Vacation Day #9

Well, today marks the 9th and final day of my staycation.  My day included the normal Sunday activities - Sunday school, church, choir practice and Sunday evening church. 

This morning I was back with my Sunday school kiddies.  Today's lesson was on Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac and how God provided a ram to take Isaac's place.  Our class was sans boys.  I think the girls thoroughly enjoyed knowing that it would be "just us girls."  I think these "just us girls" moments are teachable.  One thing I'd like to do when it's "just us girls" is go through Proverbs 31 and do character training.

After morning service, I went to Target about bought the goods for our last Ruth and Naomi Bible Study for this year.  While in the juice aisle ~ side note:  I never buy juices so I was completely lost.  Send me down the coffee aisle and I know where such-and-such coffee beans are located.  Turn me loose in the juice aisle and I just stand and stare at all the pretty colors and labels. 

After staring at the labels for approximately 47 seconds, I did what any sensible gal would do.  I pulled out my phone and searched the internet for lemonade concoctions.  After a couple of this-is-so-not-going-to-happen recipes, I called my Mom.  After a couple minutes of chit-chat, it was determined that I should buy cranberry-lemonade bottled juice and a 2-liter of 7Up and 2 fresh lemons to add some fru-fru.  A bag of dark chocolate Hershey Kisses (rumor on the street is they are gluten-free...ooooooh happy day!!!  And yes, this "happy day" does include clapping and choir robes!)...the necessary paper plates, napkins and cups - we are going with white paper products NOT because I am boring and plain...but because I am sensible and fabulous!!!  We have a 1st-time-ever spring stamping event on Saturday, May 18th.  It's during the day -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Birthday cards and Thank You notes are the order of the day.  I won't have to haul every single stamp I own...I'm saving the big guns for the fall-ish stamping extravaganza!!!!  I intend to use the leftover paper products for the stamping activity.

Back to Ruth and Naomi...our main treat for Tuesday night is leftover (and yes, they've been frozen but I took them out of the freezer tonight) cheesecakes with cherries or blueberries...or knock-yourself-out and mix the berries!!!!  Who doesn't love cheesecake??? 

Our beverage choices:  water, decaf coffee (does anyone drink regular coffee at 7 p.m.???  I would if it wouldn't mean that I would be up until circa 4 a.m. laughing and pinning all kinds of crazy things on Pinterest.  I know myself.  I know myself hyped-up on coffee.  It's not good.  Let me repeat that...IT'S. NOT. GOOD.), and cranberry lemonade.  I did have an epiphany regarding the lemonade...

My mom suggested I make a fruit ring.  This got me thinking about something fabulous I read one time...stay with me here...to make frozen coffees so that they don't dilute when the ice melts, you brew an extra pot of coffee and freeze it in your ice cube trays.  Well --- wouldn't that work with lemonade???  And BONUS -- I have 2 frozen lemonade concentrates in my freezer for such a time as this.  Thank you, Lord!!!

I came home and mixed up 1/2 a pitcher - I want the ice cubes semi-concentrate - and put the tray in the freezer.  After evening church, I removed the cubes from the tray and refilled it with the next batch.  Back in to the freezer!!!  Now - here's hoping that my calendar reminder that says "Lemonade ice cubes" will ring and remind me to grab the Ziplock bag from the freezer. 

Tomorrow I must go back to work. 
The coolest thing about Vacation Day #8 was that around 9 p.m. of said day (Saturday, May 5th), I said to Maggie - yes, I talk to my cat :) - "I'm looking forward to going back to work on Monday."  She didn't reply.  Today I said that very same thing to Rhonda and she DID reply, "What?  Are you serious or joking?  I don't know you.  What have you done with Angie?"  Too which I replied, "I know, right!!!!  It's ridiculous but I am so rested and relaxed that I really am ready to go back to work.  You need to take a staycation and relax.  It's amazing!!!" 

