Epic Fail

I know, I know...I've only been doing the blessings/things to be thankful for for three weeks, and I've been late twice already. :(

I'll add this week's soon. Just not right now. I'm still recuperating from the crazy week.

Hope y'all are doing well!

Ready...Set...Who Knows?

Oh goodness...I am, and have been, sooo busy lately! Currently, my biggest project has been coordinating a sort of festival/celebration for our church. It is quite the undertaking, and while I tried really hard to delegate more this year than I did last year, it's still quite the task.

My poor house has been completely neglected through all of this, and all I want to do is take three days to just scourge it top to bottom. I won't have time to do that for a while...next week, I'll be driving for our backyard Bible clubs through church (and finalize all the things for the festival), and the following week, I'll be hired back at my former job as a temp to train my replacement for a couple of days. I'm hoping to get enough down time afterward to get some things done around the house, and finish up some projects.

As is always one of my shortcomings, I've started to borrow unnecessary trouble. You see, the hubster and I are planning on moving soon. Our house isn't anywhere near ready to be put on the market, so we haven't talked real seriously about the move, or looked at any houses. But, I've subscribed to an online realty site that sends me updates on available houses in the area we're hoping to move to, and have had my eye on several possibilities, for when the time comes that we're ready to look. Yesterday afternoon, we were driving around that area, and there was a funny sign on the door of one of the houses I like; turns out, it's going into foreclosure. Not good for the previous owners, but possibly really good news for us. So now, everything has been violently thrown into "ready for anything" mode. We weren't looking to move or buy a house for a couple more months...but, depending on how things go with this foreclosure thing, we might be presented with a great opportunity to do just that. So, for those of you who have some to spare, your prayers would be most appreciated! I'll keep you posted, though I'm trying not to worry too much about it...since it's not even close to a definite thing.

That's really it for now...hoping desperately to get some stuff done -- particularly projects, so that I can post them on here!

Belated Monday Thanksgiving

I started writing this before last Monday, but I forgot to post it! This week has been crazy!

11. Like-minded friends. Whether they're lending a patient and listening ear to whatever tirade I happen to be on, helping me clean my house when I'm in over my head, talking sense and reason into me when I've lost perspective, praying for me and mine when I ask (sometimes even when I don't), understanding me and interpreting some of my oddities into more endearing traits, or attending weird late night movie events with me...just to see something we like together...even if it's not the "grown-up" thing to do. I couldn't make it through life without them, and I wouldn't be the person I am today had our paths not crossed. :breaks into a chorus of I Have Been Changed for Good:

12. My creativity. Only just within the last five years or so have I been able to actually call myself an artist. I'm grateful for the mind God gave me, and for the way in which I interpret the world around me. I'm also becoming more appreciative of the ability He's giving me to communicate with and through artistic means.

13. Sleep. I love to sleep. I wish sometimes I didn't. I try not to think about how much life I'm wasting by sleeping. But I really do think I usually make up for it in waking hours. I keep pretty busy. But there is nothing greater than crawling into my big fluffy bed, laying on my big fluffy pillow, and drifting off to sleep. MMmmmmm. Sounds amazing.

14. My hubby loves to sleep. If you've got to sleep through life, might as well be sleeping through it with the one you love, right? ;)

15. My nose ring. Even though it hurt like a beast this time around (more the after than the actual piercing bit), I have missed it so, and am so grateful to have it back!

16. Wicked. Best. Musical. EVER! Can't wait to see it again someday! I'm hoping that'll be sooner rather than later.

17. Peanut butter fudge. By happy circumstance, I recently found a truck stop gas station that carried fudge. And peanut butter fudge to boot! When I was in college, one of the girls on my hall had a grandmother who sent her some peanut butter fudge. For reasons unbeknownst to me, she was unselfish enough to share some with me...and my life will never be the same. I have tried in vain to find the recipe to that fudge...but every time I pass a fudge shoppe of any kind, I have to try their peanut butter fudge...just in case it's like that girl's grandma's :)

18. Laughing. Laughing a lot. Particularly at silly things. Silly things like this. Hyperbole and a Half is hilarious. Sometimes it has crude language, but if you can overlook that, it's just plain funny.

