Too much thinking!

There is a danger in having too much time on your hands--you start thinking quite a bit about things.

Lately, I've been thinking of a lot of things I would like to do before going back to work in two weeks. That in itself is good; however, I'll make myself crazy if I keep these things up.

For example, lately I've been thinking quite a bit about my choral director in high school (yes, from 8, 9 years ago). I did some stupid things while in her classes, like use the music office phone without asking, telling her I'd go on a choral trip to Disney, only to back out and cancel my deposit check after she'd already deposited it... Stuff like that. Then, when I graduated, she sent me a card with $10 (I remember that because she was really the only one who sent me anything for graduation--I definitely wasn't expecting anything from her) in it. I never sent a thank you card. So now, to have peace within myself, I have to track her down, and send her a thank you card. Oi vey... I guess it's not a bad thing, but it's just one more thing on my list of things to do.

We have several couples that we have said, "You should come over for dinner sometime!" and have never followed through with. I need to remember who they are, and track them down, send 'em an invite, and have 'em over for dinner. Now, I love having folks over for dinner. I just feel bad that it took this long for me to actually do something about it. Jeremy's got family that lives in the next town over--we haven't seen them since our wedding. :-( We'll try to be better about this!

Yesterday, I was thinking quite a lot. A few months ago, I started reading Blue Like Jazz because I've been told by many people how great it was. I brought it up in small group, and Tarsi mentioned she didn't care for it. So I was intrigued. I borrowed the book from her, and started reading it, and yes, the first half of the book I didn't like. There was one part in particular that really bugged me... In brief, one of Don's (the author) friends was an athiest, even though she came from a Bible believing, daughter of a preacher background. Everyone else in her family was a Christian, but she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He's the way to eternal life. At the end of one of the chapters, she emails Don and tells him, "So I think I believe that Jesus really is the Son of God. I guess this makes me a Christian. Talk to you later." and I'm thinking, NOOOOO! That's not it! That's a good start, but only a start! EVEN THE FREAKIN' DEMONS BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD! Well, it rubbed me the wrong way, especially since this is a seeker's book, for those who have yet to find their faith (I know it's for those who have faith as well, but you gotta admit--his audience is those who were like him, those that had a tough time wrapping their mind around this whole God thing and going through the journey to truth with him). If they stop reading at that point, they won't have the whole truth. Hopefully, they go to a Christian friend, or a church, and ask more about it.

The book is getting better, though. So far, I like the middle of it the most. Of course, I have yet to reach the end, so I'll post my final 'critique' at that time. It has got me thinking, though... Which is good and bad. I find myself thinking like the author, asking the same question from different angles, and putting it all together for one concise thought. I don't like thinking like this, though. It makes my head hurt.

One thing I do like about it is that it's pretty clear you should think for yourself. I think a lot of people, including myself, allow themselves to be influenced by other peoples opinions, instead of thinking, "How do I really feel about this?" This can be a minor as an opinion on a movie or a book, to as big as you stance on political issues, and even how you feel about God. Classic example: I'm a conservative Republican, therego, I'm opposed to abortion. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't like abortion, I don't believe it in, and I wish it could be illegal. But at the same time, taking away abortion would be detrimental to this country in the long run... Why? Because all of a sudden, women who have been used to this "right" will start going to the back alleys and the undergrounds to find a solution to their problem (nevermind the fact that, except for the 1 or 2% of women who get an abortion due to rape or sexual abuse, those women have bigger issues on their hands, like improper birth control methods, premarital sex, etc). Because of this, I'm also a minor supporter of the "Plan B" pill. Again, don't get me wrong, I don't really like it, but it's better than the alternative (to me at least). I'd rather think they are helping a more natural progression of the human body by interrupting their luteal phase in order to prevent pregnancy, rather than destroying an already formed embryo. But with this also comes issues, in that we could see an upsurge of STD's in users (why use protection? just get the morning after pill), more teens becoming active at earlier ages, so on a so forth. Of course, I don't know if any of that will happen... I just know that as much as I hate abortion, taking away those "RIGHTS" (I really hate that term... part of me wants to side with the guy who wants to terminate his rights as a father because he didn't want the baby, and his gf chose to NOT have an abortion or place it for adoption, and is now demanding child support... see how sticky it gets?) could be disatrous.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TIME TO THINK?!

/rant

I'm gonna start thinking about happy things--the peace I have knowing that God is watching out for me and my family, my new job, puppies, and shopping sprees. Our anniversary is coming up soon. ONE YEAR BABY! Woo! Interesting ride... Fun! But interesting. Looking forward to the future. Unfortunately we'll be spending our Anniversary at someone else's wedding. I mean, it's a good thing! I'm looking forward to the wedding, and meeting more of Jeremy's family. But it's also a bad thing, because I didn't really want to spend our anniversary meeting more of Jeremy's family. Oh well, se la vie. I'm sure it'll be a nice weekend. And it'll be nice to see Jeremy's parents again--haven't seen 'em since Thanksgiving. I just hope everyone realizes we'll be saying our goodbyes on May 20th, because as of 12:01 am May 21st, the our room door is getting locked and no outsiders are allowed. :-)

Coming Soon: V for Vendetta: Love it or Hate it.

