ABC's of Me...

ABC's of Me!

I saw this on Double the Fun's blog and ever since MySpace, I love me some 
questionnaires/surveys what-ever-you-want-to-call-them

A. Age: 32

B. Bed size: Queen, although Husband has been petitioning for a King for a while now, 
and I am sure when A starts to crawl into our bed at night, he will eventually win.

C. Chore you dislike: Dusting. And my house proves it. But I am terribly allergic to dust,
 so you would think I would maintain it better...nope.

D. Dogs:  3 fat, crazy, lazy pugs. Malcolm, 8, Parker, 7, and Grover Cleveland, 3. They were
 our babies before our baby. And I still try to remember that. 

E. Essential start to your day: Food. I have to eat as soon as I wake up, otherwise, 
I will not eat until dinner.

G. Gold or silver: I used to be straight up silver, but lately I have crossed over to the gold
 side now and then. As long as it is real and doesn't look all cheap and gaudy.

H. Height: 5'7" (although my Dr likes to say 5'6.5", I round up)

I. Instruments you play(ed): flute for a month or two, until I started having asthma 
attacks because I could not control my breathing. And the piano. 

J. Job title: In this order: Wife, Mama, and Color-data coordinator. 

K. Kids: 1 sweet girl 

L. Live: The Keystone state, in the suburbs of the city of brotherly love (yeah right)

M. Mom’s name: Margaret Mitchell - like the author of Gone With the Wind

N. Nicknames: Egg - real creative, I know. I do have a friend that calls me Schmegal.
 That is nice.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Tonsils out 3 years ago (hell on earth), and giving birth 
(a walk in the park compared to have my tonsils out)

P. Pet peeves: Oh, this could get long....wet strand of hair in the bathroom; people who 
drive slow in the fast lane causing you to pass them in the right lane; when people finish the 
ends of your sentences for you; people who do not RSVP or write Thank You notes - by hand,
 through snail mail; when there, their, and they're is not used properly, same with Your and 
You're and Too, to, Two; I'll stop there, but let's just say I can get annoyed very easily, 
something I am constantly working on ;-)

Q. Quote from a movie: "You Turd" - Chunk from The Goonies. I even tried to get a vanity
 license plate that said U TURD but I got denied by PennDOT

R. Righty or lefty: Right.

S. Siblings: I am the oldest of 6. Lauren, 30; Amanda, 29; Zach, 27; Eric, 24, and Lindsay, 14.

T. Time you wake up: Monday-Thurs 5am, Friday, 6am, Saturday & Sunday 7:30am unless
 we all sleep in and have nothing planned. Good thing I am a morning person. 

U. Underwear: Always. cotton bikini - sorry, probably TMI.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: I think I pretty much like them all. 

W. What makes you run late:Terrible time management and an unrealistic estimation of 
how long things really take.

X. X-rays you’ve had: hand, foot, chest, spine

Y. Yummy food you make: I would never say I am a good cook (and Husband probably 
wouldn't either) but there are a few things I can make better then my mom. Like our
 Hamburger Pie, a family favorite that I grew up eating. Let me know if you want the recipe -
 its easy. My grandfather says I make the best brownies and fudge. I can make a kick-ass
 dish of buffalo chicken dip, although the recipe is not my own. 

Z. Zoo animal you like: Monkeys. always. since I was little.

Something I Have to Share

Although I realize I have many posts that I keep promising to write {see: Avery is 14 months old and her last monthly post was 10 months - OOPS!}

But this is just too good to share.

Preface: My mom loves finding coins on the ground. She will squeal and grab that penny/nickel/dime/quarter faster then the speed of sound. It can be quite embarrassing. But there were many times all those coins she found and collected added up to help pay for something.

My mom always says that when she is stressed/worried/or in need of money, God always shows her that He is taking care of her by leaving money in strange places. For example, one time she was stressing about a bill and how it would get paid and while she taking her daily walk through the woods by her home, she found a pile of dimes...a pile of dime just randomly on a trail in the woods...

And that bill she was worrying about? It got paid with the money she received from an unexpected place.

While most people will call that coincidence, a Believer (as in a born-again Christian, not to be confused with a Belieber, a Justin Beiber fan) knows that there are no coincidences with God.

I always listened to her stories, because God had shown her many times with a random coin in a strange place, that he is taking care of her. I probably just rolled my eyes and moved on to the next thing.

