Old School Blogging

A New Meme: Old School Blogging

I'm totally stealing this from my friend Kate over at Mommy Monologues (which you definitely need to check out because she is HILARIOUS!)

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

In March of 2003 I had been out of the hospital for just over 2 years.  I was adjusting to life with an incurable illness, we were talking about buying a house, and I was livid that I couldn't go back to work. 

2. What 5 things are on your to-do list?

Just five??

• Finish laundry today
• Write my penpals
• Vacuum
• Go to the store with Doug, drop off last hack cup to the lab, go to Rite Aid (they have 40% off Almay products and I have a $5.00 coupon off any 2 Almay products.... SCORE!!!)
• Make sure everything is ready for TRACY AND MARY TO VISIT!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!

3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

•  popcorn
• pretzels (sourdough of course)
• celery with chunky peanut butter
• combos (which I never have in the house)
• ice cream  

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.

• find researchers dedicated to find a cure for MG
• establish a college fund, etc. for Jacob
• go shopping
• take my friends shopping
• Buy a brand new pimped out SUV of some sort (don't ask me what kind, because I don't even know what's out there... OH but one that can park itself.  That's awesome!)

5. Name some places you have lived.
Michigan.  Indiana.  Michigan.  That's all.
6. Name some bad habits you have:
Bad habits?  Me?  Hmmm.....  Let's see....
I procrastinate when I can't get something done perfectly.
I'm a perfectionist.
I tend to like "more" of just about anything...clothes, jewelry, things to make jewlery, etc.  Need to search for simplicity.  Working on it!
I take on too many commitments and then can't fulfill them all and feel like a total loser.

7. Name some jobs you have had:

• My first job was unwrapping cactus at my dad's greenhouse when I was like 5.  And what was our pay?  A cactus.  Aren't there child labor laws against that??
• Hardware stores.  Three different ones.  Yup, I know!  The first thing that comes to mind when you think of me is "power tools."  Synonymous.
• I was a pharmacy tech in high school.  LOVED that job!!!!
• I was a telemarketer for about 15 minutes
• Operations manager at Towne Air Freight. (loved that too)
• worked at Office Depot
• substitute teacher
• small business owner
• and best of all:  MOM

So...if YOU have a blog, do this meme, and then let me know you did!

A Couple Of Funnies

Q:  What is the Easter Bunny's favorite music?

A:  Hip Hop!  (Thanks Kerry H!)

There comes a time when a woman just has to trust her husband, for example:

A wife comes home late at night, and quietly opens the door to her bedroom.  From under the blanket she sees four legs instead of two.

She reaches for a baseball bat and starts hitting the blanket as hard as she can.  Leaving the covered bodies groaning, she goes to the kitchen to have a drink.  As she enters, she sees her husband there, reading a magazine.

"Hi Honey", he says, "Your parents have come to visit us, so l let them stay in our bedroom.  Did you say "hello?"  

(Thanks Lorraine!)

Ah, Yes! Spring in Michigan!

I'd like to welcome you to the first day of Spring!!!  Whoo-hoo!!

Wait, what?  You mean there isn't supposed to be SNOW on the ground or flying through the air on the first day of spring??  What?  It was 50 degrees WARMER on this exact day LAST year??

Well, this year, we have a Lake Effect "Winter System" moving through.  Yup.  That, my friends, is the JOY of living 20 miles from Lake Michigan.

You can actually SEE a LARGE snowflake in front of the shrub in this picture.  Thankfully, the sun came out yesterday afternoon and melted the snow on the road.  I'm sure the commute this morning may have been a bit dicey, especially for those of "us'ns" that live in the MIDDLE OF EGYPT.

And just so I can end on a happier note, here is my Easter cake that I made that I had to practice to make sure it wasn't going to suck be icky.  It's yummy.  IF you like 20 pounds of sugary goodness and pastel colors, that is. {wink wink}  But seriously, it's cream cheese frosting, and it's homemade.  How bad can it be??

Letter to the "Father of Lies"

Listen you little creep.

Yesterday you tried really hard.  You were completely all over me and my day.  I tried to save my husband's plant, because it's all he has left of his Grandmother.  I carried it from the mudroom to the living room, and muddy water trailed me all the way.  Dark, muddy water on off-white carpet.  I had to spray it (which really hurts my hands), then scrub it with a towel.  I was worn out.  Exhausted.  Done.  And this was almost first thing in the morning.

