Silent Sunday

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Dear Winter

Dear Winter,


I think it's safe to say that you and I have a love-hate relationship. I love that you make spring and summer seem so incredibly amazing. I mean really..without you warm spring sun and cool breezes just wouldn't be the same. I also love the snow that you bring.


BUT (and you had to see this coming) why do your winds have to blow so strong and so stinking cold. really. I don't need my hands to go numb after being outside for 2 minutes. You know I have 2 dogs that like to play when we take them outside instead of going to the bathroom. If your going to be cold...then SNOW! Make these dreary gray months worth it. After all they are the ONLY time you have a potential to make it snow.


Now if we can make a deal. Please keep the blistery cold winds away or at least at a slight breeze, trade in any and all rain for snow (as NO ONE...I repeat NO ONE likes when its 30°F and raining) and I promise I won't be as sad to see you go.


Love,
Yours Truly

Where did that week go?

Seriously. I can't believe it's been a week since my last post...okay okay maybe more like 10 days. And yet the only reason Im writng this in the first place is because I'm laying in bed and can't fall asleep and my hubby is watching the Australian Open. Yes that is my life in a nutshell. Truly and honestly I tell you my week has been VERY boring and uneventful. Except that I had an extremely challenging subbing job on Friday (that poor teacher to do that every day) and a great one today. I have two more half days this week. Now that is definitely a benefit of subbing...lots of half days! Ohhh and I'm toying with the idea of writing my own Sunday school curriculum. (bible story video and all) **praying for wisdom and guidance in that thought -Katy

"How Great Thou Art"

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

I learned at my grandfather's funeral that this was his favorite song. Ever since then (Sept. 08), I was completely unable to make it through the song without crying for 2 reasons

1. the overwhelming words

2. the connection to my Bum

I didn't know if I would ever be able to overcome the tears from that connection. Last Sunday we were in church and I was able to sing the entire song. I don't know if it was because days before I uncovered a letter that he had written me and I sobbed and sobbed my eyes out or if I was able to finally come to peace knowing that he is with his Lord and Savior and ohh so happy to finally be *HOME*.

Reality Check....again

These things happen more frequently than I'd like. Today's check? The need to cut bills to cut monthly expenses. And if you know anything about bills...they don't "cut" to easily.

So it basically comes down to:

1. getting rid of important bills

2. Greg getting a second job (nearly impossible based on schedule)

or the one that probably needs to happen

3. for me to give up on teaching and do something completely random (since a teaching certification doesn't qualify you for much else)

"When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better"

-The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis

...here's to waiting for the turning point and trying to make it out alive...

Friday Thoughts

Maybe our next job is childrens ministry....? Hmmm - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Because....why not?

A dear dear friend and amazingly awesome Christian woman posted about this today so I thought I would check it out. After reading through it I thought I would give it a try. It's The Love Dare. Which is based on a book (which was featured in the movie Fireproof) but lucky for me [and you] K-Love Morning has blogged it! (aka you don't need to buy the book) I wasn't sure what The Love Dare was, so in a nutshell it is 40 days/ways to strengthen your marriage. It even says whether or not your marriage is hanging by a thread or stronger than it's ever been, it can't hurt to strengthen your marriage. I wanted to put an excerpt here for you to get the idea, but I'm not sure which one to pick...so here's two!

"THE SCRIPTURES SAY that God designed and created marriage as a good thing. It is a beautiful, priceless gift. He uses marriage to help us eliminate loneliness, multiply our effectiveness, establish families, raise children, enjoy life, and bless us with relational intimacy. But beyond this, marriage also shows us our need to grow and deal with our own issues and self-centeredness through the help of a lifelong partner. If we are teachable, we will learn to do the one thing that is most important in marriage—to love. This powerful union provides the path for you to learn how to love another imperfect person unconditionally. It is wonderful. It is difficult. It is life changing."

"The Love Dare journey is not a process of trying to change your spouse to be the person you want them to be. You’ve no doubt already discovered that efforts to change your husband or wife have ended in failure and frustration. Rather, this is a journey of exploring and demonstrating genuine love, even when your desire is dry and your motives are low. The truth is, love is a decision and not just a feeling. It is selfless, sacrificial, and transformational. And when love is truly demonstrated as it was intended, your relationship is more likely to change for the better."

