My Cup Runneth Over

One month has passed and I have yet to blog about anything that has happened. I will, I promise. This post though, is one that I just feel compelled to write because I am overcome at the moment with joy. Joy because I am so blessed.

I am blessed to be the daughter of a King! A King that will always love me and be there to comfort and protect me no matter what I do.

I am blessed to be the daughter of the most wonderful earthly father and mother I could have ever asked for. If you ask my parents, they will tell you I was a definite surprise but they have loved me from day one and have never stopped doing what was best for me, even when I didn’t think so.

I am blessed to have a husband that loves the Lord. I am blessed that he loves me and can look beyond my flaws and see me as his wife, his partner and his friend. I am blessed that he always kisses me goodnight.

I am blessed because I am part of the wonderful family at First Christian Church that has helped raise me since I was a baby. This church has been there for me to celebrate my joys and hold me and my family through our sorrows and for that I love them all.

I am blessed because I have good health. Sure, I have aches and pains on a regular basis but that is nothing compared to what others go through every day.

I am blessed to have a job. No matter how frustrating it is sometimes, I am grateful that I bring home a paycheck every week and can go to the doctor if I need to.

I am blessed because I live in a country where I can express my opinion. A country where I can fly my flag and praise my God without worry of being persecuted. A country that comes with benefits and privileges that I have done nothing to deserve. Someone gave up their life so I could have these freedoms and I will always remember that, regardless of my personal opinions about war.

I am blessed because I have a house to live in. I have electricity, hot water and food to eat. That may seem quite obvious but turn on the news sometime. Too many people in this world do not even have clean water, much less a place to sleep (safely) at night.

I am blessed because I can laugh.

I am blessed because I have the ability to write this post and share with you my blessings.

Just writing this fills my heart with joy because it makes me realize that I have more on this page that most people have in their lives and this isn’t even a smidgen of what I have to be thankful for. Thank you for sharing in my joy!

12 days to go...

I suppose my ability to blog on time and consistently leaves much to be desired but what can I say? I have been extremely busy completing all the end of semester items that seem to lurk all year and then show up the last 30 days of class. Seth has been MIA ever since he and his group members were assigned an estimating project 6 weeks before the end of the semester. And when I say group I don’t actually mean all the people that show up, I just mean he and another girl that have done about 99% of the work on the “Food City”. I’m done

May 8th is looming and we only have 12 days left, not that I am counting or anything. I have one more paper to write and turn in and I will officially be done with my class work for my teaching certificate. All I have left now is student teaching…oh and I decided to get my Master’s because it’s only 15 more hours. I know…that’s what I said too. Seth will be GRADUATING in 12 days and I am so excited. I think I am more excited than he is but that is not a huge surprise. I typically overreact to any and all things remotely exciting. He on the other hand, is a laid back southern gentleman.

In the midst of turning in all the final things that have to be completed by the end of the month (as I sit here blogging and facebooking…) I am also planning a party for Seth. Did I mention he is GRADUATING?! We are having a party for him on the evening of his graduation and one of my best friends, Sarah, has been such a doll helping me make the invitations…ok, I’ll be honest, she made them herself. I on the other hand, sorted the pieces as she cut them and put them in plastic bags. I do what I can

Anyway, I’m afraid I have gone slightly overboard (imagine that) for this party. The other day I bought these little cupcake picks that have hard hats, drills and saws on them. By the way, his degree is in construction engineering technology. Duh! Why else would it be a construction party? But in an effort to keep it toned down, I will not be purchasing a dump truck cake. That would just be taking it too far wouldn’t you say? I shall post pictures once the invites are finished and mailed. I should probably go do that now.

Please say a prayer...

I would like to ask that if you pray, please pray for this family. This is a terrible tragedy and I know that your prayers are very much needed now. Thank you.

Happy Birthday Diana!

Today I would like to say Happy Birthday to one of my good friends, Diana. Today, Diana is turning 21 years old. She and I have been good friends since the summer of 2004. That was the summer we went to Mexico on a mission trip and I learned a lot about her that I never knew. Diana is a SENIOR at Campbellsville University in Kentucky and she is getting ready to graduate this May! I am so proud of her and I hope she has a wonderful birthday!

