Birthday Party

Today was a surprise birthday party for Hayley at Michael's house.  There was a ton of people there.  Josh even came in from out of state.  I don't know if he is still in the Marines or what.  He's been living out west somewhere since before he was married and I don't hear too many details of what's going on with them all.  Anyway, Haley had no idea he was coming and when he snuck in and came up to her, she broke down crying.  It was so sweet.  We had a great time visiting.  Happy birthday, Hayley.

No Idea Why

Last night was one of the times I couldn't sleep for some unknown reason.  I woke up around 4 which is normal, but I didn't fall back asleep.  I lay awake, tossed, turned, read, played with my phone, prayed. Prayed some more.  Tossed and turned some more. Stared the ceiling. Finally I was able to fall back asleep.

Blowing My Mind

So my friend Trish wants me to help her take care of her mother now that her father has passed away.  She's the primary caregiver and also trying to manage all the rental properties plus get through probate.  It's hard to do all day plus all night.

She wants someone to sleep there and answer if her mother needs anything.
I would dearly love to get out of daycare, but don't know if I should do this.  I never liked caregiving and I wouldn't like midnight turn.   I'd be working for myself so I'd have to take out taxes. And what do I do when she doesn't need me anymore?   I'd just be out of a job.

Good things are:  I'd be helping a friend during a needy time, more open schedule during weekdays, probably a lot less stress than I have now, no actual boss, better pay, less hours, and I could blog during downtime and build that up to take over eventually.

It's so much to consider, I'm overwhelmed.

No Weekend

I'm really really starting not to like working afternoon turn. It is a natural shift for my body's time clock but it is so hard to do anything else in a day when you actually have to clock in during those times. I have not found it very productive trying to do errands before work or after work. Each has their issues so I end up trying to fit everything on the weekend. That makes it so I feel like I have no weekend at all. Plus doing the office hours around my 40 hours is very tiring. I find I can't handle doing that 3 days a week and working my 8 hour shift the same day so I end up finishing on Saturday. Still constantly, desperately looking for a solution to this job problem.

Not Perfect

I got so much done today. I stocked up on groceries and got Bryan some of the goodies he likes such as sunflower seeds, cucumbers, green peppers and chocolate milk. Cooked a batch of homemade wedding soup and froze it.

Then I decided to splurge and make meatloaf.  Not something I've ever had great success with but this time it came out pretty good.  Should be a nice surprise for Bryan.  :)

So after I show him all his goodies he can enjoy this week, and surprised him with a meatloaf dinner, he's like, "did you get ketchup? "  oops, no.  I forgot we were almost out of ketchup.

I don't think he realizes how his expressions of disappointment come off.  They sound like disgust to me whether or not that's what was intended.  Something I'm working on -- it's not one sided.  I know his heart but I still have a hard time keeping scenarios like this from effecting me.  It can get me to feel as if nothing is worth it.

AGAIN?

My wrist is hurting again.  It seems I twist my arm regularly for
some reason.  Maybe it's lifting 14 kids every day several times
to change diapers!  That's why I'm so glad when they start potty
training and all I have to do is send them to the bathroom and
make sure they wash their hands, even though there is
occasionally an accident.

I don't know why my arm gets like this.  It seems it happens every few months, and if it's not one of my wrists, then an ankle or a stiff knee.  The glucosamine I take is supposed to help so I hate to think what it would be like without it. 

Hopefully the wrap will help and I can rest it over the weekend.  Sigh. 

Marriage More

So I've been reading this blog I found and really liking a lot of things about it.  I found it by researching how to blog, but this blog doesn't focus on that anymore.  They turned it into a blog about marriage. 

I like the saying on the first page:  Love the Life You Live

Also the concept of intentionality
                        and that wherever your marriage is, it can be More . . . if you Make it.
                        and the challenges because it helps you go from reading to Doing!

check it out:
     http://houseofroseblog.com/

Book of the Month: Prodigal Girl

Prodigal Girl by Grace Livingston Hill


I have long been a fan of Grace Livingston Hill.  You may see more books by this author highlighted in the book of the month posts.  Prodigal Girl is one of my favorites.



In this book an oblivious father suddenly finds that his family is not as he had thought.  He had supposed they all were upstanding moral individuals just as he assumed he himself was.
 
Then several facts are made known to him that cause him to realize they only are upstanding moral individuals according to the world's standards.  He also realizes that he also has become complacent in sticking to his standards. Not only that but as the spiritual head of his household he is responsible for all of the members in addition to himself.

He recommits himself to God and sets about guiding his family back to the values they had had at one point. Unfortunately, he finds they have moved farther from those values than he had presumed.  He decides he must make drastic changes to reverse the lax attitudes that had been governing each one of the family members.

A total break with school, friends, jobs, clubs seems to be the best way, so he moves the whole family to a secluded cabin in the country.  Some family members grumble a little, then come around quickly but the prodigal girl is full of rebellion and tries to run away although she is not familiar with country life and especially the winter weather.  He is unsure how to rescue her from the elements and from her own willfulness.


   

So Much to Learn

I am making progress in getting my blog going.  Got a handle on domain name, platform, host.  I'm familiar with weebly but the vast consensus is WordPress.  The host is more open to debate.  There are several different ones recommended by the bloggers giving advice.   And I'm new to all of them as well.  On the points they all agree, it is easy to choose, but when they have differing opinions, I don't know what to do!

Sometimes I think my eyes are gonna bug out with all the research I'm doing!  It seems like when one question is answered, it leads to 5 more!

Email subscription?  SEO?  Themes?  Traffic? 

But it's mostly intriguing to me.  Sometimes it's over my head, sometimes boring, often tedious!  I have to trust it will be worth it in the end.

