futurepastorswife's Xanga

finally found a couch small enough

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:42:07 GMT

We have a finished basement but the doorway is 29 and a half inches without a door even on it. We have had zero luck finding a couch that would squeeze through. We thought a few times about getting a futon but that just didn't sound that comfy. Chris finally found one on craigslist that is 29inches tall! It looks nice, is in great shape, and is even a sleeper sofa which will help for when we have company. So soon we will finally have a couch in our basement!!!

It was hard but I did the right thing. . .

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:24:29 GMT

About a month ago I managed to make a lady very very angry. Actually I think that this lady in general is a very angry person and it was just my turn to set her off. But anyway she got mad and I didn't exactly respond to her the way I think Jesus would have wanted me to. Now I know she was in the wrong with some of the things she said to me and the way she handled the situation (her major complaint was that when we vacuumed the swimming pool at our old house our drain made the water head towards and run down part of her driveway (yes driveway not grass, just the driveway). But after calming down from being literally screamed at (and having her call the police on me) I realize I could have handled the situation more christlike. (no I didn't arrested. The police recognized that I wasn't breaking the law I just had offended a very irritable lady) Anyway I have been feeling convicted to apologize to the lady. And today I decided to take flowers to the lady and say I was sorry for not trying to get to know her better when we lived next to her, not respecting her feelings, etc. And that I was sorry. I was scared to death to go see this lady. I really was expecting there was a good chance that all I was doing was setting myself up to be screamed at again. Well this lady is almost always home it seems like but she wasn't today so I was able to just leave the flowers and a note on her porch. I felt like I was supposed to go apologize in person but I think maybe God was saving me from being yelled at more and let her not be home.

Cool new toy for me

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:19:02 GMT

I got a tablet notebook computer thing to use for work its not mine its work's but I get to keep it as long as I have this job. And its really cool because I am actually writing this post with a stylus directly on the screen I don't even have the keyboard attached to it right now. It does pretty good reading my handwriting too! Pretty sad though our govt. spent a ton of $ buying these for its employees when a MUCH CHEAPER choice that world have let me do my-job just as well would have been a plain old laptop. That's our hard earned tax dollars at work! THANKS EVERYONE!

I wish I could find a way to invest in . . .

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:51:00 GMT

Coconuts.

The price of coconuts and the products that are made from them continues to climb and I really really think its gonna keep going up. Less than 2 years ago I paid $3 for a tub of coconut oil at Walmart. Slowly but surely the price has climbed, everytime I buy more coconut oil I pay more than the time before. Last week I paid almost $7 for that same size tub. And I bought 3 because I suspect in 6 months the price will be even higher.

If I knew of a way to invest money into coconut plantations in the phillipines I would totally do it. I'm pretty sure thats not an easy thing though when you are talking about investing in something half way around the world. Its easy for someone to rip you off, not like buying some stocks. But man those coconut farmers are going to be getting rich over the next few years.

This made me tear up a little

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:39:56 GMT

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=fTh92FnV_i4&feature=user

Came across this when looking for information about what its like to have a large family. Still wondering if I'm content with two. Or if we will end up with 3 or 4. This commercial made me tear up. Not exactly sure why it was made. I know some countries they will pay you to have a 3rd child. I don't think Germany is one of those countries though.

The Bucket List

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:49:07 GMT

I thought this would be a movie I would love. . . it was okay. In the movies defense though I think I am enjoying movies less and less. I never really even watched movies much until college. Now that we have netflicks sometimes I will watch something on instant download on his laptop if he is out for the evening and both kids are in bed. Usually I pick a documentary though. Yeah I'm boring.

random stuff

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:52:41 GMT

I spent over $50 to fill the tank of my little car today and that was with Krogers 10 cents off a gallon discount!
I'm gonna watch The Bucket List tonight.

Short Psych Lesson
I remember in college learning that it is human nature to attribute when good things happen to us its because of something we did, when bad things happen to us its because of what someone else did. (ie you get a good grade on a test its always cause you are smart, studied hard, etc. You get a bad grade the test was too hard or you were unable to study because of such and such excuse but its never because you are dumb.)

So I wonder how does that effect hubby and I's view of our finances. Our annual income is right around the national average ($48,000 per year). So we are your average American household as far as finances go right? Well not exactly. We have no debt. And we live on less than we make whereas I have heard that most Americans live on 118% of what they make (not sure if thats an accurate statistic) Here is where the psychology lesson comes in. I like to think that we are doing good financially because we are frugal, because we are good stewards of our money tithing and giving to others, and because we are smart. But at the same time I look at how we spend and sometimes I just think we have avoided some of the things that others haven't been so unfortunate to avoid. A major medical bill, unexpected job loss, trying to sell one house while paying rent on a second, too many car troubles all happening at once. As a southern baptist our churches are pretty big on NOT preaching a prosperity gospel. You don't tithe expecting God to bless you with more money. To be honest though sometimes Chris and I just look at each other and ask "why does God bless us with so much?" Why do we not have debt problems. And it makes me believe Malachi 3:10-12 maybe should be interpreted more literally by our denomination.

