thankfulness

why do mondays always seem like twice as long as all of the other weekdays put together? when ryan and i have our own business, we are going to be closed every monday-it's already been decided. unless, of course, we really want to be open on monday...and then, of course, we will!

ryan and i "joined" a gym this weekend. i use the term joined lightly because we didn't sign a contract or anything..and we haven't actually started going yet, even. but we will tonight, after work. i am really excited about this...i have not been exercising a whole lot over the past few months because...well, no real good reasons why. ryan and i run every now and then, but neither of us like to run in the cold-so that's been kind of on again, off again. ryan works out at his shop, but that's such a drive for us in the evenings...and since we've been planning to move, we haven't been able to join anywhere else because you usually have to sign at least a year's contract. but, we have some sweet friends from church who opened a gym not too far from us last year (or so). we went to check out the place this weekend and talk with them a bit, and they said they'd be willing to let us join for just two months. so, yay! they offer a lot of sweet classes, too-mostly for women-that i'm going to try out. i'm sure it will not be easy to go every evening, but we are going to make a plan to stick with it...and see how it goes for the next two months. we are both really excited!

in other news, mom and hannah are out in colorado right now checking out the university of colorado in denver. they both LOVE the area-have nothing but good things to say! they are actually doing a campus visit today, so i am looking forward to hearing how that goes. it would be just amazing if hannah moved out with us... but i'm trying not to get my hopes up too much!

i know i just posted a little about money the other day, but we had something happen this weekend that i just had to share. though it's never easy to share our own sin, i'm going to do just that for the sake of this post... we have some dear friends who are just about as tight with money as we are. this weekend, someone gave them a large amount of money for something and i was a little bit jealous..okay, actually i was very jealous. and i said as much to ryan. i had a little pity party for us, which ryan (amazingly LOL) did not join in on...he sat with me as i partied alone and then reminded me that God is going to take care of us, even as He is taking care of our friends. and you know what, God did JUST that. on sunday at church, my brother handed me a wad of cash-in fact, it was just the amount that i was so upset about the day before. some of you have heard the funny stories about this boat that my brother and i bought a few years ago. the boat that my brother called me a few years ago and asked if i wanted to go in to buy it with him...to which, i said, oh yes of course-because i was so excited that my brother wanted to invest in something with me, his little sister! the boat that he just happened to forget to invite me to go skiing on for the next few years...in fact, it's the boat that i have only stepped aboard in Montevallo, AL (which, for anyone who doesn't know--that's far, far from any kind of boating body of water). anyway, that boat sold this weekend...we have been trying to sale it for like a year now! the timing of it all just made me laugh...and, then, of course, turn to the Lord in repentance. and then, my daily light reading this morning: My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus..He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things..The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want..the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly..the living God...gives us richly all things to enjoy..
my lesson for the day, not only does God graciously give us all that we need, sometimes He gives us those things that we want....and all we can do is be thankful!

my precious husband had these waiting on my Friday when i got home from a looooonnnnngggggggg day at work:
(and yes, that's bread laid out for our dinner last night-grilled chesse LOL)

12 minutes...

until the weekend is here!! looks like it's supposed to be rainy-ish all weekend, which is a little disappointing...but oh well! at least it's the weekend!!! :) hope you have a good one!

the bachelor

what in the world?! i just watched a few episodes of this show for the first time ever (on the web)... what a crazy, crazy show? with crazy, crazy people...at least so far as i can tell from what i've seen! i'm just thankful that's not how i had to "snag" my husband! how absolutely miserable!

speaking of my husband, i just want to say he is the best! THE BEST!

i got me a new "doo"

i have been working for like 4 hours, no kidding, on my blog! magen was kind enough to send me some info on how to create your own header. i've created, added to the blog, critiqued (and been critiqued by magen, deleted, re-created..and so on. i finally am happy with the one that is here now.. i think! all the pictures are ones i downloaded from facebook, so they aren't the most recent pictures--but they do tell a little bit of our story! :) i'm open to your comments...tell me how it looks from your computer!!!

