Bring It On!

The only thing I dread about summer is never having the right shoes.  Maybe that's because I'm picky about the fit and the style.  I'm not sure how all you gals wear those flip flops.  I just can't stand that little thong rubbing between my toes.  Do you build up a callous or something?  I really want to be "hip" and "with it" along with all of you, but when I try them on, all I imagine is having blisters by day 2 of trying to break them in.

It always takes me forever to find that ONE sandal I will wear to death for a season.  Last year I never even had to shop because my sister had bought a pair for $10 and then decided they didn't really fit her well.  I gave her $10 and took them off her hands.  I was pretty pleased with that, and I wore them a lot.  The only others I wear every year are my Birkenstocks that hang on year after year.  They're pretty much a staple.

Well, this summer, life as my feet know it is going to be different.  They are going to be stylin' because wait until you see what I did today.

The superstore where Rich works was having a special Saturday sale.  The shoes were "Buy One, Get One for $1".  The last time I took advantage of that deal was about 6 months ago when I got two pairs of running shoes.  Nothing like saving $70!  So he told me to get over there today and see about some shoes.  I went, not knowing what I really need.  I haven't pulled any spring clothes out yet because it's just been too cold.  But if your husband says to go buy shoes, I really think a wife ought to submit to that, no matter how hard it is to shop.

Well, look at what I came home with, and tell me if I did good or not.

 

First, I found these.  Oh, so comfortable!!

 

Then I found these.  I never would've bought these, but they were only $1!

 

Then there were these, which I thought would be good with jeans or capris.

And finally, I just HAD to have these and would not have bought them in a million years because they just don't seem practical.  But you can't go wrong when they're Buy One, Get One for $1.  They're my favorite of all 4.

Now, did I mention how much my little shopping spree cost after our employee discount and a special 20% off coupon?  No?  Well, how does 40 DOLLARS sound?  My receipt said I saved $69.  My feet have never been sooo ready for summer before.  Time to paint those toenails! 

Summer?  BRING IT ON!

About the Socks

Dear Friend (you know who you are),

Thank you for always respecting my love for the Mouse. Not everyone sympathizes with my longing for the Happiest Place on Earth. It really is a magical place. You just have to believe. Some only mock. I shudder to think of it.

But you have always nurtured my desire for all things Disney, and I appreciate that so much. Like today when you gave me these...

Nothing says I love you like a pair of Mickey socks.

Thanks,

Liz

3/31/08 - Secretarial Woes

When you're a church secretary you never know what you're going to encounter when you walk into your office on Monday morning.  There have been many days when I wished I had taken a camera to work, just so I could show somebody the mess left behind on my desk.  It's not uncommon to find sermon tapes, a phone book, money envelopes, the phone turned around, a set of keys, a library book, an earring, and somebody's glasses lying in the middle of my blotter for me to sort through for the first five minutes before I can even sit down and drink my Tall Nonfat Raspberry Mocha check messages.  That's not to say that some of those things aren't legitimate items that should be left on my desk.  It's just not my favorite thing to face directly on a Monday morning.  I would just as soon find at least the phone book put away, the telephone put back where it belongs, and the library book in, say, the library.

With all that said, today was a typical Monday morning with plenty of paraphernalia to greet me.  And then came the ultimate woe.  I must say that something has been frustrating me for days, if not a week, but it was just sitting in the back of my mind, not really surfacing.  I don't even think I realized there was a problem, until it got serious today.  I mean, nitty-gritty serious.  I've been unable to easily grab paperclips out of my little magnetic dispenser.  I have to tip it, shake it, tip it again...until a paper clip is finally released and drops out.  It was one of those nagging things that I couldn't quite put my finger on until today.  I needed a paperclip to...ya know...clip some papers, and all the shaking and tipping and smacking the dispenser against the desk would not release a paperclip.  I popped the top off to investigate further, and look at what I found.

Someone had taken over 60 paperclips and linked them together, some even double- or triple-linked.  My first thought was How precious!  Yeah. Right.  It was more along the lines of Alright, people!  Don't mess with me!  My second thought was, I am sooooo blogging about this!!!  And then proceeded to unhook every stinkin' paperclip for the next 10 minutes.

Now who would've done such a thing?

3/23/08 - The Other Woman

3/23/08 - The Other Woman
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

I have been informed by my niece that she is going to marry Rich. She insisted on sitting next to him, NOT ME, at Easter dinner yesterday.

Who's That Girl?

3/14/08 - Glasses
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Right now what you're looking at is a love-hate relationship. I got new glasses this week, and after wearing them for one day I decided I.HATE.THEM. I am not kidding when I say I had a meltdown, an identity crisis. I believe part of the problem is that I have had the others for at least 3 years, if not longer, and glasses sort of define a person's personality.

