One Month To Live

I have just started this study with several ... more like 20 ... friends from church. Our first meeting was this past Friday. The area in which I live experienced a micro burst Friday afternoon that robbed us of our electricity, shattered windows, sliced trees in half, tore rain gutters, and ripped siding off our house. We were forced to gather in a candlelit room and watch the DVD that accompanies this study on one of our friend's laptops. It certainly was an interesting way to kick start our study. But, it left us thankful for the food we shared, and the precious time we spent talking about how our priorities would change if we really did have one month to live. I am making myself accountable for finding ways to cut the clutter and prioritize what it truly precious in my life. What an amazing opportunity to have the chance to make these changes while I have many more ... God willing ... days ahead of me.

Beth Moore's Breaking Free

This is the second Beth Moore bible study I've done with my two friends, Wendy and Meghan. I find that I am learning so much about myself and my relationship with God. I am truly amazed at how my life is shifting, ever so slightly every day. I'm enjoying the new path God is opening in front of me.

I attended our contemporary service at church this evening. I really wanted my son to join me as he so loves the "rockin'" Christian music. He also would have loved Frank's sermon. Frank is so full of love for God that it's a true joy to watch him as well as get in to the spirit of his message.

Given my study with Beth and my desire to make changes in my life, I feel closer to where God wants me to be.

Resolutions ... AGAIN!

I feel like I've been here before. Yes, I have, but I mean that I'm sitting in front of my computer again ... writing in my blog again ... about New Year's resolutions again. I did fairly well with my resolutions from 2009. Well, sorta. I am vowing again to follow that awesome flylady. She has it going on. I like how she approaches the oraginizing of one's life. I need it! I spent the last two days following her 15 minute pockets of decluttering. It worked wonders. The back of my car is full of had-to-have items that I am giving to Goodwill. Phew! What a relief!

My other goal this year is to scrapbook my pictures more often. I was inconsistent the last few years and my albums have paid the price. Not only are they are disheveled and disorderly, but have gaping holes in them. I left spaces for "special pictures/stories/etc", and I no longer know what needs to be added at this point. Just where are those pictures let alone the memory that goes along with them?

What else? I'm going to shake up my workouts. I think my body has gotten used to the routines I've been doing for the last several months. Need a change! Something to keep me interested. Getting to the gym and working out is not the problem. I've always been a fanatic, but the sheer boredom is killing me! I've been investigating different routines and look forward to working them in to my daily workouts.

That should be enough for me to get the year started with a bang! Bang! Bang! I am looking forward to a spectacular 2010!

Frenemy

While the Urban Dictionary has many descriptions for this useful word, I chose the following: The type of "friend" whose words or actions bring you down.(whether you realize it as intentional or not) I was listening intently to my new favorite XM station, Cosmo Radio, and heard the word frenemy for the first time. It is now part of my personal lexicon. In an earlier blog, I was whining about the state of my friendships. I had lost two good friends last year, and was lamenting the fact that my "inner circle" was getting smaller and smaller. I still feel this is a good thing. I want my gals to have my back as I would surely have any of theirs. We share intimate details that none of us would want any one else under God's beauteous earth to hear about. Most of the time it's silly, girly stuff - yes, even at my age! And, other times, it's serious and earth-shattering. This can be scary business at times, but there always has been a code that we follow in order to protect each other - at all costs. We laugh at times saying "What happens in _____, stays in ____". But, it's true and solid that it stays there. It also makes me think of that email that comes around every so often, describing how you are suppose to skid in to the grave with a cocktail in one hand, your make up smeared, your body used up ... etc. Life is suppose to be fun. PERIOD! I refuse to not have fun and to enjoy every minute God decides to bless me with! My inner circle certainly gets this. And, I would shoot daggers in someone's eyes if they dissed any of my inner circle friends. That is what you do. So, then why did I bring up frenemy? Probably because of the judging nature of these frenemies. The holier than though people that feel that their way is better ... no ... superior to any one else's. We all react differently to certain things. Death, divorce, anxiety, a midlife crisis, menopause, etc. There is no "right" way to react to any of these. However, those that feel they have the patent on understanding people, feel it's necessary to make sure you know there is a right way. No one knows what is going on in someone else's world. You have to walk a mile in my shoes to sort of understand my life as I would have to walk a mile in any one of my friend's shoes. You just never know. So, why pretend to know and to know better? If I am behaving in a certain way, it's my life, it's my decision, it's my bad, it's my good ... whatever! It's mine! I own it ... I always have and I always will. Frenemies be damned!

