January, 2011:

Jan 3 in 30: Week 4

Jan 31st, 2011

[Is this posting late thing becoming a habit or what? Since I was netless last week, I wasn't able to get my week four post up so I'm doing it now!]

I can’t believe the end of the month is here. And I can’t believe that I didn’t accomplish any of the three goals I set for January. I can honestly say I am a bit disappointed in myself… I know why I wasn’t able to but it doesn’t help. I am still going to work on these three goals, and making all three realities. But I have new goals for February.

They are:

Join Thirty-One. This is something I have been thinking and praying about for several months. I have been talking with a wonderful lady, consultant, and have made plans to join in February. I’m really excited about it and, along with the goal to join, have set another goal to go along with it. But that’s for March.
Spend more time in prayer and meditation. There are 24 hours in a day; if I can’t find at least one hour in those 24 to spend talking to God and meditating on His Word, then I should really reevaluate my priorities. Which is precisely what I am doing by setting this goal. Ha!
Commit to learning, memorizing, studying, and praying on one Bible verse each week. It can be one from a Sunday or Wednesday sermon or just one that has come to mind. The goal is to “hide His Word in my heart.” This is really something I should have been doing all along, and I have sporadically. I want to change that ‘sporadically’ to regularly. I want it to be as normal a part of my daily routine as bathing and brushing my teeth! Just like I want prayer and meditation to be a normal part of my daily routine. Really, two and three go hand in hand I think.

Those are my goals for the month; along with working on the goals I set for January too. I can do it, I can. I CAN!

Daybook #3

Jan 31st, 2011

by Nickie.

Comments are off for this post

FOR TODAY

Outside my window… it’s cloudy and gray. We are awaiting some not-so-nice weather that is supposed to be moving into the area tomorrow.

I am thinking… I’m glad my internet is working, even though it still isn’t back to normal and frequently ‘times out’ while loading a site/page.

I am thankful for… my family, all of my family including my church family.

From the kitchen… comes the sound of Nay running water and cleaning his lunch mess.

I am wearing… t-shirt (wow, such a shocker!) and… wait for it… sweat pants. No shorts today, it’s too chilly out. hehe

I am creating… a really long to-do list of to-do lists. Wait, I’m always creating a to-do list, right?

I am going… to see Rascal Flatts in concert with a really good friend of mine on Saturday, for my friend’s birthday! It’s going to be awesome!

I am reading… oy… I am -still- reading Radical by David Platt… although I haven’t actually opened it in a couple weeks. *oh the shame*

I am hoping… that the house will sell very quickly and we’ll be moved by the spring!

I am hearing… Nay and Red talking about the pups.

Around the house… there’s not much to say… I have more laundry to wash/dry, need to vacuum and mop, and my favorite of all… clean toilets. Oh joy!

One of my favorite things… my little pup Duke. He is soooo sweet!

A few plans for the rest of the week: mark off more of the things on my to-do list. Get ready for the concert Saturday and get the kids ready for Winter Jam on Thursday. Oh, have to get our taxes done this week too. *sigh* And take JoJo for a hearing test… it’s for his job! That’s a good thing! The job, that is. And so far he loves it!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing…

From Heart and Soul Reflections. I love this picture… it’s so peaceful.

What do you do when you’re netless for 6 days?

Jan 31st, 2011

by Nickie.

1 comment

You complain, a lot. Actually, the complaining sort of tapered off after the first four days. Because, honestly, what was the point in complaining, really? It wasn’t doing any good, that’s for sure!

Right now I have a love/hate relationship with CableOne. Last Monday, one week ago today, our internet was working fine. Then Tuesday morning, nothing. No connection, nothing. At around noon Tuesday, we were showing connected on the modem but neither computer. Then finally, my computer was showing that it was connected… but, and there’s always a but, I couldn’t open anything. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

After several phone calls and a scheduled service call that never happened, it was determined that there was an area wide outage plus an issue with my connection specifically.

I called everyday up to Friday. On Friday, after the service call that was supposed to happen Wednesday but was rescheduled for Thursday DID NOT happen, I was told there was still an issue specifically to my connection and another service call would be needed… and the earliest date available was Tuesday. *sigh*

So this morning, Priss (who was more frustrated by the lack of net than me) hopped on just to “see” if it was working and VOILA… it’s working! I don’t know for how long, but it’s working now and for that I am so very thankful! I’m also thankful for the one week credit CableOne is giving us for our lack of service. See, that’s where the love/hate relationship comes in. CableOne has a GREAT bunch of folks working for them… they just have really crappy lines around these parts.

It could always be worse though… I could be completely netless like I was for almost a year. Today is definitely a day to be grateful for what I have!

Now I have some serious catching up to do!

A letter to a stranger…

Jan 24th, 2011

by Nickie.

2 comments

Week 6 — a stranger

Dear next door neighbor who makes me want to MOVE,

I love that you find it necessary to go out in your back yard, which coincidentally faces my front yard on one side, and shoot your extremely loud gun. What you could possibly be shooting at in that tiny yard is beyond me, especially considering your house is surrounded by other houses– one of those being MINE. I also love that you deem it appropriate to play basketball in your driveway at 1:00 in the morning, not that the sound of that basketball beating up against the goal wakes me or anything. Even better… I absolutely LOVE that you insist on using my yard as a trash bin for your beer and alcohol bottles when we are out of town. Does it matter to you that the area you are throwing that trash in is the PLAY are for my five year old? Does it bother you that that same play area is only 30 feet or so from where you were shooting your gun today? Lucky for you my child was inside doing homework.

I’m a pretty patient neighbor. I’m very easy to get along with, most times. And I rarely meet someone I don’t like. But you… you are making it very hard for me to like you. You almost had the law called on you this evening. I promise the next time you feel the need to show your lack of masculinity by shooting that gun in your back yard, I will be on the phone before you can say “NO.”

Sincerely,
Your very fed-up neighbor