Snow Day

We had a blizzard warning today.  I couldn't tell you the last time we had one.
I was supposed to go to work today.  I left early, stopping to get gas so that it didn't matter how long I had to sit in traffic.  I got on the interstate, which didn't appear to have been touched by the salt trucks that were out all night.  I got about 10 miles.  The roads weren't improving.  Every time a truck or SUV passed me the spray went across my windshield blinding me.  I knew I was approaching accidents and if I couldn't see them...  I turned around and went home.  A couple times the road seemed better, but then it would get worse again.
I spent the day here cleaning up.  I'm off tomorrow, so I should feel better about where I stand by Sunday.
Pray for some of my youth kids, from what I pick up on Facebook, a girl at one of the schools was in an accident with a snowplow and killed.  So horrible - and the day after Christmas.

Christmas

Christmas is nice around here.  We have four adults.  While the gifts are nice, there's no one flipping out at getting what they always wanted.  Well, scratch that.  I got my Dad Celtic Women tickets this year.  He is very, very happy.
Me?  I enjoyed church and the gifts and the cookies, but I want more.  And it's not really the kids on Christmas opening their toys though I would probably love that.  But it's more all the movies and books and all the people falling in love.  Christmas and New Year's are supposed to have some romance in them and I have none.  I would like some at least once.


And I think I figured out the Brady and Kristen thing on Days.  Brady beat up EJ, and this is her revenge.

Ryan Freel

I know it's Christmas, but I keep thinking about this.  It probably didn't make many headlines outside of here and Jacksonville, but a former Red killed himself on Saturday.  One of the things that caught my attention as well was the fact that he was only a year older than me.  It just brought it all the closer to home.

Ryan Freel was more troubled than we knew.

He was the guy who thought he could and played all out.  He was on the cover of the newspaper one Opening Day with a comparison to Pete Rose - and yes, that's the highest compliment a baseball player can receive here.  He knocked himself out one game running after a ball.  As fans don't we love the one who's willing to sacrifice their body for the win.  The Reds came out with a commemorative CD when Great American Ballpark opened from Blessid Union of Souls.  I bought it the next season, one of the songs was called "Guys like Me" My first comment was this is Ryan Freel's song.

You might not see me on the All Star team /Or posing for the cover of a magazine / I might not win the Cy Young Award, yeah / You might not see me in the Hall of Fame / I might not have a cool nick name / I might not ever go four for four / But when the game is on the line / Two outs two on in the ninth / You can count on a base hit from 

 Guys like me who may not be / The brightest star shining on the team / But when you need that two run lead /Then I'm  your man / Cause it's guys like me that you will need / When our biggest star's gone 0 for three / And there'll I'll be with all my team doing the victory dance

I might not ever win the batting crown / Or ever get recognized in town / There may not ever be a street named 
for me / I'm probably batting seventh, eighth or nine / Batting average barely two fifty five / But with runners on base 
it's four-o-three, yeah / So when the game is on the line / That's when it's my time to shine / And you can count on a 
clutch hit from
Guys like me who may not be / The brightest star shining on the team / But when you need that two run lead / 
Then I'm  your man / Cause it's guys like me that you will need / To hold 'em to a one run lead / To give our team a
chance to beat them in the ninth

I know this means sometimes that I / Have to sacrifice some pride / Cause when it's all said and done
Everybody just can't be number one

Guys like me who may not be / The brightest star shining on the team / But when you need that two run lead
Then I'm  your man / Cause it's guys like me that you will need / When our biggest star's gone 0 for three
And there'll I'll be with all my team doing the victory dance

I was sad to hear that he had killed himself.  What demons couldn't he shake off?  Was it money?  He never one of the highly paid guys.  Was it the lack of fame?  Was it realizing that his dream was over?  Then there's the realization that two days before Christmas a man with a wife and three little girls shot himself in the head - forever ruining Christmas for those little girls.  How selfish was that?  
I remembered the knocking himself out and as I read a couple tributes it came back that he knew of 6 or 7 concussions and figured there were a few he didn't remember.   I don't know if that's a convenient excuse for an athlete "the concussion made me do it" or if these injuries are causing serious damage.  I can't think that shaking your brain and skull up ever leads to good things.
I think we need more research on it.  We owe it to his little girls, and we owe it to all the kids that play sports - how will this effect them down the road?  Does better equipment need to be developed?  
I don't know, but I hate to think that his life and death were in vain when he brought such joy to fans.

Honest?

I started a Thursday, but didn’t get very far before a project came up.  I’ll restart it again.  It might be a little better anyhow.  A couple friends gave me some encouragement last night.  It was nice to hear.  Of course now I’ve swung back in the other direction.  The friend has most of the same influences that I have, so of course she would end up with the same conclusions I did.  I decided on a theme song this morning.  Superchik’s One Girl Revolution.  It’s actually the ringtone I used when I knew I was losing my job.  That sounds depressing, but it was to pump myself up.  I’d put the music video here, but of course YouTube is blocked at work.

So my start of a post was questioning what I had posted on Wednesday.  How honest can one be in their blog?  Because I’m not sure if I was too honest.  OTOH, why should I hide my feelings completely?  I think the balance is in knowing that what you are saying is only your opinion.  Acknowledging that you may be emotional in some way.  As well, I think we need to be careful in our words.  Not saying “I’m going to kill him.”  If you know, that’s not what we intend at all, so that are words can be taken at face value.

Does that make sense?

Wednesday

Hump Day?
I realize how much I dwell on things.
When I'm ready to explain; you'll know for now, I know I'm being vague.

Secret Santa

Good Morning!

