I have a friend who lives in Carthage, MO. I emailed her today to make sure all was well, she said she is only 20 min. from there and if the tornado would have stayed on the ground any longer her house would have probably been gone too. She said a man where she works died, along with his wife. More storms are coming too, and this makes me worry about my friend.
After seeing the storms in NC, AL, and MO I've come to a question. Would it really matter if you were warned about the tornado? Would it really matter if you made it to the center of your house and got in a closet or bathtub or wherever you are supposed to go? Some people in that area of the country have storm cellars that are below ground, thats a great thing. But here in the south, we don't have that. So if your house is flying through the air like a toy, would it matter if your in the bathtub?
What is your tornado plan? We can only prepare for so much, then the rest is in Gods hands. If its our time, its our time. I think that would be a pretty scary way to go though.
My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Joplin.
Clean the deck to be stained
Wait for it to dry
Clear out my overgrown herb garden bed
Plant azaleas in place of overgrown herbs
Put mulch around them
Put mulch around the big tree
Go to the race! (its my first one Im excited to people watch all the drunk rednecks!)
FINALLY get to go to Bethlehem again on Sunday
Get to see my sexy husband play guitar ( this is a rare opportunity because normally Im on stage with him!)
Stain the deck Sunday afternoon
Im pretty nervous about the whole staining thing...I hope I dont screw it up... we shall see!!
But apparently it wont matter if I screw it up or not because I hear Jesus is coming back tomorrow!
I feel like I should appologize for broadcasting my low self esteem yesterday. Its really no ones business but mine, but sometimes I just want to say it outloud how dissapointed in myself I am... and no one really reads this except for Kimmie anyway... so I basically just vented to my sister! Thanks for being there and encouraging me sissy! I love you!
Today is a new day, and I am the kind of person that has to have a "plan." I like guidelines to live by. My husband is completly opposite, but I like to have some rules so that when I approach a "gray" area I can look over and say... well... the rule is THIS... so i should or shouldn't do it. Now when I have a plan and a goal and Im not meeting that goal, then obviously its a bad plan or I am not following it, so I then search for a new plan! Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results... Im not insane... SO...Im continuing my Couch 2 5k training because I KNOW I need that and for this week Im going to try a new eating plan. I found this meal plan of 1200 calories, made a shopping list and bought everything I would need for the rest of this week. Honestly this grocery trip will last more than 1 week because you use so little of everything. That is my beef with meal plans... it tells you to buy all this stuff... and then you only use a little dab and they plan something different every day. I would like to find a plan that uses the same stuff that week so you dont waste food.... but since this is NOT that kind of plan, Im just going to eat the same things until I run out! I also do not plan to follow this plan forever. My goal with it is to #1 lose weight #2 retrain my brain to eat more fruit and veggies and to eat the correct portion sizes. I know this is my problem, so hopefully this will help correct it.
I want to brag on my husband a little. He knew how down I was about my weight yesterday and I went to a jewelry party after work and sent him on a grocery store run. He is a much better grocery shopper than me btw. I got home and he was practicing guitar for church on Sunday and when I finally finished packing my lunch for today we were both tired and decided to call it a night. So I went in my room and hopped in bed and when I stuck my feet down in the covers my foot hit something that felt like a book or something so I threw back the covers and there lay a card with my name on it and a health magazine with Miranda Lambert (one of my fav. country singers) The card was so sweet and it basically said that he enjoyed spending every second with me this weekend and he loves spending every day with me and that I make him happy! :) He is precious!
This weekend was a good one! We worked our tails off putting out fresh mulch. We are not 100% finished, but when we are, I will post pics of the entire yard! Im SO excited about my veggies I planted this year. Tomato, Squash, Zuchini, Jalapeno, Jabenero, Cantelope, and Nathan is going to build me a raised herb garden soon and Im going to buy all new herbs... I had some already but they have TAKEN OVER!!! SCARY!!
Hope everyone is having a good week! As always, Ill leave you with some pics!
Last Thursday we went to see Caine play baseball! He was AWESOME!
