Everyone loves a survey!

I got this from a fellow blogger, thanks Kathi (albeit a while ago ;~)

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Morning does not look good on me.
2. How much cash do you have on you? People trying to save money do not carry cash on them!
3. What's a word that rhymes with DOOR? I am with Kathi, POOR ;~)
4. Favorite planet? Earth
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? Danielle my Hero (That is what it actually reads... I didn't not type that in... 3 guesses as to who did)
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? White and Nerdy by Weird Al
7. What shirt are you wearing? Brown tank with a white long sleeve over it... yeah, I am pretty much cute ~
8. Do you label yourself? I guess... wife, friend, daughter, ect...
9. Name the brand of the shoes you're currently wearing: au natural
10. Bright or Dark Room? Bright room please... not a fan of the dark.
11. Why is there always a missing question? Daylight savings time?
12. What does your watch look like? A pink sprint phone
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say? "hi hey check your pers email"
15. Where is your nearest 7-11? Somewhere on 3 but I try not to go there
16. What's a word that you say a lot? the
17. Who told you he/she loved you last? my husband... he's pretty much the only one that says it to me ;~)
18. Last furry thing you touched? Riley the Wonderbeagle
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? Vitamins are my only drug now... oh and Tylenol.
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? Rolls of film... HA. It's been a long time since that. I do have almost 10,000 pictures on my computer (since 2005, there are more before that!)
21. Favorite age you have been so far? 25... after I got married but before my mom died.
22. Your worst enemy? Myself. No one is more harsh or more critcial then me.
23. What is your current desktop picture? Riley the Wonderbeagle
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? "I went the other way of hungry... now I am not hungry" riveting, I know.
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, what would it be? There isn't even a choice to be made... million bucks. Who do I see about that?
26. Do you like someone? I like a lot of people
27. The last song you listened to? Letting Go by Sozzi
28. What time of day were you born? Around the 7:00 pm hour
29. What's your favorite number? The number 7 but I don't know why
30. Where did you live in 1987? I had just moved to Maryland with my mom
31. Are you jealous of anyone? Yes but I am always working on controlling that
32. Is anyone jealous of you? Doubtful
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? Getting a raise in my boss' office. Seemed inconsequential once I saw 9/11
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Cry, stamp my feet and throw a temper tantrum... no, I put more money in and hope I get 2
35. Do you consider yourself kind? I can be
36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? I have a tattoo and it is on my hip. It's a breast cancer ribbon (for my mom) with a premmie purple heart in the middle (for Emilee)
37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be? Sign language
38. Would you move for the person you loved? If you are referring to my husband, then yes.
39. Are you touchy-feely? Not really, I can be at times but mostly, not so much
40. What's your life motto? I haven't really thought of a life motto... I try to be a good Christian... that really covers a lot
41. Name three things you have on you at all times: Cell phone, card holder and chapstick (medicated, my fave!)
42. What's your favorite town/city? There could be so many... San Diego is great, Annapolis is fantastic... pretty much everywhere has something great about it
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? Snickers bar out of the vending machine
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? I couldn't even begin to tell you
45. Can you change the oil on a car? Nope, thats why there are people you can pay to do that
46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her? That he got on a flight back to England
47. How far back do you know your ancestry? Not very far at all... I guess I could find out more but I have limited knowledge of it right now
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy? Ad.com Christmas party... I couldn't wait to get home, put on sleepy clothes and curl up on the couch!
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? LOL, nah, I am fine
50. Have you ever been burned by love? Who hasn't?
51. Do you have a crush on any bloggers? This guy is pretty hot! So is this one!
52. Where would you like to live? I would like to live in San Diego... it's gorgeous!

Weekend Fun

Overall Adam and I had a great weekend… it almost started out very tragically but God was watching over us and didn't allow that to happen.

As I mentioned previously, for the past week we have been watching my dad and his girlfriend's beloved dog, Maverick (or Mav or Maverazzle). The entire week was pretty uneventful, Maverick tried to body slam Riley and eat his food and Riley consistently tried to avoid playing with Mav. Then Saturday morning Adam and I took the dogs out for the morning walk.

We were leisurely walking up our street… in our slip on shoes, pjs and winter coats… when all the sudden Adam threw out an explicative and when I look down, I realize why. Maverick is now trotting away from us with no leash attached. It seems his leash has come apart from him collar.

Adam takes off after him at full speed… it didn't take Maverick long to realize that he could now run as fast as he wanted. Adam followed Mav up through a clearing to the end of a row of houses… at this point I thought about going back to get the car and try to find them but thought better about it and kept going. I prayed as hard as I could that God would stop him somehow someway, just enough to let us catch him. I decided to hope that Mav would zig zag beyond the row of houses Adam just chased him to so he would run right by me (hopefully I might even catch him!)… think a triangle with a row of houses being the base… sure enough, about 10ft before I get to the corner of the triangle, Mav comes shooting out and starts heading straight in front of me. I follow behind some more but it was REALLY cold and I was having trouble breathing at this point.

All the sudden Mav turns and looks at me… I saw a glimmer of hope that I may be able to lure him back… sure he ignores me every other time I call him but maybe he will listen to me now. Not so much, as it turns out he was setting me in his sights so that he could keep an eye on me whilst he poo'd. Yes… you read correctly… Mav stopped due to the call of nature.

I pulled myself together and started jogging toward him, just hoping he wouldn't scare and start running again. Nope, apparently the call of nature for Mav is too strong and I was able to walk right up on him and grab his collar. After he was finished he gave one final tug to get away and then fell to his fate, he was captured.

