...in other news

I went through a purge the other night.

I deleted my twitter. I'm very sad. I miss it. But, it's good. If I miss it really, really, really bad, maybe I'll open another one.

But, I realized something. I think because I was twittering, I started thinking in short little posts. I was re-reading through my old blog and felt that my new blog is just not up to par. Funny, quirky, unassuming, unimportant is all gone. And I don't know what is in it's place.

I think it's because of twitter.

So, hopefully, I'll get my jive back!!

savings splurge!

I was going through my paper drawer and came across this receipt from a few weeks ago. I saved it because I intended to blog about it...so, here I am!!

Purchased:

• facial toner
• deodorant
• toothpaste
• 2 L'Oreal nailpolishes
• 2 L'Oreal lipsticks

Total:

$48.23

What I paid:

$10.65

How:

• $25 off coupon for transferring my prescription back to Walgreens (I actually ended up paying more and the $25 didn't even fully cover the higher prescription cost. Maybe the cost of that particular medicine went up. But I just know that I'll be transferring back out of Walgreens next time I have to renew my prescription.)
• lipstick and nailpolishes were BOGO free each!!
• plus, one $1 manufacturer's coupon

AWESOME!!!!

I wait for BOGO to buy my lipstick and nail polishes (most of the time!!)

fiddlin' with html

One day I'll learn html. It definitely intrigues me!

a reminder

This afternoon, I wasn't doing much of anything important except enjoying my time after work this morning, when the phone rang. It was my brother and he needed me to go with him this afternoon to take home a kid from our church's day camp.

Me: Hello?
Geoff: Hey Bek!!!! (enthusiastically) Um....could you please go with me to take this little kid home from camp. There was a mix-up. He lives in W-stvill- (my dad's Sunday bus route).
Me: Ok. (flat voice)
Geoff: It won't take that long.
Me: Ok. (flat voice)
Geoff: I really appreciate it.
Me: Ok (flat voice)
Geoff: I'll meet you in the front of the church.
Me: Ok. (flat voice)

So this is a major confessional post here. I wasn't really mad or upset (that would be dumb). I was just.....annoyed. I was having a pleasant afternoon doing whatever I wanted to do.

As I'm backing out of the driveway, a still, small voice spoke in my heart. "Remember that verse that talks about if you're single, you're purpose is to serve the Lord?"

RIGHT.

Man, I always blow it! It should have been a cheerful, pleasant...."Absolutely, Geoff!! Whatever I can do to be a blessing!"

Here's the verse: I Corinthians 7:34, "...The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit..."

The Christian life is so dimensional. There are so many facets of the Christian life to improve. How can we ever think we've arrived spiritually? So obviously, one of the things I need to work on is being more cheerfully available.

family!!

Here's a few pictures of our extended family that popped in for a visit. The top picture is of all us COUSINS!! This is the first time any of us have met. Weird, isn't it? Andrea (the oldest) kept saying, "I can't believe we haven't met until now!" But we all felt like we knew each other because we exchange yearly Christmas cards. (Oh, I have met Paul and his wife Jane, just none of the kids.) It so nice to be with family who is of like-minded faith. The bottom picture is their entire family with my Granny. Granny is Paul's aunt. Anyways, it was a great afternoon. We were sad to see them leave.

garden update

Here's our garden at the beginning.

Here it is now!!
Here is where the broccoli was (as in past tense).

A little bit of red peeking through.

a ginormous zucchini leaf
a cute cluster

so incredible!

So....when my parents are out of town, one reason that I have a great time is because I get to do all the cooking, shopping, cleaning, experimenting, etc...It's like having my own place. Yay!!! (Not that I don't have a great time when my parents are home but....you get the picture.)

Ok. So we have a percolator coffee pot and it has desperately been in need of a clean for a very.long.time.!!! I know my Mom has cleaned it before with vinegar and water but I wanted to find a solution on my own. So where do 20-something-year-olds turn? None other than GOOGLE!!!

By the way. When you google "how to clean", the first thing to come up is uggs. That is hilarious. And I never would have even known what uggs were until I started cleaning for my fave's this past winter. And I guess I didn't know that they were (apparently) so difficult to clean. Because why else would they be the very first thing to pop up on google when you type how to clean. Anyways. I digress.