10"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

11"Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts.

12"All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts.

But at the same time I hesitate to say we are blessed financially because we give because I also know there are a lot of people who give and still struggle. So maybe its just because I'm doing good that I want to say yup I'm doing good because I'm so spiritual and follow Malachi 3. But I think that sounds like the psychology lesson I learned. If I'm experiencing something good its because of me (I'm so spiritual) And I wonder than if I found us suddenly in great financial trouble would I try and say it was because Satan was attacking us?

All that to say what is your opinion on Malachi 3:10-12 how literal should we interpret it?

Food sensitivities/intolerances/allergies

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:11:18 GMT

So I've learned Corban's little body really really doesn't agree with having dairy. I knew that if I drank a lot of milk or ate a lot of ice cream and that day he was usually fussier (from getting some of it through nursing I guess). But I didn't think much of it, just tried to limit my dairy. A couple months ago we started trying to give him some things with dairy and I realized just how bad it was. So then I tried harder to limit how much dairy I ate and finally my little boy has stopped spitting up. I feel guilty of course because I thought he was just spitting up cause he had reflux like Amber and now I realize he was spitting up cause the food was hurting his belly and I just kept on eating my dairy and he kept spitting up. So now he rarely spits up because I try to limit my dairy a lot when I do have dairy avoid nursing him for at least 5 hours and try to make sure people know not to give him any cheese or milk or yogurt. Oh and as we have cut back on diary for me and none for him the dry patches of skin he has on him have decreased hugely too. Someone asked about goldfish crackers and I said yeah go ahead. I figured that the amount of cheese in those has to be pretty low. Guess not low enough he spit them up. So now I'm at the point where I've come to accept we need to read ingredients and not give him anything with dairy in it. There is so much learning we have to do on this though. Is this a food sensitivity/intolerance/allergy? Will he grow out of it? Do we try to learn lots about baby friendly probiotics and enzymes to help him with this? How much did I make this harder for him to get over by continually letting his little system have dairy in it and have to try and digest stuff he couldn't digest. So now I'm off to read about "healing the gut", enzymes, probiotics, and see what we need to do to help this situation.

I have to be honest I had always thought food allergies/intolerances were strange and I knew some moms whose children had autism who thought their children were allergic to practically EVERYTHING: corn, wheat, dairy, food dyes, peanuts, etc etc. I watched what these kids ate and felt bad for them and thought thier moms were a little coo coo with the diet thing. I knew a little kid that I worked with whose diet was so limited it seemed like he was eating the same foods every time I saw him. And for the most part it looked like rabbit food. Raw cabbage, some other veggies, a strange looking beef jerky, and some rice noodle sheets. I know Corban doesn't have anything near that severe with food sensitivity but I guess I will be learning all the stuff these moms I thought were a little coo coo had read. Maybe I'll have a little more respect for them.

I totally believe our best medicine is good nutrition. I think certain foods and food supplements have helped my children with their vision problems more than anything else we have done for them. And reading on it motivated us to eat healthier in general. But I remember how many HOURS and DAYS I spent just reading on pigment, vision, and nutrition and realize that I'm probably looking at doing the same thing now to learn about Cory's food issues.

hair study

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:18:30 GMT

I love that place! I showed up and signed in and sat in a waiting room for about 10 minutes then they called all but 2 of us back to the room to "discuss hair and hair care products." I was left in the waiting room and at this point I'm thinking hmmm are they gonna tell the other ladies to try and pressure me to say a certain thing about my hair. . . why am I still out here. I'm very very intrigued. The lady comes back and tells the two of us they always sign up more people than they need in case of no shows and that we were extras but we can still have $60. So I got paid $60 to go sit in a waiting room for 10 minutes!

paid study this morning

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:57:48 GMT

I'm getting paid $60 this morning to go talk about my hair with some other women for 90 minutes. Pretty crazy. My sister is signed up to participate in studies with this marketing group but a couple times she has referred them to me when she thought I would qualify. Last time I got $100 to participate in a diaper study. Although the day I showed up to pick up the supplies for the study they said whoops we made a mistake we have enough people participating and gave me a check for $100 anyway. So I like these people. If I ever was offered to do that diaper study again though I'm not sure I would cause you had to weigh all the dirty diapers your kid made and fill out a little chart every time you changed a diaper for I think it was 2 weeks.