A Peck of Gold

Leap Year

All the poor little babies born today... they only get 1/4 of the birthdays the rest of us non-Leap year kids get. Suckers!!

No, okay, I'm really jealous. They're a little bit more interesting than the rest of us. Jerks.

What's Going On Here?

I feel like a caterpillar, hibernating in a cocoon, if you can forgive the cheesy analogy.

It's really strange, because that's something a thirteen year old girl would say. And although I successfully navigated the adolescent thing, I feel like now I've come to a similar point.

Is this normal? Nobody mentioned anything like this to me. It seems a little silly. I feel like I'm on the very edge of life changing... That just around the corner is something new, unexperienced before. I expect any day now to wake up, and be something else, or at least, changed.

I'm 28. I don't think it's a midlife crisis or anything, it doesn't strike me as something negative or scary. It's more like a fuller realization of who and what I am. But, I thought I had that figured out already, you know?

I can't really explain it better than that. Smart people, speak up if you know something I don't.

Pardon Her French

Last night, my sweet, adorable, angelic, 3 year old daughter pointed to something on the floor and innocently asked, "What in the hell is that?"

Oh help me, it was so hard not to laugh, but I managed to fight the urge, and very, very sternly told her never to say those words again.

That's what you get when you let 'em watch The Simpsons, I guess.

But, problem dealt with. Hopefully, we won't have any more "surprises".

I Think They Got the Smell Wrong

I am really baffled when something doesn't smell like it's supposed to, and I'm not talking about food. I mean actual objects around your house. For example, the new ties for my curtains (yes, the brown velvet ones) smell like syrup! It's not a particularly bad smell, it's just not right! There had to have been a mixup at the Syrup and Curtain Tie factory. Are there bottles of syrup out there right now that smell like tasseled curtain ties?

Peculiar.

The Curtains In My Bedroom

Writing excercise: describe in one sentence, the item to your immediate left.

The velvet curtains hang like long folds of chocolate, dripping into a puddle of shimmery, soft cocoa.

Funny, it makes me hungry, yet cozy. That was a fun excercise. I'm going to keep doing a few while I'm working out this writer's block. Now, what's to YOUR immediate left?

Low On Inspiration

I have writer's block!

I swear I haven't abandoned my blog, I am just simply at a loss when it comes to writing at the moment. I need something to jog me out of it, but I can't think of anything!

I'll ponder it a while, and hopefully I'll shake it before long.

Sunday Night Small Talk

After a full weekend of visiting family and friends, we are now home again, minus the two short ones. I decided to let the kids spend a few days visiting "MamaSue", while I get a little down time. I can't wait to sleep in tommorrow!

Eli's birthday was the typical first year party... he was a cowboy and I'll post some pictures as soon as I get them developed. He got lots of nice gifts (thanks, everybody!!) and way too much chocolate cake. Wrenn enjoyed playing with the cousins and I know she'll have fun the next few days.

It was a little hard to leave Eli. For 365 days, we haven't been apart for more than a few hours! But, I know he's in good hands, and I have to admit it's going to be nice to get a little r&r.; It just seemed harder to leave on his birthday. I'll miss Mr. E, as we call him. But, I know these next few days will fly by!

Well, I just wanted to write that quick update. I'll post more later, around noon tommorow when I wake up!!

I Need Some I-Dears.

Each year on Wrenn's birthday, we buy her a charm. We try to get something that represents that year of her life. The first one, was of course, a little wren. The second one was a fancy shoe, because she loved dress up shoes. For her 3rd, we got her a cat, because she pretends to be a cat all day. I love this idea, and one day, I think it will mean a lot to her. I don't really expect her to wear it or anything, it's just a nice tradition.

Eli's birthday is Saturday. I have racked my brain thinking of something similar to do for him, but it's just impossible! So, help me out. I need some ideas about what a boy would consider sentimental and special. It doesn't even have to be TOO sentimental, though I'd like to do something a little meaningful.

Thanks Guys!!

Chit Chat With Me

I've been visiting a few chatrooms in the AOL community, just to see what's what.

Wow.

People are crazy. I guess I don't come into contact with many folks who are a lot different than me, but entering a chatroom changes that. I'm not being critical of chat rooms, they really are quite fun. You just have to be careful. People come into chat rooms for all kinds of reasons, some of them not good. It's obvious that there are relationships and friendships formed in rooms, because people know each other. That's a nice thing, to be known and welcomed in a room. I think we need to get something started up at Chattablogs. I mean, it's already got half the word in it anyway!! What do you think, Josiah?

Anyway, I've gotten into a few good discussions with people about what they believe, and their philosophy in life. That's been enlightening. I have enjoyed discussing some of the reasons that I believe what I do.