When I looked in the mirror, the person looking back just didn't look familiar to me. She seemed very formal, uninteresting, even OLD if I dare say it, with her gold rims and powder pink arms. The other girl in the cool, metallic brown frames used to be fun and sporty (or at least had learned how to be). I don't know who this girl is. People get impressions about you from the way you look. What would they think about me?

I have begged friends and family to tell me they hated them, and no one would assent. No, they were all overly accepting and even flattering over the new look. All I needed was one bad critic, and I was running back to Walmart to return them for a full refund. But no one would give me the satisfaction.

So here we are. Me and my new glasses. We're slowly becoming used to each other, although there are still adjustment issues that must be addressed. I think we're gonna make it, though.

3/13/08 - Perfect Day

3/13/08 - Perfect Day, originally uploaded by discoveringliz.

What is that big, bright thing up in the sky? Why...it's the SUN!

It has been such a gorgeous day! Nothing but blue skies and sunshine. What a boost to my spirits. Spring is surely on its way.

My thoughts have turned to running again, playing tennis, golfing, long walks, and just being outdoors to breathe fresh air. Warm weather can't come soon enough for me.

3/10/08 - Sick(ening)

3/10/08 - Sick
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

This is what I was looking at this morning after my weekend of illness. It's what happens when a wife gets a stomach bug for three days and her husband gets a chest cold at the same time. It looks like the clothes hamper threw up, and there's only two of us.

Apparently I am currently wearing a dirty t-shirt and went out in public wearing it. At least it was under my coat. I assumed the husband had been busy helping with laundry this afternoon while I was taking a 3-hour snooze and that the two baskets in the room were clean. So I grabbed a t-shirt out of one of them. Later I found out there was one clean basket and one dirty, and I had not chosen wisely.

I wonder who will be folding?

I thank each of you who expressed get-well wishes for me over the weekend. I think I'm making a comeback.

3/4/08 - Mailings & More Mailings

3/4/08 - Mailings & More Mailings
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

When you work in a church office, there are seasons for churchwide mailings - Christmas, Vacation Bible School, Bible conferences and Easter. Of course, when two important events collide in the same month, the workload kicks into double time.

With Easter coming and a missions conference, both within the same month, it's definitely a busy time. We had to put out separate churchwide mailings for both events, plus we had a special mailing for the kids and teens.

I'm very glad that the days of licking envelopes is far behind. These little envelope moistener bottles have to be the best invention for a secretary. I also noticed that the bottle says it's good for sealing up to 1,500 envelopes. I just might use that up by tomorrow. Uh...just kidding about that.

And if you're wondering, "Don't you have a machine that tri-folds all those letters?" Uh yeah...it's my right and left hands. That's why they pay me the big bucks.

3/3/08 - Shall We Gather At The River?

3/3/08 - Shall We Gather At The River?
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Being a church secretary I see all sorts of interesting things during office hours. There's a man who lives across the street from the church, who walks his dog every single morning in our parking lot. We have a bus driver who does a turn-around through our parking lot every school day, sometimes giving me a "good morning" wave as we pass when I arrive for work. Such very typical daily happenings.

Once in awhile we have the unexpected, which I guess keeps things exciting. Like the day a baby snake found its way into the foyer, and I had to shoo him out with a broom. {shudder} Or like the day I smelled smoke from the office, only to find a fire had started out back of the parking lot, completely unexplained, and the brush was ablaze. That was our first call to the fire department and something I'd rather not experience again.

Then one day about a month ago, I noticed this scene out back. Geese...everywhere! It looks as if they find our acreage to be a sort of pond to hang out at, a sort of watering hole. They are so curious to me, and I just had to snap a picture today. Unfortunately, this only shows half the gaggle. Isn't that amazing?

The pastor is wondering who's gonna do the clean up come spring, though. Yikes! I don't believe that's in my job description.

3/2/08 - Toddler Duty

3/2/08 - Toddler Duty
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

I had toddler room duty at church tonight. Need I say more?

3/1/08 - Friends

3/1/08 - Friends
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

We had dinner with our friends Mark and Kelli tonight. We rarely spend time with them outside of church functions, so we jumped at their invitation for an evening out.

Mark is my Sunday school teacher and was my first evangelism trainer. He showed me the ropes when it came to sharing the gospel. Kelli is my fellow Awana secretary, and you will sometimes catch us nibbling on Dove bars together when the stress of record keeping becomes too much to bear. We love these people. They're faithful in ministry, they demonstrate true love for each other, and they always encourage my heart.

2/25/08 - Time For Bed?

2/25/08 - Time For Bed?
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Rich went to bed early because he hasn't been feeling well with migraines for days. About 8:30 I noticed Dixie wasn't in the living room with me, and I got a little curious to know where she had gotten to. I sort of had a hunch she might have gone to her crate, so I went and took a look.

