It was a lovely Valentine’s Day.  Of course, Eric worked all day.  I did a number of things: cleaned up the kitchen, ironed, refilled the bird feeder, crocheted a second slipper, and did some writing. 

We exchanged gifts when Eric got home.  He had actually left my gift out on the desk in our loft, figuring that I’d never notice it since I tend to be a “big-picture person.”  He was right on both counts!  I never saw it until he pulled it forward onto the desk.  But it was a little blue box, and inside was a lovely amethyst necklace with a little diamond above the amethyst.  It’s my birthstone (my b-day’s tomorrow), and he picked out all by himself.  Lovely!

He liked the Camelback thing I got him. This page is the closest I could find to what I got him.  Then we started to make dinner.  I did dessert, mashed potatoes, and salad, and I set the table.  Eric made the beef stroganoff.  We used really good meat, and the whole thing turned out so yummy and romantic (candles in our kitchen).  It was good times!  Then we relaxed for the evening and went to bed pretty early.  Lovely!

This morning I read a day in Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional.  This morning’s is really quite good.  Check it out.

Today is Friday (yippee!), so it’s back to CU.  We have a faculty meeting today and my normal classes.  I expect to have a lot of students out today.  But we shall see!

Happy Friday to you all!

Happy Valentine’s Day

It really is strange that we celebrate a Hallmark holiday that was probably based on a Christianized version of a pagan sex celebration, don’t you think?  It certainly gives a different perspective to think about that.  And that the original St. Valentine was martyred either for marrying couples after Claudius outlawed marriage to fill his army ranks or for helping Christians escape Rome (it depends on who you ask!).   Either one sounds questionable, though, right?

So, in honor of the day, what is the best Valentine’s thing you ever did, received or gave?

As for the rest of life, yesterday wasn’t too eventful.  Eric wasn’t very hungry last night, so we ate when we were hungry.  He finished patching walls and cleaned up his mess (I didn’t even have to ask or help!), and we then ran out to get the ingredients for our Valentines dinner tonight.  We’ve decided to stay home and cook a “fancy” meal together which should be fun.  (We’ll be making “real” beef stroganoff with filet mignon over mashed potates, salad, and molton chocolate cake.) When we came out of Giant Eagle, we decided to see if there was any wait at the place we get our hair cut.  There wasn’t, so Eric happily got his hairs all shortened significantly.  He’s needed a haircut for about 3 weeks, so it was a well-timed activity. 

We watched Good Eats and Mythbusters before going to bed.  Oh…and next week’s Mythbusters is about MacGyver myths…how fun is that!  My very early morning yesterday caught up with me all of a sudden about 9:30, but I made it until 10 and slept much better last night.  Yay!

EDIT (8:11):  Okay, so it looks like I need some Xanga friend prayers again this morning, after all.  I am finding my old fears are not giving up the ghost as easily as I’d prefer.  God is good, and I know that He won’t fail me, but I hate that I fall so easily when one of my triggers gets tripped.  I’m tired of the grip fear has on my life.  So, if you would, please pray that I’d let God break its power over me completely and that I’d trust him in my fear today.  Thanks!

Today, I have no major plans.  A bit of tidying up, maybe a WalMart run, and ironing.  Other than that…we shall see!  Happy Thursday to you all!

A rough morning.

I woke up at 3:30 and had to go to the bathroom.  I had trouble going back to sleep.  When that happens in the early morning hours, I have a tendency to start thinking, which usually leads to fear or worry.  But I managed to simply spend a few minutes in prayer and eventually dozed back off…

…for an hour.  At 4:50, I woke up again and had to go to the bathroom again.  I had a lot of trouble falling back asleep.  This time, I dozed off a couple of times, but never fully slept.  And this time, the prayer did turn to fear and worry.   I really hate mornings like these.

So this morning, I’m working hard (and only partially succeeding right now) to shift my focus off the fear and onto Jesus.  My morning’s bible reading was in Mark 9 where Jesus reminded a little boy’s father: Everything is possible if you believe.  And the man responded, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”  This is my prayer for today, for this morning.  I do believe, Jesus.  Please help my unbelief.  Free me from my fear and worry because most of the “what ifs” will never happen, and even if they do, God will not love me less, let me go, or throw me out. Amen and Amen!

Edit (8:36 am):  Between writing this out, thinking about the op-ed question on Marla’s page, and spending lots more time with Jesus, I’m already feeling better.  God is so good, and I don’t deserve his presence or blessing in my life!  Boy am I glad he just pours Himself into me anyway!

