*long, satisfied sigh* Did you ever have a friend that you felt so comfortable around, they might as well just be family? I mean you can say something like, "Phew! I'm beat. I'm going to bed. See you later." And the friend gives you a hug and lets themselves out the door. (After helping themselves to another glass of water and maybe using the computer for a few minutes.) *grins* We have a friend like that. And his name is Jonathan too.  He's quite a character, but he's the kind of person you want your kids to call "Uncle".  

When I first met him he was one of my husband's class mates.  Didn't know him very well.  Then he came to stay with us over the summer.  Yeah, got to know him REALLY well. *laughs!* It was sad when the summer ended and he had to move.  Now we only get to see him maybe once every other week or so.  

But LAST NIGHT he came to visit us here at home again!! It was so much fun! He and my husband (I call them the two Johnathans) were right back to their old selves. Arguing over stupid things that nobody cares about, inventing games (out of a quilt, a box of paper clips and a deck of phase 10 cards) and singing ridiculous songs off the top of their heads at the top of their voices!! Their favorite one tends to be "Your beautiful, your beautiful, your beautiful it's true. But its time to face the truth: I will never be with you." All in high falsetto of course. *chuckles*

While they bickered over the rules to the largest board game I've ever seen (being my quilt spread out on the living room floor) I made preacher cookies and lemon aid.   Then I crocheted and watched them actually PLAY the game till 2am.  Then I designed a logo for them and they moved over to the craft table to etch it into a tie clip. *laughs* It looks so good now that it's finished! When they're rich and famous, I'll be able to say that I designed their logo. lol

Ah! I haven't had so much fun in a long time!! I tried to film it, but the battery to my camera kept dying.

OH!!! If you guys ever want to see videos of my wonderful life, I have an account on youtube now! I don't have very many videos up there yet, and it's mainly for family and friends to be able to see me when they miss me. *chuckles*

Its called theDifferentshine. http://www.youtube.com/user/theDifferentshine?feature=mhee

I know, big surprise.  Believe it or not I actually DO use other usernames sometimes.  It just all depends on how easily I want to be found. lol.  No stalking! ...Actually, go ahead and try it. I think I've fortified my secret hide outs pretty well. *laughs joyfully* and then if you find me, let me know and I'll fix it! I think I have about ... *goes to her account and checks* 17 blogs. lol.  DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!!!!! *Throws back head and laughs!!*

*stops laughing and looks sideways* Oh, and in addition to that, I have at least 23 journals that I've kept of everything interesting in my life since I was 7 years old.  Oh, and that doesn't include this site or facebook, or any other social media network I happen to be a member of.  

I'm addicted to writing.  

It helps me clear my head. Anytime I'm too emotional to think straight, I write down everything I'm thinking and then go back and look at it so I can determine exactly what my emotions are. I know, it's weird, but if I were normal, then I'd be boring. 

Truth be told, I think the world would function more smoothly if everyone did that.  So often people feel something and they give a knee-jerk reaction without really, honestly thinking it through.  If they took the time to write it down, chances are by the time they finished they would have cooled off a little and would be able to look at all the facts logically. This would aid in the avoidance of rash decisions and big mistakes.   

And it makes for a much more interesting journal, let me tell you! None of those boring lines of "It rained today" stuff in my journals! Whoever gets them when I die will think I was an emotional basket case. I only write when I'm really happy, really angry, really confused, really sad, really excited, really disappointed, really worried, really in love, really really really everything!  

It helps me control my outward expressions as well.  No need to "burst out angrily" if I'm waiting to write it down and see what I think about it, you know?

Oh this is such a rambling post!  I'm sorry.  Well, half sorry. I don't update this thing often enough to have any real devoted readers anymore... but then ifyour reading it, then you still had to suffer through it.  

I think I'm doing this because my fingers type faster than they write, and my journal is all-the-way-over-THERE and I don't want to get up. lol

I could go to one of my secret blogs, but then no one would EVER read it.  *sigh*

You care right? Your reading this... You must care. 

Shut up. You care.

*laughs a little* 

Maybe I'll make a book out of my journals... I'd have to change names and stuff so that nobody knows what I'm talking about, though.  I don't know.  

I've already got so many projects I'm working on right now for Christmas.  I'll have to do it later. 

Oh how I miss everybody.  I miss going cosmic bowling with a crowd of noisy friends who don't care what the score is... I miss camp outs and mud fights and picnics and hiking and road trips and sneaking around under the pews at church with a few trusted, silly girl friends of mine.  I miss character first, and feeling the jitters when Mr. J asked me to do an impromptu speech about muffins and race cars. lol!  I miss all the little second graders who HAD to hug me every time I walked by, and the fourth and fifth graders who actually got my jokes... I miss sleep overs and horse training parties and going to the zoo with a bottle of bubbles... I miss drawing that treasure map under the carpet of the church when they were having it redone... I miss meeting everyone at sonic because everyplace else is closed... I miss going to the chickacha festival of lights every single year for as long as I can remember... I miss Two from Galilee... I miss playing baseball with a bunch of girls who were even worse than me... I miss not having any enemies... I miss game nights... and holidays when we invited too many people to fit in our house... I miss girl talks with mature, godly young ladies who loved me enough to speak the harsh truth... I miss stealing that iguana... I miss cleaning out that stupid garage over and over and over again... I miss square dancing with all my favorite buddies who know how to dance!! I miss the BlueBugleBoyCommunity... I miss going to museums with friends and taking silly pictures with statues...

