Staples so to speak

Here are a few things that I use on a daily basis and am very thankful for!

They are in no certain order here....

Bible
Peanut Butter (good right out of the jar!)
WIBI radio
My little spot on the couch... I do everything there
Nail beside the door for my keys (in hopes of never losing them lol)
My cell... self explanatory
Calendar with lots of notes and lists
My Utmost for His Highest (my well loved devotional)
Skillet=eggs, sandwiches, hamburgers, pancakes... you can cook anything in a skillet!
Carmex! of course!!
Milk love it with my peanut butter
Notebook and fine point pen

What are some things you "can't live without"?

wandering about wondering

Just found this in my drafts... thought I would go ahead and post it, rough draftish as it is.

~~~~

Sitting here overwhelmed with topics that have been put on the back burner to blog about....then suddenly forget them all at once! This happens more often than I can count. Possibly one of the reasons I don't blog as often as some of you think I should. Although I hold to the fact that I blog way more often than a lot of you!

Here is some random oddness...

I often wonder:

1. does everyone in Effingham smoke?

2. why am I addicted to carmex?

3. as I wander

4. if there are hidden cameras watching my every move

5. why is (almost all) Christmas music so sad

6. why they raised the price of an added shot of espresso at starbucks

7. what you are thinking

8.

Christmastime is here

I looked out my front window this morning and saw this

a very light snow. It has long ago melted. But was a happy surprise!

Here is a 'not that great.. but hey' recent pic of me in front of my tree.

So many things have been going on. It's hard to keep up. I'm at work right now so here is a short list of a few recent happenings.

Got to see a few friends in Cinci and watched them perform Christmas program. This was my first time to observe and not be in it.

Performed with the Effingham community orchestra yesterday playing Christmas music on various percussion instruments.

My first 'solo gig' is this evening. I think it will be a fun half hour of singing. It is for a friend's church's Christmas Deacons Meeting. I am a teensy bit nervous though.

Tomorrow I have crazy schedule... working 9-11am. off (gonna meet a friend for lunch!). working 1:30-3:30pm. off. working 5-8pm. That's what happens when I plan multiple programs in the same day, and yet don't want to rack up a bunch of hours staying at work the whole day!

Next week I am going to be involved with a small portion of my church's Christmas Program. Should be fun! I am looking forward to watching all my young friends perform in the drama!!

Well, there is so much more. But I have to stop here with one last picture. This was taken at Thanksgiving time. It was so nice to have everyone home together for a few fun days packed with lots of happy memories!!!

Until next time :D

Closure

clo·sure (klō'zhər) n.
1. The act of closing or the state of being closed.
A bringing to an end; a conclusion: finally brought the project to closure.
A feeling of finality or resolution, especially after a traumatic experience.


~~

No need to hold on to the past. False hope isn't hope at all.

It's in the bag. Tied in a knot. And tossed in the dumpster.

Time to move on. Hope for new things. A healthy hope.

Poetry Shuffle

It's out with the old and in with the new,
Another night slips away,
Don't go changing to try and please me.
What is the meaning of life?
What am I gonna be when I grow up?
You are my Father,
Your heart will always be my home.

Hello Mr. Dark Cloud,
Trying to pretend that you're okay
Tears are falling, hearts are breaking.
Can we get back to where we started?
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

It's so important to make someone happy,
Then try and face this mountain.
I've been thinking lately about you;
It's a world of difference when faith is in her heart.

~~~~~

Don't try to read anything into it. This poem was created by putting all the music on my Mp3 on shuffle and writing down the first line as I skipped through the first 16 songs. Pretty cool, how it kinda flows, at least part of the time.
This was an activity I did with my teens this afternoon for Teen Read Week. It was fun :D

Whoosh!!!

I feel like I say it often, but the days really do seem to be flying by so much faster than normal! It truly feels like it was yesterday was the first of October and I was shocked. Now the month is half over! Wow!

Anyhow. I'm busy busy at work. Today has been a little slower and a nice breather. Here is a link to see some of the stuff I have been working on recently. (Teen Read Week is next week)

Well, I must rush off... I must make sure the clock isn't skipping time or the calendar skipping days. They have a tendency to do that!

It's one of those...

...lazy feeling days. It was a struggle to get out of bed! I feel as though I need a weekend to catch up on sleep from my weekend. On my lunch break I headed to Starbucks.

In the drive through:
Me: "I would like a double venti caramel latte, please."
Barista: "Okay... that drink already has 2 shots of espresso."
Me: "Yes"
Barista: "You want more added?"
Me: "Yes"
Barista: (hesitantly) "Okay... how many?"
Me: "Two" (the reason I said 'double' in the first place! lol)
Barista: "Wow! Alright. Pull around."

It sure tastes good :D And I will either be perkier or shaky(er) soon!! Maybe both. :)

newness

Here are a handful of new things I have recently tried:

• Cooking and eating fried green tomatoes ~ fairly yummy, planning to give them a second shot tonight.
  