Surpassing Greatness

Philippians 3:3b-9

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.  More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (v. 7-8)

I'm not sure if this is a proper application of this passage but here are my thoughts:

Suppose I had an event to go to that was enjoyable, profitable, and so on . . . but it happened to be on the same day as a family wedding.  I would hands down choose the family wedding and miss going to the other event. It would not be as if there was anything wrong with the other event but the value of the wedding would surpass that of the event.  

Paul had a lot going for him.  He was circumcised--showing a heritage of obedience (and it was both to the national law and also religious regulations).  He had a claim to Israel through Benjamin.  He was not just a follower of the Bible, but a scholar and a teacher, not just a believer but one who took action, and with fervor.  

I may have been raised in church or to be a good human being, I may be an American--even a Daughter of the American Revolution, I may have perfect attendance awards from Sunday school or a gift Bible from Awana scripture memorization, I may volunteer and give money to charity.

But none of that will ensure that I will know the Truth.  Those are good things, but they have limited value.  Their primary value is in leading me to Christ. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of that . . . but if it happens to be the same day as my family wedding  . . .  my choice is a no-brainer.  I would consider them as of no value if they didn't lead me to knowing Jesus.

Rough Job

Bryan cut his hand at work again.  This happens every so often, depending on the kind of parts he is making on his machines--some are harder to handle than others.  It's worse in the cold weather than during the summer.  He says this time he actually has a cut on a cut!  We should buy stock in liquid bandaid!

Personal Finance Blog

One of the first resources I found researching how to blog is a blog!  It's a blog on how to blog.  :)  That was cool enough, but I found more:
       the blogger is a Christian
       the blog is actually mostly about money managing--a topic near and dear to my heart!
       it supports the principles taught by Dave Ramsey
       most of the material is free
       there are email courses you can take

check it out:   https://christianpf.com/

Can I Move On?

I'm so tired of working in daycare.  I love children and teaching and taking care of them, but the daycare industry is so institutionalized it takes most of the joy out of it for me.  There are so many rules and regulations and procedures.  People looking over your shoulder all the time.  Parents who don't seem to actually care about their kids but act like they are a commodity or a status symbol or an excuse for martyrdom.  Certainly not all parents are like this, some are a wonderful and I would love to be friends with them outside of work.

The pay is low, the stress is high.  There are mandatory outside meetings and trainings that have to be kept up to date.  I've been through accusations, parents who are drunk or high, children's services investigations. secretivity, high client turnover, high employee turnover, and the list goes on.  There has to be something better for me out there.

Ribs Anyone?

Went out to eat last night with Joe and Melissa.  They invited us to this place called Barry Dingles.  They are supposed to have amazing ribs which is what the 3 of them got.  I am not into ribs but the chicken was good.

I don't as much care for the atmosphere in places like this.  This place was all over the news last summer too for that queen of hearts gambling game thing.  I guess they had thousands of people in the parking lot.

Fun night, good talking, and full tummies!

Is Our Washer Alive?

So I went down to the basement today to switch my laundry into the dryer and start watching another load. But I found the washing machine in the middle of the laundry room floor! It had walked itself all the way out away from the wall --wow.  Bryan says the transmission is getting weak and is throwing the balance off.

It's unsettling to see it just randomly in the middle of the room, but funny too.

We'd better start putting aside some extra money because it looks like it will eventually die on us and it will probably happen at the worst possible time. As usual.

Forced Attitudes

It really annoys me how so many of the shows on HGTV seem to force the clients to exhibit a scripted attitude.  It is reality TV, why can't it be realistic?

Property Brothers        On this show they always have to talk the buyers into a fixer upper.  No matter what their budget is $100,000 or $1,000,000, they can never "find all their must haves without doing a renovation."  This does not make sense.  The brothers go out of their way to show a home that fits every one of the buyers' desires and they always act like they absolutely love it.  Then the show them a bunch of potential renos and they always range from being skeptical to adamantly against each one.  The property brothers have been around a long time, people know who they are and what they do--and if they don't already, surely the producers have brought them up to speed before they agreed to be on the show.  If you don't want to do a reno, audition for a different show!

House Hunters      The buyers always seem at odds with their wish list and never outwardly willing to compromise.  They are shown 3 different properties and every time they say "Wow, this is going to be a really hard decision."  Then after they move in they totally love it.  Come on, show some variety, not cookie cutter actors.  This goes for House Hunters International, Island Life, Caribbean Life, and several others.  We can't enjoy the finding-a-house journey without manufacturing animosity or indecision?

Fixer Upper       This is the one exception I have found in the shows I have watched enough to see a pattern.  The clients walk in with eyes wide open knowing they are choosing to do a renovation.  The designers always let them decide what they want to do unpressured, and they never have to beg the clients to trust them.  The clients do the bragging for them.  I've seen clients waver between two or all three, or decide right away that one is right for them. 

Life cannot possibly fit into the exact same scenario every single time.  I still enjoy most of the things about all these shows, but I'd rather see it play out naturally.

New For Me

  I've been researching blogs for over a year now.  I've followed several blogs and read many more and I've noticed a couple different things about the styles that are used.  When I started my first blog, it was the realization of a lifelong dream and I took it seriously.  It seemed impossible to choose anything but a serious format such as I've seen on many blogs.  I crafted each post with great care, usually taking hours for each one to make sure it was done with excellence.  And it hasn't even gone live yet!
   There is nothing wrong with this approach, of course, and that's how I intend to continue it.  But I found myself yearning for other ways of expression also.   Many blogs I read are much more casual and don't seem to have the rigid guidelines I have imposed upon myself for that first blog. 
   So this blog I want to try another style, more laid back and unstructured, where I can tell about my day and make random comments.  
   It may be a wild ride, but you may have fun if you ride with me!