Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

Who needs trick or treating on a wet Halloween, when you can sit on your couch in your PJs and watch the VHS edition of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?!

Update on the anti-gun sign

I took a new client to the office on Friday and the first thing he asked about was the anti-gun sign.  And his question seemed like he was a little concerned.  I informed him it meant that no one can have a gun at the office.  As I was giving him a tour of the different rooms in the building, we entered the playroom.  One of the first things he saw was the toy guns.  And with a very serious face, he said, "I thought you weren't allowed to have guns in the building."  I tried not to laugh.  :)

Beth Moore LPL Conference

Friday and Saturday I was able to attend the Living Proof Live event in Springfield. I was excited because this was my first opportunity to see Beth Moore in person. Even though I have been doing her Bible studies since I was in college, lived in the south most of my life, worked at LifeWay for 4 1/2 years, and lived in Texas for 3 1/2 years.   It was a great weekend!

Above is a picture of Travis Cottrell.  He leads the worship for the Living Proof Live events.  Our seats for the first night were right on the floor where everyone came and went.  So, this picture is not zoomed at all.  Kind of cool. :)

Beth Moore spoke on the life of John Mark.  We read every passage where he was mentioned and then learned that even though he and Paul had a disagreement, he eventually went on to write the gospel of Mark. 

At the end of the night, Beth was exiting the arena when she saw Baby Hope.  I had the privilege of sharing a room with Baby Hope, Jenny (her mom), Carol (her grandma), and Becky (her aunt).  Beth stopped to oooh and aaaah over the baby.  We laughed and said that Baby Hope will always be able to say she was kissed by Beth Moore because right after this picture was taken, Beth gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead.  Hope, unfortunately, slept through it all.

Saturday morning, Beth continued her talk on the life of John Mark.  Many things over the weekend hit home for me, but the point that I have been mulling over since yesterday is whether I am a Breach Breaker or a Breach Builder.  When I have a disagreement with someone, do I seek to reconcile the breach created by the disagreement?  Or do I build the breach by trying to get people on my side, gossip about the disagreement, etc.?  I'm afraid that I too often fall into the category of being a Breach Builder.

My favorite thing about Beth Moore is how animated she is.  You see this in her video studies as well.  But in person it is great!  I also learned that it is very easy, because of how animated she is, to take unflattering pictures of her.  Poor thing probably has a lot of those floating around.  I tried to pick pictures to put on my blog that weren't too bad.

And I also love how down to earth she is.  As she was talking, she just sat on the stage for a few minutes and talked to all 6800 of us that were attending as if we were sitting in her living room!

It was a great weekend and I am very glad I was finally able to hear her in person!

Sometimes random things make me laugh

When I got to work on Wednesday, I found this sign on the outside of the door:

I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "Well, I guess I have to take my gun back to my car since we're not allowed to have them at the office anymore."  I mean, really, why do we think signs help to state the obvious?!

Technology is not my friend

If you guys have ever really wondered why...
I still have a flip phone...
I still record TV shows on the VCR...

It's because technology is not my friend.  I really shouldn't have to justify it any more than that.

Communicating with tech guys is almost impossible.  Because even when they simplify their questions/answers, I still feel like I am speaking to someone who is speaking another language. 

My computer sort of crashed almost two weeks ago.  Which is why you haven't heard much from me.  I've been using Emily's computer for the essentials, but haven't really felt the need to stay connected as much as I would if I was on my own computer.  Then our Internet stopped working for a few days.

I kind of feel like the Technology Gremlin has attacked me and won't leave.  We even lost the cord for our printer.  At work today, after printing for most of the morning, my computer decided to stop printing because there was no communication with a printer.  Everyone else working around me could print.  I just laughed because, really, what else is there to do.  Luckily, logging off and then back on helped that problem.  I'm going to go back to communicating by pen and paper.  And snail mail.  It was simpler then. :)

Anyway...my computer is with a friend, hopefully getting fixed.  The Internet is working again.  I'm still recording TV shows on the VCR.  And I still own a flip phone.  No new technology changes for me right now.  I think it might be a disaster.

Another great roommate conversation

Emily was gone on a rafting/repelling trip for four days, so we spent some time catching up.  Part of that time was me trying on my new clothes that I bought on Friday.  I branched out a little bit and bought some jeans that are not boot cut, so that I could actually be in style with the new pair of boots I bought (I prefer to wear by jeans over my boots, even if the style is to wear them inside the boots now).  Here is the end of our conversation about that:

Me: Sometimes its good to embrace new things.
Emily: I know!  That's why I went white water rafting!
Me: I bought a new pair of jeans.

That's my version of extreme, folks! :)  I was telling the story to a coworker and she said that my clients would say I was stylin' this fall.  I said they might even say I joined this century.  She said it wasn't true because I still have a flip phone.  Baby steps...

Nonsensical-ness

Just a rambling post of nonsensical stuff...

It always amazes me that I can enjoy a book the second time through as if I've never read the book before.

Brownie batter always tastes so much better than the brownies.  I don't know if this is because I am defying rules by eating raw egg, or if it really tastes better.  Ditto for chocolate chip cookie dough (although, much to the shame and mockery of many people, I enjoy the dough more without the chips).

Sometimes I surround myself with little kids so that I can 1) feel taller, 2) feel smarter, and 3) feel talented (did you know that no matter what I draw, to a five year old it is amazing!).

Today I went to Qdoba with a buy one, get one free coupon so that I could have two meals to eat.  I almost deleted the coupon because I figured I wouldn't be able to find anyone to eat with me.  So, I'll just eat with myself...twice.

The back of my couch (where I sit when I watch TV) often doubles as a desk of sorts.  By the end of an evening it often has all the remotes, my phone, mail, various papers, a book, a writing utensil, etc.  Not all at the same time, but a good representation of the list most of the time.

It's fun to have people who watch the same television shows as you do, so you can send random quotes back and forth to make each other laugh.  Unless you don't recognize the quote as a quote and you think it's real.  That is sometimes awkward.  For instance, I got this from a friend, "He's your first second boyfriend.  Give it time."  I assumed she sent the message to the wrong person because it made no sense to me, but then I realized it was probably from Gilmore Girls.

Well, I've procrastinated my chores long enough, and there are limited hours in this particular day that I have to get stuff done, so I'll let you get back to your sensical (I'm not sure if that's a word, but if things can be nonsensical, I'm venturing to guess it means things can be sensical as well.  Which reminds me of another quote from a movie: "I know you can be overwhelmed.  And you can be underwhelmed.  But can you ever just be whelmed?") lives now.