Free, Just Because ...

It was my mistake.  I was the one at fault, not her.  But she made it right, not just good, but great.

You see, I had a free one coming.  I had finally made it to Starbucks and was ready to redeem my free beverage of choice that I had earned by buying their drinks over the last few months.  Ya, I don’t get out much.  I hadn’t much time left to redeem it either as I had just gotton an email saying I only had a few more days to get my free beverage before it was gone.  So I was happy!  Happy to be out and about, happy to get my hands on a Venti Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappicino and happy to have remembered to tell her at the drive thru speaker that this was a freebie!  But that’s where my problem started.  Because when I got to the window and gave her my card I forgot to mention it again. 

She handed back my card and receipt and I noticed she charged me for it.  Oh no! I was going to have to confront her about it.  Now most people don’t enjoy confrontation, but I really hate it!  It goes against everything in my peace loving, get along with people, lets all be friends mentality.  Should I just not say anything? It was my fault after all.  And I can just come again some other day.  But my time is running out and I may not get back before it expires!  Oh what to do, what to do? 

She finally came back to the window and hands me my drink and that’s when I blurt out: “I forgot to tell you this was my freebie.” And I hand her back my card.  She graciously takes it back and apologizes, for MY mistake!  She’s busy and she confides that they are understaffed today.  I feel like a heel and apologize profusely for making her go thru the hassle of reimbursing my gold card.  Then she drops the bomb on me: This drink is free!  On her.  On the house.  She didn’t use the freebie on my card but tells me to come back and use it tomorrow. 

I thank her profusely and drive off in awe. 

You see I was expecting to get a free drink.  One that I had worked for, saved up my rewards for, one that I had earned.  But instead I got a FREE drink.  One that I didn’t do anything for.  That was just given to me, just because.  For no other reason, than the kindness of someone’s heart. 

And it made me think of that other free gift in my life.  The one I try to earn.  The one I think if I work a little harder or be a little more loving, might get me what I want.  Forgiveness of sin, the grace of the Father through the Son’s sacrifice.  I didn’t do any of the work.  He did it all on the cross.  I just get to receive.  Receive thru humbling myself and asking Him to forgive me and cleanse me and purify me.  Cause that’s what He does.  Because of the kindness of God, His love and compassion for men and women, He gives us the greatest gift of all! 

For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves,

It is a gift of God; not as a result of works so that no one may boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

Busy Crazy Busy

 .... and yet ponderously slow at the same time.  That is the curse of having health issues.  When you are feeling good, there is so much to do, so much to catch up on.  You don't know where to start.  But then you feel cruddy again and are layiing in bed thinking of all those things you could be doing if you felt better.

That was my life from Christmas til now.  We finally dx'ed one of my problems: some terrible side effects of a medicine I was on.  I've been off it for a month now and some of my sypmtoms are gone, thankfully!  But I'm still having gut issues and other sypmptoms.  I have some ideas on what is going on, but am still trying to find out what to do about them and how to live with what my body is throwing at me.

I have hope that I will get my life back again, but at the same time feel like I lost the last six months of my life.

Til next time .... assuming I feel good!

Looked who came out of hibernation .... Mr. T-Rex! and u were thinking i was talking about the crocus'

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/V5GlsusZDd/

The first sign of spring in our yard ... #springflowers

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/V5GVV5sZDC/

Need a Lift?

Ever needed a lift? Sure you have, we all have. I recently found a ‘lift’ that I use over and over again. And it sure has been helping. What am I talking about? Why, only the coolest, greatest iPad app to come along called Lift.

Let me backtrack here a bit. I love New Year’s Resolutions. I love goals. I love dreaming up new things to do and accomplish. But, and this is a big but ….. I, like 96% of the rest of the population, haven’t been great at keeping those resolutions or accomplishing those goals. 

This is where Lift comes in (and no, I’m not a paid spokesman for the company), you set up your account, add the habits you want to start incorporating; say like flossing at night. And when you do remember to floss, you check it off on the list. It gives you a spot to make a comment if you like, and others can give you props for accomplishing your goal or even make a friendly comment on your list. Unlike other to-do apps tho, these will stay there day after day. The ones checked off showing up in green with a big neon sign that says: look at me, I made progress. No, not really, but that’s what it feels like. And the others just waiting to be crossed off. The app also sends you a daily email tracking your progress and giving you kudos and an inspiring quote to help keep you tracking. I love it. I look at it often during the day, since I’m an iPad fiend anyway, might as well. And by looking at it, it reminds me of the habits I want to tackle. I have one for taking my multi vitamin, something I was always forgetting to do. Now its almost second nature. I have another for memorizing scripture. Another goal is to write for 30 minutes and I have several that have to do with walking and fitness goals. I even have a goal for spending time outside. I don’t mark every goal off each day, but since starting to use Lift I have become much more consistant in several areas of my life. As I said, I use it on my iPad. Not sure if its available for other tablets/phones or on the web, but if you’re interested you could google it and see. If you already use Lift or start, you can follow me or see my Lift goals. 

