Recently in Personal Category

Thanks be to God. I wrote a few days ago about a lady writing me a cold check for $20 and how it was costing me $179 (the cost of the check and the fees that hit my account because of it). Well, yesterday my husband called her husband's phone ... since she wouldn't answer my calls ... to see if she was going to set my account right. She got on the phone with me and told me that her bank said the check cleared and that she wasn't going to pay the fees on my account.

Well, I explained to her that she was liable for my fees and that I had a copy of the check marked "insufficient funds" by her bank. I also explained to her that her check had her driver's license number on it and her address and I would take it to the County Attorney if I had to. She got testy and I hung up. I refused to argue with her.

We went to the bank and they called her bank. They verified that the check did bounce and they also agreed that she was liable for my fees and said for me to tell her to call them and they would explain that to her. I knew she was lying when she said her bank said the check did not bounce ... but I wanted to make sure.

Afterwards, we went to handle some business and her husband called mine. He asked where we were and asked us to wait for him. We talked and I explained to him that I was not trying to be ugly, but I did expect her to make things right and I did not like her attitude about the whole situation. I also explained to him that she did lie to me about the check and showed him the copy I had.

He paid the money. He said that he was not willing to lose a friend over this and him and my husband have been friends now for two years. I respect that too. I also appreciate the fact that he took care of it. It would have bothered me greatly if something I had done had cost someone so much money ... which is one reason I don't do checks. All those fees hurt a person's finances bad.

I also told him that I would still babysit for him. I know it is convenient for him ... and he knows his girls are in good hands. But, I did explain I wouldn't accept anymore checks. Cash only is the new policy. :) 

I suck at committing to things. This is something I totally recognize about myself. I can commit to God ... but let me say I am going to read the Bible every single day and I will fail. I will miss one, then I will miss another ... and then a week will go by and I will still not have read it. Same with exercise and eating right.

I have good intentions. I want to be healthier. I want to be fit. I want to be spiritually sound and know my bible from front to back and then some. And ... I can come up with a multitude of things that get in the way of my very good intentions. We have eight kids. They range from 17 years of age to nine months old. I am always busy. I always have a million things that I need to be doing and most of it is not getting done. I don't have the time to do everything I need to do ... let alone do all the things I want to do.

Plus ... it does not help that I love doing mindless things that take up far too much of my time. Blogging is one. Facebook is another. Simming is yet another. I am shameless. I really am.

Just so you know ...

1. I am tired.
2. Facebook is addictive.
3. I wish I had more money. My wishlist is growing.
4. I still want a Wii and a Wii Fit. In a very bad way.
5. I am tired of hearing about The Shack. It is fiction people! God is not Aunt Jemima, Jesus is much more than just a carpenter, and the Holy Spirit is not a fairy.

That is all for now.

Baby NoNo has been sick for a bit now. The week before Christmas we took her to the doctor and they said she had bronchitis. Christmas Eve she went to the ER because she had a high temperature and they said she was fighting off a virus. She kept that fever for three days ... and now she has a fine red rash on all over her. She has been congested for a month and has been waking up in the middle of the night wanting to play until 3 AM.

Needless to say ... mommy is tired. Very tired.

Christmas was good. We had a ton of food and a lot of fun. The guys played cards and Sis and I played SingStar. We rocked the 80's and the Pop II games. I loved it even though I have been fighting off something as well and my voice was not up to par.

Which reminds me ... Sis wrote a really good post about Christmas. Check it out.

I can't see me doing much blogging in the next few days. Things are going to be crazy around here. Today, I need to make my cornbread for the chicken and dressing I am making for Christmas. I also need to clean the house. Big time. Later today ... I need to sit down and work out my Christmas menu and make a trip to Wal-Mart for some bleach. I have been needing bleach for over a week and have been to the store at least five times and have forgotten it each and every time.

Fibro Fog ... gotta love it.

Anywho ... tomorrow I have to fill in for the Pastor's wife who was filling in for the secretary. I have to get the church bulletin done, January's calendar, mail out the birthday cards, and whatever else is on the agenda. When I get home ... I have to make two cakes and six pies for Christmas. Plus make supper. I also need to buy my ham. I already have my turkey ... but I need my ham. I also need to buy whatever else I need for Christmas dinner.

