there's a lunch afterwards. You know there has to be food for any church function. I think it's part of the covenant.

Have a great weekend!

Money, Money, Money.....MONEY!!

Today is a pretty dreary day here in Nashville but I love it. The sun has peeked out a few times today but not much but this is a perfect fall day. I actually find it quite romantic and peaceful.

Tuesday night I went to a fish fry at the church and it turned out so well. We made almost $500 and we had a huge turnout. I was so excited about that. I believe that we are half way to our goal. Like I said before the Ladies Prayer Group at church is raising money for some video equipment for the church and this fish fry was to help with that and it was a huge success! We didn't charge a certain amount for a plate but asked for an offering that we put at the front of the buffet table. It worked tremendously! I highly recommend asking for an offering instead of charging a certain amount. People are so much more giving than you realize...or maybe it's just my church. They have such a giving heart. They give for everything. Any time that there is a need a church they don't hesitate in giving money where needed. They just give.

Last night after church I went home and watched the CMA Awards that I DVR'd. I didn't realized that there was so much singing but it seemed like every country star got up and sang. I love Taylor Swift's number and Kellie Pickler's as well. I really loved Brad Paisley and Keith Urbans's duet that started out the show. Those two fantastic guitarists! I could have listened to that all night. I was excited to see Brad Paisley co-host the show. I always thought he was hilarious! If you ever see his videos or listen to his music there is quite a bit of humor in them. I thought it was so cute when he won his category that he went down into the crowd and hugged and kissed his wife's belly. She's pregnant and I thought that was so sweet. You could hear the whole crowd go, "Awwwwwe!" It was a pretty decent award show. It wasn't ever boring or draggy like I thought the Emmy's were this year!

I had lunch today with my mom at Logan's Roadhouse. That is very rare when it's just the two of us going out to eat. We had a good time. We mainly talked about Christmas and Thanksgiving plans and the CMA Awards. I actually couldn't believe that she watched it. She loves Brad Paisley (who doesn't?). She has become a pretty big fan lately. I should take her to the CMA Fest one night next year....what do you say, Tammy, want to try and take her with us next year? Of course we will have to try and get on the lower level or else she can't go. My mom is afraid of heights. I remember for Christmas or her birthday or Mother's Day I got her, dad and myself tickets to go see "Annie" at TPAC. I got tickets on the tier level and it was high and she didn't really enjoy it at all because we were sitting so high she was getting sick. I was okay with the seats but then again, I don't have the fear of heights like she does. I made up for it when I got us tickets to go see "12 Angry Men" as another gift for some occasion that I can't remember. I think this one was Mother's Day. John Boy from the Waltons was starring in it along with some guy from Knots Landing so I knew she wanted to go see it. I was able to get tickets on the Orchestra Level and we were able to get pretty close so I know she enjoyed it. I enjoyed it also. It was a really good play. I recommend people go see it if they get the chance.

So tonight I don't have much to do except for a bit of laundry. I'm always bad about waiting until I have nothing left to wear and so I have like 4 loads to do in one night and since I run everything through the dryer at least 2 or 3 times before it dries, I'm up really late on these nights. But Survivor and The Office is on tonight so at least I'll be happy. I do have some friends coming over tonight to watch The Office with me. They love it as much as I do and it's more fun watching with people so you don't feel like an idiot laughing to yourself. But you can't help it. Steve Carell is so funny but I actually don't like his character that much because he's so annoying. My favorite has to be Dwight. He's so weird that he's hilarious. So I'm looking forward to tonight.

Have a great night!

