You go Zo! (Alfonzo is my new YouTube fave.)

I Dreamt of Snakes...(major ewe)...but it's aaaaaall good!

Now I hate snakes. HATE THEM. I especially am grossed out by snakes or pictures of snakes in places they don't belong, like inside computers (you've prolly seen that picture floating around email....blech!) or finding one on my courtyard gate up by the handle or one stuck & partially chopped up in the neighbor's A/C unit. Huge *gag* with a side helping of *shudder*.

So when I have a dream about a snake anywhere near me I certainly remember it! In this dream it was night time and I was getting ready for bed. Someone had left a light on outside my condo and it was shining through the bedroom window making me unable to sleep. So I went out to turn it off. There were lots of bushes and shrubs that I had to manuever through to get to the switch. The real me would have been all "Nuh uh....the light can just stay on then!" but the dream me wasn't afraid at all. I turn off the light and head back towards the front door. I see this huge...I mean huge as in anaconda sized...snake lingering around in the bushes. I went to get a baseball bat and work him over "Louis Slugger" style.

I remember thinking a bat is a weird thing to battle a snake with...don't people usually use shovels or something else that would provide lots of distance between you and the foe? Like a gun or hand-grenade? Nevertheless, I got a bat from the utility room. Then I noticed a whole crap load of snakes are now all over the front porch...different sizes and colors. I was like "Oh no you di'int!" and starting swinging. I felt really brave. And then it ended. I don't know if I succeeded in killing them all or chasing them away.

I believe dreams are symbolic...a way for God to communicate with us at a time when we can't mentally fight Him. I see tons of symbolism in this dream. Not all of it makes sense to me but the snakes are def symbolic for something that I should be cautious about. But in what way?

I also feel the light is important...like why did I need to turn it off? Light usually means something good, not something bothersome. Maybe I'm being lazy about something (preferring to sleep) and should be giving it more attention? Just guessing here. The weapon seems important. One should have the proper tool for the job, right? And the fact that this was happening around my home, my real current home, is significant.

I feel strongly that the snakes represented my fears. There are other things happening in my life that are helping me understand this. It's time to stop letting my fears limit how far out in the water I walk with God. It is not up to fear, it is up to me. And I am willing to battle them with whatever weapon I can find: Bat, shovel, broom, singing lead on Sunday's, whatever.

You dream analyzers, feel free to post your thoughts.

We were made to live for so much more

I can't help but think of Switchfoot's song when I look at this picture of Rocky...gazing longingly out the window. I try and imagine what he must be thinking. Do dogs think? I don't know but I imagine he's wishing he were out hunting things, lizards, squirrels...or chasing an endless supply of frisbees through a grassy field. He might lament that he's here, confined by these walls of sheet rock, scratching out a life sentence of condo living. Oh the wonderful things he'd do if only he was free of this plaster prison. He's not the only one who knows he's meant for something more.

So Mom and Art came over last night and we all watched Facing the Giants. I love this movie. I've seen it once before and still cried like a baby at all the same places. In this movie the football coach is truly eeking by in life. He's got nothing going for him...his house is falling apart, his car is a heap of crap, his job is on the line. All he has left is the support of his loving wife and a God he has yet to rely on. Then a lightbulb goes off. He realizes he and his team of high school football players ARE meant for a bigger purpose than just trying to win games. Amazing things happen when he redefines his purpose in life.

What big things has God created me for and why the heck am I not doing them? What prison have I constructed to keep from moving forward? I feel like one of those wind up toys that, when met with an obstacle, rather than plowing through just stops or turns back around.

Garden Girls!

This is a shout out to all my Garden Girl ebay pals, just in case you decided to come over and check me out. Welcome Catherine, Cheryl, Erin, Kailah, Melissa, Patti, Tammy, Susan & Valerie!

Homegroup Prayer

Gracious perfect and loving Lord,

I lift up the Boutwell family to you as they experience faith stretching circumstances. Father, ignite a new hunger for your word so that in it they will find joyful reassurance that you are the glory and the lifter of their head. As the shadow of uncertainty might tempt them to fear, remind their hearts that their futures have already been preserved in you. You are good and everything you do is good. Strengthen them to submit to you so they can steadfastly resist the enemy who wishes to debilitate your people. Keep them, Father, as you have already promised, in the shadow of your wings, unmoved by the economy. And as they do all they can to stand, empower them with your Holy Spirit to continue to stand. Father, I ask for blessings on their lives. Open supernatural doors of prosperity. For these things I praise and bless your name. And I commit these prayers to you, knowing that you care for us, and believing that you will be more glorified in the lives of this family. In Jesus' precious name.

Beautiful explanation of Amendment 2....

This video was created for California's Proposition 8 but applies to Amendment 2 that is on the ballot in Florida this November.