But you know what?  Hallelujah!  My God Reigns!

Then, I was making a cake.  It took way longer than I thought it was going to.  Threw off my whole time table for the day.  You know I hate that, you slimy, evil jerk.  While that cake was baking, I washed dishes.  My hands were so sore and weak from spraying and scrubbing the carpet that I dropped my favorite mug, AND cut my hand in the process.

But guess what I say to that?  "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty; I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

I know you know those words.  They are in the book.  The Book of Life. Psalm 91.  You know, the one where you LOSE at the end?  The one where you are thrown into the fiery pit and suffer eternally?

Then I make banana bread and muffins.  I put them in the oven.  Then I get a phone call. From my pulmonologist.  Got my CT results today. I'm showing signs of a viral or fungal pneumonia. The doctor also said he was "concerned" about a nodule in the lower lobe of my right lung. It's about a centimeter wide.  (Of course my banana muffins burned.)

It could be a pocket of infection, it could be a scar, or it could be cancer. I have to go back in 2 months for a follow-up CT. If the nodule is smaller, it was probably a viral pneumonia. If it is the same size or larger, I will have a PET scan. If I get sicker, I need to call him, and if I can hack up anything significant, I have 3 jars to send to the lab for cultures.

You like that don't you, you killer, thief, and destroyer?  Well you know what I say to that?

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;  I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you;  I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

 My GOD is bigger, stronger, and more mighty than you are rotten, murderous and cowardly.  You prowl around seeking whom you can destroy.  Well, guess what, satan?  It's NOT going to be me.

Bring it.  You are going down.

Even More Random Letters

Dear Facebook,

When I add several pictures at once, as your new set-up encourages, inevitably one or two get "eaten."  Who or what is taking my pictures?  It's like the sock monster in the dryer.  You KNOW you put even pairs in, and you come out with one extra sock.  Well, in this case, I don't end up with one extra anything...it just disappears.  Where do they go?  Oh, and if you happen to know the sock monster, maybe you could tell him (or her) that I would like a word.

Sincerely,
Confused Photographer



Dear Brain,

You can come back whenever you feel like it.  Truly.  I'm not sure where you went, or why, but I miss you, and would enjoy not feeling like an imbecile half the time.  I can't remember my name half the time.  So please, come back....

Sincerely,
Ker......?



Dear Mr. President,

I have very few words I can use to write to you since my mother now has facebook and reads my blog.  However, I would like to point out that some of your spending cuts are pretty darn stupid.  My nephew, a member of the Armed Special Forces, recently spent over a week, most of it in GERMANY, waiting on his airplane, which was down for "mechanical" reasons.  He had just returned from Afghanistan, covering YOUR ass as well as the rest of the country's, has a wife, a 2 year old and a 2 month old baby at home waiting on him, and he's stuck in Germany waiting on a ride home. 

REALLY???

Then, his unit hitched a ride with another unit who had also been waiting, but they went to Maine.  My nephew doesn't live in Maine, he lives in Georgia.  Now in case you are geographically challenged, these two places are approximately 1500 miles apart. 

My niece wanted to buy a civilian plane ticket to get her husband home from Germany, but apparently that's against "regulations."

Either way, it is because of YOUR loathsome attitude toward the United States military that a group of young servicemen were kept away from their families far longer then necessary after protecting YOU and serving in the Middle East.

Maybe you should have held a special press conference with military personnel on stage with you, waving to their families while you said that the most important thing is to protect our military...And that you would do anything to get them home where they belong... After all, you are a terrific dog and pony show-er. Would have been a great PR gig.

They take an oath, you know.  Maybe YOU should have taken something similar.  They "do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  So help me God."

Maybe yours should have read: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against tyrannical despots like myself, and that I will bear true faith and and allegiance to the United States.  That I will obey and support the Constitution of the United States, BY the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE, so help me God."

Sincerely,
Someone Who Cannot WAIT Four More Years!

What A Day!

Yesterday was INSANE.  Saturday was for me too, but yesterday was crazy for both Doug and I.  Poor Jacob never even made it out of his pajamas.

This is what I worked on ALL day Saturday and ALL day yesterday:

My amazing organizer that my amazing hubby made for me.  And while I was capping and uncapping and switching tubes and stacks with numb hands and arms, my wonderful husband cleaned the kitchen and bathroom.  I mean, CLEAN-clean.  Mopped the floors, wiped down the cupboards and base boards and wainscoting in the kitchen.....oh my gosh it looks awesome.

