My New Glasses

It's been a while since I've had new glasses. Like 12 years. I'm not kidding.

In 1997 Sound Man worked for a company that had a line of eyeglasses that you could use for safety glasses and still look fashionable...particularly helpful if you worked in an industry that required you to wear them all day long. You could wear them instead of the really clunky, ugly safety glasses.

Anyway, they had some frames they were discontinuing and would be free to us if we got the lenses through this part of the company. The lenses were going to be either free or way cheap, too (I can't remember which at the moment...it WAS almost 13 years ago, after all). The only thing was, they had to be safety lenses. So they had these permanent little marks at the top that all safety glasses have to have, making me think there was always a smudge at the top of my glasses.

My point. What was my point? Oh yeah! So, I mostly wear my contacts. I have ever since I started wearing them in 7th grade. I never really needed a new pair of glasses since my prescription really didn't change much over the years. Well, my prescription my not have changed, but fashion certainly did.

I felt like I couldn't NOT wear my contacts out in public. My glasses were that out of style. I didn't have the freedom to just not stick my finger in my eye every morning. Not that I mind sticking my finger in my eye, but I'm just sayin'.

So, in a spur of the moment kind of thing, instead of getting contacts with my eye exam this year, I got what I've wanted for years...NEW GLASSES!

Here's what my old ones look like...

Don't you love my expression? That's the way I felt every time I wore these things. Notice the lovely way the color is peeling off the frame. Ugh.

And HERE'S my new glasses!

I LURVE THEM!

Sound Man couldn't wait for me to get them. I texted him a picture when I was trying them on and he couldn't wait for them to come in. He says they're sexy. I think he's crazy. But I love him for thinking it anyway.

Oh, and as a side note...don't you LOVE my toile shower curtain? Why I decided to take these pics in the bathroom I'm not sure but I'm glad I did so you can see it!

Anyway, just wanted to share my good fortune with you. My glasses and I are now going to go see what's going on on Facebook. Ha ha! Get it? SEE what's going on?

Nevermind.

What I Love About Sundays

Okay, so it's Tuesday. But I love Sundays so much I decided to write about them. It's my blog. I can do that.

What spurred me on to do this was this past Sunday. It was a typical Sunday for the three of us, and I realized how much I lurve our Sundays. From start to finish. Even though I have to wake up before dawn. Here's why.

First, the before dawn part. On the weekends we have the entire worship team singing (we alternate between just having a Praise Team and having the full Worship Team) we have to be there at 7:00 a.m. Yes. Seven. A. M. Did you know I'm NOT a morning person? Have you ever tried to sing at 7 o'clock in the morning? Vocal warm-ups are my friend. Ugh.

But you know what? There's no group of people I'd rather hang out with at that time of the morning.

Sundays also mean sausage biscuits and Praise Team practice. You know, when you're really, really hungry...I mean, so hungry you'd think a gum wrapper would taste good, a homemade sausage biscuit from the church's little cafe is the best. thing. ever. And it really is. So every week, I get one and head to P.T. practice and hang with some of my favorite peeps in the world.

This is not all of them by far. We alternate P.T. members, so this room is full of a different crew every week. And I heart them all. After eating and chatting and laughing our heads off at one another (usually Jae or Kevin), then we get down to the neety greety (as Nacho would say) and work on the next week's songs.

Then there's church itself. If I'm directing choir, like I was this week, this is the view the congregation sees of me.

Not. Pretty. Oh, well. I love doing it anyway.

After either eating at Casa Mexicana (our favorite Mexican restaurant) with our friends Jeff and Lisa, or heading home to eat lunch, I soooo look forward to the next part of my Sunday: a delicious nap. I truly believe that Sunday naps are the best naps there are.

Several years ago (okay, more than a decade ago, but who's counting?) we stopped having church on Sunday night so our people could spend the evening with family or have small group that night. For years our small group met on Sunday night, but now we moved to another night of the week and I loooooooove it. We get to hang out in our pj's and do little or nothing and watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and football.

Sound Man snapped a few pics of Kiddo building quietly (not something he's known for...LOL!) with his Legos...

Oops! Got caught!

He is quite the engineer!

And then we wind down our day and head to bed. After making sure we have read the funnies. I mean, Sunday is just not Sunday without the Sunday funnies, right? Oh, and for those of you not familiar with that word, that would be the "comics."

So that's what I love about Sundays. Man, just sitting here typing all of this made me want it to be Sunday again!

What's your favorite day of the week?

A Hero Once More....My Husband Rocks!

Yesterday my husband was a hero. Oh, not like he was here, but he was a hero nonetheless. Yesterday he went here:

He didn't just give blood, though. Yesterday he gave platelets. In case you need a Biology 101 refresher, as I did, platelets are what makes your blood clot and help you stop bleeding when you've had an injury. In other words, without platelets, you might bleed to death from crashing your hand through your back window while trying to get your dog's attention to get him to stop eating poop in the back yard. Not that that has EVER happened to me. Ahem.

All kidding aside, for real emergencies platelets can mean the difference between life and death.

Sound Man came prepared with his iPod and a book. The process of platelet removal takes about two hours. He was hooked up to a cool machine that did all kinds of stuff that I won't go into because, well, some of you may be squeamish. Suffice it to say the platelets were separated from his blood. Later on he said that his arm was sore, but after taking a couple of Advil he was good to go.