So how ‘bout you? Do you set goals for yourself? Habits you want to incorporate? And how do you track your progress? I’d love to hear.

Proverbs 2:1-2

I LOVE this pic with the verse. Til next time ....

Help! I was kidnapped by little green martians ....

....oh, so you don't believe that. Well, the truth is alot more boring and mundane. Sure you don't want to go with the little green men story? No? ok, but I warned you. The more boring reason the blog has been quiet is life got busy, and blogging kept sinking lower and lower on the to-do list. There were times when I thought about posting but had trouble even figuring out what to talk about. But I used my blogroll to keep up with reading others blogs. Then even that trickled away to nothing. I think I got bored with blogging and reading blogs or maybe I simply lost interest in that way of communicating on the web. Weird, huh?

Of course, part of it might have been the fact that my mom gave me her old iPad when she upgraded. Now I had a bright shiny toy to play around with. I fell in love with all the apps out there and exploring all that you can do with them. An iPad isn't the best way to surf the web, so I never got on my blog or others with my iPad and it became practicallly all I used. We also found that my son who has Angelman's syndrome took to the iPad like any fish in or out of water. He LOVED it, and was able to utilize it. He found youtube videos about dinosaurs faster than the speed of light. So with the extra money I had been saving up for a new laptop I bought myself a new iPad instead and gave Josiah the hand me down. So now we are 2 peas in a pod hunkered down over our iPads enjoying apple technology. One thing I've really enjoyed doing is taking photos with my iPad. It has a great camera and I love how I can immediately see in full screen mode what I'm shooting. I have found a half dozen apps besides instagram to tweak said photos and post on facebook and twitter. I had let my picture taking days slide as it was such a hassle to upload the photos onto my computer and then mess around with them. Now its a breeze.

To be fair tho, there were other factors. Pinterest comes to mind. Boy, is that an addictive sight. I love it! And I don't just pin items, I go back and use those pins. I've made some great recipes from it, tried some cleaning and organizing tips, found a few new hairstyles to experiment with along with new nail polish colors and tricks. Everything a girl could want. At the beginning of the year, I also quit playing a silly online game that had taken up alot of my time and made it a priority to get into the Word daily. That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I found a rhythm that works for me: reading a passage and writing down my thoughts about what it is saying to me, then writing out my prayer requests for family and friends and finishing with prayer. I got so hooked on it that I was even able to continue with it thru the summer when the Joe-boy was home. I just made sure I got up before he did and had my time of quiet then. The goal of having a consistent quiet time had been on my heart for quite some time. I'm glad I finally gave it priority in my life. If you have been pondering the idea of pursuing a more deliberate time in the Word and prayer, I would wholeheartedly encourage you to go for it! You'll be so glad you did. Just in the last couple weeks I've added praying for countries around the world. I'm using the book "Operation World" to guide me as I pray. The book is split up into 365 days for the year to pray over a different country. It gives you an overview of the country as well as specific prayer needs for the people and the pastors and workers in the country.

And lastly, I've been doing more walking. My doc wants me to walk daily, but I usually get in a 30 min walk 3x a week. We had a lovely fall this year and walking gave me an opportunity for some great photo shoots.

So that's my boring life. How has your year gone? Been abducted by aliens? Til next time ....

Think About Such Things

What Are You Thinking About These Days?



Til next time ....

Cash Envelopes Update

Back in September I wrote about how I started back with the Cash Envelope System. I loved getting back into the cash routine, and 5 months later I still love it!

The categories I use for my cash envelopes are:

~~Groceries
~~Eating Out & Entertainment
~~Gasolene and Bridge Tickets
~~Household Needs
~~Babysitting $$
~~Gifts
~~Haircuts, pedicures, other personal stuff
~~Allowance $$ for the Hubster and I (We give ourselves an allowance to use for whatever we want, no questions asked and no need to keep a record)
~~Clothing Fund

For you, there might be other categories you would include or exclude. It's great that you can customize it to your needs.

