The Week In Review

What day is it? Thursday? It's taken a while to recover from last week, LOL! VBS was A-mazing! I didn't realize how much I'd missed working with the kids and doing Vacation Bible School till I was back in the game. 

I'd done VBS in the past, whenever my son E was young and later with my niece and nephews. I had been an assistant leader, worked registration, and did snacks for two years. I hadn't done VBS since 2014, though. My last church had VBS in the evenings, from 6:00 - 9:00 pm. I was working from 2:15 - 8:15 pm, so I wasn't able to be a part of it. So whenever this new church we've been attending asked if I would consider volunteering, I immediately said Yes! And it was meant to be: they assigned me to the snack room, so I had experience! There were three of us in the snack room teaching on missions. I met some of the loveliest and most encouraging people. We got the 1st and 2nd graders, a wonderful and well-behaved group of children that were eager to learn (and eat!). It was a joy-filled, rewarding experience that I would do again in a heartbeat.

VBS ran from 8:00 am till noon. Once I got out I took care of everything I needed to do around the house: grocery shopping, yardwork, laundry, the usual. I also applied to jobs whenever I found anything. Which is a good thing too, since I got some shocking news this weekend. My ex-husband J quit his job of 25 years. 

J has been telling me for years that they are going to fire him "any day now". Even when he told me the company had been sold a little over a year ago, I didn't believe him because I'd been hearing the same story for such a long time. So when I got the text message on Sunday saying Friday was his last day working for the company, I couldn't believe it. Then I looked at the message again. He didn't say they'd fired him; he said that Friday was his last day. That was suspicious. So I texted back asking what had happened, but I got no answer. I was left to ponder the meaning of his text.

Monday he finally called. I asked him point blank if he'd been fired or if he'd quit. He started yelling and cussing up a storm, till I calmly told him there was no need for him to fly off the handle like that. I'd only asked a simple question; there was no accusation or judgment. He finally did calm down and told me the new administration had been firing all the employees that were there from the old owners and bringing in new people. They called him in saying they would no longer need him in his position and offered to demote him, cutting his salary. So he walked out.

What does this mean for me? It means my job search had been moved into high gear. J still has to pay alimony but he's going to try and give me as little as possible. I'm thankful that my expenses aren't as high as they were whenever I was living in South Florida, but that doesn't mean I have no expenses at all. I'm applying and interviewing as much as possible, but so far there haven't been any offers. Still, I put my trust in the Lord. He who has provided in the past will continue to provide. I put in a prayer request at church and the pastor kindly emailed me requesting my resume so he can forward it to anyone that might be looking. I am beyond thankful for that gesture.  

If you have a moment, say a prayer for me. Ask that God would guide me to the right job. That I wouldn't be anxious for anything, but that in all things, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, I make my desires known to God (Philippians 4:6). I am filled with His peace now, and I don't want anything to take my focus off of Him. 

That's it for this now. Have a blessed rest of your week.

Update - Praising God

In Luke 17 we read about the 10 lepers who asked Jesus for healing. Jesus didn't appear to do anything; He simply told them to go present themselves to the priest. All 10 went to the priest in faith, and all 10 were healed because of their faith. But only one of the men came back to give thanks and praise God for his healing. This disappointed Jesus, because gratitude is so important to God. We should be thankful for His blessings. In that spirit, I want to give praise to God for the past few days and for how He has blessed me over and over. 

The Pod container was delivered on Monday morning, and my son E and I got to work loading it with boxes. Here in South Florida the weather had been hot and humid for days, but Monday was cooler, breezy and pleasant. I think the high for the day was in the low 70's. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, keeping us protected while we worked. I was so thankful that God gave us such a pretty day so we wouldn't be overtired. 

The next day a volunteer from the church came to help us move the bigger pieces of furniture. He wasn't just any volunteer either; this guy is a weight training coach. He is one strong dude! He literally lifted the sides of our sectional over his head and carried them downstairs and into the container. Let me just say, those things are super heavy! We had that container loaded to the brim in less than three hours! Not only was he a hard worker, but his attitude was so encouraging. Here we had a young guy lifting furniture, loading a truck, and smiling the whole time. I thanked him multiple times, and all he would say was, "I'm happy to serve." I had several offers to come the next day to help some more, but it wasn't even needed. The container was full!

(And the garage was empty, LOL!)

I got the results of both the home inspection and termite inspection for the new house on Tuesday. Both were good reports! No termites or evidence of termites, and the items marked by the inspector were minor. Of course it's a newer house so that helps, but just because it's a newer house doesn't mean it won't have problems. It's true there's no perfect house, but I thank God there's nothing major that can't be easily fixed.

I put a few items up for sale on OfferUp, specifically the couch/futon, a nightstand and a media cabinet. I'd ordered two Pods because I knew we wouldn't be able to fit everything into one. I chose one large and one small because they are pricey to rent and I'm gonna have to keep them in storage for longer than I'd anticipated. Today when the company called to confirm pick up of the loaded container, I asked when they'd deliver the second one, since it's supposed to come in the same day. The lady checked, then said, "Oh, you ordered an 8' container, but we don't have any available. We're gonna have to give you a 16' container and charge you for an 8 foot." I couldn't believe it! None of the items I'd posted on OfferUp got sold, and I didn't know what I'd do with them. Now they'll all fit in the container with room to spare! I don't believe in coincidence. This has to be a God thing.

The only thing that was concerning me this week was the work on the balcony. They'd taken the tiles off but hadn't done anything else, and the balcony looked rough. I emailed asking when the work would be done, but all I got was "soon." Even my realtor emailed and said the buyer didn't want to close on the house until the work was done. I prayed that God would take care of this. Sure enough, today they were grinding the patio smooth! I don't know how far they got, since I only stopped by for a moment to pick up a few things and left, but I'm hoping the work is complete, since tomorrow the buyer is coming to do the walk thru.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day. The first container will be picked up between 7:30 and 8:00 am. Then the walk thru is at 11:00 am. Meanwhile we have to get as much of the remaining furniture into the garage so we can load it up and be done with that. Then I have to give the place a good cleaning, since I don't like turning over the house with it being a filthy mess. Each day we are one step closer, and each day I praise God for walking me through this difficult season. God is so good y'all! I will shout it from the rooftops, 

Our God is Greater,

Our God is Stronger,

God You are Higher than any other,

Our God is healer,

Awesome in Power Our God, Our God!

The Week In Review

 You know the holidays are approaching when I keep thinking I want to get a post up on my blog but it doesn't happen. I like the busyness of the season but it can distract me and stress me out.

And this week has been stressful. After Tropical Storm Eta literally blew in from the Gulf, my allergies went into overdrive. It always happens after a big storm, especially one as windy as this one was. All the dust and tree debris gets blown everywhere, and even though we got massive amounts of rain, it wasn't enough to totally clean all the allergens out of the air. Hence I've been dealing with itchy eyes, stuffy nose, and worst of all, asthma. I'm feeling better today but the dry cough persists. Which is annoying whenever I go anywhere because anyone coughing gets people's attention. I want to scream out, "Y'all, it's not coronavirus okay?!"

On Tuesday I put up the shelves I'd bought the week before from Ross. The guest bathroom went from this:

To this:

And finally to this:

I haven't really decorated it because in a couple of weeks I'll begin decorating for Christmas so I wasn't too concerned about getting it perfect. 

By the way, I'm so excited to begin decorating for Christmas! Now that my oldest son is married I needed a stocking for my new daughter-in-law. I checked Amazon first but I didn't find anything I liked that didn't cost over $20 or came in a set of 4+ stockings. So instead I went to Hobby Lobby. They have such a good selection of all different styles, and right now everything is 50% off which is right up my alley. This is the stocking I settled on.

The stocking I have for my son R has a reindeer on it. I wanted something similar but this was the closest I could find. It's super cute, and was only $5. I thought about getting all matching stockings for the whole family but that would be an unnecessary expense in my opinion. I'd rather spend that money on gifts.

