Food for Thought

Breakfast
What is the last thing you ordered on-line?
I honestly can't remember. It might've been 2 sets of scrubs for me.

Lunch
What is your favorite dessert at a restaurant?
Tiramisu

Dinner
What game have you played recently that you had the most fun?
Always - Apples to Apples

Midnight Snack
What job(s) did you have while in high school/college?
I cleaned a couple of teacher's houses and babysat. In college, I was a tax-preparer and a nurse extern.

Recipe of the Week
(instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?)

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." - Ephesians 2:8-10

Giving it to God

I am SO stressed out. I was talking to the friend I commute with and started crying. I think things have reached a point in my head where if I don't do something or at the very least, talk about it, I may explode.


I am almost as fat as I was before I started losing weight last year. I am working a lot, trying to get as much overtime as I can. This coming week, I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I am trying to sell the house we live in and I am busting my butt keeping my house SPARKLING clean so I can keep the house show worthy. I come home from work and start cleaning. I get up and clean. My kids are not very motivated to keep the house clean and require CONSTANT reminding. I suppose that is my fault for allowing the messes before and suddenly requiring such cleanliness. I am trying to buy a bigger house closer to Nashville, at the prompting of Naaman, who is currently unemployed. We already put this bid on this house, which they accepted, and we are having difficulty paying the bills we have. When he got out of the army, he promised me we wouldn't go down in income. He told me he would have the unemployment and when that ran out, he'd work. Well, it ran out and he isn't working - not really trying to find work either. I have begged, pleaded, threatened, etc and it just isn't working. It seems my only solution is to get a second job and be more exhausted.



SO....

I am just going to do what I should've done in the first place and give it to God. I always think that I need to be in control of the situation and make sure things go smoothly. It is not that I think God can't do it - I know he can. But somehow in my head it always involves me fixing it and God helping me. Like I am THAT important - like I am always the key to God's plan. HA HA HA! How stupid of me! If Naaman doesn't get a job, then I will follow through and get that job and that may be the answer.

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4/2/07 - Ok, so I started writing that a while ago while here at work and had to leave to take care of a patient. Then I started to rethink posting it. I don't have internet at home right now, so bear with the delays.

On the day that I started the above post, I was reading the newspaper and saw an article about a new restaurant in Clarksville. I don't usually read this stuff, but the title caught my eye. The VERY LAST paragraph was so key, I almost skipped it. It said something like "They hope to expand their dessert menu soon with the help of local bakers." I read that and grabbed my phone and called Naaman. "Naaman get online and read this article and then you go down there with pictures and sell yourself and your wares BIG TIME!" He actually did. They seem interested in a few of his desserts and they have an upcoming meeting to try the desserts and discuss payment. I sure hope that this will be enough for us or at the very least a START in the right direction. PRAY for us!

Food for Thought

Breakfast
If your job made you move, but you could choose which country you would be living in, which country would you choose and why?
Like Angel, I would pick Greece. It looks so beautiful, is coastal, and the food rocks. I might consider Ireland or some South American country too for all the same reasons.

Dinner
What is something you can't help but spend money on?
Food - We spend $650 month on food! I would love to spend more on my house though.

Midnight Snack
What profession/job did your parent(s) have while you were growing up?
My mom did a few odd jobs now and then - one being she worked for the league of women voters registrar. My dad was in the navy when I was small, then he got out and was a composite worker

Recipe of the Week
(instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?)

Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.- George Jackson

I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.- Thomas Edison

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.- Winston Churchill

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trying to understand is like straining to see through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle.- Lao Tzu

Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious - Phillips Brooks

Professional Behavior

I am normally a very nice person, but the instant you piss me off - all bets are off. Most people that know me, know this about me.

