Grandma's Quilt

I don't have many memories growing up of my maternal grandmother, which is kind of odd because they lived right by us, and I know that I was at their house all the time--I vividly remember their house, and what each of them looked like. What I can't really remember about that grandma is what her voice sounded like, what she smelled like, etc. I can't really remember many instances where she said something directly to me. I do remember her when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's--which is ironic, because not wanting to remember her that way was my excuse for not visiting often once she had to go into a nursing home. I was young, middle school at best, and pretty selfish then. It's a similar situation with my grandpa on my mom's side--unfortunately, my vivid memories of him are not good ones.


What I do have of my mom's mom is a quilt that she used to call a "Crazy Quilt". She didn't make it specifically for me, but it was always my favorite, and it came with me when I left home. The thing that I love about this quilt is how unique it is, and also how she used scrap fabric to make it. Although the "squares" show how dated the fabric is, I also know that out of the same fabric, my grandma made shirts for my grandpa, aprons for herself, baby blankets, dresses. I remember seeing a lot of the fabric that she used in and around her house. And the backing is a vibrant light green (the picture doesn't do it justice) that always makes me smile. It isn't a PRETTY quilt, but it's one that I love.

While I would sleep with this quilt every night if I could (and have the past week), it's starting to fall apart. Some of the fabric has even disintegrated almost completely.

I wish that I could fix it all, make it new again, but I don't know much about quilting....certainly not this particular stitch.

At this point, I'm torn about what to do with the quilt from here. If I use it, the quilt will quickly become even MORE destroyed, to the point that it may not be usable at all. On the other hand, isn't that what quilts are for? To be beaten up, and used within an inch of their lives? To be enjoyed?

Maybe I'll just keep on using the quilt, and when it does fall apart, maybe I'll make it my mission to make my own crazy quilt. That might be a little ambitious of me, since I don't actually know how to quilt, but we'll see!

Weigh In--16 And Pregnant!

Have any of you seen or heard about MTV's new show "16 and Pregnant"? From MTV's website, the show is described as follows:

'MTV's 16 and Pregnant' is an hour-long documentary series focusing on the controversial subject of teen pregnancy. Each episode follows a 5-7 month period in the life of a teenager as she navigates the bumpy terrain of adolescence, growing pains, rebellion, and coming of age; all while dealing with being pregnant. Each story offers a unique look into the wide variety of challenges pregnant teens face: marriage, adoption, religion, gossip, finances, rumors among the community, graduating high school, getting (or losing) a job. Faced with incredibly adult decisions, these girls are forced to sacrifice their teenage years and their high school experiences. But there is an optimism among them; they have the dedication to make their lives work, and to do as they see fit to provide the best for their babies.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the show--is it a realistic look at teen pregnancy that you think will discourage teens from making choices that would lead to having babies? Or do you think it "glorifies" teen pregnancy, and would actually make teens more likely to have a baby?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I've been pretty surprised to see how many young teen girls (ages 14-16) that I work with are actually trying to have a baby. It's not a matter of them accidentally becoming pregnant and then dealing with the aftermath, they're actually charting, and selecting men that they think would make "cute" fathers to have unprotected sex with.

So weigh in...what do you think about the show?

Weekend Wrap Up

This was seriously quite a weekend. It was jam-packed with STUFF, but it was good!

-We went to see Transformers on Friday night. Justin LOVED it. As we were leaving the theater, he and Ryan both said, "I didn't want it to end!" This one definitely wasn't kid appropriate, but it was still really funny.

-Big church event all day Saturday. We were home by about 7pm, and I immediately went to sleep.

-Sunday was Justin's birthday party. My awesome friends and family all brought over sides, which really helped me out a lot. I can't wait until we have a backyard (a finished one anyway) big enough to host all these people, because our house is definitely NOT big enough! I have no pictures from the day, but Kaitlin was a doll and took a bunch for me, so I'm sure I'll have some eventually.

