Almost naptime again! May 30, 2008

I survived the removal of four more of my teeth.  (In middle school, I had to have four permanent teeth and two baby teeth removed before they put my braces on me.  The orthodontist told me that they could leave all my teeth in, but that when they took my braces off, I’d look like a horse because my teeth would jut out so far.  That’s a lovely thing to say to a 7th grade girl.)  Anyway, the surgery went just fine, and I have napped like 8 different times since yesterday at 11:00.  Things are going very well though, and I am very thankful for that.  I was feeling very scared about this surgery because of how difficult my last surgery was, but this one has gone really well thus far.  Thanks, Lord!

My sweet husband is out running errands for me… getting me some movies and another milkshake (or two maybe!).  He’s been super duper to me.  He’s taken amazing care of me… like totally blown my expectations out of the water.  I am so, so thankful for him and his precious nursing skills.

Wow… I think it’s almost naptime again.  This is a lot of sleeping!  Pain pills just knock me flat… and I’m starting to have a hard time formulating complete sentences… so… nighty night again.

Ahhhh church meetings. May 28, 2008

I am at home post-church, and Lance is still up there discussing something.  There’s always something to be discussed!

I am getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow morning at 11:00.  For any of you who know my track record with surgeries, you understand why this is a bit nerve-wracking for me.  I know, I know.  Surely a standard wisdom teeth surgery is way simpler than a tumor removal surgery or an appendectomy where they can’t find my appendix.  Surely!  Anyway, if you read this… maybe lift up a little prayer for me – both that the surgery will go smoothly and that I will feel peace and not be so scared.

I have had a really wonderful few days.  Thursday – Jason, Cori, and Rylee came over for dinner, which was so much fun.  That Rylee is quite the character!  Friday - we got off work a bit early, so Lance and I went to a movie, which we haven’t done in I don’t even know how long!  He even bought me an Icee!  (He must REALLY love me!)  Then we came home and made waffles.  Lance is quite the waffle maker.  Saturday – we slept in, cleaned house for awhile, took the dog to have his nails trimmed, went for a walk, napped for awhile, and then my parents came over for a cookout, which was fabulous.  Sunday – church, lunch with the new interns and some other folks, a nap again, then small group at our house.  I really love our small group.  What wonderful people!  Monday – we slept in until 11:00 (hooray!), cleaned house, worked on my desk, went out to dinner, and played tennis.  Tuesday and today were very busy days at work, but it made my days fly by.

Can I just say that I would be thrilled if I never had to work on Mondays?  Lance and I had a grand ol’ time.

Okay, well, I want to get the house cleaned up before I am incapacitated for a couple of days, so I should probably go.  The way I see it, this surgery/being on pain medication again will have one of two possible effects on my blogging:  1.  It will happen a lot because I am bored… and it will be kind of incoherent and rambly thanks to the pain meds.  OR 2.  I will feel like poopy and not write at all.  I have high hopes for #1.

always so helter-skelter…. May 22, 2008

Life has been a whirlwind lately… as usual.   This weekend was Brian and Brittany’s wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful.  It most definitely kept us hopping though.  Saturday morning was pretty laid back.  I took the dog for a walk and showered and cleaned up a bit.  Then the wedding extravaganza began.  Brian and Scott came to our house for lunch; then Brian, Scott, Lance, and Cody piled in the truck and headed to Weatherford while I got ready.  I was just about ready, and Brian called me in an absolute panic…  Long story short, Suzanne West and I ended up running around the Bankheads’ house… but we saved the day.   We got to the wedding and a’started workin’.  We spread flower petals and set up the favors table and set up the programs and other assorted jobs.  Before the wedding even started, I seriously regretted wearing the shoes I chose!  The ceremony itself was beautiful, and so was the reception.  We sang at the reception, which was super nerve-wracking.  Lance blew a note on his pitchpipe, and I just had to start singing all alone.  Nervie!  Anyway, people had nice things to say, so I don’t think I asploded anyone’s eardrums.  We helped clean up afterward and ended up getting home between 1 and 1:30.

