An average Tuesday

So due to some new events in my life -which I will get into at a later time- I slept horribly last night. And I looked like it this morning. I went to work and we were really slow, so at lunch I asked if I could go home early, and my boss said no problem. I came home and changed into some comfy sweats and crashed on the couch. Love me a good nap. Then around 3:45 I woke up and decided to start dinner. Since I was home so early, I decided to make chicken breast supreme, as it needs 1 1/2 hours to bake. I am almost done getting it all together, when I go to open the jar of dried beef. It has this wicked little plastic ring around the top, and I can not get it off for the life of me. I grab a cutting knife and attempt to slice through the ring. I go at it from like 5 different angles, and finally I get it just right and slice right through the ring. And right through my thumb. I kid you not. Clean slice. I look at it and don't quite see bone, but I see a lot of blood and start to think I might be seeing St. Peter and the pearly gates...
I grab a napkin to apply pressure and immediately it is soaked with blood. Yikes. I get another napkin and press harder. I grab my cell phone and call my primary care doctor. I get ahold of her nurse and tell her what happened and beg her to let me come there and not make me go to Urgent Care. She buckles and tells me to head over. I change napkins again and call David on his cell. He is on the bus on his way home from school. I quickly explain the situation and tell him I am on my way to the doctors and give him instructions on how to finish the dinner that I am leaving out. No way I am letting all that hard work go to waste!! Then I realize I am wearing my pink fleece sweat pants, which are too big and David affectionately calls my "dump pants", because, well, they make me look like I am carrying a load in the back of my pants. Vanity kicks in and I decide I simply can not go out in public in these pants. I change into jeans- which is not easy with one hand. I finally get out to the car and while looking into the rear view mirror to reverse out of the garage I notice I have blood all over my face. Awesome. I look like I have been involved in some serious gang violence. I must have been wiping my face without even realizing it. I quickly clean it all off and head to the doctors.
They get me right back and she is wonderfully sweet to me. Apparently they don't really use stitches anymore, but dermabond. Whatever works. She explains to me that I have two options. Because the slice is so broad across my thumb (Go big or go home, right people?!?) she will need to give me two shots to numb the area. Two shots directly into my nerves. Hmmm...not loving option number one. OR I can bear down and she will clean the wound without numbing it. Hmmm...not loving option number two.
I end up selecting door number two. Whoa Momma. To her credit, she did clean it really quickly, but it was a less than pleasant experience. Then she sealed it with dermabond, then put some strips over the top to keep it from being pulled open when I flex my thumb.
Then she asks me if I have had a tetanus shot lately. What constitutes as lately? Within 5 years I am informed. Well, I can't remember exactly how long it has been, but I am pretty sure I had a Strawberry Shortcake band aide on my shoulder after and that I received a lollipop upon leaving the doctors office...so it was probably at least 10 years ago.
So I end up with one of those too. Oh and just for good measure she throws in a whooping cough vaccine.
The good news is she also gave me an RX for 6 Vicodin. God bless her.
So, I am now off to eat my yummy and painstaking dinner. And then pop a Vicodin.
Ya know...just an average Tuesday.
Oh, and here are some pics for your viewing pleasure...I feel pretty =-)

A Good Read

My sister loaned me this book forever ago that I just finished this weekend, and it was so much fun to read I just had to pass it on! If anyone out there has ever dealt with the complete obsession that can overcome you when trying to get pregnant, you would probably enjoy this book. I'll admit -it's a little out there from time to time- but the main character Emma is too funny for words. And she will make you feel sooooo normal in the midst of your insanity =)
Happy reading!

Politics

You can unclench your jaw and exhale your breath, I am not going to talk specifics here. =-)
I was reminded today how very personal politics can be. Very personal. I personally can not wait for this election to be over. We have early voting in my state, and I mailed off our ballots yesterday. Whew! Now I can quit paying attention. I don't really pay any mind to early polling numbers, in my opinion they leave way too much unaccounted for.
I have been pretty much decided for months about where I was going to cast my vote, and in the end it was indeed where I cast it. BUT, throughout those months I tried very hard to be open to the Lord's leading. I spent time on my knees asking Him for wisdom.
You see, I don't believe I should vote just based on how my husband votes -nor would he ever expect me to. Yes, he is the head of our household, and I try and support him as such, but this is my ballot, not his, and not even ours. We happen to agree on the presidential candidate we voted for, but we did however disagree on a few ballot measures. Sometimes politely disagreed, sometimes a little less politely =-). I did in the end have to leave two ballot measures blank. I simply could not decide either way. I hate not voting. It reminds me of when my dad - after finding out at the age of 20 I still had not registered to vote- said to me "people fought and died for your right to vote!". That got to me. I went out and registered the very next day.
But back to this election...I also do not believe you should vote based on how your parents vote, your neighbors vote, by how many yard signs or bumper stickers you have seen, or even by how your Church votes. Gasp! Yes I said it. Although politics have never been preached from our pulpit (which I appreciate), we did receive a "Christian Voters Guide" last Sunday. I looked through it, and although there were several things I agreed with inside, there were also several things I disagreed with. BUT, I still took all those things to Jesus, and prayed for wisdom and discernment.
And that's my point, I do not vote by how my husband would have me vote, my neighbor, my friends, or my church... I vote how I feel My Jesus would have me vote.
I do not think either presidential candidate is flawless. I do however feel one is more suited to the direction I personally feel we should go than the other.
But it only matters so much who actually gets elected, because on November 5th, my Leader will still be a Lamb.

