In the Storm

Starting and Finishing

I've started my next MBA class, Quantitative Reasonings in Business. The name is as bad as the class. Hopefully I will finish well.

I've finished my Operational Leadership class with an A. Three classes, three A's. But, I'm concerned regarding this current class.

I've finished my first weeks assignment in QRB. Hard, but I think I did okay.

I helped John with finishing up his report due tomorrow (he only had the weekend to complete it). He's doing the final write.

I've started (again) a W.E.B. Griffin novel, By Order of the President. I love his writings. I really don't have alot of time to read these days.

I've finished up another week of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. It is a bible study I'm leading on Saturday evenings - and still need to start the next week today. I have also finished another week in my Precepts class on the book of Matthew.

I want to start: walking, swimming more, eating better, praying more, spending time with my kids more, keeping a cleaner house...but, I'm not going to grumble about it but just do what I can.

Suave.

In 1828 when Noah Webster penned the first dictionary, Suave was not a word used. Truly. I looked it up. I have a copy of the first dictionary so I know these things.

More than a hundred years later, someone deemed it important enough to include 'suave' in the revised, collegiate edition of Webster's dictionary. Suave means smoothly gracious or polite; polished; blandly ingratiating; urbane (social poise of one who is highly cultivated and has had much worldly experience); the social manner of one who deals with people easily and tactfully.

But even this edition left out one definition. a brand of shampoo.

I have switched to Suave shampoo because I am fed up with those other shampoos that think they are polished, urbane, and highly cultivated and yet have done nothing for my hair. So, for 79 cents instead of $3.79 I can truly have polished, urbane and highly cultivated hair.

And you thought this post would make sense.

Where was I

I was in the military September 11, 2001. I was at work at the weather station. I know I wasn't thinking of the magnitude of impact this day would make on my little world and the big world. Jeff was at work too. We talked on the phone. He was just at the other end of the airfield. Special operations. I know I wasn't thinking what kind of impact this day would make on his community of soldiers. I was wondering: what place is next.

9.9.09

Today is the nines. Thought I'd deck my blog out to the nines.

Nine things I love:

1) Scrapbooking

2) Bible studies

3) Japanese Cherry Blossom Bath and Body Works products

4) Coffeemate French Vanilla Creamer

5) My new jeans

6) Laughing

7) My Hoosier Man

8) My grandbabies

9) My kids

9 Favorite Books (not necessarily in order)

1) Sophie's Heart by Lori Wick

2) The Princess by Lori Wick

3) The O'Malley series by Dee Henderson

4) The InDeath series by J.D. Robb

5) When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

6) The President's Agent series by W.E.B. Griffin

7) Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson

8) Target by Cindy Dees

9) The Medusa Project by Cindy Dees

Nine Favs on TV

1) NCIS

2) Closer

3) Mentalist

4) Bones

5) NCIS

6) Bones

7) Mentalist

8) Closer

9) Did I say NCIS - yeah - that too!

Nine Favorite Books of the Bible

1) Nehemiah

2) Daniel

3) John

4) Revelation

5) Genesis

6) Ruth

7) Esther

8) Proverbs

9) Psalms

9 Really Out there things

1) I want to go white water rafting

2) I only buy Northern Bath Tissue.

3) My heals crack

4) Testify to Love by Avalon is my all time favorite Christian song followed by I can only Imagine by Mercy Me and Praise You In the Storm by Casting Crowns.

5) The last 4 times I've bought a jar of applesauce it has been dropped on the kitchen floor

6) I like to play computer Yahtzee - by myself

7) I only shop for clothes with my daughter Ash

8) I like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

9) My 12 year old sons are TALLER than me!!!

Since 9.9.09 will not come around for another thousand years here's to today. And in a thousand years on 9.9.3009 I'll be reigning with Jesus over all the earth. Maybe then I'll be able to finish a jar of applesauce. And share a peanut butter and pickle sandwich with Abraham...

Photo Book - Camp Rainey Mountain

I've began to put together a photo book of the boys' camping excursion to Camp Rainey Mountain this past summer. I am doing a generic book geared toward all of Troop 7 (not just John and Jarrod) then I'll let all the parents know where they can pick one up for a keepsake for their scout. I hope to have it finished by the end of September. I've finished the front and back covers.

 

Front.

 

Back.

I originally planned on a 8x8 but decided on a 12x12 so I could get more pictures into the book. I have no idea how many pages. I probably need to keep it to the normal 20-24 for cost reasons.