So Sunday.  I overslept a bit (like I do when Lance isn’t there to wake me up – he had to lead singing at both services) and then headed up to the church.  I went and signed all the senior Bibles for him since it was senior Sunday (again, saving the day ).  We ate lunch and then went home and crashed.  It was a fantastic nap.  Okay, so then Scott calls, and we went up to Southlake to pick up Brittany’s wedding dress… and then stopped at Anthropologie because I begged.  Then came small groups, youth devo, and then snow cones.

Monday night was a huge walmart trip and watching the Stars… Tuesday was a 6th grade parent dinner… Wednesday night was church and then Lance had a meeting afterward…

Gracious!  I’m excited about the 3-day weekend this weekend!  I’m also having my wisdom teeth out a week from today, so I will have next Thursday and Friday off work.  Granted, I’ll be all puffy and grouchy probably, but at least I’ll get to rest.  I’m trying to accentuate the positive here.

Some interesting things: 

• We ALREADY got our passports back in the mail!  Holy cow!  We didn’t even pay to have them expedited! 
• We are having Jason, Cori, and Rylee (she’s 3) over for dinner tonight.  Rylee saw me at church last night and said, “I come to your house!”  I was like, “Yeah!  You’re coming over tomorrow!” and we high-fived.
• We spent the end of the day at work yesterday playing office puttputt.  Yep, I work at Dunder Mifflin.
• I learned how to insert a webpage into a powerpoint presentation today.  I get excited when I learn new things.
• I bought my lunch Tuesday (which I never do) and we went to (a free) lunch yesterday and my whole group went to lunch today to welcome a new employee AND they’re going out tomorrow.  Anyway, I stayed here and ate leftovers from yesterday’s free lunch and was very good.

Well, back to work now I guess.  I’m trying to finish this week’s work and next week’s work so that everything will be okay for me to have my teeth out.  If anyone knows of a job opening where I can nap a lot and make six figures a year, please let me know.  I’d like a nap.  And six figures.

Good news – my tummy is finally feeling better today!  It’s been hurting for like 3 or 4 solid days with no relief.  I’m feeling better today though.

I just realized that it’s Thursday, which is the day I usually try to list the things I’m thankful for… but for now I’ll just talk about a couple:

1. Lance.  The Lord blessed me so much when He gave him to me.  He is so precious, and I am so lucky to be married to him.  I’m not always sure how he puts up with my insanity, but I’m so glad he does!
2. Things have not been super-crazy at work, so I’ve had some time to actually breathe and -gasp!- leave on time!
3. I’m really starting to feel like Legacy is my church home.  It took awhile for me… honestly because I think I viewed myself as an unpaid staff member.  I felt like I needed to be on-duty any time I was at church… OR… I was frustrated that Lance was on duty because I felt lonely.  Well, now I feel like I really have friends, that the kids in the youth group know me, that their parents know me, that other people in the church know me, that I am free to get involved how ever I want – not ONLY in youth stuff (about to start teaching 2-year-olds!), and that I have something valuable to contribute on my own – not just being married to Lance.

Okay, three things I’m thankful for.  There ya go.  I’m thankful for other things too… but really should be working now.  This is a long post!  Well… I guess I really have to go back to work now.  Work sounds boring when compared to the enthralling stories I always have to share on my blog…

Always playin’ catch-up May 16, 2008

It is about 10:00 on a Friday night, and I am home with the pup watching Wednesday’s Law & Order and blogging.  I have a riveting life.  Brian and Brittany’s rehearsal dinner just ended, and Lance is out pretending he’s a bachelor (ha - I hope not really), so I am home.  All alone.  Absolutely stuffed.

It’s been a busy week.  We’ve had lots going on.  Monday night was the Rochester chorus concert/potluck at church, Wednesday night was church and then practice for singing in the wedding, then Brittany’s bachelorette, and then tonight was the rehearsal dinner.  Whew.  It’s also been a busy week at work.  Another whew.

