Movingpaloosa!

*Disclaimer: My song choices really have nothing to do with my posts anymore. They are just songs that I like and enjoy! Question though...are the songs distracting from the posts? Just wondering.

Today is day one of my movingpaloosa. I'm at work today so my dad and another couple from our church have graciously volunteered to move all my furniture and heavy boxes out of my apartment and into my storage unit. I think they are leaving me my TV, a lamp, and recliner so I have something to sit on tonight. Tomorrow I think we will be moving my bedroom furniture and hopefully make this into a two day moving event. The rest I can do myself as I clean up my apartment the next week to get ready for my walk through. I kind of feel guilty that they are doing all the heavy lifting and I'm sitting here in my chair at work...kind of. :) I've done so much all ready and I have so much still left to do.

I felt so overwhelmed last night trying to figure out how to pack everything and what to keep and what to store. I know that I can get into my storage unit anytime I want but still. It's a hassle. My mom asked me how I felt about moving and really it's bittersweet. I loved my apartment. I felt safe and cozy in there but yet I hated the noise. I've had two different men live in the apartment above me and both of them stomp all over the place. There were times I felt like they were going to come through the ceiling they would get so loud...especially when the second guy moved in. It was horrible. I had to leave they were being so loud. But I loved the place. It was mine own. But I'm really excited about this next step. To actually own something myself is so exciting for me. Tonight I have to tackle my bedroom. When it comes to that room, I'm not the neatest person so I've to organize it first before I can do anything with it, if that makes sense. :)

I know that awhile ago I wrote a blog about Twitter. I kept hearing about it and never understood what it really was. So after much research and asking people about, I joined it. So yes, I twitter now. So if you also twitter, you can follow me at www.twitter.com/janicedonoho. I can't believe I'm a part of it and I really don't do a whole lot because I still think it's pointless to tell what you do every second of the day but I do follow a few friends and then some celebrities. Some of the things they say can be pretty hilarious. Not much else is going on here as you can probably see. I'm hoping that once I move things will get back to normal for me because I feel like everything is just weird. Maybe it's the swine flu...I don't know. :)

Stylin and Profilin!

I have to share a picture with you. I can't believe that I didn't tell you about this yesterday. After my friends and I went to eat at Macaroni Grill on Saturday, we stopped at the gas station so Leslie could fill her car up with gas since she was leaving at 5 am the next morning. While she is out pumping gas I see this older gentleman walking out of the station. His outfit caught my attention right away and I pointed it out to everyone else. Here's what we saw:

We thought he was so cute. Not just anyone can pull that look off. He took extra special care of his car too. He cleaned the windows and walked around the car wiping at smudges. He then popped the hood and checked the oil and then stood in this pose forever looking at his cell phone. We think he was on his way to pick up his girlfriend for a date. :) I had never seen pants like that and I thought he pulled it off nicely with his bubblegum pink jacket. Just by looking at his outfit I bet he leads quite an interesting life.

I got quite a bit done last night in packing, I thought. I was able to pack up 90% of my kitchen and all of my dining room stuff. I ran out of bubble wrap and I don't have newspaper so after that, I just quit. I was trying to watch American Idol, NCIS, and Dancing with the Stars during all this too, which made the packing process a little slower. But my mom is coming over tonight to help me finish everything up so I know that I'll get everything done. It's hard to pack up everything all by yourself. I'm always afraid that I'm packing everything "correctly" and things will end up broken. My only problem right now is trying to decide what to store in my storage unit and what to take with me at my temporary living quarters.

So I have a pet peeve (I have quite a few actually) and it really bothered me today. If you have a question about me or my family...ask me!! Don't ask someone else about my family when I'm sitting 10 feet away from you. I can't stand it when people think they know more about my family than I know about my family. They're my family...I know them! There is a certain person I work with who thinks they know everything about everything all ready but they also attend my church and think they know everything that is going on with my family. Not true at all and it bugs me to no end when others are going to her for information about my family when I'm sitting right there listening to everything that is being said. I don't like to give out much information about my family because it's private but this person will just blurt everything out especially when she doesn't know the whole story or all the details. Ugh! I just get so frustrated but if I say anything I look like a snobby prude. Not everyone needs to know every detail of the situations we are in and it's really not that I'm that upset about it. It's the fact that I'm sitting right there and they go to someone else to get information about something going on with my family. Am I invisible? Do you think that I don't know what's going on? My family doesn't keep secrets from each other so more than likely, I know the answer to your question. But maybe they ask others because they know that I'm very selective of what I tell to people and whom I tell it too. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. I guess my rant today doesn't make me much of a virtuous woman. I'll keep working on that. :)

*The song choice for today has nothing to do with today's post. I just really like the song.

