thanks from karol

good-looking maintenance guy came into the kitchen today to get a pitcher for water. i came into the kitchen as he was on his way out. karol had thanked him for something, but he didn't hear her, so he turned to me and said, 'what is karol thanking me for?' i stared up at him, my one thought being, 'for being so good-looking.' i tried racking my brains for something witty, but as that one thought kept repeating itself, all i came up with was, 'i don't know. karol what are you thanking him for?' d'oh!

november 25th, 2007 chapel

"Working and existing day after day seems less mundane when I place eternal significance on my daily activities."

i want to learn to make screensavers

i don't like our cold stone

first they close at 9, and then today i went there wanting peppermint ice cream (cuz it's Christmastime) with chocolate chips in it, and they didn't have peppermint ice cream! they had dark chocolate peppermint, which was good, but not what i wanted. and they didn't have the strawberry banana mango sorbet that i had with chelleybutton. so i walked out without anything. how sad is that?

today i told the cook a Bible story

and i had him retell it to karol:

the guy hit the other guy in the head with a sling shot; then cut his head off.

i talk more the more tired i get. i think it's cuz if my mouth is moving i can't fall asleep.

I tried a new church today

And I liked it. It's about the size of the church I grew up at (150-200ish people), which I like: one, probably because I'm used to it, and two, because that size is small enough that people know you're new and greet you, but big enough to have things going on. The sermon was good, the music was a nice blend of old and new, and there was a lot of prayer (pretty much between each song). The demographics were nice - there were old people and people my age and families and all that.

And, while this is perhaps shallow, it looked like a church. I'm sorry, I know that where you worship isn't what matters, it's your heart that does, but to me, a church that looks like a church is easier to worship in. I find my concentration is better, I feel more respectful, and I just plain feel more comfortable. The church I've been going to looks like a church, but you feel an overwhelming sense of 'this is a big church.' The church I've gone to the last couple weeks is folding chairs in a school gym. And while I've worshiped in both of these places, a small church that looks like a church is just so much better for me.

Anyway...so I had been all sad because I'm church hunting but don't know where to go because I have no friends around who I can ask to let me visit their church with them. Where does one look? Just in the phone book? Or down the street? There are too many churches around here for that. But then I opened the Bible I had in college and out fell a scrap of paper with this church's name and number on it. Apparently way back then I was thinking of looking for a church home and Stupid Dummy Boyhead Guy Friend's roommate Plaid recommended his. So I stumbled across this paper from 4 years ago, and decided, hey, why not? Plaid might not be there anymore, but I have such great respect for him (seriously the greatest guy I know), I should check it out. Well, turns out he's still there! I turned around during the cheesy greeting time, and there he was standing at the back of the sanctuary. So I zoomed back there, and he was all surprised, but then we sat together and he told me all about Sunday school and Bible studies (he told me there was a women's one, but seeing as he doesn't go to it too often he doesn't know too much about it) and all that. Then after the service Plaid introduced me to some people, who were all very friendly, and some more came and introduced themselves (one of whom was a woman who somewhat knew about the women's Bible study). He told me to come again, and of course I told him I will.

You have no idea how nice it was to see a familiar face. Praise the LORD.

i'm ready for Christmas cookies

We Lost Torii!!!!!

WAH!!!!!

Oh, Torii! What are we to do without you? Your wonderfully bright smile that brought me such joy, now brings me only sadness, as I realize it's no longer ours. :(

Oh, Torii! We will miss you so!!!

our tampon machine at work eats dimes. come on, machine company. is this really the time you want to be messing with women?

we had a nice thanksgiving. i had to work the supper shift at work, but i still got to eat dinner with my family. unfortunately, i took this opportunity to wear my cute new outfit with the black pants, and black shirt with a white collar. so my family all told me i looked like a pilgrim. thanks a lot guys. now i'm gonna feel like a dork whenever i wear it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to YOU, oh GOD, we give thanks! For YOUR wondrous works declare that YOUR Name is near. - Ps. 75:1

mark emailed me back at 1:08 this morning!

