Not Me! Monday

Check out this blog to find out more about Not Me! Mondays. I love to blog hop and this is a great way to do just that!

And now, for my Not Me! Monday...

I did not leave the dishes out all night last night, promising to get to them today. They are not still sitting in my sink. No, that would be gross.

I did not put off going to Wal-Mart all day today and then waited so long I was not late for my hubby's basketball game.

I did not wait until 3:00 today to do so much as brush my teeth! No, because that would be gross too! and lazy! Sheez. Good thing that wasn't me!

I'm glad I have not put off Christmas shopping until 2 days before Christmas. Gosh, if that was me, I would probably feel all panicky right about now.

I did not think bad thoughts today when the other coach said something rude about one of my husband's players. That would make me no better than him, so I am sure I did not do that!

I did not have to clean out my dog's crate in the freezing cold outisde today because he had an accident in it over a week ago and I chose not to take care of it on Friday when it was 70 degrees and now we are going out of town and need to take said crate with us on the trip. Not me! That would make me such a procrastinator so that was definitely NOT ME!

:) Being brutally honest, one Monday at time! Enjoy!

The reason...

Today at my staff Christmas party at school, one of my co-workers opened the party up talking about how a student asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she knew the student didn't have a lot of money, so she responded by telling the child she wanted "isn't" from him instead of "ain't" and the other students went on to figure out what kinds of things they could give her like that. My co-worker then told us that Jesus feels that way about us this time of year (and always). He wants us not to buy Him expensive gifts but to give of ourselves to Him. She went on to ask us what we needed to give Him this season. Our anxieties, our fears, our sickness, our pride, our worry, our selfishness, etc......that is what Jesus wants to take from us.

She went on to read the Christmas story in the Bible. I had tears in my eyes by the time she finished.

It made me really stop and remember the reason for the season. Take some time to remember and enjoy this holiday. This time of year is about one little baby that would change the world, a gift to all of us that would receive it, a gift that changes everything.

Merry Christmas!

(The best part of that to me is that all of that happened today at my public school staff Christmas party. LOVE that!)

Christmas time!

I love this time of year! I love the sights, the smells, the tastes of the holidays! I am so happy that it is cold outside and that there are twinkle lights lighting up houses and storefronts everywhere!

Don't you just love it?

Another exciting thing for me is that my school actually celebrates Christmas! My old school was so afraid of offending anyone else that they didn't allow us to even really use the word Christmas. It was winter break, winter party, winter this, winter that. Not here though! We have Christmas trees ready to greet you right as you walk in the school, the library, and almost every classroom. It's fun. The kids love it.

Speaking of the kids. Another thing we do at my new school is write letters to Santa and they get published in the newspaper. I remember doing this as a kid...anxiously awaiting my letter to get published...anxiously awaiting Santa's reply. Oh, I loved it! And so do my kids. They were so excited to write their letters. The best part is that each kids still believes. I was waiting for someone to say, "But Santa's not real." But no one did. I just sat back and listened to one of my classes as they talked about how Santa is magic. How he must be magic to get their bike into the locked garage. Or how he must be magic because he gets down the chimney. Or how he must be magic because they don't have a chimney and he still makes it in.

Oh, the wide-eyed wonder of kids at Christmas. It is just so fun!

When there are no toys...improvise.

Since we have no children, our house is not very kid-friendly. Now, I don't mean that in the sense that we have such nice stuff that kids could mess it up, no, I just mean that we have no fun toys for kids to play with.

We get together often with our friends, Phyllis and Brandon and their three kiddos. You would think the kids would not enjoy coming to our house, or that they would feel like it is boring. But, no, not these kids. They make the best of a no-toy situation. I thought their improvisation was too good not to share!

Cade made a toy out of a cabinet with sliding doors.

and then the brothers wanted to play.

"Come on, Cade, let us in!"So Cade gave in and let the big brothers take a turn.
Jake and Spencer slide in
All smiles!
And finally, the dog crate tunnel/fort.