Of course, when there's a positive, there's usually a negative. Some people are scary. When I see the conversation taking a turn I don't like, I just gracefully slip out. Even rooms that you think might be "safe" will have the usual degenerates to watch out for.

I tell you what though, chatrooms are no place for children. Kids don't have the ability to sniff out the predators or the weirdos in these rooms. You can't leave something like that up to a child's discernment. Parents absolutely need to monitor their children's internet activities. But that's not a new soapbox- plenty of people have said that before. It's just more obvious to me after visiting a few rooms.

Anyway, all that to say, I haven't been blogging much lately. I just needed to take a little breather, orient myself a bit. Things have been so crazy recently, but I feel like normalcy is just right around the corner. I've got an interview tommorow for a job I really want, and I feel like if I can get the employment issue straightened out, I'll be able to get on a good schedule for things.

Well, it's Taco Night, so I need to finish supper. Adios! (Oh, I just love a good pun!)

A Dose of Adorability

This is one of my favorite pictures of Wrenn as a baby, to brighten your day. For some reason, she had the silliest look on her face!

I'll post my favorite of Eli tommorow.

No Pain, No Gain

Ow. Ow. Ow.

I accidentally went to the Advanced aerobics class yesterday, thinking I was going to the intermediete. It was a 60 minute cycling class, with all these stationary bikes in a circle around the instructers bike. They turn out the over-head lights, and you peddle in neon lights and listen to really cool music. It was a neat set-up, and I'd like to go back again, but I'll have to work up to that level. They were fitness maniacs! I was half passed out on my bike after 30 minutes.

But I really like this gym. It's right across the street from our new house, and I just had to join. It was a great dilemna for me, because this is not a time when we have a lot of spare money. Okay, any spare money. But, I had to make the choice that my health (and image, to be honest) is important to me, and it was worth paying for. They also have a child care center, which was an absolute necessity.

I have to keep reminding myself not to feel guilty about it... isn't that crazy? Most people feel guilty for not going! I realize that about myself though, I have guilt issues. I feel unneccesarily guilty about many things, and I'm not sure why I do that.

I feel really bad for writing that.

No, just kidding.

Anyway, I'm off to lay on the heating pad. Ciao!

She was 105

My great grandmother passed away today. As you read from the title, she was indeed 105 years old. Born in 1899. Can you believe that? She saw the entire 20th century, from start to finish. The Wright brothers, sinking of the Titanic, the Roaring 20's, the Depression, the Wars, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, a man on the moon, ... gosh, who can sum up an entire century in one sentance? Just sit and think for a minute what's happened in 105 years. She was a part of that, all of it.

I didn't see her often, as she spent most of her later life in North Carolina. But the times I did see her are etched into my mind forever. She was an amazing woman, even a child could sense that. Such a sweet Christian lady, who was kind and strong and funny. She had such vitality and spirit! She worked side by side with my great grandfather on a farm in Mississippi, and they had a house full of warmth and love. The stories of her life are precious treasures handed down from generation to generation. She was always an invisible presence in my life, an example in my mind of the kind of woman I wanted to be. She left a legacy that helped to shape all the women in our family, and in honor of that, we named our little girl after her, using her middle name as Wrenn's first name- Tabitha.

She was ready, and now I rejoice, truly I do, at the thought of her reunion with my great grandfather, her husband of fifty years. She made a joke not that long ago, true to her mischevious way... She said, "Poor old Malcolm (her husband), he probably thinks by now I've died and gone on to that Other Place!" She laughed. Because she knew. Death held no sting for her. The grave had no victory. What else can I say, except, Praise be to God!

What a blessing she was in our family, and she will be missed on this earth.

Luvin'

To all the valentines in my life, I love you. May you have a day filled with lots of kisses and candy.

But, to the Valentine of my heart, you are the one who makes this day matter. You bring me overwhelming happiness every day, even the days that are spent apart. I admire you, I respect you, and I am so proud of you. You always have been, and always will be, the man of my dreams. Love you, Patrick.

How's that for a little Public Display of Affection!!

Rudyard Kipling Suits Me Tonight

I always loved Rudyard Kipling... He had me at "Rikki Tikki Tavi". Anyway, here's one that speaks to me, "The Palace". A little dark, but then, so am I tonight.

**
WHEN I was a King and a Mason - a Master proven and skilled
I cleared me ground for a Palace such as a King should build.
I decreed and dug down to my levels. Presently under the silt
I came on the wreck of a Palace such as a King had built.
There was no worth in the fashion - there was no wit in the plan -
Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran -
Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone:
"After me cometh a Builder. Tell him I too have known.

