It's been a while since I blogged - lately I have felt married to my computer and desk at work so haven't wanted to go online when I get home and haven't - but thought I'd get caught up tonight.
Butler seems to be doing pretty good with his Speedo - with a large female sanitary napkin for extra absorbency. That was fun to buy a box of those. Over the weekend I bought another male wrap so I wouldn't have to wash his "one-and-only" each night, I do it every other night :)
During church Sunday we had baby/child dedication and it was cute. There were six-seven dedications and Pastor Daggs did them in mass. Baby dedication was always fun when I was growing up because it never failed. No matter how fussy the baby might have been before Dad held him/her for the prayer, whenever Dad held the baby he/she always settled down. It was amazing. Dad evidently had the magic touch.
I was also asked if I'd like to help with one of our children's groups two Sundays out of the month - three times a year. All our children's ministries fall under the title H20 - remember I attend Living Waters Fellowship - get it? The youngest kids that are right out of the nursery are Puddles, then we have Waves, then Dive! I'll be doing crafts with the Puddles group - which should be fun. Currently we have 30 Puddles on any given Sunday.
I think I blogged how we needed $20,000 to do Phase 1 of the remodeling of the Blue Building - which we know call The Well - again Living Waters........ We had around $8,000ish when this was mentioned to the church body a couple of weeks ago. Our finance guy called Pastor Daggs last week and asked Pastor Daggs if he remembered the $10,000 CD they had put aside when the church was formed to be used for the purchase of a building or remodeling. Nope. The CD came due last week and the Deacons voted 100% to move the money to the building/Well fund so we have our $20,000 to start remodeling!
Now for Butlergate. I found out last night when I let Butler out for the last time that Butler clawed the wooden door jam of the kitchen door going to the basement - wonderful. I was not happy, but I couldn't get really mad at Butler because I know he's lonely and bored without Milly (and it's been a month today that I put Milly down). I realized I needed a baby gate to block Butler from the kitchen but I wouldn't be able to buy one until today after work so I had to come up with something for today. Then I realized Butler's food and water bowl would be blocked from him - so those had to go in the living room today. He was able to move the "gate" today but it doesn't look like he clawed the door jam at least.....he tore down the curtains that I have in front of the doors to the Solarium in the living room. Again, not happy but the curtains weren't ripped so I hung them back up.
Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Naked Dog and More
I don't know about you but if work is going to go to you know where in a hand basket - doesn't it always happen right at quitting time on a Friday? It happened last Friday to me about 20 minutes before I was going to leave for a three-day weekend no less.
So when I got home my brain was frazzled and I realized something didn't look right when Butler walked past me to go outside to do his duty - then it hit me - he was NAKED. No Speedo. G-r-e-a-t. So with trepidation I walked into the kitchen to see what surprise I might find on the floor and started my search for the missing Speedo. No surprise on the floor anywhere - yippee! No Speedo anywhere - I'm thinking "where in the world did Butler hide his Speedo?" I gave up and wanted to feed Butler so opened the cupboard where the dog food is kept, looked to the left on the shelf where the dog food is and what do I behold - but Butler's Speedo. It was then I remembered I had given him Speedo-free Friday. Wow.
Saturday was normal errand day and then off to a movie with my friend, Alice. We saw the newest "Folker" movie which was as funny as the prior two.
Sunday I got up in a funky mood and was not motivated to go to church - which is not something I've experienced since starting to attend LWF. I don't have these days very often any more which I'm thankful but I was really missing Mike and felt very lonely. I know I'm not alone but sometimes it really feels that way when you are the only human in the house :)
Today was a holiday for us and it rained - which is really weird in January. But it helped to beat away some of the snow. Evidently it's suppose to freeze tonight (go figure) and then turn colder and colder this week with more snow (hopefully only flurries). Maybe I need to set my alarm a little earlier tomorrow for the drive in to work.
Two fun things today were having lunch with my friend, Jeana, hearing about her vacation to Disneyworld and the latest at a place I used to work. And then I stopped at Papa Murphy's for cheese bread pizza for our supper tonight and did Butler and I enjoy it :)
So when I got home my brain was frazzled and I realized something didn't look right when Butler walked past me to go outside to do his duty - then it hit me - he was NAKED. No Speedo. G-r-e-a-t. So with trepidation I walked into the kitchen to see what surprise I might find on the floor and started my search for the missing Speedo. No surprise on the floor anywhere - yippee! No Speedo anywhere - I'm thinking "where in the world did Butler hide his Speedo?" I gave up and wanted to feed Butler so opened the cupboard where the dog food is kept, looked to the left on the shelf where the dog food is and what do I behold - but Butler's Speedo. It was then I remembered I had given him Speedo-free Friday. Wow.
Saturday was normal errand day and then off to a movie with my friend, Alice. We saw the newest "Folker" movie which was as funny as the prior two.
Sunday I got up in a funky mood and was not motivated to go to church - which is not something I've experienced since starting to attend LWF. I don't have these days very often any more which I'm thankful but I was really missing Mike and felt very lonely. I know I'm not alone but sometimes it really feels that way when you are the only human in the house :)
Today was a holiday for us and it rained - which is really weird in January. But it helped to beat away some of the snow. Evidently it's suppose to freeze tonight (go figure) and then turn colder and colder this week with more snow (hopefully only flurries). Maybe I need to set my alarm a little earlier tomorrow for the drive in to work.
Two fun things today were having lunch with my friend, Jeana, hearing about her vacation to Disneyworld and the latest at a place I used to work. And then I stopped at Papa Murphy's for cheese bread pizza for our supper tonight and did Butler and I enjoy it :)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Emotions
It's interesting how many emotions - and how vast the range - you can go through in one day and I've been through several today.
Utter amazement at some team members where what I want to do is bash their head into a wall to knock sense into them but I end up taking a break which means going to the restroom and multi-tasking. I shake my head to clear it and I'll let you figure out the other thing I do there :)
Dumbfoundedness (is that a word) sitting in a meeting with Ogi and listening to our manager and what all he expects us to get done in a day and wondering what clock he uses. Technically I get paid for 7.5 hours a day (lunch is unpaid and I'm supposed to get two 15 minute breaks - bahahahahahaha that that ever happens) and think I'm not wasting any time during the day and barely get done what I'm doing now........
Happiness to where I laughed so hard at something I thought I'd fall off my chair - and I have done that before at work - literally. We had a team member faint in the bathroom and we had to call an ambulance for her - that's not what made me laugh. Her manager was on the phone talking to the 911 operator and giving information for the medics and said, "she's a middle-aged female" to which the middle-aged female informed her manager she's only 36! I gave the manager a hard time about "labeling" females and he's like "I think of myself as middle aged (he's 30)" and I said "well what in the world do you think I am then, a senior citizen?" and laughed and laughed and laughed. I think I laughed more each time I told this story this afternoon.
Complete child-like joy on my way home after stopping in to see my doc to show her how my hand was healing, talk about a med I'm on and more. I came home the backway thinking maybe I'd see some deer and I saw at least 16 in a field. I had to pull over to watch them. As I was driving away I realized that I had that huge, open-mouth grin on my face again that makes my whole face smile when I see deer. And I'm grinning again while I write this.
