I blame the Cactus Blossom...

Or was it the Carmel Apple Pie ala mode at 11pm?!

I thought of this blog title last night as I was laying in bed dreading my weigh in.

You see, Thursday night is the ideal time for Micah and I's date night. I don't have school on Fridays, and so on Thursday night I'm in weekend mode, and really enjoy going out.

One of our favorite places to go is The Texas Roadhouse. We like to go there because our brother-in-law works as a waitor there, and we love to get to see him!

BUT, last night, he bought us a cactus blossom! And, I don't know about you, but, in my head: free food is free food, regardless of any plan! I don't even wanna THINK about the calories in one of those things.

THEN! THEN my so-called personal trainer! Remember her?! The one that said I can't eat after 7pm? Know what she did?!

You guessed it. She brought Carmel Apple Pie Ala Mode TO MY HOUSE. Served it up for my husband and I, and then sat and watched us devour it...at 11PM last night!

Can you believe it?

Isn't that AWESOME? I mean really! Can I really fault her for something so wonderful even if it doesn't fit with "the plan"?

I think not.

All this to say: I'm still at 156.

BUT: If I can have those wonderfully free and delightfully delicious dishes the day before my weigh in, and still maintain my weight...I'm one happy girl!


In other news: Should I move my weigh-in time to Thursday morning? This would leave me guilt-free for my date with my honey, and then I could be a good girl the rest of the week. What do you all think? I think I just might do it.

Pantry Challenge - update

Chipotle Burritos
Frito Chili Pie
Chicken Nuggets, Au Gratin Potatoes, RL Buiscuts
Sausage and Potatoes
Pancakes/Waffles, Sausage
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Chicken Helper, Green Beans
Ramen Chicken Nuggets, Au Gratin Potatoes
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Stir Fry, Rice Noodles
Ramen
Lasagna, Veggies
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Soup - pasta and broth
Sloppy Joes, Cauliflower and Cheese
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Helper
Chicken Nuggets; pasta side
Hamburgar Helper
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Nuggets, pasta side
Hamburgar Helper
Sausage and Potatoes
Crock Pot Classic
Lasagna - freezer one bread, salad

For those of you keeping track, this list is 13 items shorter than the previous one!! I'm SO making progress!

It's official!

The plan is working! I am down to 156!

You may be thinking, "how can she know it's working after only losing 2 lbs...that could be water weight."

But, I tell you, it's working! How many people in America do you think LOST weight after yesterday?! :)

And, what's great is, that's my only Thanksgiving dinner. In about two hours I will be leaving to take our church youth group to do a work project at Kansas Bible Camp. So, not only will I not be getting another Thanksgiving dinner (and all the leftovers that come with it), but I'll also be getting lots and lots of STEPS!

So what do I attribute this week's success to? Go visit my dear sweet friend Joy's blog. She's also started her "plan"...it's real encouraging to have someone working right beside you! (Even if she is STATES away!) I don't know how to link to the specific post. It was from Nov. 15th, so just scroll down some.

Bake Sale/Sleep over

So, a few weeks ago I had the duty of being the sole authority for 12 junior high and highschool girls as they embarked on an all day bake sale.

Yes, that's right, I said ALL DAY. We started at 10:30 am on a Saturday. And, since the baking was going to be at the church, one of the high school girls that had planned decided that we would bake through the night and sleep at the church so that all the girls could come to church the next morning. Then, after church, we went to the nearest Walmart and sold the baked goods.

I don't know about you, but, I'm married. And, in my circle, married means your OLD!! (We often joke that when you're married, you add your ages together!) So, I just turned 48 - and 48 year olds are not meant to have slumber parties where the only place to sleep is the floor....and where the average age is 13.

I'm sure many of you have heard my complaints about this situation before...so why am I posting about it?

1. To complain about it some more

2. To share the Lord's faithfulness

Now that the complaining is out of the way, on to the praise.

Our Lord is SO good, SO faithful, and SO big.

Needless to say, I started this weekend feeling so overwhelmed, so inadequate (did I mention that I've only ever baked pre-packaged cookie dough? Seriously. I'm ashamed.), and so tired.

BUT, God provided for me in ways I would have never thought possible (to my shame, really). I was praying harder than I ever have before, that day. Mostly I was praying that the Lord would show me what the girls were "up to" before it was too late. And, of course, He did.

There were rancid cookies - but they got thrown out.

Pizzas got baked with the cardboard tray - but there was no fire.

There were lots of age groups, and cliques - and only one run in.

AND, everything got cleaned up before we went to bed, so the church was ready come Sunday morning.

The Lord we serve is faithful, ladies! Praise Him.

Torture

So for the last week or so, I have not been couponing.

I LOVE to coupon. I LOVE getting great deals, but I DO NOT love having to dig through literally every single coupon I have (and I have a lot!) to get said great deals. It puts me in a bad mood.

SO, the solution? I have banned couponing entirely until I am able to get caught up on my cutting and sorting.

The result? I'm not shopping at all. Of course, there's no ban on just plain shopping...but I can't bring myself to do it! I can't bring myself to pay full price for something. In the back of my head I keep thinking, "You know there's a coupon in your pile for this. You could spend $1.00 less on this if you just looked."

It's the curse of couponing. Couponing is great - you get awesome perks! Like being able to have name brand stuff, and a variety at that. And like spending only $25 a week on all groceries, toiletries and cleaning products. But, it's also a curse. It's ruined me for normal shopping. I will never be able to go back!!

I have GOT to get more serious!

OK! It's the moment of truth! It's been a week since I started my plan, and it's time once again to post my weight.

Sadly, it's still 158. So, naturally, I've been analyzing.

I'm not serious enough about this goal.

Here's how I did on my goals this week:

1. 10,000 steps a day - I did reach this goal...however, in my first post, I had mentioned that my new year's resolution was also 10k, but in order to meet that goal, I was going to have to get 20k. The 20,000 steps has yet to happen. BUT, I now have a more defined plan in this area!!

I figured out that I normally walk about 133 steps per minute if I'm just walking. I also figured out, that in order to get 20,000 steps in 16 hours (leaving 8 hours for sleep), that would only be 1200 steps an hour. I'm not a rocket scientist or anything, but, shouldn't 1200 steps only take me 9 minutes? And, don't you think I probably at least get SOME steps when I'm not strictly walking? (Like, when I'm putting away laundry and dishes?)

SO, you're probably thinking: GET TO THE POINT. And here, it is: 10 minutes until the top of each hour, I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing (whenever possible - I'm obviously not going to walk out on my teachers!!) and get the rest of the steps I need to complete the 1200. Should be easy enough! I'm sure I'll keep you posted. :)

2. Eating every 2 hours and not after 7pm - I'm doing really good about the two hour thing! (You ALWAYS have to look at the plus side of things first!) And, most of the time I've even done the 7pm thing. I cheated a couple of times, cause, honestly: my hubby doesn't get home until 7pm or later some nights...and it's not HIS fault I need to lose weight. So, I wait and eat with him.

OK, that was the plus side; this is the negative: I am cheating WAY too much on WHAT I eat. And, what's worse, I'm justifying it by saying, "this isn't a diet, it's a plan, so I'm allowed to cheat." But, guess what? If you cheat too much on your plans, YOU WON'T MEET GOALS!! What's my goal? To be under 158! So, I'm going to try to cheat waaaay less this week. Do you think I should give myself 3 cheat cards or something to use throughout the week? Is 3 too many? What would you do?

3. A piece of fruit a day - I only did this ONE time. Shameful, isn't it?! BUT, have no fear: I actually HAVE fruit in my kitchen right now. That's a BIG improvement over where I was 7 days ago. And, as I predicted - I really did like the one piece of fruit I did eat (which was yesterday) so I'm sure I'll want another one today!

4. 80 oz of water a day - I'm pretty sure I only did this one time as well. (Are you beginning to see why I'm still at 158?)

Just like the steps, however, I have a plan! I will need to get 7 oz of water an hour to meet my goal. So, when I take breaks in my day to catch up on steps, I'm also going to finish my 7 oz for that hour. :) That way I'm not sitting here at 11:30 trying to chung my last 10 oz before bed like I was last night!

5. Post my weight every Friday. YAY! Something I did perfectly the WHOLE WEEK! Look at me go!! I'm like the plan QUEEN! :-D

There are other postivite things about this situation:

1. I can take a before picture and it'll still be very accurate.

2. When I do get down to my desired weight, I'll know that this level of activity should be able to maintain my weight. :)

Have a great Friday everyone. Thanks for listening, eh, reading to my horribly long post...I promise the next one won't be nearly as long.

So, It's 7:50, and I have steps to get and water to consume!

Home Owners Insurance FINALLY taken care of

Ok, so I'm sure I've shared this story with most of you...but if I haven't, the letter does a pretty good job of recounting all the facts. My husband wrote this letter to finally end all the confusion. And, it's freakin' hilarious.


