CAUTION: Woman In Progress

--> Spell your name without vowels: Jn --> What is the date 2 days after your birthday?: 3/25 --> How many pairs of jeans do you own?: Uh...Well, only half of them fit, at the moment, but I think...6? Maybe? --> How many are designer?: Are Faded Glory and Just My Size considered designer?? hehehe --> What color do you wear most?: blue, black, lavender --> Least favorite color?: For clothing? Orange or red. My complexion is too rosy to carry 'em off. --> Last song heard on the radio?: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. Okay, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the last song I heard, but it's the last one I remember . --> What's for dinner tonight?: Slimfast. Yum. --> Are you happy with your life right now?: I'm content. For the moment. --> Tell me a secret about one of your siblings: Huh. Weeeeellll, most of the secrets worth telling are too scandelous to share with the world. hehehehehe --> Anyone ever said you resemble a celebrity?: Nope. --...

Okay, bear with me. I've got more shameless pimping to do. ;-) Two good pals are soon to be releasing their first novels with Wild Rose Press . Donna Michaels' first novel, Thanks For Giving , will be released Friday, December 1, 2006. JT Schultz's first novel, Tinsel and Takeovers will be released Friday, December 8, 2006. While I haven't read their books (yet) I can attest that these two ladies are super talented writers and I couldn't be more thrilled to see their talents recognized through publication. So if you're looking for some new authors, head on over and check them out. Now, back to regularly scheduled blogging. hehehehehe

I have to say, it’s a funny thing when the Lord convicts you of something. I can’t claim to find myself convicted all that often. Not so that I take notice of it, anyhow. I usually just tend to waffle my way along just letting the world decide things for me. That’s not the way to be, but it’s the way I’ve lived since before I can remember. A by-product of never having been allowed to make decisions for myself early in life. However, on those rare occasions, I do find myself convicted and boy does it smart. LOL I know I’ve mentioned the singing thing in here a couple of times. To be honest, when I was (much) younger, I was convinced I was a superstar singer. I come from a family of superstar quality singers and was told from the time I was old enough to read the words from a hymn book that I had talent. Well, another thing you probably know about me is that I have nearly zero self-esteem or confidence when it comes to me having anything worth while to offer. Yes. I realize this goes aga...

Watching the moon in it's phases...just Friday night there was barely a sliver there. Last night it was an even half, slightly tilted as though straining to be burst free. When the sky is clear, a million tiny diamonds sparkle in the inky blackness. Dazzling in their splendor. A natural wonder often ignored, dismissed or unseen. Sloppy, exuberant puppy kisses. Warm spontaneous hugs with giggles and the tickle of a beard. Christmas music providing a backdrop to a colorful Christmas tree. Big brown puppy dog eyes staring in adoration. Those last ten minutes before the alarm goes off in the morning. The covers are warm and snuggly, eyes are still just barely open and the morning is still, quiet and peaceful. Being told "I love you" and knowing that the person saying it means it completely. Praying for an answer/solution and receiving it at just the right moment. Going home after a long weekend away, to the peace and tranquility that only home can afford. The kiss of a cool a...

I'm here. hehehehe It's been a crazy morning. Not likely to get any less so. Tomorrow, maybe. Not today. It's hectic getting caught up with everyone and everything. Trying to cram it all in as quickly as possible. I'll be lucky to get any work done at all today. Well, other than the emergency forms copying I did earlier. ;-) So. Huh. My time away was...Not bad, actually. Won't win any prizes for best holiday ever but it didn't totally suck. Wednesday me and the Devil Pup made like brocolli and vegged all day. I read three and a half books and she slept, chewed on her chewy and went outside. She even put herself down for her naps. lol Sis1 and her crew (who were supposed to stay with me Wednesday night...who I shopped for, btw) didn't get to leave T-town that afternoon as they'd hoped so I didn't have any company Wednesday night. I was relieved but irritated because now I have a half gallon of the 2% milk they prefer (I don't normally buy milk for...

It's a funny thing, fear is. How just a mere ounce of it can dictate your life, changing the way you live it. Ever since that blasted truck, I've been living in a sort of semi-fearful state. Jumping at shadows, heart pounding each time a vehicle drives past my house. And honestly, it's all over a couple of insidences that could very well have been mere coincidences. Last night really drove that home. You see, there was a time when I felt perfectly (more than likely stupidly) safe in my home. Nestled in the little alcove of woods, I had a false sense of seclusion from the rest of the world. If a knock came on my door, I'd answer it, certain that whoever lay in wait on the other side had only good intentions at heart. Not so, anymore. Last night, somewhere on the early side of 8:00, I was sitting on the couch watching television. Libby was in a timeout in her crate when all of a sudden I heard the distinct sound of knuckles wrapping on the window of my door. I might have ...

Me in the dress nearly 18 months ago. I had to wear a long line (high waisted) girdle to keep me all in there. This is me in the dress just last week. I can pinch an inch on BOTH SIDES! hehehehehe Maybe by next year I'll be SWIMMING in it! Now. If I could just do something about those flabby arms...