Complete confusion when I get home to walking in the kitchen, see Butler with his Speedo still on (and it's wet) AND seeing pee on the floor. I'm to the point I don't question this any more - just reach for the paper towels, cleaner and a plastic bag to put the wet paper towels in........
Total devastation and tears because I just saw on Facebook that my cousin that is nine days younger than me lost her female dog today. I immediately texted her to find out what happened and started crying for her, for her husband and her two male dogs that are confused as to what happened to Sasha. My loss of Milly is still fresh for me and when I read her FB post I felt like I was punched in the gut. Jana and I laugh at how much our lives parallel each other's but for both of us to lose our "girls" within weeks of each other is almost spooky.
Utter amazement at some team members where what I want to do is bash their head into a wall to knock sense into them but I end up taking a break which means going to the restroom and multi-tasking. I shake my head to clear it and I'll let you figure out the other thing I do there :)
Dumbfoundedness (is that a word) sitting in a meeting with Ogi and listening to our manager and what all he expects us to get done in a day and wondering what clock he uses. Technically I get paid for 7.5 hours a day (lunch is unpaid and I'm supposed to get two 15 minute breaks - bahahahahahaha that that ever happens) and think I'm not wasting any time during the day and barely get done what I'm doing now........
Happiness to where I laughed so hard at something I thought I'd fall off my chair - and I have done that before at work - literally. We had a team member faint in the bathroom and we had to call an ambulance for her - that's not what made me laugh. Her manager was on the phone talking to the 911 operator and giving information for the medics and said, "she's a middle-aged female" to which the middle-aged female informed her manager she's only 36! I gave the manager a hard time about "labeling" females and he's like "I think of myself as middle aged (he's 30)" and I said "well what in the world do you think I am then, a senior citizen?" and laughed and laughed and laughed. I think I laughed more each time I told this story this afternoon.
Complete child-like joy on my way home after stopping in to see my doc to show her how my hand was healing, talk about a med I'm on and more. I came home the backway thinking maybe I'd see some deer and I saw at least 16 in a field. I had to pull over to watch them. As I was driving away I realized that I had that huge, open-mouth grin on my face again that makes my whole face smile when I see deer. And I'm grinning again while I write this.
Complete confusion when I get home to walking in the kitchen, see Butler with his Speedo still on (and it's wet) AND seeing pee on the floor. I'm to the point I don't question this any more - just reach for the paper towels, cleaner and a plastic bag to put the wet paper towels in........
Total devastation and tears because I just saw on Facebook that my cousin that is nine days younger than me lost her female dog today. I immediately texted her to find out what happened and started crying for her, for her husband and her two male dogs that are confused as to what happened to Sasha. My loss of Milly is still fresh for me and when I read her FB post I felt like I was punched in the gut. Jana and I laugh at how much our lives parallel each other's but for both of us to lose our "girls" within weeks of each other is almost spooky.
Jana's "kids" left to right: Olav, Sasha, Nicholi (sp) playing in snow - which doesn't happen often where they live. Right now I'm thinking Lucy (our German shepherd mix before the greys), Milly and Sasha are all three at the Rainbow Bridge playing together.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Snow Round 2
Got up ten minutes early this morning in case the roads were a little bad on the drive in to work. Right before heading out the door I thought I better turn the tv on "just in case" Wells Fargo had closed - bahahahaha. Actually I hadn't heard any traffic on 4th Street so that's what prompted me to turn the tv on and the first thing I heard was, "Des Moines schools have not cancelled" so off to work I go.
The drive in wasn't that bad but it's amazing how close some people will drive next to each other when they can't see any lane markers. Seriously - would you drive this close to my car normally - why do you think it's ok to drive this close to me when we have bad road conditions? Anyway.......
Forgot to mention how the new, revolving door where we have to scan our work badges tried to eat my bag last night leaving work. I scanned my badge while the door was still moving and wasn't sure if I should jump in to the section that was in front of me or wait for the section of the revolving door that was coming up. I jumped for the section that was in front of me and I made it - my bag I carry each day that's on my right shoulder didn't. Normally what happens and should have happened is the door will stop and reverse to spit whomever is "stuck" in the door back to the side they started from. Not last night - no siree. That new door was bound and determined it was going to send me on through and kept trying to mash my bag - I was very glad it was my bag and not a body part. The guy that would have gotten into the door in the section behind me was trying to pry the door back open toward him enough that I could finish pulling my bag into the section I was in. Finally we got that accomplished. Then I was ready for the door to go backwards so my balance was shifted that way but the door started to push me forward and on out to "freedom" as I call it each night. I mentioned that to Keith today, our guard at the front desk, and he agreed that should not have happened, laughed along with me about it happening, but was glad it was a bag and not a body part too. He said he'd check it out later - I told him he could borrow my bag to reinact it if he wanted to.
I rescheduled my grief counselor appointment for today after work until next week. I haven't seen Dianne since 12/14 so I really hated putting my appointment off another week but I didn't want to leave her building in Johnston at 5:30 p.m., fight traffic to get home, deal with Butler and then go outside to blow the snow for at least an hour and get inside maybe 7:00 p.m. at the earliest to nuke some dinner and crash.
I think I figured out some more tricks on how to blow the snow without making some extra work for me but there are still spots in the driveway that I had to deal with after using the snow blower. And then there are my front steps. The last two times I've shoveled them first and tried to not blow them shut but end up getting some snow on them again to shovel. Tonight I blew the driveway first - didn't care if the snow ended up on the steps and then dealt with the steps. Not too bad logic until I got to the three steps from the lawn to the driveway. The snow on the steps above and lawn-level I could have gravity help me toss the snow over the side to land on the lawn or push the snow on the landing on the lawn to the edge of the landing. Anything lower than the lawn I have to lift up and toss back up to lawn level. That got a little old but I got it done.
Now........hopefully the wind won't blow as much as they say it's going to tonight to blow some of that snow back into my driveway....................
The drive in wasn't that bad but it's amazing how close some people will drive next to each other when they can't see any lane markers. Seriously - would you drive this close to my car normally - why do you think it's ok to drive this close to me when we have bad road conditions? Anyway.......
Forgot to mention how the new, revolving door where we have to scan our work badges tried to eat my bag last night leaving work. I scanned my badge while the door was still moving and wasn't sure if I should jump in to the section that was in front of me or wait for the section of the revolving door that was coming up. I jumped for the section that was in front of me and I made it - my bag I carry each day that's on my right shoulder didn't. Normally what happens and should have happened is the door will stop and reverse to spit whomever is "stuck" in the door back to the side they started from. Not last night - no siree. That new door was bound and determined it was going to send me on through and kept trying to mash my bag - I was very glad it was my bag and not a body part. The guy that would have gotten into the door in the section behind me was trying to pry the door back open toward him enough that I could finish pulling my bag into the section I was in. Finally we got that accomplished. Then I was ready for the door to go backwards so my balance was shifted that way but the door started to push me forward and on out to "freedom" as I call it each night. I mentioned that to Keith today, our guard at the front desk, and he agreed that should not have happened, laughed along with me about it happening, but was glad it was a bag and not a body part too. He said he'd check it out later - I told him he could borrow my bag to reinact it if he wanted to.
I rescheduled my grief counselor appointment for today after work until next week. I haven't seen Dianne since 12/14 so I really hated putting my appointment off another week but I didn't want to leave her building in Johnston at 5:30 p.m., fight traffic to get home, deal with Butler and then go outside to blow the snow for at least an hour and get inside maybe 7:00 p.m. at the earliest to nuke some dinner and crash.