TGIF

Yup, I said it. TGIF. It's a throw back to like 1994, but I don't care. I am sooo happy it's Friday!
I am usually happy on Friday's for a few reasons. One being that I love Thursday evenings, and my happiness usually carries over until the next morning. Thursday evenings The Office is on. And we love us some Office!! David's brother and sister in law come over every Thursday to watch with us, and we trade off providing appetizers. I made these:

Oh. Yum. If you are feeling like your cholesterol is just a little too low, make yourself some bacon-wrapped-rolled-in-brown-sugar-little-smokies and they'll fix that before you can say "Lipitor".
I also love Friday's because it means the weekend is pretty much here. And even getting up Friday mornings isn't too bad because I know it's the last day of the work week, and I can usually give it one more day. I am however trying to convince my employers about the benefits of the 4 day work week... it isn't going as well as planned =-).
The only thing that put a damper on my morning was the dog poo I almost stepped in. We live in a townhouse, 1 of 4, and our neighbors let their little dogs out in the morning, and then they don't watch them. They just wait for them to bark that they want back in, and then open the door for them. Probably twice a month there is poo in front of our door. Sometimes on our welcome mat. It does not make me happy. One time when it was on our mat I was so mad that I went back inside, got a bunch of papertowels, picked up the poo, and put it on their welcome mat. Because that's what Jesus would do...
My husband has talked to them about this, I have talked to them about this, and we know our landlord (not onsite) has talked to them about this. What's a girl to do? So after it happened again this morning, and I had to pull off a serious catwoman like maneuver in order to avoid stepping in it, I think I am going to call the landlord and complain. I hate, hate, HATE to be a tattle-tale. I think it is much better to just be polite and direct, or rude and direct if you have to be. But I have done both and it isn't making much of a difference.
Although I just dedicated 2 paragraphs to that, it really was only a minor thing today. Otherwise a good day! I am however suffering from a very serious case of Idontwannaworkitis though...should see a doctor about that.
Happy Friday to you!!

Giveaway!!

My blog friend Faith is doing a giveaway on her blog!! Go over and read her post, and then leave a comment to get a chance to win one of those adorable and practical totes I was talking about yesterday!!!!
It's that easy! =-)
Ok...for some reason I can't link her blog right now, my laptop is acting up. But she is on my BlogRoll at Walk With Me By Faith, or you can link to her blog or her store on the post below.
Good luck!

Christmas 411

My blogger friend Amy is doing something really fun on her blog!! If you haven't ever been to Amy's blog, you should go visit. She is really funny and absolutely adorable to boot! (I mean that in the most heterosexual way...I like the boys). She is hosting "Christmas 411", and asking us all to list some fun, inexpensive gift ideas on our blogs and link to her site, so we can all see each others ideas and therefor get some great suggestions from some super cool people =-).
So here are some of my fun Christmas gift ideas...
First off, I love socks. Love 'em. My feet are always freezing. I sleep with socks on every night, even throughout the hot summer nights. During the winter I especially love fuzzy socks, like these:

Now I realize those by themselves aren't much, but my mom has sold Mary Kay all my life, and one thing I have learned from her is packaging/presentation. I love to throw some yummy smelling rosemary/mint foot scrub, a pumice stone, lotion and a cute polish in the socks, and then tie it off with a big bow. Simple and cute!!

I think these Coasters are cute too, and affordable!


As far as something personal for someone, I love, love, love These:Aren't those cute?!? I live in Oregon, where it rains 320 of the 365 days in a year. I kid. But seriously it rains a ton, and how fun to have a monogrammed umbrella to stay dry under=-).

I think THIS is pretty great too.


