Happy New Year!

a new year's treat for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_sfnQDr1-o
(oh, and lest you miss out like my didder did, be sure to have the sound on :) )

HE knew

I was watching 'Bones' last night (cuz that's what I like to do when I remember [which sadly is like never]).
*Spoiler Alert for anyone who cares*


At the end it got all romantical, and ended with Booth, after years of working together, deciding to take a (what should have been an easy) gamble and ask Brennan out. As he's being all sweet and wonderful he says something along the lines of, 'You know, when you talk to couples who have been together 30, 40, 50 years, it's always the man who says, 'I knew.' I knew. I'm the man, and I'm saying I knew.'
Naturally, I swooned. (And naturally, because the show has to continue to have that tension, Bones said no.) And, when the show was over, I went upstairs and cried, because I would love nothing more than for a guy to say something like that to me, and I don't believe it will ever happen.
But then it came to me: HE knew. HE knew first. HE knew HE loved me before I had a clue. HE knew HE loved me before I was even born. HE has loved me my whole life. HE rejoices over me with singing. HE treasures me.
'How precious are YOUR thoughts concerning me, oh GOD!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand..." - Ps. 139:17-18a
How romantic is that?
HE loves me. And I love HIM. And that is what matters.

happiness of the day

no, i wasn't told not to come in. i still had to give up my day off. and no, the happiness is not that i get time and a half for today. the happiness is that the happy thing i said would not happen today, happened today. :)

last night, while whining to chelley about having to go into work today, i listed all the things about today that would suck: i had to go in on my day off, we would still be short-staffed, it was grocery day, etc. i also added that there was no way good-looking maintenance guy would be coming in for anything. he's been around some lately for snow removal, and happily, he has gained some weight and no longer looks ill. in fact, i would venture to say that he is once again good-looking. no more does he look permanently 43, but he does look like a handsome 50. and he's still fun and flirty. but it would not snow today, so there would be no redeeming factor to having to go in.
and so we survived breakfast, and, after warning them things would probably change when they commented on how surprisingly non-crabby i was, i gradually got crabbier the more work we had to do, the more i saw my lunch break floating away, and the hungrier i got.
and then, at about 10:30, who should pop his head in but good-looking maintenance guy. he was there to pick up our facility's van to bring to our sister facility, and to ask if we had pancakes. sadly i had to tell him no, but i did say that he should come back tomorrow, as that is when they are next on the menu. (although, now that i think about it, they might not be - 1 out of every 5 wednesdays is biscuits and gravy instead.) he then wished us a happy new year and went on his way.

and, of course, immediately after this interlude, the cook accused me of being a "flirter." what can i say? at least it put me in a better mood for the rest of the day.

good heavens and great scott

i got to work this morning and heard the generator running. not good. as i walked through the building to the time clock, it seemed like everything was on that should be on. upon coming back upstairs and getting to the kitchen, however, i learned that random things were working. dining room lights and coffe machine? check. kitchen lights? not so check. ovens and refrigerators? check. steamer and outlet for the blenders? nope, not check. microwave and ice machine? yep. dishwasher? yeah, no.
everywhere else was running into the same issues. bedrooms on the south side? yep. big bathroom on the south side? no. therapy room? yes. nurses station? no. laundry, phones, elevator, certain outlets (but not all - even in the same room, on the same wall)? no. offices? hit or miss.
it was crazy. better than having everything out like last time, but completely random.
then, before we even started serving breakfast, one of my co-workers went home sick. that was fine at the time because there was only so much we could do with no dishmachine, but when the electricity came back on at about 9:50 and we had to get caught up by 11:30 for lunch, it got a little harried.
and so it was that in the last 4 days i've had a half a day with not much electricity, one day working short-staffed, one day of grocery deliveries, 2 busy holidays, 2 days having to work overtime, 3 days with no lunch breaks, and 39 guests to top it off.

oh!

i almost forgot to post this, but he's canadian and it's boxing day,
so it still counts!

hey melilot,

if you go take a bath, perhaps you'll be ready to go to bed sometime. you know you lollygag in the tub and you dawdle after you get out. perhaps if you hurry you could be in bed by 9:00. highly doubtful, but you could at least try.
lovingly,
melilot

is there anything more annoying than swedish-american "humor?"