Who needs expensive toys? :)

50,000

Join me! This is a wonderful cause!



I was blog surfing, when I came across a blog of a blog of a friend. :) I wanted to share her story with you and tell you about this cause. Her teachable moment with her daughter about giving to those less fortunate was so touching to me that I wanted to pass it on. To read it, click here: Bring the Rain.

What an incredible cause. Pay just $5 and this donation provides 2 pairs of shoes to people who need them. This is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit!

Join me in giving soles 4 souls!

Courtney's head coaching debut

Well, this is what Courtney has been working for the last 6 years. His first game as a head coach. He could barely sleep the night before and it was such an exciting night.

The first game was supposed to be against Pittsburgh, but they are still in the play-offs for football, so no basketball game for them. That's what happens in a small town when all your players are football and basketball players. So, they had to forfeit the game. Courtney really wanted to get a game on the schedule so he called Atlanta (my district). Now, Queen City and Atlanta are HUGE rivals, but have not played eachother in about 5 years. Atlanta is now a 3A school and QC is 2A. But since it is a pre-district game, the two coaches agreed on playing eachother. Courtney was so excited about bringing back the Atlanta/QC game. Let me just tell you, so were the kids. The crowd was huge, standing room only and the kids were going nuts. To all my Holdenville friends--think Wewoka/Holdenville games. Nuts. They were afraid there may be fights between student fans, but everyone used a fair amount of self-control and didn't do anything too stupid. Our student fans call themselves "Bleacher Creatures" and they dress up in wigs and crazy clothes, so that was fun.

So, onto the game. We ended up losing 55-61, but it was one of those games that goes down to the wire. QC led for most of the first half, but got down in the second half. We spent the whole second half trying to pull ourselves out of the hole. But the boys did not give up and they fought hard until the end. With 10 seconds left, we were down by 4, and in basketball, that is certainly doable, but we just couldn't pull it out. It was a very exciting, loud, high energy game.

I was so proud of Courtney and of the boys. It was fun to see Courtney as THE coach out there.

Rallying the boys before the game

Tip off

Coach
Time-out, strategizing

Come on! Get the ball to LA!!!

One more thing that was too funny that I just have to share. After everyone cleared the gym, Courtney sat in one of the chairs from his bench and put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and was just looking down at the floor (can you visualize?) and he sat there for a minute and then said, quite profoundly, "I am wearing shoes that do not match." Indeed, he was wearing two different black shoes!! It was hilarious. I, being the nice wife I am, starting laughing and called over the other wives to check out my husband's mismatched shoes. He was a tiny bit preoccupied as he got ready for the game, I suppose!

I had to document that moment on the blog. :)

My first 5K!

I did it! I ran my first 5K! I drove to Edmond to meet up with Keysha and we got up early Saturday morning to go out and brave the cold at Stars and Stripes Park at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City. As you can see by my first picture, it was C-O-L-D and so we had to bundle up! I was not prepared at all for such cold, windy weather and did not come with warm enough clothing. I had to borrow gloves and a scarf. The wind chill was about 22 degrees when the race started. We were running right next to the lake too, so we got the chilly gust right off the lake for most of the race. The wind was so strong and freezing. At one point, I thought that it was possible that my throat might bleed from breathing in the cold air!! It was that cold.

We had a great time though. My goal was to run the entire race without stopping and I did that. I finished in 33 minutes and 17 seconds. My goal for my next one (because I have been bitten by the 5K bug and cannot wait to do another one) is to hit the 30 minute mark. Maybe with less windy conditions and a little more training, I can do that!

all bundled up

me with my number on, ready to go

us, after the race

We felt so proud of ourselves!

Keysha thought she might get hot, so she wore capris. We got out of the car and she instantly regretted that. She said that her ankles were the least of her worries once she got going. Gosh, it was so cold!!