So through nifty-thrifty google, I found out that you can use baking soda and water. Tried it. Didn't really work.

However, on the same page, someone mentioned those dishwasher tablets. Bought some of those on a great deal at the local grocery store this afternoon. Popped one in. And OH.MY.WORD.!!!!! Did it EVER work!!! I called my Mom to tell her. And they were at dinner. In San Francisco somewhere. She wasn't as excited. But I am so pumped!!! It's still a little grungy up at the top where the water didn't quite reach. On the website that I popped on to through nifty-thrifty google, someone said that it made their percolator look like new. Seriously. It does.

Moral of the story: if you have a percolator, GO right now and clean your percolator. You'll be so glad you did!

keeping time

I know these are terribly unassuming pictures. But I was working in the kitchen this morning and thought I'd tell you a little story.

My mom has had this little daily flip calendar for years. It's made up of quotes and portions of sermons from Dr. Bob, Sr. When she was sick, we would only flip the calendar if she was home. It was our way to keep track of when the last time Mom had been home.

I was looking at it this morning and realized that we haven't flipped the calendar in a few days. It's now July 21st and it hasn't been flipped since Sunday, July 19th. That means that Mom has been gone since Monday.

Do ya'll have any interesting, quirky, unique ways of keeping time or an unassuming tradition?

It has fallen in the dishwater a few times over the many years as you can see by the warped pages.

Here it is sitting perilously close to the edge!

heart2head

So many things in our society reference the experience of "finding yourself" or "getting in touch with your inner-self". This is Biblically incorrect.

Proverbs 18:2

A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

heart2head INTRODUCTION

I'm sure many of you have heard the phrase, "You have a head knowledge but not a heart knowledge." This is implying that a person has a school knowledge of a subject but don't really believe it.

However, in my life, I have found that sometimes I have a heart knowledge but not head knowledge. Let me explain. I know something is true because I know that it is in the Bible but I just don't quite know where.

Well, that's changing. I've been burdened to start memorizing what I believe for quite a while. Then, my brother went on a trip to Israel with a group from our church plus other graduates from our church's college. There was a family that went (it was a father plus his three grown sons) and they are all in full-time Christian service. Anyways, my brother had a great time with them and getting to know these men better. One of the things that Geoff commented on was that when they stated the reason why we (as Christians) do something, they always backed it up with a Scripture verse.

Here's an easy example that we all are familiar with: Kids are supposed to obey their parents. Why? Because it says in Ephesians 6:1, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right."

Of course that's an easy example but there are so many times when I know something that I see or hear or read in the newspaper is not Biblically correct but I cannot point to a Scripture verse. Shame on me!!

Here's is the verse that is convicting. I Peter 3:15, "...and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." The thought is continued in verse 16.

I have found that when I write (or type) a thought down, I tend to remember it better. So for the benefit of myself and (hopefully) to be a blessing to ya'll, I am going to start a series of heart2head. This will help aid me in the memorization process and be a resource for me.

plans for this week:

• get feelin' better
• work
• weed the gardens
• give the gardens some TLC
• water the gardens
• fertilize the gardens (get the picture?)
• make a few more song visuals for bus
• get visuals laminated (this is huge)
• work on my summer goals (see side bar)

Because...I'm gonna have a little extra time this week.

Because...my parents are gonna be out of town for a few days.

OH!

And...my mom has a very small family. She has no brothers or sisters. My Granny (my Mom's mom) only had one sister. And she only had three kids. (Confused?) Long story short...my Mom only has three cousins for extended family. Well, one of her cousins and his family is coming up to visit at the end of this week. They are going to be in our great state doing a seminar (or something like that) and are going to make the drive up here to see my Granny (my Mom's cousin's Aunt). In the meantime, we get to spend a little time with them. I'm so excited. And I don't think I have ever met any of their kids. They have 6. And the oldest is 17. So, in other words, my Mom's family doesn't get together very often. So I'm very excited!

I found this verse while doing a word search here.

