I've been tagged!

Kathleen at Sassy Granny tagged me! Thanks! Although I have no idea what I'm going to say. We'll see....

See the cute little tagged badge for all the rules...

Let's see, 7 quirky things about me... gee.. how will I ever keep it down to seven??? lol

1. I hate to fold whites. Those little bitty pieces take forever. I usually save this duty until near the weekend and leave the basket of washed whites laying around and my hubby and daughter fold them for me. Sweet!

2. I'm reading The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee.

3. Sometimes reading blogs makes me so sad I almost want to quit reading. The gravity of people's problems moves me often to tears.

4. Sometimes I think about stopping blogging myself. I enjoy it, but it takes a lot of time. And on the flip side, sometimes I don't want to put the effort into 'building my readership', which incidentally I couldn't have cared less about when I started on this little bloggy journey.

5. I love living in Texas even though people stereotype us unfairly. (no we do not all drive Cadillac convertibles with horns on the front, or wear boots.... with or without spurs)

6. I like to give and receive hand crafted gifts. I make scrapbook calenders for my IL's, my fam and for me every year for Christmas. And I want to try to buy some neat personalized gifts from Etsy for some relatives this year, if I can get it together.. we'll have to see how that one goes.

7. My hubby had to drag me kicking and screaming into the 'Internet Age'. I hated the idea of the internet at the beginning. Now I would say I (along with my family) are pretty obsessed with it. How did we ever make it before we could just sit down, do a search and find an answer to a question in like ten seconds??? I don't know either.

Now let's see....I'm supposed to tag 7 people.... hmmm.....

1. There's Karen at Gberger. I've enjoying getting to know her and grieve along side her in the loss of her daughter.

2. There's Donna at Way More Homemade. She and I actually got to grab a bite to eat together the other day. She's a hoot!

3. There's Jennifer at Smelling Coffee. I'm always blessed by everything she says!

4. There's "Lolly" at Eating Our Way Around DFW. Always fun to see where she's eaten lately!

5. There's Michelle at Because I Love You. She's another Texas girl and she has a heart for grieving moms.

6. There's Jill at Jill's Blog. She's new to me.. found her recently while I was blog hopping. Would like to get to know her better. : )

7. And last but not least, there's Susan at How Can I Keep From Singing? We have something in common as we both lost sons to the same disease.

This is fun! I hope everybody plays along. It's always fun getting to know you girls a little bit better! Happy Friday, Y'all!

how much longer????

How much longer until the elections are over??? Some days when I look at my email 'in box', I just scratch my head and wonder if we can all hang on til this is finally over. People on both sides of the fence have very strong opinions, feeling and convictions about this race. It's one of the most heated in a while. Sometimes I wonder if it's because there is a lot at stake. But then again, I'm the most un-political person I know.. so I really have no idea if that's true or not. It's just how the media is making us feel.

An aside here~ even though I am un-political, it doesn't mean I don't vote. It just means all of this mess doesn't consume my every thought, as it does some people. Having said that, let's move on.

Yes, I am worried about our country. Yes, I'm concerned about how things are going. But I've also been praying and listening to God. And very often He uses simple things to speak. An example, I remember memorizing "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24. That is a simple, short verse but I can't begin to tell you how many times and in how many ways God has brought that verse to mind and taught me something new from it.

Something I read a while back that's in my sidebar is Me, Myself & Bob by Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales. I know you're probably wondering what Veggie Tales and the story of a creative visionary with a heart for little kids and some stories to tell and how his dream went belly-up has to do with anything political. Well.. here goes. This book is sort of like that verse. God has used it to show me so many things. Sometimes I'm amazed at what God can bring me to see from things that can seem unrelated. This book is about his building of Veggie Tales.. the company, the employees.. how it grew and grew and how he struggled to manage something that felt like it was getting out of hand. Until finally near the end of the book, he describes the trial that finally ended it all for him. He talks about how this changed his life. Finally he wasn't in charge of all that stuff and he felt like a big weight had been lifted off of him. He went into a time of humbly seeking the Father and He began giving him new stories to tell and opening up new doors. And he was happy and pleased in the end with the way things turned out for him, since he was now having a vibrant relationship with God and was seeing God move in his work in a way he hadn't seen before. And then the verdict was overturned. A verdict that seemed so cut and dry in the first place. A verdict that should have been an easy win for him and Veggie Tales. The one that ended with him losing everything and walking away. But do you know what Phil did??? He laughed! Because he could see the end result.

