Wait...
that's not the way the state song goes! Well maybe not but it sure feels like it on days like today where OK has pretty much shut down in anticipation of Ice Storm 2010.
As much as I love my home state and I really do I love that I live in a state that embraces the values of a helping hand and if you're stranded in Oklahoma you can almost bet some friendly person is going to help you out. In fact after the Murrah building bombing in 1995 the "Oklahoma Standard" was defined and I believe it truly embodies Oklahoma as a whole.
"The "Oklahoma Standard" was born in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing. In April 1995, Oklahomans dropped everything to assist their friends and neighbors, coworkers and strangers. The response following the blast can only be described as amazing. First responders from across the state and nation converged in downtown Oklahoma City to rescue the living and then honorably recover the victims. Citizens lined up in record numbers to donate blood. Any call for supplies was answered without question or hesitation in overwhelming numbers.
The Oklahoma Standard continues to be the benchmark against which all efforts are measured. It is a high standard we expect to meet and Oklahomans are always up to the challenge." -taken from Oklahoma's Homeland Security website.
So like I said I love my home state. I don't love the ice we get in the winters. People from cold winter states might mock me and 12 foot of snow is one thing to deal with it but until you've driven with 1-2 inches of solid ice under your tires you just don't understand why we Okies tend to freak out at the thought of ice.
So as I write this I'm sitting at work anxiously watching the weather to make sure I'll be able to get home tonight and I'm praying that the ice isn't so thick that half the state loses power, I'm watching the school closings scroll on the weather websites and just hoping maybe just maybe the weathermen are over estimating this storm.
So if you have a few extra minutes in your day say a prayer for Oklahoma that we're able to weather this storm with as little problem as possible.
Thanks friends....
Mrs. A
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
mortgages, taxes, and budgets oh my!!
Why Hello dear bloggie world,
Hope everyone is doing well this fine Monday. While I like many others suffer from the Monday blah's I do have some cute little cheerleaders that practice on Monday nights that I get to coach so it makes Monday's bearable :)
Coaching is going great we're officially into our season now and had our first games over the weekend :) Don't worry you know I got pictures I just have to find the time to transfer them to the computer. If you never had the experience of having 30 little girls instantly adore you after an hour of you being their coach it's pretty much amazing and I wish I could do it as my job full time :)
Well as my title states I've been pretty much consumed by the house purchasing process.We've looked at a few houses and have a few more lined up for this weekend.
We had our introductory meeting with our realtor on January 15th and since then we've kind of been in a whirlwind of number crunching, budget making, and mortgage calculating. The Mr. and I are what you might call overly cautious with our budget and we like to know what we're getting into before we actually do so our nights have basically been eat dinner and then talk about our finances and making sure we can feel comfortable with our house purchase. There are three things we feel very strongly on with our house, It must be in a good school district, it must have a decent amount of space we like to have friends over, and it must be a place our little family of 2 could grow into someday. I never realized what a time consuming and well as of lately life consuming process buying a house really is. But we're excited and hopeful about finding our house. :)
In other news I got my swap partner for the Simply Love Swap and I'm so excited to start shopping I'm probably going to start tomorrow on my lunch break :D Hope all you other lovely ladies who are participating are excited about shopping.
Ok hopefully I won't get swallowed up by mortgages, taxes, and budgets again this week and I'll be able to blog more.
Later Alligators....
Mrs. A
Hope everyone is doing well this fine Monday. While I like many others suffer from the Monday blah's I do have some cute little cheerleaders that practice on Monday nights that I get to coach so it makes Monday's bearable :)
Coaching is going great we're officially into our season now and had our first games over the weekend :) Don't worry you know I got pictures I just have to find the time to transfer them to the computer. If you never had the experience of having 30 little girls instantly adore you after an hour of you being their coach it's pretty much amazing and I wish I could do it as my job full time :)
Well as my title states I've been pretty much consumed by the house purchasing process.We've looked at a few houses and have a few more lined up for this weekend.
