I am sitting in the customer seating area of my Honda dealer, waiting for my car to finish getting an oil change. I randomly looked at the little sticker in the upper left corner of my windshield earlier this week and realized my car was about 800 miles overdue for an oil change. I had called my Honda dealer to see when they could take me, assuming they would have more openings on Friday than Saturday; however, as you can see, here I am on Saturday. I don't care, I'm just glad I am getting back on track. My dealer is kind enough to offer free Internet service at a little computer station for the customers while we wait. Talk about great multi-tasking for me!
I spoke to Jim briefly last night while he was driving and I filled him in on the plan for Christmas for the very little kids of my parish--we (well, technically, the kids in the youth group) are going to host a "Breakfast with Santa" event, but in an effort to try to help the kids remember WHY we celebrate Christmas the event is going to be called "Santa Presents...Breakfast With Baby Jesus." We will have the Baby Jesus in the manger from our large nativity scene set up in the room and will have the kids see Him and have a picture taken with Him (kind of like they do with Santa, but we still have to figure out the exact logistics of that). I know the little ones will still be more jazzed about hearing a big Santa yelling "Ho Ho Ho," but at least we are trying to instill a sense of meaning, which is more than I can say for some of their parents, but I digress.
I had a long talk with Cathi and Terry yesterday (two of my great older lady friends from my parish) and they feel like I may have to marry an older man in order to marry someone who is living the life I am trying to live. I don't disagree with them, to a point, but my Dad is only 59 years old for goodness sake, and I simply don't see myself being attracted to a man the same age as my dad or even very close to his age.
My consolation is that even if I have no idea that is in store for me in terms of a husband (or lack thereof) the Lord knows what the plan is. I have complete faith in that plan. He hasn't ever steered me wrong. I will continue to fight the good fight in His name. I know that I will never be punished for trying to live by the teachings of Mother Church, in fact, my life will be blessed, so I am content with what unfolds specifically designed for me.
God will not be outdone.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
What are you thankful for?
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I'll tell you one thing I am thankful for right now--the fact that today is the first day of a 4-day weekend. As I mentioned a time or two ago, the next 2 weeks at work are going to busy and challenging, so I am happy to have a few mindless days of nothing before it all begins. Although, truth be told, I think the fact that the busy time at work as a clear and definitive end to it makes a huge difference in my outlook, so I know I'll make it. Oh, and by the way, E did the right thing and finally told me where he is going on his vacation before we left work yesterday.
I went to mass this morning. I always try to go on Thanksgiving. If I can't give thanks to God for the countless blessings I have been given and am given every day on Thanksgiving day in particular, when else can I? Really and truly, that is what today is all about. Fr Pat kept up with what apparantly is a very old tradition of blessing bread after mass and then he distributed it (he kindly gave me 3 rolls so I can share them with my parents).
I am happy to be with my parents today--it's always just the 3 of us on Thanksgiving and we always wind up having a good time. It's very relaxed since it's just us and the food is good and we usually wind up yelling and laughing about various things. I will stop by a friend's house later tonight for dessert.
Mike Day was working at QVC yesterday, filming some of the Thanksgiving Day material in advance (product shots and the like). He is recently back from a trip to California (LA and south) and enjoyed it although it sounded like he saw more people than places. It was his first time there. Speaking of travels, I think a trip to Italy is a go for me in later 2007--it will likely be my parents, me, and Cathi and Terry (my friends from church).
I hope you are all with people you love today and I pray you will take some time to remember all of the blessings of the past year and give a word of thanks to God.
I'll tell you one thing I am thankful for right now--the fact that today is the first day of a 4-day weekend. As I mentioned a time or two ago, the next 2 weeks at work are going to busy and challenging, so I am happy to have a few mindless days of nothing before it all begins. Although, truth be told, I think the fact that the busy time at work as a clear and definitive end to it makes a huge difference in my outlook, so I know I'll make it. Oh, and by the way, E did the right thing and finally told me where he is going on his vacation before we left work yesterday.