Here is MY story:

Over this past weekend, our A/C stopped working. The fan was working, but it was not blowing cold air. While my husband has of gift of being mechanically inclined, he went through the possible scenarios of what could possibly be wrong. And they all were super expensive problems.

Ever since we moved into our home, we knew we wanted to replace the ugly, and now gross from 3 dogs and a baby, wall-to-wall carpet that was in our great room with hardwood floors. We saved our money and now have enough to fulfill our goal. Also - I have severe asthma and allergies so replacing carpet with hardwood is not just an aesthetic want as it is a health need.

But with an expensive A/C bill looming, we were coming to the realization that we may have to forfeit our hardwood floor to fix our A/C unit (in anticipation of a sweltering summer and a husband, daughter, and pugs that do not handle the heat well). Such is the life of an <responsible> adult.

Since the A/C stopped working on Saturday and this past weekend it was relatively cool, we decided to wait until Monday to call for a technician to come out and break our hearts and bank diagnose the problem.

Which means I had 3 full days to worry myself about what could possible be wrong and how we would afford to fix it and possibly have to wait longer for the new floors I so desperately needed/wanted. And of course my mom just kept saying "pray about it". 


My husband set the appointment up for first thing Tuesday morning. I was planning on working from home that day because, ironically, I had made an appointment with Home Depot to come out and give us an estimate for flooring the same day. 


Ryan and I both got up before Avery so I decided to run to Wawa to grab a coffee. I got my phone and wallet and headed out to my car. As I was sitting in the car, I remembered that I put my debit card into my bag, not my wallet. I said a quick "hallelujah" for remembering that then and not while I was standing in line at Wawa. So I ran back into the house and grabbed my debit card. 


When I came back out to my car, there was a penny sitting on my seat. I KNOW there was nothing on that seat when I got into the car. I immediately thought of my mom and her coin stories. So I said a quick prayer that what ever was wrong with the A/C, that it would be something we could afford to fix. 

Like most people (I think) we live on a pretty tight budget, which has gotten even tighter since we are actively working on a debt pay down plan. I knew $200 was the most we could afford. And I also "knew" that the majority of possible problems that could be wrong with the A/C would most likely have an extra "0" at the end. And good-bye hardwood floors.

But after I prayed, I felt a calm, a peace, a knowing that no matter what, God was in control of this. I could either trust Him or worry about something I could not control. I chose to trust Him. And that? It made a difference.

So I grabbed coffee, got home, sat down to work, and ate breakfast with Avery. As we were eating, the very nice technician arrived. Ryan showed him out to the back of our house, where the A/C unit lives. Mr. Technician was out there for about 5 minutes, assessing the situation.

He came inside, and I know Ryan and I both subconsciously held our breath, to tell us what he had found.

"It is a burned wire."


"It will be about $67 to replace."


"Plus $89 for the service call."


I almost started crying! 


$156!!!


Not only did God answer my prayer, He kept it BELOW budget! 


He loves me. He listens to me. He cares about the little things. And He answers me. 


I love Jesus.


xoxo

Midweek Confessions

Instead of writing about all the stuff I need/want to, I am going to keep it simple (and superficial) and choke up some of my midweek (Instagram)confessions...

- I unfollow people if they post too much of either themselves or their cats. One - I am a dog person (duh) but I really do not like cats, nor do I understand people who do. Don't get me wrong, I don't think less of people for being a cat person or loving their cat, well I kind of do of my youngest brother who seems to have an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship with his two cats (who are identical sisters he raised from birth), but I don't want your lame cat clogging up my feed. Sorry, its true and Ima confessin'. Two - I follow people because I like their posts (again, duh) and a few pictures of yourself is totally fine, and kind of nice to know who is behind the feed. But when the major majority ( I know, I know, not proper English) of posts are of one person taking picture after picture of themselves, I do not find that interesting.

- I have even unfollowed my 11-year-old cousin because of the stupid posts she clogs my feed with. They are not even real pictures, just "funny" stuff she finds on the internet. And some of them? If my uncle or aunt saw it, they would not be amused either.

- I always experience a pang of guilt when someone follows me and I check out their feed and do not follow back.

- I get a bit of hurt feelings when people do not follow me back or <gasp> unfollow me, or even ignore comments. Because of my current lack of real friends (which is a whole other post I am ready to let loose very soon), I rely highly on social media for any kind of interaction or affirmation that yes, my kid and/or my dogs are cute as I think is they are, which is made possible by the heart swelling flash of that little orange notification tallying up your likes/comments/new followers. *I believe that may be a little to real of a confession, and make me seem a lot lame, but hey, no one really reads this blog anyway...so boo hoo to me.

