Once A Bookworm Always A Bookworm

I am a bookworm. Reading is one of my favorite past times. There is nothing better on a lazy afternoon than to let myself go into another world and become caught up in a storyline. The one book that I have read more times than I can count is "Little Woman" by Louisa May Alcott. It a book that I fell in love with as a child. My favorite childhood heroine of a story was easily Jo March from that story. I always like to think that fictional character and I have had a lot of things in common. I would like to think if she were a real person and I ever were to meet her we would get along perfectly.

Being a bit of a tomboy I hated all things girly... Dresses, dolls, having good manners, being neat and tidy... Now that I am older I am very different from the little girl I was in a number of ways, but even now I do not mind getting grass stains on pants if I am playing ultimate frisbee and I have a chance at saving it from landing on the ground.

As I grew older I did not read the book nearly as much as I did before. Instead I found a new favorite, "Pride and Prejudice." Even today though, "Little Women" is such a comfort kind of book. I pull it out when I am stuck at home sick. It feels like home. I have the story memorized and it still holds a little magic over me. I am so excited to eventually pass down this book to my own daughters when I have them. Maybe one of them will find it as special as I did. Who knows...

"I'll Lead You Home"

"I'll Lead You Home"
by Michael W. Smith

Wandering the road of desperate life
Aimlessly beneath the barren sky
Leave it to me
I'll lead you home
So afraid that you will not be found
It won't be long before your sun goes down
Just leave it to me
I'll lead you home

Chorus:
Hear me calling
Hear me calling
Just leave it to me - I'll lead you home

A troubled mind and a doubter's heart
You wonder how you ever got this far
Leave it to me, I'll lead you home

Vultures of darkness ate the crumbs you left
And you got no way to retrace your steps
Just leave it to me
I'll lead you home

Chorus 2:
Hear me calling
Hear me calling
You're lost and alone
Leave it to me
I'll lead you home

Chorus 2

So let it go and turn it over to
The one who chose to give his life for you
Leave it to me
I'll lead you home

So let it go and turn it over to
The one who chose to give his life for you
Just leave it to me
I'll lead you home
Leave it to me
I'll lead you home

Chorus 2

Definition of Teresa McConnell: Child of God; Roman Catholic... That's Me!

There is an exercise we did during this past year's "holy" hours with the student life team. During one of our Eucharistic Adoration times we were supposed to write down who we thought we were... If someone were to ask who we were how would we answer... Other than just our names that is. What makes us who we are... I ended up pulling this out from under my bed today. I totally forgot about that exercise until I read it. Here is what I wrote out:

I am Teresa Allison McConnell, a child of God. I am a Catholic. I am the daughter of Danny and Suzanne McConnell. I am both a younger sister and an older one. I am a grand daughter, niece, and cousin. I am an Aunt with four beautiful nephews. I am a friend. I am not at all perfect. I am a sinner with the goal of ending up somehow as a saint. I am a caregiver. I am a teacher. I am a musician. I am a writer and a thinker. I try to be a peacemaker within my group of family and friends, but sometimes it does not work out that way. I am a listener and a shoulder to cry on when need be. I am a fighter and lover. I am unique, one of a kind. I am me.

After writing this all down we were supposed to narrow it down. If something were to happen to us that would cause us to not be able to do any of the above... say a freak accident that causes someone to lose sight or not be able to walk, then what would truly define who we were... It made us think about how really at the end of the day the only person we have to rely on is God and our faith... Being Catholic and a child of God, more than anything else, should be enough of an introduction for people to realize who we are. It was a good reflective exercise I must say.

Some Dating Advice From Yours Truely

The other night I was hanging out with a group of friends which happened to be made up of mostly males. They each had great fun asking me and the few girls who were with us about dating advice. It was kind of fun answering their questions because of the look on their faces. It was like they were holding onto every piece of info we were giving them... They did not even notice the few times we were being completely sarcastic about a question they would ask. It was hilarious... So after this little encounter I thought I would have a fun and random post about some do's and don'ts of dating... Most of this is pretty easy to get, but apparently for some not as easy as others.