Wednesday ... I will do most of my Christmas cooking ... everything but the turkey, ham, gravy, rolls, deviled eggs, and mashed potatoes. I will make the dressing up, but I won't actually cook it until Christmas day. I need the broth from the turkey, donchaknow. :) Everything else will just get reheated and will make cooking on Christmas much easier.

This year we are having my sister and her family, my sister-n-law and her family, my husband's uncle and cousin, and probably my friend K and her family. I don't know if Mom is coming or not. You never know with her. My brother and his family will probably make a stop in ... maybe. I don't know yet. Dinner is at 2 PM and friends and family will be coming and going throughout the day until probably 9 PM or so.

We will be showing The Nativity Story throughout the day. It will make for a very full and wonderful day. I am excited already and cannot wait!

I have always received email from readers of my blog. Sometimes more so than I do comments. Sometimes people just feel more comfortable saying what they have to say in private and I understand that. I am all cool with readers emailing me.

Unfortunately, there are times when I offend some of my readers. It is not that I set out to do so ... it just happens. I say what I think about something and they don't like it. That is life when you have a blog. Some readers will love what you have to say and some won't. Some may experience both emotions in the same day ... depending on the number of posts you have.

Today, one of my reader's took offense at me referring to racist people as ignorant. They felt it was an unfair assessment and said that it seems I take pleasure in referring to them that way. Well, I probably do take some pleasure in referring to them as ignorant ... I admit. To me, they are.

Ben asked in a comment about my great-nephew since I haven't mentioned him in awhile. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot I can say. We still really don't know much.

What I do know is this: the baby went back to the children's hospital for testing. They are trying to determine if there is anything wrong with the baby that would cause his bones to break. It is my understanding that they have ruled out my nephew when it comes to determining if someone did this to the baby. They also ruled out a babysitter. The baby is still in the care of Social Services and they go back to court in January.

We are still very much in prayer. That is all I know for now.

Related posts:

• Urgent Prayer Request
• Update

So ... what do you want for Christmas?

Me ... I want a reading light. I even have it on my wishlist. Bryan falls asleep faster than me and I end up watching TV because I do not have a light that I can use to read instead.

There is also a t-shirt and a bible cover I really want as well.

But, if we had the money ... I would want a Wii and Wii Fit. That would be so much fun! I think I would like exercising so much more if it was fun. :)

I was thinking the other day about how much my life has changed in the last few years ... especially since I started this blog back on November 24, 2003. Life is so interesting. It never ceases to amaze me. I have changed and grown so much since then.

Going thru some of the old entries is hard. There is stuff in there about my ex-husband. He is still a difficult subject for me. I still have trouble dealing with the fact that I never really knew him. I thought I did. But, I didn't. I was a fool and a very big fool was I.

Sometimes all that seems like a bad dream ... something that isn't even real. I couldn't really blog about what was going on there at the end. We had trial coming and I didn't know who was reading my blog or who could be feeding him information. It was during that time that I came to realize that he was not the man I thought he was in more ways than one. I had to accept that he actually targeted me and used me to get himself in the position to do what he did.

I promised Bryan that I would post this picture of him with the deer he got a couple of weeks ago. He came home so excited and has been showing everyone the pictures. He is so proud of that deer and the fact he shot it with a muzzleloader.

I also had to post it to Facebook for him. He is so cute! It cracks me up.

This morning, my husband picked me up so we could go to the church and get some work done. I needed to print out some more flyers for the Christmas Outreach we are having so we could get them passed out this afternoon. On the way to church, I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some ink and then we went to Big Lots to see about a gift we wanted to get the girls.

When we entered the checkout line, I noticed a lady and her son in the next line counting out change. The reason I noticed them was because of the lady running the register on that aisle. She was loudly asking the woman if she had anymore money and she kept asking ... and she kept asking. As the customer searched her purse, pulling out single bills and more change, the employee kept asking her if she had anymore money ... exclaiming loudly that all she needed was twenty more dollars and asking if the customer had it.

The customer's son was mentally handicapped. It was obvious by his behavior and you could tell that whatever their purchase was ... there was something in there for him. He was tickled pink ... but his demeanor changed as he saw his mother searching for more money and not coming up with enough to satisfy the lady at the register. He began to get aggitated and the more the employee loudly exclaimed how much more money they needed ... the more aggitated he became. Then he started to cry.