Saturday

Not a good day at all. Started out fine...enjoyed a leisurely morning and went to the cheap haircut place and got a short cut from a new lady. She was good, quick, and funloving! Then came home and worked on some stuff for my growth group starting Thursday. L took younger daughter to mow since youngest son had a sleepover and wanted to crawl into bed. Middle son came over and so older daughter came down and the 3 of us had a wonderful talk for an hour or so. The mowers came home and younger daughter was upset and went up to her room. We talked a bit and then D had to go meet somebody at 1:45. I got some stuff to work on and since it wasn't a super hot day, went out and sat outside and worked on it, while running inside every so often to check on the laundry I was doing. At one point I went to check on younger daughter and she was crying. I told her she needed to get up and get something done today since she had slept in until 10. She told me to go away but then she started getting up. So I went back to laundry.

Then about 3:30 or thereabouts I was putting some laundry away in my room when hubby came hollering in the house saying, "Get younger daughter! She just texted me that she took 60 tylenol." and then she came into my room and sat down. She looked ok... so I talked to her and checked her pulse and it seemed higher than usual. She admitted she took the pills and so I asked L if he was calling 9-1-1 and before I could go run and tell older sister to pray, I heard the sirens in the distance. Anyway, long story short.. she is in the hospital. She seems fine physically but now she's in the psych ward and we can't contact her or see her. She could be there up to 72 hours. I think she's ok, so now I am thinking, how on earth are we going to pay for this? With L out of work and my salary stretched thin paying for all of the other daughter's medication and younger daughter's wisdom teeth last month, and still paying on youngest son's braces.... oh God have mercy on us...

Friday night

I just went to a 60th ladies birthday dinner for our senior pastor's wife. It was such a time of encouragement. I need times like this at times to help me remember what is important. I was able to spend time with wonderful ladies that are investing in others. We all went around and shared what we have seen in her life and how she's impacted us personally. It's so easy to get sidetracked with the general business of life and all the necessary details and forget about why we are here.

I am so grateful for those that help me keep the vision alive. Keep my perspective.

Thursday evening

I'm sitting here listening to thunder and rain, helping my 15 year old with his geometry homework, hoping we can hurry up so I can get back to my quiltmaking this evening. I have phone calls to make and plenty of things to do, but to spend a few minutes doing something crafty is such a draw for me after working all day. I really want to finish up this quilt top so I can get it ready to quilt and then get back to the Christmas one, too. Oh, and work on the video I'm making for the 60th birthday party.

Today I am grateful for having a roof over my head!

Wednesday

Boy, I can't think of clever titles for my days.... not that my life is boring..

I was able to have lunch with an old church friend (younger than me by quite a few years!) that worked in junior high youth group with me a few years ago. Her husband is in the Navy and she is moving to San Diego in a couple of weeks. I have been so blessed with such great friends throughout the years. One thing I have learned, however, and that is if you don't stay involved with things, and live a self-centered life (with lots of TV!) you will not have lots of wonderful friends.

Tonight I am helping with tryouts at swimming. I have to gear myself up for it as it is really hot inside the pool area, and it involves a lot of standing and walking back and forth. I AM getting old...

Last night, without considering all the other things I have going on, I started a new baby quilt. We'll see if I get it done before the baby shower a week and a half away. I will try to load a picture.

Tuesday lunch

I'm tired today but it is my own fault. Stayed up too late. Sigh.

After work I had to go find a compass for youngest son. He's in geometry this year and forgot to get a compass when we went school supply shopping. So ended up spending over a hundred dollars.....

Took older daughter with me to Walmart and got some groceries and various stuff. I enjoy taking one of my children with me at a time as it is always more productive in finding out what is going on in his or her life. I love my kids, but it's hard finding time to get caught up with them with working all day.

Got home, thinking about this party for C we're having next month. Maybe I'll start a Christmas quilt to use as decoration and then give it to her...

So I went into the garage and found a bin with some Christmas fabric in it and brought it upstair to iron. Great! I can iron and cut some fabric all evening....but wait! Son is sitting on my bed with his geometry book. He has a test tomorrow and would I help him study? So, helped him awhile and ended up staying up way too late. Too many things I want to do and so little time. But my kids are more important than projects, right?

Monday Morning

Well, I got up a little earlier today since it is the first day of public school, and I thought the freeway might be more crowded than usual but it wasn't. Yesterday afternoon I sat outside to tan my legs, but it was so incredibly hot that I came back in after a short while to the smell of Larry's making some chocolate amish bread. Yum. He's become quite a cook!

Other than helping the youngest one with his homework a little, it was a rather quiet afternoon and evening. I am making a slideshow/video for my friend C's 60th birthday party next month, so decided to get it at least started. I went through all my digital pictures from 2001-2009 and put all pictures of her into a separate folder and picked out the Christmas music to have as the background playing. That took about 3 hours or so. I need to go through my photo albums for earlier pictures, scan them in, etc. and also get some pictures from her family in order to finish it up. I hope to work on it a little each day so that it will be completely done way before the date. I love working ahead if I possibly can.

