Can't think of a clever title

So for my Christmas vacation I'm hanging out at my house. John is working, family has all gone home (sniff) and presents are unwrapped & put away. Time to wind down. I don't mind not going anywhere. I really love being at my house. It's hot outside (thank you FLORIDA! not) and so I watched a movie on TV this morning. City of Angels.

It occurs to me that this may be the dumbest movie EVAH. Okay, so I'm an angel named Seth...I come from heaven, I've never known the struggles of mortal man, I feel no pain, I have no fear, I live IN THE BEAUTIFUL PRESENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD...yet I trade all of it for a temporal life and a chance to kiss a human. Are you kidding me? How is this better? Don't get me wrong, I've shared amazing kisses with John. But I imagine that even the most earth shattering weak-in-the-knees moment between people would have to pale in comparison to living in the glory of our Lord.

So Seth, seriously... smelly morning breath is better than God? Eating a pear and taking a steamy shower...better than worry-free, pain-free eternity in heaven? Look I just cut myself and am bleeding...yay! Seth DESERVES to have his object of affection die within 12 hours of him becoming a human just for being a galactic eeeediot.

John reminds me that it is just a movie. Is it really though? I think about how available God's presence is to us right now, all the time, every day. And how we have the choice to bask in it or trade it for something lame and fleeting. My prayer is that I would always choose wisely. That I would always value intimacy with my Savior and King. And that I would remain focused on the eternal.

Best Christmas Surprise EVAH!

My sister Heather was supposed to come home from Portland OR for Christmas. But then she got a new job that wouldn't allow her to take the time off, so she called about 4 months ago and said she couldn't come after all. We were all soooooo bummed. We arranged to send her Christmas presents through the mail. Planned to send her pictures so she wouldn't completely miss out. No big deal. Life goes on. Sometimes not like you think it would, but you recover.

WELL GUESS WHO SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR LAST NIGHT?!?!?!?!

Oh yippeee...oh joy...oh gleeful jubilance!

Calling it like it is....

"Is the speed of light too slow for you?"

FYI

So yeah, now that my family knows I am with child, I don't have to write about it in secret. I've linked my Baby blog to this one. Feel free to jump on over and check it out.

Things I've Decided

- I dislike flavored coffee grounds. Much prefer the flavored creamers or syrups to add later.

- I hate people who tailgate motorcycle riders.

- I want to start watching classic movies. A coworker brought in "To Catch a Thief" and "Charade" to start me on my way.

- 9:00pm is a much better time to go to bed than 11:00pm.

- I need to start making my Christmas cards waaaaaaaaaay sooner than December.

- I'm not interested enough in learning to play the guitar to actually learn to play the guitar, so I'm crossing it off my list of stuff to do.

- Smiling at EVERYONE is totally worth it even if 1/2 don't smile back.

- I don't need to hoard stuff...clothes, scrap supplies I know I'll never use, old magazines, adaptors for electronic stuff I don't even think I have any more, receipts for stuff I bought 3 years ago that are now so faded you can't even see the print any longer, free bags & totes I get with purchase of Lancome products.

Monday AM Office Funnies

Yes, we bring on the funny pretty early around here.

Jay: What’s that smell?

Me: It’s my vanilla coffee. I know, it’s stinky…I’m sorry.

Jay: Smells like something Spoon would drink.

(‘Spoon’ is one of the technicians in our group, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It is rumored that the only reason he works at all is because his wife says it keeps him out of trouble. He’ll even attest to that.)

Jay: One time I went in the tech office and saw some really fancy schmancy tea. I said “Whoever drinks this HAS to have a limp wrist.” It was Spoon’s tea.

Me: Normally I would think that comment is mean but I did see him moisturizing his face over in the tech room before he went out on a job.

Joe: I bet Spoon wears booties & mittens while he’s sleeping to keep his cuticles & heals from chaffing.

Tiffany: I bet he wears a shower cap.

Jay: I bet he wears a hair-net while he’s sleeping.

Me: Yeah, like Laura Ingalls.

Brian: I wonder how he rides his motorcycle.

Me: I’m betting side-saddle.

Note-if-fi-ca-shun

OMGsh I totally have this song stuck in my head now. Don't ask me how I found it.

How to share fabulous news

Since John and I are trying to have a baby I've often wondered how we'll tell our folks when we finally have 'news' to share. I'd love to think of a clever way that would just make my mom's head pop right off with glee. Some avenue where she wouldn't suspect anything. See, she's clever, that one. Mom can always guess the bad guy in a movie within the first 5 minutes. Then comes the whole "which parents do we tell first?" debate. Then I think about my sisters...one living in Portland, OR and one living here in town. I'd love to be able to tell everyone at once.