I’ve received my first Christmas present over the weekend.  It was from the Idita-Support list.  Saturday night I received a box of goodies.  A couple books, seeds, calendar, and candy.  Yesterday, I received a second copy of one of the books.  The books and calendar are so nice – I know that I will love them.  The seeds look like very pretty flowers, though I’m afraid I’ll kill them.  I think I’m going to email the woman in charge of the gift exchange and ask her what to do.  Or who I should send the book to…  I feel awkward about it though.  How would you handle it?

sunday sermon

Worship leader - exec preaching
The road to Bethlehem 
Joseph
A Baby Changes Everything 
5 love languages
Service?
Nothing from him- mentioned 6 times
Probably never saw Jesus preach
Farmers bakers shepards carpenters where Ruth was from Joseph was there
Mary in Nazareth 
They meet at Elizabeth's house
Matthew 1:18-24
Merciful but angry
Both Joseph's have dreams
How do you define greatness?
Excitement over a gift giving (gag gifts are stupid)
Blog about Friday night
Compare Herrod and Joseph

_______________________________________________


I know, I haven’t done a sermon reaction in awhile.  I blame it on having on going computer issues.  I have to type it out instead of talking
through it.  But I dropped the computer
off to be fixed on Saturday.  Hopefully,
it will be fixed soon.

I enjoyed it and that last night’s youth group discussion
touched on it.

I really liked the part, where he talked about seeing the
excitement in someone’s eyes over a gift they just know someone is going to
love.  That’s one of the things I think
we need to be teaching.  It’s one of the
reason white elephant gift exchanges tick me off so much.  We need to be focusing on other people.  Not how to make ourselves look good.
I, also, liked how Joseph probably had his life
planned out until the angel appeared to him – and then it all went nuts.  How often does that happen to us?  It happens to me a lot

Countdown to Christmas

Next step in getting ready for Christmas.

How are you doing on your Christmas gifts?

I thought I was doing well.  Then I started placing items on my spreadsheet.  I have some holes.  Yes, I am the nerd who has a spreadsheet to track everything.  It helps because I buy things through out the year.

Now after lunch…. (Okay so that was Thursday)

There’s a restaurant in the building across the street that I go to fairly often.  I went there today.  Today they had a group of local artists that make glass beads and create jewelry.  I pretty much took care of three gifts.

I still have to wrap my St. Nicholas presents.  I know we should have opened the presents yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to wrap them and my parents never remember what day he comes.  So I didn’t point it out.  And okay, I probably did have time, but something happened…..

I took time to just snuggle in a blanket and watch Hulu.  YouTube suggested I watch a clip from Castle.  Well, it has Joey Buchanon in it for those others who used to watch One Life to Live.  It amused me, so I went to Hulu and watched the past several episodes.  Do you ever do that – know that you need to do something, flake, but realize you needed the downtime?  I think we all need it from time to time.

Christmas Card

I’m hoping to have exciting news soon, but you’ll have to wait until I find out more.  Terrible, aren’t I?

I sent out the list yesterday for the LIW Christmas Card exchange.  I find it a lot of fun.  I don’t really get that many cards mailed to me.  Not sure why.  I think because the Bible Study I was in for a number of years has disbanded.  Since I go to the extension campus now, I’ve lost touch with some.  However, these cards more than outnumber them.  They are also from around the country.  I think they show everyone’s personality a little as well.  I know that’s a cheesy comment.  Are you really surprised though?  I know I’m cheesy often on this blog.

How many Christmas Cards do you usually get a year?  How many do you send?

Anyway, yeah

So the vague thing that I was going on about?  I did something about it.  And it turned out, eh.  I just don’t think it’s understood where I’m coming from.  There was one point that I understand though I think it goes back to not realizing it doesn’t begin to mitigate the created situation.  I don’t know if its age or skills or gifts, but it remains that my points can’t be grasped.  A friend asked what I’m going to do now.  I don’t think I can do anything – I would be upset with myself if something happened while I watched.  So it leaves me frustrated and back where everything started, though I guess voicing my concerns was good.

Dancing With the Stars

Didn’t find it last night.  But I didn’t look inside the house.  I may have spent most of the evening watching Dancing With the Stars.  I did get my ceilings, baseboards, bed changed and toilet cleaned, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

What did you think about the final?  I’m okay with it.  Shawn and Derek were my favorites.  However, when they ignored a couple easy judges’ points on Monday, they gave it away.  My coworker is happy.  Why was Derek crying at the last blurb?  He’s always been on top and given great partners so any time he hasn’t won, it’s just been fair to the others.  It was a fun episode – very much what I needed when finally feeling a little better from the cold.  I’ve not been into this season of DWTS as I have others, but I really got into the final.

Thumb drive Search

How are you?

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I have an emergency, lol.  I’ve lost the flash drive that I keep all my files on!  I had it Wednesday night so I know it is in my house.  But I need it to do so many things!  I hope to spend tonight finding it.  Wish me luck.  I have a bad feeling that it’s under a pile of Kleenex.  Yes, I’ve had a cold since last Tuesday.  I know there must be some people who sneeze a couple times and can still act all cheerful.  That would not so much be me.  I look like I’m about to die.  And I have no energy for a week.  This means that I have a pile of Kleenex and mail to go through.  So again wish me luck on finding the flash drive.

Turkey Day Plans

Good Morning!

After my post last night, I got a text from a prayer group that I signed up at a concert for.  It asked if I needed any specific prayer.  Didn’t I ask for prayer yesterday?  I thought I should take any that I can get.  The person on the other end wasn’t a counselor, but she/he did make one comment that did make a lot of sense.  It’s something to keep in mind.  That’s why I’m taking time to make sure what I say isn’t just hurt and anger talking.

Now enough about that!

