Save me from myself!!

The other night we had a re-enrollment meeting for Zeke and Zeb going to school next year. It was pretty late when we got done, so we stopped for a quick bite at Steak N Shake. I locked the car door, put the key in my pocket, and went inside.
When we left, Kevin went out first and started my car and buckled Zach in. I sat down in the driver's seat, took Kevin's keys out and reached for mine in my pocket...it wasn't there. Now we are not talking about a key you can just copy at Wal-Mart. It was the kind that is one huge single key with lock, unlock, approach and alarm buttons on it. It is VERY expensive. Remembering I had taken my jacket off in kind of a wierd position I realized it must have fallen out of the pocket, so I ran back in certain I would see it on the floor before I got to the table. I didn't see it, and the fact that the floor of Steak N Shake is covered in little black squares about the size of my key didn't make my search any easier! I looked in the cracks of the booth, all over the floor underneath and when the waitress came back I asked her if she had seen it, which she hadn't. She offered to go look through what she had cleared off to double check for it.
While she was gone, I went back and emptied my purse out thinking maybe I had stuck it in there, retraced my steps about 100 times, and went back in.
The manager suggested I call someone for an extra key, I not very graciously told him I wanted my key because it was very expensive...he didn't seem very interested in helping look too much...and I immediately became suspicious (either he was very lazy OR he knew we weren't going to find it )...I remembered he had also walked outside retracing my steps, and unfortunately irrationality took over and I concocted in my head that he had indeed seen my key, picked it up and then gone out and written down my license tag so that he could later steal my car...fairly certain of my hypothesis I debated on confronting him (THANK YOU LORD for inhibition) after a final sweep of the restaurant which did include me prostrating myself on the floor and rubbing my hand under the booth several times with my rear up in the air...I ended the 45 minute search by leaving my number in case it was found.
On the way home I was so angry, not so much about not having my key but about the poor moral quality of the Steak N Shake manager...the Holy Spirit began to deal in my heart...and I finally came to the point where I could say maybe God is going to use this someway, but no matter what my being angry about being taken advantage of wasn't going to hurt anyone but me, the poor man was probably just glad I was gone!!
It occured to me the next morning that I didn't check the seat where I sat down in the car...maybe it was the Holy Spirit reminding me of how pathetic I am when I 'get in the flesh' which I had in BIG way...but it took about 3 seconds to find it under my car seat.
The moral of the story is I'm nuts, and I thank Jesus for loving me anyway.

A prisoner in my own home...

Yesterday I had MIRACULOUSLY gotten all 3 kids down and sleeping at the same time. I thought I deserved a little nap too, Zanna had been up at 3 am going potty and as dramatic as she is in the light of day, she takes it to a whole new level in the middle of the night. I am usually not at my finest then either...so it makes for a testy exchange...anyhoo...
I was just going to kick back in the recliner with a blanket for a little bit, and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving on the floor. Reassuring myself that I was seeing things, I had just about talked myself out of what I saw until like he had read my mind and wanted to make sure his presence did not go unnoticed the unwelcome visitor made another lap around my entertainment system. It was a little black mouse!!
As I debated whether or not I should call Kevin's school and tell him to come home for an emergency, I was eventually able to calm myself down until the brazen menace made another lap around the entertainment center and then made a beeline for my chair. I screamed and stomped my feet up and down on the foot rest hoping to scare him back behind the tv, but it was like he had already decided there was no turning back. I felt safe in my chair until I pictured him climbing up the interworkings of the chair and coming out the seat, so I jumped up on top of the chair, ran across furniture until I got to the kitchen, propped the door wide open and got my broom determined to defend my family AT ALL COSTS!! (It was like 30 degrees outside)
With my broom I climbed back across the furniture and started beating on the chair hoping to scare him out of his hiding spot and out the door...he didn't budge. I thought maybe he had gone to one of the other couches or baskets I have around the coffee table and end tables...no luck. I started dragging shoes across the floor with my broom to throw at various places around the room hoping to flush him out of hiding...but he was just too good for me. I finally gave up, although I stayed out of that room for the rest of the day and warned the children to do the same.
This of course brought an onslaught of questions about the fatality of a mouse bite and what kind of germs they carried on their little claws...I realized my paranoia was frightening them so I played it down despite my desire to completely freak out until the beast was brought to justice...
Long story not as long as it could be, we set a trap, apparently he isn't a fan of organic almond butter which Kevin accidentally used instead of peanut butter, and I dreamed about mice all night long, in my dream we caught the black one but there were about 4 more to take his place and they were all mocking me...I never had a mouse in my house until I moved to the South!! Alaska here I come I have had it! The bad grammar and ignorance I can handle, but the rodents, I cannot!!

Random Ramblings

Original title, I know...I have a dear sweet friend who is on my case to update, but there isn't much exciting going on in my life.

My sweet husband surprised me with peanut m&m's last night:)

On the way home last night Zanna asked, "Mommy what's a zavior (savior)?" To which I replied, "A savior saves us from something just like Jesus saves us from our sins."
She thought for a second and then came back with, "Yeah, Jesus saves us from our sin, and bad guys and bears and wolves and monsters and gooses and if you are stuck in a wall!"
I would say that about sums it up.

My house is clean which is a great feeling.

God has been so faithful to me and my family. I am so blessed to have found such a fabulous church.

Last week I thought we were going to maybe have a snow day, didn't happen. Then I really thought we were going to have a snow day yesterday...didn't happen. I checked this morning thinking it will probably happen on the day I don't expect it, and I got really excited because there were school closings...but not us. But, since I do have plans to go to lunch tomorrow, if I were a betting woman I would put my money on a snow day;)

Interviewing 101

Here I am, 30 years old, looking to begin a career, not really wanting to just yet, but it seems to be about that time, I have a master's degree but no experience, so I am in the catch 22 of over qualified for some jobs and underexperienced for all the rest, I finally got an interview with a company that would have been a FABULOUS opportunity and I learned so much I thought I would share. Key word there is would, they are going to pursue other candidates.

1. If you leave an interview feeling like it was more like a therapy session, that is not a good sign. The less you talk, the better.

2. Figure out what in the world muti-tasking is other than cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen and doing some laundry at the same time. Also better not include the term multi-tasker in your resume profile and then say that you prefer to work uninterrupted.

3. When they ask you questions, such as are you an introvert or an extrovert, are you a servant or a leader, etc. etc., don't answer both to all questions.

4. Don't tell them that you frequently end up working with a sense of urgency due to poor planning and time management even if it's true. Spin it a little bit with something positive.

5. Don't completely freak out and feel like a huge loser because all 3 people that are interviewing you are SIGNIFICANTLY younger than you are (and apparently all drank a red bull immediately before the interview.)

6. Drink a red bull immediately before the interview.

7. If everyone else at the table is taking notes, that may be a clue that you should be writing something down too.

8. When asked where you see yourself in 5 years, do not answer, "Wherever God wants me to be." EVEN IF IT IS A CHRISTIAN COMPANY.

9. If your potential boss has written a book, READ IT.

Well, this certainly has been cathartic, finding a job would be more cathartic, I really did learn a lot on that interview, I wish it hadn't been my first one. I will probably reapply in a different department of the company if anything comes open...in the meantime I will be reading a book and developing an affinity for red bull.

For Leah

I can't remember if I have apologized for all the horrible things I did to you in college, but rest assured I am getting what is coming to me now. I remember how I used to set my alarm for an hour before I had to get up...and how you hated it for all 3 years that we lived together...well I am going on 8 years of marriage, and that is the cross I must bear...I guess you really do reap what you sow...

I wonder, has Buddy ever hit you in the face with a mirror?