|
| I gave a presentation on adoption and helping impoverished families at a school this morning. The group was age 3 to about 13 and the presentation went fairly well. Lots of good questions (even from the four year old group, normally four year olds just tell stories instead of asking questions). One little girl did ask how much “buying a kid” cost. I then had to explain how adoption is not “buying” a child. I’m still not sure if they understood. It was good though. I’m so excited about my office space! Daddy, Spencer and I managed to get the giant table into the office through the window. After maneuvering that thing and trying to figure out how to get it in there for weeks, it fit through the window like a dream. Talk about ironic, wish we had done that in the first place. Now that it’s in there I can get out my sewing machine and start organizing all my stuff. This is another wedding week. A couple of weekends ago I had a bridal shower and a bachelorette party all in one weekend. This weekend there’s another bridal shower and a wedding. Then another wedding next weekend. So many people I know are getting married! It makes for a lot of fun get togethers though. ;) Spencer isn’t moving in until next week. His work transfer doesn’t go into effect until then and he didn’t want to drive double the distance to get to work. I bought a chiminea the other day. Brittany, Amanda and I built a fire in it and were sitting outside around it when I realized that the whole thing was smoking. Not just smoke coming out of the top and the front, but smoke around the WHOLE THING. I was freaking out a little, but I finally decided that the clear glaze that the store owner put on it to fix the “damaged” paint job was melting off. After a while the chiminea stopped smoking and the shiny coat of glaze was gone from the bottom. So much for the glaze protecting the chiminea! | | |
| I really need to practice patience. Although the motivation of hosting a party at my new house has lit a fire under me and gotten me going on projects like organizing old papers, hanging up artwork and putting away the laundry. But I’m still so impatient to have everything set up how I want it. Tables moved, furniture refinished, new pieces of furniture purchased. All those things that I think will make my home look more complete, I want them NOW. Nevermind that I have years to decorate and “finish” my home. ;) My house is starting to look great though! I hung some pictures in the hallway last night and between the red curtains and the paintings that I’ve hung in my bedroom I’m falling in love. I need to go through my clothes and get rid of everything I never wear. That way I can fit everything into my dresser. Right now I’ve got winter clothes spread out on the bed in the spare room, in the dresser in the spare room, hanging in the closets in the office and my bedroom, in my dresser and in boxes. And yet I tend to wear the same things over and over. Sad, huh? My next big project is going to be the office. My brothers and dad and I are going to try one last time to get the big table in there. If it is truly hopeless we can move one of the smaller tables into the office and the giant table will become a kitchen table. Which is fine, just not what I wanted. I’m also getting a second filing cabinet for in there. I’ve got so many papers that my little filing cabinet is getting overwhelmed. Once all the furniture is where it belongs I can start buying (or making!) the stuff that I’ll need to organize. Fabric bins, shelves, desk organizers, etc. I can also start smaller projects like painting some of my end tables, the desk, etc. or finishing some of my crafty projects. Mentally, I am so past Halloween. It’s sad. I love the holiday, but I’m ready for Thanksgiving so I can set up my new Christmas tree and go buy decorations. My grandmother and aunts might be coming into town one weekend in November for a girls shopping weekend. They’ll stay with me if it all works out. So much fun! By that time I might even have money again! Spencer moves in Monday. Looking forward to having someone else in the house! | | |
| It stopped raining today! I still haven’t seen the sun, but at least the rain and weird mist have moved on. Without the rain it also feels marginally warmer J I’m starting to get really excited about Halloween, the Friday before we’ve invited Dillon families to come trick or treat at our office. It will be so fun to see all the adorable kids in costume. Then that night I’m hosting my housewarming party complete with pumpkin carving and Halloween candy. I’m undecided on whether I want to dress in costume. We’ve started getting our year-end mailing ready to go out. What a job! We have several volunteers who have taken sets of 480 letters home to fold, stuff, seal and stamp so we can send them out in November. I’m in the process of finding a new template for our humanitarian aid web site. The info on the site is up to date, but it the template is old enough that the whole site just looks outdated. I’ve also been working on 2010 development plans for my Area Representative and Caring Hearts programs and Dillon’s social networking. We’re on Twitter now FYI so you should follow us (DillonAdoptions)! And friend Dillon Adopt on Facebook if you haven’t already. I had DECIDED that starting last week I was going to go to the gym twice a week and mass every weekend. I even picked specific days that I would go to the gym after work. So far my firm decision hasn’t stood up to me talking myself out of both exercise and mass. I need an accountability partner L I think the hardest part for me is