Living Blossoms

+ Finding the little discrepancy that has halted my financial reports is very fulfilling... even though it is my fault the discrepancy was there in the first place.

+ My haircut looks SO GOOD. I keep thinking, "Why didn't I do this sooner?" and then I remember the whole long-enough-to-donate thing.

+ I adore so many of the songs we're singing in church this Sunday. I wish I had mp3s of all of them so I could make a playlist.

+ Speaking of singing in church this Sunday: I will be the loudest person singing the melody. This could be interesting.

+ Necesito para ir a la playa. Pronto. I have not been there nearly enough this summer.

+ Today was one of those days that just needed iced coffee. God rocks for putting us in a house a block from a McDonald's.

+ Rock Band party tonight! I plan to rock the mic, yo.

+ You know how some movies just need to be watched with certain friends? I can't tell you how strongly I'm considering driving all the way to Tampa to watch Julie & Julia with modmerseygirl. What do you think, Kim?

+ The Europe trip was just a dream. I know it. Who really gets to take three weeks off work to travel around Europe? Didn't I dream the cold, rainy, scarf weather in London and the history of kings and queens of England? the Parisian dinners of fresh baked baguette, cheese, and cider after seeing priceless history? gelato every day and sites of amazing ancient importance in Italy? seeing sites so ancient they were before the birth of Jesus after breakfasts on our balcony overlooking so many flowers and the ocean and mountains visible in the distance in Greece? sharing it all, 24/7, with my lover and best friend? Yes. It was all a dream. The best dream. I would like to dream it again, please.

+ We just did devotions together for the first time in ages. It helps that I finally found my Quiet Time that went missing in September. It was under the couch... where Isaac and I had both checked more than once. Isaac prayed for our child who may already be out there somewhere and of course I started crying. There is nothing guaranteed to make me cry other than adoption. I wasn't this bad till we went to the orphanage in El Salvador. It's just so REAL now. I really, really understand why God placed it in our hearts to do this, and I feel much less defective for not having always daydreamed about being pregnant and having kids that look like me.

+ We finally took our Christmas stuff down today. The dining room looks so big without the tree in there! It's kinda sad to have it gone for another 11 months.

+ 4 more Swagbucks and I can get $25 in Amazon gift certificates! And Isaac's account has enough for $5 for Amazon or Starbucks. I'm planning a trip to Knoxville to get together with some friends (woo-hoo!), which I will need airfare for, so I may hold onto mine and keep saving for the $50 Southwest gift card. It's hard though. There are lots of things I could buy from Amazon with $25. If you'd like to earn things just for searching as you would with Google, sign up here! Then when you win, I win. And when the friends you refer win, you win!

+ I had a really unhealthy day today. I ate leftover shrimp and fettuccine alfredo for lunch and then thick crust white pizza for dinner. Good thing I went for a 5-mile bike ride yesterday and a 3-mile walk today! I really love walking to work. I don't know why I waited so long to try it.

+ Did I ever post on here that I figured out the savings from my CVSing? My Aug. 30-Dec. 31 CVSing total out of pocket cost was $50.51 and I saved $863.32! I would've spent over $77 on stuff like milk, gum, tissues, etc. anyway, and that's not even counting the makeup, tons of toothpaste, medicine, etc. that I have gotten that we'll use eventually. I've also made $10 of my out of pocket cost back from Ebay auctions and will be getting $27 back from rebates - so it's like I've only spent $13.51. And I have two nice blood glucose meters to sell on Ebay which will probably fetch another $10 each, so I'll come out getting all that stuff and having spent nothing. Freaking awesome.

+ Isaac came to work with me for 5 hours Tuesday night. We are in the process of switching the church's financials from Quicken to Quickbooks. I can already tell that it's far more user friendly, and I hardly know what I'm doing yet! We also began a bit of the year end stuff which has been stressing me out. I think it will actually be okay though, with his help. I'm so grateful for him. I could never have taken the treasurer position without him being an accountant and being kind enough to help me.

+ Seth has declared me the coolest sister ever. Not only did I buy him a case of Cheerwine in NC, but I also gave him a set of headphones for his phone (well, actually I traded for a 2GB micro SD card) and made him some ringtones. So basically? I'm the bomb. Hehe.