Second Shift is... going

This is my first week on second shift and for those of you who have never had the pleasure of working 2nd shift, let me tell you… you are LUCKY! I’m just kidding, it isn’t that bad, it just really stinks to have to go into work at 3pm when the sun is shining and the temperature is 60ish. It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be for sure.

I am getting up with Seth around 7:30ish and working out. After that I eat breakfast and start my daily stuff. I figure out what I could make for dinner so Seth will have something to warm up (not that he can’t cook himself dinner), what I am going to take for dinner and what to have for lunch. Usually I will try to clean something whether it be clothes, the bathroom, the floor, etc. One thing a day is 5 things less to do on the weekend. Then I try and get on the internet to get anything for school that I need and email it to myself at work. We do not have internet access at work so I have to send in anything that I need. I try to work on my homework during my breaks and right now, we are not running yet so I can reply to emails and group stuff during the evening too.

One thing that really stinks about this week is that Seth is on Spring Break. I have 6 days of vacation that I can use but we are planning on going to the beach for a few days after he graduates (May 8th, 2010) so I am saving them. I was hoping that we could just hang out in the mornings until I had to go to work but for the past 2 days, he has been helping my dad trim trees. He usually goes up there about 11 or so and stays until 5-6. Luckily, my parents live 2 minutes from my job so I can go by on my way to tell him bye. Today, he just stayed up there for about 2 hours and he came home in time to have lunch with me. I made a homemade pizza (because it’s Wednesday) and we got to spend a few minutes together before I went to work and he left for a haircut.

Hopefully, I will learn to like 2nd shift but I have a feeling that it is only going to get worse before it gets better. Summer isn’t even here yet and the past two days have been days that I would have taken off if I would have had enough vacation. Since Christmas, they were letting us take Excused, unpaid time off because we are not running and they hate to pay us to sit around (do you blame them?). The beginning of this month saw that come to an end so we are no longer allowed to leave early or not come in without being issued a point. 10 points and you’re gone! Anyway, if they do ever let us do that again, you can be sure that I will at least go home early (2 hours) on Fridays. Not every Friday though, that makes for a poor paycheck and a grouchy little girl.

Doggie Diet

This week we started Nattie on a new diet. She is now getting a chicken based diet with absolutely NO BEEF. We are testing this to see if it help with her itching. The vet said last time I was there that Nattie may have a food allergy and she could supply me with KANGAROO meat! No thanks. Instead, we are testing the dog for allergies. One problem…she weighs over 70 pounds! For those of you with small dogs, we go through about 44 pounds of dry dog food a month. That is not including any treats, snacks or leftovers she eats.
SOOO… buying chicken and rice dry dog food would be okay if Ol’Roy had any. They have cans of it but no dry. Unfortunately, the only one I could find was made by Purina I think. I got 18 pounds for $12!!! Holy COW! Since she would go through that in no time, I, being the thrifty person that I am (or cheap, whatever works), decided that I could supplement my dogs meals with people food. I went home and made 8 cups of rice and mixed in 3 cans of the Ol’Roy canned chicken and gravy dog food. My sister-in-law’s hubby is a K9 officer and he said that rice wouldn’t hurt her. So now Nattie gets one cup of dry food with 2 ice cream scoops of warmed rice and chicken in the morning. It is also weight control because let’s just be honest, she could stand to drop a few pounds. Then, if we want to give her something at night we can because she hasn’t had 50 cups during the day. I think it’s a great plan and we will see how it goes.



Oh, by the way…Did I mention that a guy I work with told me that a common food allergy in dogs is due to the RED DYE in the food? Grrr…I just found this out last night. Would have been nice to know oh, SUNDAY!

Date night :)

Wednesday nights are homemade pizza nights. I have recently been going to ETSU at 5:30 on Wednesdays because Seth has class ALL DAY that day. I can make our pizza on my Pampered Chef stone (which is THE BEST), put Aluminum foil on it and drive to ETSU and it is still hot by the time I get there. I usually pack 2 cans of Mountain Dew, and Jell-O pudding cups for dessert. A couple weeks ago, Seth got some leftover birthday cake from his sister and we shared a piece of it. It was AMAZING! I think it’s ironic that we sit in the parking lot of the Center for Physical Activity and stuff our faces with pizza while we watch people run. Haha. I love my pizza dates with my boyfriend and I am definitely going to miss them.