What are you doing for the holiday?  We are going down to my aunt’s house.  It will just be my parents, me, and her.  Small, but that’s the immediate family.

I’ve realized I’m getting a cold today, so that’s going to add fun to the long weekend.  Yes, I feel whiny about it.  I know I’m not sick but that doesn’t mean I feel ready to play a game of tennis.

Friday is the last home football game of the season.  Then it’s on to decorating the house for Christmas.

Gatlinburg

I’m not sure what I’m going to blog about today.  I was going to talk about the weekend.  The way it ended though, I’m not sure how to start or stop describing it.  Or what to say and what to leave out.  Who to say it to, and what to say to them.

It all sounds very vague, right?  I have a lot on my mind.  Please pray for wisdom for me to decide what is best and when and what God wants me to say and pursue.

Blitzen

Aren’t you proud of me?  I’ve actually posted two blog entries in the past week.  Woo hoo!  I guess I can tell the biggest thing lately.  It is actually something big.  As some of you know, my dog is my baby.  We thought he was developing arthritis.  Not unusual at all in a 10 year old husky.  The vet agreed and decided to run some blood work to make sure the medicine was good for him.  The results came back that he’s a diabetic.  My poor puppy!  He’s going to have to go to the vet almost every day for the next week.  Then we have to give him shots for the rest of his life.  I know it could be much worse, but this is still hard on the puppy.  I know he’s not really a puppy, but he is to me.  I know, but you say the same thing about your kids, right?

Last night, I went to check the prices of the diabetic dog food.  Did you know they now have dog food for specific breeds?  Why would you think your dog needed it?  I talked to the girl at the register, and she said you had to have a prescription.  Why would you need a prescription?  Is there medicine in it?  My father is a diabetic, and we don’t need a prescription to buy food from him.

Do you have any experience to share about diabetic dogs?

And I will definitely take any prayers you would like to offer.

Venting

You were warned one was coming.
I'm at work so I can't really embed the link, but it shouldn't be that hard to click, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtXauvumHM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Veteran's Day Blog

TGIF

Yes, I started this on Friday but I thought I’d give you the whole run down.

TGIF!!!!  So you know after yesterday what I’m doing tonight.  But if you didn’t read (shame, ,shame), I am going to dinner with three friends and then going to hear one’s husband’s band play with her and possibly another friend.

One friend can’t go to the bar with us because she’s taking her mother to dinner the next day.  I’m not sure the connection because everyone lives close to each other so there’s not a lot of driving or something she has to rest up.  And we will have 1-2 drinks, so she won’t need recovery time.

The other friend doesn’t drink.  She doesn’t have a conviction against it.  She just won’t order a Sprite at a bar because she thinks it will be too awkward.  I don’t get why it would be since they’ll just think you are the driver.

The friend that’s joining us is an accountant.  Since it’s the beginning of the month she has to work late.  Her company is the only one I know that makes people stay after 6 on Fridays except for year end.

I had a fashion crisis this morning.  I decided I didn’t want to change between work and this evening, but what to wear?  It’s not a jeans day at work today, technically.  We can only wear jeans on the last Friday of the month.  OTOH, I think the new colored denim doesn’t really look very jean like.  I could argue that if anyone objected.  I settled on purplish-blue jeans and a matching sweater with black low heeled boots.  After all the agonizing, I was running late so I through all the make-up I could possibly want in my make-up bag.  I bought the large Vera Bradley make-up bag in Deco Daisy. 

  It’s been discontinued.  However, I had a $20 coupon that expired on 10/31.  I know it was after that, but I decided that they were so big on customer service that they’d probably still honor it if I played dumb.  I had just enough time to run over to the store before dinner.  I decided to get the other make-up bags in complementing colors so it didn’t look like I added one after everything else was discontinued.  I found pictures.  I bought a medium in Summer Cottage 

and the small in Provencal.

Dinner was fun at the Mexican restaurant.  The friend who thought she would be late made it.  We had fun,, and the restaurant was ready for us to give them back the table two hours later.  Afterwards, we went to one’s house to combine cars.  We drove to the bar to find about three people sitting at the bar.  Oops, wrong bar.  The correct one was on the other side of the highway from the restaurant – the opposite direction of the house.  We found it and went in – paying a cover charge.  I know that’s typical of a bar, but this is truly 40 year old men acting out their rock star dreams.  We got a drink, and I noticed a couple sitting near the bar.  I’d had their daughter in youth group at the main campus.  We caught up a little bit.  My friends and I found a table to sit and talk except the band was so loud, and we actually had moved on to some serious conversation.  We stayed for an hour or so and went back to talk at the house.

Once we were back at the house, one started talking about her job issues.  I sympathize with her – it wasn’t that long ago I was in the same boat.  On the other hand, I think she does a lot to sabotage herself, and I’m not sure how to point it out nicely.  Around 12:30 or 1, we realized it was getting late and headed home.

The rant about the presidential election will be coming because I have several things to get off my chest.  Yes, I know, but I really have a couple things I have to say.

Atypical Weekends

After the description of a typical weekend, let’s move to the fact that the next month is crazy! It started this past weekend ;)


10/26 – Lock-in with the youth – fun!

10/27 – Football game – we beat one of our oldest conference rivals!

10/28 – Harvest Festival at church – cold!

10/30 – Tennis – actual exercise

11/2 – Dinner with college friends

11/3 – Jr. high youth event

11/6 – Tennis

11/9 – Dinner & movie night with some friends

11/10 – Football game – my Dad is coming with me since my friend I have the tickets with has to work.

11/11 – Church & youth group

11/13 – Tennis

11/16-11/18 – Youth trip to Gatlinburg

Then it’s Thanksgiving Weekend with all the decorating.