Through the Years

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent the weekend in Atlanta with three of my best friends. One of those is my sister-in-law who I see quite often but the other girls I rarely see anymore because of distance but talk to quite frequently on the phone. We had the best time. All we did was talk, lay by the pool and eat. That's it. We weren't on any time schedule. We went to bed late, slept in and then went out to eat when we were hungry. It was nice to not have to be anywhere at any specific time. All we did was enjoy being together. That was our plan all along. We didn't want to spend the time shopping (although we did go to Super Target the first night and spent a good 2 hours there.) We just wanted to spend the time together just talking and laughing and that is what we did. I hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time and it made me realize just how much I miss those girls. When they were all living in Nashville we had the best time and had gotten very close. Then as they moved away I thought we might lose touch and not be as close as we were but actually the distance had only made us closer and you could really tell by this weekend. It was like no time had passed at all between us. I hadn't seen Leslie in two years and the last time I saw Maranda was back in October. All four of us had been, I guess you could say, beaten down this past year and had felt lonely and lacking any real friendship where we currently live. I know that I was hurt very badly by someone who I thought was a friend and I know that my sister in law has had a not that great experience lately with friends so to say the least this weekend was much needed by all four of us. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and I know that this weekend made us all stronger as friends. I had someone tell me once this past year that I needed to forget those friends because they are no longer here. What?! How can I do that? We have been through so much together. We have gone through weddings, birth of babies, loss of babies, death of grandparents, illnesses and just the other things that life throw at you...good and bad. We have been through so much and once you've been through those things with someone there is a connection that can never be broken. They lift me up emotionally and spiritually. They are the best friends any person could ask for. I can't forget that just because they no longer live in the area. These three girls are the ones that I know I can totally be myself around. I can act goofy or silly and they will be right there acting silly and goofy right along with me. We have been there for each other for all the good and bad and have always tried our hardest to be encouragers for each other. We love and accept each other for who we are and who we are not. It's hard to imagine what my life was like before they all came into it and I don't what I would do if they weren't in my life.

It was very funny on Saturday night. We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and Leslie and Maranda had both brought their cameras. We were taking so many pictures. We were acting silly but I promise we weren't being loud but with two cameras clicking away I think the flashes were getting on the entire restaurants' nerves. To be honest, I never even thought of that. We were in the corner of the restaurant but I think we were being noticed by everyone. We didn't really care because we are never together and we were having fun. But anyway, before we got our food we were taking so many pictures and being silly. Then we put the cameras down to eat. Well, after we ate we grabbed the cameras and started taking pictures again. Leslie said that when we started taking pictures, that one guy looked at his wife and said, "Here they go again. They've got those cameras out." This cracked us up! We were laughing so hard at that. One guy even said as we were leaving, "Aren't you going to take a picture of me?" It was then that we realized that we might have been disrupting every one's dinner. Oh well, we had a great time...and we have the pictures to prove it. :-) One of the best weekends I've ever had.

I did have Ladies Prayer Group last night and it was amazing. I'm not leading the Bible Studies this year because I felt like I needed a break after doing it for seven years. My other best friend, Tammy, graciously stepped in for me and is doing a fabulous job. We are studying the Proverbs 31 woman and how to be a virtuous woman. It's so hard to try and live up to her but the lessons have been so good and last night was about self-worth. It was so good and I learned a lot about myself and how God sees my self-worth. I loved the line that was in the study that said, "God never intended our worth to be built on anything other than our standing in His Son." That really struck home to me. We, as woman, try to build our self worth on what magazines say or what other people think. We try say to our selves, "If I would just lose this weight I will have more self worth or if I have a nice home or car than I will have self worth." But that's not true. If we recognize that our worth is all a gift from the grace of God then will we be virtuous women.

This week will be a busy one for me. I will spending all night tonight packing up my apartment. I'm going to try and move by Friday so maybe I can get it all done. I don't live in that big of an apartment so it shouldn't take me too long to get it done. I'm really excited about this next stage because that is getting my that much closer to me purchasing a new home. I'm excited and a little nervous about it but I think it's the best decision. But other than that, not much is going on.

