Too Much Excitement in my Neighborhood...

A few weeks ago, Michael was working on the light switches near the front door and I was in the kitchen working on dinner with the back door slightly open... at the just the moment I noticed, he asked, "Do you smell smoke?"  We stepped out on the front porch and couldn't see anything but thick, dark smoke.  Something was definitely on fire.  Because of the wind and the amount of smoke, it was really difficult to tell which direction it was even coming from!  Michael didn't have his shoes on, so I stepped out towards the road and then just kept going when I finally realized where it was coming from.  Turns out a garage (separate from the house) was on fire just one block over.  I had met a woman who lived at this house a week or two before at the park, and recognized her teenage son coming out of the door of the house next to the garage.  Another couple had been driving by and saw the flames and called 911 already, and was trying to see if there was anyone in the house.  The firemen arrived just a minute or two later and got to work.  It took a long time and a lot of work to finally get it under control and put it out.  The family has spent the past few weeks trying to tear down the wreckage and haul it away because all of it was basically burnt down.  It was pretty crazy to see a fire like that so close.

A day or two later there was some sort of domestic disturbance (I assume) and there was a shooting just a few blocks over the other direction.  The boys and I weren't home at the time, but Daniel (who is living with us now, by the way) said he heard the Care Flight landing near the Fire Station to transport the victim to the hospital.

And just a few days ago, I heard a loud BOOM around 9am in the morning.  I looked out the window and saw the construction guys were still working across the street (laying new water lines or something).  So, I assumed it was them making the noise and went back to lay in the bed with Callen.  A few minutes later I heard a lot of sirens (which is pretty common, since we're so close to the station), but they got closer and closer and stopped.  I jumped up and opened the front door to see the construction guys standing near their site with their phones all up, pointing at something on the side of our house and the firetrucks were pulling up along the side street, too.  I quickly ran down the hall to the boys' side window and looked out.  There was the house across the street - ON FIRE!  WHAT?!  It was a crazy sight because the side of the house, part of the roof, the carport and the yard was fully aflame.  If the fire truck hadn't just pulled up where it did, I would have seen that their van was completely on fire, too!  I watched the action for a long time, and they got it under control.  But my gosh, that was so close!  Way too close! I am not sure what the cause of the fire was, or how much damage there was to their house yet.  It's a brick home and it seems like the majority of the fire was the van and the carport, but I'm not sure.  I don't know if the BOOM had anything to do with it, or was a coincidence, either.  If I had gotten up and out of bed just a little bit earlier, I would have had a perfect view of what happened right out my kitchen window.

Here I thought living out here in the "country" would mean there would be way less drama - boy, was I wrong!

Urge to Purge

Dear Blogosphere,
     I love you.  I really do.  But I'm gonna need you to stop putting out such creative, inspiring, interesting, informative and hilarious blog posts.  I can't take it anymore.  My RSS Reader is on the verge of exploding, as it simply cannot contain the awesomeness that is... you.  I have stuff to do, but you draw me in... I click from one blog to another to another and before I know it, I've wasted what was supposed to be productive work time (and oh, what's that?  the baby's awake now, oops, plans completely foiled). 

     You see, I am a naturally curious person.  Ok, you can say nosey if you really want to.  I eavesdrop.  I want to know the dirty details.  I want to know how you live, what you're thinking, what you're doing and how you're doing it.  I thank the Lord for blogging, twitter and facebook so I can know your every move without actually having to stalk you (it's much less tiresome - and illegal - when you, yourself, type it out for me to see!).

     But, enough is enough.  My mind is on overload.  And my time is limited.  I have too much to do and while you're terribly interesting and inspiring, I think we need to see less of each other.  I have got to purge the amount of blogs coming through my feed everyday, all day.  Obviously, I'm not going cold turkey... I need that constant source of creative juice flowing out of some of you!  I want to know what's up in your life (y'know, if I actually KNOW you in person!).  But, some of you... are going to have to go.  I'm sorry, and I hate to do it.  And the task that lay before me... of going through and deciding which of you to keep and which to delete, it's going to be difficult.  So, see, if you would just stop being so darn wonderful, I wouldn't have this problem, would I?  Could you just save me the trouble, and start posting really bad, dumb or irrelevant blog posts?  That'd be great, thanks!
                                                                                      With warm regards,

                                                                                                                             Jade =)

----

P.S. I went through and organized my reader and I did purge a few of them that I wasn't ever reading.  And then... the next day... I found a whole new blog roll and subscribed to a whole bunch more.  I am hopeless.

The Case of the Missing Laminator...