If your interested in joining the DARE, here's the link.

http://www.klove.com/BLOG/post/2010/01/05/The-40-day-journey-starts-Wednesday!.aspx

Being Productive

I love the days where I wake up feeling lazy and unmotivated, but it turns into a day where I get lots done. I only wish I could wake up feeling more productive or motivated in the first place. Like today for instance: I probably would have spent all day sitting around had it not been that my to-do list was 'untouched' for a number of days and one of the items had a deadline that was quickly approaching. Well that and the dogs wouldn't let me alone--it's almost like they knew I should be doing something.

Here's to: creating part of this week's sunday school curriculum, mailing a return, exchanging items, grocery shopping [which is surprisingly difficult when you are looking for specific items and you are out of the grocery routine], cooking dinner, and getting a subbing job for tomorrow. 

On subbing: Every day I accept I become less enthusiastic about it, but I know that once I get there and get started it isn't so bad. [Praying that I have an increase in enthusiasm because God knows I have other things on my mind.]

Another Hair Cut

This time it was Nittany's turn. I didn't take any before pictures today because...well I forgot. So to give you an idea, here's the before and after from June. [poor pup--I think he is happier this time]

P.S. Happy Birthday Momma!!!

What's next?

For the last two years, we've been counting on the part time teaching contract that the hubs has had. We learned today that his contract will most likely disappear next year. I was surprised, yet not. We've been through this before and I think it gets easier. [I say that now..it's only been 6 hours that I've known]

For all we know, minds could be changed. But maybe it's for the better. MAYBE there is a full time job out there for him. Maybe there is one for both of us. As we were having some good ol' quality time tonight, I thought I would look up this one place that I thought would be fun to work at. Apparently they have a position open! Who would have thought. It's not at all related to teaching, but I think it is something that I could really enjoy. Just need to put a resume and cover letter together that isn't filled with education stuff.

.praying if this is what I should do next.

..praying to continue to be calm and patient..

...praying to trust in Him and not be frustrated...

I.AM.EXCITED

super excited in fact!...for my new reading material.

1) The complete Chronicles of Narnia

*I've wanted to do this for YEARS but have yet to do it.

2) I've discovered Kindle for iPhone

 *First off, the app is free AND they have FREE books. I thought "there is NO WAY they would have free books" and the surely proved me wrong. The selection of free books is actually quite large unless you are looking for a specific book. I'm just looking for books to read--sooo in my mind, I hit the JACKPOT! I actually had to stop myself from "buying" free books so that  I would read the ones I already picked. ;) My incentive for reading is more free books.

Baby, baby, baby

I'm a sucker for any giveaway. And when I saw this one I couldn't get it off my mind. So here it is, so you could have a chance to--especially since I know many of you have (or will be having) adorable little girlies.

Check out this blog "Ponderings of the Heart". A new blog that I've discovered to follow. A giveaway for an adorable little dress (your choice of size).

Seriously, why are you still reading? What are you waiting for? Check.it.out!


apparently, this new blog layout doesn't make links too easy to find so I'll try this...
http://philippians4verse8.blogspot.com/2010/01/csnbaby-giveaway.html

Love, Love, Love

I LOVE my nieces. I spent Thursday afternoon with them. Well it was really more with my 3 yr old niece, since a newborn really requires more care from a mother than an aunt. The majority of our time together was running in circles. hahah. Who would have thought that just running around and around would be not just entertaining, but worth thousands of laughs and giggles. Sometimes we were running to the Disney party (as I think she called it) or playing hide and seek, or chasing [or being chased by] a dragon, or simply running into things...hahah. Imagination is boat loads of fun.

 Every time I'm with her, I try to snap some pictures. She however usually has something else in mind--like hiding her face. UNTIL I gave her a camera. She became the photographer and took TONS of pictures. Granted many were blurry because she moved the camera while pushing the button...but hey, even I do that now and then! Her favorite camera? an iphone..or as she calls it "the game camera" because she was also interested the other buttons she saw.

My niece + an iphone=adorableness

[note the death grip she has on it--no way she was going to give that up easily ;)]

and a photoshoot!

[I wasn't usually allowed to smile--had to make funny faces]

This was the first picture she took!

January 7th

1995 changed my life. Prior to this day I was an only child...for 9 years and 8 months. Then what I thought was soo absolutely fantastic, I had a little brother. Of course to me at this time I thought it was cool. Then he turned 6, 7, 11, and it wasn't so fabulous.