I'm a Lobster!

This won't be long today at all. I'm burnt to a crisp and it is pretty painful. I went to Atlanta this weekend with some friends for some relaxation and all we did was lay by the pool or actually lay in the pool on floats. I look like a lobster and have never had this pain before with a sunburn (not even when I went to Hawaii). I made the mistake of saying, "I'm a Donoho. We don't burn, just tan." I'm now eating those words. LOL! So now I'm off to get some aloe or something to soothe this burning and throbbing that is taking place on my arms and shoulders. Just wanted to check in today. I'll return with my regular posting tomorrow. :-)

Happy Monday!

Soulmate

I'm not one for doling out dating advice even though I'm single. I don't date much. I never have. I've never "played the field" or anything like that. I could probably count the number of times I've been on a date in my entire dating history but I won't bore you with that sad little tidbit. I've recently started reading a blog by someone who is single and writes dating advice to people. It's very interesting and so true in most of what he says. It's interesting to read about dating from a guy's perspective and read the advice he gives to his single friends. You can tell through his writing that he's traditional in the dating world and a gentleman, so it seems. I've never met this guy so I can't say for certain. I just stumbled across his blog while reading other people's blogs one day. Anyway, I really don't like dating. I know it's necessary to get to know someone. What I don't like is the first part of it...meeting the guy, trying to make a good impression, trying to find that common ground, meeting the family...just the awkwardness of it all. Some people find that aspect of it exhilarating. I find it stressful and exhausting. Maybe it's because I've not met someone that makes it exciting or fun. The last guy I was talking to didn't make it fun at all. I felt like I always had to watch what I said or how I said it less he run for the hills and judge me. (Which is basically what happened.) It was just emotionally exhausting. I wish that I could just be in a relationship where it feels comfortable from the beginning and he accepts you for everything that you are and everything that you are not. I do have to tell you about one first date I had. We actually went out on a double date and the guy was horrible about doors. He wouldn't open a door for me to save his life. I'm stickler for guys opening doors for women. That's just a must-have. Anyway, we went out to eat and the conversation was pretty good but then we get back to the car and the bozo jumped up on top of the car and started beating his chest like he was King Kong or something. I was mortified and the couple we were with were pretty embarrassed as well. I mean, there was absolutely no reason for it. Another guy took me to a cemetery (I am not joking at all!) and another guy picked up a magazine and started whistling at all the pretty girls in it and looking at me like, "What do think of this chicky?" Who did he think I was?! This has been my track record with dating.

Now after you get through that whole first awkwardness of dating the first month or two it can be so much fun. I've never really gotten to that point so maybe that is why I'm not that fond of dating or it could because of the bozos I've gone out with in the past. But I've had numerous talks with friends about dating and compare all our dating woes that we could seriously write a book or at least turn it into a sitcom. Recently a friend of mine had read this book by the comedian, Steve Harvey. It's called Act Like A Woman, Think Like A Man and has given it to me to read. I'm not finished with it yet, but it's very enlightening. He has some very good advice for women in there and gives great insight about how the male species thinks and works. If I ever get the chance to date someone again, I just may have to put some of these practicalities to use. It's been very eye opening, to say the least.

I wonder though, if men find dating just as stressful as women do or at least as much as I do and I may be in the strict minority here to say it's stressful. It's so easy to get down sometimes regarding your martial status and I do go to the Scriptures for comfort. I do find comfort but also angst when I read verses like Genesis 2:18 where it says, "And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." If it's not good, then why am I alone? Where's my soulmate, Lord? I pray everyday for the one God has for me and I'm just waiting for the day when the Lord will reveal him to me but I sure get anxious sometimes and impatient! But I didn't mean to get off on that. I was just basically talking about dating. Does anyone else find it or did find it as stressful as I do? Maybe it was just the men I was dating. :)

I'm so stinking excited that today is my Friday. I took a vacation day tomorrow because I'm meeting some friends in Atlanta. This weekend has been a looong time coming and I really thought it would never happen. Its good to get away sometimes with girlfriends and have fun. It's been a long time since we have all been together at the same time and to be together without their kids and husbands was also a huge feat! One of these girls and her family will be moving to a different state the day after she gets back from our trip. I'm surprised that she agreed to come because of that but I'm so glad she did. She's the one the other three of us haven't seen in forever. We all met going to the same church and have been through so much together and one by one they all started to move away from Nashville leaving me here all by myself. :) I miss them all so much so it makes weekends like this that much more special. All four of us live in different states and we found Atlanta to be the most central location for all of us to meet. I mapquested it but I'm so scared that I'm going to get lost. I don't think I will because I usually have a pretty good sense of direction but we'll see. My only worry right now is getting packed for it. As usual, I'm procrastinating. It's a sickness, I know. I think I need help. Have a great weekend!

