25 Random Things About Me

1. I will surrender my woman card and admit that I do not like dark or milk chocolate. I do like white chocolate though...

2. My cat was found in a gutter and looked like a rat. Now he just looks like I've fed him whipped cream and peanut butter for the majority of his life.

3. Before I die, I will visit all 7 continents. (3 down, four to go)

4. I actually love to write, however, I hate writing in my job....

5. I could never read and own enough books. Makes moving fun! :)

6. My first name means the same as my middle name, Joy.

7. If I could, I would blog for a living.

8. I really dislike talking on the phone however, texting is strangely comforting.

9. I could eat a potato in varing forms every day. Probably the same for tomatoes and a cold glass of milk.

10. I was the good kid in school. No one ever heard a peep from me. Recently I saw my speech teacher Mr. Kapanka at a wedding and he commented that I was always the quiet, good kid in class. He then tells me that those are the ones that are the worst. They have no idea, I was so devious.....

11. I used to sneak the hard pieces of brown sugar from it's container to eat them when my mom wasn't looking. A lot.....it probably explains the problems I've had with my teeth.

12. I owned a convertible in Hawaii in which the floorboards filled with water after a hard rain. Just the floorboards, I have no idea how the water got in, I think it was a freak of nature. I also used that experience to give Tuemler a good laugh when I would remove the water with a turkey baster.

13. A good human interest story where the person overcomes some huge setback always brings a tear to my eye. I never let people see it though....

14. I can trace my maternal father's family back to the 1700s in Germany.

15. Jay and I rarely agree on anything, just the important stuff. Keeps it exciting!

16. I used to want 6 kids. Now I'm not sure I could handle one.

17. During college I babysat for a family of four. They had an older son and triplets. I'm pretty sure one of those triplets is now a serial killer. He (at 3) once hit me with a golf club probably because I didn't get him his snack fast enough.

18. I have been blessed to witness first hand two births! What an amazing experience (for me anyway!) and Gabriel and Dinah were worth every lost minute of sleep.

19. I'd rather be at the beach than pretty much anywhere.

20. I could buy out the Yankee Candle store and still probably not have enough candles.

21. I am a deeply suspicious person. If there is a conspiracy theory to be had in a situation I will think of it and promote it.

22. Plumerias are my favorite flowers.

23. People either say I look like Sarah Jessica Parker or Caroline Bissett Kennedy (sp?). Somehow this seems twisted. One is dead and the other has been voted most ugly.

24. I believe I have the best parents and brother and sister-in-law. I think they should all move to Virginia. :)

25. I have more clothes than any one person deserves. Yet I always want more....

Amazing

On Sunday (regretably I was at home sick but Jay got to go) our church Life Point gave the congregation an average week of giving (about $12,000) in increments of $10, $20, $100 and even $1000 to everyone there. The idea was that we were to give all this money back to the community to show God's love to them.

In a time where hope (in this world) seems to be fleeting, I wanted to share the website that houses all the comments from people who gave back and their stories of how God directly them to give, some to people they knew and some to people who they did not.

If you are in for a bit of encouragement that God still does amazing miraculous things, or if you just want to warm your heart go to:

http://www.visitlifepoint.org/blog/?p=5#comments

Our hope is not in this world but in God above. :)

Winter Wonderland

Virginia's (excluding the mountains) first snow! This is what we woke up to this morning. Now Iowans (midwesterns in general) pay attention: ALL schools are closed! Look how little snow there is!!! :) Hee hee. In keeping with Virginian tradition, I cancelled my appointments today (mostly because there were so many accidents out there and I would just be sitting in traffic) and am at home drinking coffee, watching the snow and working on a HUGE deadline I have today.

So blessed.

I was struck by several things today. Today we swore in our new President. Although I will probably agree with very few of his decisions, I am reminded how lucky we are in America. Rick Warren's prayer hit on so many good issues today at the Inauguration but one thing stood out.