Wax On...Wax Off

I was reading on etonline.com today and read where Will Smith's son, Jaden, is going to star in a remake of The Karate Kid. It said that it will be filmed and set in Beijing but it will have the same plot...where a kid gets picked on by a bully and he learns to stand up for himself through karate by a quirky instructor. I'm not sure how I feel about this. For one, no one can replace Ralph Macchio. I had such a huge crush on him. He was the cutest! He was also like ten years older than the part he was playing (that's like all the people in Grease. They were all in their 20's and some in their 30's playing 17 and 18 years old Did Hollywood not think people would notice?). He has such a baby face so he was able to pull it off. But do they really need to remake The Karate Kid? I loved this movie and I still do. I own all three on DVD actually. Also, no one can replace Pat Morita who played Mr. Miyagi. I'm sure they aren't trying to replace these people but do we really need a remake of an 80's movie? It's only been 20 years since these movies were made. It's not time yet. Is Hollywood really running out of ideas so much that they have to keep making remakes? Please! I have nothing against Jaden Smith...he's a great child actor but I just don't think I want to see a remake of this movie. But when it comes out I probably will see it just to compare. Isn't that bad? How do you feel about this remake or any remakes in general? Does anyone care?

Oh also, did you know that the biggest bully in there, Johnny, is a born again Christian in real life and he's a youth pastor in a church in Texas I believe. At least the last time I heard that was what he was doing. He may be doing something else but I thought that was very interesting.

Last night I said I had a meeting to take care of and I asked for prayer. Well, I sure felt the prayers because the meeting went a lot better than I thought and the Lord was glorified in it and things were left on a good note so I'm so thankful for that. It was a dark time in my life and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and things will be much better so thank you to all who have been praying for me. It has been such a comfort.

Later last night I got together with my Bunco friends. We had a great time. In addition to playing Bunco we had to bring a Christmas ornament because we threw an ornament shower for one of the girls who is getting married in two weeks. It was an interesting idea. I had never thought of that but I can understand that. When you first start out you don't have anything nor do you have the money for it. I keep thinking of myself and how I have Christmas decorations for my house but I have nothing for my tree. I have a hand-me-down pre-lit tree so that may be all I do this year and after Christmas buy some things on sale. That sounds depressing doesn't it? LOL! I would love to decorate my tree in red, silver and gold. Just the classic Christmas colors. I also love Santa Claus. I have so many that I have collected over the years but I can't stop. It's an addiction. Can you believe I'm talking about Christmas and it's not even Thanksgiving. I'll stop now and wait until after Thanksgiving.

Tonight I'm headed to the church for a fish fry. It's a fundraiser our Master's Men group is having. The Ladies Prayer Group is trying to raise money for video equipment to live stream our services to the nursery. We were having a hard time raising the money so I asked the Master's Men if they would mind helping us and they fully agreed so this is their first attempt at raising money which I think is going to turn out great! I can't wait to see how it goes. I just hope they have chicken since I hate seafood of any kind. I just can't eat fish. I've tried I can't stomach it. Which is a shame because it does look good and everyone seems to enjoy eating it. Oh well, I'm fine with my chicken. :)

Have a great night and go back and watch The Karate Kid!! So fantastic!

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

That's not really true. It's not even raining here in Nashville but I've wanted to use that title for so long and was very impatient for a rainy Monday. :) I bet it rains next Monday. I had a really good weekend. Or I at least had parts of a good weekend.

Friday afternoon was an extremely hard time for me and one that I really don't ever want to relive. Ever feel like you get beaten down and there is no way of escaping? Something happened to me on Friday in a very cowardly way and now today at 5pm I have to deal with it. It won't be very pretty but it is necessary. So please pray for me that the Lord will guide me and help me to have the right words to say and just pray for His guidance in this meeting today in that it will go in the way that He wants and that these issue will be resolved to His glory. I hate moments like this but like I said, it's necessary. It's been a long time coming and I'm glad that it's finally here but will be so happy when it's over.

With that sometimes, it absolutely stinks to be in a pastor's family. Now don't get me wrong, I love my family and I'm so happy to be in the family that I have. I wouldn't change it for anything. I've seen the Lord do unbelievable things that I don't think I would have if I were anywhere else. I always said growing up that I would under no circumstances marry a preacher but really that isn't true. I probably would. It's all I've ever known and even though it's a very lonely life I would accept it whole-heartedly but with that everything you say and do is scrutinized. This isn't new to me. I've dealt with it my whole life but as an adult you don't think you have to deal with people's pettiness and immaturity but I do. I know that I have my faults and I'm not perfect by no means and there are always things to work on but in honesty so does everyone else. I don't need it brought up to me in a very cowardly way.

