All the Time

Joe has gone to work!

2006-02-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

You'll never know how glad that makes me. It means the house settles down and I can begin to think my own thoughts without constant interruption. It is amazing to me how much noise and disruption one person can make. Since he is on my list of bad people, I cannot help but wish he had gone on an 80 day trip around the world than just to work!

Much in this house is not right. A minor part of that is my housekeeping, but I keep plugging away at it and making progress, though my friend Cheryl and I seem to be the only ones to notice that. No, there is something much deeper, much more painful, and much stranger going on here. We are married now just about 39 months. And, one certain element, the one not to be forsaken except in times of extended prayer, has indeed been forsaken, almost from the very beginning. It drives me nuts but it seems to have no effect on him. Nothing seemingly is going to turn his interest towards me. If I bring up the subject, he treats me as if I'm a royal pain in the ass. How many men would be totally exasperated with a wife who would suggest a "nooner". Yet that happened in my house yesterday. And, his subsequent comments were not exactly uplifting. I have so much hurt and anger and disappointment and confusion buried inside of me and I don't know how to get it out. I pray for forgiveness, but.....how do I get this crap out of me. I can't even cry about it anymore. In some ways, I can't help but think it is better this way. He is either an incredibly clumsy lover or he intentionally hurts me. I don't know which. I've never been "accidentally" hurt so often in the course of lovemaking by anyone in my life and I have a significant sample size. So, I may be hurt and angry and disappointed and confused, but I'm not bruised and scratched and bitten, etc. There IS a silver lining to everything........

Well, I don't know what to do except to do my best with the day in front of me. So, I'll keep the praise and worship music playing and hope the Lord will plant a song in my heart. Focus on Jesus......it's the only way......

I tried to upload pages yesterday but it didn't take. I'll try again. Maybe we'll be more successful today.

It's gonna be a busy one today

2006-02-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Phew! I have a zillion phone calls from clients to return. Wouldn't be so bad but Jed is pushing for stuff too. Got to work on Mr. T's stuff too. Still waiting for Karla to produce that last W-2 so I can finish hers. And, of course, the house needs work, constantly needs work. I think I could clean and sort and pitch stuff in the house for 28 straight days, without doing anything else and actually begin to see daylight. But, most days, my contribution to order here seems pitifully small. And, I seem to have the ability to mess things up as fast as I straighten them up, so....it's just like a dog chasing its tail.

Speaking of dogs, Punkin is still bringing the backyard into the house, one fragment/stick/scrap at a time. She finds stuff out there that I know isn't ours. Last week she was chewing on the remains of a coffee cup from Boyd's coffee. Who is Boyd's coffee and how did their cup get in my backyard? It worries me--I'm so concerned she'll get into something that will hurt her. She's doing great on the housebreaking, though.

I started the laborious process of backing up layouts and kits yesterday. It takes windows about 15-20 minutes to do a full CD of kits........I can see this process is going to be time consuming. I need to ask on 2Ps about how folks organize their CDs both what goes on a single CD and what they do with them when they're burned.....

Spoke with Doc on Saturday. Supposedly he's finally going to get with the program on the books for J.E.D. Right.......Believing that when I see it. Wonder what he plans to do about the $822 he still owes me? Do I just blow that off because he promises to treat us for free? Well, Saturday, he was going to write me scripts for one month's worth of my medications, but I haven't heard a word from him. Now what do I do? Call and bug him for "free" medical care? Do I treat that $822 as prepaid medical and call and bug him? I don't know. Guess I'll have to pray about that one.

Well, that's about all I have time for this AM.

I am having the worst time

2006-02-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

inserting pictures. Either they show up twice or not at all. Last time was not at all, so I'll try again....

Catching up

2006-02-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

I have been fairly worthless as far as tax work and housework have been concerned the past few days. Had a miserable headache I just couldn't shake. But, last night about 9, it broke! Praise be, normal again. Now I have to try to make up for lost time.

Little Miss Bratdog, also known as Punkin, has decided our bed is her bed. She is pretty good...she gets up and comes out here when she needs to go outside, is hungry, or wants to torment Indy. As long as she is sleeping on the bed, she isn't chewing. That's a relief. I have toys a plenty for her now because we went to Walmart the other night, but she still prefers to chew anything that isn't hers! As much as anything, I am concerned she will swallow something and we'll need to take her to the vet and incur big vet bills to have it removed.....

I was selected for another design team, this time for Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash Designs. I love it. She is a Christian. I read something in her forum this AM that tells me she is Baptist--takes her kids to AWANA..... I like her stuff and it's wonderful to know I'm helping out a sista! I also have my application for a third team--another Christian designer. Don't know how that will turn out but should hear shortly. I'm sitting on the application materials for one more, but I won't submit that if I'm selected for the one that is pending. I'm so pleased to have been selected for these design teams because it tells me that someone besides my family thinks I do good work. I've always wondered, and now I know! Thank you, Lord, for this bit of affirmation.

Phew! Tired already....

2006-01-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it's noon and I'm tired already. Haven't done all that much; I think it might be because I haven't eaten this AM. Joe's headed home and we'll have lunch soon. Nothing yummy, just some leftovers from the fridge.

Did manage to empty the dishwasher, clean the sink and the countertop next to it. Also bagged up and listed (for tax purposes) some give-away stuff. I'm going to see if I can get Joe to stash it in the trunk of his car to drop off the next time he goes to Mike's office.