the boy is good! seriously - i think only didder responds to emails faster, and that's because we send one sentence emails to each other which take no time to think about. this boy obviously thinks about what i say before he gets back to me. this time he even said he's going to do some research before he gets back to me again. again! he's going to email me again - this time on his own initiative! ah!!!

some concerns i have

>my skin gets kind of scrunched up when i have my wrist braces on - i'm concerned i may have wrinkly old lady hands before my time

>i lean on my elbows - i'm concerned that that will make them wrinkly (per 'gone with the wind')

>i furrow my brow at times - i'm concerned that i'll have wrinkles on my forehead

>i don't smile enough - i'm concerned that i'll get crabby wrinkles around my mouth

>i'm concerned about wrinkles - i'm concerned that i'm getting concerned before my time

back when i mentioned 'amazing grace'

i went on youtube to hear the todd agnew version. in the comments i saw this:

xTOMMYx321x
i cry everytime i listen to this because im so unworthy of Gods love.

Arahmynta
(My response, part 1)But you aren't. UnDESERVING perhaps, but not unworthy. Unworthy would mean you had no value, but he chose you anyway. But He MADE you worthy. You were ALWAYS worthy of his love - it's what you were created for. Your value could not be taken away, not even by you yourself. It was intrinsic to you. If you were truly unworthy, satan would never have bothered with you.

Arahmynta
My response, part 2)But you are royalty, a son/ daughter of the Most High, and He is well able to win back His own. You're not a lowly peasant who doesn't belong with the King - you are now where you belong, where we all really belong. So don't feel insignificant, and don't feel unworthy. He tells you you have great worth, and you always have.Hug. :)

i just clicked 'send' on my email to mark madsen!

something i don't get about thanksgiving

how can non-Christians celebrate thanksgiving? to whom are they thankful?

after my nap

i went to target and looked for a gift for my brother-in-law. they didn't have it. then i went to jc penney and bought a sweater that was on sale. but turns out it wasn't as on sale as i thought, so i'm going to return it. then i went to some place to find a gift for my didder. they didn't have it. then i went to cold stone to reward myself for my long work stretch. i got there at about 9:10. it closed at 9:00.

i should've stayed in bed.

yay i'm done! i survived those 9 meals! i almost didn't, what with being pooped last night, and then with being at the 'i'm gonna either burst out laughing or burst into tears at any moment cuz i'm so exhausted' stage this afternoon, but i made it! (thank heaven the cook worked today - i needed him there to liven things up.)

and then i came home and took a three hour nap.

alright, well, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work i go (again)

i also forgot this (i wish i had)

there was the scariest painter guy at work a week or two ago. he just creeped me out. i refused to be alone in a room with him (even the dining room). i waited til the cook came out to sit. but then a different time i wasn't alone in there, but i gave one of the residents a ride out, and he just suddenly appeared right behind me (like scarily close), so i booked it down the hall to where the good-looking maintenance guy was fixing something. so while that part was the scariest, i guess it wasn't all bad. i got to book it to the good-looking maintenance guy.

i forgot to blog this the other day

eileen was blowing bubbles in her milk :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERMA/MF7!!!

Movie Review: The Terminal

My mom got this for a buck at a garage sale a long time ago, and I finally decided to watch it. I knew it had gotten some bad reviews, but whatever, I don't always agree with reviewers, and I had it here, so why not watch it?

Unfortunately, it ends with the ending. I was going along, thinking 'i don't know why this got such bad press. it's okay.' But the ending was so stupid! And that's the impression I walked away with - that it had been a supreme waste of time. (Well, not quite. I wasn't doing anything else and I wanted to watch a movie I hadn't seen before and this was what we had. If I had watched it a different time, though, I may have thought it was a waste of time.) Plus it was too long. (What's with movies all being over 2 hours nowadays?) So if you ever choose to see it, I recommend turning it off at about 1 hr 45 min, then call me and I'll fill you in.

this weekend i'm going to be working 9 meals in a row. that's too many.

not to say the 'ocean's' cast is good-looking...

but they're on their 5th 'sexiest man alive'

Tips from 'Bald's Leechbook'

An unknown author from the tenth century compiled a book of medicine. Here's a taste of the subjects covered:

'For the sickness which they call 'shingles'...'