But with the bad part of my weekend I had some really fun times. Saturday a friend and I went to the Nashville Zoo. This was only my second time to go and it was my friend's first time. We had a fantastic time. She was so excited to see the elephants and giraffes. I was so glad I got to share this experience with her. The zoo even though is very small and no where near as good as if you went to a larger city's zoo, is still a really good zoo. They have a wide variety of animals. I could have done without the snakes and spiders though. It was a chilly day but it wasn't bad at all. It took about three hours to see everything. It was a good day. We had a great day at church yesterday. Dad preached an amazing sermon on salvation but it was geared towards the Christians as well and it hit the nail on the head with his points. It was wonderful. Then we took some college girls out to IHop. Now I love IHop. I love their pancakes but we had the worst service I have ever seen. You would think that they were slammed with people when it was just our table of seven and one other table of two in the entire place. It was crazy and my pancakes weren't as good as they looked in the picture. :( That always happens though. The pictures are so enticing but when you get it, first of all, they never look like the picture on the menu and then second of all they don't taste near as good as it looks. I'm a caramel (carmel) nut. I love caramel. The pancakes I ordered had caramel for a topping and when I got my pancakes I asked where the caramel sauce was and they said they ran out! I was so disappointed. The pancakes weren't near as good probably. I so looking forward to the caramel sauce. Maybe next time.

Tonight I have this "meeting" to deal with and then I have Bunco tonight. I'm not really in the mood for Bunco tonight but I made a commitment to it. I'd rather stay at home and watch Dancing with the Stars. It's finally a real competition now that Cloris Leachman and Susan Lucci are gone. I'm such a homebody it isn't funny. I like being around people but I also love being at home curled up on my couch drinking hot chocolate reading a good book or watching a good TV program or movie. Anyone with me on that?

Hope your Monday is spectacular!

Dream A Little Dream With Me

It is a beautiful day here in Nashville. The weather couldn't be any nicer. It's actually a soothing balm on my soul today. I've been struggling so much lately with certain issues that it helps to look outside my office window and see the sunshine and the beautiful trees. I believe we are in our fall peak season and it's just gorgeous everywhere I look. It makes me wish that I was in the mountains or taking a walk on a trail somewhere. I love days like these.

Like I've mentioned before I've been struggling lately to where I almost feel like I've fallen in a hole and I can't claw and climb my way out of it. I'm determined to lean on the Lord and I know that with His strength I can get through it. I know changes have to be made within myself and I need to find the person that I once was. I know that will all start with the Lord. I had a long talk with my sister in law last night. I love talking to her. She always has great advice and she listens to what I have to say but she always will put me in my place if I need and makes me see reason. I know she loves and I can't imagine her not in my life even though she makes fun of my northern accent and words. I still love her redneck heart. But as long as I know I've got people who genuine love me and pray for me I know that I will overcome these struggles and be the person that the Lord wants me to be. Please keep praying for me.

Thursdays have become one of my favorite days. I don't really know why but it has. I think because it's one of the few nights a week I get to myself. I was supposed to go out with a friend tonight but I think those have been cancelled so it will be a quiet evening at home. That's fine. I need to catch up on some laundry and do some light housekeeping. My parents are out of town so I'm having to go by their house and let the dog out and make sure he's eating. So after work I'll be doing that and I was thinking of stopping by Wal-Mart to look at some fabric and wallpaper. I'm trying to come up with creative ideas to decorate my apartment. I'm doing my kitchen and dining room in the Tuscan yellow, reds, and green colors. I love those colors. I think they are so soothing. Anyway, a lady who attends my church is a fabulous decorator. Her home could be in a magazine it's so beautiful. Well, she had these plates hanging on her wall that I loved and they were the colors I was using. She had gotten for like $1 each in AL and she offered to pick me up some the next time she went down there. So she got them and I hung them up in my dining room but the plates get lost on wall. The plates are white with a decorative picture on them and since my walls are white as well they don't look the best hanging there. So I'm going to try and find some wallpaper or fabric and cut out a piece and then hang it on the wall and frame it with a black wooden frame and hang the plates in the middle. It sounds like it might work but I won't know until I actually hang it up. So I'll keep you posted and maybe post a picture of it and let you tell me how it looks.