Not really sure why he crossed his eyes in this pic, but it was the cutest moment ever... I told him to smile and say cheese so he hopped up in the chair, put his hands in his lap and said...CHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
This is my newest container, Im not sure what the big plant it, I bought it from Aldi a while back and just now got around to planting it, I also have lantana and a new Guinea impatient in there.
This is the oregano I clipped off my plant...like I said... out of control! Anyone want some?!
I bought this plant last year at Lowes at the end of season for $1 it looked terrible, but I stuck it in the ground and its SO beautiful this year! I dont know what it is!
IM SO FAT AND IM VERY FRUSTRATED ABOUT THAT!!!!!!! I LOVE TO COOK REAL FOOD BUT REAL FOOD IS FATENING FOOD AND IM FRUSTRATED ABOUT THAT AS WELL.... I TAKE 3 STEPS FORWARD AND 5 STEPS BACK AND IT MAKES ME ILL!!!!!
Okay....Im done... Now to continue torturing myself so i can drop .2 lbs.....
It is only May 11th and the Piedmont of North Carolina has definitely seen its share of storms already. I cannot remember a time where we have had more severe storms as we have had in the past two months. Normally these storms come in the middle of summer, but these have been different in the time of season and the time of day. The majority of our severe weather has mostly hit at night. Once again, this is unusual for us because normally the reason we have bad storms is because of the heat during the day and the sunlight usually fuels the storm to be come the monster that it is. But these have been different, they are fueled by something else. I am a weather geek. You can ask my husband! I look at The Weather Channel app and the Weather Bug app about 5 times a day. I can tell you what the 10 day forecast looks like at any given moment, I can smell the rain coming! This is probably due to the fact that my dad has always been keen on weather situations and always fell asleep at night to the melodic muzak of The Weather Channel! Don't laugh! :-)
It was about 11:56 when our weather radio went off last night. I knew this because it scared me half to death and I thought it was time to get up and get ready for work! I rolled over and looked at the clock only to find that I was very wrong! Nathan turned off the radio, it was just a severe thunderstorm warning, no need to worry! So I rolled back over and drifted off to sleep only to be awakened AGAIN by the weather radio. I'm not sure how long it was but this time it had begun to storm outside and this is when it all happened.
Our bedroom window is large with a half circle window at the top. I can see the sky while lying in bed through this window without the obstruction of blinds or curtains. The last alert on the radio had jolted me from sleep and as hard as I tried I could not get back there. So there I lay. I think Nate was in and out, but I was wide awake. This alertness was oddly not out of fear I later came to realize, but out of wonder and amazement. As I said before in the beginning, I don't remember ever having storms this often, this early, this severe, and last night I don't remember EVER seeing so much lighting! I'm not sure exactly how long the storm lasted, but it felt like eternity. The entire time it literally looked like someone was holding a strobe light out my window and for at least an hour I know, it flashed! A couple of the rumbles of thunder really shook me, but for the most part I had an incredible sense of peace even though I could see the trees outside bending and waving wildly and uncontrollably in the wind and the rain was pounding the house. It was a little over half way through the storm, and probably because any normal storm would have already moved on and fizzled out, a thought hit me that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt was that still small voice that is Gods! As I lay there, with the storm RAGING around me a small voice spoke to my spirit and said "You are WONDERFULLY AND FEARFULLY MADE!" I was taken aback by this word leaping in my spirit. After all it was 1 AM, I was laying in bed watching it storm not thinking about anything really except how crazy the lightning was, I wasnt listning to praise and worship music, wasnt reading my bible, wasnt in church or listening to a preacher, but all of a sudden a great fear and reverence came over me and as I watched this storm rage outside I couldnt stop myself from worshiping the one who created me. It was then I realized that with this same FIERCE intensity that the storm was raging, is the same intensity God had when he created me! He created me, and you, with this intensity and most of all He LOVES us with this same intensity! HOW WONDERFUL IS HE!? When you think about this, you cannot help but feel His grace and mercy! All day today I keep remembering how powerful this small word is that He dropped in my spirit last night. As soon as I received this into my spirit and worshiped and thanked him for his goodness, I immediatly fell back asleep. It was as if I was being kept awake on purpose, just so he could say that to me. I am so guilty of not giving time for him to speak, so apparently He MADE time. THATS how special I am to him! Im so dumb and thickheaded that I cant hear his voice so he lays me down, keeps me awake, gets my attention and then speaks to me! I can tell you that You too are wonderfully and fearfully made, he loves you with an intensity that you cannot even imagine! He is so powerful and mighty, yet he cares for us and is so gentle with us. Remember today HOW HE LOVES US!!!!
