Just Another Rainy Day

STILL RAINING. So tired of it already. Although I do have an incredibly cute umbrella that I love to use, I'm still tired of the rain.

Today I'm thinking about babies a lot. Had a really good discussion with a friend about his baby that was positive but then had another conversation with someone else that wasn't. Everyone has their own opinion of babies and how they change your life. Yes, they absolutely change your life and I'm sure that sometimes it's REALLY hard but I can't imagine when you look down at that little face that you can regret what they are. Maybe that's just me. Maybe that's because I don't have one yet. Who knows.

The rain has forced me to search the Internet for summery things to make me feel nice. Last night I made a very summery meal. Really good lemon chicken (So easy you can't believe it), salad and peas. A little glass of wine and we were set. Only thing missing was our out door patio set. All in good time though. Also, today I've been seeking out summer crafting projects. A few things have caught my eye and given me some inspiration. Here is my serenity for today:

Another Day in Paradise

So it's at least Wed AND I got to sleep in. Two great things for today. I've actually found a few things to keep myself from going crazy over the last few hours but a few more hours to go. Haven't had my afternoon snack yet however. That's always worth looking forward too. Trying to be REALLY healthy and so I brought vanilla yo & strawberries. When what I really want is a extra tall snickers blizzard from DQ. So now you see the restraint I'm showing here people. Really.

Last night was good. I can't get used to John's new work schedule. It's weird. Last week he worked normal hours. This week he's working 10-7 each week day and then 7-4 on Saturday. Then next week something else. Will take some time for me to get used to that. Fell asleep on the couch once I got home yesterday till John called me at 7pm. I so had ever intention of "getting things gone" but didn't happen. Tonight I'm determined. I won't even let myself sit down because I MIGHT fall asleep or worse, start reading something. I must say I'm making great progress on my Harry Potter book. I should be more than finished with it before the last and final installment comes out mid July. I keep getting the date for the movie and the book confused however. So who knows. I'm also proud to announce that I'm going to get the Wii Harry Potter game and play the heck out if it. The wand action will be really cool with the Wii remote. Sorry. Geeked out on you there for a sec. This is how things happen at our house. I love my very cute but incredibly geeky husband.


So planning what we'll do on the fourth. At this second we have no plans nor invitations to do anything. Sometimes that's a really good thing however. We have a few things in mind but haven't made up our mind for sure. I'm just excited to have a day during the week off.


Ok. Random picture of the day time. Took this from the website I mentioned the other day. Just love this. My love for tree photos and paintings lately, coupled with my love of birds AND green make this a favorite of mine. Enjoy...

Lost?

Well I just completed the season finale of Lost. I know I'm a bit late. Life's been busy. It's weird. Season Finales. Somehow they always disappoint. I can't possible imagine how they are going to continue the story. I know they will because there are some many other things to come but really, it was just weird. Of course can't wait to see what they will have next for the still loyal fans. I hear there aren't that many anymore because of the strangeness of the show but I know are still a few. Something to look forward to. Hopefully.

What else today? Spending time trying to figure out summer activities. Wanting to do so many new things over the following three months that I'm not sure there's enough time. Excited about the possibilities though.

Today is John's first full on the job (training) day. I haven't heard much from him, so I have no update on how it's going. I'm excited to hear though.

Tonight should be pretty low key. Go home at four, get the mail, let the dogs out. Clean, make dinner, relax. Wanna line out some crafting projects for the summer. I wanna make some really cool things for gifts this year but also just to say that I did. I've got this amazing amazon list of books that I want to read and as previously mentioned, multiple destinations I would like to visit. YAY for US!!!

I'll leave you with a random photo that I love. I like that you don't see her face and I love that she got this great bag, dress, shoes and umbrella out in the middle of nowhere. I can see myself in this shot.

Weekend Fun and Pretty Lady Wonderland...

