Seeking Camelot: Special Events

Oh Yeah!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:44:33 GMT

I was really hoping to get on here yesterday and blog about my morning, but I didn't make it. My stomach has been kind of "ooky" all weekend, so I've spent most of my time taking advantage of quiet times to rest.

Yesterday morning, I had another Stars Club work day. But this time, I only had 2 girls show up. I was a little disappointed, needless to say, but we got SOOOOOO much done. Both of them are completely caught up with their lessons now. One of the girls has already been crowned an Honor Star, but just needed to finish up some "loose ends" in her Stars binder. The other girl is well on her way to being an Honor Star next year if I can keep her on track.

We did a fun craft too. I dug out some of my embroidery floss and we made friendship bracelets. This was probably the only time that I've introduced this kind of craft and the girls caught right on! Usually, I have one or two girls constantly asking me for help. lol

It was a good day.

This morning, we had a guest speaker at church. He is actually the pastor at another church in town. When I first saw him in the foyer when I came downstairs from Sunday School, I would NEVER have guessed that he was the guest speaker OR a pastor. The man had dreadlocks almost to his knees!!! Seriously!!! They weren't the real poofy ones, but they WERE dreadlocks.

Once he, Brian, started speaking and sharing some of his background, that part kind of made sense. He used to do street ministry in the inner city...and he also works with another guy who has a prison ministry.

His message was so incredible...and so simple.

He talked about how we need to be fully committed to God above everything else and begin to really understand what it means to be faithful to Him. Our definition of faithfulness and God's definition are 2 different things.

I can't even begin to try to convey all of what he said, I just know that I sat there thinking, "Wow! I really needed to hear this today!"

He even started his message out by saying that he was speaking to person we really are...the one that we don't let other people see. He said, "I'm not talking to the people that I see sitting in these chairs right in front of me, but I'm talking to those people that you are when you walk out of this building and go home."

It was awesome!

At the end of service, he made an altar call for anyone who wanted prayer for an increase in their commitment to God. I went forward, but Brian didn't pray for me, his associate pastor, Manuel, who came with him did.

I don't know how many of you believe in the gifts of the Spirit being active now like they were right after Jesus, but, when Manuel started praying for me, both of us broke into our prayer languages...or tongues.

I received a word from God and I am holding fast to it!

Oh, and the praise and worship was AWESOME today! Mike was leading...and when he leads, he likes to rock the house! lol We did some Third Day versions of some hymns. I know the older folks don't care for it, but I LIKE it! lol

Guinevere

Powette 2008...Yes, I Survived!

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:30:03 GMT

I know this is starting to sound repetitive, but I've been sooooo busy. Could someone just stop the world for a couple of days so I could get caught up??? Yikes. My days are flying by and I barely have time to breathe.

I realized yesterday that I hadn't posted about Powette yet...and it had already been a week since...since we GOT HOME!!! Sheesh. lol

So, here's a summary of last weekend.

All of the girls showed up on time the morning we were supposed to leave except for 2. As we were finishing up the loading of our supplies and bags onto the bus, I called their mom and it turned out that they had gone to spend a couple of weeks with their grandparents...and didn't feel it was necessary to let any of us know they wouldn't be going to camp. The mom just didn't get it for awhile until I explained to her that we were about ready to leave and we would've ended up sitting in the parking lot waiting for them if I hadn't just found out they weren't going.

What is with people???

Anyway, my group of girls shared one cabin while the older girls shared another cabin. It worked out perfectly. They had their meals together, but otherwise, they were two separate groups.

On Friday, the girls had activities that they could participate in. Of course, the most popular was swimming in the campground pool. lol They also made homemade ice cream...which was a hit! Another activity was playing 'Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?' in the camp auditorium. All of the girls had a great time.

There were alot of other things going on earlier that morning and then later on in the afternoon too. The only thing I regret is that, being a Sectional Rep, I couldn't spend much time with my girls. My helper chaperoned them and kept them all in line and got them where they were supposed to be, but it would've been nice if I could've spent time with them. Oh well...the pros and cons....

On Saturday morning, the girls got ready for the Graduation and Crowning Ceremony. 2 of my girls were crowned Honor Stars and one of our high school girls graduated from Girls Only Club and received the Gold Medal award. (For those of you familiar with Missionettes, that should make sense to you...for those of you not, ummmm....too much to explain. You can check out the official Missionettes website if you're interested.)

On the way home, we stopped at a Godfather's and had pizza for lunch...at about 2:30. lol Most of the girls fell asleep on the way to pizza, but were wired the rest of the way home. You would've thought that with all those carbs and as heavy as pizza is that they would've fallen asleep on the way home, but whatever... lol

Oh, and a side note, my girls LOVED their t-shirts AND they all fit!!!! Before I gave them to the girls, I told them that we were going to pray that they fit...as silly as it sounds...but that God is concerned with the things that concern us. So, we prayed and then they all fit! It was great!