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

I've been pretty proud of myself lately. I've managed to stay pretty consistent in updating my blog. You all (all 8-10 of you who actually read my blog) may wish I didn't since it hasn't been that interesting. :) Which by the way, I know who most of you are that read my blog but not everyone so if you could let me know who you are that would be awesome. I'm just curious to know who reads this. Also, how can I let other people know about my blog? I would like to get more readers (I don't know why). I don't want to sound conceited or self-indulgent by saying, "Hey! Come read all my meaningless chatter everyday. You're life isn't blessed until you read what I have to say." But it would be nice to try and get more readers. :)

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong? Of course, you have. I have been there plenty of times and well this isn't really about me today but my heart just went out to a few people yesterday who just had a really bad day...week. I had just gotten back in my car after a visit with my hair stylist when I hear the theme song to NCIS (the most awesome show on TV!). I automatically know which friend it is calling and am a little surprised. This friend and I share the same opinion of not really enjoying talking on the phone. If I have something to talk about and to a friend that I don't see on a regular basis or am talking to a guy that I'm trying to get to know then I'm all for it. But if it's a friend who I see all the time I'd rather wait to see you to talk. I don't particularly like making small talk and then there's the awkward silence because you both really don't have anything to say but for some reason they've called you and you still don't know why. It's weird. Anyway, back on point, when I saw who it was I knew something was up and sure enough this poor friend of mine was just having a bad day. It was one of those things where when it rains it pours and then you begin to feel like you need to build an Ark. I knew she about at her breaking point because the story she was telling me was just getting worse and worse and she was crying which in turn almost made me start crying with her. I just felt bad for her so I just listened to what she had to say and then said a prayer for her once we hung up. The Lord knows, I've called her plenty of times in the past few months crying over all the bad days I've had. I love having friends that know they can call you and vent, cry, complain, and laugh anytime and never feel like it's a bother. I love having friends that I know I can call and vent, cry, complain and laugh and never feel like it's a bother. So, my friend, I'm still praying for you because I know this battle isn't over for you...yet. Next week will be much better.

After I got off the phone with her I ran to Kohl's to find some gifts for a few friends that I'm meeting up with this weekend--so excited about this, you don't understand. I'll tell you more about that later in the week. Then after a run to Zaxby's, which by the way, I'm so stoked that Smyrna has added Zaxby's. It's one of the best chicken places I've ever been to. They have one in Northport, AL, and I've been there a few times with my brother and his family so I was really excited to find that they had built one close to home. Anyway, (I'm so sorry for all the rabbit chases today) I made a quick run there and then rushed home to eat and get ready for my church's softballs games. I don't play but I do like to go watch and root for our team. We haven't had a game in three weeks because it's rained and stormed the past few weeks so finally the fields were dry enough to play. We lost both games but we did have an eventful start to the second game. One of the guys, who didn't play the first game, was up to bat. It was the bottom of the first inning and it was his first time up to bat. He smacked the ball to the outfield and when he went to tag first base he either tripped over the first basemen's foot or he tripped over the bag. It was hard to tell. Long story short, he broke his ankle! I felt so bad for him. He has four daughters who were all there and they are ages 12, 7 and 2 year old twins. The seven year old was sitting next to me and she was all upset because we called the ambulance to get him. So I spent most of my night trying to console this crying little girl. Then the rest of the night the one of the twins kept saying, "Daddy boo-boo." It was cute. So the ambulance whisked him away and I believe he doesn't have to have surgery but still he has to deal with a broken ankle. The rest of the game was uneventful, thank goodness!