Sunday, November 4, 2007
To: Mortgage Company A
From: luaphacim
Re: Returning Funds Withdrawn in Error from Escrow Account
Account Number: 123456789
Name: Mr. and Mrs. luaphacim


To Whom It May Concern:


The following events have transpired over the past few months, resulting in almost immeasurable consternation for both me and my lovely bride of two years, seven months, and twenty days. I appreciate your attention to this matter and hope that it can be brought to a quick resolution.


On July 9, 2007, we bought a home, taking out an FHA loan from MORTGAGE COMPANY A to do so. It is a nice home, with plenty of room and some pretty good amenities. For instance, the sellers threw in a free refrigerator which, unfortunately, leaks like a diabetic racehorse. However, as we do not believe in looking gift refrigerators in the mouth, we are quite satisfied with our purchase.


At our closing, $679.00 was taken from our closing costs and paid to INSURANCE COMPANY X as our first year of premium for our home owner’s insurance.
On or around July 18, 2007, a withdrawal of $679.00 was made from our MORTGAGE COMPANY A escrow account and sent to INSURANCE COMPANY X for our first year of home owner’s insurance, leaving our escrow account with a negative balance. Since we had also paid for our first year of insurance at closing, this was a double payment. I do not have a degree in finance or anything, but I suspect that this is not supposed to happen to an escrow account. Ever.


On August 6, 2007, INSURANCE COMPANY X Insurance sent us a check in the amount of $679.00 to reimburse us for overpayment of our premiums. Naturally, since we did not know that MORTGAGE COMPANY A had made the erroneous withdrawal from our escrow account, this caused us some degree of confusion and concern. My wife and I made several calls to INSURANCE COMPANY X in order to find out why this check had been sent, and we eventually found that one of the checks had come from MORTGAGE COMPANY A.


We made a number of efforts to communicate with our local MORTGAGE COMPANY A personnel about this error, but they repeatedly told us that they would have to “wait to hear back from the national office,” or some such thing. Please do not take this as a complaint about them, though – they were very helpful with a number of things. Just not this one, really.
On September 1, 2007, MORTGAGE COMPANY A sold our souls home loan to MORTGAGE COMPANY B, which is a company dedicated to a diverse workforce and the good of humanity and so forth. At least, that is what I have gathered from being on hold with them for nearly an hour and listening to their never-ending loop of propaganda recordings.


On September 13, 2007, we received our MORTGAGE COMPANY A annual escrow account disclosure statement informing us that we had an escrow balance of -$132.76. At this point, we realized that something was seriously screwy with our account at your company. We were not sure whether the negative balance had been transferred over to our account with MORTGAGE COMPANY B, so we waited to see our next statement from them.


Our next MORTGAGE COMPANY B statement showed a positive escrow balance, so MORTGAGE COMPANY A clearly needs to receive the $679.00 to reconcile our account. We have therefore enclosed a check in that amount.


At your earliest convenience, please send us a letter stating that:
You have received the enclosed check
Our account with you has been reconciled and no further payments will be necessary


Please send this letter to:
Mr. luaphacim
1234 Main St
Someplace, KS 65432


If we do not receive this letter within a reasonable period of time, we will request a stop-pay on the enclosed check because of failure to render services. In other words: we mean business.


In addition, in consideration of the significant amount of time and effort my wife and I have expended because of MORTGAGE COMPANY A’s error, I would like to make the following demands as compensation. I understand that I will almost certainly not receive any of these demands, but it makes me feel better to demand them, so please humor me.

• A service fee of $30.90. My wife and I have spent well over six hours trying to resolve this problem, and I would like to think our time is worth at least minimum wage.
• A bag of microwave popcorn. This is useful and necessary for the watching of movies in our new family room area with the track lighting. Did I mention that our new house is totally sweet?
• A year’s worth of free rides on a Shetland pony, preferably one named “Buck.” This is a humorous name for a pony, and I think you will agree that pony rides are inherently awesome.
• U.S. military intervention to stop the genocide in Rwanda. Seriously.
• A George Foreman Grill. My doctor says I am obese, and I hear that George Foreman Grills are a great way to become magically skinny.

Please submit this list to your compliance department for consideration and so that they can laugh at my pitiful efforts to be recompensed for my valuable time, which could have been spent writing a magnificent novel or learning Japanese or on something equally edifying. I could probably make empty threats about reporting MORTGAGE COMPANY A to the Kansas Office of the State Bank Commissioner, 700 SW Jackson Street, Suite 300, Topeka KS 66603-3714, but I think we both know I am not really too serious about this, so I will not do so.


Eagerly awaiting your response, I remain your humble servant,
luaphacim
Home address:
1234 Main St
Someplace, KS 65432

I refuse to use the D word

What I am about to embark on is NOT a d*et; it's a PLAN.


Yes, my goal is to lose weight, but more importantly, it's to set up a pattern that will work for my life. I have a few rules that I'm going to try to implement:


1. 10,000 steps a day - I actually need to get 19,000 of steps a day to catch up with my new year's resolution of 10k a day. I also heard that 12-15k is needed for active weight loss, so 10k will be more continued goal (Cause, I don't want to lose weight FOREVER), but until the end of the year I will be getting 20,000. Wish me luck. This may sound easy to some of you who have never worn a pedometer before. But, alas, it is NOT!


2. Eating Every 2 hours, and not after 7pm - My "personal weight trainer" (really it's just Shawna, but she's the one that's lost bukoos of weight and got my motivated on this) suggested these two guidelines, and said that about 200 calories every two hours is a good snack portion. I'm going to try to stay with this, but I'm not going to stess over it...cause, if I did, wouldn't that qualify as the D word?

(And, I must confess, JUST THIS WEEK, my honey and I took advantage of half-price Spin Dip at a local bar...which is only half price AFTER 10pm! Isn't that awful? But, Spin Dip is my weakness. It might possibly be my downfall...)


3. A piece of fruit a day - Isn't it AWFUL that I have to put this on my list? People are supposed to get like 2-4 servings of fruit a day...but, sadly, I don't even get one. I can go WEEKS without having fruit. Seriously. It's pathetic. So, I'm not going to jump right in and say I have to get the 3 servings...I'm just going to start with one. But, my thought is, the more I eat fruit, I'll probably realize I like it! So, this isn't a max...it's a minimum. (On a side note: for all those couponers out there, what's a good price for fruit? Right now I've only been buying bananas cause you can get them for .19 a pound at Dillons when they're discounted. And, just last night I got 6 pounds of apples for 2.98. That's 50 cents a pound, which I thought was pretty good, but they are kind of mushy...do you think that's because they were older, or is it just a cheaper brand?)


4. 80 oz of water a day - I've also heard that in order to actively lose weight, you need to be consuming half your weight in ounces. Some of you may be doing the calculations in your head and thinking, "wait! Is she really telling us that she weighs 160lbs?! Girls aren't supposed to tell their weight!" In response to your musings, 1) yes, I AM telling you my weight. Actually, to be exact it is 158 pounds.


Which brings me to 5:

5. Post weight every friday morning - EEK! This is the real killer! This is what's going to keep me motivated... but the only way I'm going to stay motivated is if I get comments from you guys telling me you're still around, you read my current weight, and you're going to harrass me if it actually goes UP!


And, to reinterate: this is NOT the D word. This is my plan. And, since my goal is to pick something that will work for life, my intention will not always be to lose weight. I've consulted a few web sites, and averaged out their responses to come to the conclusion that my weight goal should be 115. BUT, since this is my PLAN (have you caught on yet?! :)) if I at some point plateau on this then I'll do one of two things:

I'll either decided that that's the weight for me,

or I'll add something to my life to get my closer to the ideal.


So, with that said, look back next Friday...I'll post my progress.

House Projects

I have sooooo many things I want to do with our new house! (Like, post pictures on my blog! Sorry, I know I promised. I'll get to it sometime.)

Some of these things include:
Buying a new couch and love seat set for our front room
Buying end tables/coffee table for the living room
Buying end tables/coffee table for the family room
Getting electrical work done (like updating outlets, and adding a few outlets and fixtures)
Replacing the kitchen floor
Buying a new kitchen table
Painting the kitchen
Painting the livingroom
Painting my scrapbook room
Painting the stairway

But! All of these things take time and money...two things I'm kind of short on! (Yes, I know I'm short on other things; like inches!) So, my question for you gals is, what do I do first? If this was a list of things that needed to be done to your house, what would YOUR priorities be?

Motivated Moms

Ok, once again, I have started a NEW system to get things done! (Big shock, I know!) I was doing Fly Lady, but the e-mails were overwhelming me. So, now I'm on to motivated moms. You can check it out on http://www.motivatedmoms.com/.

