Garage Sale

I've been dreading this thing for weeks. Did I say dread? I meant, excited ...! Ok, I really meant dread but when it's over, I'll be excited! I'm trying to trim down debt, save up a nest egg & de-clutter my place; all pushing me toward the logical thing called: Garage Sale.

I've been gathering and sorting for a while now. Well, honestly I've been thinking of gathering/ sorting for weeks now! I've been combing thru things in my mind and last night I finally hauled it all over to the big Wild Horse homestead & added it to their junk pile & proceeded to price our fingers off. We concluded at 1:30am that if we forgot to tag something we'd either a) price it after a cup of coffee in the a.m. b) take the best offer or c) give it away free. I could care less at that point.

So they're there now. I haven't received a report from the girl at the little red cash register on how we've done thus far. I made no projections so if I walk away with something...I'm doing better than when I started! Of course I'm less a lot of sleep & a some hours of mind power as to what to sell...but since it's not in my house any longer & since I'm moving for the 10 millionth time in the past 7 years, I'm glad we pulled it off.

Did I mention I was going home after work to see what else I could dig out to bring over there? I figure a second sweep wouldn't hurt anything for tomorrow morning's group! There are always items I am attached to the first time around but definitely won't be tonight when I'm dead tired & sick of extra junk really.

no day for granted

I thought I'd had a long week until this afternoon. A friend and his wife have been waiting all week. They've been through the ringer since finding a lump in her breast that was definitely not there a month ago. Tests were scheduled & this was the week for the painful biopsy and the waiting. Everyone was holding their breath because negative results are NEVER a good sign. They were scheduled to see the radiologist late this afternoon to review results.

I've been thinking about them all week but that's just been occasionally as I've seen them or they've come across my mind. I can't imagine the wait for them. Talk about a long, slow week. She was 'recovering' and also preparing herself for the chance that a negative report could come.

I just got an email AND the biopsy results were that the tumors were benign! AWESOME NEWS. wow. Still soaking that in! I'm loving this for them, Praise God for the great report. Way cool, way cool. So...instead of stressing, I'm relaxing...taking it easy...working my tail off but NOT taking a day for granted, after all, life may really be too short, you never do know.

Spoon-Surfing

Living alone has benefits.  Here's one: eating out of any food container you have in the fridge or cabinet. It's not a problem right?  The great thing is that there's nobody sitting at the table or across the room blurting out "Ewww, did you just eat straight out of that...? Sick."  A one-person fridge is great because you are your only Food Police! I try to keep my fridge very clean (beside the random bag of lettuce or vegetables I let go too long) so I don't think an audit will be necessary. I don't like sticky jam jars or drippy ketchup bottles & get so mad if I haven't resealed the shredded cheese.  Some of you laugh because resealing cheese is the last thing on your mind & 'veggies-gone-bad' is your fridges middle name. I'm not meddling in your business.  Grow as much mold as you want. That's you...!  You probably make your bed every day & have that after-shower spray stuff.

I digress. Back to spoon-surfing.

Last week I had friends over. I offered ice cream but as soon as the words came out of my mouth I thought: OH NO...do you have ANY icecream cartons you haven't eaten out of??? I love icecream. Anytime - day or night, icecream's my fav. That stuff is good with anything & for every occasion. If I keep it in the house, I try to dip my spoon in only ONE of the containers so I don't have this problem but I guess the force was too strong because there wasn't a carton in my freezer without 'me' germs on it.  They kindly declined & I inwardly sighed with relief & scooped me a big BOWL after they left.  I think I've learned.  Keep to that ONE container rule. Don't offer if you don't have two!

Laborless Weekend

It's kind of an awkward holiday I do believe. For anyone working a regular work week, it's ALWAYS good to have a day off so bring it, right? For teachers & moms its good to have it off but it might be a pain cause you're just establishing a routing but for moms any day without waking cranky kids is a blessing!

Growing up, we always spent a lot of this weekend at The Canfield Fair. I just checked their website & it's the 163rd year. WHO has a fair that long? We DO. Yeah sister, we do! I have SO many memories there. Lots of food. A lot of farm animals: weird roosters, huge draft horses, cool sheep, cute bunnies. Funky prized fruits & 500 pound pumpkins, jams, quilts, photography, tractors, blah blah blah. You would have to see it to believe it.

Most of college I found myself 2 wks back in Springtown & at Table Rock Lake in a quaint cabin that slept 8 (if using the pull-out couch) but 28 if you didn't mind sleeping on a the hardwood, a blowup, the porch, a tent or the dock! I loved it; especially the rocking chairs on the screened in porch overlooking a firepit and a path to the lake. Scott & Nancy adopted us & with Katy's open arms, she welcomed us, giving directions "past blah blah gas station & 'hillbillies live here' sign on the left". I could not find my way there today. We bummed around on their dock, ate a ton, caught up on summer & assimilated the new people. We all cried when they sold the place, saying goodbye to a spot for automatic memory making. It may have been a money pit for the Wynant's but we were none the wiser. (Thank you sincerely dear Scott & Nancy!)

Post-college Labor Day weekends were made up of last minute..."Ummm, adults are suppose to have BBQs on this weekend right? I guess we should have a BBQ. Let's get people together" So we'd find someone with a grill, see how many random people we could pull together and BYOM (bringyourownmeat) & chow down.