I still want to accomplish more in the office. Joe's been helping me clear off my desk. I find that impossible. So much stuff hits it in a given day. I just don't know what to do with most of it. If I could just get him to stop piling things on it, that would be a help. I can do enough damage without that! But, we kind of have wood visible on the far side, so that's a help.

Joe did some work on our tax stuff this weekend. We were so pleased when we saw our contributions for the year. We didn't live a whole lot better than the previous year, but we did give a whole lot better. I may get depressed about all the big ticket things we need around here, but it does warm my heart that we were able to give--to our church, to the building fund, to missionaries for furthering the gospel, to feeding programs, to support kids in foreign countries who need help. I hate to admit it, but all that is probably way more important than my desire for new carpet....

Well, that's about all I have time for now. I'm going to post a few pics and be on my way.

Another Sunday

2006-01-29T19:49:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a day, much like any other day for me. For Joe, on the other hand, it was a harder day. He made three presentations for The Gideons in one of the local churches this AM. He was pretty tired when it was all over. And, to make it worse, after three services, the total offerings were only about $190. Oh well...

Workin' on some stuff for a major client. Fun stuff.......yeah, right. Did have a discussion with my son-in-law, the attorney, about a criminal case in which I'm interested. It was a pretty interesting conversation, and favorable to my client. I will try to share the good news tomorrow.

Jen had an adventure....she sliced her hand while cutting an avocado. It required 5 stitches. I did my part.....no stitches during her childhood. She had to wait til she was 25 to have that experience.

Joe worked on the motion light out front. I'll be so glad when that's finished. I always worry that a client will fall on the way into the house and we'll get sued. Once he has that thing functional, we should be a lot safer from that sort of thing and I can rest that my client's won't get a broken leg in my front yard.

Well, that's it for now. Here are a few pages I haven't posted.......

Smokin'

2006-01-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Oh, wow.......there is a big sale over at SBB. They're celebrating the 3rd birthday of the site. Some of my favorite designers are not participating, but Gina Miller's stuff and Rebecca DiGrazio's stuff is on sale, so I bet my Credit Card will be smokin' by this afternoon. I will fight the urge, but.......I will probably succumb.
I have a lot of RD's older stuff but not much of the new, and the new is SO good. Really shows her maturing as a designer, I think....

What must I do today?

Laundry
Mr. V's tax return
Bag up stuff for charity and list for tax purposes
Continue the pursuit of order in my office
Fix a Pork Roast for dinner
Continue sorting through drawers for stuff to give to charity

It would be nice to list an item or two on e-bay. I have so much scrapping stuff I want to get rid of. It would bring a lot of order to this room, just to accomplish that!

Well, here are a few more layouts--since we're playing catch-up. Hope you'll enjoy them. Then I'm off to shower and get rolling on the day.

I'm such a screw up!

2006-01-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how I managed to post two of everything in my previous entry. THAT took talent....

Anyway, I forgot the biggest and bestest news. I've been selected for a creative team. I'm thrilled about that. It is stretching my creativity and that can be nothing but good......

Well, since I'm here, I'll catch up on posting a few more scrapbook pages....may as well make hay, so the saying goes.....

Bad girl, Bad girl.

2006-01-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

I have been a very bad girl. I have not posted here forever. I have been on a scrapbooking frenzy. It's getting busier and busier all the time. A criminal tax fraud case on which I'm consulting is heating up. And tax season is here. I have a couple of young ladies nipping at my heels, darn near demanding tax returns. I can't do them, of course, since they don't have all their documents.

Thank goodness, Joe's business is picking up. The seasonal slump is over. We couldn't have lasted much longer. It's been along one this year. In 2006, I WILL BE prepared with a lot more cash stashed. But all the bills are paid and that's a good thing.

Well, since I've been scrapping so much, I'm going to try to upload some pages for you.

Scrapping, Cleaning, and e-baying

2005-12-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

It was overcast day yesterday. Rare condition here in the desert. My knee surely felt it. Yesterday it slowed me down considerably; today I'm finding ways to work around or through it.

My house is 22 years old. I'm still using the original stove. The overhead microwave/vent combination died at least 3 years ago and I've never been able to replace it. For microwaving, I have an on the counter model, eating a lot of my precious, small counte space. I have no answer on the vent..... Unfortunately, that means that migrating cooking grease is a problem. And this is one of those problems the cleaning lady leaves for me. I've spent the morning scrubbing cabinets and the other woodwork in the kitchen...yuck! But, I'll feel better about cooking in there tonight!

Jen keeps sending me lists of law books to sell on e-bay. Her idea is that she got the books (they were given to her), I'll do the work, and we'll split the profits. It was kind of funny....I only listed a few of them yesterday and she was already asking me if we had any buyers this AM........I hope we sell some, but I question whether some of them are current enough to be marketable. We shall see. Oh well, I didn't have anything else to do.....right? Just sittin here eatin bonbons and watchin soap operas.....

When the computer died a few weeks ago, somehow it killed our all-in-one scanner/printer/fax. I had Joe scan a couple of old pictures from Mom and scrapped one of them yesterday. I also did several more layouts from Jen's wedding. I'm getting tapped out on looking at "yellow", the color she chose for her wedding. Perhaps I'll flip over and do some "purple" layouts--from Matt's wedding. Anyway, here are the fruits of my labor.........

