Lady in Red

You're red! You feel things more than most people
and you're almost always upfront about how you
feel.


Color Personality Test
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This is quite fitting, actually! At least I'm not brown...sorry, Renay :-)

Weak Spot

Why is it that the more I tried to listen to what God was telling me, Satin kept yelling louder into my ear? We face temptations every day, but I am sure all of us have one really big temptation that has come knocking on our door on lots more than just one occassion. Satin knows our every weakness, unfortunately, and that's the one thing he goes for and tries to use against us. If you have ever been battling something that could make you or break you, have you ever whole heartedly went to the Lord in prayer about it? Have you ever said, "God, I am giving this burden to you. I cannot deal with this on my own any longer." Well, I can honestly say I had never truly done this until tonight. I am not going to elaborate on what it was, but trust me, it was a doozie, and I just handed it over to Him to let Him take care of it for me because I was tired of worrying about it, thinking about it, dreading it, hurting over it, and dwelling upon it for all this time. And afterwards, I literally felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my body. And with that, comes to mind a hymn that we sing every time we go to the camp meeting we go to every year:

"Come Unto Me"

Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed
O ye heavy laden, come to Me and rest
Come, no longer tarry, I your load will bear,
Bring Me ev'ry burden, Bring Me ev'ry care.

Come unto Me
I will give you rest
Take My yoke upon you
Hear me and be blest
I am meek and lowly
Come and trust My might
Come My yoke is easy
And My burden's light.

Are you disappointed, wand'ring here and there
Dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care?
Do unholy feelings struggle in your breast?
Bring your case to Jesus, He will give you rest.

Come unto Me
I will give you rest
Take My yoke upon you
Hear me and be blest
I am meek and lowly
Come and trust My might
Come My yoke is easy
And My burden's light.

Stumbling on the mountains dark with sin and shame,
Stumbling tow'rd the pit of Hell's consuming flame,
By the pow'rs of sin deluded and oppressed,
Hear the tender Shepherd, "Come to Me and rest."

Come unto Me
I will give you rest
Take My yoke upon you
Hear me and be blest
I am meek and lowly
Come and trust My might
Come My yoke is easy
And My burden's light.

Have you by temptation often conquered been,
Has a sense of weakness brought distress within?
Christ will sanctify you if you'll claim His best,
In the Holy Spirit, He will give you rest.

Come unto Me
I will give you rest
Take My yoke upon you
Hear me and be blest
I am meek and lowly
Come and trust My might
Come My yoke is easy
And My burden's light.

How true those words are.

Random Thoughts for Friday, 3/5

1. I saw a rather thought-provoking sign while driving down Greenbrook Parkway, going to my Mom's house this morning. "If you're having problems slowing down, we can help. Southaven Police Department." Original, I thought.

2. So at my mom's house, I cleaned...and cleaned...and cleaned. I wanted to make sure I did a good job to make her happy so that she'd want me to keep coming back on a weekly basis. Well, this afternoon we talked, and she was extremely happy with the job I did!! :::does a cartwheel::: I guess that means I survived the interview and I'm hired, lol.

3. Tomorrow the Tigers play Cincinatti. This will be battle for first place in the league. If we win, we are in first place, by ourselves (I think?). If we lose, there will be a log jam for teams in first place...like a 5-way tie!!! It's crazy and it's confusing, but it's fun, nevertheless.

4. Did I mention I'm dog tired?

5. 157 days 'til Destin!

6. 54 days 'til my burfday!

7. 6 months from yesterday 'til football starts up...see ya in Oxpatch, Mississippi!

8. I got a rather interesting phone call yesterday. Our church is starting a small Christian school this fall, and our Pastor called me to ask if I'd be interested in coming to the school maybe 2 days per week, maybe for half days, and help the students out with their math. First of all, WOW, I was honored that he'd ask me!!! He said they'd pay me (don't know how much), but I imagine that'll cover my gas getting there and back. It's a 60-mile roundtrip. That's 120 miles per week, PLUS our regular trips to church. Of course, if it's on a Wednesday, I could always stay there until time for church Wednesday nights...I dunno. This won't start up 'til the fall, so there's plenty of time to work out the details. Either way, this is awesome, and who knows? Once I get my teaching degree, this could most definitely turn into a full-time position with the school. It'd be a lot less money than I'd be making in the public schools, but LOTS more rewarding. And besides, ANY money is more money than I'm making now.

