Monday, September 29, 2008

Back. Parents. Wedding.

Well...I am officially back at work in full swing. Thank goodness. I tried to go back to work last Thursday, only to be sent home in the afternoon because I looked like "the walking dead." I felt and figured I looked about the same Friday, so I stayed home yet another day and did some work from my couch. I am honestly so stinkin' tired of my couch at this point. I might be so bold as to say that I was excited to come to work today, just for the pure thrill of leaving the house in a non-walking-dead state in order to do something productive with my day.

My parents came to visit this weekend, and it was so great to see them. We did lots of shopping and lots of eating. It was splendid. I was so thankful to have some energy back so I could enjoy my time with them.

This weekend I get to go to Ashley's wedding...I am so excited to see her and Dave (her Dave not mine) get married finally!! They've been dating since our first month at college (that's where she and I became best friends) and it's about time they get to tie the knot. :) (Up until this point, schooling and long distance have prevented it.) So I'll be flying up to Dayton, OH this Thursday to join in the festivities with my other great girlfriends from ONU. I am SOOOO excited to see everyone!! Although I saw them at my wedding, it was such a blur, I felt like I got to talk to each of them for about 2.4 seconds.

Alrighty well hope everyone is having a splendid Monday. Oh I have some new pics of Rogan and Maggie (my dad took about 300 pictures of them and I think...two?....of me and Dave this weekend) so I'll be posting those soon. :)

God bless!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Breakage

My fever broke last night!! I am SOOOO relieved. I finally decided to start a Z-pack last night, even though the doc told me to wait until today to see if I needed it. I think I made the best choice. I feel so much better...

Oh whoops I forgot I had dogs. Haha I've been home for 40 minutes and left them locked up. I just heard Maggie cry. Apparently the fuzziness of my brain hasn't cleared up yet.

Okay going to go take care of the dogs. Just wanted to share the wonderful news that I am now getting better instead of worse.

God bless!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Will this Never end?

Well...I'm still sick. This is now Day 5 that I am spending laying (lying?) on the couch. The sore throat went away, only to turn into a canker sore and scratchiness in my throat, painful and itchy ears (inside), congestion, runny nose, cough, fever, headache, and fatigue. I'm like, wow, this is awesome.

I'm honestly concerned about missing this much work. The doctor told me to not go back until Thursday, and by that point I will have missed 4 days. That's a lot. Especially when people aren't planning on you being gone.

I'm trying to tell myself not to worry. I've been reading a lot about how worry gets me nowhere, and that I need to just pray to God and trust Him and know that everything happens for a reason and He's got it all under His control. As long as I'm following Him and obeying Him, then what is best will happen.

Still...try convincing yourself to think that way when you have to email your bosses Monday and inform them you won't be returning to work until Thursday because you're sick. It's very hard to justify "sick," you know? Most people think, "Oh, she's got a runny nose, boo hoo." Nobody really ever thinks of SICK sick. So then you feel like you have to explain your symptoms so they believe you're really actually unable to come into work. But then you worry that they'll think you're throwing a pity party. Sheesh, do you see what my mind does to me? Takes me in ridiculous circles of worrisome thoughts that get me absolutely nowhere. I could think like this all day long. Dave says my brain never slows down. He laughs all the time at how I jump from one thought to another, with half of the thoughts being nonsense or completely unlikely to be true. I've been working on it though. Lots of Christian self-help books. I'm getting better. I'm a work in progress.

Anyway, I'm currently laying on the couch, burning up even though I have the temperature at 74 degrees. It's actually kind of odd...my toes are always cold. My upper body is screaming for colder temperatures and my toes feel like they're going to fall off from frost-bite. So then I think to myself...do I cover my toes, or don't I? If I cover them, it makes my body hotter...not good. But if I don't cover them, they hurt from the cold and cause more discomfort...also not good. So what do I do? Such a two-edged sword.

Alright I'm going to do some Bible reading and then maybe play some Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum...the new game I bought Sunday. It's SOOOO awesome! I used to play Theme Park when I was younger, which was the best game ever. Now Rollercoaster Tycoon is a modern-day version of Theme Park...which makes it even bester. It's just awesome. I've almost become an entrepreneur (is that how you spell it?) in the first land already. I'm pretty pumped about it.

Alright hope all you readers are doing well. Adios.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Simplify. Home. Sick.

I'm home from work sick today. Not sure what it is. Sore throat and body aches. Not a whole lot of fun.

Since I have no energy and my body hurts, I'm limited to doing things I can perform from a sitting or lying down (is supine the word?) position. Therefore, I am pretty much limited to my laptop, reading, or sleeping. (TV or movies would be an option for some people; however, not me. That is about the last thing I want to do.) Hence the reason I'm writing this blog.

Rogan and Maggie really seem to be enjoying the fact that I'm home. They're alternating between napping and playing every 30 minutes. Theirs is a rough life.

