Sprint . . .

Ahhh, good ol' Sprint. I tried to make a payment on my account today. After the hour I spent on the phone last month, I though I'd gotten it all taken care of. I tried to use the same debit card that they managed to get working last month, the same one I've successfully used every month for the last year and a half, until they switched their system 2 months ago. It could not "authenticate my card number" or whatever. I was cranky, but it's not 10:00 at night, so I was in a better humor. Bring it on Sprint, I've got all day!

I called customer service. I used the *2 feature, so it should not take the time off my minutes, which is a plus. My entire experience with Sprint seems to be summed up in my hold experience today. "All of our representatives are busy now, according to call volume, your expected wait time is less than 3 minutes. . . enter a minute of catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is less than 5 minutes . . . enter another minute of catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is 10 to 15 minutes . . . enter yet another minute of the catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is 15 to 20 minutes . . . enter catchy music followed promptly by the male voice- thank you for choosing Sprint, can I get the phone number associated with the account please?" By this point, I was humorously waiting for the next time to be given. I mean, c'mon, what would be next? 30 minutes? 3 hours??

Well, the man was nice, but unable to help me. Surprise, right? The problem is with Sprint and their new mother system, not with the peon phone people. I was able to laugh as the guy made the payment but was unable to figure out the problem with the card. Poor guy, he tried. I told him that I'd spent more than an hour talking to 6 people last month, that he shouldn't feel too bad. He looked back and made an audible UFF sound when he was looking at the notes. I told him how unhappy I was with Sprint, but that I knew it wasn't his fault, and that I didn't want to be crabby to him on New Year's. I filled him in on the hold comedy and the whole "Thanks for choosing Sprint, is there anything else I can do for you?" irritation. Again I wished him a Happy New Year, told him I'd deal with it again next month and said good-bye. He chuckled in defeat, expressed (what I'm sure is required) that he didn't want me to leave Sprint, thanked me for not being crabby, and said "Thanks for choosing Sprint, huh-huh, is there anything else I can do? huh-huh." It was humorous, I was only crabby for a short time, and after all, only 6 more months of Sprint service . . . I think I can handle this 6 more times! It's a countdown!

Again, Happy New Year!

Hodgepodge and a quick look back.

Greetings! Just a quick visit to wish all a happy new year! I think that this next year may find me posting even less than I have been. Only time will tell. I've gotten lax on posting, but even more lax on my in person relationships! I must take care to not let those slide, or blogging will have to go entirely. I will put up some fight to not let it get to that point, though, as I enjoy visiting so many of you, and have learned so darn much from you all!

I had my youngest niece with me for the weekend. She'll be 11 in 5 days. (gulp . . . I think I'm feeling my age!) My oldest is 13 (14 in March) and has officially reached the point of being too cool for Aunt Mandy's house! (That is pronounced Awnt Mandy- because as I have so adamantly been corrected early on in life- I am not a six legged insect! It is weird to hear people call me Ant Amanda, which gets quite stuck on the tongue, doesn't it?) She had other stuff to do on her Christmas break, and it didn't involve me or her sister. I loved having my pre-teen cuddlebug, even though the elder was missed. We drank gas station cappuccino and went out to Pizza Hut with some friends last night. She is totally in to myspace, and it was interesting to be a part of the pre-teen drama that inevitably follows the messaging from one to another. It was good though to be able to talk to her about the drama and how it's so much easier to hurt people when it's simply leaving a quick comment instead of face to face! I also know her password and have been inside and out of her account. It's a good thing. I'm pretty sure she won't change it again for a while, so I'll have an up close view of her goings on. I feel better about that.

One more thing, has anyone else seen this list of famous people who died in 2007? I am surprised at how many I don't remember hearing about (besides those that I've never even hear of!). I try to catch the news fairly regularly and have a personalized google page with top news stories that pop up every time I open the internet, but some of these seemed to have flown right past my radar! Besides the cool fact that one of the guys was 109(December)! There was also one who was 105(October)! Pair this with the Anna Nicole Smith's, and I think the average age is still right up there. Have I mentioned before that I have this perhaps-bizarre urge to check obituaries? Seriously- I really noticed it after attending 8 or so funerals in a row of people younger than 23 years old. When I see a day with all of the ages above 70 or so, a cheer erupts from some part of my little brain. Not out of insensitivity, but a cheer that they all made it so far. The week before last showed the majority of people less than 40 or 50 and my heart broke for them. A man one year to the day older than me, a mother and her newborn child, an infant, probably a few with very young grandkids or young children(or young adult children). Is that weird? My mother checks obituaries in her local paper, too. Perhaps some is genetic? I'm sure her dad did it and her mom always knows that kind of news. I simply click the link and check the surrounding papers as often as I check my blogging buddies. (I check for other news, too!) Jeez- is that really as morbid as it sounds? I'm really not a stalker or anything. Please, share some of you weirder stalker stories so I don't feel quite so odd! Someone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I'm off to bed now. Or maybe to work on the puzzle gracing the card table in my living room. Or maybe just to bed. Thanks for letting me share my oddities!

Best wishes for a fantastic new year! Safe celebrations to all!

A

Footnote: I always forget to spell check these things before posting them. I then frantically grasp my mouse, hoping to somehow pull it back from cyberspace before my spelling stupidity is out for all to see! I then pull it back to finish the editing I should have remembered to do in the first place, but alas- it's too late. Faithful reader programs all over the globe have snapped it up, instantly notifying friends near and far that I have updated my poor, neglected blog, and delivering my spelling ineptitudes right to their inbox! I then correct the spelling for the rest of you, who opt for the "I'll check back when I get around to it!" mentality, and you are none the wiser! To those who get 2 notifications of my one new post? To you I'm sorry. Discard the first one, mmmmkay?

I'm a slug . . .

That darn pressing holiday that is a mere 3 days away is looming nearer and nearer. My mind has kicked in to vacation mode. Shopping is not done, I have no idea even what to buy! Goodies remain in their ingredient state in my cupboard and on my table. My projects remain in pieces. The dirt remains throughout my apartment. But, as for me, I'm on vacation! There's always tomorrow!

Merry Christmas,
A

It's been a while!

Hi everyone! It sure has been a while since I've posted. Hmm . . . as the holidays approach, my free time must be spent elsewhere.

I've also been trying desperately to purge and clean my little apartment. I'm a bit discouraged by the progress I'm making on my home. It's a mess, still, and doesn't seem to get any better! I've always been comfortable letting it get out of hand, and stay there for long periods of time, but lately, not so much! Unfortunately, in order for it to get better, it will inevitably get worse! Since returning home after house sitting, I've moved book shelves, taken the book shelf from my hall closet and replaced it with a hanging linen shelf thing, moving towels from my bathroom and kitchen and my bedroom to the closet, moved furniture, finally cut some boards for some shelving in my entry way, etc. I've made progress, but surface-wise, it's chaos! Today I've had the whole day to clean and tidy, but no energy to accompany it! It's a cold dreary day and I'm dog tired. And I've been reading a book that is the fifth in a series, but is actually a prequel, or the first book in the series added later. I'm almost finished, which will help give me more ambition in other areas!

I have set 3 goals for today: Buy supplies for my guinea pig, pay my bills, and finish the uber-fancy tie blanket I'm making for me. I've bought supplies and he's my next project. My bills are paid, except one, and the tie blanket is way too complicated. Perhaps I'll work on it next. Strangely, it involves sewing and I'm not to excited about that part! Tying is the easy part! Minimal progress, but progress nonetheless!

I'm not very exciting here on my blog(or anywhere else, I guess!). Thanks for those of you who have stuck with me.

Happy holidays!

Amanda

Seething!

I've spent over an hour on the phone with various Sprint representatives. They've recently changed their payment database to a new system, and for some reason the new system would not accept my debit card. After talking to 6 different people and getting transferred to a department with a 10 minute minimum wait, oh, and GETTING HUNG UP ON! Well, disconnected. Each person has to say- "Thanks for choosing Sprint, and is there anything else we can do for you tonight?" when they have, in fact, not been able to do anything for me in the first time, and I've just expressed my serious and severe dissatisfaction with Sprint. All this at 11:00 is not a good mix(although having them shut off my phone is less preferable!). The final part of the phone call resulted in me telling the man, in as polite of a manner as I could muster, that I was hanging up, because if I had to listen to one more representative say those words that they were required to say, when I've just told each person along the way how dissatisfied I was with Sprint that I was going to lose it. Since they seem to have resolved the problem and person 4 or 5 got the debit card to work as credit (after person 3 or 4 thought that my card was frozen or that because I'd paid for gas that they may have put a $75 hold on my account) and somewhere along the way they seem to have gotten the system to accept my card, I said good night and hung up the phone.