When I started using cash again, I also started using a budget sheet every two weeks. Because we get paid every two weeks. I budget how much I'm going to put in my envelopes for each category for that two week pay period, making sure that I have more money than bills. At the beginning, there was a bit of guessing going on, but as we've lived this out the last few months, we've found a rhythm to how much we need for each cash category. I've been able to trim our gas fund and grocery fund a bit whereas our gift fund went up significantly over the holidays.

Now going into 2012, I have a better sense how much to save in my envelopes for those longer term funds like gifts, vacations, household needs (like a new club chair) as well as those funds that are spent every month like groceries, gasolene and eating out.

As I was talking about this with my husband the other day, I realized that what I really love about this system is just how much I feel in control of our outgo now. I like seeing it on paper and seeing the cash in the envelopes. I like knowing that there are cash funds that are building up over several months to purchase bigger items that are on our wish lists and not getting spent on frivolous items we dont' really want or need. I guess what I like is it keeps me disciplined and on target, both shortterm and longterm.

For those of you who are interested, here are a couple websites where you can print out or make your own envelopes. The first one is the one I use, but check out the ones that look interesting to you. #1 paper envelopes, #2 a fabric wallet #3 another fabric envelope And let me know if you're on the Cash Envelope bandwagon.

Til Next Time ...

Currently ....

I did this back in October and had so much fun with it that I thought I'd do it again. Want to join along? Just copy and paste the questions and answer them on your blog. I'd love to see what you are currently up to.

Current Books: Finishing up the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm on the last book 'Mockingjay'. Its riveting. Have a couple on the nightstand ready to go when I finish this one that look good: The Life Ready Woman, and PrayFit. Don't those sound like interesting titles?

Current Playlist: Adele. Got her cd for Christmas. she's got an amazing voice.

Current Color: Red, red, red! I love red

Current Drink: Coffee with Peppermint coffee creamer--yumm!

Current Food: none right now, kind of overloaded from the holidays. enjoying simple fair after the indulgences of late.

Current Wishlist: a comfy chair for our living room. have my eye on one from cost plus world market.

Current Needs: a haircut! and color!!

Current Triumph: I'm really happy that I got back into a regular devotion schedule instead of hit and miss. Its been wonderful to have some quiet time with the Lord each morning.

Current Bane of my Existence: the 6:30 alarm! I AM NOT a morning person, but the world seems to be. Why can't school start at 10am instead of 8am? huh? why? is there any earthly reason not to let us night owls get some much needed rest? huh? sigh .... I know I'll never change this world, but if I could .....

Current Indulgence: a nap! see above ...

Current Mood: sleepy! (not really). Happy, content.

Current #1 Blessing: Being at peace.

Current Outfit: Jeans, long sleeve black t-shirt, purple jersey knit swing jacket/cardigan? I love it.

Current Excitement: Plans to visit my sister in Denver this spring.


So how 'bout you? What are your 'currents'?

Welcome 2012

(courtesy of Lori from Fresh Picked Whimsey)

The Day Before the Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It is almost upon us and the elves are scurrying around our abode doing last minute secret things. Unlike many years in the past, I am actually quite ready. Just a quick trip to the store for last minute perishables for the big feast, a fun movie outing with the family, and maybe looking for a last minute gift for the hubster .... (Yes, he will have something under the tree, this would be extra).

I am so glad I lowered my expectations this year. If I had tried to do all that I have done in the past, I would be making myself crazy right about now.

One thing I've learned in the year we've lived here in the Gorge, is that I can't just zip off to the store. I plan my trips and make every moment count. Driving an hour each way, I spend 4-5 hours in town hitting every store known to man! and that's only cuz I run out of steam =) So the days of driving 10 minutes to go pick up one little thing at Joanne's or Target are gone for now. But I've adjusted .... Life is good!

So how bout you? Are you ready? Ready or not, here it comes!

This is one of my favorite verses that sums up the Season for me:

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

~ Isaiah 9:6

And I love how my friend, Michele signed off her Christmas card: As we near 2012 let's continue to live for the one who gave us all. Merry Christmas!

This n That Ramblings

Where did November go? Sorry for the MIA trick, guess life caught up with me.

