sun. roof.

When I bought my car last year, I wanted the push button start, which was an upgrade. The Civic upgrade only came with a sunroof. I was very against the sunroof, but the push button start won out, so a sunroof I recieved.

It is now one of my favorite features in my car, especially in the spring and fall when it lets in the crisp air.  And that beautiful sunshine.  I love it!

A Day Off? Sure!

Work has been a bit crazy for me lately, so coming up to Easter, I decided it was a good time to take a couple of days off--Good Friday and Easter Monday.  I anticipated these days off probably more than I should!  I have not been sleeping well the last week so I was extremely tired going into the weekend.  The four nights of this break, I never went to bed later than 10:30!  Because I have been waking up extremely early (anyone want to hang out from 3am to 4am?  I'm your gal!), I decided getting to bed early was a priority.  The weekend was filled with fun and relaxation.  But this Monday was spectacular.  I finally saw a decently restful night of sleep!  Which allowed me to get a lot done today and still feel like I relaxed.  I shopped (a lot!) and finally found jeans that aren't too long for me! (At Target of all places).  This particular hunt for jeans left me discouraged on Saturday after about four stores, and led to me being very dramatic and stating, "I guess I won't wear pants this summer!"  I also got back into an exercise routine.  Last week I just fell off the wagon.  And then I ate a ton this weekend.  Something had to change!  And I was able to read and spend more time than usual in Bible study.  And meet a friend for lunch.  And cook a casserole for lunches for the week.  And wash my sheets.  And paint my fingernails and toenails.  Like I said, it was a productively relaxing day which was much needed.  If I had had to go to work today, I might have cried myself to sleep last night because I was still so tired.  But I feel more ready to face the rest of the work week having had today off.

Sorry this was such a boring post after being gone for so long.  Sometimes I have to get my toes wet before I jump in.  So maybe more posts will flow after this!

It's the little things

Every couple of years, I change the design on my Discover card.  I don't really know why, maybe because it makes spending money more fun???  It's the same reason I like to have checks with designs on them--it makes paying bills more fun.  This weekend I got my new Discover card in the mail.  I chose one with the picture of a sea turtle on it. :)

(don't worry--this is the image from the Discover page, not a picture of my card)

Last year versus this year

Last year I bought myself a car for Valentine's Day.

 This year, I bought myself flowers.  I figured I was still paying off the car, so I shouldn't be quite so extravagant two years in a row!

So, Happy Anniversary to my car!  The anniversary was yesterday, but I was celebrating by taking it for a spin to a friend's house for a Euchre tournament.  But it has been a fun year of travelling and tooling around town for fun and work.  15,555 miles later, it is still running well.  It has a few dings and scratches and it is extremely dirty right now, so I didn't take an exterior picture again.  And that remote start I splurged on?  Best $400 I've spent in a really long time.  I take full advantage of it most mornings!

Eighteen

Yesterday was my 18 year spiritual birthday!  Eighteen years ago I realized that I was a sinner and needed to be saved from my sins.  I realized that the only way I could be right with God and have a relationship with Him was to accept Jesus as my Savior.  And so I did.  In the bathroom in my dorm as a freshman in college.

I was going to let yesterday pass as just a day to celebrate, me and Jesus.  But today I realized that 18, while not an even number, is a significant number.  18 years as a believer means that I have been a child of God for half of my life!  That is so crazy to wrap my little bitty brain around.

So, in honor of 18 years, I thought I'd offer you some Scriptural truths as gifts for your soul today.

1 John 3:1--"How great it he love the Father lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.  And that is what we are!"  This is my favorite Bible verse, because I am so undeserving of God's love and yet He lavishes it on me.  I love the word lavished.  I think it is so descriptive.

Psalm 20:7--"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."  This was the first verse I ever memorized.

Psalm 145:3--"Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom."  Can you imagine something so great that you can't even fathom it?  Talk about having a brain too itty bitty to understand!

Philippians 1:6--"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  God has a plan for me and will carry it on to completion.  He won't give up on me!

Colossians 3:2--"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."  This is one of my greatest struggles--becoming too focused on my circumstances and giving in to the emotions of the moment.

Hebrews 4:16--"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  There is that word confident again.  Christ gives me confidence.  And God is not a Got that is far off, but He wants me to approach Him with my wants, needs, and desires.

Psalm 141:3--"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." Not necessarily a touchy-feely verse, but one that I pray for myself often.  Don't let me speak what will be hurtful to others.  And, O, how often I have to repent when I don't follow through on this verse!