When I look at where things are now politically and how serious things look for our country, I get scared. And I think surely God sees this and is going to work things out in our favor because where would we be otherwise. It seems so cut and dry to us sometimes. Much like the trial. It was obvious in our eyes what the right verdict should have been, but God had other plans. What if He doesn't see fit to work this election out the way we see it? What if He does things in a different way... a way that seems hard and difficult? A way that seems to be the obvious wrong 'verdict'. I hope we can be drawn to the Father in a more real way... that we can begin to see Him working out His plan, even when things look bad.

God is bigger than the boogie man... even if he's the opposing candidate and he wins.

Works for Me Wednesday-organized purse

One of the small things that can get on my last nerve is digging around in my purse for all that little bitty stuff that gets lost in the bottom of my purse. You know.. the baby nail clippers - love those, the inhaler- yep, I have asthma, lipstick- for the few days a week I might actually be wearing makeup, pill holders, lotion and other odds and ends. Well, that's just my list, but I'm sure you've got your own little list of things that regularly get lost in black hole that is called a purse.

See... it's a mess. And the longer that stuff is in there, it gets under stuff and I can't keep it where I want it. It's just bad, people!
Enter the clear make-up pouch! I got mine at Walmart for almost nothing. I can keep everything in one place and find everything right there at my fingertips.See.. isn't that much better now? There's the wallet and then there's the pouch. Not a big pile of junk that's going to end up under and around and lost down there somewhere. A friend told me about her little pouch and how well it worked for her. And now it works for me too! Find other tips and tricks at Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

the one about the little girl in the bathroom

When my husband and I were dating, we went to visit his folks. Nine hours away. We had a nice visit and on the morning we were returning home, they took us to Bob Evans. Fine dining at it's best, folks! Anyhoo... we had some breakfast. After eating, we both made the required pit stops and then we were heading out.

While I was in the ladies room, doing my thing, this little girl came in. I saw her walk by through the crack in the door, and she was pretty young, although my judgements on age were probably pretty far off at that time, since I hadn't had much experience with little kids at that point. Anyway, she was pretty young. So she goes into her stall and I guess she's doing her thing too....

...because next thing you know, I heard ummm exaggerated straining noises and she hollers out "I'm having a baaaaaaabyyyyy!". Cleary this little girl had seen a few too many episodes of 'A Baby Story'. Anyway, I just about died. But then I had to pull it together so I could go and say good-bye to the future IL's and hit the road. I was too embarrassed and mortified to actually tell them what I'd heard in the ladies room, so I kept it in until we hit the road. Then I told hubby-to-be what I'd heard. He and I both died laughing. Years later we finally told his folks about that odd trip to the loo.

You know how sometimes someone else blogs something and it brings something to mind. Well that's what happened here. Angie at Bring the Rain did a post on funny things kids say and even though my children have given me plenty of funny stories over the years, this little story about a girl I don't even know just kept popping into my head over and over. And besides, it's a freebie since my own kids didn't come up with it. So here ya go! Now maybe I can think about something else! LOL

take offs and landings

After dinner tonight, we were all wanting to 'get out', but didn't want to go shopping and we didn't have anything in particular in mind. The hubby mentioned the opening of a 'park' near the airport for observation. So we headed to the airport. It was a chilly, breezy evening. There were all types of people there. Men with big fancy cameras. People with binoculars. People with their small dogs. Families...and lots of kids. Everybody was doing the same thing. Watching planes.

It was a lot of fun. I haven't flown in a while and it reminded me of how it feels to hear the engines roar and know I'll be off the ground soon. Or to watch the ground beyond the wing until I feel the bumpy landing and the brakes locking down the plane.

It also reminded me of growing up. We always had a fascination with going on a plane, although we never traveled as a family in that manner. As I grew up,I went on one school trip by plane. And flew to visit my parents while they were on vacation once. And I've flown numerous times as an adult. And of course, our daughter is accustomed to Daddyman flying for business every now and then, too. We haven't flown as a family yet, though.