From Matt's Wedding

2005-12-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

Rochelle claims she is "Daddy's Little Girl". I was impressed with this photo because it seems to have captured that special emotion she feels as well as how her father feels about her. I'm finding these photos from Matt and Rochelle's wedding both easier and harder to scrap. Of the whole crew, I know Matt best, but I still wouldn't say I know him well. I might be his step mother, but I'll bet I haven't spent 40 hours with him. For Rochelle, I'll bet it's less than 25 hours. I don't know Matt's mom's side of the family at all nor do I know Rochelle's family. So, I have no "story to tell" on these pages. That saves a lot of time, not telling a story. But, it makes me feel as though I'm only doing half the job. Oh, well....at least the pages are pretty....

Striking a Pose

2005-12-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

I got such a kick out of scrapping this page. This photo was completely unposed which was neat. Joe, who claims to be so bad at photography, spotted her, nudged me and this photo was the result. The printed background paper was originally pink, green and baby blue, but I changed the blue to black so I could get the look I wanted. I have no real idea who she is, other than that she was there with one of Jason's long-time friends. But, when I ran across this quote, I knew it was perfect, especially since I'd found the hat on the web just a few days earlier. No one on the scrapbooking website seemed to appreciate it much, but I think it's cute!

Sun From Both Sides

2005-12-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Bit by bit, I keep working my way through scrapping the photos of the weddings. I really loved doing this one. I hope I did it justice. I love the look on Jennifer's face. I was pretty frustrated, trying to "cut" the bg papers into circular shapes. I posted a question on 2Peas and one of the professional designers, Roberta D'Achille, tried to help me out. It took some more work, more time, experimentation, but I finally got what I wanted. I hope you like it...

Christmas Past

2005-12-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

Finally, just a few days before Christmas, the Spirit of Christmas finally hit. A few days earlier, I'd decided the kitchen might look a bit neater if I cleaned off all the stuff hanging on the refrigerator. One of the things I removed was a tiny picture of Jennifer, from the Christmas when she was 3. As I was working on finding my desk, a continuous project, I ran across it. It brought back a flood of memories of Christmases past, of days when it was just Jennifer and me, finding our way through life, one day at a time. I had to scrap it.

My Friend Karla

2005-12-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

I received the word a few days ago that Karla has another tumor. This time it's not a breast tumor--it's in her stomach. This time they're not doing chemo--they're doing radiation. She jokes that this is good because she'll get to keep her hair and her tummy is tanned. Oh, how I pray for her healing, her complete healing. May this cancer be eradicated, never to return again. Lord, surely 5 bouts with cancer is enough....

I did a page about her. I cannot express my admiration for her. She is the most courageous and admirable human being I know. I am so proud she calls me friend.

Weekly Food Fight

2005-12-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

Well, we've had our weekly food fight and Joe is off to the grocery store. When I was a kid, Mom would have to go through this with Dad every time she needed a new girdle, but I get to go through it every time it's time to go to the grocery store. I've already turned the grocery shopping over to him. I'm about to turn all food planning and preparation over to him too. I'm just sick of having an argument over what goes on the grocery list. Either he's sure I don't need it or he can't find it at the store. I'm mildly amused with the "can't find it at the store stuff" but the grocery list thing is making me crazy. It's not as though I am extravagant; I plan menus from the weekly sales. I don't buy a lot of expensive prepared foods. I don't ask for filet mignon. And, he can sure strap on the food bag once it's cooked. In fact, the big deal this AM was that I mentioned that pork loin was on sale at Vons for 1.97 a pound. It seems there is pork loin in the freezer. God forbid we would buy more and stock the freezer. I think I'll just live on yogurt and string cheese and Christmas cookies for a while. Just easier all the way around.

Oh, well, enough of that. It doesn't help that I have a headache. But, I've taken some ibuprofen and that will get better soon.

I still have one package to wrap. I'll get that done today.

I've finished printing the next set of wedding pictures. We counted last night; there are approximately 217 of them. I'm now cutting them out. I wish my paper cutter did a better job, but they have to be cut by hand. If my hands hold out, perhaps I can finish today.

Other than that, I think I'll spend the day with one of my new digital scrapbooking books. I have THREE! That should add a smile to my day.

Well, enough for now. Back to my scissors........

It's MY day.....

2005-12-22T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's MY day today. Joe left at 8AM to go to California to play Santa for his kids and won't be back til bedtime. (I think he's silly to do a turn around run--500 miles driving in a day--but he insists he's going to sleep in his own bed tonight). I can do ANYTHING I want all day long.....

Of course, today, Frannie is in New York with her husband. Kathy has gone to Northern California to be with her kids. Janie is working. And, Will has an ear infection and sinusitis, so Jennifer will be busy with him. So I can do ANYTHING I want as long as it doesn't involve other people...except, maybe, the letter carrier.

I'll tell you what--I'd better see some action from that letter carrier. I still have two gifts out there somewhere, but not in here where I can wrap them. I just LOVE biting my fingernails waiting for stuff to show up at the last minute. I do have three gifts still to wrap.

Made the orange coconut cookies yesterday and actually talked Joe into helping. The dough is so sticky, and then, once formed into balls, has to be rolled in coconut. Unless one wants to wash one's hands 5 or 6 times, it is NOT a one person job. I tried to talk the dogs into helping (Hey, they like to play with balls, right?) but they were uncooperative. Kept wanting to eat them, coconut or not. So, I did the messy part, making the balls, and Joe rolled the balls in coconut.