It seems to be going pretty well for me....we'll see how I like it once I get passed the first week.

What system, if anything, do you ladies use to keep yourself organized, to get work done, to keep you motivated? I'm always so facinated by these things, so do share!

Pantry Challenge

So, 3 weeks ago I was challenged by a friend to do a pantry challenge (which basically means try to reduce the amount of food I have in my pantry to a more manageable amount). In these last three weeks, she has been doing her own freezer challenge, and making great progress. I on the other hand, made a list, and have done nothing further!!

But, in my defense, I've had good reasons:

1. I wanted to get rid of leftovers before cooking any new things

2. We have had dinner with my family several times in the last several weeks. (Which contributed in two different ways! One, we didn't make anything new, and two, we brought home new leftovers to clear out first!)

3. I cook for youth group every other Sunday, and am SOOO not a judge of how much to cook! Micah makes so much fun of me because I'm constantly thinking in my head that I'm cooking for about 20 people (around 15 kids and 4 adults). He has to remind me over and over again that I'm not really cooking for 20 people...I'm cooking for a dozen junior high girls, and 7 people! Hehe..so needless to say, this has caused MORE leftovers.

But, I think we are seeing the end of the leftovers!! Praise the Lord...Micah is so not picky, and will eat anything I serve, but I know he's getting tired of the same things over and over again. So, starting on Monday, I will be going full force on my pantry challenge.

Perhaps, though, I should explain what "full force" means for us!
First, the reason for this pantry challenge is because my pantry is chock full of processes/boxed dinners, and I'm wanting to get away from that, and get into freezer meals (cooking for a month at at time) instead. Also, there are only two of us, and a lot of these boxed dinners are intended to feed four, which means by cooking one night, we're creating 2-3 left over portions. Which is fine, we can eat them for lunches...but sometimes other things come up and we have to eat the leftovers before they go bad, which means we don't always cook another meal!
Second, I am gone Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and so Micah fends for himself. We also eat out for lunch on Sundays, and have dinner with the youth group on Sunday.
So, that leaves Monday and Thursdays definitely, and possibly Saturday and Sunday, though plans for those days can change!!

So, as you can see, it'll be slow going!! But, I'm going to try to make an effort to clear out 2-3 meals a week! We shall see!

Here's my list so that you can keep track of my progress too!:
Chipotle Burritos
Campbell's Supper Bake - Savory Pork Chops, Green Beans
Frito Chili Pie
Chicken Nuggets, Au Gratin Potatoes, RL Buiscuts
Sausage and Potatoes
Pancakes/Waffles, Sausage
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Chicken Helper, Green Beans
Ramen
Chicken Nuggets, Au Gratin Potatoes, RL Buiscuts
Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Stir Fry, Rice Noodles
Ramen
Lasagna, Veggies
Pancakes/Waffles
Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Chicken Soup - pasta and broth
Chicken Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Sloppy Joes, Cauliflower and Cheese
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Nuggets, Stuffing
Tuna Helper
Alfredo
Chicken Helper
Chicken Nuggets; pasta side
Hamburgar Helper
Pancakes/Waffles
Chicken Nuggets, pasta side
Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
spaghetti
alfredo
Tuna Helper
Hamburgar Helper
Sausage and Potatoes
Crock Pot Classic
Lasagna - freezer one bread, salad

Coupon Party

As you can see, I'm WAY behind on clipping and sorting my coupons! I even have 2 (now three since this picture was taken) UNOPENED Sunday papers, 2 rebate forms I need to fill out and mail in, an All You magazine from JUNE (while unpacking more stuff in our new house, I found 3 more uncut magazines) and an accordian folder full of coupons even though I haven't used that system in MONTHS!

So, last night, me and two other girls (and my husband!) got together to cut and sort our coupons! I was sooooo behind, which is why I planned the party. It was sooo fun to get to hang out with them, but I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked!

Ok, in the picture, do you see the envelope full of already cut coupons? I only got through maybe 9/10ths of that!!

It's sooooo not fun to shop when you constantly have to dig through your coupons. I want to be caught up RIGHT NOW! I have been taking breaks between homework today to get caught up on my coupons. Wish me luck!

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

51Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

55"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;

57but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.


I was really encouraged by these verses this morning, so I thought I'd share.
What's so encouraging? So much!
- We will all be changed
- We will put on the imperishable
- We will put on immortality
- We will be free from sin
- We will have this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ


Paul says, "Therefore"....because we have been given these wonderful things (and how wonderful they are!!) we are told to to be steadfast. We are told to be immovable. We are told to always abound in the work of the Lord. We are told to know, to remember that our toil is not vain in the Lord.


So how come so many of the things I do feel like they are in vain? Probably because I'm not being steadfast. It's possible that the things I fill my life with aren't the work of the Lord. I need to work on that.


But, be encouraged! We have victory through Jesus. Thanks be to God!

Golf Scores

So, Micah and I were lucky enough to get a chance to play Golf with Jere and Reagan! The only problem was we play be completely different rules! Among other things, we didn't agree on which direction play should proceed in.

Let's take a poll:
Do turns pass to the left (clockwise) or to the right (counter-clockwise)?

But, we would not be detered. We decided to play Micah and I's version, then Jere and Reagan's version, then Micah and I's again. The scores ended up:
Micah 118
Reagan 87
Jere 42
Magen 52

and, if we only take the scores where Micah and I's version was played, the scores look about the same:
Micah 70
Reagan 46
Jere 18
Magen 32

BUT, taking only the scores from Jere and Reagan's version, they look MUCH better!!:
Micah 48
Reagan 31
Jere 24
Magen 20

I think that's proof that I'm much more adaptive!!

God is SERIOUS about Love!

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.

I was struck in my reading today about how many instructions 1 Corintithians 13 gives on love. I mean, I know it's called the Love Chapter, but have you ever counted? Just in verses 4-8, I got this list:

Love:

• Does not brag
• Is not arrogant
• Does not act unbecomingly
• Does not seek its own
• Is not provoked
• Does not take into account a wrong suffered
• Does not rejoice in unrighteousness
• Rejoices with the truth
• Bears all things
• Believes all things
• Hopes all things
• Endures all things
• Never fails

I say that I love my husband. I say that I love my family and friends. But, am I loving them the way God would have me to love them?

I journal a lot in my quiet times. It helps me to keep my thoughts focused, and putting in to words what the Lord is teaching me helps me to really grasp the priciple. After I finish one notebook and start on another I always go back and read through what the Lord has taught me throughout that period of time in the old journal. As I was doing that this morning, I was struck with how many times the Lord laid on my heart to pray for a single christian mom I am friends with and her 18 year old son who knows the Lord but is not walking with Him right now. Part of my prayer was that I just wanted to SHAKE this young man. He KNOWS the truth; he knows our Lord. I want to force him to serve his Savior. But then (isn't it amazing how this works?!) the Lord turned my frustration into to amazed thankfulness. How grand it is that faith doesn't work that way. No one can force you to serve Jesus. He lovingly give us the free will to choose Him. How much sweeter it must be for Him when we decide to follow after Him.


I have been burdened with (in a good way!) the amount of unsaved people around me. Sometimes I forget how many there are, because I have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding me (no complaints here)! Sometimes I feel like a broken record in my prayers for my family and the unsaved friends Micah and I have a lot of contact with. But, our Lord is SO faithful! I may never see responses to my requests. But, shame on me if I ever start thinking that's why I pray for them!

I pray, Lord that You would keep me faithful in my prayers for them. That I
would never lose track of why I want them to know You. It is NOT for my
satisfaction, Lord, but for Your glory.

Yet, if I do see responses...praise the Lord! He has rewarded years of prayer time and time again.


I encourage you ladies...keep at it. He wants you to bring your concerns to Him. If there is something on your heart that you've stopped praying about, I am praying that you would pick up the burden again with new vigor.


Have a blessed day!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived; neithe fornicators, nor idolators, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nore thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sactified, but
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our
God.

What an AMAZING God we serve that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)!! I look at that list up there and think, "oh, I would never do those things!" but in my heart, I know that I am guilty of such sins. But, what an amazing knowledge we have as believers. What an amazing gift to know that we are washed. And not only washed, but sactified. And not only sactified, but justified!!




Go out and praise the Lord today!

Spacing...

I had hard returns in that last post so it'd be easier to read, and when I posted it, they didn't show up. Does anyone know how I can fix that?

Ch. 13 - The Great Mystery

I've been reading Debi Pearl's book Created to be his Help Meet a lot lately. Chapter 13's opening paragraph accurately put into words the desire of my heart these last several months.

"A wise woman understands that her husband's need to be honored is not based on
his performance, but on his nature and his God-ordained position. She learns
quickly to defer to his ideas or plans with enthusiasm. She looks for ways to
reverence him. She knows this is God's will for her life."

