Oh goodness...

I'm tired sleepy worn-out totally exhausted!! Seriously! I'm not sure how much more of this craziness I can take.

Yesterday I hung out with my friend Sarah in Modesto. On my way I had to stop and get coffee because I couldn't keep my eyes open while driving! Not good! I swear her and I are the same person! She's pregnant (ok, we're not a like in that area...lol) So she had a glucose test yesterday, so I met her at the lab and we sat and talked. We talk about everything! In fact, a women we didn't know approached us while we were there and talked about how it was so nice to see two people being so open with each other...lol. I wonder if she thought we just met each other that morning!? Maybe? Ha ha! Sarah does hair, so she cut my hair (it's CUTE) and I taught her how to make fondant and we baked a cake. Such a nice afternoon!

Today was Jasmine's 8th grade promotion! We got up early, and I curled her hair, got her some Starbucks and took her to school. Then I grabbed some cute, hot pink roses, and headed back over. When we got there, she was sitting in a classroom crying her eyes out. My sister was a no-show. My sister doesn't get along with anyone. She's such a jerk to her kids, which is why I have such an active role in Jasmine's life. A few days ago, Jasmine told her mom that she wanted everyone to get along at her graduation, and asked her to put her stuff aside with her dad and step-mom for one day. Well, my sister said that because she said that, that she was going to come and cause a huge fight and cussed Jasmine out. She couldn't put her child first just once! Well, she ended up not coming at all and Jasmine was pretty torn up about it. Luckily, once I got her all touched up, the crocodile tears were gone and she went out and starting talking to her friends and taking pictures. Everything was fine after that. I hate my sister for it though. I do. I don't mind doing the things for Jasmine that her mom should be doing, I love her like she is my own. I do hate that Jasmine wants a relationship with her so much, and my sister rejects her every single time. I just want to punch her in the nose...lol. I don't get it, I really don't.

I'm going to take a nap now!

Rained Out...

Who would have known, that after 103 degree temperatures last week, we'd be rained out of our long anticipated garage sale. Frieda and I were chatting away when I felt the first drop, then a study sprinkle as I hurried to cover any electronics. Minutes later the weather-woman on the radio mentioned that there was a 40% chance of rain in our area. Make that 100%, lady! It was ok and we stayed out for a few more hours while it sprinkled on and off. People still came, complimenting me on my brightly colored garage sale signs. Little did I know my husband taped them to street signs, actually covering them. Oops! Good thing we weren't fined!

After all was done, we donated the rest of the items and played Scrabble on PlayStation. I dominated! Good times!

After all of that, Matt needed to pay a visit to the witchy woman across the streets neighbors house. A few months back, Matt borrowed some eggs, and the lady gave them to him in a little plastic bowl. Well, somehow the bowl was misplaced (it wasn't high quality or anything...really) We've looked and looked. So we went and got her a nice new set of bowls because we felt bad about it. So Matt took them over and she wasn't there. So Matt explained to her son and left them with him. 20 minutes later the witch neighbor comes over yelling at Matt about how irresponsible he is and how disappointed she is and yadda yadda. You'd think he had impregnated her daughter or something! I know we lost her bowl, but what do you do when you try to make something right and they don't want to? Oh well. Sometimes you just can't win! Ugh!

Last night, my Hubster got me the coolest Starbucks cup I've ever seen! it looks just like the regular Starbucks cold cup, but it's hard plastic,double insulated 16 oz, screw-top. It's so cool! I saw them in Starbucks like 2 days ago and wanted one. I really like Starbucks coffee, but I hate the amount of waste produced. I have 2 hot cups, but I didn't have a cold one! So Matt ended up buying one for me. The management there had put them out too early, so when we went to get it, they told me they weren't for sale yet. A manager was there though, and when she heard me ask, she rang one up for me! Yay! I love it!

I'm going to the gym today to do some pool running! That's exciting! I've been working out in the pool about 4 times a week and I already feel my knee getting stronger. So pray pray pray pray pray, that I can avoid surgery for now! I really want one of these to make my workout more fun! We'll see though...
Peace!!

Addicted...

I don't have much of a sweet tooth at all. It's rare that I find a sweet treat that I really enjoy. For the last few weeks though, I crave these everyday




Yup, Sonic has an awesome coffee drink. It's espresso and vanilla soft serve. I order the caramel! Yum-o! Of course, I won't buy it too often because I've been SUPER good food-wise (vegetarianism will do that to you). But as an occasional treat, I hope it stays around!