'In case a poisonous spider...should bite a man...'

'For the bite of a mad dog...'

'If a man's hair fall out...'

'For all liver diseases...'

'In case a man ache in the head...'

'Against a woman's chatter...'

GOD spoils me

in way too many ways to count. this time it was that last night i only had a baby, who was good as gold and slept part of the time.

that was uncharitable of me. my apologies slip aunt. i will gladly join you in your ministry to foster children.

babysitting

i have to babysit at my aunt's tonight. i wish i didn't.

for you office fans:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rJQA_vjkSb0

when we were at the mall on saturday, chelley and i passed a girl just as she was saying 'people annoy me.' we both laughed. i think she could be our friend.

yay i got to go to chelley's! (boo i had to come home :( )

i love chelleybutton. she's a great friend.

this weekend was extra exciting because i had friday off and she had half of it off, so i went down on thursday night instead of the usual friday night, which was nice. we had a pretty relaxed weekend. (though the two days of shopping were pretty intense. i bought clothes!) we went on a nice long walk, had a little Bible study together, and just hung out. good times.

Why the Colorado Rockies Are My Favorite National League Team

(I wish I had known this at World Series time cuz then I could have cheered for them.)

I stumbled across an article a week or two ago that made me decide this. Here's part of it:

"The role of religion within the Rockies ’ organization first entered the public sphere in May 2006, when an article published in USA Today described the organization as adhering to a “Christian-based code of conduct” and the clubhouse as a place where Bibles were read and men’s magazines, like Maxim or Playboy, were banned...

Asked how his own Christian faith affected his decision-making, General Manager Dan O’Dowd acknowledged it came into play, but not in a religious way. He said it guided him to find players with integrity and strong moral values, regardless of their religious preference.

“Do we like players with character? There is absolutely no doubt about that,” O’Dowd said during a recent interview in his Coors Field office. “If people want to interpret character as a religious-based issue because it appears many times in the Bible, that’s their decision. I believe that character is an innate part of developing an organization, and to me, it is nothing more than doing the right thing at the right time when nobody’s looking. Nothing more complicated than that."

Even if the Rockies are not consciously doing it, reliever Matt Herges, playing for his seventh organization, said the team had the highest concentration of devout Christians he had seen during his nine major league seasons...

“When you have as many people who believe in God as we do, it creates a humbleness about what we do,” Affeldt said. “I don’t see arrogance here, I see confidence. We’re all very humbled about where this franchise has been and where it is now, and we know that what’s happening now is a very special thing.”

I like them.

entrance ramps

why do so many people who get onto the freeway not accelerate as the get on? hello - entrance ramps are also called acceleration lanes. my car is a v-4. i can't suddenly go from 35 to70. if they want to not speed up when they enter, they should let me go first cuz i know how to enter. so there.

i feel like it's been a really long time since anyone was active on here (including me). it probably hasn't been, it just feels like it. maybe cuz i'm checking this more often cuz i'm at chelley's and it doesn't take 6 hours to get online. anyway. it feels very non-active on here.

i can't get this mac thing down. i couldn't download my baseball chapel, and now i can't copy and paste from one window to the next. i am liking the not dial-up, though.

i'll post later

diddy, i know nothing can make up for that

but (seeing as i was going to post this anyway) i will now dedicate this to you.

This is dedicated to my Didder

This is what music should sound like:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5D8ixbEShBA

Commercial Review: Jeep Liberty

Freaky! But the guy's so cute I always watch it. But it totally freaks me out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTLcZ1BCmms

the problem with romantic comedies

sometimes they make me so depressed

Movie Review: The Holiday

Sorry, Chelleybutton. I liked it. I agree that the Cameron Diaz/Jude Law story gets too physical too fast, but then, that's a big part of what makes their relationship so complicated. I also greatly agree that there is too little Kate Winslet/Jack Black. In fact that was one the biggest things I came away from it thinking - too little Jack Black.

I agree also that the little old man is way too cute. But then, as we all know, I love little old men. As Didder said just yesterday, they (in general) treat women with respect, and it's so endearing.