Here is a repost of my sissys blog! I had so much fun helping plan the shower, Im so glad she got lots of goodies for baby Ryder! Hope yall are having a great week!
I am just now recoving from the crazy weekend that we had, it was busy, but we got a lot accomplished! I love weekends like that!
At about 5:30 Saturday morning I sat straight up in bed and remember that I forgot to get change for the yardsale! So I scrambled out of bed and rummaged through every nook and cranny I could imagine would have had some quarters or dollars in it! By 6AM I had $50 to work with! We started putting out our yardsale things and at about 6:30 we had our first customer. Our next door neighbor was also having a yard sale as well as two more neighbors on a different street. This was all a welcome surprise as the traffic had to drive past my house to get to the rest of the sales! At the end of the day.... we cleared 400.00!!!! I was seriously doubting we would MAYBE clear 100.00 but boy was I happily proved wrong. One lady even begged us to sale her our card table set! We were not planning on it, but we thought..why not. We took the things we didnt sale to Goodwill afterwards and that was not a lot, just some clothes and maybe a box or two of odds and ends.
We ran some errands and then came back home and worked in the yard and grilled out and relaxed. It was a great day! Sunday we went to see our friend preach at his church then ate at the Thai House. I had Pad Thai, not sure what it was exactly, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and Nathan had something with coconut milk and pineapple that was a little spicy. I think Im going to get that next time because it was pretty tasty. Sunday night I went to a Mother Daughter banquet at my moms church. She was in charge of it and she did a fantastic job as usual! She is so talented!
Im VERY excited about this weekend because it is time for my Sissys baby shower!!! I've posted before about the invites and cupcakes, but its finally here and I cant wait to make the day so special for her. Monday night I made all my chocolate garnishes to go on the cupcakes. Tomorrow night Im going to bake and Friday night I will decorate them. Im going to make 6 dozen. I have never made that many before and Im pretty new to baking but Im very excited because the trial ones turned out so wonderful.
Enough about the shower, I will post a recap next week!
I hope everyone is enjoying spring.. Ill leave you with some pics from my garden! :)
Clematis
Knock Out Rose
My custom bird feeder and my crazy husband!
Bearded Iris
Japanese Maple (I got it as a baby last year for $20.00!)
The patio(no fresh mulch out yet, but its coming soon!)
My sweet neighbor Mrs Charlotte brought over this Peony
Hydrangea about to BLOOM
Peony
Dianthus
There are the giveaways for Sissys shower Saturday! I got the pots from Michaels and the Gerber Daisys from Home Depot.
I bought this plant last season from Lowes on the clearance stand for 1.00 because it looked so terrible. I put it in the ground, watered, and I believe its going to be one of my most beautiful plants this year!
On June 14, 2008 I married the most amazing husband a woman could ask for! I love to sing, play guitar, write songs, crochet, cook, decorate my house, shop,work in my yard,and lots of different things! Im a pretty simple girl. I love watching football especially my Panthers! I live in Gastonia, NC and work in Lincolnton at First Federal Savings Bank where I am an Assistant Branch Manager and do a little bit of everything. Nathan and I have a ministry together called Taylor Made, check out our site! www.taylormademusic.org Im also a worship leader at Bethlehem Church in Gastonia, NC!
I have the best family anyone could ask for. They are always there when you need them. Im so blessed and favored to have this life,and Im loving every second of it!