-Justin will be helping with Vacation Bible School all week from 5pm-8pm. I'm really glad that I didn't sign up to help, but it's kind of a bummer that I won't see much of him this week, especially if he is still leaving on Sunday to go out of town for work.

-I have a busy work week this week, but we get Friday off paid for the holiday. Woop woop! Yeah for a short work week!

-I'm already having nightmares about my doctor's appointment on the 6th. Hate that.

Picture of the Day

Last night, I babysat one of my nieces and my nephew while J, Ryan, and Renee went to help a family from church move. This worked out well because a) I didn't really want to help with moving (which I despise) and b) because I babysat last night, my mother in law is going to babysit tonight so R&R can come see Transformers with us for J's birthday! Woop!

We decided to take a break in the middle of Horton Hears a Who, and go on a loop around the end of our street. We were happily walking along:


Until I got to the circle-part of the cul-de-sac, when I saw this big guy crawling across the road:Seriously you guys, it was a freaking over-two-feet-long snake crawling through the middle of our subdivision. We are not nearly country enough to have snakes like this just chillin in the middle of the road. It was bizarre. Even more bizarre, the kids, who had been absolutely terrified of my cat the entire night, were absolutely thrilled about the snake. Payton even asked if she could hold it. Um, no. Ask your uncle.

And if I find a snake anywhere on my property...it will just not be good.

How to be supportive, when you don't like the situation.

So, the other person in J's position at work has apparently found another job. This is both good, as there will be more work for J, and bad, as most of that work is currently out of state.

One of the blessings about J's employer is that they really try to send the young, unmarried guys with no kids out of state first. I really, really appreciate this. Consequently, they've been sending the other person to do the out of state work quite frequently. It works out well for everyone--he gets a sweet per diem, gets a lot of overtime, and he had quite a few friends from college in that area that he'd hang with over the weekends.

Now, it may have to be Justin that goes up--which would be great for us financially, but tough on me and on our marriage, especially since J will be working nights (Likely 3pm-3am), I'll be working days, and so we won't really even be able to talk while he's gone. And we only have one computer, so it isn't even like we could email each other.

J is supposed to be leaving over the weekend of the 4th to go up there, and I am dreading it, especially since my next doctor's appointment is on the 6th, and I would really, really like him to be there with me for that one. I don't want to pray that he doesn't go, because it really would be a great opportunity for us to "get ahead" financially, but at the same time, I hate the situation. I hate not knowing how long he'll be gone. And no, I don't want him to go. I want a magic wand that will make him earn just as much money here, but also have him only work normal business hours.

I do have to be careful though, because in situations like this, I have a tendency to sort of take things out on J, when this isn't really his fault. I do understand that he has asked to stay at other times that were really important, and that honestly, he probably can't beg off work and expect to keep his job. I understand that in this economy, we have to be a little more flexible about the situation, and be thankful that he has a job in the first place. I understand that some of our close friends have much more difficult situations, and see each other much less frequently than we do, and that we should be thankful that this is the biggest of our worries.

But I don't like it, and it's lame.

Blessings

Blessings:
-Old Navy Yoga Pants (in extra long!).
-Waking up, and feeling rested before my alarm goes off.
-A busy day at work, which will mean the time will pass more quickly.
-A quiet evening at home tonight to lounge around, read, and maybe catch up on Army Wives.
-The sweet anniversary letter that Justin wrote, and I've been re-reading it every day.
-Expecting a book in the mail from Paperback Swap.
-My family and friends, who are helping me pull off J's bday party.
-Vanilla Meringues from Trader Joe's (I wish there was a store nearby!).
-That the band got a shout out on the local radio station!
-That it's supposed to be sunny this weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about 93 degrees since I'll be outside all day, but what can you do?

Hump Day

-Only three more work days this week! Hallelujah! This weekend is going to be jam packed with stuff--including a huge church event/concert that will result in me being outside in the sun all day on Saturday and a birthday party for Justin on Sunday for which I have done absolutely NO preparations! We may need to do a Costco run tonight. Hey, at least we have a freezer to put all the meat in!