And here are my girls:

Aren't they gorgeous???

Guinevere

And just in case you're curious how we did the homemade ice cream, here are the instructions:

ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 TBSP sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Put these ingredients (we halved it because we had to do 225 of them) in a sandwich sized ziplock bag and zip it shut, squeezing out as much air as possible. (Don't use freezer bags because they leave a "plastic taste" in the ice cream. You can use the cheap-o sandwich ziplocks.) Then, put that inside a gallon sized freezer bag (this one HAS to be a freezer bag) and add about 2-3 cups of ice and about and 1/4 of a cup of rock salt. Squeeze out as much air as you can out the ziplock bag, then shake and squeeze it so that the ice cream starts to freeze. It takes about 5-10 minutes. Then you can eat the ice cream right out of the ziplock.

If you do this with a big group of people, you can recycle the big ziplock bags AND the ice that's left. When you use the recycled ice to make more, the ice cream freezes more quickly for some reason. It tastes yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:03:02 GMT

Sweetie Swap Package

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:10:58 GMT

Ok. Here it is:

Lots of fun goodies!!!

Valentine candy corn

Valentine jelly beans

Glass heart ornament that says, "You are a gift"

Set of 4 Moonstruck chocolates

Chocolate covered graham cracker cookies with red sugar hearts

Beautiful frosted sugar cookies that look like Valentine candy hearts

Yankee Candle - Spiced Cocoa (YUMMM!)

Willow Tree Angel - Graceful

Becca totally outdid herself and, frankly, went overboard...but I felt very special once I saw what she sent! Obviously, her love language is giving!

Thank you sooooo much, Becca! You know how much this all meant to me!

Guinevere

Hmmmm.....What's Today?

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:33:20 GMT

Happy Birthday, Weimiegirl!!!

I hope you have a fantastic day!

It's Been HOW Long???

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:49:14 GMT

I guess I better make this good, huh? lol

Sheesh! Who knew time could fly by so quickly? I've been reading everyone's blogs and keeping up with all of you and it wasn't until this evening that I noticed the date on my last blog entry.

January 17???

YIKES!

Amazingly enough, not much has been happening. We've been plodding along as usual.

BUT on Friday night, M asked me to go to a play with him.

Ok. Let me repeat that.

asked

ME.

Usually, I'm the cultural catalyst in our relationship. I'M the one who introduced HIM to Shakespeare on the Green. I'M the one who introduced HIM to beauty of a symphony orchestra performing in a proper venue. I'M the one who LOVES going to plays...of just about any sort.

It's part of what I miss about my life pre-M. It's probably the only part of my life with K, the psycho ex, that I really DO miss. It's the part of my life when I was taking art classes and spending a lot of time surrounded by art, theater, and music majors...and being a part of that environment. I LOVED that part of my life and I really do miss it sometimes.

So, for M to suggest that we go see a play on Friday night just made me love him even more!

He knew I'd say yes.

lol

I'm predictable that way...I'll admit it!

And it didn't even matter that it didn't cost him anything...you know, those are the best kinds of dates! lol Well, I take that back. It costed us $1 for a can of soda. lol Basically, one of the guys that M works with is the sound designer for the theater and reserved two tickets for us just as thank you to M for helping him with some extra IT stuff at work.

Anyway, the place we went to was The Shelterbelt Theater.

I didn't even know it was there! It's THAT small!

If I counted right, there are only MAYBE 60 seats in the theater.

I'm serious. It's THAT small!

Right now, the production they're running is From The Shelterbelt With Love. It's their Valentine's Day production. It's a series of short one act plays (with the exception of one 2-act play) that are focussed on love. Most of them were very good. Most of the actors were very good...with a couple of stiff exceptions.

But one actress, in particular, stood out. Each of the actors performed a monologue about their first love between plays while the others sat up the stage. She did an interpretive dance to a medley of love song snippets and had all of us howling with laughter. Hilarious!

It was a fun night. And we both enjoyed ourselves. We laughed all the way home. It was also the first "date night" we've had in a long time. Things have been so tight lately that we haven't done anything outside of an occasional movie rental...and even that's been pretty rare...unless we have a free rental coming.

It was fun to just be OUT and doing something FUN.

Guinevere

Pay It Forward

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:26:28 GMT

Letting my Pay It Forward recipients know that their surprises are in the mail!

I also want to apologize that it took me this long to get them out. I had planned on getting them out on Monday, but had a couple of unexpected delays and then I was also sick for a couple of days, so it just took me some extra time to get to the PO.

But I hope you like what I've sent!

Guinevere

Ornament Swap

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:19:47 GMT

A huge thank you goes out to Joisey for the ornament she sent me! Absolutely beautiful! It's a Willow Creek Angel of Miracles. It looks fabulous on our tree!