I was screening on Friday and triaged a patient to the same day clinic. I know I did it right, but the person whom I sent the patient to did not feel the same way. This person called me up while I was talking to another patient. This person spoke rudely and condescendingly to me from the moment I answered the phone. When this person questioned me and I started answering, this person started yelling at me and when I asked them to please stop yelling at me,their response was something along the lines of "This isn't yelling, ask my spouse what yelling is!" At this point, I am getting angry and then purposely begin answering questions stupidly and as obnoxiously as I can. Then I begin pointing out how busy I am and the ER is because I am trying to get off the phone and this person accuses me of giving them patients just because we are busy. I tell this person the conversation is over and I hang up. I should've hung up sooner, but by then I was mad and wanted to get even.

What is even worse - this person put in the chart our disagreement, of course making them look great and making me look like an ass. The patient's chart is not a place for airing personal discussions. I don't care how stupid, how ugly, how rude I think someone is - I would NEVER put that in the chart. It is not pertinent to the patient's health. I would simply chart that I spoke with the person and what I did after that with the patient.

I sent this person an email detailing that and how they should have maintained professionalism from the start and I admitted to losing professionalism but only after being treated poorly. I did not apologize.

Well, apparently they sent this email on to their boss who then sent it on to my boss. My boss then spoke to me about it saying that she doesn't care about the email and that I was probably right and how to take this other person with a grain of salt. Have I mentioned how much I love my boss? She is the best.

Anyone want a nice house in Clarksville, TN?

Well, it's official - my house is on the market! It went on the sites last night and the sign was posted in my yard on friday. While my realtor was putting the sign in, she had a couple people stop and ask her about it. I hope we get close to asking price for it. It is a very nice house and I have been pretty happy with it. I am thinking some of the pictures might need to be redone. I don't want people to think my house has been on the market for long since it has snow on it and it's now March. It is not my fault it snowed 3 inches 2 days before the picture was taken ON FRIDAY! It is not supposed to snow in March!

My old house

AND the other people accepted my offer on their house. We have set the closing date for the end of May. I hope that we don't have to move until then.

New House

Day After Friday Food For Thought

Breakfast
What is the longest consecutive time you have spent in a car?
2 1/2 days straight. We drove from Post Falls, ID to Clarksville, TN stopping only for food, bathroom, and gas - which was usually all at once- and drove in shifts - 3 adults, 5 kids, 2 dogs and 1 cat. LONGEST drive of my life!

Lunch
Where would you go if you were invisible?
Anwhere I wanted to!

Dinner
If you could swim in any liquid what would it be and why?
This is a kind of creepy question...I would think you were slightly weird if you answered anything besides WATER!

Midnight Snack
What store do you shop at the most?
Walmart and Target.

Recipe of the Week
Instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil....Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear...Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
-Ephesians 4:26-27, 29, 31-32

Now it's all about the negotiations and waiting...

We put a bid on the smaller house. Our realtor spoke to the realtor of the bigger house and though he wouldn't come out and say no, he made it quite clear that his clients won't drop the price so much.

The smaller house needs a lot less work on it right now and I think that suits our family. We want the seller to pay the $6000 closing costs and a home warranty and bargained for them to drop the house another $500. That technically brings the price down from $169,900 to $163,400. Every house we buy is another step up, 1 more and we should be about where I'd like to stay for the rest of my life since we jump up $50,000 in price with each purchase. A $220,000 would be a nice place to spend the rest of my life in.

My house is going on the market tomorrow. Pray for His Will so we sell and end up in the right house.

How tall will your child be?

Saw this online and thought it was interesting. It says Abriel will be 5'7", Micah will be 6'6", and Noah will be 6'5". I kind of figured my sons will be huge. How tall will your kids be?
http://health.msn.com/kids-health/height-predictor.aspx

Another one missed...SIGH

Well, today was my big house-hunting day. I looked at 8 or 9 houses today and I am tired. I was hoping to see more but some that I liked are sold now or in the process of being sold. The ones I like are out of my price range and the MOST perfect house was sold for a steal about 2 hrs AFTER I saw it. SIGH! I am so bummed.