-Dinner last night for our anniversary was fabulous. We went "all out", which is something we never do...appetizers, drinks, AND dessert. It's fun to do it every once in awhile, especially if you know that you're gonna love the food. I might not need to eat for the next 2-3 days though.

-Speaking of over-eating, I've been totally slacking on the gym lately. I need to get going again, though I'm not entirely sure how that will work logistically. That's the only way in which my new work schedule kinda sucks. I tried to get Justin to buy me a gazelle at a garage sale this weekend, but no dice. Am I the only one that thinks those are FANTASTIC?!

-The used bookstore hardly took any of my books this time. So, I think I may sign up for Paperback Swap. Has anyone else done it? I just wish that there were a post office somewhere more conveniently located.

Today will be Good.

Today will be a fantastic day. Here's the plan:

-I'm going into work from 9:30am to 10 to interview a person we may be hiring. They wanted the entire staff there for the interview, but had no problem with me leaving afterwords for my scheduled day off. In fact my boss even encouraged me to still take it ("Meredith, a trip to the ER is NOT a vacation.") This is actually good because it will force me not to lay around in bed all day.

-After that, I am heading to my parent's house to lay around in the pool and see my dad after his surgery today (he had a botched surgery 10 years ago where they operated on the wrong side and then switched over to the right side without sterilizing the equipment and he got gangrene. They are STILL doing surgeries to repair the damage). I'm excited to float in the pool and maybe get a little sun (while wearing sunscreen, of course). I'm also excited to keep reading Alias Grace, which I'm really enjoying.

-While over there, I plan to eat at my favorite sandwich shop that they don't have locally, and also to hit up my favorite used bookstore. They aren't open on the weekends, so it's a treat to be able to take some books in and get some new ones.

-Tonight, since it's our anniversary (*swoon*), we're going out to a swanky dinner. They have one of my favorite appetizers ever, which is a blue cheese and pear baked cream brulee served with a baguette, and damnit, if they are all out of them by the time we get there, I told Justin that we are leaving and eating somewhere else. I have been looking forward to this blue cheese for MONTHS.

It will be a good day. And then there will only be three more days left in the work week!

To Slack, Or Not To Slack?

So, tomorrow (Tuesday) is our anniversary. Months ago, when I still had Mondays off, I asked for tomorrow off, thinking I'd take a mini-vacation over our anniversary weekend. Even after I was moved away from Mondays off, I was thinking that I'd still keep that Tuesday off, because it would be a nice mid-week break.

Now, I'm battling with myself a little bit because I was JUST off on Friday due to the ER debacle. Part of me is feeling a little guilty, and thinking that I should go in on Tuesday since I just had a "day off", albeit not a relaxing one, on Friday.

The other part of me is thinking that I have almost 3 weeks of paid time off saved up, and will accrue almost another month here pretty shortly. I really could use a real day off, because I'm absolutely exhausted still, and there is nothing that I'd like to do more than lounge around all day, preferably by the pool.

Edited to add- My Tuesday would be totally paid. Our sick time, vacation, etc. are all pooled into a "paid time off" category, and we accrue something like 12-14 hours of it each month.
Now, I am taking 6 days off in August, but I think that still leaves me with plenty of vacation time saved up, and plenty of time to continue saving up more. What would you do?

Chase Sucks

As former WAMU customers, we're now being transitioned over to Chase. And I have to say, it really sucks. I absolutely hate Chase so far, and I'm seriously considering switching over to a new bank. Here's just *some* of what's happened in the last few weeks.

-I got paid on Friday. I wasn't feeling up to going in and depositing my check. I knew we had some big bills that may have overdrawn our account, but knew that we should be just fine because we had linked our checking to our savings for overdraft protection. I knew that the bills would all be paid from savings, and I'd just go deposit my check into savings today. Only, during the switchover, apparently our account somehow "lost" the overdraft protection. So, I discovered almost $200 in insufficient funds fees today. Of course, they can't do anything about it until Monday since the manager is on vacation. That's splendid.

