Renewed friendships

Last week I enjoyed an entire week off work! I had not done this since starting at my current job three years ago. Way overdue vacation! Let me recap my great week for you.

I started the week with a visit from a long-lost friend from my days at Baptist Bible College. Jennifer is moving to Nashville next month and was in town job hunting. We had a wonderful time reuniting. And I look forward to her being so close!

Next I traveled to Michigan to have a reunion with some dear girlfriends from my Life Action Ministries days! I was so looking forward to this weekend! Some of these ladies I had not seen in ten years. Before I got to Michigan, I stopped near Indianapolis, IN and had lunch with a cousin. Rachel and I had such a good time talking over lunch! She is almost finished with the paperwork for an adoption - YEA!

After eight hours of driving through one of the most boring landscapes(sorry Indiana lovers), I arrived at a place so dear to my heart, I cannot even begin to put my thoughts and feelings of my approach to the camp area into words. God did such a deep and lasting work in my life through Life Action Ministries! I came to be a child of God in Life Action, I learned what it meant to live a holy life, I developed lasting friendships, I learned too many things to mention here.

The girls who attended the reunion are so special to me. These ladies were part of my life when I went through many heart changes. They were there to encourage me and help me work through areas in my life the Lord showed needed work. There is a deep connection that occurs when you minister on the front lines with someone.

As you can see from the pictures, we had a wonderful time together. I slept very little and came home thoroughly exhausted. That's OK though...the catching up conversations were worth the heavy eyelids.

Out of pocket

I've been out of pocket lately when it comes to my blog. My kitties have required some attention and I've been enjoying some much needed time off. When I walked out of my office last Friday, I felt great! I won't return to the office until the day after Memorial Day. Woohoo!!!!!!

My oldest cat had an ulcer on her eye and it required a great deal of attention. She couldn't do most things she was used to doing on her own because of the cone around her neck. Almost every task needed double the energy and time. I felt like an on-call doctor. Boots is in the clear now! The ulcer has healed and she is back to normal, no more cone.

My coworker is pregnant and will be on maternity leave starting July 3. I needed to get a vacation in before she leaves, so I took this week off. I head to Michigan on Thursday to visit with my dear friends from Life Action Ministries. I'm super excited to see them. Us girls decided it was time for a reunion and it is finally here!

I know most people don't want to sit at home and do nothing on their vacation, but I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing practically nothing to past two days.

Through my time off this week, I have discovered there isn't much worth watching on television. So much crap! I must say The View is good. The women on there sure can go back and forth on issues. It is fun to watch. That's about the only show I've cared to watch.

My babies

Both of my kitties have had recent visits to the vet. Boots started the run with a quick visit because of an eye infection. She took eye drops and that saga continues in the last part of this post.

Sugar was next with a declaw and spay. She has done really well with having two major surgeries at once. Her claws have not bled and she is using them like she did before the surgery...minus the sharp claws :) Her spaying went well. Her incision has not bled and the belly hair is growing back.



Now for Boots...she has had a rough time. Her eye infection has not gone away easily. It's been stubborn. Her eye was looking rather nasty so I took her to the vet today. The picture tells you the visit was not pleasant.

Boots has an ulcer on her eyeball and that can be a serious condition if not handled properly. She has scratched her eyeball at some point while rubbing her eye clean. Since Boots will continue to irritate the eye by rubbing it with her paw, she must wear an Elizabeth collar. SHE HATES IT!

I left her at the house for the afternoon to get used to the collar. I returned home to see her sitting in her window bed and not sporting the collar! It took a while to find the collar but it was recovered to Boots' dismay. I felt horrible putting it back on but her eye has to heal and without the collar, correct healing may never happen. All I can say is she looks pathetic and I feel horrible for her!

Oh! What a night!

My church held a women's event last night called "What not to wear." I loved the concept. We discussed physical and spiritual things that are flattering and not so lovely to wear. Great program and concept.

Now, on to why this turned out to be quite some night.

I volunteered to head up the food department. We booked a caterer that a lady in the women's ministry leadership had previously worked with. The caterer was very nice and she worked with us when some details needed change at the last minute. This is where my day goes into crazy mode.

