I'm posting merely for the sake of posting

   I feel a little guilty for my lack of post-age lately, so here's a totally random one for you. Maybe it will just go to prove how little I have to talk about...

• I got a new car about a month ago.  I don't know if I mentioned that here...  comment and tell me if you want to see pictures or if you really don't care...
• Last weekend was spent at the Kalahari hotel and resort in the Wisconsin Dells.  Tons of fun, waterpark, etc (I don't really swim and actually didn't even bring a swimming suit... but, the kids had fun!) The trip was a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa, YAY!
• Our family has 8 licensed drivers and 7 cars and we STILL have to do car swapping and intricate plans involving who will drive who where and who will pick up who's car and swap keys, etc.  Strange, no?
• It is 9 degrees right now in Southern Wisconsin.  Up from 0 this morning.  Oh happy, frigid day.  
• I believe I have spring fever.
• Is it too early to order seeds for the garden?  
• At the risk of sounding like a very extravagant girl... I also just bought a new laptop.  Tuppence (my old laptop) is decidedly an "Old Thing" and is ready to retire.  I ordered my new laptop and it should be here in a week or so, I'm thinking.  I'm so excited it's almost ridiculous.  
• And.....  
• That's all, folks. 
  

Random Update

• I just got an e-mail from Amazon.com telling me two very cool things.  1) That the books I pre-ordered a month ago were shipped yesterday which means I should be getting them early next week.  Three books I've been anxious to read for...  well, ever since I knew they were going to be published.  And 2) That one of the books went down in price after I ordered it and Amazon charged me the decreased price.  Isn't that sweet?
• Yesterday I read The Tale of Despereaux.  This in itself was a huge step towards conquering my murophobia.  Reader do you know what murophobia is?  I will tell you.  FEAR OF MICE.  Yep.  The phrase "Despereaux scurried across the floor" sends shivers down my spine.  I have not completely conquered the phobia.  But, reading the book was certainly an overcoming experience.  In other semi-related news, I loved the book!
• Quest.  Say it, Reader.  Say the word 'quest' out loud.  It is an extraordinary word, isn't it?  So small, yet so full of wonder, so full of hope."
• Started Savvy last night by Ingrid Law.  
• I'm going to a wedding today.  The wedding isn't until 4:30 and I have the whole day off work!  I have all day to make myself beautiful!  HA!  So, I'll probably still read until the last minute and then throw some makeup on before I rush out the door.  
• Our Bible Study group started reading Do Hard Things.  I'm looking forward to being inspired by the message even though it's geared towards teens and I'm, um, not a teen.  Actually no one in my group is a teen.  Ok, one teen. The rest of us are in our mid-20s to 30s.  But, we can still be inspired by a book about rebelling against low expectations, right?  
• I have a green face.  It's a Mint-Juniper Facial Mask.  And I love it.  But, my sisters like to mock scream when they see me wearing it.  I just feel like bursting into song "I think i'll try defying gravity!"
• Evidently I have nothing more interesting to say.  Hope you all have a great weekend!
  

Monday

It's Monday, and I am HOPING to get back to normal blog life this week.

I know posts were a little sporadic last week, I apologize for that.

I'm headed to work now, I hope everyone has a good start to their week!

Life Changing

it's amazing how fast life can change. I was working at Mom's this morning, doing computer work, filing paperwork, and such. I left to go to work at the flower shop at noon, where I immediately loaded up the station wagon and started delivering flowers. 10 minutes into delivering I noticed a missed call on my phone. HOME... so, I dialed the number back. I figured it wasn't anything big, since I had just been there 15 minutes ago.

Joe answered the phone: "Hello?"
Me: "Hey! somebody just called me?"
Joe: "Uh, yeah, mom did. here she is... oh, never mind. she can't talk right now."
Me: "ok... is everything ok?" (his voice sounded REALLY wierd...)
Joe: "no. it's not ok."
Me: "what's wrong??"
Joe: "You need to talk to mom, and she can't talk right now. bye."
*hangs up phone*

so.... I panicked. I was all the way on the other side of town from home and I spent the whole drive getting myself more and more worked up thinking about all of the terrible possibilites.

I had pretty much convinced myself something tragic had probably happened to one of the kids when I arrived home and saw Dad's truck parked half in the driveway, half in the street. I ran inside and was partially relieved to find Sarah Beth calmly eating lunch in her high chair.

I demanded that Joe tell me what had happened, and he did. My last living Great Grandma had just died. It was a blow. She hadn't been sick, and it was totally unexpected.

So, after holding mom for a while and trying to finish my deliveries without crying too much, I headed back to the shop, and punched out for the day.

And I just kept thinking about how fast things change. In the blink of an eye, out of the blue my whole world went careening crazily. I'll never forget that terror as I drove home KNOWING something terrible had happened. And the realization that our lives are not ours to control, and that everything can change in a second and we may never know what hit us.