-Earlier this month, all of our bills that were set on auto-bill-pay came back declined, even though there was plenty of money in the account.

-Our debit cards inexplicably stopped working before we received our new Chase cards. We went in and asked for new cards to be sent ASAP. 14 days later, we still hadn't received them. We went back into the bank, and discovered that the first lady had never actually ordered them. 14 days later, we actually got our new cards.

-Funds deposited by check are no longer available same-day as they were with WAMU, which means now I get to go to the bank that my work writes their checks on, cash my check there, and then take it to Chase to deposit it in cash. Waste. Of. My. Time. Same-day availability was one of the reasons we chose WAMU in the first place.

Seriously. I'm really pissed about the $200 that we now won't have available until Monday. I know $200 isn't a lot to some people, but we actually had that $200 allocated for something we planned to do this weekend for our anniversary, that now we won't be able to do. Thanks, Chase. You're a real winner.

At least you aren't as bad as Wells Fargo, who completely changed my name and social security number on my account without my permission. I have great luck with banks, don't I?

Up

I saw this article on MSN this morning, about Disney/Pixar and their kindness to one little girl surrounding the movie Up. The full link to the article is here. On one hand, the story is incredibly sad. On the other hand, it's stories like these that give me hope in the kindness of strangers.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Colby Curtin got her final wish.

The 10-year-old girl desperately wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie, "Up." But the cancer-stricken girl was too sick to go to a theater.

Thanks to a family friend who got in touch with the movie studio Pixar, an employee of the Emeryville-based company arrived at Colby's home with a DVD copy of the movie, The Orange County Register reported Friday. The girl died later that night.

Colby's mother, Lisa, said she had asked her daughter if she could hang on until the movie arrived.

"I'm ready (to die), but I'm going to wait for the movie," she said her daughter replied.

"Up" is the animated tale of a grumpy old man who, after his wife's death, tries to fulfill their joint dream of visiting South America by tying thousands of balloons to his house and floating away.

"When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie," Colby's mother told the Register. "I just know that word 'Up' and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven."

Colby, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer in 2005, saw previews for the film in April.

"It was from then on, she said, 'I have to see that movie. It is so cool,'" family friend Carole Lynch said.

But the girl's health began to deteriorate. On June 4, Curtin asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair so that her daughter could go to a movie theater but the chair was not delivered over the weekend, Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby was too sick to go anywhere

Another family friend, Terrell Orum, called both Pixar and Disney, which owns the animation studio. The message was received by Pixar officials, who agreed to send someone to Colby's house the next day with a copy of "Up" for a private screening, Orum said.

The employee arrived with the DVD, stuffed animals of characters and other movie memorabilia.

Colby was unable to open her eyes to see the movie so her mother described the scenes. When her mother asked if she enjoyed it, the girl nodded, Curtin said.

The Pixar employee left after the movie, taking the DVD, which has not been released. Lynch, who was with the family during the screening, said the employee's "eyes were just welled up."

A call to Pixar seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday.

Colby, with her parents nearby, died later that night.

Her mother said one of the memorabilia left by the Pixar employee was an "adventure book" based on a scrapbook that, in the movie, is kept by the wife of the main character.

"I'll have to fill those adventures in for her," Lisa Curtin said of her daughter.

Update from ER visit

So, I went in to see the doctor-from-another-practice today and had some more testing. I was bracing myself for some bad news, but it looks like everything is a bit unexplained, but they think it will be fine. This doctor also confirmed what I already knew but the ER apparently did not--that I did NOT have a bladder infection. Hello, I have literally had probably 50 bladder infections, and I know the symptoms. And I did NOT have the symptoms. Duh.