We had our introductory meeting with our realtor on January 15th and since then we've kind of been in a whirlwind of number crunching, budget making, and mortgage calculating. The Mr. and I are what you might call overly cautious with our budget and we like to know what we're getting into before we actually do so our nights have basically been eat dinner and then talk about our finances and making sure we can feel comfortable with our house purchase. There are three things we feel very strongly on with our house, It must be in a good school district, it must have a decent amount of space we like to have friends over, and it must be a place our little family of 2 could grow into someday. I never realized what a time consuming and well as of lately life consuming process buying a house really is. But we're excited and hopeful about finding our house. :)
In other news I got my swap partner for the Simply Love Swap and I'm so excited to start shopping I'm probably going to start tomorrow on my lunch break :D Hope all you other lovely ladies who are participating are excited about shopping.
Ok hopefully I won't get swallowed up by mortgages, taxes, and budgets again this week and I'll be able to blog more.
Later Alligators....
Mrs. A
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
you like me you really like me!!
Over the weekend I was given not one but two fabulous blog awards!! I love these they brighten my day.
Both Lauren over at The Lucky Laymans & Katie at Katie's Journey Tagged me with the Happy 101 Award! I love both of these blogs Katie has such a great story to tell and she's finishing up her education, and Lauren and I are in such similar places in life that I really feel like I can relate to her. I often wish I could meet my wonderful bloggie friends in person because they're so fabulous. I'd have so many best friends I wouldn't know what to do with myself :)
Katie also tagged me for a second award.
So the rules for the first award are list ten things that make you happy!
1. Mr. A
2. house hunting!!
3. my furbaby Missy
4. Chinese takeout and a Netflix movie with the hubs instead of going out
5. Sunday mornings
6. girls night :)
7. Sunday lunch Crew AKA potluck dinners with all of our friends in lieu of going out and spending money
8. coaching cheerleading :)
9. comments on my blog
10. decorating a pretty cake
The second award I'm supposed to tell you 7 facts about myself
1. I'm left handed I was ambidextrous until first grade when my teacher made me choose a hand
2. I can't function in the morning without my first cup of coffee
3. I have insomniac tendencies and if my life is chaotic you can bet I'm not sleeping well
4. Mr. A proposed to me during "The Game Of Life" and we even had fun with our engagement session incorporating the game
5. We took ballroom dancing lessons before our wedding because we didn't want to look like 7th graders on the dance floor
6. Michael Buble's song "Everything" is our wedding song and when we went to his concert in March of 2008 the Mr. and I danced to our song in the aisle.
7. my wedding shoes were my something blue :)
I'm copping out on tagging 17 other bloggers 10 for one and 7 for the other instead I'm passing these awards on to anyone reading. so if you're reading consider yourself tagged :)
Be back with more tomorrow today I'm fighting allergies and trying desperately not to lose my voice. :(
Later Alligators.....
Mrs. A
Both Lauren over at The Lucky Laymans & Katie at Katie's Journey Tagged me with the Happy 101 Award! I love both of these blogs Katie has such a great story to tell and she's finishing up her education, and Lauren and I are in such similar places in life that I really feel like I can relate to her. I often wish I could meet my wonderful bloggie friends in person because they're so fabulous. I'd have so many best friends I wouldn't know what to do with myself :)
Katie also tagged me for a second award.
So the rules for the first award are list ten things that make you happy!
1. Mr. A
2. house hunting!!
3. my furbaby Missy
4. Chinese takeout and a Netflix movie with the hubs instead of going out
5. Sunday mornings
6. girls night :)
7. Sunday lunch Crew AKA potluck dinners with all of our friends in lieu of going out and spending money
8. coaching cheerleading :)
9. comments on my blog
10. decorating a pretty cake
The second award I'm supposed to tell you 7 facts about myself
1. I'm left handed I was ambidextrous until first grade when my teacher made me choose a hand
2. I can't function in the morning without my first cup of coffee
3. I have insomniac tendencies and if my life is chaotic you can bet I'm not sleeping well
4. Mr. A proposed to me during "The Game Of Life" and we even had fun with our engagement session incorporating the game
5. We took ballroom dancing lessons before our wedding because we didn't want to look like 7th graders on the dance floor
6. Michael Buble's song "Everything" is our wedding song and when we went to his concert in March of 2008 the Mr. and I danced to our song in the aisle.
7. my wedding shoes were my something blue :)
I'm copping out on tagging 17 other bloggers 10 for one and 7 for the other instead I'm passing these awards on to anyone reading. so if you're reading consider yourself tagged :)
Be back with more tomorrow today I'm fighting allergies and trying desperately not to lose my voice. :(
Later Alligators.....
