I'm having to deal with my annual rehire stuff and it sucks because we have to do the whole employment verification thing. Usually not a problem because I use my passport. Sadly, I let it expire last year because when I got married, I never changed my name on my passport. In order to renew it, I need to change my name. Which necessitates going down to the courthouse for a certified copy of my marriage license. Department of State wants the "official" stuff, not a copy of what I've got here at home.
Fortunately, though, I do have my marriage certificate handy. Why? Because my Social Security card is AWOL. Which I need, since I can't use my passport. And now that I think about it, it seems odd to me that my passport will do, and yet it really doesn't prove my social security number. I guess as long as they think you are who they say you are, they assume you're honest about that. Anyway, dropped kiddo off at school, drove down to Social Security office.
Got my number. Ten people ahead of me. Baby having a great time. Security Guard gets kudos because he offered me paper and crayons to entertain baby. Two hours later, my number is called. As I go through the process of getting my card, Social Security guy says, "Did you get married?" Um, yes. A looooong time ago. At which point he informs me that when I went through this horrific process back when I got married, they sent me a new card, but never bothered changing my name. All documented, mind you. But in order to get this all fixed up, I had to prove I got married. So the guy asks me how far away I live and if I can bring him my marriage license. To his credit, he was very nice, and said when I came back, I could just come to his window, let him know I was here, and he'd get to me right away.
As I said, I DO know exactly where my marriage certificate is, so I ran home, grabbed it, raced back. At this point, it's a race against the clock because I have a bus due at my house in 30 minutes. Yes, it's taken THAT long. I got back to the office, and my guy is nowhere in sight. I did meet some very nice ladies who took to the now cranky baby, and she charmed them, thus keeping her occupied. As I waited for my guy, started calling hubby and everyone else I knew who could potentially meet my child at the bus. Of course, that's about when my guy shows up, ready for me. Got everything straightened out, raced out of there, and headed home, noticing my spedometer is not working. Prayed I wouldn't get pulled over for speeding.
I'm two miles from home, and the bus is arriving at my house. The phone rings. That Man (after calling a whole slew of folks) got a hold of my neighbor, whose son is friends with my daughter, and he met her at my door, just as she was trying to get in. Whew!
Sooo... all that work and I now am the proud owner of a piece of paper that says my card is in the mail.
Which means I should probably also find time to head over to the county now and get my marriage license so I can renew my passport. Given my luck regarding documents that I didn't think I needed, I'll probably have a burning use for it in the near future. Guess I'd better be prepared. Which means I should also brave the whole birth registry thing and get the baby's birth certificate because I didn't want to spend several hours waiting for THAT particular piece of paper.
Hours of my life wasted because bureaucracy demands exact pieces of paper to prove... what, exactly? If I were a less honest person, I could just go down the street, give them my $25, and have one, that while it wouldn't bear my name, it would at least do the trick.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Previews suck
Okay, this is mostly for Tori, but since you all decided to read my blog, you're getting a Veronica rant. TeeHee. The preview for the next one has me scared. I do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT want the Veronica/Logan thing to end. I seriously was ready to choke her in this episode when she refused to trust him. I wanted to kill her and hold him and cry when he gave that line about the reason he didn't want to tell her was that he'd feared the look of judgement on her face. Yes, I know she has trust issues (which, BTW, is why I adore the character arcs in this show). HOWEVER, it is time she GROWS. We've been stuck in the "do not trust" arc, and I'm getting tired of it.
Which, for you non Veronica watchers (you mutant freaks!) who write, is an excellent lesson in characterization. (I'm telling you, buy the DVD sets-you need to see how flawlessly they're developed. All but the bus crash-that bit) Thomas has done an excellent job of establishing Veronica's lack of trust issues. However, we're now into Season Three, and we're in round two of Veronica/Logan (who truly belong together) and Veronica's refusal to trust him is holding them back. Logan (except when he was dealing with his own personal trauma arc stuff) has consistently proven (esepecially in this go-around) that despite things that look bad, that he can be trusted. At least by any other reasonable human being.
I like what she's learning and being shown now-the girl looking for her missing boyfriend and not caring if boyfriend was cheating (he wasn't) so long as he was okay. A good smack in the face after she'd been yet again proven wrong for not trusting Logan. So these rotten previews showing trouble in the waters because she now thinks that if she really loved him, she'd trust him, are not to my liking. Granted, the last previews that irritated me had nothing to do with the episode, so maybe there's hope. But seriously. I want her to grow up. For me to be satisfied with her growth arc, she needs to trust him. To put her faith in him and be rewarded. To see that it is okay to trust, and that even the big, bad Veronica Mars needs someone else.
Huh. That sounds like a pretty good story, eh?
Oh, and I usually don't tell you when I post on my other blog, but today I will, because I have a huge rant on my Enemy Prayer Blog and it's something that's been heavy on my heart for a while.
Which, for you non Veronica watchers (you mutant freaks!) who write, is an excellent lesson in characterization. (I'm telling you, buy the DVD sets-you need to see how flawlessly they're developed. All but the bus crash-that bit) Thomas has done an excellent job of establishing Veronica's lack of trust issues. However, we're now into Season Three, and we're in round two of Veronica/Logan (who truly belong together) and Veronica's refusal to trust him is holding them back. Logan (except when he was dealing with his own personal trauma arc stuff) has consistently proven (esepecially in this go-around) that despite things that look bad, that he can be trusted. At least by any other reasonable human being.
I like what she's learning and being shown now-the girl looking for her missing boyfriend and not caring if boyfriend was cheating (he wasn't) so long as he was okay. A good smack in the face after she'd been yet again proven wrong for not trusting Logan. So these rotten previews showing trouble in the waters because she now thinks that if she really loved him, she'd trust him, are not to my liking. Granted, the last previews that irritated me had nothing to do with the episode, so maybe there's hope. But seriously. I want her to grow up. For me to be satisfied with her growth arc, she needs to trust him. To put her faith in him and be rewarded. To see that it is okay to trust, and that even the big, bad Veronica Mars needs someone else.
Huh. That sounds like a pretty good story, eh?
Oh, and I usually don't tell you when I post on my other blog, but today I will, because I have a huge rant on my Enemy Prayer Blog and it's something that's been heavy on my heart for a while.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Why I have a love/hate relationship with Technology
First off, I would like to know WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY we can put a man on the moon, but we can't get rid of menstrual cramps. I'm telling you, the second thing I do when I walk through those pearly gates (after greeting and having a LONG conversation with the King) is hunting down that Eve chick and shaking the crap out of her for placing this curse on womankind. Anyway, for the first time in a long time, I had to spend the day in bed, it hurt so bad to move. ICK.
That Man, being male, did his duty by me at the mention of female malfunctions, handed me the laptop and took the kiddos so I could have a little peace.
If ever there was an argument for God, this would be it. Despite all our attempts to be God and "fix" the things that He made, we are still fighting the age-old female plague. Don't give me your talk of the pill and all that garbage. It don't work on me. All it does is make my body think it's pregnant, which means I puke 24/7. Yippee. Nope, we don't have it all figured out.
Anyway, I am WAY behind on the Nano goal. So I decided to be productive in my pain. And I got nearly 10K written. I've decided to treat this like an editorial deadline, and act like I have a contract riding on the end of the month. The reassuring thing about technology is that it allowed me to obsessively track my progress with a click of a button rather than having to stop and manually count. Score one for the computer nerds.
But, because I do have a job to do, I decided that I should probably earn my keep and *gasp* get some work done. Okay, I do it every day. However, despite my best efforts, it looks like I got nothing done. Why? Because of technology. I finally gave up trying to make this one set of code work. I'm going to give it a go tomorrow on the desktop, I think. The problem with the laptop is the touch mouse, I don't care what anyone else says, does not give me the precision a regular mouse gives me and I can't c&p properly to save my life. So I wasted a couple of hours on a project that I still can't get right because technology won't let me do what I want to do. I know, wah, wah, wah, but if you were at my house, you'd have heard me screaming all sorts of bad words.
As for the book-that lovely piece of explosive (pun intended) literature that I've been working on most of the day-well, it's coming along nicely. I'm almost (FINALLY) getting the H and the h in the same room, however, as an uninvited secondary character informed me, my H is not yet ready to actually see her yet. I also apparently like tormenting pregnant women, because I have yet another pregnant heroine in the hospital. It does advance the plot, which is good, because I accidentally messed up the way I was getting to the next point and this does the job nicely. It's so irritating when characters take over and decide that the nice clean way you've created to get them where they need to be blows up in your face. Literally. But it's all good. She's facing her demons, he's facing his demons, and in about another 40 pages, they'll be facing each other-and realizing that they're each other's demons. Give me another couple hundred pages and that realization will smack them in the face with the truth that they are their own demon and until they get a little Sword of the Spirit action going, those demons ain't going nowhere.
Fortunately, the one thing technology has yet to do is control my very fertile imagination. However, I would definitely support a device (that I control, naturally) that would just extract these thoughts from my brain and put them to paper for me. By the time my hands get the original thought on paper, my brain is twenty steps ahead and I've forgotten what goes in between.
Finally, I really hate this new Blogger Beta piece of garbage. The old Blogger was easier. I want it back. *whines*
That Man, being male, did his duty by me at the mention of female malfunctions, handed me the laptop and took the kiddos so I could have a little peace.
If ever there was an argument for God, this would be it. Despite all our attempts to be God and "fix" the things that He made, we are still fighting the age-old female plague. Don't give me your talk of the pill and all that garbage. It don't work on me. All it does is make my body think it's pregnant, which means I puke 24/7. Yippee. Nope, we don't have it all figured out.
Anyway, I am WAY behind on the Nano goal. So I decided to be productive in my pain. And I got nearly 10K written. I've decided to treat this like an editorial deadline, and act like I have a contract riding on the end of the month. The reassuring thing about technology is that it allowed me to obsessively track my progress with a click of a button rather than having to stop and manually count. Score one for the computer nerds.