I know this may sound silly, and probably I should have grasped this truth many years ago, but it has just recently struck me as amazing that God's will for my life is so very clear in His Word! There's no guess work, no room for doubt. He makes it so obvious, yet I've not understood until now.



He wants me to be a help meet to my honey. He tells me that I am perfectly suited to be Micah's help meet. Some of the traits of a help meet that Debi mentions in her book that I've been pondering/trying to improve on are:


- Has a passion to be of service (first to her husband, then children, and when time affords, to others) So many times I have gotten this order backwards. It should be easy for me, not having kids, to keep this straight...but it's not! My norm is to serve others first and then serve Micah with my left over time.


- Joyful, makes love fun, is thankful and content. I have lumped these three together in my head because they all seemed linked to my attitude. How can I make love fun for my dear hubby if I am grumpy all the time? How is he going to know that his love is more than enough for me if I am constantly griping and never satisfied?


- Learns to be flexible and to appreciate her man for who he is. This has really been a
hard pill for me to swallow...every day! I like for things to be orderly, I like to be in control. And, for some reason, it is so hard for me to understand that my hubby is a sinner just as I am, yet so easy for me to expect him to forgive me because I'm not perfect!





Sorry I have been away from this blog for so long. These thoughts of marriage, and my attempts to make mine what God desires for us, has taken priority of late. God has given me such a heart for this sacred institution He has created. If I know you read my blog, you can rest assured I pray for your marriages. Micah and I have purchased a case of Debi Pearl's books, and I would be more than happy to give copies to anyone who sees a need for them (whether for themselves or other women). Let me know if you'd like one - or several! What amazing gifts God has given us - our husbands AND clearly defined purposes for our lives!


Hope all is well with you.


(Oh, and yes, I know I'm still needing to post house pictures. I do not own a digital camera, but as soon as I am able to get my hands on one, I will post them!)

Proverbs 31

Description of a Worthy Woman
10An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
11The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
12She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
13She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
14She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
15She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.
16She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
18She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hands grasp the spindle.
20She extends her hand to the poor,
And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She makes coverings for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
24She makeslinen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
25Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
26She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
29"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."
30Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.

I have been noticing lately how quick I am to ask Micah to do some task that I don't enjoy doing. He is more than happy to do it for me (folding laundry, cleaning the toilet, loading/unloading the car). But, I am HIS help meet, not the other way around. There are also times that I give him tasks because, "I'm not capable of doing that!" But, look at the woman in these verses! She can do it all!! And, if I weren't so lazy and selfish I could definitely do the things I unload on Micah. The more I think about it, the more I realize that they're not hard tasks, they're just the tasks I don't enjoy. But, being his help meet is my God-given role. Even cleaning out the shower drain can be an enjoyable task when I am serving my hubby, and in turn, worshiping my Lord.

Proverbs 25

Lots to consider in this proverb!

Verses 11-12:
Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.
Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

So many times I think that I know just the right thing to say in a given situation. How wrong I can be!! Too many of those times, I probably did know the right thing to say, just didn't pick the right time. My problem is, that I'm defining the right time, I am not letting the Lord show me HIS perfect timing.

Verses 21-22:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thristy, give him water to drink;
For you will heap buring coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Verse 24:

It is better to live in the corner of the roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

I've heard this verse quoted several times, but have never really stopped to think on it. According to dictionary.com contentious means:
1. tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome
2. causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy

I wouldn't normally think of myself as a contentious woman...but as I read these definitions, I could totally think of times that I have been contentious. And, at first thought...why should it matter? I mean, I'm not contentious ALL the time...just a few times, here and there. But then, don't I want my hubby to be happy living with me all the time? Should I be content to only make him happy he chose me as his bride MOST of time time?

Thank you, Lord, that You are continuing Your work in me.

More Interesting!

I want to make the look of my blog more interesting. The whole thing is kind of empty (the Be Productive box at the top, and the little green box over my picture). I also don't have anything in the about me part. Does anyone have ideas on what I should add to make this place more like myself?!



I'd appreciate any input!

Raising Children (Proverbs 22)

These last two weekend we were very blessed to get a chance to hang out with a few of our nephews. One of the huge blessings that came from it, for me, was to see my brother and sister correct their children in love, teaching them the way that they should go. I'm sure to them it seems like a never ending job right now - and it probably is! But, such great rewards God promises for it!

Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

To those of you with children: Keep on! I pray for you. There are several of you who read my blog that are major examples to me! Thank you!

Packing...

Packing is so fun to me! It soo fits my desire to be organized! I'm foolishly hoping that I can stay organized right from the beginning in our new house. We shall see.

I've got all my scrapbooking stuff packed and ready to move into my new scrapbooking room! That's right, the house we bought has a room JUST for scrapbooking! I took a picture, and am ashamed of all the stuff I have...and then I added a whole nother box of stuff that wasn't even in this picture. But, in my defense, the majority of those two big clear tubs are pictures and trinkets to scrap...not all of it is paper and embellishments!

Couponing!

I went out earlier this week and did my shopping at Walgreens and Dillons. Here's what I got

Walgreens:
2 windex class cleaners
2 windex surface cleaners
2 lysol air sanitizers
3 boxes of trash bags
1 dollar to breast cancer

Spent: $5.26
Will receive back: $7.70


Dillons:
8 Healthy Choice Entrees
2 Frozen Lasagnas
2 Bryers Ice cream
2 packages of lunch meat
2 packages of cheese slices
2 sour creams
4 toothbrushes
9 chef boyardee ravioli
2 Suddenly Salad

Spent: 31.46
Will Receive Back: 10.00


I love this hobby!!

"Magen needs..."

I saw on my friend Joy's blog several weeks ago, that she posted a thing where she googled "Joy needs" and discovered all sorts of things about herself. I thought I'd do the same thing!

- Magen needs YOUR help in the War Against Terror.
- Magen needs your generous donations
- Magen needs to listen when told to wear sunscreen
- Magen needs to plan a day off
- Magen needs to take more care in her choice of friends
- Magen needs your votes
- Magen needs to get her bathing suit so we can go to the beach
- Magen needs a computer desk
- Magen needs to get over it
- Magen needs to learn how to burp

The generous donations, the day off, and the computer desk I'll take!! :)

Our New house!

Yes, the rumors are true! Micah and I did indeed buy a house last Saturday. The move in date is set for June 22nd. I am going to be finishing up a summer class about that time, so I'm hoping to get all my packing done as soon as I possibly can! If you have any boxes that you'd be willing to donate to the cause, let me know!

Here's a link to a virtual tour. I'm not sure how much longer the link will work...but enjoy it while it lasts!

http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?T=869803

I've been Tagged!

tsbjf has asked me to list 10 weird or random things about myself. It's taken me a while to sit down and do this, but here goes!

1. When I was born, my head was so big, that the doctors were worried I wouldn't be able to hold my head up on my own for a long time.

2. I retroactively write things in my agenda so that I won't forget things I've already done. (Micah makes so much fun of me!)

3. I married a man that one of my dearest best friends had a crush on for years! (Awful, huh?)

4. I play games in order to motivate myself. I've done all sorts of things including Super Woman Points, and earning money to spend however I please.

5. I set new years goals for myself, and then make myself finish no matter how long it takes. In my silly agenda world, I am still on December 13th, 2006.

6. It took my husband and I exactly one week to search for and buy a house!

7. I was born on the Ides of March (the 15th), which is the day that Julius Caesar was assasinated. (I'm sure I spelled some of those words wrong.)

8. I don't think having to list ten things is very fair, because other friends of mine only had to list 7 things!

9. I was born in the same town that my mother-in-law grew up in. She loves to do geneology, and has still not ruled out the possibility that my husband and I are related some how! :)

10. I spent $80 on a really cute shelving unit to store all my free stuff that I have gotten at CVS and Walgreens. But, I'm so sure that I'll be able to recover that and much more!! :)

There you have it! Hope you enjoy your day!

Parts of Psalm 145

I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and higly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable...

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works...

The Lord sustains all who fall
And raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all who look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
And to all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
The Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

May your mouths constantly speak the praises of the Lord, dear readers, and may you cling to these promises, as you go throughout your week in the roles the Lord has for you!

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of on'es youth.
How blesssed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

What a wonderful Psalm! My bible says that the theme of this psalm is "Like without God is senseless. All of life's work - building a home, establishing a career and raising a family - must have God as the foundation." 3 of the most important things to me!
This view on children is also very encouraging, and convicting, to me. God values children soooo much!

Don't have a whole lot to add to it - just thought I'd share.

Psalm 126

When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
The Lord has done great things for us;
We are glad.
Restore our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the South.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bring his sheaves with him.

I actually scrapped today!

