Tip of the Day

Time for another tip, and today's tip is a time saving/cleaning tip.

• To keep from losing socks in the wash, give each member of your family one of those zippered mesh laundry bags that people use for lingerie. Put socks in there, then throw all the bags in the washing machine together. This way, everyone's socks stay separated and you won't have the onesies that happen when you start missing socks. If someone happens to have socks that are really nasty or have lots of grass on them, make sure you shake the stuff off of them outside before you put them in the bags and get different sizes of bags (since I assume that everyone in the house doesn't wear the same size sock).
  

What a weekend!!

So my last post said a little something about my week last week, but that pales in comparison to the weekend around here. I think I mentioned at one point or another that I play in the Alumni Pep Band for UT over Christmas break for the students at the basketball games. We had finished our run of 10 games with the men's game against Memphis and the women's game against Alabama. Last Wednesday, I got an email about the need for an emergency pep band for Saturday's men's game against Vandy. Imagine my excitement, here I am an alumnus and vol fanatic and we were going to get to do the APB for ESPN College Gameday against an in state SEC rival. After switching around a few things, and thanks much to my mom and cousin for helping with the kids, I was off Saturday morning to head to the arena. Needless to say, it was an amazing game and an amazing time with some good friends. To add to that excitement, when I got home, Mr. B was finally home after being gone for 2 weeks. We had a wonderful time that night as well, but we were all really tired.

As tired as I was, Saturday was not a night of good and restful sleep for me. You see, I am a worrier. Always have been, and although I am working on it, probably always will be to a point. I was up several times Saturday night worrying about what I was going to say on Sunday morning at church. You see, Sunday morning I was being ordained at our church and our pastor had asked me to prepare something about why I wanted to be a deacon. Fast forward to Sunday morning and you find me standing at the pulpit, so nervous I am shaking, and starting to talk only to end up in a mass of tears. (Not what I feel was my finest moment) Then came the laying on of hands, I had quite honestly never been to an ordination service, so I had no clue what to expect. Let me just say it was one of the most moving moments of my life. To experience the love, support, and blessings that were bestowed on me was nothing short of amazing.

This brings me to our readings for the past week or so. After experiencing my ordination yesterday, I felt led to go back and reread when God put Aaron in charge of all the sacrifices and holy accoutrements. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have experienced what must have been like an ordination and laying on of hands from God. What an amazing experience. I also have been thinking about all of the talk of idols. While we don't tend to have calves made of gold that we worship, there are so many things in our lives that can be seen as idols. Our schedules, activities that we take part in, our family, sports, celebrities, etc. can all be idolized to the point that we become a slave to them. Don't get me wrong, I am guilty of these things as well, but I got to thinking about what made things turn into idols for us? By my understanding of the readings and really just my understanding of things in general, something becomes idol like for us when we let them scoot God out of our mind. This doesn't mean that we can't enjoy things like sports and we can't do activities or even that we can't look up to people. To me, this just simply means that we must be aware at all times of how important things are becoming in our life and what our priorities are. I guess what I have really gotten over the past week is that we really need to constantly be evaluating how we are keeping God in the forefront of our lives and if we are showing that love that he has given us to others.

I guess this was a really long post and I may have been rambling a little, but just know the intent is there. In other good news, the snow is almost all gone and unless something happens tonight, my children will be back in school tomorrow!! If nothing else, Mr. B will be home tomorrow and I will be able to finally return to work at the church.