Sometimes, we just have bad days. But thank the Lord we always start fresh the next day. In the words of Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables, "Tomorrow's always fresh with no mistakes in it."...yet. :)

To Make You Feel My Love

*Disclaimer: This blog title has nothing to do with today's blog except that this song was sung by Kris Allen on American Idol and I really liked his style of singing this song. I also couldn't come up with a clever title today. The juices aren't flowing as well today. :)

It's only 11:24 am and it already feels as if it should be 4:00 pm. It's been one of those days. It feels like it's dragging by but yet, I'm so busy today it's flying by as well if that makes any sense. Our board members are in today for a meeting and so things are pretty hectic around here this morning. We also have approved new missionaries so I'll be busy this afternoon with orientation. This family is a very sweet family and I think they'll do an amazing job once they get out on the field. I can't mention who they are yet because they are a well known FWB family and they haven't told their church yet that they are leaving. My family has been there before so know how they feel. I know they will be tremendous missionaries.

I've decided that I'm moving before next weekend and I have not one thing packed. I'm such a procrastinator. I know that I need to start tonight but I'm sure something else will draw my attention away from it and I'll be scurrying around my apartment the night before trying to get everything in boxes and plastic containers. :) I'm actually really excited about it because it will give me a chance to throw some things that I don't need anymore or get of things that I wasn't happy with like the curtains in my living room. They are so blah! So when I move into my next house, I'll have a chance to get new ones to spiffy the place up a bit. I love decorating. I'm not that good at it but I love the adventure of it and trying new ideas. Living in an apartment you don't get much of a chance to do that because you can't paint the walls and do other things that you would do if you owned your own place. I can't wait to pick out my own paint colors and paint my walls and put a shelf or picture on the wall anywhere I want to do because it's my wall and I own it! I can't wait for that day. It will be exciting.

Tonight I do plan on packing but also watching a little American Idol. I never watched that show until last year and then I got hooked. I think my favorite is Danny Gokey just because he is a music minister in a church and his story was so touching. But the boy can sing. I love to sing and I've downloaded all his songs off if iTunes. I also really like Kris Allen. He has a nice voice as well but I do think that Adam Lambert will be the one to win the whole thing. He's very good but I'm not crazy about his arrangements on some of the songs. When he did Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" I wanted to burn my TV. He did it great but I just did not like his version of it. But I can't wait to see what they choose this week. It's disco week I think so it will be interesting. :)

Lifesong

I've been having a hard time coming up with something to blog about these days. I don't know if it's because I'm losing interest in it or that my life is just that boring that I don't have anything to talk about that worth's reading. :)I've been trying to decide if I want to change the way I do my blog or keep doing it like I have been already. Like I said from the very first blog I posted, I mainly started writing my blog so I can get back into writing and organize my thoughts better. I never really intended to write about my everyday happenings but it just sort of happened that way.

I love to write though. It's hard for me to start writing at first...coming up with a topic. I stare at that blank screen with the blinking cursor and think, "How am I going to fill this page?" Once I type that first sentence everything just seems to seep out and I can come up with something, however meaningless, to say. I do love to tell a story. I just had an article come out in ONE Magazine which is the Free Will Baptist magazine. The article was titled "Ragged Andy" and if you are interested you can read it here (by the way, that's not my picture next to the title. That's the artwork they used in the print version of the story.) It is a true story that did happen when our family started a church in Davenport, IA many years ago. The name was changed in the story to protect the innocent. :) This isn't the first time I've written an article for the magazine. Well, it was the first for ONE but I've written two other articles for the previous FWB magazine, Contact. It was a lot of fun. If I could write for a living I think I would do it. I might have mentioned it on here before but I used to write a children's newsletter for our home missionaries' children. I had created a story about a family who moved from a city and planted a church in a different region of the country. It was basely loosed on my family and mine and my brother's experiences. I wrote it monthly and I've contemplated combining it all together and putting it into a book but I just have never had the time or the creativeness to really do it.

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday after church and he was asking me about my writing and my job situation. He's known that I haven't been that happy at my current position for awhile and it's mainly because this is what I really want to do but I've become so comfortable where I'm currently working that I haven't had the gumption to move on. He encouraged me to put all my writings into a portfolio so I think I will do that. I would like to have all my writings and stories in one place anyway, so this will give me a chance to organize it all. Maybe once I have it all organized I might find the courage to start contacting magazines to see about submitting articles.