But, because I do have a job to do, I decided that I should probably earn my keep and *gasp* get some work done. Okay, I do it every day. However, despite my best efforts, it looks like I got nothing done. Why? Because of technology. I finally gave up trying to make this one set of code work. I'm going to give it a go tomorrow on the desktop, I think. The problem with the laptop is the touch mouse, I don't care what anyone else says, does not give me the precision a regular mouse gives me and I can't c&p properly to save my life. So I wasted a couple of hours on a project that I still can't get right because technology won't let me do what I want to do. I know, wah, wah, wah, but if you were at my house, you'd have heard me screaming all sorts of bad words.
As for the book-that lovely piece of explosive (pun intended) literature that I've been working on most of the day-well, it's coming along nicely. I'm almost (FINALLY) getting the H and the h in the same room, however, as an uninvited secondary character informed me, my H is not yet ready to actually see her yet. I also apparently like tormenting pregnant women, because I have yet another pregnant heroine in the hospital. It does advance the plot, which is good, because I accidentally messed up the way I was getting to the next point and this does the job nicely. It's so irritating when characters take over and decide that the nice clean way you've created to get them where they need to be blows up in your face. Literally. But it's all good. She's facing her demons, he's facing his demons, and in about another 40 pages, they'll be facing each other-and realizing that they're each other's demons. Give me another couple hundred pages and that realization will smack them in the face with the truth that they are their own demon and until they get a little Sword of the Spirit action going, those demons ain't going nowhere.
Fortunately, the one thing technology has yet to do is control my very fertile imagination. However, I would definitely support a device (that I control, naturally) that would just extract these thoughts from my brain and put them to paper for me. By the time my hands get the original thought on paper, my brain is twenty steps ahead and I've forgotten what goes in between.
Finally, I really hate this new Blogger Beta piece of garbage. The old Blogger was easier. I want it back. *whines*
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Serial Mom
Watching it now... *big happy smile* There's something beautiful about a serial killer mom. Can the story about my life be Terrorist Mom? KABOOM!
I blew up another warehouse last night. I didn't intend to, it just sort of happened. But there my characters were, and my heroine had the nerve to start going off on some stupid backstory reminiscent tirade about how she became a meth addict. Like my readers care. *rolling eyes* So, I stopped her in her tracks by blowing up the warehouse she was walking past. That'll serve her for not advancing my plot. You want to wander down memory lane? I'll blow it up.
Oh, the joy of a creative imagination...
Last night was a trying evening. That Man called me at five to say he was on his way home. Fifteen minutes later, he called back to say he got a call to work late. Twenty four hours later, he came home. I am not kidding. We won't discuss the stress of being locked in the house with the dog and children. The real reason I'll never knock off That Man-Those Kids.
So here I am, watching a movie about a serial killer mom (YES!) and trying to figure out what to do with this book. Do you think I could get away with blowing up another warehouse? Yeah, I know, how does it advance the plot or the romance? It doesn't. I know where it's SUPPOSED to be going, but I can't seem to get the steps in between right. The thing is, this book is not supposed to be a romantic suspense. It's a heartwarming story of redemption. But these stupid drug dealers want to make it a suspense. I don't want to solve some mystery surrounding this drug ring. Is that so hard to understand? The other two stories related to these characters are not suspense.
Maybe I'll watch The Princess Bride instead. There's something romantic about a man who says nothing except, "As you wish."
I blew up another warehouse last night. I didn't intend to, it just sort of happened. But there my characters were, and my heroine had the nerve to start going off on some stupid backstory reminiscent tirade about how she became a meth addict. Like my readers care. *rolling eyes* So, I stopped her in her tracks by blowing up the warehouse she was walking past. That'll serve her for not advancing my plot. You want to wander down memory lane? I'll blow it up.
Oh, the joy of a creative imagination...
Last night was a trying evening. That Man called me at five to say he was on his way home. Fifteen minutes later, he called back to say he got a call to work late. Twenty four hours later, he came home. I am not kidding. We won't discuss the stress of being locked in the house with the dog and children. The real reason I'll never knock off That Man-Those Kids.
So here I am, watching a movie about a serial killer mom (YES!) and trying to figure out what to do with this book. Do you think I could get away with blowing up another warehouse? Yeah, I know, how does it advance the plot or the romance? It doesn't. I know where it's SUPPOSED to be going, but I can't seem to get the steps in between right. The thing is, this book is not supposed to be a romantic suspense. It's a heartwarming story of redemption. But these stupid drug dealers want to make it a suspense. I don't want to solve some mystery surrounding this drug ring. Is that so hard to understand? The other two stories related to these characters are not suspense.
Maybe I'll watch The Princess Bride instead. There's something romantic about a man who says nothing except, "As you wish."
Friday, November 10, 2006
Things I do/do not recommend
Seeing the Broadway version of The Lion King. Highly recommended-the musical numbers are great.
Not recommended: Doing it while fighting a stomach virus.
Okay, so what I thought was a stomach virus turned migraine was really a stomach virus AND a migraine. Yesterday was not fun.
We went to the Lion King, which is what we got DSD for Christmas-my alumni association had a deal where we went to dinner and the show. Not recommended: eating mystery buffet food when the only other food you've been eating for the past two days consists of the BRAT diet. I did not, however, hurl. This is a good thing. Definitely recommended when dressed to the nines at a formal function.
The show was good. The only thing that threw me (DUH) was that the voices were different. When you've watched a show eight hundred million times with the same voices, listening to your favorite lines delivered by a different voice with a different tone is a bit surreal.
The costumes were cool-I wish I'd taken my friend's recommendation to bring binoculars. Definitely would recommend that now.
Sitting near an exit. This was just a nice lagniappe, however, I am so glad that the tickets we got were close. Definitely recommend that one, especially since there's only a ten minute intermission, long enough to jump up, beat the rest of the hordes travelling to the restroom, and get back in time for curtain. I know, TMI, but seriously, my stomach was not in a happy mood. The military folks definitely should use that as torture method for prisoners. Give them an upset stomach, then make them sit through a Broadway show (where they don't let you back in if you get up-and we paid too much money for those tickets to allow that to happen), and by the end of the first act, they'll be ready to talk.
Washing your face before going to bed. Just thought I'd throw that one in, but I definitely recommend it. Especially after wearing makeup. I know, *gasp* , can you believe I actually did my hair and wore makeup? There is no photographic evidence of this, however. :)
All in all, it was a great night. That Man also took pity on me and drove the babysitter home, even though he had an early morning to start a long day coming up. :)
However, on the NOT recommended list, I'd be remiss if I didn't say, "going to McDonalds for lunch the next day." I'd made plans with my mentor mom a few days ago to meet for lunch today, and she'd suggested McDonalds so the kids weren't bored, and well, my stomach is REALLY not happy with me right now. I'd feel just fine if I wouldn't eat or drink anything. Ugh.
Not recommended: Doing it while fighting a stomach virus.
Okay, so what I thought was a stomach virus turned migraine was really a stomach virus AND a migraine. Yesterday was not fun.
We went to the Lion King, which is what we got DSD for Christmas-my alumni association had a deal where we went to dinner and the show. Not recommended: eating mystery buffet food when the only other food you've been eating for the past two days consists of the BRAT diet. I did not, however, hurl. This is a good thing. Definitely recommended when dressed to the nines at a formal function.
The show was good. The only thing that threw me (DUH) was that the voices were different. When you've watched a show eight hundred million times with the same voices, listening to your favorite lines delivered by a different voice with a different tone is a bit surreal.
The costumes were cool-I wish I'd taken my friend's recommendation to bring binoculars. Definitely would recommend that now.
Sitting near an exit. This was just a nice lagniappe, however, I am so glad that the tickets we got were close. Definitely recommend that one, especially since there's only a ten minute intermission, long enough to jump up, beat the rest of the hordes travelling to the restroom, and get back in time for curtain. I know, TMI, but seriously, my stomach was not in a happy mood. The military folks definitely should use that as torture method for prisoners. Give them an upset stomach, then make them sit through a Broadway show (where they don't let you back in if you get up-and we paid too much money for those tickets to allow that to happen), and by the end of the first act, they'll be ready to talk.
Washing your face before going to bed. Just thought I'd throw that one in, but I definitely recommend it. Especially after wearing makeup. I know, *gasp* , can you believe I actually did my hair and wore makeup? There is no photographic evidence of this, however. :)
All in all, it was a great night. That Man also took pity on me and drove the babysitter home, even though he had an early morning to start a long day coming up. :)
However, on the NOT recommended list, I'd be remiss if I didn't say, "going to McDonalds for lunch the next day." I'd made plans with my mentor mom a few days ago to meet for lunch today, and she'd suggested McDonalds so the kids weren't bored, and well, my stomach is REALLY not happy with me right now. I'd feel just fine if I wouldn't eat or drink anything. Ugh.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Ick, Ick, and more Ick
I probably shouldn't be blogging tonight, since the computer makes me want to hurl.
First, for Tori, my analysis of Veronica Mars: I AM SO MAD THAT DADDY-O GOT WITH THE MARRIED WOMAN. And yes, I was slightly irritated that the preview had nothing to do with the episode. But glad there wasn't any Logan/Veronica nastiness. Next episode will be interesting: Logan specifically said, "trust me," and it's going to be interesting to see what happens. :)
Then, That Man came home with a tummyache. I decided to avoid getting sick myself and slept on the couch. Except just as I started to fall asleep, the kiddos started crying. The usual growing pains in the middle of the night, and they wanted me to sleep with them. Lovely. Squeezing mommy and two girls in a twin bed is not fun. I don't recommend it. The two year old decided to spend the night playing, jumping on the bed, and disrupting our sleep. I decided to move back to the couch, making note that we really have to get them in separate bedrooms soon. I feel bad for her sister having to deal with that night after night.
Just as I got to sleep, I wake to crying kiddos again. That Man was in there, comforting the baby, who'd put all of their rubber bands on her ankles and wrists, cutting off her circulation. He was just getting up for work and heard her crying. So, I went to my own bed. I got an hour of sleep before the kiddos got me up.
