Wasn't Meant To Be

Something weird happened to me, and I don't think there's anything I can do about it.  Do you recall a few months ago when I mentioned I won a giveaway for a custom blog design from another blogger?  Well, I never heard from the blogger.  I left a comment on her post with my email address, as well as sending her an email that same day.  Then a few weeks later after not hearing from her, I sent yet another email.  A friendly sort of - Hey, maybe you forgot about me because you're really busy and that's fine - email.  But I've never heard from her.

I just wonder what happened.  It doesn't make sense.  I'm in no way out to get the blogger.  I won't tell you who she is, and I've already deleted the post where I announced I won the design because it isn't my intention to cast her in a bad light.  People are fallible, and somehow this giveaway got goofed up for reasons I don't understand.

So I don't get a custom blog design after all, and needless to say, I'm disappointed.  I was soooo looking forward to a new design that has LIZ written all over it... you know?  It just wasn't meant to be, I guess.

More Vacation

My vacation has been going fine.  I got over my stomach bug, so I spent much of Saturday with my mom.  My parents took me to lunch at Chili's, and then Mom took me to Coldstone Creamery later while Dad took a nap.  We even ran to a department store and found a cute jean skirt for me at a great price.

Today I spent time with my sister.  We went to a ceramics studio and painted pottery for a couple hours.  I wasn't very confident with the colors I chose for my piece until it was almost finished.  When it was completed, I loved it.  It's going to be even cooler once it's been fired.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

After pottery we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for lunch.  We were going to try a dessert called a banana chimichanga, but the waitress said it was huge even if we split it.  They wrap a banana in a tortilla, fry it, and put ice cream and whipped cream all over it.  Doesn't that sound fabulous?  Kathy wasn't up to it, so I ordered a small slice of cake to share with her instead. 

After I left her, I went over to visit a friend I don't get to see very often.  I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with her.

Rich and I are now planning an overnight getaway for Thursday and Friday.  We've made the reservations and everything.  My parents are going to babysit Dixie while we're gone.  I think they can handle it.  Hopefully, Dixie can too.

And that's how things are shaping up...

Feeling Groggy

I'm feeling somewhat better today because my fever went down, but my head is groggy.  Definitely not up to par.  I managed to make myself some pancakes for breakfast from a mix.  I had a craving, so I decided to go with it.  I'm not sure what I'll be eating for lunch.  I only shopped for a couple items this week, since I was supposed to be gone.  Rich was gonna pick up food as he wanted it.  About the only thing here to eat is grilled cheese.  I'm wondering if I have the strength to drive out to grab some fast food.  It's only 5 minutes away.  I'm not sure my head could take it, though.

Rich finally put all my baggage in the other bedroom.  It had all been out in the living room yesterday, but I didn't have the strength to do anything with it.  I noticed this morning that it had been moved.

This is the longest I've been sitting up in over 24 hours, but I'm feeling tired again.  I think I'm going to go nap awhile.

The Best Laid Plans

You'll never believe what has happened.  I still can't believe it myself.  I started feeling nauseous and had an upset stomach yesterday afternoon in the midst of packing.  This morning I felt horrible, so I took my temperature.  I had a fever of 99.6. 

So... my road trip to Virginia is off.  I was going to go with my friend Judy to see her daughter's family.  They just moved there a couple weeks ago.

It's less than exciting to spend your first day of vacation in bed all day long.  Bleck!  My fever shot up this afternoon to 101.3. 

Once I get over this bug, I'll be thinking of other ways to fill my vacation days.  I wouldn't mind doing some shopping or spending time with family.

Well, I can't stay on the computer much longer.  I just feel so yucky.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Vacation... Here I Come!

My vacation officially begins Thursday morning.  Or you could say it officially begins when I leave the church office at noon today.  Either way, I'm almost there.

It has been a tough week for me, and I'm really ready to go away.  REALLY ready.  A friend of mine has moved away temporarily, and it's been rough dealing with my emotions and the emotions of my friends who are feeling the pain that comes with separation.

