So this week was kind of sad at first. My Boss's last day was yesterday and that's sad because she is the best Boss I have ever had. I will definitely miss her. She was unlike any other Boss I ever had because she actually cared about her team and instead of just giving people orders she did just as much work if not more than everyone else. Well my current title is Team Lead, but for the past 10 months I have not had a team to manage, just my own projects. I went into my
Boss's Boss's (Lance) office last week and asked to be considered for a promotion to Project Manager to take over my Boss's job. I was told that that was already something that he was thinking about and that he would let me know. At small group this past Sunday Diana added my possible promotion to our prayer list. I was really really trying to stay positive, but I thought that 1 of 2 things would happen either the other Project Manager on my team would take charge of the team I am on or I would be asked to take on the extra responsibilities without the pay raise and title. This morning I was told by Lance that he wanted to meet with me and the other 2 members on my team this afternoon to talk about what was going to happen with our team. I told Diana that there is no way that I was getting promoted because I would be told 1 on 1 and not in a group meeting. Diana told me to think positively, but I was finding that very hard to do. Well later on in the afternoon a couple hours before my team meeting was scheduled Lance emailed me and asked if I could stop by his office when I get a moment. When I went in his office he asked me to shut the door. Lance told me that he wanted to promote me to Project Manager, but that I do not meet all of the criteria to be promoted to that level because I have not been with the company for 2.5 years. I will be with the company 2.5 years on April 30th so its only like a month and a half. Lance told me that in the meantime he wants me to take on the extra responsibility of being in charge of the team. So for a month and a half I am assuming the responsibilities of a Project Manager without the title and without a raise. The good news is that in a month and a half I will be promoted to Project Manager! I am so excited! I have worked so hard for this! The team meeting later on was to let the other 2 know on my team that I am the Lead and that they report to me. How cool is that? LOL. Prayer and positive thinking really do work!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Weekend Adventures
I know I know I haven't blogged in awhile so it would be too long to catch everyone up on everything that has been going on so how about a weekend update?
Saturday me and Trish had plans to go to a concert in Chicago and the plan was to make it back for church on Sunday morning, but that didn't quite work out the way we planned. We left the house a few minutes before we intended on Saturday morning feeling pretty good about the much needed road trip. We made a stop at the gas station, and while Trish was inside getting money out of the ATM for me since my bank had an ATM in the gas station and we were trying to save time. Well I picked to go to that gas station because my bank had an ATM there....well all of the gas pumps were having issues and pumping annoyingly slow. I swiped my bank card and it took over 5 minutes for it to pump $3.31 and then it shut off so I swiped my card again and it pumped $3.48 very very slow and then shut off again. Then we went to Trish's bank and it was very cold and she didn't want to get out so I drove up to the ATM and did it for her. Well when the ATM went to spit the money out I could see it sitting in there but it did not spit it out. I was afraid that the door would shut and it would not give me the money so I had to reach my hand in there and pull the money out. Then we went to burger king to get a quick breakfast on the run and the guy was really rude and after I drive away Trish realized that we didn't have straws so I turned around and Trish ran in and got straws. We were on the road again headed for the highway when Trish realized that they didn't give us all of our food....ugh what a morning. So we finally made it on the road and made pretty good time getting to our hotel. We checked into the hotel early before making the additional 2 hour drive to Chicago. We ate at our favorite restaurant in Chicago before heading to the concert. We didn't want to pay 2 huge parking fees so we parked close to our restaurant with the intent of walking to the concert. It was bitterly cold and the wind ripped right through us. We decided that we could always catch a taxi if the cold got to be too much. We ended up walking the whole 1.88 miles to the concert. We are nuts I know. The concert we went to see is Chuck Wicks and a band called Telluride opened for them. The concert started over 2 hours later than it was supposed to which was cutting into our sleep time. Instead of taking a taxi back to our car some friends that were at the concert too offered to take us back to our car. We waiting around with them after the concert and got pictures with Chuck Wicks and with the Telluride band. I think it was about 3am by the time we made it back to our car. Oh and did I mention that after we got to Chicago I realized that I had a head light out? ugh. I was way too tired to drive the 2 hours back to the hotel so Trish drove and when she got too tired at one point she pulled over and slept for like an hour. We finally made it back to the hotel several minutes after we were supposed to have left in order to make it to church in time. Wow we are getting older and can't take surviving on no sleep anymore. I am really upset that we missed church, but glad that we wont miss the message since we can listen to it on itunes.