Survivor and The Office are on tonight so I'll have an enjoyable evening. I also just started a new book. It's actually the third book in a series. They are older but I've never read them before. It's by Beverly Lewis and it is a story about this Amish family. It took me awhile to get into them but they are interesting. I'm just buying my time until Karen Kingsbury's new book comes out on November 11. If you have ever read anything by her you might remember her 9/11 series. There are only two books in that series but she decided to write a third so it comes out next. I'm excited. That was a great series and I'm glad she's expanding it. When read this series it brings back all the emotions you had on that horrific day but the read is so worth it. She's an unbelievable writer and I can only dream about telling stories the way she does. That is the biggest dream I have (besides a husband and a family)...to be able to write to where I can support myself. I would love to write a story where you can absolutely get lost in and imagine yourself there in that moment. It's because of Karen Kingsbury's book about the Baxters that I want to live in a house out in the country with a huge pond where my kids can catch frogs and fish and walking trails where I can get lost with my husband talking our day and our future together. *Sigh* Maybe someday. But until then I will keep up with the little writing I do and pray that my dream will come true. I'm determined to write full time some day. I would like to start out writing for magazines and also try to conjure up an idea for a good story to tell people someday.

What is your dream? Are you living out your dream today? If not, what are you doing to try and make your dream come true?

From Sea to Shining Sea

Well, the elections are done and over and I'm so glad that they are. I have never been so sick of seeing political ads and morning talk shows filled with politics as I have been this year. The media was so biased this year and I thought it was just unfair. I'm not one to really understand everything there is to know about politics but I did keep up with everything the best I could this time around. I'm disappointed of course in the outcome. I think America got it wrong with whom they chose but now there isn't anything we can do about it. I am worried and concerned now with where our country will be headed but all we can do is give it to God. He knows truly what is best for all of us and all we can do now is pray that He will guide our new leader. I know that there are such strong opinions on our new president-elect but I do hope they everyone will now pray for him and respect him for the position he is in and to now support him. I do believe that he does have the best interest of our country at heart even though you can't always see it. But I will pray for him. That's all I can do now. But on the positive side...how exciting was it to watch history being made? Our first ever black president.

Enough, about politics. Last night I went to get my hair redone. As I mentioned a few blogs ago that I went to get my hair cut and colored. The color didn't take because it had lightened up so much on vacation that my hair wouldn't grab the color. So my stylist suggested that I try some oil treatments at home. This sounded so crazy to me but what I did was put mayo on my hair and leave it on for about an hour. I had heard that mayo was a great conditioner but let me tell you it felt weird...not to mention it made me extremely hungry. I was craving a ham and cheese sandwich for an hour. :) I did this treatment twice before last night and my hair felt so much better. The dryness and brittleness (is that a word?) of my hair was gone and the color took to my hair this time. I love it! It's so dark. I'm very pleased. I'm going to try and keep up with the oil treatments on my hair for a few more weeks and see how shiny I can get it.

Things have been pretty slow here at work. You might notice as you read this that you are hearing music. I realized that I could add a playlist so I did that yesterday. I really like it. I got most of the songs off the Fireproof soundtrack added on here. They were awesome songs. I couldn't get While I'm Waiting. It wasn't on the website to download so I hope they add it soon. Speaking of that...some of you have sent me messages on Facebook regarding a couple of my posts and I just wanted to thank you all for your kind encouraging words. It has meant alot to me and it feels good knowing that there are people out there praying for me. Remember that I'm praying for you as well.