So it's Monday BUT the morning had been incredibly fast so far. I'm for sure happy about the fact that I'm moments away from eating something tasty and hot. For some reason I'm craving hot food lately. Today is three cheese ravioli left overs. Wish i had a tiny salad to go with to complete the meal but alas, only an apple. I'm also in the grilling mood. Yesterday, as you know, was the family BBQ. Went great. Had a splendid time out in the yard just chatting about life and laughing about dogs, kids and life in general. I personally didn't take any pictures but mom did and I will share with you what I get, when i get them. I'm sure we got some good ones. We grilled out massive amounts of meat and had all the fixings. Really though I just loved sitting around talking. Something about being outside (even if it's hot) just chatting with friends is nice. Also, extremely nice to have mom in town over the weekend. We had a great time shopping for cute shirts and planting flowers to make our house look like someone actually lives there. Sunday church was awesome and we had such a great time. So many many babies there. I'm not sure if maybe I just never noticed them before but it seems EVERYONE is pregnant or has a small child in tow. Weird how you notice those kinds of things just all the sudden. So not ready for a kid yet but if one came along we wouldn't be heart broken at least. Spent a lot of time this weekend talking about updates we wanna make to the house. Figuring out if it's possible to maybe have a third bedroom built on and raise the value of the house. Right now I just wanna get the laundry room project finished and the ability to wash clothes in my own home back. Makes me nuts. Soon though.

Watched a movie last night to end the weekend. Called The Family Stones. It was weird. I'm so over movies lately. Out of the ten I've seen in the past two months, only one has been really good. What is up with movies being sad and turning out all weird in the end. What is up with movies looking like they will be funny in the previews and then you watch it and it's depressing.

Wanted to share a cool website I found this morning. This is more a Mom & Kate thing but Boys, feel free to take a look. This gal is coming out with an embroidery book I want to get and then I realized she has an entire site with paintings and such for sale. It's really cute stuff...

http://dreamfollow.com/index.html

Also, take a look at the two cutest gals in the world. This is pretty much what they did this weekend.

Welcome to Miami

So I'm back. Technically I've been back from Miami for a week today but I really don't feel like I'm all caught up from being gone. Since I've been home it's been pretty much non stop stuff to do or me sleeping. Hopefully someday I'll feel rested again. Got a new phone right before leaving for MIA and it's picture quality isn't as good as my old phone. Kinda weird considering it's a way cooler looking phone. Just goes to show ya, looks aren't everything.

So work this week has been good. Flown by really. Woke up and couldn't believe it is Thursday already. Glad it is but still. This weekend should prove to be nice and hopefully relaxing. Dick and Stephanie are coming in to town sometime Sunday. We're suppose to have a family BBQ at somebodies house. Will be nice to see them. It's been a few years. Hopefully mom will come up as well. Always nice to spend some time with family.

Getting nervous. Scheduled my dental appointment to get my wisdom teeth taken out. All four hopefully at once. Get the pain and suffering over with at one time. I go in on July 12th. I've actually dreaded having this procedure done since I was a small child. I'm not really sure how I knew it was bad news but I wasn't interested. I've feared it ever since. Three things really: getting my drivers license, getting my wisdom teeth pulled and having a baby. Strange huh? But if you know me at all you know that kinda weirdness comes with he territory.

Below are some shots I did get from Miami. The weather was so hot and there were so many dang people!!!!

View from our balcony

Me & My Best Bud Alison

Stranger Than Fiction

So last night John and I finally got to see Stranger Than Fiction. We've been wanting to see it but kept forgetting about it. Being a Will Ferrel movie we knew it would be funny but didn't know really what to expect. It blew us away. It was funny but mostly it was just really good. John may hate me for telling this but we both cried at the end. It was just really cool and really good.

The premise of the story is about Harold Crick (Will Ferrel) who's life is being narrated by a voice. He starts seeking out this voice and finds his life in the process. It's a different sort of movie. Not a normal Will Ferrel movie but John and I both agree, his best. I highly recommend it.

This Years Love...

So I really don't have much exciting news today. Just more rain. Leaving later for mom's house, which I've very excited about. Excited to see Mom & Gary but also very excited to see my baby dogs. They've been away for two weeks. Actually a little more. It's been just torture. I'm hoping to leave work early and get out of town before traffic gets bad. Since it's summer though weekend traffic really starts Thursday night toward the lake, so either way it'll be slow going. Speaking of, the day is just creeping along as slow as possible. I've got all my work done that I can right now. Just waiting on classes to end. Typical Friday.