Swift to my use in the trenches, where my well-planned ground-works grew,
I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and reset them anew.
Lime I milled of his marbles; burned it slacked it, and spread;
Taking and living at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead.

Yet I despised not nor gloried; yet, as we wrenched them apart,
I read in the razed foundations the heart of that builder’s heart.
As he had written and pleaded, so did I understand
The form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing he had planned.

When I was a King and a Mason, in the open noon of my pride,
They sent me a Word from the Darkness. They whispered and called me aside.

They said - "The end is forbidden." They said - "Thy use is fulfilled.
"Thy Palace shall stand as that other’s - the spoil of a King who shall build."
I called my men from my trenches, my quarries my wharves and my sheers.
All I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless years.
Only I cut on the timber - only I carved on the stone:
"After me cometh a Builder. Tell him, I too have known."

OH MY EYES!!

Watch out everybody, these colors are sure to burn your retinas if you look too long! No, they aren't going to stay this bright... I'm just too worn out to change it right now. I've played ALL day and ALL night on this thing, and I'm still not where I want to be with it. Maybe tommorow I'll have more luck!

Plugging Along

Still tinkering, and I can't get the header to come up properly. I want to put it in the stylesheet, and not in the main index like I was doing before. It's not showing up though, probably due to my poor coding... If someone wants to take a look, please do and let me know what I'm doing wrong. In the meantime, I'm going to take a little break!

You know, working on this kind of thing and trying to learn CSS makes me realize how great all my friends are who can do this. It's hard stuff! You guys are amazing!

Oh, here's one more question. In my AOL browser, I don't see any of the changes I've made. But, in Internet Explorer, I see them immedietely! What's up with that? What do all you guys see and what browser are you using?

Question for the Techies

Does anybody know the code to extend my second column automatically to the length of my main column?

Going Under the Knife

Okay, time to give the old blog an overhaul. I said I was uninspired earlier, but now I have a direction I want to move towards. Gimme a few days, I know things are going to look a little crazy as I rebuild. I'm starting over completely with the templates, reinstalling the defaults from MT. I figure that way, I start with a clean slate, and hopefully it'll look a lot better.

Uninspired

I want to redesign my blog, but I'm too lazy to do it right now. It's bugging me though. I want something with a little more color, but still clean. Something in some cool shades of green, I think. I seem to work best around a theme though, and for the life of me, I can't think of one right now! I also need to fix the layout because I know it looks funky in the Mozilla browser, and that is a daunting task. I don't know much about CSS, I've just sort of fudged my way through this far.

Okay, that's my whine for the day. I'll write more when I actually have something of interest to say!

Chocolate Lamentations

Sweet, sweet chocolate, you know my name.
Call me less, I plead!
For countless warnings in my head,
I find I cannot heed!

Your siren call comes in the night
When none else will satisfy
No salty, bitter, or fruity sweet
Will answer your endless cry!

A moment on the lips, they say,
I've heard a thousand times,
So lock me in my house of shame
For all my chocolate crimes.

Tongue in cheek, I end this prose
With more than a heavy heart,
For others may suffice in day,
But chocolate rules the dark.

~Shannon~

This Made Me Laugh

"Bad spellers of the world, untie!"

CBS is the new NBC

I'm ashamed to say I love Thursdays, solely because of the TV lineup. CSI, Without a Trace, Survivor... and in a pinch, there's still ER. Over the past 2 or 3 years, CBS has really started kicking NBC's butt, have you noticed? You can keep your Will & Grace, and even Friends. (though, I do switch during commercials, I admit) If Seinfeld reruns would only come on CBS, and Dave Letterman started doing Headlines, I'd probably never watch NBC again!

Anyway, Thursdays are the nights the kids don't get a bath, we eat frozen pizza, and we let the answering machine pick up calls. Sweet!

I've Been Meeting A Man Each Evening

And his name is C.S. Lewis. (Well, what did you think I was going to say??)

Apart from The Chronicles of Narnia, I am not very familiar with C.S. Lewis. So, in an attempt to change that, I bought a book of daily readings. Each day is a short excerpt from one of his various works, and I'm hoping to get a good overview of what he's written. Each night after the kids are in bed, Patrick (hubby), Trey (brother), and I sit down and read aloud the day's writing. I'll have to admit, I have to break it down and define some of the words he's using, and talk it out aloud to understand it. I am excited to finally read some of his work, but I'm even happier with the discussion that follows it. The chance to talk about who God is, what sin is, and how we are supposed to live our lives as Christians, well, it's just something I've needed. I know that I am often doing the right thing (or not doing the wrong thing) just because it's what's expected, or it's a habit, or I know it's what I'm "supposed" to do, ... not because I have that passionate desire to be obedient and pleasing to God. It's so easy to get into that rut. As long as we follow this certain list of do's/don'ts, we're fine. But that's not the case- there's more to our relationship with God than a set of rules. It's this amazing, multi-dimensional, evolving, exciting interaction we have with a God that is Very Real. I guess I forget that sometimes.

