Tuesday, October 28, 2008

CJ & the 'Secret Garden'

I'd like to introduce you to 'CJ', my pumpkin. Yeah, I know I'm a wimp for not actually carving a pumpkin. But, I found this Mr. Potato Head pumpkin set at Target a few weeks ago and couldn't resist. In all truth, I wasn't paying attention when I bought it. I honestly thought it was going to be a potato dressed like a pirate for Halloween. Well, after getting home, I looked more closely at the tub, and noticed one very important piece was missing . . . the potato. Then, I realized that even the picture on the outside was of a pumpkin dressed up. Oh well! Reading is highly overrated . . . right? :) Well, this afternoon I was at the grocery store and remembered to pick up a pumpkin. And now, we have 'CJ'. YAY!! And the best part . . . No one was injured or lost an appendage during this decorating project!!
So, when the beach is too far for a day's travel, I resort to the local garden. Fort Worth has a beautiful (and FREE) botanical garden downtown! I found it a couple of weeks ago after leaving work one evening. It was starting to get dark as I walked around that day, and with my proclivity to getting lost, I decided I shouldn't do too much exploring so I wouldn't be trapped inside the gate after closing time. Today, I had some free time after sleeping A LOT, and I went back. It's a beautiful day outside - nice, fall weather and the sun shining brightly. What better day to spend surrounded by some of God's most beautiful creations?!? Most of the flowers were popping with amazing colors! I have been missing the fall colors I got to experience the last few falls on the east coast, so this was nice to see some different fall colors.


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Some Cowtown Highlights

The last two days I've been playing in my new city! In case you haven't noticed by now from reading my blog (or if this is your 1st post to read), I LOVE exploring new areas and seeing what different cities have to offer. Well, here's what I've found so far in Cowtown . . . :-)

Yesterday morning, I went to the 'Cultural District' downtown. I'd been seeing billboards advertising and Impressionist exhibit at one of the art museums. Since that's my FAVORITE type of art, I really was wanting to see it before it left the area in a few days. It was a spectacular display!! One entire room of Monet!! :) The rest of the museum was good also. Since parking was free in that area, (and the weather was absolutely amazing!!) I walked around to see what else was in the area. I found a modern art museum and decided to have a look. Now, I'm not always a fan of modern art . . . some of it is just strange to me, and some of it is inappropriate (in my opinion). So, a bit hesitant to jump in to that one, I took one of their brochures and had some lunch while I looked at what was on display.

I'm SO glad that I went! Some photographers had put together some pretty amazing displays. In case you didn't know, I'm fascinated with hands (some might say a bit obsessed . . . but, whatever). :-) Well, one room had a grouping of pictures entitled Holes. It was 'holes' in everyday life (i.e. looking through a break in the leaves or through a window), and someone's hand was in the center of the 'hole'. It's hard to describe, but it was SO COOL!!!! There were other interesting groupings like falling objects and walls (where objects were shot while falling or views of both sides of a wall or floor, respectively). Fascinating pictures!! Some were so intriguing that I caught myself moving around in front of the picture to try & see behind the door (or whatever was blocking something in the picture). Gullible, I know, but the artistry was amazing! And, of course, I spent a while looking at the 5' X 6' painting of the ocean. Ahhh! :)

So, to finish off this 'cultured' day, I went to a going out of business sale down the street from my home to pillow shop. There's nothing worse than a pillow that's lost its fluff. Mine, aside from being old, have been sitting in storage for a couple of years. So, I got some new, FLUFFY, pillows. YAY!!!!