John just called. He's rushing out to Kansas for another interview. If I've failed to update my blog and you're out of the loop on this job situation, don't feel bad because we don't ever really know what's going on either. The original place has yet to send him on a job site. He calls them each day and they promise him work but it's been about three weeks now and still nothing. A friend called him about Ford. They're needed temp help and John could really use to temp money till this plumbing thing gets going. That's turned out to be a big long process too. They may still call though. So yesterday he applied for about 50 jobs doing various things. So today's interview is a result of that. We'll see.

I also thought, since I don't have much news, that I'd do a "I'm in love with..." list today. Seems like the thing to do. Something fun for Friday.

Stuff I Love Today:

-Brown Dishes_I've NO idea where my all of the sudden love for brown stuff has come from. Clothes, house stuff, paint. Weird. I'm needing some new dishes because my current set are five years old and I'm missing pieces due to slippery dish hands and such. I'm totally loving these.

-My new watch_Now it might be bragging or shameful but OMG I love me new watch. I bought it while on vacation and it was on the greatest sale ever. I've always wanted something Michael Kors. He's a great designer that I really admire and I really love his stuff. It's exactly what I wanted and I just feel so blessed that I found it. It was a birthday present from Heaven! =) Take a peek...

-Flickr_I have to say I'm totally in love with Flickr. com. It's just so cool. I have a page there but it's really nothing exciting. I tend to forget I've got it because I'm always so busy looking at others photo's. My favorite thing to do while I'm bored here at work is go there and do the seven day random picture album. You never know what you'll see but most of the time it's some really beautiful photography.

-Orange Berks_ Don't have these yet but I'm savin my money. I'm not sure where my love for these came from. Maybe my fantasy of moving to the middle of nowhere and being a quasi-hippie. I know I'm not full fledged hippie material but man I could so live in an rv with no tv and grow veggies in the my own garden. It's of course pure fantasy and will never happen because well I'm married to a person who's the complete opposite. Maybe that's why we work together. Who knows.

-Jones Berry Lemonade Soda_K. Just found this stuff. I mean I've known about it for a while but was never brave enough to try it. I'm not sure of a soda drinker normally and then when you get into strange flavors it could be questionable. But let me tell you this folks, this is GREAT stuff. It's fruit but not overwhelming. It's refreshing and just perfect for summer. I've not tried the other three canned flavors. Jones of course has massive amounts of other flavors and most of them are bottled. I also love that the photo's on the fronts of the bottles, boxes and what not are all submitted by really people. Just random stuff. Kinda like Flickr to go. The website is cool too. Check it here: http://www.jonessoda.com/

-Jeremy Riddle_This cd is so stinkin good. I love every song. His voice is just SO great but he's also got a great depth to his music. These are songs you find yourself singing long after you've left the car. It's awesome worship music but it also really good stuff to help you just feel close to God. Feel Him with you. It's so fab. Maybe my favorite thing on this list.

-Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince_So I promised I wouldn't read it till right before the last one came out but I just couldn't help it. So I'm not that far in but far enough that I'm hooked, again. This one seems like it's going to be super exciting and I'm excited to read more. I've got Gran reading the series now. She's enjoying it so far. She's only on the second book but she reads so fast she'll be done soon. Oh! and today I heard someplace that someone is planning a Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, FL. Suppose to open in 2009. OMG!!!! So going!

Happy Weekend All

She's Just So Cute...

The Bucket Is Back!!!!

So we're back from vacation. We actually got back on Sunday evening but we've all been running around for the last two days trying to get Granny ready for two weeks in London. She left this morning.

Vacation was good. Not really relaxing per say. Granny's not really good at relaxation. So everyday we had someplace to go and someone to see. It also rained every single day. We literally got two hours of sunny weather the entire time. It sucked. We did a lot of shopping (I got some really CUTE stuff for really great prices) & eating. We also redecorated one of Gaga's spare bedrooms. It looked so good once we were done. She loved it and I was so glad. We also did a big Italian dinner the night before we left. We cooked for about 15 people. Crazy! It was so tasty though. Wish I had some left overs right now.

