Shelly’s Journal

Yes, I just finished the painting in the living room. I folded up the ladder, put away the work light and did a little dance.

I’ve been enjoying my time away. I’ve organized a few things - including my schedule. I’ve moved my bedtime up to 10 PM and included an hour of reading and prayer before bedtime - so usually I’ll be upstairs by 9 PM. I’m still having a hard time sleeping with dogs that find anything to bark at as soon as I leave the downstairs. Gil’s 1 AM returns are pretty active, especially since he has started carpooling with a guy who drives a diesel. The dogs hear that one a mile away and sure let me know it.

I’m still considering my blog direction. I’m going to be making some changes to it - most likely I will change the name and the focus somewhat. While I found solace in the Christian blogging community and will continue to, my real heart is to get into some general “Mommy Blog” circles so that possibly I will have some interaction with non Christians as well, hoping of course to minister the love of Jesus. The one thing I really miss about my job is being among the unsaved everyday - and boy was I surrounded by them at the last place. I can’t explain it completely, but we’re all called to minister the gospel. Hanging out with a bunch of Christians doesn’t really accomplish that. While my own church is calling our congregation to minister to the lost, it’s setting up a fellowship structure that encourages a separateness from the world. Like a dog chasing its tail, I’m afraid. It wouldn’t be the first church that I’d been in that had such an approach.

This post has gotten way out of control, as my clock now reads 10 PM…and I must give the dogs their meds and scurry upstairs to read a few devotionals and call it a night.

Big thanks to all those kind folks who left comments. I appreciate your prayers. I expect that I may have a few posts over the next month, but have much more to do here before I resume my daily blogging activities.

Blessings and peace,
Shelly - once known as Sal

It was in the high 60s today in Viriginia. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze blew. I raked leaves with the assistance of a young boy who enjoys ruffling his feet through the leaves. He chases his dogs and then hugs them when he catches them. He sits at the top of his slide with his toys, but won’t come down the slide.

I was reminded how blessed I am each and every day. This afternoon oasis was the perfect moment to remember.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:11

I’m going to be taking an unexpected blog break due to overwhelming projects that started up like lambs and turned into lions…including, painting of our living room and laundry room makeover - which will probably have some painting in there as well.

So, I’ll be back when I clear some of the rubble. Right now the washer and dryer are sitting in the middle of the kitchen along with all other laundry room items. The living room is stripped down with furntire pushed about…drives me nuts.

Blessings to you all this week. See you soon!!!!

It’s now 11:23PM and I am still awake. I don’t know why. I honestly can’t remember the last time I stayed up until Midnight on New Year’s Eve…it might have been 10 years ago - my last New Year’s in Wisconsin. But honestly, I don’t remember.

The passing of one year to the next is just a number on the calendar. It’s amatuer night on the streets. But it’s warm and cozy and mostly quiet in our house - except for a football game going on in the background. Dogs are asleep, but could be convinced to be awake if there were food involved. Bump is curled up with his two best buddies - Puppers and Horsie. I’m too tired to even read or do a Suduko puzzle.

Gil is actully watching at least three different things. It drives me a little insane. Since he usually misses out on the key parts of the one I’m interested in for some reason. That’s the real disadvantage of watching three things at once.

I think I’ve scarfed my last peanut butter cup for the night and am officially calling this day/year a done deal. I can’t wait to see what God’s up to in the morning, and every morning as long as he should will.

Blessings to you all this night.

Another year on the calendar. Another three months of writing 2005 on my cheques. What else do I need the year for anymore. The rest is just all automatic. My computer, my VCR, my watch….they just change the number. It means absolutely nothing really.

I used to write a “year in review” in my paper journals, trying to remember the good and bad things that happened in a calendar year. I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I am constantly evaluating and reflecting on things that need to be changed in my life. Like I try to start running 3 or 4 times a year. New Years is a lousy time to do that - it being so cold and all.

I’m kind of at a little stalemate with my blog here. I’m not sure where to go. So, rather than bore you with some painful story of me, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite scriptures -

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
2 Cor. 6:2b-10

Yesterday was almost a perfect day. We honored the Lord, spent quality time with our family, and everyone enjoyed giving gifts (and receiving, too). Our crabfeast went over very well. Gil did all the cooking - boiled crab, steamed shrimp and fried oysters. I was very blessed by that. Even Casey and Winnie got a walk - which is all they wanted for Chistmas.

Early in the morning, Bump and I were up awaiting Gil’s arrival. I decided I needed to invite Jesus in to the house to celebrate the day. I opened the door to our garage and just as I started to speak, I heard a jingle bell. I couldn’t tell where it came from. We only have one set of bells and neither man nor beast was anywhere near it. Bump was standing on the sofa slam dunking into his new hoop. As I went to close the door, I heard it ring again. I had no idea.

Later that day, I realized that there was a jingle bell on a Polar Express Santa that we had sitting on the back of the sofa. Bump must have knocked it or jiggled it at just that moment.