Addiction

I have to laugh because my youngest son asked for the Weird Al Yankovic song "eBay" to be put on his iPod shuffle. I had not heard the lyrics to this tune in several years. I believe that both my boys, especially my oldest, are addicted to eBay. Ever since receiving money for Christmas, they have been on eBay searching for Lord of the Rings paraphernalia, football jersey cards, and "authentic" Steeler jerseys. Both are in the process of depleting their cash funds on various items. Every day, they plead with me to log on the account so they can place bids. My house is being filled with this STUFF! I am trying to follow the Fly Lady mantra where if you bring something new home, then you have to rid yourself of something old. But, to no avail. These boys are stubborn. I wonder where they got that gene? At this point, each merely has pennies left of the Christmas stash. Thank goodness, because the eBay addiction is starting to pull me in with it's magnetic force ... you know, I already explained my magnetic aura dilemma. This eBay crack-addiction also has them collecting GameCube games, old football cards, and unused wii games, in order to sell on eBay so they can get more STUFF. I have images of people not being to step in to my house because of all the eBay STUFF lining my hallways, rooms, garage, perhaps even my driveway. Need to put a stop to this ...

My Magnetic Aura

I have heard about this type of thing before. Friends of friends of friends have watches that mysteriously stop working after the first few days of wear. I was always quite skeptical of this myth. That was until I started experiencing this phenomenon myself. Several years ago, I drove a Volvo XC90 SUV. It was a great crossover. I loved how it handled as well as how I looked while speeding through the "village" where I reside. Several months after tooling around, I noticed my radio was in and out. I would be riding along, sun roof open wide, all the windows down, wind whipping my hair, singing at the top of my lungs when the radio would just shut off. Not a good thing when your singing voice is slightly (?) off-key. I immediately went to the Volvo service center and whined my way in to an appointment. How could I possibly go even one hour without hearing my tunes? Volvo claimed they did everything they could to fix my radio. Blah, blah, blah! I didn't care ... my radio was working again! My delight was short lived. Half way home, I was singing a capella again, much to the chagrin of my neighboring drivers. For the entire time of my lease, that radio just didn't function properly. Last year, I leased the new GMC Acadia. Wow! I loved this car even more than the Volvo! Probably because it was new! I am kind of shallow in that respect. The "radio" in this car was much different than the Volvo. I had graduated to a Bose stereo with XM satellite radio. Amazingly wonderful! Not even two months in to the lease, the "radio" would not turn on in the car. I had to restart the car to get the radio to turn on. No one at the GMC service center can figure out what the problem was/is. They look at me as if I am making this up. Of course! What else do I have to do all day but spend my bon bon eating, martini guzzling time in the oh-so comfy waiting room at the GMC sales center? I have accepted the fact that I have some sort of magnetic incompatibility with my vehicles. However, I was completely unprepared for what happened to me just days ago. I decided to purchase a new nano-chromatic iPod PINK! I was so excited to download all sorts of cool tunes on my NEW iPod. After completing this joyful task, I plugged my ear buds in only to hear static! How could this be? I tried the ear buds on my sons' iPods, and they worked splendidly. Their earphones did not work so splendidly on my NEW iPod. Ugh! I am in the process of returning and exchanging the NEW iPod. This episode has convinced me that I do have a special body magnetism that will inconsistently haunt me for the rest of my days.

Downsized

We've had quite the winter blast this past week. All I can say is Brrrrr! The older I get, the more I despise the cold, the snow, the people that are driving in the snow that don't know how to drive in the snow, and lastly, the fact that the school district has me at their mercy. At times, I will awake in the morning to several inches of snow. I will scramble to the TV to see if my kids will be spending the day with me. But, alas, I hear the high school bus careening down the street. Hmmmm. Then, there are mornings like this morning where we haven't had much snow, but school is actually cancelled. I abhor the inconsistencies. Did our superintendent have a bad night? Why, oh, why would she do this to me? It used to be worse when the kids were younger. I would have to provide a fun filled day for them as well as 22 of their very, bestest friends! Organize snowball fights, create hills out of snow for tubing, lots, and lots of hot chocolate - with many marshmallows, of course, and then lunch! Yikes! That was alot to ask of me ... I think. Now, both are old enough to manage without me. I can tell you that I don't miss the 22 extra kids running through my house with snow covered boots! The wii and reruns of "That 70's Show" have replaced me. Funny how I used to be the center, the very nucleus, of their universe and now, guitar hero - with songs from my day, mind you - has given me the boot. Now that I think about it, I think I've been downsized ... laid off.