So what will I do with my I-CAN-DO-ANYTHING-I-WANT Day? Well, pretty much what I'd do with any other day. I figure I am passing the mile marker at mile 19 on the printing of wedding/reception pictures. I'll see how close to the finish line I can get that project. It's really much more difficult to do on my computer than on Joe's. His monitor gives much truer color. And, the way his desk is set up, one can sit and print. At my desk, I have to stand to put the paper in the printer, sit down, print, stand to take the finished photo out of the printer and re-insert the paper in the printer. After about 4 hours of that yesterday, my knees were becoming very vocal in their disapproval..... But, I actually had 6 more photos printed before 7 this AM. I've printed all of mine from the wedding and Reno reception. I'm almost done printing other people's photos from the wedding and Reno reception. Then, it's on to the LV reception--I think there are "only" about 40 of those........ I get so tired doing this that I actually have problems positioning the photos on the preview so they don't print over each other. Next will be cutting them out. I did some cutting last night. Actually have a stack about 1/2 inch high cut. This is really nowhere near as much fun as some other things I could think of to do.

I still have one batch of cookies to bake. I don't remember ever having a Christmas when these cookies weren't baked, either by my Mom when I was small, or by me for 35 years or so. So, these must be baked before Sunday or it just won't be Christmas. I think I will try to get that done today.....

Sometime today I will color my hair. It grows so fast and doesn't hold the color well, so I have to do it frequently. Right now, I think my roots have roots.....I was watching some lady on TV the other day and caught myself saying: "Geez, can she say the word 'roots'?" Then I thought about my own hair and shut my mouth!

I have laundry in the washer and a load waiting to go in. Guess I'll complete that task. Gosh, I could spend the entire day just ironing...but I won't! But I might iron a few pieces.

And, though my big printer is dead, I can spend some time re-installing software. The new motherboard and the stuff that went with getting that taken care of wiped out all my software. Yesterday, I got the photo printer reinstalled on my computer and installed Office and Photoshop Elements 2. Today....tax programs, maybe?

And, there's the treadmill, sitting on the other side of my office, calling my name. Guess I'd better fit that in too.

And the insurance claims for Toby's ear, etc. Got to do those...... Joe was supposed to do those on Sunday, but he was "busy" (watching football!)

Gee, sounds like almost any other day. Busy!

Okay, enough talking about it. Time to go do it.

Thanksgiving.....til it hurts

2005-12-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm getting pissed off at the devil which is as it should be, all the time. In the past month, he has stolen: the swimming pool sale commission on Oftrowski, the loan commission on Oftrowski, the swimming pool sale commission on the real estate guy whose name I can't remember, the loan commission on the real estate guy whose name I can't remember, and at least 3 loan commissions that I can think of on patio room financing deals. I make that to total up to at least an entire month's income. This morning's cancellation of the loan on Beesley was so stupid it could only BE satan (thanks, Lord, for that confirmation). Joe got them a second mortgage for 7.39% when the prime is at 7%. That means that Bank of America has to pay the FED 7% to borrow and Joe got these people 7.39% on a SECOND mortgage. Their reason for cancelling--the rate is too high. This is either out and out stupidity or out and out Satan or a bit of both.......

Of course, we've gone back to our weekly fasting. We've increased our giving by at least $80 a month at church. It is only reasonable we should expect a counter attack. But, with the physical eye, it appears the score is devil 7, God 0. We cannot look at circumstances. We HAVE to look at the Word of God. We know God wouldn't be worthy of the name "God" if His promises were not true. He promises that "no weapon formed against us will prosper". He promises to meet all our needs through his riches in glory. He promises that our battles will be won, not by might, nor by strength, but by His spirit. He promises that if we give, He will open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing so large we can't hold it. As we were praying this morning before Joe left for work, I was reminded of John Maxwell's "you gotta have a problem before you're a candidate for a miracle". Well, our miracle is on it's way, judging by circumstances. The next thought into my mind was Bill Johnson's "testimony"--a testimony is our evidence that God can do it again. Somewhere down the line, someone somewhere will need to hear our testimony as to how God met our needs when it seemed impossible--He made a way when it seemed there was no way....... And, certainly, He's done it before in our lives and there's no reason to believe He won't do it again.....

Well, my back is a bit better. It's still quite sore when I get out of bed. Then, after it loosens up, it's not too bad for a few hours. Then, as it tires, it begins to ache again. But it could be (and has been) much worse. Just means I need to get anything physical done early in the AM. My computer is still supposed to be hands off, and I haven't heard from the computer guy since Friday. This is getting OOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.............

Did one scrapbook page of Jen's wedding last night. It's posted here.

The day after....

2005-12-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Well, it's evening, not my usual time to blog........but Joe is watching football in the living room which means it's relatively quiet in the office. So, I can probably think enough to be coherent.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was kind of anti-climactic. I didn't have a cake. I did get a small gift from Joe which, considering our present income, was appropriate. Mom sent a check for $75 for which I was really grateful. That will buy a round of ink for the photo printer....... Jennifer and Jason gave us gift certificates to Carrabbas for my birthday (the 18th), Joe's birthday (the 31st) and our anniversary (Nov 28). We happily went to dinner at Carrabbas last night and very much enjoyed our dinner.

I've spent most of today printing another round of wedding pictures. It is not that I mind, it's just very time consuming, and kind of boring. And, of course, it is costly when we're talking well over 200 pictures. But, these are supposed to be for Jason's mom and, certainly, since her son is the groom, I can see why she'd want copies. I have discovered wonderful "generic" photo paper at CompUsa that works better than I could ever have asked with my Epson photo printer. This project will probably take at least the rest of the week..... I have worked at it diligently all day and have only managed to print about 50 photos........

Well, that's about it for today. Not much going on. The computer is still not working properly and I haven't heard from the computer guy. My back is still a problem and now I have a muscle spasm in my right shoulder. Ain't we got fun? I am certain God will answer my prayers for healing, I just don't know when........

Did another page or two for Matt's wedding.....I'll post here.

Happy Birthday to Me

2005-12-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it's my birthday. I've decided I'm going to have to be 49 again. I can't sustain 39 again any longer. One look at my face would tell you that....the back pain I've experienced over the last two weeks has etched itself into my face....

We did the family dinner at "Mom's house" last night. We bought Carne Asada tacos and rice from La Familia, our favorite Mexican restaurant and I made Vegan Chili, refritos and flan. The refritos and rice were pretty big hits. We sent Chili home with the kids (I made a HUGE batch), and the leftover tacos. The flan wasn't much of a hit....maybe I shoulda gone for sopapillas? Considering the mess I made, trying to make flan for 12 (when, as it turned out, there were only 7 of us), maybe sopapillas would have been easier. We'll be eating flan for every meal for a while.....might just carry us through to Christmas. Hey, maybe I could stick a candle in it and call it birthday cake? I hope the kids enjoyed the evening.....Joe and I weren't sure........

Today there is some sort of Body Shoppe party at Jen's. I don't know who else is coming, but Rochelle, Lisa and I were invited last night. I really don't have much money to spend, but..........sounds like fun. Nice to be with my girls......

I guess today will be a busy day. I have to get Mom's package ready to go out. As it is, we'll have to send it overnight to get it to Florida by next weekend. I'm giving her some Tova perfume, one of her favorite scents, the wedding album, a calendar with pics of Jen, Jason and Will, and an outfit I actually bought for myself. It all mounts up to a lot of value, but she won't understand the cost behind anything except the outfit and the perfume........And, believe it or not, she will measure how much she is loved by the perceived value of the gifts......(I've been around way too often when THAT has been discussed to think anything different.) And, there's the party. AND, Jen and Jason gave Joe and I gift certificates to Carraba's for our birthdays and our anniversary, so we're headed there for dinner. Funny, they must have been psychic--we had just decided yesterday that we'd head there for my birthday dinner.....Nice not to have to put it on the credit cards.....

Praise be, Mom sent a check for $75 for my birthday. I'm so happy. That will buy a round of ink for the photo printer! And Jen and Jason paid me for the wedding pictures. I SO hated to take money for that. I wanted so badly just to make it my gift to them. But, I guess all the time involved is going to have to be the extent of the gift. Money being what it is right now (and for the last couple of months), and, given the cost of ink and photo paper........and given Joe's depression about money.........I decided I'd better take the money. It will pay for Joe's VERY practical Christmas gift--a gift certificate to get new glasses--I know it's been about 4 years since he's even had an eye exam, and his frames are from the early 90's. It's getting pretty spooky to ride with him in the car and watching him try to read the computer screen isn't much fun either. I tried hard to find out what Matt and Rochelle paid for their wedding pictures. I couldn't get a firm number out of Rochelle, but based on what I DID get, I'd have to say it was around $1500. I guess $300 isn't too bad for Jen and Jason then.....it worked out to over 200 pictures, between the wedding and the two receptions. That's a lot of paper and ink..........but, I still hate having to look at things that way....

One of my "birthday gifts" happened last night. I watched Jason and Jennifer sit VERY close on the couch. It is so good to see them happy together. And, Will was climbing all over Jason. He must be very sure Jason loves him to feel free to do that. My heart cries out: "Oh, God, bless that family. Unite them in every way"...

I am still trying to reason out why God has not yet prospered us more. We are tithers and give substantially above the tithe. If the "floodgates of Heaven" have been pouring blessings on us, as promised in Malachi, I haven't been able to see it. And, with all my study and Joe attending Bible classes at the church, surely our souls have prospered......Perhaps it is in the form of what has NOT happened rather than in the form of what HAS happened. Our cars are still running, even though they're both clunkers......And, because of my job with Jed, we'll be saving more than $300 a month on health insurance--that will surely be a help since our insurance was costing us over $600 a month and paying for almost nothing. One thing for sure, insurance companies are profit-making businesses......but WE didn't want to be the source of a substantial portion of their profit!!!! I'll be SO glad to be rid of that company.......Well, anyway, I know God's promises are true, so we are bound to do better next year. Praise God!

Well, if I don't work on wrapping Mom's stuff, I'm going to be in trouble. So I'd better get to it.......Thanks for listening to what I share with no one else......

Oh, just finished a couple of layouts for Matt and Rochelle.

Second scrapbook page

2005-12-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently, I can only post one page at a time. Hey, I can outsmart that plan! Here's the other Christmas layout I did.

Baby, it's cold here!

2005-12-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

Joe is off to work and the house is quiet. Cold, but quiet. It seems as though the price of Natural Gas is about 250% of what it was last year around here. I'm so grateful I don't live in truly cold country. We are trying to keep the thermostat turned way down, but, honestly, sometimes a girl needs to be able to move her fingers...... The kitchen gets a lot of heat and if I had lots of stuff to bake cookies, I'd spend the day in there. I've managed to do two batches--chocolate chip and oatmeal (Joe's favorite). With Christmas approaching so quickly, I guess I'd better get with it........