Back in December, I bought myself a laminator for Christmas. Got it on Amazon, on sale for $16.99, and since I had Amazon credit... I paid a whopping 2cents for it!  I was thrilled.  Only, I didn't really use it but maybe three times, when in early April... I killed it.  I was laminating a project that Preston was doing for Easter, and the laminating pouch rolled up inside the machine.  I called 3M to see if they had any suggestions, and was told... nope, it's dead.  The project and the machine were done for.  I killed it good!  Since I had it longer than the manufacturer's warranty allowed for, I figured... well, I lost 2cents, I'll just have to buy another one.  But, the nice lady at 3M was all "Send your machine in so we can check it out.  If it can be fixed, we'll fix it and send it back... if not, THIS ONE TIME, we'll send you a replacement."  Yay!

Fast foward one month (to May 25th), and I still hadn't heard anything about my machine or received a replacement.  Preston's Kindergarten is complete, and I want to start working on stuff for First Grade.  Stuff that involves laminating!  I call up 3M to get a status update, and the lady is confused... "we shipped that out on May 6th... you still haven't received it?"  Me: "Uhhh, no."  So, she got the tracking number, and we both looked it up.  According to UPS it was delivered on May 11th, signed for by our neighbor.  Hmm, ok.  I walked next door to our sweet neighbors that sign for and bring over our packages quite often.  They have been remodeling their home, so I'm thinking it just got misplaced in the shuffle.  Nope, she didn't have any idea about a package that was delivered two weeks before... and they usually bring our stuff over right away, or leave it by their front door for us.  I believe them, obviously, they've been great neighbors for 8 years!  

So, I called 3M back, and they said they'll do some further digging, get UPS to track it some more, etc.  Meanwhile, I do my own investigation.  I suddenly remembered that our homeschool curriculum box came around that time.  I looked up the tracking info on that, and yes... it was delivered the same day, the tracking info was exactly the same (delivered on this day, at this time, signed by our neighbor)!  And our neighbors brought that over as soon as we got home that evening... why wouldn't they have brought over the laminator at the same time?  See, wasn't their fault!  I'm thinking the UPS man delivered the curriculum and they signed for it, and the signature was posted for both items even though he only delivered one.  Meaning the laminator was obviously lost at some point.

Another call to 3M to see if UPS tracking found any additional info... and they didn't.  Just said our neighbor signed for it, so they must have it.  But, the lovely folks at 3M are sending me ANOTHER machine anyway.  I totally wasn't expecting that... figured they'd tell me to take it up with my neighbor (though I truly believe there is nothing going on there!) and that'd be the end of it.  But, no... again, they went above and beyond.  Thank you, 3M!!!  She even said she'd overnight it, to make sure it got here quickly.  Well, that didn't happen, 'cause I waited a week (most of it was because of the holiday weekend, but it definitely didn't get overnighted)... but that's ok.  Because it's here.  And I can laminate again!  Good thing too, 'cause I had all these things laying around ready for lamination!  What?!  I'm a homeschool mom!  Lol!

I have no idea where that missing laminator got to... I mean, you'd think the UPS Man would have found it left on his truck at the end of the day or whatever.  I'm not sure how all that works, but seems simple enough to just bring it to me the next day.  But... nope, it's gone.  Maybe someone got a free laminator (perhaps Mr. UPS Man is a big fan of doing laminating projects?!?), maybe it got trashed, maybe it'll show up someday randomly and I can add to this post.  Haha!

Snuff The Punk

Ok, so lately it seems like everyone I know is under attack.  Health issues, lay-offs, inability to find jobs, depression, miscommunication, loved ones passing away, car issues, house issues, LIFE ISSUES.  It's crazy the amount of strife going on right now.  I mean, I know we're all constantly, on a day-to-day (sometimes hour-to-hour) battle with everything, but it just seems like this year has had a record number of #Fails.  (Sorry the twitterer in me is coming out.) 

Honestly I don't feel like I'm in any position to heap out brilliant advice or even cheerful words of encouragement, 'cause I (along with my family) am right there in the trenches as well.  I feel beat down, worn out, run over and all that.  I've cried.  I've screamed.  I've punched my pillows.  I've accused God of not hearing us!

This past Sunday, Pastor Joe talked about how when things are going badly, we often say "Just pray the devil leaves me alone."  But truth is, the devil is NOT gonna leave us alone 'cause we're down.  He's not gonna leave us alone just 'cause we've asked nicely.  It's these moments he's gonna throw more and more at us, because he knows we're weak.  Things often have to get so much worse before they can get better.  I don't know why God doesn't just step in and "fix things."  Wouldn't that be rad?  Why do we have to go through so many trials and tribulations of just every day life. We know we're here for more than working for the man, paying the bills, driving a nice car, etc.  So why do we have to go through all these hoops?  The devil isn't as powerful as our Father, but he is certainly a hard worker, and he knows us... he knows just what it takes to get us down.  He knows to hit our bank accounts, he knows how to cause tension between spouses and friends, he knows how to get us and he'll do everything in his power to make it count.