"We are blessed enough to witness the peaceful exchange of power for the 44th time in our nation's history." (paraphrase)

Simple saying however, on this day when I worry about some of my values being threatened by the new admistration, I see how we are still so blessed. For over 200 years we have lived in relative peace (with the exception of the Civil War) in our lands with no fear of forceful take overs in our government.

My daily worry is not over what I will find to eat or if another ethnicity will rise to power that will attempt to annhiliate mine. I don't worry about a warm home or even hot water. We have so much in this country!!!

We are in the midst of a series of financial sermons at our church and something Pastor Daniel said a couple weeks ago really resonated with me. He was talking about the passages in Scripture that address riches and people who are rich. We have a tendency to assume that the Scriptures are not speaking to us in this section. Because being rich is a moving target. He showed us that we are the ones that God is speaking to as the rich.

Pastor Daniel also brought up a very shocking statistic. If you make $37,000 a year, you are in the world's top 4% of all income earners. If you make $45,000 a year, you are in the world's top 1% of all income earners. Wow! Talk about a change of perspective. I live my life based on how many clothes I can buy....

So for most of the majority of the US, and yes, even those who live on significantly less that $37,000 a year, we are extremely wealthy. God has blessed this country with monetary wealth and looking back, so much relative peace!

I was driving today thinking about these things and my thoughts turned to a couple that I went to high school with. They have a son born with heart problems. He has had 4 open heart surgeries in the past 2 years. They have faced significant financial difficulties resulting from many medical bills. They are concerned about the well-being of their son. The mother/wife just had an accident were she was injured and incurred more medical bills. To top it off, the husband/father was laid off from his job on Friday. And yet, they continue to walk in faith.

As we face these changes and trying economic times, we do have a constant. God is still in control. It did not surprise Him that 9/11/01 occurred. It did not surprise Him that Obama was elected our 44th President. It did not surprise Him that bad things would happen to good people. However, nothing is allowed to happen without His express allowance. Sure, we make our own decisions and sometimes choose the wrong ones, however, He does make all things good and He does have a plan and it's a good one.

So today, a day that leads to all of our futures, I have a different feeling than I thought I would. And that is one of thankfulness for all He has entrusted us with in this country. We are so blessed!

It's Done!

Just registered for the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon on 5/17/09. There is no turning back now as I've just invested $60 in making myself train for the race. It's here in Fred-Vegas.

http://www.marinecorpshistorichalf.com/Top_Nav/Register.htm

Let the fun begin.....

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

I hate speed limits. I think they are put there by an overly regulating government who does not spend enough time going after real criminals. ***Back when I worked for car place, I had to go meet a state trooper who had pulled over a rental car full of illegals. I had to pick up the car and the trooper dropped them off at the nearest McDonalds because INS is just too busy. Oh, and they got no tickets because they were not registered in this country.***

Yet, they have interest in pulling me over two times in the past month. Up until this point in my driving career, I have only managed one ticket and it wasn't for speeding.

Now to be fair, up until about a month ago, I have been a speed demon. I just don't see the point of moving slowly when I have places to be. And often times, in this greater DC area, I am unable to even move at the speed limit as we are basically moving backwards in this ridiculous traffic. Alas, that topic is for another post.....

Anyway, last month in NC while visiting Jesse and Stacie I got a ticket for speeding (first ever in my life). In my defense, there was an open road and being from DC, I was so unaccustomed to moving without inhibitions, that I was just happily driving away (at an unknown speed under and unknown speed limit) when a cop pulled me over. In my bliss of trafficless driving I had managed to be going 70 miles an hour in a 55. Who drives 55 anyway?

Aside from seething from the thought of having to spend $150 on a ticket instead of clothes I brushed it off. With all the speeding I have done in my life I figured I probably deserved it.

*******I no longer deserve any speeding tickets*************

Apparently the Sheriff's office and deputies of Caroline County did not get this memo.

Because of the ticket last month, I have been driving very carefully lately. I've been obeying speed limits in all arenas besides I-95 and let's be honest, if you are not going at least 80 on I-95, I want you off the road. You should not even be allowed on I-95 if not willing to drive that fast. Again, that is another post for another day.....