Now that I've vented, thanks for listening!, I'm off to bed. So tired . . .

And the moral of the story, boys and girls? Always put off till tomorrow what could have been resolved at 11:00pm today! Or skip Sprint.

(Jeez- do I sound a little bitter? It really has been an ongoing thing, since the very beginning! If you want more details, leave me a comment and I'll oblige- hey- no need for other people to suffer, too! I can't quietly drop them without a 150 buck fine, but I can help others not get in the same sinking boat!)

Good night.

One of my Favorites . . .

One of my favorite bands of all time is Tom Feldman and the Get-Rites. I love their blue-grassy sound, complete with a mean slide guitar, as well as their lyrics, and they are hands-down among the greatest guys/bands we've had at our coffeehouse and music festival (Yeshuapolooza- google it!). I was fortunate to be able to liaise them, er, be their "band liaison" at the festival last September. I got to meet them personally and escort them around for the day. Imagine my excitement when in my inbox tonight was a note about their newest CD release. Check them out, I highly recommend them! (If only so you can see what music style turns me on!) I love their new song Pedal Steel Heaven(also the title of their new CD). I hope you all enjoy them!



p.s. Blue Mountain Mama- I think you'll especially like them!

Update: Silly me! Here is their website! http://www.thegetrites.com/ From there you will see a link to their MySpace page above their picture!

Twenty-One years and counting . . .

There are very few days throughout my life that I can look back on and know with certainty exactly where I was in my life at a specific date and time. Twenty-One years ago today, at this time, I was in the emergency room in Red Wing Minnesota. My entire family was on our way to Saint Paul to a visitation for one of my dad's best friends, who had died from some sort of heart problem(I was only eleven, I don't remember what kind of problem). We were 4 miles from home when my dad saw a car broke down on the side of the road. It had just started snowing and he slowed down as he approached it. As he passed it, a driver crossed over the center line. My dad was unable to swerve due to the car on the side of the road. I don't remember the accident. My mother, my 2 sisters and I all blacked out for the impact. Only my father remembers it with clarity. Only dad was awake for the entire thing. My older sister and I were in the back seat, my mom and dad and my little sister were in the front seat. It was 1986, and no one was wearing seat belts. 1986 was well before airbags.

The O'Brien family was the first on the scene and witnessed it all from their vantage point on the side of the road. If we hadn't been there on the road, the driver would possibly hit the father, mother and the one son standing outside of their car waiting for help. They would never been as fortunate as we were.

The man (called Mousy) had been drinking (and perhaps doing some other things to impair his driving judgment). He reached down to the floor of the passenger side of his car, and as he did, his left hand steered him across the center line at 55-60 miles/hour. He did not see it coming and did not slow down.

My older sister and I were able to get out of the car with help from the O'Brien family. We were in shock, shaky and damn near hysterical. The rest of my family were trapped in the car. The front end of the car was smashed in, the front doors unopenable. The windshield was shattered, but I can't remember if it was still in place. Our angels seated us in the back seat of their car, covering us with the only thing we had, burlap bags, but I couldn't stay their long. I had to see my mom and dad, I had to see my little sister. The ambulance and fire crew arrived, and they were able to pull my little sister out through the windshield. Mom and Dad had to be cut out with the "Jaws of Life". When we were all out, we were split up into ambulances, Mom and Dad in one, the girls and I and Mousy in the other. Perhaps one of the girls was with Mom and Dad. They asked Mom and Dad which hospital they wanted and they left for River Falls. Our ambulance left for Red Wing(both about 15 miles away). They were part way there before Mom and Dad found out that we were on our way to opposite hospitals and they fiercely demanded to turn around.

Upon arriving, my sister or I asked them to call my aunt and uncle who lived in town. Even in a snow storm my aunt and my cousin were able to make it down to be with us. I am forever grateful for that. My older sister and I fared the best in the accident. My sister(Older) was fighting an asthma attack, and had some other minor cuts and bruises. I had a 2 inch gash on my left knee, a puncture wound on my right shin and I had slammed my face into the back of the car seat in front of me, flattening my nose. My eyes were swelling. At the end of the day I could barely see because my eyes had almost swollen shut and I looked quite a bit like a raccoon. My sister(older) and I were only kept over night. My little sister had fractured her ankle and had glass cuts across her face. She was in the ICU due to her size and age. She was fortunate. Mom had fractured her pelvis. She had a puncture wound on her right shin that matched mine.

I think Dad fared the worst. As the only one conscious throughout, he'd been able to brace himself. Years later in a college physics class my professor proved mathematically that it was mathematically impossible to brace yourself in an accident. That professor had never been in an accident with a Vietnam veteran who was bracing himself to prevent his 7 year old daughter from flying through the windshield. My daddy was a Marine, and he defied physics that day. Dad braced both feet against the floor(or against the brakes?) and his left hand against the steering wheel. His right arm was flung out in front of my little sister's face. Both of Dad's feet went through the floorboard of the car, and his left arm bent, yep- BENT the steering wheel. The rescue crew had to cut his feet out as they were trapped. He was awake and directed his rescuers in how to best go about cutting him out without further damaging his legs. He ended up with both legs broken and in casts, one up to his knee and the other to his hip, and also broke his arm. Two legs and an arm in a cast made for a highly dependent recovery time. He also had some other injuries, too. He ended up with over 300 stitches in his body. Approximately 170 of them were in his leg or thigh, and 180 of them were in his right bicep. The shifter on the steering column had tore up his arm pretty good. The amazing part of it was that if he hadn't had the ability and foresight to throw out his arm, the shifter would have hit my little sister right in the face. It would have killed her.

Mousy was fine, or maybe he wasn't fine, but he wasn't as bad off as my parents and I frankly didn't care to remember any more. Someone threw him a benefit to cover his medical expenses at the ballroom across from our house. Some family friends went to it and reported that people were smoking there, and it wasn't limited to cigarettes, if you know what I mean.

Older sister and I were released the next day, Little Sister the day after that. Mom and Dad were in the hospital for 8 and 14 days. Family came to stay with us. My cousin Randy came to stay with us to keep the fire burning. We only had wood heat and some one had to keep the fire going so the pipes wouldn't freeze. When Mom came home, I helped to care for her. She couldn't tie her shoes for weeks. When Dad came home, my cousin and whoever else had to carry him up the steps. With two broken legs and a broken arm, he was immobile. He was eventually able to use a wheelchair to get around the house, and after that he had a special crutch for his broken arm and a regular crutch for the other arm. They were both off work for a very long time. I appreciate all of the people who gave us food and presents for Christmas. We had very little income, and it was a bleak year. There wasn't money for much of anything. It was hard for my parents, especially. Several churches brought us boxes of food, the guys from my dad's work donated presents. Their kindness made it bearable.

One of the rescuers cut his hand pretty good, resulting in a scar that forever bears our name. He was the husband of my older sister's choir teacher. The O'Briens were in our 4-H club that we'd joined only months or weeks before. It was nice to have semi-familiar faces that night. I got a teddy bear while I was in the hospital with a big round stomach. His name is fatty (Creative, huh? Perhaps it was a she and she was pregnant?). I still have him. The radio or paper incorrectly announced that there were 6 in the accident- Dad, Mom, Older Sister, me and Little Sister and Jo and only five survivors. My little sister's name is Amy Jo and they'd reported her as both Amy and Jo, seriously terrorizing our friends who'd heard it.

We all have bruises and aches and pains even now from that accident. My parents arranged our insurance settlement to be delivered to each of us girls in 4 lump sums. We each got $4500 on our 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st birthday. My parents took nothing up front so that we might be able to use it to go to college. It helped, but didn't come close to paying for my college education.

And so class, that is why my mommy and daddy are my heroes.

I wasn't able to find pictures the last time I looked. If I can find them in the future, I'll scan them in and post them.

Tonight, I am thankful for God's protection of my family that night in 1986. . . .

Trees and "Smell that Dairy Air!"