Aren't you proud of me?! :)

Ephesians 3-4

Well, I've been trying really hard to work on my devotion time. I've been doing good at keeping a regular time the last several days. One thing I struggled with was deciding where to read. I finally decided that I was going to do just a quick read through of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians so that I have a better idea of what is there next time I'm searching for a verse. But, man oh man was Ephesians chapters 3 and 4 a big chunk to swallow today! I think that I'm going to have to pause here for a while and really try to grasp what the Lord is trying to tell me (convict me) about in these verses. They're great ones...I'd suggest giving them a read if you get the chance.

42 days to form a habit...

I have been challenged by my friend Joanne to for healthy habits for my life. Her goal for the next 6 weeks (starting today) is to eat healthier and exercise regularly. Joy and I have decided to do it with her. The idea is that you should be able to form a habit by doing anything for 6 weeks.

And, as you all know, I'm an overachiever! I have LOTS of goals for this six weeks. Here they are:
1 hour of devotions
10,000 steps a day
64 oz. of water
1 serving of fruit (I'm horrible at this!)
Shining my sink (Trying the flylady thing again)

That's it! Shouldn't be too hard right? So, how have I done so far today? Not so great.
When I get done here, I'm gunna do my 1 hour of devotions...
I currently have 7264 steps...not too bad.
I've drank 32 oz. I started out so good! But, no fear, I'll be up for several more hours.
And, I still need my fruit and to clean my sink...

So, basically, I haven't finished any of these things yet! But, I will! And, tomorrow I'll try to get at them a little sooner.

Wish me luck! (Good luck to you girls too!)

Ok...I got tagged...

I've been tagged by my friend, Joy...I'll fill it out, and whoever wants to can fill it out too...but I'm not gunna be tagging anyone. :)

A= Available~ "nope, not at all."
B= Best Friend~ my hubby
C= Cake or pie~cake
D= Drink of choice~dr. pepper (though i'm trying to quit...)
E= Essential item you use everyday~ my computer (sadly!)
F= Favorite color~ blue
G= Gummy bears or worms~ both! :)
H= Hometown~ Poteka
I= Indulgences~ chocolate!
J= January or February~ February-it's so short, so it feels like the semester is going faster
K= Kids and Names~ 3 two boys and a girl...still some question about the names...
L= Life is incomplete without?~ Jesus! What's the purpose without Him?
M= Marriage date~ March 19th 2005
N= Number of siblings~ 1...or 15!
O= Oranges or apples~ I don't mind either as long as someone else prepares them for me!
P= Phobias or Fears~ spiders, roaches, snakes, mice...you name it!
Q= Favorite Quote~ Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus...
R= Reason to smile~ Christ died to pay for my sins so that I can spend eternity with Him in heaven. (I'll steal this from Joy..I bet she doesn't mind.)
S= Season~ Summer, I hate being cold
T= Tag 3 or 4 people
U= Unknown fact about me~ I have a HUGE HEAD!
V= Vegetable you don't like~ peas...I like snow peas, but canned peas are awful.
W= Worst habit~ speaking without thinking
X= X-rays~ just teeth...what a boring life I lead!
Y= Your favorite food~ Spin Dip! (With chips and salsa, of course!)
Z= Zodiac Sign~ Pisces

Last Fling...

Micah and I were so blessed to be able to make a trip to Hutch to visit A&M before school started up again. It was sooooo very nice. We got there Friday night, and M had a wonderfully delicious dinner waiting for us...one of many wonderful meals to come while we were there! Thanks!

We had to cut our time short and leave in the early evening of Saturday, but we had a great time anyway! We got to do so many fun things...
story time with the pictures Micah and I took on our trips
a movie
chatting
playing in the snow
games
It was great! We really miss them, but enjoyed the time and really felt rested when returning to school on Monday.

Conviction

Two events in my life always cause great conviction: the start of a new year, and the start of a new semester.

So here I am, 2 weeks into a new year, and a week away from a new semester, and I find myself double-ly (I have no idea how to spell that word...when it doubt, go with how it sounds in my head!) convicted, if that's possible.

Where has all my time gone? Do I have anything to show for it? Am I being a good steward of my time? I am constantly reminding myself that I need to be a good steward of the money the Lord has blessed Micah and I with...and I'm getting better at it with much work....but do I use my time like God would have me use my time?

I've been reading A Purpose Driven Life with a couple women in our church. I swore to myself I would never read it...it was such a fad for so many years! But, I'm getting lots out of it.

One thing, which I've known before, but it's good to realize again is...What am I here for?

I am here to bring God glory. That's it.

Those 7 words make it seem so simple...so why do I have such a hard time with it?

Purpose lists the 5 ways we bring God glory:
1. We bring God glory by worshiping Him.
2. We bring God glory by loving other believers.
3. We bring God glory by becoming like Christ.
4. We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts.
5. We bring God glory by telling others about Him.

I'm still on Purpose #1, worshiping Him. I even need to re-read this section. But, one thing that's really stuck out to me, is how weak my devotions are. I usually do them at night, even though several very wise women in our church have suggested I do them in the morning. I'm NOT a morning person. Usually I have 8am classes, so it's all I can do wake up by 7:15 so that I can start my 30 minute walk to school. But, that's no excuse. I need the time BEFORE I start my day...I need to be meditating on His word...I need to jumpstart my day with thoughts of Him, so that I can be thinking about God, and praying to God through out my whole day.

So, this semester I don't have class until 11am every day. This is time that I know was given to me so that I can establish a routine. A routine that I will hopefully continue into the semesters with 8am classes. We shall see.

Hopefully this semester, I'll use this blog not only to keep track of the things I've accomplished every day, but also to reflect on what the Lord has taught me through sometimes continual prayer and meditating on His word.

Pray for me. :)

An Encouraging Day

Today was such a gift from the Lord. (Every day is, but today I was smart enough to realize it!) I was wakened by a phone call this morning at 7:30am, getting asked to run the sound system this morning. Of course, I said yes...I have no problem wanting to serve others. Though, lots of times, even though I like helping, I get discouraged, b/c it's hard for me to worship when I'm "working". (Hard to focus on two things at once.) Though, I'm learning that even the act of service is worship, and so maybe that's what made today so much better.
I was able to truly praise our Savior today during the songs...something that I have a hard time doing while up in the sound booth.
But, more surprising, I was able to get something out of the service! There are so many distractions up there, it's hard to learn...but I sure learned a lot today! Maybe after I have some more time to meditate on it, I'll write something about it.
Anyway, then after church, we got to hang out and have lunch with J&A and the kiddos. That's always nice...I like that sunday ritual.
After that, Micah got to take a nice long nap, and I got several things done around the house, including starting on my coupon clipping, and working on a workable spreadsheet to keep track of our budget.
Then we went bowling. We normally do that with my parents every Sunday evening, but they're on their way to Hawaii right now, so we bowled with my sister-in-law and a friend of the family instead. Which means, I got to hold my niece Hannah almost the whole time. It was great!
Then, after bowling, Micah and I went to pick out a couple of movies, and I ran into the mom of an old friend from highschool. My friend is has a 4 year old little girl, and one on the way. You could pray for her, her mom says she's having a real difficult pregnancy and having to see specialists. They think the baby might have downs. My friends name is Heather, in case it helps you pray!

Now I need to go because my hubby and I are going to watch a movie before bed. I love it! God is so good!

I like this Fly Lady thing...

I'm feeling inspired once again. That trip to Chicago was really good for me. It gave me the break I needed...and also helped me to see how good routines are for me! I get so much done when I stick to them. I'm in a really productive mode right now, so I should go, but I just wanted to share how good it feels to FLY!

So, here I am, sitting with my hubby at the coffee shop while he studies. We've been here for about an hour, and I have plenty of things to be working on (last year's goals, this year's goals, preparing 2007's agenda, reading my textbooks...) but instead, I've been reading blogs. BLAH.

That's ok...1:30 starts a new hour (hehe...in my head, ok?!) so I'm going to be WAY productive for a while!

I'm not very good at this blogging thing...

I go way too long between each update. But, I'm in Chicago now for several days just hanging out and relaxing with my hubby and matt and shelsey...so I should be a bit better at updating!

