Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A Winter Wonderland from the inside...

...a yucky slushy mess on the outside.  It's all about perspective.

I proclaimed today a snow day today.  Because I'm a wimp.  And because when I made the decision there was really very little visibility out my window.  But of course by 8:45 the snow had stopped and the roads were clear.  But at that point I had already made up my mind not to go to work.  And I had moved one of my appointments to later in the week.  By noon, I realized I could probably see my afternoon client.  So I did.  The roads weren't bad, although they were getting worse by the time I made it home.  But I'm safe inside and looking at the prettiness from inside again.
Above is a picture of the "bush" outside our back door.  I really think it is a weed, but it had a pretty coating of snow, so I took a picture. :)
This evening, the snow again looks so beautiful on the trees.  When I ventured outside today I learned one thing.  It is a beautiful snow from inside, but it is a wet, slushy mess outside!  Not a fun snow at all if you are outside.
Here is the slushy mess in front of my car.  It doesn't look that bad until you put it in perspective.
Here is my foot in the slushy mess.  It almost goes over the top of my boot.  Yuck!
But again, it looks so pretty on the trees! :)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Just another random post for your reading pleasure

A lazy Sunday equals not very exciting reading, but a desire to share what I did.

First, just for the shock value of those who know me well.  I decided after church that I wanted to go pick up Chipotle for lunch.  I drove all the way over there and saw that the line was almost out the door.  Now, you have to remember that Chipotle doesn't have a drive thru, so a line is not all that shocking.  But the one time I've been to the new Chipotle, a long line really did mean a long line.  I think Emily and I waited for about 45 minutes to get our food.  Not a good first experience for Chipotle.  I decided today that I didn't want to wait in that line.  So, I willingly went to Qdoba, even though there is now a Chipotle in town.  Shocking, I know.  But there wasn't as long of a line there.  :)  And I'll have to go back, because I just earned my 1,000 points which equals a free entree the next time I go in.

And then I decided that it had been way too long since I had watched Gilmore Girls.  I was talking Gilmore Girl quotes with a friend last weekend and it really put me in the mood.  But I didn't want to have to pick what episode to watch.  So I texted a friend and told her she needed to be my random episode generator.  She picked season 5 (because it's our favorite) and let her nephew pick a random number between 1 and 22.  He picked 11, which just so happens to be probably one of my top 3 favorite episodes!  The one where Lorelai stops loving snow.  Her and snow are over!  And after that episode, because I needed some background noise while I did something else, I watched an episode from season 4.  While I was watching it, I was texting my friend some quotes.  She kept texting me back with the next line.  And now I will probably be talking like I live in Stars Hollow for the next couple of days, because that is what watching Gilmore Girls does to me!

Now...of to small group.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Throwing toilet paper and other miscellaneous happenings

It's one of those posts where I've been meaning to post and haven't, so you get a conglomeration of stuff. This is very evident with my first picture:
See the snow in the background?  See how the window is cracked?  For two days before the snow came I slept with my window closed.  Two of the few nights this winter that I haven't cracked my window a little bit.  One night it was because I went to open the window and it was frozen shut and I figured it was a sign that I shouldn't sleep with it open.  But I was also kind of hot those two nights, so I decided snow or not, I was sleeping with my window open.  I'm weird.  I know.  You don't have to tell me to confirm it. :)

Friday night I went to the church for dinner.  And then I watched everyone play dodge ball. With toilet paper.  I must admit, I was skeptical, but it worked really well.  And was kind of funny.  Most of the rolls were taped so they wouldn't come unravelled, but some weren't.  Apparently it is harder to throw the smaller the role gets.

Notice the small child on the left hand side of the picture.  She followed her dad around, fearlessly.  She was kind of oblivious to all the toilet paper being thrown past her (and it was getting thrown at a pretty good speed).  I think the only time she got hit was when she was on the sidelines.
The line of toilet paper kind of cracked me up!

I observed from the sidelines.  Taking pictures, chatting with Andrea (who had the excuse of having an infant in her arms), and holding said infant.  I was very content from the sidelines.  I hated dodge ball as a child and have no desire to ever play as an adult.  But it was fun to hang out with friends and watch them have fun throwing toilet paper at each other!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

tersarsa forceberger

Yesterday as I was leaving my office with a client, he decided to write on the dry erase board.  I watched him write, "miss tersarsa and miss fye rocks!"  Today, I had another client who was also writing on a dry erase board and she wrote Tersa Whittenberger.  And then asked me if she spelled my first name correctly.  I said no and helped her spell it.  Then I asked, "Who is Teresa Whittenberger?"  She said, "That's not your last name?"  And I told her my last name, only to have her spell it "Forceberger."  I have to admit, Force, makes sense, but I've never had anyone else make that mistake.  So, from now on, I shall sign my name, Tersarsa Forceberger.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

What are you going to dream about tonight?

About a month ago, I was having dinner at Joe and Ginger's house.  Ginger was talking about going to get her hair cut, and since we get our hair cut by the same person, who is a friend of ours, I was telling her about a dream I had about Brooke.  I had a dream that I was at her place to get my hair cut, but I needed to shower before she cut my hair.  And while I was in the shower, I also decided I needed to shave my legs (always important to have shaved legs when you get your hair cut!).  But because I was shaving my legs, I was running behind for my appointment, so I decided to just shave one leg.  When I went out to where she was, she was putting her wedding pictures into albums while she was waiting for me.  I apologized for running behind.  She said, "No problem, but we'll have to hurry because I'm cutting a king's hair after you and you have to be gone before the processional comes."  And it was all said like it was a normal occurrence that she cut a king's hair.