I intend to do this random week off every-single-year...preferably the week before my birthday so when I do return to work, it's for a 4-day work week.  My mother did not raise a fool...a nutcase...a girl who talks to her cat...a girl who laughs uncontrollably...a girl who loves Jesus....a girl who can cook....a girl afraid of grasshoppers...but NOT a girl who is foolish.  :)

Vacation day #7

Friday, May 3rd
Patty and I ventured to Janesville.  Our first stop....Mocha Moments.  It's a quaint, backwoods-feeling coffeeshop. The cabin decor -including a lovely fireplace and old-fashioned coffeebean roaster - is reminiscent of a simpler, less frazzled time.  It's a place where friends can gather and chat and laugh and even play a rousing game of checkers.  NOTE:  If playing checkers remember - it's just a game and not everyone in the coffeeshop wants to hear your sudden outbursts.  (LOL!!!)

The patio (yes - there is a huge patio) overlooks a woodsy park setting. Friends (ie squirrels and woodpeckers) scampered across the railing and occasionally stopped and peered inside at us.

Patty and I both agreed that this coffeeshop is going on our list of favorite places in Janesville.

Vacation Day #6

Thursday, May 2nd

Today was my fun-filled/friend-filled Thursday.  Sara and I (sans children) spent the morning thrifting.  We began our adventure by meeting at Higher Grounds.  The 40 degree blustery weather had our taste buds and chilled bones craving divine warmth from our beloved beverage which was brewed to our liking.  For me - a plain Jane latte sans flavoring or sweetener.  For Sara - a Carmel treat.  Since it was a mini-vacation, we both lived life large and ordered our coffee to FIT our fabulous Thursday.

Our second stop - Twice As Nice Consignment Shop. 
Third stop - the Goodwill

Normally I would post about all my fabulous thrift finds...but today was about more than just wonderful Anne Taylor finds (Sara found a cute A.T. shawl!!!) and Old Navy steals...today was about spending time with my bestest friend.  Today was about laughing about nonsensical things and sharing burdens that were heavy on our hearts.  Today was about being real and knowing that no matter what I said or did, no matter what, that this wonderful gal loves me because I am me.  I love that about our friendship.  I don't have to act like I have it all together (because I don't).  When she asks me how I am doing, I don't have to worry about being too honest.  And if I just so happened to find two skinny belts at a freebie swap in downtown Lanark, well, that friends is just an absolute bonus and frosting on my fabulous cake!!!

Vacation Day #6: Thrifting and coffee

Still lovin' being on vacation...
Still not bored enough to go to work...let alone want to go to work...hahahahahaha...
Thrifting and coffee with Sara today.  I mean, for real, someone has to be fabulous!!!! :)

Vacation Day #5: Laziness...pure laziness

Wednesday, May 1st

Happy May Day!!!

Today I did a whole-lotta nothin' and I must confess...it was lovely.  My "lotta nothin'" included a trip to JoAnn's to purchase some patriotic Starbella yarn for a scarf order...a quick stop at Target for Epsom salt to make scrubs...and then a cardio work-out stop at Charter Fitness! 

Last night's Bible study was on discouragement.  Mr. Kutz explained that discouragement is really a lack of courage...and courage involves trust.  Wow!!!  I had never thought about the "lack of courage" part.  We were in Psalm 27 for a majority of the evening.  It was a something-to-think-about knid of message...not that they all aren't, but you know what I mean.  :)

Have a blessed day!!!

Angie

Oh --- PS...I'm totally going to do this Staycation thing every year.  It's FABULOUS!!!!!

What I love about Paul's Epistles....

I love the heartfelt closing of Paul's Epistles. 

Ephesians 3:14-21:
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or thing, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all the ages, world without end.  Amen.

Now, technically, that is not the closing of the entire Epistle -- it's the closing of Chapter 3.  I love how Paul reminds them of what they have in Christ.  And it's for us too -- what WE have in Christ. 

Vacation Day #3: I heart slacking.