Ahh- It took me a little bit that night, but I came to a decision. My decision was that I was not making a decision that night! The partially assembled tree went back into it's tub, and was stashed into the space vacated in the entry way. I stopped at a tree farm that I pass on my way to and from work every day, and I think I'll stop back tomorrow and actually get a real tree. The visit solidified it. So, tomorrow I'll be driving 30 minutes on the freeway with a Christmas tree strapped to my car roof. I have my doubts about the wisdom of it . . . . they'll use twine. I really wish I hadn't loaned my rope to my dad to haul away that mattress, but I suppose it's better than still having the mattress!

I think I'll take the fake tree to my classroom. I've had visions of my kids creating duplicate ornaments every year with the year, their name and their picture. One will go home with them, and one will stay with me to decorate the tree in years to come. Otherwise simple generic decorations. That's the way I'm leaning, anyway- which was my original intention for the tree(the classroom part). I'll have to double check with my building principal. I like the idea of pulling out all the old ornaments as a memorial for years down the road. I'm sentimental like that. We'll see if my ambition keeps up with my lofty aspirations.

I had hoped to spend time tonight getting my kitchen in order so I could bring the tree home, but instead I went out to eat at a Chinese buffet with my good friend Ang, because we love Chinese, and because it's her golden birthday! Happy Birthday Girl!

As an extra special treat on her birthday, I arranged to have us seated by a large, drafty window, and then to have some farmers come in wearing their barn clothes for some aromatic enjoyment! Seriously though, that was an addition we could have lived without! Upon their being seated at the table directly beside ours (in an otherwise nearly empty restaurant!) we looked at each other and whispered "there is no good way out of this, is there?" The smell overpowered our peanut butter chicken and anything else the buffet had to offer. We thought we were stuck. If we asked to be moved, or even just got up and reseated ourselves, we would completely offend these people (and you really don't want to tick off a farm girl! No offense! Oh yeah- we didn't want to be rude or hurtful in general, either), but if we remained in our current location out of politeness, our enjoyment of the evening would be seriously shot. As I sat, nearly convulsing from the cold, I decided that this may be our way out of this situation. I began to lament just how cold the window was, and the draft, and how I was starting to shiver. Oh yes, it sure was cold, Ang continued. I wonder if we could move away from the window, I said? She agreed. I made her ask the employee, who promptly began speaking loudly to another employee across the near-empty restaurant, who agreed that yes, we could move away from the window. How about here? says the first man. Oh no, over one more, right there, it's under a heat vent (and one more table away from the barn smell!) says the second man. I lamented again about the cold temperature, put on my scarf, shoved my hands up my opposite sleeves, and declined the ice cream that I normally love for dessert, all because of the cold . . . we came away looking like a couple of wussy, whiny freeze babies, but the rest of our meal was oh-so-much more enjoyable!! And more importantly, (I hope) no one was offended, except the busser who had to clean 2 tables instead of one! I can't help but think that they understood our plight! Only in Wisconsin!

Help! I'm Drowning!!

Help! I'm drowning! My little apartment is full to the brim with stuff! In the chairs, on the couch, on the kitchen table, on the counter, around my bed! I can't walk because it's so full! I finally got rid of my old queen size bed from my storage closet in the entry way, but it's too cold out there and I'm too indecisive to put something in it's place tonight. Part of the problem is that I have no room to move anything to. Another part of the problem is this fake Christmas tree I have in the middle of my kitchen floor. It belonged to my grandparents and the same parents that took away my bed brought it to me, at my request. I'd planned to bring it to my classroom and decorate there, but I'm teetering and tottering about keeping it at my apartment and sinking to the cheesy fake Christmas tree merely out of convenience and cost.

I'm overwhelmed, and perhaps you could help me make a decision? I'd appreciate it ever so much! Do I sacrifice having a real tree? Putting it together here or in my classroom? Paying for the real tree smell and the pine needles and cutting it up to drag it to the woods in June because I missed the darn truck who picks it up? The convenience of not having to water it? Having a sparsely decorated classroom? I really only have one set of decorations anyway. Grrr.

I need your help! Calgon, take me away! Someone help me make this decision!

A

My Thanksgiving . . .

I came down with the stomach bug that my loving family previously infected me with on Wednesday. I woke up feeling grim, and it just got worse. After nearly losing it during my doctor's appointment(NOT for this darn bug) I motored through the grocery store, knowing what was coming and needing Sprite and popsicles. NEEDING!! I rushed in, found those 2 items and rushed out. My manners to the cashier were sadly lacking, as were my manners to my doctors, the nurses, and the people who changed my oil earlier in the day. I spent much of my doctor's appointment with my eyes closed, fighting the nausea. He, the wonderful doctor that he is, agreed to finish the appointment by phone on Friday, and home I went. When he called Friday, I'd made it to my parent's and my cell service was lacking and so my phone chose not to ring. He called again later, and commented that he'd had visions of me laying in a heap on my bathroom floor dying. I LOVE that guy. I felt better after Wednesday evening and by early afternoon Thursday determined to head the the family even. I managed to eat a minimal turkey dinner, and spent that evening and all day Friday glued to the couch and cable television. My mom has since gotten this bug, as has my dad. Gross. I'm not entirely recovered, but promptly back to 85%. Can't really complain . . . well, maybe a little!

Hope your Thanksgiving Days were less eventful and healthier!

A

Another heartbreaking headline from cnn.com

Death toll rises to at least 2,000 as Bangladesh assesses cyclone damage

KOLAPARA, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Cyclone Sidr, one of the worst storms to strike the impoverished country of Bangladesh in recent years, has killed at least 2,000 people, a number that is expected to rise as the South Asian nation continues to assess the damage.

The Category 4 cyclone raked Bangladesh's southwest coast on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, destroying fishermen's hamlets and villages.

Thousands are still missing, while an estimated 280,000 others are unable to return to their homes which were wiped away by the storm.

Update: Reuters International now puts the death toll at over 2,300.

Reason #679 that I'm glad I'm single . . .

AKA Are you putting on weight?




This is Uncle Tom. (Note the hat: I'm Old School, HA!) He's not my uncle. In fact, I'm not sure that he's anyone's real uncle. He isn't technically related to my nephew's Dad, but somewhere along the line, his Mom, Coreinne acquired Tom as an "uncle", hence the "Uncle Tom". Coreinne died a few years ago, and Tom is now the main family that her children have in this area. He's kind of a crochety old man, a little awkward, but family nonetheless. Today was my nephew's birthday dinner. His family, coming together to celebrate him, and of course, shower him with gifts.

Uncle Tom, my nephew and his Dad had only walked in the door and were saying their hellos when Uncle Tom looked at my older sister and greets her with, "Hey, are you putting on weight?" Now, I'm sure many of you know that this is poor form, incredibly poor, in fact. I concede that you may not know this if you are over 30 and blogging from your mother's basement(and if that's the case, no offense, but here's your lesson!) My sister is famous for her poor life choices, her insecurity, and her attitude. She promptly got upset, began ranting, and retired to the living room in tears. I would have just ignored it if it had been directed to me, but I felt obligated to chide and give Uncle Tom some grief about starting a family gathering like this in the hopes of regaining the peace in a quicker fashion. It was a pretty tacky comment, and I told Tom that I'd thought he was old enough to know better than to comment on a woman's weight. He responded with a comment about how he thought that in this day and age he thought that it was okay and that no one cared about weight(I think he even said 'hip and groovy' with his hands waving in the air). Yeah, did I mention that I thought maybe he's always been single? (. . . shocker!*) I don't think that he'll make that mistake again . . . I think he's truly lucky he didn't get slapped. It seems that in past times he might have been. He did have his age working in his favor, I guess, I mean- how much grief can you give a crusty old curmudgeon? It brought the whole event onto par with a three ring circus in a real hurry. My sister and her boyfriend left for home a few minutes later. She'd been working all day and needed to run home and change and pick up the ham. What? You're leaving us alone to entertain his family? You'd better hurry back!

My thought for the day is that I'm glad I'm single. I can hardly, quite simply, deal with my own crazy relatives without importing another family!

May all of your family holiday gatherings be more civil, and well- joyful!

Happy upcoming holidays!

A


*A While You Were Sleeping reference for Sarah.

Home at last . . .

I'm home at last. I must confess to an odd feeling of detachment from my apartment, though. Their home felt so much more like home than my little apartment. I think apartment living is for the birds. Probably about the same size as their cage, in proportion. It's weird to come back to a place that doesn't seem like mine. As weird as it is though, I am so grateful to not be driving back and forth, to not be torn between here and there. The Bible talks about a house divided against itself not being able to stand. A true statement, even if meant in a different context. I certainly wouldn't have been able to stand much longer.

