Twilight Saga = My Personal Brand of Crack

And so... I am off to finish my Christmas shopping... hopefully by noon... so I can go see New Moon at 12:20 by myself... aka without children.

Maybe now that I will have seen both movies... and read all 4 books... twice... I'll be able to continue sampling my friend H.'s brand of crack and try to learn to knit.

Yeah! I Passed!

I thought I failed...But I passed!

...my certification test to officially be a CNA, certified nursing assistant.

Really it's not rocket science, but people tend to get tripped up on the skills exam by forgetting small steps. You are tested on handwashing and 4 other random skills out of about 25 possibilities.

I missed a couple little steps on one of the skills. You have to pass all 5 skills to pass the exam...

I thought that I had NOT passed as my group was waiting for our results...

But I did it!!

I just feel... relieved...

one more step towards my chosen career is out of the way.

Woo Hoo!!

Can't wait to get back in school in August!

Help! I've Been Bitten!

Yes... I've been bitten. And it's not pretty.

Bitten by the vampires of Twilight. It's quite pathetic actually.

We bought the movie last week at the request of Rob; he wanted to see it again before New Moon came out. He has read all the books. Jake has read Twilight and New Moon.

So... I watched it, prettymuch out of parental obligation... but partially to see what the heck the big deal was.

I can't say it was AWESOME!! or anything, but it did hook me in enough that I wanted to read the book.

Coincidentally, Jake won a New Moon triviacontest the next day at school...
The prize: Twilight, in paperback.

That was Wednesday at 3 pm. It's now Monday at 11:45 am, and I have puchased AND READ the all 4 volumes of the Twilight Saga. That's two thousand, four hundred, and forty-four pages in less than 6 days, with 2 work shifts, Thanksgivings, and a little sleep in there.

Ahhhh... my own personal brand of heroin.

(Needless to say, nothing else much got done all weekend... much to My Love's consternation.)

Rob saw New Moon over the weekend; I promised Jake I'd take him soon, at least sometime over Christmas break.

Now it's time for some catch-up housework... while Twilight is on in the background of course!

PA. THE. TIC.

Thanks For Today - The Power of the Pooch

Maybe my Thanks For Today should be something quite profound on the day before the actual Thanksgiving holiday, but today I am thankful for my dog. I considered myself more of a "Cat Person" until about 7 years ago, when I had a couple cats that really liked to urinate on my furniture. Having to get rid of my living room couches was a pretty quick "Cat-Person CURE."

My husband let me pick out a beagle puppy for a wedding gift. And even though my puppy Zeke has been a real pain in the hiney many times, he has still converted me into a definite "Dog Person." Zeke kind of annoys my sister, so it was especially funny when she sent me this video. It's kind of cute and cheesy, but also.... profound... and illustrates why I am such a sap for my dog.



Some people would argue that cats are like this too, but cats are very prone to PMS-y kinds of random crabbiness. Dogs just love.

Pay it Forward...as promised

Here's the deal... this is a blogging Pay it Forward. One of my former posts (maybe in March?)tells you how much I love the movie, but this idea actually came from my dear friend H.... who got it from someone else... and so on.

The first 3 people to put comments on this post will receive a handmade gift from me within the next 6 months. The recipients then each post a similar "Pay It Forward" post and likewise give handmade gifts to 3 people, within a designated timeframe of their choosing.

Woo Hoo! Let the gift-o-rama begin!

(H, I can't wait to get my socks!)

Thanks for Today - Lifetime Friends

My thanks for today is for my good friend H. She inspires me in so many ways in the (mostly) graceful ways she lives her life. She loves deeply. She knows how to laugh. Given her childhood experiences, these two things alone are nothing short of miraculous. I wish she gave herself a little more credit.

She is a thoughtful giver; when she gives you a gift, you know it was picked with very specific thought for you and your needs/wants/loves... not just to fill an obligation. She always remembers my birthday, even though I always seem to forget hers. She sends me Mother's Day cards.

She is my "2 am" person... you know...

the person you can ALWAYS call, even at 2 am.

She appreciates the finer points of warm brownies and ice cream.

We can talk every day or once a month and it's still like coming home.

So my love, as I visit you today with excessively chocolate cake in tow (Happy Birthday, a little late as usual), I hope you know how much I love you and how awe-struck I am by you.

Thanks for Today - Laughter (a.k.a. All Rocks Go To Heaven)

I love to laugh. Our women's retreat last month actually had a Certified Laughter Leader. I had no idea what this was until I went, but her job is to get people to loosen up and laugh. You basically do all these quite stupid things and force yourself to laugh, until pretty soon you are laughing so hard at ... well you really have no idea why you are laughing, but you can't stop.

For instance, turn to your neighbor, shake their hand, and greet them in Hawaiian.

"A- LOH- Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Or the "Roller Coaster Laugh."

Totally ridiculous. And you feel totally stupid, until you realize that everyone else is acting as mental as you and then you just relax and laugh... and laugh... and laugh...

{ I'm so glad I had the forethought to pee before it started. }

Laughter has healing power, for body and soul. I am so thankful for this gift, for a God who loves me enough to want me to have joy and laughter.

So here's your laugh for the day....
(A friend sent this to me. Thanks, T!)

Do Dogs go to Heaven?

Absolutely unreal that this actually happened!

These two churches face each other across a busy street.