Saturday me and Trish had plans to go to a concert in Chicago and the plan was to make it back for church on Sunday morning, but that didn't quite work out the way we planned. We left the house a few minutes before we intended on Saturday morning feeling pretty good about the much needed road trip. We made a stop at the gas station, and while Trish was inside getting money out of the ATM for me since my bank had an ATM in the gas station and we were trying to save time. Well I picked to go to that gas station because my bank had an ATM there....well all of the gas pumps were having issues and pumping annoyingly slow. I swiped my bank card and it took over 5 minutes for it to pump $3.31 and then it shut off so I swiped my card again and it pumped $3.48 very very slow and then shut off again. Then we went to Trish's bank and it was very cold and she didn't want to get out so I drove up to the ATM and did it for her. Well when the ATM went to spit the money out I could see it sitting in there but it did not spit it out. I was afraid that the door would shut and it would not give me the money so I had to reach my hand in there and pull the money out. Then we went to burger king to get a quick breakfast on the run and the guy was really rude and after I drive away Trish realized that we didn't have straws so I turned around and Trish ran in and got straws. We were on the road again headed for the highway when Trish realized that they didn't give us all of our food....ugh what a morning. So we finally made it on the road and made pretty good time getting to our hotel. We checked into the hotel early before making the additional 2 hour drive to Chicago. We ate at our favorite restaurant in Chicago before heading to the concert. We didn't want to pay 2 huge parking fees so we parked close to our restaurant with the intent of walking to the concert. It was bitterly cold and the wind ripped right through us. We decided that we could always catch a taxi if the cold got to be too much. We ended up walking the whole 1.88 miles to the concert. We are nuts I know. The concert we went to see is Chuck Wicks and a band called Telluride opened for them. The concert started over 2 hours later than it was supposed to which was cutting into our sleep time. Instead of taking a taxi back to our car some friends that were at the concert too offered to take us back to our car. We waiting around with them after the concert and got pictures with Chuck Wicks and with the Telluride band. I think it was about 3am by the time we made it back to our car. Oh and did I mention that after we got to Chicago I realized that I had a head light out? ugh. I was way too tired to drive the 2 hours back to the hotel so Trish drove and when she got too tired at one point she pulled over and slept for like an hour. We finally made it back to the hotel several minutes after we were supposed to have left in order to make it to church in time. Wow we are getting older and can't take surviving on no sleep anymore. I am really upset that we missed church, but glad that we wont miss the message since we can listen to it on itunes.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Prayer Request
Hey everyone I wanted to ask everyone to pray for Trish's Dad Jim. He was in a car accicent yesterday and staying over night at the hospital again tonight. He does not have any broken bones, but does have a pacemaker therefore they are still running some tests to make sure everything is okay because his chest hit the steering wheel. He has diabetes really bad and apparently his sugar got real low and he passed out while driving. There were several cars involved in the accident, and I am not sure if the others involved in the accident were hurt or not.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Healthy Insanity
I received this in an email this morning and thought it was funny enough to pass on.
20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Some one Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label it 'In'.
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Smuggling Diamonds'.
7. Finish All Your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy'.
8. Don't use any punctuation.
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10 Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
11 Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go' .
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13 Go To A Poetry Recital. And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?
14 Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.
15 Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because
You're Not In the Mood.
16 Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
17 When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
18 When Leaving The Z oo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling
'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
19 Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'
20 And The Final Way To Keep A H ealthy Level Of Insanity ..
Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile.
20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Some one Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label it 'In'.
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Smuggling Diamonds'.
7. Finish All Your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy'.
8. Don't use any punctuation.
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10 Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
11 Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go' .
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13 Go To A Poetry Recital. And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?
14 Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.
15 Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because
You're Not In the Mood.
16 Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
17 When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
18 When Leaving The Z oo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling
'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
19 Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'
20 And The Final Way To Keep A H ealthy Level Of Insanity ..
Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wheel of Fortune!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did anyone watch Wheel of Fortune last night? Me and Trish were in the audience and you could see a brief glimpse of us when they zoomed in on the winner's family. Well I'm not sure if you will be able to see us again in the audience but everyone should watch anyway at 7pm tonight just in case you can see me and Trish in the audience again....LOL. Oh and don't forget about the Price is Right on February 2nd because you will definitely be able to see us in the front row!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Kaylie
You all know my sweet loveable niece Kaylie. Well I found out last weekend that her Mom was moving her to Tennesse at the beginning of the month. This saddens me very much and I am on the verge of tears everytime I think about it. I am used to seeing my niece almost every weekend. I see her more than her father does and more than her Mother's parents do. I can't possibly imagine what it will be like when I can't see her whenever I want. They are moving 6 hours away in Tennessee. Brittany (Kaylie's mom) got evicted from their apartment because she was unable to pay the rent. She is a server and does not make a lot of money to be able to support herself and her daughter. She had a new apartment lined up that cost less, but she still needs several hundred dollars to be able to move into. Instead of trying to get the money she has decided to move in with her Aunt in Tennessee. I have been praying so much for this situation to change and for somehow Brittany and Kaylie to not have to move away.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Scentsy Candle Party
I wanted to remind everyone that me and Trish G are having a Scentsy candle party this Saturday at Center Pointe at 1:00pm. We will be providing yummy snacks and drinks. We hope to see everyone there, oh and of course bring friends!
Clean
I'm sure everyone can relate to just cleaning your car inside and out, right? Do you know what I mean......that feeling of satisfaction of something accomplished and now when you get in your car you don't have to think.....oh I really need to clean my car out. Well I didn't clean my car out...LOL. But since Sunday I have just been in this strango cleaning mood. I'm talking dust, vacuum, ALL my laundry, the works. My room is like spotless and I have actually been using my clothes hamper instead of throwing clothes in a pile....and its very calming now when I go to bed because my room is not a dissaray. Well last night when I got home from work I just started cleaning up the kitchen, sweeping and cleaning the counters and getting rid of clutter.....Trish thought I was nuts....and I have never been a clean freak...but sometimes the clutter just drives me nuts.