I fed the cat, left the sheets drying in the dryer, grabbed my stuff and headed back to town tonight. I was going for pizza with some friends, and wouldn't be able to get my food unless I did it tonight, before pizza. A very busy day indeed. I even have most of my clothes put away now, and stuff seems to be organized enough to make the morning routine run fairly smoothly. I should go to bed now, because now that I'm back home, I'll have to get up earlier, to accommodate the longer drive to work.

Back to apartment living in a college town. Ahhh, the sounds of traffic and neighbors stomping(and doesn't it all seems like stomping when it's above you!) . . .

G'night all.

A

Technology day . . .

Ahhh, I'm sitting in a technology day conference. The session I'm in right now is "Exploring free online programs" and one of the programs is blogger! I thought I'd do a quick post to say hi! The presenter gave us the freedom to play around and explore the links that interested or applied to us. A dangerous freedom to give us bloggers. I'd already checked my email and checked my google reader page. I realize that I need to put more of the blogs I frequent on their so I can get to them quickly from anywhere!

House sitting will be finished in 4 days. Our missions team will be home from India Wednesday. What a tough transition for them! It was hard enough for me to transition from my house to theirs! It will be great to have them home. I hope that I'll have more time for blogging when I'm settled back home.

I'd better run, I'm eavesdropping on a conversation someone is having about blogger. Maybe I can help . . .

A

When I grow up . . .

I do believe that this is my 100th post or perhaps 99. I was planning on fulfilling my pal Babzy's meme for this momentous event up until I was drifting off to dream land last night. You'll get deep thoughts by Amanda instead . . .

At our Singles' Bible Study last night we began a new book. I was thrilled by the mere title of the first chapter of this book, knowing very little about it. The title was "You are not half of a cookie" or something close to that. I couldn't resist the sweet "Aww!" that escaped my lips, when Pastor Steve was talking about something else entirely, and it just slipped out without any thought or control! Fortunately no one seemed to notice and the study went on. The first chapter of the book managed to hit almost every one of my personal soapboxes. You know, those stories and experiences that God has laid on your own heart so strongly that you feel the need to share them any time the opportunity arises? Yep, those! I really enjoyed the chapter and was just so joyous throughout! Truly, out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks and I had so much to say! Sometimes I wonder if I am talking too much, but I genuinely feel like God is speaking to me and I can't help but share! I am conscious of that possibility though, and get really excited to see others step forward in conversation! I am simply adoring God and where He has me right now, and I hope that it blesses others some how . . . I am excited to be counted among the leadership of this ministry and am enjoying being a part of it so much right now. We are talking about going on a missions trip to Georgia this summer and to Mexico in 2009 some time(topics for another post!).

Last night after the study and some other tasks, I was chatting with a new girl. Well, I say "new girl" but she isn't really. She walked into our Monday study after having come to church for a month or two and announced "I'm looking for you!" Now, after 3 weeks, it feels like she's been here for ever. Her confidence and willingness to jump right in is more of a blessing to me than I can express. Such an encouragement. Anyway- in our talk, she told me "You are who I want to be someday!" WOW! What an honor, a privilege and a responsibility! I understood what she was saying, I too had looked at other Christians and thought- I want to be like them someday! I didn't mean brown hair, serving in this specific ministry, etc, but that I wanted the joy that they had, the confidence that only comes from the Spirit of Christ, and the peace that they had with it all. I have tasted that in the last few months, enjoying and exploring the place God has for me - uniquely! No one else in this world can fulfill my place and calling like I can. No one. This was a mind boggling thing when I realized that I had a purpose that no one else could be fulfilling, and it was going to waste because I wasn't stepping up to the challenge. Heart breaking.

This being said, I am so thankful to God that He has a plan for me, and that He loves me enough to be patient with me. I've wasted too much time being a couch potato Christian.

The pressure is on, the challenge has been declared to keep up with the chariots and the horses, instead of being tired by mere foot men in this battle(A rough paraphrase of Jeremiah- "If you can't keep up with the footmen, how will you keep up with the chariots?" I know that having said this, there will be bad days, my new found friend will get to know more of the real me(the me who gets tired and crabby when sick, who struggles to maintain control of my bad attitude- which is more than I've done in the past!) and may not like me and I will become self involved again when the next wave of sickness and exhaustion hit. This is inevitable. Still I thank God. Again, I'll get back up and stagger back into the battle that is life. Again, I will fall at His feet and my gratitude and adoration will grow exponentially, all the while aching to be at home with my God in heaven, when this ache inside of me is truly and finally fulfilled.

Perhaps the meme will be 101.

Amanda

I'm so busy . . .

my head is spinning! It's been a full week, no wait- it's only Tuesday. Seems it's been a full couple of weeks! What has kept me so busy? I HAVE NO IDEA! Okay, I'll try to remember, try to stay with me, okay? On my days off the week before last, I visited with my family for a while, and then went over to my Grandma's house, where I hooked her up with an email account and changed her broken outdoor light. The next day my folks came into town to go garage saling and out to eat, and I bought my Grandma a new exterior light fixture(Early Christmas present, whoo-hoo!). The next day included buying mass quantities of fleece for my new blanky- I've made them for everyone else in my family, now it's my turn! No simple project for mine though, overkill extraordinaire is tying and sewing it in several locations. Which is, of course, why it's still not finished!

Thursday night included boiling and mashing 30 pounds of potatoes for our retreat last weekend. Delicious of course! Friday I took off of work early so I could do a drive by of the Doctor's office, where I was diagnosed with "post-viral bronchitis", yippee. I had gotten to the point where coughing fits were triggered by breathing, a trait that makes you very unpopular when you're sleeping with 10 or 15 other people in a barrack style room. Upon our arrival in Wausau Wisconsin(A solid 2 hours form home, more with that darn detour, self inflicted), I was tired and ill and ready for bed. I tried my best to hold my tongue, a real feat for me in tired mode, and managed to come back out of my foul mood before too long. Yeah! The retreat was fan-frigging-tastic! One of my favorite speakers came from Minneapolis, where he is involved with a ministry called Steiger International and where he also pastors the church called "The Salvage Yard". He has such a gift for teaching! We also got to meet his new wife from New Zealand, who is just as wonderful!

After a few detours, a meal stop and a stop to drop off some friends, I continued home, finally arriving at 10:30pm. After a couple more things, I was off to bed . . . Sunday came early and stayed late. I went to visit the folks I'm house sitting for that evening. They showed me how to turn up their heat, crank their stereo and told me to make my self to home! Party time! Just kidding, who has time for that? Tonight is my first night in my new home(until November 14th, I think) and I'm still not settled. I have the whole house to myself, save MeanSteve the Cat, and I'm seriously at a loss. I've cooked my supper, turned on the TV(MeanSteve is now sitting on the couch watching it- no joke! What a great babysitter I am!) and am now in the office because I prefer my computer to theirs and none of the living room plugs have the third prong to fit my computer plug. I haven't even ventured upstairs yet. What ever will I do with a whole house to myself? One thing I will for sure not be doing, thanks to their lack of window coverings on the main floor, and thanks to neighbors in fairly close proximity, is dancing naked through the house. Some people just have to take the fun out of everything!!

Anyway- I'm 15 minutes closer to my job now, so the commute is a mere 50-55 minutes. What will I do with all my time? Again, no nude dancing. The options are slim.

I'm hoping to get that meme from Babzy from way- back out next. It'll be my hundredth post, and it seems to be fitting. I've also found that I've been trying to pace myself, not posting, simply because it's my 100th and I want it to be more than this post was! Sorry I'm not more creative. Thanks for sticking it out!

Stay tuned for my hundredth!
A

Road Trip . . .

I've had so many questions about how my new job and my commute are going (all of my adoring fans! . . . or the voices in my head?) that I thought I'd better address it. The 1 hour 15 minute drive is oddly not boring (either direction). My first of many obstacles is the darkness itself. I'll speak to all you "normal" folks who are probably not on the road by 6:15 am. We are losing daylight quickly friends.It's dark for the majority of my drive now and it's only October. Yikes.

The next obstacle that I face is the weather, in this case, torrential downpours. Okay, even mere sprinkles make the drive a little harder. Construction has for the most part abated. The cones are still looming at the side of the freeway, mocking me, threatening to creep back out to the middle of my lanes, attempting to force 2 lanes of traffic through only one lane. Next are those damnable moving targets. No, not other drivers, but animals! I've seen dogs, cats, fox, (dead) skunk, and most recently deer. Thanks for staying out of my path little critters!