Keysha, I am proud of us! Can't wait to run another one with you soon!

Tidbits

This quote was sent to me through an email at work and it was a thought that made me stop and think. Don't you love those?

There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

Here's to desiring less.

Weekend Adventures

This weekend I went on a women's retreat with my old church in Plano, Fellowship Church. It was a women's weekend road trip. Since I am obviously not longer going to Fellowship, I am grateful to my friend Laura for inviting me to this fun-filled weekend.

The retreat was held at Allasso Ranch, the camp built by Fellowship for retreats, training, and of course, kid's/jr high/sr high summer camp. I was so excited to see the camp now that it is all finished.

We thought we were going for massages and relaxation, but we ended up having one outdoor adventure after another. It was so much fun!

the signs welcoming us to camp

We did not know we would be doing so much outdoor activity and neither of us brought shorts, so we had to roll up our pants. It was hot! Laura had on pretty striped socks!

Laura next to her bunk.

Me and my bunk

getting ready for our bike ride

they are right...it comes right back to you!!

ready for a canoe trip, but all that were left were kid life jackets.

This is me, squeezing into it. (I could not button the bottom buttons!)

It was so peaceful out there.

trying not to tip the boat

Laura guiding us across the lake

view from the canoe.

THE ZIPLINE!

all geared up for the zipline.

Me right before sitting down to go...I was quite nervous, as you can see.

READY.....SET....

GO!!!

(Makes my palms sweat just seeing it again!)

That is me, way down on the line, legs flailing!

We also rode horses, but my camera died and so those pictures are on Laura's camera. I will post the rest when I get those.

What a great weekend!

Friday Funnies

So, today was a crappy day....buuuut, my kids said some funny things today that I wanted to pass on.

One of my boys had a headache today and he kept going on and on about his headache, so I said, "I have a headache too, if it makes you feel any better." To which he replied, "It doesn't." I laughed out loud!
Kids are so honest.

Another boy came in and said first thing: "I cannot wait for next week." and I asked why and he said, "Because we will chase the girls next week."
Kids are so simple.

Many of my kids call me Mrs. Christen (pronounced Christian). They just leave off the son part. I guess it is easier than saying my whole name. So, today, one of my boys said, "Hey Mrs. Christen." and one of my girls yelled out in an exasperated voice, "It's SON, ChristenSON. GOSH!!" It was too funny. And just what I was thinking, so I was glad she said it for me. ;)
Kids are so funny!

Happy Friday!

Blessings...

Before we moved (and before I deleted my blog), I did a blog about the many blessings in my life. Now that we have gotten through that whole moving process, I thought it would be a great time to count my blessings again. God has done a lot for us through this move. We have had to trust Him and we have seen him take care of us.

He provided us with this much bigger house for much less money. Of course, as you all know, it is a much older house as well. I'll be quite honest, I was a bit of a snob about it. God has really put me in my place in this house. I had gotten to a point where I felt I had to have the best of everything and I was really in a "get more" kind of place. We had a beautiful house, but I already wanted something bigger and better. So, then God put me here. In an old house that had roaches (thanks Terminix for fixing that!) and has wood paneling and yucky countertops. But He provided for us. He blessed us with a big house to have lots of friends and fellowship in and a big yard for the dogs. Blessings...

He also blessed us with many new, amazing friends. People who are in the exact same boat we are in. People who moved from the Dallas area to take on new jobs in this small town. People who felt called to sell homes and uproot their lives and families to be here, for whatever reason. Praying people. People who could comfort eachother because we were all going through the exact same things. He also sent us a special couple who have been here for a while and have been able to guide us through the ins and outs of this community. I have been blessed by these people and the friendships that I have made here.

He provided me with a job. Not the job I wanted, mind you, but a job nonetheless! But he taught me that I should trust him. Do you know that a counseling position opened up in Atlanta at the end of July? I blogged that I knew God would provide me with a counseling job, but then I didn't wait on Him to do it. I wasn't still for him. But, He did provide a great place for me to be teaching...awesome kids in my classroom...and a really great team and staff for me to be working with. Less stress. I needed that. He provided.

