10 random things about me

Chris, unlike you, I do not have anyone to assist on the 10 random things about me.  I would ask Roo to help but he is only 2 and his verbal skills are well, lacking.

1.   My favorite sandwich is Reese's Peanut Butter with blackberry preserves and hamburger dill pickles on very fresh white bread.

2.  I can move my nose like a rabbit.

3.  I once had over 1,000 books in the house but due to family moving in, I am down to about 500.  I need to read faster.

4.  I am a Dr. Pepperaholic.

5.  I do not like going to ladies luncheons as they think women only eat salads.  I am definitely a steak person, rare is best.

6.  Bought my first home as a 50th birthday present to myself.  I will be 80 when it is paid off.  Too bad they did away with Walmart greeters.  That was going to be my job when the one I have ends.

7.  Still looking for a sugar daddy but at my age, my boss thinks I need to go to Plan B. 

8.  Charles Bronson was my favorite actor when I was growing up.

9.  I can go all day without turning on the tv or listening to music.  I love silence.

10.  I am scatterbrained.


This was fun!

        

 

No internet

When I arrived at work at 7am this morning, there was no internet, which means, I was twiddling my thumbs.  Actually, I was able to read the book my neighbor loaned me and read a couple of chapters of my booksneeze book. My boss came in around 11am and with no internet, did what work he could, decided he would go home and told me to do whatever for awhile and then come back and check to see if we had internet.  I came home, checked the office emails from my computer, painted a partial first coat on the swing and went back to work.  Come 1:45pm, I finally got ahold of the ISP only to find out there would be no internet until about 5pm.

I called my boss, shutdown the office and came home.  I painted the swing, worked on Roo's sandpit, got some other piddly things done inbetween checking emails and voicemails for the office.

Fixin to cook catfish for supper.

Thank you Jesus for time off from work and the ability to get some outside work done before Roo comes tomorrow.

Thar she blows!

March arrived a little early.  Not too unexpected with spring already underway.  Today it is 70 and very windyyyyyyyyyyy!  There goes my plans for painting outside when I get home.

Thank you Jesus that it is a warm wind not a blue norther!

I Love spring

It has been a year since my sisterchick Rhonda lost her daughter to suicide.  Her and Gregg are now raising their teenage grandson. Dylon is very into sports, fishing and hunting. This past year, they have poured themselves into his life while grieving Heather's death.  Rhonda and Gregg have been around Dylon since he was born so they already had a close bond. 

Rhonda and Gregg raised 2 daughters and Rhonda says Dylon eats more than the 2 of them did combined.  He is 15 yrs old, 6' 4", wears a size 15 boot and has gained 35 muchly needed pounds, although he is still skinny as a beanpole.  What I wouldn't give for his metabolism!!!

Anyway, for the first time in almost a year, we spent the day together.  The weather was beautiful, although slightly chilly and we were blessed to see life in bloom.  Pictures are not great.  There was no place to pull over to snap the pics.

The Texas Bluebonnets came early this year.

Not sure what kind of wildflowers these are but the pasture was covered in them.

Thank you Jesus for Rhonda, our ability to have time together, beautiful weather, and signs of new life.  I LOVE SPRING!

Temptation

Taken from the book by Todd D. Hunter, " Our Favorite Sins, The sins we commit & how you can quit."  I am reading this book for my Booksneeze Review.  The following snippets caught my attention.

"Something tempts me only if there is a preexisting desire in me for the object in view.  Sin and temptation are powerless without my desires".

"Temptation does not produce desire.  Desire makes temptation possible".

"The actual starting place for temptation lies deep within us."


Think I will keep reading.

Submission

Thank you Joyce Meyer and Creflo Dollar for so blatantly pointing out to me that I am not submissive to authority.  I feel like I am back to square one in my walk.

The matter of the meat and the meat of the matter

The matter of the meat:  Today was another bargain day at the grocery store.  I got about 20 packs of discounted ground meat and 3 packs of discounted pork chops.  God surely must have someone in mind for me to help.


The meat of the matter:  God loves me and wants me to quit being a brat. 


First, on Sunday I hear Pastor Allan's message on the Treasures of my Heart.  And no, the Treasures in my heart are not of God.  My heart is filled with so much anger and bitterness.  I think I get to the root and pull and chop away yet, there comes another sprout that quickly grows and then I blow.


