"Spring" Weather?

Today . . . TWO days before the official start of Winter . . . we had amazing 'spring' weather! All this after about a week of 30-40 degree weather. Welcome to Texas!! :-) Well, I couldn't stay indoors when it was so nice outside. Yep, you guessed it . . . I went back to the FW Botanic Gardens.

I saw this tree and immediately thought of 'Boo Radley' from To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm not sure why . . . Anyways, that's the bench I picked to sit & read today. What I didn't notice when I sat down was that a rather large bird's nest was on one of the limbs. At one point, I was on the phone, and the bird was SO LOUD that it was a little difficult to hear! I guess I was invading its personal space.

I just love variegated flowers! I think this is a rose, but I honestly don't remember which garden it was in. . . just a pretty flower. :)

If you look closely, you can see water drops on the petals. A lot of the blooms were messed up during the freezes last week, but there were still a few pretty ones.

Lastly, I thought this looked like a Holly Bush . . . Christmas themed plants!! :) I couldn't find the name tag on the trunk, so I'm just going to pretend it really is a holly bush.

On a completely different note -

This is most likely the last post I'll do for a while. I've decided that I spend entirely too much time on the internet. So, I'm going to have an "internet fast" (for lack of a better word) for a while. (Except for checking email occasionally) :) Please pray with me as I use this time to seek God's direction in a couple areas of my life. Thanks!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas

and a wonderful New Year!!

Randomness . . .

• I think the twinkle lights on my Christmas tree are possessed. When I tested them before putting them on the tree, they all flashed like they were supposed to. Once on the tree, though, only half of the top strand flashed. This is okay, I guess, since it's in the center of the tree - kinda like a belt. :) Well, tonight for about an hour & a half, BOTH halves of that strand were flashing. It's back to 'normal' now. Kinda weird. I'm thinking it might be time for new lights next year.


• Possibly the BEST $20 I've spent ALL year:

In case the picture isn't clear, this is my 'bag lady' - two level cart. My parking space isn't close to my apartment, so this little cart carries all my stuff back to my apartment after grocery shopping - a LIFE SAVER after a day of Christmas shopping!!!! :) It folds flat and rides in the back of Roony to all the stores. If you want one, it can be found at the Mother Ship (a.k.a. Target) for about $20.

• Why do people walk up to an empty cashier line where the light is off & wait? Are they hoping that someone will just appear and check them out? Why not just get in a line with the light on? I saw this a few times today. . . always good for a little laugh! :~)
• Did you also watch the Christmas in Washington special on TV tonight? Who was the man that sang "O Holy Night"? He was fantastic!! I have always loved a good baritone. It brought tears to my eyes listening to him perform one of my favorite Christmas carols!
• I couldn't find a Nativity at Wal Mart today. Do they not sell them there anymore? I walked every isle in the Christmas Shop twice looking for one.
• Best buy of the day . . . I got FOUR Christmas CD's today for $25!!!! They were all on sale (one even for $1). WooHoo!! :-)
• I miss the college Christmas breaks - a whole month of freedom to play! Aside from the "studying" and tests, it's a pretty good deal.
• I love all the Christmas specials on TV!! Last night, I got to be home and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. . . happiness!!
• Even with psycho twinkle lights, Christmas trees look so much better with gifts under them!
• The other half of that strand of lights is now flashing again . . . (-:

Intruder Alert!

Monday was quite a day around here. Knowing I had a lot to get done, I was up early (well, early for someone who just finished a stretch of night shifts). :) As I was getting ready to leave, the maintenance man for the apartments knocked on my door.


A little background:

My heater stopped working sometime last week. Since I'm not at home several nights during the week, this wasn't a huge problem. It doesn't get that cold during the day here very often, and when it does, it just makes me sleep better. All this to say, I didn't report it as soon as I realized why my apartment was so cold each morning when I got home from work. (and yes, it took a couple of days to figure this out since I'm often one small step above comatose when getting home from work) Not wanting to be bothered while trying to sleep, I just decided to tough it out until I had a couple of days off where I could be awake during daylight hours to let the maintenance man in. So, I reported the problem Sunday, and the wonderful maintenance man showed up first thing Monday morning.