Overcoming obstacles . . .

I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve to avoid these obstacles, including a strong cuppa french pressed joe, and some loud music. I'm trying to set me a new record on the number of times in a day I can hear the same song. My latest record is today's 4 of Matchbox Twenty's newest song. Add in hearing them interview live on TWO, count them, 2, radio stations and I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that I spend too much time in the car! Another favorite includes Delilah by the Plain White Tees. My next car will be better on gas mileage and have louder speakers! Perhaps my favorite way of overcoming the boredom obstacle is entertaining myself. Singing so loudly the lady 3 cars behind me, and the inevitable farm machinery operator in front of me, can hear me clearly. Dancing so wildly my car lurches. Talking on my cell phone. Channel surfing on the radio, I mean who can beat driving to "Dancing Queen" or "Another One Bites the Dust" or a good Flashdance song? And who can help but dance? Last but not least, smiling while stuck in traffic(sometimes combined with any of the above). So if you ever see someone like myself bee-bopping to the tunes that are causing their car to bounce, simply wave and smile back, mmmkay? It will make their day!

A long week, for a short one!

After typing my title, I began to ponder that it could mean a couple of different things. 1. That the week was long, considering it was a "short week", or B. It was a long week for me, a short person. Okay, well that made sense in my head anyway! This is why I sometimes wait so long to post. If I try to force blogging deep thoughts, you end up with vertically challenged folk under unusual amounts of stress.

Seriously, though. This week marked another couple of firsts in my new job. My first parent-teacher conferences on Monday night and Wednesday afternoon. I was at work Monday from 7:45am to 7:45pm. Yaaawn . . . figure in the 1 hour 15 minute commute before the day and again after and double YAAWWNN! Wednesday the kids got out early so we could have more parent-teacher conferences. I also hosted my first IEP meeting. This is where I plan, with the input of parents, regular education teachers, and other interested individuals, a student's educational goals, accommodations and testing for the next year, while looking back at the last year and the student's present levels of performance. I promise, this is the last time I will lapse into quite so many details about special education. I won't bore you with IEPs, LRE, PLEPs, LD, EBD, CD, ADD or ABCs. Special education really does have it's own alphabet. I promise, I'm done. I'll move on, ASAP!

I had Thursday and Friday off of work to recuperate. I had seriously considered going to our local teacher's convention, but sleep called my name more loudly! It was a great weekend of visiting with my family, shopping, garage sale-ing, and going out to eat. Refreshing.

I hope to post more later, a meme as of yet unfulfilled, something more creative perhaps? I'm sapped . . .

Thanks Dorky Dad for the shout out! I mean, shucks! It's nice to know you care! My thanks to all who swung on by to visit! Hope to see you all again soon!

Quick fix.

I arrived home from my folks tonight to find that my neighbors across the street are apparently having a party in the back parking lot of the apartment complex. One that sounds like it involves live music. I could feel my hackles rising with every bass beat. I was tired and hot and fighting to keep my peace. I went outside and looked at my neighbors' apartment and their lights were still on. I tapped lightly on their door and to my joy, hubby answered. He would shut their windows and I would turn on the central air. Summer came back this week and I was hot! At 10:30, it was still in the upper 70s, with a low of lower 70s, and humid! It seemed like a good excuse to turn on the air, making it possible to sleep with the windows closed, adding one more barricade to the aggravating bass and loud tunes coming from the college students across the street. I will certainly sleep better with the air than I would have without!

Good night!

A

After thought: As I'm checking some blogs, Saturday Night Live (SNL) is on. I looked up to see that they were doing a piece called Rowlf and the Swedish Chef. I'm not sure it was all clean, as some of the conversation may have had more in it than I was listening to, but I'd recommend you check it out if you like or liked the Muppets at some point! I thought it was great costuming and fun to see anyway! I'm pretty sure NBC has now put SNL online, which means that after 2:00am you'll be able to check it out at www.nbc.com. It's towards the end, past the Weekend Update and before what I sense to be the last music number. I love the Muppets . . . they take me way back.

I hear voices . . .

singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Can you hear them too? My latest computer issue is fixed. I finally got to the right screen and disabled the right monitor. Not like I've been trying this in all the other screens for the last week! Grr. I'm just happy it's fixed. My google page is normal again. No more oversized fonts and bubble letters! Well, unless I do it on purpose!

Yippee!

It's October 5th and its thuderstorming out something fierce. "They" have mentioned the possibility of record breaking highs tomorrow. 84 or 85 F!?!?! What the! Humid. I should do some research and find out how often it hits 80+ after my birthday?

Oooh, I gotta go. I'm shutting down and unplugging. BIG lightening and thunder. I wonder if we'll lose power again? Seems par for the course in this neighborhood! Bum luck here.

Bring it on Home . . .

I heard this song on my trip home tonight. Over tired and beat up(almost literally!). It really resonates within me of my relationship with God. He knows what I need, and is wooing me to bring it on home to Him. I long to give it all up to Him, but sometimes that weight on my shoulders makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. Really, His burden is easy and light. The one I hold on to is exhausting. I've found myself encouraging my high schoolers to unload on me, I have broad shoulders, I can handle it, better than a teenager at least! God wants that for me. He's got a much better grip on this life of mine!

It's a great song.

DYNOMITE!

The highlight of my day occurred at 8:10 AM or so. From out side of my classroom there came a little boy's voice (3rd grade hallway) singing, well- at least repeating -in a gravelly little voice, "TNT, I'm dino-mite! TNT, I'm dino-mite!" And he just kept a-singing! Finally the bell rang, and soon after he disappeared to his classroom.

Does anybody remember JJ's "DYNOMITE!"? What show was that? Oh yeah, Good Times. Jeepers I'm showing my age . . . as the show only ran from 1974-1979 however, I grew up on the reruns!

I'm off to bed, judging by the connection of story A and story 2, above, I must be tired and more than a little out of it. Good night! Have a DYNOMITE day tomorrow, mkay?

Mid-life crisis . . .

A couple of weeks ago, I received in the mail a friendly reminder that my driver's license is coming due. My last license was issued when I came home from Utah after I graduated from college. It has been 7 years since I finished college. 7 years. Wow. My new license expires in 2015. Got that? 2015. Wow. Now, as a general rule I am not afraid of aging. 25 was hard, 30 was hard. Whatever. (I'm hoping to reminisce about my thirtieth this week- it's a fun story) 32 is on the immediate horizon and I'm not scared. Thinking about the year 2015 seems really sci-fi-ish and unimaginable. Do you remember thinking that the year 2000 seemed futuristic? Flying cars and all? After getting past all that I started wondering and figuring out how old I'll be the next time I will have to renew it. Tick, tick, tick, gulp. Forty. FORTY! FORTY! My fortieth birthday has a task assigned to it already. Wow. That freaks me out. If I were a drinking woman, I'd be looking for a stiff one about now. If I really feared my age I'd become a drinking woman . . . Does anyone want to join me for coffee after I renew my next license? May as well make a day out of it. :)

A cool invention called:

Eave Spouts! (AKA Rain Gutters) Yep, the person who invented them truly deserves our praise. When I get a house, I hope it comes with eave spouts. I'd rather suffer through climbing up to clean out the gutters, than to be forced to suffer the torrential downpour pouring down on my arm as I'm unlocking the door, C'mon already! Why can't I unlock it this time?? Or the steady hosing you get down you back as you throw yourself headlong through the door way hiding behind the offending cascade. I bet the water is pristinely clean and sanitary, too.

I did a little research and learned that eaves (not eave) spout is a regional term. Am I the only one who calls them eave spouts?

Definitions from www.freedictionary.com: eaves spout

n. Northern U.S.

See gutter. See Regional Note at gutter.

gut·ter n.

1. A channel at the edge of a street or road for carrying off surface water.

2. A trough fixed under or along the eaves for draining rainwater from a roof. Also called regionally eaves spout, eaves trough, rainspout, spouting.

My computer monitor is still kittiwampus, so that'll be it for now. I've got some ideas for posts(that are deep and meaningful, well at least a little more than just whining!), hopefully I'll find the time for them . . . be sure to stop back, ok?

Cool . . .