Then he proceeded to throw up. I just about followed suit. The walk home was probably the longest in history… our chests were so ice cold that breathing was so very painful. When we got back to the house I was crying and near hyperventilation because of the pain… Adam almost called an ambulance for me. After a few minutes of breathing my chest started to unclench and I felt better. Man, what a way to wake up on a Saturday!

In other news… we went to H-town to celebrate Spencer's 9th anniversary on Saturday night… we went to the meeting and then to Denny's after to spend some time with Spencer and Jessica (his lovely bride ;~) It was really great to catch up with them and see how God is working in their lives. There are visible relationships around them that have healed… of which we all doubted if they would ever heal! It was pretty amazing and at the very least, a testament to what God can accomplish.

Sunday was a chill day… we went to church and heard a good message from Greg… socialized with friends and then came home and promptly rested for the remainder of the day. Later in the day the neighbors came over and it was like old times… lately we have all been so busy that just getting together and hanging out hadn't happened but last night we did and it was great! Oh and we watched Grey's from Thursday night… what the heck is up with George and Izzie???

As it turns out...

I made it through all 13 bins of clothing and shoes. It literally took all day because I would get up and walk away every so often but I made it through.

I actually made it through the entire process without crying... not one tear. A feat that amazed me... I actually started to feel guilty that this process wasn't making me more sad... not to worry. As it turns out, I was storing it all up for one massive cryfest.

On the last article of clothing I looked around at the well organized bins... all labeled with their contents and where they are headed... and I just started crying. It was one of those crys that you wonder when it will end... like you aren't actually in control anymore. For a solid half hour I just sat there looking at my moms clothing, sobbing.

All these pieces that she spent years collecting... some I am sure hadn't been washed since she last wore them... pieces of her hair woven into the fabric. It was a pretty crushing experience.

Everyone (sans my husband) has been ragging on me to go through the bins... pick out the ones you want... give the rest away... start the quilt project... just start doing it... and so on and so on. What they don't realize is the extreme pain that is part of the process. Yeah, people get that its "sad" and "it will be hard" but really, unless you have done this... for someone you truly love and cherished... you don't know the heartache... the actual physical, emotional and mental heartache that it takes to go through your lost persons clothing. As I was going through the clothes not crying, I really thought that all these people were right... I was just putting this off for some made up reason... I mean, I was doing fine... making decisions and enjoying seeing her stuff again. But as I suspected, the pain was there and it just decided to hit me all at once. I suspect I was ready since it is done (although I will remind you, I haven't actually given the clothes away yet so it isn't really over) but my fears were validated. It hurt.

I am thinking of a friend who was in NC this weekend going through her mother, father and younger brothers things because they were all killed in a head on collision on Christmas Day. My heart goes out to her and I am praying hard for her. If you feel it in your heart, please lift her up in prayer as well. I know she needs it.

Noticably Absent

Johnnie is right... I totally called him out on being absent and I have been AWOL lately. Sorry about that. Things have been a little busy around here... my new job has had me stressed out for the past 2 weeks. It was a rough start and I am still lost and confused but things are getting better. I am starting to understand the concept of my job and where I fit in which is a remarkable change from the first week.

Things around the homestead are up and down and everywhere in between... do you want the good news or the bad news first? Ok, bad news it is....

Adam's beloved Grammy died this past week. Grammy was Adam's moms mom... and she died on March 6, 2007... three years to the day that Adam's brother Ryan died. Yeah, its been a rough week. Adam's mom is doing well considering although I firmly believe that losing your mother at any age is a traumatic experience. We are heading to H-town tomorrow for the funeral services and reception type event. The family is really trying to celebrate Grammy's life because she had a good long one. And this I know... she leaves behind a wealth of love and family... what I consider to be a mark of a good life.

The good news is that Adam is working FT earning a salary with a lawyer that he has been working with for the past few months! He earns a base salary with the ability of earning more depending on cases he brings in, work that he does around the office, cases that are doing well, ect... It's a GREAT opportunity for us because we finally have a sense of security and the ability to make a concrete financial plan plus Adam gets to learn from someone that he really likes and respects and in turn he is liked and respected by his boss. It's really the best of both worlds!

Actually funny story about the boss... lets call him HL. Adam did work for an attorney named CJ... when the work was done, CJ passed Adam's name and number to a friend of his named HL. Adam was telling me about this in the car one day and mentioned his first name... I thought for a moment and asked if ______ was his last name... Adam looked at me dumbfounded... it was. As it turns out I lived next door to HL for a few years as a child. I actually babysat his children a few times. Such an incredibly small world! Anyway the rest of the story goes as follows... HL and Adam spoke but nothing really came of it... HL suffered some loss in his life and was very busy with business so the timing wasn't great. Fast forward one year of Adam going place to place, working for many different lawyers. HL calls Adam out of the blue and offers him some work... of which Adam has been doing for the past several months. A few months ago they start talking about this arrangement and then on Thursday HL brings it up and Adam started Monday.

It's been a wild ride but it feels good where we are.

Oh and remember all that lame talk about me going through my moms clothes... how I want to always do it but I never do. I did it today!!! I still have 3 bins left but I have gone through 10 bins of my mothers clothing and separated them into pieces for the quilt, pieces to give away, pieces to throw away and a not sure pile. And get this... my give away pile is large... much larger than I would have expected. Apparently I was ready to do this! More to come on that because this is only the first step... next I actually have to drop off the clothes at a donation center... there may be tears involved in that step ;~) But I am this far and that makes me happy ;~)

Oh and Maverick, my dad and his girlfriend's ever loving Shiba Inu is back to stay with us for the week! It promises to be a fun time!