9. I'm hungry, so what's for supper?

10. I have something I want to sort of touch on here, but I think I'm going to save myself and everyone the pure misery by remaining vague.

Random Thoughts for Thursday, 3/4

1. I can't believe I forgot to mention yesterday that Jacob turned 9 months old.

2. Just as an update, I went to the jewelry party. Jacob did fine, actually. He got passed around like playing hot potato, Travis went upstairs and played with his cousins, and I didn't buy anything. Everyone that was there were folks I used to go to church with, not even 2 years ago, and only 2 of those people even acted like they remembered me. Maybe it was the haircut? Michael said maybe it's the weight I've lossed...but I haven't lost THAT much weight. So I ended up going upstairs where the kids were and played a game of Rummy with them. That was LOADS more fun....it had been 10 years since I'd played that game, I swear! But then, heh, as I was leaving, I backed into the mailbox. Yes, I can hear you laughing. I wasn't laughing. I was more like crying!!! Not for my vehicle, but for the mailbox. I practically uprooted it!!! Wanda's husband had to back his truck out of the driveway to let me out when I was ready to leave, and he didn't even see any of this happen while he waited out in the street for me to leave. See, her driveway is on a really steep hill, and I was parked at the top of it, and when I backed out, I thought I could go straight down. WRONG!!! There is a slight curve to the driveway, and well, I didn't see the curve, nor did I see the mailbox that was about to see its life flash before its eyes. I was SO FREAKIN' EMBARASSED, and all Steve (Wanda's husband) could say was "It's okay, It's okay!" What a perfectly wonderful ending to a perfectly wonderful evening...OR NOT!!!!!! Travis is STILL saying "Broke car!" Nope, not a good night.

3. Do not bring Popeye's Chicken home unless you intend to divide your 3-piece meal amongst the rest of the household.

4. I am supposed to clean my mom's house tomorrow, bright and early...lovely, just lovely...but at least I'll make some money so I can pay Terri for my Avon ;-)

5. It's supposed to storm tonight, possibly severe, maybe some tornaders. Yes, I said tornaders. Okay, I'm scared now.

6. It's the last week of regular season college basketball. Why do good things always have to come to an end? ::SNIFF::

7. We are babysitting, er, dogsitting Michael's parents' dog while they are in Cancun. This dog is 5 pounds of fury and fluff.

8. Only 158 days 'til Destin!!!!!!!

9. No matter how many hours I spend trying or how much money I spend on hair products, NOTHING will make my hair stay straight on a day like today. If the bottle says "Keeps hair straight and smooth until your next Shampoo", it's LYING, LYING, LYING!!!! It will go wavy at BEST. If I could discover the secret to a humidity-proof hair goo, I'd be filthy rich!!!!!!!