more from 'The Scandal of Sophie Dawes'

after describing the men she was involved with, you get this:
"Our third character is different in everything from these two amiable princes, almost overwhelmed by honours, riches, possessions, traditions, the pleasures and pains of ancient blood. Indeed, at first it would seem impossible that a being so humble, so wretched, so mean, could possibly mingle in the story of Condé and Orléans. But this miserable creature was a woman, and so all is explained."

lest the other guy i'm going to marry thinks i've forgotten him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-QBmHnjX44

Merry Christmas!

tolkien proverb/spiritual thought of the day

"Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder." - ROTK

so not my fault

so there i am, innocently liking 'chuck,' having said scout will like it, too, when all of a sudden i'm at target with hobbitsister and her girls. i'm off looking for a present for my mom, when my sister finds me and says, 'so do you have 'chuck?''
me: 'no, i've been watching it online.'
hs: 'oh.'
i walked over to where she had been looking at dvd's, and where my nieces now stood.
me: 'oh, season one is on sale. my target doesn't even have season one. hm...i don't know. what do you girls think?'
girls: 'i don't know.'
me: 'hm...i'm not good at buying impulsively. but i suppose i can always buy it cuz they have it here, and then return it at my target if i change my mind. hm...i do have a gift card from work.'
erma: 'so use that.'
me: 'hm...but i usually use it for something practical and then use the money to go to a twins game. hm...i don't know. it's right before Christmas. is it safe to get it?'
scout: 'i don't know.'
me: 'hm...i don't know.'
by now hobsis had joined us, ready to leave.
hobsis: 'are you getting it?'
me: 'hm...i don't know. i could buy it and then hem and haw at home. maybe that's what i'll do. yeah, i'll buy it and then think about it, and then i can return it.'
hobsis: 'but then we can't watch it!'
me: ah-ha! so that's what this is all about! got it. alright. i'll buy it and we can watch it tonight.

so yeah, it's not my fault.

my 'd' biography: sophie dawes - a floozy in the court of louis XVIII

i think i will enjoy this book (published in 1935).

"The history of an old fool of noble blood and a young slut from the gutter lacks any romantic appeal. On neither side was there any but ignoble passions, on that of the lover's half senile lust, on that of the mistress's vulgar greed for vulgar gains. Both of them were mediocre in everything...Her behavior towards her husband was that of the street urchin which she was; in this relationship as in all others her conduct was that of the woman of the streets - lying, violent, stupid...The worthlessness of Sophie Dawes and the squalor of her tale is duly recognized by the author who can hardly account for the fascination with which it has beguiled her and which she has tried to share with some possible reader." - from the foreward to "The Scandal of Sophie Dawes," by Marjorie Bowen

dear winter,

seriously?! you need to knock it off right now or i'll start to like summer better than you!
mel

oh! good news!

so i worked on my vacation day (after putting in 6+ extra hours the day before), the snow's up to my butt, it's 13 below, i lost my keys in the blizzard (i believe when cliff-diving over some plow heap), the blizzard does not include ice cream (we don't even have any in our house), church was cancelled, and the dome collapsed. the point is, i did NOT get any new cuts or skin breaking-open-ings at work today!!! :)

cool thing of the day

one of the housekeepers, who is muslim (though not necessarily practicing), asked me to pray for her today. she asked that when i go to church on sunday i will pray that GOD will help her get along with her boss, that her boss would be nice and that she would be sweet back. i told her i would.
'no, really, please pray for me.'
'i will.'
'i mean it. please pray.'
'i will.'
'you will?'
'yes.'
'really? you promise?'
'yes.'
and she beamed. :)

my left middle finger

yep. box cut today.

