Hooray for Unevenful Tuesday!

All was quiet in the Lutheran Study room today.  They are either crushed by the loss of the Evil VP on council or plotting their next move.  Either way none of them stopped in to say hi.

I am just so glad that the VP lost the election without our help.  We would have been within our right to go in there are vote.  We are members.  But it only would have made people angry, at least those six people.  But she lost without us and maybe that sent her a message.  See, she used to be a nice person.  But after she quit/got fired from her job, she got so involved and started trying to run everything and with that comes stepping on some toes.  Plus her behavior with me, which people know about, has not been good PR for her.  The VP of the church council should not be bad mouthing anyone in the church.

Anyway, I'm getting over it.  Find me another job and I will get totally over it.

So, December 21st from 6-8 we are having a major kickboxing session, open to ANYONE for the cost of a hat, pair of gloves or socks.  Seriously.  The Y is starting to do these sessions to raise items for different charities.  They did the first one last week with a two hour Zumba and approx 300 people were there.  Our goal is to beat that numberm so I am asking any of you within my area to mark the 21st on your calendars.  It's a great cause and a fun workout and if I can do it (and I am a little worried about a two hour session myself as you can mop the floor with me after an hour of Michael!) anyone can do it!

Tomorrow is hump day.  Cannot wait till Saturday and "Blast off" as JJ always called it!  California bound baby!

For Four Days, the Chair is Mine

So The Brit is off again, which means I own the chair till Friday. It's a payoff for single parenting for four days.

Not much to say tonight and it's late.  Tomorrow is the dreaded Tuesday.  My trainer rescheduled my appointment today to Wednesday, "Burlesque" was excellent and Tod helped me take the defective tree back.  Probably not staying the night at EMU Friday for Brent's show due to a sudden change of venue.  Still going to see his show but probably coming home that night. 

I am PMSing something fierce but I hope it arrives this week instead of next.  Still unsure of what I am going to do the Monday in San Fran, but I am thinking Fisherman's Wharf and some walking sightseeing.  The hills will be good exercise for me.

Okay, I will do better tomorrow night!

A Sunday Offering

Okay, as I haven't blogged in days, you get a special Sunday edition with updates..aka, bullet point updates.

• Wound up with a full blown cold from hell.  Have not been sick in two years but I am attributing this one to the church stress.  Snot and much coughing.  It has been big fun.
• I still ran the Turkey Trot with the cold and beat my Project 320 time by almost 4 minutes, which rocks.  Tod came in at under thirty minutes for his first 5K and won the damn runner's basket...but I am getting over that....slowly.  Anyway, 800+ people ran this thing.  It was cold and had been raining but thankfully the rain held off for the run.  I'm thinking I could do really well if I actually trained for the next one and I will take running in the cold over running in the humidity any day.
• My twenty year old youth kid beat out the Evil VP for council today.  I am over the moon and I am sure she is one twisted sister.
• Due to her losing, I am really dreading the Bible study Tuesday.
• Tomorrow, I am meeting with Sonia for training and then meeting with Tod to go see "Burlesque".  Very excited.
• The Brit is leaving for Atlanta tomorrow night and I will not see him till either Friday night or Saturday when we leave for CALIFORNIA!
• The Lawyer turned 11 yesterday and we took him and his little friend from school out for hibatchi.  Robyn, Emily and Tod went along too and a good time was had by all.
• Thursday, I am cheating on my hair girl officially.  I have an appointment with the new girl and we'll see how it goes.
• We finally got an artificial tree, pre-lit and everything.  I am very happy.  No more needles or forgetting to water the thing.
• I have started making lists for the week.  Grocery list, To Do list and Packing list.  Nothing like travel in the busiest season of the year, but given how much I dislike what Christmas has become, I can't wait to go away for a week.
• There is a potential job at an elementary school I  have applied for and I have three people in the education system putting in a good word for me.  Say prayers or think happy thoughts.
• Dear Lord, get me through this week.

Happy Thanksgiving

Busy day today...insane morning tomorrow with a 5K I am not ready for.  I do have a cold but TheraFlu is keeping it under control for the most part and I don't feel too badly.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Tod and I went to the Health and Fitness Expo at that college today to pick up our race packets.  The expo was a little lame, but I did find a new hair stylist to try.  I love my current stylist but she had some problems taming my hair which is very thick, and though I keep telling her to not worry about how short she goes, two weeks after a cut I am hacking at odd pieces with scissors.  So there was this newer hair place that was at the expo and she tamed my sticky uppy piece of hair in the back, so I am going to make an appt and give her a shot.  She was telling me how she would do my hair a little differently.  I feel like I am cheating on my girl though!

Okay, so in honor of Thanksgiving, here is what I am most thankful for.

1. My God, who is forever faithful to me and only judges with love and mercy and not condemnation.

2. My family.  Even when they are annoying, I still love them.  I am especially thankful for my sister in law, Margaret, who has guided me through these last few weeks with prayer and scripture.

3. My friends; the amazing ones.  The ones who are not fair weathered but the real deal.  You have been available to talk, to help move my blog, whatever was needed.  I appreciate you more than you know.

4. My health.  Though my diet has not been up to my normal standards the last few weeks with my stress eating, I am still doing a 5K tomorrow.  Who would have thought?

5. I am also thankful for St. John 's Lutheran Church for restoring my faith that worship truly can be a place to learn and grow and that there really are pastors still out there that know how to pastor their flock.  We are still in the early stages with this church, but so far it feels like it could be home.