Gone are days of leisure--

--well, soon anyways. As of Tuesday, March 21st, I am no longer simply a housewife; I am now a working housewife! WOO! Two jobs! yay...

:-) Hee hee... No, it's a good thing. I finally got my call from Sony at 6:08 pm that evening (after waiting all day for the snow to arrive... I hear a few flakes fell... [I didn't see 'em] wow... exciting...) and was given my official offer. So after two months of waiting patiently, I get the official word that I'm on the "in" now, and get to wait just a bit longer before I actually start (April 10th, prolly). Woo hoo! Now the fun begins, because now they get to configure my laptop (I get one of those... 'tre cool') and start sending me STUFF. I'm not sure exactly what all this stuff will consist of... but my 'boss' (which he is officially, now) said to expect somewhere between 25 and 30 boxes... And we're not talking Amazon shipment boxes necessarily... We're talking BOXES. For example, take the box your PS2 comes in... put three of those together, and that's the size of the box that THEY would come in. Most of the boxes I receive will be about that size, some will be LARGER, some smaller. Most of the smaller ones are systems for the stores I'll be visiting--they're tracked individually, so they'll ship as such. So anyways, I guess it's time to "spring clean" to make room for all this stuff. Should be fun though.

Jeremy was sweet yesterday. He sent me pretty red roses as a congratulations, and took me to Sweetwater Tavern for dinner yesterday. We were gonna try to make it to a movie (V for Vendetta, baby!!), but donut hole bread (forgot what they're called), 2 dinners and 2 beer samplers later, we were ready to go home and go to sleep. Another time! Wanna see my flowers? Okay!

So pretty.

Anywhoo, so, Jeremy's been working a lot this week--he's motivated again, which is good, but I haven't seen him nearly as much as I used to. I guess once in a while that's okay. He'll be gone most of Saturday, though... Going shootin' with his buddy Scott, and then I think they're goin' out to eat or something. I dunno what, but boys will be boys. Jeremy's already thinkin' about the future as far as games go... "LAN PARTY!" with all the systems I'll have on hand for stores... Yeah... OKay... Only one problem--only one tv in the house. So... no go. Prolly.

Let's see... what else is goin' on.... Well, everything else in a nutshell up to today--our rent is going up 10% this year, so we're trying to decide if we stay or we go (and where we'd go--I hate moving); Jermy's meetings with other school principals went well, but he won't know if he can leave his current school until sometime next month (a main reason we don't know where'd we go if we moved or if we stay); Paige finally turned up, alive and well (she was hiding in Tampa the whole time! Sheesh!); I just ordered us a new paper shredder (the machine, not Shredder [I could never understand why he always had a tough time beating a few turtles... sheesh]); This article is amusing: apparently some Canadian Bureaucrat is fed up with his job so he's asking for donations so he can quit... great idea! I'm gonna set up savejermy.com so that Jermy doesn't hafta find a new school, people can just send him donations and he can retire from school early! Yeah... great plan; the new episode of South Park was HILARIOUS! Watch it if you're not easily offended (like always, it was pretty crass and not for the kiddies); I had a lovely time with two ladies from our former small group (it's officially dead now) yesterday for lunch;who da ha ha, kookie monga, bertie pie pie (just wanted to see if anyone was still reading); Yesterday, I tripped in the lobby downstairs (my heel got caught on the cuff on my jeans) and fell straight down on tile floors... Oh it was painful. Worse is that I didn't sleep well, because everytime I wanted to roll over or something, my knee would kill, and so I'd wake up, pick up my leg to roll over and try again... sheesh... stupid concrete tile floors; and I'm still waiting to hear back from the AzoresExpress about flying to the Azores this Christmas. Woot-a-holic.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go do 'research' for work... Seriously, my boss recommended it. :-)

Fin.

Winter Wonderland...

They said it was supposed to snow today.

......

I don't see any snow.

LIARS! Who was I talking to about that... someone I was talking to about the weather couldn't understand why we don't hold weather people accountable when the forecast is wrong... Like when it says for two weeks, "Looks like some flurries'll be heading towards the east next weekend... better bundle up." and then it ends up being near 70! Go figure. Now, I do think that meteorologists have a tough job... they're as close to fortune tellers as they come, right? Instead of saying, "I see the winds of change upon you..." they say, "The wind's gonna change!" And I do feel that they should get it right most of the time... at least to keep what credibility they have. But I still believe that you can't predict the weather perfectly (it'll be interesting to see if we ever make it to the level of forecasts that they had in "Back to the Future 2" where they had it down to the second! I doubt it... too many variants at play... but it'll be interesting to see! We've got 9 years to find out!) So I take what the meteorologists say at about half truth; for example, today's forecast: Cloudy with snow showers and flurries becoming a steady accumulating snow later. Cold. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%. About one inch of snow expected.
Now, here's what I believe of that: Cloudy with snow showers and flurries becoming a steady accumulating snow later. Cold. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%. About one inch of snow expected.
That's all I need to know! The other stuff, irrelevant.