Matt and I had a nice date night last night. First we took Scout (between his daily habits of sleeping and TV watching to Swenson Park in Stockton. 14 mile slue runs behind the park and is perfect for a dog that LOVES to swim. After we wore Scout out ( and he was drenched to the bone), we dropped him off at home, and had dinner at Strings. It's one of our favorites. The best salad and bread around. I (ever so painfully) found out that the soup that I used to love, is made with pork, beef, and chicken broth... sigh. So I opted for the stuffed mushrooms (ignore what I said earlier about being more food-healthy, those things were NOT healthy).

Then we walked around Target for at least an hour. It's fun to walk around. We didn't buy anything, but there is something about walking around that store that is just fun to me. Not only that, but I wanted to see all of the wii games, as Matt is buying me a Wii.. YAY. Yeah! I want to buy used, so hopefully I will be able to find something in good condition!

Take the garage too...

I will be posting this sign Saturday! :-)

Purging is a good thing, right? Ok, I guess unless you have an eating disorder... This Saturday we're having a yard sale at the in-laws place. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE getting rid of things that are no longer useful to us. I don't usually get rid of perfectly good things in exchange for new, I hate waste in all forms, but we have too much stuff and too little space. Even though we're in the housing market, who knows how long it will be before we're in a new house. I can't keep everything until then. I have a nice dining room table, computer stuff, dishes, a futon all kinds of great apartment stuff! If you come and you need some, I'll give you a deal! Saturday 8:00am!

Last night I played two good hours of Internet scrabble. Refreshing! I've been doing all of this studying for my real estate license stuff, so getting a break from that was nice. Had an interesting conversation with the Bro-in-law about grammar. He's an English teacher now, so he loves to try to impress people with his mad grammar skills (funny considering that is what the new blog over at Stuff White People Like is about)

So if I'm not around much this week, is because I've covered in dust trying to sort through all of our stuff. Wish me luck... or send me a gun :-)

Party!

This is the cake I made for Jameson's 1st birthday party yesterday! I learned that working with fondant can be tricky when it's so hot out! It still think it's cute though! I made the cake for his baby shower last year. So it was fun to make his 1st b-day cake too.

The party was so cute. I probably would've had a better time if it had not been 103 out. I don't handle the heat all that well! Jameson is an ADORABLE child! His mom, Ashley and I worked together at Citadel Modesto for a while and became friends. She's such a good mom!

I'm so tired today. I have a lot to do, but it's mostly stuff I can do from home, like paying bills and such. I also have to book everything up for Disneyland, and do some gardening. Not too bad. It should leave me some much needed rest. Jasmine is with me this weekend too. She goes home tonight, but I like having her here. She's such a good kid!

I guess I should go tend to my garden. I'd much rather be inside enjoying the air conditioning, but alas, I must do what I need to do.

Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays'!

Have you seen office space? If so you'll get the headline to this blog!

I do have a case of the Mondays' today. Yes, I realize it's Friday! I'm not unhappy, just a little bit stressed. Maybe it's the bowl of grape nuts I had for breakfast, or that I just made a host of doctors appointments, which always freaks me out. I hate despise going to the doctor. There are many reasons why, let me list them for you.

1. I haven't been the my endocrinologist in 6 months and I'm going to get yelled at.

2. Drilling for oil Drawing blood from me is always a huge ordeal and I always get the phlebotomist from hell, that doesn't know how to drill draw from a person with non-existent veins.

3. I know that I'm going to be put back on thyroid drugs, which I've been trying to avoid.

4. Also, I know that I'm going to fail my iron test, so they're going to tell me to eat more meat (that is not happening) and then I'm going to get a prescription for iron supplements that make me feel super sick all the time. Can't help that though, my legs are so bruised up from my anemia that I think people wonder if I've been beaten.

So there are my reasons! I don't want to go. I.Do.Not.Want.To.Go!!

Other then that, I feel like there is so much stuff I want to do. I want to do everything. I want to be good at everything. The fact that I'm not always leaves me feeling like I've failed. Not that I don't think I'm not good at anything. Just that I know people that are so motivated to do everything, and they do it. I almost feel like I missed the boat on my potential. It's silly, I know.

I also feel like I know so many people that do awesome things for God. I just don't feel like I'm there yet. While I love God and have a close relationship with him, I don't feel on fire. I used to. I used to love to serve, and want to be involved in everything, and wanted so badly to show the love of Christ to people. I'm so burned out now. I just want that feeling of joyous servent-hood back. Maybe in time I suppose. I just need a kick-start. Hopefully when we find a new church where I can be excited about ministry, instead of dreading it.

