Well, it has been a long time.  I am still unemployed….blech.  But God is in control, and I know something is just around the corner for me.  In the meantime, we went on vacation to our favorite zoo, and I thought I would share some pictures!  Here ya go!

 

  A friendly King Snake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A baby raccoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A baby coyote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The  horse liked the food that we had

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A 65lb Burmese  Python

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His name was Fred   I was so excited to hold him, I could barely contain myself….seriously.  My dream!

 

 

So we had a fun day.  It was a nice break from looking for a job.  I love playing with God’s creatures.  I want to go back!  

peace….

God Speaks through fortune cookies?

So yeah, it’s me.  I know….it’s a shock.  I am still unemployed, and haven’t had much to say.  I am pretty depressed about the no job thing.  And it is hard to feel God is here when day in and day out you go with no word about a job.  I keep praying and praying and praying…. no answers.  It is so hard not to get depressed and totally down.  Why isn’t something happening?  So Saturday we treated ourselves to Chinese for lunch.  As we were getting our fortune cookies, I jokingly said to Ron…”Maybe God will send me a message through this fortune cookie…He hasn’t been talking to me much anywhere else…” chuckle, chuckle.  Here’s what the cookie said…..  “Just because you don’t hear anything, doesn’t mean you aren’t headed in the right direction”  Freaky, right?

So what do you think?  Does God speak through fortune cookies, or was it just a crazy coincidence?

peace….

oh yeah….how about a tree falling on our car?  How about on both cars?  Well, it actually mostly missed one….just scratched it up, but the other….well….

It happened on Christmas morning.  I guess Santa was a little careless with his sleigh…

Merry Christmas! 

peace….

 

 

Twas the day before Christmas and…..

Okay, no way am I going to even attempt a rhyming post.  Isn’t enough that I am posting after 5 months of inactivity?  Ahhh, where to begin?  Let’s talk about what’s going on, shall we?

Well….about two weeks before Thanksgiving, Ron (my hubby) saw the writing on the wall and took a voluntary buyout of his contract at work.  This is a fancy way of saying that he got laid off.  He got a good severance package that will pay him through March, and actually has a job offer from the Federal Government pending a security clearance that has been in process….IF the security clearance comes through.  IF. 

So, since he was laid off and I had vacation, we took off for a delightful week with his family in Michigan over Thanksgiving.  We had a blast.  Very relaxing and nice which was good because….

The day I got back….  I got laid off.  Two weeks notice.  No severance.  I have subsequently been able to negotiate some part time work from my company, however, it is at a greatly reduced rate….but it is better than unemployment.

So we have been looking for jobs.  To say this is a bad time to look is an understatement.  The economy is bad.  The time of year is bad.  Everything. 

Then….yesterday….my Mom had heart bypass surgery after doctors discovered a 99% blocked artery….  It went very well, and she is doing very well.

So.  That’s my story.  Tonight is the Christmas Eve program at the church.  We will be running to the hospital, then back to the church to sing. 

I hope that somehow I can feel and remember the true meaning of Christmas this year, and not get lost in the running back and forth to the hospital, the presents that we couldnt buy because we didn’t have jobs, and just the stress of not knowing what tomorrow holds.  I just pray that God will somehow break in through all of the craziness and hold us in His arms and remind us of His gift.  I know that it will happen when we least expect it….

Hallelujah the King is here
Given for all men
For today the Holy Son of God
is Born in Bethlehem

peace….

I was Tagged by SugarFree23 to tell 6 Random things about myself.  Hmmmmm, okay, here goes….

1. I love telling people where to go…errrrr, that is, I love giving directions!  You ask me how to get someplace and I can tell you 5 different ways to get there, and I will work to think of the best way.  I love it!


2. I love to knit, but am not a sweater knitter!  I am working on a purse now with these flower things on it.  It is a little complicated and is kicking my butt.  It is a felting project, for those of you who know what I am talking about….


3. I can name almost any breed of dog, if I see it, even the obscure ones.  And I don’t know where I learned them.  I will burst forth with “Is that a Portuguese Water Dog” or “a Russian Wolfhound” or “Tibetan Terrier”? and I will have no idea why I know….


4. I hate not being perfect….and I am not perfect…so….


5. I like rules a lot….for other people, but not for me.  Seriously.


6. I sang a duet in church when I was 3 and have been singing in church ever since.

That’s it.  I tag everybody I know to also write 6 random things.  Try it….it’s hard….but fun!

peace….

Sorry I have been gone so long.  We have been busy with some stuff…not the least of which was my Mother, who had a bad headache last week, that ended up being bleeding on the brain which ended up being a stroke….I am happy to say it was a stroke with no residual effects, but it was a crazy week last week with her going to a doctor’s appointment, being slapped into ICU, and the roller coaster that ensued after that.  God is good, though, God is good…..

So here is what I really wanted to tell you about….my visit to the salon.  I decided to treat myself to a pedicure and a half leg wax.  A relaxing, pampering afternoon.  Well, as I sat in the pedicure chair, trying so desperately not to jerk my foot as they used the scrubber on my feet.  I am SO ticklish.  As I sat there, the women were all talking to each other in another language.  I asked the woman working on my feet what language they were speaking.  “Vietnamese”, she said.  Recalling the infamous Seinfeld episode, and trying to be funny, I asked her…  “You guys aren’t talking about me, are you?”  “Oh no, we not talking ’bout you” she said, then rattled off something loudly in Vietnamese to which everyone else in the place stared at me and laughed hysterically.  I don’t know….but I think they WERE talking about me.

