I added a new feature to our blog today. Jennifer sent me an email with some links to spice up my blog. I have added them to my favorite sites list so that you can benefit from them as well. I believe the helps are for any blog, not just blogger.com.
So, I added Snap-shots, which is really neat. If you notice when you place your mouse on a link it should pop up with a display. It is super easy to put on your blog and absolutely free. If you would like to add it to your blog, there is an icon for it at the bottom of our blog. You can click on the icon and it will take you there.
I got a call today. A realtor wants to show our house Wednesday at lunch time. This really has put a smile on our faces. Some of ya'll might be thinking, so what it is just a show. You have no idea what it is like selling a house in this market. You just get excited that people are actually coming to look at it. Nobody has been to see it in about a month. I am so tired of keeping the house cleaned up every single day. I am still open to any tips on selling a house.
So.. you might be thinking this is Zoe's first bath. This is actually Josh's first bath giving. It was a cold one too. I watched Josh give Bogie and Zoe baths after work today. Zoe has really grown up. She has sooo much hair!!
Unfortunately, I am going to have to start looking for a new job. My company is going to lay me off in December. If anybody has any leads to something temporary or full-time I would be greatly appreciative.
Ok, so you've all probably seen this bumper sticker right? Or at least something similar. Shana and I were driving home tonight and I saw this one. Now I realize I'm being a little over analytical (I really don't have any objections to this), but I realized something. If you or I could be perfect it doesn't necessarily mean we could walk on water. Walking on water didn't make Jesus perfect. It wouldn't make you or I perfect either. Sinlessness made him perfect. Walking on water made (or proved) Jesus was extraordinary. He was more than perfect. He was supernatural.
So I know that I post some really crazy stuff at times, but seriously there is some crazy stuff out there. My mom sends me the bulk of it. Today my mom sent me an email with pictures of the winners from a handmade Wedding Dress contest, out of toliet paper! I know how crazy. I am only posting the winner. Can you believe that this is made out of toliet paper? I can't.
This leads me to ask, what have ya'll done with your wedding dresses? Do you have plans for your wedding dress? Mine is in my guest room closet, still in its garmet bag. I am kind of sad that my mom spent all that money for me to wear it one time. I wish that I could wear it again, but not literally (it you get what I mean). I remember the first year I was married I would get it out and try it on a few times just for fun. I really love my dress. I think the dress actually fits still too. Maybe that is what I will do this weekend, try on my wedding dress. My ceremonial wedding pictures turned out horrible, so I think maybe deep down I haven't done anything because I dream of having pictures done again in my dress. That would be a great surpise (Josh if you are reading this). Get a photographer, my wedding dress, the tux Josh wore at our wedding, and take some new pictures. Anyways, I want to know ya'lls stories about your wedding dress please. Where is it now or what did you do with it, do you have plans for it?
After I posted this, a friend of mine (Ashley Jansen) went looking for this contest online and found out this is not the actual winner. This is the 2nd place winner. Here is the link to the site. http://www.cheap-chic-weddings.com/wedding-contest-2006.html THANK YOU ASHLEY!
I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
Garden Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
Life is sexually transmitted.
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take
Prozac to make it normal.
How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Here is a picture of my mom and Skye. It is very rare to catch my mom in pictures. It is as if she were an endangered species or something, rarely caught on film. Someone must have tied her down to catch this rare shot, especially with her smiling. I have no clue where they might be in the water shot. I sent Skye a care package this month, I had been collecting stuff since July. It had all kinds of goodies in it. Whenever I eat at a fast food place I almost always get a kids menu. So, I request the girl toys most of the time and send them to her. I got a cool floor puzzle FOR FREE at a garage sale too, I put that in there also. OOO, and I found the coolest things. Ceiling Fan Socks! Have you even heard of these. Well, I found them back in July at Lowes. They are so neat. Her room is a princess room and they were fit for a princess so I just had to buy them for her. I am such a sucker. I have already finished her Christmas shopping. Josh reminds me everytime I want to buy her something else, WE HAVE BOUGHT HER ENOUGH ALREADY. He is right though.
This past weekend, Josh and I went camping for the first time since we have been married. We had a blast. The Lucas' family invited us along with them and the Garner family. We had a really great time. We went to Desoto Falls in Alabama. As you can see we took the dogs with us, and they enjoyed it too. Josh had a blast roasting a ribeye over top the fire. It was really good. Josh loves to cook/grill and he is great at it. I can't wait for our next camping trip in November.