Back to work yesterday. Somehow I managed to not really think about this place while I was gone. Odd for me. I normally can't let stuff here. I call and check in but I only did that once. Was nice. I did have to complete some training during the week but other than that I was hands off. Getting ready for my ACE trip. Basically they send a group of us out to a hospital who is converting, either for the first time or to a newer version, to our system. We are there for support and support we do. I'll be gone for five days and supporting a hospital in Miami FL. I leave on the 7th. We'll work 12 to 15 hour days. It will be hard work and I'll be on my feet ALL day. Only thing that makes it at least a little fun is that I'm going with my best friend. We're rooming together, flying together, everything. At least I'll have someone to be miserable with. =) I'm really nervous about working with clients so directly. I deal with them face to face on a daily basis but it's in a environment I'm comfortable in. They are the ones out of their elements. Now it will be me and they'll be asking me random questions about stuff I'm not really all that skilled with. God is gonna have to just give me favor and the right answers.

I'm Off to the Great Blue Yonder

So in t-3 hours we'll be on our way to vacation heaven. We'll be gone for about ten days. I'll come back with five extra pounds of southern cooking melted to my body, possibly a sunburn and hopefully some funny stories to tell.

BROWNSBORO TEXAS or BUST!

And the Winner Is Me!!!

So I might have mentioned a while back that I was nominated for an award here at work but a client of ours. I did a few favors for her and she emailed the right people about it. Anyway, today this tiny black box with this tiny blue star arrived in my mail drop. I, as in ME, got a Client Care All Star Award! No. Freakin. Way.

So I've Heard...

When you're broke that you shouldn't stop spending money all together because when you DO finally get paid you will go out and just spend a giant bunch unnecessarily. I think that might be true. True or not I saw this today and even though I didn't need a shiny bright green hand bag, I HAD to have it. It's just so...me. AND I went online to check the brand (I'd never heard of them) and turns out that my $25 bag sells for around $125 online. What a score! Now if I can just find a couple of dresses or skirts for vacation for next to nothing, I'll be set!

It's May WHAT Already?

So about an hour ago I started a grant and glorious blog entry. It was shaping up to be a great one (well as great as a blog entry on page could get I guess). Something bizarre happened and I moved my mouse to click back to the screen and it all disappeared. All of my beautiful text was sent into space. Never to return. I just sat here with my mouth gaping open in disbelief. How could this happen AGAIN? I've done this once before see. Seems to always be when I'm typing something long and highly dramatic. Well it wasn't all that dramatic this time but it was long. Shoot!
Ok. Let's try this again...

So my time lately has been riddled with places to go, people to see and stuff to do. Seems like we haven't had much down time to speak of and so last night in a completely selfish fashion I went home and sat on the couch all night. I read a book till I fell into a sweet and glorious sleep on my so very comfortable couch. John came home to find me still there around 10:30. We talked for a bit but I was back out like a light in nothing flat. I did sleep like a rock though. About time too. I've been doing a lot of tossing and turning lately. Thinking about to much stuff. Laying awake praying about John's work, my work, house payments, etc. Yesterday however my prayers were answered over and above what I could have imagined. Typically how God does things. Blows you away completely. John got a new job. I'm so excited for him. It's a plumbing/pipe fitting role. Based out of Lenexa but the job they have him on is in St Joseph. About 45 minutes from our house. He will work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. A lot of work but he's excited about it. Ready for a challenge. He's getting paid over double what he was making AND he gets $60 per diem each day for food and gas. Pretty sweet deal. He started today. There are a lot of unanswered questions at this point. I have no idea how he will be able to continue with school with the hours but that's up to God. He gave him the job and it's his job to work out the details. I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm a little anxious about having so much by myself time. It's going to be really weird to have to take over most of the tasks that John normally does because he will be stretched out. It's going to be strange to do things like grocery shop alone or make sure I take out the trash. It's worth it mind you but still strange. It's not forever and I know that. That's what will hopefully make it more bearable. It will help us meet a goal in our life and that's exciting to us. Really exciting. Being able to pay off all our bills and get a good chunk of savings built up is something we've talked about for a while. We'll see how it goes.
What else? Oh! John's birthday was Saturday. We had a great time. We actually saw Spiderman 3 for his birthday on Friday night. It was ok. Not as good as the others but a guess an important part of the story. It was just so busy. To much plot going at the same time. Saturday we spent time with Patti for the two whole days she was in town before leaving again for work. She's in Utah this week but seems to be having a nice time so far. She's in a great resort with a great view. On Saturday we went out to Dave and Busters (a huge game place for those of you like me who hadn't ever heard of it). We killed zombies, danced, boxed, bowled and so much more. I'm truly sore from it all. We then went out and had an amazing steak dinner. It's was a lovely day. The weather was nice for a change too. The weather has been non stop rain here and is starting to cause flooding in certain parts of MO. Kinda scary.
Something else silly that I'm pretty excited about is that last night (before I feel asleep) I made up a cleaning schedule for myself. I have gotten to where I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start anymore. So I've decided to do one room a night. That way I will have time to do other things that make me happy as well. So far sounds like a good plan. Tonight I clean the kitchen!