I think I figured out some more tricks on how to blow the snow without making some extra work for me but there are still spots in the driveway that I had to deal with after using the snow blower. And then there are my front steps. The last two times I've shoveled them first and tried to not blow them shut but end up getting some snow on them again to shovel. Tonight I blew the driveway first - didn't care if the snow ended up on the steps and then dealt with the steps. Not too bad logic until I got to the three steps from the lawn to the driveway. The snow on the steps above and lawn-level I could have gravity help me toss the snow over the side to land on the lawn or push the snow on the landing on the lawn to the edge of the landing. Anything lower than the lawn I have to lift up and toss back up to lawn level. That got a little old but I got it done.
Now........hopefully the wind won't blow as much as they say it's going to tonight to blow some of that snow back into my driveway....................
Monday, January 10, 2011
Snow - Is A Four Letter Word - Just Sayin'
I set my alarm a little earlier than normal this morning to see how much snow we got during the night to see if I needed to get around earlier for my drive to work. I looked out the window and nothing at all - so back to bed for a bit which was perfectly fine by me.
By the time I got up, ready for work and let Butler out the last time - there was some ground cover and the roads were a little slick. Before I left I knew that I would need to put Butler's Speedo on because I wasn't sure how long it might take me to get home from work if we got a lot of snow and I didn't want Butler doing his thing on the living room floor.
I got to work without too much problem - that's one nice thing about my day starting at 7:00 a.m. (I basically get to work between 6:40-6:50) - there's not much traffic to contend with. But I was in a little bit of a funky mood momentarily because this was the first real snow we'd had this winter that Mike wasn't here for me to call his pager and put in our code so he'd know I made it to work ok. It didn't matter if Mike was working his regular schedule - and I'd leave the house before he would - or if he was in a plow truck for the City and would already be gone when I left for work. No matter what - when I made it to work I was to call his pager and input a code we agreed on so he knew I made it ok and he wouldn't worry about me. It was weird not having someone waiting for me to send them a code that I was ok. While I don't question why Mike isn't here any longer, there are times like today that I don't like being single though.
We got a chuckle this morning finding out our co-workers from Ft. Mill, SC didn't have to work today because of the four inches of snow they got. I asked what the equivalent of four inches for them was to us to close our offices and snotily (sp?) said four feet? :) Sorry Neva. It is amazing at how quickly they will either close in SC or have late starts - but then I do realize they don't have the equipment or supplies to deal with snow or ice either - but still...................
Of course then we had co-workers starting to wonder about tomorrow and will we be closed - ya right. First off don't worry about tomorrow until tomorrow morning - deal with getting your work done today and getting home tonight. I got home without any problems and it may have taken me an extra five minutes.
Got home and did the normal run with Butler to try to rip off his Speedo as he's trying to do his thing outside - realize the Speedo is wet and toss it in the washer. About 20 minutes later I was just about ready to change into my coveralls, boots, etc., to head outside to deal with the snow when Butler and I were in the basement and what does he do - but pee the length of the basement and downstairs hallway!!!!! Did I mention it was about 20 minutes after I'd let him out after I got home - and regardless his Speedo was wet. Momma McFall was NOT happy with him and I let him know it. I yelled at him to get back down there and proceeded to put the wet paper towels that I was wiping up his pee in his face and telling him to not pee in the basement. It's a good thing I had to go outside to deal with the snow.
I did so/so with the snow blower but wouldn't you know it the wind was just right that sometimes it would blow the snow back on me. And I did end up shoveling some after I'd blown the snow. I might have to ask one of the Public Works guys or Duane to stop by and give me pointers on how they would blow snow (angle the spout thing). I'm making double work for myself in some spots. But on a good note - the snow fairy had already blown my sidewalk and entry to the driveway - along with the two sidewalks to the north and the two sidewalks to the south of me like the last snow. I definitely need to know who is doing this awesome deed to thank them.
No Whiz Kid tonight due to the weather so once I was done dealing with the snow I came in, nuked some dinner, popped some Advil and have sat on my behind. I'll pop some more Advil before going to sleep.
By the time I got up, ready for work and let Butler out the last time - there was some ground cover and the roads were a little slick. Before I left I knew that I would need to put Butler's Speedo on because I wasn't sure how long it might take me to get home from work if we got a lot of snow and I didn't want Butler doing his thing on the living room floor.
I got to work without too much problem - that's one nice thing about my day starting at 7:00 a.m. (I basically get to work between 6:40-6:50) - there's not much traffic to contend with. But I was in a little bit of a funky mood momentarily because this was the first real snow we'd had this winter that Mike wasn't here for me to call his pager and put in our code so he'd know I made it to work ok. It didn't matter if Mike was working his regular schedule - and I'd leave the house before he would - or if he was in a plow truck for the City and would already be gone when I left for work. No matter what - when I made it to work I was to call his pager and input a code we agreed on so he knew I made it ok and he wouldn't worry about me. It was weird not having someone waiting for me to send them a code that I was ok. While I don't question why Mike isn't here any longer, there are times like today that I don't like being single though.
We got a chuckle this morning finding out our co-workers from Ft. Mill, SC didn't have to work today because of the four inches of snow they got. I asked what the equivalent of four inches for them was to us to close our offices and snotily (sp?) said four feet? :) Sorry Neva. It is amazing at how quickly they will either close in SC or have late starts - but then I do realize they don't have the equipment or supplies to deal with snow or ice either - but still...................
Of course then we had co-workers starting to wonder about tomorrow and will we be closed - ya right. First off don't worry about tomorrow until tomorrow morning - deal with getting your work done today and getting home tonight. I got home without any problems and it may have taken me an extra five minutes.
Got home and did the normal run with Butler to try to rip off his Speedo as he's trying to do his thing outside - realize the Speedo is wet and toss it in the washer. About 20 minutes later I was just about ready to change into my coveralls, boots, etc., to head outside to deal with the snow when Butler and I were in the basement and what does he do - but pee the length of the basement and downstairs hallway!!!!! Did I mention it was about 20 minutes after I'd let him out after I got home - and regardless his Speedo was wet. Momma McFall was NOT happy with him and I let him know it. I yelled at him to get back down there and proceeded to put the wet paper towels that I was wiping up his pee in his face and telling him to not pee in the basement. It's a good thing I had to go outside to deal with the snow.
I did so/so with the snow blower but wouldn't you know it the wind was just right that sometimes it would blow the snow back on me. And I did end up shoveling some after I'd blown the snow. I might have to ask one of the Public Works guys or Duane to stop by and give me pointers on how they would blow snow (angle the spout thing). I'm making double work for myself in some spots. But on a good note - the snow fairy had already blown my sidewalk and entry to the driveway - along with the two sidewalks to the north and the two sidewalks to the south of me like the last snow. I definitely need to know who is doing this awesome deed to thank them.
No Whiz Kid tonight due to the weather so once I was done dealing with the snow I came in, nuked some dinner, popped some Advil and have sat on my behind. I'll pop some more Advil before going to sleep.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Weekend ~ The Blue Building ~ The Weather Forecast
Got up Saturday and my back was feeling a little better from the night before when I shoveled snow. I got my grocery list ready and then headed to IHOP to meet with my best friend since 7th grade, Lori, for brunch and to exchange Christmas gifts. Last year we exchanged gifts in.....June I think it was. We had a fun time catching up.