- Micah went to Ecuador from Dec. 13th-Dec. 22nd. I stayed with my mommy, and had a lot of dates with friends that get neglected during the school year. We both had a great time.
- I went to pick Micah up in Wichita the afternoon of the 22nd, after a wonderful time of scrapping with my lovely friend Joy.
- Then we did the Christmas thing with my family, and Micah went to his family for "2nd Christmas" on Christmas day, but I was sick. :(
- Then we left with Matt and Shelsey to drive up here Wednesday afternoon, and got here about 10:30pm. We carried all of stuff inside (it took a while, because we've practically moved in!) and then went to bed.
- Thursday we slept in, ate some breakfast, and then went to Wheaton College with Matt. He needed to take care of financial aid, and Micah and I wanted to see an exhibit about CS Lewis and others. But, the entire campus was closed, basically, so we're going back on Jan. 4th when both things are open again. After a fruitless (but fun) walk around Wheaton, we drove back to Warrenville and did a bit of grocery shopping. I'm getting chances to cook while we're out here...something I hardly ever do during the school year! I made beef enchiladas that night while the boys watched a movie and Shelsey worked on her paper. After dinner, we played a exciting game of Catch Phrase. We were playing best out of 3, and the boys got 2 and we got 1...we'll be playing again to fix that situation!!
- Today we kinda slept it again. (Except Micah, of course, cause he has to work at 5am.) We got around, took our showers, and played a game of battle ship while we waited for Matt to get home from taking Shelsey to work. Then the 3 of us made a trip to Panera to get their wonderful bagels. Mmmm! I'm hungry for them again! We came home, ate bagels, watched a movie, played Yahtzee, and then I just woke up from a nap! I love not having deadlines and so forth. Relaxing time so far. Tonight I'm making spaghetti! :)
- Tomorrow is Matt and Shelsey's 1 year anniversary....so Micah and I are having a date day so that they are sure to have some time to hang out together...but, hehe...we've all decided to go into the city together! So much for time alone. (Though, they'll get some b/c Micah and I are staying at the Days Inn in Napperville tomorrow night.) We're gunna get breakfast and go to a coffee shop in Wheaton, then catch the train into town for lunch, dinner, a movie, and possibly to see the Tribune. Should be fun. :)

Yay for break!

It's so much more fun to update you on my to-do list when it consists of great things to do instead of boring old homework stuff.
Today I slept in. (8:45) It's good to sleep until you wake up instead of waking up to an alarm. I got to sleep later than 8:45 during the semester, but for some reason, I woke up so much more rested today.
I have to work today in Lawrence from 12:15-6:15pm. I should have gone and made the rest of my pottery yesterday, but I didn't realize how close to Christmas it was getting! It takes a week for the pottery to fire, and they close at 8pm today, so I won't have enough time to go this evening. Saturday they're open 10am-6pm but I work 12:15-5:15, so that day won't work either! So I guess I'll just go Sunday between Church and bowling. I don't have a whole lot left to paint...so it shouldn't take me very long. But, if I go on Sunday, that means they'll be done on the 24th. I thought I was so far ahead of the game too! Pray that they'll be done on time...or early! :)
Today in addition to work, I also need to:
-run home and get some things I forgot
-drop some stuff off at goodwill (it's been in my trunk for AGES)
-finish balancing my check book (I ran out of register yesterday!)
-Read more for our Purprose Driven Life Bible study
-work on Christmas cards
-call a few people about my mom's gift. :)

It should be a good day!

I'm DONE!

I'm finally done with all my tests, and with the semester! So, that brings me to the joys of today's to-do list:
clean a bit for my mom
balance the checkbook
work on scrapbook stuff
Christmas shopping
Potwin Pottery

:) I'm going to have so much fun!

Also, I don't really like the new blog lay out...maybe I'll have to see what my hubby can do with it when he gets home.

Thanks to all of you that prayed for me and my tests. I did amazingly better on all the tests than I could have on my own. The God we serve is faithful.

Here I am...

discouraged once again. I have such a hard time knowing that I'm not going to be able to get as much stuff done as I'd like when I'm sick. I was only able to get a few hours of sleep last night, and because of it, I didn't get started on work until noon. Then I had Bible study from 6pm-9pm...so I've really got a lot done in 6 hours, if you ask me! Including all of my laundry. But, the enemy of my soul is attacking. You could pray for me. I need to be getting more than this done every day to be on track for the finals...but more importantly, I need to be resting in God's faithfulness. He IS faithful. He WILL provide the time and energy I need to take these finals. Pray that this knowledge will be in my heart, not just my head. :)

Today's goals...

Ok! This is what I honestly think I can get done today if I stay focused...Though I didn't plan on not getting started with it until noon...but, that's life!

Study for Econ Quiz
Joshua 13
15 min. for ME!
Read Stats assignment
Ch. 6 of Purpose Driven Life
Stats assignment (This is taking WAAAAAY longer than I thought. I'm getting discouraged.)
15 min. for ME!
Study for BLAW quiz
Ch. 7 of Purpose Driven Life
Study for ACCT quiz
15 min. for ME!
ACCT HW - Ch. 11
Joy's present
Recopy ACCT notes 11/2
15 min. for ME!
Read ECON Ch. 13 (10 pages/check BB)
Indeed
Read ECON Ch. 13 (10 pages)
15 min. for ME!
Finish ECON Ch. 13
Job Lesson 21, Day 5
Recopy ECON 11/7 notes
15 min. for ME!
Recopy Stats 11/7 notes
letters
Acct. Ch. 10 (10 pages)
15 min. for ME!
Acct. Ch. 10 (10 pages)
Prayer
Finish ACCT. Ch. 10
15 min. for ME!
Ch. 10 tutorial
Indeed
Ch. 10 quiz
more time for ME!

To-Do List

Alright, I updated my to-do list with the progress I made this weekend. I wasn't able to get much done because of family Christmas...but that was sooo worth it! I've also decided that it's time for a new list...so I'll have to add those things to the new one. I'm off to do that...didn't have a whole lot to say. Maybe later today I'll post my new to-do list!

Oh, and because everyone else posts pictures...I thought I'd post and oldie but goodie! :)

I'm 15/54's of the way there! That's 27.8%!!

Well, It's 9:40, and my sink is shining. I think I'm gunna hop into bed now and continue to read my accounting text until I fall asleep.

Today was a good day...only 6 points...but, I was feeling sick, so I think it's good.

I forgot to mention...

I got 34 wonder woman points today!! :)

Wow..it's been a loooong few days.

I never know where to begin when I finally have a moment to post, because there's always soooo much!

I'll just type what comes to me, in no particular order.

I have a new niece. My brother and sister-in-law have a new daughter, Hannah Marie. She was born Sunday, November 26th, at 4:57am. She was 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and 20.5 inches long. She's also got a really full head of hair. She's cute. :)

I've been trying to do the fly lady thing...they tell you to take baby steps. They send you this email when you start for your first 31 days...but school's been crazy, and I've been bad at forming the habits. I've done what I could, but I don't feel like I'm ready to move on to new things yet...so I'm starting over at day one today. It really appeals to me. They really are manageable steps, and it feels like a game, so I have a relatively easy time with it...(hehe...i bet you're wondering why I failed, then!) Changing the subject! I'm starting over today! Today is day one and I'm supposed to: shine my sink.

I had a BLAW test today. (Hehe..my sil Michelle likes that I can call a class that!) It took a lot of time to finish up things so that I'd feel like I was ready for it...but now that it's over, I'm back on track to plow through things on my agenda. My current status is: Thursday, November 2nd with 4 items remaining...but I'm going to blow that out of the water tomorrow!

My to-do list for tomorrow (and beyond):
0 wake up and get completely dressed (to lace up shoes - fly lady!)
0 Call Carey
0 attempt accounting homework
0 Joshua 10
0 read through and put together ACCT project part 1
0 15 minutes for me!
0 read Stats
0 Indeed
0 Stats Homework (got a start on it, at least.)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Accounting WSJ
0 Job Leson 21, Day 4
0 Read Accounting Ch. 9 (10 pages)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Read Accounting Ch. 9 (10 pages)
0 Letters
0 Read Accounting Ch. 9 (10 pages)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Ch. 9 tutorial
0 Prayer
0 Ch. 9 quiz
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Recopy Accounting notes from 10/31 (Done with Nov. 2nd!)
0 Joy's present
0 Check BB for Econ (Done with Nov. 6th!)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Recopy Econ notes for 11/6
0 Indeed
0 Recopy ACCT notes for 11/2 (Done with Nov. 7th)
0 15 minutes for me!
(Can't forget to shine my sink somewhere in here!)
0 Read Econ Ch. 13 (10 pages)
0 Job Lesson 21, Day 5
0 Read Econ Ch. 13 (10 pages)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Finish Econ Ch. 13
0 Letters
0 Recopy Econ notes from 11/7
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Recopy Stats notes from 11/7
0 Prayer
0 Read Acct. Ch. 10 (10 pages)
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Read Acct. Ch. 10 (10 pages)
0 Joy's present
0 Finish Acct. Ch. 10
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Ch. 10 tutorial
0 Indeed
0 Ch. 10 quiz
0 15 minutes for me!
0 Recopy Acct. notes from 11/7 (done with November 9th!)
0 Purpose Drive Life, Ch. 6
0 Recopy Econ notes 11/9 (done with November 13th!)

Ok, So I got a little carried away. I know I can't do all that in one day...but I'm totally excited...because that's all that stands in my way of the status, "November 14th, 4 items and counting."