For cheap first dates a guy should NEVER take a girl to the Mall. Never! It will not go over well... the only time it is ok to take a girl to the Mall as a date is when you are in Middle School pretty much. Other than that not good.

Also the guy really should always pay for the first few dates... and it is even more impressive if they keep paying for all the dates... It is understandable to have the girl and guy share the costs, but not when they are just starting out. Not so cool.

Always be courteous and show good manners. Hold doors open. Help her put on her coat if it is cold outside, walk her to the door... these things are simple enough and really do impress the ladies.

Be respectful. Look into the girl's eyes when she is talking to you. It lets her know you are interested in HER...

On a first date do not tell everything there is to know about you. Hold a lot of that back. It ruins the mystery if you tell everything and she will lose interest pretty fast. Seriously, no likes to have their life stories told on a first date. It gets old fast.

It is extremely cool to ask your date to go to Mass or Adoration with you as part of a date. A girl who takes her faith seriously will be incredibly impressed with that move and will happily say yes.

Do not talk about how other girls look in front of your date... (Seriously, I thought this one would be an easy one, but apparently not so easy for some of my guy friends to get... They wondered why girls get annoyed with them after they do this one... uh. Hello!?!?!? Duh!)

Girls like random dates... It is usually the more unique dates that girls remember the most. Dinner and movies are good every so often... but after awhile it gets old.

Please do not say "I Love You" unless you really mean it. Playing around with a girl's emotions is so not cool... but when you do mean it say it often enough that she really knows you mean it.

Please have some patience with us. Sometimes us girls cannot make up our minds. As a girl I do have this problem. The truth is not one of us really knows what we really want. We get moody. Go a little crazy. It is just a fact. All of us girls have this problem... It is how it is... so please do not take offense too much with our craziness. :)

"I Am A Catholic"

The video below is a clip from the musical "Altar Boyz." A good friend of mine is the one who is singing this particular song. This is a pretty funny play with some good "Catholic" humor. The great thing about this is that my friend is also a very great Catholic. It is great for a good laugh. :) Enjoy!

Exercising Is So Addictive!

Jogging... Pilates... Zumba class... Tae-bo... These are pretty much my main ways of working-out. I enjoy working-out. If I do not work-out for a couple of days I get so thrown off...I am not one for doing the same things over and over again. I get bored with it after awhile and search for something new to keep me entertained. Even now I look at that list and if someone were to ask me which one is your favorite I would not be able to answer. I tend to use them with my moods.

Jogging when I want to go by myself and have some reflection time. When a lot of things are going on in my life and I just want to take some time to myself I like to jog. I do not have to worry about anything else but taking the next step and breathing. It is a mental tug-of-war kind of game. My body will tell me do not take another step, and as soon as I listen to it I usually find myself defeated. I have to fight to ignore that little voice in my mind saying I can't go another yard. It is an exercise in a way that helps me also fight temptations from sin... I also tend to pray a lot while I jog. It is good one-on-one time with God.

Pilates I enjoy to keep my core strong. It is a pretty methodical exercise for those who have never done it. You have to breath just right while doing the different floor exercises. In some ways it can be the most awkward exercise I have ever done, aside from yoga. People tend to put yoga and pilates in the same kind of category, but they are so different from one another. I tend to do this on days when I have so many different things going on that I can only fit a shorter work-out in, and it totally does the trick.

Zumba is like a big dance party. I tend to always go with friends and it is a blast. Zumba is a mix of latin ball room dancing moves that really burn calories. You sweat like crazy while figuring out the different moves the instructors throw at you without too much warning. It is also very nice because all the people that go there are girls too so it is just some fun without worrying about looking cute for whatever guy may walk in. No worries there. I tend to really do zumba on days when I want to have a work-out that is fun. It lasts an hour, but it sure does not seem like it.

Tae-bo is the one I use when I am really angry, annoyed, frustrated, aggravated, hurt, so forth and so on. I get to let the steam out on a positive way. In my mind I can pretend that I am punching or kicking whatever is causing me frustration. Afterwords I feel so much better and not so angry anymore.

