Christmas, Christmas time is here...

...time for joy and time for cheer. And for decorating. Kyle got us a real Christmas tree this year. To be completely honest, I have never had a real Christmas tree before. We always had fakes. This tree is huge and I don't yet have the knack for decorating a real tree. I just did not have enough. I tried anyway.

Kathy gave me some clear bulbs, I like what the paint made them look like.

I took left over branches and decorated the mantel.

I wanted to buy a wreath for the door too, but I couldn't find one I liked. And the ones I did like were $50. So I decided to make one. All in all, it cost me $6 and it is definitely the project I am most proud of this year.

Oh, last but not least, I found the cutest thing at target. I bought two nutcrackers - one that represents me and then one that represents Kyle. Mine is rather literal, but Kyle's ...well I guess he is rather turning into a cowboy - minus the horse, hat, and cows. : )

Wintery Work Weekend

I love alliteration.


Man, that snow was a surprise. We didn't even know it was coming. It was so beautiful the way it drifted in and then melted away without us having to scrap a single window.

Well, that describes the "wintery" part. Now the "work" part.

Eeek. Work. Work. Work. We are never finished. And it always takes us much longer to complete a task than we once thought. But the baseboards are in. All but one wall. We ran out, so after one more trip to Lows, the floors will be finished. Yes! Our living room is starting to look like a living room. And we have a table that I need to sand, a bench, and two chairs. The goal is to eat Christmas dinner in our dining room! I wish I had more pictures to upload of the progress, but I seem to have missed placed my camera's battery charger. So, no pictures as of right now.

And as for the wedding, I promise I am working on it. Slowly, I know. With the new place, the dance team, my job, and the wedding to plan, I am exhausted every day. I don't even watch TV anymore. *Gasp* (I miss you too TV) I watched one episode of Glee the other day and that was about it. I am like 3 episodes behind. It is a good exhausted though. I feel like all of it is happy work.

Luckily, Christmas shopping is almost done. That kind of just happened. We didn't go all out this year, like we did last year. We kept it simple. I never even felt rushed to buy gifts, I kind of just got them when the mood hit me. Thank goodness for that.

None-the-less, I am excited to go to the fabric store soon and to start really unpacking now that the construction is almost done. Oh and, the best part, we are getting a REAL Christmas tree. WOO HOO!!

 Yay?

I can't wait to no longer be surrounded by boxes. I want to be unpacked by yesterday. In my head, the new house is completed. In real life - not even close. I am excited to decorate. I just hate the moving part. I even feel a little uncomfortable about it - about all our stuff having to be hauled around and then trucked away.

In other unrelated news, I had the weirdest dream last night - horribly weird. I feel like some little evil bug works its way into my subconscious sometimes and plays tricks on me, bringing up the most ridiculous situations and the most wretched circumstances in my dreams. I remember them too. This morning, I felt irritated and freaked out by the dream I had last night for about 3 hours. I still remember creepy details. Who needs movies, when you have a crazy head like mine?

And finally, in more unrelated news, I might have to live without the internet for about 2 weeks. Comcast has to come out and survey our home and then they can hook up the internet. And they don't set up an appointment with you to survey, they just get to you when they can. So, who knows when we will get the internet at the new place. Boo. I will miss you Firefox.

Hard Work

Three pimples are proof enough that my life has been a bit hectic lately. Good hectic - but still hectic and full of hard work at our new place. Some of the work is fun - like planning paint colors, having a picnic during a break,  and watching the new floors go down. Some blistering - like pulling hundreds of staples out of floor and ripping up carpet. But we are on the last stretch. Thank you to all who have helped us. We are so excited to move in and just start living....and stop moving!

Here are some pictures of the progress. And just because there are none of me doesn't mean I wasn't working, I was just the only who stopped to take pictures. : )

Putting down new hardwood floors.

Our kitchen taken over by piles of tools. But look how BIG! And look at that wallpaper!

Miles ripping up carpet in the bedroom.

Kathy painting our guest bathroom. Yes the color looks like poop riiiight now....but just wait for two coats.

Even tucker helped!

Floors are almost done and look at the pile of carpet on the deck. PROGRESS!!!

They look AWESOME!!!

This ring.

I’m not really a jewelry wearer. I love jewelry; I think it is pretty, but I can’t always find jewelry that accessorizes the way I think it should. Sometimes I just don’t think it looks good on me.

But this ring.

This ring makes me feel beautiful.

This ring makes me feel loved.

It makes me feel like a woman. It makes me feel like those characters in movies who hold their hand out to show their friends the evidence of their good news.

I told Kyle that a ring is just a piece of metal, that it was the promise that matter. But I find myself staring at this ring. Marveling at how it glitters. Feeling like a million bucks.

I love this ring.

I love my fiancé.

I can CHEW!!

Yes I can.

Can't quite open my mouth wide enough to take a bite out of a hamburger and pretzels are still too hard, buuut I can CHEW! I ate pizza last night and slices of cheddar cheese today. The only problem is sometimes I accidentally chew my own bottom lip. I am still numb there so I can't feel when I am biting it. Then I end up making my lip bleed.