Although very grateful that he was able to fix the problem in about 45 minutes, it did set me back a little getting on the road. I did eventually leave, and went to my first destination . . . Sam. (this is the little boy - now 4 years old!!!! - who I took care of for about 10 months in the hospital) Well, his birthday was about a week ago, and I hadn't had a chance to give him his present. Since I'm still having some residual symptoms from being sick a week or so ago, I didn't want to stay around him for fear that I might make him sick. So, this was a very short visit - just enough to see him open his present & visit with his foster mom for a little while. :) It was wonderful to see them again . . . he looked so good!!!!

From there, I went to another friend's house to help set up for a cookie party. We had a great time visiting. One of our friends that came to the cookie party was a former roommate from A&M whom I hadn't seen since leaving there years ago. We had so much fun catching up! :) I didn't get any pictures at the party, but Melissa did, so I'm sure she'll post them sometime... (hint, hint) ;)

After everyone left, we cleaned up a little and then I headed home. I was visiting on the phone with one of my friends in Virginia on my way home (another roommate from A&M who is having her 3rd baby tomorrow!!) and started craving some Freebirds - a favorite restaurant from Aggieland. So, I turned in to grab some dinner before getting home. I guess God knew I'd need some extra strength for what I was going to face when arriving home . . .

I had an intruder in my bathroom!

This picture was taken this morning after the 13 hour battle had ended. In case you can't tell, it's a lizard lying upside down in a pool of Raid.

So, back to last night . . .

I walked into my bathroom and noticed something strange looking on the side of my tub. After a double take, I realized it was a lizard!!!! GROSS!!!!!!!! (I'm guessing it got in while the maintenance man had the ceiling opened to fix the heater.) Now, I am terrified (I'm not sure if that's a strong enough word for how I feel about them!) of lizards, so this was NOT a happy realization. After standing there paralyzed in fear for a minute or two, I started griping at God for letting me living alone or for me not having a little boy who would think this is cool & want to catch it for me to throw it outside. (irrational thoughts, yes, but I wasn't thinking clearly!) So, I shut the door, ran to the kitchen, and grabbed the only thing I could think of:

My original Weapon of Mass Destruction

Granted, this can does not claim to have the power to kill lizards of any kind, but it was my only hope at this point. And, having used lavender linen spray to kill (or at least stun until I worked up the nerve to smash) smaller bugs in the past, I figured it was my best bet when faced with the massive reptile! :) So, Raid in hand, I called my dad for support/suggestions. With him unavailable, I called my sister to see if her husband had any great wisdom. The picture that kept coming to mind as I looked at this intruder on the side of my tub was from that old movie Jurassic Park. It's the scene where "Newman" (from Seinfeld) is face to face with the innocent looking small lizard when it suddenly blows up into this huge, venom spitting creature. (again, irrational thoughts, I know) :) For this reason, I was too scared to get close to this creature! So, on the phone with my sister for emotional support, I stood in one corner of my bathroom and sprayed with all my might at the lizard. Unfortunately, not only did this not instantly kill the intruder, it still had enough strength to run & hide from me!

Now, not only was there a live lizard in my bathroom, but I didn't know where it was. Talk about fear growing exponentially with the unknown factor thrown into the mix! At this point, I needed to just get out of there, so I created Lake Raid in the floor of my bathroom, stuffed a towel under the door and closed it. I then logged onto the internet to look up the effects of Raid on lizards. Come to find out, others have used Raid to kill these intruders in the past, which not only made me feel better about my weapon of choice, but it gave me hope that mine was in there dying - albeit slowly.

