Happy Thanksgiving!!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you- Phillippians 1:3

I am thankful that we made it home safely to spend our Thanksgiving with family.

I am thankful that I have family that I actually enjoy spending time with!

I am thankful for all of my blogworld friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!

Census Jobs 2010

I worked for the Census in 2000 when I lived in Atlanta. It was a great job and paid well. I think I made about $17/hr to be a crew leader which involved managing enumerators (the people that go door to door collecting information from those who did not return their census).

A couple of weeks ago I was looking up some statistical data and ran across the Census page which says that they are now hiring for the 2010 Census. So if you are interested, go to their website and click on jobs to find work in your area. There is a practice test on there as well.

They offer positions that are very flexible and can be done with children. I took my kids with me yesterday when I went to take the test that qualifies you for all the jobs. I'm not even sure if I will take any jobs, but it's nice to get the test out of the way just in case. :)

It's A Dirty Job, But Someone Has To Do it

I bought some Vegan Cheese for my son after he begged for it. He's allergic to milk and even this "non-dairy" cheese has casein in it. I bought it any way, and now remember why I was initially hesitant. He woke up this morning very congested and this afternoon spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom, you know, bowing to the porcelain goddess.

Every time one of my kids is sick, I am reminded of when I was in college working for the State of Florida. I had a boss named Suzanne and one day she was cleaning gum off of the bottom of a desk with her bare hands. I said to her"Suzanne, that is just nasty". To which she responded, "Honey you ain't known nasty until you have children".

Suzanne, you were right!!

To all the Mothers out there. I know it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it!!

Wordless Wednesday

" Duckies in the Dishwater"

Happy Veterans Day

I have several family members and friends who serve or have served this country at one time or another. To them and to the brave soldiers who risk their lives everyday that I may enjoy peace of mind, I say thank you!!

Video About Me

A week or so ago, Heart of the Matter had a weekly Meme that involved making a video telling a bit about yourself. Here is my video. Be sure to make one of yourself so that I can know a little more about you!

Where Were You on 11/04/2008?

I sat on the phone with my Mom just before President Elect Obama gave his speech. We talked about significant dates in history. Dates that if you were alive to witness, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing. Dates like the day Kennedy and MLK were assassinated, the day man walked on the moon, the day the Challenger blew up and of course 9/11.

Where were you when the news came that America had elected its first Black President? I used to wish that I was alive when Martin Luther King, Jr lived, to witness his great speeches. Never in a million years did I think I would be alive to hear the words of the first Black President.

I pray that no matter where you were and that no matter where you are right now, that you will pray for our new leader; pray for this country. Pray for each other. No one person can change America. We must all accept the challenge of being responsible for each other, and for those of you who are Christians, may we spread the love of Christ as never before.

I believe that change is coming, and not because Barack Obama will be the next president, but because Americans realize that they have choices and that choices really do matter.

May we choose to love one another. May we choose to be our brother's keeper. And when all is said is done may we choose to live a life that is pleasing in God's sight.

Election Day 2008!!!

Today is election day. I'm not here to tell you how you should vote. Every person has lived a different life and has their own convictions. I have mine. Whatever your convictions, please excercise your right to vote. Don't want either major candidate for presidency? Vote for someone else or vote on the other issues. Just get out and vote!! :)

Reading Between the Lines

Yesterday I had some letters that I needed to mail out. The mail person comes to my subdivision quite early (usually before 11am) and so I drove to the subdivision across the street to use the big blue mailbox that has a late pickup of 4:30. As I was getting ready to return home, my daughter asked if we could go somewhere, anywhere, because she was bored.

So of course I had to give the old lecture about being bored. "Bored is a state of mind. If you are bored it's because you are not using your mind!" and so forth and so on I went. Something inside of me goes haywire when I hear that word. At any rate, I realized what she was really saying is that she needed to get out of the house and the front and back yards just weren't doing it for her right now. OK, that's fair, so off we went to Tuesday Morning.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tuesday Morning, it's a fabulous little store that has lovely things for the home. My insides are crying for me to do some decorating around the house so I have become a frequent shopper there.

My kids always make a mad dash for the toy isle, to see what's new. My daughter tends to stay in the one spot where the books are because she is a book lover. ( I must find a better term to describe her fascination of books and another post will be necessary to tell of how if often gets her into trouble :) ) LOL

At any rate, while the kids were in the book section, a nice little older woman comes up to Christopher to "test" his reading skills. He fumbles through the book, getting a few words here and a few words there. She is not happy about this and turns to me and says "You need to read to him more!" I kindly responded, "I read to him everyday" to which my son responds "No you don't!" "Oh really?", I say. "What do we do every morning at worship time" to which he responds "Uh, read."

At first I was a bit perturbed by his response, but then as I thought about it, I realized that I used to read to him at night before he went to bed. I guess that was his way of telling me that he misses that time together.

The point of my random streams of consciousness here? Listen to your children and hear what they are really saying. They are still working on communication skills and are not always able to say exactly what they are feeling, but if we listen with our heart, we will hear them loud and clear.

Menu Plan

For November, Flylady's habit of the month is menu planning. This comes right on time, because menu planning is something that I struggle with and something that has been on my mind to get right. I'm not sure what it is that I so dislike about menu planning, because the benefits of having a plan of action ahead of time, going to the grocery store to make sure all items are on hand and then having a week free of "What's for dinner, Mommy"? sure do outweigh the bad.

So I have enjoyed my extra hour of sleep, my menu is ready to go and I am off to the grocery store to get this week started right!

Here's what we are having this week:

Breakfast

Hashbrowns, scrambled tofu, toast, fresh fruit

Crepes w/fruit, Boca sausage links, fresh fruit

Skillet Potatoes, grits, sausage, toast, fresh fruit

Pancakes, fresh fruit

Dinner

Creamy Stroganoff, mixed vegetables, garlic toast

Haystacks in a Taco Bowl, corn

Eggrolls, stir fried rice

Pizza, Soup

Calzones, Salad

Fall Back

As we prepare to set our clocks back to return to standard time, I am preparing for spiritual renewal. This time of the year is a great time to get back to early morning devotions if you have fallen off track. I think of how this is the time of the year to plant bulbs, and how those bulbs are covered with earth where they will, in the darkness, draw the necessary nutrients to blossom with color and life in the Spring.

What a wonderful time of the year to get up in the darkness (Mark 1:35), feast on the Word and spend time in communion with God before getting your day started, and then watch the fruits that will come around Spring time!

The harvest is near. I encourage you to get to know the Master Reaper for yourself. You will never be the same!