I got up in time to realize that my tummy was upset as well. After I emptied the contents of my stomach, I went back to bed, putting the TV on in my bedroom for them to watch in my bed. I know. Lovely. Spent the morning in bed, waiting for death, and got up to get B to school. As I was driving, the light sensitivity about killed me. Which is when I realized the headache and nausea were not a virus I caught from That Man, but a migraine. Took my pills, put a blanket over the windows, put the baby to bed and went to sleep.
I still feel like death. But I'm trying to keep myself up a litle while so I can actually sleep tonight.
First, for Tori, my analysis of Veronica Mars: I AM SO MAD THAT DADDY-O GOT WITH THE MARRIED WOMAN. And yes, I was slightly irritated that the preview had nothing to do with the episode. But glad there wasn't any Logan/Veronica nastiness. Next episode will be interesting: Logan specifically said, "trust me," and it's going to be interesting to see what happens. :)
Then, That Man came home with a tummyache. I decided to avoid getting sick myself and slept on the couch. Except just as I started to fall asleep, the kiddos started crying. The usual growing pains in the middle of the night, and they wanted me to sleep with them. Lovely. Squeezing mommy and two girls in a twin bed is not fun. I don't recommend it. The two year old decided to spend the night playing, jumping on the bed, and disrupting our sleep. I decided to move back to the couch, making note that we really have to get them in separate bedrooms soon. I feel bad for her sister having to deal with that night after night.
Just as I got to sleep, I wake to crying kiddos again. That Man was in there, comforting the baby, who'd put all of their rubber bands on her ankles and wrists, cutting off her circulation. He was just getting up for work and heard her crying. So, I went to my own bed. I got an hour of sleep before the kiddos got me up.
I got up in time to realize that my tummy was upset as well. After I emptied the contents of my stomach, I went back to bed, putting the TV on in my bedroom for them to watch in my bed. I know. Lovely. Spent the morning in bed, waiting for death, and got up to get B to school. As I was driving, the light sensitivity about killed me. Which is when I realized the headache and nausea were not a virus I caught from That Man, but a migraine. Took my pills, put a blanket over the windows, put the baby to bed and went to sleep.
I still feel like death. But I'm trying to keep myself up a litle while so I can actually sleep tonight.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The dog did it...
So we know I'm nuts, right? And I'm totally stressed out by the fact that my phone will NOT stop ringing with idiots calling to make sure I voted. Then I sat down to pay bills with a two year old who wanted to color on them. As I stressed about wondering where money for a bill due next week was coming, God smacked me and said, "remember that thing in the Bible that says give us THIS day our daily bread?" Oh. Yeah.
So I'm working on my to do list from yesterday, I still have four items left to complete. One of which is "Order books". As in, the books I'll be reading and discussing this month. As I placed my order, putting in one from my good friend Loreth Anne White , I remembered that I was supposed to enter her contest of being caught reading one of her books.
Okay, total brain spasm-I looked up and noticed yet another mess the two year old made. I will survive toddlerhood. I will survive toddlerhood.
Anyway, when I went to look for the book I do have, who should I notice curled up with it, but The Dog. Here I've been blaming my kiddos for absconding with my books, when in fact, my dog is a closet romance reader.
Right. Eighteen minutes until Veronica, and if that stupid moronic Rob Thomas broke up Veronica and Logan and those previews that looked like he was cheating are true, I'm going to throw something through the TV and yell really loud. It's a good thing That Man took the kiddos to church tonight.
HA! I did my civic duty
Yep, I voted. But sadly, or should I say, much to my frustration in not being able to give certain people an emphatic no, almost all of the abusive ads I've had to endure over the past two months were for people who don't represent my district.
WHAT!?! I lost countless hours of my life to listen to garbage that had absolutely no effect on my vote? Oh, the tragedy. Now you know why I don't watch much TV. The worst part, though, was that I even got phone calls and flyers in the mail from candidates who weren't even in my district. I have such confidence in these people's abilities to manage my tax dollars effectively, don't you?
I did, however, get much satisfaction in some of my "no" votes. I definitely cackled as I pushed the little "no" button. If I had to improve the voting process, I'd have them make the "no" button really big, really bold, and make a really satisfying "NO" noise. :) All of the amendments and referendums, I'm proud to say, I voted NO on. :)
Now, some folks who know where I live and know the significant ballot issues I faced might be surprised that I'd vote no on everything. Allow me to illuminate. First off, I am a true conservative. None of this wishy-washy political hype that Americans think is conservative. I am a thousand times more conservative than the so-called conservatives in our country. However, I am also a thousand times more liberal than most of the so-called liberals in our country. That Jesus guy? I actually think we need to live like he taught. *gasp* (Yes, I know, my love for homicide kinda sorta goes against that, but hey, we're working on other sin in my life right now, okay?)
But anyway, the main reason I vote no on all amendments and referendums is the deception involved. For example, about half of them read, "Without increasing taxes, we'll increase funding for this project." Oh really? Could you explain how that's going to happen? Because I may not be a math whiz, but here's something I do know. Considering that many important projects are already underfunded, and you aren't getting new money, where exactly is the money coming from? Uh huh. That's what I thought. I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER vote for an increase in funding for ANYTHING unless I know exactly where the money is coming from.
Then, there's the abusive phone calls I got about some of the ballot issues. "You're a bad parent unless you increase school funding." Really? So while you're wasting my time, calling to convince me that I need to be a better parent, who exactly is watching YOUR children? The whole racist/bigot/homophobe accusations if I don't vote for the ballot measures dealing with those issues? Do NOT get me started. What all of this garbage boils down to is this: when you decide to attack me personally and offend me by leaving insulting messages on my answering machine, you can guarantee that I will NOT support your ballot measure.
Mostly, though, I have to say that I tend to vote the way I do because I want as little governmental intervention in my life as possible. I understand some of it to some degree, but some of it borders on ridiculous.
For the next election, I have a plan. I'm going to keep a spreadsheet of all the idiotic ads, phone calls, mailings, personal visits from neighbors I've never met who supposedly care about us, and the people who are the least abusive are the ones who'll be getting my vote. Politicians-take note.
Finally, because I think he's got some great points on voting (which are much less shallow than mine), take a look at what Will Samson has to say. I really do believe that if we as voters took the time to reflect on those thoughts before voting, and if our candidates understood the importance of living what they say they stand for, we could make a difference.
Which leads to a final post that Samson wrote about morality that really touched me. I realize it's too late to do anything for this election. But we do have a big election-one that will determine our next president-coming up very soon. People are already lining up and picking their favorites. Let's not be so hasty in our choices. The person who will be getting my vote isn't going to be the prettiest guy or gal, or the one with the right letter behind their name, or the one with the smoothest talk. I want straight talk. I want honesty. I don't want these campaign ads that distort the facts. I don't want the "anything to win" mentality.
Each election has gotten worse in the attacks, in the garbage, in the things I find morally reprehensible. I am a conservative Christian, but let me be perfectly clear. I would rather vote for a candidate who is openly gay or openly an adulterer or openly a murderer than a candidate who is going to lie to and decieve the American public. And no, this is not a slam on our current president-because while he may be guilty of some of those things, so are a lot of those attacking him. It goes both ways, and I can assure you that the way I will be voting will depend largely on the factors above.
If you haven't voted today, go out and do it. Thousands of men and women died so you have the right, millions more would be willing to die for the opportunity to do so themselves. Besides, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Roy Romer, and Nancy Pelosi called today to make sure I'd be at the polls. Might as well make it worth all the trouble they took to record their messages and send them through the automated phone harrassment system. See, both the Democrats and the Republicans are desperate for my vote. *laughs hysterically*
WHAT!?! I lost countless hours of my life to listen to garbage that had absolutely no effect on my vote? Oh, the tragedy. Now you know why I don't watch much TV. The worst part, though, was that I even got phone calls and flyers in the mail from candidates who weren't even in my district. I have such confidence in these people's abilities to manage my tax dollars effectively, don't you?
I did, however, get much satisfaction in some of my "no" votes. I definitely cackled as I pushed the little "no" button. If I had to improve the voting process, I'd have them make the "no" button really big, really bold, and make a really satisfying "NO" noise. :) All of the amendments and referendums, I'm proud to say, I voted NO on. :)
Now, some folks who know where I live and know the significant ballot issues I faced might be surprised that I'd vote no on everything. Allow me to illuminate. First off, I am a true conservative. None of this wishy-washy political hype that Americans think is conservative. I am a thousand times more conservative than the so-called conservatives in our country. However, I am also a thousand times more liberal than most of the so-called liberals in our country. That Jesus guy? I actually think we need to live like he taught. *gasp* (Yes, I know, my love for homicide kinda sorta goes against that, but hey, we're working on other sin in my life right now, okay?)
But anyway, the main reason I vote no on all amendments and referendums is the deception involved. For example, about half of them read, "Without increasing taxes, we'll increase funding for this project." Oh really? Could you explain how that's going to happen? Because I may not be a math whiz, but here's something I do know. Considering that many important projects are already underfunded, and you aren't getting new money, where exactly is the money coming from? Uh huh. That's what I thought. I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER vote for an increase in funding for ANYTHING unless I know exactly where the money is coming from.
Then, there's the abusive phone calls I got about some of the ballot issues. "You're a bad parent unless you increase school funding." Really? So while you're wasting my time, calling to convince me that I need to be a better parent, who exactly is watching YOUR children? The whole racist/bigot/homophobe accusations if I don't vote for the ballot measures dealing with those issues? Do NOT get me started. What all of this garbage boils down to is this: when you decide to attack me personally and offend me by leaving insulting messages on my answering machine, you can guarantee that I will NOT support your ballot measure.
Mostly, though, I have to say that I tend to vote the way I do because I want as little governmental intervention in my life as possible. I understand some of it to some degree, but some of it borders on ridiculous.