I do have 1 question...why are Californians having to vote this down AGAIN???? They already said no to gay marriage once. How many times does it take to get the point across? Also on the ballot in San Francisco....Decriminalizing Prostitution. Yep...you heard me right. The purpose of this is to save the $11 million it takes to arrest whores. Okay, so if it starts costing too much to arrest pedophiles, will we vote to decriminalize that eventually? How about murderers? Well, we kind of have already shown we approve of murder = abortion. (Back to my previous post of not being accountable for your actions.)

I personally don't want laws shaped by an opinion that legalizing immorality is more convenient that preventing it. I am voting YES on Amendment 2!!!!!!!!!!!! Marriage = 1 man + 1 woman. And you can quote me!

It really is ok to be responsible. I promise.

I just heard on CNN (boo hiss!) that home owners are crying because they aren't getting a bail out. Are you kidding me? No, I'm not kidding you. And we had to know this was coming.

If you have defaulted on your mortgage and now want the government to come in and fix your mess, my next words are directed at you.

Who exactly made you take out a mortgage where the monthly payment would absorb 80% of your monthly income? Just because you CAN get approved for that huge loan doesn't mean you SHOULD.

How hard did you try to keep making those payments before you just threw your hands up and, like a child, thought "hey, this sucks and I'm not doing it any more because I don't wanna and you can't make me." Did you reduce or eliminate the luxuries in your household in order to free up more $$ for necessities? Do you actually know the difference between a luxury and a necessity? If not, here is a tutorial.

Newsflash...a razer cell phone in the hottest new color is NOT a necessity...it is a luxury. Newsflash...a Wii or xBox 360 is not a necessity. It is a luxury. Newsflash, your DSL internet connection, flat panel TV, DVR, netflix membership, BlueRay DVD player, iPod, semi-annual vacations, bi-monthly pedi/mani, Ruumba, surround sound & eating out 5 of 7 days a week are not necessities. Yep, you guessed it...they are LUXURIES. Say it with me....L-U-X-U-R-Y.

These things are not a necessity no matter what your neighbors kids tell your kids. No matter what celebrities tell you. No matter what the democrats or MTV tell you. It IS possible to live without them. And it doesn't make you less of an American. It may be a little uncomfortable but it IS possible to go without some frivolous things in order to pay the bills that are necessities. Or did your mommy not teach you to pay important bills first then, AND ONLY THEN, if you have any left over you can get that big shiny SUV?

Back to my questions. Who exactly made you think that you deserve a big pretty house on a hill with a picket fence in a deed restricted neighborhood when you make $8 an hour? I'm sorry, but you just CAN'T have it all. I know the magazines, cable TV & the democrats make you think you can but you just cannot.

As for getting a bail out...you don't deserve one. You need to be responsible for your choices. (What? Did I just violate someone's American civil liberties? Oh no!) Don't make ME responsible for your choices. I didn't overextend my finances. I live in a dinky little 2 bedroom condo. Did I want a big house with a back yard 3 years ago? Yes. Could I have been approved for a loan? Certainly. Why didn't I get a bigger house then? Everyone else was doing it. Hmmm, let me think. My husband and I used our brains and realized that with a bigger house come bigger taxes and bigger house payments. We knew we had other bills to pay and DIDN'T want to get in over our head. It's called being responsible. There's that ugly word again. You need to experience the consequences of your mistakes.

Nuff Said

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." - Gerald R. Ford August 12th 1974

Boys and Robots

So John comes home from the grocery store with new toothbrushes. I greatly appreciate that he does grocery shopping without being asked and always gets things I wouldn't have thought of getting. I love his grocery adventurousness. But back to the toothbrushes. He didn't get the same brand I would have bought. I tend to be a product loyalist...stick to the same thing I've used for years. If there something out there that is better, I'd never know.

John is so proud of his choice with all the bells & whistles, explaining that it will do all kinds of hygenically correct stuff to our teeth & gums. To me, my new toothbrush looks overly high tech & robot-y. It has all these weird fangled features & colors going on. Three different types & depths of regular bristles, a layer of rubbery bristles on the outside, flat rubbery section on the back, thick ergonomic handle with no-slip grip, and I'm sure it was even approved by the eco-weanie tree huggers for somehow reducing my carbon footprint. It looks very much like something a boy would pick out. And I admit it...I have my reservations.

Will this new brush work as well as the others? Am I going to be stuck using the mammoth thing that sits so awkwardly in our holder because all but the bottom 1/2 inch is too fat? I am already plotting my escape: How can I "accidentally" drop this in the toilet. Maybe it could "fall" to the floor *wink wink* and I could coerce Rocky into licking it or something. I've kind of made up my mind that I hate it.

Well, I used it. It may look like a bulky obnoxious godzilla brush but it feels like heaven. My gums applaud. Bravo honey!