Saturday was girls' day out. How sad is it that our fifty-three-year-old mother out walked Sis2 and myself? LOL We ended up crumpled on the shoe fitting bench at JCPenny's and Mama had to pull the car around for us. hehehehe But then, we HAD been on our feet for about six hours--our only break being about an hour and a half for lunch (at Applebee's) and that was with four hours under our belt and around two hours after that. So yeah. Jana's feet was GIVE. OUT. Sis2's legs were give out and it was all either of us could do to keep from just laying out on the floor of the store. hehehehe But we had fun. Bought some clothes. Some SMALLER clothes. hehehe THAT felt awesome. Sis2 and I joked that we might actually meet in the middle at some point and be able to share clothes. I hope, for her sake, that we don't. I'd hate for her to get much bigger than she is. I don't know that her self-esteem can handle too much more. But at least now she's figuring out a...

I done been TAGGED! When do you put up your tree? When I was a young’un, we always put our tree up two weeks prior to the BIG DAY. We always had a live tree. Big (not enourmous, but at least 6 feet) cedars. Sometime in the middle of my teen years, the live tree shrunk to a three or four footer and then morphed into a four foot artificial and then when I was in college finally settled into a 5 foot artificial that we started putting up the day after Thanksgiving. Now that I’m out on my own (for the past 4 years, 5 if you count this one) I have a little three footer that sets on a table in front of the front window. I try to put it up either the day after Thanksgiving if possible. If not, then that weekend or at some point the week after. How do you decorate it, colors, white lights, colored lights? I have a mix of ornaments that I inherited from my parents, and some new ones I’ve either bought or been given as gifts. I (like my dad) prefer the colored lights that “dance.” Just plain o...

I'm baaaaaa-aaaack... Yeah. Ya'll remember that three day vacation that I was bubbling about a few posts ago? Yeah. The past three days were it. LOL I totally spazzed and forgot until after I left work Friday. How lame am I that I forgot to remember my own vacation? *shakes head* Actually, I DID realize it, I just forgot to remind myself to let the world know that when I disappeared it wasn't because I was lying dead in a ditch somewhere in ten different pieces. Sorry for freaking everyone out. *blushes* I realized after I got home Friday what it would seem like but had no way of getting word that I was merely skipping work for three days. My bad. Yes. You may slap my hand, yell at me or whatever. ;-) (No spanking, though, unless you're a hottie cowboy fresh off a ranch somewhere with big calloused hands and a great big...err...horse. hehehe) So anyway... My Vacation by Jana (Remember those old essays in grade school? lol) Saturday as you may (or may not) have known, wa...

Last night was…err…weird. I had to work a bit later yesterday so it put me home well after dark. Well, Miss Libby was unusually hyper and unruly. Whether due to this fact or because she’s just a general pain in the butt, I don’t know. But she was being a pain in the butt, nonetheless. Well, I was on my second trip outside with her (she was being stubborn) when I got a fright. (Not a huge fright. But just a little nervous fright.) The truck came back. While I was outside with Libby. (You remember the truck.) I was standing out on the carport in front of the house when a truck came down the road. I had a brief hint of apprehension when it didn't stop at the house before you round the curve to mine, but thought, no need to panic. I do have neighbors on down past my house. But then it slowed to a stop. At the foot of my driveway. And just sat there. I quickly hustled Libby into the house (shaking like a leaf) and locked the doors. I heard it drive off a few minutes later but I was stil...

Guilt trips do NOT work on me. Try guilting me and see how fast I do the exact OPPOSITE of what you want me to do. Unless I was already intending on doing it anyway. In which case, I'll torture you making you think I'm not going to do it. Libby has learned how to a.) jump on my bed, b.) steal my coffee and c.) give me a concussion. When I tell you I'm irritable, I'm not issuing an invitation for you to stand there trying to dig out of me why. You only make me that much more irritable. Not sticking around to hear an explanation for something you've asked me about makes me very ill with you. I hope your inconsiderate, unprofessional and childish behavior comes back to haunt you in a big way. I was not surprised to find out that Britney and Kevin are divorcing. What I want to know is...What took them so long?? (And really...Does he even have a career for it to hurt?) I don't "do" politics. Unless you're making fun of someone, nine times out of ten wh...

That would be me. Boo. *sigh* Yesterday was the day from...well, let's just say it's hot down there. Not only did it start out drizzing rain (blech!) but it quickly went to...you know, before I could even blink. And just when I thought I was climbing my way out of the inferno, darn it all to crap if somebody didn't step on my fingers and send me falling back down into the pit. So :-P~~~~ to the finger stepping itch-bay. You will not defeat me today. You WILL NOT. Because I hate being crabby. I loathe snapping at innocent people and feeling my shoulders tighten and my head vibrate. I despise this burning in my eyes and the uncontrolable urge to throw things while I cry and scream. I'd rather not see your face, hear your voice or so much as speak your name. And I won't spit on you if today turns out to be YOUR day in...well, you know.

