January's already gone

Where did it go? We've survived another holiday season and the bills that come with it! ha. My friend's marital situation has not improved, but it hasn't deteriorated any more that I'm aware of. My children are healthy and my husband is still employed. His employer is not laying off so that's good. Unfortuantely, Texas Instruments IS laying off and friends from church are affected. We must pray that they get new jobs quickly.

We had an ice day this week and the boys were off from school. That means one extra day of school at the end of the year, or a lost in-service day for the staff/faculty. I hope it's the latter and not the former.

My oldest attended a youth weekend at our church last weekend. The emphasis was on purity and maintaining abstinence until marriage. My oldest doesn't even like girls yet. He participated in the weekend, but not in the committment ceremony that our youth pastor led. In a year or two, we'll see if he wishes to participate, but I didn't think an 11 yr. old needed to make that kind of promise -- yet.

Not much else to report.

Oh -- I have make valentines for my youngest to take to school and give out. I think they turned out very well. Here's they are: 1) is for his teacher and 2) is a sample of the ones he's distributing. And just for the record, the red card stock has hearts stamped on it. The scan just didn't pick that up.

Disappointed

I am a volunteer librarian at my church. Tonight I learned that we are losing our dedicated space. I am very, very disappointed. I have worked as a volunteer librarian for about 4 years. Our current buliding campaign has fallen short, so we'll not be adding the additional meeting spaces as previously scheduled. So in the interim we will NOT be expanding and therefore the library space is needed for additional Sunday school meeting space.

I am sad that this has happened. I understand how the economy has caused this, and I hope that we are in a better place financially as a church soon, so that we are not without a dedicated library space for long. However, I feel for the previous librarian who workd SO very hard to get the space (that we're losing) planned and built.

We're being shunted to a hallway. Ugh. I wonder how many items will go walkabout before the new library is built. I'm sad, but will help until the transition is complete. I may resign at that point. I"ll see what God has to say about it.

Stamping today

I finally got around to creating a card or two today. I like this one the most. I CASEd it from Andrea Walford's blog at www.andreawalford.com

Feeling slighty better

I've talked to my friend at various times this week. She sounds stronger. She's getting good advice from various people. She has a doctor's appointment set up to insure her health has not been compromised. She's got a counseling session set up for herself and her husband.

I was stunned to realize that its only been one week since this bombshell hit. It feels like much, much longer.

I am out of the shock phase now and have had to return to MY life. Christmas is packed away, house projects are on the calendar, various phone calls have been made to tradesmen that will help complete various projects.

The boys are back in school and we had a great time at our youngest's elementary school this morning. They kicked off college week by having staff and faculty members sing their school fight songs. There is only one staff/faculty member there from my university. She emailed a plea to parents last week and our university had the largest number of volunteers up there to sing the school fight song. It was lots of fun. The kids very attentive all morning listening to all of the songs. I hope this spurs them to think about higher education and to want to be a part of that.

I was proud of my 2nd grader. He sang along when my university reps. were up there singing. He's a hoot.

Feeling awful

I have learned from a very, very good friend that her husband has cheated on her. I am devastated for her. I am so angry at him I can't even speak about it. The shock wore off last night at bedtime and I cried and cried for her. He's broken a sacred trust or bond and knowing him, he's sad -- but because he got caught.

Oh the thoughts and feelings that I've had this week. A good Christian friend, Tena, told me to pray for my own marriage whenever I stop to pray for my friend's. Tena has seen what happens to marriages that are collateral damage from infidelities. She's wise to tell me to pray for my own marriage.

I've talked to my friend, told her I'll pray for her. They have two children, so I'm praying for protection for them -- to not realize what's going on. And I'm praying that my friend's health has not been compromised in any way.

If you feel inclined to pray for them, please do so.

January leads to plans...

many of which never come to fruition. However, I hope that a few of these to this year. I have personal goals which I don't post for anyone to review -- well, just the previous mention about weaning myself off of Diet Coke. I expect that to take awhile, as the hubby likes to have them in the house.

But I have some house projects that I'd like to tackle this year.

The first project is already started since I got a new washer and dryer for Christmas. That required the removal of the old appliances and that led to a paint job over Dec. 23rd and 24th. Ugh. But now that I've lived with the layout, I want to get an electrician and a plumber in to rework the connections in my laundry room. That will allow for a better layout and that will then allow me to put in shelving or cabinetry. Whichever is easiest to put in. I hope to find stock cabinets/shelving to use.

The second project is to get some pull out drawers built into a few of the kitchen cabinets, so my life is easier in there.

And the third project is to finally, finally get bookshelves floor to ceiling in our office. Ikea has some nice bookshelves that we discovered last night. And the total cost of the project using Ikea products would be a fraction of getting built-in bookcases made.

After those projects, the master bedroom/bathroom painting/improvement is next on the list.

I hope to tackle one project per month, and do these on a cash basis. I hate credit cards and the cycle they get people into. Besides, to have the improvements in the house paid for when they are completed is more than half of the satisfaction I'll get from the proejcts.

Realistically, these four projects will probably take the first six months of the year. But if I can do them and pay as I go, that will be wonderful.

Happy New Year..

to everyone!

A day of TV viewing for me....The Tournament of Roses parade, followed by various college fooball bowl games.

A blog buddy has said she's giving up Cokes. I think I need to join her. I have a friend who did that and lost about 15 lbs. just from cutting out Cokes. I'll see how bad the headaches get.