Month: March 2011

Getting into Shape

I Think I Figured Out Why I’m Not Sleeping Well

Karen

I tossed and turned last night.

It was so bad, I actually woke Kevin up.

I wake up with various parts of my body tingling. Sometimes, those same parts are completely numb.

But they’re always aching and it’s uncomfortable enough to prevent me from STAYING asleep.

I can fall asleep, no problem. In fact, I can fall asleep virtually anywhere and at anytime. But staying asleep seems to be my biggest problem lately.

I’ve mentioned that I’m a light sleeper – every little sound/sigh/creak/car/bark/whisper wakes me up. So, I’m pretty used to that and I sleep with white noise – usually a fan, or a noisy air purifier.

But this is different: I’m waking up sore and achy numerous times a night.

So now I’m running through possible scenarios in my head. I’ve always had a bad back. (Well, it wasn’t bad until I fell off a six-foot ladder trying to change a damn marquee, but I digress). And to get around that bad back problem, I work out. Working out keeps it stretched and pliable so though it may ache a bit after working out, it usually works itself out and the next day I feel pretty good.

But again, this is different. I’ve BEEN working out. In fact, probably too much. Which at first, I thought might have actually been the problem. But last night was … terrible. I tossed and turned more than usual and today, I feel like someone ran me over with a Mack truck – twice.

I sat down to talk to Kevin about my problem this morning:

Me: “This is so frustrating! I’m working out, harder than ever, to PREVENT this kind of stuff from happening. I’ve been doing the 30 minute ‘hard’ programs on the EA Sports program and then walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes while watching a TV episode on DVD.”

Him: “Maybe that’s the problem – you’re working out too much. I mean, my gosh Karen, how long do you work out? An hour and a half?”

Me: *A simple nod*

Him: “That’s too long. Here’s an idea, just stop eating so many candy bars.”

Me: *giving him one of my say one more word about my eating habits and die a slow death look*

Him: *sigh – he knows when to stop – smart man*

Me: “Life is too short to deprive myself of a candy bar now and then … no, it’s something else. It’s like I feel worse since I’ve been using that EA Sports Active program on the Wii …. OH!”

I sit up straight in my chair because it suddenly dawns on me – it’s the program.

Not the PROGRAM, per se, but where I’m doing the program more specifically.

The Wii is set up in my husband’s home office. His home office used to be our screen-in back porch. Kevin put some sheet rock, put down some indoor-outdoor carpeting and voila – instant office.

I work out in his office because it has enough room for me to jump around (as long as I keep the ceiling fan in mind, we’re good) and of course, has the Wii. Which I need to workout to the EA Sports program.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

The office has a concrete floor. And since it was a porch, it wasn’t leveled, so the floor has a slight slope. I’ve been jumping and running on a sloped, concrete floor which I’m SURE has not helped my sensitive back one bit.

EUREKA! It’s not me, it’s my workout environment!!

Which, thank goodness. I’m not about to give up EA Sports, I really enjoy working out to the program (I even bought another disk with more exercises, though I haven’t used it yet). Now the problem is, how do we move the Wii to a more workout-friendly room? I don’t want to workout in our living room because we have new wood floors and I don’t want to dimple it with my excess weight. (*ahem*). I could workout in the family room, which is adjacent to Kevin’s office, but there’s the whole remote issue – the controllers won’t work if the remote bar thingie can’t pick it up.

At any rate, I’ll think of something because I have no intentions of stopping the program, cold turkey. But I’m relieved that I figured out why my body has been so sore and out of whack these past weeks. I expect to feel like I’m coming down with a cold. Whenever you burn layers of fat, you release toxins that are trapped in your fat that get released back into your blood stream, so you feel pretty run down until that passes. But this muscle soreness has stumped me because I haven’t really been doing anything all that unusual.

I’m pretty sure I’m right on my theory.

So. I need to find a new place to workout to EA Sports. Then I should be more physically comfortable which means I should be sleeping better which should result in less fatigue.

Which I have to get under control if/WHEN I get a job.