For the next election, I have a plan. I'm going to keep a spreadsheet of all the idiotic ads, phone calls, mailings, personal visits from neighbors I've never met who supposedly care about us, and the people who are the least abusive are the ones who'll be getting my vote. Politicians-take note.
Finally, because I think he's got some great points on voting (which are much less shallow than mine), take a look at what Will Samson has to say. I really do believe that if we as voters took the time to reflect on those thoughts before voting, and if our candidates understood the importance of living what they say they stand for, we could make a difference.
Which leads to a final post that Samson wrote about morality that really touched me. I realize it's too late to do anything for this election. But we do have a big election-one that will determine our next president-coming up very soon. People are already lining up and picking their favorites. Let's not be so hasty in our choices. The person who will be getting my vote isn't going to be the prettiest guy or gal, or the one with the right letter behind their name, or the one with the smoothest talk. I want straight talk. I want honesty. I don't want these campaign ads that distort the facts. I don't want the "anything to win" mentality.
Each election has gotten worse in the attacks, in the garbage, in the things I find morally reprehensible. I am a conservative Christian, but let me be perfectly clear. I would rather vote for a candidate who is openly gay or openly an adulterer or openly a murderer than a candidate who is going to lie to and decieve the American public. And no, this is not a slam on our current president-because while he may be guilty of some of those things, so are a lot of those attacking him. It goes both ways, and I can assure you that the way I will be voting will depend largely on the factors above.
If you haven't voted today, go out and do it. Thousands of men and women died so you have the right, millions more would be willing to die for the opportunity to do so themselves. Besides, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Roy Romer, and Nancy Pelosi called today to make sure I'd be at the polls. Might as well make it worth all the trouble they took to record their messages and send them through the automated phone harrassment system. See, both the Democrats and the Republicans are desperate for my vote. *laughs hysterically*
Kiddo stories...
You know how your kids will do something really funny, and you think, I've *so* got to tell this story...
Well, it happened today.
And in between doing the mommy thing, the wife thing, chatting with Jayne about a way fun event we're planning for SH (hehehe you guys are going to love it), racing kiddos to school, stopping by my FIL's, visiting radio shack, the grocery store, prepping for class, getting royally P-O'd at certain events in the news that I'm still not calm enough about to share in a nice sort of way, picking up the sitter, making dinner, teaching a roomful of folks about depreciation (ACK!), planning the rest of the week, watching Shallow Hal (LOVE that movie! There are some amazing scenes with awesome characterization), working on the boards (still working on a few more updates I want to do), and TRYING to Nano,
I completely forgot what it was.
But I'm telling you, it was soooooo good.
P.S. Homeland Security, if you're reading this, and you see a lot of activity on my computer visiting sites about meth labs, gangs, drug addicts, blowing things up, etc., I promise it's for the Nano book. Maybe you could have a chat with some editors about buying it so that way you can buy it, read it, and cross me off your list.
Well, it happened today.
And in between doing the mommy thing, the wife thing, chatting with Jayne about a way fun event we're planning for SH (hehehe you guys are going to love it), racing kiddos to school, stopping by my FIL's, visiting radio shack, the grocery store, prepping for class, getting royally P-O'd at certain events in the news that I'm still not calm enough about to share in a nice sort of way, picking up the sitter, making dinner, teaching a roomful of folks about depreciation (ACK!), planning the rest of the week, watching Shallow Hal (LOVE that movie! There are some amazing scenes with awesome characterization), working on the boards (still working on a few more updates I want to do), and TRYING to Nano,
I completely forgot what it was.
But I'm telling you, it was soooooo good.
P.S. Homeland Security, if you're reading this, and you see a lot of activity on my computer visiting sites about meth labs, gangs, drug addicts, blowing things up, etc., I promise it's for the Nano book. Maybe you could have a chat with some editors about buying it so that way you can buy it, read it, and cross me off your list.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
On giving...
Got a phone call today from Becky, one of the girls in our small group. She asked what I thought of taking all the kiddos to Wal-Mart to let them pick out things to put in a box for Operation Christmas Child . I said it sounded great, sign me up.
So it began... eight kids, two adults, and Wal-Mart on a Sunday night. Do not attempt this at home. Now see, I've always said I wanted ten, so I figured this would be great practice. Two of the kiddos were mine, six belonged to another gal (actually, two are hers, the rest are foster kids). You know how I always gripe about my terrorists? They were little angels-the other kids were a little rowdy, but nothing I'd say was terrible or anything we couldn't handle. Not that I'd be eager to take eight kids shopping on a regular basis, but it was still a good time. I asked Becky, who doesn't have any kids yet (although when she does, she's going to be a terrific mom), "did you ever think you'd be wandering Wal-Mart with eight kids?" She gave a very emphatic no. :)
It was fun, watching these kiddos take the time to choose gifts for children for whom this may be all they get for Christmas. They chose things that they would have chosen for themselves. They were frustrated by the limitations on size (shoebox size). The older boys, who are around 9, thought that since we had socks on our list, the kids would probably need underwear. It occurred to me that in some of the poorer countries, they probably wouldn't know what to do with it, let alone care whether or not they wore whitey tighteys or boxers (yes, we had this debate). My daughter thought that if we were buying them socks, we ought to also buy shoes. Which makes sense, but how do you buy shoes for kiddos you've never met? Maybe next year, we'll catch a sale at the end of summer and stock up on sandals-you can fudge the sizes on those a little better. The boys also debated about brushes versus combs-some boys like combs, and some like brushes. For a couple of them, I settled the debate by getting a brush and comb set. The kids also wanted to share their favorite video games and DVDs. It never occurred to them that some children don't have access to those things, let alone to the power supply that they'd need to operate it.
As we drove home, my daughter asked me, "Mom, if these kids need all this stuff that we already have plenty of, don't you think they need food, too? Why didn't we buy them food?" Sure, I gave the simple answer of transport and spoilage issues, but I sure felt guilty about throwing away the corn dog her little sister didn't finish. And I remembered the child we sponsor through World Vision . I said a prayer for her, and hoped that tonight, she'll have enough food in her belly.
When we got home, the girls wanted to read a book, so we compromised and did a Bible lesson. I have these cards that we read, and I pulled one at random. This particular lesson was on frankincense. We learned about frankincense and how it was one of the gifts baby Jesus received. It made me realize that this was a good lesson to tie into our activity-we can't give Jesus a gift, not literally, but as it says in Matthew 25:40, what we do for the least of His people, we do for Him. In celebrating the birth of Christ (and yes, I know it did not literally happen at Christmas), I think the best gift we can give is to those who are in need. Really, it is a gift we should give every day.
I figured it cost us about $25 per box to fill it, and since we let the kids choose what they wanted, we could have probably done it for less. Add in $7 a box to send it, and for less than what you'd spend on a gift for your own child, you can give another child a gift of hope. I think we pay $35 a month to sponsor our World Vision child. I'm not saying this to say, "oh look how great we are, look how much money we spend." Honestly, it's not all that much. So I hope, that as you prepare to purchase gifts for friends and loved ones, also remember to buy a present for Jesus.
So it began... eight kids, two adults, and Wal-Mart on a Sunday night. Do not attempt this at home. Now see, I've always said I wanted ten, so I figured this would be great practice. Two of the kiddos were mine, six belonged to another gal (actually, two are hers, the rest are foster kids). You know how I always gripe about my terrorists? They were little angels-the other kids were a little rowdy, but nothing I'd say was terrible or anything we couldn't handle. Not that I'd be eager to take eight kids shopping on a regular basis, but it was still a good time. I asked Becky, who doesn't have any kids yet (although when she does, she's going to be a terrific mom), "did you ever think you'd be wandering Wal-Mart with eight kids?" She gave a very emphatic no. :)
It was fun, watching these kiddos take the time to choose gifts for children for whom this may be all they get for Christmas. They chose things that they would have chosen for themselves. They were frustrated by the limitations on size (shoebox size). The older boys, who are around 9, thought that since we had socks on our list, the kids would probably need underwear. It occurred to me that in some of the poorer countries, they probably wouldn't know what to do with it, let alone care whether or not they wore whitey tighteys or boxers (yes, we had this debate). My daughter thought that if we were buying them socks, we ought to also buy shoes. Which makes sense, but how do you buy shoes for kiddos you've never met? Maybe next year, we'll catch a sale at the end of summer and stock up on sandals-you can fudge the sizes on those a little better. The boys also debated about brushes versus combs-some boys like combs, and some like brushes. For a couple of them, I settled the debate by getting a brush and comb set. The kids also wanted to share their favorite video games and DVDs. It never occurred to them that some children don't have access to those things, let alone to the power supply that they'd need to operate it.
As we drove home, my daughter asked me, "Mom, if these kids need all this stuff that we already have plenty of, don't you think they need food, too? Why didn't we buy them food?" Sure, I gave the simple answer of transport and spoilage issues, but I sure felt guilty about throwing away the corn dog her little sister didn't finish. And I remembered the child we sponsor through World Vision . I said a prayer for her, and hoped that tonight, she'll have enough food in her belly.
When we got home, the girls wanted to read a book, so we compromised and did a Bible lesson. I have these cards that we read, and I pulled one at random. This particular lesson was on frankincense. We learned about frankincense and how it was one of the gifts baby Jesus received. It made me realize that this was a good lesson to tie into our activity-we can't give Jesus a gift, not literally, but as it says in Matthew 25:40, what we do for the least of His people, we do for Him. In celebrating the birth of Christ (and yes, I know it did not literally happen at Christmas), I think the best gift we can give is to those who are in need. Really, it is a gift we should give every day.
I figured it cost us about $25 per box to fill it, and since we let the kids choose what they wanted, we could have probably done it for less. Add in $7 a box to send it, and for less than what you'd spend on a gift for your own child, you can give another child a gift of hope. I think we pay $35 a month to sponsor our World Vision child. I'm not saying this to say, "oh look how great we are, look how much money we spend." Honestly, it's not all that much. So I hope, that as you prepare to purchase gifts for friends and loved ones, also remember to buy a present for Jesus.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
I need to learn to keep my big mouth shut
There I am, minding my own business and being a good girl, yet sharing what's on my heart. And then I start working on the good ole Nano book. I begin writing the first scene in my heroine's point of view. It occurred to me that a pregnant meth addict isn't going to go over so well with the CBA. And the whole prayer thing isn't going to go over so well in the mainstream market.
