Goodbye old year!

I went out with my sister this afternoon and we stopped for lunch at Ruby Tuesday. I don't go out for dinner often, and even less often do I get to go out with her. It was cold and grey outside so it was a nice treat to go out with her. She brightens my life. :) She ordered this crazy-good drink! A strawberry lemonade. I'm sure we're the last on the planet to discover this drink, but that may be a good thing. I'm already trying to figure out how we can replicate it and make them whenever we want to! It tastes like lemonade, seltzer water with strawberry pieces floating inside. But perhaps there is also a strawberry syrup in there too...I'm definitely going to have to try to make this. Maybe it can be one of my New Years resolutions. ;)

I am proud to say that my younger sister has picked up the habit (or new tradition perhaps?) of photographing things even when it's a bit unconventional to do so. I think our server probably thought we were weird for taking pictures of Holly's drink. But anything for the blogs, right? I know Becca used to tease me for taking pictures of my tea or of the signs on the shops that we went to, but I'm so glad that I can look back and read about and see what happened this past year or so.

Holly took a photography course this past year so I think she has been enjoying photography a lot lately! She took these last couple of pictures.

Well, it's not quite 8 pm and I'm already in bed. Teeth brushed (and flossed...if I learned one thing as a dental assistant it is that it is better to spend 30 extra seconds flossing your teeth than it is to spend 30 minutes in the chair all numbed up for a filling!), face washed, electric blanket on and I'm all tucked in for the night with yarn, my sketchbook, books and the world wide web. I think I'll be busy for the next few hours. :)

I may post about the old year on the other blog but since I have plans for tomorrow, I'll end here and say Happy New Year, blog!

Day 3 at the new job...

I actually enjoyed myself today.  It was much smoother.  I think it helped that Dana was there and I really like the podiatrist that was working in the other end of the office.  He was a sweet old guy.  The other podiatrist was nice too, but had a filthy mouth.  :(  All in all, I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out what I need to do for most of the procedures.  We've done more crown preps and inserts in 3 days than I probably assisted with in 3 months at the old office.  

I am looking forward to the weekend tomorrow though.  Holly and Adam are having birthdays on Friday and Monday, we have a citizenship party to go to on Sunday!!! And Matt and Tasha are supposed to come down one of those days and Aunt Liz is coming down too on Saturday.  I think sometime next week a few of us may go bowling too for Adam and Holly's birthdays.  I have next week off because my doctor will be on vacation, so luckily I will be able to join in the festivities!

You know what else I'm looking forward to?  My chiropractor appointment tomorrow.  My back hurts!  Okay, I'm done whining. 

That's all for now. :)

New job woes...

Yes, I've only been there 2 days and woe is me. I feel SO slow! Everyone has been very kind to me and I like them all. No one has made me feel bad. It is more of a personal thing I guess. I can't stand being new and not knowing what I'm doing and slowing people down. Now when I've been someplace for a while and someone new has come on and needed help it never bothered me at all to stop what I was doing and help them, even if it did slow me down a bit and I'd be there late. Probably because I know how awful it feels to be the newest person in a place. I'm very lucky that my new doctor and co-workers are patient folks who have been great these past couple of days. Maybe in a few weeks I'll look back at this post and breathe a sigh of relief because I'll be more comfortable there. Or at least, I hope so!

Is it Friday yet? (Optional title: A very random collection of thoughts.)

Today was a rough day. It started with some unhappy news and turned into a headache that lasted all day long. Work was slow going and I was up front pretty much all day which is a little boring.
But tomorrow is Thursday and payday (yay!), and the new Narnia comes out on Friday and I want to see it. If not this Friday then maybe next week. I love weekends! I'm hoping to do some work on my sewing or knitting. And on my nutrition course.
I'm starting to make some progress with it. I think once I get past the anatomy and physiology section it will be more smooth sailing. I like science, but it's just a lot of terms to remember. I've reviewed it a lot though in biology class and maybe not as much, but a little more indepth (if that makes any sense) in my dental assisting class. For example, in biology we went over all the systems of the body. In dental assisting we went over the anatomy of the head and neck but talked about things like osteoblasts and osteoclasts and what the difference was between them and a lot of specific bones in the skull and where the foramens are in the face, the cranial nerves and facial muscles, planes of the body and...yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, it helps to know some of that stuff because it's what I'm covering right now.
Sorry for that unexpected tangent on anatomy and physiology. I don't mean to bore anyone.