Well today at work I started rearranging things on my desk, which made me notice that there was dust everywhere. So I completely cleaned and reorganized my desk and got rid of the clutter. I love it! LOL...I know I'm nuts. I think I function better and can think better when the dust and clutter is gone....or at least I feel better anyway...LOL.
Thanks for reading my off the wall post. Trish and Diana got on to me about not posting a blog in awhile so this is what you get...LOL.
Well today at work I started rearranging things on my desk, which made me notice that there was dust everywhere. So I completely cleaned and reorganized my desk and got rid of the clutter. I love it! LOL...I know I'm nuts. I think I function better and can think better when the dust and clutter is gone....or at least I feel better anyway...LOL.
Thanks for reading my off the wall post. Trish and Diana got on to me about not posting a blog in awhile so this is what you get...LOL.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Challenge
So I took Ray's challenge about 10 minutes of God time each day. I just now started it this week on Sunday night and I have been spending some time before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning talking to God and reading my Bible. I have been setting my alarm to get up just a little bit earlier to make sure that I make time for God.
I have never read the whole Bible so I decided to start from the beginning and my plan is to read the whole Bible from start to finish. The only problem that I have experienced so far is that I have a king james bible, and sometimes its difficult to understand. Thou shalt needest a Bible that is easier to understand. I am a smart person, but I find myself reading over a verse a couple times to make sure that I understand what it is saying. I know I had an NIV Bible somewhere or had one a few years ago, but I have not been able to find it.
I have never read the whole Bible so I decided to start from the beginning and my plan is to read the whole Bible from start to finish. The only problem that I have experienced so far is that I have a king james bible, and sometimes its difficult to understand. Thou shalt needest a Bible that is easier to understand. I am a smart person, but I find myself reading over a verse a couple times to make sure that I understand what it is saying. I know I had an NIV Bible somewhere or had one a few years ago, but I have not been able to find it.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Jerkface the llama is in the fridge!
For all of you reading this that do not understand my bizarre blog title then you missed a really awesome time last night at Center Pointe.
Scattergories was the best.....don't forget to hide your nose hairs sugar booger....LOL.
All of the kids had fun playing air hockey, while the adults enjoyed scattergories, Wii bowling, Wii american idol, trouble, oh and can't forget our mock poker game. I had a blast bonding with everyone that came. I have never sang in front of people so it was nice to have my back facing everyone when Christine made sing on the Wii American Idol game. Oh and for those of you who have already seen Christine's blog....that is not what we really sounded like...LOL. Me, Christine, and Trish #2 actually got really good scores when we sang so we all tried to sound really bad to see what the judges would say. Thanks Jared for recording! LOL. Oh and of course we had lots of yummy food. I think that we need to all plan another game night at CP.
Scattergories was the best.....don't forget to hide your nose hairs sugar booger....LOL.
All of the kids had fun playing air hockey, while the adults enjoyed scattergories, Wii bowling, Wii american idol, trouble, oh and can't forget our mock poker game. I had a blast bonding with everyone that came. I have never sang in front of people so it was nice to have my back facing everyone when Christine made sing on the Wii American Idol game. Oh and for those of you who have already seen Christine's blog....that is not what we really sounded like...LOL. Me, Christine, and Trish #2 actually got really good scores when we sang so we all tried to sound really bad to see what the judges would say. Thanks Jared for recording! LOL. Oh and of course we had lots of yummy food. I think that we need to all plan another game night at CP.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Suck it up!
The title of my blog comes from advice that my Boss gave me when there are things at work that happen that I don't like or that I can do nothing about.....Suck it up!!!!
Yesterday started out fine, except for the fact that I was having a bad hair day and would have much rather curled up on the couch all day then came to work. Have you ever just had one of those days? Well I was having one of those days yesterday, and I was in the kitchen making some oatmeal for breakfast when one of my co-workers came in. I used to think she was a bit snobbish, but the truth is she is just quiet and withdrawn until you get to know her more. Yesterday I was wearing a pink shirt and in the kitchen she told me that pink is definitely my color...that it really brightens up my face. I told her that I was having one of those days and let her know that her compliment meant a lot to me. Then yesterday I find out at about 4:45pm that that very same co-worker that brightened my day was fired. I thought that my company was done with the getting rid of people and I heard from her Boss that there were still more people that are going to be let go. They say it was because of revenue and her not bringing enough money in. So on that one would assume that her position was not needed, right? Wrong! I come in today to find out that they replaced her with a guy from another team that had not been with the company very long. How does that make any sense? To me it doesn't. I don't think its fair. She had been going through a rough divorce and is out on her own in the first time in 15 years and she has 2 kids to , and now she has no job. I know that my company doesn't think of people's personal lives when they fire someone, but its still not fair.