Anyway, I remember being woken up by my parents and I don't remember what they told me, except that I knew I had to go to my best friends' house. I spent the rest of the night at her house and even slid..okay fell down the stairs the next morning when I woke up. I must have been pretty excited [or still half asleep]. I of course wanted a sister. What almost 10 year old girl wouldn't want a sister? Turns out that around 11:00am, my little brother was born. I was so excited to meet him and hold him. After all, I had wanted to be a big sister for what seemed like forever [in a 9 yr olds mind..I'm sure it was forever}

Someone called the house to announce that I had a brother, Gregory Michael [I always had trouble spelling Michael]. Eventually my dad came to pick me up to visit my momma and brother in the hospital. I had no idea what it would really be like to have a brother and I don't think I would have believed it if anyone tried to tell me. When I saw him laying there  he was wrapped in a multitude of blankets because he had a low body temperature [i think] and he was crying. I stood there staring at him and I soon got to hold him. As I remember it, he almost immediately started crying when I held him. Of course I thought this was so perfect that he stopped crying for me, but in reality he probably would have stopped crying if ANYONE held him. 

After all, he had no idea who I was. 

• He had no idea that in a few years I would be dressing him in a skirt and painting his toenails...
• ...and he certainly had no idea he wouldn't know any better. 
• He had no idea that I felt like a mom when I held him or tried to take care of him. 
• He had no idea that his birth would eventually mean I got paid to babysit :). 
• He had no idea that he would eventually tower over me [because HE got the TALL genes]. 
• He had no idea how much I wanted to show him and teach him (because in my mind I was his 2nd mother)
• He had no idea that we would play legos and games and I would let him win almost ALL the time, until I felt I should finally win just to keep him in his place. ;)
• He had no idea that for years and years to come he would constantly be asked "is Katy your older sister?"

As we both got older, I thought about how cool it would be to be the cool, older sister. You know the one I'm talking about...no not the one that buys him alcohol or cigarettes. Just the cool one that you can always go to and hang out with. The one that helps teach you how to drive. Yep, that cool one. Except that when I thought about him driving, I thought about how old I would be....25 going on 26! Yikes, I thought that was old. And now, here we are...a year away.

 He's 15, he's my BIG little brother, and despite how uncool he thinks I am and how much he can irritate me (as 15 yr olds purposely try to do), I'm still his BIG sister and I've still got big expectations for him.

So here's to you little brother---Happy 15th Birthday.

Excitement

I'm coming out of end of vacation shell shock only to realize what is happening TOMORROW. [more on this to come...tomorrow]. I do however want to say that I moved ALL of my Project 365 pictures & posts over to my new Project 365 blog. 

This beautiful little box will be sitting over there to the right ----> if you ever want to take a peek. ;) I thought this way I don't have to have 2 posts on the same blog each day. So I apologize if this is an inconvenience for you, but you'll just have to let me give it a try.

In the process of re-organizing my "P.365" stuff, I came across this absolutely awesome thing called Project Life. [images from Project Life website]

I don't have it and right now I haven't even ordered it yet, although I wish I could. and I definitely haven't been paid to put this up here. I just think it's super cute and makes things so much easier (and cheaper) than trying to make EVERYTHING yourself for a photo/scrapbook.Everything you need for a WHOLE YEAR's worth of simply, but totally adorably cute, scrapbooking. It could be Project 365, a first year of marriage, or just keeping track of a family's memories. It seems really really cool. Let me know if you decide to buy it and how it is, because I will be soo jealous.

Eryn's Present Surprise

Since we are safely past Christmas, I can finally share with you what I was working on the during the 2 weeks prior to Christmas. It is what my brother in law called 'lots of work' and 'more than he was envisioning'. BUT that's what you get when I get involved with an artsy or crafty project. Not to mention there wasn't a lot of work at the time.

So you might remember me sharing this with you. I was knee-deep in paper, numbers, glue, and completely focused on the task at hand.

With that, I proudly present to you...Eryn's Christmas Present. A countdown calendar that starts no, started on January 1st and counts down [of course] to their wedding [on June 12th!] To save you from counting that is 163 days? I think--I don't completely remember...let's just say a big number.

A page for each day. Some included pictures (taken by yours truly)...

...while others had personal notes tucked safely in cute little envelopes  

(to eliminate any desire to peek ahead)

And just in case you are at all curious it was about 5 inches thick! I think she likes it. After all getting little personal notes from your fiance that you haven't seen in 3 months and might not see for another 5 months is pretty special.

365:1.5

365:1.5

Day 5

Camera: Canon Rebel xSi

My brother in law said to me last night..."You must like ice cream."