So weird.

"Melissa, what happened to your lip? It is bleeding!"

"Oh I was chewing it while I was eating my pizza."

No wonder it is not a good superpower when you can't feel pain.

Going to the Chapel and We're Gonna....

GET MARRIED!!!

So excited. So very excited. I just turned the corner to see if Kyle wanted whipped cream on his pie and there he was on his knee with a ring and a big smile. "Will you marry me?" He asked. I laughed and smiled and jumped up and down and said YES! And I was never expecting such a beautiful ring. I thought we were going to just get a cheap ring but look at that baby. He went all out and I love him so much - sparkly or no sparkly ring. So in that mindset, be prepared for this to become more of a "preparing for a wedding blog." *big smiles*

Forever.

Wisdom Teeth

I have only ever had cleanings at the dentist. Just metal scraping plaque off enamel. And that even sent a little shiver down my spine. Now I have to be gassed, injected, and cut open. Eeek. It is past due though. I really should have had these wisdom pulled a while ago.

But.


Tis time.

Ew. Teeth look gross in x-rays.

Yay for two days off work! : 

The Parable of the Storehouse

I hear much in the church community on the responsibility of tithing and the blessed consequences of tithing. I never understood it until I understood "stewardship." That it is not about paying for the church, paying the church, or even paying God. It is about how a person "owns" material goods. The Bible says that all in the world is the Lord's. So then, all that we have is already that of the Lord's, all our income, our crop. Therefore, from what I have read, I understand tithing is more of a way of forgoing greed, fear, and disconnection with the provisions of God. It seems more like a "thank you" than a "here - church this is for you."

In Luke, Jesus tells a parable about a man that has an awesome harvest - gets a major bonus. All his excess he stores away, which many today would say was very practical and wise. Yet, Jesus calls him a fool.

Luke 12:16
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’

So - he is a fool because his treasure was in his storehouses, in the form of grain. He found peace in having physical wealth, rather than in God. I don't think God wanted the man to be poor, but to know from where true "ease" and "merriment" come. Money can make us so happy - it can make us feel safe and protected and worry free about the future. But apparently, according to this parable, we can put too much stock in money, too much stock in material possessions.

Every time we get to the Benjamin Franklin unit in my American Literature class, we bring up virtues and morals. Franklin made a list in his autobiography of the 13 virtues he thought, if followed, could lead to human perfectibility. He also explained that he found it impossible to follow all 13 and ever reach perfection, but that one should try. One of the virtues is about giving to others and being frugal with money, so we always get on the topic of whether money can buy happiness. Students are usually split down the middle - they say at times it can and yet they are never sure if that is true happiness.

I would fall down that same middle. I think at times I expect materials items I buy to elevate my joy. I can be stingy. I can want to store  my grain and spend my grain on myself. I want to keep my treasure here because I like my treasure. But I think giving, being about to let go of material wealth, with the faith in God to provide for us, not for our storehouses to do so, is what God wants us to do with that grain.

I am inspired by those around me, especially in Kyle's family, who find it so easy to give. Some members in my family used to fight every Christmas about how much was spent on each kid's present. A grandparent would spend $40 on one grandchild's gift and but only $10 on another gift, and this would send a parent into a tizzy. Christmas and giving seemed stressful. But I have experienced the effortless way some people in this world give. Just with a simple, "hey do you want this..." or "I thought of you and bought you this..." It is beautiful. I want to do the same.

I bring up tithing, because I doubted that I could afford it this month. Kyle and I have had a lot of expenses lately and it seems like more are coming. I was angry at Maryland, because they owed me money since June and I still hadn't received it. I filled out all the paperwork again, assured that I probably wouldn't even get the check before the end of the year. Sure, that we would be in a financial pinch, so much so that I wouldn't be able to give (even though I did go out and buy myself new shoes...ugh....my attachment to material things), I didn't pay tithe. Then, two days after I filled out paper work again, even though there is no way the new forms got to Maryland in time, I got the money. AND it was 10x the amount I was expecting. I was joyous and I knew where my praise belonged. I danced around my house singing Hallelujah like they do in the Southern churches. And in all that praise, I remembered my tithe. I knew I needed to give it. I knew I needed to provide for others with the store of grain God had just provided me. I had screwed up in not setting it aside when I got last month's paycheck, and more so in not trusting in God to provide. Yet, God provided for me. O, praise Him.

The same thoughts....again

My life is so comfortable and blessed. I feel very lucky, and I never want to forget what He has done for me. I have had many reasons to praise Him lately, and I worry I don't praise enough. I praise in my heart, in my joy, in my desire to want to follow His word. But I want to praise by carrying forth my blessing, by being a blessing to others.

Psalm 9 says, "I will praise thee, O Lord, with all my heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works, I will be glad and rejoice in thee; I will sing praise to thy name, o thou most high."

So in adulation and thankfulness, I echo David, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised." (2 Samuel 22:2-4).

That is very true.