For my readers, have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving tomorrow.  And for any of you going out on Black Friday...well, I have no sympathy.  You are obviously insane!

Thera-Flu and Orange Juice

I either am coming down with a cold or have one helluva sinus thing going on.  I have not been sick in two years and now with a Turkey Trot just two days away, here I am feeling kind of lousy.  Hopefully by morning, it will be better.

I survived another Tuesday Bible study day.  Really, it is no big deal; they just ignore me.
People who used to come back and say hi, no longer bother.  The sting is lesser, but still present at times but life does go on.

I did go to kickboxing tonight but given the fact that I wasn't feeling great, it was a rough hour, but again, I survived it.

So, do I attempt another run tomorrow, the day before the Turkey Trot?  Or do I take the day off?

Gotta Love a Short Week

So Saturday, we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at our friend's cabin with them, an older couple we love, and the music director and most of her family.  I told you that her husband lost his job a week ago so a week ago Sunday at church, he tells Pastor Extraordinaire (PE) that he needs to speak with him.  He waits while PE chats with someone for about ten minutes, then pulls this man into the office.  Husband tells him he lost his job last week.  PE says "That's too bad.  The economy is tough."

That was the end of his pastoral counselling.  No words of reassurance that God had a plan.  No "Can I pray with you?"  Basically, too bad, so sad.  PE told me three weeks ago after The Brit quit council that he was going to call him.  Still waiting on that call.

Yesterday at our former church, PE's wife prayed for us.  Then the Evil VP prayed for "the Blind." I assume that is also us.

Now, this past Sunday, we walked into the new church we have been attending and the pastor greeted The Brit, my mother and I ALL BY NAME.  He took the time to learn our names.  At the end of the service, he spoke to me again and I asked him if he would be available to talk and he told me to call him after lunch around 1:30 Monday.  I had originally wanted to talk to him a little about what happened at our former church, but then my mother called me and didn't think it was a good idea.  I am still conflicted about that. Anyway, I got home today and a friend brought me over a bunch of clothes for the boys that her boys had outgrown and I got busy going through closets, getting rid of stuff they didn't wear, putting away new stuff and loading up my car with stuff for Goodwill.  About 3:00 as I was getting ready to leave, my phone rings.  It's the pastor from the new church, following up with me because he had not heard from me.

Do ya'll see the major difference here?  This is a man who gives a damn about people.  I did not go into any detail about what happened.  Basically just told him we had been very hurt by our former church and then I asked him questions about the youth group, praise and and Bible studies that the church offered.  They offer a lot, especially compared to what I just came from.  They do a lot in the community, which I love. They are holding a Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving day for the needy of the neighborhood.  They are collecting mittens, scarves and hats for kids.  They are active and present in the community, doing things that matter. 

The same council meeting 14 months ago, when I spoke of my concerns about PE, I also spoke to them about a list I had written of things we could do within our community.  No one did anything.  No one even expressed interest. 

The last five weeks have been really hard for me.  When my church of 30+ years attacked me for not being spiritually fulfilled, it left me reeling.  I cried.  I got angry.  I was depressed.  I suffered insomnia.  But over the last three weeks with being in this new church, my faith in my faith has been restored.  My faith in Lutheran pastors is starting to be restored.  I have found out who my true friends are and I have discovered those who are only my friends when it is convenient for them.  I have shaken my head at the absurdity that people found me to be some kind of threat to their church because I was not smitten with the pastor and have been crushed by the way some Christians have chosen and are still choosing to conduct themselves.  None of us are perfect and we all have our issues, but any house of God should be safe for all who enter. I have seen true apathy and true caring.  These have been tough lessons to learn but so worth the journey.  My spirit no longer feels restless where my spiritual growth is concerned.  I know in my heart that restlessness came from the Holy Spirit, because I was happy in the praise band and happy in the youth group and then it suddenly over the last year and a half was no longer enough.  But still I dug in my heels and refused to move.  But God moved me.  He knew there was a better place where I could grow and maybe we have found it or maybe we haven't but I will say it is a far cry closer than where we came from. 

Okay, Okay

It's no secret that I have been a little grouchy lately.  I know not every plan works for everyone and I also know that Jim loves to disagree with me (You know it's true!) so that was sort of all that I was saying.  I also get frustrated and I'm sure everyone else does as well, with the assaults of information we are given.  This is good for you.  No, now it is bad for you.  Do this.  Don't do that!  You know what I'm sayin'.  It's a wonder we can all get through our day with all the "new" information coming out about what we eat!  So I have friends who swear by South Beach and then have someone else saying it's not good for you, and at times it just makes me nuts.  Why can't there be one plan that just WORKS?  I know, because we are not a one size fits all society (tho my former church thinks we should be) but there are just times it gets to me and gets frustrating.  What to try?  What to do?  What will work?  It is all so trial and error.

Anyway, I did run today!  And it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I combined walking and running as I did not want to overly push myself after a two month absence from running.  It felt good to get out there and do it, so now I just have to keep doing it between now and the Turkey Trot.  If nothing else, I want my t-shirt!

Tomorrow is Friday and we are having a pre-Thanksgiving get together at a friend's cabin.  Then next week is a three day work week.  The following week is my final week before a week's vacay in California and I cannot wait!

Have not yet logged my food today...sushi was involved so I am a little scared!