Water Fun! :)

The main reason why I enjoy my job is because I get to relive my childhood in so many ways. This week is definitely one of the most fun ways to go back into my childhood. It is "water week." This week is so much fun. We pull out slip-n-slides, all sorts of different types of sprinklers, and even just spray the kids with the hose. I love it. I takes me back to the days when one of the coolest things to do in the Summer with my neighborhood friends was to pull out the old sprinkler my dad had. We would spend hours jumping through it. Picking it up and spraying each other with it when we wanted to be really sneaky. Shrieks and giggles of happiness is a sound I enjoy.

Some people ask me why in the world I enjoy being a daycare teacher. They think I am crazy. They think something must seriously be wrong with me...Some days I wonder that about myself when I have a long and hard day with the kids. I remember when I was about eleven or so. I could have sworn to myself at that age that I would find a way to Neverland where I could stay a kid forever. I now know that as much as it would be fun to stay a kid for life, in all reality, it should not be that way. We all have to grow up and take responsibility for our actions. We have to help make a difference in the world. Just because we have to grow up, does not mean we have to lose some of the fun that went along with being a kid. The reason I enjoy being a daycare teacher is that it does help me to relive my childhood in a lot of ways. Not only does it do that, but I also get to help the kids I teach have as good and happy childhood as possible. I want to have the children I have taught to think back on their daycare days with smiles on their faces because it was a happy time for them. Hopefully with weeks like "camping week" and "water fun" week I am on my way to letting that happen. :)

"My Soul Is Thirsting..."

Yesterday's psalm for Mass happens to be one that I find so true and so beautiful. Not that the others are not true and beautiful by any means. I just mean that I think this one in particular always hits home with me.

I have to admit, of all the parts of the Mass the psalm tends to be the part I have the hardest time paying attention to. I will pay attention to what I am supposed to sing, but somewhere along the lines I tend to zone out on the verses... When I do pay attention to them I am always surprised at how I let myself zone out during them. I tend to do it even more so during daily Mass... It is pretty bad. So for those of you who may be like me I thought I would put the psalm here so you can read it and pay more attention to it.

Responsorial Psalm June 20, 2010

R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

O God, you are my God whom I seek;

for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts

like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary

to see your power and your glory,

For your kindness is a greater good than life;

my lips shall glorify you.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Thus will I bless you while I live;

lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.

As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,

and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

You are my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

My soul clings fast to you;

your right hand upholds me.

R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

"I Am Starting To Realize That Maybe The Reason We Are Here Is To Help Change Someone Else's Life."

I was messing around on facebook today and going through the bumper sticker app because I can sometimes find some really great quotes that I really end up liking. Some of them have actually become my favorites. I tend to write them down in one of my many quote notebooks... where I keep all of my very favorite quotes.

Today I found a bumper sticker that stated, "I am starting to realize that maybe the reason we are here is to help change someone else's life." I found this a very insightful quote. The fact is I am sure that part of God's plan for us in this life is to help change someone else's in a positive way. It might not seem like it at the time to us, but to that person we helped it could be something huge. I like to think at my job as a teacher I do a lot of helping change a person's life. When the kids are having a harder time missing their parents I try to give them a little extra attention and bring smiles to their faces. Maybe that is God's work for me that day... Or when a friend is going through an incredibly hard time and even though I do not know the right words to help them through, maybe just being there and giving them a hug and listening is just what they needed and that is another task God wanted me to accomplish that day. The truth is we all will never really know for sure what God has us here for, except to bring others closer to Him, and it makes sense that in helping change another person's life, we can easily help bring them closer to God. That is just my thought for the day.

"Kid's Say the Darndest Things" #9

Javi: Mommy, I want to go to church. Can you take me to church.
Javi's Mom: Ok, Javi, I will take you.
(She takes him to St. Paul's and sit in the front of the church)
Javi's Mom: (Leans over and whispers) So why did you want to come to church, Javi?
Javi: I want to thank God for my little baby in your tummy.

How precious is that!?!?!

Forgiving Is Part Of Loving

Jesus said to his disciples:

“You have heard that it was said,

You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you,

that you may be children of your heavenly Father,

for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,

and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?