Jeremiah 13:16

Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

Very, very good!

W.E.P.P.U.R.

I haven't done a WEPPUR in a long time.

WEPPUR = Worth Every Penny PURchase.

I don't know if many of you use mineral makeup but I highly recommend it. A friend got me started on mineral makeup about five years ago and I can't use anything but mineral makeup.

For a while, I used L'Oreals brand. It cost $15 for one jar but I tried to capitalize on BOGO free. That worked for a while but it seemed like Walgreens wasn't running that deal very often. And because it's a cheaper makeup, it oxidized more quickly than other expensive mineral makeups.

So, I have found that Merle Norman's mineral makeup works awesome for me. It costs between $20-$30 and lasts over 9 months. My Mom gets hers to last over a year which is a complete mystery to me. I wish mine lasted that long! :)

Anyways, I just wanted to share that this is an awesome buy. It may cost more money up front compared to cheaper brands but it lasts a long time and is great for your skin!

love this song!

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love,
At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King,
Always, only, for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages for Thee;
Take my silver and my gold-
Not a mite would I withhold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my love - my God, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself - and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Bought these beauties tonight.

I wasn't planning on purchasing anything.

But I truly DID need a pair of blue shoes.

Anyways.

How in the world could I pass up:

PATENT LEATHER

HIGH HEELS

PEEP TOES

and

FIFTEEN DOLLARS

??

I couldn't persuade myself that it was unneccessary.
And I'm not regretting it!

linky, linky

Here's a link of a girl's blog that I read.

I'm linking to her engagement/"courtship" story. It was just an incredible blessing to read how she was just waiting for God to do the work. Motivation for me to keep on diligently (patiently) waiting!

Here's the link.

All work and no play....

So I've had two free fun days in a row this week. So unbelievable. On Wednesday, I went downtown Chicago with a friend (K), one of her daughters (A), and her best friend (J). It was in celebration of A's birthday. We rode the train to Chicago and both of the girls were free both ways because they were under 13 and we weren't traveling during rush hour. That was an awesome blessing! We did some shopping and ate at a fabulous restaurant that I'm going to drag my parents to one of these days. :)

Side note: As far as shopping, I finally bought my first White Sox tshirt. I've been wanting one for a while.

On Thursday, I got to put the White Sox shirt into use because I went to a Sox game with a family that I work for. They won 4 tickets (and great parking) at a charity auction they went to earlier this spring. Her husband recently took a job out of state so he wasn't able to go with the family. So they invited me. It was great fun! I really love going to Sox games. They're such a treat because I don't go very often. However, the family that I went with were Cle. Indians fans so that made a little competition. I really can't believe that the Indians won because the Sox had been clobbering them in the days prior to Thursday. All in all it was a great outing and I was back for church in time, which was important. :)

This week, I feel like I have been showered with blessings. They have all been little things but to me they are huge. So it's been an incredible week!

indexing

So ya'll remember about a week ago (maybe two...or three??) when I mentioned that I was starting something new. (Was that what I said?) Anyways.

......Rewind.

A while back, I checked out a book from our local library entitled, C*a*reers for Bo*okwo*rms and other Li*terary Type*s. It looked interesting enough. Most of the careers in the book required degrees in Library Sciences or advanced degrees in History, etc. But there was one little interesting career that caught my eye. An indexer.

Ok. Raise your hand if you think that the index in the back of the book is done by a person (two people out of the ten that I asked said yes).

Ok. Raise your hand if you think that the indexing in the back of the book is done by a computer (everyone else, including me, answered yes).

I honestly assumed that the indexing was done by a computer. Now this is not to say that it is never done by a computer but from what I have gathered, that's not the majority.

So I sent in a check on Monday morning to an Indexing Society. (Exciting people work there, let me tell ya. I talked to them on the phone. They sounded like an indexer.) And I will be working on getting my certification to have some (much needed) credibility.

So I'm telling you all this and it may not all pan out. But I just wanted to share the exciting news. I'm praying that this will work out for me. I really, really need an additional source of income besides just cleaning houses. I'm not complaining because all of my needs are provided for. However, I do feel that I need to be a better steward of my talents and be more diligent about saving money since I am single and I don't want to be a burden on my parents. Plus, I like to read and am detail-oriented, so this seems like a fit.