Then I was off to the Blue Building to help clean it. We/the church purchased this building debt free and will not start any remodeling of the inside until money has been raised - we will not go into debt. The building is a story and a half with the goal of the church offices being upstairs and the outreach ministry and meeting area for our larger groups being on the main floor. The upstairs had been rented out as a one bedroom apartment so it's in pretty good shape but to get to the apartment you need to climb the stairs that are on the outside of the building - brrrr. One thing in the remodeling plan is to build stairs inside the building to access the second floor.
Today in our membership meeting after church we had an update that we have raised a little over $6,000 toward the remodeling fund and had $3,000 left over from the main push to raise funds to purchase the building so we have approximately $9,000. But running the numbers to do Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the remodeling will take approximately $20,000 so we are about $11,000 short. We are praying how God will lead us to raise the additional funds so we can get this building remodeled and start being a blessing to that community asap.
I had planned to spend some of this afternoon cleaning and organizing the office/craft room (Andy's old bedroom). It's so easy to just toss things on a table and think, "I'll put it away later" but putting away later never comes and the pile on the table gets bigger and higher..... But after I got home from the membership meeting and ate lunch I thought I'd read for a while and of course fell asleep.
The weather forecast starting sometime tonight until Tuesday morning doesn't sound too good - we could get up to 10 inches of snow. I'm hoping the weather folks are wrong but then again we haven't gotten much snow this winter so it's about time we got hit. One thing I wanted to do was look for my jumpsuit coveralls and my old, blicky coat I used to wear when I shoveled snow - this coat was long enough to cover my behind. I really didn't want to wear my jeans coat or my good wool coat out working with the snow and my other coats are jackets that stop at waist level - so my behind has gotten a little chilly this winter out dealing with the snow.
I told myself the last time I looked for these things I just zoomed through the house with no plan - meaning I didn't take a moment to pray about this. Tonight I took a moment to pray and ask God to help me find these items that I really need to deal with the snow and said in my prayer that nothing is too small for God. So up I got to search and within a minute I'd found my coat. I'd actually looked right at it the first time I searched a few weeks ago but didn't "see" it. Then I was off to find my coveralls. I was almost done looking for them without having found them when I was in Casey/Lucy/Butler's old room looking at the shelves Mike had built and saw a garbage bag and something said look in it and there were my coveralls!!!!! The next hurdle was - could I still get them on and yep - I could still get them on. So.....while I may not be thrilled to deal with snow after a long day at work - I have a good snow blower and now I have my coveralls and a long coat to wear so I'm good to go.
Then I was off to the Blue Building to help clean it. We/the church purchased this building debt free and will not start any remodeling of the inside until money has been raised - we will not go into debt. The building is a story and a half with the goal of the church offices being upstairs and the outreach ministry and meeting area for our larger groups being on the main floor. The upstairs had been rented out as a one bedroom apartment so it's in pretty good shape but to get to the apartment you need to climb the stairs that are on the outside of the building - brrrr. One thing in the remodeling plan is to build stairs inside the building to access the second floor.
Today in our membership meeting after church we had an update that we have raised a little over $6,000 toward the remodeling fund and had $3,000 left over from the main push to raise funds to purchase the building so we have approximately $9,000. But running the numbers to do Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the remodeling will take approximately $20,000 so we are about $11,000 short. We are praying how God will lead us to raise the additional funds so we can get this building remodeled and start being a blessing to that community asap.
I had planned to spend some of this afternoon cleaning and organizing the office/craft room (Andy's old bedroom). It's so easy to just toss things on a table and think, "I'll put it away later" but putting away later never comes and the pile on the table gets bigger and higher..... But after I got home from the membership meeting and ate lunch I thought I'd read for a while and of course fell asleep.
The weather forecast starting sometime tonight until Tuesday morning doesn't sound too good - we could get up to 10 inches of snow. I'm hoping the weather folks are wrong but then again we haven't gotten much snow this winter so it's about time we got hit. One thing I wanted to do was look for my jumpsuit coveralls and my old, blicky coat I used to wear when I shoveled snow - this coat was long enough to cover my behind. I really didn't want to wear my jeans coat or my good wool coat out working with the snow and my other coats are jackets that stop at waist level - so my behind has gotten a little chilly this winter out dealing with the snow.
I told myself the last time I looked for these things I just zoomed through the house with no plan - meaning I didn't take a moment to pray about this. Tonight I took a moment to pray and ask God to help me find these items that I really need to deal with the snow and said in my prayer that nothing is too small for God. So up I got to search and within a minute I'd found my coat. I'd actually looked right at it the first time I searched a few weeks ago but didn't "see" it. Then I was off to find my coveralls. I was almost done looking for them without having found them when I was in Casey/Lucy/Butler's old room looking at the shelves Mike had built and saw a garbage bag and something said look in it and there were my coveralls!!!!! The next hurdle was - could I still get them on and yep - I could still get them on. So.....while I may not be thrilled to deal with snow after a long day at work - I have a good snow blower and now I have my coveralls and a long coat to wear so I'm good to go.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Stuff
I forgot to mention last night what I saw on my way home from WalMart after work. Remember I said I had asked God for a specific sign to let me know Mike was ok and we'll see if I get it or not? I'm not going to share what the exact sign is I asked for until I've gotten it - but I saw something that is along the lines of "my sign" last night.
I had stopped by the WDM library to drop off a book after WalMart and then took what I call the back way home which has me take Fuller Road (close to WDM Public Works) and there is a spot by the turn for Public Works where you can see deer at certain times of the year. Well up ahead of me I saw several deer lippity lopping across the street from one field to another and I counted 7 deer and thought that was really neat. I looked down in the ravine to my right and there were three more deer right by the road that crossed the road right after I passed, so I saw a little herd of ten deer last night. I got a huge smile on my face for the rest of the drive home - and got another smile on my face blogging about it.
This morning I had decided to let Butler go Speedo-free today and when I saw he did his business the last time I let him out before I headed for work I felt pretty comfortable with my decision. I got home and there was some pee by the couch (on the new rug I bought last night at WalMart which is another issue) but I cleaned that up right away.
We got some snow today so after cleaning up Butler's mess I told him I had to go back outside to deal with the driveway, sidewalk and steps. It wasn't enough to get the snow blower out so I shoveled - basically pushed the shovel along until I hit a crack that stopped the shovel from moving forward. Then I'd pick up the shovelful of snow and toss it to the side. It took a little while and the wind was really bitter cold. I might have over done it just a little because I feel something in my back. When I got inside I took four Advil to get them on board and it's about time for me to take some more.
Besides buying the rug to go by the couch last night - I bought a box of sugar cookies and a box of chocolate chip cookies at WalMart for $2.00 each. The box of sugar cookies was my supper - which I split with Butler - and I washed them down with a Coca Cola. Man.....were they good. So.....at midnight when I realized I wasn't really falling asleep it hit me - the caffeine in the coke was keeping me awake...wonderful. Then this morning I also realized....sugar cookies.....sugar.....I'm sure that didn't help any either. At least today was Friday and no matter what, you can always survive a Friday at work.