It’s going to be a crazy month. It seems the fall is always that way. Does it happen to you? Is there another time that always is crammed for you? I am the type of person that signs up for everything, though. You’ve probably guess that already. After listening to some people in a meeting this week, I remembered. Extroverts get energy from being with people. Introverts from being alone. I’m not outgoing and eventually I need time on my own, but I think unless I’m doing something I feel like I don’t have a life or bad about myself.

The Weekend

Blitzen here

Blitzen here.  I thought I’d take over Mom’s blog today.  I know she usually does video blogs, but I’m so good-looking I don’t want you to be distracted by it.  It’s true.  The first time anyone sees me they say, “What a handsome dog!”  Once in a parking lot, I heard someone use the word gorgeous.  I could only turn around and smile at Mom.

I wanted to come to you and tell you all about the problems I’m having and hope you can help me lobby for these changes.

Grandpa has decided it’s healthier for me not to eat vegetables.  I loooovvvee broccoli.  I think it’s the reason my eyes are still sparkly, even if I am 10.  It tastes so good, especially with chicken.  I love chicken, even if it did make Koti throw up last night.  What could be so bad for me?  I see the news they tell the humans to eat it all the time.

I’m trying to get “my” spot ready for the winter.  It’s next to Mom’s room, the deck, and I can see most of the backyard.  It’s close enough to the house that the ground is warm.  It’s perfect to snuggle in.  It is outside so Koti doesn’t want to be near it.  I can watch the birdies in case they forget that it’s my yard!  Anyhow, Grandpa thinks it causes a mess.  Everyday, he puts all the dirt I’ve moved back, so I have to dig it out again.  Can’t the man keep his paws to himself?

I guess I’ll let Mom have the blog back now, but I’ll keep you updated.  I have to have someway to keep the people in check!

Long Weekend

Not this past weekend - the one before

A couple weeks late....

I don’t think I ever got last week’s sermon posted. But I skipped church this week so anyway. We can catch up and be ready for this week. This was about marriage. God has an app for that ;) Relationships & marriage Charmin app that tells where the cleanest restrooms are Couple I had both their kids in youth group. Everyone is a good or bad example What good put together man can't tear apart - it's not God's will Outside perspective neutral Christian counselor define what it means to you Relationships require work Walk to Emmaus God in center Unified effort Ecc 4:1-2 Peter walking on water Kara's sermon Time to start a new chapter experience matters but move on 1 Cor verse Now as you may have guessed from the title of the blog – I’m not married. So sermons on marriage can annoy me. I recognize the need but I can be a little bitter. The first thing to talk about is the Charmin app. It is called Sit or Squat. I’m not sure how useful it will be, but it’s kinda fun. I updated yesterday some comments and lost them! Yuck, yuck, yuck! The couple who presented have two kids. I’ve had both of them in youth group. Someone called them old hippies, and that’s such a good description in the best way possible. I like the point that everyone is a good or bad example. Working with the youth, I feel like I have to be aware of the example I’m giving. When I talk to friends about it, they shrug their shoulders and not realize that the way they live their lives sends a message to onlooker about who they are and what they believe. They said that outside abuse/adultery and a few other situations they believed that, “What good put together man can't tear apart.” This means that people should find a way to work through their problems. I don’t know if it’s always possible but I do think many people give up to easily. That just goes straight to the next point of relationships take work, doesn’t it? They talked about the walk to Emmaus being so helpful for them. I must be the only person who was “eh” about it. There were a few nice things about it, but some of their structure meant to help distracted me. As well, I felt the message I got from my table was “You are single and in your 20s – you can’t know about stress.” Needless to say that didn’t sit really well with me. Ecclesiastes is always depressing. I did like how she pointed out that Solomon just had too many wives for any reason. I liked their information that she shared as a counselor that if you go to counseling and want a Christian counselor – you need to define what that means to you. Do they pray with you? Are they guiding based on Biblical principles? It shouldn’t mean that they tell you that the Bible says that you have to do X. I really liked the statement. I’ve heard people say the man is the head of the family so for example he should pay the bills. Okay, I’m an accountant and say I was to marry an artist/writer type. Does that really mean I should feel out of control and he should feel stressed about balancing the check book when one of us has more gifts in that area, even if it isn’t traditional? That God is in the center and as humans (couples) grow closer to him, we grow closer to each other. I tend to just mess with that one in my head because isn’t it true that if one grows closer to God, they are still closer together. So the cliché isn’t totally true. I know I’m probably just being argumentative here. I guess the “we need to work together” is there comment on it. The Corinthians verse. Couldn’t preach about marriage without it, could you? Once we’ve dealt with an issue it’s time to move on. I find this so difficult because I usually keep reliving how someone did something to me or what I’ve could have done better. The big point of this is that it hurts you more than them, so let go. I wonder how one does that truly because I may say that but then I’m driving to or from ork and all of a sudden I’m thinking about it again. They talked about Peter walking on the water and starting to drown because he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the distractions. I’m reminded of a friend’s sermon I’ve heard her give a couple of times. Peter had the guts to get out of the boat. All the rest were cowering in fear in the boat. Peter might have had problems but at least he did something rather than just sitting and waiting to be rescued. While we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, we need to be more like Peter and less like one of the disciples in the boat. I have the next sermon noted, so hopefully I’ll get it shared before Sunday. ;)

Wednesday

Mostly we live in a broken & fallen world Bad stuff happens - not always our specific fault There is evil Why not me? Sometimes God is testing or refining us God disciplines those that he loves Always we have an option to grow (or not) What are we learning? Choose to grow up James 1:2-4 Hold onto integrity Job 1:13-22, Job 2:9 Ask God what am I learning about You? About myself? Am I more like Jesus is/through this? How do You want me to respond? Matthew 5:14-16

Labor Day

And I have a new idea that you should see later this week as an idea to blog

Vacation and PLL

Two videos I uploaded last night. Part 2 after I accidently hit stop

Vacation Coming!