Friday's Musings

Well, what has been a long two weeks is coming to an end shortly. Tomorrow, Mr. B will be home after what has seemed like the longest two weeks ever. It started out okay, He left on Sunday, the 2nd, and the kids were to go back to school on Thursday, the 6th. I had a pep band game on Wednesday, the 5th, and drove in some crazy snow to the game. That snow got school out of session on Thursday and was supposed to get a lot worse on Friday. Now, before any of you living up North start cracking on the South, we don't have snow plows and such because we don't get a lot of snow and ice. Yes, you would have gone to school in our weather, but it got us out on Thursday. Keep in mind, my children have been out of school since December 17th, and they only went one day that week and two days the week before, so we are all a little stir crazy. Thursday, everything melted and it was looking okay, but they were calling for all sorts of ugliness on Friday. Schools got called off for Friday because of what was supposed to hit. (This is the only day that I will fuss about, because it didn't hit and it just rained all day) At this point, I hadn't been to work on Thursday, but worked a few hours on Friday because my Dad watched the kids for me. Then comes a weekend with the kids, followed by not 1, not 2, but 5 more days out of school because of the weather. That gets you to today.
Talked to Mr. B today and he got out of class early and was heading to the airport to try and get home tonight on standby seating instead of late tomorrow. I get excited, have my other dad come out and help me fix the garbage disposal, clean on the house some, etc., only to find out the flight he got on for tonight got cancelled due to mechanical issues. I am ok with that since I don't want him dead in the Tennessee River, and now he flies the first leg tonight, then staying at the USO in Chicago, then the second half tomorrow. Tomorrow is gonna be a big day and it will be great that he gets home early. Prissy B has a basketball game in the morning and team pictures, but I am not going to be there because I am playing for another basketball game, so he is hoping to be able to get to her game before it is over. My Mom and Dad are wonderful enough to take her to the game for me in the morning and drop her back off and my cousin is going to babysit Fireboy B and then Prissy B when she gets home if Mr. B isn't home yet. That pretty much sums up the past two weeks. Throw in a night out with some family, my oldest cousin turning 18, a few papers for grad school, and having to take off work all week this week and you have my life for the past couple weeks. It seems kinda crazy around here, but we make it okay. Looking forward to kids getting back in school and some kind of routine getting back to normal next week. Tomorrow I play for a doubleheader that is on ESPN, then on Sunday I have papers due and I am being ordained as a deacon at our church. Next week will hold lots of promise, I hope, and my arrival into middle age as well as keeping up on my reading for Bible in 90 Days. I will just be glad to be back to normal and have Mr. B home again. I will try to get some pics up tomorrow of the fun at UT, but if not, just know that it will be a Go Vols kinda day.

Tip of the Day

In an effort to become a fun blog to read, I decided to start giving out some tips on Thursdays. These will just be some tips about things like how to be happier, easier ways to do things, cooking tips, etc. that I find or have that I think might help people. If you have a tip you want to be included, send it to me or leave it in a comment on the blog. On to our first Tip of the Day:

Today's tip is an easier life tip

Use a color coding system, and have one calendar for all events, with different colors for each person to be able to easily identify who has activities when.

An easy way to keep track of your calendar and be able to access it from any computer with internet is to use Google Calendars. We use this at our house and it is great because you can invite people to events, have different colors for each person on the calendar, make notes about the activity, have additional people able to add events or view events, and sync it with computers and phones as well as being able to look it up from any computer that can go to Google.

You can also accomplish this on a paper calendar by using different color pens for each person or highlighting each person's activities with a different colored highlighter.

Life becomes much easier when everything is on a central location.

Week 1 done

Well, I didn't make my goal of posting twice last week, but I am still on track with my reading for the Bible in 90 Days. I find myself looking forward to doing the readings every night, even though I haven't necessarily enjoyed the portions where it lists the lineage of people. I have to admit to skimming those parts a little bit. So far we have read all of Genesis and Exodus and the things that have really been standing out to me so far are just the realizations that we are not the first to doubt and that God is the only one who truly see us. It is amazing to me to think about how much faith the Israelites had to leave Egypt with Moses, only to turn around and start questioning how they were going to make it. Even Moses didn't want to do what God was telling him to do because he didn't have the faith that God would help him talk to the Pharaoh. That is very comforting to me. To think that these people who were seeing these amazing things happening through God were still doubtful at times makes me feel a little closer to them. I guess I have always thought of Moses in a way that doesn't idolize him, but does place him a little higher (and holier) than I have ever been. This makes him more human to me.