I could go on and on. But instead I will end with the lyrics to my new favorite song. OH! That too...he put me in a place where I can hear my favorite Christian radio station again--K Love. I haven't been able to listen to it since we left Oklahoma. :)

This is the chorus to a song by Sanctus Real. It is called Whatever You're Doing and I love it.
I added a playlist with it on here for your listening pleasure. Enjoy. ;)

There’s a wave that’s crashing over me,
and all I can do is surrender
Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but somehow there’s peace
And it’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see,
but I’m giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone,
time to begin again,
re-evaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills?
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything – I surrender

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but now I can see
This is something bigger than me
Larger than life
Something heavenly, something heavenly

Frustrated dog walker

I love walking/running with my dogs. In our old neighborhood, I used to walk the dogs almost every single day. It was ritual. I loved walking in our neighborhood. We knew so many of our neighbors and would often stop and chat with people along the way. We rarely ever had dog issues. There were just a few places along our walk where I knew the dogs behind the wooden fences would bark and tear along the fence line, giving my dogs quite the neck pull as they tried hard to get to them.

Here, though, it is another story.

First of all, almost everyone has an outside dog or two or three.
And secondly, these outside dogs are behind chain link fences as opposed to the tall wood fences in our old neighborhood, so they can completely see us, and we--oh yes--we can see them.
Thirdly, there are millions (or it seems as if they come out in the millions) of cats roaming around.

So, with that being said...our walks are kinda a nightmare. And they are noisy. The dogs in the neighborhood go nuts. Crazy stinking nuts over us. You've never heard so much barking. People even come out of their houses or to their windows to see what all the fuss is about because every dog is going berserk! [what a weird looking word--berserk...]

And the jumping. Oh my, they jump like they are going to come out at us. Those of you who know me well know that I am terrified of other big dogs. I have made my way up on a car or two to get away from dogs that have scared me in the past. So, on these walks I live in fear that the dogs are going to come over the fences to get us. The whole time my dogs are pulling and acting all stupid and crazy over it. UGH!

Then we meet up with the cats all along the way. Braddock acts like a total spaz as he tries to run to them. Then he takes this weird cat-aggression out on poor Lambeau as he is the closest thing to him. Oh my goodness. It is nuts.

I keep thinking it will get better. But tonight was the worst night yet. I swear there were more dogs out in yards tonight than ever before.

I guess the good news is that my arm muscles are getting quite the workout on our walks.

Okay, I'm done venting now.

My own personal meal planner!

I am so excited about my new favorite thing! My friend Keysha told me about a website where you can subscribe and have access to weekly meals planned for you! And when I say planned for you, I mean totally planned for you, right down to the grocery list. You can even choose a specific meal plan for Wal-Mart or Kroger or other grocery stores where you shop. The meal plans are even specific for low-fat, point system (Weight Watchers- YAY!), low-carb, or regular. This is so COOL! My mom and I joined this weekend and we printed out our weekly menu and grocery store list. The grocery list is grouped by dairy, canned food, meat etc and even lists brand names and prices! I cannot believe how easy this is going to make my life.

My mom did the low-fat family meals and I did the point system family meals. I am very excited because I always say that I want to sit down and do a weekly menu and shop for it on the weekends and it will save me time and money, but have never actually done it. This is only $5 a month and I think it is well worth it. Plus, it gives me great new recipes as well. I am so excited! I am off to shop at Wal-Mart with my grocery list for the week now!

If you want to check it out, here is a link to the website.

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families
then click on "Diet Specific - Current Grocery Sales"
You can see sample menus for each plan too.