Thank you, sweet friend!

Guinevere

Christmas Program and Random Stuff

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:34:40 GMT

Last night, we went to A's school Christmas program. The elementary did their program for the first half, then the jr. and sr. high did their part the second half.

I have to say that I was surprised that it was so entertaining...

but then again, I'm not too surprised.

The Creative Director (and Art/Music teacher) and the Math/Science teacher at the school used to be the children's pastors at our old church. They are both VERY artistically talented and musically gifted! She's the Creative Director and the whole program was very professional and entertaining and all around fabulous!

It had her "touch" all over it!

It was well staged, funny, entertaining, everything!

Absolutely wonderful!

This year was the first year that she wanted to put together a Creative Troupe at the school. She wanted to have a dance troupe, drama team, creative writing team, chorus,...everything! A signed up for dance, drama, and creative writing.

The drama team performed a human video that was POWERFUL!

(Have I mentioned that this is a private Christian school that does NOT receive any tax dollars? )

I'm going to have to find out what the name of the song was that they used. It was about someone being so focused on their ministry that people don't see Jesus, they see the evangelist or teacher...and, ultimately, end up worshipping him or her...until the next, and better, one comes along. Very powerful!

Then the dance troupe did an interpretive dance. I have never in my LIFE seen a song done in sign language that was sooooooooo expressive! Of course, they took great liberties with the sign language. If anyone deaf had been in the audience, they wouldn't have been able to make out any of the signs clearly except Lamb of God. But it was fantastic!!!

The whole program was videotaped, so I'm going to be contacting the Creative Director and see if I can get a copy of it. If I can, I'll post the human video and the dance troupe performances on YouTube.

And now for some random stuff.

Two names you go by:

1. Guinie

2. Babe

Two things you are wearing right now:

1. Shoes

2. Socks

(among other things)

Two of your favorite things to do:

1. Knit

2. Read

Two things you want very badly at the moment:

1. To go home from work

2. Dark chocolate ;o)

Two pets you have/have had:

1. Tobi - Min Pin, have now

2. 3 Shelties we had in the past - Missy, Ginger, and Chloe (Can't choose one over the other two.)

Two people who will fill this out:

1. Anyone who wants to

2. Anyone who has time to

Two things you did last night:

1. Went to my daughter's Christmas program

2. Watched 2 episodes of Friends

Two things you ate today:

1. Granola bar for breakfast

2. Potato Chips

Two people you've talked to today:

1. J, my boss

2. M, the other girl in the office

Two things you're doing tomorrow:

1. Celebrating our best friends' daughter's birthday

2. Enjoying my best friend's burritos for lunch.....mmmmmmmmm!

Two longest car rides you've been on:

1. IA to TX

2. MO to MT

Two favorite holidays:

1. Christmas

2. Easter

Two favorite beverages

1. Dr. Pepper

2. What? I have to think of another one??? Sheesh!

Anyone else want to take a stab at this one! Aw! Come on! It's easy!

Guinevere

It's Done!

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:45:37 GMT

Well, I haven't gotten the official word, that, yes, it's done, but the buyers of our old house were supposed to close sometime today. Good news was that they have already transferred the utilities from our name to their name and they are already receiving mail there!

YAY!

I am so relieved to have that house behind us once and for all...

although it is a little bittersweet knowing that we don't own it anymore. Of the 17 1/2 years we've been married, we spent 11 years in that house. It was a little hard to completely let go of it.

But, nevertheless,

Yay!

Guinevere

Another Beautiful Weekend...

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:37:15 GMT

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day! (Saturday was too, but I wasn't out in the weather as much then.) M and I had made plans to go to Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha for their Autumn Ambience Festival. What a great idea that turned out to be!!!

First off, I have to apologize for my "Dory-ness". When we got to the Gardens, M took one picture and our camera told us that we were out of memory. I thought, "Oops!" I had filmed a short video of Tobi on the camera and thought maybe I just forgot to delete it from the memory card. Well, we couldn't find it on the camera to delete it, so we thought we were just out of luck.

Today at work, I remembered what happened.

The memory card was still in the card reader hooked up to my computer at home!

Oops!

So, unfortunately, I don't have any awesome pictures of the Gardens to share with you on here. Bummer. Next time.

The reason we headed to the Gardens this past weekend was because it was also the weekend of the Japanese Ambience Festival. They are raising funds to finish their Japanese garden. Right now, they have the Sunpu Castle Gate and some lantern holders with a miniature Mt. Fuji in the background, but that's it.

We got there as the taiko drummers were performing.

WOW!

If you don't know what taiko drumming is, check out youtube and search taiko. This group was very small since it was just a small part of their fundraising effort, but they were very good. It was 3 young women and a boy. They had 4 big drums and some of the smaller drums. They performed several pieces and it was fantastic!