The best was two weekends ago... They forecasted warm weather all weekend, but thunderstorms every day (so in reality it looked like lousy days... hot, sticky days, with only one nice day). It was BEAUTIFUL nearly all weekend. Sunday was a little cloudy, and we got some sprinkles in the afternoon, but no showers or thunder that I noticed. Awww, it was SOOOO NICE! COME BACK SUMMER, COME BACK! IT'S OKAY, YOU CAN VISIT AGAIN IN MARCH! YOU CAN STAY WITH ME!!!! But I digress...

On a completely different note, although a bit of sunshine in it's own way, we're lookin' at buying a townhome out in lil' ole Bristow (which isn't so little anymore... that place has errupted with houses, shopping centers and churches... they're gonna have a huge methodist church directly across the street from a Catholic church/school, which is down the road from a Church of Christ which is down the road from the Assembly of God... and these are no "starter churches". We're talkin' 500+ sanctuaries. GO GOD! :-) Back to the house: it's currently owned by some family friends who are sadly moving to TX. Well, it's sad to see 'em go, but presents a great opportunity for Jeremy and me! We'll post more details once there's more info, and deals are finalized and such. I just thought I'd give y'all the heads up!

Lil' Jermy's gonna go meet with the Principal of a new school today. The Bear's been pretty passive lately, but Jermy knows better than to get too happy about it. So he's gonna try to transfer to a different school district soon. Hope it all works out for him!

My Mom started a new job this week with a Pediatric Dental office out in Warrenton... The commute is killer though... A whole 2 min down the road. And I thought my Dad had it bad. ;-) So now, that makes both Mothers in some kind of Dental work. Jeremy's Mom is almost done with her first year of Dental Hygenist school. Yay! So all in all, things are going well.

I'm still waiting to hear from Sony... yes, that's right, STILL waiting... First they said end of the week two weeks ago... then end of the week last week, now it's sometime early this week, probably Monday... Oh wait, yesterday was Monday. Guess it wasn't then! So now it's hopefully this week? Oi vey... At least I get another week home... to make soup. Mmmm... soup. That is my tribute to the Cold, Cloudy, w/Chance of Snow day... Winter Minestrone. Yum yum.

So with that I leave you. If you'll excuse me, I have to go file a missing persons/blogger report... Haven't seen Paige online/blog/phone in a while... Enjoy the flurries!!!

End of Chef?

On Monday, March 13th, Issac Hayes announced that he's leaving his role of South Park's Chef, due to their disrespect for religious beliefs and practices.

..............ummm .......hasn't he been doing this show for 10 years? I admit, I haven't been an avid South Park fan for 10 years (forbidden territory for many of those years!), but I'm pretty sure this isn't something they recently started doing.

Oh, did we mention Hayes is a Scientologist?

AVC: They did just do an episode that made fun of your religion, Scientology. Did that bother you?

IH: Well, I talked to Matt and Trey about that. They didn't let me know until it was done. I said, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that s**t, you know?" But I understand what they're doing. I told them to take a couple of Scientology courses, and understand what we do. [Laughs.]

.................*cricket*......................*cricket*......................


*cough*hypocrite!*cough*


Anyways, the general consensus of the masses is that the "powers that be" (prolly the likes of Tom Cruise, maybe John Travolta) called the man up and threatened him if he didn't quit the show (both actors were featured in the famed "Trapped In the Closet" episode which most blatantly attacked Scientology)

Long live Xenu!!!!?

Yeah, I'll meet ya at Veggie Hut... Gonna get me a Meatshake first, though! (hee hee... I get the impression the author of that article had no idea what Meatshake was really about... perhaps she should have contacted Ugly Duckling for comment... amusing)

And now... a word from Big Fella

"m ij unx j ujnmf i9imf9ifmuif, cn juv kmf km sjk dk f k fimimd jkf mjk k d jk x sx d!"

And that's about it.... He decided shortly after starting he is way too good to be sitting on my lap, typing nonsense for your enjoyment.

Oh well... perhaps another time. :-)

(Can't ya picture that cat in the link talking like the Godfather while he speaks that craziness?? Is it just me?)

The Last Stand...

Wow... Okay, so I'm looking forward to our anniversary so much more now! That's not to say I wasn't looking forward to it before... Honestly, it seems like we've been together so much longer than almost 10 mos. Like, I feel like we've been married for years, and yet, at the same time, it seems like just yesterday we went to Niagra Falls, where I froze my butt off while Jeremy attempted to propose (it actually took another day after that... I think I stole his thunder with my constant whining about the tempature of the area around us... it's on video, you'll hafta see it sometime.)