10. Only 55 days 'til I turn the big 2-4.

Rant of the Week

It's amazing how things come full circle after awhile and slap you in the face while they're at it. Now I understand 100% why when I sold Premier, and also Mary Kay, that women I came in contact with didn't want to have a so-called "party". If you have a "party", you are responsible for making sure everyone you know comes, and you have to keep them happy while they're at your house. Keeping them happy is not the hard part though, it's getting them there. You practically have to beg your family and friends within an inch of their life to show up, seriously! And people don't like to feel obligated to come over and be coaxed into spending money. I mean, generally speaking, if you can go to these parties and have money to spend, it can be fun. You play little games, eat cookies and chit chat with everybody there. But what about if you have small kids, don't have a sitter, and have to take your kids with you? And you literally have $9 in the bank 'til next pay day and can't buy something you see that you really, really want? How is that fun? How is that a "Girl's Night Out"? I mean, seriously? My sister-in-law wants really bad for me to come, and she told me to bring the kids. And Michael is all like "It'll do you good to go." What does THAT mean? First of all, if I see a bazillion things I want and have no money to buy anything, THAT is not fun...that is DEPRESSING. Second of all, Jacob still has his little "problem" from yesterday and is EXTREMELY fussy non-stop. Someone tell me what is fun about going to a "party" with my sick baby, having to stop every 5 minutes to change his diaper, and PLUS I can't buy anything? I'd rather sit at home with a fussy baby, watch "Friends", and not be tempted to whip out my credit card at the urge to buy $50 worth of jewelry I don't need anyway. But if I don't come, she's going to get her feelings hurt really easily and think I hate her and think that I don't want her to have anything to do with my kids. But this is not the case AT ALL! I have a sick baby and I have no money. She even said she'd take care of Jacob for me while we're there. It's like HER party and I would really hate for her to be consumed by my baby while her party is going on. That just wouldn't be fair to her or anyone else that's there...SHE is the hostess! If she wants to see the kids that badly, I have NO problem whatsoever if she wants to come by and visit us sometime, so why can't she do that? We are here all the time. Well, Michael answered this question by saying that his sister has more stuff to do than I do and I just sit at home all day. What does THAT mean?!?! I don't know who spread that lie...I DO NOT SIT at home all day! I AM at home all day, but generally speaking, I do not SIT except long enough to write stuff like this!!! Okay, so she has a part-time office job with her church. How does that add up to her having more to do than me? She has 2 kids at home, too, but they are much, much older, fully potty-trained, able to feed themselves, bathe themselves, and get themselves in and out of a car. It's a HUGE chore to get myself and both kids dressed and loaded in the car than for her to just cruise down here when she's got a spare minute. I'm not saying she's not busy and that she doesn't have a family to take care of....I'm just saying it's a good bit more difficult for me to make the effort to get out the door, so why isn't this taken into consideration? I've ALWAYS made the effort to go to anything and everything she's ever had at her house. The only other event I think of that I missed at her house was a candle party, and that was because I was sick and pregnant and just got off work and couldn't lift a finger without getting some sleep, but I did call her and order something to make up for my absence. This time, I have a sick baby and no money to order anything to make up for my absence. So why am I made out to be the bad guy here for not being able to make it? Can somebody answer this for me, please?!?!?!?!?!

Thoughts on Marriage

I was driving down Hwy 51 this morning, heading towards the WIC place, and I popped in my Eagles CD, (Volume I Greatest Hits). What does ANY of that have to do with marriage, you might ask? Well...

On June 17, 2000, Michael and I got married. Who could ever begin to believe that in 3 months, we'll be celebrating 4 years of marriage? I can't believe it myself. So anyway, as I was driving down the highway this morning, listening to the Eagles, I started thinking back to June 18, the day after the wedding, when we drove in Michael's Firebird, which was now collectively OUR Firebird, 8 or so hours to our honeymoon destination, Destin, Florida. I helped do some of the driving, which at the time, I thought was kinda weird. I mean, MY Dad would NEVER make my Mom drive on a road trip ANYWHERE EVER!! So right off the bat, I had expectations and standards as to what I thought the wife should/shouldn't have to do, based off of what I knew was the norm for MY Mom and Dad. But Michael was going to fall asleep at the wheel if I didn't take over, so I did and I popped in my Eagles CD . So we finally made it to Destin. (Thank God I knew how to read a map...something else I thought husbands were supposed to do.) This was a first for both of us...going on a long road trip, without our parents, whom we both had depended upon GREATLY the previous 20 years of our lives. I mean, neither of us had EVER lived away from home, away from our parents, so all either of us knew was how to live under our parents' thumb, have rules, and ask them for money when we wanted something. So this was our first REAL taste of "independence."

Now, was this honeymoon paradise? Well, the location was, yes, but the honeymoon itself, not exactly what I had envisioned most of my life. I mean, it was nice and we had a great time and it's a great way to kick off a marriage, but going to Walmart to buy beach towels being the first thing we did when we got there, lol, that's just not what I pictured, and Michael getting sunburned the first day on the beach and me having to drive BACK to Walmart to get some stuff to slather onto said sunburn, NOT very romantic either. And we ended up renting "Super Star" at the nearest Blockbuster one of the nights we were there, and we ordered a pizza that never came. "Super Star" is not found in the Romance category, in case you hadn't noticed. Heck, after spending all day at the beach or down the road shopping at the outlet mall, we were so exhausted. NO ONE expects to get TIRED on a honeymoon! But even still, we ate at nice restaurants every night, spent alotta money, went driving down along the coast, took long walks along the beach at night, and well, that other thing people are supposed to do on honeymoons. ;-)

I guess what I'm getting at is everyone goes into marriage with certain expectations, desires, dreams, plans, goals, etc., but don't be surprised if things don't go as planned, STARTING with the honeymoon. Just keep in mind the honeymoon is a week long, two if you're really rich and can afford one that long. If you are fortunate enough to go on your honeymoon without getting a flat tire on the way, getting sunburned while you're there, or eating bad food, then at least your first week or so as Mr. and Mrs. will be pure bliss. But as soon as you drag your luggage into your new place together, the real life sets in, almost immediately. It's almost like flipping a switch. This is when the true test begins. Only when this begins is when you will see if your love for each other can really withstand all of these stresses of life. You don't just have bills, jobs, a broken refrigerator and a noisey next door neighbor, you have to learn how to deal with each other.

I've heard the saying, "If you can get through the first 5 years of marriage, you'll be fine." Or some people say the first 10 years. Whatever. Anyway, I can now see how this is somewhat true. The first year or so is REALLY rough. I mean REALLY! Even though you might have dated each other for YEARS, you could always send them home after a date. Not any more. You have to go home with this person now, which is where you will learn all of your spouse's quirks and flaws. This is perfectly normal, although it will make you wonder. But I can truly, honestly say that we are happier NOW in our marriage, after almost 4 years, than we were when we first walked down the aisle. I mean, we have been through some SERIOUS STUFF together and it's made us stronger as individuals and as a couple. We have no idea what the future will bring, and things aren't going to be rosey all the time from here until death do us part, but I do know that we've made it through some things that would probably surprise a lot of you if you knew about it. And everything, for us, has happened in super turbo speed or something. Here's the timeline:

January 22, 1999: We met online.
January 28, 1999: We became official.
January 29, 1999: First date.
July 24, 1999: Got engaged
June 17, 2000: Got married
November 2000: Found out we were pregnant with 1st child.
May 25, 2001: Bought a house.
July 10, 2001: Birth of our first child.
September 2002: Found out we were pregnant with 2nd child.
June 3, 2003: Birth of our second child.

And during all of this, there has been one other marriage in the family, 5 births, 2 deaths, my Dad had triple bypass surgery, I have been through 2 jobs, and became piano player for the church. WHEW! And don't make me count how many cars we've owned. Stress city!!!!!!

So back to my point, we have had many highs in our marriage, and more lows than I care to elaborate on, but it's all part of life. You make the most of it or you sit down and complain about it and drag yourself into a pit of pure negativity. There IS no perfect man, there IS no perfect woman, there IS no perfect marriage, there is no perfect anything, so you take the good with the bad. And ALWAYS, ALWAYS remember why you wanted to marry the person you married in the first place, and if BOTH of you do this, then you will be just fine. There have been times when I wanted to kick Michael out on his ear and pack all his stuff in Hefty bags, and I'm sure he's felt more of the same about me, but if I think about my life without him, I know I'd be lost and empty. Marriage has definitely changed a lot in my life. It pretty much cancelled my PLAN A of getting a college degree FIRST, and for awhile, I was kind of let down by that, just to be honest. I really thought for awhile, "What have I done?" I mean, almost everyone I know told me that getting married at the unripened young age of 20 and having 2 babies would surely ruin my life. Not in those words necessarily, but that's basically what I was told. But instead of letting that discourage me, I will happily resort to my PLAN B and start working on finishing up my degree this fall so that when my babies start school, I can go back to work.

And one more piece of wisdom you should know, is that no matter how tight our money was or how nonexistent our money was, we've always had a roof over our head and food on the table. God has always taken care of us, and for that, we are very, very thankful. You really can't go wrong as long as you let God in the picture.

Random Thoughts for Wednesday, Part 3

Hmm..here's a thought. Perhaps I should just save all of my random thoughts and put them here at the end of the day. NAH, that makes too much sense, and I'm really not the type person to scribble on post-its all throughout the day. So here goes...