What was kind of interesting is that one of the women was an American who went to Japan and learned taiko. One of the other women was from Japan and learned taiko in America. Isn't that ironic? lol

In addition to the taiko drummers, they also had a martial arts group there demonstrating shinkendo (Japanese swordsmanship) and aikido (basically self-defense). The shinkendo demonstration was very interesting!

And, no, no peasants were cut in quarters during the demonstration.

There was sake tasting, personalized bookmarks (2 women would write your name in kanji on an origami bookmark using Japanese calligraphy), chopstick instruction booths, origami instructions, and Japanese vocabulary. It was lots of fun!

This was the 3rd year they've done this and we talked to someone who said that they will definitely do it again next year. We'll be there. It was great!

And maybe next year, we won't totally forget the camcorder and we'll remember to put the blank memory card in the camera.

lol

Guinevere

Fireworks & Shakespeare

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:54:15 GMT

Last night, we had a BLAST! Some friends of ours invited us, along with 4 other families/friends, to come over for a BBQ, games, and fireworks. We had so much fun! But, I made an observation about myself that I hadn't really paid much attention to until just recently.

When the men and women start kind of splitting up into their own conversation groups...for some reason, I usually end up sitting and talking with a group of men. It happened last night too! It's weird. I don't even realize it until there's kind of a lull in the conversation and I notice that all of the women have wandered back into the house or somewhere else...and that I'm the only woman sitting with all these men! Bizarre.

And, most of the time, M is in the group I end up in. I'm really not just hanging out to keep an eye on him or anything, but I just end up there. And I fit in...really strange.

I think one of the reasons it took so long for me to pick up on it was because the guys don't appear to be concerned about me being there either. We all joke around and talk. In fact, to be brutally honest, sometimes the men's conversations are much more interesting and fun than the women's. (Last night, they were talking about music...from like the 70's...anyone remember Hocus Pocus by Focus??? lol)

After some time outside with the men, though, I wandered inside and found all of the girls. I sat down and slipped easily into conversation with them too. Then we played a game called Apples to Apples. Heard of it? It's fun. And the crazier your answers, the more fun it is! I tied for first place with one my daughter's friends. lol

Anyway, much later, we all wandered outside and the guys...well the teenaged versions plus one semi-adult version (my husband, M) anyway...got busy lighting off rockets and fountains and, best of all, the BIG exploding fireworks. Those things were huge and, periodically, after one exploded, you could hear and feel the ash from them falling out of the sky. One of the girls thought it was bugs landing on her! lol

One funny moment in particular was when we women noticed a box of fireworks setting right next to where they were lighting the fountains. Everytime they lit a fountain, we would yell, "Move the box!" After the second or third fountain, we started chanting it. lol M yelled back, "It's just trash!"

Anyway, a little while later, they lit another fountain and the box looked even closer than it had been before, so someone yelled (again), "Move the box!" They didn't, so Cl (the hostess) yelled, "It's not pretty sitting there!" Then I yelled, "It's not aesthetically pleasing!" Then we all busted up laughing. We were all really giggly last night for some reason.

I think I laughed more last night than I've laughed in a long time! In fact, at one point during the night, I got to spend some time talking to a friend who just became a dad a year ago. He used to be the youth pastor at our old church and I was the secretary there for awhile. He and I used to crack one another up ALL THE TIME in the office! (The host and hostess of the party last night used to be the children's pastors in the same church at the same time he and I were there...so we all worked together at one point.) Anyway, B and I started out talking and both of us just started cracking up! He has the most contagious, goofy laugh and, when I finally got my breath, I said, "I've missed that laugh, B!!!" He laughed even harder and said, "I've missed yours too!!!" lol We're nuts! Everyone else who walked by just started laughing because we were being such goofballs.

Anyway, because of the move into a new house and the trips to the old house on the weekend to finish up some things down there, I've been missing out on Shakespeare on the Green this year.

The only opportunity I'll have this year to see any of the productions is on Sunday night. Yikes. Another late night when I have to get up early for work the next day! Ugh. My best friend, D, and her daughter want to go, so I might see if they want to do a girls' night out thing. It'll be fun, I'll just be exhausted! lol

How was your Independence Day celebrations???

Guinevere

You Never Know...

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:16:01 GMT

...when you'll impact someone's life.

This morning on the way to work, we stopped at the Casey's store that's only about 3 blocks from our house so that we could squeegie the windshield on the Jeep. It was literally covered in bug stuff. Ick.

Well, while we were there, I decided to run in and grab a bottle of Dr. Pepper (are you a Pepper?). As I was waiting at the counter to pay, one of the girls from the back, K, came out and yelled across the store, "Hey, Mrs. W!!!" and started laughing.

She's a crack up.

