Arkansas Thanksgiving

Leaving for Arkansas this evening, won't be on this weekend, just to let you know :) We're heading back to the dark ages, lol. Larry's grandparents don't even have dialup!!!

Yayayayayay :)

It's been a little while since I've had a realllllllly good day, so I wanted to be sure and update :)

On Tuesday, I had a Skype date with Melwizzle :) Always a pleasure! I don't get to talk to her as much as I'd like, but I think that's mostly my fault for being so busy all the time...

Not only that, but she and Christopher sent me the most gorgeous flower arrangement! I got it just before I got to talk to her, so it was like, joy overload!! They know just how to make my heart smile :) The rest of Tuesday was kind of tough, but we got through it.

And then yesterday Larry and I decided to have Christmas since our holidays aren't promising to be too amazing... we basically just decided to stick it to the man and have Christmas whenever we freakin felt like it. Merry Christmas!! lol. Aaaaaaaand he WAAAAY outdid himself this year. Like, really. I mean, it's ridiculous:

lolol! I know it's obnoxious, but come on, who doesn't want a jewel-encrusted LOBSTER???

Anyways. I just had to brag on him. Looooooove :)

xoxo
schmashmelia

Monopoly

"We have no food, we have no jobs, our PETS' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!!!!"

-Dumb and Dumber

Lately, that line from Dumb and Dumber is just about the only way I can really describe how I've felt about how my life is going. I know it sounds stupid and WAY overdramatic, but seriously, I just feel like everything that could have gone wrong, has gone wrong. Kind of ridiculously so, like Dumb and Dumber, just not funny. Ha. Or maybe it's really funny from the outside looking in, but I just can't see it that way.

The best analogy I can actually come up with is playing a game of Monopoly. I feel like Larry and I started this game 7 or 8 years ago when we first got together, and we still haven't made it round the board once yet. We've been rolling the dice, and we just keep getting 1's instead of 5's or 6's. We've been playing by the rules, we've been saving our pink dollars for investing in the things that are important, and we've been making smart decisions. Instead of breaking the bank and immediately putting hotels on our properties, we've waited and put just one little house. In and of itself, that's a great thing to be able to say right there. We've done it right, we've never compromised, we've taken the right steps, and we've played by the rules. I think its awesome that we can say that, because not many people can! I would be thrilled,  except we're not the only players.

We've been joined by heaps of other players along the way, some have kept playing with us, and others have gotten bored and quit halfway through. We've got players we've been playing with for years and years, and others who've just recently joined in. There are players who, like us, have been playing by the rules, who've been making smart decisions and encouraging us along the way as we enjoy the game together. And there are players who, unlike us, don't have any interest in playing by the rules. They move their pieces backwards around the board, they pick up Chance Cards whenever they feel like it, and they blow all their money putting up 5 hotels on every property they manage to get their hands on. And while we're stuck rolling 1's and getting slammed by every Chance Card we manage to pick up, they're getting 5's and 6's, and when they pick up Chance Cards they always get "Get Out of Jail Free" or "Free Parking".

What does it all mean? How does it work out that way, that by playing fair, playing by the rules and making wise decisions we end up behind? Does it actually mean we're losing the game? Because right now it certainly feels that way. How does it work out that by playing dirty, by making all the wrong decisions, being irresponsible and wasteful, the other players are getting ahead?

I know there's a lot of game left to play. I know that it's certainly possible that it's all going to change with the next roll of the dice. Our lucky Chance Card could be right around the corner. We could pick it up today, for all I know. And what's to say that the other players aren't going to end up losing?

It's certainly not about winning or losing I know, it's about playing the game and enjoying it. It's about doing it the right way and having fun with the people you're playing with. But what if it's just not fun anymore? Well, it would appear that the solution is to quit playing with those players who are making your game miserable. But what if you're TIED to those players PERMANENTLY? If you can't get away from them? What if you'll always be playing the game with them, and you'll always be stuck with their choices and bad decisions? What's to be done?

Quitting the game certainly isn't an option. I just wonder how long we can actually continue playing the game with just the knowledge that we're in the right to sustain us.

Betsey Johnson!!

It's been a rough weekend. What makes it better? Why, Betsey Johnson dresses of course. This is the dress my beebs bought me at the Betsey Johnson outlet in San Marcos when we were there a few weekends ago. It is for the holidays :) I'm excited :)

xoxo
schmashmelia

Has it been a week?

Because I was reallllllllly trying hard to update before a week later than my last real post. lol.

In truth, there's not a whole lot going on, just work. Although I had some lady call me at work at 11:15 a.m. and proceed to chew me out for 10 minutes before she even told me the issue. Turns out I wasn't even there and had nothing to do with her problem, she just felt the rip someone a new one AND it was her fault to begin with. Well, glad to be of service. Sometimes, I don't understand how dumb people can be.