Do not the tax collectors do the same?

And if you greet your brothers only,

what is unusual about that?

Do not the pagans do the same?

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
~Matthew 5:43-48~

The above happens to be the Gospel for today's readings. It is always a hard one for me to learn from... Love your enemy... Now, I am not one to really have many enemies. I tend to not have any problems with the people I meet, but occasionally there are times when I do have an issue with someone. Usually it is something that is a pretty big deal before I have a problem with someone; talking about me behind my back, saying something very hurtful when it is not warranted, these are just a few examples.

Today in father's homily he also talked about how hard it is to forgive those who hurt us. He asked us two questions. Who are my enemies? How do I show love to my enemy? I suppose the best way to show love to my "enemy" is by really forgiving them. Forgiving them and then moving on. That is easier said than done sometimes, but do it we all must. I sometimes think of myself as a forgiving person, but then I remember a few people who have hurt me in the past and realize that I am not totally that way. I will begin working on that now!

Dodged Another Bullet Again Today

The above picture was taken last night. How incredibly cool is that?!?!? I believe that is the coolest picture of a rainbow I have ever seen. I am pretty jealous I was not the one to get that on film, but it is ok. One of my friends was lucky to get this one.

We dodged yet another tornado today.... I swear with all this heat and humidity and tornados happening all through the state I feel as if it is the month of August instead of June. Today when I was in church finishing up praying the rosary before daily Mass begins, what goes off except the tornado sirens. As soon as we finished praying our rosary we were told by our deacon that we would have Mass downstairs just to be on the safe side, so we would not have to interrupt it if we had to while being upstairs in the sanctuary. It was a different feel having Mass downstairs. We were so much closer to where they set up the altar. Even though there was possible danger I felt very safe and could not think of a better place to be than attending Mass as that time... which in all honesty, that part of the building was not really the safest part of the Church, but that did not matter to me at the time.

Bloomington was pretty lucky. We missed the tornado, but a neighboring town got hit by one. I am very grateful that my friends that live in Nashville, In. were all safe from it.

Dang! That Was A Close Call!!!

I do not have too much time to write on here tonight, but here are some things I want to thank God for after my eventful day...

I am thankful that the whole day at work it did not storm so that my kids were able to go out
to not only have a positive outlet to let out their energy, but also have fun playing.

I am thankful for the friends I have who I know I can trust and count on. I am so blessed to
have them in my life.

I am thankful for my family, especially my two sisters at the moment. I love them dearly.
They are the best sisters a girl could hope for!

I am thankful that my sisters, nephews, almost niece, almost brother-in-law, and I were able
to escape the tornado that hit in Spencer. We were all at my sister's house out on a top of a hill
in a trailer when the storm came through and we drove down in time to miss it.

I am thankful that after the stressful storm we were able to see the coolest sunset through
our front window and two beautiful rainbows on the back of our deck at the same time.

Those are just the main highlights of my day... and now I am off to go play with my nephew. :)

R.I.P. Will Koch

Down in Southern Indiana there is a well-known theme-park, "Holiday World." It holds a lot of childhood family memories for me. When I was really young every year my family would go to Holiday world. The park is separated into four different areas; Christmas (for the little kiddos), Halloween, 4th of July, and Thanksgiving. Along with that is my all-time favorite water park; Splashin Safari. I love it there. I was very sad to hear about the president of this wonderful family friendly place. He died yesterday... Here is one of the many different articles written about it so far...

Holiday World owner Will Koch dies at 48

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener • The Courier-Journal • June 14, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - Will Koch, 48, owner and president of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Ind., died Sunday night at his home, but the park will be open today because family members said that's "what Will would have wanted."

"Will was not only our leader, he was our dear friend," park spokesperson Paula Werne said in a statement. "Our park family is in mourning for this sweet man who worked tirelessly to bring fun and happiness to so many families in the 20 years he ran the park."

Koch's family attributed his death to complications of diabetes.

Holiday World - the self-described "world's first theme park" - opened its 64th season on May 1 and has been in the Koch family since its launch. Despite Koch's death Sunday, the park will continue to be owned and operated by his family, the statement said.