Some history:

K and I worked together as waitresses YEARS ago! She was in her very early 20s and had a little boy who was maybe 6 or 7. Her son lived with her parents in WY because she was basically deemed unfit to take care of him.

She was a party girl.

MAJOR party girl!

Why the two of us ever connected is completely and totally beyond me...at least at the time. Now I know.

She reminded me of Blondie. You know, Debbie Harry... Mostly because of her attitude and her hair. lol But also because Blondie was her idol. She had sun bleached blonde hair that was wild and crazy most of the time. She also had (and still has) a very outspoken personality. Basically, she was one of those cute and energetic blondes who has a bit of a wild side!

Anyway, way back then, she was struggling with a lot of different situations. And, on top of everything, she was letting her partying run her life. I don't know what all she was doing besides alcohol, but I know it was alot.

At one point, she was in desperation to see her son and to straighten her life out, and she spent alot of time talking to me about everything that was going on. I would listen, offer some advice, and let her know that I would pray for her. And she always said that she appreciated the prayers.

Finally, one afternoon after work, she ended up hanging out with me for a couple of hours...I can't remember what was going on that she would be with me, but she was. She was talking about everything again and I asked her if she would be interested in coming to church with me the following Wed. night. I let her know that Wed. nights weren't quite as intimidating as Sunday morning, plus they're alot more informal.

So she came to church with me that Wed. night and actually went forward for prayer when the pastor made the altar call! She asked me to go with her, which I did.

The thing is, that even though she seemed to straighten up and get her life together, and she got her son back, she started right back down the path she was on before and it was even worse than the first time! (Plus she lost her son in the process again.) I would occasionally see her and I always made a point to at least say hi and ask how things were going (even though I could see they weren't good). And I noticed the looks that I got when I would stop to talk to her too.

Sad.

Anyway, about a year and a half ago, I saw her again and she was pregnant...and married!!! She was so excited and her eyes were so bright! She lit up when she saw me and we had such a great, but short, visit catching up. She was off drugs and happily married to a pretty cool guy. (He's covered in tattoos and is a little intimidating to look at, but is very pleasant to visit with. Really nice.)

Just awhile back, I finally saw her daughter (who is absolutely beautiful, by the way!) and she was looking happier than I've seen her!

Well, that brings us to the present: this morning in Casey's.

She came walking up from the back and asked if there was anything new. I told her about the house and that we were moving this weekend and she just threw her arms around me and about squeezed the stuffing out me! lol She said, "How exciting! I'm so happy for you!!!"

We chatted for a little bit, but I had to go, so I told her that I would make sure I got her address and phone number before we actually leave town so that we could keep in contact after we move.

Before I left, though, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm going to miss you. You remember when you invited me to church? I'm sorry. I just wasn't ready. But it meant a lot to me that you cared about me so much." Then she threw her arms around me again and kept saying, "I love you so much. Thank you. You really left an impression on me. I really do love you sooooo much."

By the time I left, I had tears in my eyes too and M was looking at me like, "What's wrong with you???" when I got in the Jeep. lol

You never know when or where or how you're going to impact someone's life. Live everyday like it's important to someone else...because you just never know.

Awesome!

Guinevere

Crazy Weekend!

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:33:03 GMT

This past weekend was just crazy! Thursday morning, my daughter and I packed up our Jeep and headed over to pick up my best friend and her daughter so that we could meet everyone else who was going to Powette (Missionettes camp) at the church.

We almost didn't get everything to fit!!!

So, we headed down the road Thursday late morning and got to the campsite at about noon. We had lunch, sent our two Friends graduates to their rehearsal, and then got ready for the evening luau and service. It was a blast!!! This is the first year that we've done a luau and opened the pool. It was a hit and I'm sure we'll do it again next year!

All day Friday was full of activities and competitions.

I was scheduled to teach a "class" to the jr. high and high school girls on internet safety, esp. for the profile sites like MySpace, etc. I was expecting about 30 girls in that group, was prepared for up to 40...never would've guessed there would've been 70!!! Wow!!!

It went really well, but it's so hard to teach anything like that to that age group without sounding preachy, so I spent a lot of time talking about the fun aspects of it. They were all laughing and seemed to enjoy my stories. When I talked about how to be safe, they listened. I don't know how many of them took it to heart, but at least I was able to assure them that we just want to make sure they're safe and nothing happens to them. It ended good.

In the afternoon, we presented all of the awards, both for placing and participating. Our group won an award for outstanding cabin and also a participation trophy. Awesome!

In the evening, we had an honors banquet for the girls who were graduating. I got to go to that for 3 reasons: my daughter was one of the graduates, I was also her teacher, and I'm a Sectional Rep for Missionettes. Cool.

After that, we had the evening service. There was a drama (that I helped with), a human video, and a guest speaker. It turned out really well. After everyone else headed back to their campsites or cabins, all of us reps stayed and got the platform and room ready for the awards ceremony the next day. It took us a couple of hours just to get chairs moved back into place and all of the decorations up.