Now, if I could just hire someone to cook it for us for just as cheap...I would be SET! :)

Fall TV and a lazy weekend

I am so excited about new shows starting up! I love Brothers and Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Amazing Race, Army Wives, and The Office. Good thing we have tivo because I rarely have time to watch any shows in real time, but I love being able to catch up on the weekends. Good tv is back!


We had a nice, lazy weekend. The Queen City bulldogs do not have a game next weekend and so the coaches were off on Saturday, so Courtney and I slept in and relaxed together all day. It was so nice. We haven't left the house in almost 48 hours. That is almost unheard of for us! We like to "go". It was really nice to "stay" this weekend though!


And, because a blog is more fun with pictures, here are the boys relaxing.

Weight Watchers

So, I have let myself go. There is no better way to put it really...I love to eat, hate to exercise and it is catching up with me. So, tonight I made the decision to start Weight Watchers. Not going to meetings, but counting points. Keysha told me tonight that I would be allowed 18 points a day through Weight Watchers, so I came in and looked up some of the foods I eat regularly for breakfast...just breakfast...and I am eating 8 points every morning at breakfast alone! Sometimes more than that! Yikes!

It is going to be a long, hungry road ahead, but I am really going to try to do it. It seems like a lot of work, and I am kinda lazy at this kind of thing, but I really want -no need - to do something.

I am also training for a 5K in November with Keysha, or at least I am supposed to be, but I haven't been as faithful to my workout as I should be. We are so excited for the run and hoping that we get in great shape through our workout plan. I am running with my dogs but not as often as I should be.

So, now it is out there. Hold me accountable, folks!! :)
In the meantime, I am going to go figure out what I will be eating for breakfast tomorrow!

Pay your bills, people!

Everyday I come home to about half a dozen messages on my answering machine from creditors looking for a LeeAnn something or other. Every single message is for her...someone saying that she owes them money. You know, the messages that say, "This message is for (pause) LeeAnn (in another voice or tone)....if you are not (pause) LeeAnn (in the same other voice or tone) then please hang up. Otherwise stay on the line." And since it is on our answering machine, I get to hear all the dirt on LeeAnn. Someone even called for her from a business called Mo' Money. I'm not kidding. That poor lady sounded like she had done LeeAnn a real favor by lending her money and needed her to help her out by paying just a little of it back. If it weren't such a pain, I would change our phone number!! I am so tired of it! On Friday I came home to a few messages for her, but then one for a new person...a man. Can't remember his name and I already erased the message, but either LeeAnn has a male counterpart that also skipped town with her without paying his debts off or we lucked out and have had two previous phone number owners who do not pay their bills.

Nice.

Pleasant Surprises

I came home today to not one, but two pleasant surprises! I was so happy to first open my mailbox to find this:

My new return address stamp from Sweet Papery! I love it!! I got the website from April...she had ordered an adorable one as well and so I just had to go order one. My sister had gotten me some really cute ones last year for Christmas but now that we have moved, I needed new ones. This stamp was a bit cheaper than the ones that my sister and I had gotten eachother. Cute, huh? (I learned to link, can you tell?) ;)

Then I turned into my driveway to find these:

Pretty flowers growing on the side of the house in our very un-pretty backyard. Our backyard is big and functional for the dogs, but pretty it is not. I'm not even sure this is a flowerbed...heck, those might even be weeds, but they sure added a splash of color to the otherwise drab backyard.

I enjoyed coming home to both those surprises!

Did we really just see that?

On one of our outings to bring food from one house to another on Sunday, we caught this sight at the gas station. It was too good not to capture on the phone camera and blog about.

Notice that the man that is hooked up to the oxygen tank is smoking...SMOKING! They are both out having a nice smoke break next to the oxygen tank. Right after we took the picture, we watched as he took his oxygen tank and cigarette and walked over to help someone at the gas pump.

"Hey, you there, with the BOMB in your hand, please get away from the gas tanks!"

What a sight! Plus, doesn't this look like a picture taken straight out of the past?? (all except the ATM sign...)