SO, I had had a meeting for work today and was driving home on Route 1. For those non-Virginians, this is a hilly 4 lane road that runs parallel to I-95 and the speed limit is 55. Because I have been so cautious lately, I put the cruise control on at somewhere between 55 and 60.

I'm driving ignorantly along, blissfully unaware of my coming doom.

As I'm driving I see an SUV with lights on pull out onto Route 1 about 3/4 of a mile behind me. I panic briefly and then realize that I have on my cruise control. I'm totally safe! :)

I keep driving and slowly realize that they are still coming up behind me and are not speeding up so as to pass me. The SUV comes right up on the BMW behind me and the BMW starts to pull over but then the SUV goes around the BMW and I start blaspheming all police departments as I realize they are after me.....

the hardened criminal......

who has a security clearance......

and has been very good lately about speeding.....

Crap.

So I pull over and the deputy asks me why I think he pulled me over.

I looked as him dumbly (and innocently I might add...) and he enlightens me. You (me) were going 62. And I'm thinking, am I really getting pulled over for going 7 over? And I had been going down a hill which made my cruise control go up a bit.

I cannot win.

Then he tells me that for a brief minute, the speed limit reduces to 45. Shut the front door! Are you kidding me? That is reckless driving in Virginia and I could totally lose my license and job.

Boo to cops, go arrest someone harmful to society.

Anyway, I manage to get out of a ticket or a warning due to a fluke and he only runs a background check on me to make sure I'm not wanted anywhere.

Luckily (barely squeeked by that one) he found nothing and I was free to go.

I'm not sure how much more I can alter my behavior and if bad things come in threes I'm due for one now. I'd better start thinking about how to get out of the next one.....

Hereditary

I was thinking while scrubbing one of my toilets on what is now my ritual Saturday morning cleaning:

How did I get here?

I have to thank my mom for my love of cleanliness, because it was her idea to clean every Saturday morning.

To a child, this is utterly ridiculous torture. When I was a kid, cartoons (the good kind) were on from 7am to noon and the last thing I wanted to do was clean!

Hence my early on slothfulness.

I remember having the weekly task of cleaning the upstairs bathroom. That thing was disgusting. Probably because my brother and I were the only ones to use it. I distinctly remember incorrectly cleaning it on purpose. Either to annoy my mom (sorry mom) for giving me this horrible task or to get her to do it. Somehow, as a child, this made sense: spending time doing a job incorrectly so I wouldn't have to do it.....(duh). She still made me do it again the next week so who knows why I tried this more than once....

Now I'm a clean freak, thanks all to my mom!

So thanks mom, for making me clean. Sorry you didn't get to reap any of the benefits.

Bring it on 2009.

So most people out there make some New Year's resolutions at the beginning of every year. Not Jay! Jay doesn't like doing anything that everyone else is doing.

Example: He currently hates anything pomagranate because it is the 'in' thing right now. He is a such pomagranate snub. I love it however so I used that to annoy him.

So anyway, he decided several years ago that for his New Year's resolution that he would never make New Year's resolution again. So far, he has been more successful than the majority of the American public on keeping their resolutions.

So that covers Jay.

Me, I'm a little more complex. I always have the best intentions on making resolutions but then I never make them. This year I decided that I would just set a goal rather than make a resolution. So I have decided to run the Historic Fredericksburg Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon on 5/17/09.

Yes, yes, I'm a classic underachiever. Only I would set a goal of running a 1/2 marathon when I've run two marathons. However, a marathon is just more than I would like to take on. All the scheduling that goes on, you have to cut out huge chunks of your day to run in the later training and you have to schedule all your meals to make sure you eat enough carbs at the right time. I'm just not feelin' it.

So 1/2 marathon here I come. I'm telling you all because I need some accountability. Jay's already told a lot of people here so I thought I'd also share with the cyber world. :)

There you have it, my life shattering resolution. Any other takers????

Happy New Year's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!