Somehow I Think...

... that clicking these shoes together wouldn't take me to a place like Kansas!

(Oh the fun that can be had in Target!)

If I Weren't Me...

... I'd be annoyed at my lack of postings lately!

HOWEVER, because I am me, and know the reasons* for the lack of postings, I'm too tired to even care!

(*reasons)

1)Jacksteroo in the hospital for five days
2)Playing Aunt Lindsay while #1 was happening
3)Getting over a very nasty cold
4)Working almost 50 hours both last week and this
5)Hosting a game night (which was SO much fun!)
6)Whining about how tired I am :)

And yet, also realizing that there is a lot to be thankful* for...

(*thankful)

1)Continued answers to prayer for strength
2)A good new hire class that started last week
3)A few warm (ish) days
4)Beautiful sunrise today
5)Friends who pray
6)Jack home from the hospital
7)Friends who still love me even when I don't blog faithfully :)

A Regular Old Whodunnit

I got home from work to a beautifully cleared walkway...

After dinner Evan said, "I didn't shovel your walkway. It must have been Amy."

("Oh yeah," I said to him. "I was going to thank you for that!")

So I called Amy and started leaving a message for her, thanking her for being a snow-shovelling goddess. She picked up in the middle of the message, and asked me why I was saying that... no, she had not shovelled my walkway.

The two of us decided that maybe it was Cherilyn, so I put in a call to that household. She answered, and mistook my question. She thought I was asking her to shovel my walkway. After I got done laughing so hard my stomach hurt, I explained the issue... She too was among the "didn't shovel Lindsay's walkway" crew.

We brainstormed and thought maybe it was Alden... when I called him, he stated it wasn't him, but suggested perhaps a guardian angel or my knight in shining armor had done it. Riiight. I have my doubts about that one!

So then I called the F-----s and spoke with the Dad. He said no, they hadn't done it, but with these phone calls I'd now have 15 people who would automatically shovel my walkway at the next snowfall.

And I called Wes, but he was in school.

And I called DJ, but he was still at Fernwood.

And I called Aaron, but he said their family hadn't done it either.

Here I was, trying so very hard to thank the person who did this, but instead just instilling guilt in all the people I asked who hadn't done it.

If you have any ideas of who I should call next, please let me know! Or if you are the do-gooder of a shoveller, THANKS! This has made my evening!

Screeeeeeeech!

That's my life, coming to a screeching halt, as I just got my hands on the fifth season of 24!

Adchay, a person who's identity has been changed to protect him, brought me the first three DVDs of the season on Wednesday. Of course, I had to watch one episode that night... and then a couple more on Thursday night... and more on Friday night... and then on Saturday I woke up really early, and of course, I couldn't be bored on a Saturday morning, so I watched more.

And then a favorite character was killed, and that was the last episode of the DVDs from Adchay. So, I called the local Blockbuster and scuttled over there for the last three DVDs.

I watched a very large number of episodes yesterday, and finished the season this afternoon. And I'm EXHAUSTED! For heaven's sake... the way I get into it, you'd think that Jack couldn't save the world without me! On Friday night, I was tensely curled up in my chair, watching it on my laptop when E & J's cats started howling outside my window. I about leapt out of my skin!

And then I thought of this list:

Signs That You Are WAY Too Into 24!

* You don't care if you're in jammies in Blockbuster

* You're grateful every time you start the car and it doesn't explode

* All of your dreams have to do with computer programming, schematics of buildings & people falling off things (sorry, Mom - you did fall off a v-e-r-y tall structure, but thankfully only sprained your ankle!)

* You start your phone conversations with "Is this a secure line?"

* You cry when a favorite character is killed & start yelling instructions to the other characters on the screen

* Every action that you take in real life (answering the phone, typing on a laptop, putting keys in your pocket) is followed by the thought, "Oh - they do that in 24!"

Good grief, I need to go take a nap before I file my taxes... "hmmm - I wonder if they file taxes in 24!"

Things That Make Me Give Happy Sighs!

A 45 min phone call with my west coast friend...

An affirming, I'm-still-here-for-you-when-the-world-stinks email from my favorite Navy guy

All the funny responses to Jerkopolis!

Seeing my friend's twins today - they've almost tripled their birth weight in 10 weeks and are looking mighty healthy!