Vacation is giving me something new to look forward to.  I am going out of town.  Very much out of town, in fact.  Farther than I've been in a long time.  Let's see, I went to Disney World in October of 2000, so it's been just about 8 years since I have gone farther than a 4-hour trip.  But lest I get your hopes up for me, I'm not going to Disney World.  (Sorry, Amanda.)

I'm feeling pretty well prepared to head out early in the morning because I've made a list of what I needed to buy and what I didn't want to forget to pack.  I'm gonna throw all my stuff into a couple bags this afternoon, and I'll be ready. 

Whoever knows me in real life, please check on my husband while I'm gone.  Although he was accustomed to bachelorhood before our marriage, I'm leaving him for 10 days, and we've never been apart from each other for more than 2 days.  I'm purposely putting those thoughts out of my head, so as not to make my departure difficult.  I'm gonna miss him.... and Dixie, my baby girl!  {sigh}

I'll try to take some good pictures of my travels to share with you.  I anticipate I'll see some interesting sights en route to my destination.

So hang around.  I'm sure I'll be blogging on location...

It's Time

Guess who's going to take a vacation.  Yep, me!  I'm finally going to use up some of my vacation time in the next two weeks.  I usually take a week sometime during the year and save up the rest for Christmastime.

Now for the next question I know that each and every one of you is going to ask.  What am I going to do on my vacation?  Well, my friends, that is where I will leave you in suspense.  You're going to have to wait and see.  I will let you in on this much, though.  I've made arrangements for my piano duties to be filled at church next Sunday because I won't be there. {gasp}

I am looking forward to my vacation time.  I sure could use the downtime to be refreshed and encouraged, even to gain a fresh perspective in my spiritual life.  I've been going through a season of trial and spiritual growth, and I think vacation is going to be a time for reflecting and renewing my resolve to fight the fight of faith.

Hang with me.  I'll be sharing more.

A Weekend Recap

I had a very full weekend, and I'm still tired from all of it. 

On Sunday our church celebrated its 20th year.  Now there is a lot that goes into preparing for a big anniversary celebration at church, but I will spare you the details of the very awful morning I had Friday as I was trying to prepare the bulletin, which included printing, folding, and stuffing 275 of them by hand.  My own two little hands.  Normally I only prepare 130, so you can see how I might have had my work cut out for me.  Especially when you have errors in the first bulletin printing and have to throw them all away, all 275 of them, and start over 45 minutes before quitting time.  Yep, I will just spare you of that very ugly story.

Sunday was a very exciting day, but a busy one for me as the pianist.  Our first senior pastor was invited to speak, as well as our former associate pastor, who moved away almost a year ago.  We had several folks come for services who used to attend, so it was a good time of reunion.  Needless to say, our church was FULL.  We managed well, though.  Nobody was spilling out into the aisles or anything.

We had our dinner catered, and it was so good.  The weather was great... mid-70's, breezy, sunshine... very nice for eating outside under a tent.

We also changed up our services.  Rather than having an evening service at 6:00, we moved it up to 2:00 so people could stay after church and play games and such. 

Rich and I didn't stay to play.  I didn't have any play left in me after piano duties, singing special music, and all the emotions of the day.  We went home and relaxed, and while relaxing, we decided to order pizza and wings, too.  Because that would create even greater feelings of relaxation.  We were all about the relaxation.  Apparently I was hungry, and Rich didn't mind pointing out that I had eaten more than him.  Whatever.  A girl has to renew her strength after a day like that.

At 7:00 the exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was pretty weird.  I was able to fight it off with some Diet Pepsi and then a little ice cream (low fat, of course).  I managed to get a second wind and stayed up until 11:00.  Yeah, I'm crazy that way.

So now it's Tuesday, and I'm still tired.  Does anyone know how to cure tired?

{Yawn}

My Latest Discoveries

Hey, have you missed me?  It's okay if you say no.  Just so as you know that I've missed you.

