I have so much craziness rolling around in my head right now. Here's the highlight reel :)
- I attended the Women of Faith conference in San Antonio last weekend. There were some wonderful moments, and plenty I could have lived without, too. Rode up on a bus, and it turned out that most of the ladies were significantly older, and from another more traditional church. One lady in particular had taken it upon herself to arrange activities (announced by the ringing of a handbell every 15 min or so) including the "gossip" game ("Mary and her mother went to the mall to buy a mink coat. Pass it on!"), reading chirpy "heartwarming" emails (the annoying ones I immediately delete) and even a singalong which she led by warbling into the intercom. Oh, how I wish I were kidding. She had asked another lady to bring her tambourine, but she forgot (sigh of relief!) - oh, but wait! Inspiration! We all have "shaky" things in our purse, right? We then sang "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" accompanied by the shaking of a giant tub of Tums. I. Cannot. Make. This. Stuff. Up. I had attended another WoF back in 2004 in Philly and wasn't all that impressed - it was more like a Jesus Pep Rally that lacked depth -- there was definitely more "meat" this time around and I did enjoy several of the speakers (Jennie Allen, Sheila Walsh, Angie Smith & Lisa Harper were great), but honestly I kind of hit info overload... not to mention my body was just tired of all the sitting (4 hour drive up, session Fri night, sessions all day Saturday, and then 4 hour drive home, arriving home about 11:30) I also got a little annoyed with all the mini-commercials from the various sponsors. Yes, I clearly am annoyed entirely too easily. You can see me in the group photo above - I'm the red girl in a sea of blue, because I didn't get the updated email with adjusted attire suggestions! I did manage to pick up a few little goodies while I was in the big city - found the motherlode of accessories store, and bought the kids glasses for a whopping $3 each, and then on the way home we stopped at a diner and I bought a 3 lb cinnamon roll (as seen on "Man vs. Food") to bring home for breakfast. When A saw it, she blurted it, "That thing is as big as my head!" Yep, welcome to Texas Li'l Lady!! :)
In other kid updates:
* Our daughter is becoming quite the
fashionista. She layered a shirtdress (solid black) over a printed tank
dress, and only buttoned the two waist buttons. It looked fab.
Perhaps she can start advising me on my wardrobe! I met with her
teacher last week (general conferences now that we're 2/3 of the way
into 1st quarter) and had a lovely report. She's doing very well
academically (no surprise, there!) but the teacher commented about what
a kind heart she had, and how willing she was to help others. Now
*THAT* makes a mama's heart sing! On a sadder note, she started feeling
sick on Thurs night and we ended up in the doctor's office on Friday.
It all started with a sore throat, but her breathing was very rattly and
I wanted to get her checked out - her oxygen levels were definitely
low, and she ended up with a breathing treatment and steroid shot in the
office just to get the inflammation in her lungs down, and 3 more
prescriptions over the next few days. So thankful for modern medicine.
And insurance!
* Will be meeting with son's teacher tomorrow. I'm
really happy with the teacher he has, and while he still has a ways to
go to perform at his full potential, he really is doing
so much
better. He's made some friends (have another sleepover scheduled this
weekend!), and also has discovered that he enjoys drawing. He's still
my little man who holds nothing back, whether it's a hug or a complaint
about life :)
- I belong to a local "garage sale" site on fb, and rather than repeat last year's y
ard sale fiasco, I've been listing stuff on the site. So far have managed to clear out a good pile of junk and made about $100 in just the last three days. Yeehaw! On a side note, it's really funny seeing what others have posted: Hint: if you list a pair of Target shoes for $25, and repeatedly bump them with $1 or $2 price reductions and they still haven't sold in 2 weeks then I think it's safe to say that no one is interested. Oh, and tonight someone posted a "Grime Reaper" costume for sale. I think I deserve some kind of award for not posting a snarky comment about cleaning my bathroom...
- Our church is growing up! It was started as an outreach across town several years ago, and as of today we're our own, independent body with its own tax ID and everything! It's been kind of strange learning how this process works in the Methodist denomination (I could write a whole article just on that) This was a pic that someone shared on facebook - yes, we meet in a school cafeteria. You can see hubby in the back (standing at the sound board)
Yawn. Will try to post more later.
And finally, I've often lamented that things are just way overpriced down here compared to what I was used to paying up north. I think it's a variety of factors: American goods are in demand south of the border and a lot of people run businesses reselling stuff, plus there just aren't that many options around. I love the idea of finding old furniture in need of a little love, doing a light sand, tightening screws, and slapping on some paint to make a lovely new piece - the blogosphere is full of such projects, generally starting with statements like, "I picked this up at Goodwill for $30." THIS is what was on the yard sale site this morning:
