Wednesday, May 27, 2009

**front row**

my good friend, sara, forwarded an email to me that had an awesome message in it. i thought i would share it with you since it has so much meaning. i see this with teenagers, people my age, and it even happens with people my mom's age. trust me, i've seen it. apparently we never outgrow it. so here it is....

Everyone Can't Be In Your Front Row

Life is a theater - invite your audience carefully.
Not everyone is spiritually healthy and mature enough
to have a front row seat in our lives.

There are some people in your life that need
to be loved from a distance.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you LET GO,
or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible,
not-going-anywhere relationships/friendships/fellowships!

Observe the relationships around you.
Pay attention to:
Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill,
and which ones are going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have DRAMA or don't really understand,
know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

The more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth,
the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW
and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

You cannot change the people around you...
but you can change the people you are around!

Ask God for godly wisdom and discernment
and choose wisely the people who sit in the front row of your life.

'Just because no one has shown up who can love you on your level,
doesn't mean you sink to theirs!'

















we are on graduation countdown.....4 1/2 days!! i am so excited for my baby. i remember what these days felt like. i hope she remembers them forever. we have an awards dinner on Monday where she is being presented an award. the invitation doesn't say for what so i am on pins & needles to find out. i am so stinkin' proud of that girl, you can't even imagine. i am not sure what i did to deserve such awesome kids but i am glad i did it. btw, concerning bailey's graduation, she is having a grad party on saturday the 6th. it always rains on the 6th because it's my birthday. i don't think i have ever had a birthday with sunshine. could you please think good non-rain thoughts?? i really would like most of the people to be able to go outside rather than trying to find a place to stand inside. thanks.

can i just say that i miss American Idol being on? (pouting and stamping foot) i really liked watching the contestants sing a song that i know and comparing it to the original. what does that say about me? am i judgemental?? nah. but i do miss finding out what in the hell adam was going to wear, how much guy-liner he would have on, and what he did with his hair. silly.

did i tell you that i am taking a trip to california to see my best friend, danea, her 2 babies, and...and...and, oh yea! that's right...her hub. i am so excited to get on a plane and switch-up my schedule a little bit. it's going to be awesome to hang with baby odin and cutie-pa-tootie asa. i am taking him a harmonica. bring on the noise! i think sara sent him something that makes noise too, so we are going to be in music mode while i am there. (i think i just heard her say "holy crap!"...it was faint but i am pretty sure i heard it).

well, i am registered for summer school. i am getting a jump on a couple classes for the fall term. i finally realized that i don't have the 'priority gene' that is required for getting a degree at home. i decided that i needed to go to a brick-and-mortar school so studying get's put first during the day. i had previously enrolled in an on-line program for medical transcriptionist. it consisted of 2 courses. after taking me at least twice as long, i finished the first course. the second one, not so much. so i went to LBCC and enrolled in their medical transcription certification program. three terms. that's it. not too bad. a few of the classes will be repeat information since i did finish the first course at home. they are about the actual medical terminology and you can never have enough knowledge when it comes to the way the medical field talks about normal crap. i think there are like 3 medical terms for every simple word. so this summer i am taking a computer class and an advanced typing class to build speed and accuracy. not too bad, 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, and only 5 weeks. tuition isn't cheap though. $74 a credit. when i went there in 1989 it was around $36 a credit. crazyness. (oh crap, i sound like an old person..."when i was in school...")

just thought i would let you know that i now have a barn, can plant pumpkins, and have a ton of $$ to upgrade. jealous? i am playing a game on facebook where i farm. it is total geek-y-ness but i love it. a handful of my friends from high school play as well so i am not the only one. hmmm....what does that say about south albany high school?? jk, even though i am now officially a west albany high school-er.
















(i snagged this picture from another blog, it is their farm. i have trees and a barn and a ton of animals!! so there!)
it is actually pretty fun. you plant crops, harvest them, sell the crops, make the money to buy seeds to replant. then you can expand. you can send gifts to your neighboring farmers and/or harvest other people's crop to earn extra money. sweet! ha ha ha.

well, i gotta' find my bib-overalls and get to the farm!


peace.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

**crop, paper, scissors**

i finally went out for an evening last night. anne and i went to a crop at a kick-butt scrapbook store in Independence called Runs with Scissors. we had the best time not only at the crop but on the ride over and back visiting. good friends are the best at that. they have the most amazing chairs and crop tables that were completely covered with cutting mats. they also had a Cricut Expressions die-cut machine with all the cartriges, that i would love to have. sadly, i didn't take the time to play with it last night so i will make sure i do it next time.