Secondly, CW pointed me to his post on Sunday that I overlooked.  To quote him, "So I went to prayer in that mindset, and the first thing I realized is that I don’t have the first grip on what my sin means to God.  David looked at it in Psalms 32 at 3 levels.  The first is “sin”, which means an offense.  Doesn’t sound all that bad, does it?  The second is “iniquity”, which means perversity, or moral evil; a bit darker there, huh.  Add in the fact that both translations involve the concept of punishment being involved.  The third word David uses is “Transgression”, which at its core means revolt against God.

I don’t know about you, but while my mind usually looks at confession from a “sin” point of view, and occasionally from an “iniquity” level if what I’m confessing is “bad enough”, I don’t often find myself looking at it seriously from the “transgression” level.  Thus I’m learning that the first part of any confession is going to have to be a prayer to see my failings from God’s perspective, and not my own."


I tell you, CW's post just made my heart hurt. 


Thirdly, my friend Candi pointed to Pastor Bubba's post on repentence called "Get Over It".  Again, God spoke to me,  "If you don’t get over it, you never will; Duh. One of the things we get hung up over is being upset over someone or something. There are several tried and failed ways of getting over it and there is one way the Bible reveals.  READ HIS BLOG TO GET THOSE TRIED AND FAILED METHODS.

There are others, but what is the one way to get over being upset that the Bible reveals? One simple word, repent. Simple, but not easy. Repent means you make a course change because you have gotten off course. One of the first things you learn in driver education is that you cannot keep your hands still on the steering wheel. You must always be making slight corrections because the car will drift. If you don’t correct it immediately, and carefully, the drift will put you in the ditch or into the path of an oncoming vehicle, a head-on path. After you learn how to do this you don’t even notice it much, but you are constantly making slight course corrections. This is what it means to repent.

Repentance is constantly making corrections because you have your eyes on the road (the Way, the Truth, the Life), and your mind on the destination (Colossians 3:1-4).  In the Bible everything leads to repentance; God’s kindness to you leads to repentance (Romans 2:4), godly sorrow leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), miracles are for the purpose of pointing you to repent (Matthew 11:20ff), instead of saying “Wow, did you see that,” we are to say, “Woe is me for I am undone…” Current events are to lead us to repent (Luke 13:1-9). Good, bad, or boring, like driving, we are to be constantly making corrections. Repent. This will get you over it.

I need to be like Santa, make a list and check it twice.  I need God to reveal my heart to me, to show me what ALL is in there that displeases Him.  I need to see the treasures in my heart from God's perspective, not my own ( I can sugar coat them) and then I need to repent.

While messages like these can feel like a heavy weight on my chest, they are what God uses to get my attention, to speak to me and to minister to me. 

Last night, I avoided God.  You see, I want Him to remove my mother out of my life, I want her gone forever and yet I feel like He punishes me because she is still alive and in my house.  I cannot possibly take 20 more years of her living with me.  

As I am writing this, God brought to my mind about a time of prayer in a Bible study group. When it came time for prayer requests, I was sharing about my boss, not the current one but one that had a Napolean complex.  Having been sexually abused, I do not like certain people to touch me and he just gave me the creeps.  Anyway, one of the ladies asked if I had been praying for him and I said no, because I did not want God to change me but to change my boss.

I avoided God last night because if I pray, He will do a work in me.  You see, I do not want to love my mother.  I do not want to need her, I just want her dead and out of my life.  If I pray and seek God's will, He may bring about me loving her and right now, I DO NOT WANT TO!! She does not deserve my love.

I know, you would think at my age, I would be over my past.  I really do want to be over my past but if it entails loving my mother, I think I may just have to keep carrying my past around.

MEAT, MEAT, MEAT, MEAT, MEAT

Thank you Jesus!!  Big meat reduction morning.  God must have some families in need of food.  Here is what I got this morning.

1 package of chicken drumettes
1 package of chicken breast tender strips
3 small sliced hams
5 pks  - 2.5# ground meat
5 pks - turkey leg with wing

As I am writing this, a friend stopped by the office to get the Sunday coupons.  She said she did not have any eggs for me as a neighbor (a multigenerational family of 8) is in need of food and she gave her my eggs.  The husband has lost his job and although he has found another one, he doesn't start yet.  Guess where some of this food is going, especially the hams and turkey meat?