Anyways! Yeah, so the reason for the excitment now?? Click the link. I'm sorry, but I'm a comic-geek-movie-lover all the way. If it's based on a comic book, I'm there. ESPECIALLY when it comes to X-Men (they were my first love... ahh... but that was many many moons ago...) Needless to say, this particular trailer shows off the film in a much more positive light than in the previous teaser trailer... For one thing, no whirlibird action from Storm... We see more of Angel... more of Beast... Juggy doing this thing (smashing through walls, like a pro), and it looks like there'll be no lack of mutant action in this one! The gloves are off, and we can expect quite a nice fight, I bet. IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!! Woo!

Okay, I've said my peace... Now I need to hit the message boards and find out exactly who the mystery mutants are that I couldn't figure out (like the kid who starts turning Beast's hands back to normal at the end of the trailer! Doesn't make much sense, since his "blueness" is not a mutation but an attempt he made to "cure" himself... but whatever... it's a movie) More later!

Ho hum part deux (dos... or two, for you English types)

I'm still waiting... la de daaa... Well, things have happened since Monday, so I'll update ya on that.

Monday I spoke to the Regional Manager for Sony, and we had a nice conversation... It went well, and all was good. Got a call from the recruiter at HR on Tuesday... Had to do an application and an online background check--the results from which are due in by the end of this week (prolly not) or mid week next week. So we'll see what happens.

I had such a time, though, trying to figure out how I was gonna fax all that stuff to her. Y'see, we have a "business center" in our building... Okay, it's a closet with two desktop PC's and a scanner/printer/fax/copier combo ALL-IN-ONE machine in between them that doesn't work (at least, I've only had luck using the PRINTER and COPIER functions... se la vie). Well, the "fax" part of it didn't work. So then I tried to scan the docs up here on our scanner, but that didn't work (couldn't communicate with the computer or something? I dunno... tre weird)... Grrr... So I took Jeremy's advice, waited for the folks in the office downstairs to come back, and asked to use their fax machine, to which they happily agreed. YAY! I tell ya, such drama, huh?

So now I wait, and wait, and wait s'more. I've actually been pretty good this week--got out Wednesday and Thursday, so that helped. Wednesday was fun! Well, both days were fun, but wed was nice, because Kris and Cody (the new baby from one of my first posts on here), Andie and Mateu (Andie's baby... He's so cute!) and I went to Pentagon Row for a "Mommy Party" (Andie shared Mateu with me, she was the free one for the afternoon). It was very nice to have some "girl" time, and the babies were good for the most part.

Thursday Andie and I went to her gym, where we tried to motivate each other, but I think we just agreed together that we were bored... we completed it anyways, and then were able to enjoy the afternoon a bit. Watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (I didn't like it... thought it was kinda trashy and not very funny... I don't recommend it.) and then met up with Jeremy at Starbucks around 5 or so. After that, we said goodbye to Andie and Mateu, as they are leaving for Spain on Saturday. They'll be gone for two weeks, and it'll be very sad, but that's okay, I guess. I'll hafta call up ANOTHER friend with a newborn, and see if she's desperate to get outta the house (or at least have some company) while I wait to start working again.

That brings us to today... and as I've said before, I'm just waiting... Ho humming it, so to speak. But the weekend should be nice, as we've got stuff planned to do. And hopefully Monday... Tuesday... sometime next week, I'll get my offer from Sony, and all will be well in the land of Jess (and the land of Jeremy for that matter!)

Found James' profile on Myspace.com. Don't know if you should really have your full name there, James, but whatever. You can click the link at the right if you'd like.

Ho Hum....

Boooor-ring... Right now, I'm just sitting here, waiting... waiting for the gal from Sony (my soon to be Boss' boss) to call me to make sure I'm not psycho, and see if I'm the real deal. Once I clear her, I'm through to the next round! (Which I believe is a background check, then paperwork, then my 'initial shipment' which is a bunch of cool Sony stuff, and then I get started prolly March 13 or 20th). But I don't know when she's gonna call, exactly... I was told tentatively for Monday afternoon (today) with a raindate of Friday afternoon (arrrrgh!). So I'm hoping to hear from her soon!

In the meantime, I'm just sitting here, listening to my Yoshi's Story Techno Remix version (sounds like it'd be the perfect theme song for the Stephin-Bunny, but I haven't figured out how to host a sound wav yet... So if you wanna listen to it, send an email to bigfellawilcox@gmail.com... I'll see if I can't send ya clip). The screen is jumping along to the music, since the microwave's on... Always makes my screen jump around... Doesn't affect Jeremy's monitor... just mine. Go figure. So, yup, just a chilling afternoon. Was gonna go downstairs to workout, but I was afraid I'd miss her call, so I didn't... Grr... Hopefully she calls soon!

Okay. That's all I've got for you today. Gonna go do some laundry... And stuff. Maybe I'll be daring and take a shower... Might hafta bring the phone in the bathroom, though... Y'know, just in case.

Alrighty, then! More to come... later, I hope. :-)

Ewww... Sucks to be them!

"BERLIN (Reuters) - A Bavarian village was flooded by liquid pig manure after a tank containing the fertilizer burst, German police said Wednesday.