I went to mass this morning. I always try to go on Thanksgiving. If I can't give thanks to God for the countless blessings I have been given and am given every day on Thanksgiving day in particular, when else can I? Really and truly, that is what today is all about. Fr Pat kept up with what apparantly is a very old tradition of blessing bread after mass and then he distributed it (he kindly gave me 3 rolls so I can share them with my parents).
I am happy to be with my parents today--it's always just the 3 of us on Thanksgiving and we always wind up having a good time. It's very relaxed since it's just us and the food is good and we usually wind up yelling and laughing about various things. I will stop by a friend's house later tonight for dessert.
Mike Day was working at QVC yesterday, filming some of the Thanksgiving Day material in advance (product shots and the like). He is recently back from a trip to California (LA and south) and enjoyed it although it sounded like he saw more people than places. It was his first time there. Speaking of travels, I think a trip to Italy is a go for me in later 2007--it will likely be my parents, me, and Cathi and Terry (my friends from church).
I hope you are all with people you love today and I pray you will take some time to remember all of the blessings of the past year and give a word of thanks to God.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I found all of your old comments!!
Hello everyone!
Dumb me (aka blogging dope) just found all of the old comments that you guys posted and have been in the "holding area!" I have released them all, so please scroll through the past few old posts and read, read, read!!
Dumb me (aka blogging dope) just found all of the old comments that you guys posted and have been in the "holding area!" I have released them all, so please scroll through the past few old posts and read, read, read!!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Friday ramblings...
I hope everyone has had a great week.
On my end, all is really well. I am going for some annual blood work on Monday morning (I am taking the day off too!) so please pray for good/normal results. I have regular blood work done to monitor me because my dad has diabetes (and so did his dad). I appreciate your prayers, as always!
Work is going well. We are getting ready to come up on a busy period, because we have a couple of new people starting and I will likely be training one of them (which, after training and checking all of the work for upwards of 5 and 6 people at once during the consolidation of our production sites a year and a half ago, one new person on top of the one employee’s work that I still check is a dream!). However, E is getting ready to go on a 2-week vacation to an undisclosed location (he won’t tell me because he knows it drives me crazy. Does he have my number or what?!) and his workload is getting ready to change, so, in a sense, I will wind up doing his new journal for the 2 weeks he is gone. That alone is also not a huge deal and I will live. However, the start of his 2-week secret vacation coincides to the day of the new employees first day. Oh, and I am out of the office that very first day too. Ah, such are the joys of Management!
This weekend will be quiet (and a nice 3-day weekend at that). Next weekend is a marathon of running around like a lunatic with women’s group on Friday, my youth ministry certification class Saturday day, mass, a girl’s night with some of the girlfriends from high school on Saturday night, volunteering with my dad to deliver Thanksgiving dinner baskets to families in the town where my parents live on Sunday morning, and youth group Sunday night.
Life can never just naturally spread itself out, can it?
Oh, and an LC and Darryl update (they are the ones with the really mean, trouble-making neighbor below them). They are moving! LC’s parents are getting ready to retire in the next 2 years (LC’s mom has been a first grade teacher for many years, and should have retired long ago, but she loves it so much. She is basically being given a package in 2 years to make room for young blood). They have bought a house that went up for sale 5 doors away from LC’s sister (and 2 minutes away from where LC and Darryl currently live). So, since the parents are not yet ready to move from NY to CT, they told LC and Darryl to sell their condo and live in the house the parents bought for the next 2 years. LC and Darryl will have to contribute to the mortgage the amount they paid for their mortgage in the condo. It’s a great way for them to get out of a bad situation, the only bad side is that even in the 2 months since LC and Darryl last spoke to their realtor the price they can ask for the condo has dropped about ten thousand dollars. The housing market is really starting to tank, I guess. I barely know, I’ve been in my condo almost 10 years now, if anyone can believe that!
Have a safe and fun weekend! God bless!