The movie so made me want to get away and be someone else for a couple weeks. At the end of it Jack Black says something along the lines of 'let's celebrate being young and full of life.' I've never done that. It's true - youth is wasted on the young. I'm not living at all. I need to go do something (anything!) without worrying about money spent, vacation time spent, or whether or not I'm alone doing it. This is the time of my life when I can do stuff like that. And do I? No! I just keep not living. I'm sick of it.

Okay - I may have digressed there. But overall I thought this was a cute movie, and I'd recommend it to any romantic comedy fan who's not Chelle. :)

Christmas shopping

i went shopping with didder this evening. we weren't successful, but we got frosties, so it's all good. i haven't, as of yet, however, taken off my coat and gloves, even though i got home 2 hours ago. it's too stinkin' cold in this house.

amazing grace

they've been playing variations of this song on the radio a lot in the last couple years. it's so easy to not think about the words to the song. it's the one that everyone knows, the one that non-Christians cling to because they need some song at their mother's funeral. it's easy to not pay attention to because it's so familiar. but one line has been jumping out at me lately:

''Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved...'

there is so much depth in that simple line.

dear justin morneau,

when is canadian thanksgiving?

church this week

so yesterday i tried the split shift thing. i went to work for 3 hours, then went to church, then went back to work for the supper shift. i'm hoping this will work. i don't know yet, though, because about halfway through the sermon i started getting dizzy and feverish and wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed. which i ended up doing right after the service, which made me miss my whole afternoon of not working and made me not able to sleep last night.

there were some nice people behind me who i actually talked with during that annoying 'let's stand and greet one another' time, but i didn't get to talk with them after the service cuz i ran out. but it was nice to feel welcome again. i'm wondering, though, if the pastor i so wanted to hear is still there. he's not on the church website, and yesterday they had four baptisms and he wasn't there. the guy who preached this week didn't wow me like the guy last week, either. but it's nice to feel like i have a church to go to and that i would like to try to get involved with.

i don't know. church hunting is just so not easy.

august 30th, 2007 chapel

Prayer: Father God, sometimes I feel that my life has so little meaning. Please help me to find my purpose and fulfillment in YOU and to use every moment of the life you’ve given me to demonstrate your love to those around me.

Poem Review: Beowulf

In my quest to be smarter (or at least not dumber), I decided to read 'Beowulf.' As it's the oldest complete manuscript in the English language (dated about 850 A.D.), I figured it would make me cultured. (Also, it was one of Tolkien's all-time favorite writings.) I'm glad I read it.

For the most part it's about battles; first against a monster, second against a dragon. It is extremely boy. There is nothing about saving a damsel in distress - it's all just battle (except for the few religious comments thrown in). In about 5th grade we read part of it. All I remembered was Beowulf fighting a monster named Grendel and ripping his arm off. (That is something that kind of sticks with you.) So when I got to that part of the poem, I figured I would remember something from it. Instead all I could think was, 'I read part of this in 5th grade?!' Here's a sample: "The horrible monster suffered grievous pain; a gaping wound opened on his shoulder; the sinews sprang apart, the muscles were bursting." Hello! Eew! (Not nearly the worst part of the poem, though. Like I said, I was reading for the cultural aspect. I don't know that I would normally choose to read something so gory.)

But then there are little things like: "Indeed, it was a miracle to see [the monster's sword] thaw entirely, as does ice when the Father (He who ordains all times and seasons) breaks the bonds of frost, unwinds the flood fetters; He is the true Lord." It almost seems like the author (who is anonymous) was using a style of writing of the time to try to reach unbelievers in a pagan world. (The blood and gore were not looked upon like they are today; it was a reality of life that people were not afraid to talk about.)

So yes, I'm glad I read it. It gets a little long, but I would recommend it to all who have the stomach for it. It makes you feel smart and cultured.

i really want to be deep

but i'm too tired right now. someday maybe i'll have energy again. that will be a happy day.

chinese water torture

i would not hold up well

the sad state of affairs at my house

we have no ice cream. although actually it's worse than that. we have nasty ice cream. and we can't get new stuff til this stuff is gone. very very sad.