Moral of the story? (Why do I feel like there has to always be a moral?????)

...stuff can look weird and different yet still be awesome.

Gentle correction and a blog that warms my heart.

So today I'm really struggling with the election. I came to work and the gang immediately starts reading articles that showcase the continued ridiculousness of liberals. I couldn't take it any more. Hopelessness begins to set in. I was already having a hard time coping with the possibility of Obama as my next Commander in Chief. So I determined in my mind that if Obama wins I'm taking November 5th off from work so I can stay in bed, cry a little, pray a lot, and come to work on the 6th ready to fight the good fight.

Then I started remembering how God's word says He ordains the leaders who are set in power. I pray "God, please make me okay with whatever you decide in 2 weeks." I DO trust God. I know He will use the people to choose a leader who will then be used to carry out God's work on this earth. Knowing this still didn't calm the nausea that rises in my stomach when I hear Obama supporters spouting off their uninformed reasons for choosing that horse's ass. I have to ask myself, DO I really trust God? Is it okay to know one thing and still not be happy about it? I don't know. So I continue to pray that GOD'S plan for this earth and this country would always take precedence in my heart over my own plan.

Then I stumble onto this blog. I found it through Copious Dissent. It looked like an advertisement for a movie or something. When I clicked on it, I just knew that God lead me here to help me refocus on what in this world is truly important: LIFE. Then I read more of the blog to learn this girl Wendy is a Christ follower. I think I will be frequenting this blog.

Lord, you are so loving and merciful. Thank you for not responding to my fears and anxiety with anger. Thank you for gently placing my feet back on the Rock. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

Only one October....and this one ain't ours.

Yes, I'm in mourning today...Wearing sack cloth & ashes because the BoSox did not advance to the World Series *sigh*

On to happier news

yeah, I guess I'm just not yet ready to move on to happier news. It's freakin Monday and I haven't had coffee yet so whatdya want???

I swear to the heavens above that if one more coworker comes by here and yells "Tampa Bay!" I will come up out of this chair and kick the air right out of their lungs. And you can quote me!

There's Only One October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Wow! I just couldn't believe my eyes this morning to snap on the TV and see the Red Sox pulled out one glorious victory last night. The action started in the 7th inning....(we went to sleep in the 6th inning. DANGIT!) Anyway, this was the 5th game of the ALS and in order to continue Sox NEEDED this win. Game 6....Saturday @ 8:00pm in Tampa. Long Live Red Sox Nation!

Read the magical story here.

Hmmmm, do you know why you are a Democrat?

These are some fun party questions I plan to bring to the next gathering of Lib-tard Obots we call friends. Should be a blast. I'll be sure to post the answers. I don't expect many good answers....just a bunch of verbal diarrhea. BTW, I nabbed these questions from Copious Dissent author, Devil's Advocate:

When in history has an increase in governmental power over any aspect of life led to more prosperity?


What incentive do colleges have to lower their tuitions if the government keeps promising to foot the bill no matter the price?


Why are you against parents and students choosing what school the student attends?


When armed governments or mobs against unarmed people have committed the greatest atrocities of mankind, why are you for disarming the citizens?


If the Constitution can change over time (“living and breathing”), why do you trust the Supreme Court rather than the American people through the amendment process to move it in the right direction?


If we get off oil, how many people are you willing to see die because there will be no synthetic materials, plastics (made from oil), or the ability to ship food to needy markets?


Why do you support ending a secret ballot to unionize?


How successful do I need to get before you want to publically attack me for being rich and punish me?


Why do you want to take money out of the hands of people who create jobs, give it to politicians, and then have the politicians give it back to the people who were just fired because their bosses no longer had the money to pay them?


When we spend more taxpayer money on education than any country in the world other than Switzerland, at what point will you realize that “more funding for education” is not the solution to solve failing schools?


If economic sanctions cause harm, why support protectionism, which is essentially placing economic sanctions on your own country?


Why are you against drilling and converting coal to oil, when speculators will drive the price of gas down the very day we announce that we are going to drill?


Why are you against Nuclear Power when more people have died of vending machines falling on them in America than Nuclear Power in America?


Why are you against “urban sprawl” when 95% of America is undeveloped, meaning if everyone doubled their land use, 90% of America would be untouched?


Why do you support “Universal Healthcare” when Canadians who really get sick come to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Seattle to get care?


Why do you believe in Anthropogenic global warming when CO2 lags behind temperature in the ice core record by 100s of years, the climate models have not been accurate for the last ten years, the 2007 temperatures were so low that the Earth is now cooling, polar bear populations have been on the rise for the last 50 years, we have had over five ice ages, and it will cost multiple trillions of dollars in initiatives that will not change the temperature of the Planet .05% of a degree. UPDATE: August was the first month in a century with no Sun Spots!