19. Creation. I'm grateful for the moon, the stars, the sun, the rain, the great big Texas sky, the ocean, sand between my toes, the sound of waves crashing against the shore, and the body to be able to see, hear, smell, taste, feel, and experience it all with. I am, however, still stumped as to why God created the mosquito. I'm wondering if they served a higher purpose before the fall, or if they were invented as a direct result of it...
(there is one of those hovering about me; I'm sure to wake up covered in welts if I don't succeed in squashing it soon)

20. A clean home. To be more grateful, I should be thankful to have a home at all, regardless of its state, but my OCD really appreciates a clean house. I am hoping desperately to find a sliver of a clean home underneath this poor, neglected house tomorrow. In the meantime, however, I am exceptionally grateful to have my house...and all the things that make it my home.

It begins...

My understanding is that I can put as many or as few as I like, so I'll just add a few now. My plan is to keep a piece of paper throughout the week so I can post them the following Monday.

Things I'm thankful for...

1. I found my favorite brand of multi-purpose cleaner at the store. Haven't been able to find it for a while. But now I have two bottles!

2. My husband's laughter. I love his laughing lines, and when he laughs so hard that he shakes. Those smiles are my favorite.

3. Random surprises. I got a customized book mark today from a friend of mine. It was unexpected, and very thoughtful.

4. "Mexican Coke" - the Coke that comes in the glass bottle, with sugar cane. Yum!

5. Non-scary Thunderstorms. They remind me of the power and might of God, and are so amazingly beautiful. Plus, I'm always grateful when there aren't tornadoes.

6. Family. I love love love love love my family. I even managed to land some pretty decent in-laws ;)

7. My doggies. They make me laugh and smile, keep my feet warm, and make my life interesting.

8. Our youth group. Every day, I'm surprised to find that my love for the kids in our youth group has grown. Just when I think there's no way I could possibly love them more...God proves me wrong. I'm so grateful to get to be a part of their lives.

9. My sense of humor. I know not everybody gets it, and sometimes I embarrass myself...but I'm convinced it's what's going to keep me young.

10. My new toy! I got a brand new camera! I can't wait to get it all together tomorrow and start to play with it! :D

Changes

:sigh: Here I sit, being completely lazy and couch-potato-esque. I slept well (ironically, on the floor) last night, but am still dragging from what I think will have to be considered one of the most intense weeks of my life.

Boot Camp was last week. For those of you who don't know, boot camp is one week we take out of our summer to take our teens from youth group and train them how to present lessons, the gospel, and do games with their teams in preparation for backyard Bible clubs. It's usually trying, taxing, and challenging, but this year it was like boot camp on steroids. Sean was in charge of delivering all the sermons (that responsibility is usually split between the pastors of the respective churches in attendance -- but he was the only one this year), which meant that he had a lot of preparation to do.

I always love boot camp, and I always get involved in some capacity, but this year a good friend and I co-wrote and planned the curriculum. That meant months of planning, meetings, edits, re-writes, comparing notes, asking for constructive criticism from others, and really a lot of faith that God would work through us and that the churches wouldn't regret agreeing to let us take this on ;) Oh, and a lot of Bush's sweet tea. It also meant a lot more work at boot camp itself. Reviewing, studying, practicing, etc. in order to make sure that the example we set for our students was one they should aspire to replicate. It sure was difficult...and that sort of mental standard made (at least for me) it all the easier to be hard on myself.

Add into the equation the ever unpredictable entity that are teenagers, and we were in for quite a week. God worked mightily among the teens, spoke powerfully through Sean, and generated enthusiasm for teaching His word through the curriculum. Overall, it was definitely a powerful week.

But oh my head, it was draining. The first night, as is standard, everyone was too excited to sleep. This results in lots of talking, giggling, whispering, texting, etc. amongst the girls in the girls' room. For those of you who are unaware of my sleeping habits, I value my sleep. I need my sleep. I'm not very tolerant of sleep interruptions. I'm also fairly unpleasant if I do not get enough of the aforementioned sleep. Enter Jennifer, The Enforcer of Silence. I had to get pretty cranky with the girls the first night...my man-voice was quite helpful in conveying the gravity of the situation. The rest of the week, we just threatened to take away pillows and blankets (as well as turn the air down a degree for every time we had to do that) if they weren't quiet. Combination of those threats, and Rachel reading a bedtime story made the rest of the week uneventful as far as sleeping was concerned.