I asked a couple more friends what I should do, to which one said, "trap it with a bowl or cup and throw it outside." Well, I'm NOT GOING TO GET THAT CLOSE. Next . . . Another friend suggested that I hit it with a broom. Why hadn't I thought of that?!? (again, not thinking clearly last night!) So, out comes my next WMD:

The stabber/smasher (a.k.a. a Swiffer Sweeper)

After building my courage back up (which took more at this point after reading online that lizards could climb walls, walk on the ceiling, and fall on my head!!!! - sometimes the internet is NOT helpful!), I entered the bathroom - checking the walls and ceiling before each step - with Raid in my left hand and the Swiffer in my right. No luck. The intruder was no where to be found. . . not that I was down on the floor really searching. I was "bravely" standing just inside the bathroom straining to see around (& yes, through) objects in the hopes that it would appear. :) Out of luck and courage at this point, I grabbed what I needed for the night and "locked up" my bathroom - after adding a little more volume to Lake Raid.

After a fitful night of sleep, I awoke with a new found determination to NOT let this intruder best me. After all, I'm a human and it's a reptile. I should be able to outsmart it!! :) Armed with my faithful WMD's, I entered the now "country fresh" scented room (thanks to Lake Raid). Again, no luck seeing the intruder. So, my next plan was to just start spraying the floor randomly in the hopes that I'd hit it. Well, I did! Only it seemed to make it come withing mere inches of my left foot. Well, that was enough for me! I quickly backed out of the room, spraying as I moved, and shut the door. After getting my heart rate back to it's baseline (about 5 minutes of deep breathing) :), I decided to be brave one more time. . .

I entered the room, having added one more WMD:

Object mover/lifter (a.k.a. kitchen tongs)

This time, quoting Philippians 4:13 in my head, I entered the room ready to end this ordeal. Thankfully, I saw it running in a circle behind the toilet. I'm thinking it was high on Raid at this point - or maybe I was! :) I just started spraying at it. It ran to the corner between the toilet and tub. To this, I responded with a solid spray around it - thereby "trapping it" by a "moat of Raid". Again, I left the room for a couple of minutes. When I came back in, I saw it lying upside down in the same corner where I had just left it. Not wanting to celebrate too soon and have it spontaneously come back to life to attack me, I stood there and sprayed some more Raid on it. NO CHANGE!! :) Needless to say, I was elated at this point!

Now, to get rid of it. My original plan, before I picked up WMD #1 last night, was to kill it, let rigor set in, and scoop it up with the "intruder remover":

My WMD #4 (a.k.a. fly swatter)

Well, after this epic battle that had lasted 13 hours, I wasn't about to sit and wait for rigor to set in - or to give it the chance to come back to life while still in my bathroom. I was ready to have full access to my entire apartment again. Armed with WMD's #1, #2, & #4, I entered the bathroom. First, I used the Swiffer to smash it a few times just to make sure it was at least stunned enough to not come alive. Then, I started the trick of "scooping it up" onto the swatter. Honestly, this was NOT an easy task with the limp, Raid saturated lizard!! But, it was doable. I quickly deposited my late intruder into its final resting place:

(a.k.a. toilet) :)

After flushing a few times to make sure it was gone, the clean up began. It took a little work to clean up Lake Raid and the "moat of Raid", but it's done now. I'm hoping the -what is now probably permanent - smell of Raid will ward off any future intruders of any kind! :)

So, as a reward for the Victor (me), I got a yummy breakfast AND was able to eat in peace knowing that I had won over the intruder that had held me hostage for 13 hours! YAY!!!! :)

So, to answer the age old question of "Will Raid kill a lizard?" . . . YES, it will!!!!

I hope you also had a good/adventurous Monday. Now, on to the rest of the week! :)

Coincidence?

I was just reading one of the blogs that I frequent, and I noticed that she had put a new "button" on the side that simply said choose joy. And, NO, I don't really believe seeing this is just a coincidence. I love how God uses "strangers" (I hate to use that word since I feel like I know her and am proud to be a Sunday!) to drive home a point to this stubborn girl! I followed the link to someone else's blog to read about her journey of choosing joy. Her definition of joy is great! (You can read it if you would like by clicking on my new button to the right.) Have a wonderful weekend, and remember . . .

only 20 more days 'til Christmas!! :)

"Attitude"

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. It
is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances,
than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or
break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a
choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We
cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act a certain
way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is
play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced
that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it
is with you . . . We are in charge of our attitude."