Well, I'm off to work on my b-day cake project for a party for a friends son tomorrow. I love baking. It de-stresses me. Hopefully the cake turns out well!! :-)

~Sarah

Nights like these need a good blog....

Los Angeles

Matt is at work. UGH! I hate his late nights. Tonight he'll be gone until at least 3am. I'm actually really glad we have a dog. It makes me feel strangely more secure. Though he's probably as protective as a litter of tiny kittens, it still feels good to not be totally alone. Plus, he's a snugly puppy, so he usually falls asleep on his bed and then moves to our bed in the wee hours of the morning. Tonight he'll sleep on our bed. It's so hard to sleep without Matt there, that I don't mind him on our bed very much when Matt's gone.

So, I mentioned in my last blog that I'd like to start a fresh foods ministry. I really, really do! We treat the poor with disdain, throwing them the bare minimum we feel comfortable giving. having this awful they should be happy to receive ANYTHING attitude. It's humiliating and degrading to my brothers and sisters. The picture that comes to mind are scraps we throw to dogs. My dog probably has better food available to him on a more consistent basis. I want to bring dignity to the place where they live and eat. To treat the poor more like people, with souls, lives, hurts, baggage (not much unlike myself), in need of not only food, but love and Christ as well. That means more than a constant flow of institutional grade food darn it! Why should the poor suffer more then they already suffer? Why do so many go out of their way to give to the rich in an effort to impress, and nothing to the poor that actually need the help? I would love for people to consider tithing from their garden. I'm sure that most people if posed with the question "do you really believe that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Christ himself?" would say "oh yeah, of course!". Yet when it comes down to it, we wouldn't give Christ our scraps. We give the homeless our scraps. It's time for better. It's time to follow that commandment.

I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work, but I'm going to think about it more in the coming days! I'm even thinking about contacting some people from our local Farmers Market to see what happens with the food they don't sell. If it goes to waste, I would be more then happy to haul it away and find someone who could use it!

Well, I'm off to finish folding laundry and then I have to take Scout out for his final walk of the night. :-)

Everything is beautiful!

It's been a good week thus far. Yes, today is only Tuesday, but I have hope for the rest of the week. Things are finally calming down. It's a nice feeling.

Our lawsuit with the city has been settled (!!), and I'm glad to be able to say that we will no longer have any medical debt! Yay!! Neither of us had any debt what-so-ever when we got married, so having bills come that we couldn't pay made Matt and I slightly frustrated. Though I guess there are few people our age that just have $20,000 burning a hole in their pocket for out of control, not covered by insurance,
outstanding medical bills. So back to no debt!! Though our plans to buy a house in the near future will make that feat short-lived... oh well.

Matt and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary Sunday. Well, actually we didn't. It was Mother's day which made it nearly impossible to even go out to dinner without crazy crowds of people. We ended up going to Marie Calendars for brunch with Matt's family. Everything had meat in it, besides the make it to order omelet station. So I had a veggie omelet with pepper jack cheese and it was delightful! Matt and I had some wedding cake topper later and grabbed coffee, but decided we will celebrate more officially in a couple of weekends when we can (hopefully) enjoy a mini vacay! We need it more then you know!

Yesterday, I was able to talk to a good friend on the phone for a couple of hours. She's definitely a kindred spirit. It's nice to know I can be totally real with her, without without fear of judgement. I have few of those kinds of people in my life. I'm thankful for her. So thanks Nik, I needed that!!

The next few weeks will be hectic with Scout starting obedience training, buying a new car, dress shopping for Jasmine's 8th grade promotion, attending her promotion (I'm a proud auntie), Matt trying to get his transfer stuff in, Matt's cousins graduation and again, hopefully getting away for a weekend to ourselves!

After that, I want to start a new ministry thing. I really want to start a ministry to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to needy people. I know that my garden is going to produce more food then we will be able to eat, and I know that many other people have the same issue. So why not share our abundance with people that rarely get fresh, healthy food? More about that later though!


Anyway, Today Matt is off and we're going to take a long walk and play with Scout all day. I'm excited! I love my little family and fur baby!

Friends (not so) forever.