The cool part is that I was watching missed TV shows on the internet on my TV. Cool, right? The not so cool part is that I can't figure out how to change my resolution back to 640x480, and it's stuck at 600x800 because it's the best of the options given. I've obviously goofed something up. May be time to phone a friend! Tomorrow, though. As for now, I'll settle for holding the computer back away from my face and scrolling back and forth, back and forth so that I can see all of my blog!

Later Gator!
A

Me as a Muppet.

You Are the Swedish Chef

"Bork! Bork! Bork!" Your happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies. No one really gets you. And frankly, you don't even get you. But, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse

The Muppet Personality Test


The Swedish Chef is, incidentally, my favorite Muppet Character.

home . . .

Ahh, I'm home again today, still sick. When lunchtime came around yesterday, I was so exhausted that I couldn't even eat. Knowing my love of food, I knew that I was most certainly sick! I talked to my principal about going home early if I could get everything done, and he reminded me that I should call in earlier than later to be assured a substitute. The sub I had Tuesday was in the building, so our secretary asked me if I wanted her to ask her then to sub for tomorrow. Sounded like a good idea, so I left for the day knowing that I wouldn't be back today. Wrapping up for the week took longer than planned, and so my attempt at "going home sick" was a pathetic 10 minutes. I didn't crawl out of bed until 12:30 today after persistently burrowing back into my pillow . . .

I'm still hoping to finish my tag from Babzy soon! Maybe this weekend, instead of last.

A

I can't run fast enough . . .

. . . to shake this thing! I went to my doctor yesterday, as I was confident he would help me to manage the symptoms, even if it was a bug. Turns out, he told me it was a sinus infection. Yuck. Again! Jeepers, it hasn't been that long since my last one! It probably started out with a virus on the 9th or 10th(note blog entry dated then), kicking my nose into overdrive, and after a couple of weeks of extra junk hanging out, some bacteria settled in and formed themselves an infectious party! They invited my ears to the party. My body seems to be working overtime trying to out an end to the party, leaving me absolutely shattered or knackered(British ways of saying really exhausted) I began my antibiotics yesterday, squeezing all 3 doses in in one day, and was feeling a little better even by last night. (which shows my doctor knows what he's talking about!) I also went to my chiropractor and he worked on the sinus pressure points in my face and neck, which is a funny process that includes him pressing on my cheek bone and brow bone of alternating eyes with the palms of his hands with all of his weight. I cannot even describe how funny it must look. He also pokes my face with his fingers above my sinuses and did some massage to get things moving. He's great, but it's pretty painful and I seriously have to fight the urge to slap him! It's a good pain, though . . .

I really had to go to work today, so off I went. I managed to make it through the day, but it was rough. On the last leg of the trip home I kept closing my eyes, just for a second. I even talked on my phone for a while, knowing that that would keep me a little more awake, but still . . . my eyes closed . . . just for a second, popping open again as soon as I remembered that I was driving a car on the freeway! and sleeping was most certainly not an option.

I think I'll stay home from church tonight and listen on our radio station. What an amazing thing to be able to be part of the body via the radio, or even on the internet! I tend to practice the "if you are sick enough to stay home from work, you are sick enough to stay home from church and vice versa; and if you are well enough to go to work, you are well enough to go to church and vice versa" as a general rule, but sometimes that just doesn't work out practically. I HAD to go to work today. I have a meeting to plan, which legally has to have so many days notice and I've been trying to organize it, but it's taking a long time. Now it's down to the wire. I think I'll be more pushy with the next one. After a full day of work, I'm so tired that I honestly don't think I can make it through church and work tomorrow. I feel like such a slug, but I know that I really am sick . . . I miss my family at church and am starting to feel like I'm missing a limb or something.

See you soon. Thanks for all the positive notes!

Amanda

It caught me . . .

I got that darned bug that's floating around. I felt it coming, but really hoped I'd get by. I don't know why I bothered hoping, though, I get sick EVERY fall when school starts. Why fight it? I moved my 13 inch TV into my bed room, stayed home from Bible study, called in sick for work tomorrow and am watching the season and series premiers that I would normally miss. Total crash out. I was sooo tired that I had a hard time getting to work this morning. I was 10 minutes early, so I set my cell phone alarm to rest for 5 minutes. I only lasted 3 before I started freaking my new coworkers out. One tapped on my window and asked if I was okay, another mouthed the same thing a minute later, and I knew that the 5 minutes was just not to be. The return trip tonight was just as big of a struggle. My throat hurts, my head hurts, my ears are going funky and I am butt-tired. Maybe I'll finish that tag from Babzy tomorrow . . . maybe.

Good night.


Memory foam, here I come . . .

EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

I was just looking at other people's sites, you know, looking at your profile and jumping to people who have certain key phrases in common with you, and I came upon a site that seemed normal, until I clicked on a link from there about music this person liked. YIKES! Whoa- porn! Actually I'm not sure if it qualified as porn or just as disgusting pictures of a graphic nature, and I sure as Heck am not going back to find out! Ugh, I'm not sure that I'll ever get that image out of my brain . . . I wish I could do a system restore to my brain! Quick, revert to a time of about 15 minutes ago!

I love all of my Blogging Buddies, but sometimes the internet isn't all sweetness and light, ya know?

Memory foam and cars . . . .

Yeah, this post is a hodgepodge!

My new bed is a memory foam bed that I got from my aunt and uncle. They bought it, and then gave it to my cousin and her husband when they got a thicker memory foam. My cousin and her husband also bought a thicker memory foam. My uncle gets furniture at cost through his job and is retiring in December so they are getting all the furniture they think they may need before them. I also got a great couch. Both for a reasonable price. I've never slept on a memory foam mattress before and it's kind of weird. It's been one week now, and it's still really weird. It is apparently heat sensitive and your body heat causes it to shift and fit your form. There are no springs, at all! I had no idea how set I was in my mind about beds bouncing and giving way underneath you. It is completely unnerving to roll over and for the entire bed to just stay put. I'm not sure if I'm going to adjust yet. I bought a new pillow today hoping that better pillows will fulfill my "nesting need" and make me more comfortable over all. Have you all ever slept on a memory foam mattress? Or heard stories about them?

My next question is about cars. I'm going to get a new car sometime in the near future. My current car has 144,000 or thereabouts and being a mid- to large- sized car, the fuel efficiency just isn't there for the miles I'm putting on in a week. I'd love to go hybrid or something closer, but I'm pretty sure I can't afford it right now. I'm looking at getting a small or mid- size car with good gas mileage. Probably used. Do you have any ideas where I could start looking? Makes and models of cars that you know or have heard of? Must be dependable, good on gas and easy on the eyes(not really required, just a perk!). I'm just hoping for a jumping off point!

Happy weekend to you all!
A

Change . . .

I decided that it was time for a template change. I clicked over to one of the blogs I check regularly, and realize that I was suddenly looking at my own blog, well, it looked just like mine, but with different words and pictures . . . I somehow fear that the dozen or so blog templates given as options from blogger just may not be enough to go around, seriously inhibiting our individuality. I like brown, I'm a brown kind of person. When choosing a shirt to wear to a concert last night in our coffeehouse? I chose brown, of course. I have brown hair and hazel brown eyes. I'm comfortable with brown. There is more to me, however, than my hair and my eyes. I don't think I can be comfortable there for long. Could someone please, please tell me how to get my own template, before I get sick of the brown? I'm fine for now, but change, it is a comin'! Could you tell me, too, how to put my picture, or a picture that represents me on the comments that I leave on other people's blogs? You know, like Babzy in her shades! Or LP and her, good grief, I don't know what to call that thing! Jeepers, and then what picture would I put on it anyway!??! Okay, I'll figure that one out, if you'll help with the rest!

A

Confessions of a wench . . .

Wench: servant girl, peasant girl, wanton woman.

I must confess that I have been indulging my flesh. I've indulged my flesh on the free way, in the grocery store, in my conversations with people. Let me explain. The Bible talks about the flesh as a bad thing. The part of your body and soul that is selfish and carnal and smelly. The part of me that I will forever fight against, even though as a Christian I am a "new creation" and born again, so to speak. It will haunt me until I finish the race set before me, until I cross that great finish line in the sky, or whatever. The problem is that I have instead chosen to stop fighting against my flesh and FOR the things of God(which I want) and have instead given in, readily eating more ice cream, driving faster on the freeway, getting angrier then I know I should. I have ceased to strive for moderation and have just taken to doing what makes me feel good. Have you heard the expression that the dog that gets the biggest, the fastest, is the one you feed the most? The dog I want to get the biggest is the Spiritual. Instead, as I'm tired and busy, I'm feeding the dog, the Flesh, and he's not pretty. I don't want to give in, to give up. I've stumbled and now is the time to get back up, even though the Flesh dog is easier to feed and more fun to watch grow.