I’m tired of being complicated. *sigh*

Abundant Life

Teaching: An Overview of the Sacred Secret

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

[The following article is an edited transcription of the July 2005 Tape / CD of the Month, “An Overview of the Sacred Secret” by John W. Schoenheit.]

For a PDF chart on the Administrations in Scripture, click here!

This month we are teaching on the Sacred Secret. I have got tell you that I am so excited to talk about this topic. The Sacred Secret is one of the most incredible things that God has ever done for mankind. Amazingly enough, even though God revealed the Sacred Secret over 2000 years ago, for the most part in Christianity, it is still the Sacred Secret.

Let us talk about how wonderful and powerful this secret really is.

We always believe at Spirit & Truth that these teachings are more powerful if you are reading along with us in your Bible. I invite you to read along with me in your Bible. I think that you will get a lot more out of this teaching and from this information. Jesus Christ said that the words that I speak unto you, “they are spirit, and they are life.” A life and spiritual power is there that flows out of the Word of God that is just very hard to put your finger on and to describe, but it is definitely there.

1 Corinthians 2:6 and 7
(6) We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
(7) No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom…

That is exactly right, it is a Sacred Secret.

1 Corinthians 2:7 and 8
(7) a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
(8) None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Do you get the impact of that? Wow! What this verse is saying is that the rulers of this age, of course, are satanic rulers, Satan and his demons and his hordes. They would not have set up the crucifixion of Jesus Christ if they had understood the subject that I am teaching you today. They did not understand it, and they did not understand it because it was a Sacred Secret. God hid it. He absolutely hid it.

I want to talk about what God Himself says about this. What does God say about how glorious this Secret is?

2 Corinthians 3:7
Now, if the ministry that brought death…

Now, remember that this is God’s Word that we are reading. This is God’s Words about His Word. What does He call the Law, the Law of Moses—the Law that dominated the Old Testament? He calls it the ministry that brought death.

We are going to be talking about administrations in a little bit. That God changed the rules for different time periods. We actually know this; we know that God changed the rules. For example, we do not have a Temple today. We do not do animal sacrifices today. Why, because God changed the rules. It is not that God changed; He just simply changed the rules by which He wanted mankind to live.

What does God say about His own rules in the Old Testament? He says that they are “the ministry that brought death,” and they did. No one, we learned, is righteous because of their ability to keep the Law. Nobody could keep it.

2 Corinthians 3:7 and 8
(7) Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
(8) will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

Praise the Lord! The ministry of which you and I are a part, the ministry of the Spirit, the Administration of the Age of Grace is more glorious than the Law.

2 Corinthians 3:9
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious….

This is a pretty interesting admission on God’s part. He calls the Law “the ministry that condemns men” but acknowledges at the same time that it has glory. The Law of Moses did have glory. The Law of Moses even according to Romans chapter 7 is “holy and just and good.” It was not that the Law of Moses did not come with glory and benefit to mankind. Look at what God says about it.

2 Corinthians 3:9
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

Why is it important for you and me to know the Sacred Secret? Why is it important for you and me to live according to the revelations of the Church Epistles (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Thessalonians)? Because in those Church Epistles is revealed God’s Sacred Secret, which by God’s own testimony is more glorious than the Law.

2 Corinthians 3:10
For what was glorious [which was the Law] has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

What we have today is so incredibly glorious that it is as if the Law had no glory at all. We learn from 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that had Satan known what we have today, he would not have even crucified the Lord of glory. He would not have even gone there.

Is it not exciting to learn about this? It is such a privilege to teach this; I trust that it is a privilege to you to study it. We can go over this together because we are learning what God has done for us that He says is so glorious that the Old Testament did not even have any glory compared to what we have today. Oh, that is so important. Christians today want to take on the rituals of the Law. They want to keep the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles… They want to keep the various rituals, but God says, “Wait a minute. Those things were a shadow of what we have today and had no glory compared to what we have today.” [For further study read: “Are Christians Required to Keep the Sabbath?” and “Are Christians required to observe the feasts of the Old Testament?”]