I was exhausted by the time I got back to the room!!! I think it was about midnight by then. The other leader and I sat up talking for another hour and a half after that! lol I was sooooooooooooo beat the next morning. I actually slept really sound and overslept by about a half hour. lol But we still got up and ready on time.

The honors and awards ceremony went very well. Both girls looked beautiful!

Right after the ceremony, we called for pizza and then headed back to the cabin to pack. We were pretty much done by the time the pizza got there. (Our pastor's wife picked it up for us. Her daughter was the other graduate.) We ate, then got on the road.

We got home about 5:30. I had barely gotten out of the Jeep when M told me that our real estate agent was coming over the next day to get all the paperwork going on listing our house for sale. And that I might want to make sure things were picked up and ready for him to go through the house.

HUH? Excuse me?

I told him that he would just have to look at a dirty house because I was too exhausted to even THINK about cleaning house. I didn't even have the energy to unpack everything once we got in the house.

As it turned out, our agent couldn't get over today to see the house, so I think Somebody was looking out for me. lol He said he would come later in the week.

And we close on our new house on Thursday!!!

YAHOO!!!

I'm so excited to get moved!!!

Anyway, does it sound like I've been busy? Hmmmm...could explain why I haven't been on here lately to post anything new.

Guinevere

Weekend Honors

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:42:30 GMT

We spent Friday night and all day Saturday in Kansas City this weekend. The Northern Missouri District Royal Rangers were having their annual Commanders Awards Banquet and we had received a special invitation to attend.

The reason?

N was receiving a very distinguished award in Royal Rangers.

Although we aren't a part of the N. MO District, they offer many more opportunities than our own district. N has been participating in their junior leadership camps over the last couple of years. Fortunately, a good friend of ours is a national instructor for Rangers, is deeply involved in the N. MO District, and has all the right connections...and he's been encouraging N to get involved in their district.

The way Rangers works is that any boy or commander from any district can receive training or receive awards from any other district. It's very flexible and great that they make everything available to everyone! (If you run across a district that doesn't offer that flexibility, then they haven't caught the full vision of Rangers.)

Anyway, N has participated in four of their junior leadership camps so far:

JTC - Junior Training Camp

JTT - Junior Training Trails

JCE - Junior Canoeing Expedition

JSC - Junior Survival Camp

And, as a result, he has earned the Silver Saber. So, Saturday night, we were at the awards banquet where he was presented with this award.

He received the saber, white beret, white gloves, and sash. And, now, because of this award, he's achieved Honor Guard status.

The saber was engraved with his full name and his favorite Scripture:

"No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."

- 2 Timothy 2:4

The only problem that we ran into was that his name was misspelled on the saber.

OOPS!

The commander responsible for taking care of that apologized profusely and said he would have them fix it for him. So, I don't have a picture of it to post yet, but will soon. As soon as we get it back, we're going to have him get spiffed up in his uniform so that we can get some good pics of him for sharing with family and friends.

He looks pretty sharp in his uniform, if I do say so myself. :o)

It was great to be there for this honor...and also to see some friends we haven't seen in awhile. (Namely, the previously mentioned Ranger instructor and his wife, who used to work with me in Missionettes years ago.)

Anyway, pictures will follow soon! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Guinevere

Belated Valentine's Story

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:39:17 GMT

Last night, I wanted to get something posted, but got distracted chatting with a friend. Not that I’m blaming him for keeping me from posting (because it’s always fun to chat with my blog buddies), but it was just “one of those things”.

To actually sit and write was going to be a chore. Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because my lower back has decided to rebel against the rest of my body.

Right around two years ago, I woke up one morning with my lower back so stiff I could barely move. I finally managed to make it downstairs to the sofa, but that was about as far as I got. I ended up going to my chiropractor and, as soon as he started investigating my back, he said, “Dang! What have you been doing???”

<sigh>

Every since then, occasionally, my lower back decides to tighten up and make it nearly impossible for me to do anything but sit on my rumpus and watch tv, which is not always a bad thing…except that I have other more important things to do.

Well, Sunday afternoon, it started locking up again. We were visiting some friends when it started. I excused myself twice from the table/conversation just to go in the other room and stretch. By the time we left, I could barely walk myself out to the Jeep.

And it took me 10 minutes to get out of bed on Monday morning. I got an emergency appt. in to see my chiropractor and he was confused to see me so soon…since I had just been in for an adjustment on Friday.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that he loosened everything up and I felt great…for about 2 hours. Now it’s back to being so totally tight that I waddle when I walk. I’m going to look real cute walking down to the mail room later this afternoon!

So that’s the excuse I have for not posting anything this weekend…sitting in a hard chair does NOT do my back any good. (It’s not the lumbar region that tightens up, it’s mostly in the sacrum…literally, my “butt bone”.)