My epiphany came as I was driving home on the freeway today. I found myself closer to giving at least 2 different drivers the bird-finger than I have been for years. I would have liked to think that after more than 11 years as a Christian I would have been past that, and yet here I am, envisioning myself waving that hand right out the window, the truck driver having deserved every wave. By the time I get home, I've practiced that anger and impatience to such a degree that my relationships are suffering. If people aren't doing what I think they should, or they hurt my feelings(god forbid, right?) I'm quick to return the favor and am vicious. I grew up in a household where we knew just what buttons to push to hurt and in a fight, we raced to hit those buttons in each other, just to protect our own buttons. Healthy, right? As a Christian, God has been dealing with me, and has been conforming me more to His image. It's a good thing, a GOD thing. He's helping me to have compassion, love, grace for people that I just didn't have on my own. I have digressed. For this there is grace. God still loves me. He still has a plan for me. He still sees me as a wonderful daughter. I see the day-to-day reality. The failures. Don't get me wrong, I see the successes, too, the joys, the blessings, the excitement He has for me in the future, but I'm not happy with the detour I've taken from the joyful path. I don't like me then. My mom has told everyone that I am a special ed teacher for years. I had the degree, I worked with the kids, but I was only a paraeducator for 6 years. No matter how many times I explained Mom, I'm not really a full out special ed teacher, she still introduced me to everyone as her daughter, the special ed teacher. She has always been so proud of me. (But Mom, I HATE my kids right now! and I could be teaching teaching, again, the day-to-day reality) I kind of see my relationship with God like that. He sees me as His finished, perfect, beautiful Princess, even though I've slacked, turned my back or even spit in His face. He loves me with a perfect love.

If I want to continue to grow with God at the pace I have chosen, I must choose to put my flesh to death, to "crucify the old man", again. It will be an ongoing path in life. I am completely certain that I do not want the alternative path, what is behind door number 2, though. Jesus asked Peter once "are you leaving me, too?" and Peter responded "where else would I go Lord? You alone hold all the chocolate in the world". Well, that's my paraphrase. He actually said "you hold the words to eternal life" or something like that. Where else would I go? I've seen too much of God to want anything else.

Along with that comes some repentance. Changed behavior and turning and going the opposite direction. I must stop being ruled by my flesh, and work on incorporating discipline and moderation into my life. I also apologize to people that I've snapped at or injured. My Flesh Dog has maimed several. I'm sorry.

I know that some of you have stopped reading, and some of you are thinking, "you're being too hard on yourself" and some of you are thinking "what a fricken nutcase!" But I've chosen this path, and I wouldn't want anything else. Come on Spiritual Doggy, curl up on the couch beside me and have a snack. We'll fatten you up in no time! Good dog!

Oh, and the wench part? I've chosen to be a servant to the King, even though I am a daughter, too.

Guess what? I can find my ideal mate online. If I believe the spam folder of my email that is. Maybe I should stop waiting on God and make a move on some sleazy website? Cool. I bet that would work out well . . . maybe I'd find someone to abuse with my garlic triscuit breath.

Good night, really.

Really.

yawn . . .

Road trip . . .

I stopped today for another pound. Not because I finished the half from yesterday, but because I am now dealing the stuff to my sister . . . gotta share something you love so much, right? I also had a double shot of espresso for the ride home. It was that kind of day.

I'm off to go out to eat now, not sure where. I think I'm gonna run to Walmart first for those triscuits . . .

Getting new furniture tomorrow if I can find a truck to borrow . . . a memory foam bed and couch with recliners in each end from my aunt and uncle. I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.

I'm about to lose control,

AND I THINK I LIKE IT!


Update: It 9:00pm and I've bought all the roasted garlic triscuits they had on the shelf. Well, honestly, they only had 2 boxes and there was a display out in the aisle, but I really didn't see any on the display! I also bought some crack pepper(I know) and olive oil. I haven't tried them yet, too full, but I'd bet they have crack as an ingredient some where in the list . . .

Off to bed now . . .

Honey! I'm HOME!

It's 7:00 and I just walked in the door. For me, that's early. It's like a night "in"! I'm warming up supper, munching on Triscuits and checking in with the "real world". A couple of things about my day:

The sky today was uh-maaazing! This morning there was a long dark set of clouds in the way of the sunset. As the sun was struggling to rise above them, it was blocked by said clouds, but caused the outline of the clouds to glow vibrantly along the top edge. As it rose up, above the cloud/outline was a dark shadow caused by the cloud and above that was radiant beams of sunlight shooting straight up from there. My piddly description cannot possibly do it justice. It was phenomenal. On the trip home, the clouds radiated from the sun. They were in long straight rows arranged in a radial symmetry from the sun. Strange, and again, my words can't do justice.

As I speak, er- type, my smoke alarms are going off in unison. And still I type. I'm getting so good at tuning stuff out . . . I have some premade garlic bread in the oven, actually, HAD some in the oven and even though it isn't burning, the alarms are so sensitive and the air circulation just right to set off the alarms almost every (OH! Blessed silence!!!) time I use my oven. I refused this time and am just TOO tired to get up and run around opening windows. I turned on the stove fan and opened the front door from where I sat. That's as good as it gets tonight. I'll wait it out thanks.

It's been what, 3 weeks at my new job? It was time to start exploring along the drive. There is this little coffee shop in Star Prairie called "This Old Store" or something. They advertise that they roast their own coffee daily. Now- I'm a bit of a coffee deperado, er, I'm desperate for coffee, and LOOOOVE fresh roasted dark roast. We have a great coffeehouse here in town, but we don't roast our own. I stopped in after work today just to check it out. It's great little old building with painted old tin ceilings and WALLS(I've never seen tin walls before!). It's a couple from St. Paul Park, MN and they've bought this business and are hoping to move closer. They really do roast their own. As the lady and I were chatting about coffee, one particular roast caught my attention. Road Trip. A dark roast called Road Trip. I think we're going to be old frineds, Road Trip and I, but I started with a half pound just to work into it gently. I'll let you know for sure this weekend.

Well, I'd write more, but I've just finished the last of my Triscuits and I have to go curl up into the fetal position and rock until the morning comes. I will have to schedule a trip to the store tomorrow.

"It's a hard Knock life for me.


It's a


hard Knock


life for


ME!

I'm A, and I'm an addict . . .

This is the part where you all say, "Hi A!" in a totally non-judgemental sort of way. Then I confess that I've discovered Roasted Garlic flavored Triscuits, and I've eaten almost the whole box since yesterday. And it was GOOD! Y'all have got to get your own box!~~(O wait! That's another kind of treat . . . )

I heard that LP- I just know you said, "and you wonder why you're single??" Yeah, at least there isn't anyone but myself to suffer the garlic after taste later . . . It's one of the perks!

Get your own, then you'll be addicted too and I won't feel so guilty. Oh, yeah, they have whole grains, so I should be pretty darn regular for awhile! I suspect however, that Nabisco's "Sensible Snacking" section on their website doesn't include eating most of a box of any flavor triscuits. Just a suspicion, though. I mean it, go get a box.

A


Now, you still haven't left to get a box. I can see you.







Yep, you're still here.







They are good, trust me! Go ahead, be gone with you!

BTW-

I forgot my wallet in yesterday's pants pocket today. I fully intended to get gas after school. Desperately need to get gas after school, in fact. Was actually counting down the miles in anticipation. Part of the problem is because my gas gage has recently given up the ghost, and it's a constant battle to predict just how far I can actually drive on a tank of gas, comparing the number of miles driven with a vague memory of "miles to empty' numbers in my head. I am too cheap to fill my tank 3 times per week, and so I was hope, hope, hoping that I'd be able to fill up only twice per week, making myself feel a little better anyway. This leaving me with next to no gas left, facing another hour drive between me and my wallet, containing my credit card, debit card, driver's license, and my cash! Fortunately I discovered this almost immediately upon leaving school this afternoon and was able to borrow $20 from a co-worker. How embarrassing! My wallet quickly found it's way back into my purse. I wonder if I could carry around one of those big logging chains, attaching wallet to purse? Maybe not.

It's coming!