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us learn about what we have today. Satan knew about the Temple; he knew about the Sacrifices; he knew about the Feasts. That is not why it says that he would not have crucified Jesus. He would not have crucified Jesus if he had known what we have today, the Sacred Secret. That is what we are going to talk about.

We are going to talk about the fact that we cannot lose our salvation; however, in the Old Testament you could. We are going to talk about how we are born children of God while in the Old Testament, people had Spirit upon them, and they were servants of God. We are going to talk about the fact that we cannot be separated from God’s love.

Let us just go into one point here on the Sacred Secret which we will make again later in this teaching, just to give you a feel of the greatness of this and how important this is. I am going to make the assumption that maybe I should not make that you are familiar with Romans chapter 8 where it says that “nothing shall separate us from the love of God.” Do you remember Romans chapter 8, the closing of the chapter, starting in verse 35 going through verse 39 that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. When you are in Hosea chapter 1, back in the Old Testament, that was not true because in the Old Testament the relationship between God and people was not the relationship of a father and a child, it was the relationship of a Lord and a servant. When the servant displeased the Lord, he would cut off the servant. For example, the problem with Israel in Hosea’s time is illustrated in chapter 1 verse 2.

Hosea 1:2
When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, [Why?] because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.”

The Israelites had departed from the LORD. What was His response to this?

Hosea 1:6
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.

Gomer was the woman who Hosea took as a wife.

Hosea 1:6
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah

The word “Lo” in Hebrew means low and “Ruhamah” means love or mercy or compassion.

Hosea 1:6
for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel

Wow! What a heart breaking verse. The verse in Romans that you and I get to claim says, “Nothing shall by any means separate us from the love of God.”

The fact is, what we have in Christ, in the Sacred Secret, is so big that I do not have time to cover it in a 70 minute tape [We have provided further study links at the end of this transcription.]; thus, I am going to give you some verse references occasionally instead of reading the whole verse.

What we are going to cover first in this teaching is to see that the word mystery is the Greek word musterion, which is most often translated mystery in the New Testament, and it is not a mystery at all; it is a Sacred Secret. We are going to see why we call musterion a Sacred Secret. We are going to look at verses about the musterion, the Sacred Secret, and see that it was once hidden but now has been made known. We are going to discuss where we would look to find information about the Sacred Secret; including why did God hide it, and why is He now revealing it? That will bring up the fact that God is revealing it because it reveals His wisdom, and He is revealing it in part for our glory. We are going to talk about different aspects of the Sacred Secret.

First of all, we need to talk about the fact that the word musterion does not mean mystery but it means secret.

Ephesians 3:3
That is, the mystery [musterion] made know to me by revelation…

That word mystery is the Greek word musterion. By the way, you can find a number of books for this—Greek interlinear, lexicons, and especially Bible study programs for the computer that will allow you to see this for yourself. I am letting you know that this subject of the musterion, the Sacred Secret, is so important that it is worth checking out and worth looking in to. When I say that the Greek word for mystery here is musterion, go and get a Bible study software program or a Greek lexicon and check it out. It will fortify your faith to see exactly what I am teaching.

What has happened in English is that the Greek word musterion has been transliterated into the English word mystery. Now, to transliterate comes from the Latin root trans, which is across, and litera, which is the Latin word for letter. To transliterate is to simply bring across a word in the letters from one language to another, so musterion in Greek got transliterated into mystery in English. Transliteration is nice, but transliteration is not translation. Translation is when you bring across the meaning. What we want to find out is not what the letters in the Greek are, but what the meaning of the Greek word musterion is, then we can translate it. What we will find is that the Greek word musterion refers to a Sacred Secret. That is where we are going in the near future here.

We need to become clear on some definitions. Why do I not like the English word mystery? The English word mystery means something that is incomprehensible; it is unknowable; it is beyond understanding. For example, it is common in religious circles to speak of the Trinity as a mystery, and then say that no one can comprehend it. In science, the fact that light has the properties of a particle and the properties of a wave is a mystery to us. It is incomprehensible to us. We do not understand it; it is outside of our nine dots. That is a mystery. A mystery is when something is beyond our understanding, unknowable, incomprehensible.