Thank you Jesus!!  You knew the need before I did and had me ready to meat (meet :) ) it.

Glorious weather week

A week in the 70's.  YEAHHHHHHH!!

Thank you Jesus!

The Treasures of Your Heart

Pastor has been teaching on the Treasures of our Hearts for several Sundays.  Today was and "Ouch" message. 

What are the treasures of my heart?  Are they the good things placed there by God or are they the things that make me angry, etc.  What is filling my heart???

OUCH!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Thunderstorms and rain. Roo has slept through the night, which means I did too.   I was sure we would have more but the rain gauge shows 1.5" since last night and it is still raining.  After having such severe drought conditions last year, rain, no matter the amount, is wanted and desperately needed.

The rains are coming at a good time.  We could have a really great wildflower season this year.  Can't have a bluebonnet trail without the bluebonnets.

Roo is rousing so best go for now. 

Thank you Jesus for rain and sleep and most of all for Roo.

Raindrops on a tin roof

I wish I lived in a small cabin with a fireplace and a tin roof but only on cold rainy days like today.

Thank you Father for the blessing of rain.  Send enough to the headwaters of Lake Buchanan so I can go catfishing during the spawning season :)

A little bit of rambling

I got spoiled to the 70 temps of the last couple of days.  Little chilly and overcast today. 

Roo came one day early. YEAH!!!!

Tax status:  Bayless - corporate tax return has been filed, I don't do anything for his personal return
                  Bazemore - corporate tax return has been filed, his personal taxes have been filed
                  Alisa - personal tax stuff to CPA - hopefully be done next week
Once my return is filed, I can breathe easier.

Gene is traveling so I have been able to get caught up at work.

My car decided to be a goose.  Not sure what happened but it got all wacky on me this morning.  Got to the store, opened my door and the horn went off.  Tried to stop it with the panic button, nothing happened.  I closed the door and tried to lock and then unlock the door.  The lock button broke but the horn stopped honking.  I opened the door to go into the store and the horn started honking again. I closed the door and drove to the office.  I will drop off my car tonight and hopefully they will be able to fix it tomorrow.  Gene said he should be back in town and to call him.  If he is back in, I can borrow his deer lease truck until my car is repaired. 

Father, thank you for a good boss (Gene Bayless) and thank you for helping me get everything to the CPA's in a timely manner.I especially thank you for an extra day with Roo.

Lovin this mornin

It is a pleasant 64 this morning warming up to 75.  Lovin it!!!!!   There is also a nice sprinkling of rain. 

Roo comes Thursday and the temps will be cooler and the weather wetter.  Hopefully the weather will be cooperative and allow his some time in his new sandpit we dug in the backyard.

Thank you Father for the rain we so desperately need.  And thank you, that no matter the weather, I get Roo time.

Happy Valentine's Day to me

Thank you Jesus that I am your Valentine!

Ahhh, sunshine and more

Today, we are close to 50 and could possibly reach 60 before it starts cooling down as the sun has broke through the clouds.  I hope that was our only winter ice storm.  We tend to have one/year and it is usually in February. 

I finished my scrubbing, cleaning and uncluttering Sunday afternoon.  YEAH!!!  Feels so good to re-organize and make things more spacious.  Except for my books, I could almost be a minimalist.

Roo comes Thursday.  I wonder if he will notice he has a new to him quilt on his bed?  I got an old Tommy Hilfiger quilt, Blue with white starts and some red edging.  I hemmed the quilt to fit his toddler bed.  It looks so good.

Thank you Jesus for sunshine and warmth, for a cleaner house and less stuff to clean and for Roo.

Snow

OK, it may not be snow like most places but it is what I call Texas snow.  We are now up to 32 so the rain is like ice chips.   Perhaps later we will get actual snow (LOL).

Almost done

Going to be a COOOOOOOOLD day.  We dipped into the low 20's last night.  Thankfully, the rain and scattering of snow (you read right) have not yet started.  We are only going to be in the low 40's today.  A good day to work indoors.  While I have not yet finished my spring cleaning, I can say the local thrift store will benefit from my cleaning and organizing adventures I have taken on so far.

I finally found a small 3 drawer chest of drawers that will fit in the one available spot in my room. Waylon is almost finished painting Roo's chest of drawers so the clothes stuffed on my bookshelves will now have a home of their own.  Once that is done, I can put Roo's VHS tapes (75 free disney ones), where the clothes have sat. 