If African American’s life expectancy is around 65 years old, why should they not be allowed to opt out of social security, which taxes people at 6% + 6% (from employer) = 12% of their income for their entire lives.


If we scrapped our military, and kept the Bill Clinton Tax levels, we would still have a deficit, so are you willing to cut Medicare or Medicaid?


When millions of people have their pensions invested in the stock market, and work for corporations, why are you against profit?


Why do you think that working for a living is exploitation?

McCain, you are killing me.

It's not time to be polite. It's not time to gloss over important issues. It's not time to ignore the opponent's link to anti-American values. The future of our country is at stake and the person who is supposed to be championing our fight is falling asleep at the wheel.

I'm so tired of McCain's mamsy-pamsy campaign...his girly-man performance in the debates...his candy-pants response to supporters who express their need for a warrior. I saw a clip where a supporter begged McCain to "give it to Obama." You know what McCain did? Senator John McCain, war hero, walked over and hugged this supporter. Are you kidding me? A HUG???? Where is the war cry from our Republican candidate? I've heard more enthusiasm at a high-school pep rally come from the mouthes of prepubescent cheerleaders.

When a snake threatens to slither into the crib, do you sing it a lullaby? Do you hug it? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You beat it over the head with a frickin shovel or a bat. You drag it's side-winding ass out into the yard and work it over with your Smith & Wesson. You MAKE it present it's original birth certificate to prove it's a natural born citizen and elligible to even run for presidency. You EXPOSE the lies it's been hiding about being linked to terrorists and the anti-American. You DEFEAT every lie it spews about you with the truth! You SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS that it received the largest amount of money from Fanny Mae & Freddie Mac. You ENGAGE the snake with the hard questions and you hold his squirmy little smooth-talking head down until he answers. At the VERY LEAST you SOUND THE FREAKING ALARM.

McCain, where is your alarm? We are waiting. We are all waiting, holding our breath, for you to make a move and prove you really want this. And you have to go out and fight for it. We can't bring it to you. We want to. Boy do we want to. And we are trying to help...with our videos and our blogs and our emails to the media. I feel like our big horse rode in (Palin) without the rider.

Please God, let him have an ace up his sleeve. If there's no ace then he's just been wasting our time.

Fireproof....

So I finally saw this movie last night. My God why did I wait so long?! What a fantastic movie. I just can't say enough about all the different things that spoke to me.

People who know me know I'm a cry baby so let me run down the places in the movie that made me cry and why:

1. When Catherine is talking to her mom in the very beginning and says something like "I wish I could talk to you...I miss you." Her mother suffered a stroke and is present and alert but cannot speak. This broke my heart because I can't imagine the pain of having someone in your life, the ability to touch them, see them, and not be able to communicate with them. I also think about how present God is and how he communicates to us daily yet we either don't notice it or don't respond. I never want to take any relationship for granted.

2. The car accident scene where the onlookers jumped in to help the 4 firefighters get the car off the train tracks. Unity really stirs my heart. People working together, giving their all, for a common purpose. Wow. Shivers all up my arm.

3. Caleb reading the divorce paperwork. Holy cow this needs no explanation. What a great actor.

4. Where Catherine discovers who really paid for the medical equipment her mother needed. The brokenness that comes with realizing how much you have to be thankful for, how very wrong you are, how much they really have changed and how much you do forgive them can be so overwelming.

5. The song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller that plays in the background as Caleb continues fighting to win back the heart of his wife.

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

6. When Catherine wants to accept Jesus as a result of the changes in Caleb. When you live your life as a thank you to God it should impact others in an eternal way.

Listening to....

Brooke Fraser's "Shadowfeet" right now. I can't get enough of this song. When I have a fave, I can listen to it over and over for weeks and not get tired of it. It might make John crazy but he never says anything. *swoon*

How about these as the best lyrics evah:

When the world is falling out from under me
I’ll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time & space are through
I’ll be found in you

When the world is falling out from under me
I’ll be found in you, still standing
Every fear and accusation under my feet
When time & space are through
I’ll be found in you

I think this means so much to me right now because I am starting to see how much of a sucker I am for guilt. I battle it all the time. Well...I think "battle" gives me too much credit. I don't really put up much of a fight. I'm always thinking "I shouldn't be feeling this way" or "I shouldn't be angry about this" or "I should be more loving" or "I should be further from where I started by now." What does God say about guilt? What does he say about how to handle this? I'll have to get back to you on it.

Giving Away Free Stuff!

Mustang Sarah is giving away a chance to win free stuff! All you have to do is link to her blog from yours and leave a comment. Drawing is 10/15.

Also, Donalda is giving away stuff. Click here for details! Drawing is 10/18.