Just want to send out a big Thank You to all those who have served and who currently are serving. Your work for this country is much appreciated!
Welcome to the Neighborhood!
Proud parents Eric and Aubrey welcomed their son Ethan this morning at 8 pounds 7.5 ounces. Ethan we cannot wait to meet you and watch you grow!
You Dropped This
I love this commercial by Honda. I am tempted to make one and put it in our community roundabout with a big sign saying, “You dropped this Acacia Crossings clean up your act.” Of course, I won’t actually do it as I have better things to do with my time that make a tree out of the trash I pick up.
Get Well Soon
My Uncle Rick is having major surgery today. Please say a prayer for him that all goes well and that he has a speedy recovery.
Matt’s mom, Cindy, also had surgery yesterday. Please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you guys. We love you!
Carter!!!
That’s the name we have been saying loudly, frequently around here lately. Why is such a cute, little ball of black fur such a trouble maker? He has a serious addiction to cables/cords of all kind. We cannot figure out how he is still alive from all the electrical cords he has eaten. We have tried several kinds of bad tasting sprays which only seem to slow him down for a bit. We try hiding the cords behind furniture, but he is one determined kitty when he wants to eat something he is not supposed to. We even shut the doors to rooms he is not supposed to be in, but believe it or not the little bugger has figured out how to open doors, and yes even closet doors (he also eats wool, fleece, and leather). When we were leaving last Thursday morning and Matt was closing his office door, for reasons mentioned, I said shouldn’t we lock that, and he decided not to, because why would Carter want in there. Why? Of course, to eat cables and hide from everyone who was coming over to feed him and spend time with him, and because he gets mad at us when we leave.
But don’t worry all is forgiven each and every night when he cuddles with me so sweetly like he has never done anything wrong.
Carter in one of his less mischievous moments.
Anyone have any other suggestions to try? Don’t suggest getting rid of him, because that is not going to happen.
More Time Part 2
Thank you for the comments and ideas on getting things done. I should have been more specific about our issue. We technically have enough time, we just don’t think we were making the wisest use of our time, yes we are time wasters. That is why we chose a tv fast. Have you ever noticed how you can just turn into a zombie when the tv is on? I promise myself I can clean and watch football, but usually just the watching football happens. We are also fully aware that once we have small children we won’t be watching much tv so we decided to work on our addiction now, yep we were addicted to our tv.
I will use the stay up late method only if I absolutely need to get something done by the next day and I have no other time to complete the task. I believe strongly in at least attempting to get enough sleep every night (Anyone think I am in for a big shock when we have kids?). I know some people can get by on 4-5 hours of sleep, but trust me you won’t want to be around me.
Bill thanks for bringing up Getting Things Done. We totally own that book and I have never even looked at it. I guess I should read it.
On a positive note, we both finally finished our autobiographies last night. I am proof reading them today and hopefully we can get our packet in the mail tomorrow. We are still waiting to see the doctor next week to get all our paperwork done for the home study, but we have our part done for now. We also started our series of shots that we need to have for travel purposes yesterday.
Wanting More Time
Matt and I have recently finding ourselves wanting more time to get stuff done, and have been unable to find time to do everything we want to get done. We have a bunch of stuff we want to get done around the house (plus plenty of reading to do) before the social worker comes over for our home study (seriously our guest bedroom has turned into piles of stuff). Thanks to a friend’s recent blog post I had a wake up call about getting stuff done now instead of at the last minute. What would I do if I only had a day to get ready? Pretty much freak out and think it was the end of the world.
What are we doing to get more time in our days? We are going on a modified TV fast. I say modified because it is football season and there are games I want to watch (Go Cowboys!) and we will still watch the ten o’clock news since we don’t get the paper and like to know what’s going on in our local area. So, for November we are going to give this our all and we will let you know how it is going.
What are things you have done in your life to find more time in your day?
Daylight Saving Time
I experienced a first today. I had to fall back, I have never actually experience a daylight saving time (dst) change. I lived in Arizona my whole life and hadn’t managed to be out of state for the change until today. I personally think dst is a silly thing. If you like your sunlight extended at the end of your day instead of the morning just change it permanently, then you won’t have to worry about changing all your clocks and adjusting your sleep schedule. Standard Time is getting shorter because Congress keeps extending dst, they say it saves money on energy bills, and apparently it is slightly less effective in the winter, thus the change back to Standard Time. I also heard on the news the other night that pedestrians are more likely to get hit by vehicles after the switch back to Standard Time, they said drivers had trouble adjusting to the darker evenings. At any rate I am glad I live in Arizona and do not have to mess with this silly system.
Pelicans
I spent the afternoon at the beach watching the pelicans dive for their food and one finally came semi-close enough for me to get on video. Sorry, it is not the best video, but I got it. You see the pelican dive in the water and he doesn’t come up for 40 seconds. Maybe he surfaced before that but I didn’t see him until he took off. At any rate I think it is pretty cool.
The Beach
I love the beach! It is one of my favorite places to be. I love the cool ocean breeze, the sound of the waves crashing, the feeling of warm sand on my feet, and watching the birds dive into the water.
While Matt was at his conference all day I hung out at the beach. I decided to walk since parking your car at the beach costs money, and the beach was only about half a mile a way. I went this morning even though it was kind of gloomy out and back again after lunch when the sun came out. Believe it or not it was warmer this morning. I pretty much had the beach to myself, I guess November isn’t beach season.
There were a lot of sand dollars this morning.
Me enjoying the beach.
I just had to give the water a try, it was a little cold.
A video of the waves crashing for all the people who are like me and just love to hear it.
Matt hopefully will get to go down to the beach with me this evening for a sunset walk. Don’t worry he is enjoying his conference and learning a ton.
Happy November!
November is my favorite month of the year for a few reasons. My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, is in November. Is there really a better holiday? You get to eat a ton of food, watch the Cowboys, remember everything you are thankful for and lets face it we have a lot to be thankful for, pumpkin pie, and no presents are exchanged. Fall weather usually hits Arizona by November, this year is an exception to that, still in the 90s, but that’s okay. By November both college and the NFL seasons are going strong with plenty of games on each weekend and basketball season starts.
What else can I say, I love this time of the year!
Fingerprinting
Sounds like a simple task, doesn’t it? Continue reading “Fingerprinting”
Pumpkins
I guess I like to carve pumpkins. so I hear.
here are the the creations for 07. A shout out to Cindy for supplying the “canvas” and Stephanie for gutting.
GreenDimes
I have mentioned GreenDimes before in my post on junk mail. I am bringing them up again because they now have a referral program ($5 referral bonus). I sent out a bunch of emails from greendimes.com to hopefully get some people to sign up, plus I would love to reduce junk mail for all. All the proceeds from any sign-ups made through my emails will go to helping fund our adoption. For only $15 you can help the environment, yourself (less mail to sort), and our adoption (thanks).Here is what greendimes does:For a $15 one-time fee, the GreenDimes Junk Mail Reduction Kit reduces your home’s junk mail by up to 90% and includes:
- Automatic removal from major direct marketing lists
- A simple online tool to manage catalog and non-profit mailings
- Monthly monitoring of your DMA registration
- A set of personalized postcards to sign and send to more junk mail companies
- Ten trees planted with one of our non-profit tree-planting partners
For more info visit greendimes.comIf you didn’t receive an email from greendimes today and would like to sign-up,Email Me , I may not have your correct email address, or check your junk/spam folder.