But my arms are still killing me.  My hands hurt, my arms hurt....but it's done!  And it's gorgeous.  It's SO wonderful to just glance up and find the exact thing I need without going through  12 stacks and four drawers and 3 shelves...  I LOVE IT!!!

Now, on to making more jewelry...... Whoo-Hoo!!!

Oh, AND he made the MOST amazing pork roast for supper...  Did I tell you my husband is AWESOME????

Tired Girl

Whew!  I am one tired girl!  I've been working on filling Superman's Doug's organizer for all of my jewelry stacks.  What's the biggest pain in the butt is that the organizer is made for the stacks to be in their original size.  So I had all these different stacks of all different sizes.... Good heavens.

So I'm wiped out.  I was at it almost all day. Doug had to work this morning.  

Only 2 weeks from Tuesday and Tracy will be here!!  YAY!!!  We are going to suck the life out of every second she is here.... She was GOING to help me organize the office (it IS still kind of a mess)... but there is SO much that needs to be done around here.  I need a dang cleaning lady.  Like, seriously.

For you healthy folks...what I have found is that the energy it takes for me to clean (dust, vacuum, clean the bathroom, do laundry) is equal to or even greater than the energy it takes me to do every thing else:  take care of Jacob, homeschool, keep track of bills and medications, make an occasional meal, run a business....

Hopefully soon we may be able to afford to pay a cleaning lady.  But for now...it just sucks.

Anywho.  That's all for me tonight folks.  I am one pooped pup.

Peace Out.

Book Review: A Love Story by Samantha Ryan Chandler

I have to preface this review by saying this:  I have friends who are movie theater buffs.  They know movies.  They studied theater.  They know producing and editing and filming and all the ins and outs of shooting a movie.  When we watch a movie, they dissect it.  I on the other hand, just want to be entertained.  I don't care about the camera angle or the director's point of view.

With books, on the other hand, I have high expectations.  So many people "self-publish" a book filled with errors.  A published book should be virtually error free from misspellings, misplaced punctuation, and poor grammar.  It is impossible for me to overlook, and it becomes such a distraction that I can barely focus on the story.

That being said:  I read the book "A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me, An Impossibly True Story."  It is the auto-biography of Samantha Ryan Chandler.  She writes of her horrific upbringing in "Nowhere, Louisiana" with a satanic mother and a "former altar boy in the Catholic religion father."  I truly cannot imagine the horror and fear that this young child experienced at the hands of her mother.  She had a traumatic marriage lasting approximately 20 years, and seemed to never really catch a break.  The only highlights in Samantha's life were Jesus, her children, and her ministry, Childspring International.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't really tell a story.  I honestly don't know if I have the whole book.  The page count says 108, but my book goes only to page 90, and then there are 7 lined journal pages in the back.  There are 28 chapters (including the epilogue, and the two chapters following the epilogue) in those 90 pages.  Some chapters are a page and a half.  Some are one paragraph.  One chapter is 18 pages.

I wish I could tell you what I loved about this book.  I honestly do.  It's really hard to write a review like this.  But the book is filled with punctuation errors, grammatical errors, and spelling errors.  It is completely disjointed.  The "chapters" jump from one topic to another, then back to a period of her life decades before, then back to the present....  I simply didn't "get it."  It's almost as if it were missing pages, or put in the wrong order.  It truly confused me.

I know that I am, inasmuch as literature goes, like my friends are with movies.  I dissect more than the story.  I probably pay more attention to the minute details, but I try to be objective, and find the best parts.  All I really know about this book is that Samantha had a terrible childhood that no one should have to suffer, and a marriage to a man who was basically a thief and a liar.  But God stuck with her, and she with Him. She also does really wonderful work with children who need medical help and can't afford it (Childspring International).


Here is the information on the book should you desire to purchase it:

ISBN: 978-1-6150-7761-8 | List Price: Hard $22/ Soft $10/ Kindle $5.99 |Format:Hardbound,Softcover or Kindle | Page Count: 108

"The tale of Samantha Ryan Chandler's life is evocatively portrayed in her book: A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me. It tells of a life that is as disturbing and unsettling as it is uplifting and, in the end, gratifying. How "A girl from Nowhere, Louisiana" finds her way from such humble beginnings to live and walk amongst presidents and the supremely rich, only to find her trust and faith betrayed by those that she loved and trusted the most. She would be tested to the point where she began to doubt her own sanity and, at the moment of her greatest desperation and doubt, she was found by God and brought back from the brink of hopeless despair. Blessed with an almost unquenchable optimism and a unique sense of humor, she relates the story of a life that will speak to those who have encountered abuse, unfairness and anguish. Her love for her children and her faith in God carried her through a crucible of fire and in the end, made her a better, stronger person, ready to carry on with a life that is again filled with love, joy and laughter. A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me will both inspire you and touch your heart.
 