But writing has become a passion for me lately. I know that I've always had an urge to write and I've always written stories. I remember my 6th grade teacher telling me that she always knew she could get a good story out me and told me I was a good writer. But it's all I think about anymore. Just writing and coming up with a good story but not just a good story to pass the time but I want to make an impact on people. I love getting lost in a good story. I would love to do that for others. I would love to write a story or an article and let people get lost in the words and in the images that they create in their own minds. I want, through my writings, make people want to be better people...better Christians. When I read a story by Karen Kingsbury or Debra White Smith, I always step back from the story wanting to up my walk with the Lord. I want to serve Him better, tell more people about Him and be the best I can be for Him. I would like to have that same impact on people. I want what I do to reflect my walk with the Lord. In reality we all should strive for that in whatever profession we do. We should always try to make an impact on others. Help people become better people and be that example that we should be to bring more people to Him and build His Kingdom. When we help others to lean on the Lord more, we in turn, lean on the Lord more and if we could reach everybody with that goal...man, what army for the Lord we have built.

Movin on Up!

Today has to be one of the most beautiful days in Nashville that we have ever had. It's full of sunshine and in the mid 70's. Perfect weather. I just wish I wasn't stuck in an office all day. Oh well, at least I can enjoy it looking out through an office window.

Not much has been going this week really. On Sunday afternoon my brother and his family came into town to surprise my parents. Their mission was accomplished! My brother had called me the Thursday before to tell me they were coming to surprise them and it was so hard to keep it quiet the whole time but I was able to do it. My mom has been very sick for the past few months and she hasn't been able to make it down to AL to see them so they decided to come up and see her. They stayed for a few days and it was so much fun having them here. My niece and nephew have really developed personalities and they are the funniest kids. It's alot of fun to carry on a conversation with my 3 year old niece. She's hilarious. The second night they were here we put my niece in the room with me. She has a blow up Dora mattress that she sleeps on and loves. Well, about 3:30 am I feel this pushing on the bed. I look to see that my niece is awake and is pushing on the bed to wake me up. She starts laughing uncontrollably. I asked her what she was doing and she said she wanted to watch "Mickey" as in Mouse. So I turn the DVD back on and tell her to get back in bed and go to sleep because it's not time to wake up yet. She then, as the movie comes on, proceeds to tell me every single character that comes on the screen. This went on for an hour and half. My brother and sister in law weren't too happy that I let her stay up that long. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't force her to close her eyes and fall asleep. Besides, I'm the aunt and I can let her get away with stuff that they won't. She eventually went to sleep at 5 am so what was the harm? I had a good time with her. I sure wish they lived closer.

I'm having a busy weekend coming up. Tonight is dinner and movie with a friend. I haven't gone to a movie in forever and I'm eating Mexican so the night just got so much better! We are going to see State of Play with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. We aren't actually going with them but they are in it. I know, that was a bad attempt at humour. Not my finest joke, I tell ya.

Tomorrow is a packing day for me. I'm going to start packing up my apartment. Have I mentioned I'm moving? No, I didn't take that job in Minnesota. I'm making a few changes in my life and this is the first change out of many to come. My ultimate goal is to buy a house so I'm making a transition into doing that. I'm really excited. I don't really have much to write about today. You are probably relieved since some of my posts have been so long lately.

I've been listening to The Osmonds and the American Idol singers that I downloaded to my iPod all day. I don't know why but it has made the day enjoyable. I guess The Osmonds and sunshine go together. :) I'm rambling now. Have a great weekend!

I Dreamed a Dream

I saw this clip on Good Morning America this morning and then I was emailed the link to this clip as well. This is why you don't judge a book by it's cover.

The embedding has been disabled but you can see the clip on YouTube. It's had over 5 millions hits. Click Here!

I'm Rich

I just found a $20 bill in my pocket! I love it when that happens. My day just got so much better! :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

*Disclaimer: The song choice for today may be totally sacrilegious or blasphemous with today's post but thought you might get the concept of what I'm trying to say.

Our church had a great day yesterday. It was actually one of the best Easter services we have ever had. Our worship leader did a fantastic job putting together the song service. The specials were also wonderful except for a certain person who tried to sing the solo on the choir song but got too emotional and well tears and singing don't mix with this person. Which brings me to ask...how can some people cry and sing without ever missing a note or word? Not me, once I get emotional over a song I can't hardly recover. It was painful yesterday, I must admit, but then again, I also don't mind too much because the words were just too powerful to not react to them. I just wish I could be better at controlling my emotions when I sing. I'm not pro, that's for sure.