I had stopped by the WDM library to drop off a book after WalMart and then took what I call the back way home which has me take Fuller Road (close to WDM Public Works) and there is a spot by the turn for Public Works where you can see deer at certain times of the year. Well up ahead of me I saw several deer lippity lopping across the street from one field to another and I counted 7 deer and thought that was really neat. I looked down in the ravine to my right and there were three more deer right by the road that crossed the road right after I passed, so I saw a little herd of ten deer last night. I got a huge smile on my face for the rest of the drive home - and got another smile on my face blogging about it.
This morning I had decided to let Butler go Speedo-free today and when I saw he did his business the last time I let him out before I headed for work I felt pretty comfortable with my decision. I got home and there was some pee by the couch (on the new rug I bought last night at WalMart which is another issue) but I cleaned that up right away.
We got some snow today so after cleaning up Butler's mess I told him I had to go back outside to deal with the driveway, sidewalk and steps. It wasn't enough to get the snow blower out so I shoveled - basically pushed the shovel along until I hit a crack that stopped the shovel from moving forward. Then I'd pick up the shovelful of snow and toss it to the side. It took a little while and the wind was really bitter cold. I might have over done it just a little because I feel something in my back. When I got inside I took four Advil to get them on board and it's about time for me to take some more.
Besides buying the rug to go by the couch last night - I bought a box of sugar cookies and a box of chocolate chip cookies at WalMart for $2.00 each. The box of sugar cookies was my supper - which I split with Butler - and I washed them down with a Coca Cola. Man.....were they good. So.....at midnight when I realized I wasn't really falling asleep it hit me - the caffeine in the coke was keeping me awake...wonderful. Then this morning I also realized....sugar cookies.....sugar.....I'm sure that didn't help any either. At least today was Friday and no matter what, you can always survive a Friday at work.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Year of......Me
I have a friend whose birthday is in October and instead of celebrating just her birthday - she celebrates the whole month and calls it Kelly-tober. Thinking along those lines I decided a couple of days ago that 2011 will be "The Year of Me" and I don't mean that in an egotistical way at all. Let's look at the facts, I'll be turning 50 in October (Lord willing as Pastor Daggs says) and that's really something. There are many people that their life was cut way too short that never got to see their 50th birthday. And since 2010 was not a "great" year for me, I'm going to enjoy every day of this year and not be shy is saying this year is "all about me". And all of my friends that are turning 50 too :)
Each day we wake up is a blessing. People used to ask Mike how he was feeling and he'd have one of two answers for them:
Butler and Speedo Day 2 was interesting and if you aren't on Facebook you don't know the latest. Came home, Speedo still on but blood all over the kitchen and living room floor. Some how he had caught a nail on one of his back paws on something and bled all over. It looked like a mini crime scene so instead of cleaning up pee, I got to clean up blood spatter (such a technical CSI term :) and once again my floors are clean and the Speedo got washed tonight.
I forgot to mention two things yesterday. Duane, a friend from the City of WDM that had helped check the snow blower out a month or so ago emailed me to see how things were going and if the snow blower was working ok. I thought that was very nice of him to do. He and Mike got along really well.
The other is that my manager has evidently decided that Ogi (my crib mate) and I need new names because he sent an email to the leadership group (the managers of our area plus Ogi and me) and Ogi has become Obi and I have become Rona instead of Roni. Obi....I mean Ogi and I meet with Zach on a daily basis to go over our inventory numbers so later the day Zach had sent that email I said something to Ogi and I go "right Obi?" and he replies, "right Rona." Zach got to chuckling and admitted he had no clue what happened for him to type our names wrong. And I guess one day he was referring to one of us in a conversation but morphed our two names together........
And how lazy can I get? I downloaded Pandora to my Droid phone and decided to listen to it tonight while blogging. My clock radio is less than an arm's length from me and I could turn it on - but no - it's so much easier to use my Droid......
Each day we wake up is a blessing. People used to ask Mike how he was feeling and he'd have one of two answers for them:
- I'm upright and taking nourishment ~ or
- I'm breathing and that's better than the alternative
- George Clooney
- Dennis Rodman - THE greatest defensive player to have played NBA basketball
- Dan Marino
- Steve Young
Butler and Speedo Day 2 was interesting and if you aren't on Facebook you don't know the latest. Came home, Speedo still on but blood all over the kitchen and living room floor. Some how he had caught a nail on one of his back paws on something and bled all over. It looked like a mini crime scene so instead of cleaning up pee, I got to clean up blood spatter (such a technical CSI term :) and once again my floors are clean and the Speedo got washed tonight.
I forgot to mention two things yesterday. Duane, a friend from the City of WDM that had helped check the snow blower out a month or so ago emailed me to see how things were going and if the snow blower was working ok. I thought that was very nice of him to do. He and Mike got along really well.
The other is that my manager has evidently decided that Ogi (my crib mate) and I need new names because he sent an email to the leadership group (the managers of our area plus Ogi and me) and Ogi has become Obi and I have become Rona instead of Roni. Obi....I mean Ogi and I meet with Zach on a daily basis to go over our inventory numbers so later the day Zach had sent that email I said something to Ogi and I go "right Obi?" and he replies, "right Rona." Zach got to chuckling and admitted he had no clue what happened for him to type our names wrong. And I guess one day he was referring to one of us in a conversation but morphed our two names together........
And how lazy can I get? I downloaded Pandora to my Droid phone and decided to listen to it tonight while blogging. My clock radio is less than an arm's length from me and I could turn it on - but no - it's so much easier to use my Droid......
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Butler's Speedo Day 1
People at work got a kick out of my photo of Butler and his male wrap that I had posted on Facebook. If they are not on FB I showed the photo to them from my phone. I wondered how it would go putting it on him this morning and no problem at all. I let him out the last time and then told him to "come" and he came and I put it around him making sure he was covered properly.
The other topic concerning Butler today was would he keep the wrap on all day or not? I wasn't even sure if he would, I just knew yesterday he didn't seem to mind wearing it for a couple of hours to get used to it. I know he doesn't mind when I put a t-shirt on him once-in-a-while but neither he or Milly liked bandanas - and they both looked so cute wearing them. But check out the photo below - Butler can be destructive if he wants to be.
As I was parking the car in my tuck-under garage and walking through the basement tonight it hit me - how do I take the wrap off Butler if he's actually peed in it? I'll need to take it off him outside. But what if he hasn't peed in it, but he'll have to go outside to pee, but I'll have to take the wrap off him so he can pee outside, but I don't want to take the wrap off him inside the house - remember what happens to little boys when you change their diapers if you don't cover them??? I didn't want that to happen in the house because that would have defeated the purpose of the wrap. So I'm thinking to myself that I'm going to have to go outside with him, trotting along next to him, to try to unhook the velcro closure to get the wrap off him so he can pee on the ground before peeing in the wrap. Then I just shook my head at that prospect and was glad it wasn't too cold out.
So I walk into the kitchen and there's Butler with his Speedo on and poop on the floor. I'm like "how in the world did you poop and still keep the wrap on?" That actually took me a while to realize well duh.....the wrap only covers one "outlet" - it's not like a diaper or underwear that would cover both "outlets" so of course he could poop and still have the wrap on. The good news - no pee on the floor!!!!!!!!!