Sewage rose to 20 inches in the courtyards and streets of Elsa after gushing from the tank, which held some 240,000 litres of pig manure.

"The village was swamped with green-brown liquid and it was pig manure -- the mother-of-all muck," said Rainer Prediger, a police spokesman in the nearby town of Coburg."

Now that's what I call a load of crap.

They're in some deep #x&$! ?

Hee hee. :-)

I forgot what I was gonna talk about...

Hold on... it's comin' back to me... Okay, I think I remember now.

It's time to revisit lil' Jermy, the boy who hates school!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Sniffle sniffle* ~Jermy.... "I'm gettin' sick... it's all the schtupid homework the schtupid bear gives me... Givin' me a cold."

"So why don't you just stay home and do your homework at... home?" ~Jess

"'Cause if I stay home, the bear will eat me!" ~Jermy, as he sniffles all the way to school. Poor lil' Jermy isn't feelin' well this week... Too much CHAOS in his life, I guess. Oh well. GET BETTER, LIL' JERMY! WE ALL LOVE YOU!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On to happier things now! Marshmallows! So, we've had this bag of marshmallows in our cabinet since we've moved into our apartment, it seems.... I'm really not sure when we bought it, but I was probably still working at EB at the time, since I used to make Rice Crispy Treats and brownies whenever we had an inventory to do. So, that would be.... umm.... about 8 months ago? Woo! Long time. And this was originally slated for a few weeks off! Anyways, back to the marshmallows. So this bag has been in the cabinet for at least 8 months now... I'm havin' a bit o' hot cocoa (Mmmm.... cocoa and cream.... It's in a blue box--buy it! Yummy stuff!) and decided to throw a marshmallow in it. Well... who here knows how I like my Peeps?? y'know, those marshmallows dipped in sugar, made to look like little birdies (or rabbits... seen those too, not as fun) that're popular 'round Easter time? I always cut a little slit in the corner of the package, and then hide 'em away for a few months--they get all stale and crunchy, and PERFECT! When I was in college, I put 'em in my storage unit over the summer (MAY) and took 'em for Christmas (DEC) and mm-mmm! They were yummy! Works really well for peeps! But not so well for regular marshmallows. They were simply rock hard, and too hard to bite into. I put one in my hot cocoa anyways... we'll see what happens.

Jeremy showed me this video on MSN this morning... I swear, I thought someone had snuck in and video taped the stupid cat of ours while we were out or something. You can watch it here (you will need to be in IE to watch it... just a warning for you Firefox {the superior browser} users). Okay, so it's not Big Fella (though maybe he should change his name to such... might explain things a bit...), but I would seriously like to know what they're saying (it's in Chinese, in case you're deciding not to watch the video) because I wanna know how to fatten Big Fella up like that! At least then I wouldn't have to worry about him jumping on the tables (Or jumping up on anything for that matter!) Maybe I should just tie a couple of 10 lb weights to him... That might do the trick. He's a very picky eater--he'll beg for whatever your cooking, but as soon as you drop it on the floor, he just sniffs at it and walks away... If I thought he'd eat lasagna, I'd try that... Or maybe I could fatten him up by feeding him all those stale marshmallows... Ah hah.... There's an idea!

Okay, one more thing... Did you hear about that 62 year old woman who gave birth last week? EWWWW! Alright, now, don't get me wrong--I think if a woman wants to have a baby, and is physically able to do so, and does, then all the power to ya. Okay, maybe I don't really believe that... completely. But I feel for her new little kids! I mean, they're uncles to 40 and 50 year olds... Gross... And when this youngest one turns 18, she'll be 80.. 80!! So, maybe it's better to say, just because you "can" doesn't mean you "should"? Did anyone think about the babies?? Okay whatever. All the power to ya, lady! You go girl!

That's all for me. :-)

Okay... for now...

Alrighty! If things look different, it's because we've changed the template used to display the blog--it's the only one that I could find that DIDN'T put the sidebar at the bottom of the screen. Hopefully... nothing will happen.... I will be keeping a back-up of the HTML code JUST in case something goes array again.

Woo-hoo! Now we can resume posting! Stay tuned!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

As you may have noticed, not all is well with jeremynjess.blogspot.com. I do not know why or how it happened... all I know is that I cannot fix it. I've emailed their HELP desk with no response as of yet. Hopefully, things will be remedied soon... Until then, you will find the sidebar at the bottom of this page... that is where all the links are... all the old posts... and fun stuff. Why it is at the bottom, WHO FREAKIN KNOWS! All I know is that it's driving me crazy, and the sooner I can get it fixed the happier I'll be! :-)

So in the meantime, thanks for scrolling! Happy days will come again.

Happy V-Day!