Saturday night we're doing our "monthly" dinner for the tribe. Of course, it's only our second month of this, but I hope to make it a tradition. I remember when I was married to the Italian Stallion, dinner at Momma's house on Sunday night was mandatory attendance, every week. Well, I showed up to help cook--that's how I learned to cook Italian food--and my two sisters in law and I helped clean up. That doesn't seem to happen here, so once a month will be okay. Joe gets stuck with the majority of the shopping and clean up and I think once a month is often enough for him. Last month we did Italian--this month we're doing Mexican. I'm buying Carne Asada tacos and rice from our new favorite Mexican restaurant. But, I'm making the refritos, Vegan chili (in honor of Jason, though it's absolutely good enough for everyone to enjoy), and flan. If things work out as planned, there'll be 12 of us, including 4 kids, so I'll be busy........

Joe is in a mood today. He will not share what is wrong and that always upsets me. I think he's depressed about money. I don't see a lot I can do to help that, so I'll just hold my tongue and wait for him to work his way out of it all. We are guaranteed to have enough by the Word of God and I'm standing on that!

Well, I am using this blog as an avoidance measure. I MUST go to DMV and I DO NOT want to go. But, I'll have to face it sooner or later and it may as well be sooner. Wish me luck........

I'm posting two Christmas scrapbook pages I did last night. Perhaps the Christmas spirit is beginning to hit?

I normally do this in the mornings........

2005-12-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

I try to do this in the mornings, after Joe has gone to work. Things are just so much saner then. The TV is not blaring and the dogs bark less. And I am alone and free to think my own thoughts. But, here it is evening, and I am at it.

Nothing much that can be called "progress" has happened in the last few days. Whereas previously I had SOME functionality in my computer, as of last night, she is totally shut down. The computer guy was supposed to be here at lunch time today but didn't show up. He may have tried to call, but who would know? Joe decided to charge his phone in the kitchen and unplugged the home phones to do it. We were dead til I discovered what he'd done at lunchtime.

I finally got the two packages wrapped for the underprivileged kids and Joe took them to the church today. I also spent about 30 minutes on the phone, dealing with English as a second language customer service reps, wrangling with Intuit to get back the $200 they snatched from our bank account for a service to which I did not subscribe. I feel good about that. It's not like we're going to have a substantially improved standard of living with that $200 in the bank, but all day, as I thought about it, I kept thinking about the Bible's admonition to be faithful in the little things. Well, at least in this case, I was........

Except for binding, I got my SIL's Christmas present completed. And, Thank God, my major gift for DGS came in the mail this evening. And, by trading out various peripherals from my computer to Joe's, I finally managed to get the two wedding photos printed that Jen wanted to give to Jason's grandma for Christmas. My "to do" list from Monday has shrunk, but things keep being added. For example, since DGS's present arrived, it must now be wrapped........and so it goes.......

I realized last night that my drivers license expires Sunday. Oh, goody.....guess that means I will spend some amount of time at the Department of Motor Vehicles tomorrow. NOT my idea of fun........ I thought I could do the renewal on line, but I didn't get a reminder notice which has an access code which is required. Called DMV and they said I had to go in..... That will zap several hours out of tomorrow!

Jen agreed today to pick up Joe's major Christmas gift for me and I'll write a credit card advance check to repay her. That will save me from having to go there and it's practically across the street from her subdivision. There is NOT going to be a lot under the tree this year, but everyone will get something, hopefully something they need and/or value. We shall see......

Found a beautiful photo of Olivia, DGS's friend. I'll post the scrapbook page here.

Enough. If I sign off now, I can take care of some more of those "little things" that are hanging fire. Thanks for "listening"............

I'm being forced to be Christmas-y

2005-12-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been trying to avoid it, mostly because cash is tight, but I'm being forced to be Christmas-y. Last night Will had a play at his school. There was a Christmas tree--right there on the stage. He was close enough to it that when I upload my photos, there it will be, in front of me yet again, over and over. Today I must wrap two gifts or be tortured by DH when he finally comes home tonight. We signed up to give gifts to two underprivileged kids. We have to have them at the church by tomorrow, so, it's wrap them today or else. I also need to get Mom's gift wrapped and in the mail or she won't get it til Martin Luther King's Day, judging by the way things seem to be going with the USPS. Perhaps if I try some Christmas music?

I am still in computer hell. My computer has finally come home from the place where it was being worked on, but I am unable to install my printers. I am so frustrated. It is two weeks since Joe decided to pretend he knew enough about computers to install new memory chips in my computer. Then it wouldn't reboot. Then the motherboard had to be replaced. Now there are software conflicts. For a brief period of time he hooked his tower up to my printers and I was able to get the photo printer working, but, of course, could only print things stored on my external hard drive. Jen has been asking me for two measley wedding pictures to give to Jason's Grandma for Christmas, but I haven't been able to do that for her. I think I've now figured how to accomplish this one simple task....... Grrrrrr. I want a functional computer WITH printers attached!!!!!!!!