As you can see my post is titled "Respect". I got to thinking about something yesterday and had a conversation with my mom regarding this very topic. (It's actually a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately.) Being Easter Sunday yesterday, everyone was dressed to the nines. All the girls/ladies bought new dresses and their hair and make-up were done perfectly. All the men in the place wore their best suits and ties and looked so handsome. I know that Easter is a significant Sunday. This is the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ and it deserves special recognition. But why do we dress up only for this special day? This may not be the case in your church but in my place of worship it is. We have those, myself included, who only wears dresses and skirts/suits and ties to all services. Then we have those who wear dresses/suits to morning worship and then dress slacks or jeans the rest of the week. We then have those who wear t-shirts and jeans (male & female) to all services and only dress up for Easter and Christmas. I know that what you wear to church does not say how close you are to the Lord but doesn't your dress say something about your attitude towards worshiping the Lord and respecting Him?

I know that there are many people who disagree with me on this subject and will argue, literally yell at me over how judgemental, snooty, and old fashioned I am on this subject. But people, I'm pretty much set in my ways on this subject. My father always says from the pulpit how we need to always wear our best to church and if bibbed overalls are the best you have then wear it. But when you know that people have the best but choose to wear jeans with holes in them and t-shirts that are so skin tight on them I have to wonder sometimes. Not wonder over their Christianity but wonder on how respectful they are to God and His house of worship. I hope I'm making sense on this. I was brought up to be respectful to the church building because that is God's house. I had a friend ask me once why I always wore dresses and skirts to church. I told her out of respect for God. She then asked me if I thought that women wearing dress slacks to church was disrespectful. I told her no I didn't but that I didn't feel right wearing pants to church (I was also brought up that women don't wear slacks to church and it just got instilled in me that I can't break it now.) She was confused then why I always wore dresses so I came up with this illustration that helped her understand where I was coming from. I asked that if you were invited to the White House or the Queen's palace in England what would you wear? She said she would go out and find the best ballgown she could find. I asked her why she would do that and she replied, "Because it's the President and the Queen and it's their house?" Exactly. You wear those garments because you respect the position and the person that occupies that home. Well, shouldn't God get the same respect? After all, He's more powerful and more important than the President or the Queen could ever dream about being. The church building is God's house and so it should be respected. Not just with our worship but with the way we dress as well. He deserves the best because He sent His Son to die for us! He created the world in just a few short days. He's the most powerful being in the universe who deserves all the praise and respect that we can give him...that includes the way we dress. I believe that if you show up to church on a Sunday morning and are wearing jeans with holes, t-shirts, flip flops, and you hair is hardly brushed then that is saying, "God, I know this is your house, but I just don't care how I look for you even though you created me and gave me another day to live." But if that attire is the best you have, then by all means, wear it.

I hope this made sense but I also hoped it helped those of you who have literally yelled at me for being judgemental. Which, if you call someone judgemental, are you yourself being judgemental? Just a thought. But anyway, it has been on my mind lately and I thought I would share. So what are your thoughts on this subject?

Have a great week!

Be Ready

Oh my goodness has it been forever since I've blogged. Let me tell you, I've had a crazy week. Last weekend I went to Alabama to have a jewelry show for my sister (in law) and also to spend time with my brother and their kids. My niece and nephew are growing like weeds and are the most precious and sweetest kids around. My nephew is so laid back for a 13 month old but he is the cutest. He looks just like his momma and is developing her natural curly hair. He has blond hair and blue eyes so you can imagine how many hearts he will break in his lifetime. :) My niece is just getting too grown up for me. During the weekend I held a jewelry show for my sister in law and we had told Anna that he was a big girl party but that Anna was supposed to come because she was a big girl now. She was sooo excited. At every show I have several of them model the jewelry so they can see how it looks on certain colors and to see the different ways they can wear their jewelry. Well, Anna wanted to wear some so we put some on her and she was so excited! She thought she was the most grown up person there. She looked so cute. I wish I had taken a picture but I was so focused on the show that I didn't think about it. She sat there during the party and listened to every word I said. Then when all the ladies were looking at catalogs she got out her coloring book and flipped the pages like everyone else. It was so cute and adorable but made me so sad as well because she is growing up so fast. She also kept telling her daddy (who was in the back bedroom with Luke during the party) "Daddy, no boys allowed. This is a big girl party and you are NOT a big girl." It was the cutest thing. Oh, I miss them so much!