My Facebook status yesterday night was, “Two more days of work plus one youth lock-in = leave on vacation on Saturday.” I got a couple likes on it. I mentioned it on here the other night as well. Besides I am so excited to get away. It’s been over two years since I’ve gotten out of town for 9 days in a row! We’re spending the first and last nights in Frankenmuth. I love it! As far as I’m concerned, it is the happiest place on earth! Then we are staying at the Petoskey KOA for the rest of the week. If you are looking for a place to camp, it is awesome! Disney World has the only equivalent or better campground that I’ve seen. It has activities, full hook-ups, food, pull-throughs. Do I sound like an advertisement? I don’t mean to sound like one. We are going to use it as a base to sightsee from: Harbor Springs, Cross Village, Mackinac Island, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Traverse City, Leland, the Sand Dunes. Have you ever visited any of these places? What’s your favorite memory? Any suggestions on favorite places to visit or eat? I’m always open to new ideas!

Countdown to the start of vacation

Short blog at the start of the week.

Last Laurapalooza blog

Another shot at trying to get this blog posted. You have no idea how many times I have tried to draft this out with out getting it posted. I wish I could figure out how to do it on my iPhone without raising suspicions at work. And it would be hard to cut and paste everything. But some things would be saved so I wouldn’t be starting over. I don't know if these are in any order. Next topic! What about Pretty Little Liars last night? Cece is connected to Ali, Jason and Noel’s older brother. Who else is connected to her? I’m thinking Melissa and Ian. Melissa went to school in Philly, and they are about the same age. Besides who moves to a new town and starts interacting with the locals the way she has? Noel and Jenna have to be working with Mona as “A”, right?

Day 1 & 2

Actually, Day 1 didn't end until after midnight of Day 2 so that's my excuse for not uploading until now. I have three videos and nearly 40 minutes of talking for those not bored with me yet.

Laurapalooza!!!

I was so tired last night that I didn't upload the video I made. Here's the Tuesday - getting ready to leave and anticipating Getting here and the ice cream social

Sunday before LP2012!

It’s 4th of July week! I recorded a blog on Saturday, and will embed it in here. Sunday, we had our first church service in the new building. It was awesome!!!!!! Nothing went wrong that anyone could tell. We had several new people everyone thought. I’d invite you to come if I didn’t feel it would pinpoint me/my location so exactly. I’m going to a birthday party tonight with people from the main campus. It’s a surprise. I don’t know if I’m really close to the person of honor, but there are so many people invited that I like but don’t see very often. I’m looking forward to the chance to catch up. I hope the party is inside because it’s been nearly 100 degrees here each day for the past week - Much too hot for my taste. A week from yesterday I leave for Laurapalooza. I am so excited!!!!! Watch for blogs that I’ll try to post each day. Sleep really isn’t needed, right?

Sunday

No air conditioning

The Great Adventure

My Dad went with a friend to a match the other week when I started this entry. So I was hanging out more with Mom this week. Less recitals of things I’m trying to get done for you to read. Actually, I want to get all my CDs on to my computer. I’ve been just copying on CD a day onto my laptop. Slow, but it feels lazy to say “I spent the evening copying CDs to my computer.” But guess what I have been doing? Yeah, I have almost all my music either on my computer or iTunes wishlist. I put everything I want on the wishlist. I try to buy something only once a month so I’m not surprised one day with a $100 iTunes bill. I realized I wrote something the other day that perfectly summed up the feelings I try to express sometimes. I told a friend that, “I took a 4-5 hour drive through the country the one day. It was great - and impressed my friends and family with my courage to read a map and go off on my own. Not going to Afghanistan/Iraq, but reading a map, lol.” I have no desire to strap a bungee cord to my feet and jump off a bridge. However, sitting home reading and watching TV are enjoyable, but I want more out of life. I want to drive out of town for the weekend to see what the one tank trips I read about are like. Or to volunteer at something because it sounds interesting. I volunteered to help at a charity fundraiser next week, but my friends think I’m nuts. Why would I go meet people when I can be home watching a DVD? Isn’t life supposed to happen outside of the tv screen? One friend made a comment a week or so ago that she can count all her friends on her fingers. It seemed sad to me. I’m not saying I consider everyone I’m Facebook friends with to be someone I can go to with all my problems. But between groups that I know, I feel there are a fair number of people that would listen. How do you make the contacts to have that support network? Or a work network? I know I find a lot of networking to be fake and superficial. It still needs to be done, though. I think the best way to do it is to make as many friends and acquaintances as you can for the purpose of actually knowing people not just collecting names for what they can do for you. Then let God work through everyone to do as He wishes. I just don’t see what benefit there is to avoiding experiences – especially ones that are in your comfort zone. Think of it this way And lastly, did anyone watch the Pretty Little Liars premier? I know, but I did say that watching TV is enjoyable.

The Bachlorette.