Born and raised in Santa Claus, Koch attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City and earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. In 1986, he received a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

Koch was president and CEO and president of Koch Development Corporation, the parent company of the theme park.

During his tenure leading the park, Holiday World grew significantly, adding the Splashin' Safari water park in 1993 and a number of large roller coasts, including some he designed. More than 1 million people attend the park annually.

"Modesty: A Guy's View"

My Life According to Rascal Flatts...

I was bored yesterday and stole this from facebook. It was actually pretty entertaining figuring out which titles fit best with the questions...

Pick your Artist:
Rascal Flatts

Are you a male or female:
Dry County Girl

Describe yourself:
Winner at a losing game

How do you feel:
Feels Like Today

Describe where you currently live:
Here

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Where you are

Your favorite form of transportation:
fast cars and freedom

Your best friend?
Me and my gang

You and your best friends are:
My wish

What's the weather like:
summer nights

Favorite time of day:
everyday

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
How Strong Are You Now?

What is life to you:
Still Feels Good

Your relationship:
One Good Love

Your fear:
Here Comes Goodbye

What is the best advice you have to give:
Love Who You love

Thought for the Day:
He Ain't the Leaving Kind

How I would like to die:
Long Slow Beautiful Dance


My soul's present condition:
Like I Am

My motto:
Life is a highway

A Camping We Will Go

Today was a very busy day at my work. This whole past week our theme has been about camping, and today we actually had a "camp-out." We had parents bring in their large tents and we set them up as the kids own camp-site. There were about seven or eight different large tents. The kids had a ball running back and forth playing in each of the different tents. After a little bit of them enjoying that atmosphere we then had the children help find sticks for their own camp fire. We sat around the camp fire and sang camp songs and told ghost stories. We went on a nature hike and cooked out hot dogs on a grill for the kids. Normally we have nap time outside in the tents, but this year we were not so lucky to be able to do that. As soon as lunch time was over we had to pack it up and head inside before the huge thunderstorm hit. Needless to say the rest of our day was totally thrown off. The children hardly slept and us teachers did not get a break. We were all grumpy and ready for our week-end. I still do love these days at work though. Being able to create a fun-filled atmosphere for the children to have kind of a hands on experience. They learn the best at this age through hands on work, and it is a nice break for the normal routine. I just hope we do not have any more weather issues next year ...

Teaching Can Have The Greatest Rewards

This week has been a very busy one for the ccd kids at my parish. It is a full-week long class session. They come in at nine in the morning and stay until three in the afternoon. I have been a part of this whole set-up since I was about fifteen or so. Every year I look forward to this week. It is a week full of learning, bonding, fun, and praying. Sadly, this year, I was not able to help out. It has been kind of hard working in the same building as the kids in the c.c.d. program.

Today I went and visited the kids I taught from last year. I was so excited to go in and say hi to them for a few minutes on my lunch break. It was so nice to see how excited they were when the recognized who I was. They had no clue I was coming in and it was a nice surprise for them. Seeing how happy they were to have me visit helped me realize how I must have made a pretty good impact on them last year, and as a teacher, that is one of the best feelings in the world. Knowing I helped something in their minds click is pretty awesome. I cannot wait to see what is in store with these kids. They are a great group and I can tell there will be some pretty great things which they will help bring to the next generation.

Top Ten Types of Blog Commenters

I found this list on facebook and could not help but pass it on. I thought it was too funny. It is a compilation of the different types of people who leave comments on blogs.... Enjoy!

1) Encouragers - These leave simple, encouraging comments like, “great post!” Or, “wow, this totally changed my life.” But they don’t instigate further conversation or offer anything additional to the post. (FYI - Bloggers love these kinds of comments.)

2) Non-contributors - These are similar to Encouragers, except without the encouragement. Their comments say I was here and I read your post...like, “I also have a fish named Dorothy,” or “Thanks for this post.”

3) Contributors - Contributors usually leave the best blog comments because they offer something new to the conversation. A new perspective. Additional information. A new insight. They are thoughtful. And they can either respectfully agree or disagree with the post. Overall, they contribute to a healthy conversation and they make the blog post more valuable and helpful for other readers.