Monday, April 29th
Whenever I take a vacation and go out of town, I like to buy a keepsake to remember my trip.  A picture frame, a coffee mug, etc.  Yesterday I bought a cutting mat.  Yes, a cutting mat will be my keepsake of this vacation.  I've never owned a cutting mat before - probably because I've never owned one of those handled cutting devices.  Here's why I needed the cutting mat - during the first sewing class in January, my instructor said to buy a round wheeled contraption.  In my head, I thought she meant a handled cutting device so that is what I purchased.  It's not what she meant.  She meant a thing-a-ma-jig you use with tracing paper to mark darts.  Once I realized that I had bought the wrong thing, wouldn't you know - I could not find my receipt.  And of course, I couldn't find the receipt -- I could find every-other-receipt but not the one I needed.  (Sigh.)  Since the cutting device was 50% off, I decided to just keep it and use it for some other crafting project...and then I realized, I would need a cutting mat.  [Have you priced those things???  Reeeeee-dic-you-lus or just ridiculous if you prefer proper spelling to my fabulous phonics!]  When I saw that the mats were not on sale this week, I used my 50% JoAnn's coupon and purchased said mat. 

Sunday afternoon, I ran to the thrift by the 50 cent toll bridge (which I can no longer refer to this as such because they removed the toll booth and all the change capturing funnel-ish things...from now on, I shall refer to it as where-the-fifty-cent-toll-bridge-used-to-be) and bought 3 t-shirts.  One of the t-shirts was from a jersey knit, I believe.  Jersey knit doesn't work for the scarves.  I found that out the hard way.  (Sigh.)  You must use cheap t-shirts.  I'm not sure the official name of the knit -- but I intend to ask the nice gals at JoAnn Fabrics.

Where was I????  Oh yes - my slacking Monday.  Soooo I watched a YouTube video and then made 2 cute scarves.  The first scarf was made out of a striped t-shirt.  The stripes reminded me of sherbet.  Yum!!!!  Sherbet orange, light raspberry and light lavender (the lavender does not remind me of sherbet...it reminded me of some bad tasting lavender ice cream I tried one time...only one time.  Never again.  Kind of like that rose ice cream Nancy talked me in to trying.  <<>>).  The scarf turned out lovely.  Too cover the one seam which connects all the cut strips, I used extra pieces of t-shirt and tied them in knots.  It looks like 2 octopus smushed together in a fun, summery way.  Don't worry - I wouldn't wear something that looked like creepy octopus!!!  That would not be Fun Angie-ish.

I, also, went to the gym with Lauren.  We were able to go at 1:30.  It was wonderful going in the middle of the day.  The place wasn't crowded.  The machines were free.  And we laughed and chatted and laughed some more.

Another thing I noticed about not working on Monday -- Woodman's was not busy either.  As I pulled in to the parking lot, I thought, I could really love this whole not working thing.  And then I remembered that I have a car payment, rent to pay, utilities to keep working, groceries to buy, etc.  (Sigh.)  So much for the life of a slacker....  It was just a dream...just for a moment.

I did witness something scary on my 3rd day off.  Sooooo my neighbors had family visiting for the day.  While three of the five adults were outside "supervising" the children, one of the 2-year olds pushed a musical toy all the way down the driveway to Halsted.  Literally -- TO THE ROAD!!!!  When the mom discovered it, she screamed and ran down the driveway and proceeded to reprimand her child...WHO IS 2!!!  Reprimanding your 2-year old for your lack of parenting is terrible parenting.  She asked the little guy, "Why did you go down there?  It's dangerous."  Again -- he's 2.  He walked down there because no one hollered stop or told him, "No!"  I'm thankful the Lord intervened and spared this little guy's life. 

Vacation Day #2

Sunday, April 28, 2013

This morning I was filled with another interesting Bible study in Mr. Buum's Sunday school class.  [Where, by the way, were the other College & Career-aged gentlemen???  As of now, it's me and what Mr. Buum calls them "the young-ins"????  My friend shared with me - the evangelist at her church, Steve Petit, said 30-something singles are leaving fundamental churches and going to more contemporary churches NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE LOWERING THEIR STANDARDS, but because they are wanting to connect with other singles their age...and what better place to connect than at church!]

Any-who...Mr. Buum's class is studying Bible prophesy which is interesting but like I shared with Mr. B, I only took one week of the class at college and then went to Drop & Add and switched my Bible elective to Romans.  Now that I am older and more mature, I would like to go back to my 20-something-self and said, "Angie Good - stick this class out!  It really is interesting."  But, alas, I do not have a time-traveling machine.

