Redeeming Qualities

You know, I thought I might take some time to redeem myself after that total fluff post from the other day. *grin* See, H, I am not a total slacker.

Church has been just awesome. Today, the pastor read the story of Elijah and I just wanted to stand up and clap my hands. I mean, I am a member of a pretty conservative Southern Baptist Church and people might look at me funny if I stood up and got really excited during a sermon... *giggle* But, the story is just such a gosh darn good one, it's hard NOT to!

I met with my soon-to-be boss on Friday. Golly, I think we are going to get along like peas and carrots. We seem to have the same organizational style and our brainstorming seemed to go along the same lines. I was so excited to just be in the building on Friday that I squeeled like a little girl after the meeting was over (once I got into the car, of course). It was all I could do not to clap my hands during the meeting. That might have given the impression that I was a little too excited and might have worried the Director. *grin*

I just can't believe that I'm about to get paid to do all of this fun stuff. It just doesn't seem possible that I'm about to have a job that seems to have been just tailor-made for me! Of course there will be days when I'll want to run off to the circus or choke my boss. Hey, that's a part of working. But, to be able to anticipate work that suits my talents and gifts instead of, day after day, trying to put on and wear shoes that just don't fit.

I went to a banquet last night and the speaker was a long-time acquaintence of mine. I met her when I was in college and we ran into one another shortly after I moved home last year. She said something very neat during her talk last night - she said that each year, she asks God to show her something new about the Christmas story. She also said that she thinks that a big part of being included in what God is doing is just being willing to act but, more importantly, paying attention and being curious.

With that thought in mind, I listened to the church choir present their annual Christmas musical. Tonight, for the first time, I heard something I'd never heard before. In Luke, it talks about when the shepherds came to the stable, at the command of the angels. It says that they left the stables and proclaimed what they had seen to all around, and all who heard it were amazed. Now, I've heard that 1000 times. What I hadn't heard before was the next verse. In Luke 2, verse 19, it says, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." I wonder what that means. Most likely Mary was illiterate. It's not like she could have written them down. Maybe it means that she committed them to memory so that she could draw them out of her memory and reflect upon them later.

Anyway, I just think that's a really neat scripture and I plan to think more on it.

We rearranged the living room again tonight. I just love moving furniture. It gives the room a whole new look and you don't spend a dime. I think, in the spring, I'm going to repaint a couple of rooms in the house. I'd like to do away with the green in my room and tone down the yellow in the living room. Maybe repaint the office all together - maybe a shade of red. *shrug* Who knows? Spring is a long time from now and I'm likely to change my mind about 305 times until then.

Well, kids - I think this train is out of steam. I'm going to put on a movie and call it a night. Y'all have a great week!

Fluff

Have I mentioned that I love taking pictures? People, places, things - it doesn't matter to me. I just love photography. It's kind of a hit or miss thing with me, though. I'll certainly never be winning any awards with the MAJORITY of my photographs (mainly because I'm too lazy to try and read the owners manual for my camera), sometimes I get lucky and something really neat comes out.

So, because I haven't updated my blog in a while and I can't really think of anything heart-stoppingly interesting about which to write, I'm going to post a few of my favorite photos.

This is one of my cats. He likes to curl up in baskets and sleep the day away.

I took this photo of my daughter, at her school's Fall Fair. She had never been in a bounce house before, and she looked very young and small in there. She eventually figured it out and had a great time, but when this photo was taken she was VERY unsure about this wobbly floor.

Taken at Sea World, in San Antonio Texas. I just loved the way the legs of this rollercoaster seemed to go up all the way to the sky.

This photo was taken in San Antonio, Texas. I altered the photo with a sepia finish and then a film grain overlay. I was trying to prove a point to a friend about how easily photos can be manipulated to suit the desires of the photographer.

This is one of my yard kitties, Fred. This photo just captures his shyness.

Well, there are about a hundred others I could post, but they are closeups of my daughter. Maybe I'll post more later.

Family - Ain't it Grand?

Thanksgiving was great. I ate more than I should and STILL have lots of ham and dressing left over. We didn't mess with a turkey this year. It was actually kind of nice to have ham for a change.

I finally pinned my mother down and made her measure out the ingredients for her dressing, so I could write down a recipe. She's one of those maddening "a little of this, a little of that and then just taste it to know if it's right" kind of cooks. Oh, it just makes me want to bang my head against the refrigerator. *giggle* It took a lot longer to make it this year, but at least I can say that I have the recipe now. Maybe at Christmas I can get her chocolate pie recipe and then I'll be set.

My brother and his adorable wife came down yesterday and will be here through Sunday. The toddler gets so excited when she sees him that she makes herself sick. She's been very touchy and whiney this morning, so I made her get back into bed. She was making me crazy and herself miserable.

It started raining at some point really early this morning. It's not raining now, but it's still got that wet, overcast look outside. I think I'll take a page from my own advice and go lay down on the couch and play playstation until I fall asleep. Doesn't that sound lovely? *yawn*

ps. I want to go see Goblet of Fire again. Maybe I'll beg my parents to watch the Toddler so I can sneak off and go see it.

Happy Dances and Runny Noses

I got a job!!!! (see the happy dance??) I'll start January 3. I am SO excited!!

Oh, and I have a runny nose. But, my news today was so awesome that even a head full of snot can't bring me down. *giggle*

Ok, the Nyquil is making me sleepy and it's taking forever to type and then re-type as I spell the words wrong and insert random punctuation. Night, friends.

Thanks to everybody that's had crossed fingers and toes for me!!

And the Catch is....