Anyway, that’s the excuse for the absence of posts, but I do have a funny Valentine’s story to share…even though it’s a few days late.

And it all centers around the first Valentine’s gift that M ever got me…

A Super Nintendo Joystick.

Are you curious to hear the “WHY”??? lol

Well, the last stretch of dating that M and I did right before we got married, we actually did as friends only. We went bowling and dancing…when either of us had money. The rest of the time, M would come over and we’d rent a couple of Nintendo games and play video games. (We’re both video game junkies.)

At the time, M was staying with his grandparents. He had just recently moved back to the area and didn’t have an apartment or place to stay lined up yet.

What makes the whole arrangement really funny is that I grew up around his grandparents. Our family went to the same church they did and they were almost like a part of our family. M’s aunt and my mom have always been best friends. This same aunt gave me piano lessons when I was growing up. My youngest sister has always called M’s grandma “Grandma”…even since before M and I got married!

Well, one night, M came over and we decided to rent some Nintendo games. Neither one of us had to work the next day, so we stayed up all night playing video games. Before either one of us realized how late it was, we noticed that it was getting light out! We both knew his grandparents would already be up and would probably be wondering where he was.

So, I suggested he give them a call…which he did. He told his grandma that he had stayed at my apartment all night playing video games and that time had just gotten away from us…but that he was ok and safe.

Fast forward about a week later…

M was leaving their house to come over and pick me up to go to a movie. As he was walking out the front door, his grandpa said, “Where’re you going?”

M said, “Over to see J.”

Grandpa said, "Oh. What are you two doing tonight?"

M said, "A movie...and maybe some more video games."

His grandpa said, “Ok, but…

Don’t let her play with your joystick!”

OMG!

M’s face turned red and he said, “We really were just playing video games, Grandpa!”

lol

He was so embarrassed!

But the story doesn’t end there….about a month later, M got me a joystick for my Nintendo for Valentine’s Day with a note attached that said,

“Now you have your own joystick to play with.”

And the story STILL doesn’t end there….

Until M’s grandpa passed away, his nickname for N, our son, was

Li’l Nintendo!

Guinevere

Valentine's Thoughts

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 17:15:16 GMT

Pssssst....Guys!

Do you need some ideas for Valentine's Day? I have a couple of really good ones! Wanna know what they are?

In the last 17 years, I can really only think of three Valentine's Days that have stood out from the rest. And they stood out because of what M gave me as a gift.

No, he didn't buy me diamonds or spend a boatload of $$$ on me. These were gifts that were more from his heart than his checkbook.

The first one was our first Valentine's Day together. We were BROKE. I mean, $0 in the bank at the time. We had spent everything he'd brought home in his paycheck on rent and food. But, he had managed to scuttle enough away to buy me two red roses. One from him and one from N.

This was one of the best Valentine's gifts, but not THE best. That's for later.

The second one that was really great was about three years ago. I was working in the church office and M stopped in after work. He had the youth pastor in on "the plan". M came in the office and asked me to go downstairs to his Royal Rangers classroom to get something. While we were downstairs, B (the youth pastor) set my gift on my desk. When we went back upstairs, on my desk was setting a dozen roses.

BUT that's not what made it so great. I mean, I like roses. I like getting roses...but what made the gift so perfect is that the vase was FULL of Hot Tamales! I LOVE Hot Tamales! In fact, I never buy them because you can only buy them in large quantities around here and I would sit and eat all of them! I asked him where he had that done...meaning, what florist did that for him. He smiled and said, "I did it."

That's right.

M went to the store and bought a really cool vase. Then he bought a big bag of Hot Tamales. And a dozen roses. He went home and wrapped the stems in cellophane and proceeded to arrange the whole thing with Hot Tamales in the vase!

It was one of the best gifts NOT because of the roses, but because he thought it out for himself and did the work.

Wow!

Just a note here too...if your wife or girlfriend or special someone likes roses, you don't HAVE to buy the florist variety to make them special. M bought a dozen of the nicer ones at a Walmart. What he did to them is what made them so spectacular!

But the all time best Valentine's gift I ever received was the following year.

I had gone to the store after work and when I got home, my gift was waiting on the table for me. He had bought me a chick flick that I really wanted. But what he had setting with it was the real gift.

Guys, are you ready?

There were Hershey's Kisses setting all over the table around my gift. At first, I thought, "Oh, how sweet. Hershey's Kisses. Chocolate." But, when I looked closer, I realized these were no ordinary Kisses.

Oh, no. Not ordinary at all.

The little tags on them looked different. So, I picked one up and looked at it.

It said, "I love you because..." and then listed a reason.

WOW!