Tonight I'm going to try to do a live blog of the Bachlorette. If nothing else, I love author, Kristin Billerbeck's blog so this will be a response to her recap tomorrow. We open with Emily's Mom bringing her breakfast in bed as you know all single moms have each day. Chris Harrison is meeting with the guys and the dates blah, blah, blah. Chris is the first date "Love is a climb" sounds to me like he's going to be scaling a building. Emily tells him she's excited and nervous because he's so cute. Yep, they are scaling the building. Wonder what the producers would do if they found out that I have no strength and actually couldn't do this. Chris says he'll protect her if she's scared. Emily is getting scared as the lightening flashes and wind. But this is like love - No it's not. If a guy loves you he won't make you do something that terrifies you for "fun." Chris is disappointed that they high-five instead of kiss. I'm thinking this could mean he's in the "friend zone" Emily does like that he's a "manly man" and she would be scared to approach him in a bar. She's laying the Southern Charm on a little thick. His last relationship was from high school and lasted six years. She's scared that he's 25 and that it's a red flag because he's not ready to be a Dad to his age - EXCEPT SHE'S 25 AS WELL. What makes her so special? "Let's play" is the date card for the group date but there's to many to list who goes. Back on top of the building, Chris is defending his age, which unless you are on Pretty Little Liars and dating your teacher, you shouldn't have to do. She does give him the rose and she pins it to his tshirt, not tacky at all. They go to dance in a parking lot to a country band that I missed their name, but I assume they have an album coming out soon. There's a crowd standing there watching as there must be nothing to do in Charlotte. She stops worrying about his age to let him kiss her. Commercial for the premier of Pretty Little Liars - yes I've gotten really into it in the past few months and finished watching the first season today. Emily is wearing a shirt that's as long as her shorts. Sean is talking to another guy about it's not the first guy to say hello. Sean - you seem like a decent guy, but you aren't the type to end up with the girl. Emily has her four girlfriends who are here to interrogate the guys. They show her the front page of the paper with her date from last night. Charlotte has no bigger news in it. One of the guys is also wearing a green & white striped shirt like her - does this give him an advantage? The first guy immediately mentions his kids. Everyone says they are ready to be a dad, duh. Data destruction guy says her never cheated and they kick him out of the interview. They ask egg guy if he fertilized the egg himself - even wierder and he gives them a look. Sean talks about how important his faith is. The friends think he's cute and a gentleman. Doesn't take him long to take off his shirt and do pushups. Still the "Man of Faith" never lasts long on the show. Now there are kids. Guys start to show off how good they can be with kids. Mom's comment - interogating by friends and wrangling kids does not make a good date. One guy tries to steal some alone time and tells her she shouldn't get lazy and get fat and he'll love her less. Ryan it is - bad move. And I found out I grew up with one of his former coaches. The girls like Sean and Doug. For the dinner portion, Emily has changed into a sequined miniskirt. Hard to sit down in. Sean says he's not dated in over a year because he's selective (not picky). He's so the typical Christian guy who wants the perfect girl and never finds her amongst us humans. Next guy - Doug (? one of the fathers) - says her friends are like his friends' wives. Foster kid because his Mom left and his Dad died of epilepsy because if he went to the doctor they wouldn't have groceries. So he plays on the heart strings, and it is Doug. Tony whines about missing his son. Yes, you are a bad Dad. Kaylon thinks Emily is thinking up an awesome date for him. I love how the guys think it's Emily not the producers planning the dates. Arie gets the date that love is a wild ride for the race car driver. Tony whines to Emily about his son. Go home to him, yes being on a reality show is a selfish choice. Glass house promo - sounds creepy. Tony whines to Doug about missing his kid. Just go home already. He calls home. I think he's trying to win points with Emily, but he looks pathetic. Mom's comment - he needs a railing for the whole Mesnick experience. Emily comes to console him. Emily gives him permission to go home if he doesn't see himself winning in the end and she sounds like she knows it won't be him because of how whiny he is. Maybe he'll come back during the overnight dates because he's not as into his son anymore. Where's Chris tonight - I liked him. Wait Doug's a Charity Director/Real Estate - what kind of career is that? Jef's hair is wierd. Sean gets the rose. He looks very sunburned. They need to put names on all these guys at all the time. Ryan thinks the other guys are jealous of his budding relationship with Emily - he didn't get the rose, so is it really that great? Halfway through the show and it looks like I've typed two pages, so I hope you are patient. Arie thinks he just wants to see where the day goes and not focus on the rose. Chris thinks Arie couldn't have what he has. Emily thinks Arie is cute. They go to Dollywood which looks like it's empty. Arie has never heard of it, um obviously not from the Eastern half of the country. Arie wants to win something for Ricki - good move. They got a husky toy!!! They go on a real roller coaster again somethiing I won't do. They next have to write a love song for each other as Dolly comes out. Emily freaks out at meeting Dolly there. She has called it the happiest place on earth. I wonder how ABC's mouse thinks about her saying that. Emily and Arie dance while Emily still is freaking out by being so close to Dolly. Emily is wearing another striped shirt and cowboy boots with short shorts - I guess all the country boys like the look. But the necklace is ugly. Arie gives her a sidehug during the second song but they do start dancing as a sidehug is not very romantic see I think Emily loves Dolly more than Arie. He's dated a girl with two kids, but he missed her kids as much as her since they lived together. Girl didn't want to have more kids, but he did - way to score points. And the girl's ex raced cars, um a theme here. He asks her about Brad. She's neutral. He says he thinks all the guys will say they are ready to be Dads, but it's easier to say than to do. True. He asks how she'll handle his schedule, she says she likes her space. I think if he wins she'll whine about it when they break up. She tries to mess with him about giving him the rose and he starts to freak out. He gets a kiss and he tries to rationalize that the messing with him was a good thing as Dolly sings again and they ride a merry-go-round. He kisses her some more. The other guys aren't going to like to hear about it. She says he reminds her of Ricki's father. I'm thinking that's a bad sign. Kaylon condescendingly tells about how he's never shared in his life and he chides her for interrupting him. Travis talks with her about the egg. Emily smashes it and it's wierd. The guys toast to shelly which I thought is hysterical. They pour some of the drink on the fire. I wonder if it violates the Man Code. Some guy who I don't know who he is sees being a Dad as a compromise which may be true, but a killing move on this date. Alessandro is the guy. Sean says he told her friends he's cheated and had a one night stand. He leaves before the rose ceremony. I don't think he looks sober in the limo. Mom thinks she's being soooo arrogant to assume that guys are ready to be fathers before they actually experience it. Ryan is shocked to see her making out with Arie. Sean tells her that he wouldn't have waited two days to talk to her. This sounds like a guy I knew and he had bad luck with girls. Sean tells her Ricki would be his - she could call him whatever she wanted. Wait is Chris the building climber the guy with the brain injury? I feel bad saying that because he's one of my favorites. And the roses go to: Jef, Charlie (wait am I confusing him with Chris?), Doug, Michael (who?), Travis, Alejandro (the guy who went home,him and Arie way to similar names), Ryan, Jon (who?), Kaylon (darnit, boys who don't get a rose if that's her type be happy) and Nate (who). I think only one is going home which much suck to be rejected so - it's Stevie who I don't know if he's ever spoke to her. Party MC - there's a career for you. He doesn't enjoy being rejected, but who would. Ryan is still unhappy Arie was kissing Emily. Is Ryan or Kaylon the most annoying guy? Next week onto Bermuda. There's some kind of sailing race - one guy may lose a finger. Emily doesn't like Ryan judging her and someone tries to take on Doug about being fit for Emily. Deleted scenes Alessandro says he dated his third cousin. Ewww. And he can't commit to a pet. Oh that's so bad.

