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I've been having lots of fun staying busy this last week. Actually, I'm just kidding. No fun. No busy. Just not on here boring you all with my lack of everything. lol What has prompted my return, however, is the need for your support! =D I am going to start selling Pampered Chef to help out the familia in the fast-approaching Christmas hoopla and I will be hosting my own Grand Opening at my house this Monday night, the 1st. I'd love for you ALL to come, granted you live within a reasonable driving distance for such a night of frivolity. I will be cooking for everyone and it'll be a great opportunity to practice my show for my friends! Please let me know if you're interested! THANK YOU

Nanos and iPods and Gadgets - oh MY!

Well, Logan is sick. Again. It's that time of year though. All the usual suspects are out in full force, making their impact infecting hapless children everywhere! Advertisers are always pulling new tricks from their proverbial "hats", but right around this time each year manufacturers step up their game as well. The latest "attraction" to catch my discerning son's eye? The video Nano! ayiyiyiyiyiiiii!!!! Yeah, it looks "cool". Probably has all kinds of neat tricks up its sleeve, but it's not something I need to worry about my son losing. No matter, it has taken hold in his impressionable mind and infected him with a serious, perhaps incurable unless he finds himself in the possession of said Nano, case of Stuffitis. YES! It's a real disease! Just ask Dave. Or Shegazelle. Or any other number of reasonable people trying to change their family trees. I know all about Stuffitis. I often catch a "sniffle-wiffle" of it myself, but I am more inclined to deny my own desires than my son's. *sigh!* He's got a monster of a case. What to do? How do I "spoil" him, while simultaneously teaching him the virtues of saving money and spending well and the like? Have him save allowance toward his own "blow fund" that he can then put toward its purchase, with his Dad matching him dollar for dollar? Seem reasonable? I don't know. I'm pretty done with the lavish techno-gifts that are so tiny, with even tinier parts and accessories, so as to be lost that much more easily. Actually, I've never purchased any of these types of gifts for my son. Every handheld game, cell phone, mp3 player, and the like have come from relatives. I have purchased him a couple of games for his Gameboy/Nintendo DS gaming systems, but only because they were dirt cheap on Black Friday. He is, however, growing up in an age of technology in which I don't want him to fall behind or be ignorant of. (I'm still amazed at the number of people in my generation and even younger who don't know how to operate a computer, with the exception of MySpace! Shout out to P.J.! lol) So, I have a dilemma on my hands. At least, I think it is. Maybe someone out there can just clear it up for me real quick-like and I'll focus my brain cells on doing my whole THREE math homework problems! (I know, I think I'm dreaming about how easy this teacher is being...) Help!!??!!!

Reflections and Goal-setting

Well, the response on my previous post was very good and I appreciate every one's words of encouragement and love! Speaking of "elders", one of the great men in my life, and the single most influential man in my life would have turned 58 today. My Dad was such an awesome man. From the time I was two, (which would be all I remember of my life...), he was a wonderful father to me. I knelt beside his deathbed, just seconds before his passing, and prayed. It was like no prayer I had ever prayed before, nor any I wish to pray again. In the seconds, minutes, hours, and days after he passed from this life, I felt a deeper calling than I ever have before. I still feel that I am not yet doing what God has called me to do, and in due time I will be able to "fill the gap" in a manner of speaking left by my father. He was a soul winner with a heart for shepherding God's people to the very end. I miss him so very much and wish everyone could have known him and remember what a great man he was. It is now my responsibility to remember and remind you all to appreciate your folks while you have them. As a good friend told me many years back now, "Life is too short for enemies." Focus on the good in people. Slow to anger, quick to forgive. These are things that my Dad exemplified and I hope to do as well, to the very best of my ability. When I grow up, I want to be just like my Dad.

Elder Paul Price

I love church. I love the people. I love the music. I love the preaching. More than all of these, I love the REASON I am really there! Even if God hadn't done a thing for me (He HAS and I am blessed beyond all reason...), I am still so in love. What has caused this most recent onslaught of sugary-sweet emotions? I had the wonderful privilege of hearing one of the great ministers of our time, Elder Paul Price, speak on Sunday evening. I hope to never forget his words of wisdom as he spoke from his heart and in so doing awoke something in my soul. It has never ceased to amaze me how young Bro. Price SOUNDS! If you only heard, without seeing, you would think him to be a much younger than his 86 years. I was also blessed to be able to speak with him one-on-one for a few precious moments after the service. The one thing that he said that really stuck out to me was, "Don't be bitter." Wow! He doesn't even KNOW me! When he said it, I felt the blood drain from my face, as though all my faults were laid bare in his eyes, yet he doesn't know me at all. I believe he just spoke whatever he felt needed to be said and THAT definitely needed to be said! I am still taken aback, yet grateful. I know bitterness is a battle many people have fought, but happens to be a very real struggle for me, at times. The other thing he said is to "...love God's word...", because so many people are in "'love with God', but not His word". It's very true, especially in our ever-evolving society. There was so much more, I could go on all night, but I know I'm not doing the Elder's words justice in my fast-fading recollections. The feeling and love and knowing with which he spoke is something I hope to never forget. Thank God for the elders and pillars in my life!