I'm going to miss Grandma. I'm especially sad because she always told me she wanted to live to see Great Great Grandchildren, and I really wanted her to... It could have been possible.

But, I also know that she has been miserable since Great Grandpa died unexpectedly almost 2 years ago. So, I know they are happy again, together. My sisters and I laughed when we imagined them driving around to visit all of their friends in heaven, since that's exactly what they loved to do here on earth!

Home again, Home again....

jiggety jig.

Yeah.

People, I am SO dog tired. 

Camp was amazingly amazing.  I love camp.

I'd go back tomorrow.

Love, love, LOVE camp.

I don't have pictures to share yet... but I'm working on that for you.

We arrived home Thursday from camp, crashed on Friday (as much as is possible with 7 children under 7 running around)

Then we went to a wedding out of town over the weekend.

I loaded up my car with flowers and kids to take home to their parents and the wedding photographer and the pianist and drove to central Illinois. 

Where we proceeded to help decorate for the wedding, arrange flowers, take pictures, do hair, occupy 13 (absolutely ADORABLE) flower girls while the wedding waited to start, get said 13 flower girl safely down the aisle in groups of 2 and 3, tear down the ceremony and set up the reception, decorate the cake, serve the food, take pictures, and probably lots of other things that I can't think of right now....

Then we loaded up the car, loaded up the people, got on the road, turned around because we forgot something, got BACK on the road, forgot something again, turned back around, and got BACK on the road.

We drive two cars everywhere because we don't own one big enough to transport all of us.  Mom and I drove slightly faster than we usually do on the way home.  We did a 4 hour trip in about 3hrs. 40 mins.  arriving home at about 1:15 am this morning.  Where I fell into my bed and proceeded to lay there blinking at the ceiling for the next 3 hours.

Ugh.
Did I mention I left my coffee maker at Mom and Dad's?

Monday Morning!

Good Morning Everyone!

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty good.  Very busy, but we got a lot accomplished so I'm very happy.  (Of course, there were also a lot of things on my list that didn't get done, but oh well).

I got to the greenhouse FINALLY and bought some shrubs and perennials for my front yard!!  And even MORE exciting..... *drum roll* Katie and I actually got them planted!!!  Our yard isn't stunning yet, but it is actually on the way to being there!!!  I plan to take some pictures to share with you very soon.

We got most of the costumes figured out for camp next week.

Still working (or thinking about working) on that "about camp" post, so hang with me, I'll get it to you, I promise!

Ok, I've got to get back to browsing iTunes.  I'm looking for music for the skits, which is... fun, but frustrating.

See ya *waves*

ok...

So, I'm home from a whirlwind weekend.
We had fun, but I'm really ready to be home and relax....
not going to happen though.

we have kids camp in 2 weeks, so I have a ton to do to get ready for that.
I can try to do a post here this week describing kids camp and why we have to so much to do to get ready for it...

in the meantime, I can't promise a post everyday this week, folks, although I will give it my best effort.

Have fun!

I would LOVE to hear about your Independence Day festivites....
does anyone have any family traditions???

Wednesday

Means:

• I have a long day at work
• I have to pack TONIGHT for our weekend trip
• I have shop tonight to buy things that I need before I go out of town so I can pack them
• I'd really like to finish the 3 books that I have started
• I really SHOULD try to read the book we are basing our entire youth camp on this year...,
• I need to water the garden
• I need to figure out exactly WHAT to do with my dog while I'm gone
• I need about 24 hours of peace and quiet
• I need to buy a birthday present
• I need to organize and figure out costumes for camp....
• I need to figure out just WHAT costumes I need to organize and figure out for camp
• I need to sleep (may not happen)
• I need to eat  (ditto)
• I need a vacation. (ditto, ditto)....
  

Construction

I am literally surrounded by construction almost every moment of my day.

I wake up in the morning to the sounds of the Walgreen's next door being built.

I go to work, where the street in front of our shop is torn up and big "yellow dragons" move dirt around and drill holes and turn off our water...

I come home and construction continues next door... until dark... or later...

These guys don't take weekends off either! They're getting overtime. And a bonus for every day they finish early. And a fine for every day they're over...

My life is a hard hat zone.

Wednesday

Today I work all day, but have the evening free!! yippee!!! so, I'm hoping to get in some reading tonight and maybe watch an episode of Foyle's War? wouldn't that be fun!

Also, I have big plans to beat this sore throat/ear infection once and for all... so, that's my big plans for today!

Tuesday

It's Tuesday. Which means:

• Work at Mom's this morning, entering bills
• Try to get to the bank to deposit my check
• Work at the flower shop this afternoon
  
• Inhale something for dinner so I can go to
• a camp planning meeting tonight

did I mention that the sore throat that turned into swollen tonsils, double ear infection, body aches, fatigue and a fever last week and put me on the couch for two days... is back. Why?!? I don't know... Antibiotics aren't helping. I can't miss any more work, people!

