A change of caffeine

So I guess I drink coffee now. I was always a tea drinker, but about 8-10 years ago, someone gave me a gift card to Starbucks. I thought it was odd, seeing that I don’t drink coffee, but I went, figuring I’d get a pastry and some hot chocolate. That particular day, at the Starbucks on Gunbarrel Road in Chattanooga, they were giving out tiny samples of Cinnamon Dolce Latte. I love cinnamon, and it smelled really good, so I decided to try it. I immediately became a fan of the stuff, but got it infrequently, and still only considered a latte to be “sissy coffee”. 
Fast forward to September 2014 when  I decided to give up Diet Coke and start drinking water instead. It’s been great, and I never looked back. However, while we were making a trip right after Christmas to visit our three kids (over 2200 miles of driving), I started thinking about the caffeine of it all. But I wasn’t willing to go back to the mass quantities of Diet Coke.
While we were at David & Jen’s, I started experimenting with NOT making a latte. No milk, just a bunch of flavored creamer. Finding it pretty good, I kept adding less and less creamer.
So here I am at home, now making coffee, with just a little Amaretto creamer in it. It’s really good.
I still drink tea (with nothing in it), and especially love the “tea time” that Don & I have when we talk about the upcoming day, or week, or life in general. He declared some time ago that he intends to start drinking coffee when he is 70. I have no idea why he has made this statement. But since that is almost a dozen years away, I’ll still enjoy our tea together.  But on those crazy road trips, or after I come home from school, or when I just plain feel like it? It’s coffee. 

The One-Tooth-Less-In-My-Mouth Blues

So getting a tooth pulled this week wasn't the horrific experience I'd imagined. I've been off from school since then, trying not to use the heavy-duty pain meds they gave me. I used them the first day after, but not yesterday, but now I find I need to again (they told me this would happen.)

It's kind of weird because I haven't really been doing much. I'm always thinking, "Oh, if I only had *insert number here* days off, then I could *insert activity here*. But it hasn't happened this time. Because until today, I haven't felt like doing much of anything (unusual for me!) Even if I'm not doing chores or whatever, I always feel like I have to be doing SOMETHING.

Rest is a funny thing. We all know that we need it, but if you're anything like me, we fight it like crazy. I don't NEED to take it easy for a while. I don't NEED more than 7.5 hours of sleep per night, and I'm perfectly fine with at least 6, thank you.

My dear husband always explains to me that we have what he calls a "sleep bank" and if I keep making withdrawals from it without making deposits, I'm gonna be broke.

I'm sure he and God have been having a good laugh together as they've watched me sleep 9 hours the first two nights, and TEN last night. Yep. I don't need rest. Much.

Again, my tendency to want to do my own thing apart from God is exposed. Like the gaping hole in my mouth, where my tooth used to be. God gives us rest and times of inactivity not to fill them with something, but to draw our thoughts and hearts closer to Him.

Not time wasted, and so much gained.

Art Journal time

I've always been fascinated by the idea of an art journal. My friend Rosanne has been creating nature journals for years, and it is something that has intrigued me.

So ... I've decided to give it a go. I joined a Facebook group called Journal52 that gives you a art/writing prompt each week. I used a $25 Amazon gift card that I got for Christmas to order supplies.

Some people do mostly art in their journal, with very little words. Some do mostly writing with a few illustrations. I want mine to be a random combination of many things: artwork, thoughts, Bible verses ... whatever I happen to be thinking or feeling whenever I make an entry. And, of course, the prompts, which I will try to incorporate as much as possible.

My first thing will be to create a cover for my journal, because it will be a spiral-bound art book with paper suitable for mixed media (pencil, paint, collage, etc.) So I need to cover the cover! Then I have two pages in mind - one being from the first Journal52 prompt ("Up, up and away") and the other being from Don's sermon this past Sunday that God used to speak to me in many ways about many things.

So, for now, I'm watching for an Amazon box on my porch ... better get my chores done before it arrives!

No Way Has It Been 18 Months Since My Last Post.

But then, so much has happened.

Honestly, I can't remember the last half of 2012 without referencing it in my planner, but 2013 was jam-packed with stuff:

-Joel's graduation from the state police academy
-Joel starting his new job and moving
-A 5-week long music subbing gig
-The birth of Jack & Ben
-Spending most of a week in MD to help a little
-Leah's graduation from college
-Summer trips to Bluffton, Greenville SC, David & Jen's, and who knows where else. It feels like we were never home during the summer of 2013. Our pool never got opened ... being away + lots of rain while we WERE home = pool stays closed
-Constantly looking for job openings and sending out applications. I think I sent out about 25 this summer, which netted me two interviews
-Leah's engagement
-Getting Leah home from her summer job in Bluffton and moved to PULSE in about a 48-72 hour period.
-The next day, starting what turned into an 8.5-week subbing job, which kept me incredibly busy
-Going to OCNJ after I didn't get the job
-Back to subbing
-Thanksgiving at our house
-Christmas two days after, then more travel.
I think there was more in there, but, again, I'd have to look it up. If I forgot something that had to do with any of you, I'm sorry.

So, anyway, as I look at 2014 approaching, I know that God is in whatever comes our way. I am re-learning the lesson that what I think should happen and what I ask God for isn't always best, and isn't always His will.

After the whirlwind that was 2014, I'm ready to slow down and draw closer to Him. But whatever He brings my way, even if it's another whirlwind, I can trust Him, look to Him, love Him.