Yesterday morning I woke up and thought, "Yes! It's Thursday!" It was really only Tuesday. I'm not sure why I thought that it was Thursday in the first place. It was weird. :) So tomorrow morning I can wake up and say, "Yes! It's Thursday!" And it will be real this time. Yay!

Have a happy Wednesday! And Thursday!

We had a good time with the stamps...

Don't you think? And yes, those are M&Ms in the bowl.

I met my friend on Friday morning for breakfast. It was really nice to see her again and hear how she is doing. I think I probably talked her ear off as I seem to do when anyone will listen to me. It seems like forever since I've talked to someone my own age. That may sound funny, but during the week I work full-time and on the weekends everyone else my age works. And those who aren't working are away in college. Most young adult functions around here happen while I'm at work. So I'm really excited that all the students are getting back from school because I really missed everyone while they were gone.

So far this weekend has been really nice. Breakfast with Sarah, stamping with my sisters, cookout at Illona's and playing Pretty Pretty Princess with a 5 year old, my sister, and my brother-in-law (which was really funny, he was a super good sport although he wasn't very enthusiastic about playing.). And I just got back from watching an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Gila Monster. Mystery Science Theater is a little over the top, I didn't stay for the second episode. But the company was fun!

So I'm thinking I will cut some pieces out for some projects I want to do tomorrow. But first I have some work to do on my nutrition course. :) And I have to put together my Mom's gift for Mother's day. I guess I should get going!

Ciao~

Thank God it's Thursday!

I made these back at Christmas and never gave them out. That's pretty typical of me actually. I do stuff like that frequently. Like I'll buy a card specifically for someone and never write anything in it and never give it away. It will just sit. Mostly because I don't know what to say. Sad, huh? Hee hee. :)
I had fun making these. I used the cardboard squares that you get out of the quarter yards from JoAnns. Like I said, I got a ton of them to make into Christmas gifts and had a billion of those cardboard squares hanging around.
So combine cardboard with scrapbooking paper which was cut up and used to decorate the "cards."
The snowflakes were cut off of the scrapbooking paper and glued onto the cardboard.
I guess they were more like Christmas postcards. It was a fun way to reuse the cardboard and I thought they were kind of cute. Maybe I'll use them to stick into gift bags as cards this Christmas.


And these were the To: From: tags. They're supposed to look like little ornaments.
Oh this week. I'm so glad the work week is OVER! Woo hoo! Honestly, I am so glad to be off for 3 days. I don't know what's going to happen at my job, but I wish I didn't have to wait so long to find out. Not knowing is not a fun place to be.
There are quite a few areas in my life right now that fit that bill. Not knowing.
Moving. Job. And some family matters...
I do know that God has everything under control. Everything is on His perfect timing. It has just always been hard for me to wait. Someday this will all jut be a memory. A piece of my past. A waiting spot.
I guess we all have waiting spots. Times where we have to wait for God to show us where he wants us to be, what he wants us to do...they are special times for us to draw close to Jesus. And that's what I want and need to do.

On a lighter note, I am meeting my friend Sarah for breakfast tomorrow before she goes back to college for a summer class. I'm so looking forward to it! And I'm looking forward to doing some crafting this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some stuff to show by Sunday. :)

So what can I say?