Sunday

This weekend has gone by too quickly. Way too quickly in fact. With the birthday party Friday night and the garage sale all day yesterday, and church all morning, I am tired. I didn't get to go to the service even, as I welcomed people from 8-9:30, greeting them at the door and helping write out nametags, and then it was my regularly scheduled nursery duty. We had a lot of babies during the 10:00 service. Lots of under one year olds. There was a huge baby crop (LOL) this spring at our church and at that age we try to keep the ratio one on one or maybe two adults for 3 babies at the most. We were short handed, so called for volunteers. It was fun...I never mind holding a baby or two, rocking them is especially fun, but it does wear one out when they aren't used to it.

Then both girls missed church. Older daughter worked late last night and had to work again today due to the tax free weekend, so she just slept until right before time to go to work. Younger daughter woke up with a stomach ache so stayed home as well. I'm such a high commitment person I guess that I don't let myself miss unless I am throwing up or have a fever, so I have little patience with that sort of thing. But, oh well. So, yeah. Finally left the church around 1:15 and took youngest son to 7-11 for a slurpee and ended up getting a paper and a wrap for lunch. I sat out in the sun awhile when I got home but it got too hot and I felt gross. I'm too old to be sunbathing, I know, but a little color on my legs and arms makes me feel better about myself for some reason.

Well, need to take advantage of the rest of the afternoon to get a few things done before my week starts all over again!

Friends

OK, today I am so grateful for friends....and air conditioning. Yeah, the air conditioning part was a result of working a garage sale all day. And by all day I mean leaving the house before 8 and getting home after 6. So, yeah, it wasn't my garage...

Anyway, made over $200.00 on mainly outgrown clothes, toys, and some 70's CDs. It was fun talking with my friends and catching up with them. A and C have been my friends since my kids were little...so I guess that means about 20ish years. And back when we were all stay at home moms with young children, we spent more time together at places like Chuck E Cheese, birthday parties, parks, and McDonalds. But one tradition we had was doing garage sales about once a year and then camping in the fall. We haven't done the camping since two years ago, but we did start a new tradition of getting away in the fall. Two years ago it was A, C and I that went to go visit our old friend L who lives near Washington DC. That was so fun. Then last year A couldn't go, so C and I went to visit her daughter in Nashville for a long weekend. That was a lot of fun. I think I really value my old friends so much in this season of life as my kids are leaving the nest. I love my kids and enjoy my relationships with them, but it is sure nice to have other women in my life that know me, too.

Job

Today I am grateful for my job. To have a job for one thing. And to have a job that I mostly enjoy is another. And the flexibility that goes with it. And the people I work with...mostly that is. And the variety I have. I know, being an accountant probably doesn't sound interesting to most people, but it only a part of why I like my position. We buy and manage a variety of different companies and so I get to learn about a lot of different types of businesses. Property management, distribution, manufacturing, gas gathering, & radio broadcasting are a few of the different types of businesses we have.

Dealing with lots of different types of people is mostly interesting, too. However, lots of strong leaders that clash goes on as well. That part I cringe about. I think I bring a cohesiveness to our organization. Communication is something I can bring to the table. To me, communication is the key to success. Lots of people think they communicate well but do not. Most people can accept things, even hard things, if it is communicated properly. Particularly if it is communicated a little bit at a time. Enough said. Right now I am a little frustrated in this department.

Health

Why is it when I wake up earlier than my alarm I am filled with dread and fears? All the scary things out there descend upon my thoughts. That is when I need truth to cling to the most.

Today I am grateful that I am in very good health. I went to the chiropractor today for a regular adjustment and realized how I do have aches and pains, but they are all minor. Sitting at a desk has led to some shoulder and back issues, but really not bad at all. I am grateful that I've always kept rather agile and flexible throughout the years, even if I do need to lose weight. My achilles tendon has been bothering me, but I think it is from wearing flip flops too much this summer. All in all, I think of all the things that could be wrong with me and am exceedingly grateful. :-)

I've been setting some goals for this coming fall. I'd like to lose one pound a week by keeping up with walking 3-4 days and doing my Jane Fonda on the other days. Oh yeah, and eating better....that is the hard part for me with sitting at a desk all day.

Gratitude

I have been stressing out too much with hubby out of a job and the economy and a multitude of other things. I know "be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and petition..." and "do not worry about your life..." and I really am trying not to do so. However, it's still hard. Therefore, I need to focus on my blessings.

So today I am grateful for the fact that my sweet husband has been doing all the cooking for the past several months. It is nice to come home from work to his taking care of it. I can help kids with homework, take care of some project, work on other stuff, exercise (?) or just relax until dinner. Even though things aren't the way I would do them, at least I'm not having to do them. He seems to really enjoy the cooking process and finding new recipes to try. The kids are enjoying his cooking, too! So I am a fortunate lady!