Just got home on Saturday from this year’s amazing workcamp! We were in Lewes, Delaware, working on people’s homes for the week and had a wonderful time. I’ll post some pics in the coming days – once I get my act together at home and work! But suffice it to say, I met some awesome folks and had a great time. I was so sad Friday night, knowing that we had say goodbye to everyone and go home to our “real” lives. I wish workcamp was my real life…it is so hard to explain to those who haven’t shared in the experience, I guess. But today, back at work, I am feeling a bit let down…already the experience is starting to feel far away and far off. But I’m already thinking forward to next year and planning THAT adventure (you can never start too soon!)
Month: July 2007
My New Addiction
Ok, so I think I have truly lost my mind.
In becoming once again addicted to the World Series of Pop Culture (which, by the way, I so could totally win…if not for those totally crazy tie breaker questions), I have also added a new addiction.
I am so not into reality show competitions like Survivor or the Amazing Race…but give me a pop culture icon of my childhood and I just CANNOT. GET. ENOUGH. Whenever I have some downtime just to veg out and watch tv for a while, I get entranced by “Hogan Knows Best”, “Simmons Family Jewels” and now…”Scott Baio is 45…and Single”.
Oh, goodness.
I don’t think I had a crush on him as a kid but I think I always thought he was cute.
Well, he’s still cute.
And the premise of the show is pretty interesting. I’ve only seen the first episode (now about 4 times since Wednesday at about 1 AM, when I found this amazing spectacle) but he gets a life coach to find out why he is unable to commit to a woman. I won’t spoil it thus far but I have to say I’m interestd to see how it all turns out. There’s a lot of joking around, a fair degree of bawdyness, but underneath it all there is a great deal of truth here. We always think of celebrities as having all this money and these perfect lives…but they are just like all of us, deep down. They have insecurities and worries and…real lives.
I’m rooting for you, Scott Baio!
How was YOUR weekend?
Mine was great. I didn’t have anything I “had” to do on Saturday this week, so I ran a few errands and relaxed. Then I went to a picnic at my friend Kristin’s house and got to see all my peeps! Liz & Slim, Michael & Jenn, Tom & Keri, Kristin & Matt, and Maryanne. It was a really nice time – it was great to see Kristin & Matt’s new place. And nice too that they don’t live far from me now!
Sunday was good, too. Cindy & Michelle talked about their trip to Israel at church. I’ve heard pieces of their trip before and saw Cindy’s pictures but the context they put everything in was very cool. As I was sitting there next to Trish, I was thinking to lean over and say, “Let’s start saving now!” to go on the trip…and it was so funny, afterwards we were talking to Cindy and Trish turned and said, “I’ve decided that you & I should go on this trip.” Great minds think alike.
Onto our first church picnic of the year. We had a great turnout and it was just a lovely afternoon. But I started to feel bad – I had woken up with a headache and during the picnic, it appeared to be fast turning into a sinus infection.
We went to Bible study after. Everyone was a little quiet but I think the discussion we had was good. By then, I was feeling rather poorly and was grateful to get home to my bed.
Today was back to work. Funny thing, when you come to work sick in the health care industry – people harass you until you call the dr. He wouldn’t call anything in so I had to leave early to go to the office, have him poke me in the head & face and declare that I indeed had a sinus infection. Two cool things though – I am very concerned about cash these days and had asked him for samples. He didn’t have any and immediately sent my scripts through his PDA to Walmart (first cool thing) where I had heard they had $4 generics. I drove over and found MY PRESCRIPTIONS WERE NO CHARGE. I was so happy.
I came home, took my meds and got in bed for the next two hours. I don’t think I slept but I did rest and then got up, made dinner and have been trying to get things done around the house.
Now thunderstorms cometh…so I am going to log off. TTFN!
An Interesting Week
It has been an interesting week.
I signed up, again, for an online dating service I had tried previously. And honestly, the reason I decided to try it again was because there is ANOTHER service who is showing ads that are supposedly negative towards the service I chose…but because of the content THEY showed, I thought, “Ha! I want to try the one they are bashing again.”
So, long story short, my pals at work & Michelle helped me get my profile and some current pics up. I decided to be aggressive (“be, be aggressive, hey!” – I always think if that Goldie Hawn movie when I say that) and open communication with a lot of guys. Unless there is something patently wrong with the match we would make, I’m willing to give it a shot.
Yesterday, I had the two best so far. One, who indicated for no particular reason that he has “a great butt” and is also a good kisser. Yeah, ok…
And then one who had an age listed that was about 14 years older than me but in his profile wrote in addition to that, he was really 10 more years older (that is so not grammatically correct!) but because he wanted a woman who could bear children, he needed to lie and put a younger age. Oh, yeah, and if you want to milk cows on the farm, that’s great too.
I think that one takes the cake.
But on a more positive note, I got an email from an online alumni service I belong to. Usually I just ignore these but because I was deadly bored and looking for anything to do, I clicked on it.