Tuesday

I feel compelled to come up with more interesting names, but the days blend together. I feel like I should be more aware of my surroundings so I could give you something interesting to read. I can make a two week Alaskan vacation into a recital of facts. Laura Ingalls Wilder can make wading in the ocean memorable literature.

Monday

Evidently, I’ve posted the end of Laurapalooza twice now. Oops! Forgive me? My laptop at work picked up a virus last week. I spent almost 4 hours watching them try to fix it on Thursday. Then I spent at least two hours on Friday getting my printer straightened out. On Monday, I found out that I lost part of my access into the Accounting/HR system. It’s now Thursday and still not resolved. I did have something interesting happen to me last night/this morning. I probably need to give some background first. I was employed for over 10 years by a company and was let go just over two years ago. The company has a rule that current employees can’t provide recommendations to former employees – to the point that management is told repeatedly not to make connections on Linkedin with current coworkers in case they become former coworkers. Now that I need references, it really causes a problem to say that after almost 11 years somewhere no one is willing to vouch for me because they would be putting their job on the line. I’ve tried to connect with people as I’ve come across them if they’ve left the company. I live between two cities. One is a little bigger and closer, but the most recent census was expected to announce that it’s just one big metro area. I used to work in the larger one, and now I work in the other. It’s not a permanent job, but I’ve been here for a year now and have through the end of the year. Yesterday, it was suggested by Linkedin that I add R, an admin I had worked with briefly. I did, and she accepted the request that afternoon. Then I received this series of messages: Hi L: Thank you for the Connection invite. I'm looking again and I was wondering if temp agency has any direct hire, full time Administrative Assistant job openings? R R, Honestly, I don't know. I have very little contact with the agency. I've been placed through them at xyz for just over a year. If you are interested in City2 though, I can tell you the Admin who supported some people I work with just moved to another position. It hasn't been posted, but here's the link to the career page http://www.xyz/careers.aspx What are you doing now? L From: "R To: "'L I only asked about agency because your LinkedIn profile says “Consultant at agency.” And no, I’m not interested in moving to City2, but thank you for the tip. You can ck out my Profile on LinkedIn, since we’re connected and all. Um, weird much? She’s scolding me for being helpful? Is this the way to build connections? How many times has someone asked you about yourself and you told them to do the research themselves? I found the whole think bizarre, why ask for help if you didn’t really want it?

Laurapalooza 2010 Wrap up

I know it's been almost two years, but I never got around to finishing it until I was working on a speech and had a question about going to Laurapalooza alone and I did, so I want to post a link to this. Also, just a question does anyone else ever read a Facebook post and want to go off in their own status about it but you know it's none of your business and the person will recognize themself immediately? Okay, just me? ;) The Saturday theme could be “Loving Laura in a Lindsay Lohan World”. It was incredible everyone started sharing how they had come upon the books, how their interest grew, and their family experience as compared to that of the Ingalls. Everyone found it to be an emotional experience. I was sad to realize this was the last day. Officially, we closed with a spelling bee and tin pail lunch. I succeeded on my first word, but lost on my second when I spelled “grammar-actical” instead of “grammatical.” As we sorted out cars for the drive to Walnut Grove, I ended up riding with Melanie, a woman who had spent the entire time dressed in a completely authentic 1880s outfit. We had a fun time getting to know each other on the 2 hour drive. I had been to the site a couple years before and as a child. This was a “pageant” weekend; one of the weekends in July where the town puts on a play about Laura’s life in the town along with other special events. These weekends bring in hundreds to thousands of visitors from all over the world. I headed first to the museum and official gift shop for a quick look before the bus tour. Walking to the bus stop, I saw two to three hundred people waiting for Dean Butler’s autograph. A fellow participant and I talked about how approachable he had been all during the conference. The bus tour was nice though geared towards a crowd that doesn’t know Laura’s wedding anniversary as well as their own. An Australian attendee was excited by the tour because they don’t have school busses in her country. It was fun to see her excitement. Afterwards we enjoyed the community wide Lion’s Club dinner; I may have enjoyed eavesdropping on a certain author sharing his opinions with the current owners’ of the Ingalls property. Afterwards, I checked out a couple souvenir stores that are trying to make a go of it in the little town. As we headed out to the play sight shortly before the start, we could see the storm clouds gathering. When we arrived, we were told to stay in our car until the storm cleared. As we were on the prairie, the lightening would seem to travel more then 180 degrees around us. It was very nerve wracking, but by the end of the evening I felt like Melanie and I were old friends. The next morning, I was sad to say goodbye to the rest of my new friends. At the same time, I was excited to see my dog. The trip back was uneventful. I spent the time thinking about all I had learned and the people that I had met. I didn’t know how many friendships I would continue online for the next two years. I knew than I would mail my 2012 registration the day pre-registration opened.