Today the Christmas tree came down - and all the inside decorations. I’ll probably pull the outside tomorrow. I really can’t stand to have decorations up after Christmas. Since we had a real tree that didn’t drink too much water, I also wanted to get it out.

I also got a late Christmas gift today.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am still trying to get all the outdoor Christmas stuff up. I have all the lights up, but Gil had already taped the plugs to keep the rain out. So, I have two strands that need to be let into the loop.

And I don’t have a wreath. No energy tonight to get to it. In fact I’m going to my room in a few minutes. (I’d say right after I finish this post, but that won’t happen…tee hee…never does.)

Just have the dinner to worry about this week.

Anyone have any good sidedish suggestion for seafood? Please, pretty please.

xoxo

Maybe by the time I get to the bottom of this cup of peppermint tea, my sinuses and head will have cleared. It’s been that kind of a day for me - orange juice, tea, orange juice, tea, bathroom break - repeat, not necessarily in that order. While Bump seems to have bounced back from his cold, I had one of those days where all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep. Since my 20 month old wild man wasn’t up for that beyond his usual 90 minute siesta, I stayed the course and entertained him. Yes, I turned on the DVD/VCR. After 4 Baby Einstein’s and 1 Charlie Brown Christmas, I’m about TVed out. I just wish the weather had been a little warmer to bring him outside. I much prefer that to bouncing toys and images on my screen.

Don’t get me wrong. I love these DVDs. Bump learns much from them and I usually use them for that short break or wind down that we need during the day. They are not meant to be watched end to end by adults with throbbing brains. Although they were preferrable to chasing the Peek-a-Boo kid around the house for the full 6 hour afternoon session. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day. However, we will make a venture somewhere, anywhere just to get ourselves out of the house.

I did finish up the day with a vigerous floor washing session. I washed all my floors. Gil will be surprised to see a sparkling floor in our master bath. If he notices. Our vanity is in the bedroom (very, very bad idea - especially if you have a spouse that works odd hours and needs to do sink things like wet down his hair and shave) so that makes the actual linolium piece only about 3×5. I’ve been known to wash it with the Scrubbing Bubble Wipes. (Which I highly recommend for such a task.) But since I had a semi-fresh bucket of ammonia and water, I decided to finish them all up and feel like super homemaker. (Her showers, sinks and carpets are hideous - not to mention all those rooms that need paint - but hey, the floors shine like a million bucks.) If Gil were a smart man, he’d get me a gift certificate to Molly Maid for Christmas. (Please drop him a hint if you see him.)

Isn’t it sad that I can spend the whole day here and feel like my 45 minutes of cleaning is all I can give to my house today? Oh, I will say that I did vacuum the carpets during Bump’s nap. I wrapped 4 Christmas gifts. Picked up and organized toys in 4 different rooms. Cleaned the kitchen. Made dinner. I wish I could have squeezed that nap in.

Now, believe it or not, I am waiting for my floors to dry. That way, I can have everything back in their respective rooms before Bump hits the ground running at about 6:30 AM tomorrow, ready to dump every bin of toys on the floor. I have jumped on board with having all these smaller bins of toys rather than big toy boxes. I can see the difference in how Bump plays with them. Yes, I know that if he had a toybox, he could not pick it up and dump it out. I just want him to mentally be able to select the toy he wants to play with rather than choosing what’s on top. Sometimes I think, does it matter? His favorite things to play with are the broom, an artificial sunflower I didn’t use to decorate the kitchen, shoes, dog toys and yes, water dishes.

I’m calling this post done. Sorry I don’t have anything really interesting to talk about today. My brain is not in focus, just running on autopilot. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a sinus breakthrough and an adventure out into the world so I can write stunning prose on the lessons of experience.

Ciao!

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Our nephew’s wife came home from the family Thanksgiving bash in DC with a case of the Chicken Pox. She’s 36 years old. Her doctors have quarentined her to the house for the last 10 days. She emailed me last night and said that she’s miserable. Of course, Chicken Pox are almost always much worse in adults. They now have a vaccination, but back in the days when I was growing up (and my nephew’s wife - we’re two years apart) they never had such a thing.

I can remember the Chicken Pox going “around” at least four times in my life. And I never got them.

1) 3rd or 4th Grade. Lots of kids in my class got them and cousins we were close to - like saw every day.
2) 7th or 8th Grade. My sister had them, a very bad case - among others in my school.
3) 10th or 11th Grade. Went around the small school I attended. Two brothers who carpooled with me got it.
4) College - While living in the dorms they went around. Several gals on my wing got them and others I was in contact with.

And I still haven’t had them.

My nephew’s wife recommends the vaccination once I’m done nursing Bump. Bump’s been vaccinated, but you never know who’s kids haven’t been. I’m just wondering if I’m immune. I don’t want to find out I’m not!

I always wanted the Chicken Pox when I was in school. Who wouldn’t want 2 weeks off!