Out with the negative, in with the positives.....

Or at least, that's how I'd like this year to be. 

I saw that quote on Facebook last week, and decided to create a pretty version of it to print out, frame, and put on my desk at work.  I deal with a lot of negativity at work, and while I can understand where it is coming from to an extent and even participate in it at times, it really is a draining, downer experience to have to hear it every day, multiples times per day.  So, if you're reading this, and you work with me - if you start getting negative with me and I point to my sign - shush, smile and take your negativity someplace else please.  Positive vibes only for me!

And that's pretty much my motto.  Stressing about things only produces gray hair, wrinkles and upset stomachs.  That's not to say I don't get stressed out or upset when things don't go the way I think they should, cause great googly moogly I do and can be the queen of freaking out.  I try to pick my battles, so to speak, and have to decide what's worth the stressing over and what's not.  One great example was at my wedding - the cake had not arrived as scheduled - I had not even noticed, because I was more focused on the friends and family and what we were there for, not a silly cake.  Someone mentioned it to me and I very calmly called the bakery - the owner was not pleased with how her apprentice had decorated the cake, so she had scraped the cake down and redid it, and would be on her way shortly.  She arrived during the ceremony, and my aunt assisted the bakery folks in placing the cake in the appropriate place and all was fine.  The cake was NOT decorated how I had asked for it to be done, but it was still a pretty cake and tasted good, too.  Some of my friends just could not believe that I wasn't all upset about the cake being late, but I was like "what good would it have done to fret over it?  It still showed up in time for us to cut and serve it, and to me the day was about the vows and my husband, not about some silly confection."

I don't make New Year's resolutions anymore, as they never last and I never stick with them.  But I think I will stick with the pushing out the negative and maintaining the positive idea.  It's a great one, and one that a lot more people should practice. 

Post Christmas 2013

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We had a great time - my mom and her husband are both here for the holidays, all the way from England!  Mom's been here since Thanksgiving Day - she was able to have Thanksgiving Dinner with us at our home.  Marion arrived on 12/21, just in time for Christmas.

Here are some pictures of our décor for our first Christmas in our new home:


This is the wreath that I made for our front door:

 

Here is the foyer and the garland I put up (that's Dominion hanging out at the top of the stairs):

 

 

Here's the tree from the inside of the house (we put the packages on a table so the pups wouldn't step or tinkle on them):

 

 

 

 

Here's the mug my son gave me - finally have a Carolina mug that I can drink out of and enjoyed some mango margaritas last night!  

 

 

 

Here's the view of the house from the outside, with the tree lit up and the garland on the handrails:

 

 

 

Christmas was a lot of fun with the family.  Had good eats, great gifts, and a good time.  I feel so blessed to have the family that I have, both my family, and my husband and son and my mother-in-law.  We may not always get along, but we are family and work with our conflicts. 

 

 

 

Here's the newest addition to our animal menagerie 

 

 

 

He's a dumbo rat, and has a crippled up little foot (you can see it in the photo, it's turned inward and up towards his chest).  I think he's missing a digit on the other front foot, too.  He started out as food for Prissy, but she chose not to eat him and I felt sorry for him because he looked so so pitiful in the tank with her, so we got him the hook up with a house and food.  Now, to think of a cool name for him....any ideas or suggestions????  He seems to be really sweet, lets me pet him (I haven't handled him other than petting him yet, I want him to get comfortable with being touched first).  Of course the pups are quite interested in him, and they would eat him if given half the chance. 

 

I'm making chili and cornbread, and my mom-in-law is making stuffed jalapenos for dinner today - Mom and Marion are bringing Steven back home (he's been with them since Christmas Day), and will be here for dinner.  I'm thinking of undecorating today, but that involves getting into the attic and I just don't know if I can get it done before our dinner guests arrive.  I kinda want Marion to see the house decorated, since he hasn't even seen the house yet other than photos my mom shared with him.  Guess I can put it off another day.

 

Tomorrow will be a busy day - have to go renew my gun permit (finally get my name and address changed on it), file for my homestead exemption, and take Steven by the social security office.  Might as well take him to the post office, too, to have him register for Selective Service, since he turned 18 last month.  I may end up having to go to work tomorrow afternoon - seems there's a problem with our accounting system and I wasn't able to do payroll Friday, so I may have to take care of that tomorrow so that we will all still get paid on Thursday.