1. I don't like dark, two-lane roads with no street lights, no reflective yellow line down the middle, with nothing but ditches on either side. I swear, if you veer ever so slightly to the left, you'll end up hitting someone head-on. If you veer to the right, you're in the ditch. This fully describes the street I have to turn down off 302 to get to my church. I told you my church was in the sticks, but nobody believes me.

2. The Tigers played their final home game of the season, and ended the season undefeated at home...15-0. Way to go Tigers!

3. Sonic. Chili. Cheese. Tots. Pure. Heaven.

4. I'm torn. My sister-in-law has a jewelry party tomorrow night and she'll probably be hurt if I'm not there, especially since she's always made a point to come to stuff I have had at my house in the past. But a couple from church is supposed to come over tomorrow night to practice their music with me. What do I do?

5. I'm supposed to go to the WIC place tomorrow to get Jacob's formula, but Michael has to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow. The WIC place opens at 8, so if I am THERE when the doors open, I can be back home by like 8:20, but this does me no good. Michael has to leave the house at 8. I can't take the kids with me because there's no way on God's green earth I can lug two kids and lug all of the boxes of stuff I have to pick up out to my vehicle. I need SOMEONE who can come over SOMETIME tomorrow, long enough to stay here with the kids, so I can go down there. HELP!!!

More Random Thoughts for Wednesday

1. We almost NEVER get to make it to church on Wednesday nights, like I was saying earlier, and we decided that tonight, come hell or high water, we were going. Well, the high water...or actually not water, but worse, came. BOTH kids are having serious diaper problems, if you know what I mean, and all I can say is it's a darn good thing it's a warm, breezy day outside so I could open all the windows in the house. BLEH!! They've BOTH been whiney and fussy ALL DAY, and so I made Michael aware of the situation. He stopped by Walgreens and got some Pedialite (stuff you give little kids/babies to prevent dehydration) and he said he'd take care of the kids tonight so I could get out and go to church. Praise God! I feel so bad for my babies, though! They just don't feel good at all, and it hasn't been that long ago since they last had this stomach bug. :(

2. If you cook dinner for yourself, transferring the pots/pans, cooking utensils, measuring devices, plates, eating utensils afterwards to the sink, DOES NOT count as cleaning up the kitchen, contrary to popular belief.

3. 3x = 9 better not be your final answer.

4. What happened to winter? It's freaking 73 degrees outside. I never said I was complaining though.

5. Why is it the one time I don't take the cordless phone and/or my cell phone with me to the tub, one or both of those phones ring after I get in.

6. Once you have kids, you will find that you have less time to paint your fingernails...and even less time than that to paint your toenails.

7. No matter how hard you try, your hair will never style the same twice.

8. When you get married or have kids, you will find out who your real friends are. What I mean is, the people that really think something of you WILL BE there at your wedding or will come to see you in the hospital or the day you come home after the birth of your first child. Granted, some people may have a good excuse...like if they're in the hospital, too, having open heart surgery or something. Believe it or not, I had someone I THOUGHT was a close friend not come to my wedding because she had to babysit her friends' dogs. That's the best one yet! On a related note, fewer people will come to visit you for each consecutive birth. When Travis was born, we couldn't keep people out of our room and we had to make two trips to get all the flowers out to the car. With the second birth, I could count everyone that came to see us on my fingers. What's really bad is that some people don't even call or send a card.

9. I have to clean my mom's house Friday, but I am getting paid. Money is good. I went over there last Saturday so she could explain to me in great detail what all she wanted done and how she wanted and didn't want me to complete each task. I took notes.

10. The Tigers have their last home game tonight, against TCU. At this moment in time, I could care little about it, if anything.

11. I finished reading Genesis yesterday and moved on into Exodus.

Random Thoughts for Wednesday

1. Doesn't the FBI have terrorists to catch? I mean, seriously...seems like the FBI would have more important things to do than interrogate a sports message board moderator simply because he was asking for donations to help with costs of operating/maintaining said message board.

2. Sometimes I wish I could read music. Then again, it would only hold me back and mess me up. But playing by ear sure can be rough on the earrings ;-)

3. Related to #2, I just don't do key changes very well, ESPECIALLY when it's a key I'm not really good at playing in. I can play really well in C, F, G, and Ab. Everything else, I don't bother with, except I AM working on learning Bb and Eb. The problem is, any songs that are played in the above keys, if there's a key change, I can almost guarantee that it WON'T be in any of the keys I know.