Anyway, the huge blessing from this whole ordeal is that I am thinking about switching doctors to the guy that I saw today. While my doctor hasn't done anything "wrong" at all, I always feel like she's rushing in and out and never has a lot of time to answer my questions. Also, for some reason she has a tendency to always start out telling me what the worst case scenario is. For me, since I'm a total worrier (which she knows), it isn't helpful to go through all the worst-case scenarios unless she actually has testing or some other reason to suggest that the worst-case scenario is actually a possibility.

Also, my doctor only works part-time and odd hours that are totally not compatible with my work schedule. Hello, I'm off by 3pm every day...I feel like I shouldn't have to take all this time off work to get in to see my doctor, when most other practices would be able to see me after I get off work. Lastly, I thought it was kind of odd that last night at the ER, no one had even heard of my doctor. With my situation and what's going on with me medically, this really didn't make sense. The ER really should have at least recognized her name.

The doctor today took a ton of time to explain exactly what he was testing for and why, and exactly what the results had indicated. He was extremely calm and level-headed, and really self-assuring. He answered all my questions, and acted like he had all the time in the world to speak to me. He's also extremely well established here in the community, and everyone I've spoken to has wonderful things to say about him and his staff. And he's open the normal 8:30-5:30 hours!

So, I'm thinking I may be calling on Monday to see if he's accepting new patients (cross your fingers!). The only thing hanging me up about this, is that I'm irrationally worried about my original doctor getting upset about me seeing someone else. I'm irrationally worried about hurting her feelings. I KNOW that I need to get over it though!

Night at the ER

So, last night I spent the midnight to 2am hours at the ER. Yay. Super fun. They had some concerns, and I was supposed to follow up with my doctor today, but just my luck...she's out of town. So instead, they're having me consult with some other practice with some other doctor that I've never met before. Though, I have heard he's superb. He's supposed to call in the next couple of hours and let me know whether or not I actually need to come in.

The really interesting thing about the ER, and this has historically been my experience as well, was that they really don't give you much information, and really never answer your concern. They do some tests and want to chat about my surgery two years ago where my appendix was in the wrong place. Then they tell me that I'm a medical anomaly, and that they'll have to "wait and see", and to call my doctor in the morning.

Either way, I called in to work today, anticipating that I'll probably be due for some more tests, which is LOVELY. It's the waiting that kills. I'm praying for good news, but also preparing for bad.

Not Your Mom's Potato Salad

This is MY mom's potato salad :)

Really though, I love this recipe. Usually I can't eat potato salad because I'm allergic to eggs, and potato salad is usually way too mayo-filled and such for me, and ends up just making me sick. I can totally handle this one, and I LOVE it. In fact, I am seriously craving it right now.

Zesty Potato Salad
4 med. unpeeled red potatos
1 bunch green onions with tops, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing: 2 T mayonaise, 1 T sour cream, 2 T bottled ranch dressing, 2T Dijon Mustard, 1tsp tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar with some dry tarragon added if I have it), and paprika to taste.

Place potatoes in saucepan, cover ith water. Bring to a boil and boil for 20-25 minutes. Drain and cool. Cut potatoes into cubes. Add green onions, salt, and pepper. Combine dressing ingredients and pour over potatoes. Toss well. Chill one hour and sprinkle with paprika.

*My mom usually doubles the recipe, but keeps the amount of onions the same. She uses low fat or fat free mayo, sour cream, and ranch. She also said that she only adds tarragon when she happens to have it in the house...no sweat if she doesn't.

I Like This

Just a little something to brighten your Thursday! Did anybody else like Mario as much as I did? Growing up, I have to say...I was pretty much the Mario Master! I beat all the neighborhood boys!

Confession Time

I do not have ANY clean dishes. We've even used all the giraffe plates. I *might* still have the "You Are Special" plate stashed away somewhere, and if I do, then we'll really be out of luck after tonight.

We've hardly been home this week at all, and when we are, I've been sleeping. I am beyond exhausted lately. Normally, I'd ask for extra help from Justin, but the unlucky guy has poison oak all over his hands and arms, and the thought of him putting away clean dishes just grosses me out.