I'm sure I'll be blogging on some topics as a result of our discussions, as well as quotes from our book occassionally.

But don't worry. I'll keep up the usual amount of trivial observations, useless links, and bad jokes that you've all come to love and expect from APOG!

Now, back to thinking up misleading titles for my blog entries....

Confessions of a Bookworm

I haven't had time to read a good book lately. The last one I read was a few weeks ago, The Secret Life of Bees, which I found to be excellent. I have always had a passing interest in bees (well, from a safe distance anyway!) and this one satisfied that curiousity. I really enjoyed reading the lore and practices that have been handed down from one beekeeper to another. It was such a good backdrop for the story, which revolved around a young girl and her search for happiness after a tragic accident. It was believable, and compelling- the kind of book you wish you hadn't read so you could read it again for the first time.

Next, I feel like a good Amy Tan book. I know she has one that came out a year or so ago that I haven't read. She's such a wonderful author. She has a way of making you care about something that maybe you wouldn't think to care about on your own. She also has a cartoon that PBS produces called "Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat". I think this cartoon is almost 100% responsible for the cat persona that Wrenn has adopted. (She calls herself "Meow meow" and pretends to be a cat for hours on end.) Anyway, it's a good adaption of the quality I'm trying to describe in Tan. She draws her audience out of their familiarity, and into a different world.

So, you can see, I'm jonesin' for a good book. It's one of those guilty pleasures-- when there are so many other things I need to be doing, I always feel a little bad indulging in a book. But, I have to remind myself that it's just a part of maintaining a healthy balance. Can't be all work and no play, right!?

However, I've probably "played" enough on the blog today. Time to go to the library and get some books get started on my to-do list.

Well, Why Not?

I watched "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" tonight, and I have to admit I laughed. However, I also cringed at how wrong it is to put people through such an ordeal. How far can a reality show go? Seriously- is there a line that they won't cross at some point?

I predict the next reality show will be "Fake Your Own Funeral". It'll be a riot. You will be assisted by a team of professionals to stage your own death. A series of hidden cameras will film your loved ones preparing for the funeral, you'll even get to hear your own eulogy. Then, at some point after the "burial", you make a comical and shocking entrance! Won't they all be surprised?? I guess somebody needs to win some money here, so there will need to be a competition of some sort. Maybe the coroner. Or the spouse. Yeah, the spouse should definitely get a little something. Anyway... somebody gets something, and you aren't really dead.

Sounds like a winner! Ooh, I better get the rights on this thing before Fox does...

Rain. Cats. Dogs. You Get the Idea

Morning, All. Today's agenda: continue looking for a job, and stay dry at the same time. It's pouring here! I also have to go by the old apartment and check our mail, make a trip to the post office to have our mail forwarded, find a place to make copies of some paperwork, and go to the bank.

My odds of getting wet are rising by the minute! Ugh.

Even though I am desperately fighting the rainy weather blah's, I am feeling a little pressure. We still haven't found someone to sublet our apartment to, and rent is due on Friday. So, we'll be paying double rent this month. I don't need to tell you how un-fun that is going to be! Not to mention that I don't have a job yet! I should find out something today about one job, so we'll see. It's on the Loss Prevention team at Foley's... I'd be catching shoplifters and dishonest employees. Ha! Can you see me doing that? I applied because I have a degree in Criminal Justice, so I thought, what the heck? Now that I might actually get it, I wonder if I'm in a tad over my head. Though, to be honest, it does sound kind of exciting.

The other thing I am trying to do, which is definitely more my speed, is work as a nurses aid or unit secretary in the Labor and Delivery of Woman's Hospital. A lady in our church is an R.N. there, and I think I'd really enjoy the work. I go apply for the job today. If I like it, I may even try nursing school somewhere down the road.

For now, the framing business is on the back burner. It's just too difficult to set up at the moment, unfortunately. It is still something I really want to do, and hopefully I'll make that happen sometime in the not too distant future.

Well, I must don my galoshes and face the cruel world. So long! Wish me luck.

Only 77% More to Go

I've seen a mere 23% of the country. I better get cracking! (This is pirated from Jeannette, who, by the way, is ridiculously well traveled!)

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