Zoe is so cute in these pictures too. This rock area had water everywhere that streamed through. Zoe loves the water and we let her play a little. She looks so cute looking up at me doesn't she? What can you say I am smitten by her.
I know it has been a while since we have updated on the sale of our house. Well, that is because nothing is happening. We have appreciated everybodys encouraging words and prayers for us. Many of you have said you are praying for the sale of our house, thank you. The lady that was back and forth for weeks was supposed to put an offer on a house across the street, but we have yet to see a contract sign go up. Who knows, maybe she backed out of that one too. Anyways, we are still with our current realtor, but only till November 30th. Her contract runs out then and I am pretty sure Josh and I will not be renewing it. The house hasn't even shown the past two weeks. Josh is real optimistic, but I am bummed. We had hoped our house would be sold by now.
Monday, October 15, 2007
A FAVORITE!
You can see I added a new feature to my side bar. It is my "Favorite Sites." The first one I added is to a radio station in my home town. It is the JoyFM. It is a really good "CHRISTIAN" radio station, no pretending and a little dab of Jesus here. It is 100% Christian. It has won many awards too. I listen to it through the computer all the time. It is wierd living here in Atlanta where there is a multitude of almost everything, except good, pure Chrsitian radio, go figure right. Well, I hope ya'll will enjoy it as much as I do. Let me know if you listen to it and what you think.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Absolutley My Most Favorite Movie Of The Year!!!!
So, I went over a month ago to see this move with Judy (my mother-in-law). I found myself thinking about it yet again this morning on the way to work. I find my mind wondering to it frequently. I loved this story, and I am not a huge fan of girlie love stories. I have never read any of her books, but this makes me want to try. Gosh I can't say enought about it. I absolutely loved it. Here are some scene shots from the movie to tease you with.
This movie introduced me to James McAvoy. He was great in this. He enduced my first movie man crush. I don't really have a crush on James McAvoy, but the actual character, Lafroy. If you saw the movie "Notebook" and cried, you will cry even more if/when you see this one. I am not much for a DVD buyer, but when this comes out I definitly will be adding it to my wish list. Love, Love, Loved it!!!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
FALL!!
I am so excited that Fall is here. Can you believe the weather this week here in ATL? This is probably my favorite part of the year when it starts to get cold. I love bunding up in clothes that cover every inch of my body and turning on the fire in the house. There are so many family traditions that come with Fall too. In my house we always decorate even for fall, which reminds me I need to pull it all out. I love putting pumpkins on our door step and hanging my fall wreath on our door. I also have little pumpkins and scarcrows to place as a center piece on our kitchen table. Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here. For the past 3 years that Josh and I have been married we have always gone down to Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parent, but this year we will have a change of events. We will be staying here and having Thanksgiving with the Stringers. It will be neat to see what kind of traditions they have for Thanksgiving. I guess you can tell that I love family traditions. What are your family traditions for this time of year?
Crazy Pumpkins
So I thought these were really neat pumpkins. My mom sends me some good junk mail occasionally and today she sent me an email with a bunch of crazy pumpkins. I thought I would share these two with ya'll. I have no clue how they even did the sea urchin one, but doesn't it look really cool. In honor of Halloween, I would love to hear if you have any family traditions for this spooky holiday.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I was just reading the blog of Jerry Gillis, he is one of my old Pastors. In fact, he baptized me. Well anyways, I was reading up on his blog and thought this message was really good and wanted to share it with my readers. I apologizeagain for the formatting I have no clue even how to put spaces in paragraphs on this thing. The only way I can think to seperate it is by color.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" Psalm 139:23-24
I can't log on to my home computer, with its "news" homepage, without seeing that someone is being investigated for something by somebody somewhere. Literally, it's every day. Politicians are being investigated. Moms and Dads under investigation for killing or molesting their kid or somebody else's. Celebrities under investigation for some financial issue.
We are a culture that loves to investigate, but hates to be investigated. It's understandable really. Who can resist taking the opportunity to find out the juicy details of the person under investigation? It's like being a fly on the wall of their personal lives or getting to go Jack Bauer on them and "bug" their phone, email and home. It's hard to resist for many, even though it seems so distasteful (case in point, there is a similar logic behind why the National Enquirer and others stay in business - and it's not because the readers are all married to their cousins and living in a double wide next to the Mississippi River). Man, just hearing the words "You are under investigation" is like a nightmare for most people.