I am gonna post a family update while I am on here real quick as well just in case I don't make it back this week. Mr. B is still in Missouri, but is supposed to be back on Saturday. Prissy B is enjoying all these snow days, but I think she really is ready to go back. I am definitely ready for schools to go back. Prissy B had her first Upward game of the year this past Saturday and did really well. I was very proud of her efforts. Fireboy B is just same little crazy kid. He is absolutely obsessed with all things Fire (Truck, Fighter, Station, Helmet, Extinguisher, etc.), and spends most of his day playing with the firetrucks he got for Christmas. He does stop to eat (a lot), play Club Penguin on my computer, and read. He loves to have books read to him and we have been reading 4 or 5 books a day, multiple times each. He is totally in love with football as well (makes a Mama proud, LOL) and anything UT. He has been running around singing lately and likes to switch from The First Noel to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Rocky Top. I have to say, I love to hear him sing, but my favorite is that he is insisting on saying prayers when we sit down to eat. He doesn't want Prissy B to say them, so if she does, then he has to say his after hers. It is so sweet to hear him. As for me, grad school classes started back last Monday, and it has been kinda hard trying to fit all those readings in with everything else going on. I am getting readjusted to it though, and am looking forward to just having school over and done with. I am very excited to be having a girls night out this Wednesday with my mom, aunt, cousins, and Prissy B. I wish my sister and grandmother were coming with us, but I love to go out and do things with my family.

I think I have bored you with enough details for tonight, but I will try to get on again later this week when things have hopefully leveled out a little around here.

Day 2

Yesterday was Day 1 of the Bible in 90 Days. I read last night while my daughter chatted with her Daddy on the computer and was so very proud for not being too tired to get it in. Today has been a little different. It has been a long day and I just now finished my readings for today. It seems like whenever I manage to make the time to sit down and read the Bible, something will stick out to me. Yesterday, I was reminded that God is the one who sees me. No matter what anyone else thinks, God is the one that I need to please.
Today I was actually struck by two things. The first was Genesis 22 when God tells Abraham to take his son that he had waited for and prayed for so long and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham does exactly as God tells him to do. I can't help but wonder if I would do the same. I have two children and I can't imagine living without either of them. What faith Abraham must have had.
The second thing I was struck by was when Jacob dressed as his brother to fool their father and take his blessing. While I have heard this story all my life, I don't know that I have ever stopped to really think about it. Most of the time when we hear this story, we focus on Jacob's trickery or Esau's outrage, but I was struck by the sadness of Isaac. How he must have hurt to know that his youngest son and wife had schemed against him.
Both of these are instances in which Isaac could have chosen to become very angry with God. I certainly think I would have been angry if my parents had tied me up and been ready to sacrifice me. I definitely would be angry at the deception by those closest to me. And I certainly would be questioning why these things were happening to me when I had been a faithful servant. There are things that have happened in my life in the past few years that have definitely made me feel as though I am being punished for something, but I am going to try to keep in mind that I just need to strive for the faith of Abraham and Isaac. If they were able to keep their faith through these things that were asked of them and happened to them and not question God, then what right do I have to question the plan. Just because I like to be in control doesn't mean it is always the way things are going to happen.

New Beginnings

Lots of people make New Year's Resolutions. Even I have done so in the past. This year, I am starting with a new beginning. Starting tomorrow, I am going to start a program to read the Bible in 90 days. I know that I can't manage to keep a resolution for a year, but can normally manage to keep it for around 3 months. This is my first quarter goal. I am going to attempt to blog at least twice a week, once about what is going on in my life and once about how my 3 month challenge is going. We will see how this holds out for me. To start out, a little about me. I am almost 30 years old, married with 2 kids, working part-time at our church and running my own graphic design business. I have a BA in Sociology and will be finishing my MS in Criminal Justice this coming September. I am very involved in our church and I am probably a little more than obsessed with University of Tennessee Athletics. I am a huge Vols fan and one of the thrills of my year is playing in the Alumni Pep Band for Basketball games over the students' Christmas Break. I stay really busy with my kids, church activities, and work but I love to joke around and really hope that this will help me become more centered in my faith.