Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year, New Look

I really thought changing the design of my blog would take 30 minutes.  HA! 
But it's done and I'm happy with it.  Fresh, new, up to date. 

Hmmm.....Kind of my mindset for my life right now:

FRESH.....Cleaning out the cobwebs of negative thoughts.

NEW........Ushering new thoughts of how Jesus sees me.  Loved, worth dying for, precious.

UP TO DATE......Bringing my body, clothes, hair up to date.  Just because I'm 42 doesn't mean I have to stop caring how I look. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Oh, The Things I Find

Today is the day I go through receipts, bills, and pay stubs to figure out where we are after the holiday craziness.  I know, Dave Ramsey would have a complete mental breakdown if he knew how we handle our household finances.  We are good stewards of God's money.  We just have our own way of stewarding.  Really.

So I open my top desk drawer.  (The one containing said receipts and bills.)  It was bursting forth with folded summaries of exchanged money.  So, I removed those and then noticed that this drawer had also somehow become the catch-all for things that didn't exactly have a designated resting place. 

I noticed that I kept repeating the same words as I pulled items one by one out of the bowels of the drawer:
"There's that....."
"That's where I put the...."
"I've been looking for this...."

And among the hidden treasures were:
-A checkbook to an account that has been closed for six months
-A crumpled piece of paper containing user names and passwords (I have since changed them all because I couldn't remember them)
-A sheet of two cent stamps sent to us by our realtor in 2006 after the postage stamp price increased and before the "Forever" stamp was invented.
-A piece of paper containing a user name and password Troy told me not to lose.  For the record, it's not lost-----anymore.

So now every one of these long forgotten items is on my desk.  (I'm reaching over them to type this post.)  Where shall they go?  Probably back in the drawer.  But at least now, I can look at this post and remember what's in there.  Kind of like a map.  See?  It's all good.....and apparently it's all in my top desk drawer.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Dinner Parties

Dinner party--just what the name implies:  a party involving a dinner.  I LOVE dinner parties.  I think it's because when I was young I thought dinner parties sounded so sophisticated.  It's also because a dinner party doesn't foster unrealistic expectations, such as:  Will I find someone to talk to?  Can I eat while standing, while balancing a glass of wine?  Will I be interesting or sit by myself in the corner?At a dinner party, the guest list is usually small, your seat is designated and you usually have someone to talk to. 

Troy and I hosted a dinner party tonight and invited three couples (one couple couldn't attend due to travel plans).  We had a wonderful time.  The conversation was delightful.  In fact, the conversation didn't lag once during the 4 hours we all sat around the dining room table.  We conversed about a wide variety of subjects ranging from the television show "Big Brother" to the faithfulness of Corrie Ten Boom.  From Alcoholics Anonymous to zippered sweaters.  The guests started making plans to leave at about 9:15 pm and we continued to visit until 10:30 pm.  LOVE!

Thanks Judy, Bill, Doug, and Willo for a wonderful evening.


Saturday, December 10, 2011

It's Baaaaack

I thought I may have dodged it this season. Thought maybe all the snow we had been getting lately had helped to push it away. But, it's here.

The little black cloud has found its way to my personal space and has taken up residence. I felt it coming yesterday, but I took away some of it's power when I helped out a couple of friends. Doing for others always shrinks the darkness, never quite taking it away, but definitely making it a little less ominous.

In fact, this morning, I was doing great. I thought those little acts of kindness had disintegrated the cloud. I was happily wrapping and packing Christmas presents. I was determined to get them on their way today. After two trips to three different stores to finish up little things, my mood was still good. Tired, but good.

Then it hit me, blind sided me, actually. I was almost finished packing and decided to make sure that the newly opened Postnet down the street closed at 4:00 pm. If so, I still had an hour and a half to finish up. Well, my friends, Postnet closes at 2:00pm on Saturday. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! It was like one of those movie scenes where the character faces such a startling disappointment that they fall to their knees with their head thrown back screaming and the camera does a swift "back away" so that the last shot is a UFO picking up the sound of the distressed character screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Too much detail? Welcome to my mind.

Anyway, it was a free fall, down hill drop in disposition the rest of the day. I finally finished the gifts at about 3:00 pm, drove into town, paid an arm and a leg at the UPS Store to ship my day's work. And I still needed to come home to a filthy kitchen, four loads of laundry, and unmade dinner. That's enough to make a girl need two pair of big girl panties.

So, here I am....With the seasonal black cloud that sneaks up on me every fall and doesn't quite leave until March or April. Some days are better than others.  I'm usually able to "fake" my sunny demeanor during this time of year, but if you notice I'm not my usual smiley self, feel free to shake your fist at the little black cloud directly above my head.  Maybe you can scare it away.