Yesterday started out fine, except for the fact that I was having a bad hair day and would have much rather curled up on the couch all day then came to work. Have you ever just had one of those days? Well I was having one of those days yesterday, and I was in the kitchen making some oatmeal for breakfast when one of my co-workers came in. I used to think she was a bit snobbish, but the truth is she is just quiet and withdrawn until you get to know her more. Yesterday I was wearing a pink shirt and in the kitchen she told me that pink is definitely my color...that it really brightens up my face. I told her that I was having one of those days and let her know that her compliment meant a lot to me. Then yesterday I find out at about 4:45pm that that very same co-worker that brightened my day was fired. I thought that my company was done with the getting rid of people and I heard from her Boss that there were still more people that are going to be let go. They say it was because of revenue and her not bringing enough money in. So on that one would assume that her position was not needed, right? Wrong! I come in today to find out that they replaced her with a guy from another team that had not been with the company very long. How does that make any sense? To me it doesn't. I don't think its fair. She had been going through a rough divorce and is out on her own in the first time in 15 years and she has 2 kids to , and now she has no job. I know that my company doesn't think of people's personal lives when they fire someone, but its still not fair.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Think Positive
So I keep talking about writing a blog when I am not bad about good things instead of just the things that have mad me mad this week. Well here goes.
The good that has come out of work this week is that I still will get another half day off work on a day of my choice for having to work on a day when everyone else is off. Also I got approved to start taking classes to get my CAPM certification. The company is paying for me to take the classes and take the test to get my certification. I am not a Project Manager YET, but I am one step down from it. The CAPM certification is a certification that my company wants all Project Managers to have so that will be good for me already to have it when a Project Manager position is open. The way I look at it is that the company would not be willing to pay for this for me if they didn't see me as a Project Manager in the future. Oh and when I had my review my Boss told me that I was wonderful and that I am a great employee so thats always good to hear. I do feel appreciated at work even if this week hasn't exactly turned out as I planned. Oh and I am definitely thankful that I do have a job especially with the way the economy is.
As far as my unexpected flat tire....I am glad that it was not something more costly and thankful that I do have a vehicle.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!
The good that has come out of work this week is that I still will get another half day off work on a day of my choice for having to work on a day when everyone else is off. Also I got approved to start taking classes to get my CAPM certification. The company is paying for me to take the classes and take the test to get my certification. I am not a Project Manager YET, but I am one step down from it. The CAPM certification is a certification that my company wants all Project Managers to have so that will be good for me already to have it when a Project Manager position is open. The way I look at it is that the company would not be willing to pay for this for me if they didn't see me as a Project Manager in the future. Oh and when I had my review my Boss told me that I was wonderful and that I am a great employee so thats always good to hear. I do feel appreciated at work even if this week hasn't exactly turned out as I planned. Oh and I am definitely thankful that I do have a job especially with the way the economy is.
As far as my unexpected flat tire....I am glad that it was not something more costly and thankful that I do have a vehicle.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
It just keeps getting better......NOT!
So I arrived to work this morning with a flat tire....completely flat!!!! A couple of the guys from the office were nice enough to take off my flat tire and put my spare tire on. It was quite funny because at one point there were 3 guys standing around my car so it looked like it took 3 guys to change my tire. But this means that now out of my paycheck I have an unexpected expense.
So then my Boss is still preparing my review and she had brought up to her Boss about me getting my annual raise and her Boss told her that I don't qualify because I do not have enough reviews for the year. How is that my fault? I came to this team in May of this year and asked my previous Boss several times about giving me my first quarter review and I have yet to get it. My current boss had told me months ago not to worry about it that she would push my raise through without out that review. Well it looks like I got screwed because my old Boss did not give me the review that they were supposed to give me.
So in case everyone hasn't figured it out...........I still have the blues........
So then my Boss is still preparing my review and she had brought up to her Boss about me getting my annual raise and her Boss told her that I don't qualify because I do not have enough reviews for the year. How is that my fault? I came to this team in May of this year and asked my previous Boss several times about giving me my first quarter review and I have yet to get it. My current boss had told me months ago not to worry about it that she would push my raise through without out that review. Well it looks like I got screwed because my old Boss did not give me the review that they were supposed to give me.
So in case everyone hasn't figured it out...........I still have the blues........
Monday, December 22, 2008
The blues
Does anyone else have the blues? I was going to title my blog Christmas blues, but its not Christmas that has got me down. My original work plan this week was to only work Monday and Tuesday, I was going to "work from home" on Christmas Eve, and then completely have Christmas Day and the day after off. I had plans to go to Dave & Busters on Christmas Eve because me and Trish still have gift cards left that still have Money on them. My family is coming over for dinner on Christmas and then the day after Christmas me and Trish were going to the festival of lights at the Zoo with Trish's sister in law and her friend. Well its funny how things can change in an instant. My bosses boss did not remember saying that me and my co-worker could work from home on Christmas Eve and he said that it is all a perception thing that someone from the team has to be here since my Boss already is taking it as a vacation day. So he said that both me and my co-worker have to be here on Christmas Eve and only 1 of us is allowed to leave early. My boss said that whoever doesn't leave early on Christmas Eve can leave early on New Year's Eve so my co-worker didn't care so I said I'm leaving early on Christmas Eve. The other thing is that my bosses boss told my boss that she needs to force us to use vacation time. So that means that I have to use 1/2 a day of vacation time and still be available by phone and email after I leave the office until 5:30pm on Christmas Eve. Makes total sense, right? Not! So then the other thing is that the whole office is supposed to be closed the day after Christmas and 1 of my customer's submitted a request for a job that will be an all day thing on Friday. I tried to get it switched to another day, but that didn't work out. So now I have to work all day on Friday and only get a half day off on Christmas Eve and still have to use vacation time for it so basically I totally get gipped out of 1 day of Holiday time. My boss said that she is going to talk to her boss about it again, but I told her not to worry about it because I didn't want to seem like a whiner...if he thinks that its fair that everyone else gets a vacation day on Friday and I have to work and I don't even get Christmas Eve off in return then whatever.........
