Thursday Thoughts

I've been awake now for a little over an hour.  That's not normal for me.  I'm a morning person; typically I'm awake by 6am and out of bed before 7am.  It gives me time to eat my breakfast and read my devotion in a leisurely manner.  My day feels more productive the earlier I get up.

This day has been different.  I awoke at 3:20am needing to use the bathroom.  I was fine when I got up.  Then, out of nowhere, my nose started leaking, I was getting stuffed up, sneezing, eyes tearing...major allergy attack, and I don't know what triggered it.  Figuring whatever it was would leave my body eventually, I went back to bed, but kept having to wake up to blow my nose because (a) I kept sneezing and (b) my nose was constantly dripping.  I finally realized I had to get up and take some meds or else I'd end up ripping my nose off my face.  I took a Benadryl and administered nose drops.  The first round of drops did nothing; I had to blow my nose and add more nose drops which took at least another 20 minutes before I could breathe again.  The last time I looked at the clock it was 5:20am, then slowly but surely, as I chatted with my Father, I fell asleep.  Oh, what bliss!  I heard my daughter get up to feed Molly which gave me even more comfort, since I didn't have to get up and do it myself, and I dozed off again.  I finally got up at 9:15 this morning, still feeling groggy but unable to stay in bed any longer.  I've had my breakfast and coffee but I still feel like the anesthesia hasn't worn off :P.

Here are some more happenings from the past week:

 - I didn't mention what happened last Saturday as I was desperately trying to forget.  Friday night my daughter gotten the call that the orphanage was hiring her.  She asked if we could go shopping for jeans the next day.  I saw no problem with that; she works in jeans and a polo which the orphanage gives her, and her jeans looked a bit worn, and anyway she deserved it!  So the next day after lunch I ask which mall she wants to go to, and she mentions an outlet mall in our area which is very large and has great prices.  I thought it was a good idea.  There are over 300 stores (and the mall is still expanding) so I was sure we could find whatever she needed.

When we arrived, I was surprised to see the parking lot jam packed and cars roaming around looking for someone to follow back to their parking spaces.  I was puzzled as to why the mall was so full.  Then my daughter tells me, "Oh, it's tax-free weekend."  What?!?!  I'd forgotten all about that!!!  I NEVER schedule shopping trips during times like this when I know the malls will be overflowing with people.  How could she not have mentioned that to me?!  This mall has the largest parking lot I've ever seen and still there was no place to park.  It took 20 minutes and 2 stolen parking spaces (it annoys me to no end when people see you're going for a parking space and they rush to get there first) before we found a spot way out in Timbuktu.  Of course, that wasn't the worst of it.  Despite how large this mall is, it was wall-to-wall people, and the air conditioning couldn't keep the place cool enough, so my very sensitive nose was picking up body odor all around.  I wanted to leave so badly, but I didn't want to do that to my little girl.  She was on cloud 9 thanks to having received an internship from our old church and her new job within days of each other, and I couldn't ruin her excitement by saying, "Mama's having an anxiety attack and we need to get out of here."  I measured my breathing, spoke as little as possible, and pushed on.

Thankfully she wasn't as thrilled as she thought she'd be, surrounded by crowds like we were.  We went to a couple of stores, including the Gap store where she didn't find anything to her liking.  Then we reached the Levi store.  As she said, "If I can't find jeans here I might as well give up."  She did - two pairs of really good quality jeans at $49.99 a pair.  We walked around a little afterwards per her suggestion, but it wasn't long before both of us said, "Let's get out of here."  I'm glad our little expedition turned out successful, but it's a reminder to me to check what day it is before I rush to the mall again :P.

 - I ordered bowling shoes for myself and my son E which shipped yesterday.  Once they come in we'll be visiting the bowling alley often.  With my daughter working now she won't be able to join us as often, which is too bad, but E and I can enjoy a couple of games a day.  School will be starting soon, so we may as well make the best of the time we have left.

 - We had our Awana leaders meeting last night at church.  Lots of fun activities are in store!  My son is done with Awana; our church only does the program to sixth grade, and he'll be entering 7th this month.  Still, he wants to help out, so he joined me for the meeting and suggested a family movie night as an activity for after the Christmas recess.  The pastor loved the idea, and E was so happy he'd made the suggestion.  I love that our children's pastor loves the kids so much.  He really takes their ideas into consideration.

That's the "interesting" stuff going on here with us.  Hope your week is just as fun!  God bless.