Anyone wanna make guesses on how far I'll be by the end of tomorrow? I'd love to hear from you...it'll drive me on towards the goal!! :)

Ok, I'm off to shine my sink and go to bed! Goodnight, all.

An update on my progress...

In the time since my last post, I've:
-talked with Joy
-put away all our laundry
-got dirty clothes ready for the car
-(listening to Harry Potter book 5 the whole time!)
-shined my sink (I'm going to try the FLY thing. We shall see.)
-did dishes (for the first time ever since I've been married. Hehe...my hubby's so good to me!)

I need to go finish up the dishes...I had to run new water, and it was too hot for a moment.

Thanks to all of you wonderful ladies that are so encouraging to me!

It's a good day!

Things are going very well today! I got to sleep in a bit before my 9am class. Then I was at school from then until 12:15ish. I walked home, relaxed for a bit, and now I'm working on things that have been on my to-do list for a long time. I don't really feel pressured to do homework at the moment, since I've been at full force with that all week...so instead I'm working on the things I've sorta put on the back burner the last several days: laundry, dishes, and other worthwhile commitments.

I've been asked several times about my point system...it's not very complicated...it's pretty much just something silly I do to keep myself motivated!
- I get one tally mark for each thing I cross off of my to-do list, whether it be school, work, chores or even devotions.
- These tally marks are called super woman points because, when I earn them, I feel like I'm Super Woman, duh!!
- If I am able to get 30 points in one day (That's a lot of stuff!) They turn into wonder woman points...because, really, some days you just feel like Wonder Woman!!
- Something new I've added since starting this blog (because I've been so much better at being productive) is that if I get 50 things done in one day (maybe happens once every couple of months!) I get to buy myself something nice! (Flowers, a piece of jewelry or clothes, my favorite food/restuarant.)

So, there you have it!

Have a wonderful day ladies!!

Work Journal

I've been meaning to write every day this week...but, everytime I sit down to do it, I think of something else I need to be doing. I'm not very good at keeping this thing updated. I need to be better at updates, because the whole purpose of this thing is so that I'll be able to look back on what I've done and not be discouraged. So, I think I'm going to try to keep more of a work journal (stealing the idea of one of my brother-in-laws).

Today:
7am - woke up, got things ready to go to Topeka, made my to-do list for the day
8am - took Micah to school, drove to Topeka, and went to mom's house to print out statutes for
BLAW assignment #2
9:10am - 2:30pm:
Stats assignment
Devotions (11/1 in Indeed, re-read/skimmed psalms 106-118, reviewed verses in Job and
Psalms)
Wrote out answers to BLAW assignment
Recopied Stats notes from 10/16
3pm-5:30pm: Bible study with Ruth
Then I went to mom's house to pick some things up, went to Walmart, then came home to spend some time with my hubby. Now i'm just sitting down again to work on more school. It's 8:30pm and I still have 33 things on my to-do list. I think I underestimate the time it takes to do things.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Just a brief update for myself...

Thursday, October 26th:
School from 8am-2:15pm then studying.
18 super woman points.

Friday October 27th:
School from 9am-1:45pm. No studying today...but spent time with the folks.
3 super woman points.

Saturday October 28th:
Good, productive day.
23 super woman points.

Sunday, October 29th:
No homework today, but it was still worth while.
Church, baby shower for my sister-in-law, then bowling with the fam.
In other news, Micah had a very productive day!

Monday, October 30th:
Spent the day in Topeka, studying and for bible study.
8 super woman points.

Tuesday, October 31st:
School literally ALL DAY! 8am-5pm.
Grocery shopping, then working around the house until 8pm.
But then I had a date with my hubby.
I bought 4 big bags of candy, and we had 11 trick-or-treaters!! :)
12 of the hardest super woman points EVAR!

Perfect Schedule

I decided to update you all on here, because I couldn't do any more stats without crying. Hehe...oh well.

I did however, secure the perfect schedule for next semester this morning. It's awesome. I only have 2 classes a day, which start at 11, and have a 2-3 break in between them so I am forced to study. There's also no class on Friday! Yay!

The Schumm's are on their way to Lawrence...they should be here anytime..so maybe I should get some more work done! I'll update this more later.

I'm the only nerd studying on campus today.

There's like no one here...it's dead. It's funny though, that I'm still here. The reason that I'm still here is because I came for my 9am class, and then had a 1pm class. But, hehe..I didn't have my 1pm class. I forgot that it got canceled. Oh well, I'm getting at least a little bit of work done. Like I've said, I've been here since 9am, and I only have 4 points. That's what "a little bit" means.

Dinner was nice last night, DJ and Elizabeth came too. We like our sibblings. :) Joanne, Ben will be 2 years old in March. Jessie's pregant again, and due in November. She makes such a cute pregnant lady. It makes ME want to be prego!! :)

22 points today.

I've been on campus all day working..it's been nice, but now I'm TIRED!
I kinda tried to just tackle two topics today...but, it hasn't turned out all that great because I've got a test in one of them tomorrow, and I don't feel as well prepared for it as I probably should. I should do fine...he gives us like all the freakin' equations and, I flew through the review packet.

I've gotten to talk to Joy the last couple of days while I've been studying. That's been nice. We're going to try to meet up on-line and scrap "together" tomorrow afternoon. My scrapping will probably be more organizing...but I'm sooo close! I can TASTE it! :)

Tomorrow we have a dinner date with Joe and Jessie. Red Lobster here we come. I like those guys a lot.

Today is my hubby's birthday!

I love you dear, even if you ARE a quarter of a century old!

I'm at a coffee shop in lawrence right now, taking a break from studying. I'm in the middle of a really long and really boring chapter in my accounting text book. I've only got 2 checkmarks for today...but, i'm working on several things that take a lot of time. I'll update you on my final number of checkmarks later.

After birthday boy gets done with his school at 5pm, we're going to go get Mexican for dinner, then he's going to go to the library and wait for me to finish my stat's review session. Then I'm going to study like a mad woman...you just wait and see!

Two More!

Here are the third and fourth ones...

Anniversary Guestbook Pages

Look, Joy -- I actually scrapped! (Although, they are rather boring pages!)

2nd day of fall break

Today was a good day. I got some laundry done, and some shopping, including 4 rolls of film to Walgreens. I also caught up on some homework, and am putting a big dent all of my scrapbook stuff. Maybe one of these days I'll actually get to scrap.

25 super woman points awarded today.

Back on track again...

Sunday, October 8 - 13 points

Monday, October 9 - 20 points

Tuesday, October 10 - 17 points (Micah and I went on a date to Applebee's for Spin dip because I had my BLAW exam this evening. Also, today was my parent's 25th wedding anniversary.)

We got to see Anne Denny

The Blooms were nice enough to invite us over to their house for dinner and games so that we could see Anne today. They're so hospitable! We played scategories with everyone. I only got 3 things done again today. But, the fellowship was nice.

Homecoming

Today's been a good day. I had school from 9am-2pm. Then I came home and relaxed and waited for my hubby to get home. When he got home, we played games together, then went to dinner at Freestate. After dinner we met some of his friends/co-workers for coffee and/or alcohol at Henry's. Then we headed home and did some work on school, watched a movie, and fell asleep. It was a good date night.

Mama Sherry turned 50 today

I'm sure in a rut for my productivity. I only got 3 things crossed off my to-do list today. We went to Topeka, and hung out with my mom, though. That was nice.

Project time...

Part two of my accounting project was due today. One of my two partners isn't very helpful AT ALL. She said she looked for a long time, but couldn't find a lot of the information she needed. So, I stayed up really late finishing all of my stuff. Then, I got up really early to finish her stuff, and I was able to find all the information she'd left out in no time. I actually slept for another hour after I finished her part of the project. I was slightly annoyed.

But, I did get 7 super woman points today. Class was long and boring, and I didn't do much when I got done.

My day off...

Wednesday is my day off, and I always try to get so caught up. But, today I was only able to get 4 things done. I couldn't get motivated. But, maybe I just needed the break...a refresher.

Wonder Woman today!!

I got 43 points today!! It felt sooo good. I went to class all day, then Micah and I had dinner and camped out at the library for the rest of the evening. It was a good day.

Today I got 5 super-woman points. I had my Econ discussion today, then tried to play catch up. It's hard to get a lot done when the things you need to accomplish take a long time. Oh well.

6 super woman points today. :)

Manhattan

I had high hopes for today...but they were dashed for good reasons, I think.

We left early in the morning to take Hannah to Manhattan in time for her volleyball tournament. Our plan was to watch her games while we studied. But, instead we made a trip to Hobby Lobby, then I went with Micah's mom to a craft fair. He hung out with his dad and brother at the house. Then we sat around talking all afternoon. We did eventually make it to a coffee shop to study...but it was only for an hour or so. I got 1 thing done! Then we picked up pizza and headed to the Schumm's for dinner and a game. It was a good day.