 

I likely won't blog again until next year, but who knows.  If not - please don't drink and drive on New Year's Eve!  Make sure you either have a DD or will be partying somewhere that you have a place to sleep it off, if you choose to drink.  Happy New Year!

 



Bah humbug!

For some reason, I cannot access my Facebook page on either my laptop or my phone.  I just get a blank screen.  Facebook will load for other people's accounts on my laptop, just not mine - I get a blank screen when I attempt to connect.  I sent a message to the help center, and hopefully my account will be restored soon, but I just wanted to let you all know if you don't see me on Facebook this weekend, it's not for lack of trying!  LOL  Send me an email at deannabuxton@gmail.com if you wanna get in touch with me, or call or text me if you need me.

We're going Christmas shopping today to finish it up.  Of course it's raining and dreary outside, so hopefully we can wipe it out fast and get home.  At least it's not freezing cold, so that's a good thing.

Random stuff:

*I have so much to get done in the next week or so, it's ridiculous. 

*Watching GMA this morning - it's absolutely CRAZY about how people are freaking out over Beyoncé's new album release. 

*I'm laying in bed with the hubby and the pups - they're all snoozing and being lazy.  Wish I could be that way - I can't sleep like I used to, as far as laying in bed all day - makes my bones ache!

*I made a wreath last weekend - I miss being artsy-fartsy/crafty.  I need to get back into my hobbies, but I've just lacked the motivation for anything other than the necessities of life lately - eating, sleeping, going to work.  That is my life, in a nutshell.

*My mom is home for the holidays and I'm so happy!  I'm going to spend the day with her tomorrow, to try to help her finish Christmas shopping.  She hasn't done ANY yet. 

Well I suppose it's time for me to shower and get ready to go shopping. Y'all have a great weekend!

The Militant Baker: A DIAGRAM TO HELP THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE A SHITTY ...

The Militant Baker: A DIAGRAM TO HELP THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE A SHITTY ...: There is a chance that this post can help you go from this to this . I’m unsure if I’ve shared this with you that I spend my 40 hou...

Thankful for the Thorns - my annual Thanksgiving post

My annual Thanksgiving post......



Thankful for the Thorns

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze.  Then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole her ease. During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son.  She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she coveted, called saying she could not come.

What's worse, Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer? "Had she lost a child? No - she has no idea what I'm feeling," Sandra shuddered. Thanksgiving? "Thankful for what?" she wondered. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?

"Good afternoon, can I help you?"

The flower shop clerk's approach startled her. "Sorry," said Jenny, "I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you."

"I . . . . I need an arrangement."

"For Thanksgiving?" Sandra nodded.  "Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the "Thanksgiving Special."

Jenny saw Sandra's curiosity and continued, "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories, that each arrangement insinuates a particular feeling. Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Thanksgiving?"

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted. "Sorry, but in the last five months, everything that could go wrong has."

Sandra regretted her outburst but was surprised when Jenny said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

The door's small bell suddenly rang. "Barbara! Hi, "Jenny said. She politely excused herself form Sandra and walked toward a small workroom. She quickly reappeared carrying a massive arrangement of green bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses. Only, the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped, no flowers.

"Want this in a box?" Jenny asked.

Sandra watched for Barbara's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems and no flowers! She waited for laughter, for someone to notice the absence of flowers atop the thorny stems, but neither woman did.

"Yes, please. It's exquisite," said Barbara. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I'd not be so moved by its significance, but it's happening again. My family will love this one. Thanks."

Sandra stared. "Why so normal a conversation about so strange an arrangement?" she wondered.

"Ah, said Sandra, pointing. "That lady just left with, ah . . . ."

"Yes?"

"Well, she had no flowers!"

"Off?"

"Off. Yep. That's the Special. I call it the "Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."

"But, why do people pay for that?" In spite of herself she chuckled.

"Do you really want to know?"

"I couldn't leave this shop without knowing. I'd think about nothing else!"

"That might be good," said Jenny.

"Well," she continued, "Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling very much like you feel today. She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she faced major surgery."

"Ouch!" said Sandra.