Should we invite everyone to dinner then call sis on the cell? We never do that with all parents at the same time unless there is a birthday, so they would for sure expect a reason. What if John and I had a practice run...assemble everyone, let them think something is up, then when they hear of no news they'll be like *shrug* "I guess they just wanted us all to get together." Then when the time comes it won't seem like an abnormal gathering.

Or, I could make a huge sign "We're Pregnant!" set the camera up to take a picture of us holding it, have my folks over for 'dinner & a movie', have John's folks stop by to 'pick something up' *wink wink* then put a slide show of some photos of a recent vacation on the big tv with the picture of us holding our sign being the last image.

Or, have everyone over for a game of pictionary. And when it's my turn to draw, I can draw a preggo lady and have everyone guess. Hahahaha! That mental image makes me laugh.

Or, we could go to one of those hotels on the beach that has a jazz band playing, see if we can get the MC to make the announcement for us, with a round of champagne at the ready (none for me of course.)

Hmmm. I don't know what we'll do but it will be fun. That's about all I DO know.

Adventures in Christmas shopping

Bought wonderful little manicure kit last night. Price tag said $18 but rang up $5. Sa-WEET! Plus I had a "spend over $30, get $10 off" coupon. What's funny is I told the girl I had the coupon while she was ringing my stuff up. Did she wait to see if I could find it before she finished? Of course not. Then when I dig the coupon out of my purse, I ask her if it would be a big deal for her to honor it. She said "Well, yeah kinda." Um...what? Oh really? Well you better get started. I waited as she begrudginly did a refund for all 7 things in order to re-ring them properly. It took about 3 minutes to save me $10. But for the scowl on her face I would have gladly waited 30. Hey, I don't mean to sound like a jerk. I assumed it was THEIR JOB to assist people. My bad.

Bought gift for my family grab-bag person. $20 off, so I got them 2 items instead of 1. Sa-WEET!

Bought gift for one of my BFFs and got a GREAT DEAL on the items. Love me a sale!

Got home and was able to wrap them all. Man I love the holidays.

De-Clutterifying My Life

Oh my I can't stand the clutter. This has to be step 2 in some program, with step 1 being "admitting your life is cluttered." To get there from here I started thinking about what I'm involved in and why. How do these activities fit in with my goals? Do I even have any goals? Well, I don't really have a list of goals yet. But if I did the first one would be "clear some space so you can begin thinking of goals."

Last month I decided to stop selling cards and crafts on ebay. It was a big decision for me because I was pouring a ton of time & energy into it. It started out fun but then it got hard. And I hate quitting something when it gets hard so I kept plugging away. That is, until I realized that I had no aspiration to take this any further than a simple hobby done in my spare time. I had no plan to get rich, not interested in getting my work published, and it had become more stressful than fun. I was neglecting my husband, my house, my own photo albums, my family & friends, my spiritual life, etc. It was like working a really sucky job and not getting paid for it, any benefits, or even a lousy 'thank you'. The signs were all there. So I kicked it to the curb, Adam Vinatieri style.

This is all the pilot for a new show called "What other useless things can I eliminate."

Clothing manufacturers...why do you hate me?

So I'm looking for a ski coat for my trip in January. I hate to buy one. I ski about once every five years. I'd rather borrow one but I know zero women my size. And even if I did, the chances of a fellow Floridian having a SNOW SKI JACKET is slim to none.

While shopping I notice a trend...quilted puffer jackets for plus sized gals. Yeah, that's just want we need. To look puffier. As John says about himself "I don't want to cover my rolls with a jacket that has more rolls."

I'm also finding tons of sweaters and tops with horizontal stripes. Good grief people! Everyone knows horizontal stripes make even a skinny girl look like a double wide.

Why don't they just make a shirt that says "I Heart Butter!" That would be more subtle.

Eh...I'm going to the gym. For real.

Aaaaaaaaahh, what a great weekend.

Saturday afternoon...Florida vs Alabama? Alabama got OWNED. Well, not really. It was a nail biter the entire time but UF came out victorious. Woohoo! Gator Nation, baby.

Saturday night was my in-law's Computers For Education Christmas party. Lots of good food to eat & fun people to talk to. The volunteers who donate their time & talent to this organization just really warm my heart. They could do anything in the world with their free time but they choose to work on computers that are given to people, mostly kids still in school, who have no other means to afford the technology. The volunteers range in age from kids in their 20's to retirees in their 60's & 70's. It's just amazing to see how dedicated they are.

At the party we heard 'thank you' emails written by recipients to share how the new computer has changed their lives. We heard from single mothers, from an 11-year old boy (who now wants to volunteer in some way!), from a woman who works with autistic children, another who works with kids born from drug addicted mothers. The list of lives that are touched by this organization goes on and on. As my MIL read the emails, I looked over to see a surly looking military retiree dabbing the tears from his eyes. You can imagine there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It was awesome to be a part of this gang.