4. Last night was not a good night. Jacob woke up around 11:00 in a puddle, poor baby, so I had to get him up, bathe him, dress him, change his sheets, and get him to go back to sleep. And poor Travis had an accident in the hallway around 11:30, so needless to say, I was up pretty late scrubbing the carpet in the hall. After all of this, neither of them were ready to go back to sleep...they wanted to party! Ah, the joys of parenting!

5. I think we're going to actually get to go to church tonight. Wednesday nights are usually not a happening thing for us with Michael getting off late, but tonight, we're going to go if we have to be late.

6. Only 159 days until Destin!

I am sure I will have more later.

Not sure why this posted twice, so I am editing one of them out.

More Random Thoughts of the Day

1. There is nothing wrong with letting your kids watch Bob the Builder.

2. St. Joseph's and Stanford are both undefeated in the nation. The last time this ever happened was in 1991...UNLV.

3. I can't quite figure out why Travis is all of the sudden afraid of the dark.

4. It's a good thing we ended up selling our tickets for the State v. Auburn game. Michael had a test tonight and the teacher doesn't allow makeups.

5. Today turned out to be a not-so-good day. Jacob was fussy all day long because I think he's cutting some more teeth.

6. It's pretty difficult to play piano immediately after painting your nails...trust me on this one.

7. I have lost a total of 7 lbs, in a little under 3 weeks. Not bad, considering a lot of my clothes fit me looser NOW than they did BEFORE I got pregnant with Jacob.

8. Only 160 days until Destin, baby! (Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of stretch marks, I will gladly break out the 2-piece.)

Random Thoughts of the Day

Well, I had more than just a few, but my computer started acting retarded, and froze up on me, and I lost everything. So...let's start again:

1. I hope Michael does okay on his algebra test tonight. I don't know how many times I will have to beat it in his brain that you have to get "x" COMPLETELY by itself. 3x = 9 IS NOT your final answer.

2. I am working on this song for church, as a special, and have had lots 'o requests for it. I have someone to sing it, I just need to get it down pat so we can play it for church. I'm working on it...I REALLY AM. Click the link, listen to it, and tell me what you think: The Judgment

3. I am beginning to have doubts as to how far the Tigers will get in the NCAA Tournament. Lots of injuries, and they just keep piling up.

4. If I have to read one more article or listen to one more commentary as to why the Tigers should or should not move to the Fed Ex Forum, I think I'll scream.

5. I feel really smart. My sister-in-law called me this afternoon because there is some kind of contest in their youth department that if you can tell which play a Shakesperian quote came from, and be the first to call the youth director and tell him what you think it is, you can win some sort of prize. She doesn't even know what made her think of ME as her "phone-a-friend", lol, but the quote was "Beware the Ides of March." Anyone care to take a stab at it? Some of you might think it's pretty easy, but I had to think about it for a second or two. Then after I told her what I thought it was, I looked it up on the internet, and sure enough, I was right. I can't believe I remembered it, and it's been like YEARS since I read that play?

6. Don't talk bad about my closest friends IN FRONT OF ME. Next time I might have to call you on it and make a scene.

7. Why is it that you can't ask someone a question without them wanting to know why you are asking it, before they'll even give you an answer?

Okay, that's enough of my rambling for now.

How much worse can it get?

I am seriously going to have to change the radio station on my alarm clock. The first thing I hear every morning when it goes off is bad/sad news. Like yesterday morning, first thing I heard about was all those kids in Millington that got killed in a car crash. A 15-year-old boy JUST got his learner's permit DAYS before, and he loaded up 6 of his friends in a small car and went joyriding. So they were out at 2:30 a.m., flying down a little road, surrounded by woods. I'm not sure how fast they were going, but it had to be pretty darn fast because they came upon a hill and went airborne over the hill, swirved into the other lane upon landing and crashed sideways into a tree. All 7 of them are dead. I guess I am going to have to quit reading news stories first thing in the morning, too. The first headlines I read this morning were that the Mississippi family that had been missing since Valentine's Day was found...dead. The mother, the father, and the 4-year-old boy. I think the guy that killed them was the guy's step-brother? Maybe I'm wrong...I have a tendency to forget details when I read about tragic events like this. I think they are saying his motive may have been that he didn't receive an inheritance when his step-father died, but all of his natural children DID receive an inheritance. And then not to mention everything going on in Haiti...and Iraq...and all of the other world problems that probably never break the evening edition of the news.

