Closer To Free

“Every girl has a pair.” Well, until about a month ago, I didn’t. Not that I didn’t NEED to have them. I have just always put fashion before comfort whenever I have bought clothing. Then I bought this incredibly comfortable pair of cropped sweats at Target, 1 size larger than I would normally wear. I LOVE THEM!!! I love putting them on when I change out of my work clothes & I’m just hanging around the house. I even sleep in them, cuz they’re just so darn comfortable. My thighs can actually breathe now, which is why I call them my “fat pants”.

But tonight, I took a GIANT step forward in my quest to not care so much about what other people think of me and I went OUT In PUBLIC –  shopping in my fat pants!!!!  (Of course, I did my hair & make-up before I went out, cuz I can’t be a total slob! Baby steps, Bob.)

Maybe it’s cuz I’m getting older, maybe it’s cuz my metabolism is slowing down, maybe I’ve got the dryer setting on too high, or maybe it’s cuz I spend too many nights sitting on the couch shoving food in my face, but the rest of my pants are feeling too tight on me now. Maybe it’s just because nothing compares to my wonderful new “fat pants”. Is there a support group for this kind of thing, cuz I think I might be in trouble the next time I go shopping for pants! Maybe I should create my own support group called the ‘Sisterhood of the Fat Pants’ – anyone else care to join? The first mtg. is this weekend – bring chips, queso, a malt-y beverage and don’t forget to wear your ‘Fat Pants’!

Am I the only one who can’t watch the Olympics without crying? Seriously. The Opening Ceremonies were the best I’ve ever seen – I can’t believe some of the cool stuff they pulled off for that! But what I really love is all the drama & backstory of some of the Olympians. I love seeing people who have trained for their entire lives, receiving the highest award nfor all their hard work. I love shouting at the T.V. for the U.S. team to “go, Go, GO!!!” And I love getting all emotional when someone is receiving their medal. I just love the Olympics! However, it does come with a twinge of sadness too, because it makes me feel like a lump of goo, sitting on the couch, watching T.V. What could I be achieving with just a liitle (OK, maybe a LOT) more effort?

Speaking of achieving……Dwight has been hired on by the “BIG” Company in our town. Oh, yeah – He’s There! Actually, he’s been working there for the past few years, but only as a consultant. Now that he’s been hired on, he gets all the benefits of working for the company directly. And our family gets to reap several of those benefits as well!

As far as my job goes….in 2 weeks, I will have been there for a year. I have a new Property Manager, but his transition into the position has gone well so far. AND…he’s already streamlined a few things, making my job a little bit easier. Woo Hoo! This is gonna be a crazy week at work, though – the college kids come back to town & things always get crazy at the office. Actually, it’s more the parents of the college kids that tend to be the problem!!! Thankfully, I don’t work on the Student Rental side, but because our local college decided to knock down a couple of dorms this past year, there has been an overflow of student into our Residential dept., since there is NO more Student Housing available anywhere in town, from any company. And I just love how I’ve been getting calls yesterday from students asking if we have any apartments that they can move into THIS WEEKEND!!! Talk about not planning ahead!!!

The dogs are doing great, the kids are almost ready for school, and I am LOVING this cool weather that we’ve been getting!!! It really makes me look forward to Fall. (OK, I can say that since Skip doesn’t Blog anymore – I like “Fall” and not “Autumn”, OK?)

Have a great week! May God richly bless your lives today!!!

After a trip to our local county fair, we went home with something a little bit more animated than a stuffed carnival dog – we came home with a 3-yr.-old Beagle named “Duke”. He is a perfect fit to our family. Bailey loves having a brother, as far as we can tell.  You can see a few pictures of Duke & of Duke & Bailey together at my Flickr site, which you can get to using the link on the right. —————————————->

I’ll let you know about some other exciting news for our family in my next post, but for now, Duke is more than enough excitement to share!!!

I have read several books that I have enjoyed over the years, but there have only been a handful of them that I would like to tell ALL my friends to go out and read ASAP & ‘The Shack’ now tops that list.

I think you will only reap the benefits of this book if you are willing to walk through the grief of the first few chapters & bring your own griefs, dissappointments & resentments with you on the way.  I have never cried so hard & had a book move me as much as this one did. Yet I have also never felt quite as peaceful about life after reading it either. There is just something about this book that makes believing in God & living in His love & trusting Him with your life, SO desirable. This isn’t the Bible, it’s just a work of fiction, but it made God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit a whole lot more tangible to me.

There were even parts of the book that almost seemed like they were meant JUST for me.  Most people know that I like birds, but maybe you don’t know that I saved a baby Blue Jay’s life when I was about 10 yrs. old. It fell out of it’s nest & I took care of it until it was healthy enough to fly. When the Blue Jay appeared in the story, I got goosebumps! 

Those of you who have already read it will probably understand why I feel a little bit sad that the book is over. I already yearn to be back in ‘The Shack’.  I just hope that the message of this book will stay with me and my trust in God & love for others will continue to grow along the way.

http://theshackbook.com/

Every Summer I feel like a beached whale. My body needs to be in the deep waters of relationship with God, but I’ve chosen to beach myself with business instead. And then something comes along to shove me back into the cool, deep blue. This year? I’m in the middle of reading ‘The Shack’. Oh yes. This one might just leave me drowning. I’m looking forward to the ending, as I almost didn’t make it past the first few chapters. I hope to write more about this when I’m done, but I already feel challenged & stretched & I’m only halfway through it!

PICTURES ADDED TO PICASA (FINALLY!)—->

I HAD to change my header picture because the reindeer was making me feel cold! This hot air balloon floated over our house a few days ago, so I ran & got my camera & snapped a few pictures of it. I think it matches my theme quite nicely!