But, the last few days every time I hear or read a new prayer request, or a cry out for help, or a "OMGosh, why is life so sucky??!?!" I've had a picture pop up in my mind.  The devil is strong, but not as strong as God.  The devil is smart, but not as smart as God.  The picture that has popped into my head is this one...

No matter what your stance on the band P.O.D. is, this CD cover still has to be a little bit of fresh air in your otherwise horrendous day.  Ok, at least it is in mine.  The good guys will win in the end.  Light shall prevail.  The devil cannot be the victor.  God will snuff the punk!

So, I dunno what you're dealing with right now (well, I do know what a lot of you are dealing with right now), but God has it in His hands, He is Lord over all... and even though it does suck right now, there's a greater outcome.  We just have to continue to be strong, continue to be faithful and remember that God is bigger!

How To Be Alone

I saw this video posted on Girl's Gone Child, and found it pretty interesting.  I think most of us struggle with being alone, even when we're not.

Definitely worth watching...

It's beautiful, intriguing... and very Canadian.  I mean that in the nicest way, I swear!  Anyway, it got me to thinking.  Being alone with yourself is an interesting thing.  I'm not talking about feeling left out or being different, really... I'm talking actually being all by yourself and being OK with it.

My college years were very lonely for me.  I was working a lot at my call center job and I commuted from Fort Worth to Denton every day to attend UNT.  I had my parents and I was surrounded by people in classes, at work, on the roads, but really it was just me for the most part.  That 30+ minute drive every day left a lot of time for me to be alone and think.  That wasn't a big deal, I enjoyed the peace... the time I had to pray, listen to music, daydream.  Because I didn't live on campus, I often found myself with down time between classes.  I explored Denton (a little, always a little nervous to venture too far as I'm horrible about getting lost!), went to eat, to the mall/stores, etc.  I started out getting food and just sitting and eating in my car because I didn't have the nerve to sit at a table by myself.  I eventually worked up the nerve to do just that, but it never felt comfortable.  I always tried to hold my head up high when I was walking around stores or even campus, but I was self-conscious and awkward, completely lacking confidence.  I don't know why either.  I grew up an only child, you'd think being alone would come naturally to me.  I would see other people sitting alone or walking around with such confidence and wished I could be like that!  Why can't I just be alone with me and be OK with it?  I wasn't comfortable in my own skin, with just hanging out by myself and making the most of it, it just didn't feel right to be alone.  I mean, didn't God say "it isn't good for man to be alone?" 

As I got older I started thinking about what it was going to be like living on my own.  I never found out!  I went straight from living with my parents to getting married and living with Michael.  I'm not sure how I would have handled it.  Would I have embraced the solitude and eventually enjoyed myself?  Or would I have always felt awkward?  Guess it doesn't matter now... not with a husband and two kids!  I do enjoy the time I get to myself, like right now, when it's quiet and peaceful and I can do what I want (I should be sleeping!) and have "me" time.  But my two boys are safely and sweetly tucked into their beds, so I'm not alone.  And I know it.  It makes a world of difference.

Being alone is hard.  It's not usually fun.  Most people who feel alone don't WANT to be alone.  But it isn't all bad either.  Like the woman says in the video, "Cuz if you're happy in your head then solitude is blessed and alone is okay."

Don't Bother In The First Place...

One thing I'd like to suggest to people who are considering kids... don't bother decorating their room, your room, the living room or the kitchen for that matter.  Once the kids come along there's no reason for style or decor... it's going to be an explosion of blankets, clothes, toys, exersaucers that take up your entire living area, etc.  And when they're old enough to be mobile, it's even worse, so... don't bother doing any decorating, just start with blank space and walls and see what happens over the course of a few years.  Maybe if/when they're off to college, THEN you can decorate your house.  But not too long after that... come the grandkids.

A fresh start?

I have been blogging on Xanga since 2003.  Many a milestone has been logged there on that site that no one uses anymore.  I don't want to completely abandon it because I like having my past archived, and often find myself perusing page after page of old blog entries.  It's interesting to see the person I was back then, and where I am now.  But I am definitely in the mood for change, so... here I am.  I tested out Wordpress.  I dabbled in tumblr.  And those just didn't do it for me, so I guess I'll just go ahead and use this blogger account I've had for a long time.  I used it to keep a blog roll for myself so I could keep up with other people who have blogs all over the place.  Might as well put it to some real use, eh?  We'll see.

I brought over some recent posts from Xanga (since March anyway).  I feel like the birth of Callen and me becoming a SAHM has really sparked some change, so... we'll begin there.