I could go on and on, and I probably should list 18 verses, one for each year, but I don't want you to overlook the treasures in these verses, so I'm going to stop here!  Thank you to all those who God has placed in my life over the last 18 years who have encouraged me to seek truth and trust in God!

Bosom Enemy

I have slowly been reading through Little Women.  It has been on my list to re-read for the last couple of years, but I've never gotten very far into it.  Why, oh why, does anyone think it is a good idea to make children's books which very fine print?  I have had the same struggle with Anne of Green Gables.  I just can't handle that it takes so long to read one page.  It's a weird ADHD symptom I have, I guess.  I want to make progress through a book and flip pages at a quick rate. I actually first read Little Women when I was in high school, just before the movie with Winona Ryder came out.  I really wanted to see the movie but felt like I should read the book first.  I got through it then, so I feel that as an adult, I can get through it now, by golly!

Anyway, I digress.   Tonight I was reading a chapter, and I was surprised at the clear godly message that it presented.  A little background on the chapter.  Jo and Amy got into an argument and Amy retaliated by burning one of Jo's beloved books that she had been writing her own stories in.  Jo stated that she would never forgive Amy and at bedtime Mrs. March advised Jo not to let the sun go down on her anger.  Jo did not listen and the next day when ice skating with Laurie.  Amy followed and ended up falling into the ice.  Jo immediately realized the error of her ways of not forgiving her sister.  While she waited for her sister to wake up from her resting after the trying events of the day, she and her mother had a conversation about trials and temptations. Jo exclaims, "My dreadful temper! I try to cure it; I think I have and then it breaks out worse than ever."  Her mother tells her to "watch and pray, dear, never get tire of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault...Jo dear, we all have our temptations, some far greater than yours, and it often takes us all our lives to conquer them."  Mrs. March then goes on to tell Jo that she used to have a temper just like Jo's and it has taken her 40 years and she still has to work on controlling her tongue when she is angry.  She calls Jo's temper her "bosom enemy." (which was such a vivid picture because it reminded me of Anne's bosom friend in Anne of Green Gables).  Mrs. March ends by saying that Jo can overcome and outlive the temptations if she learns to "feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one.  The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom.  His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength.  Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hope, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother."

It was such a good reminder of the sin struggles I have and how I feel like after 15+ years of being a Christian, I should be done with them.  I know better, but when I get frustrated, I just want them to be gone.  This song came to mind:

All  I once held dear, built my life upon,
all this world reveres, and wars to own,
all I once thought gain I have counted loss;
spent and worthless now, compared to this:
[Refrain:]
Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you,
there is no greater thing.
You're my all, you're the best,
you're my joy, my righteousness,
and I love you, Lord.

And my prayer is that I would not hold that bosom enemy, that coveted sin area, as dear in my life, but that I would see it as worthless compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

A little something not-so profound

I was taking a break procrastinating at work today, so I checked my blog really quick to see if anyone had anything profound to say.  And they did.  But in the midst of the profoundness, I noticed something not so profound.  The banner (fancy design at the sides of my blog) is one that I have had for multiple years.  I used to change it one to two times a year, but I really like this design, so I haven't changed it.  But because I haven't changed it in a while, I don't really notice it anymore.  But today, today I noticed it, and started laughing.

The picture below is a comforter I have had for years and a sheet set I just bought this year.  Look familiar to anyone?  Apparently I really like the pattern.

Storm/Power Outage 2015

When I went to see my family in the 'burbs, my intent was to come home the Tuesday before New Years.  Monday, Emily called and let me know that with the the ice storm came a power outage through much of Peoria.  It was widespread and no one was sure when it would come back on.  On Tuesday, it was saying that the power was supposed to come back on at 1:00.  So, I decided to head home.  When I got home at 4:00, still no power.  With the sun going down, Emily and I emptied the refrigerator and freezer, packed a bag, and headed for her parents house in Morton.  Good food, a warm house, a fire, light, television, a puzzle.  It was a comfortable evening.  Wednesday morning, the new update was 7 or 8pm that night.  I headed back into town to pack another day of clothes and get some things to do and went to Kari's house to hang out in warmth.  Emily, Kari, Amanda, and I went to dinner.  I packed my bag and hoped that I would be able to head home after dinner.  At 8pm, the update was 11pm, and the decision was made for me to stay at Kari's house for the evening.  Emily headed back to her house.  An hour later, the update changed to 10pm Thursday evening.  I was beginning to think that I would never get to go home!  Thursday morning, the time frame had actually moved up to noon, and I was finally feeling optimistic.  Noon came and went and then it said that the time for the power to come back on was "undetermined."  I decided that I did not want to grocery shop on New Year's Day, so I went to lunch, went to the grocery store to replace some groceries (Kari had said that I could keep my groceries at her house if I needed to), and then headed to the apartment to get some things done while it was light and to pack another bag (at this point, I was not optimistic any longer that I would be able to stay at the apartment).   While I was home, the power came back on around  3pm.  I called Emily and we settled in to settling in for the evening.  Two hours after the power came back on, the heat had caught up, the refrigerator was clean (why not clean it while it was practically empty), laundry was underway, and I had mostly unpacked from being gone for one and a half weeks.