Strappings

Schoolwork. It has strapped me in. I've been struggling with this weeks paper but I'm finally finished. Half way through my third class and I have an A so writing papers are strapping.

Bicycle seats. Hoosier Man and Georgia Boys are strapped to their bicycle seats today riding all over God's green (and brown) earth. I imagine they'll ride a suitable distance in pursuant of their bicycle merit badge. But more than that it's guy time.

Height. I am strapped in to the height I will forever be. But I can't say that for the boys. Both my Georgia Boys, age 12, are taller than me now. We no longer see eye to eye.

Lazy days. Bible studies. Pioneer Woman's blog. Thunderstorms. Fall weather on the verge of winter. Ella. Ian. Wyatt. Digital scrapbooking. Paper scrapbooking. My turquoise, lime, and black scrapbook room. Swimming. Coffeemate French Vanilla Creamer. Bones. Clothes shopping with Ashley. Japanese Cherry Blossom perfume. These are a few of my favorite strappings.

Fire Starting and Lint

I guess this would be a good time to get out the camera. My Hoosier Man has started a fire. Well, he and our Georgia Boys are fire starting. HM is doing a little fire starting training. At the last Boy Scout camp out HM realized there weren't any 'real' fire starters in the troop. At least, no one boy stepped up to the pit. To give GB's lifelong skills...they need opportunity, and practice. And lint...

Dryer lint.

HM has been squirelling our dryer lint away for the last couple weeks. Makes for great fire starters.

I worked last night. I'm a Bowers. I'm shifting gears like the Bowers do. I work again tonight. Slow day. Church and bible study tonight. HM cooks dinner. I've got a paper to work on.

Couple pages I did yesterday. Shifting gears again. Just so you know.

 

 

I made devilled eggs for dinner. Yum. My family loves me when I make devilled eggs...the little devils.

(Oh, I shifted gears again...just so you know.)

3 lanes, 4 swimmers

My Hoosier Man grew up swimming. I began swimming when I was still in the military to get in shape. And fell in love with it. John and Jarrod, more recently have taken up intense learning to swim for boy scout rank and merit badges. And it has stuck for them also. Last night we were able to head to the pool (no thunderstorms in the area to shut the pool down). Jeff and I each took a separate lane and the boys shared a lane. We all just swam. I have absolutely no coordination so I just swim freestyle. Very nice freestyle form - but just freestyle. That isn't bad though since it is the best style to get the best workout overall. Jeff has taught the boys all the strokes. So they swam sets of each (they finished their evening swimming with diving off the high dive - well - playing and diving off the high dive). Since it has been awhile since we swam we finished off the swim with only about 800-900 meters (lost count for some reason). And then we ate at Jalepeno's of course. My sleep was interrupted last night with intense pain in my shoulder's down my arms to my fingertips and across my upper back. Ahh, the payment for a good swim. Some motrin and it's all good.

Walkin' Buds

I enjoyed going camping with Jeff, the boys and their Boy Scout troop to Jekyll Island. I've noticed that John and Jarrod will gravitate to each other when they pair up as buddies (scouts have to go in pairs). I also noticed that while my son's annoy me, frustrate me, aggrevate me, they also, make me laugh! Granted, it doesn't take much (which is a good thing for those other reasons: annoying, frustrating, aggrevating, etc...) but still I get to laugh. I caught them walking back to camp from the outhouse and they automatically went into silly mode - and made me laugh.

Reminder

When I uploaded all my pictures to my computer the other day I realized I had more than a months worth on there. We had gotten a new storage card for the camera that holds an obscene amount of photos so no more cutting off the picture taking at 300 or so. We can happily, giddily take more than a 1000 before I start stressing about deleting out the bad ones. So anyways, that months worth included birthday photos - from the boys' birthday - in July. So I was reminded that they are now 12. Not that I really can forget...seeing as I have to look up to my 12 year olds everyday...but I also, was reminded of the day. Jalepeno's for their birthday dinner. The boys danced in their seats to 'the roof, the roof is on fire' very boisterously. I baked a cake (ok, you can pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing now). We ate ice cream. They opened presents. And we laughed and shared the day. 

But I was also reminded of something else. When I was flipping through the pictures was struck by the resemblence that my boys, especially Jarrod, to someone. My heart actually did a flutter. The boys look so much like their father. My Hoosier Man. When I showed the picture (top left on the page below) to Jeff he immediately picked up on it when I asked, "See anything familiar...?" It was a WoW moment.