- I cannot stand people (usually teenagers) that 1. beg for followers, sorry, I must have missed the point of Instagram, did not realize it was a popularity contest. 2. ghost followers, again to "up" their numbers. I block those mo' fo's.

- The majority of people I follow are pug people. Kind of lame, I know. But it is funny to see other pugs all over the world that behave quite similarly to my herd. And whether you think they are ugly or cute, you have to admit, if you ever met a pug in real life, they are pretty funny little dogs.

Ok, done my bitching confessing for this week.

Cat people be warned.

xoxo

Midweek Confessions

I figured that after a month of unintentional silence, I should probably post something...and what better way to start then linking up with E @ E, Myself and I for some Midweek Confessions!

Here I go...

*I still have to write/publish Avery's 11 month AND 12 month posts...oops!

*I did not get any decent pictures of her 1st birthday party and I am so so bummed because I worked so hard and had some really good decorations and party favors, if I do say so myself.

*It has been a month since said party above, and I still have not written thank you notes. Goal for this weekend!

*Baby fever is BAD up in here! And all these people having babies lately is not helping it. At all! But I/we can't right now. Truthfully, I am just not ready to be pregnant again. I have 50+ pounds still to lose (and that is not "baby weight", it's fatty-eats-too-much-and-does-not-exercise-enough weight). I keep promising myself, next summer so that gives me a year to lose the weight. I know what I have to do, but actually DOING it is the hard part. Oh and the JCrew baby line, almost made me go home and throw all our baby "plans" out the window!

*I'm kinda freaking that I only have one class left to take this summer to complete my college degree. I've been doing this for so long, I am not sure what I will do with myself without the business and stress of school.

*I am becoming addicted to coffee. I was never ever ever a coffee drinker and this past year has either changed my taste buds or made me realized the need to function on a lot less sleep, or both. I only have one cup in the morning when I am nodding off at my desk at work.

*Waking up at 5am (like I do every weekday for work) and going downstairs to find sick dog diarrhea ALL OVER THE KITCHEN made me consider dropping all 3 pugs off at the SPCA on my way to work. But then I realized I would have to change the name of this blog (again). So I decided against it and have banished them to the backyard where they can hershey squirt where ever they please. 

I know I have much more to confess but I'll throw those up to God for now.

xoxo

Suffering

Recently, I have been faced with the topic of suffering.

First, it was in a couple daily devotional emails (Girlfriends in God) that I received that addressed the topic.

Then, my pastor spoke on it this past Sunday. We studied 1 Peter 2:18-25 which talks about our suffering and how Christ suffered for US. And, the part I think I may have missed, is that in His suffering, he trusted in the One. Pastor Chris read an article of a woman from North Korea that was falsely imprisoned at a labor camp where the suffering was so bad it is almost unimaginable that people can survive.

But they do.

And she did. And she was miraculously freed, able to escape to South Korea and eventually to the US where she testified on the atrocities that she experienced during her imprisonment.

What she also witnessed there was the love of Christ by the Christian prisoners. Those prisoners were tortured far more brutally because of their faith and their refusal to deny it.

Hearing this woman's story made me reflect on my "sufferings". It made me see how much I have to be thankful for and brought a lot of what I thought was suffering into perspective.

There are people in our town, our state, our country, our world that are suffering in ways that are far beyond our comprehension. I can only pray that they have the hope of eternal life and the peace of knowing Christ as their savior.

What prompted me to write this, since you know I am so behind on the real "important posts" - monthly baby updates and such, is my anxiety. It has been at an all time high these past couple weeks. Because of school, work, life.

And then I start getting these messages, one after another, on suffering.  I began to worry that I am being prepared to suffer in some horrific way. Whether it be to have something happen to Avery or Ryan or anyone of my family or friends and in turn cause ME to suffer. It is like going to the dentist, knowing you have to get your tooth pulled and the pain your will endure after.

How selfish, right? How is it going to hurt ME? How will I feel? How would I ever get through anything worse then I already have?

But is SO not about that...about ME.  What I should be thinking is how I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. And how will MY sufferings reflect Jesus' love for me so that others may see it clearly.

I know that God only gives us what we can handle. And what we can't? He is there is carry us through.

Even so, I keep asking myself, "what is God trying to tell me in this?" because I KNOW that there is a reason I am being shown this particular topic.

Instead of sitting around, worrying, making myself sick with anxiety, over something I have NO control over, I am choosing to trust Him.

