Turn signals

For you that grew up in northern Indiana, you can probably relate with this story. For you that didn't grow up with perpendicular country roads, I'll probably reinforce your thought that I am a complete goober! I spent my early years in northwest Indiana where there is a county road every 1/2 mile. All of the roads intersect nicely. If you make a 90 degree turn, you are going to turn on to a different road, thus necessitating your turn signal. Not the case in southern Indiana. You commonly make 90 degree turns and stay on the same road. It never fails, at least once a week, I use my turn signal when going around one of those 90 degree turns. The only problem is that I am still on the same road! I feel so silly! People behind me have to think I am completely nuts! (I don't feel bad all of the time, because my husband does it too; then again, he grew up in northwest Indiana also.)

When is the last time...

When is the last time you looked up at the clouds? That has become one of my treasured activities over the past few weeks. Summer is becoming one of my favorite times of the year, because I get to swim in our lake. It is glorious! I get to exercise without sweating. It's refreshing and quiet! And I get to lay on my back and look up at the clouds. I love looking at their different shapes and determining what they look like! Sometimes they look like a dolphin, or a table with four legs, or a dragon. The possibilities are limitless! The older I get, the more thankful I am for the simple things in life! Take a gaze up on the next cloudy day and tell me what you see!

REALLY!!??

My mom has been doing some "spring cleaning" around her house and decided after storing my wedding dress for the last 15 years it was time she handed it back to me. So, I had some spare time yesterday, was in the house all by myself, and decided I was going to try on my wedding dress. Sounds like fun, right? :) I took it out of the box and was admiring it once again. It still looked pretty good for being 15 years old. My first surprise came when I couldn't fit the sleeves over my arms. Huh? Then I attempted to zip up the back, but that attempt was also unsuccessful. By this point I was a bit disappointed. I mean, I know I've had two kids since then and gained a little weight, but...? This was outright depressing. I quickly slipped off what little portion of the dress I actually had on and tucked it nicely back in the box. My husband came inside not too long after this serious disappoint of mine. I shared with him that the dress no longer fit. Do you know what he said? He looked me in the eyes, smiled and said, "REALLY!!??" (I'm sure you had to be there to get the full effect.) He was so kind and acted surprised by the fact that the dress didn't fit.

Despite the fact that I was no longer able to fit into my wedding dress, my husband has come along in his "training" over the last 15 years and knew just how to respond to my comment!

Miracle

I ran across this quote from Albert Einstein recently, and it just stuck with me. "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." The more I think about that, it really is true. Everything really is a miracle in this life! So I've taken extra note of the miracles around me and the beauty God has created! This morning turned out to be a beautiful, sunny morning! On my way to work there is a large forest of trees that make a wonderful canopy over the road. On sunny days the sun rays shine through onto the road creating a wonderful sight like a spotlight straight from heaven! Just think for a minute about the sun, and how it has to be the right distance from earth or it would be too cold or too hot for us to survive. Think about how amazingly our bodies are created, and the fact that our eyes can see light and dark, depth, and colors. Those are all miracles which I thank God for each day!

So what miracles have you seen lately?

Fatal Error

For those of you who are Mac users, you might find this story funny. For those of you who are Windows users, you might find this story all too common. A few days ago I was working on my old Windows computer when all of a sudden a box came us and said that my computer had recovered from a fatal error! Well, thank goodness it recovered, at least that time... So a few days later my husband was doing something on the computer and I shared the fatal error story. I commented that I really should save all of my documents and pictures on a CD just in case. Wouldn't you know, not more than two hours later the computer screen went black. I'm not quite sure what happened, but the computer didn't recover this time. Keep your fingers crossed that the skilled computer man will be able to fix it!

Lonely :(

So, I'm still sticking to my "anti-social" status from my last post, but I'm feeling kind of lonely! My family has been gone for 7 days now. I've had several days of freedom and doing whatever I want, and that was great! BUT... I'm tired of watching movies alone every night. I'm not a big people person, but I do love hanging out with my guys! Only 3 more days... :(

Home Alone!

Many of you know my three boys are on our family vacation for the year. They are with their boy scout group taking a 10 day backpacking trip to Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior. That leaves me home alone for our family vacation this year. (I can hear the collective sighs and "Aawww's" from my faithful readers. Thanks!) For a brief amount of time I was feeling sorry for myself, until a friend said my 10 days home alone was really a vacation within itself. So that's the attitude I've adopted. So here's what I've discovered while being home alone:

• I slept in until 9:30 a.m. my first day alone, and got out of bed at 11:00 a.m. That was amazing! I don't think I've ever done that in my whole life!
• I've eaten more PB&J and ham sandwiches over the last few days than over the last few months! I really don't like to cook, especially when no one else is home.
• I still don't know what to do when you run out of toilet paper and no one is home to yell to get another roll! :)
• I took a swim and laid out on the beach this afternoon, another rare occurance when the family is around. The only thing I could hear was the sound of the many, many birds chirping away on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Amazing!
• I love watching movies at night all snuggled in my bed. We normally don't have a TV in our room, but I borrow a little one from the RV, so this is a special treat! Without fail I end up watching "Sweet Home Alabama."
• My house actually stays clean!
• I am beginning to understand just how antisocial I am. I really like being home alone! When give the opportunity to go somewhere, I chose to stay home by myself doing nothing! Is that sad or what?
• I don't really like being on my own at night though. I haven't started locking my doors at night, but occassionally let myself think of the "what ifs..." My security lies in a 70 lb. chocolate mutt that sleeps outside the door. He's quite loyal to his family, and doesn't really like anyone else.