+ GO GATORS!!!

+ So, I got all the work done that I could do today in a little over 7 hours. I picked Isaac up from home on my way back from Orange Park (where I got stuff for church, so I count it as work time) and he worked on his laptop on my desk while I worked assembling notebooks and letters at my counter. That was nice - I could just turn around and lean over and kiss him. He was kind enough to stuff and seal the envelopes for me as I did other work, which is why I got out of there in under 8 hours. I just have the bulletin and sermon PowerPoint to do on Saturday evening, which means I may get to do more at Fellowship Group than just eat. Yay!

+ Wednesday nights are such awesome TV nights. Pushing Daisies, Criminal Minds (most Wednesdays, but, sadly, not tonight), Law & Order, and Bones to watch online tomorrow or Friday. I just heard the other day that Pushing Daisies is canceled though. Sad. But at least we get to finish this season - unlike what happened to Journeyman last year.

+ So apparently the friends I referred to Swagbucks had a good day too. Instead of being up to 83 points, I'm up to 99! ROCK ON! I'm 1/4 of the way to a $50 Southwest Airlines GC! Thanks to all who've joined under me.

+ Yesterday as I walked to work I saw a sign on a church a few blocks from our house that Tim Hawkins is coming there on Dec. 15! Tim Hawkins is tied with Brian Regan for my favorite comedian. We will so be there to see him! I can't wait. (If you haven't heard of him, look him up on YouTube.) If I hadn't walked to work, I wouldn't have known about this! Walking to work is fun too because Ken and John (youth pastor) walk by my office and look confused - "Wait - I didn't know you were here. Where's your car?" Hehe.

+ I'm wearing a magenta sweater with pretty big (larger than a nickel) jeweled flower buttons today. It's a recent thrift store find, originally from Express, and part angora, so it's really soft. It is SO not traditional Bethany (did I mention it's magenta and has big jeweled flower buttons?), but I love it! Speaking of recent thrift store finds that I love, those 3 pairs of $3 jeans that I got at a recent storewide 50% off sale have pretty much been worn every day since I got them. This is now my Holy Grail brand and size, I think. I hope they still fit when I lose the inches off my hips.

+ I uploaded my potential commercial comp. card photos to Facebook, and would love your opinions on them. If you have a FB, you can leave comments there. If you don't, please let me know here which ones you like best. I need to know which ones are people's faves so I can choose which ones to have printed to show to Suzi. I may end up printing them all... unless there're some no one likes at all. With prints running 19¢ each, if there are just 5 I don't print, that's saving $1. Yeah, I'm cheap. Did I mention paying upwards of $5K for a new roof this week?  =o/

+ I listed some of my CVSing goodies and shoes I barely wore on Ebay. If any of you wear a size 10 shoe, or 11 if you like knee-high boots, check out my auctions. *crosses fingers that it'll all sell*

+ I think getting more cardio has been helping me sleep better. I haven't been laying awake for hours any night since I started walking everywhere. That's a big praise!

+ I've been seriously craving Gilmore Girls lately. I would start watching them again if I wasn't already working my way through Buffy for the first time since it aired. Heh. Maybe I can do both at once?

+ Well, I need to go finish up my laundry and pack for Charleston. We're leaving EARLY, so the next time I update will be from there.  =o)

+ The copier is making a strange noise. I've never heard it make this particular noise before. Pleeease don't be a bad sign. *hopes*

+ I walked to work today. Well, actually, I walked to Chick-Fil-A, which is 1.5 miles from my house, and then to church, which is .4 miles from that. This morning we walked 1.5 miles to the mechanic to pick up Isaac's no-longer-a-death-trap car. Walking is not high impact, but it is cardio. The days have been so gorgeous lately, too - perfect walking weather. I like to think I'm saving on gas money too, but with gas at $1.79/gallon, I'm really not saving much. (But I am NOT complaining about gas being cheap again!) Still, it will hopefully help shrink my hips. (Chick-Fil-A, however, will not. LOL. Though I did barely manage to resist their new Peppermint Chocolate Milkshake...) I've walked about 7 miles in 3 days. Not bad.