I'm sorry that this post was a little on the boring side. There really isn't anything new gonig on to talk about. Have a great night and I promise that I'll try and come up with some interesting things to talk about tomorrow. :)

While I'm Waiting

Saturday afternoon I went to go see the movie Fireproof. It was made by the same people who did Facing the Giants. I thought it might be a cheesy Christian love movie but I was pleasantly surprised. I was so excited to see Kirk Cameron in this movie. It was a role I have never seen him play and he did a phenomenal job. The movie as a whole was wonderful. It had it's cheesy moments of course, but it had a little bit of action and there were times when you were sitting on the edge of your seat because you didn't know what was going to happen. Then it had moments where you laughing out loud and then the next minute you have a tear rolling down your face. They told the plan of salvation and did not sugar coat it either. It was a well told story that you really couldn't predict what would happen at the end. It was an awesome movie.

I knew I wanted to see it but then I also didn't. It's all about "fireproofing" your marriage and since I'm not married I didn't think I would get anything really out of the movie. I was so wrong. I think everyone should see this. I think this is a great movie for singles to watch just as much as it is for couples. First of all it's a great guide to getting your marriage to a great start but you can take some of the tools they demonstrated and use it on your friendships but you can also use it to get your relationship with the Lord where it needs to be.

It encouraged me to work on my walk with the Lord. I was saved at an early age and I've always tried to keep my relationship with Him close but it does waiver. Lately it hasn't been the greatest because I have these deep insecurities about myself that I let get in the way of so many things. My walk with the Lord has been one of those things. To be honest, I've let the devil talk me into thinking that the Lord doesn't really care about me like He used to. The only dream that I ever really truly had was to be married and have a family of my own. But I'm 31 years old and that has not happened and I do get very down and depressed about it at times. It's what I think about constantly and that is where my insecurities come into play. I find all these things wrong about myself and talk myself into thinking that I'm second to everyone and I'm not really worthy of anyone's love. But while watching Fireproof I learned a lesson. That even though I'm single and no prospect of marriage is in sight God still loves me. He sent His Son to die for me. How dare I question His love when He made the ultimate sacrifice for me. There was a point in the movie where Kirk Cameron's character was frustrated because he wasn't see the results that he was expecting at that particular point in his work on his marriage. A song was being played that I just fell in love with and have decided to adopt it for myself. It speaks exactly what is in my heart. It's by the artist John Waller and the name of the song is While I'm Waiting. I want to share the words with you.

I'm waiting

I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am hopeful

I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it is painful

But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident

Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting

I will serve You

While I'm waiting

I will worship You

While I'm waiting

I will not faint

I'll be running the race

Even while I wait

I'm waiting

I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am peaceful

I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it's not easy

But faithfully, I will wait

Yes, I will wait

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord.

I may still be single but that doesn't mean that I still can't worship and serve the Lord. That doesn't mean that I can't still tell people about Him and what He has accomplished in me. I want to serve the Lord with all my heart and serve Him with all that is in me. I pray that while you wait that you can say the same.

Please go see Fireproof. It will change you.

Trick or Treat...Smell My Feet...Give me Something Good to Eat!

I could not come up with a clever title if you couldn't tell. I was using all song titles or movie titles but my brain isn't functioning so well this fine Friday afternoon. Not much is really happening right now. I realized after all the fall festival stuff and my trip to Hawaii I really have nothing to say. :) So this blog should get really interesting.

Can I just say that the TV show "The Office" is probably one of my favorite shows ever? It is absolutely hilarious. Last night their show was their Halloween episode and there was only one scene in it where they all dressed up. By the way, Phyllis's costume of Raggedy Ann is the exact same one that I already own. How funny is that? Pretty awesome actually. It's just so funny and that John Krasinski...man! That is one good looking guy. He's a little younger than I am but that doesn't matter does it?

