Monday, December 22, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Baby, It's Cold Outside!



We have our first snowfall of the season. It's beautiful. A dusting of powdered sugar all over. (We'll see how we feel if this last all week as is being predicted.) The kids are sledding, the dog is trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth and I'm enjoying the peace that seems to come with the snow.



Snow on one of our plum trees.



The view from my kitchen window.



Part of the pond where the Fish Massacre occured.


Friday, December 12, 2008

I'm done, Done, DONE!!!!!

Finals are over! I have everything turned in and don't need to think about school until 1/5/2009.

I think this calls for a song and dance!



(I love Kristen Chenoweth!)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Just Say No!

Here we are, the night before my last 2 finals and what am I doing?
Making cupcakes.
Six dozen, homemade, hand decorated cupcakes.
Yes, I said six dozen.
What was I thinking?

Monday, December 8, 2008

I'm almost there...

I'm so close, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My last final for the term is on Thursday!! Bare with me a few more days and my life should return to "normal". Whatever normal happens to be. Hope you are enjoying your "normal".

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Blogs. The internet. The world wide web. What amazing tools we have at our fingertips. I can write anything I want and send it out into cyberspace and someone from half way across the world can read it. How cool is that? When Beth was in Africa, I was able to follow her journey on her blog. It helped me to feel closer to her in some way. I have other blogs I check on a regular basis. Through this amazing tool, I have been able to watch some friends children grow up through stories and pictures. Money and time doesn't allow us the luxury of getting to visit on a regular basis. That's where the internet steps in.
When I first started blogging, it was just for me. It was just something I had wanted to do. I never really thought about other people reading my blog. On the day after Thanksgiving, I logged onto my blog to find a surprise. One of my cousins, Kate, had found my blog and left me a comment. It was kind of exciting. I haven't talked to her in a long time but just by reading my blog, she's all caught up with what is going on in my world now. So, if you have stopped by to read my random thoughts and rants, let me know who you are. Just drop me a comment and let me know who you are. I may have to start watching my language!

Monday, December 1, 2008

I think God is weeping in Heaven.

So Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season has begun. I can't say it's been a great start. If you haven't heard the horrifying news yet, a man was killed on "Black Friday". It occurred at a Wal-Mart in New York. Over 2,000 people rushed to get into the store to get their bargains and trampled a man to death. When the police announced they needed to close the store for a few hours due to the death, shoppers became irate. Can you picture that gift exchange? "Hope you like the vacuum I got for you. It only cost me $20 bucks and oh, yeah a man died for it." Come on people, what in the world are we thinking? Maybe that is the problem, we're thinking in this world. Do we not remember what Christmas is? It is the celebration of Christ's Birth. Remember?
Even before I heard this news, I was having a difficult time trying to balance the secular-commercial christmas with the truth of CHRISTMAS. So many people are having financial issues right now. We have several friends who are out of work right now. Chris has had his hours cut at work and several of his co-workers are barely working. There is the possibility of stores closing after the first of the year. Every time I turn around, I hear news of jobs being cut. The thing is every time I start to feel worried about our finances, I'm hit with how truly blessed we are. We have everything we need and then some. Honestly, we have so much stuff; I'm trying to get rid of it all. I just can't see spending money I don't have on stuff that we don't need.

My friend, Beth, had this video on her blog. When we watched it for the first time I was moved to tears.



Think about it; in some parts of the world people die from lack of water. Here in the U.S. people die for a bargain.