I've been in a state of mourning some of my friends for quite some time now. I've sort of given up on some people. I know that sounds awful, but I can't help but feel that way. For one, I suck at keeping in touch with people. I always feel like I'm bothing people if I call. Maybe that's silly, but I have a complex about being a bother to anyone. Especially if I know they're busy!
Then there are those friends that I call to talk to, or try to IM or e-mail or whatever that lets me know for sure that (they think) their life in more busy/important then mine and they they don't have time to speak with me or to hang out. Even life-long friends who I thought would always be there. People who pretend to be interested but only if you come to visit them, or call them first. News flash, not to be mean, but I have a life too! I've kind of stopped making effort with those people.

It's sad. Especially with people I've been friends with for years and years and years. But I guess if someone makes it clear to you that they are no longer wanting your friendship, then what can you do? It doesn't make it less sad or less hurtful, but it does make it eaiser to say "goodbye".

Matt and I have 3 GOOD friends. We know they care about us, so it works. We just wish the others would make some effort too...

Oh yes!

The central metaphor Jesus uses (for the church) is the Eucharist. His body is broken and his blood is poured out to the healing of the world. God is looking for a body of people who will break themselves open and pour themselves out for the healing of the world… I think the problem is that when people say "church," many mean religious goods and services where you come and there's a nice inspiring talk, good coffee in the back, snappy music and everything ends up fine. Jesus speaks of his people who are willing to suffer and die so that the world can be healed-that's an entirely different proposition.

For us (at Mars Hill), if you can resolve the sermon in the course of the church service, then the sermon has failed. If you can resolve what's being talked about just by listening to it, then something's seriously wrong. The only way to resolve the church service you just experienced, and specifically the sermon, is that you're going to have to go and wrestle with it and then live it out. Our interest is not in providing goods and services that will leave you with a well-packaged religious experience. We understand the Gospel to be how you are going to break yourself open and pour yourself out for the healing of the world.

~Rob Bell

Our new backyard....

Well, It's not official yet, but we're hoping to make it official soon. We've considered moving since before we were married (when I almost moved to the midwest for a job). We need some breathing room that we don't have here. No one knows where and few people (not even family) know that we're intending on moving or leaving by the end of summer. There are huge up-sides to getting out of here and one huge downside. People who know me, know what the downside is, but we can work that out. It will be hard, but it will be okay.

We're excited more then anything. New adventures, new friends (though we will miss most of our friends dearly), new jobs and hopefully a new church. Also, we're planning on buying a house soon after we get there. We've already been shopping for one.... EXCITING!!!


Anyway, we're planning our trip to Disneyland. Jasmine has never been, so we promised we'd take her as an 8th grade grad gift. We're all excited! She's going to die when she gets there. We're going to try to make it extra special for her!

Anyway, I must walk the dog, See you soon!

~Sarah

Miley, Men, and some much needed TLC...

Ok, I'm going to defend Miley Cyrus. Yeah, those pictures were (for obvious reasons) not the greatest idea. However, I know many 15 year old girls that I wish were covered up with a blanket after seeing what they're wearing. I think it's crazy that she’s being torn apart. Really crazy. Reminds me of a recent South park episode I saw... The media must kill her...

So I've been talking to a friend about how men now days seem to act more like women, and how it's making it harder for her to find a good man. This trend is something that I've seen since my early dating days. Biblically, men are to be leaders, protectors. "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13)

I understand how frustrating that can be. I didn't (officially) date anyone before Matt, but it was slim pickings anyway. Most of the guys I even considered dating were not the most manly, not good leaders, not gentlemen at all. They expected me, or other girl friends make all of the decisions and plans... never took the initiative. It forces us women to act like men. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.

Not to say men have it easy either. Lots of women are acting like men. Everything now is about independent women. Not that being independent is wrong, but it needs to be so in a humble way. You can "have your own house, have your own car" and still allow a man to treat you like a women. Not allowing men to treat you the way they should, just makes men scared of trying, probably in fear of rejection. Sigh...

Anyway, I've been enjoying a relaxing week. A much needed week. I've been sickly lately and just not getting better. Once I started to rest, I felt better. My husband has been really gracious about it. He's a good man. Really! I need to feel better! I have Jasmine all weekend and we're going shopping for her 8th grade promotion dress (I can't believe she's going to be in high school!!) then we're planning a week long Disney trip, then our trip to London in the fall... crazy!! So All of this stupid heath stuff needs to GO!! :-)

Well, I made a crock-pot full of pasta sauce and I must start freezing it. Have a lovely day!!