After the #1 son recovered (after giving his cooties to me, of course!) we celebrated his 14th birthday. I had a post all thought out to sing his praises, but it never got from my brain to the blog .... sigh. Then Thanksgiving happened and with travel and baking, the blog got neglected again. Now its December 1st and I'm determined to write something, even if it is only incoherant ramblings.

*It's December 1st: Do you know where your advent calendar is?

*It's December 1st, our favorite dog Spunkie who we had years ago was born this day. I was going to try to dig out a pic of her and scan it since she walked this earth pre-internet days, but i ran out of time. just imagine the cutest 30 lb mutt and that's her.

*We're still deciding what to get Joe for Christmas and I'm wondering if we might be able to find a dog, just like our Spunky. Does pet 'lightening' ever strike twice?

*I know what I want to get the big Mister, but dont' think he's going to like it. Should I get it for him anyway?

*The older I get the harder it is for me to come up with gift suggestions for myself for the big Mister. Its not that I don't want things, I just don't know what to tell him. Just don't get me something I 'NEED', k?

*Went to the dentist for a cleaning, the first one in a very long time (ahem). Wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I think dentistry has come a long, long way since when I was a kid and had the biddy from (well you know ....) who scarred me for life!

*Had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving this year. Went to my sis's and bro-in-law for some awesome Turkey and all the extras. Then went to my niece's for dessert. My bro and sis-in-law, my niece's hubby and 4 great kiddos plus my mom, sis and hubby and us had great fellowship over yummy goodness. Love making good memories with my family.

*Today I'm putting up our Christmas decorations. I like to wait a few days after Thanksgiving to give myself some breathing space between one holiday from another. A little margin in my life is a good thing.

Well, that's about all the ramblings I have stored up.

Til next time ....

My Sick Boy

Today is Day Three of the Sick Boy at Home.

Over the weekend he developed the sniffles and a bit of a cough. We laid low except for church. Monday morning I decided to let him sleep and kept him home from school. By afternoon he seemed to be more like himself. So Tues morning we got up and off to school he went. By mid morning he had spiked a fever and the school was calling me to come pick him up.

Tues afternoon and evening his symptoms abated and he looked like he was on the mend again. But not wanting a repeat of Tuesday, I waffled whether to send him to school or keep him home. After hearing him coughing in the early hours, I made my decision to keep him home again.

Today has been more of the same: sniffles, a little cough once in awhile, lots of cartoons and lots of liquids.

The hard thing about Joe being sick is that he rarely acts sick. He doesn't lie on the couch, moaning or napping. If you didn't hear him hacking or have to wipe his nose you'd barely know he was sick.

I'm really hoping he gets to feeling better. With no school on Friday, if he doesn't go to school on Thursday he will have missed almost the whole week.

I'm keeping up with the laundry, the dishes and the meals, but I'd really like to get back to my writing. Kind of hard to do when Dinosaur Train is on in the background!

Thankfully, #1 son doesn't get sick often. Just part of the challenges of being 'mom', right?

Til next time .....

Thanks but ....

Til next time ....

Superfluous Pic of the Day

I haven't shared many of my photos of late so I dug thru my stash and found one from this summer I thought you'd like.


(Mt Saint Helens)

I just love the contrast of the green and blue and white.

Til next time ....

Currently

Currently

Have you seen this one? Me neither. What are your 'currents'?

Current Books: Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad; I'm about 2/3 thru it and have really enjoyed it. Very helpful info for dressing well. Just finished Mrs Jeffries Speaks her Mind; cute cozy mystery. I have the whole series and reread them when I want a mindless escape. Write A Novel and Get It Published; waiting in the wings on my bedside table. Looking forward to seeing what this author has to say.

Current Playlist: Soul Sister or whatever its called. I know its an old song, but I love it! It makes me want to dance and sing along

Current Color: Dark Red and Black. My go-to colors for winter.

Current Drink: Diet Coke with Lime, a holdover from summer. Still enjoying it. But I do have some apple cider that I want to doctor up for the family and have some weekend.

Current Food: Been making a few pumpkin desserts, all keepers, and craving mexican!

Current Wishlist: a pumpkin candle, my current one has finally reached its end. Boots! but I don't want to pay the top dollars that my wide calves require. None of the regular stores carry boots for big calved women like myself. I checked. A date night with the hubster =)

Current Needs: A new bra!

Current Triumph: I've written over 24,000 words so far on my novel. That's alot of words. I'm so proud of myself and can actually see myself finishing this book next spring.