As common as it is, BLOOD can mean the difference between life and death, too. Sound Man has only one more unit of blood to give until he reaches 3 gallons. Meaning he has given 3 gallons of life to other people. Sometimes he knows where his blood goes and sometimes he doesn't. The last time he gave they told him it was going to LeBonheur Children's Medical Center. How precious to know that his blood was going to help save the lives of children in our community.

Lifeblood recently recorded a video and asked him to be a part. I can't help but share it with you. It's a bit long, at 9 minutes, but I hope you take the chance to watch it. The story of the little boy in the school bus accident made me realize how precious our blood is. My Sweet husband is toward the end of the video.

Lifeblood Video from Combustion on Vimeo.

If you have type O blood, your blood is in high demand. Sound Man's is type O+, but mine is O-. Mine is EXTREMELY in demand, as I can donate to anyone. Positive blood types can only donate to positive blood type recipients. However, negative blood types can give to + and -, and type O- is universal.

So, you'd think that I've given as much as Sound Man, right? Well, try as I might, I have yet to be able to give. The first time I tried, I had a fever blister. Did you know you can't give within three days of a fever blister? You DO know what a fever blister is, don't you? Well, I didn't until a few years ago, and about had heart failure. If you don't, I'll fill you in later.

Anyway, the second, third, and FOURTH times I've tried to give, my iron was too low. That is a common problem for women, and if you decide you want to give, make sure you eat lots of iron-rich food a few days beforehand. I haven't yet, but you can bet the next time I try to give I will have had more spinach than Popeye. It makes me so sad not to be able to donate.

I want to be able to follow the example my Hero of a Husband has made.

My Husband Rocks! Fridays were started by Katy Lin at The Great Adventure. I'm so glad she did!

Giveaway at Nesting Place!

I'm a sucker for giveaways. Especially when they come from some fantastic place like Dayspring. Well, The Nester is hosting a great giveaway from that very place! But hurry, you only have until midnight tonight to enter!

So what is the giveaway for? Well, you can win a custom sign from the Dayspring-Danielson Design Stuido! This studio is amazing. They have a dizzying array of customizable (is that even a word?) frames, signs, plaques, and more. You can go into the website and play around. Here's what I came up with in just a couple of minutes:

Cute, huh?

And my favorite verse:

I could spend hours over there!

Don't you want to win one? Well, not one of MINE, but one you can create on your own? Dayspring has given The Nester two $50 gift certificates to give away herself! You have two ways to enter. One, just leave a comment, and two, post about it showing one (or more...hee hee) of your creations.

Here's hoping I win! Yippee!

Breakfast in Bed

This morning as I was lying in bed trying to convince myself to get up (and not doing a very good job of it), I kept hearing clanking and moving around and all in the kitchen. Thinking that Kiddo was making himself breakfast, I thought, "Well, cool. He's getting to be such a big boy." (He IS 10 years old, after all.)

Imagine my surprise when I hear the clanking coming closer to me down the hall. I turned over to see my sweet little boy with a tray full of food! Raisin and spice oatmeal, two pieces of toast with blackberry preserves, a glass of milk, even coffee with the perfect amount of sugar and peppermint mocha creamer. It was WONDERFUL!

Of course I thanked him profusely, and after he left the room to fix his own breakfast, I ate while thinking about how much I underestimate him. He is a sweet, caring young man and I don't give him enough credit. I am with him so much of the time since we homeschool that I tend to focus on the things he does wrong - meaning I focus on how to "fix" him. I don't see the times he is kind to a new child at church, or how he helps a teammate up off the soccer field. I mostly only hear from leaders at church when he does something wrong, and it is a special leader indeed who makes a point to tell me of the good things he does.

He is a strong-willed boy and has his faults, to be sure, but this morning the Lord reminded me that he is not ALL strong-willed and defiant and to treasure my time with him. I have to trust that the Lord will use that strong will for His glory one day.

I am going to purpose to enjoy more moments like this morning with him and get to know him like is daddy does. I don't ever think I will have a relationship like he and his daddy have. That's something so very special and I'm so thankful that my husband nurtures that relationship. But as his mother I have a huge job, too.

I'm the one responsible for making sure he wants to marry a woman just like me when he grows up!

Lord, help us all. : )

Unshakable!

I have been DYING to share this video with y'all! This weekend our Worship Team will have our Unshakable CD release concert! Woo hoo! I have tried in vain to try to put songs on here from our first CD, Reach Out, but I just couldn't figure it out. However, you can preview ALL of our original songs, including the ones on the new CD on Amazon. Yippee! But...before you do that...here's a preview video. If it makes you want to purchase one of our CD's, you can do so on Amazon or iTunes! But for Unshakable you'll have to wait until Sunday.

So, without further ado, here's a preview...see if you recognize anyone in the video....

I am beyond excited. Can you tell?

My favorite post of 2009

Since I teased you so badly with my previous post, I will get straight to the point on this one. This, without a doubt, is my favorite post from last year. I would love it if you read it again today.

My Husband, My Hero

Happy New Year!

Everyone seems to be putting up their "Best Of" post of 2009 today, so I guess I'll follow suit. Hmmm....what to choose...

Should it be...

Something about tassels?

or...

My first ever Linky Party?

or...

Accomplishments by Kiddo?

or...

My Epiphany?

or...

Heathahlee and Kat's Excellent Adventure?

I know you're probably thinking, "Come on! Get it over with!" And I will...tomorrow. Hee hee hee. I love to torture you.

Seriously, tomorrow I will reveal the post that I consider my favorite. I teared up reading it again just now, and it's been almost a year since I wrote it. I'm sure you've probably guessed WHO it's about, but you might not remember WHAT it's about. Stay tuned...