i know everyone has been holding their breath to hear a report from our visit to the eye doctor... well, my vision is still the same. ryan's, however, is just a wee bit worse, though if you ask him about it-you'll just get a load of poo! he's totally in denial about it... dr. mercer actually came into my room after checking in with him and said, "he's definitely in denial!" how funny is that?! it's not that his vision is bad-just 20/40 in one eye (the other still 20/20) and he has a stigmatism in both eyes. i was wrong when i said it had been like 10 years since he's had a visit to the eye doctor-it's been 25!! he had NEVER been! how crazy is that?! anyway, no glasses for him..YET! if he gets any worse, though, dr. said he'd legally have to wear them (at least like at night when he drives!). i've had a good laugh over these things, though ryan is very serious about them. he's sure the doctor must be wrong... :)

okay, so something really neat happen yesterday.. we went to the eye doctor with our "new" vision insurance, hoping that it wouldn't be too expensive. as it turns out, it was like $276 for both of us. i had to order new contacts, so that wasn't a terrible price, just sort of a bummer to have to use money we could have used elsewhere. well, after the eye doc, we went to bed, bath & beyond to return some wedding stuff (we had a return to store pile in the garage on shelves, and were able to organize it all together when we cleaned it out last weekend). for those of you who don't know, BB&B will give you cash back when you return wedding gifts, instead of just store credit (with certain stipulations)...so, we took some things back that we had decided we don't really want...and do you know what our total cash back was? $297!! Which covered our trip to the eye doctor and some specialty drops that I had to get... God always provides-sometimes in really strange ways! :)

well, speaking of eyes, mine are tired of looking at this computer screen for so long, so i'm going to go do something else productive! do let me know what you think about the new doo....

ramblo

i'm not happy with my blog layout. it's just not doing it for me, especially since i have friends with GREAT looking blogs (especially dan and magen!). i am going to try to jazz up my blog over the next few days, but first-i must figure out how! :)

so, it's official, ryan and i are moving to colorado. okay, like that's really news...but i turned in my notice at work yesterday, so it really is official now! i'm going to work, i think, through the end of april, and then spent the month of may packing everything up! we are looking like crazy for housing, but trying to decide where we are going to live from 1400 miles away is not an easy task. i look online for hours every day...but even with the houses that have pictures, you don't know what kind of neighborhood it's in and if the pictures are really all that accurate. plus, it's a little early still to actually nail down a place (since we still have two months before we move)...but i don't want to wait so late that we end up getting stuck somewhere we don't really like. ryan's brother (and my brother-in-law), nick, is going to be moving out there later this summer. we are hoping to find a place we can rent together...we get along really well, and it will be MUCH cheaper for both of us. plus, it will just be fun! :) annnnndddd...my dear little sister, hannah, might be moving out there, too, for college. she and mom are going to check out a school this weekend. i think it would be completely awesome for her to be out there with us, too! she would be about 1/2 an hour away, but close enough to hang out during the week and stuff!

besides the obvious things (family and friends), i realized something i'm really going to when we get to co--rick and bubba! i absolutely love listening to them on my drive into work every morning...and then when i get to work, i usually listen to them on the internet for a while, too. and sometimes, i even listen on my way home from work (even though it's a replay, so i usually end up hearing the same thing at some point). those are some funny guys, though! and they are just so honest, which is refreshing! they will greatly be missed...but, they could end up on a radio station out there... never know!!! :)

speaking of the radio, doncha just hate those little jingles they do for advertising?! i, for one, really do hate them! especially the really catchy ones... for instance, has anyone heard that jack's jingle about cinnamon raisin biscuits? it's terrible... the first few times i heard it, i thought, "my that's catchy" the next thing i know, i was singing along with it! and then... in the shower, that was the song on my mind! i mean, come on! that's ridiculous!! i heard the blue bell jingle this morning-an oldey, but goodey (only NOT)!! without even thinking about it, there i was singing along...compelled, unable to stop myself! craziness!!!!! the thing is, it doesn't make me want blue bell ice cream or a jack's cinnamon raisin biscuit, so it's really not all that effective... just catchy!!