- Chuck Swindoll

I was given a copy of this quote in Sunday School a few weeks ago, and it's been on my mind ever since. So, I thought I'd share it. It's such a basic concept, yet it's so hard to put into practice some days! (at least for me) This quote has literally consumed my thoughts recently - which is not necessarily a bad thing. This isn't the first time I've heard about this concept, but it seems to have hit close to home this time with some of the stuff going on in my life right now. It makes me wonder why I don't choose joy more often. I'm striving to wake up each morning (or evening . . . depending on when I'm working) :) and decide to have JOY that day - no matter what. The main scripture that the teacher referred to that morning was:

"Be joyful always; pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

(emphasis mine)

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

East Texas Fall

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and were able to spend some quality time with your family! I was scheduled to work the night before & Thanksgiving night, so I missed the big family gathering. But, I made up for it this weekend by seeing some of the family. :~)

Saturday morning I woke up early and headed to Canton . . . Yep, it was the December First Monday Weekend!!!! (which means TONS of Christmas stuff for sale) For those of you who aren't from this area, First Monday Weekend is a HUGE (I'm not sure that word is big enough to describe this) trades day/flea market/antique store/craft show . . . in Canton, TX. Vendors come from all over the 1st weekend of each month to sell stuff. Growing up, my Mema & Papa Joe had a candle dipping booth on the grounds. Back then, it was maybe a tenth of the size that it is now. And, there was NO air conditioning/heating in any of the pavilions. In fact, I don't really remember there being buildings. It was just rows & rows of booths. Well, things have definitely changed - mostly for the better - there! When I got to Canton, I picked up my Papa Joe, and we set out in the 1st of many buildings. We had a great time talking while we shopped for Christmas gifts. At lunch, my uncle & his wife came out, and we all had a nice lunch at one of the local restaurants. Then, it was back to the grounds for the next building! There's NO WAY to get through it all in one day, so we quit around 3 so I could get on the road before it started getting dark.

That evening, I went to my Mamma Granny & Papa Art's house. Papa Art fixed his specialty - crappie (YUMMY) - for supper that night. After we were all stuffed, we decorated their Christmas tree and watched the OSU/OU game (sorry cowboys!). Sunday morning, we had a huge breakfast and went to church. After a quick sandwich for lunch, I hit the road again for my final stop.

My Grandaddy wasn't home for me to visit, so I started back home. Saturday evening, I'd picked up a couple of poinsettias for my Mema & Granny Sue's graves. I stopped by Mema's on Saturday before going to my Granny's. After all, being my Christmas Guru, she needed something Christmas-y there! :) So, Sunday afternoon, I was able to put one on my Granny Sue's and get back home earlier than expected . . . or so I thought.

I'm not sure if you've seen the movie Cars or not, but there's a line in it that makes me laugh every time I hear it. A minivan (can't remember his name) has just gotten a GPS system installed, and he says, "Now we'll NEVER be lost again!" Well, I'm here to tell you that yes, you CAN get lost with a GPS system. As a friend of mine says, you just won't "stay lost" with the GPS. :-) (I'm sure you can guess where this is going.) I forgot which highway I was on as I left the cemetery. Thinking I was on 17, I turned left knowing it would take me to 69. Well, HWY 17 does take you to HWY 69. FM 182, however, does not. Good times. Once my GPS found out where I was (backwoods of East Texas) and where I wanted to go (home in Ft Worth), it planned out a route. If you've ever used one of these devices, you know that they are non-discriminate in the roads they choose. If it's mostly paved, it counts! That's what I got to travel down for about 45 minutes on my way back to HWY 69. Honestly, most of the roads (& I use that term loosely!) were one car width wide WITH 90 degree turns every few hundred yards. Nothing if not exciting to navigate this area of Texas!! The positive out of that (besides getting a good laugh at myself) was the scenery. The trees were beautiful, and being that I was the only person for miles, I could stop along the path whenever I wanted to snap a couple of pictures. :~)

All in all, it was a nice weekend. I hope you're able to take some time over the next few busy weeks to just sit for a little while and absorb all the joy and wonder that the Christmas season brings!