Quite a bit has happened since I last blogged. Too much to go into here. Suffice it to say that things are crazy. Work is very tense, more people have been coming to see the house, and allergy season has definitely arrived. Zyrtec isn't as much help as I hoped it would be. :(
But let's see, what's gone on since I last blogged...my parents went to Massachussetts last Wednesday to see my grandmother and help her get settled back into her home after getting out of the rehab center for her knee. They said it was a great visit and they got a chance to meet my cousin's new baby and my other cousin's fiance as well as see a lot of other family members. They came back that Sunday. While they were gone we had 2 calls from realtors with people who wanted to see the house. So that made me pretty panicky and I spent a lot of time cleaning the house. I was up till 1 am on Friday trying to get things cleaned up and then was up again at 6:30 Saturday morning and cleaned some more. In the end the first couple was an hour and a half late and the other was an hour and a half early and we missed the second couple because we were out. I was one unhappy camper. I felt like it was all my fault that we missed the second couple, but they didn't call or anything. At least the first group called to say they would be late. It wasn't all bad though. We had a few members of our Bible study come over for curry and we watched 2 episodes of the Muppet show (they made us watch it because we had never seen it before...I don't think I cared for it much) and Mystery Science Theater 3000. And on Sunday we went next door for Bible study and everyone just kind of brought their leftovers and we had a buffet lunch and played games afterward. It's very nice having family and close friends right next door to you. :) It was nice to have my parents home again too that evening. I don't like being in charge of keeping a house ready to show.
We finished Bleak House. My sister, her sister-in-law, and a friend of ours all decided to have a girl's night and watch Bleak House. It was really good. I'd seen most of it before a long time ago, but it was really nice to hang out with the ladies. I think we're going to continue it and watch Jane Eyre next.
Work is very uncomfortable right now. Ever since the one doctor announced she was leaving and only gave a week's notice there has been a lot of tension in the office. The parting was not very peaceful and has caused some other problems. I know it will eventually calm down, but I don't enjoy being there right now.
Last night my sister hosted a Pampered Chef show put on by our friend Becky. She just started doing consulting and it was a lot of fun. I ordered some stencils and cake decorating bottles and tips as well as some spices to make into dips and seasonings.
I have so many ideas of things I want to make and do this spring and summer. I haven't really done anything though because it's not a good time to make a big mess. I'm hoping to get to work on some projects though sometime soon.

I'm planning a trip to Texas this June to see my godmother. I can't wait. She lives in Austin and the last time I went there I loved it. It would be so fun to live there. I hope I can work it out with my work schedule so I can go out and visit!
Well, I guess I'll stop here. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about sometime soon.

This week...

has gone by...quickly. I guess. I have been to the doctor every day this week. The orthodontist on Monday and the chiropractor Tuesday through Thursday. So I've been getting out of work early for the past couple of days which is kinda nice I guess. I'm excited because tomorrow I'm meeting a friend of mine for tea at a tea house. Kinda like a coffee house but they serve tea instead. It's supposed to be very much like an authentic indian tea house. The weather today was very warm. It's so pretty. Trees are blooming and some flowers are too. I love it! So hopefully I'll get a few pictures of my outing tomorrow. For now though, I'm home alone and am going to take advantage of the peace and quiet and try to do some homework! I'm sure I'll write again later~

April Showers bring May flowers, but it's still only March...so never mind...

I got some photos of the pretty hyacinth my sister gave my mom for Easter and the tiger lilies I got just because. :)

In the nutrition course I got the professor on the CDs that came with the course was saying that growing plants brings a sense of calmness and peace and is therapeutic so that's why I got them. I know I mentioned that in my last post, but they do make the house look cheerier. I've always liked lilies, but I like pretty much every flower. We went to California Tortilla last night to get dinner. It's new around here so we checked it out. The atmosphere was very nice, the employees were all really nice, but the food wasn't the greatest. My dad loved it, Holly and I didn't really care for it. And it was really loud in there. But it was fun going out with my dad and sister.


My grandma is still hallucinating. She is off the medications, but they think she is having a reaction to a die-off of bacteria from an infection. She apparently had a UTI but didn't realize it because the sciatica was hurting her so badly. My grandma doesn't have dementia or alzheimers, but she keeps saying weird stuff like she sees bugs that aren't there, she thinks there are about 50 puppies running around her room, she has been crocheting up a storm but without yarn and a crochet hook. She's also come up with all kinds of stories that make no sense and can't seem to distinguish between dreams and reality.

My grandma is very crafty. She baked all kinds of stuff, she sewed, knitted, crocheted, embroidered, did cross-stitch...she helped me learn to crochet and showed me how to knit one time, but I didn't figure it out at that time. She's always lived far away but has come to visit us pretty much everywhere we have lived while she was able to travel. She made us dress-up clothes, doll clothes...one visit she made everyone quilts using fabric crayons. She drew pictures onto white blocks and pieced them with printed blocks. She drew Raggedy Ann pictures for my quilt and Precious Moments characters for my sister and Adam got Sesame Street characters on his. And she's made afgans for us too. I think I inherited my love of crafting from her. She is good with textiles and such. My dad's mom is into painting, but I can't paint or draw worth anything so I credit my mom's mom with passing down her crafty genes to me. She had 11 kids, 10 of them reached adulthood and she has about 25 grandkids and one great-grandchild. Her husband, my grandpa, died the spring before I was born, so I really only know her. She is a strong woman! And spunky.
She has a funny sense of humor too. And while she has been sick, she apparently seems to be in good spirits. So we are praying for her that she will soon fight off this infection and that the infection is what is causing this "loopyness" and that it will go away soon. It's cold outside today. Hopefully it will warm up soon.