On my end, all is really well. I am going for some annual blood work on Monday morning (I am taking the day off too!) so please pray for good/normal results. I have regular blood work done to monitor me because my dad has diabetes (and so did his dad). I appreciate your prayers, as always!
Work is going well. We are getting ready to come up on a busy period, because we have a couple of new people starting and I will likely be training one of them (which, after training and checking all of the work for upwards of 5 and 6 people at once during the consolidation of our production sites a year and a half ago, one new person on top of the one employee’s work that I still check is a dream!). However, E is getting ready to go on a 2-week vacation to an undisclosed location (he won’t tell me because he knows it drives me crazy. Does he have my number or what?!) and his workload is getting ready to change, so, in a sense, I will wind up doing his new journal for the 2 weeks he is gone. That alone is also not a huge deal and I will live. However, the start of his 2-week secret vacation coincides to the day of the new employees first day. Oh, and I am out of the office that very first day too. Ah, such are the joys of Management!
This weekend will be quiet (and a nice 3-day weekend at that). Next weekend is a marathon of running around like a lunatic with women’s group on Friday, my youth ministry certification class Saturday day, mass, a girl’s night with some of the girlfriends from high school on Saturday night, volunteering with my dad to deliver Thanksgiving dinner baskets to families in the town where my parents live on Sunday morning, and youth group Sunday night.
Life can never just naturally spread itself out, can it?
Oh, and an LC and Darryl update (they are the ones with the really mean, trouble-making neighbor below them). They are moving! LC’s parents are getting ready to retire in the next 2 years (LC’s mom has been a first grade teacher for many years, and should have retired long ago, but she loves it so much. She is basically being given a package in 2 years to make room for young blood). They have bought a house that went up for sale 5 doors away from LC’s sister (and 2 minutes away from where LC and Darryl currently live). So, since the parents are not yet ready to move from NY to CT, they told LC and Darryl to sell their condo and live in the house the parents bought for the next 2 years. LC and Darryl will have to contribute to the mortgage the amount they paid for their mortgage in the condo. It’s a great way for them to get out of a bad situation, the only bad side is that even in the 2 months since LC and Darryl last spoke to their realtor the price they can ask for the condo has dropped about ten thousand dollars. The housing market is really starting to tank, I guess. I barely know, I’ve been in my condo almost 10 years now, if anyone can believe that!
Have a safe and fun weekend! God bless!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Farewell Massachusetts Man...
I bid a fond farewell to my Massachusetts pen pal this morning. I thought about it all weekend and I felt it was really for the best. He was not surprised and I can’t say he disagreed.
As I stated in previous posts, he was a nice man with a lot of the qualities that I need to find in a future husband, if I am meant to marry (like living by all of the teachings of the Catholic Church--a partnership with someone who doesn't just wouldn't work, believe me, I have tried to compromise and it leads to disaster and resentment. I'd rather stay single and I mean that in all sincerity!). Believe it or not there are some guys out there that do live lives similar to what mine has been over the past several years--it’s just a matter of finding those guys, because they are few and far between, especially in today’s society!
However, in addition to those obviously critical similarities that we must have in order to be able to create a life together, there are also the other “regular” factors that come into play for two people getting to know each other, for example, am I attracted to him, do we share similar interests and goals, is he funny, etc.
We were on the same page exactly with all of the first area, in the second area it was more difficult to tell. As I had told you guys before, he was so kind and really genuine, but he really seemed to be quite serious. The fact that he was his mom’s sole caregiver (despite having 3 siblings, 2 of which were local) bothered me some. It came across to me that his older, married siblings took the fact that Massachusetts man (hereafter called MM) was unmarried for granted and expected him to bear the complete burden.