In other fascinating news, I just got gas in my car… and it cost $40 for the first time ever.  Yuck.

Well, I am really tired and need to go straighten the room that people will be staying in tonight.  My brain is very scrambled right now.

Really though… can old dogs learn new tricks? May 12, 2008

That is the question of the hour as Lance and I try to teach the Budster to roll over and to shake (not simultaneously though…).  He’s having a hard time learning… but it could just be because he’s too ADD.  I have high hopes that we will have an update soon extolling Buddy’s incredible abilities.

We had a fabulous weekend this past weekend.  Friday night we had a Wii party at my friend’s house with lots of my work friends.  It was fun for me, but it made me really happy because Lance had a ton of fun.  He got to rock out on Guitar Hero for hours and hours with Chris, so it was lots of fun for him.  Saturday morning, we got up and took care of stuff around the house and then drove to Garland for Mother’s Day with my family.  We ate at our family’s favorite restaurant and played Wii and SceneIt with them.  It was great.  Sunday morning, we got up and went to church and went to brunch with Lance’s family.  Also great.  We were then SO full that we took a brief nap, then went to small group, then picked up the chorus members that are staying with us.  Busy, busy, busy.

OH.  Other interesting things that have happened… okay, so Thursday I had kind of a rough day at work… so I came home and went running to burn off some energy.  When I got back from running, I brought in the mail, and there was something from our dentist.  So I open it, and there are two massive bills from the dentist from all the way back in October (one for me and one for Lance) saying that we owe several hundred dollars, and that those several hundred dollars are 90 days past due.  I completely flipped out and started bawling.  Lance, of course – as always, calmed me down and assured me that everything would be okay.  So then Friday at work, I left at 10:30 to go get my passport done at the post office near my office.  They were closed.  Ya know.  Takin’ a break.  They had a sign up that said they were gone for 15 minutes, and then there was a big line of people waiting.  Awful.  So I went back to work and worked until about 3:00 and then headed back over there.  They were closing at 4:00 so I figured an hour early was nice and safe.  I got there, and they had another HUGE line and said they were done accepting passport applications for the day.  Are you kidding me?!  So then Lance calls me and says that he’s at the post office in NRH and that the lady there says that she’ll wait for me.  Since when do post office people care??  Turns out she’s this sweet lady with NO LINE at that post office, so she helped me, and my passport is in the works.  Anyway, so THEN I went home and called the insurance company, and it turns out that the dentist billed our visit incorrectly.  They should have covered 100% of those bills, so they are re-billing, and we shouldn’t owe anything at all.

I was genuinely feeling so frustrated that things weren’t working out for me… but the Lord provided, and I ended the week with things actually going my way.  What a blessing that is.  I like it when the Lord steps in and takes care of things for me!

Okay, well, I’m very sleepy, and Lance is playing Halo with the two guys staying at our house, so I’m going to go to beddie bye.  I don’t know how well I’ll be able to sleep with the sound of shooting and explosions happening in the next room, but with some Tylenol PM, I’m sure I’ll be good to go!

Stuff and stuff May 8, 2008

Wow.  Yesterday wore me out.  I was incredibly busy at work… which was nice in some ways.  The day just flew by… but it also stressed me out, so my headache came right back again.  I do not like headaches.  They are hurty.

Well, I said I’d write about the retreat… It was really cool.  This is the first time I’ve ever gone on an “adult” retreat.  The speaker was really fabulous, and I enjoyed leading singing.  It was wonderful to get to know some of the women in our church.  For a lot of them, I only knew their names, and some of them I don’t think I’ve ever seen before in my life, but it was great to get to know some of them.  We were divided up into small groups, and we were with a cross-section of ages.  There was one lady in my group who is about to celebrate her like 53rd anniversary.  It was fantastic to hear her perspective on things.  When I hear people who have been married for so long talk about their spouse, it always makes me wonder what Lance and I will be like in 50 years.  I hope and pray that we have a wonderful marriage and godly advice to pass on to couples who have been married for two years.  I am growing increasingly passionate about God’s design for marriage, and I want to be able to share that with others.  My life has been incredibly blessed by my marriage, and I am eternally grateful for what God has taught me through the love of my husband.  I look forward to seeing how God will use that passion for His glory.