That's all for now.

Stuck

That is the term the chiropractor used to describe three of the vertebrae in my neck today. Hmm...so that's why it's been hurting. It was weird. He put my neck in different positions and I couldn't move it. My sister and her husband paid a visit to the chiropractor and got a coupon for a free visit to give out to someone and since no one else in my family wanted it and I've had some back and muscle pain lately I got it and went today. It was interesting especially since chiropractors have a more natural approach to wellness than most regular doctors. He took some x-rays and I have an appointment to go back on Tuesday to discuss what to do about my neck and the muscles in my fore arms. I've been having a lot of discomfort at work with my back, neck and forearms, especially in my right arm (I'm right-handed). This week was particularly long. I put in 39 hours in 4 days where I usually put it about 35-36. So not that much more, but enough to make me very tired. It was a good week though. By Thursday my dummy syndrome went away (it took a whole week but hopefully it's gone, lol) and even before that I had enough energy to get through my days. We had early patients scheduled every day and I stayed late a couple of nights when the doctors ran late. On Thursday I got to work around 8:20, broke for lunch around 1:30, clocked back in at 2 and didn't clock out till about 7:45-7:50. And I think I was wound up and it made it hard for me to fall asleep. <> It's just been a long, rather taxing week. My grandma is in rehab for sciatica and fluid buildup in her knees. She went to the hospital and has been transferred to rehab and is on a lot of different medications and is acting really loopy. She says she sees bugs everywhere and tries to smack them and has fallen out of her chair onto the floor so she requires constant supervision. She lives up in Massachusetts so it's not really practical for all of us to take time off work and go up there. My mom and dad are thinking of making a trip up there though to help take care of her. We'll see. We're worried about her and it's really stressing my mom out. My grandma is 86 and has high blood pressure, so we know she's not in the best health, but she's got a strong personality. It would be very sad of course if anything happened to her.

I started listening to my CDs from my Nutrition course. I like them. It talks about more than just nutrition and goes into mind-body wellness, chelation, fitness, candida albicans, and more. They said on the CD's that fresh flowers and stuff like that cause peace and relaxation and calming effects so I went to Walmart and while I was there I picked up some flowers. I'm waiting for calmness to set in...I'm still waiting, lol. I just like flowers anyway and I think we could all use a little cheer around here with Grammy being sick and all.

I've been looking for yoga classes around town to get into. There aren't any nearby. I really miss it. I loved dancing so much and yoga was a close second to that. I liked being with other people and stretching and just the atmosphere. The place we had class was pretty cool because it was ceramic tiled with windows stretching across three of the walls so you could see the sky and trees and stone from other people. And since class was at night during the late fall when you got there it would be light outside and by the time you finished it would be dusky or dark out. It was just such the coolest place to do yoga, or at least I think it was. It was actually in a cafeteria that was no longer used but it was open and cool inside. I am really hoping to get into a class when we move if not sooner.

So that's the update. I was going to get my hair cut but I don't think it will be today. Maybe tomorrow or later this weekend. I think I need a change, but I want to look at some different hairstyles first. I'm into easy and fast hairstyles which is hard with my hair. It likes to be difficult.

I have to go. We're getting mexican food tonight! Even though I liked my job this week (some weeks I don't really like my job) I love weekends.

Better scoot!

Oh and by the way...

Happy St. Patty's day! I have green bands on my braces so I was able to avoid being pinched! Had I worked today I would have probably bought that Irish mullet wig I saw at Walmart that was bright green to wear to work to see what kind of reaction I could get. Hee hee! I should go celebrate by listening to my Riverdance CD (which is like my #1 favorite cd almost all the time!). But it's late and I'll likely end my day with a shower and head off to bed because I have to go back to work tomorrow. :( Goodbye 4 day weekend...I enjoyed you. We should do this more often.

Monday, Monday, so good to me...Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be...

When I worked at the Daily Grind that Mama's and Papa's song was my "theme song." Allow me to explain. I worked pretty much every single Monday of the year that I worked there. We had these guest books that customers could sign and write stories and sketch in. Some of the stuff in there was hilarious, some of it was gross (which is why the books were eventually thrown out by the owner cause it couldn't be controlled), but a majority of these books were filled with lists. Lists like these:
If you were on a TV show it would be:
Katie: Grey's Anatomy
Joelle: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Neo: The matrix (okay it's not a TV show, but his name was Neo so what else could he be on?)

and stuff like that depending on some characteristic of the person they were describing. These lists were made by the employees of the coffee shop and sometimes they drew stick figure drawings of each of us saying some quote we always said. I think my quote was either something from Napoleon Dynamite (no surprise) or "I was prepared!" from Hoodwinked. Anyway, one of the lists had to do with songs that described us and Monday Monday was mine in honor of the fact that I worked Mondays all the time.

Ahh, the good old days...
well I felt better today. I've decided to cut back on the sugar and work out more but today the girl scout cookies I apparently ordered during the same weak moment I had when I ordered the cookie dough from someone else's child came in. Plus all the cold medicine I've taken were making me feel sick (as in nauseas). So I skipped the gym, but I didn't eat the cookies. I'm taking them to Bible study tomorrow and maybe the guys will eat them up. You can usually count on guys for that, right? So that was my grand start. Pretty bad, huh? Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day. And I really didn't eat badly today.

I'm so glad the sun is out longer...or that we set the clocks ahead. Either way, it's so nice to have the sun still out when you get out of work in the evenings. I think spring is finally on it's way! And I have my doctor's appointment set up to come up with a plan to head my allergies off at the pass before I end up with a big problem this season! I'm so excited for better weather!

Happy Monday!

March comes in like a lamb...

At least, that's what the weather said on the radio.
I put up this picture because my camera battery is dead and I couldn't take any pictures yesterday of our sewing extravaganza (plus I wish this is what our weather was like right now, but unfortunately it is still pretty cold and...dead-looking out), which was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed it. I worked on a skirt but have to rip out part of it because I didn't do it right. :P I was helping my sister and our friend, Becca, with their projects. We used a pattern for Becca's skirt. It was her first time making a skirt and my first time using a pre-made pattern. She had all kinds of questions about the best way to cut, sew, etc. and I honestly couldn't tell her the best way to do any of it because all the sewing I have done has been trial and error sewing and I decide when it is good enough. But with the effort put out between the two of us, I think her skirt is coming out very pretty! We're going to set up another sewing meet at Bible study this Tuesday.

So now I need to find my battery charger and charge up my camera battery so I can get pictures of what's going on in my life! Cause I'm really missing being able to post pictures up here!

I almost forgot to mention that on February 28th around 10:30 pm my cousin and her husband had their first baby. Welcome little Cheyanne Elizabeth into the world! She was only an hour and a half away from being born on leap day. Both mom and baby seem to be very healthy so that is a blessing. She is the first great-grandchild on my mom's side of the family. Her mother is the oldest of the 25 of us grandkids on my mom's side of the family so we are very excited to have this newest member of the family. Now if only we could find a way/time to get up to New England to visit...

Gotta run~

my week...

this week...
was good! I had a good week at work! I had energy (for a change), I was so on top of things...it was good. And on Tuesday I went to a Bible study (which is partly why I think the week went so well) at my sister's house. I so enjoyed it. Just being around other Christians is so encourgaging and uplifting. I can't wait for next week's study.

Today was a good day! I went grocery shopping with my sister and we stopped for coffee while out, and I got lunch with a friend this afternoon at a chinese buffet. The food was good, but the MSG or something made my tummy hurt. :( So sad being me, lol. I'm looking forward to tomorrow because a friend of mine is getting together with my sister and me to work on a skirt. At least, that's what she's working on. I don't know what I'm working on. :) I'll have to bring my camera since I've had a great lack of photos on here lately.

Movie of the week: we're into Poirot here. My neighbors lent us 3 Poirot dvds and while they were a leetle bit scary to watch right before bed (which is of course when I watched them), they were really interesting. If you're wondering, Poirot is a detective from Belgium (?) and is a character made up by Agatha Christie. I never read anything by her and didn't know she created the Poirot character, but they're really interesting "whodunnits's" and are fun to watch. So since we had to give the dvds back to our neighbors I went ahead and ordered 2 sets off Amazon (2 sets off Amazon cost me less than one new set would at Borders)! They will hopefully be in next week.

Amazon: is sort of dangerous. If you know me, you might know that I claim to be a good bargain shopper. I hardly ever buy anything at full price. Well, Amazon sells all kinds of things used and new, and even some of the new stuff is more than half off the original price. I got 2 sewing books for the price of one off Amazon a week ago and they were both new. Someone was clearing out their stock and was selling them for really cheap! And with gas at $3+ a gallon you're basically coming in even with shipping and handling. I need to stop looking on Amazon I think.

Last, but not least, I am so thankful that the weather was so nice this week! It is so nice to not worry about getting stuck in the snow or ice, worrying about family members and friends getting into accidents, etc. So much less stress! It's wonderful!

Day 5...

Gluten-free! It's going a lot easier now. I was sooooooo tempted to cheat on Sunday, but I'm glad I didn't. I went to Walmart and got a lot of stuff to cook that was gluten free and last night I made a gluten-free turkey sun dried tomato alfredo! I know that sounds gross, but it wasn't too bad. I found gluten-free rice noodles and checked the ingredients on everything I bought.

I haven't noticed that I'm feeling any better, but I don't really think it was the gluten that was making me feel bad anyway. I'm not sure what is causing it, but every little bit helps and if my body is not constantly being taxed because I eat gluten then maybe I will feel better anyway as far as being tired all the time goes.

So tonight I'm going to my sister's house for a Bible study. I have to be there in half an hour. I'm looking forward to it. :) Work was pretty good today. We had this kid come in and he had such a bad attitude. I don't like working on those kinds of kids. Does that sounds really bad? It's frustrating. But other than that the day went well!

Okay, I gotta run.
Will talk again later~

Another Weekend Over

It's Sunday night...it's amazing how quickly 3 days go by. 3 days where you don't have to dash out the door early and come home late, worry so much about the weather, deal with people all day...not that weekends are perfect, and they wouldn't mean anything if you didn't have to work because then they would just be like any other day...but I do enjoy them.

Today was a nice day. We had church with our neighbors (and my sister and her husband...who are also our neighbors...) and we all had lunch together. This happens pretty much every Sunday. It's really nice. The men take turns teaching each week so you get a variety. I like it when we listen to John MacArthur. I think he is a wonderful teacher. But it's also nice to hear what the other people here are studying in the Bible too. I enjoy it very much. Later this afternoon, Dad and I went out to Walmart (he let me drive :) ) and I was able to grocery shop for the week. I'm still gluten-free although I really wanted to cheat today. So I went to the store and managed to find a lot of gluten-free foods. So I guess I'll be doing a bit of cooking this week. Should be fun. :) And it's much cheaper than buying lunch out every day.

In other words I am thankful for:
family
friends
studying the Bible (with family and friends)
getting my grocery shopping done
spending quality time with my siblings this weekend (playing dutch blitz...I beat Matt. This has only ever happened once before. He's the best at dutch blitz. *says all this with a Nacho Libre accent*)
We didn't get all the snow and ice we were supposed to get.
One more week till it is March! February is almost over!

So that is what's on my mind tonight.
Have a happy week!

Day 2 of being gluten-free

So I think I mentioned before that I am gluten intolerant but I do eat wheat/gluten almost every day. I've been trying to stop though because I've been really tired and my tummy hurts sometimes so I've been officially off gluten for 2 days now (I know, great big accomplishment, but every little bit helps and you have to start somewhere). It is hard to stay on a gluten free diet because you mostly have to cook everything you eat by scratch. And you can't eat all the lovely bready things you want to eat. So this is what I'm craving right now... recipe found here

I want to try to make this sometime. But I'm also using the gluten free diet as a chance to try to lose some lbs and I don't want to do a whole lot of sugar either. Pretty boring.

I think I've also mentioned that I'm really interested in natural health. I've been looking into different schools (all online because there doesn't seem to be any 4 year schools with natural/holistic degrees) to get into for nutrition or herbs or something like that. Anyway, this is what I've found that I've liked. The Global College of Natural Medicine and Clayton College of Natural Health. I'm thinking of doing GCNM's nutritional consultant course and they also have one on herbs. So since I'm moving and I have dropped out of school I think I might do this for a year while I'm waiting on my in-state residency and then maybe I will go back to school for nutrition if no one will accept my certification from GCNM. I am mostly just thinking out loud here, but I am interested.

Oh, and they came in! I love these two books!

Must dash. I'm off with my family to the mall (I wanted to go to Joann's because the books I ordered *In Stitches by Amy Butler and Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter* came in yesterday and I feel this occasion calls for new fabric, but apparently my family does not feel that way and will not take me, lol), will write later!

Have a lovely weekend.