Seriously, I need an extra day in the week!

Stupid Cat.

Seriously, my cat can be a real shit sometimes. Do y'all remember the rolling clothing rack that attacked me a few weeks back? Okay, well it's back in action and being used to hang clothes that need to line dry.

Yesterday, I put on one of the shirts from the rack, and I realized that there were little bitty holes all over my shirt. I couldn't figure it out at all, until I saw my little shit of a cat climb up my clothes hanging on the rack, in order to sit on the metal bar that goes across the top.

It isn't that she isn't played with...she is. I genuinely think she just likes to climb stuff. And then jump on people and scare the living daylights out of them when they walk by!

I am tagging this post "Stupid People", but I really mean "Stupid Cat". I am totally not dignifying her bad behavior by giving her a tag of her own!

Toxic Algae

I just found out that the lake that we typically spend all summer at has toxic blue-green algae...which is a serious bummer! No more family-wide BBQ's there, for at least a little while :(

The lakes around here typically get pretty bad algae, but usually not until the very END of the summer.

It looks like I'm going to be spending more time in my parent's pool than I thought....which I'm happy to learn is actually a salt-water pool! How cool is that?

What are your favorite summer weekend activities?

Blessings and Prayers

So many blessings lately!

-I finally received some concrete explanations about test results from my doctor, and feel much better about the whole situation.

-Kaitlin's mom Bev introduced me to a great way to get in lots of fruits and veggies on the go: In a blender, mix strawberries, banannas, baby spinach, and a little bit of ice water. You'll end up with a delicious neon-green smoothie that's packed with good nutrients, and you really can't taste the spinach at all.

-The wonderful Starbuck's lady made me my favorite Chocolate Banana High-Protein Smoothie that isn't on the menu anymore! Love her!

-One week from tomorrow is our two year wedding anniversary. We've actually been together for more like 5 years. I took the day off work, and plan to spend the day floating in my parent's new pool.

-The concert on Saturday was wonderful! The band had so much support from the other vendors at the farmer's market, as well as the patrons. I hope this becomes an annual event.

-Thank goodness for Old Navy! I snagged a pair of yoga pants, two tanks, and a pair of shorts for a total of $30 online. And they're talls! Now I just have to wait the 5-9 days for them to get here!

Prayer requests:

-Please pray that Justin isn't sent up to Washington for work next week. He would be missing our anniversary, his birthday, and a huge concert for the band. Additionally, he'd be working nights, so we wouldn't even get to TALK while he's gone.

-Please pray for Kait and her hubby J--although I'm thrilled to see Kait again, I'm not thrilled about the circumstances, which are that her hubby has deployed again...for the third time this year!

-Also please pray for Ryan and Renee. They're expecting that Ryan will soon either be laid off, or may have to work out of town for an extended period of time, neither of which are obviously ideal.

-Please pray for Ali and Mike, a couple from our Bible Study that are currently in Uganda, and will be going to Rwanda on Friday. They're over there meeting with a number of different pastors, and are researching starting an organization that gives short-term loans to individuals that would like to start a business, sort of like Kiva, but faith-based.

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday Song is called "Busy People". It's a song that Renee wrote, and the band performs, and it's one of my two favorites that they do right now.This is a live recording of the song that they did Friday--I especially love the ending of the song!

My Sister's Keeper

This book was, without question, one of my favorite books I've read in the past 5 years--in fact, I probably need to read it again, as it's been almost 5 years since I've read it. Anyway. As most of you probably know, the movie version of My Sister's Keeper is coming out this summer. What you may not know, is that they totally changed the ending in the movie! Many people, including the author, are not too thrilled, because the ending is really the most important and touching parts of the whole novel.

So, if you have any interest in seeing the movie, I would really recommend reading the book first...I think it's always much better to have the book ruin the movie than to have the movie ruin the book. And truly, it's a fantastic book.

You KNOW You're An Adult When....

Your anniversary is coming up, and instead of dreaming about diamonds or exotic vacations, you just really want the whole house to be cleaned from top to bottom.