Lance and I have a free evening tonight, so I’m really excited about that.  We’ve been sooo busy, and I always look forward to our “down” nights at home.  They’re becoming the highlight of my week.  My headache finally went away yesterday evening, and I am praying that it will stay gone today.  I’m trying hard to adopt a care-free attitude toward work.  My job will just pile stress on constantly… so I’m trying hard to relax and not be so stressed.

More soon…

Mini-Update May 6, 2008

Since the last time I blogged, I….

• Drove to the retreat
• Got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes in Nowheresville, Texas
• Led singing on the retreat
• Slept on a top bunk for the first time since middle school
• Saw adult women behaving like junior high kids
• Slept very little
• Drove home from the retreat
• Hosted a fiesta (Mexican cokes and pinatas included)
• Went to church
• Hostessed a shower
• Went to small group
• Went to bed at like 9:30
• Went to work for a lot of hours (and kept working through the hour and a half that everyone else I worked with stopped to enjoy the margarita machine they rented at work…)
• Had my passport picture taken
• Went to Bunko (did not win)
• Went to work at 7:15
• Had my teeth cleaned
• Had a surgical consult
• Purchased Mother’s Day cards/gifts

I am currently feeling thankful for my husband.  He is doing dishes because I have had a headache for two days… and I cannot get it to go away, so bending over to do dishes is very ouchie pouchie.  He’s being precious and doing them for me.

The retreat was really great, and I will have to write more about it later…  For now, though, I do believe I will take some Tylenol PM and crawl into bed.  At some point tomorrow I have to burn 160 CDs… so I’ll try to blog while I do that.  Hopefully my head will stop hurting soon!

7 Random Things… Tagged by Kenz May 2, 2008

1.  I am married to my one and only.  Literally.  He was my first kiss and everything.  We started dating our freshman year and got married right after we graduated.

2.  I am one giant medical mystery.  It seems like everything I ever get diagnosed with is some super-bizarre, one-in-a-thousand, doctor-looks-confused issue.  I respect doctors… but I firmly believe that the phrase “Now that’s weird” should be banned from all medical discussions!

3.  I LOVE crime-solving shows.  If there’s some crime that someone can solve somehow, I’m there.  Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Law & Order CI, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, Without a Trace, Monk, Pysch…  I don’t even have to know who the characters are or whatever long-running plot lines exist.  I just want to see someone solve something somehow!

4.  I get super-stressed.  Frequently.  And when I do, I have this panicky feeling constantly.  My hands tremble and my heart races and my head feels all buzzy (I don’t know how else to describe the feeling…).  This attribute of myself is more noticeable when presented in sharp contrast to my precious husband who gets stressed like once a year (MAYBE once a year).

5.  I have never had fake nails.  Are my natural nails that gorgeous?  Nope.  But at least they’re pretty strong and healthy… Plus I’m too cheap for acrylics.

6.  I have all four wisdom teeth.  But I won’t have them any more by the end of the month… Eek.

7.  I consider laughing and cleaning house a workout.  Hey, you gotta squeeze in exercise somewhere…

Okay… I’m not really sure who to tag… Lance, KB, Jonathan, Brittany/Brian maybe?  Schaef?

Let me also throw out there that I have a new appreciate for my husband and my dad.  In planning the singing for this retreat, I spent SO much time putting together slides and formatting text and all of that… Wow!  I never really comprehended the amount of time that takes.

Between now and the next time I will blog, I have the following things to accomplish:  pack, get passport picture taken, drive to retreat, lead singing twice, leave retreat early, drive home, get ready/shower/bake/clean for young marrieds to come over for a fiesta on Saturday evening, church, LTC planning lunch, shower for Brittany, aaaaaaaaaand small group.  Whew.  Have a blessed weekend!  I am certain I will!