and thank heaven i went to the work Christmas party. i was debating between that and going to see 'tangled.' but i, the one who never wins everything, did win a wii last year, so i thought it might be worth going. if nothing else it was a free lunch and some blah present.
i was lucky again! i got a digital camera, which i had been debating getting at one point, but figured i don't take enough pictures to make it worth it. but if it's free...yay! :)

my poor hands

monday i got a paper cut on the very tip of my finger from some packaging that is about the same thickness as a jello package. that hurt. and still does. but of course no band-aid can go there, so yeah.
tuesday i was putting groceries away at work and got another finger slammed between a box and a cart, causing much bleeding. thankfully the nurse gave me three band-aids. because i used two on that, and then at the end of the day got another finger slammed in a produce bin (that had a tray of desserts on the top it, making it heavy), which then bled through wednesday.
speaking of which...on wednesday i had my original finger break open on the inside of the knuckle from the cold (wider than those cuts usually are, thus warranting another band-aid). and at the end of the day, when cutting an orange, i proceeded to cut my thumb, causing a day and a half of bleeding, meaning it warranted another band-aid.
so all told, by the end of the work day on wednesday, i had four band-aids: left thumb, left forefinger, right ring finger, and right pinky/top of the hand. and i needed a band-aid on my right ring finger because of that first paper cut.
thank heaven i had today off (with only two band-aids remaining on my hands).

chronicle of a break-up

my cute boyfriend

 busted

sad and lonely

thoughtfully determining that some things are worth fighting for

kicking some cigarette butt

nice-smelling

healthy

charming me back

happily ever after

the end

Thought of the day

The sermon today was about the WORD becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Pastor talked about how amazing it is that JESUS came to a world that rejected HIM to die the most excruciating death to save us all. Being the first Sunday of the month, it was communion, and as I stared at the Cup, thinking of JESUS' blood shed for us, it hit me: HIS blood. The blood of GOD the SON. And yet HE is the ONE Who bottles our tears. HE will wipe the tears from our eyes.
Our GOD is so amazingly loving and tender.

wait a second!

day three is close to over and melilot brandybuck has not wished her readers a happy hanukkah? what kind of jew is she? we must amend this now.

happy hanukkah, dear readers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSFv6IjEKo4

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

silly lady

one of my co-workers was baking m&m bars for the Christmas party. naturally, as i walked by i stole some dough (which she knew i would do - she checked the bowl to make sure there was still some in there for me to steal). after i took a bite i said, "i love dough."

"huh?"
"i love dough."
"oh! i thought you said 'i love joe.' i was trying to figure out where joe mauer came from."
"oh, no, i said dough. although i could've said joe. one doesn't need any excuse to declare one's love for joe, silly. he's just that wonderful."

just for Christmas fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtS3Rek3Dcw&feature=related

i'm thanking GOD for HIS protection

two weeks ago i was sick and couldn't go to chelley's. so we postponed to this week. and joy of joys, they started talking winter storm warning. but it was supposed to be in the evening, so i thought i could beat it. then yesterday they moved it to 5. then today they said, 'oh wait. right now.'
but i still wanted to go. i thought if i could just leave work early i could make it. sadly the earliest i could leave was 1:30 because today is the big Christmas party, so it was really busy. but leaving at all early would help. i asked GOD earlier in the day to please, if it wouldn't be safe for me to go, have it be snowing when i left work. at 1:30 we had seen no snow all day. i stepped out the door and there were a few flakes. 'surely, GOD, that can't count as snowing. i'm going to go home and pack now. i wasn't clear on what you said, so if i shouldn't go, please let the ground be completely covered by the time i'm done.'
i was packed and ready to go by 2:00. i brought my stuff downstairs and looked out the door. the ground was completely covered. but that was bound to happen, right? 'hm...how else can i ask GOD for a sign? what else can i ask HIM and have it be obvious. um...you know, gideon got two chances. and you always roll your eyes at him for asking GOD about the fleece thing twice. was the first answer not clear enough? maybe GOD already did answer you. maybe HE said you shouldn't go. maybe you shouldn't push it. if HE's told you twice not to go, and you go and something happens, whose stupid fault is that? let's try not dying today.'
and so i'm not going. :(
but i am thankful for GOD's protection.

Prayer Ministry Update

Hm...so last time I said it was going pretty well. Yeah, this time I can't say that. A few weeks ago I got very behind. So I decided to just stop for that week and get caught up by starting again the following Wednesday. Small problem. That Wednesday was the day before Thanksgiving, so I was helping to clean the house and whatnot so I didn't think about it. Then it was Thanksgiving, so I was busy and didn't think about it. Then I was housesitting for a few days, thus out of my normal routine, and once again didn't think about it. But I did start again last night and prayed today, so hopefully I can keep it up. I still can't get over what a funny match this is. But the ways of GOD seem foolish to men, so, there we go.