For those who got to sleep, that is. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the week having late night conversations with Sean (talking with him wasn't the negative part) about various situations we were dealing with and processing together, which meant I was going to bed around 1:30am every night we were at boot camp. One morning, I stupidly took a Benadryl without considering the drowsy effects it has. That bought me an almost three hour nap in the morning, which helped drastically with my attitude and energy level. Still, though, everything was kind of crazy...and definitely a lot to process. I feel like I'm still reeling.

Through it all, I had to struggle a lot with balance. If something was wrong, or I was dealing with something, I couldn't let everyone know...and I couldn't "punish" everyone else for something they weren't responsible for. So, that was a struggle - staying upbeat. But seeing God move in the lives of so many...to see sin confessed, and to see them seek out help in dealing with it was so unbelievably amazing and encouraging.

One of the girls I knew in college posted this thing on her blog awhile ago. It's called "Multitude Monday." Here's what she said about it:

"It is something I learned from my friends, called "Multitude Monday", taken from A Holy Experience. The challenge is to write and share 1,000 things you are grateful to God for. Maybe over a few weeks. Maybe a few months. The timetable is up to you. When you get to 1,000 you start over. The point of blogging (or finding another way to share) your thank-yous is to encourage and build up your community."

I think I'm going to try this. I like the idea of reshaping the way that you think to look for the positive things that you're grateful for. I think it will help change my perspective a lot. So, even in the dark times, instead of focusing on the negative, I'll be looking for the "silver lining," so to speak.

So, my first post on my things I'm thankful to God for will be this next Monday...and every Monday after that until I reach 1000. :)

I guess I'm kind of hoping to revamp a lot of things. Kind of like a "reinvention of Jenn project." I have a lot of things I have to do this summer...which is sort of perfect, since I don't have a job right now. So, my job will be to change things. Change myself, change my house, change whatever! God brought a lot of things to my attention at boot camp, and as I process through them, I want to remember what I have that is good, what I have to be thankful for, and to be more positive in general.

Here's to good things!

Aloha!

Somehow this morning, I reset my alarm in my sleep. Thankfully, it wasn't for noon. Unfortunately, it was for much later than I had wanted to get up, and it was late enough to wake me with a start, and immediately cause me to be in panic-get-ready-get-out-the-door-mode.

Technically, I made it to work with plenty of time to spare. I was just frustrated that I didn't get in as early as I had hoped. All personal brow-beating ceased when I walked into my office.

There was a beautiful crepe paper flower banner draped across the front of my desk. Streamers hung from the sides of my desk, and in between my computer screens. A "good luck" banner was behind my chair, flanked by more streamers. "Good Luck" confetti was sprinkled over my desk...and two presents waited for me.

This round of presents (the first of many, I was told) was from Linda...my friend and source of sanity at work. She gave me a hilarious card (that threatened temper tantrums in lieu of crying at my departure) with a sweet note that had me tearing up...a beautiful pair of dangle earrings, a bag full of Laffy Taffy (we helped each other endure long days by sharing bad Laffy Taffy jokes with each other), a joke book, and Laughing Cow cheese and crackers. Oh! And there was a beautiful Hibiscus hair pin that is now perched atop my head...and it lights up. ^_^

At eight o'clock, my office was swarmed with office staff, as our campus nurse, Jan, presented me with a gift basket that would make me an honorary Italian (she's Italian, if you hadn't caught on yet). She said, "Every Italian needs a gun [presented me with water guns], and sunglasses to wear for when they use said gun [handed me sunglasses]. Everyone needs pepperoni [you get the idea]. Here's a nice Italian dinner [canned spaghetti and meat balls], and an Italian dessert [Italian ice]. And, to relax after a nice, long day [insert wine goblet and grape juice]..."

I'm so unbelievably touched by my co-workers' kindness, generosity, and love that I can scarcely contain myself. I just continue to be SO grateful that I didn't wear mascara today.

I'll update with more later, as well as pictures that I've taken as the day progressed.

OH MY...just as I was about to post this, the 9 0'clock hour hit.
Again, my office cohorts came into my office...this time they all whooped. It was like a very strange flock of birds whoop-whooping in my office. This time Terry, one of our counselors, presented me with a poetry reading. Here is what she read:

"Ode to Jennifer
We know you've given us your best
and now it's time you take a rest
We also know your greatest need
is that you really love to read [she handed me a gift card to Borders]
To devour a book about a vampire- [she handed me a really cool Twilight cup]
Nothing could ever take you higher
Since Edward can't visit you tonight,
You'll have to enjoy these cherry 'bites.' " [the cup was filled with Twizzler bites]

I am so grateful, I can't even stand it. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring.