What's For Dinner?

I'm a bored dinner cook...I feel like I make the same four or five things over and over. So, today I'm asking for your favorite "go-to" dinner recipes. What are your favorite easy, fast, and fairly healthy dinners for a weekday night?!

Today

Well. So, the doctor today went okay. Not as well as I'd hoped, but okay. I didn't get the results that I was hoping for or expecting on some of the tests, but the doctor keeps telling me that it was most likely the result of them using an old, and less accurate, machine to do the testing this time...compared to the brand-new, state-of-the-art, extremely accurate machine they used last time.

She told me not to worry about it at all, but of course I did. I worried about it all day until I forced myself to go to the gym and bike away while reading "Traveling Light" by Max Lucado. Have you all read it? If not, you should. Although I didn't plan it this way, the chapter that I was on while I was pedaling away was all about worry, and it was exactly what I needed to read today:

"The biblical word for worry (merimnao) is a compound of two Greek words, merizo ('to divide) and nous ('the mind'). Anxiety spills our energy between today's priorities and tomorrow's problems. Part of our mind is on the now; the rest is on the not yet. The result is half minded living...Anxiety is an expensive habit. Of course, it might be worth the cost if it worked. But it doesn't. Our frets are futile" (p. 48).

Lucado goes on to talk about the fact that God leads us, and gives timely help: "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes (Matt 6:34 MSG)" (p. 50). The important part is that although I may not have the tools now to deal with what happens in the future, that's OKAY. God will give me the tools and the strength as I need them. That's hard for me--I like to be prepared with spreadsheets and budgets and a plan b, or c, or even d. And while preparation is good, there is no reason that I should be losing sleep over a hypothetical event that may or may not even been occurring.

I promise, I will reveal the cryptic reason for the worry, anxiety, and doctor's visits at some point. It isn't as terrible as you probably think, I promise. In the meantime, I hope you're able to take something away from Lucado's point here...I'm trying to, and I'll keep trying to, even if I have to keep reading and re-reading Chapter 2 for the next month!

Blessings and Snippets

- J's company forgot to pay him prevailing wage on one of the jobs he's been working on, which meant that we got an extra $500 check on Friday! I LOVE prevailing wage!

-Kelsey's graduation was good fun this weekend. I think that the Frozen Melon Balls and Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers (thanks Pioneer Woman!) went over well. The boys love the poppers, and I think they're going to be my new bring-to-everything dish. Too bad I hate them!

-The dreaded doctor's appointment is at 9:30am my time. I don't know why, but I am a mess, and your prayers would be much appreciated! J is actually able to go with me, and I am SO thankful for that...I usually get so worked up that I only hear half of what the doctor is saying (usually the bad half). So it's nice to have a more level-headed person with me, who can later relay what the doctor REALLY said. Assuming everything goes well, I then have to head to work, where I'll have to work until about 8pm tonight to make up for my time off this morning to go to the dreaded doctor. Boo.

-The book Traveling Light has taken up residence in my purse once again.

Frozen Melon Balls

Frozen Melon Ball Recipe

This was one of my favorite summer treats growing up, and I'm so excited to be bringing it to Kelsey's graduation party tomorrow. I don't have a lot of recipes that both my family and Justin's family like (they are VERY different eaters!), but I think this one will probably go over well tomorrow. At least I hope so!

You'll need:
-One cantaloupe
-One honeydew melon
-One seedless watermelon
-One 2 liter of ginger ale
-A small melon scooper or small cookie scooper

Wash the outside of the melons, then cut them in half. Use the cookie scooper to scoop out small balls of each melon, filling a large tupperware container or stainless steel bowl. Continue until all the melons have been totally scooped out. Pour ginger ale into the Tupperware container or bowl, just covering melon. Cover, and stick in the freezer for at least 4 hours. If you freeze longer, you may have to remove an hour or so before serving--you're looking for the ginger ale to be slushy, not frozen solid. Serve with bits of the ginger ale slush in small glasses or bowls.