"That same year, I lost my husband. I assumed complete responsibility for the shop and for the first time, spent the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel."

"What did you do?"

"I learned to be thankful for thorns.

"Sandra's eyebrows lifted. "Thorns?"

"I'm a Christian, Sandra. I've always thanked God for good things in life and I never thought to ask Him why good things happened to me. But, when bad stuff hit. Did I ever ask! It took time to learn that dark times are important. I always enjoyed the flowers' of life but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."

Sandra gasped. "A friend read that passage to me and I was furious! I guess the truth is, I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God." She started to ask Jenny to "go on" when the door's bell diverted their attention.

"Hey, Phil!" shouted Jenny as a balding, rotund man entered the shop. She softly touched Sandra's arm and moved to welcome him. He tucked her under his side for a warm hug. "I'm here for twelve thorny long-stemmed stems!" Phil laughed, heartily.

"I figured as much," said Jenny. "I've got them ready." She lifted a tissue-wrapped arrangement form the refrigerated cabinet.

"Beautiful," said Phil. "My wife will love them."

Sandra could not resist asking, "These are for your wife?"

Phil saw that Sandra's curiosity matched his when he first heard of a Thorn Bouquet. "Do you mind me asking, 'Why thorns?"

"In fact, I'm glad you asked, "He said. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but we slogged through, problem by rotten problem. We rescued our marriage - our love, really. Last year, at Thanksgiving, I stopped in here for flowers. I must have mentioned surviving a tough process because Jenny told me that for a long time she kept a vase of rose stems --- stems! --- As a reminder of what she learned from 'thorny' times. That was good enough for me. I took home stems, My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific thorny situation and give thanks for what the problem taught us. I'm pretty sure this stem review is becoming a tradition."

Phil paid Jenny, thanked her again and as he left, said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life, "Sandra said to Jenny.

"Well, my experience says that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, Sandra, Jesus wore a crown of thorns so that we might know His love. Do not resent thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take twelve long-stemmed thorns, please."

"I hoped you would, " Jenny said. "I'll have them ready in a minute. Then, every time you see them, remember to appreciate both good and hard times. We grow through both."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Nothing but a pledge to work toward healing your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." Jenny handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach a card like this to your arrangement but maybe you'd like to read it first. Go ahead, read it."

My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns! I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear, teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow. George Matheson



I have reposted this every year since I received it a few years back. It's not something I ever thought of before - why in the world would I want to thank God for all the "thorns" in my life that have caused me so much grief, pain, aggravation and disappointments?  I have learned a lot over the last decade or two, and it has taken great pain, suffering, aggravation and disappointment for me to reach the point in my life where I am now.  We don't truly learn about life and about ourselves until we have suffered in some fashion - God gives us the opportunity to learn and grow through the trials and tribulations that we experience.  Many times, we can't make sense of it or find a purpose in it as we are experiencing the difficult times, but eventually, through God's grace, we figure it out and find meaning in it.  Maybe not today, maybe not next week or even next year - but He always guides us through and shows us the way.

I'm not a particularly religious person, I find myself questioning some things at times and I just kinda work things out with what makes the most sense to me.  But - I do believe we are given the "thorns" in our lives for a reason.  So - remember to be thankful for not only the good things in life, but also for those "thorns" that you are pricked with on occasion, for they do serve a purpose in our lives.

Epic Randomness!

My rainbow Ninja Unicorn said to tell your Purple Orangutan that the evil villain sock monkeys are coming for you tonight.. oh yeah, don't use your shampoo!

Okay, so not really - I borrowed that from Status Shuffle on Facebook.  I was just looking for something to either base my blog on tonight, or to get it started with a bang.  So, we're going for some super random stuff tonight.

Gabriel chased his first squirrel yesterday - across the street to the neighbor's house.  Brian said it was like he was deaf once he perked up and saw the squirrel - Brian yelling at him, Gabriel just hauling ass, standing at the bottom of the tree.  He was so cute - he would look up at the squirrel, then he'd look at us like "I did good, didn't I?!"  But he was in soooo much trouble with his daddy!

The house is coming along, slowly but surely.  Today was supposed to be a work in the yard most of the day kind of day, but being that the section of the landfill that accepts yard refuse such as tree limbs, cut bushes, etc., closes at 11:30am on Saturday, we got one load of stuff dumped and left the dump at 11:28am.  Stopped by Home Depot (Dem Heppo as Steven used to call it), and make a run to Wally World for a few things.