And speaking of monogrammed things, I - like Lianna - have to give a shout out to my girl Faith. She has an online store http://www.adesignoffaith.com/ and even though I have yet to purchase anything, that doesn't mean I haven't seriously lusted after some things!! Like how cute are these:

Ok that picture looks funny for some reason, but go to her site and check them out for yourself. Monogrammed totes. So cute!! AND practical!!

This is a little more spendy, but I can't imagine a home it wouldn't look good in =-)

Now this next one may seem a little odd. It is something less cute and more sensible. It can be found at REI ... you see I love water. I seriously drink like 60 oz a day on average. But before you are too impressed I should note that it is like the only healthy thing I do. Anyways, a few months back I learned about some studies that are investigating the effects of BPA plastics, commonly used in plastic waterbottles (amongst other products). The Journal of American Medicine has even jumped in on this. Lots of serious medical issues have been linked to BPA plastics, including some fertility issues, ladies (!!). That very day I went and bought a stainless steal water bottle. I carry it everywhere. Not only is it safe, but it also keeps my water cool no matter what the conditions. Like when I run into Target just for toilet paper, and return to my car 4 1/2 hours later, the water that has been on my passenger seat that whole time is still cold!
These are some cute water bottles...

L to the O-V-E that last one!! In fact, which ever sister of mine that draws my name this Christmas, I would like an REI gift card so I can get that. Thanks =-)

A great gift idea we used last year is the CookieMix in a jar:These are so cute and I think they are something great for the people in your life that you want to do a little somethin' for. Like a coworker or a neighbor or something. I used red and green M&M's instead of chocolate chips to make it a little more festive. And I just used a little holiday fabric to top off each jar, and printed up some cute tags to attach with the instructions and our holiday wishes on them. Easy to make and easy on the checkbook as well =-).

So now it's your turn...what are some great, inexpensive gift ideas you have?

It's the economy...

This economy is a topic for much conversation lately. We went out to dinner Friday night with some friends who are from Russia and have lived here for a little over a year. They were very interested in what we thought of the economy, and if we were feeling the effects of it's current state. Our answer was yes! First of all, my 401k both at my previous job (which I have yet to roll over) and my current job have both been on a study decline for the last 6+ months, which is depressing. I hate seeing our money disappear, especially without something great to show for it...like new furniture or our student loan balance going down or something.
David mentioned groceries. Our grocery bill is skyrocketing! We buy the same things we always have, but as David pointed out, you may not notice a little increase of 50 cents or a dollar here or there when you are only buying a handful of goods, but when you are filling a grocery cart full, those increases sure add up!!! He did our grocery shopping last - actually he does a lot of our grocery shopping as it is one of the few kinds of shopping I hate, second only to bathing suit shopping...Ugh. Anyways, he managed to spend $117 at Food-For-Less. Food-For-Less!! I don't know if you all have a Food-For-Less near you, but it is the cheapest (and most disgusting) grocery store around us. I refuse to shop there. You have to check the expiration dates on everything because it is not uncommon for expired milk to be on their shelves. Ew. I ran there once just for flour in a baking emergency and seriously needed a shower when I got home. I told David then that I am not going back. I do not care how cheap the groceries are, they are comparable to Winco, and I am not too pretty for Winco... so it's where I draw my limits.
As far as gas goes, in the middle of a purging and organizing rage recently, I came across the budget I wrote up when we first got married 4 1/2 years ago. We had budgeted $30 a month for gas. $30 a month. Granted we both had small, amazing mpg hatchbacks, and we lived close to both our jobs and church. But that is still jaw dropping! Our little golf-ball sized cars had 10 gallon tanks, and it would cost about $12 to fill them up. Now we have upgraded to compact cars, and 4 1/2 years later, we can't even fill either our Jetta or our Kia for $30...our entire months budget less than 5 years ago. Yikes.
Another interesting thing is I am really noticing my penny pinching. I am ad shopping for groceries, and thinking twice before little $2 purchases I wouldn't have batted an eye at buying a few months ago. But this has had some negative feedback. Let me explain....
A few nights ago I had stopped at Safeway to pick up just a few things we needed. I went through the check out line and my total was $31.07. The check out lady asked me if I wanted to round that off to $32 to help fund breast cancer research. Doing quick math I realized that would be 93 cents -almost a dollar - so I smiled politely and said "no thank you", and she looked at me with complete disgust! She stared at me for a moment with a look on her face that said "why do you hate women?" and then half-rolled her eyes, pressed some buttons on her register, and handed me my receipt, minus the standard "have a good day!". I felt so wrongly accused!! I wanted to cry out "I like women!! I am a woman!! I am anti-cancer, I really am!!! I am pro-fighting cancer!!" But instead, dejected, I grabbed my bags and headed out of the store, a woman scorned.
In an effort to obey the scriptures of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing, I will just leave it at saying my husband and I pray about where the Lord would have us give. We try and remember that everything we have is His, and we only have the things or money we do because He has allowed us to. So it is not that I am against giving, I am very much for it and believe scripture has called us to, I was just not feeling particularly led to donate my almost-dollar at that time...but something told me the woman behind the register did not really care to hear my reasoning. Her mind was made up about me already.
Our pastor this morning very humbly discussed giving and stewardship during these hard economic times. He quoted a study saying that on average Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas shopping every year, and that it would only cost $10 billion to solve the entire world's clean water crisis. You can read more about it at Adventconspiracy.com. Really interesting.