I don't watch the news all that much because 95% of it is bad and it's disturbing, but maybe I should pay attention because I just never know when my little world might come crashing down around me, too. I feel safe here, but how long will it be before my neighborhood turns into a crack town? How long will it be before I have to install an alarm system, burglar bars, and an extra deadbolt? How long will it be before I feel the need to keep a gun, for "just in case"? What are things going to be like when my kids become teenagers? It's too scary to think about, but I feel like it's up to me, as a parent, to prepare them to the best of my ability, for the things they are going to be confronted with.

And THEN I think to myself...how much longer will God allow our NATION to go on a downward spiral? There are great things about America, don't get me wrong, but I truly believe that after the Rapture takes place, and there are no more Christians walking the earth, the "salt of the earth" will be no more, meaning there will be nothing left to preserve what goodness is still here. Then, and ONLY then, God will no longer have a reason to preserve this nation. Are you going to be ready for Christ's return? Or will you be left behind to face what will become of America once the Rapture has taken place? Seriously.

Here's another one

Get to know the REAL you by crash_and_burn
Your Name
You Are A:	Classic Rocker
Your Favorite Band/Song	The Ataris - Boys of Summer
You Like To Read:	Romance novels
You Firmly Believe In:	God
Everyone Thinks You Are:	A respectable person
You Were Conceived:	In your dad's pinto
You Will Marry:	A respectable person
Created with quill18's MemeGen 2.0!

My Dad never owned a Pinto, but I do own the "Boys of Summer" The Ataris album.

Everybody's free to wear sunscreen...

...or to start blogs. I don't know where my fixation is coming from, but I get a kick out of reading other folks' blogs. You don't have to feel intimidated by my 10-mile-long posts. Just some silly, meaningless wisecrack would do, or maybe a link to weird news. Go to www.blogger.com NOW and set yours up...go on, just do it...it won't bite! I'll give you a penny for your thoughts, and I'll collect the interest from your two cents, :-)

Now, here's an oldie but goodie. Well, it's not THAT old, but I think this came out back in 11th or 12th grade, so that time period is starting to get a little yellow around the edges:

"Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen" by Baz Luhrmann

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

It's been awhile

I haven't done any quizzes or anything of the like in awhile, so here it is:

What is Your Destiny? by Valcion
Name
Color
Birthday
Destiny	Creator of some super weapon
Date when you fufill your destiny	April 5, 2006
Created with quill18's MemeGen 2.0!

Great! Almost in time for my 26th birthday, too! Looks like I'll REALLY get to celebrate with a bang!

Too funny not to blog...to me, anyway

Booberry617 [10:59 AM]: Hey you! :-)
Bmidtownauto [10:59 AM]: hey yo
Booberry617 [10:59 AM]: What are you doing?
Bmidtownauto [11:00 AM]: reading the new board
Booberry617 [11:00 AM]: I got a question.
Bmidtownauto [11:00 AM]: k
Booberry617 [11:01 AM]: Is there a shorter thing I can type in to get to the new board? Or do I have to type in www.ncaabbs.com and then click on the links.
Bmidtownauto [11:02 AM]: just go to that address first, get to the Memphis board, then favorite place it
Booberry617 [11:02 AM]: Favorite Place it, LOL. That's a new verb.
Bmidtownauto [11:03 AM]: LOL, aint it though..just like "FedEx" has become a verb
Bmidtownauto [11:03 AM]: you can FedEx something nowadays

Heh, you know you're successful when the name of your business becomes a verb.

It's just another rainy Monday

A familiar tune comes to mind...hmm.