And then the refrigerator stopped working.  Yes, you read that right.  4:30 on New Year's Eve.  I called the emergency number and someone from maintenance called back.  This is how the conversation started, "Ma'am, do you have a husband there, or is it just you?"  Now, I don't know much about taking care of house stuff, but it still made my blood boil.  I told him it was just me, and he proceeded to "teach" me how to check the breaker box.  Anyway, long story short, our refrigerator was kaput.  Dead.  Luckily, they came in on New Year's Day and replaced the coil and we again had a working fridge!  I may have enjoyed New Year's Eve from the comfort of my bed starting at 7pm and going to bed at 10pm, but there is no proof that I wasn't out partying in the New Year.

Now, all of this happened at the end of the year, so I knew I was going to be looking through my blessings jar, so the whole week, I had in the back of my mind to look for blessings in the midst of this craziness.

I had a warm place to stay the whole time the power was out.
I was able to catch up with a friend while staying at her house.
I had people to call when the refrigerator broke.
My apartment was still standing and I was able to go back to it (I was talking to a client this week and she told herself when the power was out that at least it wasn't a fire, or a tornado, or a hurricane, or an earthquake.  Things could have been so much worse).
I have money to replace my groceries and to buy lunch and dinner while the power was out.

So, all in all, the week did not go according to my plan, but I really had no reason to complain.  I did.  I wasn't happy about the situation.  And I had a cold all week, which made me not enjoy the change in plans. But now, it seems like a distant memory.  And one day, we'll look back at "The Power Outage of 2015" and laugh at all the stuff that happened.

The rest of my Christmas Break with the family

Most of my Christmas break was spent relaxing, not getting dressed for the day, no make-up, playing, reading, and lots of other low-key shenanigans.

Several days were warm enough that I could go for a walk in just a light jacket.  Kind of crazy at the end of December in Illinois.

Cats bundled up on beds.  Tabitha loves the Buzz blanket just as much as I do.

Building Legos.

Playing games.  I love the expression on my brother's face.  Is he bored?  Stressed?  Worried his battleship is going to get blown up?  A very intense game of Electronic Battleship!

Coloring.  My mom got two coloring books for Christmas, and I kind of hijacked them (with permission).  And decided to buy some of my own.

More Legos with John.  He got several Jurassic World sets.

Playing.  My brother laid some new flooring in the dining room.  Michael really liked the floor and made it his own playroom the rest of the week.

ZuZu was tired of playing but wanted everyone to know that they couldn't play with her toy while she rested.  Such a cute little pup.

A rare Bucky siting.  Of all the comfortable places he could relax in the house, he chose to lay on the floor and rest against Mom's purse.

That's my trip to my Mom's house in 10 pictures of less!

Christmas Eve

I wasn't very good at taking pictures on Christmas Eve. Which is obvious from the lack of pictures in this post.  But this first picture is super special.  My grandmother hates pictures with the fire of a thousand suns kind of dislikes pictures.  We sneak them.  On very rare occasions, like weddings this year, she will agree to pose for a picture.  Christmas Eve was one such occasion.  A family picture, minus Dan and Paul.  We are a pretty nice looking group, if I do say so myself.

Don't ask me why I took this picture.  I think they were watching the video from Michele and Sergio's wedding.  Before this, we played the super fun white elephant gift exchange (but with real presents).  Jake makes up the rules as he goes along emcee's the event with a unique set of rules.  I was lucky enough to be the first to pick a present, so I had the last opportunity to steal a present at the end.  I chose to give up my microwaveable popcorn bowl (which I really liked) for a framed 8x10 picture of the family at Nate and Erin's wedding.  I win!