Since I've been adopted by a family over the past few years, I've done what they do...and that's camping. So, you can guess where I'm spending my weekend! They've picked a new spot this time. We're supposedly leaving tonight for a few days in a tent. Maybe if it rains tonight we'll postpone until tomorrow...but then again...we probably should get there before the rain so we can establish dry ground. So...if you need me...you won't get ahold of me. It's a no phone policy. Daddio Mark has his but I rest & relax, away from it all. I am glued to a book, I'm preparing a meal, I'm taking a nap, I'm walking around. It's really one of my favorite things to do. I will be honest...I wish I could steal away for a sausage sandwich back home :)


Whatever you're doing...rest some...enjoy...and don't take any of it for granted.

homeruns cause chips

I'll never forget it...everybody was psyched. The Indians were in the World Series for the 2nd time in 3 years. It was '97 & a bunch of friends had gotten together to watch. They didn't win the series but that's beside the point. P.Scott & Lori always had us at their house. We crashed in the 'downstairs room' (that had every color couch grabbed from neighborhood garage sales) with tons of food & fun. Now having fed teenagers on a regular basis, I have no idea how they did it.


Tim was there. This guy is the epitome of excitable! He's ready for a good time ALL the time! "I dare you Tim..." was probably the most common phrases when he was around. A great story teller too. Only problem was that he'd start laughing hysterically before starting so you'd have to pretend to walk away so he'd get serious enough to tell it! Little did I know he was preparation for loving that kind of teenager--and man do I love them!

Back to that night. Energy was high & Tim was excited --he had run pretend bases in the small space between the couches several times already. After this fantastic play...or maybe it was a home run...he decided to run, slide & kiss the player in Scott's TV who made the play. That's common right? He was excited. He acted like any fan AT Jacob's Field, so why not in their living room?! Well it was evidently with too much force because he knocked the TV with his mouth and...*$%$#&%# (crashing noise). Yeah, everyone couldn't help but hear and feel it. He got up chuckling with teary eyes as he held his face. We laughed & asked as we always had, "Dude, WHAT is up with you? Was that your face or your tooth? What were you thinking?" But the laughing kind of faded as the tears continued streaming.

Scott pushed us back & had him sit down. He got him to pull his hand away and we all peered in and saw it...the bottom diagonal corner of his top front tooth was gone. A nice size chunk out of his front tooth. GONE (the best I could come up with). We sat there stunned. "What just happened?" somebody asked. "Tim just did a slid/kiss/chip. That's what happened." He was hard core. He refused to leave or have anything done to it. I think he wiped his eyes on his sleeves, put a towel on his bloody lip and watched the rest of the game (which they lost). Everyone went home amazed.

You had better believe that night went down in the books and to this day...the Tim we knew as a teenager that is now grown...with several kids and a wife...um yeah...I still call him Chip.

Turn it off

It's been 5 days since I turned off mobile updates for Twitter & Facebook. It's also been 5 days since i checked email, FB or twitter. It's amazing how much I've gotten accomplished at my 'day job'!!! I dont have internet at home or a convenient laptop so it's been the NOTHING side of 'all or nothing'. I love to multitask but I believe it's been so good for me to bite the bullet & force myself to simplify. I also love that I' blogging from my phone (therefore, I believe I'm contradicting myself)! So, it's the wknd in about 8 hours & w/o internet, what will I do?!!!

Taking a Long Time

In yesterday's post, I talked about my Mad-Multitasking-Skills. While I'm so NOW focused, I wanted to address long-term. This is where it gets juicy. Busy-busy causes me to forget about long term but when I am pausing...I'm thinking, "Ugh, where is God in all this? Where's He taking me?"

An email speaking directly to this was waiting for me in my inbox Monday a.m. from a close friend. This girl usually sticks me straight in the heart. Same deal today. Her words below:


Tonight as I was reading and praying and trying to just get life in order... I came across a passage in Luke 12. Verse 45 starts off like this: But suppose the servant says to himself, "My master is taking a long time....."

It spoke volumes to my heart. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a holding pattern...waiting for the next course of my meal! BUT as I read this verse tonight His spirit began to work in my hard little heart! I was convicted at my unspoken... "My master is taking too long (fill in the blank...) ...with sending me a husband and children, and fulfilling my dreams. My master sure is taking His sweet time!" Even though I'm praying and seeking and living life.... I must admit that the deepest of my sighs has been, "My master is taking a long time!!!" I was reminded and even wrote it in the margin of my Bible of a FRIENDS episode (huge surprise I know)! Joey has just been given the lead role in Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. He walks into the coffee house and Chandler says: So are you ready to star in your own TV show!?! And Joey begins to talk and freaks out and says... This has been my dream forever so WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN PREPARING FOR IT!!!!

Am I preparing to be a great wife, mother, minister right now? What AM I doing? Your guess is as good as mine...twiddling my thumbs I guess.... deeply sighing..."My master sure is taking a long time." As you probably already know from the rest of the passage.... the guy who is found saying this to himself... well, he's not the shining star at the end! Guess I just needed to confess that but also let you know that I intend to figure out what to do about it. A lot of times we feel like our Master is taking His sweet time!

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YIKES. That's it. My heart deeply sighing along with hers. That phrase keeps popping up for me...leaning me more toward God's heart. Trying to chew on the fact that God made us to live & adore Him. Learning to balance (again!) the short and long-term. Where to do they mesh? The truth is...the lines are even there.