I Am In A Group

i am in a group. i use these words, because being part of a group and being in a group are so very different. tonight i am reminded of what it feels like to not be important to a group. do you know and understand what it is like to be in a group and not part of a group?

i used to have a very influential position - i was the one LEADING a group of people. i remember how it felt to know all the others in the group, i tried to help others be part of the group. (i admit that i did not make everyone feel part. i am sure that there are people that felt on the outside trying to understand the dynamics of the group so they could be part...) there was power in being part of that group. tonight i am just a number again - only i am not allowed to offer anything, it is met with resistance from others in the group. they do not know what they are doing. they do not realize the hurt that is caused. i was important once.

i know this all reads rather depressingly, i just want to ask - do you make people feel they are part of the group or just a number? there are so many hurting souls just wanting to be important to SOMEONE.. (such a dangerous place for a person....) all around me i see - in the church too - women that are in a place of desperation. wanting to be important to someone, anyone. and when we only let them be a person in the group - we actually may push them into a situation that they should never have to face. look around you everyone needs a friend..

i don't know how to be a best friend. i say stupid things to people, and i misunderstand the importance of situations, and i can sure be short with another person - so i am not saying i have this down. i can pray, "Jesus, let me be the friend You want me to be to this person." i will not always get this right, or do the best thing.
i simply know and understand what it is to be in desperation - will anyone be my friend? i have been the one not caring if others in the group are a number or part of the group. and i know what it is to know someone in that group is desperate. God help me to not let that desperate one go without being known. God, forgive me where i have failed miserably, and help me offer mercy to those who don't know that i am the desperate one in the group.... so that You may be all that is seen

Shopping and Entertainment

hey all,

today is november 12th. you can click on those words and find all kinds of great things that happened in history on this date. however - nothing i did today will fall onto a website of history, except for what i put in this blog. so hang on - we're making history :).

today, yes and today only (well i may have to repeat this event in a few days *groan*...), i went christmas decor shopping with a friend. i never knew there could be so much decoration for one holiday (and we have not even gotten through thanksgiving.... i am guessing it is because we don't want to be thankful - just want the stuff.... kinda sad, huh?) on a BUNNIE TRAIL - the day after halloween christmas stuff started showing up all over (see above comment about thankfulness). i am astonished!! and it is very difficult to not get swept up in all the hoopla. the weather is indian summerish and beautiful (75+*). it is not cold enough to be fall, much less have snow. thanksgiving is two weeks away and it seems more like picnic weather than cold enough for thanksgiving...
back to the original note - christmas decor shopping. we went to five (yes folks 5) stores and still did not exhaust the available stores sharing their "holiday season".
after that we went for mexican lunch (good stuff and only 2.99), then a movie. i arrived home some six (yes folks, 6) hours later, exhausted and slightly depressed (movie VERY sad).

i started the caulking and then my hunny walked in the door - we decided to go to another movie. (went to the dollar movies both times - i love cheep entertainment) the second movie was much better - very cute. (sad stuff in there too....)

and i believe that leads us to where i am now. home - hunny is on the phone checking a job the day after thanksgiving (a wedding) and a church gig. (he works so hard) i am looking around the office at all the places that need to be patched and wondering if i should start some more tonight, or wait for tomorrow. probably will wait for tomorrow - we have a book series to get through (you remember the one with no ending because the author died this september.... why am i rushing to finish all the books again.....) so i will say good night - because it is night time here and i will go to bed very, very, soon....

Veterans Day

today is veterans day. we celebrated by sleeping in. and i think my veteran could have slept for several more hours than he was able, given the chance. we got up and got breakfast, read our books for an hour or so. then he fixed the flue - turns out it just needed a bit of extra strength to get it to fit properly. and he started to put the couch/sleeper sofa back together - we found the bolts are too short tho. so we need longer hardware, i am hoping to get working on it this upcoming weekend.

we have agreed that the colors for the guest room are too dark. not sure what colors to go with yet, but one of the colors previously pictured on this blog will be used.

went to university church tonight again. was nice to be with my hunny.

think that is it for now.

Happy Birthday to the USMC

Dude chatting on the computer - think he is chatting with friends from n. carolina.
Dude wanting up on my lap - such a cutie pie. wow!!! check out that claw - is that IN me??!!!!!
how quickly he looses interest - wonder what has his attention now.

hey all,

here are some picts of our growing dude. he is such a character. (the reason there are only picts of dude is that bernice hates having her pict taken. and i am not going to chase her down or force her into doing something cute for the camera....) he really is turning out to be a great addition to the group. great sense of humor, nice entertainment, gets into lots of messes, but we still like having him around. (and we like his face - good looker)

today was a very slow starter for me. actually i don't know if it ever got started.... my darlingist husband went to work today and i went back to bed. (did i mention he has been sick and now i have been sick.... so i slept for a few hours - like four.... and i am STILL tired. may take the weekend to get over this stuff..) sweetie got home about 30 min after i woke up. he ate lunch and tried to crash for an hour. then we got up and went to a fund raiser banquet sacrifice for freedom.