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday, and I am having serious anxiety about going. I'm not sure why--I have no reason to suspect that anything has gone terribly wrong, but just about any time I'm headed to the doctor, that's exactly what crosses my mind.

I'm just hopeful that I'll actually be able to speak with the doctor for more than 5 minutes, and that she'll be able to answer some questions for me, and that her answers will give me some peace of mind.

UGH. I'm trying not to, but it sucks that I know my whole weekend is going to be spent worrying about my appointment on Monday.

Also, I might die.

The other day, I was looking at real estate lisitings in our area, just to see how the housing market is doing, and I was curious what sort of a house we could afford now. One of the houses I came across contained this gem...at first, I flipped right through it. But on second glance, I'm pretty sure that what I'm looking at right here is a stripper pole in the middle of the living room. And not only a stripper pole, but a stripper pole right next to a ceiling fan?!

Working 9 to 5....

Actually, this is my first week NOT working 9 to 5. It's my first week working five days a week, 8:30am-3:30pm. The extra hours are a blessing, but MAN it is an adjustment going from 4 days a week to 5 days a week. Also, it's really hard to find time to actually work out--I used to work 9-5, so I'd come in at 8:30 and take an hour lunch at the gym. Now, I'm only allowed a half hour lunch with my schedule, and I can't come in any earlier because even though I've been at my job for almost 2 years, I'm not allowed to have keys. Yay.

I am REALLY liking being home earlier though!

Vampires

Justin and I bought the first season of True Blood a couple days ago, and have slowly been watching an episode here and there. Does anybody else watch it? It's a good interesting vampire show (though oddly like Twilight...I wonder which was a craze first?), but MAN I was a little surprised at how much full-out sex is in the show. It even tops Weeds!

Green and Red

I swooned a little bit when I woke up this morning. Why? Because despite my black thumb, it appears that we've got some things that are actually GROWING! I now have a couple of little red strawberries, and most exciting, we are starting to actually have some grass, even if right now it looks more like moss! Keep in mind, our backyard is still a total disaster...and as much as I want it done fast, I saw how much work the front yard was for J, and the back will be even worse. Have I talked about our backyard before? Here's the situation--we bought a foreclosure, and when we purchased the house, the quarter acre out back was basically a compost pile. The previous owners had tossed cardboard boxes, swimming pools, and more out back. Most of it has decomposed, but it's still a rocky, weedy, mess. Now, we have almost a foot drop off from out back patio to our yard, so we were thinking that we could just bring in new topsoil and dump it over our composty-trashy backyard. PS- Topsoil is expensive. It's like $22 a YARD. And we need a lot of yards.

But now J thinks that we might need to excavate the backyard, THEN bring in topsoil, THEN seed. And we're hesitant to do that since we still have (and will continue to have) more medical expenses than ever now that I'm only single covered by insurance....to remix my allergy shot medicine alone it's several thousand dollars! But still....*whine*....I want a summer back yard!!!

Single Ladies

I saw this post on Tamstyle's blog--it's 100 Women doing the Beyonce "Single Ladies" dance in the street somewhere. I thought it was kind of fun!

Encouragement

I forgot to mention one of the best parts of the weekend! So, Justin knows that I've been dealing with some serious anxiety lately over work, being sick, and trying to figure out how to pay thousands of dollars worth of medical bills. However, Justin really doesn't worry about anything, ever, so sometimes he has a hard time knowing how to comfort me when I'm upset because he can't relate at all, and sometimes I get frustrated with him because I feel like he can be dismissive of my feelings because he doesn't relate.

Anyway, while at dinner on our way up to Portland Saturday night, Justin slipped me part of a napkin that he had written the following on:

Don't worry. Everything will be GREAT! And remember, I love you, no matter what.

I've been carrying the torn-off piece of napkin around in my purse ever since. It's a small gesture, but really means a lot to me, and gave me a lot of encouragement!