+ How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was fantastic. Seriously - one of the best in many years. We woke up early (sad), and decided we wanted cinnamon rolls (happy). So, we walked to Winn-Dixie and got some Pillsbury ones. Seth's friend Justin is staying with us, and Seth spent the night that night, so we shared with them. *glares* Hehe. We went to AAAC's around noon for Thanksgiving dinner. This was the first time Ange has hosted it (and the first time they've had a house to do it in) and the girl seriously outdid herself. It was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. My whole family was there except NN&J (who live in Indiana), and so were Ange's half-sister, and her brother, his girlfriend, and their two kids. In all the years I've known Ange, I had not met her brother until yesterday.

After lunch we watched the Lions game till we couldn't take it anymore (for the non-football-inclined, the Lions are having the worst season ever. They have not won one game, and it looks like they will not be winning any at all. And who did they play yesterday? The team who's only lost one game! Oh, it was so sad. BUT - I thought they were only going to score 3 points, but instead they scored 10. The score was 47-10. That's not even as bad as a Gators game, so I didn't have to cry. LOL.), we went for a walk around a nearby reservoir, where we saw an alligator! I had never seen one in Jax before. There are lots of them in the lake at WOL FL, but I hadn't seen one since we moved from there. This was a little one - 4 feet at the most - but it was so cool!

After that we played a bit of Rock Band, and then Ange and I wanted to hit CVS for their amazing free stuff. Ashley and Tanya were curious how we get so much free stuff, so they came with us. CVSing with other people is so much fun! I had always done it alone. Though with 4 people, 2 of whom were n00bs, it took forever. They were so lost at first but quickly got it down. We had amazing cashiers, too, who were bored till we got there, and then they had 4 cute girls to entertain them. LOL. Ashley and Tanya were totally floored at how much they got for hardly more than their initial buy-in of $5.98 + tax. I got a ton of stuff, too. I had to pay $3.68 because I only had 27 ECBs, but I got 47 ECBs back, plus all my stuff, so it was worth it! What a great time!

When we finally finished cleaning up at CVS, we went back to AAAC's. We ate leftovers for dinner, played a few rounds of Pass the Pigs, and then Isaac and I went home to join Seth and Justin for a viewing of Hancock. I liked it, but I'm kinda glad now that we were never able to go see it in the theater. I tell ya though, there was a twist I totally did not see coming. Tonight we're going to watch Kung Fu Panda! It's nice having 3 Redboxes within a block away. Heh.

+ This morning we woke up early to go out for breakfast at a restaurant near our house (yep - we walked to that too) with most of Ange's family, and Mom and Grams. Then we hit the thrift store, where everyone found multiple things. Yes, we all did our Black Friday shopping at the thrift store. LOL. There was no one camped out there. Go figure. ;o)

+ Seth said he wants to see Twilight, so yay - maybe I won't have to see it alone after all! We may go tomorrow. I think it's hilarious that Seth - a teenage college guy - is willing to go see it with me, and Isaac - a long-married man - is not. Hehe.

+ Wow - apparently the days of Long Bethany Posts have returned. Oh, the memories. =o)

+ Work today was semi-exciting, because I sort of redid the bulletin. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, because the copier made it look funny, but it's still better than the old one.

+ I had a blast with hominygrits on Wednesday! I basically met an entire side of her extended family (a set of grandparents and a few aunts and cousins, plus her parents and brother), and had a great time doing so. They are all a lot of fun and welcomed me right into their family vacation. Most of them were either currently or originally from Boston, too, so all the New England accents made me feel like I was with my in-laws. So great. I was a bit worried about meeting Emily since I don't know her as well as most of the LJ friends I've met in person, but there was still no conversation lag or anything. We just had fun. AND I found a sand dollar! Intact! I never have before. So that was a little extra bonus.

+ I have officially decided that Bones is the most disgusting show on television. CSI may have pushed the boundaries for showing gross things on TV, but Bones has taken it to a whole new level. I should've counted how many times they've shown bowels that are, uh, disemboweled. Nasty. But, I do love the show. Very much.

+ So I knew melyndie was cool, but I didn't know how cool. Then I found out she's a big Gilmore Girls fan. And then I found out she's a Logan girl all the way! We both see WAY too much angst and emo-ness in Jess and Dean. I think she's the only other Logan fan I know, unless some of you are hiding in the closet of Logan-love.