The Weekend Before Christmas!
Wow this weekend has definitely been very eventful:
Friday night I had my nephew and my Mom over and Trish made us all dinner. My nephew stayed the night with me and he is definitely a lot to handle. He is 9 years old and has adhd and does not even like someone suggesting something he needs to do because he is a big boy and he can do it himself or so he told me. I survived through the adventures with my nephew, but ended up with a big headache that turned out to be from sinuses and not from my nephew like I presumed.
Saturday morning Sarah came over at about 11:30 and Sarah and me and Trish baked all day well it seemed like all day...lol. Sarah left at about 3:00pm and me and Trish kept baking until about 4:30. We made every kind of cookie you can think of, fudge, rice krispie treats, brownies, and potato candy. Oh and in case anyone else didn't know, potato candy is really made with potato....lol. Me and Trish had a great time getting to know Sarah better. Our table, counter, and fridge is filled with all kinds of goodies. Me and Trish are making up tins of goodies to give to our families for Christmas. We of course had to sample some for ourselves. We even brought Ray a tin of goodies on Sunday because we heard that he had to sample any baking...lol.
Saturday night I enjoyed the last night of the Nativity. I had invited my friend Melissa to come and bring her 3 kids to see the live nativity several times and she finally did bring them. Melissa's 9 year old Rebekah had asked me what this was all about and why they were there and before I could answer Rebekah her 5 year old sister Charity said, "That's Baby Jesus".
The church Christmas party and ornament exchange was tons of fun. All of the food was delicious, and the ornament exchange was a blast. Who would have thought that a plunger would have been a big hit....lol.
Sunday's message was great! Thanks Ray! The Praise Team did an awesome job! When I got home from church I took almost a 2 hour nap because I had a really bad sinus headache. At 4pm The Smith small group as well as Sarah, Dan, Isaac, Eli, Jen, Travis, and Corey went to sing Christmas carols at the Continental Manor in Blanchester. The message that we were coming was not relayed to the people that were working yesterday; therefore we stood in the middle of each hall and then in front and sang Christmas Carols. We also went into the rooms to hand each resident a homemade gift. My favorite was the resident named Jeremy. Jeremy had a special request and wanted us to sing Amazing Grace. We all seemed to falter a little when it came to singing the words to the 2nd verse, but my Mom remembered all of the words and kept us singing strong. Jeremy was a comedian and had all of us rolling on the floor laughing.....who knew that poop could be so funny.....LOL.
After we went to the nursing home I went home and worked on the scrap book that I am making my Mom for Christmas and Trish helped me wrap some Christmas presents. Thanks Trish!
Now I was hoping that I would only have 2 days of work this week and that I would get to "work from home" on Christmas Eve, but my Boss has Christmas Eve off so I may have to take care of some of her accounts. I am supposed to be off on Friday, but a customer just put a huge all day job request in for Friday. I am trying to get it switched to tomorrow so I am hoping that it will work out and that I will really have the day off on Friday.
Friday night I had my nephew and my Mom over and Trish made us all dinner. My nephew stayed the night with me and he is definitely a lot to handle. He is 9 years old and has adhd and does not even like someone suggesting something he needs to do because he is a big boy and he can do it himself or so he told me. I survived through the adventures with my nephew, but ended up with a big headache that turned out to be from sinuses and not from my nephew like I presumed.
Saturday morning Sarah came over at about 11:30 and Sarah and me and Trish baked all day well it seemed like all day...lol. Sarah left at about 3:00pm and me and Trish kept baking until about 4:30. We made every kind of cookie you can think of, fudge, rice krispie treats, brownies, and potato candy. Oh and in case anyone else didn't know, potato candy is really made with potato....lol. Me and Trish had a great time getting to know Sarah better. Our table, counter, and fridge is filled with all kinds of goodies. Me and Trish are making up tins of goodies to give to our families for Christmas. We of course had to sample some for ourselves. We even brought Ray a tin of goodies on Sunday because we heard that he had to sample any baking...lol.
Saturday night I enjoyed the last night of the Nativity. I had invited my friend Melissa to come and bring her 3 kids to see the live nativity several times and she finally did bring them. Melissa's 9 year old Rebekah had asked me what this was all about and why they were there and before I could answer Rebekah her 5 year old sister Charity said, "That's Baby Jesus".