As for the rest of life, yesterday wasn’t terribly exciting.  I did a couple of loads of laundry.  I ran some errands and stopped to visit with Karen for a bit (their nursery is too cute!).  Then we had dinner, and Eric worked on priming his wall repairs and I crocheted a slipper.  Now I just have to make a second one…Hopefully, I’ll get it done quickly!

Eric left pretty early this morning, expecting to experience mediocre roads and really bad drivers on them.  And frankly, it didn’t look that bad out there.   Still, I’m glad I don’t have to drive to CU today.

So – since yesterday was so crazy for me, here’s a quick recap of my recent activities:

Weekend: On Friday, we went to the mall to buy Eric a bunch of new things that he needed.  Saturday was spent mostly cleaning, though I did have a baby shower to go to in the afternoon.  Sunday was church and a bit of grading and some goofing off.

Yesterday: Other than classes, which seemed to go fine, it was pretty busy.  Because we were taking dinner to the couple who just had a baby, I had a plan for the afternoon, which included a stop at Kroger in London.  Unfortunately, there was an accident on 42, just before the Kroger (someone rear-ended someone else) so getting there took about 15 minutes longer than it should have.  But I still made it home in good time.  I made a chicken casserole and took salad, applesauce, and bread to go with it.   Since the couple lives about 30 minutes from our house, Eric drove with me, so we got to hang out together and chat with our friends.  I got to hold the baby, too.  He’s tiny and a little squirmy…so cute!  Then we got home, ate our own dinner, and crashed.

Today, I have some cleaning to do around the house.  Eric has been patching holes and cracks in the house in preparation for some painting we want to do, so my house is greatly disordered right now.  But I’ll just clean around the mess!  And since Karen has the day off (Erik, too), maybe I’ll chat with her sometime.  Oh, and I do need to go get Eric’s Valentine’s Day present. 

So, that’s it…Happy Tuesday!

…Polo!

Sorry for my tardiness today…it was a very busy  Monday!

We got up late, and I had to hurry to get around.  I had to replace my Xanga time with other things, including baking some chicken breasts for a meal I’m taking to a couple who just had a baby.  I meant to bake the chicken yesterday and I forgot.  But it’s cooked now and waiting for me in the fridge!

I also had to put gas in my car this morning.  It would figure that, on the freakin’ coldest day of the year, I’d have to put gas in my car!   It would also figure that I had to scold my students for showing up in short-sleeves and flimsy jackets.  Children!

Anyway, I had a meeting during chapel, so I had to get stuff done before then…which meant no time for Xanga then either.  And now it’s 1:45, and I’m just now here.  But…here I am!

I guess I’ll post a weekend report tomorrow, when I’m stuck at home in the snow.  We’ll see how bad it really is, but I do hope it snows a good bit.  We shall see…

Yesterday, I went with Karen to see 27 Dresses since she had the day off.  We had lunch at Panera, too, before she headed to her weekly appointment.  I went home and did laundry and goofed off for the rest of the day.  Eric and I went to Home Depot last night and bought some energy-saving bulbs to try.  Of course, one was broken, so we had to go back to HD and exchange it. But that is just how things go sometimes!

Other than that, it wasn’t a very interesting day.  Emotionally, I have been struggling with being discouraged in general. I know it’s a combination of the weather, the point in the semester, lack of really good sleep and hormones.  But I still don’t like that I can’t seem to shake it very well.  I’m trying to be more purposeful today about my focus and keeping it where it needs to be…on Jesus!

EDIT (11:20 a.m) – Thanks for all the prayers…after a good old-fashioned meltdown before God this morning, I decided that I needed to shift my pattern of thinking from negatives to praises. Between the prayers and praises, I’m doing much better already…

The normal CU schedule today.  I might end up meeting with a student later today, but I’d be okay if we postponed that until another time.  I should get to have lunch with my mom for the first time all week, which will be nice.  And other than a baby shower at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon, I have almost nothing planned for the weekend.  That sounds lovely!

Anyway, have a happy Friday and a marvelous weekend!

I have absolutely nothing of interest to say today, so I went to Bored.com and found some random trivia for you to enjoy on this Thursday:

1. Facetious
and abstemious are the only words that contain all the vowels in the correct
order.

2. “Mad
About You” star Paul Reiser plays the piano on the show’s theme song.

3. “Taxi”
is spelled exactly the same in English, French, German, Swedish, Portuguese,
and Dutch.

4. “The
sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue
twister in English.

5. 1 in 5,000
north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

6. 11% of the
world is left-handed.

7. 111, 111,
111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321

8. 22,000
checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour.

9. 315 entries
in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

10. 40% of
McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

11. In Disney’s
Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey
played an apprentice was named Yensid, which is Disney spelled backward.

12. 85% of men
who die of heart attacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on
their wives.