This house had everything and more that I wanted: all brick, corner lot, 4 bdrm, 1 scrapbook room/office, 3 ba, hardwood floors, kitchen with island, pantry, huge side entry garage with storage cabinets and shop light, split bdrm plan, fireplace, HUGE bonus room (24x24) with huge tv and surround sound, wet bar, dart board, attic storage, 24 ft above grnd pool with separate deck, 2 tier deck with outdoor ceiling fans and lights everywhere, under deck storage, privacy fence, and on a dead end double culdesac st with a wooded view. Almost 3000sq ft for $175,655 - which equals $66/sqft. Cheapest house I've seen! It was a bank repo. Oh well, guess it wasn't meant to be. There is another house very similar that might drop in price soon if I wait. It needs a little improvement to be what I want it to be, but it is a very similar floor plan.

There is a very cute house on bundy lane (see few posts back mls#1053974) but after seeing all the others it just seems to fall a little short now. All the bdrms are upstairs and the rooms seem a bit small. It is a very nice house with nice carpets and a huge garage but I guess after perfection it is hard to step back into reality and settle for the nicest I can afford.

My other choice is a VERY huge house but the carpets all need to be replaced and the garage needs to be pressure washed. LR has lots of kool-aid stains. They have this pit bull that has peed all over the downstairs carpet and garage and it stinks. If that happened and they dropped the price about $10,000, the house would be perfect for us. Another split bdrm plan - master down, 3 bdrm-bonus (with built in huge desk) and office/scrapbook room upstairs as well. Has a HUGE LR/DR and huge kitchen. It's also in a culdesac. This would be the top contender if not for the price and the stench.

Well, I'm off to job hunt for Naaman and for my 2nd job so I can get my dream house.

Day After Friday Food For Thought

I'll take a cue from my friend Angel and do a food for thought blog today.

Breakfast
What is the most interesting car you have ever owned and why?
I loved my little red 1999 Ford Focus. It was a stick, which I think is very fun to drive and great on gas. I had racing seats and a kick-ass stereo. I loved driving it on my 1 hr commute, I would zip through traffic like it was no big deal. It's only downside was it was a 2 door. I bought it November 2007 and a stupid semi hit my back end and totaled my car May 14, 2008. I only had that car for 6 months but I LOVED it!

Lunch
What book are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Deception and The Romanov Prophecy. Deception is a romance novel and the Romanov Prophecy is an action thriller. I am usually reading 2 books at once - to fit the mood I am when I am reading.

Dinner
Did you have any pets growing up?
My first dog was a cocker spaniel named Heather. She was such a princess of a dog. Then we got Stormy, our Great Dane. Those 2 side by side were hilarious. Stormy was pretty much my dog since I took care of her all the time. I loved that dog and she was so huge I could ride on her. We have also had tons of cats throughout my childhood. The one we had the longest was Kris. Kris was a beautiful birman cat with blue eyes. He lived to be 14 and then got a huge tumor on his neck. He was put to sleep about 2 yrs ago now. He was one of the best cats I have ever had.

Midnight Snack
How do you unwind at night?
After I get home from work, I talk to my kids and husband and then sit down and watch TV and/or surf the net. On a day I already have off, I usually read or hang out with my kids.


Recipe of the Week
Instead of your recipe for life what is it just for the week?

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties
disappear and obstacles vanish." - John Quincy Adams

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely
in my tenacity." - Louis Pasteur

Anyone want to go?

I am going househunting on Monday with my agent. I have no one to go with and I wish I did. I am tired of waiting for days where Naaman and I are both off, so I set this appt up to go ALL DAY around Nashville looking for our new place. The problem now is I want someone to go with me to have a point of view/opinion that isn't just mine or the realtors. Everyone I know is busy working or some other thing is going on. I can go by myself and I will, I just prefer that I have someone besides my agent.

Well, the next best thing is opinions about the houses I am going to look at. So, if you readers could just look a few blogs down and take a look at some of my choices and give me your opinions, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Got a washer..and allergencies

Naaman bought me a washer today! My friend Janette told me about some scratch and dent refurbished appliance store in Nashville. Naaman found my LG Tromm front loader washer for $375 just because it was a display model that had a dryer on it that scratched it so they had to repaint the top. WHOOPEE-doo! I saved almost $400 because of that??!! I was watching it for like 10 minutes while it washed and I left with the intention of coming back for the spin cycle. I came into the laundry room and spin cycle was almost done. I didn't even hear it! I LOVE MY WASHER!!