Since I was already at Hobby Lobby I looked around and found this very pretty poinsettia arrangement for $6.99.

It's kind of hard to see against the granite but it's white and gold, which I think will look beautiful in my bedroom.

I wanted to get a few more small picks for the Christmas tree. I like using them as fillers and to make the tree look a bit more realistic since our allergies don't allow for a real tree. These were just $.99 so I got 5 of them.

They're small pinecones and greenery that's flocked. My tree isn't flocked but I like adding some little accents like this.

Finally, I found the cutest little pillow:

I got a red and black buffalo check throw for the sofa last year, and I think this will look adorable with it. I wanted to see how it looked with my new Costco pillow as well:

I love it! Then I remembered: the big pillow in the back is reversible! So I tried that out too.

Now I'm really itching to start decorating! I'll have to see how the three pillows look against the red and black throw but this is just so stinkin' cute! 

I was looking at some tutorials for Christmas villages on YouTube. I'm wanting to up my village game this year. Miriam's Manner gave me some really good ideas for adding more snow to my village and how to put it on so it looks full and realistic, and I knew that's what I wanted to do. So I took a trip to my local Super Walmart because the artificial snow on Amazon was ridiculously expensive. I'm not paying $25 - $30 for fake snow. 

This value size bag of Buffalo Snow was $5. I've used it before and it lasts. I also got some snow flurries to sprinkle around for more effect. While I was there I did my grocery shopping and picked up a few more items for Thanksgiving dinner.

Yes, I can make pie crusts. I've done it before. It's not rocket science. But when you've got a turkey to roast, plus mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, salad, crescent rolls...y'all, I will take shortcuts wherever I can! Boxed pie crusts it is, LOL! I'm thinking of making a pecan pie and maybe an apple pie. My boys will all want a chocolate pudding pie I'm sure. And the day after Thanksgiving I like making turkey pot pie. It's pie season y'all!

I also went ahead and bought the Stove Top stuffing mix. I'd gotten a couple of boxes of the Aldi's brand but even though it's pretty good, it doesn't compare to Stove Top. This twin pack box was $2.97, and the other boxes of stuffing will get eaten, trust me. We love us some dressing with our fried chicken.

Ladies bible study was on Friday. We studied the parable of the Great Banquet found in Matthew 22:1-14. It was an impactful study. This coming Friday is our last session, and I'm going to miss having this study time with my group.

Then Saturday our new church has a Friendsgiving day brunch for all the children's ministry volunteers. E and I had such a sweet time of fellowship! We both sat by ourselves because with our allergies we didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable if we sat near them and started coughing or sneezing. Well, a couple of ladies came and sat with us and we had some uplifting conversations with them. It was like God was showing us that this is where He wants us right now, and I'm thankful for the confirmation.

That was my week! I hope y'all had a blessed week as well. This coming week is Thanksgiving prep. I'm so excited!

The Week In Review

Good morning! I hope everyone had a productive and pleasant week. I had some highlights that I want to share.

My son has a small desk fan in his bedroom which he has pointed on him during the night because he insists I don't keep the house cold enough. Clearly he doesn't pay the electric bill. Anyway, the fan was acting up (it was a cheap old thing) and Sunday night it simply stopped working. He had a terrible night sleep and had to get up early for his computer class the next day. I felt sorry for him, because it's no fun trying to learn while you're falling asleep, so on Monday I decided to run over to Target and get him another desk fan. I found one for just $15.99, but I also found something else.

I always check out the clearance sections at Target, especially the purse section because I've found some absolute treasures there. This trip didn't disappoint; I found this adorable mauve purse that was originally $36.99 marked down to $18.49. This is going in my Christmas gift stash!

I did go to the Dollar Spot, though not expecting to find anything I wanted. I was wrong.

These little pumpkins are adorable! And at $3 each I couldn't pass them up. I put them on the corner of my dry bar, and only then realized how perfect they were.

The colors match my Dollar Tree florals exactly! How cool is that?!

I hadn't been to Ross in a while, and since it was on my way home I decided to stop in. I had gone back to Ross whenever the stores reopened but twice left empty handed because the store had virtually nothing in the home decor department. Like, empty shelves everywhere. This time it wasn't as bad (though they certainly aren't well stocked yet) and I was able to find this beautiful throw blanket:

It's cream color so it can go pretty much anywhere. It is so soft and cozy, too. I wanted something different for my bed because the throws I have are the same color as the bedspread so they blend in. I wanted something that would stand out but just a little. This fit the bill.

On Tuesday I was on the phone again, this time with AT&T. I use AT&T for my home internet. Last year when we moved into our new home, they offered me 300 Mbps for $50 a month. I'd been paying about $84 a month at the old house, so a savings of $34 a month was music to my ears. Of course that promo was for 12 months, and it was coming to an end, so I decided to see what other offers AT&T had going. The service I currently had, with 300 Mbps, would be going up to $80, but an offer for 1000 Mbps was available for only $59.99. That obviously made no sense, so I started up a chat with one of their agents asking why the discrepancy. After beating around the bush he finally told me that it was because "we want everyone to have fast internet!" Give me a break. I asked a couple of times if the price was actually $59.99, if there were any hidden fees or if this was the actual price. I was assured this was the true price. I also asked if there were any other promotions, and the agent said he'd send me an email with more information. I thanked him and went on looking for other options.

A couple of days later my son asked if I'd gone ahead and upgraded, since he had checked and was able to download to over 900 Mbps. I was pretty surprised and said no, but I remembered I'd received an email that I hadn't looked over yet. When I did, I saw that not only had the agent gone ahead and switched our plan, he upped the price to $69.99. Well, Mama wasn't happy about that. So Tuesday I called and explained what was going on. I quickly realized it was an error on their part. I should not have been offered this promo because it was only for new customers, but since it was their goof-up the new agent said she'd go ahead and honor the price. Then she came back and said she couldn't offer me $59.99 but she did have an offer that was $20 off the $69.99 price and it included the 1000 Mbps plus HBO Max for free. I don't care about HBO but I was only too happy to take the higher speed internet for $.01 less than I'd been paying the past year. Lesson here: always question what doesn't appear right. It can end up saving you money.

On Wednesday we went back to our old neighborhood. My son had been lamenting for the past year that he hadn't found a barber as good as the one back home. I knew it was true; the barbers where he was going, the same place my son-in-law C goes to, were always rushed and did a mediocre job at best. Lucy takes her time and gives him the royal treatment, plus it's always exactly what he wants. I surprised him and made him an appointment with Lucy. After I dropped him off I went to visit my BFF and realtor. We had a nice visit for an hour before it was time to pick E up again. Then we drove by the old house. It doesn't look the same. The new owners painted the exterior, changed out light fixtures and a window, put in new front doors, took down all the coconut palms and the palm trees in front of the house. They even put in a new mailbox and new numbers on the house. It was bittersweet; of course I knew they wouldn't keep the house the same, but it's strange to see it look so different after 20 years. Still, I'm constantly reminded of how God has blessed us, and I'm happy for the new owners.

I didn't do much on Thursday except rest. I pulled a muscle in my back so I took it easy. I studied for our women's bible study on Friday. Since my old church is still doing everything virtually I'm able to participate in the group bible study which I am so extremely thankful for. We are studying Jesus's parables. This past Friday we studied Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the persistent widow. We learned about praying continually and not losing heart. Such a timely Word for the season we're living!

Then yesterday I served in children's ministry at our new church. I like the lady I'm co-leading with; she's a hoot! I also love teaching the children. I'm normally pretty shy, especially in large groups of people, but with the kiddos I come alive. God has shown me that teaching is what He wants me to do, and I'm blessed to be able to do it.

Well, that's been my week. I'm heading off to online church now. I encourage everyone to find a Bible teaching, Bible believing church. Start a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's never too late, and there's no time like the present. Have a blessed week.

The Week In Review

 Every week is a little different. Some are better than others. This one had its good moments, but challenges are never far behind.

As I noted on my previous post, fall decorating has been happening this week. I love any kind of decorating so I've enjoyed putting out new things and seeing how my older treasures mesh with the new to create a look that is warm and inviting. Part two of the fall home transformation is forthcoming :-).

Back in March of this year I filed my taxes, like many in America. To this day I have not received my refund. Six months and I've gotten the run-around several times. Well, that's not entirely true. The first four months I got nothing at all. The nation was on shutdown, and that included the IRS. I tried calling multiple times but was unable to get a human being on the line. I called the IRS tax advocates who'd helped me last year, but they were closed as well. I mailed in my request for them to help, in case someone was at least collecting the mail. Nothing. Finally, on July 10 I was able to connect with the tax advocates who transferred me to an actual representative at the IRS. What they said was that they hadn't received the W-2's from my employer to verify if the numbers on my return were correct. I couldn't believe it. I personally had filed the quarterly reports, and my boss had made the payments via credit card on their website, so I knew they had the numbers. There was nothing I could do on that end, because once you call and they give you information, you aren't allowed to call again for 60 days. So I texted my boss and told her what was going on.

Within a couple of days she texted me back that her accountant had indeed filed the W-2's but he would send them in again just in case. The IRS finally generated a letter on July 22 stating that my return was being verified for accuracy. This letter should have gone out months before but because of the pandemic it never did. I was so annoyed, because they sent a generic form letter 12 days after my phone call that basically told me nothing new. Meanwhile I was checking regularly to see if my return was processed. No such luck.

September 10 was the 60 day deadline, which meant I could call the IRS once more. I tried a couple of different numbers but all I got was recording after recording and then got cut off. I decided to try the tax advocates again. I was able to get through to them after a 20 minute wait. Unfortunately they weren't able to help me as far as getting my return processed because they didn't consider me to be going through a hardship, since I'm not facing eviction nor having my utilities cut off. Once again, I was annoyed. It's like lending your best friend money and they promise to pay by a certain day, but when that day comes they ask if you really need your money back. The only good thing was that she transferred me to an IRS customer helpline. 

After a long wait I finally was connected to a very helpful woman who was on the phone with me for a whole hour trying to get the information squared away, despite their system going down several times. She was able to confirm that yes, they did receive employment verification, but with the pandemic and shutdowns they were way behind on releasing returns for payment. I couldn't understand how she, in Texas, could see the verification but the processing center, in Pennsylvania, hadn't. This rep told me there was a possibility that something else was wrong with my return, possibly with the credits. Since the system kept locking her out she wasn't able to tell me anything else, but instead gave me a number to call and see if they could help. I called but, yet again, the systems were down. I was told I could call them back or put myself on a 30 day waiting list for callback. I said thanks but I'd call them.

The next day I went out and picked up some groceries from Walmart and Publix. It wasn't a lot, just a few things I needed that I hadn't gotten the week before or that we'd run out of.

This was pretty much the bulk of what I got from Walmart. I did pick up a couple of things that weren't food:

The grays are starting to show again. Ugh. My hair grows so fast, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. The sponges are the Real Techniques brand, because I can get two of them for $7.50 as opposed to the Beauty Blender that's $20 for just one. Most people will say the Beauty Blender is better quality. That might be so, but I love the Real Techniques sponges and they last me a good while if I keep them clean.

The Publix shopping haul was even smaller:

Basically I went to Publix for their deli ham and cheese which is my favorite, and while I was there I saw they had English muffins and Italian ices on sale, buy one get one free. And everyone knows Publix has the best sweet tea, and it was also on sale. Bonus!

Before going to the grocery stores I stopped at Home Depot. Back in June I was trying to do some rearranging in my living room and I'd decided to switch out a picture I had at the top of the stairs with something more open, like the wall art piece I'd bought for my master bedroom. I like changing things around like that. It's a metal piece and it looked so good in that spot, except that there were several nail holes in the wall that had been covered by the picture but wouldn't be by this metal piece. So I filled in the holes and got some paint from the garage that the previous owner had left. The main living area has two different shades of beige color, one slightly darker than the other. I looked at both paints and picked the one that looked lighter, since that's what I needed for this wall. This is what happened:

 I was absolutely mortified!! How had I picked up the wrong paint?! I looked at both of them again. I even tried the slightly darker one. Then I realized what had happened. The can of lighter paint was over 10 years old. This paint had obviously gone bad and had turned dark. I can't even begin to explain how frustrated I was! Thankfully I found a great piece at Hobby Lobby that covered the spot completely.

The original price for this wall sign was $60 but I got it on clearance for $17.50. I like it because it has no glass in front of it, so there's no glare from the window. 

So, back to Home Depot. I'd picked up a bunch of paint chips and matched the color as best I could, since the label on the paint can doesn't say what color they used and I can't take the spoiled paint because it's the wrong color. I settled on one paint sample that seemed to fit the bill, and I got a sample of it.

Ugh! I was close but this time it was too light. I was gonna add another coat to cover up the dark spot underneath (even though this paint is supposed to be paint + primer) but it would still be too light. Back to the old drawing board.

After I got home from grocery shopping I tried calling the number for the IRS that the rep gave me. I got a recording that said the call volume was too high and call again later. I'm not giving up. 

Oh, and did I mention the tropical depression that formed off the coast of South Florida on Friday that put all of South Florida on a tropical storm watch? Yeah, that happened. Thankfully it didn't amount to anything other than a lot of rain and wind but nothing out of the ordinary. Another bullet dodged. Sadly, it has turned into Tropical Storm Sally and is expected to become Hurricane Sally before it lands somewhere near New Orleans. Praying for these folks.

I got to serve in children's ministry this Saturday. Churches in South Florida are slowly starting to open again, though to limited capacity. I haven't served since the pandemic started back in March. It was great to get back to the kids and teach. 

And that's a glimpse into my week. Stay tuned, there's more to come. Have a blessed week.

2018 - There Were Good Times, Too

The year 2018 continued with a few notable memories. For one, I was becoming much more involved in my new church. I began serving in children's ministry within a few months of attending, but in 2018 I started helping the children's ministry director with scheduling the school-aged children. Bless her heart, she took on the position and tried to do everything herself. It was too big of a job for one person but I think she had trouble recruiting. So instead, I volunteered. It was rough at first, learning her methods and who served during what service (we have 3 English and 1 Spanish currently), but once we got into a rhythm it was easier and I was having a great time.

Then I was asked to co-lead a ladies Bible study group at the end of 2017. I found myself studying and preparing, and in doing so my relationship with God grew stronger. I loved being able to share with a wonderful group of women who are hungry for God. I also loved the woman I was co-leading with. She's almost 20 years younger than me, but what a powerful woman of prayer! I was learning more from her than I would have ever imagined! We studied the book Mark by Lisa Harper and The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer (excellent study, I highly recommend it!). I could see why God moved me to this church. I was growing in my walk with Him, much more than I'd done in my previous church.

Another event that happened in 2018 was Tropical Storm Gordon. As anyone can imagine, right after a year of hurricanes the likes of Irma and Maria, we were not happy about getting hit with anymore storms. Thankfully it wasn't much more than rain. Living in Florida means that we have to deal with storms. Some years the storms are few and far between; other years we see a wave of tropical storms and hurricanes that either hit us or come uncomfortably close. It's part of life here and we thank God when we have years like 2018 when we escape the worst storms.

And just like that, the year was over. It was filled with birthday, weddings, parties, holidays and celebrations. It was also filled with changes, but in every change God remained faithful. On to 2019 and yet more changes!

Week...No, Wait, Month In Review

I've stayed away from my blog all this month, not by choice but by life.  It seems the minute I sit down something needs to get done, someone needs to talk, I remember something I was supposed to do...it's a never-ending cycle.