Oh, and yes, I do realize the possible hypocrisy of me starting this post out by stating we were out to eat while discussing the hard financial times...try not to judge me too harshly...=-)
Happy Sunday to all of you out in Bloggerville.

Remember

Though I truly feel that the Lord has healed my heart, and David's, last night I simply could not stop crying when I this post. My very favorite blogger, Angie, wrote such a touching entry, and last night I stayed up past midnight reading over 500 of the comments posted. Today when I looked there was 949 comments.
Our loss was almost 2 years ago, and my wound is no longer fresh. The Lord has shown us so much beauty in our ashes... I am grateful.
Pouring over these stories last night absolutely wrenched at my heart. I am just heartbroken for these women. So many stories of such profound loss...
But there was also many, many stories of grace and redemption.
Our God is faithful. Always. And when you can't trace His hand, you can always trust His heart.
One of my very favorite praise songs is by Aaron Shust, I just love the beginning lyrics:
"I am not skilled to understand,
what God has willed, what God has planned.
I only know at His right hand,
stands one who is my Savior.
I take Him at His word and deed.
Christ died to save me; this I read.
And in my heart I find a need
of Him to be my savior..."

He loves me. He loves you. I believe He weeps for all the losses and heartache. I believe He longs to wipe away our tears and fill empty places in our hearts.

"When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." Luke 7:13

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

I take Him at His word.

Best voicemail EVER!

Last night when plugging my cell phone in to charge I noticed I had 2 voicemails on it. I listened to the first one, and it was all garbled but I was still pretty sure what it was. The second message confirmed my suspicions. It was in fact, the best voicemail ever received.

Who was on this message, you ask??


Why it was 1989.

Coming through my earpiece I hear a crowd cheering along with "I can see it in your walk, tell it when you talk, can see it in everything you do, even in your thoughts. You got the right stuff, baby. I love the way you turn me on. You got the right stuff, babyyyy. You're the reason why I sing this song..."


How was I hearing this? Let me introduce you to my bestest friend ever, Tara.
This picture was taken 3 years ago at her wedding. I was her maid of honor (and she was mine). We have several pictures from both weddings of us actually posing in our dresses with our flowers, but this one is my favorite. It is classic Tara and Kendra.
Tara and I have been best friends for over a decade now. It is a truly blessed friendship. We have never fought and we never get sick of each other. In fact, one semester in high school we had every single class together. And then after school we would go to her house and hang out, because we just hadn't spent enough time together yet. HA! We did everything together!! Now she lives in Nevada and I live in Oregon =(, so we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we'd like. She is one of the most loving, kind, fun, accepting and faithful people I have ever met.
She called me from the concert in California last night because she knew that I - like Amy- once had a deep, deep infatuation with Jordan Knight. Ohhh.....the memories! My dad used to buy all of us daughters Valentine's day presents, and one year he got me a NKOTB nightgown. I used to think it was so cool and funny to say "I slept with Jordan Knight last night!!" Now keep in mind I was 9, and in my 9-year-old mind I was making a harmless insinuation that Jordan Knight had come over and we had in fact, slept. A slumber party. You know, stayed up late sharing our hopes and dreams, ate junk food, and perhaps even had a pillow fight before falling asleep side by side in our matching CareBear sleeping bags. But oh the looks my parents must have gotten when I said this...

I digress.

Anyways, thank you Tara!! That MADE MY NIGHT! I listened to the voicemail several times and grinned from ear to ear! I so wish I could have been there with you. I fell asleep last night with sweet NKOTB melodies playing in my head...

Here's to best friends!! Happy Friday All!

Hanging tough,

kendra

You GOTTA check this out!!