Don't know how I missed it, but Heather also tagged me to share 5 interesting things about myself that people don't already know. Right. Because ya'll don't know ENOUGH of my deep dark secrets. LOL 1.) When I was three, Sis2 and I were in a bushhog accident resulting in my having a fractured leg and she nearly losing both of hers. 2.) When I was eleven, I was "in love" with a 16-year-old boy who was "in love" with Sis1. I hated her for MONTHS for hurting his feelings when he asked her out (with flowers and candy and a profession of his feelings) and she said no. Never occured to me to be jealous. I was too busy thinking her stupid. LOL 3.) My freshmen year of high school I was Miss West Clay High, complete with tiara and sash. (This is getting darn hard. I'm so totally uninteresting...) 4.) I sang my first church solo when I was 12 but haven't sang one in five years. (that doesn't count the one time, last year, that I sang at my sister...

I did this meme awhile back but my pal Heather tagged me with it so I figured, heck. Why not? I can always shake up the answers, right? 1.)One book that changed your life... This one hasn't changed. Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. This was the first book that really stuck with me and to this DAY I remember how much I loved it. It really inspired a love of reading in me that hopefully will never change. 2) One book that you've read more than once... I've read just about all my books more than once. Or at least, all my older books. Back when I couldn't afford a lot of new books I read all my books on rotation so that they all got equal re-read time. BUT, just to name one, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. 3) One book you'd want on a deserted island... To echo Heather, Oh, gosh -- I have no idea. But if I absolutely had to chose off the top of my head, I'd more than likely say one of Jennifer Weiners...Either In Her Shoes or Goodnight Nobody . OR, I might ju...

Okay. I've gotten enough of these silly email "make a list, be honest and pass it on or you'll have a thousand needles in your eye" emails that it's past time for me to snark on them a bit. You know the ones. They say it's a game and "This really works!" and then at the end they hit you with "You must pass this on to a gazillion people within the next 20 seconds or you'll live a miserable life with boils in your side." Got one just this morning. The Chinese Zodiac one. I thought that if it warned me not to scroll down and spoil the "fun" one more time I was going to reach into the screen, rip it out and have it for dinner. So here it is, with my answers to the questions my comments to the so called predictions. (Warnings not to cheat included for your viewing pleasure.) Horoscope test it will freak u out! Freaky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHINESE HOROSCOPE: AMAZINGLY ACCURATE (Uh-huh. We'll see.) Whatever you do, don't cheat! (Fir...

My broadcast performance teacher would be so proud! LOL What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. The South Philadelphia The Inland North The West The Northeast North Central Boston What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

My pal, Donna Alward, got a new two book contract from Harlequin. Yay! See details, here . Congrats, Donna! Realized yesterday that there is a new Elizabeth Flock book out this month. Everything Must Go . Check it out. Ms. Flock’s two previous books, But Inside I’m Screaming and Me and Emma were some seriously fabulous reads. Not exactly romance but some seriously fabulous reads, nontheless. ;-) Keith Urban’s new CD, Love, Pain and the Whole Silly Thing comes out on the seventh. A big Kieth fan, here. Despite his marriage to Nicole Kidman (blech) and his recent trip to rehab, he’s still one of the most talented performers I’ve ever loved. (And no, not just his looks. His music drew me first. Sothere !) If you’ve not heard his most recent single, “Once in a Lifetime Love,” what are you waiting for? Get out there, find it and listen. It’s awesome. I just got approvaed for a three day vacation coming up soon. Yeah. Boo. Just three days but that’s three days I’ll be away from the walls ...

Lately it seems that God is everywhere I look. Yes, He’s always been everywhere and in everything and yet sometimes, as a weak, frail and faithless human I sometimes forget. But He said that when we seek Him we shall find him and boy have I been finding Him everywhere. Thank God for that and for the words He shared with me through various sources just this past week alone. This is a devotional sent in the newsletter for a church I attended for a few years. I stopped attending this church several months ago but I still get the newsletter. This devotional may be one reason why. Just goes to show that God uses everything for a blessing… “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important that food, and the body more important than clothes?...Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 7:25-27 This passage comes to mind often, but not because I’m good at following it. Rath...

The silly woman would be me. I seriously think my brain has short circuited. Or something, anyway. I've managed to so thoroughly spook myself that I was just uncomfortable stepping outside my own home last night. I don't know why I got so spooked. Monday night was a singular incident. Odd, yes. Mildly disturbing, sure. But I don't know. I've felt kind of weird for the past few months. Just little odd feelings, some unexplained things. Feeling watched. And then the thing Monday night. So last night after work, Mama and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries. I split off from Mama for a bit because I get so annoyed with the way she shops and I knew exactly everything I had to get so I was trying to get it done so we could go. Well, I don't know why it creeped me out, but there was this guy in there. I mean, he didn't look scuzzy or suspicious at all. Clean shaven, well dressed. Nice looking fella. Just, I don't know. It seemed everywhere I was, he was a...