Which led me to remembering that whole thing I JUST posted about seeking him first. Um, yeah, that one. You know, where I basically said that if HE didn't come first than my writing was just another form of Baal worship?
Yeah. So anyway, we have a pregnant meth addict for a heroine. Doncha just wanna go out and buy the book? I should mention, though, because now that I am committed to just writing what I need to write and not caring about the market until it's done and I can decide what to do from there, I am doing research on pregnant meth addicts. I suddenly felt really convicted, because I found a forum where they post and stuff... strangers would come on and post awful things about these poor women. One poster even suggested helping them kick the habit by euthanizing them. It made me sick. If I were trying to kick a habit and looking for support-to be faced with those comments-ugh. Maybe I need to write this book for a reason.
Which led me to remembering that whole thing I JUST posted about seeking him first. Um, yeah, that one. You know, where I basically said that if HE didn't come first than my writing was just another form of Baal worship?
Yeah. So anyway, we have a pregnant meth addict for a heroine. Doncha just wanna go out and buy the book? I should mention, though, because now that I am committed to just writing what I need to write and not caring about the market until it's done and I can decide what to do from there, I am doing research on pregnant meth addicts. I suddenly felt really convicted, because I found a forum where they post and stuff... strangers would come on and post awful things about these poor women. One poster even suggested helping them kick the habit by euthanizing them. It made me sick. If I were trying to kick a habit and looking for support-to be faced with those comments-ugh. Maybe I need to write this book for a reason.
Why I hate my new book
I've mentioned that this is a Hosea book, right?
I need to rewind for a minute and mention a conversation I had with a friend. She was talking about her writing and how she felt that she was a Hosea. She said, "Everyone wants to be an Isaiah, but no one wants to be a Hosea." Um, okay. I sorta got where she was going with it.
And then I start writing this book-the book I didn't want to write. This family fascinates me. It started as I was editing my current book, and one of the secondaries casually mentions that his wife left him and the kids, leaving just a note. As a mother who adores my children (yes, even when they're blowing up my house), to just leave your kids like that, well, it's so unthinkable. I didn't want to write her story, nor did I want to like her. Which is pretty stupid if you're writing a book where the goal is to get your readers to like the character, right?
As I thought about this book and whether or not I could really write it, a thought hit me. This is my Hosea book. Here's this hero, with a wife who has gone and done the unthinkable. Not only does he have to take her back, but he has to chase her and fight for her to come back to their family. So I've been thinking a lot about Hosea. Yesterday, as I realized that I am in the midst of lots and lots of cop talk that will probably have to get cut in the final draft, I decided that I should probably dig in to Hosea. If I'm going to write a Hosea book, I might was well read it, right?
I think my brain is going to explode. I say that a lot, I know, and it's only by the grace of God that it hasn't already. But as I dug in, of course I discovered all the things I already knew, like Homer is fighting for his unfaithful wife, Gomer, and the Lord is fighting for his unfaithful people, the Israelites. Here's what made my brain start to short circuit.
I realized that we are all Gomers.
We are all a part of the unfaithful people, chasing after that which is not of God. We don't seek Him, we seek all of the other things. Worse, we aren't even honest about it. "No, Lord, we're not chasing after Baal," we argue. I mean, until I started digging in my Bible, I didn't even know who or what Baal was. And Asherah poles? I can't recall that I've ever actually seen one. What does an Asherah pole look like?
I can only guess what they looked like in Biblical times, but I do know what they look like in modern times. I think about the things I chase after, and I've come to realize that a lot of them are Baals. My focus isn't on God, but on those things. And while I say, "I want to honor God with it," the goal isn't God, but attaining that thing, or that goal. Honoring God is a part of the equation, but it isn't the THE answer. If it's not the answer, then it's nothing more than putting up an Asherah pole or worshipping Baal.
Which leads me to why I hate this book. On the surface, I am nothing like my adulterous drug addicted heroine. And yet, I am everything like her. It really sucks when all you're trying to do is write a book that people will like enough to buy, and instead you find your own heart being changed.
So instead of spending the month Nano-ing my heart out, it looks like God is going to be doing a little heart cleaning on me. Gotta love how that one works.
I need to rewind for a minute and mention a conversation I had with a friend. She was talking about her writing and how she felt that she was a Hosea. She said, "Everyone wants to be an Isaiah, but no one wants to be a Hosea." Um, okay. I sorta got where she was going with it.
And then I start writing this book-the book I didn't want to write. This family fascinates me. It started as I was editing my current book, and one of the secondaries casually mentions that his wife left him and the kids, leaving just a note. As a mother who adores my children (yes, even when they're blowing up my house), to just leave your kids like that, well, it's so unthinkable. I didn't want to write her story, nor did I want to like her. Which is pretty stupid if you're writing a book where the goal is to get your readers to like the character, right?
As I thought about this book and whether or not I could really write it, a thought hit me. This is my Hosea book. Here's this hero, with a wife who has gone and done the unthinkable. Not only does he have to take her back, but he has to chase her and fight for her to come back to their family. So I've been thinking a lot about Hosea. Yesterday, as I realized that I am in the midst of lots and lots of cop talk that will probably have to get cut in the final draft, I decided that I should probably dig in to Hosea. If I'm going to write a Hosea book, I might was well read it, right?
I think my brain is going to explode. I say that a lot, I know, and it's only by the grace of God that it hasn't already. But as I dug in, of course I discovered all the things I already knew, like Homer is fighting for his unfaithful wife, Gomer, and the Lord is fighting for his unfaithful people, the Israelites. Here's what made my brain start to short circuit.
I realized that we are all Gomers.
We are all a part of the unfaithful people, chasing after that which is not of God. We don't seek Him, we seek all of the other things. Worse, we aren't even honest about it. "No, Lord, we're not chasing after Baal," we argue. I mean, until I started digging in my Bible, I didn't even know who or what Baal was. And Asherah poles? I can't recall that I've ever actually seen one. What does an Asherah pole look like?
I can only guess what they looked like in Biblical times, but I do know what they look like in modern times. I think about the things I chase after, and I've come to realize that a lot of them are Baals. My focus isn't on God, but on those things. And while I say, "I want to honor God with it," the goal isn't God, but attaining that thing, or that goal. Honoring God is a part of the equation, but it isn't the THE answer. If it's not the answer, then it's nothing more than putting up an Asherah pole or worshipping Baal.
Which leads me to why I hate this book. On the surface, I am nothing like my adulterous drug addicted heroine. And yet, I am everything like her. It really sucks when all you're trying to do is write a book that people will like enough to buy, and instead you find your own heart being changed.
So instead of spending the month Nano-ing my heart out, it looks like God is going to be doing a little heart cleaning on me. Gotta love how that one works.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
All the crap I signed up for
I don't think I need to elaborate on what a crappy day I had.
Nothing that I could describe as catastrophic crap, but just a whole bunch of little things that really served as constant irritants. It's a good thing I'm not really a psycho and I just play at it, because otherwise, I would have gone postal.
The good news is that our mentor mom, Marian, gave me a big hug and gave us girls all some good words of wisdom. In all this crap that we stress over, how much of it really matters in the long run? In eternity, will it matter that our houses were a mess here on earth? Will it matter that all these little details driving me nuts weren't perfect? Will I even remember?
And even though it put things into perspective, I still want to just scream because it's so stinking hard. Even worse, I realized that God has given me everything I asked for. Okay, so I'm not married to a billionaire prince. But those girls, including the one who spent the whole day crying over nothing and driving me insane because I could not put her down or get anything meaningful done? I prayed for them. I didn't pray for the crying or the fit that had little old ladies in Wendy's acting like they were going to call social services. But you know, those things come with having babies.
So as much as I whine and say, "WHY?", I have to put it in perspective. And no, it doesn't make my headache go away or that sick feeling of drowning in all the stress dissipate, but at least I can realize that tomorrow will be another day. Maybe it'll be full of puking kiddos (since she usually gets whiny like this just before getting sick) and maybe it'll be all hugs, kisses, and smiles. Either way, it's the life I signed up for.
Which reminds me of the Bible study I did today-even if I mess it up, God is still going to bring the work He began in me, the purpose for which He put me on this earth, to completion.
And then, when I came home from teaching tonight, That Man was dilligently working in the garage to clear out my parking space so I could park indoors for the first time in a year. Yeah, it made me feel all gooey inside. I got me a good man. Except, of course, when he's stinking up the bedroom with his man butt odors. Then again, when I signed up for being a wife, I signed up for that too.
So the next time you're handed a super crappy day, remember-you asked for it. Sorta. LOL
Nothing that I could describe as catastrophic crap, but just a whole bunch of little things that really served as constant irritants. It's a good thing I'm not really a psycho and I just play at it, because otherwise, I would have gone postal.
The good news is that our mentor mom, Marian, gave me a big hug and gave us girls all some good words of wisdom. In all this crap that we stress over, how much of it really matters in the long run? In eternity, will it matter that our houses were a mess here on earth? Will it matter that all these little details driving me nuts weren't perfect? Will I even remember?
And even though it put things into perspective, I still want to just scream because it's so stinking hard. Even worse, I realized that God has given me everything I asked for. Okay, so I'm not married to a billionaire prince. But those girls, including the one who spent the whole day crying over nothing and driving me insane because I could not put her down or get anything meaningful done? I prayed for them. I didn't pray for the crying or the fit that had little old ladies in Wendy's acting like they were going to call social services. But you know, those things come with having babies.
So as much as I whine and say, "WHY?", I have to put it in perspective. And no, it doesn't make my headache go away or that sick feeling of drowning in all the stress dissipate, but at least I can realize that tomorrow will be another day. Maybe it'll be full of puking kiddos (since she usually gets whiny like this just before getting sick) and maybe it'll be all hugs, kisses, and smiles. Either way, it's the life I signed up for.