In contrast a secret is something that is known by someone but unknown by others. For example, a surprise birthday party is a secret—well supposedly it is a secret to the one who is having the birthday, but everybody else knows it. A mystery is incomprehensible; it cannot be known. A secret is something that can be known, but it is not known by every person.

I want to point out that this is so incredibly important to know that I want to document this first from the scholars and then from the Word of God itself. In the New Bible Dictionary when you look up the word mystery, for example, it says, “but where as mystery may mean and in contemporary usage often does mean a secret for which no answer can be found, this is not the connotation of the word musterion in classical and Biblical Greek. In the New Testament, musterion signifies a secret which is being or even has been revealed.”

You might be familiar with Smith’s Bible Dictionary, a very famous Bible Dictionary. Here is what Smith’s has to say, “Musterion by no means necessarily denotes anything strictly mysterious and incomprehensible. The fact or truth though requiring to be revealed, it may when revealed be of a very elementary character.”

One of the conservative Bible Dictionaries that I like is Zondervan Tutorial Encyclopedia of the Bible has this to say, “Mystery in the New Testament does not deal with the unknowable but with what is imparted by revelation.”

Lastly, you are probably familiar with Strongs as in the Strong’s Concordance, in the Strong’s Expanded Dictionary under musterion we read, “In the New Testament, it denotes not the mysterious as with the English word, but that which being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension can be made known only by Divine revelation.”

That is exactly right. The scholars recognize it. This is important, and the reason that this is important is because the vast majority of the Bible versions translate the Greek word musterion as mystery, so I want to make it clear that the scholars know that mystery is not a good translation of musterion. It communicates the wrong idea. Translating musterion as mystery communicates the idea that the things of God cannot be understood.

I cannot tell you the harm that this has done to the Church over the centuries. The number of good, God-loving people that are kept in the dark about the things of God because when they ask tough questions, they are taken to some verse in the Bible that mentions the word mystery and told that “Well, the things of God are mysterious.” No, the things of God are secret to those that have not bothered to take the time to look. The things of God are not mysterious in the sense that we cannot understand them. It is so important to get that.

So much harm has been done to the Church by false doctrines that are promulgated and then when somebody questions them and says, “It just does not make sense this doctrine of…whatever.” They are told, “Well, that doctrine, that one is a mystery.” Oh really. Well, that is not in Scripture. That is in man’s theology.

You can read the rest of the article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here to inform and bless you. God granted you the gift of free will – take it or leave it).

More from Write From Karen

Saturday Stuff

Searching …

Karen

She had been missing for two months.

The police tried to help but since she was 19 years old they said that maybe she just took off to begin her new life

I knew better. She wasn’t the type of girl to just disappear without talking to her parents first.

“An anonymous source gave us her description. This might not even be her,” the police officer apologized.

I took a steady breath and looked around at the homeless kids huddled in dirty street corners.

The officer reached a large, covered cardboard box.

“Ready?”

I nodded.

He reached a hand out. The curtain parted …

.

.

.

*************************

Write up to 100 words, fact or fiction….

This is a themed writing meme hosted by Jenny Matlock. The goal is to write something that does not exceed 100 words (not including said prompt). The prompt is in italics above.

Life

Retail Therapy

Karen

I went shopping tonight.

For those that know me, I’m sure you’re bracing yourselves for an onslaught of bitter vitriol about the evils of shopping.

But I’m going to surprise you – I actually enjoyed myself.

I’ve always wondered if I was missing a critical female gene – I don’t enjoy shopping. I’ve read so many women who write about the challenge of finding that perfect top to go with those hard-to-match pants. Or the hunt for the shoes that make just the right statement.

And I was envious. I’ve never understood their enthusiasm. Actually, I’ve (politely) snickered behind my hand about their enthusiasm.