Made my hubby some sammiches today.  So many memes about women making sammiches for their men, I think it's kinda funny.  He would make me a sammich if I asked him to, but I prefer to make my own.  :-)

Steven is really enjoying his new school.  I was so glad that the kids he remembered from elementary school out here remembered him as well.  Made for a few instant friends, and he's already made several new friends.  And I can tell you this - he seems to be MUCH happier than he ever was in Hampton, going to Lovejoy.

I don't know what I'm going to do about my knee - since about 2 weeks before we moved, it's been feeling pretty stiff and "tight" inside, and with the stiffness comes some pain and discomfort.  Nothing bad enough to want to take anything stronger than an ibuprofen or acetaminophen occasionally, but still enough to be bothered and concerned about.  I think the fact that I used to sit on the couch with that leg curled up under me, coupled with the fact that I have gained a few pounds over the last couple of months, have both contributed to this.  That, and the fact that I have been bothered with arthritis at various times in my life, it's really no surprise. 

I know I need to drop the extra pounds I've gained, plus some.  Since I no longer belong to a gym, my exercise options are limited to walking and/or running, and of course I don't think running would be prudent with my knee already bothering me.  Not to mention that I just haven't felt like doing much extra with all the stress and business of the whole moving process.

The dogs are so funny in the house - we have Pergo flooring, and even though I shaved their feet and trimmed their nails the other night, they still slip and slide and click their nails on the floors when they walk and run through the house.  And they are so funny when they try to get on the bed - sometimes they slip as they jump, and end up with their heads and front legs on the bed, and are hanging there like they're stuck and need help to get up the rest of the way.  I need to video them before we end up putting rugs around the bed to make their lives easier.

Have I mentioned previously how much fun it was to move 3 aquariums over here?  A 55 gallon, and 2-29 gallon tanks.  The big tank has an assortment of tetras, an Australian rainbowfish, and 2 giant angelfish - Blondie and Willie.  Blondie was given to me by Brian 3-4 years ago (Blondie is not really a blond color, but is solid silvery white with dark fins), and Willie was gotten from my stepdad, Marion (Willie is black, and has HUGE lips).  While Marion had Willie, Willie would occasionally get some kind of illness and Marion was constantly having to treat the tank to get him well and keep the other fish from getting sick.  I've experienced the same issue with him, but on rarer occasions.  However, I think I am fighting a losing battle this time with Willie.  I have treated the tank with something called Quick Cure, which contains malachite green, and now I've purchased a different product to use that is supposed to cure both fungal and bacterial infections.  I picked it because I wanted something that took care of a multitude of conditions, and I can't really diagnose what is wrong with Willie.  No other fish in the tank is affected, it's just Willie.  Willie is over 5 years old, I don't know exactly how old (Mom, if you're reading this - put a comment on the blog with how old Willie is please), so maybe his body is just too weak to fight his illness, even with the meds.  His age along with the stress of moving I fear will be the end of dear Willie.

Anyways, the 2-29 tanks contain angelfish - one tank has the very prolific mom and pop angelfish, the other one has their offspring that survived the hatching that took place around July 1st.  The babies, even though they are from the same batch, are of varying sizes.  The smallest ones are about the size of a small English pea, the larger ones have bodies that are almost the size of a dime.  Best we can tell, they all look just like mom and pop - the silver and black stripes.  I was hoping their genetics were more diverse, so that we would end up with some differing colors and patterns, but apparently not. 

And so far, mom and pop have not laid any more eggs since we moved.  I usually can't tell which is mom and which is pop (It's hard to do with angelfish) unless the mom is getting ready to lay eggs, as her belly gets kinda fat, and it seems that one of them has a tiny bit of a belly bulge, so perhaps we will have more eggs soon.  I was kinda hoping the stress of the move would change them somehow so they'd stop breeding, but who knows.  I have no idea why they suddenly started laying eggs earlier this year - I had not done anything different that may have made conditions more favorable for breeding, but whatever.  The pair is about 3 years old, so maybe they hit their prime breeding age and decided they really liked each other?  Who knows.  LOL

We got our new range delivered last week (it's an LG smooth top, with a beautiful bright blue interior), and I cooked my first meal on it today - Hamburger Helper (Steven's request - I usually fulfill a meal request around here if at all possible, and it's been a long time since we've had HH).  Why was today the first time I've cooked on it?  Because my dear mother-in-law does the cooking during the week, so that dinner will be ready when I get home from work - it's a wonderful thing to not have to worry about cooking dinner after working all day, and having the commute that I now have!  I get to cook on the weekend (sometimes Brian will cook on the weekends but it's usually me).