Which reminds me of the Bible study I did today-even if I mess it up, God is still going to bring the work He began in me, the purpose for which He put me on this earth, to completion.
And then, when I came home from teaching tonight, That Man was dilligently working in the garage to clear out my parking space so I could park indoors for the first time in a year. Yeah, it made me feel all gooey inside. I got me a good man. Except, of course, when he's stinking up the bedroom with his man butt odors. Then again, when I signed up for being a wife, I signed up for that too.
So the next time you're handed a super crappy day, remember-you asked for it. Sorta. LOL
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
I'm so excited....
And I just can't hide it...
Okay, so I went to bed, fully intending to sleep because tomorrow is Thursday, and as we all know, it's the worst day of my week. However, a problem kept bugging me. This whole blowing up the meth lab thing... I'd envisioned it as my heroine getting in some good old fashioned vigilante justice and blowing the place sky high.
And then, as I began counting my explosives before drifting off to dreamland, I realized that within CBA confines, I'd never be able to pull it off. Which got me to thinking of other scenarios. I needed her to feel responsible for it. I needed for her to be thinking she was the lowest form of pond scum, because we all know this is a Hosea story, the book is about her finding redemption.
The writer types understand that mental restlessness that will not allow you to sleep until you've got it puzzled out. The rest of you ought to be grateful. Miraculously, it came rather quickly, and rather than hoping I remember it in the morning, I wrote it.
It is so beautiful. We have explosives, we have fire, we have shrapnel, we have dead bodies, we have injured people, it is a beautiful melee of baddies getting their due. I love my job. And, I think I know exactly where to put the exploding pants for my SOTEP girls.
And now, I really must sleep.
Okay, so I went to bed, fully intending to sleep because tomorrow is Thursday, and as we all know, it's the worst day of my week. However, a problem kept bugging me. This whole blowing up the meth lab thing... I'd envisioned it as my heroine getting in some good old fashioned vigilante justice and blowing the place sky high.
And then, as I began counting my explosives before drifting off to dreamland, I realized that within CBA confines, I'd never be able to pull it off. Which got me to thinking of other scenarios. I needed her to feel responsible for it. I needed for her to be thinking she was the lowest form of pond scum, because we all know this is a Hosea story, the book is about her finding redemption.
The writer types understand that mental restlessness that will not allow you to sleep until you've got it puzzled out. The rest of you ought to be grateful. Miraculously, it came rather quickly, and rather than hoping I remember it in the morning, I wrote it.
It is so beautiful. We have explosives, we have fire, we have shrapnel, we have dead bodies, we have injured people, it is a beautiful melee of baddies getting their due. I love my job. And, I think I know exactly where to put the exploding pants for my SOTEP girls.
And now, I really must sleep.
FINALLY!!!! I get to blow something up and kill people!!
I am sooooo excited. So here I am, 1885 words into my Nano book and I FINALLY get to unleash my wickedly homicidal mind.
I decided to go with the Hosea story.
Which freaks me out slightly because it is going to be soooo hard to make my heroine sympathetic. I've been stressing about it ever since Mike told me about his wife leaving him. He's a stupid secondary in my current editing nightmare, and he's demanding that I tell HIS story and get him back together with the wife who left him and their kids with no warning, just a note.
Which got me to thinking-why would a woman with a great husband and great kids just up and leave? As I started writing today, I found it. And I found some beautiful, brilliantly fun things that I get to do.
One: She's living in a house that doubles as a meth lab. It's gonna get blown up. :)
Two: The icky, nasty drug lord and his cronies living there-they're gonna get blown up too. :)
Three: My heroine is going to have a baby! Yippee!!
I swear, I have babies on the mind because this is my third book in a row with a pregnant heroine. Ahahahahahaha
I am so excited. *doing mega happy dance* Babies, Murder, and Blowing Stuff up... life does not get any better than this.
I decided to go with the Hosea story.
Which freaks me out slightly because it is going to be soooo hard to make my heroine sympathetic. I've been stressing about it ever since Mike told me about his wife leaving him. He's a stupid secondary in my current editing nightmare, and he's demanding that I tell HIS story and get him back together with the wife who left him and their kids with no warning, just a note.
Which got me to thinking-why would a woman with a great husband and great kids just up and leave? As I started writing today, I found it. And I found some beautiful, brilliantly fun things that I get to do.
One: She's living in a house that doubles as a meth lab. It's gonna get blown up. :)
Two: The icky, nasty drug lord and his cronies living there-they're gonna get blown up too. :)
Three: My heroine is going to have a baby! Yippee!!
I swear, I have babies on the mind because this is my third book in a row with a pregnant heroine. Ahahahahahaha
I am so excited. *doing mega happy dance* Babies, Murder, and Blowing Stuff up... life does not get any better than this.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Thirty five minutes of freedom
And then I start Nano-ing like crazy. ICK! I'm still not entirely committed to a story. I suppose I'll have to do it soon, eh?
I took two princesses out to the harvest festival tonight. Lots of fun. I have to say, I've got the most unusual princesses on the planet. They both wanted dragons painted on their cheeks.
I don't have anything particularly interesting to share, although I did have a good rant earlier today. I ended up taking a nap instead. And then I woke up later than I'd planned. Which wasn't a bad thing, considering That Man had to work late and I was not about to brave the festival alone with kiddos in tow. Add in one teenage ghoul and her boyfriend stopping by, and I forgot the most important thing of my life.
I didn't realize it until we stopped by the fire station so the girls could trick or treat at Uncle Ricky's. Thankfully, Dougie (bless the wonderful fireman who watches my show) had just turned on Veronica Mars. Girl Genius had forgotten to change the timer on my VCR to reflect Daylight Savings Time. Which I realized as I heard the opening bars of the theme song. Sooo... I watched the beginning of Veronica at the fire house, raced home during the commercial, and finished up at home. That Man was supposed to take the kiddos trick or treating in the neighborhood so I could watch in silence, but he chickened out. It doesn't need to be Halloween for our children to terrify him. However, the sugar high that began at the school party was in fully gear. He brought them home. I do not like having to interrupt my wonderful show to yell at my kids to stop doing whatever it was to irritate me-this is when I wish I'd raised them according to the "children should be seen and not heard" philosophy.
Seriously. My life would be so much easier if people realized that there are only three important things in my life: Veronica Mars, Todd Agnew, and The LiLi. I wish I'd taken a picture of That Man's face when I said that to him the other night. For those of you without a sense of humor, I'm joking. And yes, That Man thinks it's funny-except when I tell him to move over because The LiLi does not have enough room on our bed. Then he gets irritated. The things we do for love.
I'm getting random now, aren't I? I have to spew all the random stuff I can, because in 14 minutes, I have to be totally focused. 50,000 words in 30 days is a tough task, even for me.
I took two princesses out to the harvest festival tonight. Lots of fun. I have to say, I've got the most unusual princesses on the planet. They both wanted dragons painted on their cheeks.
I don't have anything particularly interesting to share, although I did have a good rant earlier today. I ended up taking a nap instead. And then I woke up later than I'd planned. Which wasn't a bad thing, considering That Man had to work late and I was not about to brave the festival alone with kiddos in tow. Add in one teenage ghoul and her boyfriend stopping by, and I forgot the most important thing of my life.
I didn't realize it until we stopped by the fire station so the girls could trick or treat at Uncle Ricky's. Thankfully, Dougie (bless the wonderful fireman who watches my show) had just turned on Veronica Mars. Girl Genius had forgotten to change the timer on my VCR to reflect Daylight Savings Time. Which I realized as I heard the opening bars of the theme song. Sooo... I watched the beginning of Veronica at the fire house, raced home during the commercial, and finished up at home. That Man was supposed to take the kiddos trick or treating in the neighborhood so I could watch in silence, but he chickened out. It doesn't need to be Halloween for our children to terrify him. However, the sugar high that began at the school party was in fully gear. He brought them home. I do not like having to interrupt my wonderful show to yell at my kids to stop doing whatever it was to irritate me-this is when I wish I'd raised them according to the "children should be seen and not heard" philosophy.
Seriously. My life would be so much easier if people realized that there are only three important things in my life: Veronica Mars, Todd Agnew, and The LiLi. I wish I'd taken a picture of That Man's face when I said that to him the other night. For those of you without a sense of humor, I'm joking. And yes, That Man thinks it's funny-except when I tell him to move over because The LiLi does not have enough room on our bed. Then he gets irritated. The things we do for love.
I'm getting random now, aren't I? I have to spew all the random stuff I can, because in 14 minutes, I have to be totally focused. 50,000 words in 30 days is a tough task, even for me.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Conduits
Well, as you all know, I'm a big fan of Todd Agnew. I'm telling you-listen to him already! Anyway some folks were discussing an interview he did, and even though I'd planned on posting about how today is my favorite day of the year, I'm going to post my response to the interview because God is really messing in my heart with this one.
The interview:
http://music.thoughtquotient.com/todd_agnew/todd_agnew.htm
Wow... I'll just say that again, and maybe I can start to digest it. Wow.
So Todd is obviously succeeding in being a conduit in my life. *shaking head* God uses so many of his words to minister to me and bring out more "stuff". Half of me wishes I could get more of a regular dose of his teaching, and the other half says, "Whoa, girl, you're going to explode if you hear any more."
The whole conduit thing... wow. I need to say wow again, I think. I am definitely gumming up the conduit with a lot of things I don't need. And chasing after some things that do nothing to clean out the conduit, but things that will only gum it up some more. ICK. I could totally go gross here, but I'll behave. :)
The thing I really loved, though, was how he talked about Abraham. I love the idea of being blessed to be a blessing. Except I realized something as I was reading what Todd had to say. It took until Abram was 86 years old to receive the blessing of a son-Ishmael. And yet, it wasn't God giving him a blessing, but he and Sarai manipulating the conduit to get the blessing they wanted. Because they manipulated it, they didn't get a blessing, but a child who would end up plaguing their blessing until current times. It took 13 years for God to return. It doesn't say in Scripture, so I am totally going off on my own here, but I wonder, were those 13 years spent cleaning things out to be the conduit?
