Can I go back to bed yet?! Please!

Ugh I really want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head! Yesterday I got a call from the bank asking if we had spent 700 dollars at the Microsoft Store. Ummm NO! Then there were four charges from ITunes which I did not make. I have in the past, but not for at least six months or so. I asked them if the charges were going through, no because they had put a block on our card. Great no problem, they would issue us new debit cards and numbers. Then about twenty minutes or so later I get a call saying umm yes it is going through you need to call this number and ask them how they got your information and tell them they need to stop the transaction today. So K calls the Microsoft Store and they tell him no we can't stop that transaction it's already in progress. Joy. So he has to go to the bank this afternoon and fill out papers and all sorts of "fun" things. The Microsoft Store did give him the name and address of the joker that used our information and what he bought. So evidetnly we just bought a 32 inch plasma tv for some joker in New York. Yay. As if Christmas wasn't tight enough money wise.
And we had to deal with all this a half hour before the bank closed and we had to pick up PM and C to go to a basketball game in CC. Sooo hopefully K can get it all sorted out at the bank and Mr Joker can't get anymore money out of our account.
Awana Christmas store is tonight!! We're actually trying to fit two nights into one sort of. We will have Christmas store and backwards night as well as our birthday party for Jesus and hand out the clubbers Christmas gifts. The only thing we won't be doing is going caroling to the nursing homes/some of the elderly of our congregation. A group of us from church thought about doing that since the Awana kids aren't able to go. We'll see time wise and weather wise!
I have been busy making up the clubbers gifts...we filled 80 Christmas cups with candy and small flaslights with our Awana logo on them, put them in bags, tied them with ribbon, printed 80 star gift tags with "Merry Christmas from your Awana Leader" on them, cut them out, punched a hole, and tied them with more ribbon and curled the ribbon. It was like an assembly line in our dining room! It really helped to have yesterday off so I could just focus on those. I also got some typing done for our Pastor and now I just have to catch up on some card making, laundry, and a few emails for church.
Well...I better get to it or I won't get it done since I have to be at church a bit early to finish up some things for the Christmas store tonight yet too. Hope you all have a better day than I've had haha!

I know I know I was bad and disappeared again. I really did sit down and open the new post window and start to write something and then something would happen and I never would finish it, or sometimes never even get started!
The weekend was crazy! We ended up working at church Friday night getting ready for the Christmas program on Sunday and I ran through the song that I was possibly going to sing, if I could get the ending worked out. The very last time that I went through it I finally got the timing on the ending.
Saturday K went to work and got off an hour early so we could be at church at 10:30 to work out a mic set up for B so she could play guitar for one of the families who was singing Sunday night, and then practice with the Childrens' Choir at 11. PM ended up playing piano with the family that B was playing guitar with so they practiced after the Childrens' Choir. We ordered pizza and ate at church and had just enough time to clean up before the next group came in to practice at 2. One last practice after they were done and we could go home. I tried to download a song from iTunes for PM so he could hear what he was supposed to be playing the next night but had some technical difficulties since iTunes felt the need to update at the same time!
I ran out of time and had to go and change for Madrigal. K had gone to pick up a snowblower with PM and I left him a note telling him that I would finish when I got home. Ha, they apparently didn't read my note and I got the first phone call asking about it just before Madrigal started. I explained what happened and told them that I would finish it when I got home. Three hours later I get two more phone calls. I get messages from K telling me that he doesn't know how to finish the download and that he had tried but lost the file and thankfully found it again and then in the second message he tells me that he and PM got tired of waiting for C and I to get home and they were headed to church to work on PowerPoint. C laughed and commented about how the guys couldn't live without me for even three and a half hours, and I told her that I felt loved at least, and I would worry only when the phone calls stopped!:)
Sunday we got to church early and practiced with the kids again, they were singing in the morning service as well as for the Christmas program. They did a great job in the morning service! They smiled and sang much louder than they ever had in practice, and their timing was wonderful!! We had a surprise 50th birthday party to go to after church and then back to church an hour early so more people could practice and get amps and things set up for the program. The program went by so quickly and the kids did even better than they did in the morning! I was so proud of them! I was the very last person to sing in the program and I was so nervous when I got up there! I got to the tough part and I had perfect timing on the first half of the last chorus (which that was the one and only time it EVER happened even practicing!!) and I hit the ending! It was definately a God thing! I sang "Let There be Light" by Point of Grace. Such a beautiful song! I looked down when I was finished and on the top of the black metal stand you could see my sweaty finger prints! Couldn't tell how nervous I was ha!
Monday was a busy day with kids and yesterday Tater woke up from nap early and threw a 45 minute fit! Sooo glad that day is over!
Today I am catching up with laundry and if the weather stays nice we will go Christmas caroling for Awana tonight. I'm hoping to catch a little nap when the kids go down this afternoon too. I'm going to need it, the rest of the week looks just as busy!!