Restarting our Bible Study this evening after a long hiatus

Knowing that God has my best interest at heart

Happy Sigh!!

Word of the Day

"Jerkopolis"

Noun - The imaginary city of residence of people that we're not too fond of.

Creator of word - Amy

Whole-hearted supporter of word - Lindsay

Phone Calls That Make You Say, "Count Me In!!"

On Thursday I got a message on my phone from DJ... "call me when you get a chance. I have a question for you about Saturday."

Now, Thursday was a v-e-r-y bad day in Lindsay-land, so I texted back, "Bad day - I'm grouchy - will call tomorrow."

Friday comes, I am officially un-grouchy, and I call the cousin. "How about Wes and I come over on Saturday and make you pancakes."

OKAY!!

So, this morning I had two blonde cousins come make me food. (Well, one made the pancakes, I fried the bacon, and the other one did the dishes later on... in fact the pancake-maker even pulled double duty by drying the dishes!)

Evan came in and said, "How much did this cost you? Breakfast and clean-up??"

Just cost a package of bacon!

Another Chloe Quote

She was showing me the shoes she chose to wear, advising me that they came to her from her cousin Addie.

"They came in a package that the CPV truck brought."

"Oh," said Aunt Lindsay, "UPS?"

"Yup."

"May You Please Honk!"

... heard tonight from my backseat, as my three year old niece decided we had been waiting too long at a red light.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.
We ask ourselves,
'Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous,
talented,
and famous?'
Actually, who are you not to be? 
You are a child of God. 
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest 
the glory of God that is within us. 
It's not just in some of us;
it's in all of us. 
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

- Maryann Williamson

And The Random Comment Award Goes To...

"You're so pure, you crack me up!"

A co-worker said this to me today, as I was expressing frustration about something, but refusing to swear.

Um - thank you?

All In A Night's Work

So, last night I was a taxi driver who was driving Rosie O'Donnell around, and had the opportunity to share the gospel with her. How about that?

Generally, I'm one of those people who doesn't dream. And when I say that, the people who facts are important to, jump up and down screaming, "Everyone dreams - you just probably don't remember yours."

Well, then, ok. I dream. I just don't remember them.

Since I've been sick, I've been taking Tylenol Cold & Flu both the day and the night formulas. The day formula has been great to keep me going at work. The night formula is AMAZING! I've slept incredibly well the last couple of nights, and the dreams have been out of control! I thought Sunday's was interesting, and then Monday's... but I think the whole taxi driver thing takes the cake!

From Abishag to Zebedee

What do you do when you've gotten three hours of sleep and are on a car trip that is taking fourteen hours when it should only take nine?

Play fun games, of course!

Me to Evan, "Let's play 'come-up-with-weird-names-from-the-Bible-for-every-
letter-of-the-alphabet.' I'm starting with Abishag... go!"

Or play multiple rounds of "Who Am I?"

Or listen to CDs... lots of CDs.

Or put diapers on your head to amuse the six & two yr old in the backseat.

Or pray that the trucks passing you and causing slush on the windshield that blinds for seconds at a time will go away!

Or keep checking the speedometer and seeing that we're still going half the speed we should be going.

Or eat all kinds of junk food... and subsequently become sick from said junk food!

And lastly (and most importantly) - daydream of the look on your Dad's face when he walks in from work and sees that you're here to surprise him for his 60th birthday weekend!

The trip was a major success, and thankfully the roads were clear on the way home, and we made it in nine hours! (In time to go to bed very unhappily, due to the outcome of "the game" last night - angry eyes at Caldwell!)

Icy Marauders

This morning at 3:30 I awoke because something was happening in my living room. Someone had just dropped something and it made a loud thud. I lay awake, my heart now doing the thudding, and it happened again! I decided I didn't want to be a statistic of someone murdered in their bed, so I got up to investigate. (Don't argue with 3:30 am logic... it's MUCH better to be in one's living room when one meets an intruder - everyone knows that!)

As you can guess, because I am writing this post, there was no one in my living room... or my bathroom or the hall closet. (Not that I checked or anything - I'm not neurotic!)

I went back to bed, and will freely admit I left the light on for safe measure.