"sacrifice for freedom" is a tribute piece honoring fallen soldiers. a wonderful ministry - click on the link above or type it into your browser to check the ministry. done by a christian man and his family. what an honor to have gone tonight. it was wonderful. very emotion filled for both of us.

today is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. it is an honor to be married to a Marine and i am proud of his service. as crummy as some of the separation was, it would be an honor to do it again. i have become a patriot and love this nation through the service of my husband. i see what it is to be honorable because of him. we are both proud of what he has done through the USMC.

now we are both quite tired and ready to crash - and very full.... so i will say good-night to you all.

thank you,

Trim Is Up

there is it - the red pinstripe. looks great. this is the east wall.
here is the north wall - looks like the other wall, but it is so nice to have done that i had to include both perspectives.... lol (the picture was painted for my b-day by my grandma - mom's mom..)


hey all,

i have a wonderful announcement (just a bit of drama) the trim is up. my wonderful handyman took a few hours today to cut and fit all the trim. he used a new table saw given to him for christmas (thank you mom..), a wonderful scroll saw (thank you phil and kathy...), nails and hammer (thank you me - i just really wanted to give him something helpful too....), and a great little miter box he made. the room looks fabulous. we are both so happy with the walls. i will patch and touch-up this next week. just so glad to get it up and mostly finished. we both are very glad it is almost done. i think hunny's part is finished in here (and the peasants rejoice...)

he also figured out the mechanical part of the couch and we bought hardware tonight. (i actually had the hardware turned inside, upside-down, or something. just was not going together and looked a bit spastic. HE FIGURED IT OUT - and i knew he could. i did however insist on him letting me show how far i DID get on it all. he said he was impressed and i am smart. what a great man....)

we crashed for about 5 minutes this afternoon and then went to the opening oru basketball game. hunny put the audio mix for the players intro video together at work last week. the mix was pretty hard to hear - quite muddy sounding. the game was good - refs had a hard time seeing, but it seems that every game i attend the refs make crummy calls. maybe i should stop going.. even tho i hardly ever go already....... i like real live games!!! and don't WANT to stop going.

last but not least we stopped for pizza and then came home. so we are stuffed, and really tired. i will call it a night (um good morning actually) and see you tomorrow.

love to you all,
me

I Have A Friend!

hey all,

today started rather quickly. - well it felt like the morning was a blur - but when you don't get up until almost 9am, well it is hard to feel like you have much of a morning.

i was sewing on the couch, and removing batting (it seems whenever i do a sewing project of any sort i find myself "ripping" something out at some point...) when i got a phone call from a gal i met at the women's meeting on wed morning (a few weds ago, but still that is where we met..). she and i chatted for about an hour. finally we just decided to do some "errand runs" together, and it turned into a late (very late) lunch. then hanging out here at my house, then her house, and finally we ended up going to church. what a great time - it has been so long since i just hung with a gal pal.

since my sweetest man is feeling sick i gave into some of his junk food desires. (shhh, don't tell him i want him to be surprised...) i bought him lucky charms. he was saying the other night that he would really like to have a bowl of that cereal (claims it is his favorite....). so i indulged. also got him some oreos. (i eat graham crackers that i dip in milk and he said that was gross and a person should dip oreo cookies if they dipped anything in milk, so i got him his stinking oreo cookies. and i will eat some of those oreo cookies too let me tell you....) (i like them too...) i hope he is able to sleep this weekend.

that brings me to a BUNNIE TRAIL - sweetie has this amazing immune system. he can get seriously ill (pneumonia, bronchitis, not sure but they may be very serious stuff...) then he sleeps for two straight days and is all better. jump out of bed like nothing ever happened. i am still dragging around 2 weeks later. (this is not technically a gripe, because i don't want to have to care for a sickie too long....) (and he doesn't like being babied...) soooooo i am hoping he will take it easy for a day... because the other day we have to put up trim..... and he is working all day sunday..... hopefully he will be done with this sinus thing. (i am trying to rest enough that i won't get a full head-on sickness)

well that is it. thank you to kathy for the tuna casserole recipe.
have a great one.

Good Day

today was a nice day. i went to ladies bible study. we are listening to lisa bevere via dvd. what a great authentic lady. she is powerful and totally about getting women set free from all the junk we run into on a daily basis. getting over what we see in the mirror and finding the beauty and strength that makes each one of us treasure. i wanna be like lisa.
after the bible study some of us go and grab lunch - well grab would be the wrong word. we sit and enjoy for long periods of time and therefore are building great friendships. man, we women are all walking around with hurts and lives ripped apart, starting from little bitty peoples all the way to the adult stage, just hurting and looking for God's goodness. only lots of us have looked in the wrong places. ugly cycle, and deadly - hard to get out of it. even simple choices leading to pain and hurt. today i sat in the church parking lot for 3 or so hours just listening and talking to a couple of ladies. fabulous women with so much hard background - you would never have known all the hurts that had taken place and are crippling them. God is good to bring us all together. and He is faithful to not leave us in hurt.
good day!!!!
until tomorrow.