Current Bane of my Existence: Clutter, its definitely time to get rid of more stuff!

Current Indulgence: New nail polish-- Wicked and Devil's Advocate both by Essie. Now to get one or the other on my nails!

Current Mood: Mostly happy but anxious about a few things too ....

Current #1 Blessing: My devotional time this past month has been so, so good! Loving my time in the morning with my Lord.

Current Outfit: Jeans, long sleeve t-shirt, and cardigan.

Current Excitement: Hubby getting home from his business trip. It's been a long week without him.

Current Link: a gorgeous fall photo, you won't be disappointed.

So how 'bout you? What are your 'currents'?

Til next time ....

House Names

Do you name your homes?

When I was younger I found that I loved mysteries, esp Agatha Christie mysteries and other british authors. I remember reading one of her books and there was a house named The Laurels. Yes, the houses actually had names, not numbers, at least I don't think they had numbers. But I digress. In another story, the house was named Sweetbrier. Cute, huh?

So twenty years ago or so, when Michael and I had just taken over my dad's biz and were struggling to make ends meet, we lived in this tiny little 2 bedroom cottage. It was white, small, no curb appeal or charm to speak of, but we were happy. The rent was low and it had wild sweetpeas growing outside the front door. I hadn't got into gardening yet at that time or maybe I just didn't have the money. Ha! So the sweetpeas were a welcome bit of color in the spring and summer.

For some reason, I nicknamed that little home "Sweetpea Cottage" and it stuck. Whenever we talk about the different places we lived, we always know which one was Sweetpea Cottage. We never refer to it in any other way. Our other homes we reference as "the one on langdon street" or "the duplex in auburn" but I will always think of that little cozy home as Sweetpea Cottage.

So, I could end this post right here, but its really just a prelude to what I've been thinking about. We've been here in the gorge now for over a year, and been living in another non-descript 2 bedroom home. I must say it's a bit bigger than Sweetpea was, and has twice the yard, fenced even. But woefully, it does not have twice the charm.

I would love to come up with a name for this home as we very well could be here for a bit longer, maybe alot longer. There's an old pear tree outfront and several worthless black walnut trees that make gardening prohibitive. Did you know that a black walnut trees roots will inhibit growing veggies within 5-10 feet of it? or was it 15 feet? Anyway, it basically makes growing a garden pretty fruitless .... or veggieless! Ha ha.

So if you think of a name for our home down here in the gorge, let me know. And I'd love to hear if you've ever named a home you've lived in. Or if the house came with a name.

Til next time ....

How Did His B-day Sneak Up On Me?

Yes, it comes every year. On the same day even! But this year it kind of snuck up on me. What? you ask. The hubster's birthday. I have been thinking about it, and pondering what we should do to celebrate. I have already asked and received ideas for gifts and food. But somehow, in the busyness of life, none of these ideas have been acted on yet. But that's ok, I still have 12 hours, right? HA! Actually, with our crazy schedules right now, we won't be celebrating til the weekend. So I'm not in the doghouse yet.



Looking thru the archives, I found that I started honoring the hubs on his special day back in 2007. A couple years I posted pics, One year I posted the b-day card I made him. Most were short and sweet posts. But this year, I want to be more verbose. I want to share what makes my man so great for me and our family. If ya don't do it on the guys b-day, when are ya going to do it, eh?



So pardon the bad poetry but it was the best I could come up with on short notice ....



An Ode to the Birthday Boy

Why do I love him? Why does he make me smile?
His steadfastness reminds me of his Father above
His hardworking body and soul rarely tires

Telling dino tales none have heard before to his firstborn son.
They will never hold a conversation, but father loves the son just the same

Studious in his studies, high grades he obtained
Found work and moved us to the land of beauty wind and rain
Listens to stories swirling around in my head
Brainstorms with me where the plot should travel or end

Loves me thru hormones and emotions, disappointments and tears
Laughs with me, hugs me tight, smiles at me, journeys with me thru the days and years
We have been thru alot, rollercoaster ride from "I do" to now
The ups, the downs, the falls to the ground,
the in between, the seen and unseen.

Many more years I hope to have with this man of mine
A few grey hair have sprouted up, a few more pounds to his still lean frame
But like fine wine, he grows better with age.

(and no I have no aspirations to be a poet)


To you babe! Happy birthday, Sweetie

Going to the Library today .... got 10 books on hold to pick up! TEN! Love me some books to read. Til next time ....