I had the worst time waking up this morning. I didn't sleep all that great last night. It seems like every little sound in the house woke me up... Travis woke up once in the middle of the night whining, the wind and rain hitting the bedroom window, and the sound my cell phone makes when the battery is dying. And every time I'd go back to sleep, I would have random dreams that I cannot remember anything about this morning. Well, one of the dreams, I do remember. I am really not sure of the location of this dream, but the best I can describe it is that I was sitting under a pavillion type thing. There were lots of big, round tables, and a bunch of people my age sitting around talking. It was sort of like an outdoor high school cafeteria or something. I was sitting there with an ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, talking with her, and I told her I was waiting for our ex-boyfriend to show up because I had asked him to stop by and see me because I had something to give to him. Well, that something was his high school ring, which I was still wearing in the dream. So as we were talking, I looked out into the distance, and the ex-boyfriend was walking towards us, with his current girlfriend, and I felt nervous, trying to find the words for exactly what I'd say to him. Before he approached me, I woke up. Weird.

In other news, I've now read through Chapter 39 of Genesis. And what is really amazing is that in church yesterday morning, our Pastor preached on getting into the Word of God, and how precious the Bible really is. It's awesome when you really think about it because God's Word is indestructable. Throughout time, Satin has done his best to try to destroy it altogether, or at least pervert it. You know that so-called NIV Bible? THAT is a perversion. I've heard several Christians say that they use the NIV because it's easier to understand, or that they use the NIV for a guide to help them understand the King James Bible. But you know what the problem with the NIV is? There are actually Bible verses REMOVED from it! I honestly don't understand why any publisher would think it would be OKAY to say "Scratch that...that verse is not important." I also believe the NIV takes away from the meaning of a lot of what the TRUE Bible really says. Go ahead...say what you want...there IS no excuse good enough. Everyone has something to say about "The Passions of the Christ" movie, and I have something to say, too. I haven't decided if I will go see it or not...but I'm reading the book right now, and I don't generally like to read the book AND the movie...I usually do one or the other...because if you read the book first, you will see that the movie distorts what happened in the book. And in this case, I can say the book is FAR better than the movie, without having ever seen it.

Speaking of church yesterday, we had the Tri-State Baptist College Singers come for a special afternoon service. We always have a fellowship meal after morning church on the 5th Sunday of the month, if there IS a 5th Sunday. So on those Sundays, after the meal, we go back to church, and then go home for the evening. The College Singers were great, as always. We had a PACKED HOUSE for the afternoon service...lots of visitors...a lot of them I knew from our old church, and I was sooooo nervous playing piano in front of such a large crowd!!! I always play piano on Sunday nights, but usually the Sunday night crowd is smaller than the Sunday morning crowd. QUITE the opposite yesterday. It's just that the place was FULL of people that were WAY more qualified to play piano in front of a congregation, ya know? It was scary!! I don't know why I worry...I mean, I'm REALLY playing for the Lord, not all those people...but STILL. A lot of people don't realize what it took for me to get over my fear of playing piano in front of ANYONE! I will have to post my testimony on here sometime, and you'll get a better idea of what I mean. Needless to say, I am SO glad that is all over with!!!

Attention All Bloggers, and those that don't blog, too

If you are not Brian, Brad, or Chad and you are listed to the right of the screen here, you need to update or I might have to evict you! lol

At any rate, check out my newest additions to my blogger family:

Michael's (my hubby) blog

Lori's blog (we're pals again, I hope?)

David's blog (old high school acquaintance)

Spunky's blog (If I knew her real name, I'd use it, lol)

A few words for the wise I learned all on my own

If you don't have a hyperactive child, let him snatch too many cookies at the fellowship meal after church. He will be then.

Don't buy your child a See 'N Say or a Fisher Price telephone. They will drive you legally insane. If someone gives your kid one of the above-mentioned toys as a gift, give it to another kid for a birthday present, or better yet, dispose of it at the nearest dumpster immediately.

2-year-olds don't realize that Christmas ended in December. Travis is still running around shouting "HO HO HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

And a few non-kid related ones:

If your wife/spouse/significant other has just woke up from a nap, DO NOT slam all of the kitchen cabinet doors looking for whatever it is you are looking for.

For some reason, I always get nervous when I wash my hair in the kitchen sink. I think I'm afraid the garbage disposal will somehow get turned on accidentally. Of course, don't worry too much, because this has never happened, to me anyway.

Don't use the phrase "It's my house, too" unless you want to get caught in the trap of having to take part in the cleaning efforts of said house.

STAY TUNED for more of Candy's Words For the Wise!!!