Off we go to pee outside with me trotting beside Butler to try to get the wrap off before he hunkers down to pee and I was a little late on my part - hopefully I'll get quicker as time goes on. I don't know if Butler had utilized the wrap during the day or it was while we were outside after I got home - but it was wet and it immediately went into the washer.
Butler Speedo Day 2 tomorrow.....
The other topic concerning Butler today was would he keep the wrap on all day or not? I wasn't even sure if he would, I just knew yesterday he didn't seem to mind wearing it for a couple of hours to get used to it. I know he doesn't mind when I put a t-shirt on him once-in-a-while but neither he or Milly liked bandanas - and they both looked so cute wearing them. But check out the photo below - Butler can be destructive if he wants to be.
As I was parking the car in my tuck-under garage and walking through the basement tonight it hit me - how do I take the wrap off Butler if he's actually peed in it? I'll need to take it off him outside. But what if he hasn't peed in it, but he'll have to go outside to pee, but I'll have to take the wrap off him so he can pee outside, but I don't want to take the wrap off him inside the house - remember what happens to little boys when you change their diapers if you don't cover them??? I didn't want that to happen in the house because that would have defeated the purpose of the wrap. So I'm thinking to myself that I'm going to have to go outside with him, trotting along next to him, to try to unhook the velcro closure to get the wrap off him so he can pee on the ground before peeing in the wrap. Then I just shook my head at that prospect and was glad it wasn't too cold out.
So I walk into the kitchen and there's Butler with his Speedo on and poop on the floor. I'm like "how in the world did you poop and still keep the wrap on?" That actually took me a while to realize well duh.....the wrap only covers one "outlet" - it's not like a diaper or underwear that would cover both "outlets" so of course he could poop and still have the wrap on. The good news - no pee on the floor!!!!!!!!!
Off we go to pee outside with me trotting beside Butler to try to get the wrap off before he hunkers down to pee and I was a little late on my part - hopefully I'll get quicker as time goes on. I don't know if Butler had utilized the wrap during the day or it was while we were outside after I got home - but it was wet and it immediately went into the washer.
Butler Speedo Day 2 tomorrow.....
Many, many, many years ago Andy had a couch he wanted to get rid of, so we thought we'd put it in the room in the basement where we kept Lucy (the dog before the greys) and we kept Butler so Butler would have something to lay on while he was in "his" room. This took him about four hours to do.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Battle of Wills: Butler vs Me
While being somewhat slow to get going this morning on my day off, I did have a game plan for today. I needed to pop in the bank to do something really quick - which was right next to PetCo. I got to thinking, "I know they have doggie diapers" and I wanted to check them out at PetCo. I was down to either a washable dog diaper or a washable dog wrap thing - they both looked like underpants for dogs to me. I asked someone that worked at PetCo which would be best and because of the body shape of greyhounds she recommended the wrap thing over the diaper.
Next stop SAM's Club to buy paper towels in bulk. I had run out of paper towels and had to use napkins last night to wipe up Butler's "accident" so I decided that I'd see what kind of bargain I could get at SAM's. I almost bought 4,000 C-fold towels (like go in restroom dispensers) instead of the 12 pack of super, duper paper towels but went with the paper towels since they are on a roll and I can tear the paper towels to the length I want if it needs to be larger than a C-fold hand towel. Normally when I go to SAM's it's a quick in and out for dog food so I thought I'd browse a bit. I got to the bakery area and found the special "mix and match boxes of cookies for $5.00". Chocolate chip, M&M or sugar cookies....mmmmmmmm. I almost weakened and then told myself, "get thee behind me Satan" and walked away from the cookie aisle.
The "keep the snakes out of the back porch strip" had come off the back door a couple of days ago so I thought I'd see if True Value had some door strip I could put on the door - yep. Then off to Casey's to see if they had potato bites that would be my lunch while I sat in the car to get it washed. No potato bites - bummer. But I was a smart shopper getting 3 Snickers for $2.00.....maybe I should have gotten those cookies at SAM's.......
After getting the car washed I got home and showed Butler his new.......Speedo is what I called it. He didn't seem to be buying that and just looked at me. I put it on him - I won't even go into what the instructions said about making sure a male dog was covered properly - and let him wear it for a couple of hours to get used to it. I got my Christmas card list organized from this year - who I sent them to, who I received cards from and updated addresses and then took all the cards down from the built-in that's in our living room.
The cards are being recycled at work through our Green Team to go to St. Jude's Ranch where they will separate the front from the back of the card and remount the front of the card to resell them to make money for the ranch. And all Christmas photos I'd received were collected and placed in an envelope marked Christmas 2010. I never throw away Christmas photos so some day the kids will have fun going through all those Christmas envelopes that are in the bottom of the built-in.
Enjoy Butler in his "Speedo".
Next stop SAM's Club to buy paper towels in bulk. I had run out of paper towels and had to use napkins last night to wipe up Butler's "accident" so I decided that I'd see what kind of bargain I could get at SAM's. I almost bought 4,000 C-fold towels (like go in restroom dispensers) instead of the 12 pack of super, duper paper towels but went with the paper towels since they are on a roll and I can tear the paper towels to the length I want if it needs to be larger than a C-fold hand towel. Normally when I go to SAM's it's a quick in and out for dog food so I thought I'd browse a bit. I got to the bakery area and found the special "mix and match boxes of cookies for $5.00". Chocolate chip, M&M or sugar cookies....mmmmmmmm. I almost weakened and then told myself, "get thee behind me Satan" and walked away from the cookie aisle.
The "keep the snakes out of the back porch strip" had come off the back door a couple of days ago so I thought I'd see if True Value had some door strip I could put on the door - yep. Then off to Casey's to see if they had potato bites that would be my lunch while I sat in the car to get it washed. No potato bites - bummer. But I was a smart shopper getting 3 Snickers for $2.00.....maybe I should have gotten those cookies at SAM's.......
After getting the car washed I got home and showed Butler his new.......Speedo is what I called it. He didn't seem to be buying that and just looked at me. I put it on him - I won't even go into what the instructions said about making sure a male dog was covered properly - and let him wear it for a couple of hours to get used to it. I got my Christmas card list organized from this year - who I sent them to, who I received cards from and updated addresses and then took all the cards down from the built-in that's in our living room.
The cards are being recycled at work through our Green Team to go to St. Jude's Ranch where they will separate the front from the back of the card and remount the front of the card to resell them to make money for the ranch. And all Christmas photos I'd received were collected and placed in an envelope marked Christmas 2010. I never throw away Christmas photos so some day the kids will have fun going through all those Christmas envelopes that are in the bottom of the built-in.
Enjoy Butler in his "Speedo".
Isn't this the most pathetic thing you've ever seen :)
I'm well prepared for any more surprises on the living room floor.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Volunteering
Tonight was my first night to volunteer at Freedom for Youth Ministries to help with the Whiz Kids program which is for elementary age inner city children that live in the Hickman/Broadlawns Hospital neighborhood. Freedom's web site is at the bottom of my blog page under Good Seed. You volunteer from approximately 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The kids start arriving and you interact with them until 5:30 when supper is served. Then at 6:15 is a Bible story time. From 6:30 to 7:00 the Whiz Kidz Coordinator's goal is to have one-on-one time with an adult and child or one adult and two children to work on school work. I was supposed to work with two 2nd grade boys but one went with another adult so I had Vetor (sp?).
