On Sunday Nights...

...I get weepy because Jeremy has to leave...

(its okay, he'll be back soon)

...I stare at my planner trying to hyper-organize the week ahead...

(Boots from repair shop! Workout? Christmas cards! )

...I pray for the motivation to complete all the things I've planned...

(Dear Lord, please give me the strength to not press snooze this week)

...I go to bed early counting my blessings from a great weekend!

Oh! And I watch The Wizard of Oz on TV and snuggle with Peanut.

She misses Jeremy, too.

Thankful For...

1. A happy and healthy family--pets and all.

2. Not ONE but TWO jobs that I love!

3. Little challenges that present themselves, so that I may grow stronger, smarter, and more confident. GROW or GROAN.

4. Faith in our Heavenly Father.

5. The Morris family's non-traditional pre-Thanksgiving dinner HERE!

6. Long holiday weekends to spend with this hottie!

7. Successfully preparing my first suffering-free Thanksgiving turkey! In the past, I'd only done a turkey breast. This year we went all out! I was a little nervous, but the turkey was marvelous! See the pictures below!

8. Yummy Thanksgiving celebration spent with Beth, Tim, AJ & Jeremy! (See #7!)

9. A busy, busy holiday schedule. December is going to fly by! We have something every weekend...including the annual CSO Holiday Pops!

10. Elastic-waisted pants and my Urban Active workout dates with Katie. After all of these thankful things, I am going to need them both!

Happy Holidays, all!

You Can Do Hard Things

Dear Holly:

I know tomorrow is a big day. I am worried, too. But I am right there behind you through all of it, and our Heavenly Father is, too. He knows what's going on. We will, too, one day.

I will paint your toenails and not tell anyone how weird you talk when you are sedated. I will tolerate your husband's sarcasm. We Schafer's seem to get that honest.

I will also be there on the other side of these crazy days, my beautiful Italian sister. I love you.

Send prayers out to this wonderful lady, blogosphere!

Another Kind of Baptism

(Lovely old pictures from my friend, Mike.)

Farewell, Facebook.

A good way to pay more attention to your blog is to delete your Facebook page.

Its true. I just did that very thing this morning before work. And now, look at me, all dizzy with blogging fever. Really, I just couldn't take it anymore. I was ALWAYS checking into the Facebook newsfeed. Then I would check it on my phone a few minutes after putting my laptop away. I will miss reconnecting with old college pals. I will miss interesting bits of news provided by more socially conscious friends. I will miss the birthday reminders! I will miss proselytizing my own interests in a series of "likes" and "links." Facebook certainly fed my inner craving for the totally instantaneous random anything; but the craving was becoming an addiction.

Welcome back, evening hobbies! Welcome back, comfortable carpal tunnels. Welcome back, near vision! Facebook is heretofore not a part of my life. See, I am not so good at subtle restraint or self-control--I'm much better at total annihilation. Broad strokes, my friends. So delete-sies went my Facebook page, its time consumption, and all those compromising photographs of me on a birthday party pubcrawl. Whew.

Unless, of course, you read my blog.

It was really good time. Happy Birthday, Nicki! :)