I read a Bible study on praise and it urged that praise isn't just about yelling in triumph or bowing in reverence. It is also about undeniable trust in the Lord, about showing Christ-like characteristic in your own life, about being joyous and attempting to spread that joy, and about helping His people. I know I say it all the time, but I want to do more in His name. There was this story on the Christian radio station about a man who was being mugged. The man handed over his wallet and then asked his mugger to go to dinner with him. The young boy agreed. At dinner, the boy saw the joy in the man and the happiness he showed at his favorite diner around the people who loved him. Not only did the boy return the wallet, but he gave the man his knife as well, in the promise to not mug again. Okay okay, what a hallmark movie special, huh? But still, I have to let go of the modern-day tendency to want to be cool and tough and superhero kick the mugger's ass, and actually think - hey this mugger was a two year old who loved cartoons at one point in his life. And believe it or not - he is made in God's image.

I seem to bring up the same points in these blogs on DVT. I always talk about praise, helping others, and the "wolves" of our world. I know other people that seem to always bring up the same message when they talk about the Bible. Maybe it is because God equips us all with one solid message, one that we are equipped to show and teach more than any other. Look at your life, look at your experiences, what is your one major message?

Photo Shoot

Miss Kathy Wallace came down for a visit this weekend. We had plans to go hiking on Saturday, but they were cut a bit short because of the cold. Instead, we hiked and took pictures. It was fun. It makes me want a bit fancier camera, but I think with what she was using, Kathy did a great job. Plus, these photos were long overdue.

We just pulled over and stood in someone's field. Great idea.

 

Then we went to the Natural Chimneys and took pictures there.

I couldn't help but mess with the coloring a bit. Lightroom and all its power can be addictive.

I have to admit though - the natural coloring of that landscape it beautiful.

We took these at Gypsy Hill Park - which was a trip down memory lane for Kathy and Kyle.

The end. : )

Namer Extraordinaire

 I like names. I wish I had a job where you would be paid to name products and give titles to books and movies. There is something grand in the perfect few words that are meant to represent a piece of art or even a person. If I lived in the book 1984, I would want my job to be "Namer of Test Tube Babies." I am not sure this was a proper job in such a society, but hey its fiction, we can always write it in.





Here are some awesome names I came up with...

Henderson Lincoln ...but everyone calls him "Huck," because Huckleberry (no offense Mr. Finn) is lame, but "Huck" is pretty awesome.

Benjamin Watson ...inspired by my dear Watson

Ellis Julian ...boy or girl? Not sure. 

Eddison Tennessee ....this is a girl's name. It's like Addison, which I also like, but that name was stolen by some red head on a TV show. Also, there is this song I like called "A Girl Named Tennessee" thus the Tennessee part

Honor Farren ....Some celebrity named their kid Honor, and as cheesy of a name as it is, I like the sound of it

Ophelia Dean ...Okay, so yes, Ophelia went a little crazy and killed herself, but she had a pretty name to start out with, a name that had nothing to do with her killing herself.

Olive Edaline .....I like both these names, so I am not sure of the order

I also love - Tessa, Thea, Tilly, Pace, Rory, London, Barrett, Colby, Oliver, Watson, and Drew

So give me a job, Aldous Huxley

...in your fictional novel...

...and I need to come back to reality. Boo.

Hallowhiny ...Hallowork

I love Halloween, but this one hasn't been the best one ever. 

So let's start with HALLOWHINY!
First of all - Kyle has to work all weekend. Boo! (the thumbs down kind of boo - not the scary mask kind) But we knew that, so we had planned ahead and decided to do our Halloween last week. However, Busch Gardens was so packed they handed us a flyer on the way in proclaiming that they might shut down the park because it could possibly reach capacity. Sooo...we turned around and never went in. It was a practical decision - paying $100 to stand in lines and bump into people all day would not have been fun - but still a bummer. It was fun hanging out with the Wallaces in Williamsburg all weekend, though. That made it better. As did shopping at the outlets, seeing them again, and hanging with all the Wades this weekend! But still - no costume, no haunted house, and I forgot my Halloween treat in Williamsburg.

Two years ago - Kyle and I were Jack Skellington and Sally and it was awesome! Last year, I was an awesome viking and I got to party with a sailor, a dark fairy, and a demon. This year I am "On House Arrest Girl." My costume is complete with sweatpants, a pony tail, and stacks of school work.

That brings us to HalloWORK! I don't know how I got so behind at school, but I am stressed out. So stressed out that the scariest part of this Halloween season are my finger nails. I have chewed them down to the nubs. I am behind at school, I need to get a tenant in to take over our lease at the townhouse, I need to start packing and painting, I need to get my wisdom teeth out, I need to start shopping for Christmas, I need to save money, I need to help with the dance team at school, I need to help with the fall play, I need to find flooring, I need to....AHHHHH!

Phew.

So much good is happening in my life right. BIG GOOD! And that makes me giggle like tickle-me Elmo, but at the same time I feel so overwhelmed. It's like Cirque du Soleil is performing in my stomach and they are booked for 4 shows a day!

So.

Deep breath.

Big smile.

And Happy Halloween.

Next year I will have an awesome costume. No matter what!

Here are some of my favorite pumpkin carving contest winners. This is another one of my plans for next year.