The church Christmas party and ornament exchange was tons of fun. All of the food was delicious, and the ornament exchange was a blast. Who would have thought that a plunger would have been a big hit....lol.
Sunday's message was great! Thanks Ray! The Praise Team did an awesome job! When I got home from church I took almost a 2 hour nap because I had a really bad sinus headache. At 4pm The Smith small group as well as Sarah, Dan, Isaac, Eli, Jen, Travis, and Corey went to sing Christmas carols at the Continental Manor in Blanchester. The message that we were coming was not relayed to the people that were working yesterday; therefore we stood in the middle of each hall and then in front and sang Christmas Carols. We also went into the rooms to hand each resident a homemade gift. My favorite was the resident named Jeremy. Jeremy had a special request and wanted us to sing Amazing Grace. We all seemed to falter a little when it came to singing the words to the 2nd verse, but my Mom remembered all of the words and kept us singing strong. Jeremy was a comedian and had all of us rolling on the floor laughing.....who knew that poop could be so funny.....LOL.
After we went to the nursing home I went home and worked on the scrap book that I am making my Mom for Christmas and Trish helped me wrap some Christmas presents. Thanks Trish!
Now I was hoping that I would only have 2 days of work this week and that I would get to "work from home" on Christmas Eve, but my Boss has Christmas Eve off so I may have to take care of some of her accounts. I am supposed to be off on Friday, but a customer just put a huge all day job request in for Friday. I am trying to get it switched to tomorrow so I am hoping that it will work out and that I will really have the day off on Friday.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Christmas Cheer
The Smith Small group all gathered at mine and Trish's place this past Sunday to make bookmarks and cards to bring to the Continental Manor nursing home in Blanchester. We plan to go there this coming Sunday after Church and sing Christmas Carols and bring our homemade gifts. We had lots of fun, and even Scott who claims he is not crafty joined in and tied some knots. Here are some pictures of our fun and crafts.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Are you guilty?
Is anyone else guilting of judging people that you have never met? Well last week me and Trish went to see Emerson Drive in concert. We met up with a bunch of our friends that we had met by going to Emerson Drive concerts, and there were probably 10 of us near the front of the stage. It was standing room only so very difficult to save anyone a spot. 9 out of the 10 of us had a meet and greet pass to get our picture with the band before the show. This posed as a dilemma because how was the 1 person left going to save a spot for all of us. I mentioned to a couple of my friends that we could ask the 2 ladies behind us if they would help save our spots and we all agreed that they looked way too snooty. Kelly had asked 3 guys that were standing beside us to help save our spots and they agreed but it would be extra helpful for the 2 "snooty" girls to help save our spots. As we were all filing out to go get in line for our meet and greet I decided that I was going to ask the "snooty" girls to help save our spots and to my surprise they were both very pleasant and agreed to do what they could to help save our spots. We had to go to the front of the place to meet with the bands road manager to get in line, and then he walked us back stage. We had to walk past the front of the stage where our spots were and I thought it was quite funny to see a large gap on the left in front of the stage where all of the nice people around us were helping to save our spots. When I got back to my spot the non snooty ladies asked me how it was meeting the band. I told them that it was wonderful and thanked them for helping to hold our spots. Later on while the concert was going on one of the girls proceeded to chit chat with me about the band.
The moral of the story is that we should not judge people. Sometimes we make assumptions about people and who knows they could be really great people that we don't get to know because we choose to judge. Try talking to them instead of judging them. What do you have to lose?
The moral of the story is that we should not judge people. Sometimes we make assumptions about people and who knows they could be really great people that we don't get to know because we choose to judge. Try talking to them instead of judging them. What do you have to lose?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Who Cares?
I just read a post on someone's blog that I figured I must share with everyone.
Nobody Cares?
A church newsletter mentioned a man who visited eighteen different churches on successive Sundays. He was trying to find out what the churches were really like. He said, "I sat near the front. After the service, I walked slowly to the rear, then returned to the front and went back to the foyer using another aisle. I smiled and was neatly dressed. I asked one person to direct me to a specific place: a fellowship hall, pastor's study, etc. I remained for coffee if served. I used a scale to rate the reception I received.
I awarded points on the following basis:
10 for a smile from a worshiper
10 for a greeting from someone sitting nearby
100 for an exchange of names
200 for an invitation to have coffee
200 for an invitation to return
1000 for an introduction to another worshiper
2000 for an invitation to meet the pastor
On this scale, eleven of the eighteen churches earned fewer than 100 points.Five actually received less than 20.The conclusion: The doctrine may be biblical, the singing inspirational, the sermon uplifting, but when a visitor finds nobody who cares whether he's here, he is not likely to come back.
~Author unknown
What is everyone's thoughts on this? Have you ever been in a similar situation? I remember several years ago when I was looking for a church home I visited this one church maybe 4 or 5 times, because I figured I wouldn't know for sure if I am meant to be at that church on just the first visit. I always sat close to the back, and a couple of times I came by myself and a couple of times I brought my Mom with me. After several visits I did not know anyone's name and I had never talked to the Pastor.
