On girlfriends

A lifelong friend of mine sent this to me today. How true!

GIRLS IN MY CIRCLE
When I was little,I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,and then I started to become a woman. And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up,God would show you the best in many friends. One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man.Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom. Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as you delight in yourchildren and their activities.Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be. One friend will say, "Let's cry together,"another, "Let's fight together,"another, "Let's walk away together." One friend will meet your spiritual need,another your shoe fetish,another your love for movies,another will be with you in your season of confusion,another will be your clarifier,another the wind beneath your wings. But whatever their assignment in your life,on whatever the occasion,on whatever the day,or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hairpulled back,or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself ..those are your best friends. It may all be wrapped up in one woman,but for many, it's wrapped up in several..one from 7th grade,one from high school,several from the college years,a couple from old jobs,on some days your mother,on some days your neighbor,on others, your sisters,and on some days, your daughters.

Thankful Thursday

This week I'm so thankful for the time that John put in to developing an awesome budget spreadsheet for us! I'm so proud of him. It took quite a bit of time to analyze all of our 2007 expenses and develop the new budget spreadsheet. Thank you babe!

I'm also thankful for the healing power and inspiring spirit of prayer. Many of you know that my brother-in-law has been battling cancer for over 7 years and I'm so thankful to those of you who continue to pray for him. We also recently learned this week about a friend battling some other medical issues and I'm watching the prayer circle be built around her. It's amazing what it can do.

Make the call

When it comes to money, every little bit helps so I'm excited to share this thought with you all. I'm feeling all Suzy Orman.

I called the cable company today to look in to options to lower our bill. I was thinking of canceling something or getting a smaller package. I wasn't too excited about slower internet speed, which was one of the suggestions. We also talked about disconnecting some of our cable. However, I lowered the bill without changing a single thing that we have right now. That's right, just for inquiring, the customer service rep. suggested that he could lower our monthly bill by 20% (a good chunk when we have phone, cable and internet) for 6 months. No obligations, no changes.

Really, that was too easy. I'm so glad I called.

Thankful Thursday - Valentine's tribute

Although I'm certain I don't say it enough, I'm especially blessed to have a loving husband. I'm thankful that he is so patient with me when I have my emotionally days (err...weeks) and loves me for who I am. For better or worse, he's always there for me and I'm truly thankful for that!

For more than 10 years, he's been my best friend and for nearly five now, I've been honored to call him my husband, not only on Valentine's Day, but everyday!

And since Valentine's Day is all about the love, I'm doubly thankful to have another little man to share my love with. He's become quite the little kisser too. He hands them gleefully (with tongue if you don't watch it)!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My new little treat

Chai Latte. I've seen it on the board at the various coffee houses I occassionally visit but have never been brave enough to try it.

My MIL brought some tea with her when she and my FIL came to visit about a month ago. I'm not a big tea drinker (except when I need to warm up or not really feeling well.) However, I have been drinking it a bit more lately when I want a warm beverage in the evening.

Anyways, last night I decided to open the tea that my MIL left at our house. It was chai tea, which I didn't really know much about but I actually read the instructions suggesting the addition of milk and sugar. YUM! I figure a chai latte has to be pretty close.

This little farm girl is now familiar with another one of them fang-dangled fancy drink thangs.

Thankful Thursday

My thankful Thursday posting this week is in honor of 3-way calling. I'm so thankful to be able to use 3-way calling to stay in touch with friends and reduce the physical distance between us.

Try it, you'll love it! You don't have to tell the same story nearly as many times. : )

Football Food

This is my football cheese ball. I was pretty proud of myself for being festive. I didn't get a picture before we started to enjoy it, but you get the idea. It tasted pretty good too.












This is a stadium cake that Amy Rademaker brought. It looked great, with Judy's help on decorating. It tasted very good too. Isn't it neat?

The abridged version

So, until I logged on to do this post, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted last. My motivation at work is back and it's a good thing because projects are coming flying at me.

A couple updates on my life since it's been so long since I blogged.

John was out of town for a few days and it's always interesting to see how life at home is different without him. There's no one to share duties with, but, for some reason, that makes me more efficient. I suppose it is because I have no other options. He beat bad weather out of northern IL and we're glad to have him home.

School is going OK. I have 2 partners for most assignments. One is great and the jury is still out on the other. It makes me nervous to let her develop final products for our graded assignments. I try to remind myself that the whole class is only 10 weeks long so if I forge ahead, hopefully, it will be over before I know it.

We had a boatload of snow on Friday and now it's completely gone. I stayed home with Jeremiah and then took him to daycare so I could do some work in the afternoon, when roads were a bit clearer. Sad to say that I think I may have accomplished more at home in 3 hours that I would have in 7.5 in the office. Hmmm.....

Jeremiah and I hosted a Super Bowl party on Sunday and there were some exciting culinary creations. I will post pictures sometime when I'm at the home computer. We learned that close friends of ours are expecting in August and we're so excited for them!

I guess that's it in a nutshell - not too thrilling.