Okay, now in my opinion, V-Day is just another reason to dote upon your loved one... But really, do we need an excuse to do that?! I guess it helps space things out, and gives ya a reminder... Like, "Okay, it's their birthday, time to do something nice for 'em." and then, "Okay, it's Christmas, time to do something nice for 'em..." and "Okay, it's our anniversary, time to do something nice for 'em..." and of course, "Okay, it's Valentine's Day, time to do something nice for 'em!" And, eventually, "Okay, it's Mother's/Father's Day, time to do something nice for 'em!" So I guess if you look at it from that perspective, you get at least 4 or 5 "nice" events in your relationship at minimum... That's like one every 10 weeks or so. Hmm... if I hafta wait 10-12 weeks for my Honey to do something sweet for me... I think that may be too long... My dilema is that Jeremy's birthday was just last week, and I went kinda nuts on him then, so it might be overload to go nuts on him today. So I think we'll just keep things simple this year... We'll see!

I love my husband! He's the best!!! Awww... so cute...

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

WE MISS YOU, TODD & PAIGE!

On Friday evening, we attended the Farewell Dinner for our dear friends, Todd & Paige at the Clarendon Grill (can I just say, the Clarendon Grill is not all it's hyped up to be... sure it had cheap booze, and dancing, but I wouldn't go there just for the food... maybe at lunch or on I think wednesdays when it's half priced burgers... don't bother getting the Jambalaya... not worth the $12.) Anyways! Yeah, so we had to say goodbye to TP & PP, and it was very sad... I mean, I'm happy for 'em... Paige gets to work part-time now, they've got a schwanky place (from what I hear at least) for less than what they had here, and I'm sure eventually they'll be getting ready to start a family... So for that, I'm happy for 'em. I'm just sad in my selfish thinking that they left the DC metro area! Now what am I supposed to do?? Guess it's time to make some more friends... Sigh... okay... if I have to... 'Sides... I know what they're thinking down the FL....

WE'LL MISS YOU GUYS! KEEP THAT BLOG UPDATED!

**peace out**

Awww... What a cute Dad Jeremy makes....

See? Jeremy's a pro at this already... This is just his first time holding him, too! So cute... (although he's kinda got a bit of an evil grin on his face... I dunno what that's supposed to mean!)

Jeremy's trying to get some work done from home this morning... He's been fiddling around with files on the computer, transferring stuff from that to his PocketPC, working hard trying to get it all done by a time limit. I was actually quite pleased for a second, because I bought him that IPaq as a wedding present last year, to help him get organized with work and stuff, but he hasn't really used it much. So to see him using it today was nice... until I heard the theme song from Super Mario Bros playing on it... I then realized it was an emulator he was busy moving onto his IPaq, so he could play NES games on it.... not work.... Had I known that's what he was gonna do with it, I woulda bought him a Sony PSP or a gameboy or something... Now, he's so busy "working" on his PocketPC, I hafta read him his incoming IM's otherwise he won't get 'em.
He's so silly... :-)

Lost Pet? Hartz can help!

So I was surfing around the internets last week and I came across Hartz website. Basically, they will make a nametag for your cat or dog, personalized with the name of the pet and a phone number to reach the owner. All this for only $2.95, including shipping! Now, these tags usually go for $5+ each, and since I have no worries of Big Fella getting outta the apt (unfortunately, he's a big scaredy cat and won't even approach the door if it's open, let alone go outside it, take the elevator down to the first floor, and then walk out the double doors into the big scary world outside!), so I never saw a reason for having one. But for $3... well, what the heck. So check it out!

Hmm... ya can't really read the tag from this pic, huh? Lemme get ya a closer shot....
Ooo... still tough to read. Here, I'll translate:

SCHTOOPID
THE CAT

Like I said, I'm not really worried about him actually getting out. And if he does, well, maybe this will help land him a new family that doesn't mind him clawing up their furniture, and making their friends sneeze and sniffle. Sigh... I don't think I'm that lucky, though. Se la vi...

Happy Birthday, Jeremy! (& Ben!)

Yesterday marks the 29th anniversary of my wonderful husband's (and his twin brother's) birth. It was a great day! We laughed.... we cried.... we ate steak.... we ate cake.... we watched Lost.... and so on and so forth. It was good times, and I was glad to be able to make Jeremy's day as bright as possible, despite the fact he had to work on his birthday (I never worked on my birthday... that's what personal days are for! But, eh, different world, different ways... or something)

I LOVE MY HUSBAND! And I look forward to spending many many MANY more birthdays together with him! Happy birthday, baby!

Love, me :-)

We are the champions!

I've paid my duuuuuues,
Time after tiiiiiime,
I've done my sentence.
But committed no criiiiiime.
And bad mistakes,
I've made a feeeeeeewwww.
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face,
But I've come throooooooooough!

(And it goes on and on and on and on!)

Weeeeee are the chaaampions, my frieeeend....
And weeeee'll keep on fiiiiightin', 'til the end...

We are the champions.
WE are the champions!
No time for losers,
'Cause we are the CHAMPIONS---of the world!!!!!

Nah nah nah nah!
Nah nah nah nah!
Heeey heeey hey!
GOOD-BYE!!!

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks
Superbowl XL
Final score: Steelers 21- Seattle 10

And repeat!