Melanie, the coordinator, told me where the boxes were that contained the 2nd grade books and educational games and I was on my own to pick something for Vetor and I to do - talk about pressure :) I thought I couldn't go wrong picking an educational game - I hoped. We played a money and time telling bingo game. We could either draw from the blue-backed cards and have Vetor add up the coins drawn on the front of the card to see if we had that monetary amount on our bingo card, or we could play with the red-backed cards and have Vetor tell the time from a standard clock with the hour hand and minute hand. Hopefully in our little time together I helped him learn some about counting coins and telling time. I know I loved seeing him smile when he "got it" and then both of us laughing when it seemed I always had either the monetary amount or time on my card and he didn't. I definitely had a big, warm fuzzy when I left tonight. I wished Mike was here to share this with him when I got home but he's not - and I didn't get teary-eyed because Mike wasn't here - I just realized I would need to blog about my warm fuzzy and say something on Facebook to share it with lots of people :)
Went to the dentist this afternoon and had x-rays this time. In walks the dentist wanting to know how I was doing and I said, "I'm doing fine....?" He could tell I had answered his question with a question to which he said my teeth looked good. So I told him that I was doing good too :) The hygenist I had today always asks about the dogs and I shared about putting Milly down last Monday night. She was sorry to hear about Milly and wanted to know what happened. I like my dentist and the people that work there - they are all really nice and very personable. The first time I had an appointment after Mike passed everyone told me how sorry they were to hear of his passing (he was a patient there too) and then today I could talk about Milly. I'm very comfortable there.
Then I had to zoom home to let Butler out and feed him (and me) before heading down to Freedom tonight. Now Butler has had some issues since last Tuesday and has peed on the living room floor each day. And he doesn't just pee in one spot - oh no that would be too easy - he starts by the couch and pees clear to the kitchen. I'm not sure if it's because he's upset Milly is gone (that could be part of it) but I also realized this morning when I let him out the last time before I went to work that he didn't do anything - no peeing or pooping. I wondered then if I'd come home to a "surprise".
And like I've said before, I always try to find the positive or silver lining in everything so here's the positive with him peeing. At least the floor isn't carpeted - it's laminate - and it's the cleanest it's been in quite a while. I'm rolling my eyes as I write this but it is a positive...........
Tomorrow is a PTO/vacation day to be lazy on a work day - spend some time with Butler - run a few errands and see what else I can come up with.
Melanie, the coordinator, told me where the boxes were that contained the 2nd grade books and educational games and I was on my own to pick something for Vetor and I to do - talk about pressure :) I thought I couldn't go wrong picking an educational game - I hoped. We played a money and time telling bingo game. We could either draw from the blue-backed cards and have Vetor add up the coins drawn on the front of the card to see if we had that monetary amount on our bingo card, or we could play with the red-backed cards and have Vetor tell the time from a standard clock with the hour hand and minute hand. Hopefully in our little time together I helped him learn some about counting coins and telling time. I know I loved seeing him smile when he "got it" and then both of us laughing when it seemed I always had either the monetary amount or time on my card and he didn't. I definitely had a big, warm fuzzy when I left tonight. I wished Mike was here to share this with him when I got home but he's not - and I didn't get teary-eyed because Mike wasn't here - I just realized I would need to blog about my warm fuzzy and say something on Facebook to share it with lots of people :)
Went to the dentist this afternoon and had x-rays this time. In walks the dentist wanting to know how I was doing and I said, "I'm doing fine....?" He could tell I had answered his question with a question to which he said my teeth looked good. So I told him that I was doing good too :) The hygenist I had today always asks about the dogs and I shared about putting Milly down last Monday night. She was sorry to hear about Milly and wanted to know what happened. I like my dentist and the people that work there - they are all really nice and very personable. The first time I had an appointment after Mike passed everyone told me how sorry they were to hear of his passing (he was a patient there too) and then today I could talk about Milly. I'm very comfortable there.
Then I had to zoom home to let Butler out and feed him (and me) before heading down to Freedom tonight. Now Butler has had some issues since last Tuesday and has peed on the living room floor each day. And he doesn't just pee in one spot - oh no that would be too easy - he starts by the couch and pees clear to the kitchen. I'm not sure if it's because he's upset Milly is gone (that could be part of it) but I also realized this morning when I let him out the last time before I went to work that he didn't do anything - no peeing or pooping. I wondered then if I'd come home to a "surprise".
And like I've said before, I always try to find the positive or silver lining in everything so here's the positive with him peeing. At least the floor isn't carpeted - it's laminate - and it's the cleanest it's been in quite a while. I'm rolling my eyes as I write this but it is a positive...........
Tomorrow is a PTO/vacation day to be lazy on a work day - spend some time with Butler - run a few errands and see what else I can come up with.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Church X2 Today
I wasn't able to go to church last Sunday due to the cold/headcold/sinus bluck I've had for a few weeks so I made up for it today and went to two different churches this morning. My friend Lynn and her daughter Ashley were getting baptized at our mother church (Saylorville Baptist) this morning and I wanted to be there for them since Lynn is the reason I even know about Living Waters Fellowship.
Off and on during the week my pastor and I have been giving each other a hard time as to who would get from Saylorville to LWF the fastest because he would be leaving right after baptizing Lynn and Ashley to head to our church to preach and I would be leaving too because I wanted to fellowship with my church friends since I missed seeing them last week. As I was getting out of my car in Saylorville's parking lot, so was Josh, so we walked in together talking mellow "trash talk" about who would get to LWF first - I think we are both kind of competitive :)
Anyway....the baptismal service was wonderful. It was the type I grew up with - a baptismal tank and you wear something white or a white robe. Lynn gave a great testimony that got to me and it was awesome seeing both Ashley and Lynn baptized. I was so happy for them. Since we don't have a church we do baptism services at Easter Lake - when the weather is warmer of course - and I think that would be awesome. When the weather isn't warm - we baptize at the southside Y - which is great too - but there was something extra special today seeing people baptized the way Dad did it.
As soon as Josh, Lynn and Ashley left the baptistry I was out the door and in the car to head to LWF - but (my Mom will be happy to read this) I kept within the speed limit. My foot normally knows what 10 mph over the speed limit is - no matter what speed zone I am in. I was a little concerned since it was Sunday morning and there wasn't much traffic that there might be an officer running radar along my route and I didn't want to get a speeding ticket :) I walk into LWF and basically turn around in the hall and who is RIGHT behind me but Josh! Wow - and he had to change from wet clothes into dry clothes while I got a head start on him. He "claimed" he drove the speed limit - guess that's between him and God :) We had a really good service and I was glad I was there.
This afternoon I putted around the house and one thing I had to deal with was not only making a copy of Mike's death certificate but I had to make a copy of John's death certificate (my father-in-law). I had received a small check ($20ish) from some phone company that John belonged to - that I called and explained everything and they said I could go ahead and deposit John's check into my checking account - but I needed to send them John's death certificate to change the records to my name - in case there were future checks. This was the first check in two years since John passed so I don't think I'll see another one for a while but at least the records will be changed. And I knew right where to go in the box of John's records to find it.
I guess yesterday was pretty bitter cold here - I've shared with a couple of people that I didn't realize this - since my only going "out" consisted of sticking my arm and hand out at the drive up window at McDonald's to pay and get my lunch yesterday. Mike and I were always thankful we had an attached (actually tuck under) garage and one of the best things we bought was our garage door opener.