anne made us dinner....turkey with feta and cheddar cheese. it was heaven. we also took other GBS-friendly snacks. i now have a recipe for delicious almonds that i have to try. thanks mama!! ♥♥

i loved the american idol finale show. i was taping it on TIVO and waited to start it an hour after it began so i could fast forward through all the stuff that wasn't performed by adam or kris. but.....it got me and i watched the whole damn thing. want proof?.....Queen Latifa, you SO should not have worn that black body suit. gasp. but, my boy won. i wasn't as shocked as "it was rigged" and "total upset" screamers, i think he just got the danny votes. anyway, yay!















david cook came back and performed the song "permanet" that he wrote about his brother's suffering due to brain cancer. the song was written and released on his first album. his brother died about a month or so ago. i have no idea how he got up there and performed that song but i know that i was.....BAWLING. stories like that kill me. a long time ago he had agreed to attend a cancer walk. his brother died the day before and he went to the walk anyway. he spoke about how he could not 'not' attend and how important the research for cancer was. i thought that was pretty cool.
















life has been a little frantic over here for me. i probably make it harder than it needs to be. i'm just sayin'. bailey is graduating on the 4th of june and i have been planning her party, her gift, and sending out announcements and invitations.

my good friend Sara made the invitations for the grad party. i emailed her a "general" version of it and then she did her 'thang'. she changed the colors to match the actual book, did all the adjustments to fit 2 on a page so i could print them on photo paper myself, and she even elongated the hair on the boy in the hot air balloon to make it look more like a girl. she then added all the altered information to match the event. i couldn't have asked for a better invitation. thanks Sara!! click on the invitation to enlarge it so you can read it.



















in the last 11 months there have been a lot of changes in my home, my family, and me. i have finally made it to a place where i feel "clear". i don't know if that makes sense but it feels good to know who i am and what i want and be happy with that.

i ran across this song by Kelly Clarkson months ago and it fit how i have felt about myself. i don't know what this song is to her but there are parts of it that ring true for me. it's a great song and somehow speaks to me. it is not about a person but about me and a process and change.

And I Don't Know
This Could Break My Heart Or Save Me
Nothing's Real
Until You Let Go Completely
So Here I Go With All My Thoughts I've Been Saving
So Here I Go With All My Fears Weighing On Me

Three Months And I'm Still Sober
Picked All My Weeds But Kept The Flowers
But I Know It's Never Really Over

And I Don't Know
I Could Crash And Burn But Maybe
At The End Of This Road I Might Catch A Glimpse Of Me
So I Won't Worry About My Timing, I Want To Get It Right
No Comparing, Second Guessing, No Not This Time

Three Months And I'm Still Breathing

Been A Long Road Since Those Hands I Left My Tears In But I Know
It's Never Really Over, No

Wake Up

Three Months And I'm Still Standing Here
Three Months And I'm Getting Better Yeah
Three Months And I Still Am

Three Months And I'm Still Breathing
Three Months And I Still Remember It
Three Months And I Wake Up

Three Months And I'm Still Sober
Picked All My Weeds But Kept The Flowers


and on that happy note i will get out of here and back to trying to organize my thoughts for this party. i am so freaked that i might forget something. wish me luck.


peace.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

**is it just me??**

or does anyone else find these creepy?
























this is SOAP!!!

have a good day...if you can now that you have seen these. blech.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

**tagged**






















It's the **8** Things post.


8 Things I Look Forward To:


  1. Bailey's Graduation

  2. CJ getting his license

  3. Starting work as a Transcriptionist

  4. Going to CA to visit Danea

  5. Summer

  6. Starting to Scrapbook again

  7. Having the kids home on Summer Vacation

  8. Cooking for my Mom's Party

8 Things I Did Yesterday:



  1. Finished Printing Bailey's Grad Party Invited

  2. Went to the Dollar Store and bought Grad Party Supplies

  3. Went to Hallmark for Mom's Day card

  4. Grocery shopping

  5. Watched American Idol and Biggest Loser

  6. Tended my Farm on Facebook

  7. Took a nap

  8. Set-Up a step to help my cat Raven jump up to her food table. She's fat and old.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:



  1. Tend a Garden without killing it

  2. Learn to jog

  3. Go spend a huge amount of Money on awesome Clothes

  4. Paint the walls in my home to give it some Color

  5. Take my kids on a Vacation

  6. Learn how to take Great Photos

  7. Visit Danea more Often

  8. Go to Cooking School

8 Shows I Watch:



  1. Bones

  2. The Closer

  3. Criminal Minds

  4. Clean House

  5. The Ghost Whisperer

  6. Life

  7. House

  8. Intervention

Well, there you have it MISS ANNE. I finally did a tag! LOL ♥ The bloggers that I would tag were taken by Anne so I guess I will just leave you with my list.




peace.