Mrs. A
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Irony at it's best!!
Yesterday evening Mr. A and I attended the first meeting of our churches small group study over the book "Unchristian" by David Kinneman. Great book by the way if you have a chance I highly recommend you check it out. Anyway in our discussion we talked about how people have this view that Christianity is the safe choice and bad things won't happen to Christians etc... We talked about how we should show the world that we're only human and reality hits us too. We talked about how sometimes church goers hide their heads in the sand and ignore the real world around them until it smacks you in the face.
So we had a great study and left feeling a sense of companionship and trust with those we shared the study with. As we're walking out to our car Mr. A goes to start it and what does he see but a busted window. We'd been the victim of kids playing a stupid prank. So we went back inside to tell our friends so they could check their vehicles to make sure we were the only unlucky ones and thank goodness at least in our group we were. Some of the guys decided to do some neighborhood searches to see if there were any other cars and just up the street there was a vehicle with all the windows busted and we only had one we were lucky.
So our friend who's house it was decided we should file a police report we did that and then Mrs. G and I left to get a trashbag and duct tape to put over the window. While the rest of the gang started cleaning up the glass. We got back taped the window and as we were driving home. I just began to thank God because we have amazing friends who stayed with us helped us clean up the mess and took the time to pray with us before we left for home, because although not cheap a window is something that we can afford. A broken window is a small bump in the road it's definitely not reality smacking you in the face but I couldn't help think of the timing. It's always amazing to me how God will have us hear something only to turn around a demonstrate it to you later.
So although we have a vehicle with a busted window it's not something we can't fix and for the day and 1/2 it's broken it's a great reminder to never assume that just because we're Christians we're somehow safe from the world.
Later Alligators....
Mrs. A
So we had a great study and left feeling a sense of companionship and trust with those we shared the study with. As we're walking out to our car Mr. A goes to start it and what does he see but a busted window. We'd been the victim of kids playing a stupid prank. So we went back inside to tell our friends so they could check their vehicles to make sure we were the only unlucky ones and thank goodness at least in our group we were. Some of the guys decided to do some neighborhood searches to see if there were any other cars and just up the street there was a vehicle with all the windows busted and we only had one we were lucky.
So our friend who's house it was decided we should file a police report we did that and then Mrs. G and I left to get a trashbag and duct tape to put over the window. While the rest of the gang started cleaning up the glass. We got back taped the window and as we were driving home. I just began to thank God because we have amazing friends who stayed with us helped us clean up the mess and took the time to pray with us before we left for home, because although not cheap a window is something that we can afford. A broken window is a small bump in the road it's definitely not reality smacking you in the face but I couldn't help think of the timing. It's always amazing to me how God will have us hear something only to turn around a demonstrate it to you later.
So although we have a vehicle with a busted window it's not something we can't fix and for the day and 1/2 it's broken it's a great reminder to never assume that just because we're Christians we're somehow safe from the world.
Later Alligators....
Mrs. A
Monday, January 11, 2010
Simply Love
Mrs. Katie over atLoves Of Life is hosting another swap like the fall scarf swap back in October.
Hope you can join in and spread the love!!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Live Every Moment As if it were your last!!
This week has been a tough one dear friends. 2010 started out a little rocky for our church family. On Sunday our children's minister suffered a brain aneurysm and left this earth on Monday morning. Mr. Gibson was a friend, mentor, teacher, and a wonderful man of God. Our church has certainly suffered a large loss and there are some big shoes to be filled!! It shook every person who knew Mr. Gibson to the core because many saw him Sunday morning and he was fine and acting normal and now he's gone.
It's made me think long and hard about whether or not I'm holding the people closest to me at too much of a distance. I often keep to myself and forget to mention to those I care about most how much they mean to me. Monday's news made me realize even more that I need to take time out of my busy day to make sure those that I love know without a doubt how much they mean to me.
Monday night when I got home I took the time to sit down without TV or internet and just reconnect with my husband, I called my mother just to tell her I love her and I sent e-mails to my family and friends reminding them that I love them and hope to see them soon.
It's sad to me that it takes something as tragic as Mr. Gibson's passing to remind me to say the things I need to say, and to not take life for granted. I pray that God helps me to remember to not get so wrapped up in my own life that I forget about the special people who mean so much to me.