“How can they enjoy something so frustrating?” I’ve thought to myself.

Because shopping, for me, is TERRIBLY frustrating, for a variety of reasons, really.

1. I’m an Amazon woman. It’s incredibly hard to find tops that are long enough for me (I can’t tell you how many shirts I’ve given away because they’ve shrunk to the point where all I have to do is raise my arm to reach for a glass and suddenly, my entire [wrinkly] midriff is on display for everyone to criticize), it’s even harder to find pants that are long enough.

2. I have very simple taste. I’m not into big flowers, or leopard spots, or funky colors or graphics – I like simple, pretty colors in flattering styles. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to find something like that, but trust me, IT IS.

3. Clothes, and I’m talking good QUALITY clothes, are freaking expensive. (No offense Old Navy, I like your stuff, but the material, and sometimes even the cut, looks and feels cheap). I’m just too cheap to fork over the money necessary to own a quality wardrobe. I’m glad I’m careful with our money, but sometimes, I wish I could just let go and buy what I NEED so I can stop looking like a homeless person.

Seriously.

4. I am unwilling to take the time to actually visit the stores, look around at the selections and then try clothes on. I can think of 50 things I would RATHER do than shop for clothes. And that includes mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms.

I just hate to shop. I always have. I don’t mind shopping for my boys or for Kevin, but me?

Forget about it.

But there are times, like now, that I am forced to take a hard, honest look at my wardrobe and have to make changes. In case you don’t know, I’m applying for jobs. And I’ve already been on a few interviews. For office jobs. And office jobs require office clothes. That I currently don’t have. But need to buy.

So I took advantage of the fact that the boys went to their cousin’s house, Kevin went to band practice and I was left alone, at home, fretting about my crappy wardrobe and went shopping; I grabbed that bull by the horns and I held on for dear life.

I took a deep breath, I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached, and I went to the mall.

On a Friday night.

With permission to spend a little money from the boss man.

God help me.

I did what I always did – I sort of swept through the stores. I glanced over the selections, made a few choice criticisms (okay, I totally made fun of some of the styles), and didn’t see one cotton-picking thing that I even remotely liked. They did have a lot of clearance items on sale, and I DID look through the selections, but I’ll be honest, clearance clothes take even more time and patience and I don’t have any to begin with. I simply can’t summon the energy to take clearance clothes seriously.

Which is really stupid, I know, considering how cheap I am.

I walked through Dillards, picked up a pair of gray slacks, thought they were cool looking, and then checked the price.

http://twitter.com/#!/writefromkaren/status/48891312325406720

Oh HELL to the no! For a pair of SLACKS?!?

I promptly left Dillards and went to JCPenney – and had absolutely NO luck there.

At all.

Discouraged beyond belief, I started back to my car. I simply couldn’t summon the motivation to continue. I just wanted to go back home, change into some comfy sweats and bury my misery in a carton of ice cream.

I was heading back through Dillards and to my car, when I saw a section of slacks that looked promising. I cautiously inched forward and with one eye open, took a look at the price tag.

http://twitter.com/#!/writefromkaren/status/48903173859049472

(Yes. I totally tweeted my shopping trip because YOU ALL are my friends. As pathetic as that sounds, I know).

Okay. I liked the slacks. The price was right. Now it was time to do the deed – try the suckers on.

I grabbed my size and one size larger. Come on gals, you know how it is. Sizes are not consistent. (Which is another reason I hate to shop, actually). And I grabbed some khaki slacks with a side zipper (by the way, slacks with side zippers make you look skinnier – did you know that? You’re welcome), a pair of navy slacks and some really cool, sort of pin-stripped (but not, they’re kind of textured, they’re hard to explain) black slacks.

I went to the dressing room.

Two of the slacks I had to buy the larger size. I could fit into my size, but it was pretty snug and well, it just looked … wrong. The third pair fit nicely in my size.

I was ecstatic! They looked good and were of a stretchy material, so I knew they would be comfortable to wear all day.

