For my 100th post.....

I will be leaving blogger and directing you to my NEW BLOGSITE at livejournal
Blogger has too many issues that drive me up the wall... so I've been checking out other places and found one that I like so far. I'm still working on the page, and hope to eventually get all my posts from blogger onto the livejournal site. If you have a link to me, please change it to http://nynative.livejournal.com as I will no longer be posting here on blogger. Until my posts and info is moved to the new site, I will keep this blog... once it is all moved then it will be deleted.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you commenting over on the new blog!!!

I HATE BLOGGER!!!!!!!

Just so you know... I'm hating blogger right now and I'm shopping for a new site. Updates to follow!

Christmas Carols

Thirteen Christmas Carols I either love or hate!

1. O Holy Night --- LOVE
2. Linus & Lucy --- LOVE
3. Mary, Did You Know? --- LOVE
4. Here comes Santa Clause --- HATE
5. White Christmas --- LOVE
6. Blue Christmas --- LOVE
7. Twelve Days of Christmas --- HATE
8. Silver Bells --- HATE
9. Away In a Manger --- LOVE
10. Carol of the Bells --- LOVE
11. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause --- HATE
12. Your’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch --- LOVE
13. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas --- LOVE!!!!

Natural Highs

This time of year can be quite stressful, it can really put you in a major mood slump. I received this list in an email and thought that I'd share this with all my blogging friends!

1. Falling in love.

2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3. A hot shower.

4. No lines at the supermarket

5. A special glance.

6. Getting mail

7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.

11. Chocolate milkshake.. (or vanilla or strawberry!)

12. A bubble bath.

13. Giggling.

14. A good conversation.

15. The beach

16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.

17. Laughing at yourself.

19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

20. Running through sprinklers.

21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.

23. Laughing at an inside joke.

24. Friends.

25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.

26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

27. Your first kiss

28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

29. Playing with a new puppy.

30. Having someone play with your hair.

31. Sweet dreams.

32. Hot chocolate.

33. Road trips with friends.

34. Swinging on swings.

35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

36. Making chocolate chip cookies.

37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.

38. Holding hands with someone you care about.

39. Running into an old friend and realizing
that some things (good or bad) never change.

40. Watching the expression on someone's face
as they open a much desired present from you.

41. Watching the sunrise.

42. Getting out of bed every morning and
being grateful for another beautiful day.

43. Knowing that somebody misses you.

44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.

45. Knowing you've done the right thing,
no matter what other people think.

Puppy love and Perspective...

My puppy has been rather destructive here lately in our home and it is not making me happy. Here is a list of the things (that I can think of) that she has destroyed since coming to live with us last March. 3 pairs of my shoes, 2 pairs of slippers, 3 Christmas ornaments, 1 snowman draft stopper guy, potpourri, C’s glasses, my glasses, she’s been chewing on my coffee table, peeing and well, let’s just say she has been leaving brown deposits on my carpets, one of my mom’s lamb knick-knack things, a candle, water bottles, soda cans, ribbon, beef stroganoff, a pan full of grease from frying something the night before, … I think you get the idea. Yesterday when C and I got home from the morning service there was a broken ornament at the bottom of the steps and a “brown deposit” on the carpet. I was not happy. When we left for service last night we put her in her kennel. I’m tired of dealing w/ all this and she will learn that I. AM. THE. BOSS!!! We got home last night and well… YUCK!!! She apparently had gotten ‘the runs’ in her kennel. There was p o o p everywhere! C was soooooo awesome and cleaned it up and I bathed her. Every morning she wakes me up by running into our room and jumping on the bed and landing right on my head. You’d think that by now there would be an ad in the paper for a free puppy, right? Well there isn’t. Because sometimes she is just so darn CUTE! This morning, she came prancing into the office with “Howard” in her mouth, (For those of you who do not know who ‘Howard’ is, he was a dog toy, a stuffed Mallard Duck, he was Duke’s, he got named Howard because of the movie Howard, the duck. Have I ever seen it? No, but I remember the title. C may have actually named him, I really don’t remember. Well, we are onto about our 4th ‘Howard’ by now, and actually this one isn’t even a duck it’s a goose but it is still ‘Howard’) ANYWAY......Josie wanted to play. So I did. I got down on all fours and we played with Howard, she even tried to tease me like she does Duke, by running a little ways away and stopping and looking back to me. SO CUTE! And that, my friends, is why she gets to stay here.

Now on to the perspective part of my day…
I'm not working right now, and well our bank account doesn't really like that. Apparently it costs us more to live than C actually makes. I’ve been really bummed about how we don’t have the money to do all the stuff that I’d like to do for Christmas (and other things) this year.
I woke up this morning and did my usual routine; coffee and internet. I logged onto my email accounts and opened some blogs to read. I ran across a blog where the author made a very good point regarding how some things we think are major just really aren’t in the grand scheme of things and it hit home with me... for about 30 seconds and then I went on with my routine.
I opened another window and logged onto a scrapbook message board. It is amazing how something so routine and so trivial (in someone else’s eyes) can change your whole perspective on life. A friend, (whom I’ve never met in real life) woke up this morning to find that her 28 month old daughter had died in her sleep. : insert screeching halt noise here: Holy cow. I can not even begin to imagine what this family is going through right now. The heartache and despair is unfathomable to me. This is not the first child that they have lost to death either.
Here is where the perspective part comes in; here I’ve been bummed because I’m not able to make Christmas as big this year as I’d like, I still have my house, vehicles, food, clothes, necessities of life, my husband, and family. I do miss my mom more now than ever but there are people whose problems are so much bigger than mine. I have friends and family members who are in the midst of divorce and friends who are dealing with the loss of family members, friends who are dealing with misbehaving teenage children. And here I am sad because I don’t have a Cricut???? I’m bummed because I can’t buy gifts for my husband who really doesn’t NEED anything??? I’m whining because I don’t have some items I wanted to add to my decorations???? WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD???? How spoiled, how self-centered, how selfish can I be???? Here I sit in my warm home addressing handmade Christmas cards to friends and family with the inside verse reading “It was the simple gift of love that changed the course of the world”. And I’m acting like some spoiled brat because I can’t keep up with the ‘Joneses’. Wow. Can you say reality check? I’m so thankful that I had this wake up call. I certainly do wish it hadn’t come at the expense of someone else’s loss. My heart grieves for my friends and their families who are dealing with these major situations in their lives, I will pray for them everyday. I will also pray that I am able to keep things in perspective and not harbor such selfish notions. What matters is WHO is in my life and not what is in my life. I am blessed with many friends, I have a wonderful husband, my family supports me, and the best part is that I know Jesus Christ as my Savior and Friend. Remember this holiday season, and always really, that it isn’t about what we have, but who we have.