The ABCs (more accurately, ADDs) of decluttering

I have no ABCs - I just wanted to write about being ADD and thought that was a clever title.

So I guess I'm not really ADD ... just focus-challenged. My dad used to call me a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none". I just figured it was because I have so many interests - kind of a Renaissance Woman. Yeah. That's it.

But back to decluttering. I mean well - I really do. See, the problem is that usually I do this whenever we move. For a while there we were moving fairly frequently: 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2005. And now we've been in this house for 7 years. Seven years worth of junk. Some stuff that belongs to people who don't live here any more or who don't live here very often. But mostly stuff because I haven't had time to sort through it lately.

I'm NOT a hoarder. That title would belong to my dear husband. Because my theory is that in every marriage, there is one who likes to keep and one who likes to throw/give away. The latter would be me.

So what's the problem? Part of it is time, and with having been in this house so long, it has become overwhelming to deal with. However, the bigger part is being focus-challenged.

I go into the family room and decide I really need to deal with paperwork - sort, file, shred, organize. So I start doing that. Then I have to put something away in the bedroom and I get distracted by things that need to be done there. On my way, I go to throw something away in the kitchen. But I need to empty it and put a new bag in first. I finally put the thing away in the bedroom. While I'm there, I grab the laundry basket and go to the basement to put some things in the washing machine. Oh - the basement - while I'm here, I'll grab those boxes of books to take to Half Price Books and put them in the van. Done. I grab a piano book from the van and put it back in its place in the family room. Oh yeah - the family room. What was I doing in here?

And so it goes. I accomplish quite a bit, but it never looks like I've accomplished anything because it's a little here and a little there. In fact, in some ways it looks worse because I have things "torn up" in several places.

I need to focus on one spot at a time. Hm. I wonder if I'm capable of doing that? I'm a great list-maker. Awesome list-maker. Not so great or awesome at working my way through the list.

Oh well. My porch is pretty and I can just go sit there and think about it. 
But first I'll unload the dishwasher.

Waiting

Whenever I wait for something my mind does all kinds of weird things.

It thinks of reasons why something won't happen. It thinks of reasons why it will happen. It smacks me upside the head for thinking too much.

In the meantime, I wait. I know there is an answer. I know that God will tell me what it is. I know it will be the right one.

So maybe I should put my hands over my ears and sing,  "LALALALALALALALALAAAAAA" so that I don't hear all the thoughts bouncing around in my head.

Thy will be done.

Changes ... Decisions

When I look at how long ago my last post was, specifically the date, I'm not surprised. Less than a week after that, I started taking classes to earn the credits necessary to keep my certification active. I was able to complete what most people have 5 years to do in 13 weeks. I am very thankful that God enabled me to do this.

It was hard, but I'm in a position now where I can apply for full-time jobs or long-term sub jobs (both of which I have done), or, at the very least, sub more than 90 days per school year.

One of the things that God showed me during the craziness of January-May was the fact that the past two years were a bit of a struggle. Not so much with what I was doing, but with what I wasn't doing because I either didn't have time or I was exhausted. There was also a lot of frustration in me because of what I wasn't doing. Nothing earth-shattering, mind you .... just simple things - like taking care of my home, cooking, doing crafts. But these are the things that I love to do.

I just figured that this was the way it was going to be - I had my season as a homemaker, and now I was in a different season of life.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Lancaster a few weeks ago. You see, I had always said that if I got a full-time teaching job I would quit teaching piano because I wouldn't have time, etc. But very soon into that drive I said to Don, "What if I quit anyway?" The more we talked, the more it seemed like the right thing to do. But then we got back from the trip and I was back into it. Don't get me wrong - I was still resolved to do it, but I hadn't done it yet, so it wasn't real. I was still teaching lessons every week and preparing my students for the recital.

Well, the recital was last Friday (6/1).  And I'm done. And it's wonderful. I haven't told the students and their parents yet - I didn't want it to affect the recital, which, by the way, was very good and very satisfying. I have told the few that have asked that I'm not doing summer lessons this year. I will be contacting everyone in a week or so to let them know, so please don't mention anything on Facebook.  I know that most of them will be disappointed - I was down to five students, but I've had those five girls for anywhere from 3-8 years.

But God wasn't finished yet ....!

I'd been toying with the idea of maybe not singing with the Washington County Arts Choir anymore, but had been undecided. I even thought maybe I'd go through the Christmas concert, since I love Christmas music.

Last night we had our annual meeting. I went into it with an attitude of having the meeting/discussion (there were some difficulties, etc that needed to be addressed) be something that would help me evaluate how I really feel about it. It was VERY clear to me before that meeting was over (thank you, Lord!) that I was done. In fact, when we got into the car, the first thing I said to Don was "Elvis has left the building" (me, of course, being Elvis ..)

Wow ... another "extra" thing - done.

And would you believe there's one more? For the past three years, I've been a homeschool evaluator. I thought that it would be a lucrative side job - my evaluator that I used had LOTS of students to evaluate. Well, I've only had one or two per year - it was always more of a nuisance than anything else. So on the way home last night from the choir meeting, I decided that I'm going to do the two evaluations I have scheduled for next week, and then I will take my name off the websites I've used, and I will be finished with that.


I was downright giddy last night.

So .... as of June 14, I will be a sub (unless I'm a full-time music teacher) and that is it. I will take care of my home, cook, do crafts .... all the things I love.