Jeesh I'm a sick person...

Thinking of Life in Another Way

So I've been reading (slowly mind you because it's a deep and very powerful book) this Rhythm of Life book by Mathew Kelley and today I realized he has a news letter. So I signed up. Got my first email and it was more of his wonderful thought provoking words. I wanted to bring a part of that here because I think it's so important. It's something I've been thinking a lot about lately (I think I've been yearning for this very thing for awhile but couldn't put a name and face to it. MK's book just really hit home with me in this and many other areas). The excerpt below is from his newsletter, as I said but if you find this piece interesting, his book is a larger version of this:

A Personal Message from Matthew
I love the summer. For some reason the long, hot days just breathe extra enthusiasm for life into me. This summer, I am looking forward to finishing the book I am working on at present, training for my marathon in October, spending time at home, our Milford retreats, and my annual trip to Fatima, Portugal. All of these breathe new life into me and prepare me to go back on the road in the fall to engage and inspire my listeners. My question for you this month is... what are you going to do this summer that is going to breathe new life into you? Athanasius wrote, "The glory of God is man fully alive." Are you fully alive? What would it take to bring you to life that little bit more? Don't put it off. Every year I watch and marvel at the transformation people experience on our retreats. I see the resistance. I hear stories about how they nearly didn't come, or were scared to come alone, or didn't want to come at all. But by the end of the retreat they are so glad they didn't put it off...What will bring you to life this summer? Seek it. Embrace it. Celebrate it. Allow it to embrace you and transform you. I look forward to our paths crossing again before too long... and seeing you fully alive!

I'm excited to figure out what will bring me fully alive this summer. I have so many things each day that inspire me and give me flutters of joy but I believe that God has so much more than that for each of us. I believe it's meant to be more like an overwhelming flood for glory in our lives. It's meant to be so great we can't even imagine it. I truly believe God has that for every person alive today but who is really ready to fully receive it? Who is willing to do what it takes to live that unconventional life? I know I want to be. Makes me think of a song by FlyLeaf called Fully Alive. Here is the chorus:

Fully alive
More than most
Ready to smile and love life
Fully alive and she knows
How to believe in futures

Long Lost Me...

So I'm really not lost but I haven't posted in so long that it feels like it. I've been so busy lately and can't seem to get caught up. Not enough hours in the day to do all I need to do and all I want to do. Let's recap what's been going on with me I guess...

Last week was Admin Week here at work. I was pretty much in meetings or some sort of tour Mon-Thur. So being at work really didn't help me get my actual work done all that much. So I had to work from home a bit and didn't get any house work done. I thought I'd be home on Friday so no biggie. Turns out Joyce Meyer was going to be in Springfield, Mo that Friday for a free women's conference. Mom and a group where going and she invited me. So I got up early and headed down to meet Mom and Gary in Sedalia. The day was long but the conference was REALLY great. The church was fabulous too! Ended up spending Saturday and part of Sunday there too. It was relaxing to be away and not think about work. Thursday afternoon was very trying on my nerves. It was nice to be away.

Yesterday was pretty smooth given that I upgraded my pc at work to Vista. So far I haven't had any major issues. Small things. It's so different than what I'm used to but it's kinda cool. I like a lot of the new features but I have a feeling its going to take me all day to tweak it like I want it. I picked a good week however to turn my life at work upside down. It's pretty slow here.