So, while I was telling Joe and Ginger about the dream, I didn't even think Taylor and Hudson were listening.  But all of a sudden Taylor says, "She cut a king's hair?  That's so funny!"  And for the rest of the night, Taylor and Hudson would say, She cut a king's hair!" and start laughing hysterically. :)

Fast forward to last night, I went over to their house for games but went a little early to have dinner.  As soon as I walked into the house, Taylor started laughing and said, "She cut a king's hair!"  And as I was talking to her, she got really close, and with great excitement and inflection in her voice said, "What do you think you are going to dream about tonight?!"  I tried not to laugh because, in truth, there really is no telling what I might dream about!

And then I woke up today and thought of her because I had dreamed some pretty interesting dreams.  One was about eating at a five star (except I think it was a ten star) restaurant in my college town that was on campus, but was really just an off-the-beaten-path kind of restaurant.  And the other was about moving to my new building at work, except a lot of the people I was sharing office space with were my friends and not my actual coworkers.  Not as funny as cutting a king's hair, but still memorable! 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm not a huge Valentine's Day person. I never have been. It has nothing to do with the fact that I have been single all but one Valentine's Day in my life. It has to do with the fact that I think it is kind of a ridiculous holiday. Just my opinion. I perfectly respect those who think it is a wonderful holiday. That being said, I had a really good Valentine's Day. It started with weeding through about 5 different red sweaters only to decide that I don't like any of them, and the one that I wanted to wear was dirty, so I wore a black/gray/white sweater. I wore a red ring and socks with red in them to be festive. Then I got to work to find this:

If I've never mentioned it before, and hopefully I have, I have the world's greatest boss.  Hands down.  There is nothing that could convince me otherwise.  Everyone in my department got one (Okay, right now there are only two of us, but when there were four, she would have made them for all of us).  And yes, she made them.  She didn't buy them! 

And then I got a really great text from Amy that almost made me cry.  And I had some funny conversations with my clients.  And then I got to spend the evening at Bible study with a  bunch of friends.  Overall, a great day.  Even if if was Valentine's Day! :)

Monday, February 11, 2013

A small, small world

Here's a little background to the story I'm about to tell.  Trust me, even though I am notorious for telling somewhat unnecessary background stories, this story will make more sense if I tell a background story first.  I was born in Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago.  Until  I was in first grade, we lived in Streamwood.  And then we moved to Georgia.  As far as I remember, I never went back to Streamwood.  Tada, pretty short back story.

Last week, my brother was in Illinois for a job interview.  Tuesday, he texted me and asked if I had a second to talk.  My brother and I talk about five times a year on the phone, so I was a little nervous that something had happened and called him back right away.  He asked me if I remembered any of my friends from Streamwood.  I said, "Not really..."  Then he told me he was in the office at mom's apartment complex to ask them a question and the girl that worked there asked him if he had lived in Streamwood.  "Yeah..."  Then she asked if his name was Chris.  "Yeah..."  Then she asked if he had a sister named Teresa.  "Yeah..."  Then she said, "Your sister and my sister were best friends before you guys moved!"  I remember her sister.  Not a lot, but I do remember her.  But I didn't remember any details about her family.  My brother and I couldn't believe that she remembered him and me.  That was over 25 years ago!  Funny how small the world can seem at times!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Stroking the ego

Sometimes, it just feels good to know that I'm making a difference.  I have a lot of clients that I feel like I make so little progress with.  I have a client I have been seeing for over a year.  And it has been quite a year with her.  She has never hated meeting with me, but she has not wanted to make a lot of changes.  So, although she will tell me just about anything going on in her life, we haven't made a lot of progress toward change.  The last month or so, she has been slowly coming around.  It has been very rewarding to see, although she is very broken right now.  Last week she told me that Thursday is her favorite day of the week because she gets to meet with me and knows I will listen to her.  It broke my heart and made me want to go do some damage to her parents.  This week, she told me she had to give a speech in English class about someone she admired.  She told me she was going to choose me, but that she didn't know enough of my background to be able to answer the questions she needed to during the speech.  I almost stroked my ego by asking what she admired about me, but then I remembered my professionalism and asked her who she gave her speech on instead.  It made my day, though, to hear her say that!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Another Friday night

Another Friday night at home=another puzzle evening.  This time it was complete with 2 episodes of NCIS and 1 episode of Alias and ice cream.  You may notice something different about this puzzle.  I've approached it a little differently.  Several years ago, a friend told me that sometimes she doesn't start a puzzle by doing the outside edges.  I thought it was crazy.  But I was reading a book today about a girl who always did everything the same way.  So, I decided to try something crazy.  It has been a lot less stressful than I had anticipated.  But definitely a little weird.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Blessing Jar update

After one month, my blessings are beginning to overflow!  I have really enjoyed this process over the last month.  It is amazing the things I overlook in my day that are a blessing to me.  For example, Wednesday's blessing said, "Pastor Kevin went out in the cold and wind to start my car and pull it up to the front door.  I love the family of God!"  I can't wait until I can read that at the end of the year.  It is something I would have forgotten about otherwise.  I would recommend this process to anyone.