It took a lot for me to finally sit down and write something tonight.  I know you've all missed me but hey, I've just lost my desire to write like I used to - I used to blog all the time on MySpace and when I first started this blog, but I have such a lack of motivation to do a lot of things.  I'd rather sit here or lay here and piddle around online, playing games, reading the news, and just not put forth the effort to think and come up with some sense of intelligence (yeah I know, sometimes I don't seem so intelligent, but it is what it is :-] ) 

Speaking of MySpace - I recently discovered that MySpace decided to get rid of blogs.  I never saved mine elsewhere, and I was kinda pissed.  Apparently a lot of MySpace users are quite upset, so MySpace is supposedly doing something where we will be able to download our blogs at some point in the next several months.  They claim they have not been deleted, just put into "safekeeping".  I would love to have mine to go back and look at, and if they are able to provide them to me for downloading, I will certainly take advantage of that.  I may even share some of the old blogs with you here.  Some I won't share, as I'm just not going to dredge up some of the events of the past - I vented a LOT about certain situations and people and today so many things are so different in my life and the lives of some of those I wrote about, it just wouldn't make sense to most of you if I shared some of those blogs without telling the whole story, which I'm just not gonna do.  The past is the past, and it's best to leave those particular stories there.

Okay folks, I've bored you all enough for tonight - sorry this one is so long (although not my longest blog I'm sure), but there was a lot of random stuff to talk about.  (my brain just jumps from one random thing to another).  Have a great rest of the weekend!

Someone pinch me!

Wow, I cannot believe that I'm a homeowner now!  It's official!  Papers were signed on Friday afternoon.  It still does not feel real to me.  We went by the house after signing the papers and Brian changed out the locks and deadbolts, and we looked around at the paint and some other things, to be thinking about any changes we may want to make before we move in.  Right now the move-in date is the 14th, and we are going to out there this weekend to work on painting and a few other things that need to be done.

Saturday was spent emptying out our U-Haul storage unit and moving all that stuff to the new house to store in the garage.  We had originally planned to come back to Hampton and empty out the shed and take that stuff out to the house, but alas, the one trip from U-Haul was enough to do us all in and we put that off until Sunday. 

I cooked breakfast for us Sunday morning - scrambled eggs, grits, bacon, and Bisquick biscuits.  I think we ended up with 15 biscuits, so there was about half a dozen left over when we finished.  They were on a platter on the counter, and we all went out to work on emptying the shed out.  After a little while, Clydie comes outside, and she was fussing about Dominion.  Turns out that little sucker stole every last biscuit off the platter!  Ate every last one of them!  Sneaky little bastard!

I've had a rough week or two physically - seem to be having trouble after I eat.  It's like I'm on carb overload, regardless of what I eat, and I feel totally exhausted and have a strong need to sleep.  I don't know what it is, have had my sugar checked regularly by the doctor and they are not concerned about my sugar, so they won't order a glucose tolerance test.  It's almost like I'm having low blood sugar issues, but I just don't know.  Today after eating lunch, I had the shakes really bad and had to fight the desire to sleep.  There was just too much I wanted to get done and sleeping could not be part of the plan. 

Brian has been in rare form yesterday and today - crazy, aggravating, annoying, and fun as hell.  Except for the tickling.  I could live my life without ever having my feet tickled again.  And because he's still not 100% from his arm/elbow ordeal, I don't fight back as hard as I normally would.  Thank goodness I had that little surgery I had last year in August, or we would have had a major issue this afternoon because of the tickling. 

I got a few boxes packed today, and still have a ways to go.  I have less than 2 weeks to get it all ready to go now, and a lot of stuff to do in between.  It'll get done, one way or another. :-)