One of the things I have asked the Lord for recently was to bring women into my life who are walking this same waiting-for-a-baby road that I am so that I could pray for them with the heart of a woman who knows what they are feeling.
Well He sure has answered!! I had a few friends in my life already I was praying for (and they are praying for me too- thank you!) and over the last few months I met a few new blog friends to pray for. Last Saturday I came across two new blogs, and decided that my mental list was too long for my tiny brain and I should actually write these names down. Plus I thought it would be so fun to be able to see them crossed off the list when God answers the prayers. I love visual aides- and what better one than answered prayers to see God's goodness and faithfulness!
So I came upstairs and found a little notebook I had in my nightstand drawer. I had only written a few things in it before, and hadn't even picked it up since January. I wrote the date, 10/04/08 and then wrote: "Praying God's blessings on these Momma hearts". Then I wrote the names down (I blocked them out for the picture just in case someone didn't want it posted for all the world wide web to see!). There are 8 names on my list. Two of the women are praying and waiting for their adoptions to proceed; one in my family and another is a sweet blogger friend I "met" earlier this summer. The other names are women who are currently waiting on the Lord for pregnancies; one I know personally and the others are fellow bloggers. I decided to commit to pray daily that God would bless these women quickly and that He would give them His peace while they wait...
Well, last night I set aside my time to pray and I happen to read what it is printed at the bottom of the page, (since I absentmindedly hadn't even noticed there were words at the bottom of the page before - see above...tiny brain). It says "Expect miracles. They happen daily."
Isn't that cool?!?!
I was instantly filled with a renewed energy to pray, pray, pray!! And pray expectantly.
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2

-kendra

Wife Of The Year

Yup. That's my new title. I so earned it. Let me explain...
The Husband and I had made plans earlier in the week to go to Ikea on Sunday (yesterday) after church to purchase our new dressers. I was so excited! Three reasons: One, I was looking forward to the new dressers which match our bed- another step forward in making our bedroom look like grown-ups sleep there. Two: that also meant we could get rid of my pathetic $60-7-years-ago dresser from Target. Now, let it be known, I LOVE Target. Love it. Wanna be buried there (Ok, that's a little extreme, but you get my point!) but this dresser had been through like 6 moves and the particle board that was supposed to be the back of it was long gone and the top drawer was sagging so horribly that the drawer below it would open along with the top one anytime you pulled it's handle. Third: I just love Ikea.
When we were getting ready for church, Dave mentioned that his back was really bothering him. I asked him if he still wanted to go to Ikea, and he said yes, as long as we were quick. Hmmm.... I ponder the following equation in my head: quick+Ikea= not possible. But I say "Oh, sure babe".
After Sunday School I notice he is pimp-strutting to the sanctuary, so I say "If your back is really hurting you that bad, we can just go another time..." but he assures me it will be fine as long as we hurry.
In the car on the way to Ikea he mentions again that we will need to make this a quick visit, "Just get in, get our dressers, and get out".
My husband is not prone to nagging, he just knows that given the opportunity I could have easily spent the entire month of October there.
As we enter the building and take the escalator up to the showrooms my eyes begin to wander over the showroom and I take in all the new displays....
"Focus Kendra" my sweet husband says.
"Ok, I will" I lie.
We stop at the top of the escalator for a brief moment to survey the map. We take note of the "shortcuts" and off we go to the bedroom section. We quickly find our dressers, write down the aisle and bin numbers, and then make our way to the down escalators. Once downstairs I have a brief moment of weakness and begin to get lost in the vast wonder that is Ikea...
Focus Kendra, I tell myself.
We take all the shortcuts and reach the warehouse part of the store. We find our aisle, then our bin, and then our dressers. I say my obligatory comment about how amazing those Sweds are with their ability to fit large pieces of furniture into skinny boxes -astonishing! And we (and by "we" I mean David) load the dressers on our cart and move to the check out line. Hand over our debit card, and off we go!
Total time: 14 minutes.
I know.
Mere moments later we were at home, putting together our dressers, with Sunday afternoon football on in the background.
Where does one pick up their Wife of The Year award?

Halloween update

Since I know awaiting the outcome of my recent costume dilemma has kept you up at night- sick with worry for me- I thought I would put you out of your misery and let you know I have in fact found a costume!
After much thought and wayyyyy too much time spent online looking for a costume, we officially have a winner:
I have short legs, so it is even longer on me than on this chick, so it falls under appropriate length and neckline requirements for me. That may seem an odd thing to say, but trust me, if you looked at some of the costumes out there for grown women you would know what I mean!
A relief to have that finally taken care of.
And you want to know the best part? Between it's already low price, my $5 off coupon, and the discount I received because some of the fur is coming off the bottom (which I gladly accepted as it meant 10% off and an excuse to use my glue gun, which I am always looking for an excuse to use!), my total came to $12.47!! Can I get a Hallelujah??!?