Blessings Continued

Thirty-nine days after the death of Frank, we welcomed a new, fully functioning computer into the family. This resulted in much rejoicing in our home, and I'm now actually capable of having three different windows open at once.

Plus I have my music back.

And my Photoshop.

*sighs happily*

We have not yet officially named the new computer. It takes a little bit to discover a computer's personality, after all.

Last weekend, Rapier Wit and Literary Cat came down for four days. The first day, Literary Cat, Adorable Nurse, and I walked down memory lane (literally as well as figuratively), made food for the guys, and then had a fun night just hanging out.

The next day I was considerably ill, but it could have been worse, so I'm still grateful.

Saturday all of us got back together to play D&D, and something that I've been planning for months finally occurred to my character.

(My almost-teenage cleric is going to be angsty for a little bit. Lord have mercy.)

Also, Literary Cat loaned me The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, which is the sequel to the book she gave me for Christmas, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. So far I've managed to keep from disappearing inside of it, but I have a feeling that after I'm done catching up around the house today and tomorrow, I'm going to disappear Wednesday and devour it.

It's good to have friends who feed your addiction.

Sherri made it safely back from her visit with will and family, which I'm very glad for. I've missed my sister terribly.

Overall, there's a lot of happiness in my life right now, and I felt like sharing. I hope things are going equally well for you!

Blessings Innumerable

All the cool kids are doing some type of 'Year in Review' this week to celebrate the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. GeekDad has a Top 10 posts of the year, Whatever reflected on the past year yesterday, TPM decided to review the past year by giving out awards for various political stunts. Closer to home, will gave us his Top 7 theatre moments from the past year, and Literary Cat gave us an overview of her, well, literary adventures.

Since I am a sheep and follow the direction my peers and idols point, I figured I should also do some way of recapping the past year. Thus, in no particular order, here are a few of the blessings I've received and learned from in 2010:

• God has a plan. Sam and I managed to get by on $600 a month of income plus food stamps for 6 months this year. Looking back, I'm still not certain how God managed to pull us through Sam's last semester in grad school, but somehow He managed.
• Take Nothing For Granted. Up until this year, I'd never truly known what it was like to be completely without and having to rely on God. Because we had to, however, I appreciate so much more everything Sam and I have.

• Sam got his Masters in Music. That right there is a huge reason to celebrate. I couldn't tell you the number of times Sam and I discussed his dropping out of the program, and I am incredibly proud of him for sticking through it.
• Moving back amongst friends and family. When I graduated from college, I thought I'd left this town far behind. Some might consider moving back to one's secondary home-town a failure in life, but it has been a wonderful blessing in mine. My in-laws are here, my sister is here, and many of my friends from college are still here. The beginning of 2010 was lonely, but the end was all I could have hoped for.
• Learning to care for my home. Teenage me would never have predicted that I'd one day be a housewife and be happy about it. But I derive a great deal of pleasure, pride, and accomplishment from caring for my home, paying the bills, cooking meals for my Sammy, and doing my best to live up to Proverbs 31:10-31. 

• Bringing Tiger back into the fold. After nearly five years apart, my first cat has rejoined the pride. The first month or so was pretty rough, what with all three cats fighting because no one knew just what was going on. Once Tiger figured out though that she was here to stay and calmed down, though, she became an incredibly sweet addition to our little family.
• We have a new nephew! Speaking of sweet additions to the family, Sam's sister had a new baby boy last October. Even though we still haven't managed to go see him, we were both very excited for her and her family. 

Over all, I'd say that this was possibly one of the best years I've had yet, even if the first half of the year were rough and stressful in many ways. Sam and I have survived our first year of marriage, and I find myself thankful and hopeful heading in to the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone! Praise God, and may 2011 bring you joy and great happiness!

Day Three -- Happy Birthday to Sherri and Susan!

August 19th is a pretty good day, when all is said and done. On this august occasion several different people have been born (pun intended), including but not limited to: my almost-twin Sherri, my sister-in-law Susan, and as of about 10 am this morning, Jude (Sam's best friend Paul's new son!).

That makes this a pretty rocking day in my book!

Sam and I went to Shawnee this afternoon to help Sherri celebrate her birthday, and I believe a good time was had by all. Still, I can't resist an opportunity to make a big deal about my sister, so I wanted to say one more time for all the world to see:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERRI!

That is all.


"To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time."
--Clara Ortega