half a day at work for me again today-ryan and i are going to the eye doctor. it's not easy to get an appointment at my eye doctor, so i just had to take what they could give me (1:30 today)! i have been going to the same place for like all my life. i started wearing glasses when i was in the 4th grade, i believe...that was a LONG time ago! and my eyes have progressively gotten worse and worse. ryan, on the other hand, has perfect vision. he hasn't been to the eye doctor in like 10 years, because "my vision is fine! still 20/15!" :) but, i'm making him go, just because i think he should get checked out...it's just one of those things! the bad-vision part of me hopes his vision is a just a little bad because it's not fair that his is so good!!! but, i'm sure his will be fine and mine will be a wee bit worse... this will be the first time in a long time that i actually have vision insurance, so maybe my contacts and visit won't cost out of this world! hopefully! no new glasses for me, though, this year because i have a pair that i really do love still! only new lenses if necessary..

if you are still actually reading this, i'm sorry for the mindless rambling..just one of those days!

busy busy busy little bees!

we had a very busy weekend, which we enjoyed...but unfortunately are worn out from! here's an overview:

friday: worked half a day at the office! then, went home and grabbed ryan and we went to eat at the bright star...ryan had never been before! we thoroughly enjoyed eating and watching some of the NCAA tourney. then we walked across the street to the dmv, hoping to get a tag/title for the troop...but the line was forever long and we weren't feeling like waiting! we went home and took an ever so brief nap, then set to work in the oh so messy garage! we spent the whole evening working in there, trying to get it cleaned up and get things ready for the yard sale...

saturday: woke up WAY too early and finished getting ready for the yard sale, which ran until after lunch. we didn't sale anywhere close to all we had, but we did make some sweet money! so, that was nice! we took a nap and then went back to finish the garage and clean up from the sale...which took a long time! then, we went to best buy and bought super smash brothers brawl for our wii with some of the newly earned yard sale income! we have been wanting the game, but not really wanting to spend the money...but with our extra money-we decided to splurge! then we took it over to nicks and spent the rest of the night with him and dan and magen, watching bball and playing our new game-which, is lots of fun!! and, surprisingly, i'm really good at!!! ;)

sunday: woke up really early again to get across town to brook hills-we went to church with ryan's mom and glenn! had a wonderful easter service, then went to their house for lunch! ate a great meal, took a nap, then headed back to our house late in the afternoon. we spent a while cleaning our house, which was a complete wreck! and then piddled around...watched a few episodes of friends, and then went to bed!

today: woke up, once again, way too early!! :) i'm one of those people who really enjoys sleeping in...but not ryan! he likes to get up and at whatever..even if it's just catching up on news in the sports world! i don't get it...but he is sweet to hold me close for a little while before i get up, because that's what i like! :)

i'm reading "atonement" right now. it was slow getting into, but i'm really enjoying it now. i think the movie must be really great based on the book. it just seems like it's written to be a movie even more than being written to be a book, if that makes sense. the way it's laid out is a little confusing to read at times, but i think all that confusion would be lost in a movie! i can't wait to see it...after i finish the book! :)

"good" friday

i only have to work half a day today and i am soooooooo excited!! ryan and i, along with mom and maybe nick, are having a big yard sale tomorrow. so, getting off early today gives us extra time to get everything ready! hopefully we will make some sweet moo-lah!! :)

for the past few weeks at church, we have been studying psalm 22. it's been great for the season of lent (which makes me think of lament-a word i really like!)...but it's also been a great forerunner to the easter season.

my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? o my God, i cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but i find no rest. yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of israel. in you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. to you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. but i am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. all who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "he trusts in the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, for He delights in him!" yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breast. on you was i cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. i am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. for dogs encompass me; a company of evildoes encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet--i can count all my bones--they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. but you, o Lord, do not be far off! o you my help, come quickly to my aid! deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! save me from the mouth of the lion! you have rescued me from the horns of wild oxen! i will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation i will praise you; you who fear the Lord, praise Him! all you offspring of jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of israel. for He has not despised or abhored the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from Him, but has heard, when he cried to Him. from you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows i will perform before those who fear Him. the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him shall praise the Lord! may your hearts live forever! all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. for kingship belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations. all the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before Him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. prosperity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that He has done it!

isn't it strange that we call today "good friday?" i mean, it sure didn't seem like a very good day...