I looked around for quite a while at their tops, and saw quite a few I liked, but they were too expensive to be taken seriously. I did end up trying on one, taking a large, and an extra-large into the fitting room with me, but the large looked too … big, so I bit the bullet and tried on a medium – it fit perfectly.

Now I’m wondering if I’m buying my clothes too big. I have some family members who wear tight clothing. In fact, I’d daresay they wear sizes too small for them. They don’t look bad, just … uncomfortable. But since these clothes fit them snugly, they also look pretty skinny. I’m wondering if part of the reason I always look LARGE is because I’m wearing LARGE clothes. Maybe if I concentrate on wearing clothes that actual fit, I’d also look skinniner. I know that doesn’t make sense, but when I read back on this some day, it’ll make perfect sense to me.

Anyway, I ended up buying the three pairs of slacks and the one top. That’s the most I’ve spent on clothes, for myself, in two years. No joke. But price aside, I have to be honest – it was FUN to actually find some clothes that fit me and that I actually liked. I left the store feeling like I actually accomplished something and I’m looking forward to going back to Dillards (when the shock of spending that much money wears off) and trying to find some more clothes that I can mix and match.

I’ve left the tags on everything. I bought these office clothes assuming that I would either get this job I’ve applied for, or another office job. I know I’m jumping the gun a bit, but I like to be prepared. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll take everything back.

But I hope everything works out because I really want to wear those slacks now. 😀

I think I can FINALLY understand what people are talking about when they talk about the whole shopping experience. It’s fun when everything falls into place. It’s just a shame it doesn’t fall into place very often.

Day-By-Day

No Heat, 50 Years, Second Interview

Karen

Our oven conked out on us.

The same, beautiful oven that we bought a little over a year ago to put in our newly-remodeled kitchen.

IMG_2029
(you can see the whole kitchen process, from start to finish, here. I can’t believe it’s been a year already!).

Did I mention it’s only a little over a year old???

GRRRRRRR – Talk about frustrating!!

Here’s what happened: I cooked chicken pot pie. I blame the chicken pot pie. Okay fine, it’s MY fault that I didn’t put the pie plate on a cookie sheet to catch the drippings. *sigh*

When we went to turn on the self-cleaning option, to clean up the chicken pot pie drippings that happened because of my lack of foresight, it kept telling us that the door wasn’t completely closed. Um, yes, it was. At least, we thought it was. But the oven light wouldn’t shut off. And when we took a closer look at the oven door, we could tell, yes, it wasn’t closing properly.

(This actually happened last Thursday night. We had to turn the breaker off to the oven over the weekend so we wouldn’t burn the oven lights out. They’re special lights. Which is really code for “EXPENSIVE”, I’m sure).

Since the door wouldn’t close properly, the oven wouldn’t permit itself to turn on and heat up. We could still use the stove top, just not the oven.

So we had to call a repair guy. Actually, we had no idea where to even find a guy that would know how to work on our oven, so we called the place where we bought the oven and they recommended the place to us.

The guy came out this past Tuesday. Kevin had to leave work to meet him – I had to brush up on a program that was required for the position I applied for and my interview was later that day. I couldn’t afford the time away to meet the guy, so Kevin did it.

Luckily, the only thing that was wrong with it was the latch. (I was afraid it was a computer issue. Because computers are AWESOME, until something goes wrong). Apparently, that’s a common complaint with this particular oven – the latch is a bit wonky. The repair guy said that he gets a TON of calls about ovens not working right before Thanksgiving because so many people pick that time to clean their ovens and then something goes wrong with the latch and it no longer heats. I can’t imagine not having an oven to cook the Thanksgiving turkey!! Talk about freaked out!

So. The moral of this story? We won’t be using our self-cleaning option in the future. We’ll just have to don some old fashion rubber gloves and scrub our hands off.

Sweet.

*****

The boys are pretty much on their own now. They (and when I say “they” I mean “Dude”), drive themselves to school every day. Unless there’s a chance of snow/ice – then I drive then. (No sense pushing the envelope, don’t you know). They’ve also been driving out to their cousin’s house in a nearby town – which is about thirty minutes away.