On Monday, I was told we needed to increase the food numbers. Not a big problem; the caterer had not purchased food yet. I simply called her and asked her to adjust her invoice and increase the total from 70 to 90. Fast forward to yesterday, Thursday, around 3:00PM. I call the lady who headed up the decorating committee, just checking in to see how things were going.

She proceeds to tell me the number of people attending has gone above 100! What?! Did no one cut off registration?! Come on people, work with me here! The caterer can't just magically make extra food appear. I call the caterer and find out someone had already contacted her. Problem solved. The lady can cut the larger chicken breasts down to make enough servings.

I arrive at the church straight from work and don't stop until I land on my couch last night at 10PM-ish. Although the set-up and start of the event was rushed and hectic, once the buffet line was up and running, I took a second to breath. Wrong idea.

I watched the food line, bring out a pan of potatoes. People are watching the drink line for me. Then IT happens; I need to replenish the chicken...where's the second pan of chicken?! I'm frantically running around in the kitchen, looking in everything that looks like food. No more chicken. Period. There was supposedly two pans of chicken, enough for the 100+ people attending. No chicken. No more chicken.

I get on the phone with the caterer, she must have left a pan in her van. "No, I brought everything in," she says. After what seemed like forever, we decided to give up and just let the ladies know there will be no more chicken.

I have NO IDEA where that second pan of chicken walked off to! I felt horrible. Praise the Lord for the godly ladies at my church who didn't complain. They understood and just had an extra scoop of the yummy (and I do mean YUMMY) potato casserole.

There you have it. I have worked food service before and I've never had the main dish just not be there, somehow disappear. How was your day?

We've all got something

Although I've never been formally diagnosed, I'm fairly sure I have some level of dyslexia. This means that while speaking, I usually mix something up. For the most part I know I've said it wrong as the words are leaving my mouth. OK...now that you know this tidbit about me, please don't correct my speech every time I say something out of order. Most likely, it is the dyslexia talking, not me.

You should be in an accounting department and have this struggle! Balancing accounts on the first go around is a rare occasion.

I'm watching Little People, Big World on TLC. Have you ever watched it? Good show. That's where this blog post came from. I've come to realize many of us have something which could be labeled a disability. And we all have some thing we would love to change about ourselves.

For me, the biggest job is realizing those things about my fiends and family and be sensitive to them. Around two or three years ago, I realized my oldest brother has social issues. We have always clashed...for a nicer way to put it. He can be very sweet and friendly but his first reaction to most social situations is to withdrawal or be curt. Understanding this has helped me relate to him. I try to create situations that lend to him feeling comfortable. Our relationship has developed since then.

It's too late now!

I pulled a shirt out of the closet this morning and noticed what appeared to be that weird whitish stain left by deodorant; you know, the one where it ends up on the bottom hem of the shirt from you pulling the shirt over your head? Yeah, so I wipe it off with a damp washcloth before I head to work. It is not until I am at work, sitting in my chair, sorting through emails that I notice something else about the 'stain.' I smell something musty, almost skunk-like. I can't figure it out. I don't know where the smell could be coming from.

It finally hits me...my shirt smells! Yes, the shirt I must wear all day because it's too late to change it now! The stain and smell is a mystery, I have no earthly idea what it is. I've applied a good dose of Palmolive from the break room to mask the scent...but it's not working too well.

Geesh!

Another day

Does anyone else type their blog post then add the title when you're done? I'm never quite sure what to title my thoughts until I'm done with them :P

Work is stressful. Anyone want to join me on that? Why do we have to grow up and take on responsibility? I liked being a child with no cares in the world beside what color Popsicle I would eat that particular afternoon. Isn't Flav-O-Ice great?!

Double Jeopardy came on last night. I have always like this movie. It features Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. The story is a slightly dark one, but I enjoy it. Because I watched the movie, I missed one of my favorite shows Ghost Hunters. Nice thing about the internet...I can watch the episode in a couple of days once they upload it. :)

My office at work is bursting at the seams with pregnancy hormones! There are three ladies at work who are due within a month of each other. There were four but one already left to be a stay-at-home mommy. My boss had a child right before all of these women got pregnant! Hormones everywhere!!!!! Help!