• Cutting the pad of my index finger open with scissors ~ ouch! no, I didn't do it on purpose!
  
• Enjoyed an unscheduled informal tour through the rear offices of the Post Office
  
• Bent over on the street corner and dug through the mail box looking for something I no longer wanted mailed ~ long story
  

By request... for Mrs. B

Oh, Hallelujah!!! :D Got it :) Currently going to Word to finish. Be back soonish.

So so many things! I'm not sure where to start, what to include, what to brush over, what to forget. I make no promises on the flow or 'understandability' of this post :) But here is something for what few readers are left out there.

Why do people lie about their age? Have you ever lied about your age? When? On what? I have stretched the truth when it came to my weight but age? Hey it's possible as I keep getting older I will be hesitant to share but I don't think I would lie about it.
You may wonder why I even bring this up. At work one of the many things I do is keep up a MySpace page and Facebook for the teens. It has information about our library, pictures, a search link for our online catalog, posts about upcoming teen events, etc.I have recently been requesting more friends based on a pile of surveys taken in the schools. I searched their emails they gave to us and added them.
Anyhow, the majority of these 14 and 15 year old kids had put their age on their MySpace profile as 19, 20, and 21. A few of them even claimed to be 26 and 32. Why? What is attractive about being 'so old'? I can understand a 13 year old thinking it would be cooler to be 17 or 18, but 22? 26? Hmm. I don't know. If you have insight do share. You know what is even odder... some of these had 19 on their profile but then over in the "about me" section they told that they were 14 or they gave their full birthdate. I think someone is confused! I know I am.

~~

I never dreamed I would be so busy at this point in my life. College life is over, right, no more papers to write. I'm working a 30-hour job. Not so difficult. I was so afraid I would be so sad and alone (those moments do come at times) all the time; instead I feel like I'm running crazy. It is a good crazy though I think. Every weekend for the last while and several coming up there is something going on. Here's a semi-quick overview...

I got back from NM on the 2nd right.

Aug 8 I was home at my family's in Salem and at friends spending time.
Aug 15 Stayed over again, and spent all day Saturday canoeing on the Meramec River. So fun!Aug 22 My brothers stayed with me and went to Hunter's Ed we had a lot of fun Friday night... Saturday I took them home and we all (my whole family) went to the Hot Air Balloon Fest in Centralia and celebrated the twins b'day
Aug 29 Celebrating my Mom's b'day with a bunch of ladies who came and stayed at my apt Friday night and we did fun things together. Sunday was full too with an extra service thrown in the afternoon. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time. Very nice time. Very nice music. Oh ... and remind me.. I have more comments about this experience a bit later.
Sept 5 Planning to spend the whole long weekend in Cincinnati visiting long lost friends, going to the Rennaisance Festival (remember, I went last year), watching fireworks, and enjoying the road trip there and back with my bro, Tim. I'm really looking forward to this. I will do my best to take my camera and actually remember to use it :)

(( btw … this is where I thought I lost it and am carrying on now where I left off, in case you were curious ))

Sept 12 not sure yet, seems there is something I’m forgetting, we’ll see.

~~

So about my Sunday afternoon…. I don’t think I have ever had déjàvu as much as I had then. We were driving along and some in the group were talking about when they had been to this camp before and what year it was, etc. I said I had never been there before. End of story. Until, WHAM! We drive onto the campground. “Oh I have definitely been here before!!!” It was so odd, and cool and weird and yeah!I have a really good memory. I have very clear memories of specific events that happened when I was very very young. I think one of my first memories is when I was 2½ years old. But I remember more things around the time I turned 5. Anyhow. I’m not sure how old I was when I went to the Cresthaven campground (whatever it was called 20-odd years ago). But I remember being a brat! lol. I remember being in the dorms and was being babysat during a meeting or something the adults were busy with and I gave the girls watching me such a hard time! I remembered being in the tabernacle. I remember swinging on that very swing-set and drinking at that same water-fountain station. Anyhow. Crazy!

~~

Wow, this is getting insanely long. I apologize. But hey, you don’t have to be insane enough to read the whole thing unless you really want to! :P
Well, there is more. But I should stop eventually. I think I have uncovered things in my life that are trivial to most and should have been left unsaid. But, I tend to be an open-book most of the time. Especially if you are there to listen or read. Or if I have been alone long enough and am tired of being quiet… like right now. I will just ramble on.
Gonna go before it gets worse, or is that even possible? ;)

~Esther

:(

Oh grrr grrrrr grrrrrr! When will I learn. I spent 45 minutes typing a post and just accidentally lost it all! There is no way I wanna take the time to retype and try to remember what I even said. SIGH I need to type posts in Word first. Jo, I should learn from you. I'm bummed. Okay. Getting over it. I hope you all love this nice post I just typed in 3 minutes. I will let you try to think up the possible topics that were in the post I typed earlier.

I will try to get something better soon.

:-/