Let's get a quick recap of what's happened in May.  For one thing, my son E is almost finished with school.  He has taken 3 of his 6 finals and passed each one.  He ended up with an A in algebra (92%), an A in leadership (98%), and an A in music history (96%).  All his work has been turned in, and now he has to take his Hope, English, and Science finals so he can be done.  We are both looking forward to being done, though I suppose he's looking forward to it more.

The church where my daughter works has finally moved into their new building, which has been under construction for the past year.  There were issues these past couple of months, including a break-in to the construction site in which materials and tools were stolen.  Inspections were probably the biggest delay; they never happen when they're supposed to.  Still, God came through as He always does, and this Sunday is the grand opening celebration.  There was a soft opening last Sunday, and I was excited to go because my daughter was singing!  She has sung before, but only for children's and youth ministries.  This time she was on main stage, and yes, mama was proud!  She is also blessed to be singing tomorrow for the grand opening, which mama will not miss!

Molly is doing so much better.  It's hard to believe she is suffering from cancer; honestly, she doesn't appear to be suffering at all.  She still has a bit of a limp, though not as pronounced as it was before the surgery.  She has recovered from the surgery remarkably well.  Our Molly is acting like a puppy once again.  We hope it will last.

As for my oldest son, I don't see him much.  He's been working quite a few hours, covering for people who are out.  When he's home he's on his computer or playing a video game.  Otherwise, he's out with his friends.

I enjoyed my very simple, very quiet Mother's day, though my oldest son was gone the whole day (he forgot what day it was.  Mama was not happy).  My daughter cooked for me - shrimp and steak sandwiches, absolutely delicious!  My gift from my kids was, what else, makeup!  I got some eye makeup and a really nice brush from Bare Minerals.  My cousin came over with her 3 kids and they brought me flowers.  She isn't technically my cousin; she's J's cousin, but I've known her since she was a toddler, and I babysat her for years.  When she was older she babysat my kids, so they're like siblings more than cousins.  It was sweet of them to bring me flowers and spend some time with me.

For Mother's day I wore a beautiful dress that I got from New York and Company.  The dress is black lace, but unlike most lace dresses that have a white underlay, this one has a two-toned pink underlay.  It has stripes in light and bright pink, and the way it comes through the lace makes the dress so unique, I've gotten multiple compliments!  I felt really pretty in the dress too, which is what every woman wants.

I got a few items from that trip to NY&Co, since I had City Cash and a coupon.  I got several tops and a cardigan - I wear cardigans a lot at work.  They look professional without being heavy, which is good because it has been H-O-T here in South Florida!  Thankfully it hasn't been very humid, though we have had some rainy days, but the temps are already in the upper 80's and low 90's.  I can't imagine what our summer will be like if our spring is so hot.

I also took advantage of a Bare Minerals Beauty Rush sale and got some skincare at a super discounted price.  Cleanser, eye cream, and two anti-aging creams for $39.  Just the wrinkle repair cream is normally $50, so I got a really nice deal!  I also got some mini lip sticks and lip glosses.  All in all a nice stash of makeup.  I had to get myself another organizer because it was getting a bit out of hand - there was makeup piling up and makeup bags filling up, and I can't stand a mess.  It all looks much neater now, and my makeup is more accessible.

That's gonna be it for now.  There's plenty more I can add but laundry needs to get folded, my bed needs to get made, and my daughter wants to go to the mall later on.  Not to mention that J is coming to pick up E in a little while and I'm hoping to get some studying done before that.  Yes, plenty to do, but thankful God gives me the energy to do it!  Have a blessed weekend.

Where Have I Been?

I just realized I haven't blogged in over a week.  What the heck?! I was supposed to be blogging more often, not less!  I've got some catching up to do.

The reason I didn't blog last weekend was because I was barely home.  Saturday was grocery shopping day.  It was also fair/concert day.  One of the local county fairs in South Florida had Danny Gokey and Brandon Heath in concert, and my best friend IV was dying to go.  She's a concert junkie more so than I am - I usually tag along with her, though I have to admit I love the Christian concert scene myself.  She'd gotten some really cheap tickets too: $5 per person, when the regular price is $18.  That's to get into the fair, but both concerts are free once you're inside, so we got to enjoy a really great evening.  The weather was perfect too, neither too hot nor cold.  There was a nice breeze, and a chill was in the air but nothing uncomfortable.  That's a big change from the fair concert last year.  We went to see Matthew West and SonicFlood.  We got a sonic flood all right: it poured like crazy!  We were thankful that didn't repeat itself this year!  Our kids went on a gazillion rides while we sang and worshiped with these two incredible artists and lovers of God.  We got home at midnight but we had a blast.

Then Sunday I got up early for church - barely got any sleep - and my friend DS asked me if I had any plans for the afternoon.  "Yeah," I said, "sleep."  She quickly protested and explained why: she managed to get tickets to see Third Day that evening, and the tickets were $15!  We hadn't planned on going because ticket prices were $45 and up, and the $45 tickets were not very good seats.  I was sure we were getting lousy seats at such a low price, but DS insisted we should go and make a girl's night out of it, her, IV and myself.  We agreed.  I went home, took a 15 minute power nap, then got ready.  When we got there we were all shocked: third row seats!  I couldn't believe it!  None of us could, really.  And who opened for Third Day?  Brandon Heath!  We got to see him two nights in a row!  We were so tired, but so incredibly blessed by the worship, that it didn't matter if I didn't sleep for another two nights!

Monday started our school week again, along with preparations for spring break for work.  There was plenty to do and finish up, so it was a crazy hectic week.  I'm glad to have this week off, so E and I can get caught up on some of his school assignments - not that he's far behind, but especially his PE class has been put on the back burner in an effort to get all his other assignments in on time.  We'll be focusing on that.

Wednesday our Awana group was blessed with a visit from a missionary!  This young lady is 20 years old and attended the school that is affiliated with our church.  She is now a missionary in Argentina, and she talked to the kids about her experience.  They were really interested and asked lots of questions, though the boys were mostly concerned with what kind of food is served in Argentina, LOL!

We had our Good Friday service at 2:00 in the afternoon.  I don't know why we continue to have Good Friday services so early.  Unfortunately, gone are the days when folks had Good Friday off from work.  We had a good amount of people show up, though, and I was thankful.  We had communion, then Pastor gave a lovely sermon based on Isaiah 53:1-6 and how Jesus was misidentified and misunderstood.  He did an awesome job; we left feeling grateful for the sacrifice our Lord and Savior made for us.

Friday morning I got an email from New York and Company, my favorite clothing store.  They were having a huge sale, but we had school to do, and Good Friday service to attend in the afternoon.  I went ahead and took a look online, and found some cardigans on sale for $15.  I have one of their cardigans, and the quality is outstanding, so I ordered 3 more, along with a couple of tank tops ($7 each) and a pretty top ($15).  I don't mind buying from New York and Company because everything I buy from them lasts me a good long time, but I especially like getting stuff cheap!

Today was designated Floor Cleaning Day.  I love our dog Molly, but she is a slobberer and a shedder.  I cleaned the floors recently, and they looked like I hadn't touched them in months.  I got to work mopping the hallway and living room, then looked at the red wall in my living room.

Don't get me wrong, I love the red wall.  It's a great accent wall.  Except for one thing.  My living room faces west.  I get no morning sunlight in this room, and in the afternoon I only get sunlight for a short amount of time while the sun is going down.  With dark brown floors and dark green furniture, the room looked dark.  And I don't like dark.

I'd been thinking about changing the wall for some time, painting it the same color as the rest of the walls to brighten up the room.  There's a red wall in the dining room and another in the family room, but those aren't anywhere near as dark looking because the back of the house faces east, and these rooms get lots of sunlight.  I decided to check and see if I had any paint left; after all, I'd painted the house back in 2010.  Lo and behold, there was a little less than half a can of paint left.  I made up my mind and got to work.  Here is the end result:

That is one bright room!  It's much more cheerful, and that's what I wanted.  Now I'll have to schedule a trip to Kirkland's to get some artwork for that wall.  It'll have to wait, though.  I have to take my car to the dealership on Monday to have it checked out.  The steering wheel is making a rattling sound, and it kind of sticks.  I hate car problems.