Hello again!

I didn't make it to the basketball games yesterday, but after K came home from work (he was working a little overtime) we went Christmas shopping. We found a little something for PM, C, and L,T, and Tater's parents. I still have a bit more shopping to do, but finding the time to do it is challenging. I did find a good idea for my sister inlaw, and I can even get it online. I found out that she needs clothes since her work has changed their dress code and she likes Kohls, so I am going to buy her a gift certificate. K found a good deal to get tires on my car, so we shopped a bit at Wal Mart while that was being done and drove home watching a beautiful sunset.

I did something really smart this morning:( we were cleaning up the coffee pot after church and I was talking to C and not paying attention and ended up getting my arm under the spout of the coffee pot where it was emptying the leftover coffee into the sink! It isn't a bad burn, but it hurts! And as if that wasn't bad enough, Teddy was pawing at me and clawed that exact spot! It almost brought me to tears!

In some happy and surprising news, Bonnie gave me an award! My second blog award!

The rules for this award are that you must list 5 of your addictions and then give the award to five other people. Tell these people about their award by leaving a comment for them on their blog.

Hmm, my addictions would be....

My Bible-I try to read as often as I can. I fail miserably at times, but I always take something away from my time reading when I do!

Music-My phone even has an mp3 player in it! Doing daycare with all the noise of the kids, when it is just K and I it is too quiet! I'm usually busy doing something and not concentrating on the tv so I love to have music playing in the background! I also sing in church (and have also sung in the nursing homes a couple times as well as the community Christmas dinner once!) and I am trying to learn piano.

Mt Dew-I need my caffiene to keep me going at times!

Chocolate-Do I really need to explain this one?

My Computer-I send out the prayer requests for church here, have things I have typed for church saved, facebook, my blog, sites I go to to print things off for the kids, I would be lost without my computer!

Hmm, now who do I give this award to? I choose; Holli , Erin, Daisy Girl, Steffie, and Jack's Mom

Black Friday Shopping fun!

We braved the Black Friday shopping mess and got some good deals this morning. The only thing that I couldn't find were the jeans that were on sale, but I got all of the important things that we were looking for, as well as a couple of extras. K found a good deal at Radio Shack on a new wireless mouse for my computer, the old one was getting pretty bad, and he found a deal on a Bluetooth ear piece for my phone.
We got up a little late, we wanted to be leaving the house by 4:25, we have a twenty minute or so drive to Wal Mart, and we ended up not getting up until about 4:30 since someone forgot to set an earlier alarm, but it all ended well.
We went through drive through at Mc Donalds for breakfast and made it home by about 7. I went back to bed then and didn't get up again until 10:30!
We put up a few Christmas lights and now we are getting ready to go and check out the town's Christmas parade. I may be back to post more later, but if not, I hope you all had a great day and found the deals you were looking for if you went shopping!