Dwight’s cousin, her husband & their 4-yr.-old boy came to visit us last week. We took a trip to Starved Rock State Park, which is always an awesome experience. We went on a hike & there was a deer about 5 feet away from us! Seems like they’re so used to people being in their “home” that they aren’t even afraid anymore. It was a good photo op. too! Then the kids spent some time down by the Illinois River, just throwing rocks in the water, while I had fun watching the blue herons & the white pelicans with my binoculars.

We’re still working on our house – we should be ready for our BIG company on the 4th of July – Dwight’s brother, his wife & their 2 kids. We have SO much fun with them. They’re family we LIKE having around. Anyway, the kids are really excited to spend time with their cousins, who will also be sharing bedrooms with our kids, and the Guest Bedroom is finally fixed up now that we’ve gotten our old queen bed in there & the new sheets, etc.  Now we’ve just gotta get that trampoline enclosure and do a little work in the yard & we will be all set to go! I think we’re gonna try to take them out to Starved Rock as well, since it’s really fun & FREE too!

Well I better go plant a few more flowers here before the rains come! Happy Summer everyone!

Yesterday I took 2 different opportunities to reflect on my life. First, during my lunch break at work, I walked over to the ISU campus & sat on a rock in the Quad & just remembered my life back then. College was FUN for me. I was carefree, and stupid at times, but it was a good time. I met Dwight there & fell in love. He proposed to me not far from where I sat yesterday. Nostalgia was in full force & a part of me longed to return to those days.

Then last night, I stole away from the kids while they were watching T.V. & I slipped into the backyard & jumped on our new trampoline & looked at the world around me & thought about where I am right now. I thought of all the wonderful things in my life right now & how thankful I am for where I am RIGHT NOW. I wouldn’t really go back to college if given the opportunity. I had a very peaceful feeling, just enjoying the moment I was in.

I am learning that there is pain & suffering all around us every day, but the challenge remains to enjoy the good moments while they’re here. If there’s one good thing about growing older, it’s that I hope I am also growing wiser with each year too! 

So this is Day 2 of Daycare for my kids. It’s their first time ever in daycare, but their first day was great! Miss Sheri works out of her home & has a boy & a girl that are the same ages as my 2. In addition, she will be watching an almost-5-yr. old & twin 3’s, a boy & a girl. My only problem is the price. She is expensive, especially since I’m only using her part-time. The redeeming factors are my sanity, my job, but most importantly, the kids are going to have a great, fun summer. Today is Cooking Day. The kids get to work in the kitchen, which mine both love to do, but I have little patience for!

Work is getting crazy-busy! Besides the fact that more people move during the Summer months, my company also accquired 2 more apartment buildings for us to manage! I haven’t even seen them yet.  Other than that, I still love my job – which is why I’m willing to do the daycare thing to keep it!

Dwight & I are preparing our house for his brother’s family to stay with us for the 4th of July holiday. I think we might get a new bed, so that we can move our current one into the guest bedroom. Anyone out there have a sleep number bed? I’m really interested in those, but I dread the probable cost. We also need to carpet or tile our basement & replace the old, breaking metal playground equipment in our backyard. I’m hoping to replace it with a big trampoline! However, we’ll see how much of this we can afford. We don’t want to go into debt just for weekend visitors, even though we will need to get all that stuff done eventually (along with 1,000 other fix-it projects!)

Dwight has been doing so many great things for his health – riding his bike to work (which is a 40-minute ride!!!), playing disc golf, and even reading the Bible every morning. I’m really proud of him for trying to be so healthy, but now I feel like a lump next to him! I need to get my butt in gear – literally – and find a way to get some exercise & find some time to read. All I have to do is JUST DO IT!!!! Ugh! There are just too many excuses sometimes. Thankfully, God created mirrors. (OK, so He didn’t create mirrors, but He did allow us to see our reflection in the water – and my reflection is starting to betray me!!!)

I want this blog to be so much more than it is. I want to post pictures of my life, of my family, of things that are important to me, but I can’t figure out how to do it. And I’m too busy.

I want my phone, a Sony Walkman, to be so much more than it is. I want to put more music on it & take more pictures with it, but I don’t have the time or patience to get that going.

I want my digital camera to be useful again. I need to download my pictures onto the computer so I can update my Flickr page, and free up the memory card so that I can take more pictures. But I’d rather just buy a new memory card, or have someone else do it for me.

I need to update my Contact List for my e-mail account. I need to create “Groups” so I can send out 1 e-mail to multiple people. I know it’s possible – I just don’t have the time or patience to have my computer-genius husband show me how to do it.

I feel like I’m getting really lazy & old – especially about technology. Or maybe I’m just too darn stubborn for technology.  I feel like the world is turning faster than I can keep up with. I don’t want to get left behind.

I guess my days of learning aren’t over yet. I was reminded of this last night, when part of Nick’s homework was to teach me the “New Math” that he’s learning. Have you heard about the ‘Lattice Method’ of multiplication? Look it up if you’re not familiar with it – it’s completely backwards from how we learned to multiply, but it makes SO much sense & it’s really pretty easy too. Maybe this old dog CAN learn some new tricks! I think I’m going to make a “Teach-me -how-to-use-my-Gadgets-Date” with my husband soon. (Pray for us! HA!!!)

it was the Worst of times!!!!

This past week I got a surprise raise (yay!) and cockroaches fell on my head (when I opened the door to an apartment I was showing – I STILL have the heebie-jeebies!!!)

Yes…..it’s been one CRAZY week! So much to write about – ZERO time!  But I’ve been keeping up on reading other’s blogs – I just don’t have a lot of time to write mine. Like now – gotta go rotate the laundry!