that there isn’t anyone who really cares (or knows) if I don’t follow through except me. Plus my gym is closer to work than home and right after work I’m tired and I don’t feel like going, changing into workout clothes and then exercising before going home. After I get home I don’t feel like driving all the way back to the gym. And lately it’s been raining and getting dark so early that I can’t go for a walk in my neighborhood. Speaking of walking at home, Ollie seems to be doing better. I took him to get microchipped last Saturday and got all sorts of free pet items. J Then Mom brought Gilligan and they stayed the night Saturday. So he had a friend. Then on Sunday Burns and Spencer came over for lunch, so lots of attention. Maybe it will stay light out long enough to take him for a walk tonight. Hope to see everyone on the 30th (6:30 at my house, bring a pumpkin)! | | |
| So quiet today. Jen flew into Tulsa last night and stayed with me last night. It’s always so much fun to have company J It also amazes me to realize how many JBU grads are living in the Tulsa area. We went out to dinner with a group of people (some of who I actually kind of remember from Siloam) and it sounds like there are a good number of people here. Yet I totally didn’t realize that. Anyway, it was fun and I stayed up much later than I should have. Jen left during my lunch break. Tonight I’m getting my hair cut and then settling in at home for the second half of “Grey’s Anatomy” and the season premiere of “Private Practice.” I may also finish the e-book I actually bought the other day. This is the first e-book I’ve gotten and I have a couple of thoughts. First, if I had a way to download it to my Smartphone (which no longer has an internet connection) or owned a laptop then reading books on a computer would be much more comfortable. As it is I sit at my desk and read on my 2004 Dell desktop. Sad technology L My second thought is that e-books should be at least a couple dollars cheaper than a real book because they don’t have to print it (think of all the paper we’re saving!), I can’t resell it to make some of my money back and they don’t have to hire someone to work at a bookstore on the off-chance that I might wander in and buy a book. The plus is that I can buy the book at home and read it immediately. I’m not spending time or gas to go get a book. Anyway, mainly if e-books are going to beat out printed books I think they need to cost slightly less than the print version. I found a roach-like bug in my house at lunch today. Yeck! Now I’ll need to go buy roach traps to solve the creepy crawly issue before it becomes a major issue. I guess it’s that time of year when bugs, rodents and all other critters are looking for a winter home. Unfortunately for them they are not welcome in my house. I already ordered flea medicine for my dog because I realized the other day that he’s starting to have a slight problem with them. I was slightly frustrated to learn it will take at least a week to get my online order. In the meantime Oliver is getting several baths with flea and tick shampoo and I’m washing and vacuuming regularly. I loathe bugs. I’m amazed that October is already here. I’m sad to see summer go and I’m not looking forward to cold weather, but it is fun that the holidays are on the way. I think I’ll start out by hosting my long-anticipated housewarming party the weekend before Halloween. I can tie in the Halloween theme, but people who want to go trick-or-treating or who have church events should still be able to come. My house is finally starting to shape up too. Daddy helped me switch the sofas on Tuesday and now I just need to get stuff on the walls and curtains hung. Almost there! Now that a new month is here I’m going to try to put myself on a slightly more structured schedule too. Now that I’ve made the schedule though the tough part is sticking to it. My first mortgage payment was due today. I’m $660 poorer, but I guess now is when I start figuring out if I can pay everything and still have some money leftover each month. Happy fall! | | |
| So I was driving back to work today after lunch (at this amazing little tea place that I adore!) and this idiot lady decided to cross four lanes of traffic. No crosswalk and the when the oncoming traffic has a green light. Hello? Bad idea? I had to hit the brakes pretty quickly to avoid hitting her. She wasn’t even hurrying! She was meandering across the road like there weren’t several dozen cars speeding by. As I said: idiot. I’ve been hunting for email addresses for Tulsa area churches at work, but it’s beginning to feel like a frustratingly vain effort. There are roughly over 5,000 churches in the Tulsa area, but many of them do not have web sites or do not provide an email address online. I’ve seen so many web sites that I’m not even sure if the ones I’m finding are new or if I’ve already searched them. I’m also working on a big mailing, but I’ve hit a brick wall there as well since I am waiting on mailing envelopes and labels. Sigh. I don’t like feeling like I can’t get anywhere with a project. My first mortgage payment is due this week. Talk about timing. I’ve been plush for weeks, but apparently I let that go to my head because after that payment I’ll be doing NOTHING until payday in a couple weeks. Oh well. I’m also working on a weekly schedule because I’ve been all over the place lately with trying to get everything on my “to do” list done. I’ve been ridiculously tired the past couple of weeks and congested too. Luckily the tired feeling seems to be passing so hopefully I’ll be feeling 100% again soon! | | |
|