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic...dontcha think
It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought...it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic...dontcha think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought...it figures
Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...dontcha think
A little too ironic...and yeah I really do think...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought...it figures
Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

Yesterday, I had a job interview for a job to dream about. Director of Communications for the Cultural Activities Center, in the next town over. The money is adequate, the benefits are good, they are off more than the banks and they are located less than three miles away from my daughter's school. But the biggest benefit is that I would be hands-on involved with the creation and execution of programs at the oldest continuously run arts council in the country.

I love the arts. Music, theatre, dance and art have always been important to me. To have to opportunity to work in a place where that was our business would almost be as good as being on stage full-time again. And, who knows - with a job like that, who's to say that I couldn't do just that?? I certainly would have time to continue singing in the choirs at TC.

There is but one catch; the job doesn't start until January. Ugh. Six more weeks. Can I wait six more weeks for the job of a lifetime?

Fun While It Lasted

You know that moment, at the very end of the Truman Show, right after they cut the transmission on the show? Everybody looks at eachother and says, "wonder what's on next?" Well, I closed the book on House Pride on Friday. *sigh* It sure was fun while it lasted. Three months and 630 posts and then I pulled the plug.

Two bull-headed people that wear their hearts on their sleeves and were both convinced in the total rightness of their position faced off. I decided that my time was better spent searching for other endeavors than dealing with the mind-numbingly blind association with the idiotic-Pat Robertson-pseudo-Christians of this world; just because I am uncompromising about my beliefs and that the aspects of my faith are non-negotiable. Well, that and my presence was unwelcome.

The good news is that nobody got hurt. Well, I was more than a little heart-broken at having to say so little to those who I have begun to call friends. There was not really time for explanations; it would have made the immediate situation worse. The biggest disappointment, though, came from the altercation itself. For a person who claimed to be able and willing to discuss sensitive topics as a mature adult, without fear of reprisals or retribution; she proved to be quite unwilling or unable to do just that. Once she heard words that she didn't like; the exchange was over. Her reason shut down and her emotion took over. Which, is quite unfortunate, but a peril one must face in taking on any such conversation. I knew how the scene would end before we even began, but felt compelled to answer truthfully when asked about my beliefs.

Perhaps one day, she'll realize that I am not her enemy and have no desire to be. I love her because she is a divine part of God's creation. Her life choices do not change the truth of the nature of her Creation; nor do they change the reality of the message I tried to convey. She is a person with a heart and a spirit that yearns for the truth of God's love and forgiving grace. I will pray daily for her and that God would, perhaps one day, give me an opportunity to be a true friend to her. One who would encourage her to examine her heart and know the truth. That she would come to know the wonderful promise that is found in grace.

I told Mother though, that it irked me that God would choose to use me to speak the truth in love a WEEK before the Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire Premiere. *pout* Oh well... Night, kids.

Stomach Ache

I haven't decided whether or not to go back to bed. My side hurts. I have this little voice in my head (no, not THAT kind of voice) that is rather paranoid and tends to have a tendency to sound like a hypochondriac. Well, this little voice is saying, "it's your appendix." Not that I would know where my appendix is in the first place, but it's where they always point to on the TV shows.

Most likely I slept funny last night and have a "crick" in my back (whatever crick means anyway). So, I'm debating laying down on the couch, putting in one of the LOTR movies and starting a nap. Maybe it'll be such a great nap that I won't wake up until my "crick" goes away. *grin*

I have a job interview tomorrow! I'm excited. It's a construction superintendent position. I would have a list and a schedule and it would be my job to keep everybody on track; building residential homes. How AWESOME would that be? I love the process of homebuilding. I don't want to do new home sales because it is too far removed from the quality part of the work. Like insurance sales, I had to make my living based on what somebody ELSE was doing. If something was messed up, it was probably out of my control but because I was the salesman, I still took the hit. YUCK. Never again, says I.

When my brother and I were children, we would design and then plan the construction of houses. Imaginary, of course, but what fun we had. We would occupy days and days and beg our mother to take us to the home improvement stores so we could get ideas and paint samples and roofing brochures and... Well, you get the picture. As I got older, I realized that architects have to know how to draw and must be very good at math. Not to mention that they design a lot of things other than houses and that just wasn't interesting to me. So, I put those childhood memories and dreams in a drawer.

I know it would be a lot of hard work. I mean, dealing with construction workers (especially since I'm a woman) would be a big job. I probably would have to break down and learn at least a little Spanish (something I've avoided because I was an opera singer and it just didn't seem relevant). Oh, and I might even have to trade in my high heels for ...gulp... boots? *giggle*

I don't know. I think it would be a challenge and talk about tangible results for your work. Gosh, you get to do the final walkthrough of a house that, partly because of your organization, is completed on time and to the quality and specification required? How AWESOME would that be??

I'm a little nervous, too, though because I know NOTHING about construction. Absolutely nothing. My dad came over last night to oil the lock on my front door. He asked me for some pliers. I handed him a pair of my needle-nosed pliers that I use to make jewelry. Hey, they are pliers too, right??? Aren't they all the same?? *grin* So, I would have a LOT to learn. But, isn't that one of my favorite things to do - learn?

So, we'll see.

In other news - I've been made a part of the staff over at House-Pride. *happy dance* I told Kiana that I like to think of myself as laid back and wise because of my age but, in all reality, I'm too much of a type-A to be laid back and my wisdom just (mostly) comes out as hot air. *grin* So, whatever. At least I'm around a lot.

I submitted my entries for the new Interhouse Competition. The challenge was to plan "THE" party of the year. I can't say or give details (obviously) about what I planned, but I had so much fun doing it! I don't even care if I win or not. I enjoyed the planning so much that I printed out my plans and put them in my big idea book; just in case I ever have an opportunity to pull of a (much cheaper) version of my party idea. Talk about fun.

Ah, I've just yawned for the 30th time in a row, so I'm going to finish this up for now and go curl up on the couch. Thus is the life of a bum. blah.