Got an email this afternoon with our church basketball league schedule so I opened the attachment and found out we have three teams in the league. I've already emailed Josh aka Pastor Daggs to see which team I should support - he's the captain of one of them :) Oh, and on my way out of church as I told Josh he preached another good sermon I asked him what translation of the Bible he used since his didn't mention greyhounds - his version talks about roosters - but in his footnotes it did say greyhound :) The only true translation - I say this to get Josh rolling his eyes - King James or the New King James doesn't even mention rooster in the footnote........................
Off and on during the week my pastor and I have been giving each other a hard time as to who would get from Saylorville to LWF the fastest because he would be leaving right after baptizing Lynn and Ashley to head to our church to preach and I would be leaving too because I wanted to fellowship with my church friends since I missed seeing them last week. As I was getting out of my car in Saylorville's parking lot, so was Josh, so we walked in together talking mellow "trash talk" about who would get to LWF first - I think we are both kind of competitive :)
Anyway....the baptismal service was wonderful. It was the type I grew up with - a baptismal tank and you wear something white or a white robe. Lynn gave a great testimony that got to me and it was awesome seeing both Ashley and Lynn baptized. I was so happy for them. Since we don't have a church we do baptism services at Easter Lake - when the weather is warmer of course - and I think that would be awesome. When the weather isn't warm - we baptize at the southside Y - which is great too - but there was something extra special today seeing people baptized the way Dad did it.
As soon as Josh, Lynn and Ashley left the baptistry I was out the door and in the car to head to LWF - but (my Mom will be happy to read this) I kept within the speed limit. My foot normally knows what 10 mph over the speed limit is - no matter what speed zone I am in. I was a little concerned since it was Sunday morning and there wasn't much traffic that there might be an officer running radar along my route and I didn't want to get a speeding ticket :) I walk into LWF and basically turn around in the hall and who is RIGHT behind me but Josh! Wow - and he had to change from wet clothes into dry clothes while I got a head start on him. He "claimed" he drove the speed limit - guess that's between him and God :) We had a really good service and I was glad I was there.
This afternoon I putted around the house and one thing I had to deal with was not only making a copy of Mike's death certificate but I had to make a copy of John's death certificate (my father-in-law). I had received a small check ($20ish) from some phone company that John belonged to - that I called and explained everything and they said I could go ahead and deposit John's check into my checking account - but I needed to send them John's death certificate to change the records to my name - in case there were future checks. This was the first check in two years since John passed so I don't think I'll see another one for a while but at least the records will be changed. And I knew right where to go in the box of John's records to find it.
I guess yesterday was pretty bitter cold here - I've shared with a couple of people that I didn't realize this - since my only going "out" consisted of sticking my arm and hand out at the drive up window at McDonald's to pay and get my lunch yesterday. Mike and I were always thankful we had an attached (actually tuck under) garage and one of the best things we bought was our garage door opener.
Got an email this afternoon with our church basketball league schedule so I opened the attachment and found out we have three teams in the league. I've already emailed Josh aka Pastor Daggs to see which team I should support - he's the captain of one of them :) Oh, and on my way out of church as I told Josh he preached another good sermon I asked him what translation of the Bible he used since his didn't mention greyhounds - his version talks about roosters - but in his footnotes it did say greyhound :) The only true translation - I say this to get Josh rolling his eyes - King James or the New King James doesn't even mention rooster in the footnote........................
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Year's Day and Signs
I asked for it - so I no longer will be amazed - I will take it in stride. Last night one of my goals was to finish Joel Osteen's "It's Your Time" (notice it's no longer listed as a book I'm reading). I only had one chapter left to read - from two or three months ago - but I just never got around finishing the book. Last night I finished it and the last chapter was titled "An Exceptional Year", talk about a sign...... I then had a very good communion time, read for a while and fell asleep.
My alarm woke me at 11:45 p.m. so I could watch the ball drop in Time's Square. I had the tv on Channel 5 (ABC), turned the sound down and read and watched the clock and all of a sudden it's midnight and no ball drop - what's up? Turned to 8, no ball drop and then 13 (NBC) and they were live in Time's Square and the ball had already dropped but that was ok. I enjoyed watching them celebrate the new year - until a rapper came on to sing and then the tv went off. I blew a kiss toward Mike's portrait and another to heaven - then read for a little while longer before going back to sleep.
It was a very lazy day today for both Butler and me. I've read, we've both slept, I went to McDonald's to get lunch (ok I'll start eating better tomorrow - today's a holiday) and did some laundry which included Milly's coat and blanket. Then I decided it was time to work on the dresser where Mike's things were that I have not touched since he passed - and yes - it was quite dusty. The top is dusted, the pile of t-shirts that were there before he passed have been put away in drawers (I wear a couple of them from time-to-time) and I went through his things. The top of the dresser was pretty much Mike's territory. I found a Valentine card I'd given him that he'd saved and reread it - and it again summed up our life together perfectly just like it did the day I bought it for him. I got teary-eyed but there was a smile on my face too.
In the book I'm reading I'm at a part where a married couple are getting ready to sky dive together. They've told each other they love each other and then the wife leans over and gives her husband a wet willy. I cracked up. There were many times when Mike and I would be reading in bed and he'd act like he was leaning over to tell me something and next thing I'd know he'd be trying to give me a wet willy in my left ear.
The photo below is my white elephant gift I would have taken to my small group Bible study Christmas party if I would have been well enough to have attended it. Having looked at the photos from the party on Lora's Facebook page, this was a "tame" white elephant gift compared to some that I saw :)
My alarm woke me at 11:45 p.m. so I could watch the ball drop in Time's Square. I had the tv on Channel 5 (ABC), turned the sound down and read and watched the clock and all of a sudden it's midnight and no ball drop - what's up? Turned to 8, no ball drop and then 13 (NBC) and they were live in Time's Square and the ball had already dropped but that was ok. I enjoyed watching them celebrate the new year - until a rapper came on to sing and then the tv went off. I blew a kiss toward Mike's portrait and another to heaven - then read for a little while longer before going back to sleep.
It was a very lazy day today for both Butler and me. I've read, we've both slept, I went to McDonald's to get lunch (ok I'll start eating better tomorrow - today's a holiday) and did some laundry which included Milly's coat and blanket. Then I decided it was time to work on the dresser where Mike's things were that I have not touched since he passed - and yes - it was quite dusty. The top is dusted, the pile of t-shirts that were there before he passed have been put away in drawers (I wear a couple of them from time-to-time) and I went through his things. The top of the dresser was pretty much Mike's territory. I found a Valentine card I'd given him that he'd saved and reread it - and it again summed up our life together perfectly just like it did the day I bought it for him. I got teary-eyed but there was a smile on my face too.
In the book I'm reading I'm at a part where a married couple are getting ready to sky dive together. They've told each other they love each other and then the wife leans over and gives her husband a wet willy. I cracked up. There were many times when Mike and I would be reading in bed and he'd act like he was leaning over to tell me something and next thing I'd know he'd be trying to give me a wet willy in my left ear.
The photo below is my white elephant gift I would have taken to my small group Bible study Christmas party if I would have been well enough to have attended it. Having looked at the photos from the party on Lora's Facebook page, this was a "tame" white elephant gift compared to some that I saw :)
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