Speaking of age differences....does age really matter? There is someone I know through my brother that wants to fix me up with a guy that he's met. I know this guy, sort of (the guy that I'm to be fixed up with). We've met on a few occasions and he has attended my church every now and then. I don't really know what kind of person he is except that he's been exceptionally nice every time I've had a chance to talk to him. Everyone that knows him speaks very highly of him. He is also very easy on the eyes, ladies. He's one of those tall dark and handsome kind of guys. Anyway, he's quite a bit younger than me...seven years to be exact. So here's my question...does age matter? Does it really? I know when the guy is that much older no one says a word but when the woman is older comments are made. Why are people's perception of couple's have to be that the men should be older? Does it say anywhere in the Bible that men should be older? I know God didn't make it a commandment so does God care who's older as long as you are both in the same place and that God is in the center of your relationship? Look at Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. She like 42 and he's 28 or 29. That's a huge difference but somehow they are making it work. Courteney Cox Arquette is seven years older than her husband, David Arquette. My mom is a year older than my dad but really that's not much of a difference. I wonder if it does really matter to men? Maybe I should ask a guy. Just something that has been swirling in my mind lately.

I went to get my hair cut and colored last night. It was in serious need of it. I didn't get it done before vacation because I was trying to save money so I finally was able to get in yesterday. After my stylist finished coloring, blow drying and fixing my hair we realized that the color did not stick like it was supposed to. I like my hair very dark to where it's almost black. Well, it just didn't hold the color even though she used the same shade of color as last time. Then she figured out why it didn't take. The whole time I was on vacation I was outside all day everyday. Of course, it's always sunny in Hawaii and I never wore a hat. Why would I wear a hat? It would ruin my tanning. I had noticed that when I got back my hair was very light. When I was a child I had blond hair during the summer because the sun would always lighten it up several shades. Evidently it still does that. So I'm going to do some oil treatments on my hair because the sun damaged it so badly that it's very dry and almost brittle. I go back on Tuesday to try to recolor my hair the shade it's supposed to be. At least I don't have to pay for the second color. I have a great stylist. She used to work with my sister (in law) until they moved to Alabama so I started to go to her. I love her so much. She's a sweet lady and now my mom and I got several ladies in my church going to her as well.

I don't have anything planned for Halloween this year. I usually try to get the Ladies Prayer Group to do something fun. Several years ago we had a costume party and a scavenger hunt. That was so much fun. Two years ago we went on the Ghost Walk Tour in downtown Nashville and then last year we went on the Confederate Walking Tour at some famous cemetery close to downtown. They were both really cool! You learn so much about the history of Nashville and I learned alot about the Civil War that I didn't learn at school. I realized that in school being from the North that I only learned the northerners side of the war and down here at the cemetery I learned the south's side. It was interesting to say the least. We will probably do one or the other next year. So tonight I'm just going out to eat to a Barb-b-Que place with a friend and then go home and do an oil treatment on my hair. Sounds fun and exciting right? I hope I can find a good movie to watch since I have to do the treatment for an hour. I won't even tell you what I have to put on my hair...tomorrow perhaps!

Happy Halloween! Be safe!

Hawaii - Pearl Harbor

I'm finally at the end of my trip. Aren't you excited that I won't be telling anymore about Hawaii after this post? I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to get back to my real boring life. :)

On Monday morning we had a shuttle come and pick us up at 6am to take us to Pearl Harbor. It was so early and since this was at the end of our trip I was exhausted but it was worth every minute of it. We were going to go do this on our own but we found a Pearl Harbor tour so we decided to book that and not have to worry about finding our own transportation there. The tour entailed a trip to the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri battleship and the Punchbowl Crater which is a military cemetery.

