Happy Little Trees

I’ve heard a famous bible study woman say, “Hang on until you receive the blessing.”
Well, I’m hanging on, and I’ve got some blessings! Like the hymn says, “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done.”

Here I go for now:

1) ALL funds for Kenya have been supplied! The girl who had no dough is funded by her brothers and sisters and friends. THANK YOU!
2) I had a party Friday that I didn’t even get to go to, and the party carried on. THANK YOU, JIMMY “DJ” RANNIK AND HOSTEST WITH THE MOSTEST, STEVEN MURRAY! And Kelley and Kristin!!
3) I have a great family that is really funny and loves God.
4) I get to hear crazy stories from my family when I call them.
5) I’ve been able to keep in touch with Leslee, Robin, and Brenda through the wonders of cell phone technology. Even though they’re not my roommates anymore, they’re my “cell” mates—so to speak.
6) I have so many friends here that I don’t even have enough time to spend with them all. They make me laugh, hug me when I cry, and make life lots of fun.
7) Today the dogs’ tails wagged in unison as they watched me leave the driveway. (yes, that’s a blessing—a funny one.)
8) My hair is red (Still trying to accept this as a blessing. First time I ever said it.).
9) The YMCA got new gym equipment! And the Y is finally getting to be like Cheers for me; it used to be kind of lonely working out and nobody ever talking to me.
10) Good food in my belly. Thank God for Niko Nikos. I lika da sauce!

Ignore the grammar.

10/21 Went to Midland. Smelled the sweet smell of crude oil. Drove to Big Spring. Went to a funeral for my best friend’s dad. Spent time with her family. Made new friends. Looked at the stars and sighed. Played UNO with the kids. Hugged a lot of people. Ate so much food I gained about 5 pounds. Picked up a strong accent.
10/23 Got up at 3 a.m. Drove back to Midland airport. Got frisked at 4:30 a.m. Caught a plane. Picked up my car. Went to work. Had too many meetings. Came home. Yelled at the dog for barking at my door. Ate too much trail mix for dinner. Worked out on new Y equipment. Went to Whole Foods. Read my bible and then a magazine. Talked on the phone. Went to bed.
10/24 Overslept after hitting snooze five times. Ate trail mix for breakfast in the car. Declared 9:30 p.m. official shut-off time for cell phone. Went to meetings. Ate lunch. Got a hot tea from Starbucks. And time goes on…

Last night I was listening to an old sermon from The Village Church while I was at the Y working out. And in the sermon, the speaker said, “Do you ever feel like you’re on a treadmill? And that you’re trying to distract yourself with everything else to not think about the fact that you’re on a treadmill?” I was on a treadmill. Dude. That’s weird.

Today:
“I’d like to cancel my ****card.” (**** to protect the “innocent”)

“Yes, ma’am, but would you like to take advantage of upgrading to our Diamond card offer for 0% for up to $7500 up until October 2007?”

“No, sir. That’s a $7500 deal with the devil. I’d just like to cancel the account.”

“I see you have another ****card? Would you like us to increase your credit limit on the other card?”

“No. I purposefully lowered that credit limit myself. I just want to cancel the account.”

“Are you sure that you wouldn’t want to transfer a balance? What APR are you currently paying on other cards?”

“Actually, my goal is to have as few credit cards as possible. I’d just like to cancel the account.”

“Yes, ma’am. I understand. Is there anything else that I can do for you today?”

Can he hear me the first time? Can he pay off all my other credit cards? And my student loan? Can he stop sending me those offers in the mail? Can he send me a picture because despite him driving me crazy he sounded nice on the phone? Not for me, but for a friend. If yesterday’s blog was about my "wedding", I can’t be getting crushes on the ****card guy. Women are so weird! I know, because I am one. Although, I could marry the ****card guy and we could live debt-fully ever after.

This romance started out hot.

Then, we decided to encourage one another by realizing that we had found the greatest love of all.

What a beautiful portrait of the result of HFBC courtship. Who would’ve thought that this romance was budding?! We’re all surprised—even me!


Perhaps this is the result of an e-mail chain gone crazy. Or a case of the Kwandary Photoshop Team having too much time on their hands. Regardless, you can bet your lifesavers that I just found my Christmas card photo. Hopefully no one will get suspicious that they never saw the engagement photos. We’re registered at Needless Markup, Saks Fourth Avenue, and Train Depot.

Does anybody know how I can renew my vehicle registration after the date has passed? Not that this describes me…but it could describe a friend. I heard you could go to Kroger, but all I could find online were locations in Brazoria County.

Help! My friend could be driving illegally. And she would have done the online thing, but she kept forgetting to bring her car insurance information to work!

Working in the Med Center, sometimes you can feel trapped. I need wide open spaces (like the Dixie Chicks). My longtime friend, Ann, rescued me today. She drove up in her Civic and took me away from the Med Center. I felt like my hour lunch turned into a sweet retreat.

We ate at Houston’s Restaurant. I had the salmon/dill appetizer. She had the chicken fingers. We sat at the bar so we could get food fast. And we drowned our troubles—with lemonade.

I didn’t realize that I was having so much fun until I realized that the bar tender was laughing at me laughing. When I’m with Ann, I think I try to mimic her laugh and it turns into this weird deep, machine gun, “huh-huh-huh-huh!” It was a little embarrassing, but not embarrassing enough to make me stop.

Sometimes you just need to get away. Sometimes you just need to laugh. Work gives you lemons, you go drink lemonade!

If I was a modern day Noah—which sometimes is what it feels like living in Houston, would I have to pack up two of everything?

Two iPods (one video, one nano)
Two burritos (one Freebirds, one Mission Burrito)
Two fajita dinners (one from Pappasitos and one from Lupe’s)
Two small cars (one mini-Cooper; one Wendy Smith edition VW Golf)
Two large SUVs (one Hummer; one Suburban)
Two video game units (one PS2; one X-box)
Two computers (one MacBook; one Dell)
Two Starbucks drinks (one White Chocolate Mocha; one Caramel Frappachino)

I’ve heard that in case of a flood emergency, Lakewood will float. That’s why the construction took so long. –Okay, that’s not true, but it would be pretty cool if it did.