I wonder what gave it away. The fact that I've eaten ice cream every night since I found out it was in the freezer...no that can't be it ;). Maybe it is that every time he sees me in the kitchen I'm getting ice cream?..no, no that couldn't be it either.

hmm. Maybe I'm just kidding myself, because clearly it is BOTH of those reasons. But it's true. I'm guilty. This girl has a soft spot/sweet tooth for vanilla ice cream. [with chocolate AND caramel syrup on top--and whip cream if available.] Just hold the cherries please.

365:1.4

I have a hunch that you may be seeing lots of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea related pictures in the days, uhh, months? ahead.

Camera: Canon Rebel xSi

Not-Me Monday?!?!?

Thought I might try my hand at this. I first saw this on one of my dear friends' blog and it looked like fun. Although earlier when I actually decided to do it, I was feeling much more ambitious than I am right now. [however the hubs is watching some show on surfing, so yea..] here goes.

Ohh. AND if you aren't sure what this whole Not-Me Monday thing is about then check this out 

(the creator & rules)

I did not secretly hope that there were no subbing postings while checking AESOP.

I did not sit at home for multiple hours today playing Wii and watching a national geographic show on animals in the womb [kangaroos & sharks..and I did not learn a lot]-nooo that certainly was not me.

I did not apply to 2 more teaching position (HOORAY!) despite feeling hopeless about getting ZERO calls for interviews in the past 4 months.

I did not cook all weekend while the in-laws were 'vacationing' and I certainly did not enjoy it :)

I did not sleep until 9am when I planned on waking up by 8 to try to get back on that dreadful school schedule.

I did not read an article on exercising your dog's brain and I also did not attempt to teach Nittany "a retriever game." Ohh and it definitely did not turn into more of a game called "chasing my sister until she finds the football and then steal it from her"

**I do love finding new blogs to read and follow that will occupy my time**

Can you say UPGRADE?

By far the best addition to our little apartment this Christmas. Our new Keurig machine has taken the place of the cheap-o Mr. Coffee. No more filters, no more cleaning. Just single serve cups of hot coffee, tea, or hot chocolate in about 1 minute. LOVE.IT! enough said.

365:1.3

Haircuts...

for the dogs is a VERY tedious process. Over the past 2 years, I have learned to do Yasha's all by myself (however I enjoy having the hubs help). However, Nittany is 75% poodle. Which means he mats---easily and quickly once it starts. AND there tends to be lots of them. So I'm afraid to do it myself. Hopefully we can get him a haircut soon. Anyway we cut Yasha's about 2 days ago. Of course it was quite cold outside so we opted to do it in the bathroom. We apparently spent lots of time bathing Nittany in the bathtub as a puppy because he decided to hop right in...

..and he certainly wasn't too happy when we had to bribe him to get out [and then lock him in hallway]. ...what a cutie! 

Anyway...here is 365:1.2
[2 pictures-I discoverd a cool trick with my iphone...atleast I think it's cool]

 

Project 365

I've been waiting to start this since September. Ironically I almost forgot about it. I realize now that I could have VERY easily started it then, but I thought it would be better started off with the first day of the year rather than a random fall day.

What is Project 365? Essentially you take 1 picture everyday to document your year. How cool is that? Of course maybe it's just interesting to someone like me. I'm sure some pictures will be immensely better than others, while some will be quite boring and mundane. So be it. You [if you continue to read & follow] will get to see not only my project as it unfolds, but I will still continue to be blogging daily [hopefully]. 

So here it is. 365-Day 1

1.1.01

 Camera: Canon Rebel xSi

The 2000's

So it's a new decade. What happened to me last decade?

2000-went to high school

2001-September 11 (I was walking into U.S. History class--ironic no?) ...this year seems to be a blur

2002-Got my driver's license & started dating my husband!

2003-Graduated from High School-Hello! College Freshman-HELLO quad room!

2004-College Sophomore - My first dog was put to sleep 7.4.04

2005-College Junior-Lived with fun fun ladies

2006-College Senior-commuter---ENGAGED!---Yasha joined the family-I'm an aunt!

2007-Graduated from Millersville University---MARRIED!---1st Year Teacher

2008-Nittany joined our family

2009-Life changed completely--I'm an aunt again!

Can't believe how much has happened. I'm sure I'm forgetting things that I'll have to add later, but for now. So long 2000's...or whatever name you have for the decade since there isn't official name.