See? I'm a person.  I'm not a cold blooded robot who deals out death and destruction on a whim... I care. I really do. I hurt, I bleed, I get confused, I need to think, I laugh, and I really, honestly, truly and sincerely try to do the right thing.  I never wanted to hurt anyone, and I dearly miss everyone.  I have a story and I wish I could know if anyone would read it if I wrote it down.  

Wowwwww, talk about a random post.  I guess this is a sample of the kind of things I write in my journals... It's a little more raw than what I'm used to posting on my public blog, but somehow I don't care.  It's just the way I feel right now.  

Do you ever wish you could take everything you love in the world and bunch it all together in one place so that you never have to miss anything? 

Have you ever been driving in the rain and had to slow down because it was becoming difficult to see ahead clearly?  

I had another one of those experiences today.  Unfortunately in addition to the torrential weather, my windows were fogging up and traffic was bad.  Naturally I slowed down before turning onto the next road.  I was only there for a few seconds, but the car behind me decided he was the best judge of how long I needed to be able to find my place in the oncoming cars.

He startled me with a sudden loud blare of his car horn.  Aside from jumping out of my skin, I felt a strange surge of emotions.  The first one was "Oh dear, what did I do wrong?!" Then, "Nothing? Then what are you honking for?!" And finally, "Your such a horrible person!!" I had a very strong inclination to plant my foot on the brake and dare him to do something about it, but of course, that would have been immature and I still had to get home. I decided to forgive him and I eased into traffic as soon as I could.  No sooner was I on the road, but this car behind me swerved around me and sped on ahead.  So much for being mature.  I ranted about "drivers like that" for a good ten minutes and prayed that I would soon have the pleasure of passing HIM - stopped on the side of the road,... right in front of those bright flashing lights. 

I argued with God the whole way home.  He told me to pray for that man, I said that that man needed a spanking. Mostly it angered me that the other driver would have no idea that I was praying for him.  I wanted him to at least know that I was more mature than he was.  I'm ashamed of the angry thoughts I had against him.

But it seems to be the story of my life.  Somebody does something that makes me angry, and I have to stop and pray blessings over them.  I know it's the right thing to do, but just tonight, ...I don't know... I was hit with a double whammy.  

I ran across an old situation that was particularly painful.  I discovered that the other party involved did not handle it as maturely as I did (for REAL this time, guys). I honestly wished this person the best in the world, and did my best to protect their reputation.  I didn't even tell anyone one about it unless it was their business to know.  Close friends of mine (and theirs) didn't even know the situation had occurred. 

Now I find out that not only did this person hurt my feelings deeply, but then broadcasted an "edited" version of what happened all over the world.  How am I supposed to react to something like that, when it happened years ago?? How can I pray for this person now? Oh, God! It's so hard!!!  I WANT to pray bad things on their head.  I WANT to hope I pass them on the road of life.  I WANT them to show up and have the pleasure of them realizing that I am indeed, VERY happy, and that they are NOT happy.  

*sigh* You know, my darling husband always says that it all comes down to unconditional love.  Jesus loves us through countless times when we ignore Him, pass Him by, even say terrible things to Him in our hearts. ...He loves us anyway! You guys!!! I find it hard to love a crazy driver who passed me on the road one time!!  Please pray for me. I need to love people who don't love me back. Even though I will never have the satisfaction of knowing they know it. *chuckles* Isn't life crazy?

Creativity at it's finest

So... my husband doesn't like this movie because it's silly, but that's exactly why I love it! And what's best, is I think I have everything it would take to duplicate this costume myself!!!

Get ready for pure, almost frightening creativity:

Poor is best

You know, sometimes I'm amazed at how many luxuries I grew up with thinking they were necessities.  I never had to do without them, and so I never thought a job could be done without them.  Things like vacuum cleaners, trash cans in every room, dough cutters, a different knife for each food item, special bags for the diaper pail, window cleaner, paper towels, silverware dividers, dishwashers, and expensive bathtub cleaners and scrubbers that never work. I had never made bread without a botch, so I didn't know that a wooden spoon and a glass bowl would work just as well. 

Just think of it! All this money we pay for modern appliances is really only saving us from dealing with exercising opportunities.  And with that being said, I would like to share with you, a recipe for a smoothy that will help you lose weight even before you eat it!!

Ingredients:  

4 or 5 large strawberries

half a banana

about 6 ice cubes

and one serving cup of strawberry yogurt

Here's where it gets fun.  Please understand that we do not own a blender.  I'm really picky about such things, and we can't afford the one I want. So here are the steps to making this awesome smoothy:

Slice the strawberries as thin as you can without cutting yourself. Then slice them again and again and again until you basically have mush. Then if you're still not satisfied with their texture, you can get a spoon and actually mush them up really good! Then put them in your cup.

Then take the banana and mash it really well with a fork as if you were making banana bread. Add the banana to the cup.

THEN *excitedly claps hands* comes the ice cubes!! Put them in a zip lock bag, and equip yourself with a wooden spoon!! (I like to do this on a well padded surface to cut down on noise) Whale away at those ice cubes until they are reduced to a tantalizing slushy-looking substance. ... But be careful not to get too ambitious however, or you will have really cold water.  Add the ice to your cup.

Then of course you just add the yogurt and mix it up. It's super good, and you will feel like you've earned it! *throws back head and laughs with incredulous glee!!!*

*bows and gestures dramatically* "Enjoy". ;^D

Today we're talking about cats! They're so expressive and cute! It's so entertaining to watch them if you have the sense of humor to know what you looking at.  Here's the best video I've ever seen of a cat with a personality and an owner with the good sense to film it!

Then again, maybe we'll just laugh at anything...