4) Destitutes - These are people in need. They might be depressed or struggling with something. They just want somebody to talk to. Somebody to listen. Sometimes their comment is on topic, often times it is not. Many times they have serious questions.

5) Slackers - Slackers are people who don’t read the post. They just read the title of the post and then want to say something. So they write it in the combox. They often strongly disagree with you while making your point. Or they soundly defeat a straw man and feel better afterwards. Or they ask things like, “Well what about X?” When the post spent paragraphs 3 and 4 answering precisely that about X.

6) Brawlers - Brawlers love to fight and argue. They aren’t interested in learning, giving the benefit of the doubt or considering that it was just an accident when I spilled my drink on them.

7) Angries - An Angry is somebody who is just angry at something. They often take the form of brawlers, but worse. They don’t even want to argue or fight about it. They just want to express their anger about something. Often times it makes them feel better to bring others down in the process. Their comments are often inappropriate and hurtful. And they usually end up accusing somebody tangentially related to the post of something tangentially related to the topic and then lumping everyone together and concluding that “You people are all a bunch of losers.” They can turn into real trolls too.

8) Posers - Posers pretend like they don’t care about the topic when they really do. Their comment basically says “I don’t care about this, but I still took the time to comment and tell you. That’s how much I really don’t care about this. And now I’m going to get really defensive about something you said…but I really couldn’t care less about it.”

9) Self-promoters - These people range from spammers and link-baiters to honest people just trying to promote something good. But their comment is all about promoting something else, not contributing to the post directly.

10) Aliens - Aliens leave comments that make absolutely no sense at all. It’s like they just landed on the planet Earth and thought they would leave a comment.

We Are The Salt Of The Earth And The Light Of The World...

Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

~Matthew 5:13-16~

The above quote is yesterday's Gospel reading. During the homily Fr. Don talked about how this Gospel seems to be a continuation from this past Sunday's Gospel. He talked about how it is great that we are salt of the earth, but we still need to be careful with that. If we put too much salt into something, than there is no way to take it back out and the dish is pretty much ruined, but if you do not put enough than the dish tastes to bland. We have to pay attention to who our audience is to decipher how much "salt" we should use. Once we get to know someone it is easier for us to tell how much of the faith we can talk about at one time before that person is turned off.

He also talked about how we are the light of the world. If we burn that light as bright as football stadium lights in our living room it would do way more harm than good. The light would be too bright, and might in turn, cause someone to lose their sight.

I personally think this is very true. Some people are much more interested in the faith and want to know as much as possible, where as others are not so sure about it and are only ready for a little bit at a time. The best thing is to let our light shine through our actions at first, and then once we feel someone is ready for more be there in a cheerful and friendly way to talk more about the faith.

A Day Full Of Experimentations

Today was a day of many firsts for me... My first ever pizza with barbeque sauce on it and my first ever zumba class.

I am a huge fan of pizza I must say. In the past year or so I have become a little bit more, adventurous, from the normal types of pizza. I tried pineapple for the first time on my pizza and have become a huge fan, and today I thought I would do another variation... barbeque sause instead of the normal tomato sauce, and boy am I glad I tried it. After my first bite I kept wondering to myself "where has this been all my life, and why did it take so long for me to try it!?!?!" Needless to say I have a feeling I am going to be trying to convert some of my family members to the amazingness of barbeque pizza.

A couple friends and I decided we would try out a zumba class. I have heard a lot about it, and it sounded like it would be fun, and it was. It is a mix of latin dance moves along with some cardio moves. It was a blast and I cannot wait to go to another one.

I enjoy trying out new things. Granted it may take me a little bit to get there, but once I do I usually only regret taking so long to try them in the first place.... Well with the exception for rollercoasters. No matter which ones I go on, I do ALWAYS regret going on them.