Let's see... OH I got really SUPER excited because I got an email from World Market that said Wednesday was "BOGO" day on their 12 oz. bags of coffee, so I hustled over there when I got off work to pick some up. I got 6 bags of coffee (2 Fireside Roast, 2 Pumpkin Spice and 2 Holiday Eggnog), then I saw their coffee club rewards card and picked it up, and wouldn't you know it, they double-punch on Wednesdays. So I paid for 3 bags of coffee, got another 3 free, THEN I filled up my punch card (since there's 6 punches and they double-punch on Wednesdays) and got ANOTHER BAG FREE!!!! Holy cow! AND----I paid $19.97 for all of it. $19.freaking97!!! 7 bags of coffee that are like, $6.99 a bag, for $19.97. Super shopper extraordinaire, I'd say :) It's the little things in life, right? lol.

Oooooooverexcitement....  haha. Larry's mom got an invitation to the BJ's that's opening by the NorthEast Mall over here for free dinner, so we did that last night. It was pretty good, I'm glad they've got this week to practice though, before they open. They're going to need it. We went and saw The Men Who Stare At Goats movie last night, and I really enjoyed it! It's that really dry, kind of dark sense of humor and it had me laughing the whole time. But I can understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Well, time to do some laundry and be productive before I get ready for work. I've been lazy lately, but I'm not sorry. lol.

xoxo
schmashmelia

PS -

<3

Just had to post a fun picture of the hubbs and I :)

Courtesy of Gary Bradford photography, and our good friend Brad Martens. Look him up: www.garybradfordphotography.com

xoxo
schmashmelia

Update! Finally... :(

Ok so I've figured out a few things in the past couple of days:

1) I'm TERRIBLE at posting and updating a blog. I haven't even been updating Twitter or Facebook, and I ALWAYS do that.

2) I want to go to culinary school, like now.

3) Christmas is just over a month away, and I had no idea.

ANYWAYS.

So since I haven't updated since I was in Texas City, I'll try to remember what all has gone on this past week! What a beating, maybe I should just do my best to update sooner :)

Since Texas City I have:
-Not received a call back about my interview.
-Bought a few Christmas presents.
-Led my first service in the main worship center (Wednesday night).
-Taught 6 lessons (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday).
-Decorated for Christmas.

Not much to say about the interview, other than that I've called them a couple of times, and I haven't heard anything back, so I'm not going to stress. I will, however, be putting my resume on Career Builder and Monster to see if I get any hits, and work on putting together some more interviews from there. I know it's in the Lord's hands, so whatever happens, happens.

I bought Andrew and Larry's Christmas presents. Yay!! Two down, 10,000 to go, lol.

I led my very first full worship service Wednesday night in the main worship center, with the whole church body, not just the college group. I was soooo nervous all day long, even though I'd prepared and felt good about the whole thing, but when I started the service, all that just faded away and there was this peace that's just indescribable. Everything went so much more smoothly than I ever could've expected, it was pretty awesome! I gave the greeting, led the songs, prayed, gave the scripture and exhortation, and directed the worship, so I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to handle it. I mean, I never would've chosen this for myself, so I know it's exactly what the Lord would have me do, lol.

I guess I never really fully understood spiritual warfare up until this past week though. I'd been told that when you step into a place of ministry, your life automatically comes under attack, and I thought I'd gotten a taste of that leading Tue:7 services, but I had no idea how tough it could be until this past week. Needless to say, it was a rough week, but I was just kind of shocked at where the attacks came from. I totally expected attack on my finances, on my vehicles, on my animals, on my relationships, etc. All of that was really difficult to deal with, but I think the absolute worst was the attack on my marriage and my relationship with Larry. We haven't had issues like that since we were dating, and I guess I just thought that we were kind of impervious. WRONG! It was possibly the worst week either of us has had in a long time, but it was also really good for us because we had to sit down, talk through it, recognize that we didn't need to be fighting each other, we needed to be fighting together against the enemy or whatever you want to call it. We really had to examine ourselves and our relationship and look critically at how we treat each other and try to spot any other weaknesses that we might have to deal with in the future. It was really healthy, in a way, to have to be perfectly honest with each other and lay it all out, so to speak. We identified things that we both need to work on, and really just reconnected at a basic level.

So that's that part of it, lol.

Lessons. Meh. There were six, they were spaced out over three days, and they're all getting ready for Region. The End.

Aaaaaaaand last but not least, I decorated for Christmas at the store. Fun times. We have about 10,000 Christmas trees, 100,000 lights and lots and lots of sparkly ornaments. Yay beebs! But, we're not allowed to play Christmas music til after Thanksgiving. Bleh.

Anyways, that was my GIANT update. I will try to be better about writing on a more daily basis so it's not a hundred pages long next time.

Looooove!
xoxo, schmashmelia