I also made them drive to a Hallmark store to buy their cousin a birthday card, by themselves. I thought it would be a good exercise in independence for them. Drive there, pick out the card themselves, (instead of mom picking out a few and saying “which one do you like the best?”), paying for it, and then driving back home.

Dude was a little nervous about doing all of this by himself, but he’s a little more brave with his little brother with him. (Jazz is my outgoing, social kid and doesn’t shy away from people like Dude does. Though Dude IS getting better about being around people).

I’m so glad they’re doing all of these things on their own, because it’s just a matter of time before I land a job. (More on that in a second).

I was just returning to the office after my second interview, when Kevin says to me, “Hey, did you know the boys are going bowling with your mom at 4:30 today?”

*blink-blink-blink*

I guess the boys feel it’s okay to make plans without me.

Which ……………. okay. I mean, on the one hand, I WANT them to do stuff, you know? They’re teenage boys, they have friends, they have a right to their own lives, and they have the transportation to get there, but ………….WAH! It’s WEIRD letting go, you know? It’s weird knowing they are ready to do things away from me and Kevin.

At any rate, I had no problem with them taking off with my mom. (And thanks for taking them, mom, they really enjoyed themselves), I just want to know what the plans are.

And thank goodness for texts. I swear, I talk to my sons more now than I ever have since we all have phones and can text each other now. And though I knew my boys were funny, I didn’t really appreciate their senses of humor until they started texting me.

They had a good time. (Who doesn’t have a good time with grandma, right??) And I got tickled when my mom told me that Dude kept worrying about how much money she was spending on them. HAHAHA! I’ve taught them well, apparently!

I also got tickled when I talked to Dude after he returned from buying a birthday card and I asked him how much he spent on the card.

“Three dollars and twenty-nine cents. That’s too expensive for a birthday card, mom,” he says.

HAHAHAHA. Hence the reason I insist that Kevin not buy me cards for holidays. It’s such a waste of money (to me, at least).

It’s really encouraging to see them starting to live their lives separate from me and Kevin. It’s sad, but exciting at the same time. I don’t want to hold them back. I have no desire to clip their wings and keep them home with me. But at the same time ………………. *sigh*

I have to say, though, that it’s kind of fun to watch their lives unfold before them.

*****

Kevin’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party was this past Sunday and it was a lot of fun. His sisters did most of the planning, Kevin and I just helped carry things in, set things up, tear things down and I did a lot of dishes.

Which was FINE with me, that meant I was out of the way yet doing something productive.

Anyway, Kevin’s parents’ church was kind enough to allow us to use their facility for the party. Kevin and I went over to his sister’s house on Saturday and I spent the entire afternoon washing and chopping fruits and vegetables. We then packed everything up (it took three cars full!!) and we unloaded everything at the church. Since the church planned on having service the next morning, we couldn’t set everything up, so we stuffed everything into a back room and all met at the church at 12:30 the next day. We all frantically worked on setting up tables, food, pictures, cake, my MIL’s wedding dress, a slide show of their life together and Kevin had downloaded some 50’s music onto his iPod to play for background music.

We all worked well together. We brought our steamer so we could steam the wrinkles out of the tablecloths and Kevin worked on steaming the wrinkles out of his mother’s wedding dress.

kevin-wedding-dress

(I was too petrified to even try it. The dress was 50 years old, after all, and if I ruined it … HELLO!! That’s my MIL! I’d likely never live it down).

My in-laws arrived and they looked so cute together!

Everyone clapped when they came in and I could tell they were really enjoying the attention.

I mean, it’s FIFTY years together! That’s a big deal!!

The gathering was pretty informal, people came and went for about two hours and we did a lot of socializing. I didn’t know most of the people there, but Kevin really enjoyed reconnecting with family friends and some of his cousins. The boys drove themselves over there, so they left before we did. Kevin and I stuck around to help clean up.