During church, we (the choir) sang "Home at Last" and even though I told myself a gazillion times, "Angie Good, you are not going to cry during this song!"...I did cry.  I was thinking about a friend of a friend who is going to be Home soon.  Hospice is making her comfortable and she is making the most of her moments with her two small children and her husband.  We don't stop and think about how precious life is....we wake-up to the sound of alarm clock.  We rush and hurry to get out the door in time to get to school and work.  We work, work, work.  We watch the clock and then leave work.  We hurry home to eat supper.  We spent a few minutes talking during supper.  We turn on the t.v. or dive into a book and pretty soon, it's bedtime.  We, YOU AND I, were made for more than being stuck in a rut.  We were made for developing relationships with people and helping those relationships to grow and blossom into something lovely. 

After lunch, I took one of my Sunday school girls out to lunch.  NOTE:  Never let a 2nd grader pick where you will eat.  Guess where she wanted to go???  McDonald's.  One of the top 3 restaurants that I completely dislike. 

Thank the Lord for technology.  A quick search let me know what was safe for me to consume.  I had a Caesar Salad sans chicken & croutons and a hot fudge sundae.  Who would've thunk that McD's hot fudge sundaes would be gluten-free??? 

Miss Elizabeth chose our seating - the counter with the stools -- which just so happens to be where I would've picked when I was 8!!!  [What goes around - comes around, right Mom?]

We ate.  We chatted.  We discussed spiritual matters.

When we were done with our heart-to-heart, the Lord sent a dear elderly lady by to say "hi" to my friend and to encourage me with a smile and "Thank you for taking time to share that with her.  It's soo important and it's wonderful that you are doing this."  With a wink, she was gone in the blink of an eye.

As we were leaving, Elizabeth put her backseat window all the way down and then she proceeded to tell me, "Your windows are not safety windows!"  I replied, "Well, do you plan on jumping out the window?  Tell me now so I can roll it up!"  She giggled and said, "No." 

What a lovely 2nd day of not working and being a slacker.  I could get used to this....especially for the next 7 days!!!  :)

Vacation Day #1

I'm totally counting yesterday and today as part of my vacation...seriously.  Vacation began at 4:35 when I punched-out from work and skipped merrily to Rosie. 

Friday night - I had the opportunity to spend the evening with some of the sweetest gals from church.  The banquet committee.  It was comprised of Stephanie, Tabitha, Julie, Jeanette, and myself.  Four of the five of us met Friday night and did the pre-banquet stuff. 

Fruit was washed, sliced, and skewered.

Fruit puns were thrown out left and right.  You're peachy!!!  Awwww...thanks berry much!!!  I'm just plum crazy!!! 

After skewering and preparing, Stephanie, Julie and I headed to Red Mango for a sugary birthday treat for Julie...and too be honest, I was super excited to give them their infinity scarves and journals. 

It's funny because up until Friday night, I hadn't given fruit puns much thought....and now...well, now I think in terms of these fruity, funny puns as in -- "You're the apple of my eye!"

Vacation Day #1:  Saturday
The morning consisted of an errand that just turned completely ridiculous and resulted in me having the opportunity to drive nearly across town twice...as I forgot something and then remembered it and then needed to do something about what I forgot and then remembered.  (Sigh.)

The banquet was a success!!!  Too God be the glory!!!  He truly helped us and guided us to an excellent caterer....we're already secretly decided that we should go with the same one next year!!!

Our speaker, Layna Steurwald, from Watertown, Wisconsin brought an amazing message on the Fruit of the Spirit.  She touched on the fact that it's not plural...Galatians 5:22 does not say "Fruits" even though more than one fruit is listed.  She used a tree branch with four different types of fruit.  When we are in Christ, He will be the vine and we will bear fruit. 

Another point she made - the Bible says we are to study to show ourselves approved...it doesn't mean just read God's Word...but STUDY it.  That was convicting.

The spring banquet was such a delightful way to begin my vacation.  I got to spend time with lovely friends from church.  The men did all the serving and the clean-up.  What a wonderful blessing that was.

After the banquet, I enjoyed a wonderful Saturday evening at the cottage.