Backache, backache, backache. It's getting to be almost as frustrating as the computer. I simply cannot accomplish what I want to accomplish because I cannot stay vertical for long enough periods of time to be useful. Did you realize that if you're wearing lace-up shoes and you try to tie them tightly, you actually use your back muscles....... Well, at least, throughout this whole ordeal, I've been able to put my own shoes on! There've been times in the past when reaching my feet, in any position, was just an impossibility. I'll rub myself with blue stuff and that will provide about 45 minutes of relief. Thank God that stuff doesn't smell like Ben-Gay or the whole house would be "perfumed".

Well, I'm off to do some housework. I need to start a load of laundry. That's a challenge. I've sorted the clothes and they're in a pile on the bedroom floor. The only problem now is how, with this back of mine, to get them off the bedroom floor. I WISH I'd had the foresight to sort them onto the bed, or anywhere that didn't require bending.......Oh, well. I'll get there.......it all just takes longer.

It is getting better......

2005-12-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

My last couple of posts have centered on my back pain. It's getting better. Today will be better. I will accomplish something besides nursing myself. What a wonder that will be, and a good thing in the eyes of all.

We had wonderful news last night. I have an "adopted" son. We have prayed for this young man for a long time. As we were feeling desperate, praying daily for 18 kids and seeing no results, suddenly he comes back into my life. Praise God! He is serving the Lord, playing in a Praise and Worship band, with a Christian wife. He is still laid back, but he has acquired a great deal of wisdom in the past few years. Last night he was here working on my computer. His wife called to share with him that their oldest child, Michaela, age 5, asked her mommy if she could have Jesus live in her heart. I could have jumped so high I hit the roof, bad back and all. All I could think about was that old southern gospel song, "Shoutin' Time in Heaven"..... I could visualize the angels dancin' a dance and shouting because another soul had landed on the right side. And, I was dancin' and shoutin' with them. What a wonderful thing, and what a merciful God that He would allow me to be sitting across the desk from Chad and Joe would be across the room when that phone call came in. Oh, God is SO good to let us witness that!!!!!

Where is it?

2005-12-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'll try again to post the page I did for Matt & Rochelle.......Don't know where it went the first time?

All the Time

2005-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

I'm now at the start of my ninth day of back pain. I am so tired of this. I keep thinking there must be SOMETHING I can do to make it go away. But, nothing helps for long. Even lying down has its price--when you get up, you're more stiff and sore than you were when you laid down. My house is a bigger wreck than usual. I've tried to think of something that can be done around the house that doesn't rquire a modicum of pain, but I'm convinced there's nothing. Laundry required digging to the bottom of the hamper to get out all the dirty clothes, standing to sort, standing to fold. Emptying the dishwasher or loading it requires bending. Lifting anything heavier than a pound or two pulls on the back muscles. Cooking requires standing for long periods of time. I just bent over in the bathroom to retrieve some dirty clothes and put them in the hamper and I can feel the muscle spasming in my back. Bah humbug!!!!!!!

DH is on my list today. I hope that one day God will give me the wisdom to know when he just doesn't hear me and when he's just ignoring me. We went to Matt and Rochelle's for dinner last night. I'd done another scrapbook page of their wedding. I asked him if he thought we should take it along to let them look at it. He GAVE it to them. That's not the same thing at all. Now they have ONE scrapbook page.....no scrapbook. What the heck can they do with ONE scrapbook page. I'd intended to GIVE them an entire scrapbook with their wedding pages scrapped when I'd finished. But, what the heck do they do with ONE page?

As I stated, we went to Matt and Rochelle's for dinner last night. It was not without some trepidation. I've been cooking Italian food for about 35 years now and it's one of my specialties. In fact, it may be my ONLY specialty. When I heard Rochelle was making spaghetti, I wondered..... I abhor bad Italian food. If it was bad, how would I choke it down? What kind of a cook would she be--having been married only about 7 months? Well, let me tell you, she did an excellent job. The sauce was superb, the pasta not overcooked in spite of the fact she thought we were coming at 5 and we actually weren't planning on leaving our house til 5. Even the Caesar salad was yummy. Good job, Rochelle!

I had a ball, getting to know their dogs. Kona is a very loving dog. She wants attention almost as much as our Toby. Hooch has a home with me ANYTIME. He looks so much like Giant, I almost cried when I saw him. He's very shy, but he did let me ease up to him and sit next to him and pet him for a good long time. I'd take that big boy in an instant.

Jennifer and Jason went shopping yesterday for toys for Will. So, to maintain the element of surprise, they dropped him off with us for a couple of hours. He did something so funny when they came to get him. He had his Mom's car keys. He was supposed to put something in the car. He did that, looking around really well in the process. No toys in evidence. He got back out of the car and locked the car. Then, thinking his Mom and I were talking and would never notice, he went around and tried to open the trunk. Mom caught him. The look on his face was worth a lot of bucks! Where, oh where, was my camera at that moment? Darn........I would have had a ball scrapping that one!

Well, I may as well post the ONE scrapbook page I did for Matt and Rochelle here.

A little Whine with my Cheese

2005-12-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Is it okay if I whine now? I try hard not to whine to those around me, but my dumb back is still hurting. It's a week now. It usually doesn't last this long. I'm miserable. Subconsciously, I know that everything I do will hurt. So, being human and wishing to avoid pain, I want to do nothing. This is a horrible way to feel during the Christmas season when there's so much to do. I had to drive about 6 blocks the other day and it wasn't bad.......after I managed to get into the car. THAT was a real challenge. But spending hours on my feet walking through a store? I don't think so. They'd end up having to carry me out. This is wreaking havoc with my Christmas spirit.