*Well, the 10 o'clock hour just hit...more whooping ensued.
I was descended upon yet again by my wonderful office friends. Debbie brought me Caprisun drinks, and we all had one and they toasted me. I also got a bright orange lei, and as she put it around my neck, she said, "Now you can't say that you were never laid at work." Those of you who know me can imagine the exact shade of red my face turned. Oh my.
I also received pretty blue Hawaiian flip flops to enjoy the summer with.



* The 11 o'clock hour has come and gone -- with more excitement, of course. We were delayed by a few phone calls (seriously, having to work in the middle of a celebration of me -- how dare they!), but Grace (our AP secretary) apparently noted my love of peanut butter, so she made a customized RHS label for a jar of peanut butter. She also brought in a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, and we all had one and "toasted" again. She wrote me a poem to go along with the gifts:

"Roses are red, peanut butter is brown,
You have been a great receptionist this side of town.
So on with your journey,
You will be missed.
Those teens you are helping
so spiritually lifted,
Will receive Rouse's finest,
and truly gifted."



*I suppose 12 and 1 were combined into one. Everyone brought a type of salad, and we sat together in the break room and ate a leisurely lunch. It was very nice. In the process of our meal, I discovered HEB's Raspberry Chipotle Ranch Dip -- I am in love! It's dangerous how tasty that stuff is! Also, one of our coaches and his kids made me a football shaped cake :) It was the funfetti cake, with vanilla frosting, surrounded by strawberries, with blueberries on top as the seam :D



* 2 o'clock, and all is well! They came over again...whooping like crazy people. This time, with a giant bucket of cheese balls in tow. Be still my heart! I think we had some left over before from a banquet, and they realized just how abnormally huge my love for cheese puffs were. So now, I have my own personal tub of cheese balls. Also, I got a poster from The Office, that is like a collage of all of the characters, with their "character trait" below them, and quotes. It's awesome.


* 3 o'clock came 'round, and we had what was commonplace by this point - all of my office coworkers in my office, whooping. I have decided now that it sounded a lot like zebras. Kinda funny. This time, I got another creative writing piece. I don't have it handy right now, so I can't post it. But it came along with a white chocolate raspberry Nothing But Bundt cake. Also, more Laffy Taffy :) Can't go wrong there.

Babies, Babies, EVERYWHERE

Seriously, everyone is having babies. Or, at least, it feels that way. And, while I don't want a baby anytime soon, I sure like making things for friends' babies. Here are three things I'm working on right now:


1) Nursery Name - One of my co-workers just had a little girl, and I offered to make her baby letters for the nursery. She picked the Santa Barbara Nursery bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, so I'm using that as a template for the designs I'm going to use. Here's a picture of the bedding, if you didn't want to follow the link ;)

So, I'm hoping to get pictures up of the finished letters by next week. I'm going to try to actually give them to her before I show the whole world (haha, like the whole world reads my blog) the letters for her daughter's nursery...but I make no promises. I might upload the pictures first because I'm too excited :D


2) Hellloooo Kitty - Yet another co-worker just had a baby girl, and she decorated the nursery in Hello Kitty. Again, here's a picture below to show you what it looks like, in case you didn't want to click on the linkSo, I went online, found a few Hello Kitty coloring pages, and am essentially going to combine a few of the ideas there to make my own HK design. I went to Hobby Lobby (which was actually a rather eventful trip...I suppose I'll share that story later), brought my pictures, and picked out scrapbook paper that coordinated with the bedding. I'm going to recreate my HK picture using scrapbook paper, then frame it and give it to my co-worker as a belated shower gift. I'm quite excited about how it will turn out.


3) Decor & More - Another friend of mine is pregnant. Due in August, I think. She's also having a little girl. She's letting me have the time of my life helping her plan out the decor for her nursery. This is the bedding she has:

Since it's her nursery, I don't want to give away more than she's already shared with anyone else, so I'll have to keep the details to myself for now. But let's just say that I have some great ideas, and I can't wait to see what we do with the space!

Like I said, I'll hopefully have some pictures to post soon of some of this finished. Here's to a productive weekend, and many more projects to come!