I only read one and my jaw dropped! I looked at him and he just smiled at me. I picked up another one and read it. Then another. Then another. One after the other told me reason after reason after reason why he loves me. (He had made the tags while he was at work. He printed them out in red in an elegant script, then cut them out at home and glued them to the original tags.)

WOW!

I started crying. In fact, I'm crying now thinking back! lol I have the tags saved in my memory things...but I ate the Kisses! lol

Some reasons were sappy sweet, others were more practical...while others were a little more racy. (I can't believe he left them setting out with the kids walking around. lol)

So, guys, if you need a good idea for a gift....think about what it is about your lady that makes your heart beat a little faster...and let her know.

And she'll melt like butter.

GUARANTEED!

Guinevere

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 18:01:44 GMT

I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas so far this morning! We got to Texas without incident and we had a great night's sleep after last night's dinner and a glass of wine. I love being here!

We left M's grandma's house shortly before 3 on Sat. and made it to Oklahoma City about 9:30. We stayed at the Ramada Inn just off of I-35 at the south end of OKC next to Crossroads Mall. If you're ever in this area, don't stay at this hotel. Consider yourselves warned. The lobby was very deceiving. It was very nice...at first glance. When we got to the room, we discovered that the door to our room didn't want to latch unless forced. Wallpaper was peeling off of the walls in a couple of spots and I won't even talk about the bathroom! It was ok to stay there for just few hours, but if we were staying for any length of time I would've been requesting a better room.

First thing Sunday morning, we all got up and showered and headed out. We got out of OKC at about 9:45 and hit Lewisville by noon. We met M's sister and her husband and kids at the TJ Hartford's off of the interstate and had lunch. (We love going there...they have a nickel arcade...and even have Ms. PacMan!!!) It was fun. M and I hung around after everyone else left and played Ms. PacMan for awhile longer...well, I guess we did have all the kids with us.

We let the kids each open one gift last night before bed. It's tradition in our family that you can do that on Christmas Eve, but the kids know that the gift they get to open is pajamas. So, they don't get real excited about it, but at least they get to open a gift.

This morning, we all opened all of our gifts to one another. M's sister and her husband got their son an XBox 360, so right now all of the kids are hunkered down in the game room playing XBox.

We travel down here for Christmas every other year...a tradition we started 2 years ago. :o) We really look forward to it. All of us love Texas and it helps that we're all really close (his sister and I were best friends for 5 years before M and I got married).

Oh, and can't forget to point out the benefits of having a brother-in-law who works for Microsoft. M got the newest Flight Simulator for Christmas. He was in heaven! :o) (His working at Microsoft also explains the XBox purchase...he got a HUGE discount on it.)

Anyway, I'll be here off and on during our visit...I'm one who needs to closet myself off by myself every so often, so I usually just kind of disappear quietly for awhile a few times. No one thinks anything of it and it gives me a chance to check my email and visit blogs. :o)

Hope everyone's Christmas has been merry and jolly! Have a great day!

Guinevere

Nicknames Revisited...Again

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:48:36 GMT

Thanks to Weimie, I remembered another nickname...a blast from the past! (Weimie, your "Stumpy" comment tripped a switch in my memory banks! lol)

When I was working as a waitress during my college days, the owner of the restaurant who was only in town about once every 3 or 4 months decided to nickname me. I don't know why...he didn't nickname any of the other waitresses. And to this day, I have no idea where he came up with the name or why.

But he called me Sparky.

???

Whenever he came to town and stopped at the restaurant, he would ask the other waitresses, "Is Sparky working?" He's the only one who ever called me that and I only heard it maybe 3 or 4 times a year. There were some suggestions from a handful of the people there why he nicknamed me, but, personally...? EWWWWWWW!

Bizarre.

Guinevere

Nicknames Revisited

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:23:40 GMT

Quite some time ago, I ran the gamut of all of the nicknames I've had in the past. Only, I missed one and picked one up since then...sort of.

Genevieve was also a nickname I had. Keith, The Ex, called me Genevieve. To be totally honest, I hated that name! lol One day, I finally asked him why he called me that and he said it sounded a lot like Guinevere (there you have it), but was easier to pronounce (whatever). I let it slide after that, but never really cared for it...esp. as time went on and things happened and he became The Ex. I was more than happy to hand off the nickname to some other unsuspecting female who would be dim-witted enough to date him.

Oops. Did that sound too bitter?

Lately, though, everyone at church has been calling me by my most common nickname (you'll have to read the original nicknames entry to know what that is -- and, yes, I have to give away my real name to tell the story). I don't know why. Hmmm... It's kind of weird, but it's kind of nice too. Since we're in a new place, it's kind of cool that there's something else "new" there too.

But my two favorite nicknames will always be Rebel and especially Weeble...mostly because of the people behind the stories. But I'll save that for another time.

Have a great evening and I hope you're looking forward to the weekend as much as I am!

Guinevere