Self-Portrait and some thoughts...

Here is my self portrait...
And this is what I've been thinking about lately...

Thankfulness. :)

Thankfulness and joy are tied to each other. If you are not thankful, what will you be joyful for?

I listened to a podcast by John MacArthur about thankfulness. It was very good. You can download his podcasts for free and put them on your ipod or mp3. It made me think about how ungrateful I am. I take so much for granted. I fuss at my family even though they are more important to me than anything, I complain about my job even though it's the best job I've had and I really do enjoy it. I fret about moving, but I have always had a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in.
I complain about so much when I should be grateful.

So I am trying to make it a point to count my blessings and turn it into a habit. So I want to start posting the things I am thankful for on here. Only if will have to wait because someone else needs the computer now. :P

Talk soon!

Happy Valentines Day

I usually don't pay much attention to Valentines day because it's a hallmark holiday and it's hard on folks like me who are trying to avoid sugar and I'm single. But I decided to write a post for the occasion anyway. This is what's been going on during my Valentines day.

My dear friend Janice wrote a message to everyone today. It was a valentines message and she addressed pretty much everyone in it; singles, dating couples, engaged couples, married couples, etc and gave a greeting and advice to all the people in those different groups. Some of the ideas for singles were to spend time with your siblings or take your parents on a date or get together with friends, that kinda thing. It was very sweet and I enjoyed reading it. I also read an interesting valentines post here at My Messy, Thrilling Life's blog. I enjoyed it also and maybe you will too.

I went to a Bible study tonight. It was the first time I went to this particular study and I'm very happy I went. We didn't really talk about Valentines day or tie the study to it, but it was nice to spend Valentines evening talking about the greatest love of all. The love of a God who sent his only begotten Son to die for the sins of a world who reject(ed) Him. The love of Jesus who died and rose again and bought our souls with His death. What kind of person does that even for their nearest and dearest much less those who hate them?

I want to be someone who shows Jesus' love to all the people He places in my life. A big step in accomplishing that goal is to stop focusing so much on myself and to start focusing more on others. If I would stop focusing on my own needs and hurts and dreams and focused on the needs and hurts and dreams of the people around me, how many opportunities would present themselves to share the love of Christ with others? The truth is that I can be very self-absorbed. My life is mostly about me and not about others. The Bible says "In as much as you have done to the least of my brothers, you have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:40)" I don't want to reach the end of my life and look back and think about how I cared more about myself than others (which according to this verse means your love yourself more than you love God).

So that is what I have been thinking about this Valentines evening. I am grateful for the love and friendship I have been blessed with by family and friends. I am especially grateful for the love I have received from my creator and saviour, Jesus Christ. And someday I hope to be grateful for the love and companionship of my own husband and family, but until then I am content to be in the position I am in.

Happy Valentines Day all!

Snow, Snow Go Away...

It is yucky here. I do not like this weather. I think it is weird too that one day it will be almost 70 degrees outside and then a week later there is ice and snow on the ground. I think I know why birds fly south for the winter. They have the right idea.

So enough of my whining. The snow is pretty. The family that came to see our house this weekend came and left in about 5 minutes. We haven't heard anything else from them. So I guess we are still waiting.
That's okay too though.

So I think I want to enter a 5k run. My cousin started running a couple of years back and I am inspired to try to get into enough shape to do that too. I found a website that has a training plan that I want to do as soon as it warms up enough to go outside and go to the park. The info can be found here. I am trying to lose a few lbs and get into shape and I'm hoping this will help. That's assuming I can even do it. :) I had decided to go off sugar and do a low-carb/high-protein diet for a week...I called it Gatkins since it was my own version of Atkins. Long story short: I did it for a day and felt great. But on day 2 I caved and blew the diet. I didn't even feel bad from no sugar. I just caved. And then I got to work on Monday and opened the fridge to put my lunch into it and was greeted by boxes of Little Caesar's pizza and cookie kits. I forgot that when one of the worker's kids came in with a fundraiser for the school I bought a tub of cookie dough and it had come in. I must have had a weak moment that day or something...I'm very ashamed of myself. I think I might try the diet again this week. Just for a few days anyway.

Well, so much for a crafting blog...this had nothing to do with crafting. :) It is also a journal blog though so I guess I'm not really breaking the rules. I have an idea for a photo set, but haven't had the time (or light really) to take any photos. But maybe sometime soon I will get around to it.

Peace out~