You hear that you need to be at Pearl Harbor early in the morning or you will have to wait hours to get in and I understand why. We were the second bus to arrive and it wasn't long after us getting there that bus after bus was arriving and the line wrapped around the block. Evidently it is like this everyday there. So if you ever go to Pearl Harbor....go early...very early. When you go in you are put into a group number and then you wait for your number to be called. Luckily we were in group one so we didn't have long to wait. They usher you into a room where they have you watch a short film about Pearl Harbor with the events leading up to the attack. They showed actual footage of the attack. After the film they put you on a boat driven by the navy that takes you to the memorial. Since I've been back people have asked me my thoughts on the memorial. I actually have no words to describe the moments when you are on the memorial. It's a very quiet and reverent place. There is no talking except for an occasional whisper. It was very surreal to be there. The whole place becomes more real to you and you began to understand a glimmer what those men and women had to endure that day. I can't describe the feeling I felt when I stood at the edge of the memorial and looked in the water and saw the Arizona sitting there...being a tomb for over 1000 men. I can't tell you what I felt as I saw and smelled the oil rising to the top of the water from the ship. It's impossible to explain the feelings and the lump in your throat and the tightness in your chest when you see all the names etched in the wall of the men who are still entombed in the Arizona. It's a moment I'm so glad I got to experience and one that I will never forget. I have a new found appreciation for the men and women in uniform and what they have sacrificed and our still sacrificing for our freedom. It was a humbling experience. Here are a few photos:

The two men in the above picture are two of the last remaining survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. I can't imagine the images that these two men saw on the horrible day. If you ever get a chance to make it to Hawaii and you go to Oahu, I urge everyone to fit Pearl Harbor into your plans. You won't regret at all! It's a fantastic experience.

After we finished our time at the Arizona Memorial we made our way onto the military base to tour the USS Missouri. Let me tell you that ship was HUGE!! It's as long as 3 football fields and was at least 20 stories high. It was huge and I felt so small being on there. We toured all through that thing. We climbed ladders, we stepped over guns. It was awesome. This particular ship was active during Operation Desert Storm back in the 90's. It was also the ship where they signed the Peace Treaty with Japan to end WW II. It was a cool thing to see. I know that I could never live on a ship like that. It was very claustrophobic. We were able to spend a good amount of time there just exploring this piece of history. After we toured the ship we made our way to the Punchbowl Crater. This was interesting but we never got off the bus. We just drove through the cemetery. It was a pretty place.

We were dropped off at our hotel around 1pm and so we decided to spend the rest of the day at our hotel pool and hot tub. We wanted to work on our tans a little bit and just spend the rest of our time relaxing and that is exactly what we did. It was nice. The next evening we were flying back home. So the next morning we packed our luggage took them down to the holding room and spent most Tuesday at the pool. We were pretty tired of sand and salt water so we decided to stay at our pool. It was very relaxing and it felt good to not have to be anywhere or do anything. Our plane took off at 5pm so at 3:30 we headed to the airport. We flew all night from Hawaii to Minneapolis, MN and then took a flight from there to Atlanta and then from there headed to Nashville. I had never been so happy to see Nashville in all my life. I was so exhausted after the long plane rides and endless connections.

It was though one of the best times in my life. We were able to do so much in a relatively small amount of time. I believe that I was able to see the entire island and do things that I normally wouldn't do here. I'm so glad that I had the chance to go and I would go back in a heartbeat. I still can't believe that I was there. It still feels like a dream. The next time I want to make sure that my family is there with me. I would like to share that experience with them.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I will pick back up with my everyday ins and outs of my life. You really haven't missed much this past month really. It's all been catch up from me being gone. Things at work have finally slowed down and I'm back on my regular routine. Today I'm using my Crock Pot for the first time. Can you believe it? I bought one of those frozen Crock Pot meals. So I've been making Chicken and Dumplings. I'm excited to try it. I'll let you know how it goes. Tonight I have Bible Study at church but I'll spend the whole time in choir practice. We are trying to get ready for our Christmas program in December. We are doing the same one as last year so we are just really going over with a fine tooth comb this year and working out the kinks. It should be good...I hope. :) Have a good night!