It's official. It's coming. This dog-gone sickness that hits me EVERY dang fall. I was diagnosed with "hayfever" in college, perhaps because they couldn't find anything else? I was diagnosed with allergies when I was 26. "They" have no idea what I'm allergic to. I do however have the list of nearly 30 things I wasn't allergic to at that point. My doctor once tried to find a pattern to my sinus allergy issues, in hopes of determining the allergy, but it was spread out in a kind of repeated pattern, including September, and I think November, but not October, or something random like that.

I have to wax philosophical, though for a minute- because it's my blog! I strongly believe in the Biblical storyline of creation. I believe that our bodies were not created for this type of world, and through Adam & Eve's sin, the world as they knew it fell. Fell from perfection to an imperfect world. A world where good people suffer and A suffers from some unknown allergy to a toxin that comes to find her on a regular basis. . . .sigh . . . A world where we work really hard to make a living, and where my sleep schedule is less than ideal, thereby weakening our immune systems even more to those terrible poisons(pollen, cold viruses from a couple of hundred upper elementary children and the likes!) I'd expound further, but I'm afraid I'll have dreams of big, bad viruses and germs coming after me! On that note . . . good night!

Hmm. . . the concert extravaganza yesterday went fabulously. It is a monumental undertaking, with a small army participating and I (along with 100 or so of my closest friends) am exhausted. My brain has ceased to function. My body is struggling. Bed time is coming!

On a separate note, I received a bill from Your General Hospital today, well yesterday, but we got the mail today! I'm not sure what the problem was, or what the heck the problem would even have to be to justify sending me a bill from March 11th on September 9th. Unless my fingers deceive me, that's less than a week shy of SIX FLIPPIN' MONTHS! My old insurance had always been fairly on top of things. Certainly not 6 months to process claims! This leads me back to my general irritation and dislike of Nebraska, and the overall strangeness and incompetency of my damn-near-$1000 emergency room visit. They probably charged me for every one of the needles they stuck in me, trying their gosh-durn best to get blood, or the extra time with the nurse while she was asking for details like what I did for a job, while I was curled up trying no to vomit in the waiting area. Or maybe it was the skill of a vet, which I'm still not entirely sure if it meant a vetran, a veterinarian or Yvette. Or maybe they charged by the hour- I mean, c'mon, the more than an hour I spent waiting before the doctor even came in to see me in the EMERGENCY ROOM would have ran the bill up alone, but hey, when you're covered in your own vomit and fighting to control your bowels- you should be grateful that your doctor took the time to shower so at least HE smelled good, right? . . . shudder . . . Okay, I'm done ranting. If you want more, you could always look through the spring break trip archives(March).

Rest assured, in their great generosity, they've given me 10 days to remit the $208.00 in full. If it took 6 months to bill it, how long until they turn me over to the creditors? This would be a great experiment, if it wouldn't mess with my credit! This will be one more clinic with a claim to my life for at least the next several months! (again, don't get me started on health care!)

I think that perhaps I should do some more research as to why it took so long . . .

quick post

Hi all! I'm still alive, although with my not-so-mad-driving-skills as of late, it may not last long! It's amazing how terrible of a driver you can become when you start doing it for nearly 3 hours a day! I get really distracted! I started seeing my kids today, I think it'll be fun. They spent the first 2 days of school with their regular education classes to get in their grooves! It's starting to feel do-able!

Saturday is our big festival, Yeshuapolooza. It's a 6 band "college block party" in Menomonie Wisconsin, put on by our church college group, with a little help pitched in by everyone else, including yours truly! I'm very excited! I'm also excited that life may slow down just a little afterward! We have some fantastic bands coming, and its free, if you're in town!

I've been bullied into a quick post by my friend, Table-top Joe. After finally posting himself he decided to harass me, claiming sleepless nights waiting for my blog. Yeah, right! I know he's got too much on his plate with his lovely wife and kids to be that concerned! Thanks for caring enough to guilt me though!

I must sleep now, 4:40 comes reeeeeaaaaaaallllllllyyyy early. There is also the problem with staying awake during my morning commute . . . despite my french press coffee and my diet Dr. Pepper.

Hope to see you all again soon!

A

Hi Ho!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go! Tomorrow starts the routine drive to my new job. I've done 2 random days, but tomorrow starts a 4 day week, followed by another 4 day week(thanks Labor Day!) and then in to the standard 5 day week. Thanks God for breaking me in a little slowly!

Today was an afternoon at the Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota with my "singles" Bible Study Group, and hopefully Friday will bring another trip to the Twin Cities to do some school shopping with my nieces. If I'm feeling energetic, I'll be over that way on Monday to visit with my wonderful cousin Marcus before he leaves for Colorado on his latest acting-driven endeavor! Good luck to him! I'll try to post some picts from the zoo later on.

See you again soon,
Thanks for stopping by!
A

It's moist . . .

Looking out my window at 3:00am, I can barely make out the street light meant to be illuminating the street in front of my house. There are reports of dense fog warnings throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. As I peer out my window, I think whoever noticed this and made those warnings up was actually pretty darn smart! I'm not driving anywhere tonight or tomorrow morning, so I'm okay with this. The air is excessively moist though, feeling quite clammy and sticky, even indoors. I am the queen of strategically placed fans, in the hopes of bringing in the cool night air and cooling my apartment down as efficiently as humanly possible. Tonight, however, as I took the fan out of my bedroom window to close the blind, I noticed drops of water across the screen behind the fan. It hadn't been raining, so I though it odd. I walked out to my kitchen and noticed the same strange occurrence there. On the screen behind the window fan were little droplets of water, and only on that part of the screen. I turned the fan to exhaust and it promptly dried away most of the little drops. I had to try one last time. Within minutes of turning the fan to intake, water droplets had begun to reform! My theory is that the moisture of the outside air is condensing on the fan as the air is pulled through. If anyone knows of a more scientific theory about my pet water droplets, feel free to add to my limited, 3:30 in the morning brain!

I'm off to sleep now, hope I don't drown in this gosh-darn humidity!

A

today . . .

Today I struggled through 7.5 hours of literacy training with people I don't know yet, for a project I'm just joining in on, for kids that I haven't met yet. The woman presenting had an 80's style hairdo (bangs curled up and back, with some height, but mostly just feathered?) and a strangely hypnotic quality to her voice. In her defense, I've heard that she is wonderful and really, really knowledgeable in the area of reading, and one's fashion sense does not dictate the quality of instruction. An interesting combo, nonetheless! I'm glad I've outgrown my own 80's do!

I am an elementary school teacher. Should this result in my wearing of cartoon characters on my bosom or stomach, or any part of my body for that matter, please beat me up side the head. Please. Remind me that as a grown woman, there really is no excuse. This will be a major challenge(teaching them, not the cartoon thing!).

First day.

My first day was spent getting to know 2 of the teachers that I will be working with, filling out paper work, and carrying massive files to my room, then to my car so that I can be reading them at home! I have about 15 kids to get to know really well before I meet them! A long inservice Tuesday that probably won't mean anything to me until I've been there a couple of years. What do you do. I hope I can LOOK interested . . . .

Today was laundry, and working on some projects, tomorrow more projects. Rainy days are great for days like that! I love a rainy night, it's such a beautiful sight!

I must get ready for bed, I'm hoping to actually get up and get some stuff done tomorrow!

Hope things are well for all of you!
A

I start . . .

I start my new job tomorrow. We're getting together as a department at 8:00AM. Yep, AM. Back to school always kicks my butt hard. I'm a night owl by nature and it always just seems to happen that I find myself not going to bed until 3:00AM when I'm on vacation. This will be the first challenge, going to bed at a semi-reasonable time of night. I must start tonight, as I have to leave home by 6:45AM. I will be doing a lot of driving this year. Yikes. I bought an FM transmitter on Ebay so that I can listen to CDs or mp3s along the way. I am fortunate to be able to download bible teaching by oodles of teachers from church for free. I will hopefully be able to increase that part of my knowledge, as well as my school knowledge this year!

I had to find my social security card tonight, and my teaching license. I'm curious, taking a little poll I guess. Do you have a specific location for your important documents? Could you walk right directly into your house and pick up your passport and social security card, in case you needed to flee the country immediately for some reason? (If you have any stored at a bank, HA! I can leave the country faster and won't have to wait until business hours! I realize that I am a disorganized, cluttered kind of person and am striving to join the "grown up" world and organize and declutter. I was just wondering if I'm the only one? (Lizard Princess- I know where you stand! No smart alec remarks, mmkay?)

I must go to bed, 5:45 will come especially early on the first morning!

A