And I had a MESSAGE.
Yes, a message for me.
I’ve never had a message on there before.
And this was just the sweetest ever.
It was from, literally, the boy next door. We grew up together and were always very good and close friends. When we entered our high school years and he started dating seriously, we kind of drifted apart. I don’t recall if we moved first or if his family did but we really didn’t keep in touch after that.
His message was so sweet. He just said he was thinking of me and although he didn’t think I would get the message, he wanted to tell me that I was his best friend and his first true love when we were growing up.
AW!!!!
I did send him an email back, giving him my regular email address so we shall see if I hear from him again. It would be great to catch up.
It’s interesting that he is not the first to send me an email like that. I’ve had one college boyfriend email me and tell me he was sorry for being a complete…well, idiot is the nice thing to say back when we were dating. No further communication, even after I wrote back that it was all water under the bridge. Another college boyfriend posted on his blog (which he has since taken down…after getting married…) that I was his first true love. And then was the boyfriend from Scotland who called me in the middle of the night the night before his wedding to lament our not being together.
This is all well & good…really, it does make me feel good overall…but it makes me wonder why I’m not yet someone’s last true love of life.
Hmmm.
Adventures Await
I’m gearing up for another adventure soon. It’s really been a fun summer so far – even with our race at Dover getting rained out. I can’t believe it’s half over already, though! I was just looking at day trips for the local tour company and realized I should probably plan for November or December – they’ll be here before we know it.
It has been a tiring week. Tomorrow I don’t have any evening activities, so I’m hoping to cook a nice dinner and get some housework done. I keep thinking I have all morning Saturday now to clean but wouldn’t it be oh so nice to not have to do anything before heading to my friends’ picnic in the afternoon? Ah, a girl can dream!
Sad news tonight…my one girlfriend from church who was expecting went to her midwife today for a routine checkup and they couldn’t find the heartbeat. It is just so terribly heartbreaking. I know there is very little I can do to comfort her – I prayed with her on the phone and have been praying for them all evening. At her request, I sent a prayer request to our church’s prayer chain and called some folks individually. I pray that one friend in particular can bring her some comfort through her own experience with this…and I pray that I can be the kind of friend she needs right now.
Creation
I can’t even begin to express how awesome Creation was. I regret not having gone before! Mostly, that was due to my inherent fear of camping. But I heard that Casting Crowns was playing – and Tobymac on the same night – and I knew I had to see them!
Michelle & I make the trek out to Agape Farm on Friday morning. I was totally amazed by the sheer numbers of people – my understanding is that there were 70,000! We came up to the campsite where others from our church were and took care of a few things before heading down to the main stage to see Grits. I haven’t seen them before but they were pretty good. Then we hoofed it back to the campsite and I dragged David out to a youth leader talk back with Tobymac.
Regardless of how you feel about hip hop music, Tobymac is a man of God. He has such a heart for people and for teenagers. I was so glad I got to see him speak and tell his own testimony, stories of his family and his wife, and the importance of meeting teens where they are. Preach it, brother!
We all had dinner together and then headed back to the main stage. Michelle, Sarah & I went to look at the vendors and then headed down front for Tobymac with Casey & Liz. Let me just say, he did not disappoint!!
We headed back up and sat with the rest of our group for Casting Crowns and the candlelighting ceremony. It was so incredibly amazing to see thousands and thousands of candles lighting up the night while Casting Crowns sang & prayed. Incredible!
We hung out around the campfire after that but I was exhausted. Luckily, David & Michelle were kind enough to let me sleep in their trailer (which definitely made the “camping” part MUCH more palatable!)
The next morning, I dragged Michelle, Casey & Sarah down to see Mandisa. She was exceptional! Her new album comes out July 31st and you know I will be running out that day to get one. She has a beautiful voice and I loved her story. She talked about the trials she went through on American Idol and afterwards and how God has brought her out of all of that – it was really powerful (more than I can do it justice here!) We sat and listened to a speaker then and went through the vendors again before heading back to the campsite for lunch.
Michelle, Casey & I went to the Fringe stage afterwards to hear John Rueben. He was a hoot! I keep hearing his songs over & over in my head (guess I need his CD too!) Then we went over to hear Duffy Robbins speak about the teenage mind. I’ve been to a seminar he taught before and really enjoyed his message. He said a lot of things that made me think – both about my kids and some notions I’ve had that aren’t right and need to be changed….
Then David & I walked up to the vendors again (this time I actually bought something!) and walked by hundreds of people lined up for the baptism. I’ve since seen pictures and it is simply amazing.
Michelle & I wanted to get on the road early so we left right at dinner time. It was a long & boring ride home but I was glad to get in early, and sleep a full night in my own bed.
I am so thankful for this experience this weekend. It was really exactly what I needed!! Yay, God!!!!
Our Creator ROCKS
I just got home from here. It was an amazing experience! More later – after I catch up on my sleep!
So Here's the Thing 