A Love Story...How God Pursued Me and Found Me was runnerup in the 2012 National Indie Book Excellence Awards and now carries a sticker on hardbound copies. Samantha Ryan Chandler is also a Contributing Author for Southern Writers Magazine." (copied from the information page on the CWA Review website)

To see Samantha online, she is on twitter as SammieChandler.  
Samantha in also on LinkedIn:  SamanthaRyanChandler
And she has a website at  http://wwwSamanthaRyanChandler.com

 I received a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

Listen To The Right Voice

Okay, so I'm totally excited about this book "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.  I got it less than a week ago.  But...here's how I got it:  My life coach Kristen sent me an excerpt from the book.  I had never heard of it, but as soon as I read one paragraph I wanted to read more. The book is written as if Jesus were speaking directly to the reader.

Then, the next day, an MG friend of mine put a picture on facebook of a book she had received from a friend when she was in the hospital.  Yup:  "Jesus Calling."  I was like, "Okay Lord, I get it!"  So I went online to find it as cheaply as I could.  I had zero extra dollars to spend, and Doug and I are trying really hard not to use credit cards.

So I found it on amazon, and it was $8.76.  I was SO tempted to just put it on a card.  I mean, come on, 9 bucks?  Big deal. But I was really struggling, so I just prayed, "Lord, if you want me to have this book, let there be a way."

I put it in my cart, hit the checkout button, and found that I had $9.73 in points to use that I had no idea I had.  So I paid nothing, and the shipping was free.  Wooo-Hooo!!!!

So yesterday, I read this: (from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, March 3)
"Many of my children run around in circles, trying to obey the various voices directing their lives."

That SO caught my attention.  I thought of several instances where I tried to follow someone else's voice to find my way.  For example:  homeschooling.  I have a friend who I consider to be the homeschooling queen.  She homeschooled all her kids, taught pre-school at co-ops for 20 years, is so patient and loving with little ones, I mean, if you're going to follow someone's example (voice), wouldn't it be hers?

The only thing is, I'm NOT her.  We don't have anything close to the same teaching style (is what I found out...)  I tried doing everything the way she told me SHE did it (because I asked!)  I was going CRAZY because school with Jacob was SUCH a struggle for me!  I went to college to TEACH.  I have a Bachelors degree in education.  And yet I was losing my mind over teaching my 4 year old.

Because I wasn't doing it the way God knew I needed me to to reach MY child.  Once I figured that out, it's been so much easier.

There are many more examples I could use, but the point is quite simple.  Everyone has their point of view.  Everyone has their opinion.  Everyone knows the "right" way to do things.  But you know what?  There is only ONE way to do it:  the way God wants you to.

The only voice you need to heed is His.  Don't worry about the rest of the "voices" you may be hearing...(unless they're real, then you might want to call someone.... :)  ).  Shut them out.  Focus on the One telling you what's best for YOU.

It will make all the difference in the world.  Trust me.

Super-Hero Hubby Strikes Again!

Doug has been contemplating storage ideas for my jewelry-making stuff.  I have stacks of bead jars of various sizes and plastic tubs to hold my finished product, and plastic cases with other beads, stones, pendants, etc. 

We've been looking store to store to find "just the right thing."  Well, of course "we" (read: Doug) didn't, so this is what happened:

He comes in with this MAMMOTH work station that hangs on the wall so I have desk space to actually work!  It's AMAZING!  It's 6 feet long, and 2 feet tall.  He started shoving stuff in it and I was like WAIT!!!  There must be ORDER!!!

He designed and drilled out all these perfectly sized holes to fit all the stacks I have. He drew the holes on it first on only had to re-do the bottom row one time.  Everything else he drew perfectly the first time.  I completely don't get how he does that!

And both sides have the perfect size spaces for stacking trays.  This is THE most amazing, perfect thing.  And he just did it to help me.  I love my hubby.  He's really awesome. 

No one is perfect, and sometimes he drives me crazy, but I wouldn't trade him for ANYTHING!!!