I'm currently in the process of deleting my myspace account, which is slightly ironic considering that it's how Dave and I met. However, I'm just tired of keeping up with it. Facebook and a blog are plenty for me. Myspace seems...well...I don't know. It's too much of my old life. I just don't feel excited by it anymore. My desire to get rid of it is probably a side effect of my desire to simplify my life. I'm working on being less involved outside of home and spending more time at home reading, cooking, or hanging out with Dave. I've had a renewed excitement about my relationship with Christ lately, and I can't get enough of the Bible and reading Christian writings. It's kind of hard to satiate my excitement if I'm not at home reading and relaxing.

I'm also working on being less concerned about the condition of our house. My OCD-ness tells me that I want it spotless...no dog hair, no dust, everything in its proper place and looking fitting with the surroundings. However, I'm starting to realize that to keep the house like that takes a lot of energy, and if I want to have time to do all the things I enjoy, I can't keep up with it. And right now I think it's very important to enjoy my life. Any of you who know me well know that I've rarely relaxed my entire life. If I have a spare moment, I have to fill it with something. I cannot sit still. Talking at the dinner table after the food is gone drives me up the wall. Sitting reading a book while there's clutter surrounding me is nearly impossible. I get antsy sitting at stoplights because it's wasting my precious minutes. I see such a striking resemblance between these tendencies of mine and the tendencies of my mother. (Although, I think she and I will both agree that she is MUCH worse than me. I was home one time and laid down on the couch and started watching the tv show that one of my siblings had turned on. She looked at me with a bewildered face and asked, "What are you DOING???" --- RELAXING Mom, I was RELAXING!! It's normal!!! [Even though I struggle with it myself.]) :)

So anyway, the point of all this is that I'm working on being a more enjoyable person. I want to relax more and enjoy more. I don't want to spend my life concerned about the little things. This is why I'm getting rid of myspace and why I'm joining fewer activities. I want to read, sleep, laugh, and write. I want to BREATHE.

I've briefly looked through my old myspace blogs, and there are definitely some I don't want to get rid of. Therefore, I'll be adding them to this blog so I can keep them in my online memory bank.

Alright enough for today. Peace out yo. :)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Odelyn

Today Dave and I decided to sponsor a child in Honduras. Her name is Odelyn, and she is two years old.
Isn't she cute?!?!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to help a child overseas!! We even get to correspond with her and get pictures, which makes me even happier. I'm hoping to share Jesus with her eventually. :)

I would greatly encourage anyone who thinks they can manage it to support a child. (www.childreninternational.com) It is only $22/month and supplies the child with healthcare, food, and clothing. You can even select the country, age, and gender of the child you would like. (Although I actually selected Odelyn from a pop-up ad as I was looking at a Christian website, haha. I'm obviously easily swayed.)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Strawberries, change love, and books

My new favorite lotion is Strawberry Swirl from the dollar spot at Target. It takes me back to my childhood days of Strawberry Shortcake. Yum yum.

I've recently realized that while many people try to avoid change, I love it. I've come to this conclusion from the following evidence:
1) I rearrange my office at work or the decorations on the wall almost once a week.
2) I don't like wearing the same outfit within, well...probably two months, at a minimum.
3) I prefer my toenails to change colors every time I paint them.
4) I don't like listening to the same type of music for more than an hour.
5) I have bold, dark colors and home and bright, girly colors at work so that the mood of my environment is constantly changing.
6) I took a personality quiz that said I enjoy change.
7) My workouts have to change, almost every day.
8) I don't like repeating recipes very often.
9) I am usually reading about 6 books at a time, because I'm constantly in the mood for something diferent.
See, now don't you agree? I have change love.

I also wanted to share with everyone that my new favorite application of almost any website is the Visual Bookshelf on Facebook. Oh my goodness it makes me sooooo giddy. I tell it what kind of books I like, and then, whalah, it recommends a whole bunch more!! Then I rate those, and it gives me even more!!! I mean, seriously, what could be better than a never-ending list of books that are selected specially for you? I am in my glory with that application. It's so amazingly sweet. :)

Friday, September 12, 2008

A person's true character...

A person's true character is revealed by what he does when no one is watching.

Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. - Ephesians 6:6


Sometimes I forget that I'm doing my work for God and not for my boss. It sure makes a big difference in how I approach things. If God is the one grading my work, I feel the inclination to work a lot harder.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Gustav

I was in the Florida panhandle visiting my wonderful friend Sarah when Gustav hit. Here are some pictures from the trip.


These first two pics are from Sunday, before Gustav hit.


These second two are from Monday, after Gustav went through. You can see that the water at the beach was nothing but white caps, and the beach was completely flooded. If you look under the "designated swimming area" sign which is supposed to be halfway up the beach on the sand, you'll see that there's nothing but murky water. It was crazy!! The wind would nearly blow you over!!