Nobody Cares?
A church newsletter mentioned a man who visited eighteen different churches on successive Sundays. He was trying to find out what the churches were really like. He said, "I sat near the front. After the service, I walked slowly to the rear, then returned to the front and went back to the foyer using another aisle. I smiled and was neatly dressed. I asked one person to direct me to a specific place: a fellowship hall, pastor's study, etc. I remained for coffee if served. I used a scale to rate the reception I received.
I awarded points on the following basis:
10 for a smile from a worshiper
10 for a greeting from someone sitting nearby
100 for an exchange of names
200 for an invitation to have coffee
200 for an invitation to return
1000 for an introduction to another worshiper
2000 for an invitation to meet the pastor
On this scale, eleven of the eighteen churches earned fewer than 100 points.Five actually received less than 20.The conclusion: The doctrine may be biblical, the singing inspirational, the sermon uplifting, but when a visitor finds nobody who cares whether he's here, he is not likely to come back.
~Author unknown
What is everyone's thoughts on this? Have you ever been in a similar situation? I remember several years ago when I was looking for a church home I visited this one church maybe 4 or 5 times, because I figured I wouldn't know for sure if I am meant to be at that church on just the first visit. I always sat close to the back, and a couple of times I came by myself and a couple of times I brought my Mom with me. After several visits I did not know anyone's name and I had never talked to the Pastor.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Traveling Adventures
I was not planning on doing a Vacation tell all because knowing me it would be one really long blog so I am going to spread out my vacation experience in more than 1 blog. I am sure since most of you are linked to Trish's blog that you will hear about a lot of the same things, but I am sure that me and Trish might each tell the story from a different point of view..LOL.
We left for Vacation on Friday the 14th, our plan was leaving out of Indianapolis at 6:00pm and we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We boarded the plan 30 minutes before take off. I had the window seat which I really enjoyed. Many of you may know that I am or well was really really afraid of falling lets just say that was before this trip. Well I am still not completely cured, but I have a better outlook on it. While the plane was in the air me and God talked and I just let him have it all. If the plane was meant to fall from the sky then so be it, but I was trusting that God would take care of me and I felt so much better about the plane ride after that. That doesn't mean I still didn't freak out a little before take off and landing.
We landed in Phoenix, AZ for our layover at almost 8pm Arizona time. We were scheduled to take the same plane to California, but it wasn't going to leave for another 45 minutes so we got out to stretch our legs. When we came back from the restroom and getting something to drink at Starbucks we heard that our flight was delayed. We asked one of the employee's what was going on and they said that the brakes needed changed on the plane and that they were hoping to have it done soon because the Santa Ana, CA airport that we were flying into had a flying curfew and planes were not allowed in the air after 11pm California time. If our flight didn't leave in time then we were going to be stuck in Phoenix for the night. I was a little freaked out that the plane we were just on needed its brakes changed because if it was that bad to not even be able to make one more flight then what were they doing flying us to Phoenix on those brakes? They kept upping our estimated departure by 15 minutes every 15 minutes. The airport finally decided to get all of our luggage off the plane and put it on a new plane for us to take to California. We landed in California at 10:50pm California time...10 minutes before the flying curfew was in place.
We then went downstairs to get our luggage and pick up our rental car. When we got to the Hertz counter it had a sign that said "were closed" on it. At that point I will admit that I freak out ALOT! But level headed Trish got closer to the sign and noticed that the print under the closed sign said to go to the Hertz counter on the ground floor of the parking garage. We managed to get our rental car....lol. We were very tired and it was so difficult to understand the guy behind the counter. He was going over the terms & conditions and all he got out of his mouth was "if your car disappears" I told him that it will not disappear, and he said it happens. I guess disappears is another way of saying stolen. We chose the economy class car and were very pleased with our Mazda 3 rental car. On the way out of the garage with our rental car we saw this little matchbox looking rental car, and I told Trish that if we were not chatty and nice with the guy then we may have ended up with that car for our rental...lol
Okay that is all I am going to write about for now because this is getting to be longer than I expected so I will just say to be continued.........
We left for Vacation on Friday the 14th, our plan was leaving out of Indianapolis at 6:00pm and we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We boarded the plan 30 minutes before take off. I had the window seat which I really enjoyed. Many of you may know that I am or well was really really afraid of falling lets just say that was before this trip. Well I am still not completely cured, but I have a better outlook on it. While the plane was in the air me and God talked and I just let him have it all. If the plane was meant to fall from the sky then so be it, but I was trusting that God would take care of me and I felt so much better about the plane ride after that. That doesn't mean I still didn't freak out a little before take off and landing.
We landed in Phoenix, AZ for our layover at almost 8pm Arizona time. We were scheduled to take the same plane to California, but it wasn't going to leave for another 45 minutes so we got out to stretch our legs. When we came back from the restroom and getting something to drink at Starbucks we heard that our flight was delayed. We asked one of the employee's what was going on and they said that the brakes needed changed on the plane and that they were hoping to have it done soon because the Santa Ana, CA airport that we were flying into had a flying curfew and planes were not allowed in the air after 11pm California time. If our flight didn't leave in time then we were going to be stuck in Phoenix for the night. I was a little freaked out that the plane we were just on needed its brakes changed because if it was that bad to not even be able to make one more flight then what were they doing flying us to Phoenix on those brakes? They kept upping our estimated departure by 15 minutes every 15 minutes. The airport finally decided to get all of our luggage off the plane and put it on a new plane for us to take to California. We landed in California at 10:50pm California time...10 minutes before the flying curfew was in place.