Weeeeee are the chaaampions, my frieeeend....
And weeeee'll keep on fiiiiightin', 'til the end...

We are the champions.
WE are the champions!
No time for losers,
'Cause we are the CHAMPIONS---of the world!!!!!

:-)

On a slightly more serious note...

This will not be the usual light hearted funness that this blog has mostly been thus far. However, it is very serious, and I really need to get this down in writing before it becomes less than that.

Last night, I had some very interesting dreams. I think I started out in a live action Halo game, which I'm not very good at in real life (IRL), so you can imagine my performance here. I got a couple of "head shots" but in the end, of course, my weapons jammed and I was no longer playing.

I was then transported to another dream in which I was riding around with friends and we found this great little ice cream place that was trying a new form of advertising to get business. Basically, they'd call you everyday for about a week asking if you wanted ice cream... or something... (probably dreampt that 'cause we had ice cream for dessert last night)

Third dream was a little nicer. I think we were in the Azores, visiting my grandparents (at least my grandfather was there, so maybe we were somewhere else... I dunnno, but it was tropical!) And by "we", I mean myself and my brothers. We just swam around, hanging out, turned a boat into a floating apartment for my grandfather, stuff like that. Pretty light. It was beautiful, too. Lots of mountains on the coasts, crystal clear waters, sandy beaches... ah, it was nice.

The last dream I remember is what prompted me to get up and write. I was with a group of people... I think we were on a boat or something. I don't know how, but I was related to the main guy in this dream. I don't know if I was his sister, or close friend or what. I just know I wasn't his wife (he wasn't Jeremy, so I'd better not be!).

Anyways, there were probably about a dozen people/things on this boat. I say things because Big Fella was there, the only one I recognized from my own life. There were other characters there, like Dolly Parton, and then just random people. Well, thoughout this dream, the main guy (don't know his name, we'll just call him... Steve) was furiously going around to people, trying to get them to turn their lives over to Christ, and become a follower of Him. I'm not sure why he was doing it, but I think Satan (not Big Fella) had been lurking around there, and he noticed. Not all like, red with horns and a spiky tail... Like this monstrous, evil being, but only Steve and I could see him... Everyone else was oblivious.

He must have made it obvious (or maybe not) that he would be back for those who didn't follow Christ very soon, because Steve was awfully anxious. He pleaded with everyone, numerous times, but it's like they couldn't hear him--no one would listen. His most earnest attempt was with his wife... He begged her to listen, to make a decision, because no one knows how long they have to make that choice.... But she couldn't. She couldn't yet do it. Why? I dunno. I just remember how his face fell when she turned his God away.

After a while, Satan did show up. He kinda whirled everyone around until they were lined up on either side of him. I was S-C-A-R-E-D! Looking back I was such a wimp, but I didn't know what I could do. These people had made their choices, and now they were being judged (which I know will happen by God, but I guess my dream just rolled that all into one). One by one, he'd pick them up, they'd give their defense of how they were a good person, and Satan would tell them why they weren't and they deserved to be his, and he'd throw them down into a spiraling abyss, until they were sucked up and no more.

I watched this, yet I only remember what happened with two people. I know Big Fella got his, but I don't remember his defense or why the verdict (I can guess why, but that's for another blog). I do remember Dolly Parton, though (yeah, weird, I know). She told him she was a good person, and how she doesn't belong with him, and to her he said, "Yes, but the man you love is not your husband, and you've been living with him for months." Off she goes, down into the spiral, until she was gone.

Finally, it was time for Steve's wife. Now, Steve had been pleading with her the whole time to change her mind, even trying to take her by the hand and saying, "C'mon, honey, it's time to go home... let's go..." but she wouldn't move. When Satan picked her up, Steve gave it one last shot and yelled, "Please! Don't do this!" as tears streamed down his face... And her reply before being sucked down was, "I'm sorry..."

And then it was over. We walked around comatose, gathering our things, so we could leave. I cried and cried and cried in my dream, and woke up right after, on the verge of tears... and it got me thinking.

I need to change. How many people do I know that don't know Christ, that don't know He is the only way to eternal salvation? How many people do I not talk to because I'm too scared, or I don't want to look stupid or sound preachy or whatever the case may be? I've resorted my life to being the bare bones Christian, in that I know the truth, I've accepted it, been baptized, go to church, go to small group, and yet I doubt that people I encounter on a day to day basis, unless I come right out and say it, know I'm a Christian. That's unacceptable. Jesus himself tells us, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit..." (Matthew 28:19) How can I go out and do anything, if I'm not living the life Jesus has called us to live to begin with?