But the glamour and mystique seem to be over. I remember how people used to dress up to fly. Not so anymore. I also remember how my grandmother went on a long flight that was the first of its kind and she received a medallion and the red carpet was rolled out for her and the others on the plane when it landed. She felt so special. Now it's everyday.

As our daughter watched the planes, her heart was filled with the wonder of being shot into the sky and traveling to some far off place, much like mine did when I was her age. I watched her eyes glisten and listened to her day dreaming out loud about wanting to go places I wouldn't have even thought of at her age and it made me want to toss our schedule to the wind and plan a big trip *somewhere*. I guess the mystique isn't really gone, if we'll just let go of our too-grown-up hearts.

that Dillards lady

I've been shopping for fall clothes and things appropriate for church for Miss Boo. It's getting harder and harder to find modest clothes lately. I usually go to Penneys just because they're cheaper, and especially for jeans and tops, since they only last one season at best because she grows. I hate to spend a big wad on one top. Unless of course, it's a really special top.. and she usually has one or two of those every season.. but not a whole wardrobe of them. But lately I've noticed the things at Penneys are hmm shall we say more hookery, if that's even a word...or grungy or something or other. I just haven't been pleased with the selections lately.

So Wednesday, it was off to Dillards. They had some cute stuff. I found some jeans and some cute tops and appropriate church things. Some of it was even on clearance. So I carried my arm load of stuff to the cashier. She was a nice lady. Very chatty. And she could tell by my armload of clothes that I had a daughter...or at least that's what one would assume. Anyway, she went on and on about how she didn't have a daughter. She'd only had a son. And she just kept talking. And you know how it is when these ladies are talking sometimes and you're just half listening and uh-huh'ing and yeah'ing in the appropriate places. Well, that's what I was doing. But she was just going on and going on. At one point she asked me if had other children, and I told her I just had a daughter. I don't want to go into it with everybody that comes down the pike. But then she went on and on about me not having a son. This whole conversation was WEIRD the way she was almost pressing with things. Fiiiinally, I just said "I used to". She said 'oh'. And that was it. Strange.

Well, I brought everything home and she got to try everything on. The jeans didn't fit. I think I bought three pairs. And one top didn't fit.. the neck scooped way too much and didn't cover her properly. (major pet peeve with girls clothing 'design' these days...but that's another post!) And I think a slip I bought for her didn't fit. So I had quite an armload of returns yesterday. Guess what... it was the same lady. She remembered me and asked something like "didn't any of that stuff fit?" and "Are you bringing it all back?" I assured her I had kept the items that worked. She started talking again while she worked on my transaction. But this time it was about how I was her first customer of the day and how my returns were putting her sales in the hole (not her words, but definitely the point she was making). She asked me if I had any more shopping to do. I assured her I looked over the store very thoroughly the day before. She stressed to me that if I found anything else in the store I wanted to buy, that I should bring it back to her and buy it from her. I said thank you and left.

Both of these exchanges were some of the weirdest I've ever had with retail staff... especially at a more 'upscale' department store.

stress and rest

First off.. do you like my new 'do'? I decided it would be fun to do some holiday headers. And since I make them myself, they're FREE! I've already got a cute photo I'll probably use during Christmas if it will work well in this format etc.

-------------------------

I've been really stressed out lately. There are things going on and I find myself thinking and figuring and struggling to know what the right thing to do is. And I've found myself being logical and weighing the pro's and con's and I'm just so tired.

We were never meant for that sort of thinking. I know sometimes people say 'well, God gave me a brain' and although, yes He did, He never meant for us to use it to figure out our own way. And that's what I've been doing lately. Working on this problem. Figuring this thing out. Wondering about this or that. That's always been what I thought my 'safe' word was.. wondering. It's not actively figuring, it's just thinking. I don't think God buys into my thinkin'!

But I spend too much time thinkin' and not enough time falling on my face before God. I guess that's what I'm confessing. That I need more of Him and that He's been showing me patterns in myself that I don't like and drawing me closer to Himself. And showing me I need to let go of my thinking and listen to Him. I like that.

He is the answer to struggle and lack of 'rest'... Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)