How appropriate that my blog is called Discovering Liz because I sure am making some more discoveries about myself.  Here are the latest:

Discovery #1:  I prefer Hazelnut creamer to French Vanilla.  I've been drinking Hazelnut for months, and yesterday I bought French Vanilla because that's what I used to drink.  Well...it seems like my taste buds have become accustomed to Hazelnut, and we will be switching back ASAP.  Until the switch is made, I have no idea how this will affect my morning office routine.  It may just throw me off entirely.  {sigh}

Discovery #2:  If you become a runner and then stop running for a week or longer, your body will revolt.  I cannot believe the aching in the back of my legs as I sit in this chair right now.  I've been feeling this for days, and this is unacceptable.  And is it possible that my thighs have increased by 2 inches in size?  Good grief, I think my jeans are cutting off the circulation in my legs!  I better get myself right over to the park and run my little heart out.  It seems this has become a matter of survival now.

Discovery #3:  I like tapioca pudding.  Why did it take near to 36 years of my life to find this out?  Could it be that parents do an injustice to their young children when they tease them and describe tapioca as fish eyes or fish eggs?  What child in their right mind is going to try anything described as fish eyes? 

That's why it is often of great benefit in adulthood to surround yourself with the kind of people who influence you to self-improvement and to see things differently from your preconceived notions, which is the method by which I came to the knowledge of the tapioca enjoyment.  A small circle of friends had a discussion over the tapioca one day.  Is it a root?  Is it a grain?  What is it exactly?  {It was a very spiritual conversation indeed.}  I took it upon myself to look it up on Wikipedia.  Seems it is derived from a root, and when tapioca grains are cooked they are described as pearls.  Pearls of tapioca.  Not eyes.  Nothing to do with fish.  Pearls!  Now, a girl can get into pearls, let me tell you.  So the next time I hit the Chinese buffet, I was trying the tapioca.  I liked it!  Guess what's in my fridge now...

Now go out and have a good day.  Eat some tapioca.  I highly recommend it.

A Storm is Brewing

The tornado sirens are blaring now.  Do you think I should live-blog the storm on its way?  I'm just watching the weather right now to see how close it is to my town.  It's still minutes away. 

I'm not so much afraid of the incoming storm.  I'm more annoyed that I'm supposed to go to the basement.  I'm also annoyed that this tornado warning is in effect until 11:00, and I'm REALLY TIRED tonight.  I just want to go to bed, not stay up for another 35 minutes to see if a tornado is heading for my house.

Rich just got up to see if he was hearing a fire engine or a tornado warning siren.  I told him it's a tornado warning, and he just went back to bed.  You can see we're having the good times here tonight in Indiana.

Woot!  {read that with sarcasm}

On Being a Church Secretary

Thank goodness for Ronnica, who is trying to give me some hints on blog topics.  She asked me to talk about the favorite part of my job.

I have mentioned it a time or two before, but in case you haven't heard, I'm a church secretary.  I work part-time, just 20 hours a week, and I wouldn't really want it any other way.  I like part-time. 

There's something I must tell you, though, right from the get-go.  I am a terrible secretary.  Awful!  I'm positive I was born to do something else because I don't do very well on the phone and filing is not exactly my forte.  In fact, labeling files usually makes me nauseous, and I have no idea why.  You can see that my church is in very capable hands, can't you?  {ahem}

I do enjoy organization to a varying degree, but it sort of depends on the circumstance.  When you work at a church, keeping things organized is an ongoing job.  Every time the church doors are open, there is sure to be stuff left behind that needs to be rearranged, put away, or thrown away.  And the Lost & Found bin?  Seems like things are mostly lost and hardly ever found.  For example, there is a pair of glasses someone left behind weeks ago.  We have left them out in full view on the greeter's desk in the foyer for everybody to see when they walk through.  You can't miss them.  It's been four weeks since, and they are yet to be claimed by anybody.  Don't you think a person would know they lost their glasses and come back for them?  Things like that puzzle me.

What I enjoy the most, though, is computer work.  Could you have guessed that about me?  I like creating documents, tables, and working on Excel sheets, as long as they are simplistic, mind you.  Editing the Sunday bulletin is definitely my niche.

Of course, if there's any purchasing to be done, I always go online first to see if I can locate the item.  I love shopping online!

Now my favorite thing that I love, better than anything else about my job, is that there is a Starbucks right around the corner from the church, and I can grab a tall, nonfat, raspberry mocha with whip any day of the week.  But I have a feeling that isn't exactly the answer Ronnica was looking for.  Hey, you must admit it's definitely a fringe benefit!