*SIGH*

*Hides under couch*

I don't have any pictures.... :(

I still don't have the camera back....

sorry. Besides, that I wasn't sure you all wanted to see pictures of dirt mounds anyway. The seeds are in the dirt... but you can't see them yet... so... not very interesting, actually.

My summer is about to get crazy, people! just warning you...

Day Off

I'm taking a break from blogging today... I know what you're thinking... :)

Anyway, instead of talking about myself today, I want to hear about you!

So, if you're on my blog today, say hi! What are you up to?

And I'm AWOL....again...

I've got several blog posts in the works. Well, in the "still in my brain" stage anyway. Once I get a camera back I'll be on the road again... reminds me of a song my mom and dad used to sing: "Becca Joy is on the road again" Guess we used to travel a lot when I was little.... Anyway, I'm rambling again... so I'll talk more later!

Weekend Project

Updating my blogger template and profile picture to something more spring-ish...

what do you think?

Days like today...

make me feel like whining all day.

rain, rain, rain, SO windy, and freeeeezing cold. evidently my boss has decided to cut expenses by cutting out the heating bill. it was only 53 degrees today in the shop. brrrr....

so, I want to whine and cry and blow my nose and go home and get a big comforter and 20 cups of hot chocolate.

into every life a little rain must fall
some days must be cold and dark and dreary

then I'm reminded I don't have it so bad... when the man who lost his wife 2 weeks ago to a horrible skin cancer comes into the shop to pay his bill. he's dealing with his grief in a different way... he wants to talk. a lot. so, I listen. and I think... I don't have it so bad...

I don't know

if I'll be around much the rest of the week. Sorry, I'm not organized enough this week to have posts made up ahead of time...

It's just one of those weeks... you know? you probly never have them... :)

We've got guests coming this weekend, and the play all weekend too. So, that's 3 performances, plus dress rehearsal, plus guests to entertain, food to make, besides fitting in the normal work schedules...

Stephanie and I and another friend are in charge of filming the play... so that should be interesting.

On another note, I spent all night tonight baking for the weekend, Sarah Beth helped me, she was so cute!! I wished I had a camera! I gave her a little bowl with some sugar in it and she stirred it very diligently for an hour. She kept asking for new things to put in her "cookies" but I just let her have the sugar. At one point I turned around to find her with sugar on her fingers, and her fingers in her mouth, she looked quite guilty, so I only reprimanded her a little... she was very quiet, and then she said: "Becca? I love you." Oh!! so sweet!! I love you too, sweetie!!!

So, anyway, hopefully next week I'll have play pictures for you all!! And I'm working on a book review and a movie review, too, so those will be coming up!

stay tuned...

What to post???

hmmm...

Well... for some reason I've been feeling pretty stressed out lately. Not sure why unless is has something to do with my job uncertainties, life uncertainties, busy schedules, piles of unfinished work, irritating dog, WINTER!!!, mud everywhere...

I guess it might have something to do with one of those things... or all :-)

Anyway, it's Friday, which is a always a very nice thing. Even when my Saturday is already jam packed crazy, it's still nice to think that this week is almost over.

And tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.

Yet.

Today

Is my 26th birthday... it feels a little wierd but I'm not as sad as I thought I would be. So far today I've been serenaded 3 times, eaten ice cream, had a job interview, got a lovely card from my bosses little girl. She is a an absolute terror and usually follows me around trying to bug me... she wrote me a sweet note "Rebecca, you are an awesome person, you're like the sister I've always wanted, you rock." *LOL* she torments her brothers, too, so maybe it's a sign of affection?
My job interview went well, I think. If nothing else, I got a great opportunity to meet our Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and find out exactly what it is she does. We had a great chat and I left with a huge appreciation for our Chamber of Commerce and everything they do for the community. It may not be the job for me, but I wholeheartedly wish them luck finding the right person.

Change and Hard TImes

What's a girl to do when she realizes she may have to leave the best working environment on the face of the earth?

I love my job. Love it. Love the flowers, the people, the creativity. I love the people I work with so much. My boss is the best. Just the best.

But, change happens. Life is always moving on when we're not ready for it.

I've always known that I would never be able to stay at the shop forever. It doesn't pay well enough for me to support myself longterm. I scrape by now, but only because I hold out hope that someday a "somebody that I'm longing to see" will come along.

But, it hasn't happened yet. So, reality crashes in. Ok, I can't live on this. Just can't.

So, this girl cries for a few days. Musters up the courage to talk to her boss about it. Blubbers and bawls her way through said conversation.

My boss is awesome. Really. She cried too. Hugged me. Gave me flowers and a raise, in "hope that it will help me stay a little longer." But, guess what? Even with the raise it's not enough. And the truth is she can't pay me enough. She knows it, and so she's promised me a job whenever I want it, for as long as I want it, but she'll let me go, even encourage me to do the best I can for myself.

I love her and I love the shop. I'm dreading going out into the world in search of something else that I can make a living at.