13. 28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North
America, it’s 38%.

14. Charlie
Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

15. A 1.5 oz.
milk chocolate bar has only 220 calories. A 1.75 oz. serving of potato chips
has 230 calories.

16. A acre of
coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts
to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.

17. A bee could
travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11 km/h) on the energy it
would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar, or it could just sit down
on and enjoy that honey properly.  (This
one made me think of Terri!)

18. A chef’s
hat is tall and balloons at the top so as to counteract the intense heat in the
kitchen. The unique shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the
head cool.

19. A
chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can’t.

20. A healthy
(non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.

21. A giraffe
can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

Yesterday was not a terribly exciting day.  The biggest activity was errand-running. I spent a lot of money, but my house is finally re-stocked.  I did about half of my grading, and I cleaned up a couple of stains on the carpet.  I also made and cleaned up after dinner.  Other than that, I read and wrote and goofed off. 

The rain actually woke me up last night.  It was pounding against our house.  Crazy!

And now, fun stories for your Wednesday enjoyment:
Back in the fall, Kelly (my 5 yr. old niece) began to pray for bunk beds.  Deb told my dad about her prayers, and he built some beds for the girls, delivering them 1-2 weeks ago.   Kelly has been showing them off to everyone, and when Alissa (a little friend) came by to see them, Kelly told her, “I prayed for bunk beds, and God answered, and my Papa made them for me.”  So now Alissa is praying for bunk beds, too. 

Then the other day, Kelly announced to them that she thought it was time to have another baby in the house.  They agreed and told her she should pray about that.  Kelly continued, “And I think we need to have a brother…”  Again, they told her that would be fine, and she finished her thought as she gestured towards her sister, “…’cause right now, all we have is Holly.” 

Happy Wednesday!

I watched some of the thunderstorms this morning while I waited for Eric to finish getting ready to leave.  I love to watch storms like that…they’re so awe-inspiring.

Then I watched some news while on the treadmill this morning (it always rains on the few days its warm enough to walk outside ).  They were talking politics.  The American political machine is much less awe-inspiring than thunderstorms.  Still…it’s interesting to see how conflicted the race is on both sides this year.  That’s unusual!

Nothing terribly exciting to report from yesterday.  The class presentations went well.  I did not feel like grading, so I didn’t do it (it’s on today’s agenda).  I went to the chiropractor a final time, and everything seems much better.  Then I came home.  I made chicken and gravy for dinner, watched some television with Eric and cleaned up the kitchen.  We went to bed early which was nice, but I am still a bit tired this morning.  It must be the gray skies!

Today I have to run errands.  I am out of lots of stuff, and I’m getting down to the level where I can’t use what I do have to make an entire meal.  I’m 1-2 ingredients short of a good supper!  So, to the store I will go…

Other than that, I don’t have terribly interesting plans.  Happy (Super) Tuesday!

I did not get enough sleep this weekend.  Ugh!

Friday night, we headed to Zanesville as soon as we could get out (4:20).   We understood that the family was supposed to be at the game at 6:00, and we were hoping to arrive near then, too.  Surprisingly, the roads, the weather, and the rush hour traffic weren’t problematic in anyway, so we did arrive just about 6:00.  Then we found out that the family wasn’t getting there until 6:30.  We rushed around for no reason.  *rolls eyes*

The game was as good as high school basketball can be.  My FIL was inducted into the inaugural class of the Tri-Valley Athletic Hall of Fame.  And Tri-Valley won the game.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to bed until after midnight. 

Saturday was spent hanging out at the farm.  We goofed off for the day, but there was company for dinner, so we didn’t end up leaving until just after 9:00, so we didn’t get home until 10:30 and to bed until 11:00. 

Sunday morning we got to sleep in for an hour because Eric is on sabbatical from the orchestra.  That was nice.  After church, we did a bit of running around before heading home.  We got dinner (ham salad sandwiches) and then relaxed for a while.  Then we started cleaning for the Super Bowl Party last night.  Eric vacuumed the entire house, dusted, cleaned up the loft, and spot-cleaned where necessary.  I cleaned the kitchen, tidied the rest of the upstairs, cleaned the bathrooms and swept/mopped the kitchen floor.  Then he took a nap and I read the newspaper. 

The party was a good time.  We had about 6-7 couples there, and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. By the end of the game, we were down to 3 of the couples and us.  No one in the group was hard-core fan for either team, but most of us had decided to cheer for the Giants.  So only one person went home disappointed.  And shortly after the game ended, everyone left, we tidied up briefly and were in bed. 

And now it’s Monday already again.  Maybe I’ll get to rest now that I’m going back to work!