We then went downstairs to get our luggage and pick up our rental car. When we got to the Hertz counter it had a sign that said "were closed" on it. At that point I will admit that I freak out ALOT! But level headed Trish got closer to the sign and noticed that the print under the closed sign said to go to the Hertz counter on the ground floor of the parking garage. We managed to get our rental car....lol. We were very tired and it was so difficult to understand the guy behind the counter. He was going over the terms & conditions and all he got out of his mouth was "if your car disappears" I told him that it will not disappear, and he said it happens. I guess disappears is another way of saying stolen. We chose the economy class car and were very pleased with our Mazda 3 rental car. On the way out of the garage with our rental car we saw this little matchbox looking rental car, and I told Trish that if we were not chatty and nice with the guy then we may have ended up with that car for our rental...lol
Okay that is all I am going to write about for now because this is getting to be longer than I expected so I will just say to be continued.........
Friday, November 7, 2008
My 2008 Bucket List
At the very end of 2007 me and Trish #2 wrote out a list of everything that we had wanted to accomplish in 2008. The start of the 30 days to live series at Center Pointe got me thinking that we did not have a single thing on our list of things to accomplish in 2008 that pertained to God or Church, or about leading people to Jesus, or about even attending church because at the end of 2007 me and Trish had not been to church in at least a year or more. How would things have been different if our list would have been different? I honestly don't know, but to be honest with everyone I am glad that things turned out the way that they did. Had our list included finding a Church then me and Trish may have ended up in separate churches because she grew up in a Nazarene church and I grew up in a Baptist church. Center Pointe feels like home...all of the people are amazing. When I attended church before Center Pointe that's all it was just attending church, but now I want to be a part of something wonderful and life changing. Before when I just attending church I would wake up some Sunday's and just not feel like going to church and I would make excuses and then more weeks would pass with me missing church. But now I actually want to go to church, headache or no sleep I'm there. Since I have started at Center Pointe something has changed in me at least. Well when me and Trish first started going we missed a couple of Sunday's because of pre arranged plans, one of them being us going up to our friends house in Columbus. Well last Saturday night me and Trish visited our friends up in Columbus and stayed the night, and instead of making excuses as to why we can't go to church Sunday we were both discussing the reasons why we CANT miss church Sunday. Therefore me and Trish got up early and hit the road at 7:45am on Sunday to make the drive from Columbus so that we did not miss church on Sunday. We sure were tired but it was definitely worth it.
Anyway the point to all this is that I am really glad that me and Trish did not put anything God or Church related on our 2008 list, because I really do not think that things would have turned out the way that they have if we had included it on our list. I didn't put God by my side before like I do now, and if I had then he would have been on my list. He will definitely be on my list from now on.
2008 has been a really great year for me! Me and Trish have made this year about things that we have never done before, such as trying new things and stepping out of our box and our comfort zone.
Oh and I also wanted to add about Ray's message from this past Sunday and all of his talk about riding the drop zone at King's Island. I have a huge fear of falling. I have ridden the drop zone twice, the first time was because Trish told me that her Mom rode it and I figured that if her Mom did it then it shouldn't be that bad. I didn't like it at all and I am always afraid on those rides that the ride is going to break and my feet are going to go smashing into the crowd. I know I know its a little crazy of me to think like that. Well me and Trish are going to Disneyland on vacation and there is this elevator ride that drops you straight down picks you up again and repeatedly drops you again. I told Trish that there was no way she was getting me on it, but from listening to Ray I think I am going to live a little and face my fears and just do it! Yes yes Trish you heard me correctly.
Anyway the point to all this is that I am really glad that me and Trish did not put anything God or Church related on our 2008 list, because I really do not think that things would have turned out the way that they have if we had included it on our list. I didn't put God by my side before like I do now, and if I had then he would have been on my list. He will definitely be on my list from now on.
2008 has been a really great year for me! Me and Trish have made this year about things that we have never done before, such as trying new things and stepping out of our box and our comfort zone.
Oh and I also wanted to add about Ray's message from this past Sunday and all of his talk about riding the drop zone at King's Island. I have a huge fear of falling. I have ridden the drop zone twice, the first time was because Trish told me that her Mom rode it and I figured that if her Mom did it then it shouldn't be that bad. I didn't like it at all and I am always afraid on those rides that the ride is going to break and my feet are going to go smashing into the crowd. I know I know its a little crazy of me to think like that. Well me and Trish are going to Disneyland on vacation and there is this elevator ride that drops you straight down picks you up again and repeatedly drops you again. I told Trish that there was no way she was getting me on it, but from listening to Ray I think I am going to live a little and face my fears and just do it! Yes yes Trish you heard me correctly.
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