Today, I met one of my oldest (just to clarify - NOT oldest because of age . . . oldest because we've been friends since we were 5 yrs old) friends and her 2 sons at the local zoo. I SO enjoy going to the zoo! The oldest boy, 3 yrs old, was SO excited to see the elephants. All he could talk about at first was seeing the "big things with the tusks". How cute! The younger boy, 1 yr old, got most excited during lunch time. :) (my kind of kid!) I had so much fun watching the animals and watching the boys react to the animals!! Here are a few of the pictures from this afternoon:

The craziest thing happened while we were finishing up our picnic! First, a little background . . . All the news/weather people have been talking about how COLD it was going to be today. So, we all naturally wore warmer clothes today. As it usually works, it was pretty warm when we got to the zoo. :) So, as we walked around, we were actually sweating a little! Back to lunch . . . We were sitting in the shade, which made the weather very comfortable. Then, all of a sudden, a breeze blew by and literally DROPPED the temperature about 10 degrees!!!! You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm NOT!! By the time we got to our cars, the temperature had dropped into the lower 60's! Now, I've lived in Texas my whole life (these last two years not withstanding), and I've never experienced anything like that before. It was amazing!

So that pretty much sums up my last two days of exploring Fort Worth. Now, I get to watch GAME 1 of the World Series!! YAY! :-) (what a nice way to end the day)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Blessed, Indeed!

The past couple of weeks have proven to me that God has blessed and continues to bless me above and beyond what I can imagine!


  1. He has given me a job that I love. I truly wish everyone could love what they do for a living! I'm continually reminded of His almighty power each day as He works miracles in the lives of my patients. Things happen and babies live when there's NO medical explanation. It still amazes me to see the faith of some of my patients' families: when faced with this nightmare of a newborn in the ICU when it should be a joyous occasion, they can stand in the grace God provides for that moment. It's a beautiful picture of the scripture 2 Corinthians 12:9 . . . "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"
  2. I got to vote today. Having recently moved, I was afraid to change my address officially until I voted. I knew they'd make me register to vote in the new county, and this usually takes a while. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to put my opinion 'out there', I called the voting office in Tyler last week to find out when early voting started. This morning, I went and stood in line to vote. Yep, you read that right. I had to stand in line about half an hour this morning to vote . . . during early voting! I'm wondering if that was just a hint at what's to come these next few weeks. We are so lucky to have the opportunity to vote! I obviously have my own strong opinion about who I want to win the different elections, as I'm sure you do. But, I can rest assured that the person God wants in each office is the person who will win. He is in control . . . even of politics! I know some people are rather nervous about this year's election, and I must admit, I'm prone to worry about it, too. God often brings these two verses to my mind when I'm worrying about our country's future (or other things that I tend to worry about): Philippians 4: 6-7 . . . "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
  3. Last weekend, my dad was in a car accident that totaled his truck. He's FINE. . . the horse didn't fair as well. He was on his way to Livingston for a celebration at the church we attended while living there, and a horse ran out into the highway in front of him. God protected him, for which we are ALL so grateful!
  4. I attended a storybook wedding this weekend! I've known the bride since she was 2. I was her babysitter, the person she napped on during church each Sunday, her summer tutor, her big sister, her friend, and this weekend, I got to be a witness to the beginning of a new chapter in her life! She was a beautiful bride!! Now, to be perfectly honest, I was dreading this event a little (very selfish of me, I know!). If you're single, you know how weddings can be a little awkward. . . especially when people you've known since you were 4 will be there. Going in, you know people are going to ask the most hated question of any single adult. On the LONG drive over, I prayed for God to give me the grace I needed to appropriately respond to the questions waiting for me. Mostly, I prayed for Him to guard my heart (which I way too often wear on my sleeve) and to help me not take offense at some of the seemingly innocent questions & comments. As always, He came through and let me enjoy the celebration while smiling graciously as people unknowingly put their feet in their mouths. I'm reminded of one of my "life verses" (verses that give me encouragement, patience, and strength during times when I just don't understand): Psalm 16: 5&6 . . . "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

Sometimes, it's just important to focus on the good things in life! For me, that's what tonight needed to be. I hope you have a wonderful day!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

-Ephesians 3:20-21

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Let's Play Catch-Up!

A few weeks ago, I went for an interview at Cook Children's Hospital in Ft Worth. At the time, they had two jobs I was interested in: a 6 month contract in the NICU and a full time (permanent) position in the NICU. After visiting with the nurse manager, I decided that it was best to take the 6 month, contract position as a way of 'easing myself' back into being a full time staff member at a hospital - something I left over 2 years ago and haven't really missed.



Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy working in a stable environment (i.e. not moving around every few months). I also enjoy the friendships made when working in this type of environment. I do NOT, however, enjoy some of the 'politics' involved with being a staff member again. It's so hard to avoid being dragged into disagreements and/or 'discussions' at work when you don't have the excuse of saying "It doesn't involve me . . . I'm not staff here!" :-)



So, my thinking is, try this out for a while and see how it goes. Then, as I told the nurse manager during my interview, if we all still like each other at the end of 6 months, we can talk about a full time staff position. It's the best of both worlds!

This is the beautiful bouquet of roses I received as a congratulations on the new job! :) How sweet is that?!?

The only drawback of taking this position was that the start date was set at October 6th . . . by the hospital. This means, there was no room for negotiations on my part. YIKES!! So much to do in SO little time!! So, the race against the clock began. . .

The weekend after accepting the position, we headed off to Fort Worth in search of an apartment that I could rent and move in the following weekend. This is a pretty tall order for the middle of a fall semester in a college town! (and by 'college', I mean a few colleges and medical students, too!) As usual, God stepped in, and provided a nice apartment at a price I could afford. AND, I could move in the following weekend. Cross this task off the to-do-list!

The next week was filled with setting up phone, utilities, cable, and the move itself. HOW QUICKLY I forgot all the details of moving. The past 2 years I have been completely spoiled by the nursing agency taking care of everything for me. What a shock to the system!! :-) For example, while setting up my phone, I had to deal with a faulty phone tree! Yep, you read that correctly . . . the phone tree for the phone company (which shall remain nameless) did not work. I wound my way through the various options given - none of which were what I really needed, which was to set up a new land line - until I actually got a human on the other end of the line. This only took about 40 minutes. To be completely fair, she wasn't the 1st human I'd spoken with, though. I was sent to the phone repair section multiple times for some reason. Each time someone answered, I explained that I was trying to set up a new line; at which time they asked me, "Why did you request (saying this like I had a choice in the matter) the repair line?" Good question!! They would then transfer me to the appropriate department - which meant they put me back to the beginning of the phone tree. GRRRR!!!! (blood pressure beginning to rise at this point . . .) Back to where I was - I was actually speaking with a person in the correct department for about 5 minutes (YEA, ME!!), and I was suddenly put back to the beginning of the phone tree. I'm still not quite sure what happened there. I started punching the buttons to try to get back to that sweet lady in 'new customer services', and I was hung up on by the phone tree. Now, at this point, most people would quit & try again the next day (or maybe even just forget the entire idea altogether!). Not me, though! I'm MUCH TOO STUBBORN for that option. It's the principle . . . I will NOT be bested by a phone tree!! :-) So, I call them back and try again. This time, though, it only took about 20 minutes to get a person in the correct department. And, I got a phone line! Good times with moving . . .

Movers were hired, and my stuff (that's been in storage for SO long!) & I spent the night in my new apartment 1 1/2 weeks after accepting the position! I don't recommend putting that type of time restraint on moving and getting settled, but be assured . . . it can be done. (with LOTS of help!!)

My sweet parents and Papa Joe came over the Saturday after the movers brought my stuff to help me get settled. There aren't words to express how grateful I am for their help! I'd forgotten how much stuff I have! I must admit, though, it was like Christmas opening each box to see what treasures it held. The convicting part of this action was realizing that I've lived a perfectly happy life the past 2 years without all this stuff. That's just what it is . . . STUFF. It made me keenly aware of just how blessed I am - especially thinking about so many of my friends in the Houston/Galveston area who just lost so much. Very sobering . . .

I've taken some pictures of before & after in my apartment. Here's the reveal :




So, here I sit on Sunday afternoon in my completed apartment just in time before my job starts tomorrow morning. I'm SO looking forward to getting back with my babies! I'm also looking forward to exploring the Fort Worth area. Even though I grew up about 45 minutes from here, I've never done much here. This will be a fun adventure seeing what the area has to offer. The best part about taking this position is that I'll be close to home for all the fall/winter holidays! So fun!!