On the way to my brother's house on the Friday I stopped in Birmingham to have lunch with my friend, Serena. We had the best time. It had been forever since we had seen each other so we had a great time catching up. Then her husband, Steven, came and brought us both this type of drink from some place and it was honestly the best drink I had ever put in my mouth! It was so delicious! I seriously need to find out the name and if we have this place in Nashville because it was soo good!

Work has been just work this week. Very busy and not too exciting really. On Tuesday of last week we had this banker guy and a loan officer take everyone in our office out to lunch (long story why). We went to Cheddar's in Smyrna. It was so good. They were really sweet guys and both of them were devout Christians. It made our conversations with them so easy and we ended up having a 2 hour lunch with them. It was a great time.

I'm sure most of you have heard that we had a huge storm blow through here on Friday afternoon. The city of Murfreesboro (which is about 30 mins. from where I live) was hit with about 3-5 tornadoes within a span of just a few minutes. It was horrible! The storm never got too terribly bad where I was but we did get alot of rain and wind but no damage. There was reported a tornado within a few miles of my house so I grabbed my camera to try and get a picture but I had no such luck. I realize now after watching the devastation in Murfreesboro that I was incredibly stupid...especially since a young mother and her 3 month old baby were killed in the tornadoes.

My heart just goes out to everyone there and you realize just how quickly a life can end. You never know when it will be your last day and that is why it is so important to always be ready! We can't take this life we live for granted. Our last day could be today or tomorrow or Jesus could come back at any moment. So are we doing everything we can to tell others about him? Are doing enough for ourselves to keep always serving Him and being on the path to Him? Are we loving and supporting our family and friends? Do you leave their presence on a bad note or do you always tell them you love them? I thought about this today. My mother is incredibly ill. So much so that she can't cook supper or clean her house. So today I went over to her house to clean it from top to bottom. It took me all day and I didn't always do it with a servant's heart. I did do some grumbling under my breath and was a little upset that I had to do it on my day off. I just wanted to be home not doing anything. But I started thinking about the mother who was killed yesterday and I'm sure that her family wishes that she was here where she could lead her normal life of taking care of her family and home. It kind of humbled me up (is that the correct phrase?) and shut me up as well. I finished my task of cleaning my mother's house and even cooked her and dad a meal without peep. I should be thankful that I'm still here to be able to take care of my parents. After all, they took care of me for 18 or more years...it's the least I can do. Happy Easter!!

Bad

I feel like this song is my life today. I have too many bad thoughts running through my head today! If there was ever a day for me to commit murder, today would probably be it! I'm so frustrated and it's probably my fault but I'm so not in the mood for certain people. I feel like a broken record on here sometimes but if people would just leave me alone I could get things done! I'm in the middle of a huge project and a certain person in my office has to keep taking up my time with meaningless stuff that they could take care of themselves!! Oh the joys of working in an office. Honestly, my next job will NOT be in an office. I really hate office work. Maybe I just don't really like my job anymore. I know I've complained about it many times but I never felt like it was the right time to leave and in a way I still feel that way but it's just been a bad afternoon. There are just too many great benefits to leave here.

I did get an offer for a job in Minnesota and NORTHERN Minnesota at that! I knew it was coming but I was little surprised when I actually received the offer in the mail this week. I was unofficially offered this job in February but I just kind of laughed it off. Of course, I'll think and pray about it a lot but I pretty much know that I won't take the position. It's a teacher position in a school and since the Lord has never laid it on my heart to teach I doubt I'll take it even though at this point, I think dealing with kids would be easier than dealing with some adults!

Man, I'm not in the greatest moods right now. It's sad too because I was in an awesome mood earlier today. I even had this blog all planned out today to talk about my phobia of wasps and needles. My phobia is serious. I had funny stories that would leave you on the floor with tears streaming down your face! I guess I'll leave that for when I'm in a better mood.

I am excited though because I'm going to Alabama this weekend to see my brother and his family but even more so that I get to see a college friend of mine that I haven't seen in ages! I'm taking all of Friday off just so I can have lunch with her! I'm so excited! I told her to dress nice because I'm bringing my camera. I guess I should do the same. Well, I guess I better go and get in a better mood...I do have church tonight. :) Happy Wednesday!