Update on me

I’m spending time today working on everything simply because I have so many things today that I want to knock out because I’ve been putting them off so long. It seems like I have been getting some things done, but not as much as I want. That’s a reoccurring theme for me isn’t it? If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy, that requires a lot of work, that incurs a great deal of interest and that is a challenge to you, you will always look forward to waking up to see what the new day brings." - Susan Polis Schultz A previous boss used to send out a thought every day. Many days I posted it as a Facebook status. People seemed to enjoy it so I thought I’d post my thoughts about here about this one from Franklin Covey’s thought of the week. But can you support yourself doing it? It seems to say to pursue your goal because it interests you all day. Either that or I liked Jon Acuff’s Quitter too much. His premise is that if you pursue your dream/goal before its time then you compromise it. Or rather if your dream is to be a writer, in his case, he kept his day job as a publicist until the right opportunity came along to support his family. Otherwise, he may have needed to take jobs that didn’t fit his vision because the mortgage or school fees were due. It resonated to me because I think a lot of people don’t think/plan enough and then are puzzled when they fail. It frustrates me because usually people first say they are called by God, but then seem to think that means they don’t have to use their brains. Guess who gave them those brains? It’s April 24, 2012. I’ve yet to post this. There’s got to be something wrong with me that I can’t get an entry done. Or it’s the 25th? I’ll have less time if I study for the CFE Exam. It’s a Certified Fraud Examiner. I've been doing a lot of checking out things online for work and it might be nice to have a designation that says I know what I'm doing or better than saying great online stalking capabilities on my resume.

Goals & Plans

I’m spending time today working on everything simply because I have so many things today that I want to knock out because I’ve been putting them off so long. It seems like I have been getting some things done, but not as much as I want. That’s a reoccurring theme for me isn’t it?

If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy, that requires a lot of work, that incurs a great deal of interest and that is a challenge to you, you will always look forward to waking up to see what the new day brings." - Susan Polis Schultz

A previous boss used to send out a thought every day. Many days I posted it as a Facebook status. People seemed to enjoy it so I thought I’d post my thoughts about here about this one from Franklin Covey’s thought of the week.

But can you support yourself doing it? It seems to say to pursue your goal because it interests you all day. Either that or I liked Jon Acuff’s Quitter too much. His premise is that if you pursue your dream/goal before its time then you compromise it. Or rather if your dream is to be a writer, in his case, he kept his day job as a publicist until the right opportunity came along to support his family. Otherwise, he may have needed to take jobs that didn’t fit his vision because the mortgage or school fees were due. It resonated to me because I think a lot of people don’t think/plan enough and then are puzzled when they fail. It frustrates me because usually people first say they are called by God, but then seem to think that means they don’t have to use their brains. Guess who gave them those brains?

Friday Night

I'm watching now that this is on Youtube and the audio and video aren't in sync, but all my random Friday night thoughts.

Travels

I’ve decided on a new way to make priorities. One thing a day I complete, I put in a different place on my daily schedule. I’m not to work on it until I complete all the things I haven’t marked as such done. Hopefully this will mean that those things I want to do, but rarely make time to do – at least once every two months I’ll spend an evening working on it. Is it perfect? Do I expect to break it? No and yes, but it’s worth a try. Today I haven’t been following it well as I’ve had more time on my lunch to do things than I could do at work so I’m grabbing those things, but at least I won’t be concerned with them when I get home and I can feel semi accomplished.
This weekend I’m going down to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. I’ll let you know how that goes. It’s sponsored by a different group than the ones I’ve been to before, so I’ll let you know how it compares. It’s only down in Louisville, which I like Nashville and St. Louis better I think, but this will give us the feeling of being “away” with half the travel. I have never been able to relax and enjoy myself in Cincinnati because I’m only focused on what I need to be getting done at home.
I registered for Laurapalooza 2012!!!! Yeah!!!! This time the internet is supposed to be working better so I will be better able to tell you what is happening. I really enjoyed the blogging last time. I’m still trying to turn it into a speech and rejoin Toastmasters. Yeah, that’s one of those things that I always push off so if I can work on it one evening I’ll probably have all the hard work done and just have to set aside the time to find a club and when they meet.

End of the Week

It’s Tuesday.
The past week and a half have been crazy, but today seems a little like a day to catch up.

This is why I don’t get to blog to much. I wrote this, then had to do other things and it’s now Friday.

I’ve been helping the low-income prepare taxes for the last month. I really want to point out to them how to make changes so that they aren’t low income. Plan ahead. Don’t have more kids than you can support on your own. Your job prospects might be better with some dental work. That sounds shallow, but it’s not. It’s like the key things I learned to be successful in life; they never learned so it just perpetuates, and I want to yank them out of it. I, also, want to tell some people that they can’t be their kids sole support if they have W2s totaling less than $500 for the year. It’s just not possible. But I want to think like an auditor, and there I’m not.

Are you doing anything this weekend? Besides the taxes and youth group, I have a girls night out with the church. Also, I need to start packing for next weekend.

Random Update

Here's a blog I filmed on Thursday, but haven't had a chance to post. Just a few random things/comments.
Hope you are having a good weekend!

Saturday Night

Hope you are having a good weekend!