Kevin helped tear down tables and put the chairs back where they belonged while I washed dishes. Between standing for two hours and then standing another hour doing dishes, my back was pretty much shot by the end of the night, but we had a really good time and it was worth seeing my in-laws’ happy faces.

We ended up taking more family shots once everything had been cleaned up and everyone had left. You can tell, by my rather greasy-looking hair, that it was limp from sweat because this was right after I finished washing all the dishes.

me-and-kevin

Oh well. Such is life.

I’ve been very blessed to have married into a really great family. Everyone is sooooo nice and we all get along sooooo well. Not to mention, we all have the greatest kids and not one of them has gotten into trouble or been (much of *wink*) of a rebel.

My side of the family is the same way. I just can’t tell you how fortunate I feel, especially when I read about the troubles other families go through with not getting along or some other drama affair.

It’s such a blessing when you actually LIKE your families, you know?

Kevin and I were talking about our fiftieth wedding anniversary – he’ll be 79 and I’ll be 75. I hope we LIVE to see our fiftieth anniversary!!

*****

I had my second job interview yesterday.

It was another one of those whirlwind days. I had returned the call on Wednesday, but hadn’t heard anything, so Kevin pushed me to call again. (Something about the squeaky wheel … something-something. I don’t know. I was too distracted to pay attention). I had expected to get the woman’s voice mail, but to my surprise, she answered and here I was, put on the spot, again, and had to force myself to think fast.

(No easy feat, let me tell ya!)

She looked at her calendar and asked if I could come in at 3:00 that day for the interview. And I would be interviewing with two of them because they liked to double team up that way to save them from having to schedule another interview.

I said “Absolutely!” and died a little inside.

I wore the same thing to my second interview as I did for my first interview with the recruiter. Again, I didn’t have time to shop, but more importantly, it somehow felt wrong to wear a suit and/or a blazer. I wanted to fit in, so I stuck with my “office-type” garb.

I’m glad I did. I didn’t feel over, or under dressed and that helped me to relax a bit, I think.

I arrived, right on time, and checked in. (I was rather surprised to see you couldn’t just walk in, you had to be buzzed in). The woman came to get me and en route to her office, she stopped to introduce me to her team – the same team of women I would be working with IF I get this job. I just sort of gave them a shy smile and a wave and then she took me back to her office. She introduced me to the other woman and we sat down to have a little chat.

I was nervous, and yet, I was not. I felt comfortable with these women right away (they were my age and we discovered we had a lot in common – children in band, teenagers, etc). They asked me a series of questions and I was quite honest in my replies. I kept everything professional and my awkward answers were tactful, but I also tried to keep everything friendly, too.

They acted like they were really pleased with my answers. They also acted VERY interested in the fact that I have some training in technical writing. In fact, they both looked at each other and named off some sort of project name so I’m assuming they could use my talents for some project at some point.

I mentioned, and apologized, that I would need a week off in July so we could go on our family vacation. I told them that it had been planned for a few months now (which it has been), and that I couldn’t really get out of it. They appreciated my honesty, once again, and I just hope that doesn’t hinder my chances.

But again, I would much rather be up front and honest about possible snags than surprise and disappoint them later.

So, I left feeling pretty good about the interview. I hope they liked me and I REALLY HOPE they will give me the job. They said that it would likely be a week before I heard anything (more applicants), but they were desperate to fill the position, so I’m hoping it’s sooner than that.

Kevin is a bit sad at the prospect of losing me in the office. But I’m READY for this. I’m excited to get back out into the working world. Even though the pay isn’t that much, it’s enough to pay for our groceries every month and every little bit helps, right?

I’ll keep you posted as to what happens. If I get the job, I probably won’t be blogging as much – I simply won’t have the time. My hours would be 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday, so any blogging would have to be done later in the evening. Actually if I get this job (or just any job), I’ll have two jobs – my “day” job and my website business job. I’ll have to update websites when I get off work every night AND THEN blog – in between cooking dinner, exercising and of course, catching up with my family.

Just the thought of being so busy makes me smile.