There she was! She had put herself to bed without a word spoken from me. She must have had a hard day. She rarely goes to her crate to sleep. She'd much rather lay out in the middle of the cold, hard kitchen floor. Crazy dog...

2/24/08 - Goin' To Texas

2/24/08 - Goin' To Texas
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Mary is a friend from church. Doesn't she have a great smile? I love this picture I took yesterday. It reflects her personality.

She's a nanny, who has been between assignments for six months. Sunday we had a farewell lunch with her to send her off to her new assignment in Texas. She's going to be caring for 3 children, and it's going to be a challenge. She's loves kids, though, and we're looking forward to hearing about all their antics.

We've been razzing her about everything she can expect in Texas. Of course, we Hoosiers can only guess what things are like there. If anything, we know it's going to be warmer than it is in Indiana. I've told her that she really needs to enjoy the rodeo, and she better get a big hat and some cowgirl boots. I'm going to be expecting a picture in her new garb once she gets settled.

Bye, Mary. We love you!

2/21/08 - Surprise!

2/21/08 - Surprise
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Last week my friend Judy went to Pennsylvania for a week-long visit to see her daughter's family. Their little guy Blake is 5 1/2 mos. old, and his grandma adores him. I have been dying to meet him because I've been told he is the most precious baby EVER, so I've just sort of had to bide my time, looking at pictures and hearing grandma stories.

On Sunday morning Judy was home and came to church... with a surprise. She had brought her daughter and grandson back with her for a visit home. It was so exciting, and nobody was expecting it! Our church was buzzing with whispers of their arrival.

Blake has been making the rounds this week to try to meet everyone. He's been hitting all the good restaurants in town, too. Thursday night we went out for pizza, and I think he really enjoyed it.

It's been so fun to see them. That was the best surprise.

2/18/08 - Snow Again

2/18/08 - Snow Again
Originally uploaded by discoveringliz

Anybody else tired of snow? Seems like we've had snow every other day for the whole winter. This is what it has looked like off and on today in my neck of the woods (northern Indiana).

I guess I haven't been paying too much attention to weather forecasts because I didn't know we were going to get snow today. I looked out my office window at 9:00 and saw this scene, obviously to my surprise. My first thought was, "Ugh!!! More snow?" But then my mind immediately went to my "year in photos," and if that didn't just brighten my day. I quickly ran outside to snap a couple pictures.

Yeah, I'm crazy like that.

A Year in Photos

Since I can't do a whole lot today because of my neck (see my previous post), I've pretty much spent the day with my laptop and hanging out at Flickr. Once I heard about this idea of doing a photo "journal" of my life this year, I got excited. The idea is to try to capture in a picture what summarizes your day, and do it every single day. As the year passes, you can see your life unfold in pictures. I love photography and always say I'm going to take more pictures. I just never do. Wouldn't this be a good challenge to get me started on that goal?

I probably won't blog about every single photo I take. In fact, I know I won't, but you will be seeing some of them. I've had fun over at flickr.com, trying to get everything set just the way I want it. I haven't really used their service before, so I had no idea what to do with everything and where the various tools were located. It took me awhile, but I finally figured some things out. The most exciting discovery was when I found the "blog this" button. I can blog on a photo, and they'll send it right to Blogger for me. Thank you, flickr!

Here's the link to my pictures. There's only three right now, but if I take a picture every day there will be more uploaded soon.

If you'd like to read more about this photo project, you can head over to Photojojo where Project 365 is explained.

2/16/08 - Coping With Pain

2/16/08 - Coping With Pain, originally uploaded by afunnygirl72.

Remember the other day when I posted about my neck and shoulder pain? Well, I had been feeling progressively better each day....until TODAY. I woke up with extreme pain on the left side of my neck, and I can hardly turn my head to the right. Ugh! It's worse than before.

I may have aggravated whatever is already going on in there. I awoke in the middle of the night and discovered my left arm up over my head. I have no idea how long I had been sleeping like that. That's sure to put a kink in my neck!

So this is a picture of how my day will look - Ibuprofen and Dove chocolate. How else does a girl spell relief? It's really too bad because the sun is out, there's not a cloud in the sky, and it's not snowing. I'd rather be out there enjoying that, but I guess the Lord has something else planned for me. Remember? God is sovereign and in control of every detail of my life. (Just need to preach to myself here.)

By the way, I'm starting a new project. I will be capturing my life in photos through the rest of the year. One photo a day. I got the idea from The Gremlin Wrangler, who got it from someone else's photo blog. I think it will be pretty cool. I'll be putting up a link to my flickr page, if you care to follow along.