I am all for caring for our parents as they age—hey, they raised us—but, this situation was really not good. The mom clearly is suffering from some sort of Alzheimer’s/dementia and they are having trouble getting a doctor to diagnose her. My mom’s mom had Alzheimer’s and I know first-hand how hard it is to care for a person with that disease as it progresses and the patient declines. I am not sure how MM expects to be able to be his mother’s sole caregiver, work a job, and start and raise a family (having a family is his dream). He seems very resistant to relocation, due to his mother (and that being said, he needs to be more upfront about that, especially if he is going to be contacting women who are NOT in Massachusetts). Also, not to be completely selfish, but does a woman who is newly married and looking to start a family want to her have her elderly mother-in-law in the house with her? If I am being truthful, in this situation, I have to say that that I do not think so (but I think I am more inclined to say that because I didn’t really know MM, if I knew a man and loved him and knew his family and circumstances, I think I would/could feel differently about that situation—I’d never ask my husband to ditch his mom for me either, you know?)
Finally, MM never asked me anything of substance. He liked me on the surface—a cute photo and a great profile. He thought I was cute and he knew I was religious. I think he thought that was all it took and we can leave the rest to God. I like to try to leave a lot of the big things to God, but I also like to be an informed consumer! Find out more about me! Ask questions without asking too many questions? Find out about my life, my family, my friends, my job. Ask something. That’s how you really tell someone you are interested, no?
Today I ask that we pray for MM. That his mother get a firm diagnosis on her illness, that he get support and assistance in caring for her, and that the Lord, if it is His will that MM be married, send him a woman who lives locally who could fit in with his situation and be a supportive partner.
As I stated in previous posts, he was a nice man with a lot of the qualities that I need to find in a future husband, if I am meant to marry (like living by all of the teachings of the Catholic Church--a partnership with someone who doesn't just wouldn't work, believe me, I have tried to compromise and it leads to disaster and resentment. I'd rather stay single and I mean that in all sincerity!). Believe it or not there are some guys out there that do live lives similar to what mine has been over the past several years--it’s just a matter of finding those guys, because they are few and far between, especially in today’s society!
However, in addition to those obviously critical similarities that we must have in order to be able to create a life together, there are also the other “regular” factors that come into play for two people getting to know each other, for example, am I attracted to him, do we share similar interests and goals, is he funny, etc.
We were on the same page exactly with all of the first area, in the second area it was more difficult to tell. As I had told you guys before, he was so kind and really genuine, but he really seemed to be quite serious. The fact that he was his mom’s sole caregiver (despite having 3 siblings, 2 of which were local) bothered me some. It came across to me that his older, married siblings took the fact that Massachusetts man (hereafter called MM) was unmarried for granted and expected him to bear the complete burden.
I am all for caring for our parents as they age—hey, they raised us—but, this situation was really not good. The mom clearly is suffering from some sort of Alzheimer’s/dementia and they are having trouble getting a doctor to diagnose her. My mom’s mom had Alzheimer’s and I know first-hand how hard it is to care for a person with that disease as it progresses and the patient declines. I am not sure how MM expects to be able to be his mother’s sole caregiver, work a job, and start and raise a family (having a family is his dream). He seems very resistant to relocation, due to his mother (and that being said, he needs to be more upfront about that, especially if he is going to be contacting women who are NOT in Massachusetts). Also, not to be completely selfish, but does a woman who is newly married and looking to start a family want to her have her elderly mother-in-law in the house with her? If I am being truthful, in this situation, I have to say that that I do not think so (but I think I am more inclined to say that because I didn’t really know MM, if I knew a man and loved him and knew his family and circumstances, I think I would/could feel differently about that situation—I’d never ask my husband to ditch his mom for me either, you know?)
Finally, MM never asked me anything of substance. He liked me on the surface—a cute photo and a great profile. He thought I was cute and he knew I was religious. I think he thought that was all it took and we can leave the rest to God. I like to try to leave a lot of the big things to God, but I also like to be an informed consumer! Find out more about me! Ask questions without asking too many questions? Find out about my life, my family, my friends, my job. Ask something. That’s how you really tell someone you are interested, no?
Today I ask that we pray for MM. That his mother get a firm diagnosis on her illness, that he get support and assistance in caring for her, and that the Lord, if it is His will that MM be married, send him a woman who lives locally who could fit in with his situation and be a supportive partner.
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