Sunday was our 5th anniversary. The time just flies. When you do it right 5 years is a blink. If you do it wrong, one day is an eternity! So John is normally THE WORST at waiting to give a gift. In fact, he's already started asking me if I want my Christmas present now. If I said yes he'd totally let me open it. But this time he at least waited until the day of our anniversary to give me my present...12:01am. He's so cute!

John I spent a great day together Sunday...lunch after church & some shopping. Then we went to Texas de Brazil for dinner that evening. Great food. Nice weather. The drive was easy. We did realize that we don't take advantage of the 1 hour proximity to Orlando. I see some trips to the outlets in our future.

So yeah, I had a great weekend.

Please help - looking for music

I'm in the mood for some folksy, coffee-shop acoustic indie type christian music. Not the Peter Paul & Mary kind *cough*...something cool and Ingrid Michaelson-esque. I search google. What comes up? Sarah Groves & Sixpence None the Richer. Oh wait, there is that one site I found that considers the band Aaron Jeffrey a folk music group. Um, seriously...Are you kidding me?

I can't imagine there are only 2 artists in this genre in all the English speaking world. Please, if you have input point me in the right direction.

Little tiny pleasures in life

I bought some scrap stuff online the other day. I just adore online shopping. And magazine subscriptions. I love knowing fun stuff is coming in the mail at some point. As adults the mail rarely qualifies as fun. Well, unless your standards for fun are super low.

Remember when you were a kid and the only mail you got was birthday cards from grandma or a letter from the friend you met at camp? I remember seeing mom get 4 or 6 envelopes each day and thinking how great it would be when I was older and got as much mail as she got. I wondered why she wasn't always happy to see all the 'letters'. Hah! Oh to be a kid again.

How was my Thanksgiving?

Fabulous. Best one ever. Seriously, I mean that. Best EVAH!

I long for the day I have a house big enough to have my family and John's family together for the holidays. Why should we have to take turns each year being with the ones we love most? Rubbish.

Well, this year my dream came true. My family went to John's folks and we had so much fun together. I was asked to say the dinner blessing - which I was totally pumped about and had been hoping all morning for a chance to pray over my loved ones in the presence of my loved ones. Then we played games, chatted, and just really enjoyed spending hours together digesting mass quantities of turkey & pie. *sigh*

Good times.

The only thing missing was Heather. =(

What the telemarketer taught me

We are being bombarded by phone solicitors. Yes, we are on the do not call list but it isn't working. Every day a 1-800 number rings the house. Sometimes we pick up then hang up. Sometimes we wait to see if they'll leave a message. They don't. So yesterday I answer it and the lady asks for my husband. I say "Please do not call here ever again." *click* It is super frustrating. And I try to be nice but jeeze, give up already. If we want to buy something, we'll seek it out. If we want to refinance something, we'll do it. If we want to donate to something, you'll get your $$ when you get it. If we want to insure something, chances are it's already insured. Yet the calls continue.

What makes them so persistent? Telemarketers would have to be a hardy bunch...enduring the verbal assault they no doubt experience on a daily basis. It reminds me of how persistent Jesus is to get to our hearts. He calls all the time...during dinner, at night while we are sleeping, on the way to work, through a message on Sunday, through a friend, through His Word, through a circumstance in life, through the choices we make, through a telemarketer...

*ring ring* "Hey Rebecca, Jesus here. Just calling to touch bases with you. I've been waiting for you to return my call. How many messages do I have to leave already? I'm desperate to talk to you. What's up? Holla back."

I used to hate hearing the phone ring. I think now whenever someone calls, I'll always be reminded of spending time with The One who is truly in pursuit of me.

Science.....hah!

So last night I was cleaning old clothing out of my closet....stuff I hadn't worn since 3 sizes ago. I held up some sized 12 shirts, shirts that now seemed teensy to me, and remembered feeling like a fat cow 5 years ago while wearing them. Whatever!?! I jammed them into the bag heading for GoodWill. It's hard to not feel a bit depressed about how you've let yourself go. Ugh.

So this morning on the news I hear that scientific research proves depression is linked to the size of your waist line. Well no duh, Einstein. What chuckle head figured THAT out? Better yet, who gave that chuckle head a grant to discover what women all over the planet have known since the dawn of the calorie? Is science like the movie industry...when you run out of stuff to study you just go back and re-discover crap? Coming up on News at 11:00....gravity keeps stuff from flying off into space!

Can I have a grant? I want to study the link between depression and having no money. Or the link between depression and having no job. Or the link between depression and democrats in office. Someone want to pony up that dough?