Patriotism Becomes Me

I woke up this morning much the same way I did 6 years ago this very same morning - to a phone call. This time it wasn't Grama McCorkle on the phone telling me that we were "under attack", which I was finding difficult to believe in the state of half-sleep I was still in. As it turns out, she was absolutely right and I had wished I was still asleep having a terrible dream. I immediately ran to my son's room and turned on his radio to AM 640 to hear if they had any updates. They did and the picture it painted in my mind is embedded there still. The DJ was watching the events unfold on TV and giving a "play-by-play" report. I was waking up much more quickly now, still unable to grasp the what I was being told. I tuned in around 8:55 and @ 9:03 the second tower was hit. I was still just getting my bearings on the situation and it was already TWICE as bad! It had to be a bad dream. As I listened, now glued to the stereo, clinging to my boy, I heard reports of people jumping from the top floors of the doomed towers. I was feeling a plethoric wash of emotion, not justified by words. At 9:40, all planes in the entire contiguous states are grounded for the first time ever in aviation history. At 9:43, AA flight 77 hits the Pentagon. At 10:05, the South Tower crumbles to the ground. As the reports are relayed, I have barely had time to digest one devastation when another is right on its tail. Now, the snowball is rolling downhill fast... At 10:10, both the Pentagon collapses and Flight 93 is downed in a rural area of Pennsylvania. The onslaught of horror continued in the minutes and hours following as the North Tower collapsed and many more precious souls were lost. Once Americans realized what was going on, there was a surge of national pride unparalleled in recent history. Flags were everywhere. Churches were full. Displays of sympathy and affection were plenty and prominent. From the ashes flowered the beauty of our great country and its people. The rhetoric immediately following the attacks was strong and bold. Partisanship took a backseat to a unified front for revenge. Six years later we have fallen back into the stupor of normalcy and bickering that I sometimes find frightening, other times inspiring. May we never forget what it has costs to attain and maintain the freedoms we carelessly enjoy! Never forget where we've come from and that nothing is certain except for God! Thank you for reading and may God bless you and may God bless this great nation, America.

Clean up! On Aisle...

Well, I've had a lot of embarrassing things happen to me over the course of my life and tonight was an all-new low. *sigh!* I probably, in the name of "propriety", shouldn't bring this up, not knowing who will read, but it's too hilarious and self-depracating not to share! (I'm not into "toilet humor", but you can't fault me if it's me I'm laughing at...) There aren't a lot of things that the human race in general have in common, but one commonality that abides for sure is the need to use a bathroom, (or hole in the ground, depending on which hemisphere you live in...), from time to time. This is usually a more peaceful event in the comfort of your own home, which is not where my story transpired tonight. No, tonight I was in a public bathroom, but not just any public bathroom, it was a grocery store bathroom. It's all good - right? Usually, they're clean and well-stocked, as they should be considering they sell the supplies we buy for our very own bathrooms in their hallowed aisles, but that was not to be the case tonight. It's one thing when you're at home and holler to the nearest family member for some t.p., but it's quite another when "Lori" is paged over the store intercom to "...the ladies' restroom for customer assistance." End quote. My dear, dear, dears!! (I quite think she was as mortified as I was by the way she quickly averted her eyes as I stumbled away from the ordeal...) There is only one way to exit the "facilities" after said debacle, which in this particular store happen to occur front and center by the till, with head held high and a slight air of indignation at my inconvenience. I am so sorry if this post is offensive to your "whatever", but we all do it! I am usually very diligent in my public restroom procedure, but tonight I slacked off and paid for it BIG TIME! I have so many excuses, but more than that, a warning for those of you who do read this - "A t.p. check is always in order, especially when you aren't home!" Alright, enough of the gory details of my pitiful existence... hehehe...

Time Marches On...Right Across My Face

Yesterday was mine and Ralph's 10-year wedding anniversary. Yep! Ten years! A drop in the bucket for some (Ralph's grandparents were married almost 45 years before his grandpa passed away...), or an eternity for others (99% of Hollyweird). You'd think we were old pros by now, but we've still got a lot to learn. It's been quite the learning experience/adventure and I hope I never "arrive", because once you've "arrived", you're dead! Anyway, we spent the day @ Disneyland and had dinner at the Blue Bayou, which was a first for both of us. It was lovely. Good food and service and our waitress gave us a complimentary chocolate mousse dessert! Gotta love free stuff - right "Shegazelle"? Well, you'd think there was more going on, but that's about it for this week! Thanks for stopping by!