On another topic...I was talking to Victoria on the phone and I could hear John in the background talking his cute little boy talk. He dumped a shampoo bottle down the drain today because shampoo makes him mad. That was his reason, seriously. He is his mother's son for sure! I heard him tell Victoria's friend Megan, "You know what? I can't eat strawberries because I have an allergency. If I eat strawberries my allergencies make me get a rash all over." Is that not one of the cutest things? I miss those kids SO MUCH!

Houses and Washers..know where to find a nice, cheap one?

About 2 days ago, my washer kicked the bucket. It started about 2 weeks ago, leaking every spin cycle, and then it just stopped spinning. I hadn't done laundry 2 days before it broke, so imagine how much laundry my family of 5 has accumulated by now. I am in DESPERATE need of a new washer. Any thoughts, advice, etc on what kind and where to buy it?

ALSO - we went house hunting this past Saturday. I looked at 4 houses and then made another appt with our realtor for Mar 9 to spend the entire day searching. I am hoping I find THE HOUSE that day. This week is it..my house will be ready for sale by this weekend. I need prayer that we sell our house quickly but not before I find the new house - prayer that the timing is just right and in His will.

If you are so inclined, you can check out some of the houses we've been looking at/hoping to view. To look, go to http://www.realtracs.com/. Click on search for a property. Click on the tab "search by MLS number" under the map. Enter the numbers below. After each one, you can click on the tab labeled "New Search" to put in each MLS number.

The front runners so far are:
1053767 (pretty nice neighborhood, huge and cheap, not so great schools, haven't seen inside personally, corner lot)
1022581 (beautiful house, 1 car garage, small back yard, no back neighbors close, eat in kitchen, great schools, busier street than I'd like)
1053974 (LOVE this house - huge yard, huge garage, 4 bd, 2.5 BA, master BA has whirlpool tub and sep shower, nice galley kitchen, formal and eat in dining, fireplace, bonus room with weird sink for no reason, great schools, corner lot)
1059837 (no pics yet, but I've been in it - cute outside, beautiful dark wood cabinets, dark granite counters, dark wood floors in kit, all appliances convey and are blk, crown molding throughout, no bonus room or fence, shallow 2 car gar, not so great schools)

Some others I want to see are:
1037558 (old, foreclosed home, no other pics, in very nice expensive neighborhood near a lake)
1058102 (over 1/2 acre land, kitchen needs updating, fireplace in kitchen)
1034013 (plain outside, gorgeous BA, no garage, lots of space, 1 acre land)
1055065 (not so great schools, lots of space, laundry off kitchen, hideous pink bonus room)
1056543 (smaller than I'd like, nice floors, in Murfreesboro which means terrible traffic in commute)
1050511 (HUGE, no pics of inside, commute from Murf)
1056778 (kinda small kitchen, commute from Murf)
1043910 (unsure if is built, nice floor plan, commute from Murf)
1025765 (nice house, big, no fence)
1032570 (no garage, light cabinets, pretty yard with no back neighbors)
1048464 (crowded school, commute from Murf)
1047321 (small garage, unsure of neighborhood)
1053329 (crowded school, bald yard)
1024523 (crowded school, serious need of paint)
1045025 (love the neighborhood, good schools, bit $$, similar to house I've seen already)
1054548 (good schools)
991821 (not that fond of the all white kitchen)
1020032 (not very much counter space in kitchen)

These are some I found on another website:
http://www.thedailyclassifieds.com/framework.asp?f=idx.asp&r=816778
http://www.thedailyclassifieds.com/framework.asp?f=idx.asp&r=817113
http://www.thedailyclassifieds.com/framework.asp?f=idx.asp&r=793678
http://www.thedailyclassifieds.com/framework.asp?f=idx.asp&r=818080
http://www.thedailyclassifieds.com/framework.asp?f=idx.asp&r=818752