That's it for now.  I pray everyone has a blessed Resurrection Day.  He is Risen!  Glory To God!

The Week In Review - Birthday Week

It's a special day today.  My oldest son R turns twenty-something.  I don't want to think of the number too much.  It reminds me of my own age, something I've been trying to ignore lately.

It's been a pretty good week, as weeks go.  Public schools were off, so traffic was a bit lighter.  So was work.  There were lots of kids that didn't come for tutoring because they've gone out of town for spring break.  It was a bit unnerving, trying to figure out things to do when there was nothing to do.  My boss gave me a list of parents he wants to meet with in the next month, so I called a bunch of them to make appointments.  I couldn't call all of them; making appointments too far in advance means parents forget and reschedule, and I didn't want that to happen, so I made appointments for next week.  That means I had to stretch out the list to make it last as long as possible.

My boss's wife, MM, has again made comments leading me to believe that she wants to spend less time at the office.  It bothers me, not because of the work, but because she won't just come out and say it.  I was hired, supposedly, to assist her with her work because the workload was overwhelming.  What I'm seeing, is that she wants to walk away and leave me in charge.

Honestly, as I observe and learn more, I find that a lot of the workload could easily be lightened by changing some procedures.  MM is very set in her ways; she's been doing things a certain way for the past 11 years, and she isn't about to change them, no matter how much better another method might be.  I've tried showing her different things she can do to reduce her workload, but she looks at it with total disbelief and shrugs it off.  It became a bit frustrating for me this week, especially.  We bill our customers once a month for the next month's tutoring sessions.  It takes a long time to do, because MM wants all the invoices done by hand, then entered into the computer.  The system could easily print off the invoices - I even showed her how simple it is - but she refuses.  The part-printed/part-handwritten invoices are so sloppy looking and unprofessional, yet she won't look at any other option.  I worked the entire time on that yesterday, and I'm still not finished writing out the invoices.  I tried entering the invoices into the computer as I wrote them to show her how much more effective that would be, but she wouldn't accept that either.  I wrote them by hand, she checked what I wrote and entered the information into the computer.  I just shook my head; she creates more work for herself, but as my daughter wisely pointed out, it's her business.  She's the boss.  She decides how she wants things done, and I have to do them.  But it's no wonder she's burned out, with the amount of extra work she makes for herself.

We had no Awana this Wednesday because of Spring Break, but my son told me there would be youth group.  I got out of work, rushed to the house and went to church.  Turned out youth group had been cancelled, but my son never got the text message from his youth pastor.  Poor Pastor D, he was so apologetic.  It was for the best, though.  E got some schoolwork caught up.  It's been a busy school week but E's done really well.  He took his science exam this morning and got a 94%.  I was pleasantly surprised; it was a tricky test, and though he studied for it for two days I didn't know if he'd do well.  Praise God, he aced the test and we breathed a sigh of relief that it's over!

We had a mini celebration for R's birthday.  We gave him his gifts this morning: his sister A got him volume 3 of the cartoon Animaniacs, E got him the game Vanquish for the X-Box, and I got him the complete set of Megaman cartoons on DVD along with the new Kirby game for the WiiU.  He was all smiles.  Then we went out for lunch to a nice restaurant in town.  For dessert, my daughter made these incredible cupcakes.  They're dark chocolate with a Nutella frosting.  The best part was inside the cupcake - she filled them with an Oreo creme filling she made from a recipe she found on Pinterest.  It was like eating an Oreo cookie, but in cupcake form.  Oh my word, they are beyond delicious!!  She stayed up till late last night after work baking and decorating them, and her brother appreciated it.  He even took some to his friends for them to try.  I think he was proud of his little sister for the yummy treat she baked, and she was beaming because we couldn't stop raving about them!

It's a gorgeous day out - hot but not humid, sunny and breezy.  That may change, as the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms this afternoon, but we're really hoping that won't happen.  My daughter is going to an outdoor wedding this afternoon, and no one wants to go to an outdoor wedding under the rain.

That's it for this week - so far anyway.  Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.  God bless!

Monday, Monday

Happy President's Day!  Or as we used to say when I was a kid, George Washington's birthday.  It used to be specifically about George Washington, then about Washington and Lincoln, then about all the presidents.  Our poor first president has gotten lost in the shuffle.

I didn't post yesterday because, quite frankly, I was being lazy.  I went to church by myself because my darling little boy woke up with pink eye.  Not something he wanted to go sharing with the other parishioners.  When I told a couple of my friends about the job they were thrilled for me, which made me feel even better about taking it.  Surprisingly, I'm not the least bit nervous.  The only thing I keep thinking about is how I'm going to manage my time so that I get everything done and still get where I need to be on time.  I hate being late anywhere, and I hate when others are late, something I've had to get used to in this South Florida laid back culture.  I want to make sure my family and my employers are taken care of, and that means making sure I manage my time wisely.

After making lunch and putting one load of laundry in the wash, I pretty much sat in front of my computer and watched YouTube videos most of the day.  I did do my Bible study, but that was it.  I didn't even put the laundry away.  As I sat there mindlessly watching other women talk about makeup and fashion and weight loss and blah-blah-blah, I realized why I was having so much trouble figuring out how to manage my time.  I've become an expert at wasting it.  This has happened in the last couple of months, and I'm only now seeing how bad it's gotten.  Well, that's gonna have to change.  And fast.

I've decided there's only two YouTubers that I'm going to watch whenever they have videos because they're my favorites: Shelbey Ashburn and Alex Garza.  Oh, and Angie at Hot and Flashy.  The first two are young girls.  I've been watching Shelbey particularly because she does a lot of Bare Minerals videos, especially new product reviews which I enjoy.  Angie is a year older than me and does videos geared towards women my age.  I'm going to watch their videos when I have time, which will most likely be on the weekends, since my weekdays will be packed.  Today I haven't watched any videos, and I've managed to do another load of laundry, put all the clean clothes away, vacuum and mop the floors, cook a chicken pot pie from scratch, take the car in for an oil change, and even watch a couple of episodes of the Tonight Show.  I've also got some pot roast meat on the counter which I'm going to put in the crock pot tonight so I don't have to worry about cooking tomorrow.  MM has asked me to go in early so she can give me some training, so I won't have time to be in the kitchen cooking.  I have lessons to go over with E before I leave for the school.  I told her I'd be there between 12:30 and 1:00, and I want to be sure I don't leave any loose ends.

I did go online for something else: dress shopping.  I still wanted to find a dress for this wedding, but I'm tired of going to the stores and finding nothing.  Either the clothes were for girls in their 20's, or they were for women in their 60's.  I fall into neither category, and I certainly don't want to dress like I do.  I decided to check out New York and Company again.  Score!  They had a really good sale, and I found a black velvet Eva Mendes dress on clearance for - get this - $23.98!  It is such a pretty dress, in just the right style and color to be appropriate for a special occasion.  I know I'll get some use out it.  It better fit too - since it's on clearance I can't return it.  I'm normally a size 10 in their dresses.  I really hope that's the case with this one, because quite frankly, it looks perfect.  I can't wait to get it and see how it looks!

Our temperatures are going haywire again.  Yesterday we awoke to 41 degree weather; today it was 56.  Tomorrow it's supposed to get up into the low 80's, then dip down into the 40's overnight.  It's pretty hilarious; one day we're out in flip-flops and the next day we're wearing boots!  Yes, South Floridians wear boots.  It's quite comical.

I'm gonna shower now, then get that meat in the crock pot before I head on over to bed.  Time management means I've gotta get up early (not just wake up early, but literally get out of bed), and that means getting to sleep early, too.  I'm gonna try to post every other day so my blog doesn't get monotonous, unless something crazy and exciting happens (though not too crazy, I hope).  Good night, ya'll.  

Simply Sunday

Today's been a lazy day.  Which is appropriate, because even God rested on the seventh day :-).

I was sound asleep, when suddenly I was awaken by the sound of the alarm chime.  My son had gone out after work, and was coming home.  But for some reason, I forgot he wasn't home.  In my sleepy stupor I thought someone was breaking into the house.  I was sure someone was coming in through the sliding glass door, so I got up to see who it was (what I intended to do to the intruder, I have no idea).  As soon as I opened the door, I saw my son R in the kitchen, and reality came back to me, so I went back to bed.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go back to sleep.  It was 3:00 in the morning, and I probably fell back asleep at around 5:00.  That was not a good feeling.

I got up at 7:00 and hit the shower.  I hadn't washed my hair yesterday, and it looked like a grease ball.  I finished showering, then finally decided what it was I was going to wear.  Awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night, and I don't even remember how long I debated in my head whether to wear my green and blue plaid skirt or my light grey skirt.  That's what happens when I wake up in a fog and think burglars are in the house.  I went with the green and blue plaid skirt, with a beige short sleeved sweater.  Once I was dressed I got my Complexion Rescue sample in tan and put it on.  I wanted to see how it looked under my Bareskin foundation.  It's definitely darker than my skin, that's for sure.  I made breakfast, then did my eye makeup before putting foundation on.  Since Complexion Rescue is a tinted moisturizer, I wanted it to set and get absorbed into my skin before putting on any other face makeup.  The eye shadow I used is from The Hot List collection from Bare Minerals; it's a champagne shimmer color and a matte grey color.  My eyes looked amazing!  The swelling from the stye was gone (Thank You Jesus!) and I was able to do a beautiful look on my eyes.  Then I put my glasses on and covered them right up :P.  It's a bummer that I can't wear contact lenses, but I suffer from dry eyes.  I got tired of always looking tired, because my eyes would turn red and burn from the dryness.  Anyway, I went ahead and put on Bareskin (the Bare Minerals liquid foundation) and my skin looked flawless.  With the foundation on top, the color of the moisturizer balanced out and my makeup was on point.  And since there's very little humidity in the air, my hair turned out gorgeous.  I may have been exhausted, but I felt incredible every time I looked in the mirror!

Our church has a private school, and today the children did a presentation.  It was wonderful hearing the children sing praises to the Lord!  One boy is in our Awana group - I didn't realize he could sing so well!  Then the new head master gave the message.  Oh, my word, what a powerful message!  He taught on Lazarus, and how we often think that God has abandoned us because we don't get the answer we ask for right away.  Lazarus's sisters, Martha and Mary, both told Jesus that their brother would not have died had He been there, but they didn't understand the reason for the delay.  There was no mistake made; Jesus meant to arrive after Lazarus's death to bring glory to God and show everyone there who He really was.  It's no different with us now.  When God doesn't answer our prayers right away, it's not because He's abandoned us.  It's because He is waiting for just the right moment, that He may be praised and glorified.  It was a reminder of God's sovereignty, and how we need to have faith.  It was really encouraging.

The weather was perfect once again.  The breeze was cool and comfortable, the sun was shining brightly, and I was glad we got to enjoy yet another stunningly beautiful day.  Once we got home I made some pasta with the meat sauce I made a few days ago.  I try to make a large pot of sauce for days like today when I don't feel like making a big meal.  My family doesn't care for sauce in a jar.  They like Mom's homemade sauce.  I have to admit, so do I.

I did manage to get a couple of loads of laundry washed, but I haven't put anything away.  I'm leaving it for tomorrow.  I've felt sluggish due to not getting a full night's sleep, but I didn't feel like napping.  I just vegged most of the day, watching YouTube videos.  The way I see it, it's gonna be a busy week, so I may as well relax today so I can be recharged for tomorrow.  So goodnight ya'll.  Have a blessed evening.

Simply Sunday

Today I did something I don't normally do.  Something completely out of character for me.  Today I went to church in pants.

I should clarify that I'm not against women wearing pants to church.  I don't believe that women wearing pants are any less spiritual than women in dresses or skirts.  I just prefer going to church in a dress.  It was ingrained in my head as a child that one should always look their absolute best when going to church because that's where you worship God, and God deserves our very best.  My best clothes are dresses and skirts; well, actually, most of my clothes are dresses and skirts.  I have a few capris that I wear around the house or to go exercise, and a couple of jeans that I wear when we go to concerts, but for the most part I wear dresses and skirts most everywhere.  Today, however, it was cold outside.  Fifty-two degrees with a cold breeze blowing.  I know, for the rest of the country that's summer weather, but when you've had temperatures in the upper 70's and low 80's and all of a sudden they drop down to the low 50's, you feel it.  When I let the dog out, I felt it for sure.  I'd looked through my clothes last night and had chosen a dress to wear, but I was not about to wear anything that didn't protect me from the cold.  Thankfully, I do have a couple pairs of dress pants left over from my work days.  These pants are probably 8 years old but they are my favorites.  A couple of years after I'd stopped working, I gave almost all my dress pants to Goodwill because they were sitting in my closet and never getting used.  Some didn't even fit me anymore, but most were just taking up space.  I kept two pairs of dress pants: a navy blue pair, and the ones I wore today.  They are a dark tan with a very light burgundy and gold pinstripe.  Both pants are neutrals, so I can wear them with anything, but most importantly, if I need to go somewhere dressy and it's cold out, I have something nice to wear.  I paired the pants with a brown long-sleeved button down shirt, and a beige argyle sweater over it.  I also wore a very, very old pair of brown pumps.  I've loved those shoes for years, but after wearing them today I realized I'd kept them way too long.  They were falling apart on the inside, making them extremely uncomfortable.  Once I got home, they went into the trash.  They weren't even good enough to donate.  It was a shame, since the rest of the outfit looked great.  Those shoes were a fail.

My makeup turned out so nice!  I decided to wear the new warm colors I'd gotten from Bare Minerals because they were neutrals, making them perfect for the outfit.  The colors were on point!  It was a very soft look, totally appropriate for daytime.  This could become my go to look for everyday.  It was that pretty.

Church service was absolutely beautiful.  Pastor spoke on the importance of prayer, then called up several people in our church who are sick, to anoint them with oil and pray over them.  One was a young girl who had been in my Awana group.  Today is her 13th birthday.  She has been battling leukemia since last summer.  The cancer is in remission, but she's still having to go through the treatment protocol.  She is doing her last chemo this month, then must go in for maintenance for several months.  We have been praying for her daily, and it was a joy to see her with her family in church today.  This child has been talking to her doctors, nurses, and other patients in the hospital about her faith and hope in Jesus.  She is such an inspiration!  We also prayed for one of the boy's Awana leaders who has terminal cancer.  This man loves The Lord and serves Him with such passion.  He is a great husband, wonderful father, devout servant...it's a privilege to pray for people like him.  There were many others that were prayed for, and the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt so strongly that I could not contain the tears.  When I think that this world holds over 7 billion people, yet God hears each and every one of our prayers, it fills my heart with such comfort and joy, that I cannot express it.  We serve an awesome God!

I started my study of Daniel for this week - chapter 2, the first 12 verses.  It's one of my favorite sections of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.  I've studied this before in church, but I'm really enjoying Beth Moore's breakdown.  She is such an incredible bible teacher!  Definitely my favorite Christian author.

Other than that, it's been a quiet sort of day.  I did a couple of loads of laundry; one is still in the dryer.  Tomorrow the new school semester starts up, so it'll be a busy day.  I am once again thankful that God has seen fit to allow me to homeschool my son.  I cannot thank Him enough for His unending love and grace.  God has been, and continues to be, so good to me.  How I wish the entire world would appreciate His goodness!

That's all for this installment of Life At My House ;-).  Have a blessed evening folks.

It's Sunday

A "good" day is classified as a day when all news is good news.  A "not so good" day is one where the news is bad, sad, or anything other than "good".  So what do you call a day with a little of both?  I call it, Everyday.