I LOVE TO ORGANIZE AND UNCLUTTER!!!

It feels good to lessen my housework load just by getting rid of knickknacks (sorry friends and family) and stuff sitting unused in cabinets and drawers.

I am saving the kitchen cabinets for another day.  Mom can't stand to see a spot available on a shelf so the cabinets are jammed pack.

For over a year, God has been getting me to simplify, simplify, simply.  It feels so good.

Thank you Jesus!

House scrubbing

I got the storage room organized yesterday afternoon.  The kitchen, living room and dining room (all one room) have been scrubbed.  Today,  mine/Roo's room, the laundry/sewing room and my/Roo's bathroom will be clean and uncluttered.  I haven't been to garage sales in awhile so where does this junk come from?

Tomorrow is not supposed to be out of the 40's, so after church, I think it will be time to get back to quilting.  The room will be clean and I need to get these quilts going.  Can't hardly get to the washer and dryer for all the flannel (not a big room)

While I do not like cleaning house, I praise God He blessed me with one. 

Oh what a beautiful morning

It was down close to freezing last night.  The air was crisp and cool driving into work.  Took a quick break from work and discovered it was warm outside.  This would be a great day to lay out in the hammock and snooze.  I wonder if my boss will let me off for the rest of the day?

Thank you Father for days that warm us, inside and out!

Tax season

Okey dokey.   Tax season status:  CPA's - 3
                        Data to CPA's - 2 down and 1 to go (need one more 1099)
                        Tax returns back from CPA - 1 down and 2 to go

Not as good as last year; darn that last 1099!!!

Thank you Father for once again helping me get the tax data to the CPA's.

The moon

Good morning moon! 

What a beautiful start to my day!  Took just long enough to snap this pic and then headed on down the road to work.

Thank you Father for giving me the moon!

My heart melted

My heart melted into one big puddle of mush.  I told Roo I love you and for the first time ever, he said wuv u.  I love being MoMo.  I will miss him when he goes back to his mom tomorrow :(

Do Not Disturb

Again, while watching Joyce Meyer this morning, God dinged me on head. 

Do I put a "Do Not Disturb" on me when I go to church, to the store etc?  Yes I do.  Well, actually, mine is more like, BACK OFF BUSTER!!     Seriously and more importantly, I wear it when mom is in the room.  I'm guessing God wants me to take it off, tear it up, burn it and start wearing a "Welcome" sign instead.  How can I be used by God when I am wearing the wrong sign?

It's not all about me, really?

While doing my 10 mile ride (ok, it was only 6 this morning), I was half listening to Joyce Meyer.  She is doing an series on Love.  As I can barely hear while riding, I ask God to prick my ears to what He wants me to hear.

Truthfully, I was not to keen when He pricked my ears to hear "You are selfish". 

When I ask God to use me, what I am really saying is, "use me only if it is convenient to me" or "use me if it is only to serve those I want to serve" or "use me to bless only those I think deserve to be blessed".  Well, you get the picture.

OK, God I am listening and then I hear, serve your mother.  What??? eh???  You're breaking up, your're breaking up!  What is He thinking??????????????????????   Serve the one who did not protect me?  Serve the one who betrayed me? Serve the one who let me know I was not her favorite?  Serve the one who continually blamed me for Rex's behaviour?  Serve the one who constantly wondered why I was not smart like my sister, pretty like my sister???   C'mon God.  That is like rubbing salt into my wounds.

While writing this, I remember the story of a young woman who hated her mother-in-law so much, she sought advice on how to poison her.  Being a wise person, the man advised her to serve her MIL, to befriend her, so that when she chose the time to poison her, people would not look to her as the guilty party.  Of course, you can guess the ending.  She could not poison her MIL as the more she invested in the relationship, the more she truly came to love the woman.

I feel the rebellion bubbling up inside me.  I do not want to want her in my life.  I do not want to need her in my life.  I do not want to love her.  I can tell God all my "I do not wants" but then, if I am truly committed to serving the one who loves me unconditionally, the one who shined His light in my darkenss, the one who is faithful even when I am not, the one who....

When I committed my life to Christ, was it only a self serving committment or one where my life is truly not my own?  While my heart is not rejoicing over serving mom, I am willing to be made willing to serve her.  After all, it really is not all about me!