+ Isaac and I have mostly given up eating out until Seth gets home from WOLBI, 'cause we know that with him back home just for a few weeks, and with Melody coming to visit, we're going to be eating out extra. (We've gotta take them to Dave & Buster's, The Landing, Wasabi...) The only way we're allowed to eat out before they're here is if someone else goes too. Then we can use the excuse of fellowshipping. Hehe. Anyway, last night I made up a recipe for baked chicken that turned out really good, and paired it with some potato wedges that were amazing. I will definitely be making those again. We're really going to try to curb our eating out anyway, 'cause then we can save more money for Europe (and termites and the roof and - well, you know the list by now). We'll see how long it lasts though. Hehe.

+ Speaking of Pippy - er, Seth - he graduates a week from tomorrow! Anyone else think this year has gone by at warp speed? Yeah. If not, you do realize it's officially August now, right?

+ My icon makes me want to watch Newsies. Well, actually, I've been wanting to watch it again for quite a while. Who's up for a Newsies party at my house?

+ Last night neither Isaac nor I could fall asleep. That's really unusual; usually he's out 5 minutes after he gets in bed, and I'm usually up for quite a while wishing I was like him. After doing the usual thing married people do when they can't fall asleep (watch TV, duh. Get your mind out of the gutter. Okay, actually, leave it there... but we watched TV too. ;o) ), we talked about a lot of stuff. We were coming up with retorts for when rude strangers comment about our (future) kids, with varying skin colors, belonging to us whiteys. That was fun. Yesterday I searched for adoption stuff on CafePress, and found this awesome shirt for kids that says, "Don't tell my parents, but they don't look anything like me." LOL! I'm so going to buy that for our kids. I also really liked the one that said, "Superman was adopted." Hehe.

+ Oh yes, and six of you think I smell like pickles. I'm not really sure how to take that. I was not surprised at those of you who chose that option (I'm looking at you, pair of curly-haired sisters), though I was surprised that only six were unable to resist temptation. ;o) Oh yes, and the clear winner for Mandy pictures was this one. It had 23 votes. The next closest had only 5! I think I might enter two though, so now I can't decide whether the second should be this one or this one. (The picture(s) I submit is not the actual one that will be used on the calendar. They will take pro photos for that.) I like the one y'all chose because it shows her prettiness, but one of the other two shows her cuteness. And yes, I do love my dog a bit too much. Hehe. Any thoughts on which of those two photos I should use?

*My subject line references this hilarious video. Watch it if you haven't yet.

• This icon makes me laugh every time I see it. Did I mention yet how much I love that movie (Enchanted)? If my subject line got that song in your head, you might as well listen to the whole thing. ;oD

• I'm singing in the worship team again this week (two in a row! Go me! Er, actually, go usual singers who are sick or gone. Hehe.), and we are singing some great songs this week. I mean, we always do, but there's an abundance of 'em this week. Even though practice went long, it put me in such a good mood. "Oh, it's amazing what praising can do..." Wow, that brings me way back into my childhood.

• I'm watching an episode of Doctor Who, and once again the bad guys are the Daleks. It's like on Star Trek: Voyager, how you could pretty much trace everything back to the Borg. It's a bit boring when there's a default big bad. (And, yes, I think I just removed the last ounce of coolness in y'all's eyes, right? I hope I have at least endeared myself to my in-laws, and/or lilia2000's dad. LOL.)

• I went to Ross yesterday and bought only workout shorts and underwear. So sad. At least it's cute underwear. Ross is great for that.

• This site has the most awesome t-shirts ever. I got Isaac this one. He said he can't wait to wear it to the gym. Hehe. (P.S. If you find a shirt you like, be sure to buy it through the first link I put, 'cause that'll get you 20% off.)

• Dude. I just found out that one of the Shanes in Shane & Shane married Bethany Dillon. It's always weird to me when famous people marry other famous people - not sure why, since non-famous people marring non-famous people doesn't faze me at all.

• Speaking of famous people, I just looked up who got booted from American Idol last night. I'm SHOCKED! And bummed. But I think this person will still have a successful career if they pursue it.

• Well, wasn't this just a pointless little entry?