I got to Sunday school late.  That's because I got up late.  I got up late because I kept waking up last night.  I don't get it; I went to bed at my regular time, and I was tired.  Why did I have such a hard time sleeping?  I've never had trouble sleeping unless I have something on my mind, but that wasn't the case last night.  I just kept randomly waking up.  Is it the whole pre-menopause thing?  'Cause if it is, I ain't liking it.

Anyway, I got to Sunday school late, and it was almost a cheer-fest.  I'm usually the first or second person in class, making coffee and setting up.  They all figured I must be sick or something because I'm rarely ever late.  It felt really good to know my church family cares that much about me.

We're looking into a curriculum for our Sunday school class.  Last week we finished an intense study into the book of James, and now we're looking for something topical, something about living out our Christian life.  I'm hoping we can find something on discipleship, which is what the pastor has been teaching on since the beginning of the year.  If a curriculum can be found it would be great, so we can tie everything in, but we're trusting God to lead in what He wants us to study.

We went to service, and Pastor Ralph was teaching today.  He talked about what it means to be a real man.  It was a great teaching, but it's what happened afterwards that really moved me to tears.  For the past few weeks we've been praying for a sweet lady in our church.  LS has had cancer twice in the past, has had to go through chemo and all the ugliness that comes with it.  Recently she went to the doctor and was told her levels were high and she'd have to go in for more tests.  This was presented to the whole church so that we could all pray for her.  Today she announced, citing Psalm 115:3, that it pleased the Lord to keep her cancer free.  The joy in my heart was overwhelming!  I'm not a crier; I personally hate to cry in public, but I could feel my eyes well up with joy and happiness knowing our prayers had been answered.  Before I left I found LS and gave her a huge hug.  She is one of the most loving, kind, humble human beings on the face of this earth, and she prays for everyone.  It was a most satisfying feeling to know that I had the privilege to pray for her and have my prayers answered in such a wonderful way.

My son E and I left church quickly; E was complaining of a stomachache.  We ate leftovers for lunch, then my oldest son R's friends came over to play video games.  My daughter A got home shortly thereafter, not looking good at all.  I don't know how she was able to lead worship today - her voice is shot.  She's obviously caught her brother's nasty cold, and she's feeling pretty miserable.  She's also being very clingy.  My daughter is not a small child; she is a 25 year old adult.  But when she is sick, she wants hugs from mom.  Mom, on the other hand, wants to stay clear and NOT catch what she's got.  I don't know how we're gonna manage that.  She's pretty whiny too; all she's had to eat is soup, but she's complaining that she's got too much liquid in her stomach, making her stomach hurt.  Her throat is sore, her ears are hurting, but when I told her to go to bed and get some rest she gave me the "I don't wanna go to bed" look.  *Ugh*  Just when her brother was feeling better, and I thought we'd gotten through this with only one person catching it.  Yeah right.  I'm not getting off that easy.

I happened to go to the school's website to see if any of my son's teachers had posted his final semester grades.  I almost fell out of my chair.  My son's English grade had gone from a 96% to an 87%.  What?!  How could that be?!  She hadn't graded his thesis or his final exam the day before; had he done that poorly?!?!  I checked the grade book and saw the grade he'd gotten on his thesis.  1%.  When I clicked on it, I saw the note the teacher had left for him: he was supposed to have sent in his thesis with a Turn It In report.  Turn It In is a website that checks their work for plagiarism.  Without that report, the highest grade he can get is 1%.  Thankfully, his teacher was kind enough to let him submit the thesis to TII and email her the report, so that's what we did.  The actual grade she gave him is 100%, so that should bring his grade back up.  I'm glad I went in to check that; the semester ends on Wednesday and that's when the final grades go in.  It would have been the difference between getting an A and getting a B.

The rest of my day has been pretty ordinary.  I finished the laundry and put it away, watched an old episode of the Tonight Show, then cleaned up the kitchen.  I think I'm gonna go take a shower now and relax the rest of the night.  Maybe I'll even get some sleep :P.  I'm gonna need it - I'm babysitting tomorrow.  Board games, here we come!  Have a blessed night.

Sunday Recap

I didn't blog yesterday, but I have a good excuse.  I was gone from the house from 9:30 am to midnight, except for a quick stop to change clothes. Yeah, it was a busy day.  Let me give a *quick* recap.

I didn't do my hair Saturday night so I knew I had to get up early to fix it Sunday morning.  I was up by 6:30 for what would be a non-stop day.  I showered and washed my hair, then went to make my son E his breakfast.  I don't eat breakfast at home on Sundays because we have our fellowship breakfast at our Sunday school class, but I do have my coffee.  I was starving but was mindful not to start eating; I had a handful of Reese's cereal then went to get ready for church.

Our church is pretty relaxed when it comes to dress; no one is required to get dressed up, but I always do.  I feel like, if I'm there to meet God, I should look my best.  I wore the dress I'd gotten for my birthday because it's a perfect fall dress and our weather was looking like fall: rainy and dreary.  I debated whether to wear powder or liquid foundation, since I knew I was going to be out most of the day and wouldn't have time to touch up.  While my liquid foundation is supposed to have a longer wear, I went with powder.  I love the way my powder foundation feels, so light on my skin, and I also thought this would be a good way to test how long its wearability is.  My makeup turned out really nice again; I'm getting the hang of this, LOL!  We left the house at 9:30 and got to our respective Sunday school classes in 10 minutes.  My son goes to youth group (he's 15 years old) and I go to my class, Truth In Love.  We have been studying the book of James and just finished the last 2 verses of chapter 5.  From there we went to service, where Pastor Ray taught on excellence and why God is deserving of our very best.  It was a great service and worship time, but we didn't stay long for fellowship.  There was plenty more on our agenda.

It was my best friend IV's birthday, and I invited her out to lunch.  She chose a vegetarian style buffet place that is local.  I'd never eaten there before, though I'd heard of it.  There were mixed reviews: some folks really like it because of its vegetarian and vegan options; others say the food is sub-par.  Since it was her birthday I didn't mind going and trying it out.  I stopped off at the house first so I could change out of the dress I was wearing and into some jeans.  It's not that I don't like going out to eat in a dress, but we had other plans afterwards.  My jeans and top were an olive/khaki green, nice and neutral (and comfortable).  I drove over to IV's house and we went in one car to the restaurant.  I have to say, I was sadly disappointed.  The food was, in my opinion, bland.  I had a salad to start, and I noticed some of the greens weren't green anymore; it was certainly not the freshest salad bar I'd been to.  I then went over to where the hot foods were.  The only meat option available was in the chili, and quite frankly, I feel like the chili at Wendy's is better.  I tried a pasta dish that had red onion and spinach.  This is something I usually enjoy, but for the first time ever I had to add salt to the food.  I cook with very little salt, and I always find restaurant food to be excessively salty, but this was so bland I couldn't enjoy it.  The only thing I can say I liked was the soft serve ice cream.  My poor son, who is a carnivore, didn't care for anything.  All he ate was macaroni and cheese because his best friend (IV's son) said it was the best mac and cheese he'd ever eaten.  My son's response was, "That's because you haven't tasted my mom's."  I won't deny, that made me feel really good, except for the fact that the food was so flavorless I don't know as it was much of a compliment.  But my friend enjoyed it, and since it was her birthday after all, I was content in knowing she was pleased.

Once we were done, we headed to...Winter Jam!!!  We were so excited!  For Christmas IV got us tickets.  Winter Jam is a huge concert tour, with multiple Christian music groups.  The best part about Winter Jam is the price: $10 gets you any seat in the house, first come first serve.  Typically you have to stand in line as early as possible to get the best choice of seats, but since IV suffers from MS she can't stand for long periods of time, so she got a group together and we got to go in before everyone else.  We still had to stand in line because our group couldn't go in till everyone was there.  Wouldn't you know it, my daughter was running late because the church where she works had baptisms and she had to stay longer.  Then she got caught in torrential rains.  She finally made it, but was soaked to the bone :(.  She wasn't thrilled about being wet, but we got such great seats that she quickly forgot about it.  At 5:00 the opening acts came out.  There were three bands, but Veridia was my favorite.  They are a rock band out of Nashville, very edgy and right up my alley.  My daughter loved them too, as did my son, though I didn't find out till later because he and his friends sat as far away from the parental units as possible.  Teenagers *sigh*.  Blanca, originally from Group 1 Crew, also performed, and I've always loved her voice.  I don't care for whispery voices; I like a strong, powerhouse voice, and Blanca certainly has that.  