My eyes were closed, I was almost asleep again when someone threw a rock at my bedroom wall! My eyes flew open, and my heart started that dumb thudding again. What was going on?

I calmed down, closed my eyes again, and had just gotten back to sleep when the pipes started screeching at the top of their lungs. (Please don't bother me with pipe anatomy details... I'm in the creative writing zone, and my heating pipes can have lungs if I say so!)

Now I was irritated. Not only was this marauder invisible, but it sounded like he was heating water for a cup of tea!

A minute later the same rock-thrown-at-wall sound came, except it was SIX INCHES from my head.

And then I realized what all these noises were. There was ice on my apartment from the recent storms, and it was cracking... and it continued to crack until I had to drag my exhausted, all nerved-up, hadn't really slept since 3:30 body out of bed for work this morning.

I'm sleeping in my closet tonight, where tea-drinking, rock-throwing, invisible marauders can't get me!!

Aunt Lindsay & Jackson

A good little snuggle after a long day!!

Tid Bits & Such

* I was thinking I'd be all clever and come up with a title called "A Tid Bit Sort of Post" and started writing that in, BUT it was already there.. as a title for another one of my posts. It's hard when my cleverness has already been used!


* Tonight at dinner:
Jed - "Do you know what amazes me?"
Aunt Lindsay - "What amazes you?"
Jed - "That you're not married yet!"
Aunt Lindsay (tongue in cheek) - "It amazes me too!"
Jed - "Yeah - I don't think you're ever going to get married."
Aunt Lindsay (in her head) - "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bud-row!"


*At church last Sunday we put out a "Suggestion basket" for music. That way if people were wanting some new music, or hated what is currently being done, or had incredible ideas, they'd feel free to write it down and I'd pick them up weekly.
I went over to the church tonight to read through the suggestions.
One caught my eye... it read

"We need lots more drums!"

Funny that the handwriting looked so similar to my pastor's!

Weowd!

The trees have buds on them, because they think it's spring.

They should think it's spring, because yesterday it hit the 70s!!

And a friend just told me that their tulips are starting to come up. Poor tulips are in for a rude awakening if winter ever decides to re-visit NH.

Hmmm...

I Pose It To You, Dear Readers

Someone in my latest class at work identified with my horror/fear/life-stopping terror of snakes... only she raises snakes, and instead is deathly afraid of spiders. It bothers her that I am so afraid of snakes, and is constantly coming up with creative ways to help me get over my phobia.

She came to me this week and said that she is so afraid of spiders that she saw a shrink to help her deal with it. "Uh oh," said I. "Please don't tell me they made you face your fear and get up close with spiders." She replied that that was exactly what was done, and she held a tarantula in her hand. She also claimed it helped her with her dread of arachnids, but then admitted she's still afraid of most... just not tarantulas.

Therefore, she said that I should come to her house and hold her snakes. Even the mere thought of that made my heart start beating faster, and my breath become shallow. I loudly declined, and will continue to do so as many times as she invites me.

But it made me wonder... Does that really work? Facing ones fears in such a drastic way... Is it healthy? And it would only work with real fears, not ones that are ludicrous, like say being afraid of someone hanging from your shower head. If ANY of you try that to rid me of my fear, I will be very angry! Heck, if any of you bring snakes to my house I'll be angry to. I'm not ready for that type of "therapy!"

So what do you guys think??

Growing Pains

When I was little, I had horrible growing pains in my legs. Now how wrong is that?!? I don't even make it to 5'2" when I'm standing as tall as I can, but I had to deal with that kind of pain.

Now poor little Jed has them pretty bad as well. The other day he asked if when I did massage I did legs as well, and I assured him that the next time he had growing pains I'd work on his legs.

Tonight during dinner he asked if I would, and there I sat on the couch, having come full circle, rubbing my little nephews legs just like Dad & Mom did mine.

I hope his growing pains are actually worth something, and somehow I think they are... seeing as at the age of six he has several inches less than a foot until he catches up with me.

Memories

It amazes me that it's been seven years without new memories of you.

I think that's what hurts the most... knowing that the memories that we made together are now the only ones that I'll have of you for the rest of my life.

Until I get to Heaven as well, that is.

Can't wait to see you again and make an eternity of memories.

I still miss you, Mindy Dawn.