I always thought you had to have the gift of evangelism to be effective at bringing people to Christ. But I realize that it's much more than hearing someone spouting off scripture and changing your life because of it! Y'know, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I've got plenty of friends and family who won't sit down and listen to 'no preacher being all godly and high and mighty and such', but will sit down with me and let me talk. Even if they don't agree with what I have to say, because they respect me and love me because I'm me, they might just sit through some stumbling and babbling on about how there's overwhelming evidence to believe Jesus when he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

And then I started thinking about specific people, like my grandfather. What about him? He's getting old and he's not too well, mentally, and I don't know where he stands with God, but gosh darnit, I'm concerned! I hope that he's already made his peace, but if he hasn't, I don't know if what we say will even get through to him. Is it to late? I'd like to think not, but that's something I need to do some serious praying about.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to communicate through this post... And I'm not sure if anyone's still reading at this point, but if you are, can I ask you something? Are ya worried? I mean, personally, I know where I stand with God. I admit I haven't done the best job of living out the life I told Him I would live, but I turned my life over to Christ, commited to following Him instead of the ways of this world, and made it public when I was baptized 4 years ago (I'm still not sure if anyone really knows for sure if you must be baptized in order to be saved... All I know is that Jesus did it, He told us to do the same, so there's no reason to argue.) Now, I know it was a dream, but when Satan showed up, I would not go anywhere where I might catch his attention. I stayed behind him, or to the side where he couldn't see me, 'cause I didn't know what would happen. Granted, it was a dream, but I can't imagine acting much differently IRL. I know John says that greater is he that is in you than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4), but that's one of those 'easier said than done'.

Okay, I'm on a tangent now. No more. I know this probably sounds really strange to some of you... and that's okay. All I know is that I've been really convicted about how I handle my salvation, and that keeping it to myself is not an option I have. So I guess the main thing I'm trying to communicate is, are you worried about who you're going to spend eternity with? And if you're sure it's with Christ, who haven't you told yet? Who needs to know? God wants everyone to be with Him. His heart breaks for everyone who's not... My heart breaks thinking of those who may not get to spend their eternity in paradise because I was too afraid to speak up.

No more.

Story Time!

This story is about a little boy named "Jerm-y".

Jermy was a happy little boy, who enjoyed all the great things life had to offer. He loved to play games of all kinds, whether it was pretending to be a race car driver (vroom vroom!) or a WWII soldier (bang bang!), he just loved playing his games. He also loved to read the news, go shopping for silly stuff he didn't need, and spending time with his bestest friend in the whole wide world--Jess.

However, there was one thing Jermy detested more than anything in the world, including brussel sprouts! And that was.... school. (random chick in pic)

Jermy HATED school. Absolutely abhored it. He disliked it so much, he would let his alarm go off at least 3 times before finally getting out of bed to get ready for school. By then, though, school had already started, and he would be late. His teachers would start calling him, sending him notes, saying stuff like, "Jermy, you either do it our way or it's the highway! We know what you need to do to be successful at school! So you'd better do it! And everytime you do something school related, you need to write it down. So every book from the library you read, or every letter a classmate sends you, or everytime you play telephone during recess, you need to write it down! If you don't, you'll be expelled and you won't get anything but 'F's on your report card!"

Most of those comments were made from the Vice Principal. You remember those, right? They're not the Principal, but they think they are, and even though most of them have no, say, English teaching skills, or Math teaching skills experience of their own, they still tell the teachers how to teach, and the students how to be students, and blah blah blah. This guy was a big meany. They used to call him, "The Bear". And when the Bear was hungry, you'd better make sure you had all your homework done, and crossed your t's, dotted your i's, otherwise it was "Chomp chomp, gobble gobble!" for you! Your only hope was to occasionally throw him a big fat juicy steak to occupy his time so you would have a running start. A+ tests were good for that, sometimes even just having a weeks worth of completed homework would do it.

Sometimes, though, no matter how many steaks you threw it, he'd still keep coming... And that's what happened to Jermy after he started showing up to school late...

As Jermy walked into his classroom, he fell silent and started to shiver as he heard his name over the loudspeaker, "Jermy! Report to the Bear's office, NOW!" Jermy put down his books, hung his head, and proceeded to walk to the Bear's office, as his classmates looked on him with sadness... They knew what was coming, and they were SO glad they had already arranged to be transferred to another school. Jermy was the only one left, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't get out.

Several hours later....

Jermy emerged from the Bear's office, still hanging his head, but with a spark of rage in his eye. "I've been at this school longer than this stupid Bear," he thought, "I know how to do my homework better than he does! When was the last time he had to do my work?? All he knows how to do is be stupid and mean! He's Mr. "I know everything because I'm the Vice Principal and if you don't do what I tell you to, it's the road for you, kid. RARRRR!"

As he walked home from school thinking about the crappy day he's had (and he's had crappy days at school before, lemme tell ya!), all he could do was hope and pray a transfer was out there somewhere... "There's gotta be something else out there! Why can't I find it?!"

When he got home, Jess was there, and just gave him a big hug, made him a mud pie, and told him, "It'll be okay... he's just a big stupid bear. Just play along for now... someday you'll be able to transfer!" More than anything, though, Jermy just wanted to be homeschooled, like Jess. But he would take the fun and games they shared together in the mean time.

So what happens to Jermy? The Bear? Will he ever get to transfer to another school??? Find out later... like, when it actually happens. :-)