Next I went in to get my legs waxed…. A half leg wax…from the knees down.  Well, when I got into the room the woman said… “I can do bikini wax.”  Thinking about the last time I wore a bikini, I chuckled and said “no thanks”.  She said “I do pretty heart”  I looked at her in confusion until realization hit as to what she meant by “pretty heart” and I gasped “oh no…no pretty heart….just a half leg wax”…I think I was blushing.  After my legs, she said “Eyebrows, I can do eyebrows”.  Well, that sounded like a good idea, so I went ahead and had her do my eyebrows.  She showed them to me in a mirror with great pride.  She had left me about two inch long spikes that made me look like I was angry….or like something smelled bad…. THAT wasn’t exactly what I had in mind….  Then she said:  “I do here” pointing to the moustache area “I have  a moustache?” I asked?  “NO” Then she pointed to my chin “I wax”  “I have hair there?  NO” I grabbed my chin  “Here?” she pointed under my chin to my neck.  I gasped “Hair there too?  Impossible! Say it isn’t so!  no, no, no!  No more wax!” I practically ran from the room, holding my hand over my face to hide my hairy countenance from the throngs of people in the main room, wax papers flying behind me.  As I quickly paid and left the building in humiliation, looking like something smelled rotten, the sounds of their laughter was still echoing in my ears.

Not exactly the relaxing afternoon I had in mind.

At least my toenails were pretty…

peace….

peace…..

 

Here are some pictures from our vacation! 

First, from Ron’s parents’ 50th Anniversary/Renewal of their Vows (I almost said vowels, which would be something entirely different!   

Here are Ron’s Parents….  The good news!  She no longer has to obey him–it was not in the vows! 

Ron and his younger brother, Ray

The four siblings, Ray, Denise, Doreen and Ron.  Ron is the old man of the group. 

The whole family.

My other pictures from the trip (from one extreme to the other) were from the zoo, of course   I did NOT get to hold a big snake, like I wanted to.  There was not a big man there, to assist me–only a teenage girl.  When I am holding a large snake, I would like to have the comfort of having a large man there to grab the aforementioned large snake, should he (the snake) decide to constrict, or some such thing.  Call me crazy.  So I just held my old friend the rosy boa again.  Here are the pics I took this time:

baby grizzly….look at those claws!

 

Charlie the Capuchin.  So cute!

This was my favorite.  These tiny fawns that were licking my hands, and wanted me to pet them.

I have fed fawns before, but have never had them actively want to be touched like these did.  It was the most amazing thing ever. 

We also were able to pet a wolf pup, a fox kit, and we saw baby baboons and cougars that were suckling (SO cool).  I just did not get decent shots.  I wish you all could go to this place.  You would enjoy it thoroughly.  I wish we could all go together

So those were some highlights from my trip.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!

peace….

So here I was, walking through an Ohio Turnpike Rest Stop, minding my own business, when a nagging beeping drew my attention to an ATM.  I glanced over to see an ATM with a teenage sk8ter-type hanging around it in a suspicious manner.  Now you may think that I was stereotyping the kid, based on his long hair, his loose clothing, or the surly look on his face–but in actuality, it was the skateboard in his hand that gave him away.  He saw me looking at him, and kind of moved away a little bit from the ATM.  I could see that the ATM said “Do you need more time? Yes/No”  I said “Don’t rip him off, man” and the teenager muttered something, and then pretended to swipe a card in the reader.  Well, for some reason, I was filled with courage, and I stepped closer, I hit the “NO” button and said more firmly “Don’t rip him off” to which the teenager muttered a word that began with an “F” and ended with nothing particularly good, as he left the area.  So then, the police stepped forward and congratulated me, and I received a key to the city….err….the turnpike….  okay, that last part didn’t happen, but the first part did….and I like to think that I helped two people that day….somebody saved some money….and I saved that kid from making a mistake that could have hurt his conscience for a long time…. 

So I am taking up a new career….as a crimestopper

if you have a crime that needs to be stopped

call me

and remember my motto

“Don’t rip him off man”

peace….

For those of you who were curious….here is my father:

My brother, and Tyler, and Me….with my Father

And here is the “what if” picture.  If he had stayed with our family, he and my mom would have been married for

51 years, and this would have been our family portrait.  Weird, huh?

peace….

 

 

So I read today about a video that was on YouTube of a Marine throwing a puppy over a cliff.  Not only did someone do this in the company of witnesses, but they allowed it to be video taped AND someone thought it was worth putting on YouTube, and then people actually watched it until YouTube decided to yank it.  The bright spot is that  apparently one of the Marines is being processed for removal, and another marine is also being punished for their role in the whole thing.  That’s something. 

Ugh…there is so much ugliness in the world, why do we have to throw puppies off of cliffs?  We should always be nice to puppies–After all, what did a puppy ever do to you?

peace…