It's interesting to note-every time Abraham decides to put a little of his own into the pipeline-using a substitute for his wife, lying about who his wife is-it gums up the works. But I keep going back to that moment, when God comes back to Abraham after all that time, Abraham responds with obedience, and God says, "okay, now that I've cleaned you out, let me fill you with me. Let me show you how to "keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just"." Then they had this amazing experience where God showed him what he was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah and allowed him to have an amazing conversation where they walked together in friendship.
Even though when I did the study, I very sincerely thought that I haven't done anything to manipulate things the way Abram and Sarai did, I think what God showed me through Todd's words is that I often do. It took 25 years from the time of the Lord's promise for the son fulfilling the promise to be born. After twelve years, they got impatient. Since we don't know exact dates, this is all assumption on my part, but basically, it took double the time they thought/wanted for them to actually receive God's blessing. I get frustrated after days, weeks, months... wow.
Since Todd mentioned girls, and I know there's some single folk here struggling with the idea of being single, I'll just throw out the manipulation that God is pointing out in my life. I was tired of being single, I was tired of failed relationships, and frankly, my life wasn't falling into the plan that *I* made for myself. I pushed my husband harder into marriage than I should have. We got engaged based on an ultimatum I gave him. For a long time, I felt like in our marriage, I was pushing him on everything. I hated that. It was hard living with the question of wondering why he married me, and if he really loved me, or if he married me to get me to stop nagging him. Thankfully, we got to a point a couple years ago where we were able to talk about it, and I no longer doubt his love for me, or why he married me. I am so blessed by the love we share. I think that if in marrying him, I'd sought the Lord's will and waited on Him, it would have saved us both a lot of heartache. It certainly would have prevented a lot of fights over some really stupid things. Honestly, our marriage didn't get good until I finally said, "okay, Lord, I'm not going to manipulate anymore. What do YOU want from me and what kind of wife should I be?"
I can't stress how hard it is to reconstruct it being married, the idea of working as God's conduit versus trying to make it work on your own. I am so blessed knowing that God gives people more than one opportunity, and am also blessed to be married to an amazing man who can be patient with me as I sort through my gunk and let God clean out that conduit.
So for those of you who are single, I want to encourage you and tell you that it is far better to wait on God, even if it takes 25 or more years. It's worth it. You're worth it. Most importantly, God is worth it.
The interview:
http://music.thoughtquotient.com/todd_agnew/todd_agnew.htm
Wow... I'll just say that again, and maybe I can start to digest it. Wow.
So Todd is obviously succeeding in being a conduit in my life. *shaking head* God uses so many of his words to minister to me and bring out more "stuff". Half of me wishes I could get more of a regular dose of his teaching, and the other half says, "Whoa, girl, you're going to explode if you hear any more."
The whole conduit thing... wow. I need to say wow again, I think. I am definitely gumming up the conduit with a lot of things I don't need. And chasing after some things that do nothing to clean out the conduit, but things that will only gum it up some more. ICK. I could totally go gross here, but I'll behave. :)
The thing I really loved, though, was how he talked about Abraham. I love the idea of being blessed to be a blessing. Except I realized something as I was reading what Todd had to say. It took until Abram was 86 years old to receive the blessing of a son-Ishmael. And yet, it wasn't God giving him a blessing, but he and Sarai manipulating the conduit to get the blessing they wanted. Because they manipulated it, they didn't get a blessing, but a child who would end up plaguing their blessing until current times. It took 13 years for God to return. It doesn't say in Scripture, so I am totally going off on my own here, but I wonder, were those 13 years spent cleaning things out to be the conduit?
It's interesting to note-every time Abraham decides to put a little of his own into the pipeline-using a substitute for his wife, lying about who his wife is-it gums up the works. But I keep going back to that moment, when God comes back to Abraham after all that time, Abraham responds with obedience, and God says, "okay, now that I've cleaned you out, let me fill you with me. Let me show you how to "keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just"." Then they had this amazing experience where God showed him what he was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah and allowed him to have an amazing conversation where they walked together in friendship.
Even though when I did the study, I very sincerely thought that I haven't done anything to manipulate things the way Abram and Sarai did, I think what God showed me through Todd's words is that I often do. It took 25 years from the time of the Lord's promise for the son fulfilling the promise to be born. After twelve years, they got impatient. Since we don't know exact dates, this is all assumption on my part, but basically, it took double the time they thought/wanted for them to actually receive God's blessing. I get frustrated after days, weeks, months... wow.
Since Todd mentioned girls, and I know there's some single folk here struggling with the idea of being single, I'll just throw out the manipulation that God is pointing out in my life. I was tired of being single, I was tired of failed relationships, and frankly, my life wasn't falling into the plan that *I* made for myself. I pushed my husband harder into marriage than I should have. We got engaged based on an ultimatum I gave him. For a long time, I felt like in our marriage, I was pushing him on everything. I hated that. It was hard living with the question of wondering why he married me, and if he really loved me, or if he married me to get me to stop nagging him. Thankfully, we got to a point a couple years ago where we were able to talk about it, and I no longer doubt his love for me, or why he married me. I am so blessed by the love we share. I think that if in marrying him, I'd sought the Lord's will and waited on Him, it would have saved us both a lot of heartache. It certainly would have prevented a lot of fights over some really stupid things. Honestly, our marriage didn't get good until I finally said, "okay, Lord, I'm not going to manipulate anymore. What do YOU want from me and what kind of wife should I be?"
I can't stress how hard it is to reconstruct it being married, the idea of working as God's conduit versus trying to make it work on your own. I am so blessed knowing that God gives people more than one opportunity, and am also blessed to be married to an amazing man who can be patient with me as I sort through my gunk and let God clean out that conduit.
So for those of you who are single, I want to encourage you and tell you that it is far better to wait on God, even if it takes 25 or more years. It's worth it. You're worth it. Most importantly, God is worth it.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Round and round we go...
I woke up Thursday to snow. What is UP with this horrid weather? Three snowstorms in less than two weeks. ICK!
I almost skipped Bible study, but I'm so glad I didn't. It was awesome. Then after that, some of us went and hung out, which was nice. I don't have any mom friends that I just hang out with. We meet for studies or whatever, but we never hang out. So that was fun. But it made for a crazy day, because I had to get B to school, get home, and then prep for class. The day was also insane because K woke up at 5:30, crying, "poopie." She kept doing that all day and not going, so we decided she was constipated. Who'd have thunk my days would be spent watching for and discussing poop? Needless to say, when class was over, I fell into bed and went to sleep.
Friday, had to get up early for a meeting, take the baby to my friend's house to watch her, B went with me because I had to leave early to take her to school. The meeting was cool-my boss gave us all a raise, and listed me as one of the reasons. I'd basically told her that it wasn't always worth it to me financially, because by the time I pay sitters, I sometimes end up upside down. So yippee, I got a raise. And scheduled to teach another set of classes starting in December. ICK. At least that one, I'm team teaching with a good friend and coworker so I won't feel like such an idiot standing up there. Got B to school, went back to the office to take the certification exams I've been putting off. Scored 100% on the one I was least confident on, and the other I got an 89%. I probably could have argued it up to 100-but 89 still passes me. Basically, I didn't like the wording of the question-the correct answer, based on how it was worded, was technically incorrect. Semantics-don't play those games with me. LOL
Rushed off to pick up K, hit the bank, raced home just in time to meet B's bus. Then began the mad dash to get the house cleaned for B's party. That Man took the kids to Mickey D's so I could get some done without them. Then I had to race to the store to get some last minute supplies, and because That Man has still not fixed my oven, I had to go over to my FIL's to bake the cupcakes. And because he wasn't there, I had to do it in a freezing house all by my lonesome. So, handy girl that I am, who was also signed up to bring snacks to the soccer game that was happening before B's party, spent the baking time making orange slices. OH! But before I could bake the cupcakes, I had to figure out what to use for vegetable oil, because my FIL didn't have any and I wasn't going to go back to the store. Melted butter works just fine, in case you're wondering. Finished the cupcakes, went home and continued to clean (That Man had also gotten quite a bit done).
This morning-woke up early again, worked on the house some more, got everything ready for the game, got to the field, and realized that due to the inches of snow still on the fields, ain't no games happening today. Packed kiddos back up, went back home, continued to clean, and got ready for the party.
Sooo... the party (are you exhausted yet?. That Man didn't make it because his little work project turned into a big one (twelve hours). Fortunately, a couple of the parents stuck around to help. However, one of the parents decided to drop off ALL his kids, including one I didn't know existed. So it was an adventure. We survived though, and I am so impressed with the dad who came, because not only did he help with the kiddos, but he stayed to help me clean up. And when it was over, the baby fell into bed and took her nap without fuss.
That Man finally got home after 8. I've been in a vegetative state since. We did watch TV on Demand. I have to say, it's a nice way to catch up on shows I like. Too bad all my shows aren't on there. At the moment, I'm watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Stupid confession time: I've never seen it. I avoided it due to the word "horror" in the title, since I don't watch scary movies. Then I was flipping through channels and realized it's actually a comedy. Oops. I think, though, if I can figure out a way to get off my butt, I'm going to bed. Maybe someday I'll actually watch it.
I almost skipped Bible study, but I'm so glad I didn't. It was awesome. Then after that, some of us went and hung out, which was nice. I don't have any mom friends that I just hang out with. We meet for studies or whatever, but we never hang out. So that was fun. But it made for a crazy day, because I had to get B to school, get home, and then prep for class. The day was also insane because K woke up at 5:30, crying, "poopie." She kept doing that all day and not going, so we decided she was constipated. Who'd have thunk my days would be spent watching for and discussing poop? Needless to say, when class was over, I fell into bed and went to sleep.
Friday, had to get up early for a meeting, take the baby to my friend's house to watch her, B went with me because I had to leave early to take her to school. The meeting was cool-my boss gave us all a raise, and listed me as one of the reasons. I'd basically told her that it wasn't always worth it to me financially, because by the time I pay sitters, I sometimes end up upside down. So yippee, I got a raise. And scheduled to teach another set of classes starting in December. ICK. At least that one, I'm team teaching with a good friend and coworker so I won't feel like such an idiot standing up there. Got B to school, went back to the office to take the certification exams I've been putting off. Scored 100% on the one I was least confident on, and the other I got an 89%. I probably could have argued it up to 100-but 89 still passes me. Basically, I didn't like the wording of the question-the correct answer, based on how it was worded, was technically incorrect. Semantics-don't play those games with me. LOL
Rushed off to pick up K, hit the bank, raced home just in time to meet B's bus. Then began the mad dash to get the house cleaned for B's party. That Man took the kids to Mickey D's so I could get some done without them. Then I had to race to the store to get some last minute supplies, and because That Man has still not fixed my oven, I had to go over to my FIL's to bake the cupcakes. And because he wasn't there, I had to do it in a freezing house all by my lonesome. So, handy girl that I am, who was also signed up to bring snacks to the soccer game that was happening before B's party, spent the baking time making orange slices. OH! But before I could bake the cupcakes, I had to figure out what to use for vegetable oil, because my FIL didn't have any and I wasn't going to go back to the store. Melted butter works just fine, in case you're wondering. Finished the cupcakes, went home and continued to clean (That Man had also gotten quite a bit done).
This morning-woke up early again, worked on the house some more, got everything ready for the game, got to the field, and realized that due to the inches of snow still on the fields, ain't no games happening today. Packed kiddos back up, went back home, continued to clean, and got ready for the party.
Sooo... the party (are you exhausted yet?. That Man didn't make it because his little work project turned into a big one (twelve hours). Fortunately, a couple of the parents stuck around to help. However, one of the parents decided to drop off ALL his kids, including one I didn't know existed. So it was an adventure. We survived though, and I am so impressed with the dad who came, because not only did he help with the kiddos, but he stayed to help me clean up. And when it was over, the baby fell into bed and took her nap without fuss.
That Man finally got home after 8. I've been in a vegetative state since. We did watch TV on Demand. I have to say, it's a nice way to catch up on shows I like. Too bad all my shows aren't on there. At the moment, I'm watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Stupid confession time: I've never seen it. I avoided it due to the word "horror" in the title, since I don't watch scary movies. Then I was flipping through channels and realized it's actually a comedy. Oops. I think, though, if I can figure out a way to get off my butt, I'm going to bed. Maybe someday I'll actually watch it.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Just for Tori
Since Tori shares my love for Veronica Mars, I simply can't go without sharing my comments about the show.
Finally, we're starting to see some of Logan's redemption! I love watching him struggle with the move from spoiled rich jerk to (as he puts it) contributing member of society. I'm loving this! I will be soooo irritated if he goes off on another bad trajectory. I want an arc, not a rollercoaster. :)
I'm semi bored with the whole rape subplot. Just tell us who did it already, because I'm not all that entertained by the whole frat boys versus militant feminists theme. I'm holding out for a twist, though, since that's what the show is all about. Take the expected, twist it, and then twist it some more.
Then there's the romance with dear old dad. That made me sad, but I'm glad he didn't totally take up with a married woman.
Finally, where would I be without mentioning Lamb? It's kinda crazy that he's FINALLY in the opening credits, but thus far, he's really not on the show. What is UP with that?
Oh, no, wait... I have one final Veronica rant. I HATE HATE HATE the new tempo of the theme song. ICK. Rev it up again, please! I like to rock, not be rocked to sleep!
Finally, we're starting to see some of Logan's redemption! I love watching him struggle with the move from spoiled rich jerk to (as he puts it) contributing member of society. I'm loving this! I will be soooo irritated if he goes off on another bad trajectory. I want an arc, not a rollercoaster. :)
I'm semi bored with the whole rape subplot. Just tell us who did it already, because I'm not all that entertained by the whole frat boys versus militant feminists theme. I'm holding out for a twist, though, since that's what the show is all about. Take the expected, twist it, and then twist it some more.
Then there's the romance with dear old dad. That made me sad, but I'm glad he didn't totally take up with a married woman.
Finally, where would I be without mentioning Lamb? It's kinda crazy that he's FINALLY in the opening credits, but thus far, he's really not on the show. What is UP with that?
Oh, no, wait... I have one final Veronica rant. I HATE HATE HATE the new tempo of the theme song. ICK. Rev it up again, please! I like to rock, not be rocked to sleep!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Yoga in the buff
I was going to use the "N" word, but then I thought all the spammers would die and go to heaven with reading that. So I had to be creative.
Speaking of reading things, That Man is probably going to read this and say, "Man! I wish I'd been home for that one." Yeah, you know it. Your loss.
Actually I did NOT do yoga in the buff. I've read that it's supposedly this cool thing, but well, given the population of my house, I think not. However, I almost could have. Yesterday, I made the mistake of doing yoga in my jeans. OUCH. I didn't want to miss anything, plus my workout pants were in the laundry (note to self: do laundry today), so I just took them off. Definitely the bonus for doing yoga at home.
Today, I was wearing workout pants and a sweatshirt. And *gasp* I actually broke out into a sweat. Help me! I'm mentally ill. Anyway, I was hot, so I took off my shirt. I learned why people do yoga in sports bras. Fortunately, they were doing a super hard pose, so I took off my regular bra, put on a sports bra, and did yoga in my sports bra. Yes, I know, many women exercise in just a sports bra. I do not.
So I guess, between yesterday and today, I did do yoga in the buff-sort of. At least, I did do it in my underwear. Half and half. LOL.
Why am I telling this story, other than to take away any doubt in your mind that I am a complete dork? In my underwear, I noticed some "flaws" in my body. I realized I have way more cellulite than I'd ever imagined possible. I have stretch marks the size of the grand canyon, and since I'm letting it all out, I might as well admit that I've got lumps where I didn't think I was supposed to have lumps, and valleys where I'm supposed to have bumps.
We can all have a collective ICK about now.
But then I realized a cool thing. God made all those things I was "icking". He designed me. And when He sees those imperfections, He thinks they're beautiful. I'm also pretty lucky because despite all those "flaws", That Man is going to be sitting at his computer, saying, "I missed seeing her in her underwear?! That stinks!" So why should I care about things in my body, that at my age, and having borne two children, are irreparable unless we talk surgery (NEVER!)? It's a part of me, God made me that way, and I need to just accept it.
The guy teaching the yoga class yesterday and today (the instructors vary) kept emphasizing that you need to have a sense of humor about your yoga practice. You're going to fall on your face, but you need to laugh it off, get back up, and try again. I realized we have to have that attitude about our bodies, too.
As I looked down today and watched parts jiggle that I didn't see jiggling on the tv people, I had to stop, laugh it off, and realize that it's okay-it's not about what I look like in comparison to anyone else, or how I wish I looked. I'm beautiful just as I am. And hey, not everyone's belly and booty can jiggle like mine. I've got talent. ;)
So I dare you-next time you're home alone, try it. Or at the very least, go stand in front of the mirror, in the buff (or your underwear, whatever), take a good look at all the things you think are wrong with you, and realize that God thinks all those things are beautiful. And you should too!
Speaking of reading things, That Man is probably going to read this and say, "Man! I wish I'd been home for that one." Yeah, you know it. Your loss.
Actually I did NOT do yoga in the buff. I've read that it's supposedly this cool thing, but well, given the population of my house, I think not. However, I almost could have. Yesterday, I made the mistake of doing yoga in my jeans. OUCH. I didn't want to miss anything, plus my workout pants were in the laundry (note to self: do laundry today), so I just took them off. Definitely the bonus for doing yoga at home.
Today, I was wearing workout pants and a sweatshirt. And *gasp* I actually broke out into a sweat. Help me! I'm mentally ill. Anyway, I was hot, so I took off my shirt. I learned why people do yoga in sports bras. Fortunately, they were doing a super hard pose, so I took off my regular bra, put on a sports bra, and did yoga in my sports bra. Yes, I know, many women exercise in just a sports bra. I do not.
So I guess, between yesterday and today, I did do yoga in the buff-sort of. At least, I did do it in my underwear. Half and half. LOL.
Why am I telling this story, other than to take away any doubt in your mind that I am a complete dork? In my underwear, I noticed some "flaws" in my body. I realized I have way more cellulite than I'd ever imagined possible. I have stretch marks the size of the grand canyon, and since I'm letting it all out, I might as well admit that I've got lumps where I didn't think I was supposed to have lumps, and valleys where I'm supposed to have bumps.
We can all have a collective ICK about now.
But then I realized a cool thing. God made all those things I was "icking". He designed me. And when He sees those imperfections, He thinks they're beautiful. I'm also pretty lucky because despite all those "flaws", That Man is going to be sitting at his computer, saying, "I missed seeing her in her underwear?! That stinks!" So why should I care about things in my body, that at my age, and having borne two children, are irreparable unless we talk surgery (NEVER!)? It's a part of me, God made me that way, and I need to just accept it.
The guy teaching the yoga class yesterday and today (the instructors vary) kept emphasizing that you need to have a sense of humor about your yoga practice. You're going to fall on your face, but you need to laugh it off, get back up, and try again. I realized we have to have that attitude about our bodies, too.
As I looked down today and watched parts jiggle that I didn't see jiggling on the tv people, I had to stop, laugh it off, and realize that it's okay-it's not about what I look like in comparison to anyone else, or how I wish I looked. I'm beautiful just as I am. And hey, not everyone's belly and booty can jiggle like mine. I've got talent. ;)
So I dare you-next time you're home alone, try it. Or at the very least, go stand in front of the mirror, in the buff (or your underwear, whatever), take a good look at all the things you think are wrong with you, and realize that God thinks all those things are beautiful. And you should too!
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