Oh I got a mini hair cut over the weekend too. Just trimmed up the back part but I still love it like it was an entire new do. He's me in my new favorite JLo shades.

Ok So It Wasn't That Great...

So yesterday was full of afternoon meetings that had nothing to do with what I actually DO and then the leadership took us all to the restaurant. It was a cute place. Kinda small but I can see how on a normal night with just me and my hubby, it would be fun. For this is seemed a bit small and crowded. The food was mighty tasty though. My favorites where the sliced rare steak w/some sort of green herb sauce, the mash potato balls and the cheese and toast. Lots of unusual things to try though. I did my fair share. I should have taken more pics. I didn't. My friend Kelly and I were to busy being weirded out because nobody would talk to us. We sat in the middle of this tiny room with loads of people crammed in next to us but two open chairs across from us. It was odd. We are good at entertaining ourselves though. We did however leave early and I only drank sparkling water.

Once I got home I downloaded bunches of music for a new Ipod play list. Wish I could get my dang Ipod to work however. Oh! And we ran out to get a potted plant for a friends admin day present. I found so many cool plants I would love to have at Home Depot.

Today I've got more meetings up the hill. A meeting with my manager one on one. Should be great. We don't get to meet all that often and then an hour long session in which our CPO will speak. I'm excited about this session because she is a fun speaker. She makes boring stuff seem fun and she's very down to earth.

Tonight we're headed back to Kate's for more demo work. I'm not sure what we will get into tonight but I'm looking forward to it. I do have to say that I'm looking forward to going back to bed tonight already. I don't think I slept all that great last night. Pretty common for me these days. It seems that I always wake up between 4:25 and 4:45. Almost every night now. Weird.

Well I'm off to work for a few hours before my meetings begin. Long day ahead!

Sometimes I totally identify with the human in this strip...

Click the pic to make it bigger.

Weekend Bliss

The weekend was wonderful. We had planned to go to mom's and then decided not to AND then decided to go anyway. The weather was perfect and the company was simply Divine. I was outside as much as I possibly could have been I think. We fished, did a camp fire (complete with marshmallows over the fire), grilled out, went for multiple walks. AND I might even have scored a free airstream trailer. I've ALWAYS wanted one but never really pursued it seriously. I just figured it would be something that someday I would get. Well that someday might just be today. A family member has one they want someone to just come get. We aren't sure on the condition but I assume we'll end up ripping everything out and starting again anyways. I'm so thrilled. I'd love to just live in it all the time but I'm sure that won't happen. Also came back with some really cute plants. I'm hoping I can actually keep them alive.

This week is Administrative Professionals Week at work. They do a series of workshops, meetings and a big event for us. Tonight they're taking us to suppose to be a super great restaurant downtown. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully some of my friends can attend. I'll be sure to have pictures tomorrow. Year before last it got WILD. I mean really wild. That would be the year I acquired my taste for tequila. bad. I know. It's gonna be a long day/night.

I also have Friday off this week. We had planned to go out of town but aren't doing that now. Not sure what I will do with myself. Sleep in for sure but other than that I've no idea.

Prints & Patterns

Ok, I'm accused constantly of hating patterns & prints. I have to admit that they make me nervous. When you're a curvy gal, such as myself, you think about how things like that tend to make curves look curvier. I'm trying to fight this urge however this summer and have decided to seek out something patterned I love. Here are some contenders:

And So There Was Demo and Pizza

Last night was demo night at the Kate Johnson new homestead. Was so much dang fun. We ate pizza till we almost couldn't move and then sat to work on what looks to be a pretty major demo project. We pulled up all the remaining carpet, tore down paneling, removed nasty old plaster. It was like a archaeological dig. We found cool vintage floor under all the carpet and many layers of bizarre wall paper. My favorite though was the Kansas City Star newspaper for April 5th, 1931. It was hidden under the kitchen cabinet we removed. Lucky for us the electricity is still on. I couldn't believe after a few short hours how much we accomplished and how much better the place looked. I just truly can't get over people lived with babies in that house. Truly. I'm excited to go back and gut more stuff. Such FUN!