To relieve my anxiety.

To protect my family and friends.

To help me lean on Him and to trust Him and to rely on my faith that He will be there no matter what happens.

Maybe He is teaching me so I am able to help others that are suffering. Maybe to use my past sufferings as a testimony to my faith. Maybe to be more compassionate to those that have suffered and chose a different path to take instead of the one with The One who saves.

My wonderful aunt, an amazing Christian woman, sent me this verse via text on Tuesday, just when I needed it:

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Your consolations delight my soul.

Psalm 94:19

I cannot tell you how many times these past few days I have opened that text up and read it. 

I am not in anyway trying to minimalize <not a word spell check? too bad.> my sufferings I have experienced so far in life. Because I have learned some lessons from them that, if I had not gone through those experiences, I may have never gained the knowledge and understanding and wisdom I have today. 

So while writing this, getting it out, has helped a bit, I know that it is Christ that I need to lean on to get me through this anxiety. 

You can't go through life waiting for the next bad thing to happen. That is no way to live. I have way too many good, great, amazing things to be thankful for. 

But I do know that when there is a trial or suffering I must endure, I know who the protector of my heart is.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. 

Endurance then develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation” 

(Romans 5:3-5 NLT)

xoxo

Why I read blogs...

I cannot really remember when or why I started reading blogs. I'll blame it on the mommy brain overload I got goin' on right now for the lack of recollection.

I am pretty sure it was just through a google search of pregnancy that I stumbled on some of my now favorite blogs. From there, I "found" other bloggers/blogs I liked and so the story goes.

A lot of these blogs were a comfort while being pregnant, knowing what I was experiencing was totally normal, although seemed so very strange.

Now, as a mama, finding other blogs that have children the same age or mom's that are working or trying to lose weight helps me feel a little connected to the world outside of the house, my workplace, and school.

What I like about blogs is that there is, on some level, an aspect to relate to. If not, well then I don't read it and move on the next one.

What I Do NOT like about blogs:

Blogs that are shamelessly filled with ads and sponsors. And even worse, POST after POST that just announce  yet another sponsor. I don't read a blog to see who is paying money to have their name dropped. I read it because I like the writing, the funny stories, the wisdom, learning experiences, photos...people I could see myself being friends with in "real life".

Don't get me wrong, I understand a girl is just trying to make some extra moolah doing something she likes.  But it gets old after awhile. It's like Pinterest now with all the stupid ads. Ruining a good thing.

I am more likely to check out a sponsor by seeing an ad in a blogger's sidebar or, like Kelle Hampton does, a small blurb at the end of her interesting, heart felt, lovely image filled post. That is much more attractive then say, being shoved down one's throat.

And I'm not hatin' in any way. I didn't start this blog to make money or rack up readers or page views. I did it to keep a record of our life and maybe make some "friends" along the way. I'd like Avery to be able to look back and see how much I love her, from the very beginning. Who knows what the technology will be in 2 decades anyway.

So with that, I am signing off - lots of work sitting here, calling my name!

xoxo

My Sincerest Apologies!

I have been quite neglectful of this little blog.

My intentions are always the best. Wonderful, hilarious (at least to me) posts swirling in my head whenever I am no where near a computer - or usually driving. Then as soon as I sit down, nothing. zilch. zero.

My excuse reason?

I am in my last semester of college (for my undergrad, yes, I like to do things the hard way sometimes - as in work full time, school full time, husband, baby, 3 dogs)

And now I am in my last month of the last semester.

Things are getting a little hairy. And I am not just talking about my upper lip (which I did take care of this past weekend because I think A was getting me confused with daddy, but since she only says "Da-da", never "mama" in my presence, I am just making an educated guess).

Projects are due, final papers are due, presentations are due. due. due. due.

Oh, and then there is work. Where I have a TON of work DUE and am serious lacking the motivation to get it done.

I have not posted Avery's 11 month post yet, although it is sitting in my drafts folder...She has been 11 months for 10 days now.

Oh.Em.Geeeeee!!!

So please remain faithful my sweet (5) followers! I promise I will be back with a vengeance once this school thing is over in a month. Maybe I will even post daily...but don't count on it.

If you are thinking of it, send some matches or lighters my way because I really need to light this fire under my ass.

But here is a sweet photo of my girl that my best friend (and amazing photographer) took for Avery's 1st birthday (Oh, shiz, I forgot to mention that too? yeah, I am trying to plan her first bday party which is at the end of April....mutha effer....)

xoxo