Wow things got crazy with Christmas! To start things out for the Christmas holiday season this year our church had our annual Christmas program on December 17. In this program all families are able to read a poem or story, sing a song, do a skit, play an instrument, etc. This year we had about 25 things going on for the night and it took about an hour and a half to get through. I sang a song that night, "A Christmas Lullaby" originally sung by Amy Grant. I was the last of the family acts I guess you would call them, after me was a choir song and then the closing prayer. PM gave me a little something to read during the interlude of my song that morning, and although it was read somewhat quickly I read it and the timing went well. I was thankful as I only ran through it about four times doing the reading so I wasn't all that comfortable with it, but everyone said it went well.
That Tuesday, the 19th, was the big Christmas piano recital. Again, I was last on the program and that made me pretty nervous, but I got through it with only a couple mistakes, and they were minor mistakes and I was able to keep playing and not lose my place, so I was pretty happy with that. I was quite shocked and happy and excited that PM came to the recital! His son had a basketball game that night and C and their oldest son, A, went, but PM came to the recital! Once I heard that J had the ballgame I figured that there was no way that he would come and I wanted to run and give him a great big hug when I saw him walk through the doors! I know that I have written about how he is my best friend, he is like a big brother to me, and C a sister. I am the oldest, and none of my family is really close even though I live in the same town as my parents we see each other maybe once a week, if that. PM and C have adopted us into their family and it is rare that we go 24 hours without at least talking to each other, if not seeing each other for some reason or another. PM and C have been there for me in the toughest of times, they helped me through a time when I was ready to give up on church, and possibly on God altogether because the pastor of the church that we had been attending caused some major problems in the church, along with some terribly hurt feelings, and we left the church not knowing where we were going to turn next. K's parents told us to visit our "new" church because they knew that Pastor and his family pretty well, they had come to town about the same time as K's family and some of the younger boys from each family used to hang around together when they were kids. PM and C both came over and talked to us for a good long time and really took an interest in us and wanted to see us get over these hurt feelings and grow in the Lord again. They both listened to me talk an awful lot at different times, not complaining, and giving me advice. Right about the same time a person that I thought was my best friend told me pretty much that she didn't think that I was being a very good friend and really just knocked me down flat. Not literally, but you know what I mean. PM and C both told me that I don't have to be a doormat to be a good Christian. That I don't have to deal with other people's games and emotional abuse and make myself the whipping post that they take their issues out on. They told me that if I stand up for myself and not take that abuse from other people running my self esteem right down into the ground that does not make me a bad person or a bad Christian. Many times even today I hear their voices in my mind in different situations saying "You don't have to be a doormat!" They have helped to build my self esteem back up again, and even to a higher place than it was before. PM has let me sing with the Worship Team and solos for special music, helping with powerpoint for his messages, I have helped with the email prayer chain, I have been sending out cards to people in the church for different occasions, teaching Sunday School, being an Awana leader, just feeling like I really do have some worth, like I really do have a special place, I am not all alone. Both PM and C remind me of this often, even yesterday in his message one statement really hit me, he said....."if Jesus thought we were worth enough to die on the cross, why are we arguing with Him?".....I almost started to cry right there. They took K and I to a Minnesota Twins baseball game and to a Mark Lowry concert this summer, took us out to the driving range at our local golf course and was teaching me to swing and was encouraging when I would do well, giving me a high five and saying way to go! My parents had too much going on themselves to do things like this with/for us growing up, and even now. My Mom had a rare type of polio when I was young and she has had alot of health problems and difficulties due to this, and my Dad was trying to do his best for ourfamily and was a workaholic and there would be weeks at a time where I would not see him due to his job. He would get up before I got up each morning and would come home well after I went to bed. We get along now, but we are not close. They included us on C's birthday and many times we have had one of their boys overnight for different reasons, or for an evening or something. We go to the boys ballgames and concerts and things and we just hang out together alot. When K's Grandfather died and he went to Ohio and I stayed home for the four days that he was gone they took care of me, they had me over or supper and to stick around and visit two of the nights, one was PM's birthday and they included me in on his family birthday celebration. I have never been on my own, I went from living with my parents to getting married at 19, and this time he was gone doubled the time that we have spent apart in our nine years of marriage so I was quite hesitant about the whole thing, but they helped me out alot and made it alot easier. When K's uncle died in December and he was gone for most of the day after church that evening they took me out to the movie (they were planning to go with one of their sons and then asked me to go along) to help the time pass while he was gone. They have told us at different times that we are family now, and that they love us, and we have tolld them the same thing at different times as well. We don't even say that in my family really. And K's family is 9 hours away, and there have been little rifts there as well, although they do seem to be getting better. I can not even find the appropriate words to express how thankful I am for PM, C, and their family. I just hope that I can show them how much I truly do appreciate them, the older sibilings that I never had, and that they do know how thankful I am for them and how much I do love them.