Sniffling, sneezing, coughing aching, stuffy head, fever so you can lay on the couch and feel like someone ran over you with a bus medicine???

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Family, baby Jesus, decorations. And the infamous Christmas tree. For as long as I remember, we have always had an artificial tree. Looks like a real one, only it is symmetrical and the same height every year. I am very allergic to pine trees of all shapes and sizes, and that includes the wonderful Christmas trees people love to have in their homes.

My mother in law loves a real tree. Not only that, but real garland, and sprigs of pine sitting in bowls and vases scattered around the entire house. Her decorating is lovely, unless you're me. Then it is a sign of sneezing, red runny eyes, stuffy nose.

Every year I deal and go and try to sit in a room that doesn't have pine in it. Only to sit in the room with the tree for the time we do presents.

Well, this year, we all sat around the tree and hung out for several hours, mostly because the more babies being born and the more siblings that get married, the less space there is for people to move around and find a chair to sit in. So I was stuck in the tree room most of the time we were there.

By the time I dragged Shane and Cameron out of there, my nose was full, making my voice nasally, my eyes were red and puffy, running like I was crying and I was just feeling miserable.

Yesterday, we would've went to church, but Shane got called into work to get some packet made for a job so we all went with him and made a day out of it. I woke up sneezing my head off and a runny nose. My allergies usually go within 24 hours and I don't have the major inconvenience for more than that, just the day to day allergy symptoms. But yesterday was full on, drop you like a hot pan with no hot pad day. I felt miserable still and literally spent the time we were at home on the couch. Now my nose is red from wiping it and blowing it. My head feels like it weighs a ton. Ugh.

I am sensitive to medicine. All medicine, even advil or tylenol. Shane went to the store to get me some cold medicine and came home with nyquil. Now, I have taken this particualr brew before and it literally goes into my system and I end up feeling like I have been in a coma for several weeks when I wake up. Makes my head feel like it weighs a million pounds (which is more than the cold or allergies make it feel like) and while it says it is alcohol free, I am pretty sure they just fill the bottle up with pure vodka and put some flavoring in it to taste like orange.

So, today, I am in medicine head world, where everything is in slow motion and I just want to lay on my couch and stare at the ceiling. So I am changing the commercial with the catchy little ditty and making it "Nyquil, the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever so you can lay on the couch and feel like someone ran over you with a bus medicine."

Now if you will excuse me, there is a couch with my name on it and a bus heading this direction.....goodnight!

Still, Small Voice...

December is an exciting time of year for most people. Christmas comes, winter starts, snow starts falling, the approach of the new year.

December can be a time of ending, or new beginnings.

In this year's time, there have been tears, heartache and pain. But also new beginnings, happiness and a start of something new. It was like we spent the last year with God having a quiet phase, just like He did between Malachi and Matthew. God was quiet for about 400 years. Then came Jesus. Sometimes, God is quiet in our lives. Sometimes, He lets us have a quiet period of just being still and listening for that still, small voice in our lives.


Well, december comes and goes, but some things stay the same. My God is still here with me, even if it feels like He is far away. I have learned over the last year that He is always present. No matter what we are going through, no matter how quiet He may be, no matter whether we can hear that still small voice or not, HE is here and I am not alone. I am looking forward to the next year and seeing what many things God has in store for us at College Park, in our lives and the lives around us.

Thank you God for all the many wonderful blessings in my life. I am so undeserving.

Wow, what a year.

I am so happy right now. Things are going very well for us and we are so blessed.
I think back to last year at this time and we were a hot mess. Things going on at church were stressing us out, we felt an impending doom there. I had been sick since October after having had the swine flu and that was stressful. We were trying to decide whether we wanted to move. It was a crazy time.

This year so many things have changed. We did move, only to find out we can build a house and now we are in the process of that, making a final decision and move and then staying put. Church did change. A lot changed and a lot of tears were shed, but alas, God always knows what the future holds. We left the church, meandered about for a few months, came back for about a month,thinking that is where we were supposed to be and then visited College Park Church and fell in love. We are so happy there and there are so many activities to keep our family busy with. Things for all of us to be involved in. We never thought we would have to find a new church home, but we are glad to be where we are now. Shane's job is still crazy, but he got a promotion earlier in the year and his hours are nuts sometimes! We don't see him a lot, but we cherish the time he is home to spend time with. It could be so much worse. He could be a salesman having to travel to different states during the week and never home. At least he is sleeping in our bed every night!

So much change, but in a good way. Our direction is taking us to another level in our lives and we are excited! Thank you God for all your blessings on our lives. We so don't deserve them.

Merry Christmas Friends, celebrate Jesus' Birthday next Saturday and enjoy your families.
Many blessings to you and yours.

Decisions.

I have been saving up for my Board of Realtor fees for a few months now. I have some more to save up, but by the time the Spring rolls around, I will be active again and back to my career!!

I started my real estate career out with a guy named Jed and his private real estate group. I like Jed and he is a great guy, but he has no business sense at all. So I went to Carpenter and stuck with them.

With money being tight for so many years, I couldn't really spend a lot of money marketing myself and I didn't have the money to renew my MIBOR fees year after year. So, I ended up going into referral status and moving on.

I am determined to be active again. One reason is we get a commission taken off our house with me being an active realtor, and two, I love my job! It makes me happy to see people getting a new home, whether it is their first home or their fifth.

I have been given an opportunity to go with an unknown company through a friend and was approached with a position offered in her real estate company. She manages properties and is a realtor as well, but needs to have another realtor on board. Her office is in Avon, which a decent drive from my house, but she said I can work from home and use her office equipment if I need to. I have all the stuff I need here at home and when we move I will have an extra bedroom that I was planning on putting my computer in anyway, so with a bigger desk and a fax machine, I should be good to work from home full time! That works for me, definitely! Also, I get 20% more commission per transaction than I would with Carpenter. So that kind of makes a sticking point too.

I don't particularly like going with a name that isn't known well throughout the metro area, and I won't have access to a lot of marketing tools I would with Carpenter, but all in all, it sounds like a pretty good deal.

Oh decisions decisions. I hate making decisions.

'Tis The Season.

It's December 1. The start of the Christmas month. At my house, the tree is up, the lights are on, the stockings are hung. The Christmas cookies have been made, the presents all wrapped and under the tree.

But what is it about Christmas that causes people to turn into a bunch of greedy fiends? Why is it that the santa decorations and the reindeer are abundant but the nativity is the one you have to really search for? Why is it that it's all about presents and what you give? It's ridiculous! Yes, I buy gifts, but they are not abundant, they are not spectacular, they are just a gift to give. I typically make homemade gifts for family and we buy a gift for one of Shane's siblings, depending on who we draw out of the hat. The nieces and nephew get a gift, and of course Cameron gets the most. This year, I picked one thing and Shane picked one thing to gvie each other. And that's it. Period. I have to finish my homemade gifts, and then I will be done for the season. I know some don't appreciate the homemade things as much as they enjoy gift cards and wrapped presents, but in my opinion, the homemade gifts are the ones that come from the heart. I have spent the last few years trying to be creative with my gifts and have done homemade cocoa in a jar with mugs and cookies, last year we made homemade cookie jars, this year I am making a non-edible gift. :) I am making wooden signs for the holidays. They may be messy in some places, the paint may not be exactly perfect, but they were made with love.

Remember this Christmas season that this isn't the season of greed and parties and counting how many presents you get, but the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of the birth of our Lord and Savior. His birth was the best gift we could ever receive and we should be thankful for God's gift to us.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my friends out there. You are all special to me.