I'll have to keep you posted on how things work out!

When my grandma first moved up here to IN with us, my Mom let me move the four-poster bed that was originally hers growing up into my bedroom. I was so thrilled! It was a beautiful four-poster bed. The bed is part of a bedroom set that my grandparents purchased from a wealthy, old couple before my Mom was born. So this set is an antique. Well, for the past 4-5 years since my grandma has lived up here, the matching dresser and desk has sat in storage. Not anymore! It's in my bedroom and I couldn't be more thrilled!

vintage paper lining the top drawers

the desk/dressing table

the dresser

the view from the doorway in my bathroom

the view from my bedroom door

It's far from perfect and there are a lot of nicks and scratches, the drawers stick a little and don't work exactly right but I think it's absolutely fabulous!

day-shza-BOO (okay, that's a play on words!)

Normally, the third time's the charm but sadly, it took me until the fourth time to divulge this un-important blog post.

Ok. I am an observant person, especially while driving. I drive the shuttle back to the church on Sunday mornings after we pick up all the kids and they get on the bus and we're headed to church. Ok. And (basically) every Sunday morning for years, I have passed a family in a green minivan headed to church in the opposite direction. Now you might think that it is weird that I would notice. But they're just a distinct family in a green van. I don't want to bore you with the details of why they're distinct, just trust me, it's distinct.

So about a year ago, I'm in Target and I see a lady in a long skirt (clue: Christian) and her daughter in a long skirt (clue: Christian) and her son. I'm like.....oh....I bet they're Christians. Well, they noticed me, too, because I was wearing.......a SKIRT! I smiled politely in a small acknowledgment of, "Oh yes, I notice that you're a Christian. Incredible!" I go on my merry way. I notice, while I'm in the toothpaste aisle some people peeking around the corner to look. When I turn my head, this same daughter and son combo walk hurriedly past like they weren't lookin' at nuthin'. Ok. That was really weird. And it happened a couple of times. Then, I actually start to look at these people and I realize, they are the people I pass in the green van every Sunday morning on the way to church. So weird!

I can't remember the second time I saw them.

But I definitely remember the third time. I'm standing in line at Wal-Mart, waiting while a (dear) old couple insists that this particular Valentine candy is not the price that's being rung up on the screen. At 5:07pm when everyone and they brother, mother, and sister are picking up dinner ingredients. I tried to hide my irritation because they were (dear) old people. Anyways, I look across the aisle, and who do I see checking out in another line? You guessed it! This time, it was the mother and the daughter, sans the son. By the time they were done checking out, I was done purchasing my few items. They were about 10 feet in front of me as we're walking to our respective cars. I am not lying when I say that the daughter turned around at least 5 times to stare at me. I'm like....YES!...I wear a skirt. There are other people on this planet that wear skirts!

The fourth time was tonight. I'm in Walgreens and in walks a man, his son, and a lady in a skirt. I"m like...oh!....those people must be Christians. And, boy, do they ever look familiar. As I'm walking out of the store, I realize.....IT'S THE PEOPLE IN THE GREEN VAN!!

Next time, I'll have to introduce myself.

may I be an encouragement?

Sometimes, I feel like I give-give-give of myself in areas and see absolutely no return. It can be discouraging. I don't know if any of ya'll have ever felt this way before.

But don't forget, "...whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7)

I was reminded of this last night after my cello lesson. My cello teacher is AWESOME!! And I was so blessed as I left my lesson last night. I was her last student and she could have easily packed me out the door at 8pm sharp. But she didn't. I was there at least an extra 10 minutes. It may seem like a small thing but she had been teaching since 3pm and she simply took extra time with me. And she said that she was glad to end the day with me. Wow! She is such a blessing to me. (And I do believe that she is a Christian!)

So as I was walking to my car, I was reminded that I do get blessed for my efforts. Even if it's not necessarily in the direct capacity that I have given of myself, I am still rewarded.

"...whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."