AND, my computer is STILL down. That makes 9 days. AND, we may not get it back for 2 more days. I think this is the pits, and believe me, Joe and I sharing a computer and a desk is a real test of our marriage. Our styles are SO different. Each of us has an untouchable desk, but for different reasons. My desk is piled and I know what is in each pile. This makes his OC tendencies run wild. He can barely restrain himself, in the best of times, from "organizing" my desk. And his desk? Well, it's like a spartan sanctuary. Everything is in files and in a certain place and God help the person who disturbs anything. His answer to everything is to put it in a file. Doesn't matter if you can remember later what file you put it in or where you put the file--just put everything in a file. To me this is just stupid. Surely the reason we keep stuff is so we can use it later????? I will never forget the year he put Jennifer's W-2 in OUR tax file. Now why would you do that when she has her own tax file! We spent weeks looking for it and by the time we finally stumbled across it, we no longer needed it.

So, I have no idea how I'll pull off Christmas this year. The tree is up. And I've pretty much ordered online whatever I can get that way. But, nothing is wrapped. And there are no sweet smells of baking eminating from the kitchen. Lord, help me. To make matters worse, our cash flow has dwindled significantly and neither of us wants to charge anything so shopping is a depressing matter. Well, I'm just going to have to adopt a different mindset. This whiney one isn't very godly or Christian anyway. Okay, off to work on that.........

I'm doing a calendar for Jason for Christmas. Here's the January page. (I'm actually done, all but August and a cover, but I can't post everything here! There'd be no bandwidth left for words.........

NOT my favorite day....

2005-12-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a tough day. I'm on the 5th day of back problems. I've discovered that when your back hurts, there is nothing you can do comfortably. You can't stand, you can't sit, you can't even lie down without pain. And, if I take a pain pill, forget doing something comfortably. In fact, forget doing anything--they wipe me out.

Today is the 7th day of us being limited to one computer. Mine is down and the only way I can be on the computer is to use Joe's. He doesn't want to share and enither do I.....not a great situation. It took me a coupla days just to talk him into attaching my external hard drive to his computer. Then it took me a couple more days to talk him into letting me move my card reader for the digital camera. Now I want to move my photo printer and he's being very cranky about that. Oh well, I suppose with my back hurting as it is, I shouldn't be moving something as heavy as a printer anyway.

I can't print the layout up top, but I DID create it. First a little background. Will doesn't have TV at his house. He has lots of videos, but no TV. So, when he comes over here, he's positively glued to the thing. Lots of times, if we want him to answer us when we say something, we actually have to turn the TV off. He is a hoot to watch. "Sit still" is just NOT in his vocabulary. Last night, I caught him watching TV while standing on his head in Grandpa's recliner. The page up top is the result.

Still Printing

2005-10-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. Seems like I've been printing wedding pictures forever. I guess it's something of a reality as I blew out my photo printer a couple of days ago and had to buy a new one yesterday. But, what a beautiful bride. And the guy playing "Father of the Bride" ain't bad either, at least in my book. Check it out. Of course, Joe has his mouth open, talking, you know. That's my husband--talking.........

2005-10-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I became the mother of a 25 year old daughter. I've been a mother for a long while now, but never for 25 years! Phew! How time flies....... And today I became the grandmother of a beautiful boy who can ride a two wheeler without training wheels. Quite an achievement for a six-year old. Thank you, Jason, for the miles you logged running alongside that little bike.

Joe and I spent the morning discussing the books and sermons of Bill Johnson and my growing belief that "normal" life for a Christian, any Christian, includes signs and wonders such as were seen in Jesus' day. Like Peter and John, we should, I think, be able to walk past a cripple and say "Silver and gold, have I none, but such as I have, I give to you." Then as we reach out our hands, that person should rise and walk. And it should not be cause for amazement, but rather "normal" in the everyday Christian life. After all, we were called to "greater works than these........" It remains whether with prayer and faith, my life will change from the "normal" I live today to the "normal" I believe in......... At moments of great faith and great desperation, I've played my part in two healings. But, that the happened at all was a source of amazement to me. Why should it amaze me that God can do the impossible? If He were incapable of doing what humans cannot, why should we recognize him as a "Supreme Being"? Oh, for the faith to see these occurrances as "normal".

It's a beautiful day

2005-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day in Nevada. That's not news, because it's almost always a beautiful day in Nevada. But it's wonderful to have the time to appreciate such things. I am officially off duty for this one more day, doing my best to try to pull the house back together after the neglect tax season always brings. It is such a mess but by day's end, it will be improving and tomorrow I'll devote more time to it. What a wonderful day I am going to have, just thinking my own thoughts, and doing what needs done. God is so gracious to grant me such a day.

2005-04-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, Praise God..........It's April 15th. Tax season is over and I have survived. I know it has to be the result of prayer! The older I get, the harder tax season becomes. God has blessed us financially between signings and tax. Another 8 months of this and we'd be out of debt! Come on, Daddy--you know I'm praying for Jubilee--just like in the Old Testament. Well, enough of this. I'm going to wander through the house shouting "Glory Hallelujah" over the end of tax season, then lie down for a while and see if I can do anything about the circles under my eyes!

March 30, 2005

2005-03-30T12:56:00.000-08:00

God is good, All the Time. Today we are celebrating the goodness of God as evidenced through our loving family, our good friends like Dr. D., and our finances. We are truly blessed.