Mr. A and I got our mortgage pre-approval recently but somehow it doesn't hold as much value as it did last week when we sent in the paperwork. I felt like hyperventilating when we hit submit but somehow it just doesn't matter as much. I'm loved I have wonderful family and friends and those are the important things. Oh sure we're thrilled at the thought of owning a home this year but we have so much to be thankful for already and we're so very blessed.
Dear friends hold those you love close to your heart, say I love you out loud everyday, send handwritten notes just because and stop and smell the roses in your own life!!
Love,
Mrs. A
It's made me think long and hard about whether or not I'm holding the people closest to me at too much of a distance. I often keep to myself and forget to mention to those I care about most how much they mean to me. Monday's news made me realize even more that I need to take time out of my busy day to make sure those that I love know without a doubt how much they mean to me.
Monday night when I got home I took the time to sit down without TV or internet and just reconnect with my husband, I called my mother just to tell her I love her and I sent e-mails to my family and friends reminding them that I love them and hope to see them soon.
It's sad to me that it takes something as tragic as Mr. Gibson's passing to remind me to say the things I need to say, and to not take life for granted. I pray that God helps me to remember to not get so wrapped up in my own life that I forget about the special people who mean so much to me.
Mr. A and I got our mortgage pre-approval recently but somehow it doesn't hold as much value as it did last week when we sent in the paperwork. I felt like hyperventilating when we hit submit but somehow it just doesn't matter as much. I'm loved I have wonderful family and friends and those are the important things. Oh sure we're thrilled at the thought of owning a home this year but we have so much to be thankful for already and we're so very blessed.
Dear friends hold those you love close to your heart, say I love you out loud everyday, send handwritten notes just because and stop and smell the roses in your own life!!
Love,
Mrs. A
Monday, January 4, 2010
New Year's Goals:Serve
Well I'm a few days late posting this but when I sat down to write it on the first my heart just wasn't in it so I took a few days prayed over my goals and came up with a concrete 5 goals that can all be encompassed in one word I would like to govern my year. That word is serve.
1. Serve my heavenly father through ministry and jump at the first opportunity presented to me.
2. serve my husband by continually cooking at home and building him in up in word and character.
3. serve my family and friends by being more accessible to them and caring more this includes writing handwritten notes just because and making sure to stay in touch with those I love most.
4. serve my spirit by delving deeper in my Bible studies and continually learning more about God's purposes for my life.
5. finally serve those in need by volunteering at least once a month somewhere I'm leaning toward helping out at the food bank but if God presents other opportunities then so be it. In 2009 I made the decision to focus on home and my family more and I still want to continue that but I see no reason why volunteering once a month somewhere should take over my life like I let it do in the past. I'm going to strive for balance this year.
2010 is also the year that the Mr. and I purchase a home we're meeting with a realtor on the 15th of this month to get the ball rolling so wish us luck as we embark into the scary world of real estate.
I wish you all much luck on your 2010 goals and hope that the first work week of 2010 isn't long and horrible. Mr. A and I have planned a date night for Friday night so we have something to look forward to all week.
Later Alligators...
Mrs. A
1. Serve my heavenly father through ministry and jump at the first opportunity presented to me.
2. serve my husband by continually cooking at home and building him in up in word and character.
3. serve my family and friends by being more accessible to them and caring more this includes writing handwritten notes just because and making sure to stay in touch with those I love most.
4. serve my spirit by delving deeper in my Bible studies and continually learning more about God's purposes for my life.
5. finally serve those in need by volunteering at least once a month somewhere I'm leaning toward helping out at the food bank but if God presents other opportunities then so be it. In 2009 I made the decision to focus on home and my family more and I still want to continue that but I see no reason why volunteering once a month somewhere should take over my life like I let it do in the past. I'm going to strive for balance this year.
2010 is also the year that the Mr. and I purchase a home we're meeting with a realtor on the 15th of this month to get the ball rolling so wish us luck as we embark into the scary world of real estate.
I wish you all much luck on your 2010 goals and hope that the first work week of 2010 isn't long and horrible. Mr. A and I have planned a date night for Friday night so we have something to look forward to all week.
Later Alligators...
Mrs. A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)