Then the big name acts came on, starting with For King And Country.  These are Rebecca St. James's brothers, a woman whom I've always loved, and they were just as incredible!  My daughter was especially thrilled, because we didn't get to see them when we went to Night of Joy in September.  We picked some incredible seats; they came right up to where we were seated!  My son made fun of me, though.  He could see us from where he was sitting, and he saw me wave at the brothers - instead of reaching out and high-fiving them.  I guess that's just not my style, but my son thought I was hilarious.

Newsong played next.  They're more of a country/gospel type sound; not bad but not what I lean towards.  After their set came Family Force 5.  My daughter was, again, super excited because she'd only seen them a couple of times before and they put on an amazing show.  They have so much energy!  Their music is more of a rock/rap/hip-hop mix, and I was pretty sure my son would not like it.  He's a rocker through and through, but as I told my daughter, his favorite band of all time would be performing so he'd better not say he didn't enjoy it.  Building 429 blew me away - I didn't expect their set to be so great!  Jeremy Camp came on next; I like Jeremy Camp, but I didn't mind leaving to go look at the merch tables with my daughter.  There were a few items she wanted to purchase along with some contests to sign up for.  I got my son a surprise gift:  2 of his favorite band's CD's.  We got back to hear Jeremy Camp sing his last song, Overcome, then there was an intermission.  My son came over, and I asked which band he'd liked so far.  To my astonishment, he said Family Force 5!  He loved their song Chainsaw, and all the energy they had.  I then pulled out his surprise, and he smiled from ear to ear.  For the first time he wasn't complaining about having to come to a concert - I guess he's finally getting to that age.

There was a preacher there, Tony Nolan, who presented the gospel and also gave his testimony, which was absolutely inspiring.  God can do amazing things, of that I am certain!  The next act was one of my favorites, Francesca Battistelli.  Her songs are fun, and she is another powerhouse.  What I didn't expect was for her to sing Holy Spirit, a favorite worship song of mine.  I was getting teary eyed as I sang and listened to this appeal for God's presence among us.  I'm getting choked up remembering it!  It was beautiful.

The last band to perform, the headlining band, my son's very favorite band, was Skillet!  I L-O-V-E love Skillet!  My son was even more excited.  We saw them at Night of Joy, and their show was mind-blowing, but we didn't know what to expect from a much smaller venue.  They did not disappoint!  Skillet's music is hardcore rock with deep messages about the condition of the world and Who we can turn to if we want to escape its fate.  It was pretty late once the concert was over, but all the merch tables would be open and bands would be there to sign autographs and talk to the people there.  I asked my son if he would like John Cooper to autograph his CD's.  His eyes got as big as saucers and he yelled, "I can?! Yes!!"  I didn't mind standing in line since it moved pretty quickly.  My boy said it was the best time he's had, and he didn't mind if he was going to be hoarse the next day, it was so worth it.  My daughter went to the other merch tables and got autographs and pictures with Family Force 5, For King and Country, Blanca and Veridia, plus she purchased some CD's and even a hat with the FF5 logo.  I would have enjoyed seeing the other acts, but honestly, listening to my son's excitement and happiness was worth more than any band or singer.

We finally got out and got home around midnight.  To my surprise, my makeup held up the entire time.  We were gone 15 hours, and the only thing I ever touched up was my lipstick.  There was a very little bit of oiliness on my forehead, but hardly enough to concern me, especially after 15 hours.  Bare Minerals proved to me once again that they are the best choice for makeup.  My daughter agrees.

That was my Sunday.  It was a day to remember, for sure.  I'll be posting today's recap later on tonight, but for now, God bless and have a great day.

Saying Goodbye To Grandma

This year started on a sad note for us.  Having to say goodbye to a loved one is never easy, but it does help us appreciate the moments we had.  It reminds us of how precious life is.

I woke up feeling a bit better this morning.  It was 7:30 and for the first time in days I felt well rested.  I showered and washed my hair.  It was my intention to wash my hair last night, but my son's friend left later than originally planned, and once the Benadryl kicked in there was no way I was gonna start blow drying and styling my hair.  I ran a bit late today; well, more than a bit late, but part of that was E's fault.  He's a turtle most mornings.  I got to Sunday School after the class had started, which I hate because everyone turns to look at the late arrival.  My SS teacher has been sick with bronchitis so our class combined with the young adult class, making it even more awkward.  Since I was late I couldn't tell everyone about Grandma; I did tell a couple of people from my class who had been praying for her, and they were very compassionate.  After class I went down to a very moving service.  Pastor Ray had all the men come up to the front of the church, where he prayed for them to be good leaders of their homes in the new year.  It was such a special time, watching these men of God commit to being leaders in all things, the home, work, community and church.  He then spoke about the vision for 2015: to be a church of disciples that makes disciples.  The emphasis is to train people, to mentor them, to help them grow in their walk with God.  It was so encouraging!  We want to see our church grow, and to do that we all have to do our part.  Lord, help me do mine!

When we got home I was starting to feel stuffed up again, so I made a pot of chicken and dumplings, because ya'll know, nothing makes a body feel better than comfort food.  Chicken and dumplings makes my mouth dance and my stomach smile.  I hoped it would help me feel better, since I had to finish folding laundry as well before we headed out to the funeral, but I was feeling short of breath and was dry coughing, an indication that asthma is coming on.  Much as I hate it, I used my inhaler, and that did alleviate the breathing problem.  Once my nerves settled, we headed for the funeral home.

I should explain the circumstances with the family.  Since my husband and I separated, his immediate family has basically forgotten that we exist.  I have not heard from or seen my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law or brothers-in-law in almost 4 years.  There are family members that still talk to us, but his parents and siblings have chosen to ignore us.  So going to this funeral for his grandmother meant that I would have to see them, and I didn't know how that was going to go over.  I prayed about it, asking God to help me deal with this situation in a way that would honor both Him and grandma.  We arrived at the funeral home and my daughter was texting some friends from church who had said they would try to come, when we looked up and saw one of the pastors and a couple of the guys from her church, one who works with her at the office and another young man.  They'd come to accompany us and encourage us, which really meant the world to me.  It made going inside a little less daunting.

We were met by my cousin's husband, who has come to my daughter's church a few times.  He quickly went to get his wife, who was in tears but so glad to see us.  She was even happier when she saw the pastor was there.  We were able to go in and spend time with her and her mom, and one of the guys prayed with us and with them.  The whole time we were there, my kid's father stayed as far from us as possible.  His siblings also kept their distance.  Other family members came over and greeted us, but his mother and siblings looked at us from afar and then ignored us.  Honestly, I think it was for the best.  I didn't want anyone making a scene.  Grandma deserved better than that.

We stayed for about an hour and a half, then I told them I was sick and needed to go home.  It wasn't nearly as awkward as I thought it would be, and for that I'm thankful.  What bothered me most was the fact that their dad stayed away from his kids, then when we were leaving the kids went over to him and he said, "Thanks for coming."  Really?  Thanks for coming?  It disappointed my daughter tremendously, which in turn upset me.  But seeing as that was the worst part of the night, I feel like it didn't go off so bad.

So now we're back home.  My nose is stuffed up again.  I'll have to do something about that.  School starts up again tomorrow, so I need to be alert and rested.  I'm gonna wash my face, get into my jammies, and hopefully get a full night's sleep so I can be ready for homeschooling.  Good night everyone.