The Christenson House Refugee Camp

Hurricane Ike took a toll on East Texas over the weekend. We were told we needed to worry about tornados mostly, but the biggest problem would probably losing power for who knows how long. The last time something like this hit this area, people were out of power for 11-14 days. So, on Friday night people started freaking out. Wal-Mart was taken over by people trying to stock up on water, batteries, food, etc. I tend to not freak out so much...I always think that nothing is going to happen. On Saturday morning, the coaches went in to watch film, leaving us wives at home to fend for ourselves in the hurricane-ish weather. About 4:00 the high winds started and the swirling rain began. We were all calling eachother and asking if the other still had power. We all did until about 6:30, then one by one we started losing power. The boys stopped watching film and came home about 7 or so, and power lines were already down all over the area. With all these tall, skinny pine trees, lines get taken down by the dozens around here. And they did. We lost power too. Courtney came home and we got to put my battery-operated lantern to the test. What a great purchase! It was the last one on the shelves at Wal-Mart and we had to hit the Tractor Supply Store to find batteries for it, but I stocked up and we got to use the lantern. We only lost power for about 3 hours, luckily and so we had a nice, cool night in our house like normal. Also, we were so fortunate that none of our huge trees in our backyard fell over. We lost tons of limbs but that is all.

Sunday morning comes and all is calm outisde, and we start calling the other coaches and wives to find out that we are the ONLY people that have power. Even the Warrens, who are literally one street over from us don't have power. So, over come the coaches and their families. By that, I mean kids AND dogs, because like us, the dogs are kids to a few of the couples. Marci and Monty brought their deep freeze over and everyone brought their frozen food over..there is just no sense in losing all that frozen food, right? We cooked up frozen pizzas and frozen pastas for lunch. It was so fun! Late last night, we all got the calls that both Queen City and Atlanta would not have school Monday and so we decided to have a great big SLUMBER PARTY! Over came the cots, sheets, blankets, pillows, and food. We put our food together and cooked up 2 mexican casseroles--without having to go to the store at all, I might add. Then we played Scrabble and Friends Scene It. We had such a good time last night!

I must say that no one got a lot of good sleep, considering we had 5 dogs and 3-month-old baby Jentri all under the same roof, but it was all worth it! What good memories were made!!

Power is slowing coming back on, but even our neighbors don't have power yet. It is so random for how it gets fixed. Out of the 6 coaches, 3 are still without power today. We are crossing our fingers for no school tomorrow too!! :)

Let's Play!

It’s my turn to see what memories you have of me. Here’s how to play…

1. As a comment on my blog leave a memory that you have of me. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Now you have to re-post these instructions on your blog and see who leaves a memory about you!

Accidental Deletion

Well, here I am again! Some of you know already, but I accidentally deleted our old blog. The weird thing is that I am using the same address now, so I am not sure if you will have to go add me to your blog roll again, or if this will show up on your blogs. We will find out soon.

So...I know you are worried you could "accidentally" delete your blog of precious memories too. Well, no, you really can't do it easily at all. You bloggers have all seen the dreaded place on the customize screen that says "Delete my blog" and you probably think, No, never...why would I ever click on that button? You won't.

I had two blogs. We set up a second blog to advertise the selling of our house online because we considered trying to do it ourselves. We obviously didn't do that and so I didn't have anything on that blog. I decided to go on and delete that blog. I went to the house blog, went to the dreaded delete button and clicked. I could see it delete our blog, not the house blog, but I could do nothing. Blog deleted, gone, REMOVED. I cannot believe it did that!!

But, I am back!! I am just glad that, like some of you, my blogs were not chronicals of my dear children's lives. I would have been really devastated to lose all that. Luckily, my blogs are really just nothing too important. There were a few that I am sad I lost, like the tribute to my parents, the Braddock pipe trauma, and the dump story. Oh well.

By the way, the house blog still lives on. I am not even almost going to try to delete it again!!