So picture David, this harp playing, slingshot packin', Sasquach killin' shepherd who is on the lamb for a while in his life (get it.....shepherd.........on the lamb..........never mind). He actually asks God to investigate him. Great. Glad that got preserved for all eternity in the pages of Holy Writ so that we can all feel exceedingly intimidated. Yeah, it's bad enough if someone were to just call up the IRS and let them know they were hoping that they could find it in their heart to audit them this year because they have been waiting patiently for 18 years............but to ask God to investigate you? That's another thing altogether.
But, that is just what David did. He asked the One who needs to collect no evidence to check him out. And then David asked God to point out anything to him that wasn't supposed to be there. All at once, I feel disturbed and encouraged by this jointly stupid/courageous act. Disturbed because I realize that asking to be investigated feels REALLY uncomfortable, and encouraged because I know there are some things that just don't add up in my soul and I know that only God can fix them. What to do?
I think this tension might be the reason that people don't really want to spend any real time in the presence of God. The longer we stay in His presence, the more we see ourselves the way He sees us - and that is equal parts scary and freeing. When we spend time with God, He will not fail to point out to us where we are clutching onto sinful habits, attitudes, behaviors. But He will also never fail to speak love to us, around us, in us. This journey is just a little too scary for many followers of Christ, so they are content to sit in the bleachers of spirituality without giving themselves over to walking in the "way" with Jesus. Checking out on our soul is no way to live though. In fact, I think that it doesn't really constitute living - just existing.
I want to have the guts to let God examine me - investigate me. It's hard for me sometimes, truly. And I know it is hard for you as well. But unless you and I do it, it will be very hard to see our footprints on the way of Jesus.
So, this week, get before the Examiner....the Investigator and ask Him to open up a case file on you. Listen to what He says to you in the pages of His Word (forgive, don't sow seeds of dissension, keep your romance confined to your spouse, lay off the liquor, quit overeating, love people, let go of your anger, stop being bitter). But know that in all of those things that He points out to you and me, there will be a message, just as strong, that will accompany it: I love you.
If you read my blog would you comment with your name. I am curious to know who reads my blog, even if I don't know you.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
HELPFUL TIPS
I have found something to be super useful in an ordinary way and thought I would share with my blog readers, who ever you all are. My hair is really oily, and if I don't wash it every day I can almost feel the oil sliding down my head into my ears. I absolutely hate that feeling. So, on days I run out of time, days I don't feel like showering, or even the day after going to the hair salon and I want to keep the style I put baby powder in my hair. You are probably thinking this is crazy, or you have heard it before but wasn't sure it would work. I have to tell you it does. I put a little at a time in my hands and spread it through my roots all over. It actually gives my hair some extra volume too which is nice especially after a day of no washing it can be super flat. Let me know if you try this and what you think.
I woke up late this morning, so I actually did this.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Birthday For Callie
This is the group of girls that I spend pretty much every week with. Callie turned 21 so we had to celebrate. As you can see, we come from all walks of life, but make a great hodgepodge. We had so much fun. Caitlyn decided to try and scare us in her halloween costume. Don't we look terrified just when the camera was set to take a picture. Again, we had a lot of fun. We started a little tradition too, I guess it started at the beginning of the year. We get together sometimes just for fun and bring all the things we don't want in our closets and swap. It is so much fun, and so far I have walked away with some great things. These girls are such a blessing in my life for so many reasons. I LOVE YOU LADIES!!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Update on Dead cellphone
I have to give praises to God because he provided me another cellphone for free through one of his children. I know! I was so thankful because it would have cost Josh and I probably a hundred or so dollars to replace it. The person knows who they are, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You and your family have been overly generous with us and I can't say thank you enough.
So, because my phone died, I have no phone numbers. If you tell me to call you and I don't please don't get mad at me because I have no phone numbers. I guess I will resave them as people call me and I save them to my phone. If you like, email your number and I can put it back in my phone. Don't post it on here though, to many freaks.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
CELLPHONE DIED
Just a quick post to let ya'll know my phone isn't working, and I don't know how long it will be till it is up and running again. So, please don't think I am just not responding to your calls. I don't want to post the numbers you can contact me at instead on here due to internet freaks. So, if you need alternative numbers for me just put a comment on this one and I will email them to you.