Naps Are The Best :)

Naps... I love naps... Naps are a really enjoyable time for me now that I am older. When I was young I hated naps because I always thought I was missing out on something... whether it was a television show, or playing a game with my big sister, or playing with my own toys. Now I wish I was able to have an official nap time like my kids at work are lucky to have. When I do find a day when I am able to lay down for a little bit, I jump at the chance. I does not happen too often, more like once a month or so, but I feel so relaxed after it. On Saturday I was able to do just that. I think that my lack of sleep had finally caught up to me this past week-end. I was really tired Friday night and ended up going to bed around ten... I never go to bed that early on a Friday night unless I am sick. I slept until nine the next morning...

Saturday I was planning as my cleaning day. A friend of mine came from Ohio to spend some time with me and catch-up so I wanted the house to look nice. After going to Planned Parenthood to pray with my mom I came home to begin cleaning. By twelve thirty I just wanted to lie down and sleep. I intended on only sleeping for thirty minutes, but those thirty minutes ended up being three hours. I do not regret that bit of relaxation one bit. I obviously needed it for some reason, and I was lucky to be able to just sleep. I woke-up and was wide awake the rest of the day... I just gotta say naps are amazing. :)

This Is So True

"Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. "
Theodore Roosevelt

Some Of My Favorite Things

Every night before I fall asleep the last things that go through my mind are the moments of my day that made me smile the most. Usually it is some of the most simplest things that happen... The hugs and kisses I receive from my kids at work, the funny things those kids say. A tender moment between two people that I accidentally happen to notice as I am doing my work-out outside. When I receive a letter in the mail from an old friend or an unexpected e-mail from another friend or family member just wanting to catch up on life. Hearing my favorite song on the radio as I am driving around. The message that was given at a homily during weekly Mass. Spending time with friends just hanging-out and goofing off. Hot showers and towels that are still warm from the dryer. Feeling the heat of the summer sun on my face instead of the cold wind chill of the winter. Watching a gorgeous sunset as I am sitting out on my deck, or gazing up at a harvest moon as I am walking into the house at night. These are the types of things that I think about after I have finished saying my prayers and I am slowly drifting off to sleep.

It is in the simplest moments that I feel God's love for me the most. Sometimes I do not catch it because I am too busy thinking about other details of my life. When I do take a moment and think about how lucky I am to have the life I have been blessed to have, I am in utter awe of God. I am so grateful for everything He has done for me and everything He has given to me. I am just one person in a crazy world and to know God loves me that much is something that still can make me stop and wonder why? He knows why, and I guess that is all that really matters after all.

Me? Slow Down? Nah... That Is For Wimps.

I looked at the calendar this morning and almost could not believe that today is already June first. This past month flew by so fast for me. Pretty much every week-end I have had something pretty big to do. Just this past week-end I spent it going to the zoo and then from one graduation open house to another graduation open house to a baby shower... Had to make sure I fit Mass into the schedule somehow... family cook-outs, swimming, and hanging-out with friends. By the time Monday evening rolled around I felt like it should have been Saturday night still. I was not quite ready to go back to work just yet, but that is life.

My dad asked me at the dinner table if I have had enough time to slow down yet, and I looked at him with kind of a dazed face (mainly because I have another pretty busy week-end ahead of me) and asked him what he meant. He laughed and said it seems as if I've been going like the energizer bunny for the past several weeks. I laughed at him and said don't you mean the past several years or so?

My life, ever since I have started my sophomore year of college, has pretty much seemed as if I am running on an energizer battery. Working about 40 hours a week between two different jobs that year while taking night classes and fitting in homework and trying to have a social life was pretty exhausting.... working full-time at the daycare while taking classes has also been pretty exhausting. This past semester, even though I did not have classes, I have still been incredibly busy and stressed with different family issues. Somehow I am still pretty energetic for the most part.

Being so busy for so long I am now used to it. Sometimes I can complain about running around from place to place, but I know if I stop for a long period of time I would become so bored and lazy. I do not know how to really be truly lazy. It is not in my vocabulary. I guess that is a good thing. They say it is usually when a person is lazy and bored that is when the devil can attack the strongest, and as far as I am concerned, I do not need to give the devil an easier time making me weak.

So that is a little random update on my life. I have not been able to blog on here nearly as much as I did when I first started blogging, and I probably will not get to anytime soon. I will try and blog more often, but that may be easier said than done.