un-events.

It has been an uneventful, though slightly busy, week so far. Monday and Tuesday were pretty painless - no evening meetings or nights away from my sweetie (woohoo!). I even managed to fit in a little grocery shopping and dinner cooking - go me!  Wednesday I spend the entire day in Knoxville - left at 7:30 in the morning and go home around 9 last night - for a strategy meeting for next year's cookie sale. It was interesting, informative, and I am glad to sort of see the "backside" of the cookie sale from the pre-planning point of view. Worked a full day today and I will work about a half day tomorrow. I am actually going whitewater rafting at the Nantahala with a group of girls on our adventure team. I skipped out on the caving (no thank you!!)  and the llama trekking (totally would have!) but this I couldn't pass up!  (Note: I still can't find the beloved Chacos - did I leave them at your house??)

Hanging out with my sweetie tomorrow afternoon.
My awesome momma is coming Sunday afternoon when I get back from rafting. Rocks my world, it does.  We are trying to find a place to go horseback riding, preferrably in the battlefield. Any suggestions?  If not, we will just stay home and fold clothes. Sounds like a good time huh?

for my sister.

I really enjoy cooking. Anything really - baking is fun and always smells great, dinner always feels like an accomplishment after a day's work, and spur-of-the moment, trying new things is always fun stuff as well. However - and I have always been really clear about this - I hate doing the dishes. I mean really, really, really dislike it. Maybe I should have gone to culinary school so someone else would do my dishes now. :)

We have a wee-tiny birds nest in one of our boston ferms on the front porch. Today Chad discovered that it has 4 even teenier (is that a word?) eggs in it now. They are probably the size of a dime - maybe slightly larger - somewhere between a nickel and a dime - white with brown/black speckles on them. Can't wait to see when they hatch.

my bad.

I get all cranky and annoyed when other people don't blog for a week because they have nothing to say. And then I do the exact same thing. Literally, nothing to say. I give you permission to be cranky and annoyed.

Job changes at work this week. Nothing too exciting. Pretty much doing what I have always been doing except different somehow. More work in some areas, less work in some. Still don't know how it will look as far as my many nights and weekends working will go. I will let you know when it becomes more clear.

Still haven't sold the car. Must sell it before we can buy another. Really wish that would happen soon. Don't really know where else to post it. Any suggestions?

We have not turned the air conditioner on in our house yet this spring. Haven't had the heat on since probably the end of Feb. so we are trying to make it 3 months with a nice low electric bill and hold out till the end of May. Not sure that is going to happen since I am sitting here sweating and can't sleep at night. It did reach a blasted 92 degrees outside today so this can't last that much longer before I'm ready to put up a fight.

Small group tonight. I have worked Monday night, Tuesday night, have to work tomorrow night, and then leaving Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at camp (through Sunday). Work much?

want to buy my car?

Still trying to sell my car!

Posted it on Facebook here.

Posted it on Craigslist here. 

Will send pictures of you want to see them...

unsure.

The news media is so interesting and spurs such fascinating commentary on the world around us. We float from one news story to another – storms, royal weddings, and now dead terrorists. We flit from one emotion to another, never landing long enough to wonder where those deep feelings come from.


I am not sure about how I feel about all of this excitement and joy over the death of another human being. Before you jump all over me and tell me what a horrible person he was and how many Americans he helped kill and how he was the September 11th mastermind, let me assure you – I get that. He deserved to be punished – I believe that there should be a consequence for your negative actions, just like there can be rewards for positive ones. Yes, Osama bin Laden was a bad man who encouraged his followers to do harm instead of good. But do I get to judge him? Do I get to say that his sins were worse than my daily sins of unforgiveness, or jealousy, or anger? Does God see sin like that – different levels of heaven or hell, depending on how heinous your crimes might have been? I don’t really think so. Do I have the right to dance in the streets because one man was brought down by some brave men in our military? Do you honestly think that killing one man will bring down an entire terrorist organization or solve all our problems? And do you truly think that those radical members didn’t dance in the street when thousands of our citizens died?

I am a peace loving person. I deeply wish we could finally get to the place where we beat all of our swords into plowshares and where nations will no longer train for war (Isaiah and Micah got it right!). But, I also know we aren’t there yet. I understand the concept of “an eye for an eye”. And I do believe that a punishment was in store. But I can’t bring myself to be excited about it.

an offer.

Chad spent the better part of last week, including most of the day Wednesday, helping the city and county clear trees from roadways to ensure that emergency vehicles could get where they need to be. He has some great chainsaw skills - careful, trained, and hardworking - but of course, I am not a bit biased.

Here is Chad's offer: he will come help you clear trees/debris out of your yard/off of your house if you need him to. I can't - no skillz, you see. He will have Friday off work completely so it would be a great day if you need some help. He says he can also possibly take some other days off work, especially if they won't be called in to work with the city this week. I know that most people that read my blog don't live in the Chattanooga/Ringgold area but either way, this is an offer. If you need help or are interested, just let us know. You can leave a comment or contact us on our cell phones if you have that number...

short update.

I just cleaned 3 bags of trash from my fridge and freezer - food that was purchased that we can no longer eat and probably the most sad of all - veggies that Chad so painstakingly froze from last summer. However, much was saved from the freezer and taken to the townhouse so we really only just lost what was in the fridge. All that to say - I'm not complaining or even really all that sad about it, now that I think of it. My house is fine and all of my family is safe, uninjured, and accounted for. There are others in our church family, work family, and community that are not so fortunate. Chad's high school is completely destroyed along with most of the rest of Ringgold, GA - - either damaged or just gone.  I have distinct memories of being in India a few short years ago and hearing about a tornado that damaged my own high school - that feeling of helpless fear, anger, and sadness - and that building wasn't even completely destroyed. Even those individuals who have found their families unharmed or just have minor damage, there is this uncomfortable, pervading feeling that everything you have always known is gone - all things familiar are different now. I can not fathom the emotions, worries, and fears that are happening in Alabama, North GA, and Tennessee right now. Please, please keep all those effected by these storms in your prayers.