Hangin' with Hannah

Hannah went with me to my classes today. She read a lot, and checked her e-mail with my laptop. After I got out of class at about 1:45, we walked back to the apartment, freshened up a bit, then went shopping until Micah got done with his school at 5pm. We went to Khols, Target and Old Navy. I got some good deals! :) We even got matching skirts for 1.97! After we picked Micah up, we watched a movie for a while, then headed to Topeka to have dinner with my parents. We played games with my mom in the evening, and Joe came to visit for a while. Then, Hannah, Micah and I watched a movie. It was a good night. We'll take her back to Manhattan in the morning.

I only got 7 super woman points today.

Hannah's here to visit!

After my long day of classes, I headed out to the Community Center to watch Hannah's volleyball games. She didn't win, but they were good games anyway. After her games, we picked Micah up then went and rented movies and went to dinner at Old Chicago. After dinner we headed to the library so that Micah could work on the massive pile of stuff he had to get done. Hannah and I played a game of skip-bo everytime I got one thing crossed off my to-do list. It started an addiction for me. Now Micah rewards me with skip-bo when I'm accomplished.

I'm pretty impressed...I got 15 super woman points today even with Hannah here.

16 Super woman points. That's it for today.

Joy, you're so cute

All of those retro-active posts happened on the 22nd. I just got so tired of being so far behind on everything...so I thought that that would be something I could catch up on fairly easily. I'm going to continue to do that today...hopefully I'll be completely caught up shortly, and will get in a daily habit of updating you!

Today was a good day!

I got 29 super woman points...but, even though I failed at my attempt to be Wonder Woman, it was a good day. I feel really productive!!

Potwin Pottery

First trip to Potwin today to work on Christmas presents and other presents! I like that place a lot. I also was able to cross 8 things off my ever-growing to-do list!

Time to slack...

Well, I've been productive for the last 7.5 hours, and now I'm tired. So, I decided to look at my blog, and make retroactive posts so that my husband will make fun of me. I also noticed that the stupid link section is back for some reason. I'll have to have hubby fix that in the process of laughing. So, anyway, I'm going to pull my agenda out and update you since the last post...but you won't really know that until after you've looked at them all because this will be today's and the rest will be forever ago. Enjoy!

Career Fair

Another full day of class, beginning with an exam in Economics. Then my hubby picked me up and we went to the career fair together. After I signed in, we talked around a bit, talked with Security benefit, then went home and spent the evening relaxing together. 11 points for today.

Had class all day (8am-1pm) followed by an exam in accounting. 9 super woman points. I just rested the rest of the evening. It was nice.

More debate about point system...

I kicked butt today. I got 50 Wonder Woman points. I've decided that I should some sort of extra title or prize for reaching 50. Any ideas?

Not much to report... (part 2)

Just a recap of the points today...
14th - 10 (test in Stats, Quiz in Accounting)
15th - 8 (only one class today)
16th - 4
17th - 4 (restful weekend)

DSCI Exam

Have an exam in Statistics tomorrow. I got 18 points today studying for it. I wouldn't normally give myself that many points...but I had to do something to keep me motivated. I'm not too fond of math. Why anyone ever thought accountants liked math is beyond me!

Productive...today?!

How I was able to get so many things done today is beyond me!! (25 points!) The girls spend all morning with Micah...I had class from 8am-2:15. Then we took them to get lunch...they wanted Wendy's. Then Micah had to go to his class, and us girls hung around the house and worked on things and played Mall Madness. When Micah got home we watched a movie and eat Speghetti. I never know how to spell that word.

Visitors

Today was a good day...did a lot of worth while things. I got 13 points, cleaned the house, had a quiz in Econ, had lunch with Abby in Topeka, went to Micah's sisters' volleyball game, and then hung out with them the rest of the evening. They're staying the night and all day tomorrow too. Micah will take them home Wednesday morning.

In other news, Ruth turned 21 today...It's so sad that her "special" years correlate with "9/11" stuff, but I suppose more people have suffered way worse things than that.

Grantville

Micah and I got to study some after church...I was able to cross 9 things off my to-do list. One of these days I'll get caught up.
Our church had a concert in Grantville tonight that Micah and Joe sang and played in. I heard it was a good time...I was bowling. Micah even got to bowl the last game...he made good time.

Monday, September 4th-Saturday September 9th

Not a whole to to say about this week. Though, I consistantly marked my points...

Monday-7
Tuesday-12
Wednesday-30 (my day "off")
Thursday-4
Friday-4
Saturday-5

No wonder woman...but still impressive, I thought.

Visit from the Chicago-Wasso's

Matt and Shelsey visited this weekend. They got in late Friday night. We were supposed to see them when they got in, but Micah and I are old and tired...so we fell asleep. We went to a game at Washburn with the rest of the Wasso's, Regan and Jono. Matt M. was marching in the band...that was my favorite part. That night we hung out with everyone at the Wasso house. Good times were had by all. Sunday the came to church...and we followed up with the usual Cici's. They're greatly missed.

Brakes sure are expensive.

I went to midas early this morning to take care of our car...to repair the damage ended up costing us $611.24. But, on the plus side, gettting up early meant that I was able to get a lot done, though you wouldn't be able to tell it by my point system. You see, I only got 9 points that day. But, the pitfall with my system is that, I get one point for each thing I cross off my list....regardless of how long it took me to accomplish that one thing. For instance, 30 minutes of cleaning around the house gets the same amount of points (1) as reading an entire chapter in one of my text books. Maybe I should change the system...but then again, it works in motivating me...so maybe not!

Crazy day!

Today I was in class from 8am-2:30pm. Then I walked home and ended up picking up Merrilyn's kids from a lawyers office and babysitting them for a while. They gave us our car back to get the brakes fixed....they were BAD. So, long story short, I ended up walking a long ways back to the Lawyer's office to pick up my car, then to pick Micah up at Midus. I'll have to go back in the morning to get the brakes fixed....I'm so tired.

Not a whole lot going on the last several days...just school and more school. Today I had an ECON quiz, and also got 37 wonder woman points!! :) YAY!

Not much to report...

I guess I just went to classes on Monday and Tuesday...didn't give myself any points. But, today I got 23 super woman points! Go me. Wednesday is always a good day to play catch up.

Wedding Day

On Sunday morning, we took things kinda slow because we were surprising mom with an 11am appointment to renew their vows. So, we kinda walked around our hotel for a while, gambled a little, then got breakfast before we headed to the chappel. Mom was really surprised.
After the ceremony, we went to the Wynn and out to lunch at the Harley Davidson Cafe before us kids had to catch our flight home. It was a good time.

Las Vegas!

Saturday morning mom had to go to a conference for her job, so Dad took us kids out to the Hoover Dam. It was only my 3rd trip out there, but this time it was way cool, because they're in the process of building a bridge OVER the dam so that traffic can bypass the tourist stuff. Isn't that fun? It's amazingly high, and it would be soooo cool to actually see them working on it every day!
After the Dam we went back to the strip to visit the MGM and the M&M factory, then we had a late lunch at the ESPN Zone. We went back to the hotel to rest for a while, then did a little gambling while we waited for mom to be done. When she'd finished with her work we went with her to see the rest of the things we wanted to see on the Strip, including the Paris hotel and Margaritaville. We had dinner then headed back to the hotel. Justin and Mom stayed down and gambled for a while, but the rest of us were kinda tired.

Las Vegas!

All of my classes were canceled today, which I was really thankful for, because that means I got to get ready for Vegas. My brother and sister-in-law picked us up at around 6:30 so that we could get to the air port for our 9:30 flight. Vegas, here we come!

(got 9 super woman points, today.)

First day of School

School on Tuesday's and Thursday's consist of 4 back-to-back lectures from 8am-2:15pm. Fun stuff. And, then, on top of that...I had a doctor's appointment. Lucky me.

El nino returns

bowling started tonight, but at a different bowling alley this time. The league is weird, don't know what to think about them yet.

Wonder Woman again

...but just barely. 31 points for me today! I worked from 7am-3:45, so I must have got a lot of birthday cards sent. Then after work we went to Topeka to watch movies with my parents at Miguel's house. Then we went to the Outback where I got asked if I needed a children's menu.

Friends are lovely

We got to go out to dinner and play games with Chris and Carrie. It was such a refressing evening. I love those guys!!

Also, I was WONDER WOMAN today! 43 points!

farwell to KBC

We spent most of the day hanging out and playing games with friends and family. We went back to Fazoli's! I had to get my fix. We went with The Hutch Hawks, the Topeka Hawks, Rachel and Amber. Good times!

July 31 - August 4

I was a cook down at Mitchell, and did the crafts for the Boy's Grade school as well. My week was FULL of boys!! Micah was a counselor for the highschool. It was an enjoyable week.